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Luke stowed away his pilot gear. He shut the locker door with a creak, gently shimmying it so that the door would close without falling off its hinges again.
Ever since the Imperial attack on Echo Base on Hoth, they'd had trouble finding a new base of operations, having gone through most of the reasonable options already between Yavin and Hoth. Thus they were left with dilapidated ruins on a planet that didn't even have a name in the modern star charts. Perhaps there was a name out there somewhere from star charts of the era that had built the original structures, but the Rebels didn't have access to anything that old. The only reason the Rebels had come to anything here was that Leia had ordered someone to do some refurbishments before the Rebels had based themselves on Yavin. One of the new pilots, Vice Rerdo, had suggested they call the place Squelch, based on the sound the ground made, but he'd been outvoted, and they now lived on Squall.
Luke felt a shiver run down his spine. Another of Squall's eponymous squall lines was on is way. At least the anti-detection tarps Leia had insisted they use provided some extra rainproofing, in addition to the actual rain tarp beneath.
He turned left along the rusty corridor to the crew quarters. He'd left his rain jacket in his room, and as he had the sort of restless feeling that portended something happening, he wanted to be prepared.
Then he felt something pull at him. He stopped and followed it.
"I'm completely fine!" Leia said from the other side of the sickbay doors.
The doctor's response was cut off by the doors opening for Luke. "Hello," he said.
"Luke!" Leia turned back to the doctor. "I can go back to my room; Luke will be there to watch me."
Doc Yantz looked at Luke, then at Leia, then at Luke again, before sighing deeply. "She was hit by shrapnel and bled severely. We don't have the synthblood reserves to top her up fully. Keep standing up to a minimum, and make sure she doesn't fall." She glanced at Leia again. "Good luck."
"I'm fine," Leia grumbled, but let Luke put an arm around her to help her to her room nonetheless.
She swayed against him as she got up. He tightened his grip.
They made it to her quarters without incident, though by the end Luke was less supporting Leia as she walked and more carrying her with aid of the Force. She unlocked the door herself, but when Luke sat her down on the bed to try and grab himself a chair, she fell over unconscious and he had to dive over in a panic to halt her fall.
It took a moment for his heartrate to go down. Leia felt fine, just asleep. He made himself take a deep breath and hold it.
Master Yoda had taught him how to meditate and touch the Force. Luke had kept to the exercises religiously. He figured he might as well do them now, as it wasn't like he had anything better to do. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
He lasted perhaps ten seconds before he opened them again to peek at Leia. Still there.
All right. He could do this. He closed his eyes again and breathed.
After his fifth attempt failed, he has forced to admit that perhaps his concern for Leia was too much of an anchor to the present for him to let go of this crude matter. He sighed and resettled himself into his chair, watching Leia breathe.
Eventually, she stirred. She groaned and rolled up into a seated position with her shoulder leaned against the wall.
"Good morning," Luke said.
Leia rolled her eyes and ran a hand over her head. "I know it's not morning. I need to- Urgh." Her fingers had found where her bun had disintegrated and her hair hung loose.
She ran her fingers through her hair. They caught on a tangle.
"Where do you keep your hairbrush?" Luke quickly asked before Leia could try to get up.
"The desk behind you, top drawer on the right."
Luke hurriedly set to motion. The hairbrush was at the front of the drawer, and not what he'd expect a princess to use. He'd expected some Alderaani heirloom, made of wood, perhaps painted, but the brush was simple, mass manufactured plastic, and the handle had broken off. There were loose hairs tangled in the bristles.
"May I?" he asked before Leia could grab it from his hands.
She acquiesced with a sigh. She picked out an impressive quantity of pins from her hair – Luke couldn't help but wince at the thought of sleeping with metal jabbing his skull – and deposited them in Luke's waiting hands. He quickly placed them on the table and turned back to Leia before she could climb out and insist on doing it herself.
He looked at her hair. There was a lot of it.
"Start at the ends," Leia instructed.
Luke got to work. The first fifteen to twenty centimeters or so didn't offer any resistance, but then he started hitting tangles. Some simply slowed down the brush as they parted, some stopped the brush in its tracks, and some slid down until the very end before becoming unsurmountable obstacles. He had to do a surprising amount of combing with his fingers.
Eventually, his working zone climbed to Leia's scalp. He scooted the chair closer to the bed and felt Leia relax incrementally as the bristles worked over her skin.
He kept at it even once her hair was tangle-free. He found himself reluctant to stop and let her retreat back into her shell. "Should I braid it?" he asked. He'd seen Aunt Beru and Leia do it often enough that he knew how it should go, even if he hadn't done it himself.
Leia made a noise of assent.
Luke gathered her hair at the nape of her neck. "Two braids," she instructed. "For perseverance."
"Okay." Luke split her hair in two and began braiding the left half.
"Tighter."
Luke yanked more on the hair for a tighter braid. After a few rounds, he could see this looked more like the braids he'd seen on Leia and others.
He settled into a comfortable rhythm. Leia didn't say anything, but Luke could feel her drooping down towards sleep.
When he finally reached the end of the long braid, he turned back to the desk drawer and dug out a pair of elastics. He tied one around the braid and then set to the other half of Leia's hair.
It had tangled somewhat while he'd been braiding the other side. He combed through it with his fingers, feeling the smooth silky strands with flesh and synthflesh alike, before splitting it in three and beginning to braid.
Leia's head jerked forward when he'd passed her shoulder blades. "Leia?"
No answer. Luke stood up and peeked over her shoulder.
Her eyes were closed and her breathing steady. A neutral, perhaps even peaceful, expression rested on her face.
Luke maneuvered her down into a horizontal position on her bed and fluffed the pillow before sliding it under her head. She didn't stir. It was good that she was getting the rest she needed, so Luke simply sat down on the chair to watch.
The second braid hung loose, coming apart. He picked it up and continued braiding.
Once he was done, he tied it up and lifted it to the bed so it wouldn't pull at Leia's scalp. The squall line had reached them, and with it came the low sound of rain. He hoped she'd find it restful.