Марта Уэллс - From a Certain Point of View

Jailyn knew that her father would still be nursing his Bespin port hangover in their living quarters, the sunshades closed tight against the deepening pink sky and his fancy clothes discarded in a heap on the floor. Later in the evening, the casinos would beckon him as they did so many others who were desperate for the stroke of good fortune to change their fates.

The Royal Casino draped Jailyn in blue darkness. Music blared from the stage where a band played, but the checkerboard dance floor was empty except for an elderly Bith couple who swayed in a close embrace.

Jailyn meandered around the high-top tables decorated with tall candles and flowers. Service droids rolled past, trays piled high with drinks and food. Jailyn’s cloak glided behind her as she found a stool at the far corner of the bar. Muted conversations and loud beeps from a row of warp-top gambling machines filled the air. She ordered a drink from the bartender and put it on the Cirri family tab. Sipping slowly, Jailyn watched visitors and Cloud City citizens mingle under the casino’s bluish light.

A familiar cackle from one of the nearby sabacc games got her attention. A human male among a table of Sullustans raised his hands in celebration and then gathered his winnings. Jailyn caught her breath and quickly turned away. Maybe he hadn’t seen her.

After a few moments, someone tapped her shoulder. “Jailyn? Is it you today? Or are you someone else?”

It was the man from the sabacc table, her father’s hired pilot. Dresh Lipson didn’t live in the upper levels but in Port Town, a range of industrial levels that housed the types who could be hired cheap without any questions.

Dresh smirked at her, which was his usual expression. His long brown hair was tied in a tail, and he wore loose trousers with a threadbare shirt barely hidden under a dusty black jacket. Roguish as he was, she tried not to stare. He was an offworlder and avid lover of the sabacc tables. Dresh boasted loudly of his wins, but he always slipped a few credits to his comrades for future luck. Jailyn had learned from some of his loud conversations that Dresh also had Rebellion sympathies. She wondered if he knew about the princess.

“Why do you ask who I am? I’m always Jailyn,” she answered. “No one else.”

“Are you, though? Because sometimes I see you in those flashy dresses, and I have doubts you’re Jai Cirri’s responsible daughter.” Dresh sat down beside her, motioning for the bartender. “Put her drink on my tab.”

“Keep your credits, Dresh. You need them more than me.” Jailyn sighed as the bartender ignored her and heeded the pilot’s wishes. “Shouldn’t you be down at the platform working on my father’s ship?”

Dresh nodded. “Sure, sure. But your father’s probably still sleeping it off, right? Figured I had time to play a round or three before I do maintenance on the Velker. ”

“I don’t think my father pays you to play sabacc on his time.”

Jailyn wasn’t sure exactly why her father kept a pilot on retainer since he barely traveled. All of his needs were met here on Cloud City. If anything, he kept Dresh as reassurance that he could get away quickly from any debtors wanting their due. She knew the pilot did off-the-books work for clients who would rather not be known.

Dresh tilted his head. “Now, this cloak is classy. Got some fancy dinner or event later?” He examined the fine aeien silk in admiration. “Don’t see nothing like this down in Port Town.”

Jailyn abruptly stood up from the barstool. Dresh was mocking her, but he also saw through her. At least he was making a living. What was she doing? Imperial forces were now in the Outer Rim. She was sure that Princess Leia Organa wouldn’t be in some casino sipping a frothy drink, pretending to be a rebel.

Jailyn glanced at Dresh’s teasing eyes. She knew what he saw. A naïve socialite, the daughter of a wayward gambler, a girl playing make-believe.

She turned and stormed out of the Royal Casino, the truth burning in her chest.

—

Jailyn left the blue darkness of the Royal Casino and went back into the blurring white of the Cloud City halls. She hated the way Dresh made her feel. He could always get under her skin. Why did she care so much about what he thought of her? He was just some smuggler hiding in the bowels of Port Town. He wasn’t anyone.

She traveled back up to the Plaza Concourse level to one of the parks in the breathable air zone. Cloud City sunsets were a spectacle, and the sky displayed unparalleled magnificence, a festival of regal reds and opulent oranges. The colors of the princess’s cloak. She stared at her beloved sunset, the only one she had ever known.

“Thought I would find you here,” a familiar voice said.

Jailyn closed her eyes in frustration. The pilot had followed her to the park. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?

“Don’t come to give me more grief, Dresh. I’ve had enough,” she said.

He leaned against the glass deck railing that overlooked the lower streets of the concourse. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You left in a hurry.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not, I can tell.”

She turned to him, looking deep into his brown eyes. He wasn’t mocking her now. “Am I that easy to read?”

“It’s not a bad thing,” he answered. “Being yourself.”

Jailyn huffed and averted her gaze back to the sunset. “Easy for you to say. You know exactly who you are.”

Dresh was quiet for a moment, then touched her hand. “Listen to me. During the sabacc game, I found out that there’s some trouble brewing. Imperial stormtroopers. Bounty hunters. All of them looking for rebels.”

“I know about that,” Jailyn said, lowering her voice. “I heard Princess Leia Organa is here in the city. Maybe she’s still in hiding and hasn’t been found.”

Dresh shook his head. “I don’t like it. Main reason I came here was to get away from the Empire. Nothing good happens when Imperial scum come to a place. From the way I see it, things are about to change. Not for the better, either.”

They kept silent as the sun continued to lower among the thick striated clouds. Visitors around them gasped and marveled at the scene. Even Dresh seemed captivated by the sunset’s ethereal beauty.

“When I was a little girl, my father paid a Bespin Wing Guard to show me the beldons,” Jailyn whispered, her gaze still on the clouds.

“The ones that make the Tibanna gas, right?” Dresh asked.

Jailyn nodded and then shivered. “I thought they were beautiful. Graceful even. But then a velker swooped past our cloud car and tore into one of the beldons. To this day, I can still hear its screams. But my father was glad I saw it. Told me it was a valuable reminder to always have the claws of a velker and not the soft belly of a beldon.”

“That’s a heartwarming childhood memory,” Dresh said drily.

“I guess what I’m saying is that I’ve always been trying to be someone else,” Jailyn said. “I wanted to prove to my father that I wasn’t a scared little girl. Even though I was. Maybe I still am.”

Dresh moved closer, brushing her shoulder. “I don’t think you’re scared.”

She turned to him and stared. He was no longer showing concern in his deep, dark eyes. Her face grew hot. Could Dresh see her real truth? The hidden way she thought of him? Despite his mocking and teasing, he had never mistreated her. Dresh was a mysterious offworlder and lover of luck. He wasn’t a threat to Jailyn.

She focused on his chiseled features and the way the Bespin sunset turned his skin a burnished bronze. A yearning stirred inside her, and Jailyn lowered her gaze to his lips. She took a breath and leaned toward him.

Suddenly the Cloud City audio scan blared across the Plaza Concourse. “Attention. This is Lando Calrissian. Attention. The Empire has taken control of the city. I advise everyone to leave before more Imperial troops arrive.”