NOTE: The Star Wars characters are the property of 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm, Ltd. The story idea and contents are the property of Cheree Cargill and are copyright (c) 1992 by Cheree Cargill. No infringement of any legally existing copyright is intended. This is an amateur story and no money was made from it. One copy may be downloaded for the enjoyment of the reader, but it may not be further reproduced in any shape or form without the express written consent of the author.

The Replacement

Cheree Cargill

(originally printed in "Hibernation Sickness" #18, 1992)

With whoops and spear-rattling and great rejoicing, the troop of Ewoks escorted Leia up into their tree-top village. She was flattered but a bit puzzled by the reception. After all, as far as she knew, the only humans the Ewoks had ever seen were the Imperial troops stationed on the forest moon. The Ewoks little reason to love humans in general and those humans in particular.

With care, she walked through the throng of furry bodies clustered around her legs, half swept along by the tide of movement that was carrying her inexorably to what was obviously the chief waiting on the wide platform across the gulf of trees.

Wicket marched triumphantly by her side, chattering in his language with his fellows, shaking his spear and proclaiming his greatness. At least, Leia supposed that was what he was doing. These little creatures were new to her, and she could only be sure that they were exceedingly happy about something.

At last they reached the chief's platform and the procession halted, silence falling reverently over the group as the headman stood and approached her. She stood still and allowed his inspection as he circled and looked her up and down, obviously suspicious.

After a while, he reached out and felt her pants leg, rubbing the cloth between his stubby fingers, then whirled on Wicket and launched into a terse, gibbering speech.

The other Ewoks shifted uneasily, but Wicket stood his ground and answered the chief assertively. They carried on the discussion for several minutes, then finally the chief was apparently satisfied. He turned to the assembled throng and raised his staff imperiously, uttering a short, terse word. Cheering erupted throughout the trees and once again Leia found herself the object of the worshipful throng.

Wicket was tugging insistently at her hand and she understood that he wanted her to follow him and the tribal elders to the large hut that occupied the center portion of the platform. She complied and the group stopped just outside the leather flap covering the doorway. Once again, the Ewoks had grown expectantly silent.

Wicket stood for a few seconds in obvious thought, as if trying to recall something he'd long since forgotten. Then he looked back up at her and made a movement with his hand, palm flattened. "Fooom!" he said.

Leia shook her head, trying to grasp what he wanted. Once again he made the movement, right to left and up. "Foom!" he repeated insistently.

"I don't know what you're saying," she answered. Experimentally, she made the hand motion herself and said, "Voom?"

Wicket jumped up and down eagerly and copied her actions. "Foom! Foom!" he chittered, then added, "Star...ship!"

Leia's jaw dropped open. "Starship! You said 'starship'! You speak Galactic?"

It was too much, too fast. Wicket waved it all away and started again patiently. "Foom! Star ... ship!"

The Princess understood more now. He didn't speak Galactic, but somewhere he had learned a word or two and was using them as a basis for opening a dialog. He must have seen the Imperial shuttles come and go from the landing platform in the forest and so understood the concept.

She gestured in the direction of the Imperial base. "Starship? Bad men."

"Bad men," he repeated. "Kill."

She didn't know if he meant that the Imperials killed Ewoks or the Ewoks wanted to kill the Imperials. Wicket was fingering her cloth trousers and jacket. "Bad," he opined, then turning to stroke the leather doorflap, added, "No bad."

Abruptly, he gestured for her to follow him into the hut and she did so, a bit cautiously but trusting her new friends. The chief and holy men came in behind her.

It was dark and musty inside, and the hut held a faint, unpleasant odor, as if something had crawled in here to die a long time ago. So long ago that the faintest trace of corruption still remained, nearly washed away by the rich scents and clean air of the forest.

Wicket scurried away to a dark corner and rummaged around for a while, then hooted triumphantly and returned carrying his prize. It took a moment for Leia to see what it was, then she found to her astonishment that he was holding up a crudely sewn leather dress, obviously made for a human form.

The Ewok was urging the dress into her hands, and the elders behind her were gibbering and pressing in on her, pulling at her jacket and trousers with the obvious intent that she remove them. Suddenly frightened, Leia tried to back out of the hut, to ward off the clutching hands that abruptly seemed all around her. More Ewoks appeared from the doorway, apparently intent on preventing her escape and helping to strip off her clothes.

They overwhelmed her, but her self-defense training was in full gear and she fought them with all her strength. More of the furry creatures appeared to pile on her and she made one last attempt to get out of the hut. As she and her captors lost their footing, they became tangled in the leather doorflap and tore it from its hinges as they all crashed to the platform floor just outside the doorway.

Sunlight flooded the interior of the hut and Wicket moved into the shaft of light, having stayed out of the melee. He was still holding the dress and, once again, as patiently as if no struggle had ensued, held the garment up to her.

But Leia was looking in horror at what lay behind him in a previously dark recess on the far side of the hut. Along one wall was a straw bed, laid down some untold time before, and stretched on that bed were the desiccated bones of a long-dead human. Whisps of still bright blonde hair clung to the skull and a rotted leather dress clothed the fleshless skeleton.

Wicket nodded in approval that Leia had found her predecessor. With one stuffy arm, he pointed at the corpse and announced, "Cyndel!"

Around her, in the trees and across the platform, the other Ewoks took up the chant. "Cyndel! Cyndel!"

[Author's note: For those who do not recognize the name, Cyndel was the little girl in the Ewok TV movie specials.]