"Guards in the Tower," Han whispered today's topic in confirmation of Luke's previous request, given as they'd bear-hugged at the end of last week's visit.
Which had been a lot easier to spot than the previous week's request for surveillance lenses. It was amazing how hard they were to spot in the lofty grandeur of the Imperial Palace without either standing and gazing at the ceilings like an idiot or walking along with your eyes straight up and constantly tripping. Han had forgone the former in favor of the latter and was now pretty sure that the guards thought him incapable of walking in a straight line without assistance.
He had a hunch that this week's request, communicated in the bear-hug as he left--the only other time they were close enough to whisper--would be security stops and checkpoints. He also worried that maybe the guards thought they were hugging way too much...
He walked casually over to the bank of ridiculously reinforced windows, glancing at the book on the table Luke had been sitting at, lifting it up to check the title when he was close enough.
'Instituting Change: Shaping the Sociological Architecture of a New Empire', was the somber title, raising Han's eyebrows. He looked doubtfully to Luke.
"Are they making you read this?" he asked, as he often did on checking the kid's reading choice.
Luke shrugged, evasive as ever. As ever; Han hadn't failed to note that the kid kept a lot to himself these days, everything battened down beneath a mask of distant disinterest. But then what else could he do here? Five weeks of being locked up in this strange, opulent prison, never alone, constantly chipped away at by Palpatine and Vader...it wasn't surprising that he'd developed a few idiosyncratic defenses. The sooner they got out of here the better.
"Actually it's quite interesting, if you can get past the grinding tedium," Luke said, taking the book from him. "And I learned something."
Han jerked his chin up in question as Luke placed it back down on the table, careful to keep his page.
"If you're bored enough anything can become interesting."
He did a double-take, thrown by the dry, detached tone in Luke's voice, parsecs from the sand-dusted kid from Tatooine, both literally and figuratively, then turned to the huge, heavy glass bookcase. The kid seemed to have set himself the monumental task of reading every book in there, despite their weighty topics.
"Where're you up to?" he prompted, setting forward toward the bookcase on the far wall, aware of Jade's disapproving eyes on him. She didn't like him and she liked him being here with the kid even less, Han knew.
"Halfway across the fourth shelf down," Luke said, squinting over. The cavernous size of the room meant it was far enough away that all of the traditional hard-copy books merged into long stripes of somber-colored bindings.
Han opened the glass doors, stretching up. "So you actually read 'Command Substructures and Established Military Foundations Deconstructed'?" he quoted.
"Unfortunately yes," Luke replied easily.
"How about...What the hell is 'Blood Royal--Genealogical Justification for Autocracy'?"
"Very, very long," the kid said with feeling. "And utter rubbish."
The last seemed aimed far more toward Jade and the surveillance than himself, Han realized. But if she was at all offended, she hid it well.
"Want something to take away with you?" Luke asked. "I can recommend...well, none of those actually. Maybe the fleet command structures one. Might come in useful one day."
"Thanks," Han said dryly, shaking his head. "Knowing who's tellin' 'em to shoot at me doesn't really help that much if they're still shooting."
"At least you'd know who to curse."
"Ah, I don't need to know a rank for that, I can curse freestyle." Han grinned lopsidedly, heading back to the table and pulling out a chair. "You gonna deal those cards or what?"
The kid settled down opposite, shuffling the old-fashioned cards. "Sabacc or aster?"
"Aster first. Then I'll show you how to really play sabacc."
Luke smiled wickedly. "You said that last week."
"I was lulling you into a false sense of security," Han said, taking the elaborate perennium-inlaid ivory chips from the small, ebony-inlaid box so considerately provided with the deck of antique cards. He was hoping to take these with him when they left, too.
Lifting his eyebrows doubtfully, Luke dealt...and the game commenced. Only it wasn't a game at all--or at least, not one which actually required cards.
"Okay then...immediately, I'm gonna put twenty on this," Han said easily, pushing two of the exquisite chips forward from his stacked pile after studying and rearranging the eight cards in his hand.
Luke glanced up; immediately meant right outside the door, and following this week's information request, chips represented guards.
Han grinned. "See, you thought I was gonna bet a round dozen, didn't you?"
"That's the usual amount."
"Well let me tell ya, pal, I'm just gonna be throwin' chips all over today, like I'm made of 'em. I'm bettin' on staves--red suit."
Red; all Royal Guard. No blue-suited Palace Guards. Nodding, Luke slid four five-denomination chips of his own out into the pot, then turned one card from the central deck face up, studying his own hand with feigned interest before taking it and laying a random card of his own down in its place, feigning play.
"See, that's no good to me, what'd you put that down for?" Han contrived, then, "No wait, I'll take it."
"I dunno, I think that counts as a refusal," Luke said, but Han was already taking the card.
"No, no, see, I got a ranked card." Han placed the Master face-card down, which meant he was talking about the central stairwell in the MainPalace. Gradually, painstakingly, each of the face cards had been assigned a place within the Palace, so that questions about specific areas could be asked and answered surreptitiously, checked by Han on the way up. He slid three ten-denomination chips into the pot, the total of thirty making Luke's eyebrows rise.
"Seriously?" he asked.
"Hey, I think I can count cards," Han said, offended.
"Tell me you're not still betting on staves."
"Nah, flasks," Han replied easily: Palace Guards.
"That's a big bet," Luke said thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Han agreed. "Looks like that's the way it goes."
"So you're gonna bet big all day?"
" 'Fraid so. Wait till I get an ace."
Ace was the main Tower entrance, always well-guarded. Luke raised his eyebrows, uneasy.
"I'll double that, easy," Han warned, glancing back at the pot of stacked chips.
"Any particular reason why you're betting big today?" Luke said casually as he rearranged his cards.
Han shook his head. "Hey, just betting on what's in front of me. Maybe I like to keep you on your toes."
"Believe me, I am on my toes."
"Ah, c'mon, this is a stroll," Han said, cutting short his preferred term for ridiculous odds; 'A stroll through the Death Star.'
"Have you seen the pot?" Luke glared meaningfully at the pile of intricately-tooled chips on the table, representing just a fraction of the number of guards they'd need to get through to get out of the Palace.
"That's just 'cos you're looking at the whole pot at once," Han dismissed.
"We don't have enough chips to look at the whole pot at once," Luke replied pointedly.