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Hera never brings him food herself. She does usually help prepare it – she has a better sense of the Terran diet than most, and when it comes down to it, she doesn't fully trust the others not to poison a meal they know is going to their half-Terran 'guest.' But she always finds someone she does trust to take it into him. And then, at first, she'd waited, leaving him to eat alone before she entered his room.

She kept to the first. But the second, she gradually eased. Hera remembered how total her isolation had been, and what had eased in her when she'd grown used to sharing meals. That was something she could do, even if she wouldn't serve him.

So the time she waits becomes shorter and shorter. Until today, when it's only a few minutes after seeing Muroc exit the makeshift cabin that she approaches. She nods to the guard, and then though she doesn't have to, she knocks on the door. She doesn't wait for an answer before entering the room.

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"You haven't played it?"

She can't quite hide her surprise in her voice.

"It's a Terran game," he emphasizes. "And I'm not, really."

He's not looking at her while he says that.

But Hera does look at him, for a moment, before her eyes fall back to the board.

"Then maybe you will learn something."

She runs her fingers over the pieces, then closes them around one, lifting it closer to Kanan.

"This is the king," she says. "The object of the game is to trap this piece. That's called 'checkmate.'"

Hera puts the piece back down, and adds, "I read that the word comes from an old Terran language, meaning 'the king is dead.'"

"Long live the king."

Kanan's voice is bitter, and he flinches at the sound. He didn't intend to say it like that.

Hera's eyes flicker up, but just for a moment.

"The king can only move one square in any direction. Which means that while the most important piece, he's also one of the weakest."

Edited 2018-08-16 17:03 (UTC)

"If only that were true," Kanan mutters, then shoves that voice down and away, because now is not the time.

"Sorry. Which one's the strongest, then?"

Hera moves her hand, tapping the piece next to the king.

"The queen can move in any direction, and any number of squares at a time."

Kanan watches her for a long, silent moment.

"Hard to anticipate, then?"

"And a good distraction."

Hera lifts her hand away again. "You can't ignore her, and most of the time, you don't want to lose her."

There's a wariness in his gaze again.

"Only most of the time?"

Hera tilts her head.

"There might be a strategy, or gambit, that involves sacrificing her. But usually, that won't be until near the end of the game."

"To ensure victory," Kanan says, because . . . that makes sense.

"And if you trick them into thinking victory is within their grasp when it's not -- "

"Or keep their eyes on one front and off another."

Hera nods.

Edited 2018-08-16 18:09 (UTC)

"Does it really work on th -- "

Them. He cuts himself off, blinking hard.

"Terrans."

Hera thinks about this, her eyes still on the board.

"When he taught it to me," she begins, "the Commander said that the game isn't a good metaphor for battle itself, but works to practice one's understanding of their opponent."

She glances up to him, for a few seconds, and then back down again as she speaks. "The Terrans created this game. That suggests their understanding of one another recognizes the potential for distraction, to jump at phantom victories, to see a prize they can't resist."

"Do they know that about themselves?"

Kanan goes quiet for a second, thinking back -- it's not all that far back, for all that it feels like forever, sometimes.

"And if they do, do they let it change how they are?"

"They used to know it."

The game is ancient, and though it's not easy for Hera to contemplate, she has to recognize that Terrans likely changed over time.

"What they know now, and how they let it affect them - it must depend on the Terran. But you must know something about what the Empire values."

"Viciousness," Kanan says, without hesitation this time.

He means it.

Hera doesn't even blink at this. She nods, as though it were just the answer she'd expected.

"Viciousness usually means looking for ways to cause pain. It's single-minded, and not very vigilant."

"They have people for that."

The less vicious. The differently vicious.

She thinks over these words, as her fingers move over the bishop, and knight.

"Everyone has a way of thinking, that you can learn to anticipate."

"I don't want to know them."

That comes out fast, too, but he's already wincing back from having said it out loud.

Again, Hera shows no surprise at this.

"I don't think we have much of a choice."

Edited 2018-08-16 19:39 (UTC)

"You can't feel them like I -- "

He shivers.

"No," she agrees, quietly.

"I haven't felt them like that."