maybe this will get us to talk about Force kids

[for_everyone]

When the girl returned, it was with a newly constructed lightsaber.It took the place of the shattered one she had carried before, that rumor had it had once belonged to Anakin Skywalker. Those pieces she had presented to Leia Organa – and what had been done with them, the General had kept to herself. Many had nudged Hera to share what she knew of it, as close as she was to Leia, but Hera could truthfully say she had no idea. Though of course, she also hadn't asked.

Rey's return had been greeted with great excitement from those on base – the curious troops had poured out into the landing fields, only giving way for her friends to greet her. She had been quiet at first, but after a few hours, with enough coaxing, she did share her new lightsaber - one thing from her secret travels to learn more about the old secrets of the Force, and the Jedi Order. That new saber turned out to be two bright blue blades that glided smoothly through the air as she swung it, as she had once her old staff, that was now perhaps just a relic of her old life as a scavenger.

What else she learned while she was gone, Rey kept to herself, or at least didn't share with many. Maybe with the General. Maybe with her close friends.

And when others asked Hera about this – that's when she had to lie. To an extent.

Her presence lifts the spirits of everyone on base. Though the Resistance has rebuilt, their numbers spreading across the Galaxy, the First Order has responded with the viciousness of a cornered sleeth, forcing the Resistance into battle by brutalizing civilians, repaying any strike against them by slaughtering whomever was unlucky enough to fall within their reach. What they needed wasn't just a fighting force, even with the progress they'd made to build one.

They had to face the heart of the First Order, the infamous Kylo Ren. Rey gave them hope, or so it was said.

Hope is for the dead. That's what her father had said. For the living, there's work.

Hera can see her in the far distance – Rey has retreated to a deep, rocky valley a few kliks away from the base. The wind is whipping harshly, the sky set with the rust red clouds that on this world preceded a lightning storm. Maybe she still has a few hours, maybe she doesn't mind. What Hera can really see, what she knows she can see, is the flash of her sabers as they spin, so fast, nothing but a tiny circle of spinning blue light.

And even so far, in her head, Hera can hear the slices of the blades through the air, the practiced rhythm of Rey's breath, the quick yet steady, soft steps, as though the ground were lifting up to meet her feet.

Comments

[grandadmiralartcritic]

Now he does smile, very slightly.

"Shall we part ways, then?"

A pause.

"Or -- no, that was never how this was going to end. Was it?"

[for_everyone]

"How do you imagine this ending, now?"

She doesn't look back. But she is listening.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Not quietly," He offers, after a moment of thought.

"Likely in battle against the First Order."

His smile has faded.

"One way or another."

[for_everyone]

"Ever the optimist."

Not that she's disagreeing.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Pure pessimism has always been self-defeating," he says.

Though a judicious soupçon of it rarely hurts.

[for_everyone]

"And what worries you more?" she asks, still not turning to him.

"That it won't end quietly, or that it will?"

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Perhaps that it won't end at all."

Thrawn is silent for a moment.

"This cycling between the Republic and the Empire grows . . . stale."

[for_everyone]

Her eyes lower.

"That sounds more like the you. Before."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"The rationale is . . . different, now, I believe. I think less about an interesting conflict and more that . . . the galaxy deserves better than such a closed loop."

It is a strange feeling, that.

[for_everyone]

"Maybe."

She shakes her head. "But they're not the same, interchangeable. The Republic and the Empire."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I am aware. Only this time it might be . . . preferable, I suppose, were members of the First Order not able to sneak away and continue fostering their particular brand of imperialism out in the Unknown Regions. Or perhaps Wild Space, this time."

Tthe real question is how to prevent that. Well, amongst all the other questions that develop during an armed conflict.

[for_everyone]

"Probably not," she agrees, quietly.

"But they weren't the only ones who admired the Empire."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"No," Thrawn agrees.

"And I regret that for myself. Which, on the whole, changes nothing."

[for_everyone]

"On the whole, you've changed a lot."

Not what had already happened, but certainly would could have.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Living tends to do that, as I have learned," he says, exhaling and looking out toward the horizon again.

"Alas that, for many, my own lessons came too late."

[for_everyone]

It's not for Thrawn's benefit that, in this moment, she doesn't linger on the past. As that saber spins in the distance, the future seems to be speeding closer, closing in on her. Whatever she can or will do, Hera knows she's running out of time.

"It didn't for everyone."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"No."

He shakes himself free of any remnants of regret, at least for now.

"And we are both, after all, still alive. It seems as if there is more work that needs doing."

[for_everyone]

"And if we're still alive after this ends -"

Finally, she does look back at him, "- how would you stop it from happening again?"

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Presuming that eradicating the entire First Order and all their hangers-on and supporters is both extreme and extremely impossible . . . "

He trails off for a moment, turning to look back at her.

"Education and some form of seat at the table?"

[for_everyone]

"You asked us to show leniency the last time, Thrawn," she points out, her own voice mild.

And he'd benefited from it, though he hadn't asked it for himself.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"I did," he says.

"And look what such matters have done for the First Order's recruitment drives. Though, to be fair, their threats would carry significant weight even without Imperial sympathizers remaining behind."

Hmm.

[for_everyone]

With a tilt to her head -

"You also once told me that even my enemies have families."

[grandadmiralartcritic]

He smiles, very faintly.

"I have not forgotten. But it means . . . different things, perhaps, than it used to."

To him, at least. Somewhat.

[for_everyone]

Her eyes turn away from him again.

"I don't have an easy answer," she says. "Other than that we should have been more vigilant. They'll have to be more vigilant."

Their children will have to be more vigilant - and Hera wonders how likely that will be, if they do succeed in ending this now.

'Ending.' Her own homeworld was enough to caution her against thoughts like that.

[grandadmiralartcritic]

"Fortunately," Thrawn says, only a little dryly, "vigilance and the practice thereof is a skill which can be learned."

"I suppose the difficulty still lies in choosing who shall teach it."