for_everyone | (no subject)

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The ship does land in one piece. As she'd suspected from the moment she saw it, the stolen ship is a rare Imperial shuttle made for stealth. She leans easily into these controls, quietly whipping through space, even after it became apparent that the patrolling TIEs had been ordered to find the ship's escaped prisoners. Hera had dodged among them, evading their scopes and radars, as she flew the shuttle far out enough to make the jump to hyperspace. In the end, it was only one unfortunate fighter that managed to catch sight of her.

The shuttle's weapons systems are nothing special, she learned. But they did the job.

The jump to Batuu was only about three hours, even with the slightly roundabout route Hera decided to take. The girls, fortunately, seem to be accustomed to space travel. Occasionally they whisper to each other, but otherwise, they tend to stay quiet unless Hera speaks to them. About an hour in, Hera recommends that they get some sleep, and the girls don't object.

It's midafternoon at Black Spire when they reach the planet. Hera is careful on her approach, avoiding likely lanes of traffic – she doesn't want to run into questions about the stolen shuttle she's flying. But then, most who visit Batuu aren't the type to ask questions. But she still chooses to land the shuttle in a clearing, surrounded by dense forest, about five kliks downriver of the outpost.

As the shuttle touches down, she turns to the girls. "Are you all right?"

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All right.

Hera doesn't like any of that. But it does make her somewhat calmer. She looks away from the girls, and takes a sip from her glass of meiloorun juice.

"What do you want to do?"

"Our duty," Wrema says, and while Sucasa stays silent, she does nod.

"We're needed. But when we're not . . . do you think there's somewhere good we could look to go?"

Her eyes on Hera are wide with hope.

"You've traveled everywhere. And you know a lot of languages."

"I don't think anyone's traveled everywhere," she says gently.

"What kind of place do you want to go to?"

Edited 2019-04-23 02:09 (UTC)

"Some place big and open," Sucasa says eagerly.

"Some place with people," Wrema puts in. "Maybe even a few cities. And I can go to school for something."

Hera looks down at her food, giving herself a moment to keep her voice steady.

"Well," she says quietly, "There are some planets that are all one big city, like Coruscant and Vardos. And then there are worlds that only have a few, spread out settlements. Whether you like them might depend on what kind of environment you like."

"I like the sky!" Sucasa says eagerly. "And trees."

Wrema smiles a little. "I've liked everything so far."

Here, anyway.

"What kind of environment do you like?" Sucasa asks Hera, swinging her legs back and forth again.

Hera takes another moment to answer, as she listens to Sucasa's legs thump back and forth.

"I grew up in a desert," she tells them. "It was hot in the day and cold at night, and there wasn't always much to eat, but there were plenty of places to explore."

"I don't like being cold," Sucasa says, kicking her heels against her seat's supports.

"I don't like being hungry," Wrema adds. "I don't think anybody does. But the exploring -- did you get to do that whenever you wanted?"

"I got to do it a lot," Hera says. "Sometimes I climbed up mountains to look at the stars, or walked through the tall canyons near my home."

"I like the stars," Wrema offers, with Sucasa chiming in a moment later with, "They look the same everywhere, even if they're different."

Sucasa finishes her juice and sets her hands back in her lap.

Wrema, meanwhile, is regarding Hera with very wide eyes.

"Did you get all the way up the mountain? Aren't they very, very tall?"

"Some of them are very tall," Hera says to Wrema. "But the ones I climbed weren't usually that tall. But they still made me feel closer to the stars.

She's quiet again for a moment, but then says, "When I was a young girl, that's as close as I could get."

"Now you live in them?"

Wrema's voice is quiet when she asks that question, and Sucasa remains silent, both of them waiting for Hera's answer.

"I guess, in a way, that's true," Hera answers quietly.

"I don't live on a planet anymore."

Wrema bites her lip this time.

"Do you miss it?"

Both girls really want to know.

Sucasa wants to know other things, too. "But you're on a planet now. You can stay as much as you want."

"Sometimes I miss it," she tells them, her eyes blinking between the two of them. "And sometimes I miss the people there. But I love to fly, and I..."

She lets out a breath. And, perhaps, carefully chooses her words. "I have work to do out there."

"You have a duty," Wrema says firmly, because that makes sense to her.

"We understand."

Sucasa just nods ferociously.

"I think you do."

In a way, they do.

Yet, she adds, "But I chose mine."

Sucasa appears to accept this with equanimity, but Wrema frowns a little.

"You said you love to fly."

How is that a choice?

Hera looks to Wrema, considering.

"We can't always choose to do what we love."

Sucasa looks up, scooting closer to Wrema on the bench.

"Why not?"

"Sometimes our duty calls us to do something else," Hera says.

"And some people aren't given any choice at all."

"Is that important?" Sucasa's voice remains quiet, and Wrema reaches out to pat her hand.

"You sound like it is."

Among the Chiss, every person has their role. The Aristocra tells them so. It's the clearest thing in all their lives.

"I think it is."

Hera's not really sure what cultural minefield she might be wading into here. She hasn't spent enough time with Thrawn to think on that. But she also thinks these girls deserve the truth.

"Sometimes there are things we have to give up, for others. But I think we should have a choice in that, too."

Wrema and Sucasa think about that for a little while, and then Sucasa looks up, squaring her tiny shoulders.

"I want to help my people. I don't want them to get lost."

She doesn't reach out to take Wrema's hand, even as the older girl looks away for a moment, as if to get her expression under control. And when Wrema looks back --

"I want to help them, too. Until I can't anymore."

Sucasa chimes in with, "Then I want to come back here!"

Wrema doesn't move to object.

"All right."

It gives Hera a little comfort. Not that she's feeling she has much of a choice about any of this.

"If you're done eating, maybe we should move on."