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These days, the most reliable downtime they could get came during hyperspace jumps. Locked in for eight hours, Hera had drafted Kanan and Chopper into doing maintenance with her, and told the others to get some rest. Whether they were actually doing this, Hera wasn't sure - the distant sound of Mando sonic punk and occasional shouts from the cargo bay made her think otherwise. But then, as much as they might all need sleep, Hera knew that post-mission tension is always hard to shake off.

She and Chopper arrive in the galley first, while Kanan's still finishing a diagnostic on the dorsal gun. Hera asks Chopper to run a final systems check, ignoring his grumbling as she moves to make caf. Once he's plugged at a console near the doorway, Chopper blurts at her again.

"Yeah, I know," she says, while she powers up the brewer. "I'll get to it later."

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"Don't tell me something else is acting up," Kanan says, coming into the galley. He's got smudges of soot on his fingers (and his face) after having to tweak some of the wiring in the console, given that the diagnostic kept throwing up errors in calibration.

"If it did, I bet Chopper broke it. He's got it out for me."

He's kidding. Mostly.

"But dorsal gun's up and running again. Should shoot a little better this time, too. Some loose wires were shorting out one of the modules."

"Thanks, I'll have a look and get some new insulators when I have a chance."

Hera pulls out a couple of cups, and puts them on the table. "And nope, Chop's just concerned about our caf intake."

Chopper blurts again, annoyed that Hera would suggest he cares.

"Maybe your caf intake," Kanan says, doing his best to undercut this suggestion of Chop being sentimental. This is in no way because he fears Chopper's revenge for Kanan hearing this revelation.

Not at all.

"And, yeah to the insulators. Any time. I'll run diagnostics on the rest of our armaments, too, but -- later. I think we both deserve a break while the kids are busy."

Kids, and one fully adult Lasat.

"Thanks for making the caf."

Chopper squawks at this, and Hera looks up from filling their cups. "Chop, you'll get it done a lot faster if you stop complaining about it."

A moment later, she brings the cups over to the table, sliding Kanan's toward him. "Don't thank me too much, it's not the good stuff."

Kanan's mouth purses as Hera speaks, because he can already taste the battery-acid tang on his tongue.

But also, all caf is good caf, when you really don't want to sack out, for whatever reason.

"Eh, it's hot. I'll take it."

He fields the sliding cup, lifting it immediately to his mouth. What's a scalded tongue to getting some energy back? Also, not having all his weight on his feet is a welcome change from the rest of the day.

"It's kinda nice, being able to appreciate the quiet."

From the cargo bay, there is some loud clanging, and one quickly cut-off shout, but he's not getting up again.

"Relative quiet."

Hera answers with a soft "mmmm," as she takes her own seat at the table, lifting her cup to take a sip of caf.

And she lets that relative quiet linger for the moment. Her shoulders relax a little, she presses her fingers into the warm sides of her cup. At the door, Chopper finishes his final diagnostic, and rolls over next to Hera. Even he stays mostly quiet, and Hera reaches out, sliding her fingers over his head plating and eliciting a soft grumble from him.

Along with the occasional commotion from the cargo bay, the music shifts to warbat trance. Not long after, Hera starts to tap her foot softly on the floor, following the beat.

Edited 2023-09-14 06:57 (UTC)

Aw. She's petting Chop. Does a part of Kanan wish he could do that? Maybe.

Will he ever try?

(Does he look like an idiot?)

But the sight of Hera relaxing, even a little, unclenches something in his chest, and he leans back in his own seat, sipping meditatively at his caf. And, only half thinking about it, when Hera starts tapping to the beat, he starts humming along. Singing along, very quietly, too, once he knows some of the words. It's a very intermittent thing.

Hera's tapping doesn't stop. The corners of her mouth rise, very slightly.

But at least for the moment, she continues to sip her caf, and doesn't join in.

Kanan looks up at that change in her expression, realizing that he's been singing under his breath.

"What?" he says, smiling in turn, "you're telling me you don't want to sing along, too?"

Hera shakes her head gently, her eyes still on her caf.

"I'm all right for now, Kanan."

It isn't the first time Kanan has nudged her this way, since Ryloth. But unfortunately for him, her response has been consistent.

"You sure?"

It's not that it cuts at him, that she doesn't sing. But he saw how much she connected with it, with singing, back on Ryloth. Maybe it's not the right company, but . . .

"It's just -- it seemed like you liked it. Before. And I thought -- "

It gets her hackles up quick. But it's not easy to explain why; her nerves jolt, every thought and movement jumps to her defense, as though he were proposing something actually dangerous. Hera could almost wish for a TIE fighter ambush just to put her at ease.

"It's just - not about that -" Hera answers, mostly keeping her voice even.

But Chopper doesn't miss her discomfort, and blats at Kanan, waving his arms. You sing something, and an insult that sounds best in binary.

Edited 2023-09-19 01:34 (UTC)

Kanan can feel her hackles go up -- not through the Force, not really, but just because he knows her, and he cares, and he's paying attention.

And --

"Okay," he says instead. " I mean, if you want to talk, I'd like to hear. But."

His expression flattens a little and he casts a quick glare at Chopper, just because he hates giving the old chaotic plague any encouragement.

"Chop's right. I can -- sing something. If you want. Instead. Or -- "

"All right."

She says it quickly, trying to catch Kanan before he can back down. Chopper had already calmed her nerves, because, well - she'd thought the idea was funny, and assumed Kanan would just taunt Chop back. But now -

"I'd like to hear that."

It is a funny idea, probably. But while Kanan's voice is untrained, it's not a bad voice. Just rough, and with no falsetto to speak of. Still, it works for a lot of different songs, especially common ones shared on a battlefield.

(Definitely not jatz).

"Okay. Sure. Uh, I can do that."

What to sing, though? The bass in the song they can barely here isn't really similar to any songs he knows well, but if he just focuses on the rhythm, maybe he can find something that works.

He taps a few beats on the tabletop, setting the pace, and then, trying desperately not to pay attention to Hera's reaction, he starts singing.

Kanan can remember similar but not identical voices raised in song around campfires on several planets, with his Master occasionally lending her own voice to the song. There was determination in it, and resistance to the powerful, and a hope of homecoming.

Maybe now is an okay time to revisit that. He's going to try, anyway.

Edited 2023-09-24 02:10 (UTC)

It wasn't the idea of Kanan singing that was funny to her, so much that - she really hadn't expected him to agree, to offer the same openness he'd asked of her.

Hera hasn’t heard the melody or the words before, and yet there’s an easy familiarity to them. The notes follow a minor scale, leaving a soft chill in their wake. The words tell of a great treasure, but in a sorrowful tone, as the singer imagines this will lead them far from their home, and from everything they’ve known. Kanan doesn’t need to sing for very long before Hera has recognized the pattern of the notes, can anticipate the lyrics.

By the end of the first verse, Hera picks up the song, her voice curling a gentle harmony around Kanan’s.

Edited 2024-05-04 20:16 (UTC)

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