Chapter Text
Over the years many people had asked Eli if he wanted to ‘go home’. It was assumed he still carried love and longing for the Lessor Space of his origins but this was not so. He would counter their question with a question of his own: “Where exactly was ‘home’ for a traitor whose parents thought him dead in another different war which he had abandoned over ten years ago?”
No one had ever had an answer to that one. So Eli would smile, remind them he served the Ascendancy now and if the war ended he would be worse than an orphan- an alien stuck in a strange land.
The day did come the service no longer had use for him and it came violently. When Eli was finally released from the fleet medcenter on Naporar he was also released of his duty to a government which had merely tolerated his presence during all these years of war.
It was strange to be a civilian again, since the last time he bore the title he was barely twenty-two, and now he no longer had the drive of carefree youth to start a second career. Going back to his home world of Lysatra wasn’t even a dream he had anymore and the thought of returning to more conflict in Lessor Space wearied him.
So he decided to take up residence on Rentor. It was a beautiful world, very much like Lysatra in temperature and geography; it was also where the love of his life had been born. It seemed a fitting place to waste away his remaining days.
Eli bought a small house, within hearing distance of a beautiful blue green sea and lots of land. His entire sum of worldly possessions fit in a duffle bag which made moving in very easy. He followed his doctor’s final orders to allow his body and heart more time to heal, which took a lot longer then he would like.
Once Eli felt more like himself again he took off to the woods. Now he spent his days exploring his new kingdom from first to last light. He found new joy in reconnecting with the grass and trees which kept him company in his youth. There was no shortage of interesting bugs, birds, and hairy pests to watch and admire.
He would come back to the house at night tired from fresh air and sun. But he dreaded the coming of night with its loneliness and isolation. Tired of only having himself to talk to he got a pair of growser pups to join him in frolicking on the beach or hunting in the forest; they were good and welcomed company.
Eli kept to himself but was friendly with his neighbors and the town folk. Occasionally he would have visitors from the stars but it wasn’t frequent enough to make him add amenities to his current accommodations. The house was barebones but functional to his needs which were few. A place to ride out the night and maybe sleep if the ghosts would let him, a warm shelter from the rainy days, and quiet when the roar of the battlefield came back too loudly.
Time passed largely unnoticed by him now as Eli had nowhere to be and no one waiting on him- he came and went like the proverbial whisperbird. Seasons cycled, the land changed accordingly and Eli found something almost like contentment. As long as he wasn’t alone with his thoughts and broken heart too long he found his new life fairly tolerable.
Until one evening.
He had lingered in the heart of his forest later than usual as it was a warm early summer day and every inch was green and vibrating with life. It had been hard to tear himself away from all the happy activity of a healthy woodland bursting with songs and color. The fading daylight finally forced him to cease his wandering and return to base.
As Eli stepped from the tree line he was greeted by something so unexpected and jarring it stopped him dead in his tracks.
Folded up neatly in the small area between his garden and the house was an Imperial Lambda class transport shuttle. Even at this distance he could tell it was very much worse for wear.
The hounds took off yipping in excitement, and with a strangely pounding heart Eli followed. In the dim light he could make out a figure seated in the chair on the porch who stood as he approached. His unexpected guest was tall, lean and achingly familiar.
No. It couldn’t be.
“Hello Eli,”
It was.
Eli would know that voice anywhere. He made some command to the swarming hounds sending them back into the yard to explore the shuttle. Eli slowly climbed the porch steps wondering if he was really dead this time or if he were still lying in that sterile chamber back on Naporar and this had all been a dream.
It was not a dream.
Standing on his own porch was Mitth’raw’nuruodo. Thrawn smiled at him with tired eyes in an more careworn face then Eli remembered. His unkempt hair was white at the temples now and his back a little less straight. The years had not been kind to him either.
None of that mattered to Eli. Missing the top step completely he tumbled into Thrawn’s arms with a breathless sob of delight. Thrawn held him tightly and Eli could feel him trembling.
“It is you.” Eli whispered cradling Thrawn’s face in both hands before kissing him deeply. Repeatedly.
Unnoticed behind them the sun flared orange one last time before dipping behind the edge of the sea cloaking them in soft darkness. The nocturnal creatures began their nightly serenades unheard by either. The porch light kicked on spotlighting them like statues on display.
It still felt like a dream; even with warm skin and solid bone beneath his fingers Eli swore he was asleep or dead. Right now he was okay with either as long as he never had to be parted from Thrawn again.
“Are you hungry?” Eli asked. Thrawn looked like he could use many good meals made with love and fresh vegetables.
“I could eat.” Thrawn grinned, brushing a lock of Eli’s unruly hair behind his ear.
Taking Thrawn’s rough hand in his own, Eli called the hounds who came romping. They barged by to be first inside as Eli opened the door.
“Welcome home darlin’.”