Chapter Text
After Spark of Rebellion
“You did good today.” Kanan looked up to see Hera standing in the doorway to his cabin. The Twi’lek was silhouetted against the bright light of the hallway, her lekku twitching from side to side in a condescending manner as she stood with one hand on the doorframe the other on her hip. He knew her too well to be able to understand the subtleties of her posture without being able to see even her face. A tiny voice in the back of his head reminded him that he knew her far better than almost anyone else he had come across in the large galaxy.
“You mean with the Wookies?” He said as he leaned back placing his hands behind his head and giving her a cocky smile, still struggling to grasp onto the wild and aimless image of the man he had been when she had met him years ago.
Hera stepped fully into the room, her green skin visible under the lights of his cabin as the door slid automatically shut behind her. “I mean the kid.” She snapped back at him as she came to stand with her arms across her chest, she wasn’t in the mood to put up him his false persona at the moment.
He let out a deep sigh of frustration as his cocky exterior broke. Kanan scooted over on the low bunk allowing her enough room to sit down next to him. He was at a loss. The kid, Ezra. The kid had a name, he had to remind himself. Ezra had without a doubt a connection to the Force, more than just a passing whim but a connection on part to the one that he did, a connection which in a different point of time would have led itself to a title. It was an undeniable realization, but one Kanan begrudgingly had. He didn’t know how to be that, he didn’t know how to teach. He didn’t want to teach. Heck most days he was still reluctant to be actively fighting against the Empire.
He turned and looked at her with a sharp glance. “Don’t get your hopes up.” He muttered as he looked at her.
“Just try and help him love.” Hera said softly. “You don’t have to turn him into the greatest Jedi that ever lived.”
Kanan scoffed. “I don’t even know if I can turn him into a Jedi.” Just saying the word was hard most days.
Hera inhaled slowly. He could tell she was disappointed. She had always been pushing him, trying to rein him in and turn him slowly into somebody who not only paid attention to what the Empire was doing but also fought against it. She had succeeded for the most part, not that he would ever tell her that. But she already knew to expect little gratification for such matters.
She placed a hand on his leg. “Better you than the Empire.” She said softly.
“Hera.” He cut back at her tensely rolling his eyes.
“Kanan.” She snapped right back at him.
He said nothing. At times, there was nothing to say back to her. He raised his hands high over her head letting one of his arms fall across her shoulders. She reached up with her own green hand pulling out his hair tie and running her fingers though his long hair. He didn’t particularly care for the pulling sensation it caused along his scalp but he knew that it was something she got a modicum of pleasure out of, so he let her continue otherwise.
They sat in silence, Hera running her fingers through his hair with a grin on her face. All around them the sounds of the Ghost continued. Metal scraping, the sounds of air whooshing through the vents, the ship was alive and filled with far more occupants than it had ever had before. It had once seemed so large, and now the family that they had made were beginning to outgrown the humble confines of the freighter.
“I’ll do the best I can.” Kanan whispered.
“I know you will.” She murmured back to him. “And you’ll do far better than you think you can.” She added.
He chuckled appreciating the confidence when he himself had so little. He wasn’t even really a real Jedi himself. He just pulled out the lightsaber when he wanted to show off, when he wanted to make a stand of force to intimidate others. He had nearly spent as much time away from the Jedi Temple that he ever had in it at this point. How could he teach someone to be a Jedi when he himself had walked away from so much of that life. But Hera was right, if not him then who. The Empire would either turn Ezra into a weapon or kill him. There was a reason he hadn’t run into any other Jedi since the fall of the Republic, the Empire had made sure they didn’t exist anymore. He wasn’t just fighting for his own life anymore, he was protecting someone else’s as well. And giving the Empire hell while he was at it.
“Karabast.” Kanan muttered. Hera chuckled they had all managed to pick up the Lasat’s favorite expletive over time. “The things I do for you.” He added as he looked into her large green eyes. She had changed him for good, but he had allowed her to as well.
He had fallen under her spell, enthralled with everything she did. Not just because she was a Twi’lek. It was the unconventional attributes that made her attractive in his eyes. She had rebelled against everything she was supposed to be. She had chosen to be a pilot and a rebel because it was the only way she was going to get to live her life on her own terms. She was held up by her own moral code, just like he was. And yet she was just different enough not to be a mirror to him. Together they simply fit, together they could run up against the Empire for a lifetime and never be bored with one another. “You’re right.”
She smiled even wider as he leaned against his shoulder. “I’m always right.”
There was a loud bang from somewhere in the ship followed by a low growl. They both separated and sat up completely alert. “I don’t know if Ezra and Zeb together was a good idea.” Kanan finally said aloud after the noise died down.
She looked at him, with a small wrinkle of her nose. The other alternative was Ezra bunking with Kanan which was not ideal. Not at least to the unspoken relationship they had. Behind closed doors, when no one was looking they were…. Neither of them had ever moved to label their relationship. But it was far longer a relationship that either of them ever had before. They had never given it a label, they had never expressly professed anything but… they both knew they would do anything for the other.
“I know, I know, it makes this easier.” Kanan muttered as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders once more. Her lekku twitched in a gesture which he had taken to interpret as affection. “When the kids aren’t looking.” He muttered under his breath. “Grows harder every day when we take on more kids.”
She sighed in exasperation. “Don’t worry it will work out with the boys. I know it will.”
“Sometimes you talk like you’re the Jedi.” Kanan shot back.
She shrugged. “Someone has to.” She replied with a heavy sigh as she closed her eyes. For a moment she looked as if she would fall asleep. Then she leaned over and kissed him gently on the forehead like the habit that it was. “Don’t stay up too late, we have to find work in the morning.” She added as she stood up and walked to the doorway back to her own cabin across the hall.