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Normally Eli slept through the night. Entirely. No distracting thoughts to keep him awake, no pestering memories to recall from the recesses of the forgotten horrors corridor of the mind. Not even hunger woke him from his dreamless slumber.
So when he opened his eyes to the darkness all around and faced his Chrono to read 3 in the morning, Eli was perplexed by this interruption.
He took a moment to assess his body functions and needs: adequate.
His comfort level: also adequate.
Conditions of the shared quarters: abnormal.
Thrawn was missing from his bunk.
Eli pushed himself upright to stare at the tousled blanket and abandoned sleepwear. Both appeared used and tossed aside haphazardly, as though Thrawn had at one time tried to sleep, but gave up the effort. Eli knew his Chiss roommate occasionally had odd sleeping hours, but he never seemed to be gone in the middle of the night. At least, not outside curfew.
Eli tried to recount if Thrawn had some important meeting with someone or other. No one at this time of morning. And Thrawn was in good health, as far as Eli knew. With the exception of one sick day when their class had a mandatory trip to the Coruscant Museum of Galactic Art and Culture, Thrawn had perfect attendance. Did he have any morning duties? Negative again. Forgotten homework assignment? Eli actually openly scoffed at that particular idea. Thrawn’s memory was impeccable.
So why was he gone?
Naturally, Eli’s first instinct was to don his cadet uniform and search for him. But that was quickly done away with. It was, after all, past curfew, and being the wild space yokel, he was more likely to be punished heavily if caught. Furthermore, he was sure Thrawn could fend for himself. After all, he had a many number of years already served in the military beyond the imperial syste-
But Thrawn didn’t fend for himself. He depended on Eli for the social structure of the core of Imperial culture, the bureaucracy behind every twist and turn…Hells, even the language. Eli couldn’t even say Thrawn was particularly well versed in hand to hand combat, judging by his performance with the attack from fellow cadets only a week prior. Thrawn even still had some stitches in place…
Eli swooped out of bed in an instant, digging into his meager belongings to find some semblance of street clothing. Considering he left them on Myomar when he first came to Coruscant, and were still in processing for delivery, he came out empty handed. Eli winced as he thought of being caught in his cadet uniform out on the streets if he had to leave the academy.
Eli eyed his bed and considered his options. He remembered the days of his people when they had to make their own clothing when they first arrived in Lysatra. It was still common practice for the less wealthy families, or the traditionalists. And it was getting colder, so he supposed he could get away with a makeshift scarf out of his pillowcase by ripping the seam of the opposing side of the opening He wouldn’t blend in well with all the high fashion, but it would have to do. But even a scarf couldn’t hide his uniform patterning.
He lifted his tunic and inspected it carefully. He couldn’t ruin it, he only had two to his name. He wondered if…
He turned the article inside out after removing the rank plaque.
It appeared as a common grey and white open tunic with the seams little awkward. Still wouldn’t blend, but would be better than walking with no disguise at all.
Sneaking down the halls of the barracks made his heart pound and sweat gather at his temples. Every step was an echo after a blaster shot, and every breath was a stormy gust. Eli had never trespassed the rules before. Hardly on Lysatra, never on Myomar, and didn’t think he’d dare to do so here either. But yet this was his fate. Sneaking down the halls in desperation to find his roommate, who had no problems questioning and breaking the rules if he so desired.
He was disappointed to find no trace of Thrawn in the accessible part of the academy, which made his next job cumbersome as well as terrifying. Open Coruscant, it was then.
The sheer size of the city, enveloping an entire planet, it just seemed too immense of a concept to wrap his head around. Sure, there were cities on his homeworld, and easily their density could be comparable, but to fill an entire world…were there really enough beings in the galaxy to fill all that space? It seemed so, since within a half hour of sneaking down eighty levels and crossing the abyss that was the speeder highways with a shuttle to the neighboring walking platform, he was quickly swallowed up by the crowd.
It was far dirtier here. Not quite the risqué bars and drunken pirate den, but still not exactly reputable. It was very much unlike the crisp edges of skyscrapers and greenery filled squares of the upper district where the academy sat. Eli knew he would eventually see places like this, but he preferred to explore them with an accomplice, and hopefully with a working com link.
But it was the only way out of the academy through public transport. Without a speeder or appointment, the higher leveled platforms were off limits. And besides; Thrawn didn’t have those things either, so it meant he had to have gone this way. The question now, was where he went.
Eli quickly got out of the throng’s current and into a side building. It was a small foodstuffs shop, where the counter sold quick meals of the same variety as “street-stand food” but a little more refined. If refined could be applied to a place with peeling walls, grainy floor, and two tables with mismatched chairs.
“Anything you’d like, cadet?”
Eli jumped and whirled around to the counter, where a large being was leaned against it in a stained plain uniform, most likely being the owner. She was well built in mass, and mostly contained a human shape and dimensions, like Thrawn. However, the small lumps on her crown, the markings on her skin, added with the inhuman tan made her species apparent: Devaronian.
“What-I-I’m not a cadet.” Eli tried to deny, but she shook her head in almost disapproval.
“I know a cadet uniform when I see one,” she replied. “Though I’m surprised they let wild space in.”
Eli sighed, pushing his bed-tousled hair back from his eyes.
“Yeah I get that a lot…” he murmured. The Devaronian chuckled.
“Nah, I wasn’t meaning you, though you do have an accent. I was talking about that blue one.”
Eli immediately put all his attention on her, whirling around and approaching.
“You know about him?”
“Stopped by here to ask for directions. First thought he was Pantoran, but his accent gave him away. Sounded too foreign.”
“Directions to where?” Eli asked desperately, clinging to the lead he thanked his stars he stumbled into.
“That big museum that’s up 77 levels.” She said with a shrug. “Told him to not bother though. I mean, even if it was open, he can’t-”
She stopped. Eli was already gone.
Eli knew the building. He was there not too long ago. But why Thrawn would leave in the middle of the night to go to a museum, was a little beyond him. He was sick that day their class was supposed to go, so surely he could simply ask Deenlark for a pass to leave the academy. It’s not like Thrawn to take such an unnecessary risk, especially considering their vulnerable position socially.
The closed sign didn’t bother Eli in the slightest. He was already in trouble for leaving the academy, and he wasn’t planning on sticking around for too long anyway. Thrawn was inside, and if he was caught there while closed and without permit to leave the academy, it was likely eli would be in as much trouble. Deenlark already considered Eli as Thrawn’s keeper, and it was stupid to deny the truth in it.
Eli slipped in through a side door, most likely used by the tenants and employees. There was a large sign he had to shove out of the way in order for him to access the keypad to hack it. He always did have a knack for numbers. Simple.
The openness of the museum was staggering compared to the tight body to body claustrophobia inducing streets of Coruscant. It felt even more massive than Eli recalled, but he supposed he blamed that on the darkness and the emptiness of the room. He had to admit, it was an impressive place, but the layout was a tad bit confusing. No matter, he was there for a simple enough task.
“Simple enough” turned out to be the wrong phrase to describe his mission.
After getting lost twice, going in circles three times, and jumping at shadows at every noise, Eli was officially in an anxious frenzy. He had forgotten how many halls there were to the museum, and how many dead ends there were to this maze. His fear of being caught or discovered made him break into a run, desperation leading his actions instead of configuration. It turned out that his prize was out in the open the whole time, in a room not too far from the entrance.
Eli stumbled though the archway unceremoniously, nearly knocking into a pillar as he steadied himself. He breathed hard into the wall material, about to throw his hands up and call quits with a curse to Thrawn’s name, when he saw the hooded figure.
He sat on a bench in front of a sculpture, the swirling mass giving an eerie glow to the entire room as it moved. Thrawn had his folded hands pressed against his chin in contemplation, his eyes narrowed in deep pontification. The sunglasses he wore to hide his eyes sat on the cushion next to him, abandoned.
“Thrawn?” Eli’s voice echoed across the room, the lone figure turning around at hearing his name called.
“Cadet Vanto…” the reply, while still apathetic, gave a small hint of curious astonishment. Thrawn was taken off guard, a feat not many could boast. Eli would feel a sense of pride, had he not been preoccupied with relief.
“What are you doing here?” Eli asked, approaching.
“Studying the artworks.” Was the simple reply. Eli’s eyes closed in partial irritation.
“I can see that,” he responded. “what I mean is what are you doing here at night?”
Thrawn’s gaze softened back to pure apathy as he turned to the sculpture in front of him. When thrawn failed to answer, Eli took a seat beside him on the museum bench. Thrawn made no move or reaction, eyes pinned ahead.
“What do you think of it?” he asked, breaking the silence. Eli glanced at the sculpture, the writhing mass reminding him of some ocean or another of an alien world.
“Well…it’s…um…” Eli would be the first to admit art was not a strong point in his social and cultural studies.
“There is no fault in admitting ignorance.”
Eli narrowed his eyes towards Thrawn, punctuated by his scowl. He opened his mouth to return the comment with a snark of his own before Thrawn held up a blue hand.
“forgive me, that was not the intention I was attempting. I believe the word is…unknowing?”
“its unfamiliar,” Eli clarified, expression vanishing. “Or inexperienced. And no, I don’t know anything about it.”
“I admit I suspected you wouldn’t.” Thrawn returned his attention to the pice. “A pity. I was hoping you could enlighten me.”
“I don’t know the first thing about art,” Eli explained. “Numbers are more in my range.”
“I see…”
A pause.
“you uh…” Eli began again awkwardly. “You sneak out often?”
“Just this once.”
Eli sat on the bench next to Thrawn, saying, “why? And why come here?”
Thrawn was silent once again, and Eli caught a glimpse of his jawline tightening, an obvious attempt to hide an expression. Eli knew it was only obvious to himself, because he spent so much time with the Chiss. Everyone else probably just wouldn’t notice.
“I guess you don’t want to talk about it, huh?”
“I am not opposed to you knowing. Just what you may…” Thrawn spoke a word in Sy Bisti.
“How I may react?” Eli translated in skepticism. “I thought you knew I can’t judge. I’m already judged enough myself, what being the wild space guy. Kind of hypocritical if I judge you too.”
“I appreciate your decency,” Thrawn began. “But your personal judgement on my reasoning is not what is concerning.”
“Then what?”
Another pause, as though the Chiss beside him was weighing his options. But after a moment, he relented
“Do you recall the day I did not join your human peers in the trip to this location?”
Eli’s eyes widened.
“Uh…yeah, I remember.”
“And you recall I reported ill?”
“sure I remember.” Eli considered the day and remembered a particular detail. “But you didn’t seem at all sick when I got back.”
“No…” Thrawn paused another beat. “I was never ill.”
Eli stared.
“But if you weren’t ill…”
“Deenlark expressed a concern about protocols regarding the academy’s attendance to the museum, and suggested I stay behind.”
“Deenlark? Protocols? I don’t…” he trailed off, suddenly remembering the sign he had to move aside in order to break into the building. The sign after all had a reason for being there, and since it didn’t apply to Eli, he didn’t even actively acknowledge its existence. He never needed to. Until now.
“Human Facility Only; No Nonhumans Beyond This Point ”
“Oh…” was all Eli managed to say. At first he was overwhelmed by the guilt and shame of being human, and for not even noticing the xenophobic tendencies of his species culture when it was right in front of him. Then he became sad, knowing that so much knowledge was barred from so many people, including the person sitting next to him. Finally, he became angry; blindly and infuriatingly livid. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Why didn’t Thrawn say something? If not to Deenlark, then maybe the Emperor-
“Calm yourself, Eli. What is done, is done.”
“It’s…It’s just not right.” Eli said through gritted teeth, clutching the side of the bench in white knuckles.
“There are many things in the galaxy that are not right. This is just one of them.”
“But why didn’t you-”
“It is just the same as the ambush. I cannot contact authority on every prejudicial whim directed towards me.”
Eli glanced at the still visible stitches, frowned, and then stared at the swirling sculpture, silently demanding it to have the answers to all their problems.
“I truly appreciate your concern, however,” Thrawn said, as though he were trying to ease Eli’s anger.
“Much obliged…” he muttered through his teeth. “Still think you should’ve said something.”
“I am speaking of your determination to find me.” Thrawn corrected, the comment making Eli’s anger vanish instantly, turning it to confusion. Thrawn elaborated.
“It could not have been easy to do so in such an unfamiliar place, and you were not required to.”
Eli’s shock was written all over his face, but it was short lived.
“It’s no big deal,” he said, almost to himself.
They sat in relative silence in the darkness, the emergency lights being the only source of illumination. The only sounds between them was the occasional audible breath and the cycling air system. Though quiet between them seemed to stretch to eternity with tension and confused intent, this one was comfortable, each caught up in their own private thoughts. Eli didn’t even bother trying to figure out what was in Thrawn’s mind. The labyrinth was inaccessible, and Eli had enough of getting lost for one night.
Or morning.
The sun slowly started turning the sky from black to darkened green and blue. They should be returning soon, or else they would miss morning role and mess. And then the academy would definitely notice their absence.
“We should go.” Eli murmured, almost guilty for breaking the peaceful silence. Thrawn didn’t move for a beat, but stood anyway. he stretched his mostly stationary body from the stiffness that seemed to plague him, raising his arms over his head and bending backwards in an almost sinful arch. Eli watched the movement with envy due to Thrawn’s natural build, but also felt a twinge of appreciation of his form.
Thrawn lowered himself back to a resting position, eyeing the exit of the building almost disappointedly.
“Yes…we should take our leave.” He agreed, starting to go. He was stopped by Eli, who called to him. Thrawn spun on his heel to see that Eli had not moved from where he sat on the bench. Thrawn returned. Once he approached, Eli stood.
“Question,” he said.
“Yes?”
“What do you think of the sculpture?”
Thrawn gave it one last gaze before returning to Eli’s curious one.
“I cannot fathom the species’ mentality. This has been the only case where I look at a species’ art, and cannot make a connection to their tactic.”
“What made you think I would know? If you didn’t know, how could I?”
Thrawn’s lip twitched once before rising, an astonishing expression that Eli barely believed he was witnessing. Thrawn was…smiling. Grinning. Almost too easily, as though he normally goes about with one on his face.
Eli’s breath stuttered to a halt as Thrawn came closer. He could feel the Chiss’ body heat from where he stood, the radiation a soothing aura that rendered any thought of weakness impossible. Thrawn’s confidence that was so legendary of his people rang true as he moved even closer. His eyes were bright, almost glowing in the darkness of the museum with their crimson saturation.
“One day, Eli...” Thrawn murmured, his gaze burning into Eli’s core and evoking a dizziness that had no reason other than possible awe.
Eli could almost feel his chest blazing in a supernova, and his face soon followed its example with a blush. The close and pensive sensation that came from Thrawn was almost intoxicating, and Eli could feel himself almost being reeled in. The enthalpy in his torso and face multiplied to existential heights as Thrawn rested his forehead against Eli’s, the hotter flesh sharing in its warmth despite the cool tone of his skin. Eli’s breath died, as did all rational thought. He couldn’t move; in essence, while he was present, he was not able to react. All Eli could manage to think, was that whatever Thrawn was doing, holding Eli in place with their foreheads touching, Thrawn’s relaxed expression made it clear that this was of some importance to him. Eli couldn’t deny the intimacy it carried.
“One day, I hope you’ll know your true worth...” Thrawn said, his eyes closing in a sigh. Though they touched only with their foreheads, Eli felt rooted in his place. He couldn’t be sure if it was shock or confusion, but whatever he was feeling, bewilderment was an understatement. He could not fathom Thrawn’s actions, much less his words. But whatever their meaning, Eli knew there was sincerity in it.
Thrawn pulled away just as Eli was about to press back in potential reciprocation (if the was what he was supposed to do), walking towards the exit from where they both broke in.
Eli almost thought he missed the contact, the ghost of their touch still flirting with his skin. Eli followed him out, a little confused and perhaps a trace of giddiness as though he had been kissed. He chose not to think too much on it.