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The one thing they never tell you about the military is how much time you spend waiting.
Which made sense, Karyn mused. It was hardly a riveting thing, fit to include in war holos. Tactics classes covered what you do when the enemy is there, not what you do while you wait for them to show up. But that didn’t mean it didn’t exist.
She sighed, flipping through another report on her datapad. After returning from the communications triad and having interviewed the prisoners, her shift on the bridge had technically ended and Thrawn had dismissed her. Second-shift had taken over, and Thrawn had absconded to his quarters to continue his study of whatever art he deemed fit for their current engagement. Hammerly and Pyrondi had gone for some much needed shut-eye, and Admiral Ar’alani was nowhere to be found.
Karyn, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. Which was probably to be expected, given all that had transpired today.
She had tossed and turned in her bunk, mind still churning over the details of the sprung Grysk trap and its terrible implications, before giving up and moving to her desk to finish her reports. But she had found the silence of her quarters too pressing, too dark, too easy to remember Thrawn’s barked order of execution - “Kill him!”. So she decided to take her work to the officer’s lounge.
It was a space all Star Destroyers had, but it had seen a bit of a renaissance once Thrawn had taken command of the Chimaera. On other ships, and before Thrawn’s command, it was a sparse area, a place for officers to meet off duty and discuss what they needed to without the usual loud commotion that came with meeting in the mess hall. But Thrawn had encouraged its use as a more social space, even going so far as to install a small set of lockers for officers to store things they enjoyed off-duty - Hammerly kept her knitting supplies there, Pyrondi her stacks of trashy romance holos. Karyn kept a bottle of mid-range Corellia brandy and some holos of her own in her locker.
It was… nice, to have a space to exist as people, and not just soldiers. Sure, you could hang out with someone in their quarters, but that implied a certain level of intimacy. A public area to relax was good to have.
As of right now, though, the space was empty.
Karyn had found Lieutenant Agral lounging on one sofa, and they’d had a pleasant chat before Agral excused himself to bed. She could tell the man was tired. He had probably been hoping to find someone to blow off steam with before he tried to sleep, and they had a good talk about their vacation plans for their next scheduled leave. Something to distract from the carnage of today.
But with him gone, Karyn was alone with her reports again, and Thrawn’s order bouncing around in her head.
She debated pouring herself a glass of the brandy she had in her locker, but decided against it. If the Grysks had some surprise for them, she wanted to keep her head clear.
She had just about given up hope of finding someone to distract her when the door to the lounge opened, and she glanced up, hope turning to shock as Admiral Ar’alani crossed the threshold. She wasn’t wearing her usual pristine white uniform; instead, she was in what looked like a set of sleep-wear.
“Commodore,” Ar’alani said, inclining her head in greeting. “I hope I am not intruding?”
“No, not at all,” Karyn said, instinctively sitting up a bit straighter on her couch. Even if Ar’alani wasn’t her admiral, she was still an admiral, after all.
Ar’alani paused at the door, taking in the space. Thrawn had encouraged the crew to decorate it as they saw fit, and Karyn wondered what the admiral thought of the mismatch of furniture, tables, and carpets that adorned the space. Her keen eyes betrayed nothing as Ar’alani surveyed the empty room before coming to rest on Karyn.
“May I join you? Admiral Thrawn told me this space was for… casual relaxation.” Ar’alani asked.
Karyn’s eyes widened a bit. “Sure,” she said, hoping she didn't sound too surprised - she didn’t peg Ar’alani as the type to sit and chat. She gestured to the couch she sat on. “Since no one’s around, I was able to snag the best spot.”
“Is it normally more full?” Ar’alani asked as she crossed the space to sit next to Karyn.
Karyn nodded, closing down her datapad to give Ar’alani her full attention. “It’s pretty late, ships-time,” she said, nodding at the chrono on the wall. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came up here to see if anyone else was around.”
Ar’alani nodded as she settled deeper into the plush couch. “Navigator Vah'nya is still recuperating from her earlier work, and I did not wish to disturb her.”
Karyn frowned. “Will she be alright?”
“Yes,” Ar’alani replied. “Merely fatigued.”
“I’ll bet. It doesn’t look like an easy thing to do.” Karyn didn’t give voice to her true feelings on the matter - that is was absolutely insane what Vah'nya did, and she still couldn’t quite believe it. “How long has she been at it? Navigating I mean. She’s older than the girls we found some weeks ago.”
“I would prefer not to discuss it,” Ar’alani said shortly, and Karyn realized she had crossed some invisible line.
“Sorry,” she said quickly, grimacing. “I don’t mean to pry.”
Ar’alani studied her for a moment, then seemed to relax again. “It is alright. You seek distraction from your thoughts, and I was the one to bring her up.”
Karyn didn’t quite know how to reply to that, so she merely shrugged. “I guess,” she said, searching for another topic. Something safe.
As she peered at Ar’alani, she remembered a thought she had when she first met the stoic admiral. “It looks like the Ascendancy has different grooming regulations than the Empire,” she said casually, gesturing to Ar’alani’s long hair. “How long have you been growing it?”
A brief look of surprise crossed Ar’alani’s features, and she angled her head, allowing some of the long strands to fall over her shoulder. “All my life,” she replied, idly toying with it. “As long as we appear well-kempt, there is no regulation regarding style or length.”
Karyn chuckled. “Hair that long would drive me nuts,” she said, gesturing to her own shoulder-length hair. She had come to the lounge in her casual clothes, since she was off-duty, and had released her hair from its usual low bun. “I would think it would get in the way all the time.”
“It can,” Ar’alani said, and she paused to bring all of her hair over her shoulder, then began to swiftly braid it. “But it is easy enough to secure quickly.” A moment later, she had a long, single braid in her hand, and she tossed it back over her shoulder.
Karyn had watched with fascination as Ar’alani’s fingers expertly created the braid - she had never spent much time fussing with her own hair, preferring to keep it short and easy to pull up. “That was impressive,” she said after a moment, then paused. “I’ve… I’ve never learned how to do that.”
“Really?” Ar’alani turned to her, quirking a brow in interest.
Karyn shrugged. “Three brothers,” she said with a chuckle. “And there isn’t much time for ‘girl talk’ in the Navy.”
“Would you like me to teach you?” Ar’alani asked.
That took Karyn by surprise. First an idle chat, and now a braiding lesson? She must have really read Ar’alani wrong.
“I… I suppose?” Karyn said. “If you’ve got the time. My hair isn’t really long enough for it, though,” she added.
“We have plenty of time, and you wished for a distraction.” Ar’alani said, eyeing her critically. “And I think I know of a style that would suit you.” And with that, Ar’alani scooted off the couch and sat on the floor next to Karyn.
“What are you doing?” Karyn asked, confused.
“This style starts at the top of the head,” Ar’alani said, deftly undoing the braid and fluffing out her hair. “You will be better able to observe this way. I will go slowly; watch my hands.”
Karyn leaned forward, watching intently as Ar’alani gathered a section of hair near the front of her scalp, then split it in three. Carefully, she wove the sections together, grabbing more hair with each weave until she had worked a tight braid along the top of her head. She then continued the braid as she had before, swiftly folding the three sections until it was secure to the tips.
“Do you understand?” Ar’alani asked once she had finished, turning and crossing her legs on the floor to face Karyn.
“I think so,” Karyn said slowly. She tried to replay the motion in her mind, and reached up to gather her hair as Ar’alani had done. She managed a couple plaits until she realized she had lost one of the three sections, and huffed in frustration.
“It is easier with a mirror, at first,” Ar’alani said, watching as Karyn undid her sloppy work and tried again. “Do you have one available?”
“Not in here,” Karyn said, tongue between her teeth as she tried to picture what was going on atop her head. Damn. She had lost a section again.
Ar’alani was silent as she watched Karyn begin a third time, which also ended in failure, and on the fourth try, she spoke up. “Would you like to try on me?” She asked casually, and Karyn was again taken by surprise.
“I’m sorry?” She asked, hands still above her head despite having stopped their futile twisting.
“You would be able to see your work,” Ar’alani said, gesturing to her own scalp. “It is easier to learn when you can see what you are doing.”
Karyn dropped her hands, ignoring the few uneven plaits she had created on the crown of her head. “I’m not… I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that,” she said, still surprised. The stoic Chiss admiral, offering for Karyn to braid her hair? Earlier today, Ar’alani had been literally breathing down her neck when she was coaching Van’yah on the helm controls. Hell, she had half-expected Ar’alani to have some cross words with her when she walked into the lounge. Where had this come from?
“That is alright,” Ar’alani said, cocking her head to stare at Karyn. “I do not wish to make you uncomfortable.”
Karyn didn’t speak as Ar’alani rose from the floor and resettled on the couch, crossing her legs beneath her, but she couldn’t ignore the nagging curiosity about the strange circumstances.
“You seem… different,” Karyn said, tucking her legs beneath her as well and turning a bit to face Ar’alani.
“How so?” Ar’alani asked.
“Less…” How could Karyn put this without sounding rude? “Wary? Of me?”
Ar’alani arched a carefully sculpted brow, so Karyn clarified. “On the bridge. You seemed to want me to keep my distance from Van’yah and everything. And you were a bit.. short, with me.”
Ar’alani pursed her lips and nodded. “I apologize if I was rude. Circumstances were fraught with potential complications, and I merely wished for the best outcome.” She let out a small chuckle. “You are not the first to tell me I am short with my bridge officers.”
Karyn gave her a small smile. “I guess I’m just used to Thrawn.”
At that, Ar’alani let out a sharp laugh. “Thrawn! Always so quiet and collected. One day, it will all come spilling out. Does he ever relax?”
Karyn furrowed her brow, chewing on her lip as she thought on that. Did Thrawn ever relax? She gazed around the room, the space Thrawn had directed them to use for recreation. Now that she thought on it, she hadn’t seen Thrawn in here since… Since Vanto left. Hell, the grand admiral had practically become a recluse since Vanto departed. Glad as she was to hear that the man was alive and well in the Ascendancy, she wondered how his absence had affected Thrawn.
“Not really,” Karyn mused, frowning. “Not since Vanto went off with you.”
To her surprise, Ar’alani snorted. “Of course.” Her comment had an odd tone to it, one that piqued Karyn’s interest, but one that also brooked no comment.
“Well, as I said, I apologize if I was rude earlier,” Ar’alani continued. “And I will admit that my rudeness is unwarranted. You are a remarkably capable officer, Commodore Faro.”
Karyn felt herself blush a bit. “Please, call me Karyn. We’re off duty.” She said, avoiding acknowledging the compliment.
Ar’alani nodded thoughtfully. “Karyn,” she echoed.
They sat in silence for a few moments, and Karyn was surprised to find it almost… comfortable. It felt as thought the air between them had been cleared. It was nice knowing Ar’alani’s terseness was merely an affectation of her command style, and not a personal grudge against her.
“You asked how long Vah'nya has been navigating,” Ar’alani said, cutting gently into her thoughts. “She is twenty two years old.”
Karyn looked sharply at her. “Twenty two? Stars, I was fresh out of the academy at that age.”
Ar’alani nodded gravely. “It is unfortunate navigators must commit themselves to our cause so young. But there is no other option, unfortunately.” She sighed, then paused. With a sad chuckle, she gestured to her hair again. “You would not be the first person I’ve given braiding lessons to.”
Karyn cocked her head, peering at the admiral thoughtfully. She imagined one of the Chiss girls they had rescued, so young and fragile, running her tiny fingers through Ar’alani’s hair. It painted such a different picture of the admiral than the one Karyn had held of her… Perhaps it made sense her command style was so brusque. If she spent her down time letting her navigators simply be children around her, it made sense to create a firm sense of “on duty” and “off duty.”
Maybe Karyn had been too quick to judge Ar’alani.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been… short with you as well, Admiral,” Karyn said slowly, but was interrupted by Ar’alani raising a hand.
“There is no need for honorifics. As you said, we are off duty.”
Karyn smiled. “That’s what I mean. I was surprised when you came in here, earlier. I didn’t think lounging with officers was something you would do.” She raised a hand and fluffed out the mess of plaits she had attempted earlier. “And I’m sorry if my refusal for help was rude. I just… I guess I didn’t know you, and I made assumptions.”
“That’s quite alright,” Ar’alani said, eyeing Karyn’s hair again. “And my offer still stands. Do you wish to practice on me?”
Karyn smiled. “Yes, if you’re willing.”
Ar’alani smiled back. “Of course.” She again scooted off the couch onto the floor, and after a moment of awkward maneuvering, situated herself in front of Karyn against her shins, as her knees were still crossed on the couch.
As Karyn set to work, coached along with helpful comments and directions from Ar’alani, she allowed herself to relax and focus on the task at hand. Grab, fold, shift, a repetitive motion that slowly built a shaky, but far more successful braid than her previous attempts.
And finally, after a few tries on Ar’alani, she made a successful attempt on herself, grinning with pride and praise from the admiral at the finished product.
It wasn’t until she and Ar’alani said their goodbyes, having walked back to the officer’s quarters corridor together, that Karyn realized she hadn't heard Thrawn’s order echo in her mind for the past hour.
As she keyed her lights down and tucked into her bunk, she worried his words would come back to her again. But with an effort, she turned her mind from it, choosing to replay her braiding lesson instead. And with that, her thoughts on Ar’alani. It was nice to have spent such a casual hour together, and she wondered if they would have a chance to sit and chat again. There was certainly much more to the admiral than the stoic Chiss Karyn first assumed her to be… She had left the admiral at her door feeling as though they might have formed a small friendship. Karyn found herself hoping Ar’alani felt the same.