Chapter Text
Rex watched his general pace in the darkness and smiled internally. On a battlefield surrounded by blaster fire Anakin was loose-limbed, confident and often grinning. He always seemed busy thinking up terrible ideas to drag Rex into, or throw him off of, next. He took combat seriously but it couldn’t be more clear that it came naturally to him.
This, not so much.
They had been sent to a tiny planet, nearly entirely covered in water, to oversee the renewal of a treaty. The mission had originally been assigned to a Jedi more experienced at negotiating, someone who had, incidentally, helped draft the treaty the first time around, but they’d been pulled into combat in another system and wouldn’t have made it in time. The Council had reluctantly sent Skywalker and his 501st instead; they'd been the closest battalion not currently embroiled in another campaign. It seemed that if the treaty wasn’t signed on this exact date every standard year it would have to be renegotiated. So, no pressure.
Anakin shot another anxious look at the glittering ocean. Rex heard a sigh from Commander Tano and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, she rolled her eyes at him. Rex's lips twitched and he decided it was time to try and reel the General in.
“Calm down, sir. It’ll be fine.”
Skywalker shot a smile his way and Rex’s traitorous heart contracted painfully. He stomped on it firmly and raised an eyebrow at his General. Anakin huffed a laugh and came to stand next to him, pulling himself into a better approximation of a refined ambassador.
Seconds later, light began to glow under the waves and the first of their hosts emerged. Reptilian in nature, the Wi’Re had large tails designed for swimming and the three approaching representatives only rose onto their hind legs after they had cleared the waves. Long stripes of bioluminescence shone down their flanks and light glittered over their face and hands, moving constantly.
“R2, get ready,” murmured Skywalker and grimaced at the string of binary he was graced with. “I know you’re not 3P0. Just...just do your best, please.”
The leader of the trio came to halt a few feet away and bowed, twisting their head to the side sinuously. Skywalker returned the bow in the usual Jedi fashion.
“Thank you for meeting with us, honoured leader,” he said, and then waited while R2 translated. The droid projected Skywalker’s greeting on a hastily jury-rigged holographic display, which the General had put together on the way there. Lights shimmered across the air as he projected a translation of Anakin’s greeting. The Wi’Re spent almost all their time submerged and were one of the many aquatic species that communicated primarily with light. The records for this dialect were incomplete and R2’s response was jerky, with odd spaces between patterns. It was best they had been able to cobble together in the absence of someone who could actually ‘speak’ the language.
The Wi’Re leader watched politely and replied in beautiful displays of light across their muzzle and hands, much smoother than what the hologram had been able to produce. R2 relayed the message to Skywalker in binary and Rex saw Anakin wince. Clearly the translation was equally bad going the other way.
Rex tuned out for the rest of the conversation, examining the unfamiliar tech that hung around the waists of the Wi’Re flanking their leader. Their briefing had included no information about weaponry they might encounter on the planet.
His eyes caught on his General’s back as he stepped forward and presented his lightsaber bowing ceremonially and then igniting it, pointing straight down into the sand. He paused for a moment and then tilted his head to the side baring his throat as the Wi’Re leader had done.
The leader relaxed back and his guards dropped into a more informal position. Lightsabers were clearly familiar to them and despite the translation issues, Skywalker seemed to have succeeded in signaling their peaceful intentions. He really was much better at this than he thought, Rex mused. General Kenobi might be the expert but Skywalker had the kind of instincts that let him move through this kind of interactions with ease. The less successful encounters Skywalker had told him about seemed to have happened because of some morality clash. Slavery or systematic subjugation had a tendency to set him off, his General wasn’t very good at putting that kind of issue aside to find common ground.
And that was meant to be a bad thing? Perhaps he was too well matched to his General but far from disapproving, Rex burned with fierce pride to serve a man like Anakin.
General Skywalker, not Anakin, Rex thought, trying to batter the distinction into his foolish brain. He needed to force himself to maintain that distance, even in his head. The other way lay madness.
Ahsoka watched the proceedings with interest, she really didn’t envy her Master having to negotiate through so many barriers. Eventually, just as the very last of the light disappeared over the horizon, they set off down the beach to where the 501st’s initial scan had identified some deep caves.
As they drew close to the cave entrances, some of the tall reptiles emptied vessels of bioluminescent algae into rock pools and light washed over the rocky outlines of the beach.Thankfully, the Wi’Re hospitality was easier to understand than their treaties. A couple of troopers around her jumped and then settled again as it became clear they were headed for a party, albeit an eerily silent one, rather than a battle.
That was okay, she thought, smiling. Torrent were fully capable of making enough noise for everyone.
Presented with relaxed groups, reclining around blue fire pits and the drifting smell of grilled food, the Company settled in happily, at odds with their General’s tension. Ahsoka found herself somewhere in between, Skywalker’s nerves were rubbing off on her, she was rooting for her young Master to prove himself in this area as well as on the battlefield. But it was also lovely to see their soldiers relaxing, getting to enjoy some down time with a very low chance of anyone shooting at them.
Anakin registered the men of Torrent spreading out and settling among the rocks with fondness and a little relief. He valued their high opinion of him and didn’t really want them watching him fumble his way through these negotiations.
It was bad enough that Snips and Rex would be watching closely. Kriff, this was so much more Obi-Wan’s territory than his.
To his never ending relief, the Wi’re leader produced a datapad with the contract almost immediately. He scanned through the Basic version quickly and, with a brief, laboured translation from R2, he gave the leader a nod of agreement. Together they licked their thumbs and pressed them to the reader at the base of the pad. It shone briefly green as their DNA was accepted. Anakin smiled and a wave of light ran back and forth over the faces of the Wi’Re leader and his guards.
The Wi’Re with the datapad passed a chip to Ahsoka who secreted it in her robe.
“Thank you, honoured leader,” Anakin said over another bow and R2 flashed his message to the Wi’Re.
“Thank....you...Republic,” came back in binary. “Stay....festival.”
“Your hospitality is appreciated. Thank you for making us and our men welcome.”
He gestured behind him at the vode enthusiastically trying new kinds of food. He nodded to Ahsoka, who had been stealing glances at the trays of food ever since they had appeared and she gave him a quick smile before disappearing, leaving him and Rex to finish the political pleasantries. Oh, to be a Padawan again.
“It is good to spend time on a planet as beautiful as yours.”
“Welcome....day of joining.”
“Is that what you are celebrating? Seems like a good time to renew the treaty.”
“Yes,” R2 beeped as the leader bobbed their head and light washed back and forth in the way Anakin was coming to think of as their smile. He relaxed a little more.
“May we celebrate with you?”
He gestured at himself and the vode, although, given the way everyone else had already joined the celebrations, it was mostly just him and Rex.
“Participate....festival...question.” The leader withdrew a little in what seemed to be surprise, his eyes darting between Anakin and Rex. Kriff, it had been going so well, had he ruined everything?
“If it would be appropriate?”
“Yes...happy.”
Anakin relaxed and raised his eyebrows discreetly at Rex, who gave him a tiny shrug and smile.
“Excellent, then Captain Rex and I will represent the Republic in the festival.”
“Call....ready.”
They barely managed to check on their men and taste the food from the fast disappearing piles on the platters, before they were summoned to the leader once again. Various Wi’Re were milling around and it looked to Anakin like a standard blessing ceremony, perhaps for good fortune in the coming months. They watched as two pairs before them received tiny bowls bowls from the leader, one after another, and share them, then dip their hands in a larger bowl of bioluminescent liquid and press it against the other’s face.
“R2, can you ask someone about the significance of these things?”
The droid trilled and rolled off to speak to one of the nearby Wi’Re.
“Afraid of getting something wrong, sir?” Rex’s voice was quietly amused.
“Windu did tell me not to cause any interplanetary incidents.”
“I can’t imagine what makes him think we’d be capable of such a thing.”
The irritation that had flared as he thought of Mace’s face during the briefing faded at Rex’s dry tone.
“That’s your own battalion you’re maligning, Captain.”
“Finest in the GAR, sir.”
“Damn right.”
R2 bumped against his leg impatiently as he grinned at his Captain and he glanced down.
“Alright, alright, what did you find out.” He listened intently, frowning as R2 related the garbled information.
“Okay, so the food is about sharing the sweet and...distatestful....so prepare yourself for something that tastes awful, I guess. And the paint is a promise, sounds like we pick what about though. The festival’s about joining and unity though, so probably something along those lines.”
“Easy enough,” said Rex and Anakin huffed in dissatisfaction. “Yes, sir,” Rex continued patiently, “I’d rather it was a battle as well. At least we don’t have to do as much of this as the 212th.”
Then they were waved forward, Anakin still chuckling, and took a knee before the leader. Thankfully most of the 501st were too distracted to notice if this all went wrong.
In an eerie pool of silence among the celebrants, the leader flashed light from his cheeks and upraised hands. Then he offered the two bowls of food to Rex and Anakin. They contained some sort of fish eggs, sweet and very salty and the other a paste which was astoundingly bitter. Thankfully, one after the other they weren’t so bad, balancing out a little on the tongue.
Dipping their hands in the shining liquid Anakin turned to face Rex and froze as he wondered where they were meant to place these handprints on the slightly different human anatomy.
He stared into Rex’s golden eyes for a second, eyes lingering on his handsome features for longer than usually in their hectic lives allowed. The skin around Rex’s eyes crinkled as he raised his hand to Anakin’s face.
“I pledge...loyalty. To my jetii.”
Anakin smiled even as he felt his face heat and raised his hand as well.
“Loyalty for loyalty then.” That felt right. Rex was unendingly loyal to him and he would pledge to be the same. “And protection.” The clones entrusted their lives to their Jedi generals and Anakin would protect his Captain as best he could.
“Protection for protection,” Rex agreed, looking satisfied. “Nice and balanced.”
They pressed the cool liquid to the sides of each other’s faces, lower down than the Wi’Re had, but then they didn’t have bioluminescent cheeks to avoid obscuring. He felt Rex’s warm skin and stubble under his palm even as he shut his eyes against the bright liquid approaching the left half of his face.
Light flashed over the faces of all the observing Wi’Re and Anakin felt unexpected joy flow through him and through the force. Blinking his eyes open again, he laughed aloud and offered Rex his hand to pull him to his feet. Perhaps this negotiating thing wasn’t as hard as he’d thought.
Fives sprawled on the sand feeling pleasantly full and watching his Captain and General kneel in front of the leader and get covered in paint. Paint that was probably lots of tiny creatures, or some sort of Wi’Re secretion. Rather them than him. He grinned to himself idly, he wasn’t sure what was in these cups but it was giving him a very pleasant buzz. And it went down so much smoother than the stuff they usually brewed on the destroyers.
“You know what this ceremony looks like?” Fives said idly as he watched.
“I don’t know why you’re watching them when you could be eating,” replied Hardcase, taking another bowl from a delighted looking local who reached down to pat his head.
Echo was looking at the ceremony as well, and ignored Hardcase, sipping slowly from his cup.
“Surely it can’t be though? R2 wouldn’t have let them… Commander, what festival is this again?”
“The briefing said it was a fasting festival,” said Ahsoka. “Or maybe joining. It used both words I think.” She was a little distracted by delicately removing the flesh from a fish. It felt very good to her carnivore brain to eat something other than ration packs and the liquor was very pleasant too. Anakin had meant she was off duty right? So it didn’t matter if she had some, it probably wasn’t that strong.
“I didn’t think we’d get anything to eat at this thing,” interrupted Hardcase happily. “Fasting festival my ass.”
“Fasting as in not eating or as in ‘making fast’?” Echo asked with the kind of focus that caught Ahsoka’s attention.
“Or as in ‘hand fasting’?” Fives’ amused voice had Ahsoka’s head whipping around to look for her Master.
“These little fish are really good. For once, I can see what the General means about crunchy being good.”
“Shut up, Hardcase. It can’t be, right?” Hysterical dread crept up Ahsoka’s back at Echo’s words, despite her slightly fuzzy head. “Maybe it’s a mis-translation?” She said hopefully. “R2’s doing his best but seems like the data banks are really incomplete for this language.”
“Yeah, but with all the couples that lined up...it did look more like a fertility festival,” said Echo slowly.
Hardcase got to his feet, stretched and moved off to join a new group who looked like they might have been served different, interesting food. Jesse slumped down in his place.
“What are you talking about?” Fives smacked him on the arm, choking on his own laughter and having trouble getting his words out. “Kark, Fives! I nearly spilt my...whatever this is... What? Why are we staring at Rex and the General? Did Rex get caught gazing longingly again?” He took another drink. “What!?”
“Fasting festival!” Fives choked out. “Not ‘not eating’ fasting. Hand fasting.” Jesse gave him a blank look, looking back and forth between the shocked faces of Echo and Ahsoka and Rex and Skywalker. “As in marriage, as in to make Rex fast to the General.”
“Oh...OH!”
“Oh force....” breathed Ahsoka.
“That is...the best thing I have ever heard,” said Jesse breathlessly.
“I’m looking it up,” said Echo, his nose already buried in a datapad. “Wi’Re...marriage ceremony....images.”
He paused a second and they held their breath.
“We’re right...that...that’s a marriage ceremony.”
Fives dissolved into laughter, his cackles so loud Rex actually glanced over. The sight of his painted covered features only spurred new gales of laughter, which he tried to smother in Jesse’s shoulder. Avoiding Rex’s glare Jesse buried his grinning face in his cup.
“Well it doesn’t matter, right? It will only be recognised here.”
Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief, that was true, it was fine. She took another sip of the sweet liquor.
“It would only be recognised here,” Echo said thoughtfully. “Unless...someone submitted a marriage certification form?”
Fives stared at him in awe.
“Absolutely not,” said Ahsoka.
“Absolutely, yes!” Fives crowed. “Come on, it would be funny! It won’t get accepted, Commander.” His voice turned a little bitter. “They’ll think it’s a prank and reject it automatically, Jedi can’t get married, let alone clones.”
Well, when he put it like that, Ahsoka thought. Plus maybe it would spur her Master into doing something about all those longing looks he and Rex kept sending each other when they thought no one would notice.
“Fine, fine. I saw and heard nothing and couldn’t have prevented anything.”
Maybe it would make people think about clone rights a bit more.
“Done,” said Echo with a flourish and was immediately buried under a cheering Fives.