Work Text:
Innocent hues bathed Rentor's glacial landscape as Vurawn inched towards Syndic Thurfian's land speeder. He’d heard Csilla had sunrises too – artificial ones generated by a machine – but he’d never seen holo-footage of them. Would they be as bright as the real thing? As warm? Blue sunlight streamed over the ice, creeping up to Vurawn’s feet; even if the artificial sunrises were completely identical, he would somehow know they weren’t real. He could feel it in his bones.
He looked back at his fishing village, at his home. He’d always known his time on Rentor was limited, a means to an end. This was what he was meant to do – to leave, to get into Thurfian’s speeder and drive away, to serve a higher purpose. But at the same time, this was his home, the only one he had ever known.
But Vurawn didn’t have a choice; he shouldn't have needed one; it was an honor to be chosen just as it was an honor to serve.
As the speeder drifted into the west, away from the fishing village, Vurawn glanced back and committed it to memory. The silhouette of the squat stone homes, the smoke curling up to meet the sunrise. He was leaving Rentor, possibly for good, but he would remember this sunrise. He would never forget.
The stars glistened dimly around the Magys’ planet as the Senior Captain narrowed his eyes. Thrawn was no stranger to the ruins left behind after a war, nor to the bottomless stains of black pollution that threatened to swallow the sparse vegetation whole.
He had served on ships before where Captains reinforced this despair, telling their crew it was inevitable – that planets rise and planets fall, and there was nothing the Ascendancy could do to stop it. Nothing they could do to save the innocents. Nothing they should do, not in the face of perpetual, hopeless destruction.
There would always be war beyond the Ascendancy, and they would never be able to help.
And yet, there was more at stake than mere faceless absolutes.
Thrawn let his gaze linger on clouded patches of blue and white above the planet, on the muted sunlight, on aspiration beyond destruction. The Magys did not deserve this war.
But it was not his nor the Ascendancy's place to save her people. He could only cultivate a new beginning.
"Scan for planetary bodies and space vehicles," Thrawn ordered. "We are in your system, Magys," he continued, switching to Taarja. "As soon as we locate your world, we will learn its condition. What is its name, if I may ask?"
"We do not share that with outsiders," the Magys said stiffly.
"Ah," Thrawn said. "Well, then, for our convenience, we'll name it Sunrise."
The Magys' tongues darted out. "You mock our destruction?"
"Not at all," Thrawn said. "I choose to nurture hope."
"There is no hope."
“We will know soon enough," Thrawn said. "Until then, I will hold to hope.”
The Magys did not meet his eyes. Her lips pursed; she turned her back on him.
The Senior Captain lingered for a moment longer, noting how the golden hues of the sun pushed onwards as if they too were fighting for their home.
Thrawn would not let the Magy's lose her planet or people. He couldn't.
It felt like ages since Thrawn found himself alone. He was used to the hum of a ship’s engines, to the constant low buzz of conversation all around him. In battle, he could tune out the bustle and crush of commotion, could put it out of mind whenever necessary in order to think. But this was different. This was a quiet spot alone by the riverside – a flat stone to sit on, tall grass swaying in the wind – no people, no noise.
On the horizon, Riishi's sun slipped from the cloudless sky, bathing the lush land in a radiant lull of gold.
The Senior Captain couldn't help but think of Rentor; he was almost sure he hadn't seen a proper sunset since. His father had once told him that the crepuscular light represented the completion of a cycle, an end to proceedings. As a boy, he hadn't wholly grasped his father's words; how could something still present come to an end?
He understood now.
Closing his eyes, Thrawn allowed for the final sliver of fading light to wash over his skin.