Work Text:
Che’ri starred out of the viewport of the ship.
Stars, planets, moons… It was all the same to her. As long as she could remember she had seen the lights of space. All of her momishes had claimed that space was beautiful, that the abyss was terrifying, that it was a spectacular sight she should appreciate and cherish every chance she got.
The girl yawned, unimpressed by the panorama.
It had been weeks since she and Thrawn had gotten here. Senior Captain Thrawn had asked her to go on a mission to lesser space. And she had been terrified and excited to go on a real mission without a warship.
But now all it turned out to be a lot of sitting and waiting. Where was her promised mission? Where was the action? The only thing she had gotten so far were reading tasks, flight lessons and a new set of color markers to draw with.
She leaned back in the pilot's chair, her feet dangling from the height. It was Che’ri’s task to watch the cockpit while the senior captain worked out. It was supposed to teach her something like patience. But it felt like a pointless chore considering that they just could use the autopilot. A very adult chore. A very boring chore.
The door to the little room hissed open and senior Captain Thrawn strode in.
“Good evening, navigator Che’ri.”, he greeted formally as if they hadn’t constantly seen each other the past weeks.
“Hello” she called back.
“Thank you for doing guard duty and allowing me to attend to my other duties.” Thrawn continued as he sat down in the co-pilot's seat.
“It’s okay.”, Che’ri said, “I don’t mind. It’s no difference if I sit here or somewhere else on the ship.”
The senior captain eyed her thoughtfully. It was one of those gazes most adults used on her before saying something like ‘go to bed’ or ‘sit up straight’ or ‘watch your tongue, young navigator’. But the senior captain just looked at her as if he needed to solve a particularly hard math question before opening his mouth.
“You are bored.”
She shrugged and turned to the viewport again. Boredom was a constant. She was used to it.
“Would you like to hear a story to pass the time, navigator Che’ri?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want any more reading exercises. I already did mine for today.”
“Pardon, I misspoke ” The captain continued “I mean would you like to be told a story? I liked to listen to stories when I was a youngling. Maybe that would elevate your boredom?”
Che’ri’s head whipped around in surprise.
A story?
The momishes hardly ever read her tales and even Thalias was so busy that she only managed once to sit down for a bedtime story.
Her head spun at the prospect of getting entertained by the senior captain like that. And it downright spiraled at the thought of a past senior captain Thrawn youngling. Che’ri could not imagine the adult man before her being a child at all.
But she could imagine him as a storyteller.
Enthusiastically she nodded.
“Alright, navigator. Grab yourself some light cocoa and wait for me in the lounge. Let me just check the instruments and engage the autopilot beforehand.”
Che’ri jumped off the seat and fought the urge to run through the ship.
“That’s not proper behavior for a navigator” she remembered one of the especially preachy momishes. A strange instruction now that Che’ri considered it. She wouldn’t be a navigator forever and yet she hardly saw any of the adults and not-navigators run on ship. Still, better to stick with that instead of compromising the chance of getting the promised story.
In the kitchen she pushed one of the magnetized stools to the cabinet to climb up and get the powdered cocoa for kids. The senior captain had packed the treat just for her. It was a lighter sweeter version of the bitter cocoa leaves the adults used for their drinks. The colorful package with birds on it and lot’s of kids smiling at her as if inviting her to play with them. She would never do such a thing. Not unless she stopped being a navigator.
The thought both terrified and pleased her.
Quickly, she climbed back down, got herself a cup, stirred the powder in - a bit more than necessary to make it extra sweet - and got hot water from the dispenser machine before strolling to the lounge.
Thrawn was already there. Sitting on one of the couches. No questis in hand. How was he supposed to read the story out to her?
Unsure she took a seat.
Was this another lesson instead? Not a tale?
“Are you sitting comfortably?”, the captain asked.
She shuffled a bit around and placed the hot drink on the table before her and nodded.
“Alright, let me tell you my favorite story when I was a child.”
“You were a child once?”, Che’ri asked, surprised by her own boldness. That’s it, she had lost her chance to get a story for being so audacious.
Thrawn’s eyes twinkled with humor instead of anger for her interruption like most of the adults had done.
“Yes. I was a child once too”, he replied.
“When was that?”
“Not as long ago as you might think”, The unspoken laughter resonating in his words, “For me those childhood memories on Naporar are but a blink away even if that was decades ago. It might not make sense to you right now but one day you might think about this moment and understand. Shall we continue?”
“Yes.” Che’ri said, not understanding what the old man ment but eased by Thrawn's reaction.
"Alright. Interrupt me about anything you don’t understand. Until then lean back and close your eyes if you want. Let’s see…” Thrawn's voice became the only thing she thought about as she closed her eyes. He really was about to tell her a story! By himself!
“There once was a little girl who lived with her blood family in a forest. She-”
“What’s a forest, captain?”, Che’ri squeaked, unhappy about having to interrupt so soon.
He paused.
“Do you know what a tree is?”
“Yes. I have seen one in the atmosphere chamber of the springhawk. It’s a small little thing with a hard stem and lilac soft things growing on its top.”
“Yes, now imagine this tree tall like the ship.”
She tried.
“And now imagine many more of those tall trees growing together in one area, spanning over your head with their branches and moving with the wind. Animals live there too. Like the ones described in your reading exercise. Birds live up in the branches and build their nests there. Ground lions dig little hollows to sleep between the tree's roots. And night dragons stalk prey through the thick lush leaves and stems.”
Che’ri tried to see it all before her like she saw with third eye. It sounded magical, beautiful and terrifying. Like space.
“Our story is about a girl like you, living in a forest like that.” Thrawn continued, “One day she is asked to bring her elder some fresh black cheese bites and a bottle of cromas nectar. She packs her bag and leaves the house to walk through the forest to the elders house.”
“On her own?”, Che’ri wonders out loud. She could not remember being alone anywhere outside. Everytime she had been, it was just short stops on military fields or space ports with a momish or officer around.
“Yes, on her own.” Thrawn assures. “Remember, she is a girl like you capable of going on missions. She is careful and clever. Her family trusts her with the task.”
Thrawn pauses before continuing.
“So the girl takes her bag with the foodstuff, grabs her velvet coat against the cold - the forest is cold and soon the first snows will fall - and leaves the house.”
Che’ri nodds. She knows of snow, she has seen snow covered Csilla from space.
“As she walks the road through the forest, she sees flowers and leaves the road to pick them for her elder. Her caretakers had told her not to leave the road to stay safe. But the girl forgot. And those pretty flowers are so distracting. So she walks off the road.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes, Che’ri. As the little girl walks off the road, deep into the forest to collect her flowers, a night dragon appears.”
She gasped. She had seen pictures of night dragons. Terrifying big creatures with claws, teeth and dark furr to stalk for prey through the cold csilla night.
“The night dragon spotts the girl and thinks to itself ‘what a delicious little girl I could eat. But she has a bag with food with her. I can smell it. Maybe she can lead me to more prey.’ And so he steps out of the shadows of the trees and calls out to the girl ‘hey, girl where are you going to?’”
“Night dragons can talk?”, Che’ri inquires. Maybe she hadn’t read the right text yet to know about that.
“Only in stories.” Thrawn explains. “So the night dragon asks her where she goes and the girl answers him for she had never any reason not to trust anyone ‘To my elder deep in the forest right next to the 3 big trees just a click away from here to bring her black cheese bites and cromas nectar. The elder is sick and I’m bringing her treats so she can get well soon again’.”
“Why is she telling the night dragon about that? That’s dangerous!”, Che'ri cries out while unconsciously grabbing a pillow to hold onto. She opens her eyes and looks at Thrawn. “This is a scary story! My momishes never told me that one.”
The captain smiles mysteriously.
“Don’t worry, Che’ri. The girl is a girl like you. I would never allow you or a girl like you to be hurt. Not even in my stories. Patience.”
Che’ri squeezed the pillow in her arms before leaning back again and closing her eyes.
“Go on.” she ordered impatiently before adding a more appropriate, “Please, captain.”
“The night dragon is very happy about the news. ‘Perfect. A helpless elder AND a little girl I can eat’, he thinks to himself, ‘I will have the elder first and then finish with the sweet meat of the girl later’. And so he leaves the little girl and runs to the house of the elder. There, he knocks at the door and enters the house where he finds the sick elder and devours the sick elder in one piece.”
Thrawn pauses as if expecting Che’ri to object before continuing with a deep and dramatic voice. She squeezed her pillow expectantly, holding her breath.
“Meanwhile the little girl had collected all the flowers she needed and made her way to the house of the elder. There, she found the door open. She called into the house for her elder and a strange voice answered her. Confused, the girl stepped into the house and found her elder in the sickbed. But it was a strange sight. ‘Elder, dear elder,’ the trustful girl cried, ‘It’s good to see you. But tell me elder, why do you have such big ears?’”
Che’ri squeezed her pillow.
“‘It’s so I can hear better, young one.’”
Che’ri opened her eyes and sat up expectantly.
“‘Elder, dear elder, why do you have such big eyes?”
Che’ri opened her mouth in protest only to keep silent.
“‘So I can see you better, young one.’”
Che’ri narrowed her eyes at Thrawn.
“‘Elder, dear elder, Why do you have such big teeth?’”
Thrawn’s voice rose to the growl of the night dragon: “‘It’s so I can eat-”
“NOOOOOO!”
Che’ri jumped up from her seat, nearly knocking over the cup in front of her.
“NO!”, she repeated, “It’s the night dragon and it’s about to eat her! She is supposed to be cleverer than this!”
Thrawn grinned at her as if he had asked her a trick question she had failed to recognize it.
“As the night dragon rose from the sickbed of the elder, dressed in the elders clothes and costumed like a chiss, the clever girl threw her bag at the night dragon right into his face and ran out of the house. She had seen through the night dragons schemes”, the captain finished with a triumphant voice.
“What?!”
“Of course the girl recognized the camouflaged enemy. What did you think would happen to her?”
“Oh.”
Che’ri sat down on the couch again, all the tension leaving her body, before grabbing her cup and sipping at her drink.
“Alright, captain. But that can’t be the end of the story, right?”
“Right. Are you ready for me to continue?”
Che’ri grimaced before putting her cup down again and leaning back while grabbing her pillow to hold.
“The girl escaped the terrifying night dragon”, Thrawn’s voice was now light and excited as if he too ran down the forest road, “‘Oh no, I trusted a stranger and told the night dragon about the elder and now I need to find a way to save her.’ the girl thought to herself as she ran through the forest.”
“The girl shouldn’t have told the night dragon about the vulnerable elder from the beginning.”, Che’ri judged bitterly.
“Yes, she made a mistake but those things can happen. It’s fine. And she never had reason to question someone's motives before. Most people are kind.”
Che’ri huffed but stayed silent.
“The girl ran and ran in the hopes of finding help for her elder. And help she found. A hunter crossed paths with her. Quickly she told him about the night dragon who ate her elder and the hunter agreed to help. Together the girl and the hunter traveled to the house of the elder in the hopes of finding the night dragon there.”
“The night dragon would be an idiot to stay on scene after the girl escaped.”, commented Che’ri drily.
“The night dragon was deep asleep and snoring with his full belly in the elders bed”, Thrawn continued.
“The night dragon isn’t too clever either.”
Thrawn paused. “You will make a fine tactician one day, Che’ri. Those were my thoughts as a kid too. Anyway-”
Che’ri didn’t dare to answer. It was too big of a thought to consider she could be someone like Thrawn one day. Someone as clever who could command a ship and know so many things like forest and fairy tales. Silently, she listened as the captain finished.
“-the girl and the hunter find the night dragon in deep slumber. They decide to cut open the night dragon to rescue the elder from the beast's belly as the night dragon swallowed the elder in one bite. Quickly, the hunter takes a scissor to cut the dragon and the elder emerges from the beast's guts. To teach the night dragon a lesson the little girl grabs a few stones from the outside, places them in the night dragon’s belly before sewing the beast back together. Then the hunter, the elder and the girl wait and as the night dragon wakes up from its digestive sleep. Scared from the hunter it tries to run away from the armed hunter. But the stones in the beast's belly slow the dragon down and so finally the night dragon is killed and punished for its crimes. The end.”
Che’ri sits up and puts away her pillow.
“That’s a very bloody story. Did they really tell you that as a kid?”
“They did.”, the captain’s voice sounds surprised. As if he had told her the most normal thing and she had refused to believe it.
For a moment they sat in silence. Che’ri listened to the humming of the ship's machines and sipped her now mildly warm cup of sweetened cocoa, thinking about the story.
“Was it too scary?”, the captain broke the quiet with a carefully inquiring voice.
She considered it. It was the bloodiest, weirdest story she had ever been told. But she hadn’t felt scared. Outraged maybe by the confusing actions of the well-meaning girl and the hungry night dragon. But Thrawn had assured her that in his stories little girls were fine and safe. So no, she hadn’t been scared. And she wanted more stories like that. She wanted the captain to keep telling her about things she didn’t know of yet.
“No”, she answered, “Can I have another one?”
Thrawn smiled.
“Of course. Are you comfortable? Good. Let me tell you the story of a pair of siblings who got lost in the wilderness and found a house made out of meat-stripped fruit squares.”