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Cassian had left the apartment with Wilmon and Dreena. Erskin had disappeared minutes earlier. Only Kleya had stayed behind. Mon was grateful she didn’t have to wait alone for the Gold Squadron that would take her to Yavin in the early hours of the morning. Even if she didn’t have the words to start a real conversation. She stood at the window, looking out over the canyons of buildings on Coruscant.
Never a home, not even after all these years. But even Chandrila, which sang in her veins, had never been uncomplicated either. And yet to leave both behind, indefinitely, perhaps forever – though that had always been part of the rebellion’s goal, because it had to be part of the goal – it threw Mon off balance. Maybe even more than the escape with Cassian and everything that had happened during it. She would still keep putting one foot in front of the other, of course. “Make it worth it,” Cassian had said.
She felt Kleya step up beside her.
“Your husband and your daughter got your letters.”
Mon nodded.
“ISB will read them?”
“That’s the plan.”
Mon turned her head. She looked past Kleya, in the direction where her home with Perrin lay.
“I feel like a coward.”
“You’re protecting your family.”
Kleya’s tone was level.
“I’m not sure they deserve it.”
“It was my life,” said Mon. She leaned her head against the glass. She heard Kleya move away, heard a cabinet door being opened. Then she felt Kleya’s hand on her wrist. In the other, Kleya held out a cup to her.
“Drink.”
Mon took the cup from her hand.
“Not tea, I presume?”
Kleya shook her head.
“Good old Revnog.”
The corners of her mouth twitched briefly.
“But not enough to get you dancing.”
Mon looked at her. She could barely remember the end of Leida’s wedding. She had wanted to erase it completely from her memory.
“You were watching me?”
Kleya shrugged.
“That’s my job.”
Mon drank the contents of the cup in big gulps. A shudder ran through her, but the burn that ran down her throat was welcome. She saw Kleya hesitate briefly before speaking.
“You looked beautiful, by the way.”
“Disturbed,” said Mon.
Kleya smiled. She seemed to hesitate again.
“Uninhibited.”
Something shifted in Mon in that moment. She waited for a second only, grabbed the collar of Kleya’s coat, pulled her toward her, and kissed her hard on the mouth. Then she stepped back, as if slapped, and wiped her lips with her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Kleya looked at her. Mon couldn’t read her expression. Then Kleya shrugged off her coat, the vest underneath followed. She pulled her gray shirt over her head and stepped up to Mon. She wrapped her arms around Mon’s neck and, with a sure hand, opened the fastening of Mon’s robe. Perrin had always struggled with that, which had secretly pleased Mon. She felt Kleya’s breath at her ear. She still sounded calm.
“Don’t be.”
The kiss that followed, Mon returned with a vehemence that startled her, as Kleya pushed her toward the bed. As she stripped the robe from her body – and what little else remained – pressed her into the sheets, and leaned over her after slipping out of her pants and underwear. As Kleya traced her body with her hands and looked at her questioningly. As Mon nodded and felt Kleya’s hand slide between her legs.
Mon only stopped the kiss when her body trembled, when she needed more air to breathe. Because a cry sat in her throat, searching for a way out. She stopped because she immediately turned Kleya onto her back and let her mouth search for other places.
I wish we had more time, Mon thought as her tongue traced Kleya’s navel. This she wanted to remember. She thought it as her mouth moved lower, as she felt Kleya hold her breath and claw her hand into Mon’s hair. As a shiver ran through Kleya and she cursed under her breath. So little time. She slid back up to look Kleya in the eyes. To brush a sweaty strand of hair from her face. At least that.
Afterwards, Kleya sat up. She placed a hand on Mon’s shin. How familiar that hand suddenly felt, Mon thought.
“Sleep. You still have three hours.”
Mon propped herself up on one elbow and watched as Kleya stepped over to her clothes and picked up her underwear.
“I’m guessing this isn’t always part of the safehouse deal?”
She could hear herself trying too hard to sound like she was joking.
Kleya looked over her shoulder as she stepped into her pants. She seemed amused – though Mon couldn’t be entirely sure.
“Would you recommend it?”
“Absolutely not.”
Kleya turned to Mon as she pulled her shirt over her bare torso. She raised her eyebrows. Mon swallowed.
“It would be nice to have something for myself, for once.”
She cleared her throat.
“To have this for myself.”
Kleya smiled just barely. Behind her, the buildings rose into the night sky.
“It’s yours,” she said.
Who knew when she would see Coruscant again, Mon thought. If ever. So she asked the question she didn’t want to carry with her to Yavin.
“Ours?”
Again, that brief hesitation Mon knew so well by now. Then Kleya nodded.
“Ours.”