The Ghost, Sunday evening

[futurespacemom]

So, Hera and Kanan had a son. Or rather, Hera did, and his father was Kanan. And...not in the picture. Currently said son was off spending time with a friend he'd made yesterday, and Hera hardly felt she had the parental authority to say no, not to mention a little breather might be nice.

She'd set up shop at the Ghost tonight, as a comfortable and friendly place to be, and tugged Kanan along after her, along with some beer. And bribed Chopper into staying outside and guarding Stance.


[For the one! And will undoubtedly contain full Rebels spoilers.]

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[uncertain_dume]

Kanan was... well... he was amenable enough to being dragged along. Especially with the promise of beer, and a breather. Both seemed like a good way to spend the evening.

There was a lot to process.

"So..." Kanan gave Hera a sidelong glance. A little smile. "The kid's out for the evening, what did you want to do with our time?"

[futurespacemom]

Hera had nothing to throw at him but a dirty look, so she was doing plenty of that.

"I thought we could talk."

[uncertain_dume]

Huh.

Well.

That wasn't exactly what Kanan had been hoping for, particularly with a look like that involved, so he grimaced a little.

"... Okay. About what?"

[futurespacemom]

"What do you think about? About Jacen," Hera said. She took a deep breath. "For one thing, you know Anan's not his sister, right? Which means one of them definitely won't happen, and maybe neither of them will."

She'd been kind of clinging to that herself.

[uncertain_dume]

To be perfectly honest, Kanan was doing a bit of the same.

"Jacen? He seems like a good kid," he offered. "Maybe he's a bit clingy around you, though? I'm not a good judge of that sort of thing. But the Anan thing..."

Kanan shrugged.

"This place offers sneak peeks," he said, "previews of things that might be. That doesn't mean they will be. We've been through that before, with Anan, and those... slug... things. You haven't even been around for that weekend where everyone is twenty years older. Now that's something."

Something else he tried not to think about, generally. But still.

[futurespacemom]

"He's a bit clingy around me because he doesn't know you," Hera said softly. "He told me his father was a hero."

[uncertain_dume]

Well. That was...

Kanan's generally amicable expression faded a little, slipped into something more neutral than it really had any right to be.

He took a breath.

Death, yet the Force...

"Jumping right to the point tonight, are we?"

[futurespacemom]

"We've been dancing around it since he got here," Hera said. She leaned against him a little, hoping to comfort him. "So now what?"

[uncertain_dume]

Another deep breath, and then Kanan looked up at the ceiling.

"Now what, what? Now what do we do with him? What do we do in general? These things are maybes, Hera. They're possibilities, that's all. They're like..."

He frowned a little. Likening them to Force visions was hardly going to clarify anything to somebody who didn't have them.

"It doesn't matter what they're like. Last year, Anan was astounded that I had eyes, but her father was alive and well, remember?"

Sure, that was reassuring.

[futurespacemom]

"I remember," Hera said. "I also remember how freaked out I was, and you were calm as anything. So why is this so different?"

[uncertain_dume]

Because a year ago, Kanan was positive that nothing coming out of Anan's mouth could ever happen.

And now, there was nothing at all coming out of Jacen's mouth. But there had been a feelnig.

"Nobody wants to think about the possibility that they'll end up dead, do they?"

Nobody really wanted to think about the possibility of being blinded, either.

[futurespacemom]

"No," Hera said. "But we both know it's a possibility. It's scary, but is it any more likely now than it was before he got here?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Of course not," Kanan muttered, sighing and closing his eyes. "I mean, if I'm being realistic, it wasn't exactly as though I was planning on living forever, anyway."

Ever since the end of the war, he'd always sort of figured he'd be dead by thirty anyhow.

It was more complicated once there was something that resembled confirmation of that. Which, again, he would have taken with a grain of salt.

But there'd been a feeling. It was harder to quantify feelings.

[futurespacemom]

"So what is it?" Hera asked. "I know it's not all you, he's been different toward you, too. But why is it so hard to reach out to him?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Maybe," Kanan said, after a long moment of silent thought, "it's because he's afraid."

Maybe, he thought silently to himself, it was because they both were.

[futurespacemom]

Hera thought about that for a second, then nodded. "So what can we do?"

[uncertain_dume]

"About him?" Kanan frowned thoughtfully. "About him. We can't just ask a kid how his parent died."

That would be... well. Cruel.

"I don't know-- wait. What's the one thing he's been passionate about since getting here?"

[futurespacemom]

"The one thing he gets from me," Hera said, smiling a little. "He's born to fly."

[uncertain_dume]

"So, take him flying," Kanan said, smiling faintly. "You said you would, right? But instead of taking the Phantom, take him up there in the Escape. There's seating for one, but room for two. Let the kid be in his element for a while. That might help him settle down, at least."

And Kanan would stay home and meditate some more. Trust the Force. That was something he needed to start doing more often.

[futurespacemom]

"He seemed to want to test the Phantom," Hera said. "But I definitely want to take him flying. I'll suggest that to him."

[uncertain_dume]

"He wants to prove what he's made of," Kanan replied. "The Phantom is fine, but it's not the ship for that. And the Ghost is amazing, but..."

He shrugged. She was the Ghost. He didn't figure Hera was going to let some kid just hop behind the pilot's controls.

"Take him up to the roof. See what he thinks of it. Let him cut his teeth in a ship made for maneuverability. Talk to him for a bit. And then come and find me. I'll be in the apartment, we can all figure out where to go from there."

Kanan Jarrus, the plan guy.

Granted, the plan at present was 'get some alone time to meditate and then wing it,' but it was a start.

[futurespacemom]

"Maybe flying your ship will give him a better idea of who you are," Hera added. "I'll see what he says. Thank you."

[uncertain_dume]

"I'm making this up as I go," Kanan admitted. "I never knew my parents, but if I were to meet them, I'd want it to be on my terms. Maybe he needs a little bit of that, too. His terms."

The Escape was very literally named to reflect the end of Caleb Dume.

A life lived by his terms.

It seemed fitting.