Act One, Chapter Two ━━━━
THE NOTION OF CALEB DUME

SOMETIMES, WHEN SHE SLEEPS, EDEN DREAMS OF HOME. Of towering pillars and sturdy stone walls; stained glass windows and statues made of molten gold. In these dreams, the temple is exactly as she remembers it from the years before the war; safe and warm and full of light and laughter. In these dreams, she is a child again, her family is still together, and the galaxy has not yet been ripped apart. In these dreams, she is happy — the happiest she's ever been — and every time she wakes, the slow-dawning realization that all those things are gone leaves her hollow and aching and cold.

She's cold now as she stirs awake, squinting against the streams of dawning daylight that are spilling through the open flap of her tent along with the chilly morning air. Her eyes narrow — had she left it open all night? — and Eden slowly sits up from the hardened ground with a muffled groan, smashing a hand against her face to rub the sleep from her eyes and cradle her throbbing head. She must have rolled off her bedroll onto the floor while she was dreaming because everything hurts; even more so than usual. Bracing one of her hands on the ground, she turns to stretch out the stiff muscles of her back before letting out a strangled shriek when she sees a man sleeping in her bed —

It all comes rushing back.

"Oh," Eden gasps, fully awake as she scrambles onto her knees. "Caleb."

She leans over his sleeping figure, relieved to see the visible steady rise and fall of his chest. A hand to his forehead tells her that his fever is gone and the darkened veins on his neck have faded to a normal, healthy color in comparison to their sickly state. His tan skin is flushed and still slightly warm to the touch, but nothing like it'd been the night before. The Force had done what it needed to do — Caleb was on the mend and recovering well, by the looks of it.

Sitting back on her heels, Eden's shoulders sag as she releases a shaky exhale and presses her palms to her face, breathing slow and deep to soothe her racing pulse. All of the fear and desperation she'd felt starts to fade away, leaving space for her to ponder the questions she hadn't allowed herself to ask until now. Eden has many of them, but mainly just one: how is this even happening?

"Good. You're awake."

She lets her hands fall from her face. The Twi'lek woman from the night before ducks into her tent, cautiously carrying two steaming mugs in her hands. She passes one to Eden, who accepts it wordlessly and cradles it against her chest, inhaling the herbal scent wafting off the liquid in rising spirals of steam. The smell reminds her of early mornings spent in Master Jericho's study, watching him scribble down notes in his leather-bound journal, and Eden blinks the memory away just as quickly as it'd come. Across from her, the other woman seats herself on the ground next to Caleb's sleeping form.

"I'm a terrible cook, but tea and caf are two things I can manage without setting anything on fire. Most of the time."

Eden cracks a smile at that. "Thank you," she says gratefully before adding, "I didn't get your name last night."

"Hera," she replies, voice warm and pleasant as she blows on her tea. "I didn't get yours either."

"I —" Eden pauses, frowning as she considers her answer.

She hadn't given her real name out to anyone in years, but Hera was with Caleb and if Caleb recognized her and called her Eden when he woke after she gave a fake name to Hera, things could be ... awkward. Then again: Eden doesn't know anything about Hera and if she turns out to be the wrong sort of person to trust, Eden could wind up dead — which is a lot more inconvenient than dealing with a bit of awkwardness.

"Minara," she finally decides. "My name is Minara."

Hera arches a brow, seeming to have picked up on her hesitation, but makes no comment on it. "Well, I owe you my thanks, Minara, for helping my friend."

Eden glances down at Caleb. She hadn't done it for Hera, but she couldn't explain that to her. "It was nothing. I'm just glad that it worked."

An awkward sort of silence fills the tent and neither of them speak for several moments, doing their best to ignore the very large, very obvious bantha in the room as they regard one another with careful scrutiny. Hera looks young — a few years younger than Eden herself — but her eyes are older; as if she'd seen too much as a young girl and had been forced to grow up too fast. Her attire indicates that she is a pilot, wearing a standard orange-and-white flightsuit and a cap with goggles atop her head. She's beautiful, of course; anyone with eyes could see that. Green-eyed and green-skinned with a pattern of intricate white tattoos running from root to tip of her lekku, the twin headtails stemming from the top of her head to the small of her back.

Realizing that she's been staring for too long without saying anything, Eden turns her focus towards the steam still rising off the tea in her mug. She blows on it before taking a large gulp just for the sake of doing something and also because it's warm and sweet and reminds her of home. At the very same time, Hera sets her mug on the ground and rests her hands on her knees; all business as she leans over Caleb.

"You're like him, aren't you?" She asks, speaking in low, hushed tones as she cuts to the chase; evidently not one for beating around the bush. "One of ... you know ... them."

Eden resists the urge to spit out her tea, swallowing harshly. Evidently, Hera knew more than she'd anticipated, but how much was still important. Schooling her features into a blank mask of impassiveness that would have made Master Unduli proud, Eden blinks at her and takes another slow sip from her mug. "You'll have to be more specific than that."

Hera's eyes glint with something not quite eager, but hopeful all the same. "Look, I know that we just met and you don't have any reason to trust me, but your secret is safe with me," she continues, talking fast. "I owe Kanan my life and you saved his yesterday, so that means I owe you something, too."

Kanan. There was that name again. Eden does her best to keep from wincing. She hadn't saved Caleb out of the kindness of her bleeding heart. If he'd been anyone else in the galaxy, she wouldn't have tried as hard as she did to save him and instead would have done what she could to ease his pain before he passed. But he wasn't anyone else in the galaxy — he was Caleb Dume; the only surviving Jedi that she'd met in seven years of solitude — and he was the one link she had to a past she'd thought was all but lost. Eden hadn't saved Caleb for Hera. She'd saved him for selfish reasons. For herself.

"I've kept Kanan's secret for as long as I've known him," Hera continues. "I'll keep yours, too. You don't have to worry about anyone hearing anything from me."

Against her better judgement, Eden asks, "And how long has that been?"

"He joined my crew almost a year ago."

A year ago, she thinks. That leaves seven years unaccounted for since the fall of the Order. Eden studies Caleb's sleeping expression, noting the sharp angles and hard edges of his face. None of the boyish softness that she remembered remains. In its stead is the mask of some solemn, bearded stranger, whose brow stays furrowed even as he sleeps.

How did you survive? Eden wonders. And what did it cost you?

"You knew him," Hera guesses. Eden looks up at her sharply. "Back before the Empire ... well, existed, didn't you? I can see it in your eyes."

Eden lets out a heavy sigh and sets her cup down. "Yes," she admits, deciding to trust Hera with that much information. Whether or not it would prove to be a wise decision, Eden would have to wait and see. But there was something earnest about Hera's way of speaking, an honesty to her serious stare that gave her enough credibility for Eden to deem her trustworthy. "I knew him."

"So the name that you called him yesterday —"

"— no longer has any meaning to him," a hoarse voice interrupts.

Eden and Hera both jump, startled, as Caleb cracks an eye open. A flash of teal glints beneath his lids and he slowly pulls himself into a sitting position, scratching at the beard growing along his sturdy jawline and ruffling his dark hair, freeing it from the tie that had been holding it back. Wordlessly, Hera offers him her half-full cup of lukewarm tea and he takes it without question, downing the contents in a few quick gulps before pulling a face.

"Was hoping for something a bit stronger," he rasps and Hera frowns, her pretty features pinched with disapproval.

"I ... Caleb," Eden stutters, at a total loss for words.

"— is dead. It's Kanan," he cuts her off, pointedly choosing to avoid her gaze, and it's Eden's turn to frown then. "Kanan Jarrus." He pauses and presses a hand to his forehead, wincing in pain. "Kriff. What the hell happened yesterday? I feel like I got into a throwdown with a pack of Trandoshans and lost."

Hera glares at him and pokes him in the chest. "You almost died. That's what happened."

Her partner seems unfazed. "Oh, that old trick again? Never seems to stick."

Eden watches the scene unfolding before her with her mouth halfway open, gaping incredulously. Was that ... it? He wasn't going to say anything else to her? Just pretend that he was an actual stranger along with his strange new name? As if the two of them didn't know each other? As if they weren't possibly the very last two Jedi left alive in the entire galaxy?

"That's not funny," Hera snaps. "Seriously, Kanan, what were you thinking? If it wasn't for Minara, you would be dead. You should be thanking her; you owe her your life."

"Do I now?" He asks, sounding less than thrilled. For the first time since he'd awoken, he looks at Eden, offering her a curt nod of his head. "Well, thank you, Minara."

Her eyes narrow at the emphasis on her false name and she bites back a scowl. He might have been content for them to play perfect strangers with one another for whatever reason, but Eden sure as hell wasn't going to play along. "Actually, Ca — nan," she says, quickly catching her mistake. If he had chosen to go by a new name, she would honor that wish. "I wanted to ask you someth —"

"And I was thinking," he continues, addressing Hera as if Eden hadn't spoken at all, "that, based on what we know about this toxicant, out of the two of us, I was the one who had a better chance of surviving exposure to something like that, so ... you're welcome."

Hera's expression is a cross between endearing fondness and utter exasperation. "And you're an idiot."

Caleb — no, Kanan, Eden reminds herself — grins and the smile lights up his handsome face. "Can't argue with that assessment, Captain."

Eden clears her throat. "Kanan, I'd like to ask you about —"

"— the toxicant?" He suggests. "That's more Hera's area of expertise. Right, Hera?"

"Toxicant?" Eden repeats, brow furrowing. "What? No. I wanted to ask you about —"

"Hera, tell her what we learned yesterday before I nearly died for you."

Hera glares at him. "That's still not funny," she warns before turning towards Eden. "You remember what I told you about the Empire?"

"I — yes," Eden agrees, accepting the fact that, at least for now, her conversation with Cal — no, that's not right — Kanan would have to wait. She'd talk to him eventually, but what Hera was saying sounded important, too. "You said that the Empire is the one behind all of this. That they've been poisoning people —"

Hera nods. "Exactly. Our contact off-world sent us here —"

"— her contact off-world," Kanan interjects, lazily sinking back onto the ground and throwing an arm over his eyes. "I'm just here as crew."

An annoyed expression crosses Hera's face. "Fine. My contact off-world sent me here to investigate the disappearance of a scientist working inside the Imperial laboratory in Chlora City. The scientist had been keeping my contact informed about an alleged illness that had infected Chloris, but a week ago they went dark and stopped responding to my contact's messages."

"We —" she corrects herself before Kanan can say a word, "— I was sent here to try and locate the scientist, but all I was able to garner from speaking with their family and a few other locals is that the Imperials had them arrested on suspicion of treason."

"What sort of contact off-world?" Eden asks, her interest piqued to learn more about what kind of individual could possibly be powerful enough to send stealthy operatives to investigate Imperial injustices on far-off worlds.

"The secret kind?" Hera answers evasively. She offers Eden a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry, but the fewer people who know about my contact, the better."

Eden shakes her head. "Understandable," she replies, no stranger to secrets herself. If her suspicions were correct, it was likely that Hera was working for some sort of rebel agent, which would explain the need for such secrecy. "I take it that your investigation didn't stop with the scientist's family."

"Of course it didn't," Kanan drawls from his spot on the floor. "Hera decided that, logically, raiding an Imperial complex was the next best course of action."

"Ah," Eden says diplomatically. "I see."

"We needed more answers and that was the only way we were going to get them," Hera argues, sounding defensive. "I knew the Empire was hiding something and I was right. They've been experimenting with different methods of biological warfare. Ways for them to wipe out entire populations of worlds; especially ones that don't conform to their ideal Galactic order. And Chloris was the perfect testing ground."

Eden's stomach drops at the thought. "But why?" She demands. "This is a peaceful planet. The people here didn't even try to resist when the Imperials arrived. What could the Empire possibly gain from murdering innocent people?"

"Well, it's not exactly the first time they've pulled something like that, is it?" Kanan mutters and it makes Eden grind her teeth together. She blinks and sees the flash of blaster bolts behind her lids; feels the phantom agony of ten thousand voices crying out at once before being permanently silenced and — she forces the memories away.

"I know that," Eden snaps, her voice sharp and brittle to her ears. "But what I asked is what could the Empire have to gain from doing something like that to a place like Chloris?"

Hera quietly clears her throat. "It's less about what they could gain and more about what they could afford to lose," she says gently. "Chloris doesn't have much to offer the Empire. A small civilian population. No valuable commodities to exploit. Whatever they did here would go unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy. It would allow the Imperials the freedom to test their weapons and wreak destruction without scrutiny or consequence."

A tightness fills her chest and Eden balls her hands into fists. "We have to do something."

She's surprised to see Hera smile. "I agree."

"Great," Kanan grumbles, giving up on the pretense of casual disinterest as he rises into a slumped sitting position. "Now there's two of you."

Eden purses her lips into a thin line. "You don't agree?"

"I think that this is way over our heads," he says bluntly. "Hera's contact sent her here to get information. She's already gone above and beyond that. Whatever her contact decides to do with that information is up to them — not us."

"But people are dying," Eden protests, looking at him incredulously. "You'd turn your back on them?"

A scowl crosses his face. "It's not turning my back; it's being realistic," Kanan insists. "The information we give to Hera's contact will help people here in the long-run, but risking our lives and getting ourselves killed along the way isn't going to do anyone any good."

Eden straightens her spine and leans back, taking a real, scrutinizing look at the man before her. Her eyes scan his face, searching for any lingering trace of the boy she used to know — the one who ran headfirst into danger for the sake of heroics and eagerly marched off to war. This man is no wide-eyed Padawan learner; no child-soldier playing at war — he is someone new entirely.

Someone Eden doesn't know at all.

Warily, Kanan lifts his chin in response to her stare; a guarded mask of indifference slipping over his sharp features, preventing her from reading him any further. A sinking feeling settles in the bottom of her stomach as Eden realizes that perhaps Kanan was being honest with her from the beginning when he said that Caleb Dume was dead. That boy was long gone and the cynical stranger in front of her is all that remains of him. Much like her trip to Mirial, the notion of Caleb Dume that Eden had dreamed up in her head was nothing more than a fantasy; one born from her desire to return to a past that could never be hers again.

Eden breaks his stare and looks down at her hands, hiding her disappointment. "Then I guess there's nothing else to be said," she finally says, rising from the floor of her tent and straightening her clothes. She smooths the wrinkled material of her skirt and adjusts the scarf covering her head. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do. There's lots of people out there who could use my help now rather than later and I intend to do something about it."

She's gone with a whirlwind of skirts and fabric, missing the two pairs of eyes that watch her leave and the muffled ow! followed by a quiet you idiot!

━━━━━━

THE FIELD HOSPITAL IS ALREADY BUSTLING WITH VOLUNTEERS as Eden trudges up the sloping hill leading towards the encampment. She passes by a row of cloth-covered figures that have been carefully arranged in the dirt — corpses of victims who'd passed in the night; their bodies stiff and unmoving in death. Eden looks away quickly, clenching her jaw before picking up the pace and walking faster. Her fingers curl and uncurl, itching to do something as a wave of anger washes over her. It blazes hot and bright, fueled by her newfound knowledge of the Empire's role in Chloris's suffering, until Eden forces herself to breathe; smothering the angry embers before they can start to burn in earnest. Emotion, yet peace. Passion, yet serenity ...

When her breathing is calm, Eden tilts her head skywards. Why? She asks, searching the clouds for answers. Why allow this?

But the clouds give her nothing and Eden is left with no choice but to continue onwards.

When she ducks inside her tent, Juni is already hard at work, ladling servings of steaming broth into small wooden bowls before dealing them out to the patients who are well enough to eat. Eden joins her, quickly falling into the rhythm of the familiar routine. She picks up a bowl in each hand and carefully distributes them to two patients. One of them is the girl from the night before — the one whose fever Eden had managed to bring down as she slept. Eden notes the healthy pink flush to her cheeks and the twinkle in her eyes with a certain degree of satisfaction, glad to see that her efforts hadn't been for nothing; that she was making a difference, no matter how small.

She returns to Juni's side and finds the rest of the bowls gone, having already been distributed throughout the tent. Her friend wastes no time before moving on to the next task, collecting used cloths to be boiled and sterilized for reuse. Outside the tent, Eden sets a cauldron of water over a campfire to boil, watching as it begins to froth and bubble. Juni joins her shortly after, dumping the dirty rags into the pot before heaving a heavy sigh and swiping a hand across her sweaty brow.

"I'm sorry I was late," Eden apologizes as the two of them watch the water boil. "I overslept this morning."

Juni glances over at her, lips pursed and eyes narrowed into a distinctive look of disapproval. "Minara Jero, you are an absolute liar," she hisses quietly, sending a jolt of alarm through her. "You did not turn in early last night when you told me that you would!"

The blood in her veins turns to ice and Eden goes very still. "What do you mean?"

     "Don't play dumb with me," Juni replies, glaring at her.

     Her thundering heartbeat seems to echo in her ears. Eden's throat goes dry and she forces herself to swallow, mind racing a mile a minute. Had Juni seen what happened the night before? Did she know the truth about Eden's real identity?

"I ..." she stammers. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Her friend's demeanor shifts abruptly and Juni gives her a playful shove on the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me that you were seeing someone?"

Eden blinks. That certainly wasn't the why didn't you tell me you're a fugitive with freakish Jedi powers hiding in exile from the Empire? that she had been anticipating. "Huh?"

"The Twi'lek," Juni says accusingly. "I saw her leaving your tent early this morning — no wonder you look so exhausted — but how come you never told me about her?"

And oh, thank Force — Eden nearly cries with relief when she realizes that her secret is still safe. "Ah," she says, an almost hysterical giggle spilling from her lips. "I see."

"Spill," her friend demands. "Now."

Eden shrugs helplessly and decides to play along. "It's all still very ... new?"

     (Which, technically speaking, isn't a lie.)

Juni clasps her hands to her chest, utterly delighted. "Oh, it all makes so much more sense now!" She announces. "All the secretiveness, the way you turned down Haru ... you had someone in your corner this whole time!"

"Er ... yes," Eden agrees. "Yes, that's exactly it."

"You have to tell me everything," Juni says, clasping Eden's hands in hers. "From the very beginning, I want to know all of it —"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Eden laughs nervously.

She looks away from Juni's piercing cobalt eyes, spotting a figure in a tattered white coat approaching in the distance over her friend's shoulder. "Doc's heading our way," she says, grateful for the excuse to end the conversation. "We can talk more later."

"I'll hold you to that," Juni promises before the two of them greet the field doctor, waving her over and ushering her into their tent.

Doctor Helem Jayr was the head of the field operation on Chloris, known by reputation for her intelligence and efficiency in the medical profession. Never one for wasting time, she begins her rounds immediately, moving from row to row, patient to patient with impressive speed despite the weary sag to her shoulders. As she watches her work, Eden is reminded of the temple librarian on Coruscant, Jocasta Nu, with her gray-streaked hair and beady eyes. The memory is bittersweet and Eden wonders what happened to Master Nu after the fall of the Republic. The temple itself had burned — she knew that much from scraps of news she'd seen on the Holonet — but had Master Nu burned with it? Or had she managed to escape, only to be hunted down by the Emperor's dogs, the way Eden and Luminara had been hunted?

Unbidden, her thoughts return to Caleb Dume and the mystery surrounding his survival. Had he been hunted by the red-blades too? And what of Master Billaba?

"Your patients are doing well," Doctor Jayr reports after completing her assessment. "Better than many of the others I've seen today. They're very fortunate."

"That's good news," Eden replies. "We're glad to hear it."

"As am I," the older woman confesses lowly, her expression troubled. "I'm optimistic that many of them will make full recoveries and we'll be able to free up some space on the ground. There's been a spike in cases coming from the city. If we don't see improvement soon ... I'm afraid our camp will be overwhelmed."

Eden's face grows taut with worry. "Do you really think it will come to that?"

"I think it would take a miracle to stop it from coming to that, dear girl," Doctor Jayr replies grimly before making her way on to the next tent.

Eden watches her leave and the slow-kindling anger that she'd experienced earlier that day returns. The Empire was getting away with murder and no one knew about it. Yet even if they did know, what could the people of Chloris do to stop them? They were civilians — not soldiers — with no defenses available; nothing that could stand against the might of the Empire.

A hand on her elbow draws Eden out of her thoughts. "Hey," Juni says, brow furrowed with concerned. "You alright?"

Eden blinks, letting the anger slip away as quickly as it'd come. Ignorance, yet knowledge, she thinks to herself, counting her breaths. Chaos, yet harmony ...

"Always," she replies, offering her friend a smile. "Just thinking."

"About what the doctor said?" Juni asks and Eden nods. "Oh, don't let that discourage you, Mina. I'm sure things won't get that bad — I mean, look at how well our patients have been doing!"

Because of me, Eden wants to tell her, suddenly bone-weary. And I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going on like this.

Instead, she forces a smile and shakes her head. "You're right," she agrees, lying through her teeth. "No point in worrying about things before they happen."

"Exactly," Juni says, beaming at her. "Now, how about we —" her friend freezes, mouth hanging open as her eyes widen at something behind Eden's back.

Eden turns quickly. In the mouth of the tent, two figures are standing just outside the entrance: Hera and Kanan. Eden shoots them a warning look and gives a subtle shake of her head, but Hera just smiles serenely in return.

"We've come to help," the Twi'lek announces, keeping the too-bright grin plastered on her face as she nudges Kanan in the side with a pointed elbow.

"Uh, that's right," he agrees. "Help."

Eden glances between the two of them and Juni. Her friend is still gaping incredulously before she looks at Eden and mouths the words, "There's two of them?"

Eden resists the urge to bury her face in her palms and groan.

"Put us to work wherever!" Hera continues, stepping fully inside the tent. Kanan reluctantly trails after her, looking very much like he'd rather be anywhere else in the galaxy.

"Of course," Juni says, recovering quickly. "But first: Minara, why don't you introduce me to your ... friends?"

Smiling through gritted teeth, Eden says, "Right. Hera and Kanan, meet Juni. Juni, meet Hera and Kanan. My ... friends, who just arrived from inside Chlora City," she says, shooting the two of them a look that says play along, please. "They want to join our efforts here on the ground."

"It's so nice to meet you," Hera adds warmly. "Sorry that it took us this long to get here."

Juni waves the apology off. "What matters is that you're here now. And any friend of Mina's is a friend of mine."

Hera beams. "Excellent," she says. "Why don't you show me the ropes around here and Minara can do the same with Kanan?"

"What?" Eden and Kanan both say at the same time.

"Sure," Juni agrees. "We were in the process of sterilizing rags for cold compresses. You can help me finish that while Mina and Kanan refill the water buckets."

Kanan shakes his head. "Hera —" he hisses quietly before she cuts him off.

"Sounds perfect," she interrupts, linking an arm with Juni's and steering the two of them out of the tent. She shoots Kanan a warning look over her shoulder, mouthing something that looks suspiciously like talk to her! before turning back to Juni, allowing her to begin her friendly interrogation.

For the first time, Eden and Kanan are alone together.

Neither of them say anything for several moments until Eden clears her throat. "There are buckets over here," she says, showing him the stack piled near the tent's entrance. He takes two, but Eden just grabs one, deciding to give her poor body a break after everything she'd put it through the day before. "I'll show you where we get our water from."

Kanan nods silently and follows Eden outside into the sweltering sunshine that would only grow more insufferable as the early morning fog began to burn off. They leave the encampment behind, walking a narrow path down a grassy hill to the small stone well that served as the field hospital's main water source since the river had been overrun by Imperial pollution.

Together, they hook the first bucket onto the rusted pulley system and lower it down into the well to fill it with water. "I heard people saying that the patients in your tent are doing very well compared to the others," Kanan says quietly, his voice soft as they work to retrieve the bucket from the shaft. "Doctors called 'em lucky, but I assume they have you to thank for that."

It's the closest he's come to breaching the subject of the Force with her, so Eden nods and treads carefully. "I do what I can to help them, yes."

"That must be tiring," he notes, removing the filled bucket from the pulley and swapping it out with an empty one.

"There is a physical toll," she admits. "But it's a small one for me to pay in exchange for the good that it does for them."

"For me," Kanan corrects, meeting her gaze with a newfound intensity. "And it wasn't small. Hera told me everything that happened last night. You nearly killed yourself trying to save me. Why would you do something like that?"

Eden sighs and scrubs a tired hand over her face. "Because I remembered a boy who made me smile once when I thought all my smiling days were over. I couldn't let him die."

His shoulders sag and his expression is pained. "You shouldn't have done that," Kanan says, his tone almost pleading; begging her to understand. "I'm not that kid anymore. He was reckless and foolish and he died a long time ago."

"That's a pity," Eden replies. "I liked that kid. And I think we could use a little recklessness around here pretty soon."

Kanan squints at her. "Why?" He asks suspiciously. "Don't tell me that you're thinking of doing something stupid. Whatever it is, it's most likely suicide. You can't go up against the Imperials and expect to win."

"Not alone," Eden agrees with him. "But together ... this is what we were raised to do, Ca — nan. To fight injustice and defend the innocent —"

"That was before the Empire made us into traitors and put targets on our backs," he hisses. "Back when there were thousands of Jedi protecting the galaxy. Now there's none."

Eden shakes her head stubbornly. "No, now there's two."

"One," Kanan insists, glaring at her. "And a Padawan learner who never completed her training, at that."

"I've learned a lot since then," she protests. "The Force —"

He tugs at his hair and some of the dark strands escape the tie, falling into his face and giving him a disheveled appearance. "It's not enough," Kanan growls. "You've already run yourself ragged trying to keep these people alive. How much longer before you wind up either killing yourself or getting yourself killed? And if that happens, do you know what comes after that? Everything goes right back to the way it was before and all the good you did won't have meant a damn thing."

The words feel like a punch to the gut. "Why would you say something like that?" Eden demands. "I'm ... I'm still helping people — I helped you — that means something, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't!" He shouts. "Because the Empire is going to win. It doesn't matter if me or you or anyone else lives or dies. You of all people should know, just as well as I do, that they can't be defeated. Not by Jedi. Otherwise we wouldn't be here —"

"Don't " Eden snarls, raising a finger at him. "Do not throw that back in my face. I know what they did; I felt it; I lived through it, same as you —"

Kanan doesn't back down. "Then you should know better than to be this naïve —"

"Fine! Maybe I am naïve," she replies, matching his volume and intensity. "Maybe I'm the biggest fool in the galaxy for wanting to help people who need it. At least I haven't lost my heart. Where is yours, Kanan Jarrus?"

"Right here," he sneers, thumping his chest. "Alive and beating. And I intend to keep it that way."

He removes the second bucket from the pulley in a flash, grasping the other one in his empty hand before turning on his heel and marching up the hill. Eden watches him go without saying a word, fists clenched tight and chest heaving with anger. Emotion, yet peace, she thinks to herself, grinding her teeth together. Ignorance, yet — oh, fuck that!

A familiar green head pokes over the crest of the hill before Hera starts down the path almost sheepishly, her steps slow and hesitant as she sidles up to the well. Eden offers her a wary nod before turning her attention onto the third bucket, lowering it down the shaft and filling it with water.

"I take it that conversation didn't go well," Hera says when she's within speaking distance.

Eden smiles ruefully, finding it difficult to remain angry with Hera around. "Not exactly. I take it that it was your suggestion that he speak with me?"

"I may have ... encouraged him," she admits, choosing her words carefully. "But it was ultimately his decision."

"Ah," Eden says. "I see."

Hera shakes her head, frustrated. "I hoped it would help. Having someone around who knows him; someone he could talk to about ... all the things he won't talk to me about."

"I don't think we know each other at all, actually," she confesses, freeing her bucket from the depths of the well. "He's not the boy I remember him being and whoever he is now doesn't want anything to do with me."

"I'm sorry," Hera murmurs. "I really did think it would help."

Eden cuts her off with a shake of her head, setting the bucket down in the dirt. "It's no one's fault. Certainly not yours for trying; nor his for not being the person I expected him to be. I just ..." she pauses and sighs, pressing her fingertips to her forehead and touching the pattern of tattoos there. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I've been living in the past for a very long time, always wanting something I can never have."

"And what is it that you want?" Hera asks, her eyes emerald green and piercing in the midday sunlight.

Eden smiles sadly, thinking of early morning walks around a rooftop garden at sunrise and the sounds of the city down below. "Home."

Hera's face softens and she puts a gentle hand on Eden's shoulder. "For what it's worth," she tells her. "I think there's a chance that the boy you remember is still there somewhere deep down inside of him. Kanan puts on a good show of pretending not to care about anything or anyone, but he comes through when it counts."

Her brow furrows. "You're speaking from experience."

"Yes," Hera confirms. "I met him on Gorse while I was on a mission. He didn't want any part in what I was doing or my business with the Empire, but he stuck around and, when the time came, saved my life. We've been working together ever since and he hasn't let me down yet. Makes a big fuss about it sometimes, sure, but his heart always winds up in the right place."

Eden considers this for a moment before speaking again. "Well, I hope you're right," she begins, "because I think we're going to need his help if we want to save Chloris."

A small smile curls at the edges of Hera's lips. "What exactly were you thinking?"

"I want you to break into the Imperial complex again," Eden says. "And this time, we're going to blow it up."

a/n:           womp womp womp!!! the long awaited re-meeting (?) occurs and of course it goes just perfectly doesn't it 🥰 perhaps this is what some of you envisioned, perhaps it isn't — but this is my interpretation on young kanan/caleb's character! ✍️🧐
           it was pretty clear to me while watching rebels (and then abundantly clear to me after reading a new dawn) that kanan, before he became the spacedad™️ we all know and love so much, was definitely a troubled dude. like canonically getting into bar fights and getting super drunk and being an all-around asshole (who of course has a good heart buried deep down beneath all the angst and self-loathing and nihilism lol) kind of troubled dude. even after he meets ezra, kanan struggles a lot with his survivor's guilt and with feelings of inadequacy, especially concerning his relationship with the force and his skills as a jedi. a lot of that is what shaped the interactions between him and eden in this chapter, who is essentially kanan's polar opposite in regards to her attitude towards the force and how she chose to live her life during her time in exile ... which of course triggers a defensive response from kanan because she's this walking, talking reminder of a past he's been running from. at this point in his arc, kanan is definitely in a better place than he was before meeting hera in a new dawn, but it's still relatively early in his journey and he hasn't full-on embraced the ~rebel spirit~ yet nor has he accepted his feelings towards the force. pit that against eden's naïve idealism + her inability to let go of the past + her expectations for caleb/kanan and you get tension, which is what we had here. obviously these two have a LOT to work through as well as a lot to learn from each other, which is what will continue to happen throughout their growth in this book.
           i hope you enjoyed this chapter! as always, i love love love hearing from all of you, so don't be shy 🥺👉👈 leave a vote, drop a comment, add one of those new funky little sticker things if that's what you're into — just please don't be a ghost reader! 👻 love u guys very much! see u in ch 3 where perhaps some things will go BOOM before we say goodbye to chloris and the space roadtrip begins 🤯💥🤯💥🤯