Star Wars Rebels: Hera & Kanan

Chapter Twenty-six

Hera joined the ring of murmuring spectators circling Ino Dravik's sabacc table. She was holding a glass of Alderaanian toniray, which she had purchased mostly for show, but she found herself taking frequent sips as she watched Kanan settle into his seat at the burgundy-felt-topped Wroshyr wood sabacc table. His teal eyes searched the crowd and found hers, and he gave her one of his trademark Kanan Jarrus the Charming Reprobate grins, accompanied by a wink.

The well-dressed human woman standing next to Hera turned to her friend and murmured, "If I knew for certain that man was going to win instead of Ino, I'd offer myself up as the sabacc pot."

Hera's eyebrows went up. She felt a twinge of irritation, but she couldn't exactly blame the woman. When she told Kanan that he looked "nice", she'd been acutely aware of how inadequate a compliment it was. But telling him what she really thought- and felt- when she looked at him was just asking for trouble.

She took another sip of the bubbly blue wine in her hand, watching him. He was talking to Dravik- or, more likely if she knew him, trading sarcastic barbs. What would she have said, instead of "nice"? Could she have told him about the phrase that kept sticking in her mind when she looked at him, picked up in some dirty spaceport or out-of-the-way cantina on her travels through the galaxy? She smiled at the thought. No, she was sure she could not have told him that she thought he looked "obnoxiously sexy". And she was even more certain that telling Kanan something like that would have been a potentially hazardous idea for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that she never would have heard the end of it.

Still, Hera wondered how long it had been since he'd heard something complimentary from someone who truly mattered to him. For that matter, how long had it been since she had? She hadn't let on, of course, but Kanan's dumbfounded appreciation of her appearance had made her feel good. She would have liked to believe that such things didn't matter to her- and really, most of the time, they didn't. But his appreciation was a different thing entirely. It was so...sincere. So unlike the lascivious looks she'd always gotten from other men. The recent shift in their situation had revealed an unexpected boyish sweetness in him that was very endearing- and very difficult to resist- and when he looked at her, she saw herself the way he saw her. It made her feel truly beautiful.

"They still haven't started yet?" Nash complained.

Startled by his sudden appearance, Hera turned to stare at the tall idiot beside her. "Where did you come from? You're supposed to be waiting at the bar!"

"Oh, please," he scoffed. "You didn't really think I was going to wait quietly at the bar while my fate is decided, did you?"

She was annoyed. "You should be sticking to the plan."

"Is it a plan? Or is it really just a bunch of half-cocked ideas strung together?" He took a sip of aubergine-colored liquid from a stemless round glass. "Do you really think your boyfriend is going to pull this off?"

"He's not my boyfriend," she snapped.

"Oh, really? What would you call it, then?"

"He's crew. I pay him for his work."

"Does he know that?"

"We...haven't discussed it."

"What a surprise. So, let me get this straight: you live on a small freighter together and you kiss each other on the mouth, but he's just crew?" Nash looked at her with one eyebrow raised and twinkling eyes.

"Mind your own business."

"It kind of is my business since I'm apparently doomed to remain the third wheel until Ino Dravik kills me." Nash took another swallow of his drink and then used it to gesture towards Kanan. "He looks good in that suit I picked out for him. Really good. You know, the guy barely has any fashion sense- not to mention a weird attachment to the color green. Can't imagine why. Not that it matters- you could dress him in spare droid parts and he'd still look fantastic."