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There are days when Kanan wishes the detection capabilities of the Imperial fleet were a lot less good than they are. Those days usually coincide with missions that involve a lot of sitting around in a dead ship, with a deactivated Chopper and a lot of time to kill until contact is made.

Like today, for instance.

Probably all day, too. Hopefully not into tomorrow.

"So," Kanan says, voice pitched low and not quite sibilant enough to be a whisper. "How do you feel about another round of I Spy?"

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Hera goes quiet for a moment.

Softly, "It is for some people."

Kanan reaches out, very slowly, to lay his hand on Hera's wrist.

"Yeah."

Hera lets him, lowering her hand slightly so that it's closer to his reach.

"Et koriseun," she mumbles, maybe to herself.

Kanan slips his hand down to hold on to hers, to remind her that whatever else, here and now she's not alone.

And, with his best attempt at the correct accent --

"Viulen usnajmen."

It probably won't help much, but it's what he's got.

Hera laughs again, a short, soft burst as she nods.

"Ze. Yes, they are."

After a little, Kanan leans back again, settling in comfortably.

At least he gives off that impression, or tries.

"One sentence down. I think I'm gonna like this whole new language thing."

"Fortunately we have probably have... a lot of time left."

At least, there's no sign of movement beyond their windows yet.

"Rilokacho shendor - it means, 'See your home,' or 'you must see your home,' but you can say it for 'goodbye,' for strangers."

" . . . You know I'm not actually going to have all this down by the time our pickup contacts us, right? I mean, I've definitely never been that kind of prodigy."

Caleb, either.

"Are there times when hearing the 'cho' doesn't mean strangers? Because I hear it here, too, and I don't want to focus on it if that's not . . . what it means."

She bites back a sarcastic response, instead keeping her voice, at least, reassuring.

"And I'm not much of a Twi'leki teacher. If you remember your one sentence a week from now, I'll be impressed with both of us.

"And cho doesn't mean strangers. It means 'your.'"

Beat. "... for a stranger."

"Somehow I knew this was going there."

He keeps his tone light, one corner of his mouth turning up at the corner.

"Rilokacho, right? And then shen . . . dor?"

"Riloka is home," she says. "So it's 'your home.' And shenal is 'see,' but it's you must see. It's me - nicely -" she feels the need to add, for some reason "- telling you to go see your home."

Good to know it's not a version of 'get the hell out of here', at least. Not that there's anywhere to go, but still.

(Someday Zeb is going to come along, and anything he teaches them about his language is probably going to be essentially that. Thanks, Zeb.)

"So a nicely poetic sendoff for when you're sure someone is leaving?"

"It's like - telling someone to get home safely. Or to come back home. Or..."

Again, she struggles to come up with the Basic words for it. "... like a reminder, that your home is out there."

"What about when your home's in here?"

"Then it means get back here as soon as you can.

"But... in a nice way."

"Sounds about right."

She sighs. "I guess I was always a little more direct. Even in Twi'leki."

"I wouldn't know what to do with you if you weren't."

It matches Kanan's style nicely, for one.

"Yelling at off-worlders was a big part of how I learned Basic."

Hera may be smiling again.

Edited 2017-05-09 02:06 (UTC)

"They had it coming."

Kanan is sure of that.

"It usually got their attention," she allows.

"Is it a tactic we should re-adopt sometime?"

Maybe it works better coming from a kid. But still . . .

"I don't think it'd have the same effect."

There's also nothing unusual about an offworld adult Twi'lek speaking in Basic, even if they are being... direct about it.

"And I don't have the same reasons for it anymore."

"Maybe I can try screaming in Twi'leki?"

He's kidding.

She rolls her eyes.

"I think we're doing okay as it is. And if we want screaming no one else will understand, that's what we have Chopper for."

Notice how she said that while he's powered down.

Edited 2017-05-09 02:46 (UTC)