pure of heart, dumb of ass

Kara

“Kriffing hells,” Fox groaned beneath her. “Kara, ‘m not gonna last if you keep that up.”

“I want it, Fox,” she panted, keeping her pace as she bounced atop him. He wasn’t painfully big, but he was long enough that riding him was something of a workout. And the depth he hit within her made her dizzy. “You gonna give me your cum?”

“Kriff, you’ve got such a dirty mouth for a princess,” he managed between grunts and moans. 

She smirked, leaning forward to catch his bottom lip between her teeth, keeping her hips snapping down against his. “Cum, Fox,” she pleaded. “I need it.”

“Cyar’ika, your implant—”

“Should be good for another month,” she said. “Give me your cum, Fox. I want it inside my cunt.”

“Kriff,” Fox growled, his hands gripping her hips so hard she was certain she’d find new bruises atop the old ones. He fucked up into her, meeting her stroke for stroke. “I’m kriffing cumming—ah!”

He slammed her down against him, and she could feel it as he painted her walls with rope after rope of his seed. She groaned.

“Kriffing— kriff, you’re gonna be the death of me, Princess.”

And then she heard it.

Faintly, from the main room.

Beeping. The all-clear signal.

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Thanks for reading! - River

“Probably not much less than me,” he sighed. “Most of them can do a lot of things, but there are things only some of them can do. Vos has a… touch thing. He can ‘see’ someone if his skin touches something they did. He was showing me that he’d taken off his glove before touching my vambrace when I brought him in.”

Kara hummed. “That’s the one on your forearm, right?” she asked. She’d been learning the pieces of his armor. She told him she was curious about it, just not that she wanted to know in case she ever got the chance to take it off of him herself. 

“Yes,” Fox nodded. “He probably saw the last few hours before he got here. Think he feels what I felt, too.”

Kara watched him intently as he sipped his caf. She wasn’t sure if he noticed the opening he left her.

“And, what did he feel?”

Fox

Fox froze.

Kriff.

She was quicker than he was, especially when he was just getting the caffeine in his bloodstream.

“Mostly annoyance, I’d imagine,” he answered. He’d go for the safer option, but he was fairly certain that she’d ignore it easily.

“Sure, in the couple of moments as you learned it was him,” she continued. “But what about before that?”

She had him cornered now, and he honestly didn’t mind.

He set his mug down fully and moved to the couch where she was reclining, sitting on the very edge to hover over her. He hadn’t taken in the extent of her outfit today. She’d only brought a few things, but he hadn’t seen this tunic before. It had a high neck and long sleeves, but there were cutouts at each shoulder, exposing her freckled shoulders. And more entrancing, it was red. But not just red, it was Corrie-red. Fox-red.

Not for the first time since he’d woken up merely an hour ago, he pushed down the impulse to proclaim his affection for her—his lust as well— hoping that she’d show him mercy.

But now, he knew he didn’t need it. Every movement, every word carefully chosen, she was trying to draw him in. And after a month together, so near each other, he was willing to dive in headfirst.

“You want to know how I was feeling before Quinlan Vos knocked on the door?” he asked, his voice low.

She gazed up at him through her eyelashes, her lips parting ever so slightly. She nodded slowly.

He leaned down, his face only inches away from her. 

“Why don’t I just show you?” he suggested.

He heard her breath catch, and then she surged forward, pressing her lips against his in a searing kiss.

Fox had kissed people before. He’d gone further. But he couldn’t compare the other two to Kara. 

Her arms wrapped around the back of his neck, sending shockwaves down his back. He pulled her closer, threading his fingers into the roots of her hair. 

But as he deepened the kiss, a small moan came from her throat. Pulling himself away from her felt like stepping onto an ice planet, but he did it anyway. 

“Princess,” he panted. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

Her tongue darted out of her smirk to wet her kiss-swollen lips. 

“Kara,” he groaned. 

And then he was kissing her again and again. 

Kara

Kissing Fox felt like watching the sun rising in the skies of Myso. The only thing keeping her grounded was the feeling of his hands at her neck or her cheek. 

Her body felt like it was on fire, and every touch, every movement, every small noise he probably didn’t know he was making only fanned the embers growing hotter in her core. 

But then his lips started to move. First, achingly slowly off her mouth, down her jaw, then to her neck, just above the high collar of her shirt. She could feel her pulse point hammering beneath the ministrations of his lips and tongue, and she couldn’t restrain her moans. 

“Fox,” she whimpered, her fingers carding into the curls at the back of his head.

“Kara,” he breathed against her heated skin. “Mesh’la.”

She didn’t know the word, but the way he whispered it, so reverently, made her skin prickle with goosebumps. 

“Mesh’la,” he groaned again as he continued moving, skipping over the fabric of her shirt to the cutout at her shoulder.

He seemed content to kiss every bit of her exposed skin, and she was happy to let him. 

“Fox, I—” she started, only to be cut off by her own sighs.

“Am I moving too fast, Princess?” his voice rumbled out against her collarbone. 

“Gods below, Fox,” she complained. “If I took the lead, we’d already be in my bed.”

Fox chuckled as his hands roved down her body, skillfully avoiding her breasts to rest at her waist. His fingers dipped below the hem of her shirt, making her gasp. 

He hummed as he lifted his head back to her face. “So I’m moving too slow for you.”

Before she could even think of a response, his arms looped under her, lifting her off the couch and over his shoulder. 

“Fox!” she shrieked. 

“You want to go fast, cyar’ika?” he asked, his voice dropping in a way that had her thighs pressing together. “Let’s go fast.”

He pressed her down into the bed, held himself just above her, and caught her lips again in a fierce kiss. 

Fox

He pulled back, taking note of the way she tried to follow after him. 

“Fox,” she pleaded. Kriff, he could listen to her pleading for him for hours. 

“Cyar’ika,” he replied simply. 

He then continued his attack. He kissed her lips. He nipped at her neck. He let his hands roam down over her curves—kriff, she had such perfect curves—and up underneath her shirt. He swallowed her soft gasp.

Her skin was so soft, so hot, so pliable beneath his hands. He wanted nothing more than to devour her.

Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea.

“Princess,” he murmured. “Let me undress you.”

She groaned, her hips lifting, pressing against his. “Yes,” she breathed.

Kriff, he was painfully hard behind his armor. Kriff. He was still in his armor, and she was still wearing clothes.

“Princess,” he hummed. He wrapped one hand around the back of her neck, lifting her up to him so he could finally push her shirt up. It caught slightly on her breasts, which fell out with a slight bounce.

Kara

Fox’s gaze darkened even more as it fixed on her breasts. She hadn’t known him long, but he looked… hungry.

“Kara, cyar’ika,” he bent down, pressing against her. His stubble brushed against her ear. “I’m going to undress you, Princess, and I’m going to taste you.”

Maybe he was hungry. She couldn’t stop the moan that seemed to come from her toes, if she wanted to. And she did not. She wanted—needed him to hear her.

Her shirt was finally off, but she didn’t feel the chill of the room. Then he was hooking his fingers in the top of her pants and dragging them down.

“Oh, ner mesh’la cyar’ika,” he groaned. She didn’t know what it meant, but she liked his tone when he said it. “You forget something this morning?”

She smiled and bit her lip. “Hmm?” she hummed innocently, like she hadn’t forgone her underwear. “Oh, no. Not for the past three.”

And there it was: that little tooka tilt she adored.

“Kara,” he breathed her name like a prayer, then stood from the bed. 

“Fox,” she answered, sitting up on her elbows and letting her knees fall apart. “You’re wearing too much.”

He chuckled. “Maybe.”

But then he was grabbing her hips and pulling her to the edge of the bed. He dropped to his knees before her and guided her legs over his shoulders as she gasped, and wasted no more time.

“Oh, Gods!” she cried as he wrapped his lips around her clit, her hands instantly finding and clawing through his curls. 

He kissed and licked and sucked at her like a man possessed. He was constantly moving. Just when he would fall into a rhythm, and she could feel the heat building in her core, he would change again, setting her climax back a few steps.

It was maddening.

Fox

It felt good to be right. Fox knew she’d taste amazing. He couldn’t explain how it was so different from the previous partner he’d had with this set of sexual organs, but it was.

He could die right here and now, and he’d consider it a good death.

Better yet, he’d prefer to live, as long as he got to spend as much time as possible with his head between her thighs, his nose buried in her white thatch of curls, with her hands grasping at the roots of his hair, his name rolling off her tongue over and over again between sighs and gasps and moans.

“Fox!” she cried out, fingernails digging into his scalp. “Oh, kriff!”

Then she was bucking even harder against his mouth, chasing the pleasure he was oh so willing to give her. She was moaning, her voice higher than normal and breathy.

He released the grasp he had on one of her hips, sliding it down to meet his tongue at her opening, and pressed into her still fluttering walls with two fingers, eased by her orgasm.

She gasp, hand tightening, tugging at his hair.

“F-Fox!”

He pressed his fingers deeper in, then hooked them up. Her back arched off the bed, with her deep, carnal moan. He wiggled his fingers, brushing against that powerful little spot within her.

Kara

She didn’t know if they’d been there mere minutes or hours, but he kept working her through a second orgasm, and she was getting close to a third.

“Fox,” she half-sobbed. “Please, I-I can’t.”

“Come on, Princess,” he growled against her aching opening. “I think you’ve got one more.”

She moaned as he flicked his tongue against her swollen, pulsing bundle of nerves. “I can’t,” she whimpered. “Fox, please!”

“One more, cyar’ika,” he coaxed. “I know you can.”

He stood, still pressing his fingers against that delicious, over-sensitive spot within her, brushing against her clit with his thumb while he drew her into a searing kiss. She could taste her own juices all over his tongue as it delved into her mouth, and she moaned around it.

“Come on, Kara,” he encouraged her. “Let go.”

“Fox!”

“That’s it, Princess,” he hummed. “Give it up.”

“W-want— oh, gods— want you inside me,” she pleaded between the moans he seemed intent on pulling out. “N-need you, Fox, please.”

He pressed his lips against her neck, just below her ear. “Give me one more, and I’ll fuck you as long as you like.”

A shudder rolled through her, and before she could even heave one more breath, everything shifted. 

He’d pushed another finger into her, moving his hand faster, harder against that sweet spot, his palm grinding down against her clit. She could feel that familiar fire building again. He was nipping and sucking at her neck, and she hoped he was leaving marks. And he was moaning, oh gods, his low rumbling moans, and then she was in free fall.

Her entire body went stiff and shaking, hips bucking against his unending motion, back arching off the bed.

The fire burned and burned until it reached her pussy, and she couldn’t stop it and, suddenly, it was bursting forward, gushing out of her, spraying all over the bed, Fox, his armor, and her vision was whiting out—

“That’s it, cyar’ika,” Fox’s voice finally pierced through the ringing in her ears. “That’s it. You did so well for me.”

Hazily, she recognized that he’d pulled her up onto the bed and crawled up next to her. He stroked her hair, pulling away the sweat-damp strands that framed her face with such light, delicate movements that she almost sobbed.

“F-Fox.” Her voice was so shaky, barely more than a whisper.

“Yes, Princess?”

“I love you.”

Fox

His brain was flying at a million miles per minute because kriff she was so beautiful like this, all covered in sweat, panting, face and chest painted lilac, her pale green eyes staring up at him like he’d hung the stars in the galaxy, and he was drenched in her orgasm, the orgasm he’d pulled out of her, and kriff that was hot and—

“F-Fox,” she breathed.

“Yes, Princess?” he answered, unable to fight back the adoration he could feel seeping into his tone.

“I love you.”

Oh. Maybe she had crushed his head between her strong thighs—definitely not a bad way to go—because he couldn’t have heard that right.

“Fox?” Her voice was still so quiet, but almost gentler. “I know we haven’t even known each other for a full month, but it’s true. I’m in love with you.”

She was… in love. With him? There had to be something he wasn’t getting right.

“And it's not just because of- of all that,” she continued nervously. “That was incredible– you are incredible. Gods, please say something.”

“I’m in love with you, too.”

The words came rushing out of his mouth, but they were true.

The sound she left out was somewhere between a sob and a laugh.

“I love you, Fox,” she sighed, her fingers coming up to his face to gently trace the scar across his face. 

“I love you, Kara.”

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Thanks for reading! - River

The door slammed shut, and Fox huffed loudly. 

She heard footsteps going through her door, opening and closing it, then approaching the closet. 

“It’s alright, Princess—” Fox’s annoyed face melted into mild amusement as he saw her makeshift weapon. “Not bad,” he hummed in approval, making her cheeks warm. She was certain that her face was rapidly shifting to 

He huffed again. “It’s just the di’kutla—” Another huff. “Jedi Master Vos. This is… his safe house.”

He offered his hand to help her out of the cramped closet, which she accepted gratefully.

“Fair warning, though,” Fox grumbled. “Vos is… kaysh mirsh solus— he’s a lot.”

She bit her lip to avoid laughing at his tone as he brought her to the main room, where Master Vos was helping himself to a ration.

The Jedi straightened upright, then bowed deeply. 

“Princess Ieta,” he said.

“Jedi Master Vos,” she replied.

“I’ve heard precious little about you, your highness,” he continued. “The good Commander here has been unreachable.”

“I’ve been gone a week,” Fox deadpanned. “You were part of the mission briefing. You know everything about her that I do.”

“That’s not true, now is it, Commander?” Vos grinned, lifting one hand to wriggle his fingers at him. “After all, you’ve spent an entire week with the Princess.”

Whatever Fox realized made him growl and hiss “shabuir” under his breath.

She glanced sideways at him, then back at the Jedi. She wasn’t getting a particularly positive impression of this Jedi, as she had with the others she had met. And more pressingly, she didn’t particularly enjoy the way Fox seemed like he wanted to throw him out in the snow.

“I’ve heard enough about you, Master Vos,” she said, adopting her Princess persona. “Are you here for any… actual purpose? News about the ongoing invasion of my planet? Or the attempts on my life, perhaps? Or did you just come to irritate my guard?”

Master Vos’ brow raised, and a smirk spread across his face. He glanced at Fox, then back to her. 

Suddenly, something seemed to pull at the hair stick in her hand, sending it clattering to the floor.

“Vos,” Fox snapped.

“Oh,” Vos said, stooping to one knee in front of her and picking up the stick. His movements seemed to stutter before he handed it back to her. “Mustn’t lose such an important part of your ceremonial jewelry.”

“Thank you, Master Vos,” she said carefully. “Now, do you have everything you were looking for? Or must you... dig further?”

From the corner of her eye, she could see Fox turn towards her.

“Yes, I believe I do,” Vos said, bowing his head slightly. “It was very nice to meet you, your highness.”

“Likewise, Master Jedi,” she said, even if she didn’t really mean it.

Vos wrapped his arm around Fox’s back, walking them both to the doorway.

Fox

“You did good, Foxy,” Vos whispered as soon as they turned away from Kara. “I mean it; I think you’re right for each other.”

Fox waited until they’d stepped out onto the porch before shoving Vos away from him. “Do you hear yourself?” he hissed. “She’s a kriffing princess—”

“Save it, Fox,” Vos shrugged and waved his gloveless fingers at him again. “The visions don’t lie. I already know that your normal self-flagellation is turned up to a hundred, and that you want her.” 

“Get away from me,” Fox huffed. “You know noth—”

“Ah-ah-ah. I know she wants you, too,” Vos laughed as he started, back into the woods to disappear. “Get your kov’nyn out of your shebs already.”

Fox scowled as the shadow slinked back into the night, taking a steadying breath as he returned to the cabin.It was going to be a long mission.

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Thanks for reading! - River

The entryway opened up to the main room with a worn sofa and sparse kitchenette on one side, and two bedrooms and a refresher on the other. 

It was cozy and rustic, and it made her mind travel all those light-years away to Myso. 

“Princess Ieta,” Fox's voice rumbled through his helmet. “The rooms are the same size, but this one,” he pointed to the closest door, “has nicer accommodations.”

“Alright,” she nodded. She couldn’t make herself call him by his title anymore, but something had so clearly changed for him that she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable with just his name. 

He took her trunk into the room. It was relatively plain. The double bed was nice enough, though lacking bedding. 

“My source left a message, your highness,” Fox said, as though he could hear her thoughts. “The bedding is in the closet and was cleaned by the caretaker less than a ten-day ago.”

She nodded again, hoping that if he somehow could hear her thoughts, he would hear that she was sorry for whatever she’d done wrong, that she wanted to go back to how they were yesterday. 

Perhaps it was silly or foolish, but she missed the Fox she was getting to know. 

“I’ll let you get settled, your highness,” he said. “The only heat in this building comes from the fireplace. I’ll get that started, then I’ll unload the other supplies.”

“Thank you,” she hummed, trying to smile. 

He gave something between a nod and a shallow bow, then left the room, swinging the door shut behind him. 

Fox

Fox wouldn’t allow himself to think about anything until the fire was lit and the supplies unloaded. 

It would be easier that way, of course. Sometimes he greatly preferred not thinking, like when he was on Chancellor duty or sitting through meetings he didn’t have to participate in. Those times, he usually felt more like a potted plant than a living, breathing person—just like the longnecks wanted. 

But then the fire was lit and loaded with firewood, and the few crates were inside. The planet’s sun had long since set. If he had to guess, it was likely late evening. And Kara was still in the other room. 

Kriff.

The Princess Ieta of Kytu was still in the other room. 

Di’kut.

Maybe, if he’d never started calling her by name, he wouldn’t have hurt her. 

He should’ve seen the slope before he started to slip. 

He was trained better than this. He, specifically, was trained by Alpha-17 to follow his instincts, which he’d been told were usually correct.

So why were his instincts screaming to knock on her door? 

His feet were moving before he could think better of it. His hand lifted and knocked softly before he could stop it. 

He was met with silence. 

Another knock.

“Princess—”

The door opened, and he was face-to-face with her. Her expression was neutral in that way people do when they don’t want you to know how they feel. 

“Yes… Commander?” Her voice was soft, but something about her using his rank rather than his name felt spiky. 

“I— I just wanted to make sure you were alright,” he said.  

She watched him for a moment. Her gaze seemed to bore straight through his helmet. He knew she couldn’t see his face, but it still felt like she could.

“Ma’am?” he tried. 

“Will you please remove your helmet, Commander?” she said suddenly, her voice lifting into what he’d come to understand as her “official” voice, then shifting back slightly as she added, “If you’re comfortable.”

He hesitated. Then quietly hated himself for hesitating. They might have only known each other for a week, and he knew he should keep his distance, but it was her. He wanted to do anything she asked, and this was almost an order.

He pulled his bucket off.

“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured.

And then she stepped closer to him, close enough that had it been anyone else in the galaxy, he would’ve moved away.

“Call me by my name again?” she whispered. “Please, I-I’m sorry for whatever I did wrong—”

Wait, what?

“I didn’t mean to upset you, and if I’m being too— If I’m stepping over your boundar—”

His hand lifted to cup her cheek, stopping her sentence with a soft gasp.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he told her, his thumb stroking idly against her cheek. He wished he had taken off his glove to feel her soft skin beneath his hand. 

“Kara, I… I hurt you. I hurt everyone around me if I…. Y-you don’t deserve that,” he continued.

“You won’t hurt me,” she said, her eyes falling to his lips in a way that made his stomach lurch. “I won’t let you.”

Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward, and she did too, her eyes fluttering shut.

She nearly jumped, mere centimeters from his lips, as a loud thunking echoed from the door.

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Thanks for reading! - River

Kara

As she felt the ship’s light lurch as it came out of hyperspace, she stared down at the imprint of Fox’s hand. It had startled her at first, but he seemed so rattled by it, and really it hadn’t hurt. 

But as she gazed down at the fading mark, something within her stirred. She couldn't quite put a name to it. Maybe it was because he hadn’t been wearing his gloves. This was the first time their skin had ever touched. It sent a bolt of lightning through her body. 

It had been so long since someone simply touched her. Sure, there were the occasional handshakes, but she didn’t have a partner. She hadn’t had one since…

“Kara.”

She spun, opening the door to see Fox’s “surprised” face—she was learning his expressions were muted, so a slightly raised brow was the only indication.

“We’ll be landing soon?” she asked.

“Yeah. Maybe ten minutes,” he answered. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, somewhat curiously. “I was just getting my things in order.”

Fox’s brow furrowed. His hand lifted so he was nearly touching her cheek before he hesitated and pulled it back. “You’re crying,” he said. 

The words processed slowly as she wished that he hadn’t pulled away. He was so close to her, only a few short inches away. 

She lifted her hand to her cheek, feeling the dampness beneath her fingers. 

“Oh,” she said, somewhat dumbly. 

Fox cleared his throat. “I’ll be in the cockpit prepping for landing if you need anything, your highness.”

She watched him go, along with the connection she thought they’d both been feeling. 

Fox

Fox had always been sure that he was an asshole, and many had told him as much, but none of it compared to everything his mind screamed at him as he saw her crying. 

He got too comfortable, too loose. That’s why he’d always been so rigid. The people around him—vod or natborn—needed to be protected from him. 

He wasn’t destined for a good life. He wasn’t destined for anything more than a death in the service of a society that didn’t even see him as a real person. 

He had started to feel connected to Ka—to the Princess through what he’d learned. But there was a difference he’d refused to acknowledge the day before. The Dakynians fought for and earned their freedom. They were acknowledged as people, given rights. That would never happen for him and his vode. He wasn’t sure enough of them would even live long enough to see it. 

He settled his helmet back over his head before returning to the cockpit. He needed to get his head back on the mission. This wasn’t a vacation; he was protecting a politician from threats against her life while his vode fought for her planet’s freedom. And he was here, flirting with a kriffing princess.

He knew he needed to back off. He knew he was here to protect her against all threats. He knew that included himself.

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Thanks for reading! - River

Later, when he was cleaning his DCs, she poked her head into the cargo hold. 

“Do you know any other languages?”

“Yes,” he answered simply. He flicked his eyes up to look at her, then—realizing she’d just wait for him to elaborate—added “the little bits of Mando’a the trainers taught Gen-1. Even less binary.”

“Your trainers were Mandalorian?” she asked. 

“A few of them.”

Then, while she picked at a ration bar, she asked, “What will you do after?”

“After?” he echoed.

“After the war,” she clarified.

He almost repeated her, out of sheer disbelief. 

He met her eyes—wide, pale green, beautiful eyes—and they locked onto his immediately. So curious that the intensity felt like it was burning him. With his helmet, he could stare down a rancor, but without it, the vulnerability tended to overtake him.

“I’ve never thought about it,” he finally answered. It wasn’t a total lie. It wasn’t just that he hadn’t thought about it; it was that he’d never allowed himself to think about it.

Her face melted, the curiosity fallen from her eyes, but she waited silently. 

Nervousness started to bubble in his chest.

“I’m– we were made for this. For war. Made to fight and die so… real people don’t get hurt.”

“‘Real people’?” The words fell from her lips in a whisper.

“The citizens of the Galactic Republic,” he clarified. 

“The citizens– I-I don’t understand,” she stammered. “You are a person. You’re a citizen!”

His brows raised. “We– the clones are… property of the Republic.”

She surged forward, dropped to her knees in front of him, and gripped his hands tightly. Almost instantly, he was more concerned about getting blaster residue and cleaning oil on her pretty hands than about his status as a sentient being.

“We are real people, Fox,” she insisted, a small crack in her voice. “We are real people.”

Fox stared down at her, at her small hands in his and the way he could feel the chill of them through his gloves, at the tears pooling in her eyes, at the conviction in her expression, at the shaky way her lips struggled to pull into a soft smile. 

“We are real,” she repeated, her voice hardly more than a whisper. 

He gave one slow nod, and she took a deep breath. He fought the urge to chase after her hands as she pulled them away and got back to her feet. 

“I’ll be in the cockpit if you need anything,” she said. 

Before he could say anything, she disappeared back through the tiny ship. 

Fox let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. She said, “We”. “We are people", she had said, not just “you”.

He grabbed his datapad to begin his research. 

His search for “Kytu war” returned endless results for news on the Separatist invasion of the planet. He dug deeper and deeper until he finally saw it: an article from nearly a year ago. 

Kytu elects Dakynian as Princess Ieta After three decades of war and countless more of subjugation before that, Kara Serisi, a Dakynian, will be crowned as the Princess Ieta next Primeday, which will be the fourth anniversary of the end of the Dakyni Revolt.  “The date of the future Princess Ieta’s coronation was set by custom,” the Duchess Cheva of the Mouth told a packed room of reporters. “Ms. Serisi’s race was not a factor in any of the decisions made about the event.” When asked for comment, Serisi only stated, “I am truly honored to be Kytu’s next Princess Ieta. I hope to bridge the divide and help Queen Amadi to bring all of us together as a planet.” Despite winning the vote by a landslide, Belsi was a controversial candidate, having been one of the most visible leaders of the modern Dakyni rebels. 

An image appeared. In the midst of burning rubble, Kara stood, mid-shout and defiant. Her clothes were torn. She held an energy bow at her side. The sparse armor she had was worn almost to the point of uselessness. Her hair was braided back, but dirty enough that he might’ve mistaken it for a darker color than her stark white of it now. A series of blue war paint was dotted around her eyes.

She was glorious, standing openly defiant of a system that had harmed her and her people for hundreds of years. He’d noted the way the article hinted at ill intent, and how this holo image of Kara could be seen as unflattering at the least, but he felt what many Dakynians likely felt if they saw it: pride and awe.

The article continued, discussing the divide between the Kamatuans and the Dakynian peoples, as well as several commentators’ mostly negative opinions of the Dakynians. And, in the face of all of it, all she showed was 

Fox set the datapad down, shutting his eyes tightly. Disgust and rage boiled in his gut. 

He took a deep breath, then another, then went to the cockpit. 

She sat in the copilot’s seat, knees pulled up to her chest, staring out into the streaky glow of hyperspace. 

“Kara?”

She nearly jumped, her head whipping back to look at him. Her eyes were wide and watery. 

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, moving to sit sideways in the pilot’s seat. “Are you okay?”

Di’kut, he scolded himself. Does she look okay?

She looked beautiful, even with the tears streaking down her cheeks. Actually, Fox was pretty sure it was physically impossible for her not to look beautiful. Di’kut.

She let out a soft laugh, using the heels of her palms to wipe her eyes. “Yes, I-I’ll be alright. And you didn’t startle me. It was just that you’d never used my name before.”

Oh. He probably shouldn’t mention that he’d imagined saying her name a thousand times in a thousand ways. 

“Anyway, it’s not a big deal,” she continued, waving her hand like she was trying to shoo away a bug. “Let’s just forget ab—”

“I know about the war,” he said without thinking. “About what the Kamatuans did to your people.”

Her eyes squeezed shut. “We don’t have to talk about this,” she whispered.

He reached forward—moving on gut instinct rather than any sort of thought—and took her hands in his, just as she had. 

“I won’t make you talk about it if that’s not what you want,” he told her. “But we have a bit more in common than I thought. And I’m willing to listen if you—”

His sentence was cut off as she tackled him, her arms wrapping around his neck.

Kara

Kara couldn’t sleep. She suspected that if their departure from Coruscant hadn’t been so rushed, he likely would’ve done research about her, learning whatever he could before ever meeting her. He struck her as one who’d want all the information he could get.

He’d been entertaining her many questions, but hadn’t asked much of his own. He barely knew a single trivial thing about her, and now he knew the heaviest part of her life, her greatest burden.

But he’d seen her in it. He’d been confronted with it, learned about it, and still came to sit with her. He was possibly one of the kindest people she’d met. She wasn’t sure he knew that.

As she turned over in the small bunk for what felt like the hundredth time, she sighed. It was clear that she wouldn’t be sleeping this night cycle.

She pushed the slightly scratchy blanket off her, slipping her feet down into her plain, flat shoes. Once she’d wrapped the blanket around her, she left the tiny compartment, shuffling to the tiny workbench that was functioning as a makeshift kitchen.

While she waited for the water to heat for the horrible instant caf they had on board, she made a mental note to find a way to get good caf as soon as she could.

She settled herself in the copilot’s seat, staring out at hyperspace. She figured it was the closest thing to stargazing as she could get at the moment. 

She hadn’t been able to see the stars since she’d moved to Kytesa City. 

“You like the lights?” Fox’s rumbling voice came from behind her. 

She smiled as he flopped into the seat next to her. 

“Something like that,” she shrugged. 

She’d expected that to be the end of the conversation until she found another curiosity to poke him with. 

“We never really saw the stars much before leaving Kamino,” he continued. 

She turned towards him, shock hitting her multiple times. Not only had he shared more than she’d asked, but he had also removed the armor pieces from his waist up. 

She hadn’t been able to see the way the dark fabric hugged the ridges of his body, outlining each powerful muscle beneath it. She hadn’t seen the small scars that nicked across his fingers and the backs of his hands. She wondered if his hands were warm. She’d been curious as to what lay beneath the armor; now, she wondered the same about the undersuit. 

She turned back to the viewport, hoping the streaking blue lights would hide the purplish flush of her cheeks. Gods below, she shouldn’t let her mind wander there, even if it was excellent material for a daydream. 

“Did you?”

She blinked. Had she missed something he said?

“See the stars?” he clarified. “From your world.”

 “Oh yes,” she smiled. “Well, in some places. I live in our capital, now, and it’s too bright to see much, but my home—my village… yes.”

“Myso, right?” Fox asked next.

She felt her face and chest warm. “Yes, Myso,” she said. 

“Will you tell me about it?” he hummed. 

“My village?” she asked. “There’s not much to tell.”

“Your village, your planet,” he shrugged. “Mayen.”

Something—his tone probably—told her to look at him. He kept his eyes forward, but half-lidded. He looked less rigid than he normally did. He looked tired. She wondered if he had trouble sleeping, too. 

“Gedet’ye—please.”

The word came out so soft—quiet with a hint of a crack—that she thought she’d imagined it. 

“Myso, my home, is small,” she told him, her voice gentle. “Everybody knows everybody. You give what you can and get what you need.”

She watched as his eyes slid shut and took the opportunity to enjoy the look of peace that seemed to fall over him as she continued.

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Thanks for reading! - River

If she hadn’t known better, she might’ve thought he’d been frozen in carbonite. When he finally started moving again, it was so slow she almost missed it. 

So achingly, agonizingly slowly, he raised his hands to his helmet. 

“No,” he said quietly, then he lifted it off. 

A few curls fell in front of his eyes, which he quickly tried to brush to the side, revealing intense brown eyes that searched her like a puzzle he couldn’t quite put together. A long scar stretched over his nose and the tops of his cheeks. 

“Thank you,” she whispered. 

He blinked a few times, his brow furrowing so minutely. 

“I did nothing to warrant any thanks, ma’am,” he said after a moment. 

“You trusted me,” she countered. “And you can put it back on if you prefer, but I like seeing you.”

And there was the tiny tilt of his head she was growing to like. 

Fox

“Do you mind if I call you ‘Fox’?” she asked, as though she hadn’t just turned his understanding of the natborn world on its head. “You hadn’t mentioned a preference, and I didn’t want to be disrespectful.”

He continued just staring at her, unable to open his mouth. 

Her eyes narrowed, scrunching up her nose slightly, smile still present. Fox felt as though the air had been punched out of his lungs. Kriff. He was starting to understand Bly and Cody’s tipsy discussions about the differences between “pretty” and “cute”.

“All I ask is that you consider it, at least,” she continued, her gaze drifting back down her datapad. “It seems we’re going to spend a considerable amount of time together, and I’d like it if we could be more akin to friends than a Princess and a Commander.”

She didn’t continue after that, and he couldn’t seem to open his mouth to tell her that she could call him “you stupid bastard” for the rest of their time together, and it wouldn’t bother him. Or that he would like being near her in any capacity, so if being friends is what she wanted, he’d happily go along with it. 

Even if that’s all she ever wanted to be with him. Di’kut, he hissed at himself because she was a Princess, and—while he might be of a high rank—he was just a soldier. That was all he’d ever be.

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Tag list: @nekotaetae @get-wr3ckered @jediknightjana @lucyysthings @unstable-kiwi @6oceansofmoons @l3xi3luv @savebytheodoresnonjosestuff @winter-phoenix1995 @lokigirlszendaya @nomercyforthewarrior @Padawancat97 @idoubleswearimawriter @wishyouthetest @orangez3st @Amiacatholicoracat-holic @transactivecybermemory @mitth-eli-vanto @flowered-bicycles @error6gendernotfound @techs-goggles9902

Thanks for reading! - River