Beyond - Legends True Blue (OCs, H/L, L/M, Kiana Ti, Kyp, etc.) For Mod's Dare Challenge: final author's replies

I am loving this story! The NJO is not my favorite timeline, but it really, really works in this story. Bree is a terrific heroine and I very much feel for Blue. Your characterization of the canon characters is spot on. Can't wait to read more!

 

I was hoping for a nice romantic moment between Bree and Doc Blue. Melt was a nice word for it. But I think he's reformed -- only time will tell.

 

I love Bree and Blue. So romantic and the part with him looking at her wrong wrist just made me melt a little. I love hearing about Bree's past with her family. Now I have to wonder what Blue's backstory is, if he can't see his family and Wells states that he's a killer.... What a cliffy. I can't wait for more, gal!!!

 

Aw, thanks! Yeah, that cliffy. Bree is getting emotionally involved – but what does she really know about him?

Thank you! Can Wells be trusted? And things are getting interesting with Bree and Blue indeed.

Thank you so much! I’m so glad you like it! I’m happy that the canon sounds right. Although they aren’t the main characters, they do have some important parts to play. Thanks so much for reading and replying.

Oh, love is in the air. But they both have secrets… Thank you for your kind reply.

Yeah, the medic looking at the wrong wrist. Almost as if he wanted an excuse to hold her hand, huh. Oh that cliffy. We’ll see! Thank you so much, Ginchy, for your response and your support with this story.

 

Chapter 5.

Bree woke up in the middle of the night to feel a hand slide slowly across her shoulder. Although her senses were alert, she waited and pretended to sleep until she knew the intention of the hand’s owner. A moment later, she felt a tug on the strap of her bag as someone tried to pull it away from her.

She moved quickly, swinging her leg around to catch the intruder off balance. The teenager fell to the ground with a thud. It was the same Twi’lek boy she had seen so brutally treated by Wells during the initial passenger scan. He lunged at her, and she sprang to her feet. A moment later he was on his back, his arm pinned painfully behind him and her foot on his throat. His free arm thrashed about helplessly.

“Are you going to try that again?” she said through gritted teeth.

The boy gasped for air and shook his head frantically. Bree held him like that for a moment longer, choking quietly under her heel, to let him reflect upon the error of his actions. Then she slowly let him up. He took a deep breath and rubbed his throat before skulking away in silence.

Bree let loose the breath she was holding. This was the second time someone had tried to steal her bag from her. The first time she had foolishly left it unattended for a moment, but this brazen attempt was not due to her ignorance. It wasn’t that she had a lot of possessions with her, but they were hers. She would share if asked, but she was not going to be robbed. She lay back down on the blanket, her bag clutched to her chest.

When first light came, she immediately checked her possessions and, satisfied that they were intact, she sat up and yawned. If she were home, she would get a bracing mug of stimcaf to get started. But she was in the middle of a slow trader’s cargo hold. There would be food in an hour or so, but that would have to hold her for the rest of the day until evening meal. She thought back to Blue’s kindness in sharing his meal with her yesterday, and realized with a pang that that was probably his only food for the afternoon. Why had she believed him when he had said he wasn’t hungry? How convincing he could be. And yet, she couldn’t deny the kindness to his gesture. She smiled at the thought of seeing him later that day.

Bree waited until an hour or so after the first meal ration boxes were distributed, then every few minutes she glanced toward the door. The cargo doors stayed shut.

Around midday Alta came by and sat beside her. “I heard you last night,” she said. “You handled that well. You won’t be bothered again.”

Bree looked at her. “How do you do it, Alta? How do you keep yourself and Tara safe?”

Alta crossed her arms and hugged herself. “We do our best. Usually the thugs see a mother and child either as easy prey or they leave us alone. We’re lucky. This trip, they leave us alone. A woman alone like you, though – that’s another story. You made your point. The others saw it. They won’t try again.”

“The others?”

She turned toward her, and incredulous look on her face. “That was just a test,” Alta said. “He was sent to see how you would react. If he had been able to steal your bag, the real thugs would be back tonight to take whatever they wanted.”

A chill ran down Bree’s back. She used to whine when her parents made her take martial arts training, complaining that it was wasted on a nonsensitive like her – who would want to kidnap her anyway when her siblings were far more interesting? But for once she was grateful for the skills she had learned.

“Alta, what would happen to Tara if something happened to you?” Bree asked.

“I try not to think about it,” she said, shaking her head. “If she lived long enough, the best case is that she’d be put into one of the state facilities for lost children. Or she might just be abandoned. Or sold. It depends on what happened to me and where it happened.” Alta gestured toward the Twi’lek youth, sitting alone. “Look at him. He’s still just a boy, and he’s on his own. You can’t blame him for how he acts. Without a family, you’re either predator or prey, and he’s trying to fit into a group to protect himself.”

Bree sat silently, absorbing the implications of what Alta had said. Finally she spoke. “Why doesn’t anyone do something more to help you? To help all of the refugees?”

Alta laughed bitterly. “Nobody cares.” She got up to retrieve her daughter, who was wandering too closely to a sleeping Bothan.

Bree rubbed the back of her neck pensively. Then she reached into her bag and retrieved her datapad. Switching it on, she opened a document and began to jot down her thoughts. She continued to write for the rest of the morning. Occasionally throughout the long, boring afternoon, she would glance at the cargo doors, but they stayed closed through the rest of the day cycle and into the night.

Bree felt the room closing in on her. When she first came aboard, she was running from her pointless life, from her grief. But now that she had nowhere to run, she couldn’t avoid the tendrils of dull emptiness that seemed to coil around her in every quiet moment. Only one person had truly made the day worth waiting for. She set her expression and willed herself not to look at the doors again. No amount of glancing in that direction on her part would ever make him appear.

 

Bravo for Bree's training coming in handy. Wow, Alta's assessment of the refugee situation is on-point and real-to-life even now. You're either predator or prey, learning to fit in a group to survive, even if it's blatantly criminal or at the least dysfunctional.

Now, Bree is in the deep, deep valley of grief mixed with being adrift. No longer angry or in denial. Not the peace of acceptance, quite, either.

 

I fully agree with Nyota's Heart. Bree is on her own with some friends

 

As Bree kept looking for the hatch doors to open -- it reminds me sometimes of how I open my emails to expect an email that's not there. I feel her disappointment.

 

Am I already three chapters late?

I like the claustrophobic thriller atmosphere on the ship, where everyone seems to have something to hide yet they also want to share. All your characters are developing nicely but I find Bree particularly interesting with the combination of wanting to be her own person, yet needing someone to rely on. It's an important point of the transition to adulthood, yet it's something many SW characters (especially Skywalkers/Solos) seem to skip. Choosing her as a non-Force sensitive was a brilliant idea!

Oh, and that "predator or prey" comment... that was just painfully real.

 

Bree is starting to realize that things aren’t as clear-cut as she assumed. Even criminal acts might have a really poignant reason behind them. And yes, she’s adrift in depression, but things can change… Thank you for reading and responding!

Thank you for your response! Yes, she has friends. She just has to realize that she isn’t really as alone as she feels.

Thanks so much for your comments! Yeah, Bree’s got it bad for her blue-haired man. It hurts when you don’t know why he didn’t call. I hope you get every email you ever wished for!

It’s ok if you’re late. We left the light on for you.
I like what you said about her trying to find the balance between independence and being someone’s special someone. That’s what makes you an adult, understanding how to stand up for herself and also knowing how and when to give herself away. And thank you for the compliment! I always felt sorry for Han, being the only nonsensitive in the family, so I gave him a buddy.

 

Chapter 6.

The University at Corellia was elegant, ancestral and imposing, and the last thing the administrators wanted was a scandal. It had been one of the few institutions of higher learning that had either escaped a direct threat in the Vong war or had not been gutted of its funding post-war, and the powers that ran it wanted to keep it that way. To that end, they reasoned, a small team comprised of two Jedi and a former New Republic general was far preferable to a full police investigation.

Han glanced around Bree’s small dorm. The room reflected the tastes of a typical college girl, with colorful decorative patterns and holos of her friends and family tucked around the desk. He pulled out a drawer and rifled through her pretty clothes and her trendy jewelry. He swallowed hard. Han was able to put his emotions aside and analyze what he was seeing, registering what items he knew she owned against what seemed to be missing. However, his stomach turned with the anxiety of not knowing where Bree was and whether or not she was safe.

He looked up as the door opened. Kyp entered the room, reading his datapad. “I checked out the last contacts that she made on her commlink. I was able to recover the comms that she had tried to delete. There’s one here that’s interesting.”

“What is it?” Han asked.

“Well, most of the comms are to fellow students or the occasional professor,” the Jedi said. “But there’s one here that goes off campus. I’m running the source now.”

“What did Kirana find out?”

Kyp tapped his datapad. “She spoke to most of Bree’s friends. The boyfriend – ex-boyfriend – said she was – and I’m quoting here – ‘moody and no fun anymore.’” Kyp looked at Han. “I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons he’s the ex-boyfriend.” He looked back at the information on the datapad. “As for the other friends of hers, they said she’d been restless, depressed even. One of them told her that Bree was thinking of spirit walking for a while.”

“Spirit walking? What in the –“ Han rubbed his eyes, then dragged his hand through his short gray hair. “What is that?”

Kyp checked his notes again. “It’s a religious ritual that you do to reset your life after a trauma. It’s an old Naboo tradition. Supposedly, you let your heart heal by allowing the Force to take you to your true home.”

Han shook his head. When did Bree start showing an interest in old Naboo religious traditions? How much else about her didn’t he know?

A quiet chirp alerted Kyp to his datapad. He read the message and turned to Han. “The comm that Bree made off campus was to an art dealer who, it seems, also has a side business in false documents. That’s our best shot.”

Kyp started to leave the dorm room, but turned back when he realized Han hadn’t moved. He paused and looked back at Han, who slowly raised his eyes to meet Kyp’s. Worry etched across Han’s face, and he looked older than his years.

“I gotta know,” Han said roughly. “Tell me. What do you sense? What happened to her in here?”

The room grew quiet. Kyp closed his eyes and stretched out with his mind, his Force sense undulating throughout the small living space. Finally he opened his eyes and looked at Han. “There are no residuals here to indicate fear or pain. There’s deep sadness, there’s possibly some confusion, but there is nothing to tell me that she went through any violence here.”

Han closed his eyes in relief. “All right. Let’s go talk to this art dealer.”

***
Mara leaned against Ghent’s desk, waiting for his response. The Barolian slicer stared at her in disbelief. “Do you have any idea how difficult that would be?” he asked.

She flicked her hair behind her and shrugged. “We’re talking about my niece. I don’t care how difficult it is.” She held out the datacard and waited. Eventually Ghent took it from her.

“She’s missing, Ghent. Somewhere, there’s a recorder that caught her image. You have the most powerful computers in the galaxy at your disposal. Find her.”

Ghent frowned in uncertainty as he leaned back in his chair and turned the data card over in his hand. She came to stand behind his chair and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Bree needs your help now. Please. You’re the best there is.”

“All right,” he said finally. “I’ll have something to report by the end of the day.”

She patted his shoulders. “Thank you, old friend.”

Ghent watched her leave. The realization slowly dawned on him that despite his protestations, no matter what Mara had asked of him, he would have done it for her anyway.

***
Kirana Ti met the two men as they approached her ship, the Night Cloud. “Did you find out anything?” she asked.

“She’s got a fake identicard,” Kyp reported. “I need to link the ship’s computer to the NR resources and see if we can find where it was used.”

They followed her into the vessel and Kyp carelessly tossed his cape on the back of a seat. Frowning, Kirana picked it up and threw it back at him. “My ship. You know my rules.”

“Don’t mess with a woman’s ship, son,” Han admonished as he began the preflight check from the co-pilot’s seat. “Listen to the voice of experience. I once put my feet on the console of the Jade Sabre. Nearly started a civil war.”

Kyp rolled his eyes, took the cape, and hung it in the storage area. “Much better,” Kirana said. She got into the pilot’s seat and strapped the safety webbing into place. Kyp sat behind Han, near the communications console. A few minutes later, as the ship’s engines were nearly ready for liftoff, he had a general direction. “Irylia,” he announced. “She used the card to purchase a transport from Corellia to Irylia, and then again to pass customs at Irylia.”

Kirana set the coordinates. “Then Irylia it is.”

 

on the Kyp/Kirana appearances and the solid strong leads. Woot on Ghent and his inner comment about doing anything Mara asked.

I know, as a parent, Han is relieved that 1. they have a starting point and action plan and 2. most of all, that Bree evidently left of her own will and not under any kind of duress.

 

Great to see a search for Bree starting.

 

Loved this comment.

Found the interplay between Kyp and Han in Bree's room interesting. Looking forward to more.

 

I don't mean to repeat what's been said above, but I also squee'd/giggled at Ghent reflecting on how he'd do anything Mara asks and at the "civil war" comment. And then there was this:

That one sentence was enough to make Han a parent for me. Great update!

 

I love this idea! Is this from the Wook or did you make it up?!

Sorry to not have commented sooner. I adore the idea of Han having a buddy in the family, and I'm definitely intrigued at the proceedings!

 

Thank you! I had to slip in Ghent – you know me. And I’ve always thought he had a little puppy love on Mara, even though he vaguely acknowledges that she is WAY out of his league.
Han is a good dad, and his worse fear is that his daughter is hurt. He’s one step closer to finding his girl again.

They aren’t going to let her on alone! But, like Bree, they may not find what they expected when their paths intersect. Thank you for your kind reply!

Thanks so much for responding! Kyp and Han have known each other for years, so they make a good team. And can’t you just see Mara giving Han an earful for disrespecting her ship?

Thank you for responding! Aw, I appreciate that you liked the comments. These are people who genuinely like each other and have been friends for years, so there’s an easy rapport between them.
And yes, as parents we control our children’s lives so intensely. But then our children become adults, and they develop separate, independent lives of their own.. That’s when we suddenly understand that we don’t even know how much we don’t know about them.

Thanks so much for dropping in to read & reply! Naw, I made it up. It fits into the whole theme of finding your home, being homeless, looking for a home, being unable to go home… what is a home, anyway?
I’m so happy you are enjoying this. I think Han would have been thrilled with a kid who wasn’t a Jedi. You don’t have to be a Jedi to be important.


Thanks so much to everyone who is reading this.

 

Chapter 7.

Bree lifted her head from the blanket and looked around her. Nearly everyone else was still asleep, but a noise had caught her attention and snapped her awake. She glimpsed a familiar person sitting beside a worried father, demonstrating how to operate some kind of inhaler for a child. Apparently satisfied, Blue stood up and began to repack his medical backpack. His cobalt hair, normally pulled into a neat tail low on his neck, hung loosely like a curtain.

Bree felt her heart skip and her spirits rise. She began to get up, and then realized that he had already slung the backpack over his shoulders and was getting ready to leave without stopping to see her. She adroitly sidestepped the still-sleeping refugees and caught up with him at the cargo doors. Bree put her hand on the door to stop him from leaving.

She gasped when he turned to her. She’d seen injuries on her siblings when they had come home from intense fighting. The bruises on Blue’s face reminded her of those.

“What in the hells of Kessel happened to you?” she hissed.

Wordlessly, he entered his passcard into the slot and the door slid open. She exited with him and stood in the hallway next him. Bree pushed his hair back and gently touched his swollen cheek, the cut on his lip. He winced and pulled away. “Tell me what happened,” she repeated softly. “Was it Wells? It was him, wasn’t it?”

Blue hung his head down and began walking away, but she held onto his arm. He stopped, then to her surprise he slammed his hand against the wall. “It’s all right,” she soothed. “Calm down.” She hesitated for a second, then put her arms around him and held him until he got his emotions under control. “Why does he do this to you?”

“Why? Money.” He shook his head and released the embrace. “Wells works for the company that owns the ship, not for Captain Sia, like I do. He gets paid based on how much cargo we carry and the government stipend for refugees is nowhere close to what he could be making. Since the law says that the refugees have to get medical attention, he figures if he can get rid of the medic then he can get rid of the refugees.”

Blue leaned against the wall for a moment, forcing his emotions under control again. Then his shoulders slumped. He turned and resignedly began to walk back down the hallway, Bree at his side. Once they got to his office, Blue unlocked the door and they went in. He dropped his backpack on the floor and sat heavily on the chair while she went to his dispensary cabinet. She found an analgesic cloth and began to dab his face with it. Blue closed his eyes and let her apply the pain medication.

She reached down to wipe his face again but he caught her wrist and slowly brought her hand down. “Save the rest for someone else,” he said tiredly. “That’s the next to last box.”

Bree shook her head at his stubbornness and returned the box of analgesics to cabinet. “Is this why you haven’t come in?” she asked. She sat on the edge of his desk and waited for an answer.

He was silent for a while. Then he put his elbows on his desk beside her, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “Why do you let him torment you like this?” she asked. “I don’t understand why you don’t defend yourself or at least report him to the captain. You can’t just let him get away with it.”

“It’s not that simple,” he said dully.

He looked up at her, and the sadness in his eyes softened her. “Then tell me,” she said. “Don’t keep me out. Maybe I can help.”

“Nothing can help. The laws are very clear.” He looked away again and laughed bitterly. “Remember how I told you that I didn’t finish my education? I didn’t leave University because I dropped out or because of the war. It’s worse.” He stared at the wall, not looking at her. “Bree, I don’t lie. I’ve lied long enough – to my family, to myself – and I don’t lie anymore. If you really want me to I’ll tell you the truth, but you won’t like it.”

“Tell me,” she said softly. She felt her stomach tighten.

Blue took a deep breath, then let it out. “What I said about studying to be a doctor was true. Then I got involved in stupid, stupid things. My friends and I started to party pretty hard, and we always found a way to get ahold of spice. Then I figured out that I could make some good money selling it to the other students. My grades went into the trash but I was making so much money dealing, and honestly, I was usually so high I didn’t even care. Then one night my best friend, Miko, and I -- we thought it would be funny to steal a speeder, so that’s what we did. I don’t even remember driving. I woke up in the hospital, cuffed to the bed frame.”

“Miko was my best friend and I killed him. I had minor injuries but he was dead at the scene.” Blue sat still, his expression stony. “So I was arrested for negligent homicide. Then they added the drug charges for operating under the influence, then they looked a little deeper and added the speeder theft and dealing in illegal substances charges.”

He couldn’t look at her. “I killed my best friend, Bree. I went to prison for three years.”

She sat in silence before finally speaking. “I remember Wells called me your stray. What did he mean?”

“Part of the condition for my parole is that I have to atone for these crimes. I have repay the loss I caused tenfold. Since I took one life, now I have to save ten others. It started two years ago when I was released, and now I have eight years left to complete this. When I saw you waiting with the refugees, you didn’t look like them. Your clothes were new, you were clean and fed, you didn’t have that defeated, lost look that most refugees had. I could see you were hurt. I thought you would be easy prey, and that you were in danger, so I brought you in. When I announced to Entoo-ell that you were my patient, he recorded it as a life toward my atonement. You’re the third person I’ve done this with.” He sighed. “Wells knows that he can’t get into trouble unless he murders or slaves me. I have no right to report him. I have almost no rights at all until I finish my term.”

Blue paused, and, after a moment’s consideration, he leaned over the desk and took a scrap of flimsy, then wrote something on it. He folded the flimsy and slid it across the desk to Bree, who opened it, read it silently, and looked quizzically at him. “That’s my real name. You’re the only one on the ship who knows it – not even Captain Sia knows it. Under Barolian law, I’m just Parolee 735204 until I complete my atonement. The laws are so strict that I’m not permitted to contact my family or anyone from my past. Even the use of that name I wrote down is a violation of parole.”

He stared resignedly at the desktop. “I deserve what I got. This is the consequence for what I’ve done, and I have to take responsibility for my actions.”

Bree felt her skin grow cold. The image of Blue with his playful smile and his gentle mannerisms didn’t correspond to that of a callous drug dealer, indifferent even to the safety of his best friend.

The silence hung between them, and she knew he was waiting for her reaction. “I don’t know what to say,” she admitted.
He couldn’t meet her eyes. “I just thought it was important for you to know the truth.”

Bree sat quietly, absorbing all she had just heard, then she got up and wordlessly left his office. Blue buried his head in his hands.

 

Oh. Oh, ouch! Blue is repentant and his sentence is just in the facets of restitution but then sadists like Wells come in and heap on the abuse and the guilt tripping, which he already feels enough of in the forms of self-recrimination. It's a lot to process for Bree, but "Blue" is who he was before and now. Underneath it all, and undampened by all he's been through is the gentle compassionate nurturer that makes the best kind of Healer.

 

Poor Blue, I like his revelations to Bree showing what a kind and compassionate man he is

 

When Bree's family catches up to her I hope maybe she can offer some help to Blue. I know what Blue told her was a lot to digest but I hope she does not hold it against him or change her feelings too much about him.

 

Hello – crazy time right now with (American) Thanksgiving tomorrow, a snowstorm outside, the Divadaughter home from college, and the invasion of the inlaws, so I am going to post a day early. Happy holidays everyone!

Your analysis is spot-on. I like to believe that forgiveness has a place in peoples’ lives, whether that is being forgiven by others or forgiving yourself. But if my sweetheart dropped a bomb like that, whoa. I might reconsider, too. Thanks so much for you reply!

Thanks so much for responding! Yes, Blue is essentially the same guy, and Bree has to understand that.

Yup, welcome to Blue’s terrible, horrible worst day. Thank you for reading and replying!

Han, Kirana and Kyp are close to catching up with Bree. Han may have his own opinions on what she should do. And Bree has an important decision to make...Thanks so much for the response!

 

Chapter 8.

Leia looked at the grainy, small image. The figure was about the right height, and the clothing was certainly Bree’s style. But between the poor image quality and the apparent rain, it was still indecisive.

“Did she cut her hair?” Leia asked, peering closer. “Where did you find this again?”

Mara glanced at her notes. “Docking bay 34, East Main spaceport, at the Irylia transfer station. We know that she bought a passage to Irylia; this was the most likely place at a transfer station she would have gone.”

“Who’s that with her?”

“Ghent’s people are working on that. It’s hard to tell. We’re positive that’s a human male, but we can’t make out the specific race or any other characteristics.”

Leia stared at the image. “She’s hurt. She’s cradling her arm.” She frowned and covered her mouth with her raised hand. “I don’t like this at all.”

Mara sighed sympathetically. “Kyp commed about an hour ago. There are so many transients that no one remembers who they saw that morning, never mind three weeks ago. But we have a lead on the ship; it’s a bulk cargo class – a slow mover – registered as the Alisander and under Captain Bel Sia. There is a crew of about twenty. It usually holds commercial cargo but they’ve been doing some refugee transporting under the Protected Displaced Persons Act. She may have slipped in among them.”

Leia straightened up. “So where do they dock next?”

“Already on it,” Mara announced. “They have a scheduled resupply at station 58-07. Han will be there waiting for them.”

***

Bree sat at a desk in a nearby unlocked office and folded her arms around herself tightly. She felt like she had been hit in the stomach.

How could she have been attracted to such a man?

She imagined him at his university, squandering his education and greedily taking money for what he knew was a disastrous drug. How many people got addicted because of him? How many lives did he carelessly destroy? Her eyes stung.

His friend Miko was someone’s son, maybe someone’s brother, and his death was Blue’s fault. Tears came for real when she thought of her own brother Anakin. His death had nearly cut her heart in two. At least Anakin’s death had a purpose; Miko died because Blue had been too high to be driving. Selfish. So, so selfish.

Tears turned to anger. All this time, had he been playing her for a gullible fool, lying to her and pretending when she thought he sincerely cared for her? What other things didn’t he tell her? It would be so much simpler if she had access to the Force, like her brother and sister did, but that avenue had never been open to her.

The Force may be a blank wall to her, she thought, but she wasn’t entirely without resources. She uncrumpled the flimsy that she clenched in her hand and reread the name scrawled on it. She wiped her eyes dry, and with a determined motion, she activated the desk’s computer terminal. It was time to learn the truth.

It only took a moment for Bree to slice into the ship’s mainframe. She hadn’t needed to go past the ship’s own internal records to confirm that his medic’s pay was processed through a Barolian corrections facility. But then again, he admitted he had gone to prison. This didn’t tell her anything she didn’t know already.

She swiped through a series of screens until she came to the connection to the NR information resources. Now she was getting somewhere. All she had to do was to enter his actual name, and his entire history would be called up – the court records, the arrest information, everything.

Bree paused. But by doing so, she would be using a name that he said no one was supposed to access anymore. Had that been true, or was he just trying to hide other things from her? She did a generalized search on the rules of incarceration on Baroli and read about the concept of atonement. It wasn’t easy to do, but at the end, the victim’s family agreed to forgive the offense. And yes, it involved complete separation from the inmate’s former life. To violate the parole or to fail to complete the terms of atonement would start the incarceration process all over again, so the stakes were high.

Bree considered this, then looked at the flimsy. So far, her research confirmed what he had said. Her hand froze, poised above the screen, moments from entering in the name. If what he said was accurate, then telling her his name was an astounding act of trust in her. Bree chewed on her lip. He had told her about his experiences even though it obviously pained him. But only when she had pressured him to tell her what had happened. But then again, if the roles were reversed, would she have volunteered such devastating information to him? Reluctantly, she admitted that she would probably have tried to keep things quiet. After all, she still hadn’t told him truth of her own identity.

She glanced at the flimsy again, and back at the screen. All she had to do was enter the name and she would have his official record.

And yet…He had never been anything but kind to her. He had seemed genuinely happy to spend time with her. He told her damnable things that he knew would drive her away. And what would he gain by telling her about his imprisonment or his atonement, when he had so much to lose?

The only thing that made sense was that, when she had asked, he had responded with the truth. There was nothing more to tell, no hidden secrets to discover. He had risked everything on her trust.

She closed down the computer without entering anything, and shredded the flimsy into irreparable pieces.

 

Bravo for Bree thinking it through, and making the wise, compassionate choice. Her anger and sense of betrayal is understandable, but the more she thought it over, the more she realized that Blue had everything to lose and literally nothing to gain by telling her the truth. He could have very, very easily fed her a pack of lies, or semi-truths and she'd be none the wiser.

~

Glad Han and the others are so close.