Saga "After Rocks Fall Down" (Rebels - Kanan, Hera, backstory/guesswork; mild A New Dawn spoilers)

Notes: This is something a bit ... different; it's not often that I tend to write in the OT or DT periods, especially given that I've been away from the 'fic boards for a fair amount of time.

But, I binge-read A New Dawn earlier today, and between that and binge-watching Rebels - and looking at Kanan: The Last Padawan preview pages - the plotbunnies are hopping.

If I were to try to describe this, it's less fix-it 'fic and more "calibration" - longtime Legends readers will recognize what I mean fairly quickly ...

Also - I don't buy that Kanan hid his secrets from Hera, vis a vis the Inquisitor's taunts in A Fire Across the Galaxy. I'm not ignoring that scene, but interpreting it perhaps differently.

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11 BBY: Somewhere in the Inner Rim:
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"You, Mr. 'Mystery Force-User,' are finally starting to pull your weight," Hera teased between bites of food.

"My good captain, you wound me! After destroying a refinery, taking down a corrupt Imperial count, and saving an entire planetary system, I'd hope I'd earned more than mere respect and the spare bunk," Kanan quipped, nibbling his own bowl of nerf stew.

He regarded her, his breath still somewhat taken away despite all that they'd faced together - Vidian defeated, Gorse and its' moon Cynda saved from the cyborg's depredations, and the Sullustan woman Zaluna Myder taken to safety.

Hera Syndulla wasn't like most of the other women whom Kanan had passed time with since fleeing his old life. She'd dragged him out of his routine, and back into facing his past.

Back into facing the Force, the former Jedi Padawan thought, refusing to sulk at the memories that touching the energy field had stirred. He'd had enough of sulking years earlier, in the time after Order 66.

"When you're a part-time spacer looking to earn enough credits to make the next port, then you learn useful skills to rate being taken on as a cabin boy. A good cook is worth a dozen hyperdrive cores to long-haul freighter crews," Kanan pointed out, sipping some blue milk. Hera's stores were mostly healthy food, but that was OK.

Jedi Barfly doesn't have quite the same aura of mystery and bravery as Jedi ... something-something, Kanan reflected, smirking until he sensed - then saw - Hera regarding him curiously.

"It's been a week since Gorse, and while I'm grateful for the company, and the help ... I like to know something of whom I'm working with. I know something about you - saving me from that falling lift-loader with just the Force pointed that out. But ... who is Kanan Jarrus?" the Twi'lek captain asked.

Kanan moved a particularly large chunk of nerf meat around his stew bowl, considering the question.

"There was a time," he began, keeping his voice level so as not to unsettle Hera, "that the better question would've been 'who was Caleb Dume'? Because that little Padawan ... saved you."

Hera raised what would've been an eyebrow, and Kanan laughed without humor as he continued. "I haven't used my real name in years. The same way I hadn't used the Force in a while ... it's not something you can switch on and off, not without serious danger to yourself and others. Familiarity breeds contempt, and if you use the Force like a hydrospanner ... it can twist in your hand," he explained.

"I remember from the holos and my father's stories. I think it was part of why Dooku's betrayal was so frightening - and how the Empire twisted the truth to paint all Jedi as 'traitors.' We put you on a pedestal, and when it appeared that some of you fell ... power can inspire and terrify," Hera said.

Her tone was understanding, though, and Kanan gave her a grateful look. "Syndulla ... Master Windu worked with a Cham Syndulla during the Clone Wars," he asked, warmed as Hera smiled.

"Cham was - is - my father. He's hidden away, now, working from deep cover. Like we talked about back at Gorse, the time isn't quite right for open rebellion. Soon ... but not quite yet," Hera replied, taking a few bites of her stew. "I assume it's best to keep calling you Kanan?"

"Yeah, please do. I'd bet the Empire has way too much information on me, stashed away somewhere - probably an ISB base or somewhere on Coruscant. Caleb Dume was a lifetime ago ... I thought I'd save the galaxy. Adolescent fantasies ... the Clone Wars were epic and awful at the same time, y'know?" Kanan said.

Hera nodded at him to continue, and Kanan felt an old, heavy knot start to untie itself in his stomach. Funny how you don't know you need to talk until you talk - or until you sober up, he admitted inwardly.

"You knew Mace Windu, then? Sorry - you probably didn't know him. One Padawan out of how many thousands knew the second-in-command of the whole Jedi Order," Hera said, laughing.

Kanan half-smiled after taking a few more bites of stew. "Actually, I knew him better than some. He was my Master's Master. His apprentice, Depa Billaba, taught me ... except for a period close to the end of the Clone Wars," he recalled, growing serious.

Hera immediately stopped laughing, but Kanan shook his head. "Don't get me wrong - it wasn't like I was an orphaned Padawan. Master Depa just ... how much do you know about Haruun Kal?" he started to explain.

The Twi'lek captain turned a pale shade of green, then, and looked at the table. "Enough to know that it was a target of Imperial reprisal in the first days after the Clone Wars ended. Orbital bombardments were supposed to stop once Confederacy droids shut down. Father always thought it had something to do with the Imperials' claims of a Jedi assassination attempt against the Emperor," she said softly.

"Something. The assassination bit's a load of shavit. It was an arrest attempt, at least from what Master Billaba told me before she ..." Kanan said, trying not to sound bitter and failing miserably.

Hera's color improved, and she squeezed Kanan's hand as he smiled and said, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Talk. And eat, not at the same time," Hera insisted, returning to her own dinner.

Kanan chuckled, grateful for the reprieve, and worked on finishing his stew. "I think she would've liked you - Master Depa, that is. For all of her Chalactan philosophy, she could get very practical at times," he recalled.

"Nothing wrong with intellectual pursuits. But the mind needs a full belly to fuel all that thinking," Hera suggested, bringing a smile to Kanan's face again.

It faded as he recalled the turn of events - the nightmares, the screams ... the clone troopers ...

"It was maybe a few months before the end of the war. Master Depa was sent to help reinforce Republic interests against Separatist-backed rebels ... but the war got inside her head. Tore her down ... she turned to the dark side. Master Windu was sent to bring her back," Kanan said, his voice low.

Hera looked horrified for an instant, but masked her expression - through the Force, Kanan could still sense her concern, and was grateful for it. "How did it ... affect you? I mean ... you must've been young," she asked.

"Hard. Not as hard as for Master Windu - he never talked about the details, but the trip was bad. I started somewhat younger than some Padawans did when Master Depa took me on, so the depth of our Force connection was stronger than some. Chalactans and telepathy get along well. I had ... nightmares," Kanan said, trying to keep his voice even.

He managed a weak smile as he looked at Hera, adding, "But I was able to help bring her out of the coma she'd hidden herself in. I went to visit her, and the healers saw spikes in her brainwave activity. I wasn't sure if I should; the Republic wanted to charge her with war crimes. But ..."

Hera squeezed his hand as Kanan took a shuddering breath; this had been the hardest part.

"The night of Order 66 - there were 150 general orders for the Grand Army of the Republic - I went to the medcenter. Early in the war, I'd been raring to get on the front lines ... then I went and fought. And Master Depa went and fought. Funny, the difference between being 11 and being 14," he said.

"We'd been making progress, trying to get her to wake up ... and then the Force ... diminished. Grew ... it was like watching lights go out, and with each one, a little more emptiness grew. Not like the dark side - I felt that from Master Depa's nightmares, cold and wrong. That night ... I knew how it felt for Jedi to die."

He made himself look at Hera, ignoring his tears - he'd thought he'd gotten past them, but the knot kept unraveling - as he continued, "I don't know if it was me, or the deaths, but ... Master Depa awoke. The 501st Legion were already inside the Temple; she was still weak, and I knew she couldn't fight."

Hera nodded, quietly replying, "No shame in running when you can't win."

"Not for lack of trying," Kanan snorted, slugging back his blue milk. "We used a service tunnel."

"They had it covered - Coruscanti security clone troopers ... Master Depa stood her ground. Her last word was ... 'Run.'"

He devoured the rest of his stew, sure that Hera would say something scathing - he deserved it.

Instead, gentle green fingers turned his chin to face her eyes as she softly said, "And here you are."

"Yeah. Eight standard years, how many cheap love affairs, and a dead cyborg later ... there was a lesson, just before Master Depa took me on as her Padawan. Master Kenobi was showing us the temple beacon, how it could order Jedi home or tell them to stay away," Kanan recalled.

He took Hera's hand in his, smiling, and added, "I asked Depa what to do if we never got orders to come home. She suggested that maybe I'd find something else - some other way to serve."

"Or some other time?" Hera probed, kindness evident in her expression and mental signature.

"Hindsight ... yeah. Helping keep a moon from getting blown apart ..." Kanan said, trailing off.

He offered to take Hera's plate and glass, and started doing dishes, as she held up a dishtowel. "You cooked and offer to wash. Least I can do," she said, and Kanan thanked her.

"Just so you know - I'm no sage. I focused on lightsaber combat and basic Force skills. And staying alive after I bolted, I didn't exactly practice the old skills. If you're looking for a Knight, I'm not your man," Kanan advised.

Hera's laughter both warmed and gently needled Kanan, and he chuckled, "What?"

"You save a MOON - and me and Zaluna with it - and you don't think you're a knight?" she asked.

"Skelly, Okadiah, the Gralliks ... I know, I know, remember those we lost, don't feel guilty. But Jedi philosophy kind of runs thin when it's people you knew, OK?" Kanan replied, a bit testily.

"I know. And I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose people you care about ... just don't lose hope, Kanan. If we do that, then the Empire does win," Hera pointed out.

Kanan nodded, taking his frustrations out on a particularly stubborn bit of grease. "I get it. Thanks. So ... where do we go from here?" he wondered, trying to think ahead.

"Well, you're a good tactician, whereas I seem to do decently with strategy ... I know some sentients who know some sentients ..." Hera mused, looking around the hold.

Kanan nodded, stroking his goatee as he replied, "First, I think we should get an astromech. You're a great pilot, but if we get distracted in the middle of a fight by a shield generator blowing out, it's going to be a problem. And I'm only a basic mechanic - nothing fancy."

"Agreed - well, not the mechanic part. Sure you're just trying to keep to the cook's position?" Hera teased.

"Ha, ha. You need convincing, there was this time on Behznal Nemoidia, we were pinned down by a whole battalion of battle droids ..." Kanan began.

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More Rebels fic! And it's about the third I've seen recently -- that makes a pattern. It's lovely to see this stuff begin to appear on the boards... I was starting to think I was alone in my love for the show.

Okay, on to the actual feedback. This is a great coda to the New Dawn book, which I liked but could have stood a bit more wrap-up after all the antics of the main plot. The ordeal with Vidian was pretty brutal and I think that would all take some time to process, not to mention Hera and Kanan having more of a chat about his Jedi past. This is great in that department.

Liked the references to his childhood dreams of saving the galaxy singlehanded (that was both amusing and really sad in the book.) And the combo of EU and new-verse working in a bit of Depa's fall in Shatterpoint -- which really makes it all the more poignant, that she's both that Depa and the one who saved her Padawan at the cost of her own life.

Given how much Ezra and Kanan both may be at risk of a Dark Side episode in the future, I think this could be a real lifeline. Kanan knows what most of the Jedi would never consider: that it's the selfless love for someone else that can restore them to themselves. It even makes a kind of sense out of the scene in the show where he's telling Ezra that he needs to attach and make connections. I've seen commentary that this just means Kanan doesn't know what he's doing. But I like the alternative, which this would totally support -- that he knows exactly what he's doing there, if not in everything.

 

Excellent coda! The more Rebels fic I read, the more I enjoy. This was great!

 

Kahara - thank you. I think the show has its own appeal - I've never particularly thought there should be a great divide in enjoyment of pre- and post-Disney LFL material (especially since so much of the new stuff is tapping into, or even recanonizing, elements of the EU).

I agree, that A New Dawn ended somewhat abruptly; that, and the challenge of trying to salvage the excellent work that was Shatterpoint (all credit to Mr. Stover ). (Although, having now checked the Wook, I realize that the timeframe doesn't quite match up with this 'fic ... the novel's events take place in 22 BBY. Maybe this'll have to be AU, then. )

I do like to think that if Depa had returned from the dark, that she could've had a chance to teach other Jedi about the threat of the dark side. Certainly, the Council didn't seem to deal well with those Jedi who were pulled under by the war.

 

Always glad to read more Rebels fic!

 

Understatement of the year. They seemed to care more about preserving the public image -- letting the strain of the war make everything such an emergency that there was no room for considering alternatives. At least that's the impression I get from the later TCW events. One of the things I like about this ending for Depa is that it takes that into account; they were still locking away their "problem" Jedi and not really much for second chances. It's just that fate happened to have other ideas.

 

This was lovely! Nice characterisation of Kanan and Hera.

 

More Rebels fanfic! I really enjoyed this. You write Kanan and Hera so well, and I thought your "calibration" of Depa's story made perfect sense. Looking forward to more!

 

Loved your characterization of Hera and Kanon. I agree with the other --yeah for more Rebels fanfic, tag me in if you write more, please.

 

Wonderful compassionate moments here, and good for Kanan to share. Hera's a good listener. Yes, do tag me in also for anything Rebels-y that you do later.