“It’s after dark again,” Jyn said as he looked out at the forest from the window in the living room. “Do they have a fre gun with them?” he asked.

  “They don’t,” Rann said from the couch, not bothering to look up from her data ste. “They left during the day, when it was still bright out. There would have been no need for them to have one.”

  “I thought you didn’t want them to have a fre gun,” Tassie said from where she was curled. She sat opposite Rann on the same couch, watching one of her shows on the holoscreen. It was one of the rare instances where she could monopolize it, and she was determined to take advantage of it.

  “As long as Reya’s the one handling it, there’s no problem,” Jyn said, tearing his gaze away from the treeline. He turned around and faced the girls. “Adrian shouldn’t be that close to a weapon at all, but it’s better we have a way to find them should anything happen.”

  Tassie raised her brow but chose not to comment. “If it bothers you that much, maybe we should give them both a comm. They could take it out with them on walks. That way, we’d be able to contact them and find out where they are and what they’re up to.”

  “I don’t want Adrian operating military equipment,” Jyn replied as he sat down in the recliner. “The General won’t be happy when she hears about it.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” Rann chirped. “If it bothers you that much, we can ask for permission. Remember, our job is to keep Reya and Adrian safe. This is a reasonable measure we could take to achieve that.”

  “I said no and that’s final,” Jyn said.

  “I’ll call up the General myself if I have to,” Rann said. “Adrian having access to our comms isn’t going to hurt anybody. Him learning how to use them can’t be weaponized. What’s the big deal?”

  “He’s not military!” Jyn excimed. “We’re not allowed to let civilians handle our equipment. You know that. Why am I the only one who sees the problem here?”

  “Because there isn’t one,” Tassie said. “These aren’t normal circumstances. Exceptions are going to have to be made. Short of completely restricting Adrian again, we can’t stop them from going on walks.” Rann winced from where she sat, knowing exactly how trying to confine again Adrian would turn out. She hadn’t forgotten his threat from when she’d broken the news to him right before the Elders came to visit.

  “Then we lock him back up!” Jyn said, touting his usual opinion. “We’re the ones in control of the situation, not the other way around. That we’re even considering the idea of letting our charge have this much leeway is ludicrous.”

  “That,” Rann said, “would be just about the worst thing we could do. Reya won’t stand for Adrian being thrown back in a cell and neither will Kell now that he’s taken Adrian as a patient. He overruled the Tribunal st time to free Adrian. The Tribunal!”

  “Reya has no say in how we treat Adrian. It’s time we stop pretending she does.”

  “It’s not just that,” Rann continued. “Adrian’s not going to stand for it either.”

  “Who cares what he thinks?” Jyn scoffed.

  “We’d better, otherwise he might finally snap,” Rann said seriously. “We’ve pushed him around too much. Quite frankly, I’m surprised he continues to put up with us after how we’ve treated him.” She neglected to mention Adrian’s threat, knowing that it would only give Jyn more ammunition to use against him.

  “I warned you all st time,” Tassie accused. “I told you locking Adrian up would sour his retions with us, but nobody listened. If we try pulling this shit again, any chance we have of him pying nice is gone.”

  “He knows he has no choice but to listen to us,” Jyn threatened. His hand moved subconsciously moved towards the gun holstered to his belt. The action didn’t go unnoticed by the girls, as the looks on their faces darkened. “He knows there will be consequences.”

  “What consequences, Jyn?” Tassie exploded. “Short of shooting or torturing him, what else can we do to him that we haven’t already done? If we threaten bodily harm against him one more time, he’s going to hurt somebody out of self-defence. And frankly, whatever damage he inflicts is going to be completely justified.”

  Jyn narrowed his eyes. “He wouldn’t dare.”

  “He would,” Rann said quietly. “We’ve pushed him too far, Jyn. The next time we try, there will be consequences. For us.”

  Jyn looked between Tassie and Rann, frustration mounting. “Then how do you suggest we control him?”

  “By the gods, what is wrong with you!?” Tassie shouted. “Stop treating him like a thing and start treating him like a person. Why are you even trying to control him to begin with?”

  “Reya’s gotten to you, hasn’t she?” Jyn accused, eyes narrowed. “Adrian poisoned her mind with his nonsense and now it’s spreading.”

  Tassie stared at Jyn speechless. “You think this is somehow Adrian’s fault?” she asked in disbelief after several seconds. She’d heard from Rann about Beor and Jyn’s arguments. Having confirmation on Jyn’s thoughts really drove home what she’d learned.

  “Because it is,” Jyn said adamantly, leaning forward. “He’s been nothing but trouble since the moment we found him. Is it so surprising that he’s causing problems once again?”

  “What are you talking about?” Rann asked. “Leave the poor man alone, he’s done nothing wrong.”

  Jyn rolled his eyes. “The drama he caused the other night with the Tribunal isn’t nothing.”

  “You mean when it was discovered that his old tormentor was really a gru’ul android?” Rann arched an eyebrow. “How is that his fault?”

  “If he’d told us, the Tribunal would have been better equipped to deal with the problem.”

  “You can’t possibly believe he could have known!” Tassie threw at him. “You’re being unreasonable.”

  “Am I? He must’ve known something about it.”

  “He was just as surprised as you were.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Unlike you, we actually took the time to talk to him about it afterwards.”

  “And you didn’t think to tell me about what he said? You’re just as bad as he is. These are things I need to know.”

  “If you’d been nicer to him, maybe Adrian would be more inclined to tell you these things,” Tassie countered. She proceeded to give Jyn a watered-down version of what Adrian had told them yesterday after he’d returned from the ship. Mollified, Jyn sat in his chair thinking over what he’d learned.

  The three of them continued to discuss their thoughts on the matter, until finally, Jyn asked “You think the gru’ul were using the first facility Adrian was held captive at to pan for test subjects? Why would they do that? Why would they pick Adrian, of all people?”

  “That’s the thing, we don’t know. Neither does Adrian. He once asked me what was so interesting about him that three separate species wanted to perform experiments on him. This was right after he found out that Kell was studying a sample of his blood,” Rann said.

  “Reya might know, actually,” Tassie said pensively. It was no secret that Reya and Adrian shared deeply personal matters with each other. Prying answers out of Reya had proven to be impossible, however. Jyn and Rann looked at her. “Or not. It’s just a thought. I don’t know how much Adrian’s told her about what was done to him. If anybody’s got an idea, it would be her.”

  “She should tell us then!” Jyn excimed.

  “Jyn,” Rann said pointedly, “she’s refused to tell even the Tribunal. She’s not going to be telling any of us what she’s learned. She knows that whatever she spills will end up in a report destined for the Elders faster than she can blink. Given her retionship with Adrian, we can safely assume that’s something she’d never do.”

  Jyn grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. The girls let him be, opting to continue the conversation. They didn’t get very far before they were interrupted by the back door opening. Reya and Adrian walked through, hand in hand. Their quiet conversation continued as they entered the house, oblivious to everyone’s concern. Pausing where they were, they let go of each other and bent down to take off their shoes, not wanting to carry dirt through the house.

  Rann squinted. Something was different. There was an air of sureness between the pair and the warmth in their voices when they spoke to each other could be heard by all. She could tell that something had changed, but she couldn’t put her finger on what could have happened. “What took you so long to come back?” she asked.

  Adrian and Reya shared a look and smiled. Reya turned to Rann. “We’re sorry we took so long but it’s ok. We’re home now,” she said, grabbing Adrian’s hand and looking back at him as she finished. Adrian’s hand tightened around hers and she squeezed back.

  “Yes,” Adrian said softly. “We are. After all this time.”

  “Would it kill you to stop taking dangerous risks?” Jyn asked, interrupting the moment. “You agreed st time that you wouldn’t keep staying out after dark.”

  “We’re sorry,” Adrian apologized, taking Jyn by surprise. “It wasn’t our intention to stay out for so long. By the time we noticed, the sun was already setting. We knew we were going to end up coming back in the dark, so we decided to at least watch the sunset.”

  The pair moved further into the house, making their way towards the kitchen. The others got up and followed. “It took you that long to make your way back? Just how far away do you go when you leave for your walks?” Jyn asked as he watched the famished couple prepare dinner.

  Adrian scooped some of the leftovers onto ptes for him and Reya. “I’m not entirely sure, actually,” he said. “We go far enough so as not to be disturbed by anybody, but I’ve never taken the time to calcute how long it takes to get there. It’s not like we have a watch with us when we leave. The reason it takes us so long to get back in the dark is because we move slowly so as not to hurt ourselves.”

  “Maybe if you showed us where you went, we’d be able to find you in case anything happens.”

  “That would defeat the purpose of getting away from you all if you could find us.” Adrian smiled sharply. “If we had access comms, we’d be able to update you on the situation, or you’d be able to call us to remind us to leave before it gets dark. It’s very easy to lose track of time when we’re out there.”

  Tassie shot Jyn a smug look, which he promptly ignored. “I’m not letting you guys wander around with military equipment.”

  Adrian shrugged as he joined Reya at the table. “Then you’ll just have to deal with the fact that we might be te on occasion. We’re not trying to do it on purpose. Sometimes, it just happens.” The pair dug into their food with enthusiasm, thoroughly enjoying the meal. The conversation changed to lighter topics which were of no interest to Jyn, so he excused himself and left.

  After the meal was over, the group migrated back to the living room and settled in on the couches. Reya and Adrian curled up against one another, leaving plenty of room for Rann and Tassie to make themselves comfortable. The evening carried on, yet Reya and Adrian refused to separate. Together was where they would stay for together was where they belonged.