Star Wars Rebels: Hera & Kanan

Chapter Twenty-five

Nash glanced over his shoulder, did a double-take, and then turned around, saying, "Speaking of Hera..."

Kanan turned too- a bit too eagerly, but he didn't care- and his jaw dropped. She was wearing a simple, floor-length dress in a rich, dark red; the neck of the gown left her throat and a good portion of her shoulders and upper chest exposed, and the skirts flowed from a fitted bodice. She wore a matching, unadorned headpiece.

He felt an elbow jab into his ribs. "Close your mouth," Nash said loudly- he had enough liquor on board to render his volume control inoperable.

Kanan made a vague attempt at composing himself, but it seemed like a waste of time to even bother trying. Hera's expression, meanwhile, was a mixture of amusement and annoyance. She flashed a quick, sweet smile at Kanan. She was as cool as always, but there was a dark green flush creeping up her neck, and her brilliant green eyes had the telltale sheen that they only seemed to acquire whenever he was kissing her. He could feel her in the Force, nearly vibrating.

"You two look like gangsters," she said.

"Did you get all the starship grease off?" Nash shot back cheerfully.

Kanan, unable to peel his eyes off the beautiful woman in front of him, murmured, "Hera, you look..."

"She looks like her mother," Nash said. His voice had lost the usual sardonic tone. "Beautiful. Tislera was a better mother to me than my own mother was."

Hera and Nash looked at each other for a moment, and Kanan saw that there was a true, deep bond of friendship there, despite the constant sibling-like bickering.

"She felt bad for you," Hera said. "The poor little human boy, on a planet of Twi'leks."

Nash grinned. "Such a hardship for me, looking at all of those ridiculously attractive Twi'leks, yes."

Hera rolled her eyes. "You have issues, Nash."

"Don't I know it! Let's eat."

Dinner was mostly uneventful; Nash's surprisingly soft-hearted comments about Hera's appearance and her mother seemed to have warmed Hera's heart, and she let most of his ridiculous commentary slide without saying anything sarcastic in response. She even seemed to be enjoying herself.

For his part, Kanan was too distracted by Hera to pay much attention to anything else. Regardless of how many times he tried to look elsewhere, his eyes kept dragging themselves back to her. She was having an easier time of it, but even so, they'd shared so many charged looks that Kanan was completely discomposed. He had no idea what he'd ordered, and couldn't focus for very long on whatever it was Nash was rambling about.

His inattention did not go unnoticed. Nash kicked him under the table.

"Ow! What was that for?" he hissed.

"You need to get it together, mate. I know Hera thinks you're some kind of Sabacc wizard genius, but I'm pretty doubtful about that. And if you're too busy mooning over her the whole night, our chances of not dying are going to drop to less than zero. We're at zero right now, in case you were wondering."

Kanan shot a glance at Hera, who was conspicuously avoiding his gaze. Her cheeks were flushed dark green.

"I'm fine," he growled.

Nash laughed loudly, which earned him a few cross looks from the other diners. "Sure you are," he said.

Kanan knew, deep down, that Nash was right. He'd have to make more of an effort to focus.

After watching Nash eat and drink all the most expensive things on the restaurant's menu, the three of them walked across the hotel lobby to the casino's entrance. Coruscant Crown Casino was opulent in all the most ostentatious ways: rich dark colors with gold accents, gaming tables made out of Wroshyr wood, and throngs of expensively-dressed, wealthy patrons waiting to gamble their credits away.