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kanerallels · 6 months ago

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Day two of @spectre-week is for our beloved Captain Hera and oh BOY did I just barely finish this fic in time. Had to scrap my old one, then finished this in a haze of panic yesterday. But I actually stand by this! (It is low key set in my Steve Miller Au but you don't need prior knowledge of it to read this. Just enjoy!)

Once upon a time, Hera Syndulla was an only child.

And then, quite suddenly, when she was six years old, she wasn’t any more. Her mother, Eleni, told her she was going to have a baby brother or sister and Hera, well, she was excited, if a little wary. She’d seen her friends playing with their siblings, though she’d also seen them bickering and stealing things from each other.

But Eleni told her she was going to be an amazing big sister, and her father was glowing with pride and happiness, boasting to his friends and co-workers, and Hera decided it probably wouldn’t be so bad. At least she’d have someone to play starships with.

Time ticked by, and Eleni’s belly grew, and she spent more time sitting down than standing. When she got up, she groaned about her swollen ankles, but she was still happy. And so was Cham.

The day when the baby came was long, and hard. Hera hated the sound of her mother in pain, and she could tell her father did, too. He paced the length of their house again and again, and told her mother that they should go to a hospital, that she needed help.

But Eleni was insistent. She wanted a home birth, assisted by midwives, in Ryloth tradition. So Cham gritted his teeth and paced, and Hera stayed curled up in her favorite chair, wincing at every cry.

But the end came, and with it, joy, and a new baby brother. Hera sat on her mother’s bed as Cham cradled both Eleni and the new baby close, then took her little brother out to show him off to the relatives. Then she hugged her mother, who kissed her on the forehead.

“I’m fine,” she told Hera. “Just because it’s scary doesn’t mean it’s bad. Your brother is here, safe and sound.”

Hera was a little unsure about the first part— at first. But then, finally, when Cham was back, he gently put her brother in her arms. Their eyes met, wide, for the first time, and Cham said, “Hera, meet Devaar Syndulla. Your little brother.”

“He’s tiny,” Hera breathed, staring at him. His lekku were barely stubs, his skin a delicate shade of green, like she and her mother’s. His eyes were orange, though, like her father’s, and they held hers with a wondering confusion.

“You were at first, too,” Eleni said. “He’ll grow. But he’ll need a big sister to look after him.”

“I will,” Hera promised.

True to her word, Hera kept a close eye on Devaar— which everyone quickly shortened to Dev. Unfortunately, for the first several months, he didn’t do much interesting. Other than cry and sleep and eat.

But, in a way that was painstakingly slow, yet flew by, he grew. Soon he was crawling, and then Hera had a lot of work to do, helping her mother keep him out of trouble.

It only got worse when he learned to walk. Dev had inherited his parent’s propensity for trouble, according to Cham, who laughed proudly and swung him in the air, eliciting gurgles of laughter. He made bolts for the door and for the dangerous stairs, trying to grab hold of pointy things and sharp objects.

Hera got very good at distracting him, oftentimes with her toy starships. She kept her favorite (a VCX freighter) hidden on a shelf where he couldn’t chew on it or break it, but showed him how to fly around the gunships and the starfighters.

Some of them even matched the ones they began to see overhead, more and more. Hera’s father was clearly concerned about them— and one day, it came to a head. The Republic was at war, and Ryloth was caught in the middle.

Hera and her family had to go into hiding, which Dev did not appreciate. But the bombings were dangerous, and the Separatists hated Cham. The feeling was very mutual. Hera’s father spent most of his time away from them, fighting against the invaders and alongside the Jedi and Republic troops.

While she knew it was dangerous, Hera liked to watch the ships soaring overhead. There was a spot not too far from their hideout underground where she could see out of an old drainage tunnel, and she could watch the gunships passing. Sometimes— only when it was safe and her mother was napping— she brought the one year old Dev, carefully watching him to make sure he didn’t run off.

“I’ll be up there one day,” she whispered to him. “Flying, like them.”

Dev babbled something that sounded like encouragement, and Hera decided to take it as such.

After what felt like years, the bombs stopped, and Hera’s father came home, his eyes wearier than last time he’d been with them. They were safe, he said, from the Separatists. And he brought with him a company of clones, who helped Hera, Dev, her mother, and all the other refugees return home safely.

Home was a little worse for wear, but Eleni always liked a project. They started fixing things up, and Hera was just starting to wonder if life would be normal again.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t.

Dev got sick.

It was just a cough that wouldn’t go away at first, paired with a runny nose. But then it got worse, until the cough sounded like it was tearing apart his lungs. A fever sprang to life, and Dev was wailing with pain.

They tried everything. Antibiotics, half a dozen Republic drugs and even more old remedies that Eleni’s mother had used on her. Nothing seemed to work. Dev got sicker, and sicker, his skin pale and his movements listless. Soon, he barely moved at all, and Hera could read the fear on her parent’s faces.

They thought her little brother was going to die.

He can’t, Hera thought, staring at Dev. She’d stuck by his bed since the fever started, watching over him. Giving him water and cooling him with wet cloths. To think that her little brother would just… be gone? He couldn’t be. The galaxy wouldn’t do something so cruel.

Please, she thought. I’ll do anything. We can’t lose Dev.

Her answer came two hours later, in the form of a knock at the door.

Cham and Eleni had prepared for the worse. They were crouched next to Dev’s bed, tears in Eleni’s eyes and helplessness in Cham’s. Neither of them looked up at the knock. But Hera did.

Getting up, she walked downstairs to the door, keeping her steps quiet so she wouldn’t disturb her parents. Pulling open the door, she started to tell whichever neighbor it was that they didn’t want visitors right now.

But it wasn’t a neighbor. It wasn’t anyone she’d ever met before.

The human woman was hooded and cloaked in white, but when she looked at Hera, Hera could tell she was smiling, even under the shadows. “Hello,” she said, her voice holding an unfamiliar accent. “You must be Hera. I’ve heard much about you.”

“Who are you?” Hera asked, confused. “Are you a friend of my father’s?”

“I’m afraid I’ve never had the pleasure. But the Force told me to come here. I’m here to help your brother.”

That was all Hera needed to hear. Wordlessly, she stepped aside, and the woman came inside.

Eleni didn’t move when they entered the bedroom, but Cham looked up at the sound of the woman’s arrival. Wariness flashed across his face, and he rose, making a barrier between his wife and child and the stranger. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Forgive me for intruding,” the woman said, her voice soft and calm. “As I told your daughter, the Force sent me here. I believe—”

“She said she can help Dev,” Hera blurted out, and then Eleni looked up.

Gaze locking onto the woman, she rose and pushed past Cham. “Can you?” she asked, looking directly at their guest.

“I can.”

“Then please.” Eleni’s voice cracked. “Please. We cannot lose him.”

“I will do everything I can,” the woman promised.

She looked at Cham, seemingly questioning. Cham hesitated, then said, “You’re a Jedi?”

The woman seemed to hesitate briefly. “Not— exactly. But I promise, I am here to help your son. Let me try, and if you think I’m hurting him, you may remove me.”

Cham’s jaw worked, but he glanced at Eleni and Hera, then at the bed where his son lay. Then he nodded, moving to the side. “Do what you can.”

The woman was at Dev’s side in an instant, pushing back her cowl a little as she knelt. Moving to watching her, Hera saw her rest a hand, marked with geometric tattoos along the back, on Dev’s head.

“He is very weak,” she said. “But I can help. It will take a little while, so—”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Eleni said.

The woman’s smile was just visible. “Of course. You may wish to make some caf, though.”

Cham made a little, and they settled in to wait. Even Hera got a mug, and found she actually enjoyed it— with milk and a little sugar. They sat together and waited, watching and hoping desperately.

It didn’t seem like the woman was doing anything. She was just kneeling there, a hand resting on Dev’s forehead. She didn’t say anything or bring out any props. She just knelt, eyes closed, for a long time. So long that Hera was starting to nod off against her father when a noise cut through her sleepiness.

It was a cry. Dev’s voice.

Hera’s eyes flew open, and all three of them bolted to their feet as the woman rose. “He’ll be alright,” she told them, and Eleni burst into tears. “Give him some water and a little tea tonight. Tomorrow you can give him food.”

Cham, tears in his own eyes as he put an arm around Eleni, said, “How can we repay you?”

Shaking her head, the woman said, “No payment necessary.” Giving them a little bow, she headed down the stairs.

Cham and Eleni went immediately to Dev’s side, gathering him up in their arms. For a moment, Hera hesitated. Then she followed the woman.

Their mysterious guest had already made it out the door and a little ways down the street when Hera caught up with her. It was late, and three of the moons were full and bright above them.

“Wait!” Hera called out, and the woman stopped, turning to face her. Her cowl was lowered, and her face was kind, with bright blue eyes and dark tattoos.

Pausing, Hera struggled for words, then asked, “Why? Why did you help us?”

Smiling, the woman said, “Because you needed it. And because an old friend asked me to.”

“How?”

“The Force flows through all living things,” the woman told her. “I just gave it a little nudge in this case.”

Hera nodded slowly, wrapping her mind around the words. “And you’re… not a Jedi?”

“Admittedly, it is a little complicated,” the woman said thoughtfully. “I was, at one point. Perhaps I still am. But I think what’s most important is that your brother is still alive. Perhaps he’ll help the galaxy someday. And so, I think, will you, Hera Syndulla.”

She smiled, and turned, walking down the road. Soon, she was out of sight.

But Hera never forgot it. Forgot what the Jedi had done for her family. Especially not, years later, when she saw someone do the same thing, far above Gorse.

It wasn’t the first miraculous thing she’d seen, and it was far from the last. Her journey was just beginning.

#tales of the spectres #spectre week 2024 #spectre week #star wars rebels #swr #hera syndulla #eleni syndulla #cham syndulla #dev syndulla #time travel #the steve miller au #writing stories is a kind of magic too #barriss offee

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