ohstardustgirl:

Celebrate Rogue One – Jyn Erso

For the ‘Friends and Family’ prompt

Also on AO3

Aria Prime isn’t so different from Lahmu, and Jyn realises that her mother’s melancholy during their time there was probably as much to do with missing her homeland as with their situation.

They just happen to be passing the planet after another mission. A year into peacetime, and Jyn knows they’ve been free to come here any time she could have wanted. But she thought she had been content to bury her curiosity, to be satisfied with what few precious memories she had of Lyra. Her body has had other ideas. More and more she has found herself thinking of a family of her own, of a baby growing within her. Whatever you decide, Cassian said when she told him, I’m yours no matter what.

It’s not that she never wanted children, it’s more that she never thought she would live to see a galaxy worth bringing a child into – or someone to love enough to want to raise a child with. Now both of those things have happened, it feels less like her body is betraying her (it seems to scream, daily, with it’s desire to procreate) and more like a natural conclusion.

She can’t resist the call to Aria Prime as they pass, as the conflict wages within her. Between her own research, and that done by Cassian before they had ever even met, the most they have is her mother’s maiden name. Lyra Palas, born and raised on Aria Prime, died on Lahmu, buried on Coruscant. They land close to the small settlement with links to that name. It doesn’t have Lahmu’s black sand, but it does have a grey, rainy coastline that is surrounded by hills and caves. As they make their way from the ship to the town, Jyn can see that the caves and coastline sparkle even in the sunlight that is dulled by heavy cloud. There are crystals within the rocks – how fascinated Lyra must have been as a child by the magical, iridescent shimmering in the hills!

Cassian’s excellent research skills lead them to a distant cousin – distant in blood, but filled with memories of a young Lyra and Jyn’s grandparents. “A wonderful woman,” says Tona as she serves them sweet tea by the peat-fuelled hearth in her home by the sea. “So intense, passionate. Everything she did, she gave her whole heart. I see that in you. You look very much like her.”

Jyn blinks. She has always thought of herself as so much like her father.

Tona talks and talks, as if she has been waiting decades to tell these stories. Jyn absorbs every word, storing them away for further examination. There are paintings created by Lyra’s mother which Tona gifts to them, claiming that Jyn is their rightful owner. Cassian smiles and nods at her side, and looks at her as if she is something precious as he discovers more and more of her history.

“Lyra always wanted children,” says Tona as the evening grows late. “I used to say to her, ‘But why? Every day the galaxy grows more and more dangerous. Even here we are not safe’.” Tona sighs and reaches out, the papery thin skin of her hands covering Jyn’s. “She would say, ‘All the more reason to bring new hope to life. After all, without hope what is worth fighting for?’”

They say their goodbyes. Tona is elderly and needs her rest. Jyn promises to return, exhausted and invigorated by all she has learned. They will spend a night on the ship to rest before returning to the base they cal home. As they curl up in their bunk listening to the gentle rain hitting the hull, Jyn smiles as she presses her lips to Cassian’s neck.

“Yes, Cass,” she says. “Let’s start our family. Let’s find something new to fight for.”

They make a start that very night.