Ficlet: Room at the Inn

cats-and-metersticks:

For @thegiddyowl because she’s awesome 🙂 

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“No. No. Fuck–” In a rare display of frustration, Cassian plowed forward through the knee-deep snow to rattle the spaceport’s outer gate, on which a sighn was posted reading, Closed due to inclement weather. All transport’s canceled.

Jyn stood behind him, arms wrapped around herself against the cold and blinking snow out of her eyelashes. She listened as Cassian swore a blue streak in Festian and watched the wheels turn in his head as he tried to find a universe in which they were not stuck on Toloran. He didn’t find one, of course. The storm had come up on their radar suddenly, leaving them no time to plan around the meeting with Cassian’s contact on the other side of the city. With limited options, they walked all day across town anyway, praying to the Force that they’d make it before the clouds got too thick.

Clearly, the Force didn’t see fit to answer them.

Jyn sighed and wondered whether she should suggest they turn around and find someplace to spend the night. But she wasn’t inclined to open herself to any more snappish comments and starting yet another argument. Sleep deprived after waking up early to scout the meeting location and exhausted after walking ten klicks through the snow, their tempers were both on a short fuse. Cassian in particular became irritable in the cold, and had been openly limping for hours as his bad leg stiffened up.

Eventually, he turned around and muttered, “Let’s find someplace to stay.”

Jyn followed him without comment, disappointed but not surprised to see his breath hitch with each step.

Of course, the closest place to sleep was a fancy little inn near the base of one of the city’s many repulsor-ski slopes. They stood outside for a minute, each silently debating whether it would be worth it to walk further out to someplace cheaper. Jyn was prepared to physically restrain Cassian if he thought so. She was not letting him push his leg even farther past its limit in this weather, and she was losing feeling in her fingers through her pockets. But luckily he seemed to see reason as well and they trudged up to the door.

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