A/N: This was supposed to be an epilogue, but Hera had other ideas. The story does what it wants to do without my say so sometimes. What can you do? :) I want to thank my good friend thewholeworldismagic for reading this for me and giving me her thoughts. She's awesome!

11

Hera heard the ex-Jedi's normally quiet footsteps as Ahsoka walked across the sand. The Togruta was still hurting, and had probably left the medcenter too early, but no one was going to tell her that. Rex and the medical droid had kept her as long as they possibly could, and Rex had come to visit her one morning in the medcenter to find her gone and back to work coordinating the Rebellion. Having her back alive had seemed a miracle to everyone. It had certainly done wonders for morale around the station.

The Twi'lek didn't turn around, but stayed where she was, leaning on the Ghost's hull and watching her two Jedi spar, the way they'd done every morning since Ahsoka had awoken.

"He's come a long way in a few weeks." Ahsoka said softly as she finally caught sight of them.

"Yes. They both have." She watched Kanan dart and move and then force-jump over Ezra to attack him from behind. His landing was a little unsteady, but he recovered in time to block the blow Ezra struck as he whirled around. She'd watched them spar almost every day since they'd returned. The first few days had been slow...Ezra had gone easy on Kanan as his Master worked on refining his force-sight. Ezra, himself, worked on getting used to the blade Ahsoka loaned him. Now Hera barely saw Ezra holding back at all. The Padawan put his all into most of his attacks, except for when he saw Kanan was momentarily off balance or distracted. Those times were happening less and less as her wounded Jedi continued to improve.

And she couldn't help feeling proud of both of them. They both still had nightmares, but she was hopeful those would fade in time. Often, she would wake and find Kanan gone from beside her. She would fly to Ezra's room in a growing panic and find the two of them. On better nights, she would see them in meditation, which they would do for a few minutes before both heading back to sleep. On bad nights, she would find Kanan with Ezra in his arms, just as if the teenager were a small child needing a parent's comfort. And that didn't even begin cover the nightmares Kanan had.

"The whole base has been talking about Kanan and Ezra." Ahsoka murmured. Hera knew already, of course. The pilots, the soldiers, the mechanics...their hopes had been dashed when Kanan had returned to them blinded. There had been whispering about how could the Rebellion win if three Jedi could be brought down? But then, after Kanan had returned from the second trip to Malachor, bringing Ezra and Ahsoka back, the news had been getting around the base. In fact, Hera had to redirect some of the staff who had come to watch the two Jedi spar, afraid that it might distract their training.

She glanced sideways at Ahsoka as the Togruta went on: "They are symbols of hope for the Resistance. Everyone is inspired by what they do." Ahsoka turned toward her and Hera wondered suddenly if the former Jedi were reading her mind. She'd tried very hard to hide her feelings; she wasn't sure how much she liked Kanan and Ezra being "symbols of hope." She didn't feel as idealistic as she used to be, and now she felt even more possessive of her two Jedi, as well as the rest of the Ghost crew. When they'd just been a rebel cell on Lothal...things had been so much simpler and she'd felt like they were invincible. After the trip to Malachor, she felt too keenly the fragility of life, and it made her want to hang onto them more tightly than ever before.

"Somedays, I don't feel like sharing them with the Resistance." She admitted with a heavy sigh.

"I understand being worried about them." Ahsoka's Jedi-like calmness along with her words began to make Hera's anger flare. She remembered when Kanan had been captured, tortured by the Inquisitor, and Ahsoka had calmly told her they would have to leave him. Oh, so now he was worth something? Now that he was a symbol of the Resistance? She clenched her teeth and spoke, keeping her voice low.

"I'm not really sure if you do. I see them push themselves everyday so that they can get back out there. What if they go before they're ready? I don't mean to blame you for what happened, but they weren't ready for that trip to Malachor. They should have never been out there alone—they needed their team. If they push themselves to go out there before they're ready because of some notion that they've become a 'symbol' of hope or some mistaken belief that they have to be an example for everyone else in the rebellion...Well, you can just forget it. I won't allow it." Hera dropped her head and took a shaky breath, trying to rein in her emotions before she started yelling.

She didn't want to blame Ahsoka, but the feelings were there. At first she'd been so relieved Ezra and Kanan were alive, and so focused on supporting them that she hadn't really thought about what she was feeling—she only dealt with the current crisis at hand. Now that they had some down time, she found her anger and fear building up, spilling over when it wasn't needed. She'd snapped at Commander Sato earlier when he'd asked how Kanan and Ezra were doing and if they'd be ready for missions soon. Missions! The idea of her battered Jedi out there on missions was terrifying at this point. She knew she would have to face that eventuality at some point, but was willing to put it off as long as possible.

One part of her understood what Kanan's desire to go to Malachor without the rest of the team, but the other part of her felt as if Kanan would still have his eyes if the whole team had been together. She wouldn't have to hold Kanan together when he woke up screaming from nightmares about losing his padawan to the dark side. She wouldn't have to see the tears drying on both their faces when he flew to his padawan's side in the middle of the night. Those things were the things that threatened to break her. It was her version of survivor's guilt. They should have all dealt with the threat of Malachor together. She was determined that they would never face something like that alone again. She simply wasn't going to allow it—Ahsoka Tano, Commander Sato or whoever be damned. Her hands clenched into fists, but she bit back her words.

"I'm sorry for what happened. I know it has been difficult." Ahsoka said nothing else, but remained standing there with her head bowed. Hera almost wished she would just say something...that Ahsoka would be angry for once. The Togruta had that calm look on her face that said that the Force guided everything. Well, kriff the Force! It had almost taken everything Hera loved...for nothing, and she was holding a grudge, damn it. Going to Malachor hadn't done a thing to help them take down the Inquisitors. Yes, some of them had been defeated, but . . . the cost had been too dear.

Hera felt her frustration spilling over. She turned away quickly. "Ahsoka, I'm sorry. I've not been myself lately. I'm going to leave before I say something I will regret later." Without further comment, Hera stalked away, putting as much distance between the two of them as possible.

"We're here." Ezra guided Kanan back to his hallway in the base. Kanan was getting better and better at using his force-sight, but Ezra knew it was tiring and after a training session like they'd just had, Kanan needed his help.

In the time since Malachor, they had grown even closer. Ezra had taken Kanan's lesson about guilt to heart and tried to release his feelings into the Force, as his Master was teaching him. It wasn't always successful; his nightmares attested to that, but he was making progress. Kanan's steady presence always brought back the light when the dark side threatened. Similarly, Ezra and Hera lightened the dark places that threatened Kanan's mind.

"Thanks for walking me back." He turned his face toward Ezra as he spoke. "Good job today, by the way. You didn't pull many punches."

"You weren't supposed to notice." Ezra said.

"That's why I'm the Jedi and you're the Padawan. Don't forget it." He chuckled, and reached out, managing to ruffle Ezra's hair. "Hey. I think I'm really getting close to where I need to be with this Force-sight thing. Maybe we'll be ready for a mission soon."

"You're getting a lot better. It's not so easy to surprise you now." Ezra smiled, feeling excited about the idea of doing something again. Some days he felt like things would get more back to normal if they actually got out there and did some good, like they had before Malachor.

Kanan began to follow the hallway, using his fingertips to trace his way. He turned to call over his shoulder. "Just wait until you see what I have planned for tomorrow..."

"What?"

"We're gonna spar with each other while also deflecting stun blasts from Chopper AND remotes. Ought to be fun."

He laughed again at Ezra's exaggerated groan as his footsteps moved away. He reached his room, found the keypad and let himself in. He gathered up clean clothes, then found his way down the hallway to the 'fresher. After a shower, he made his way back to his room, counting doors and hallways until he made it back.

He had just started to try to tie back his hair for the second time when Hera came in. "How was your day?" He asked her, able to sense her presence easily. As soon as he asked it, he knew something was wrong. He turned his face to her, his pale unseeing eyes heavily-lidded as he felt for her with the Force.

"Great." She said sarcastically. She sat down on the bed next to him with a frustrated sigh. She then looked over at his attempt to tie his hair back. Without saying anything she took the tie from his hand and, crawling back up on the bed behind him, smoothed back his hair. Her hands were gentle and he felt her sour mood easing up a little.

"Should I ask or not?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Probably not." He felt her arms go around him after she fixed his hair. "I saw your sparring today. You guys looked good out there."

He nodded. "It felt good. I think Ezra and I might be ready for missions again soon."

He felt Hera's body tense next to his. "Oh, really? So soon?" She tried to keep her tone light, but he could feel anxiety rippling through her as she released him from the hug.

"Yeah. Maybe something easy to start with. A good old fashioned milk-run."

He turned his face toward her, and she knew he was trying to feel for what was wrong. "Yeah." She said, not feeling nearly as certain about it as she sounded. "That might be a good first start...when you're ready, that is." She stood up, trying to run through a succession of reasons she could put an end to this conversation before she had to say anything else untrue.

"Hera." He reached his hand out for her.

"I need some time." She said softly, taking his hand. "I'm okay. It's just something I've got to work though."

"We can face it together." He said softly.

"That sounds familiar. Like a talk I gave you before Mal-before you left." She couldn't bring herself to say the name of that evil place again, and she felt guilty for pointing out that he hadn't let her help him face Malachor. Slowly she slipped her hand from his grasp. "You know, Chopper's running some diagnostics on some of the auxiliary systems on the Ghost. I probably need to check on him." She was gone before he could say anything else.