A.N. Thank you for your wonderful reviews! I originally had the flashbacks in the previous chapter much more muted, and really struggled with how to pull them in, so I am incredibly happy that the final result was well received and enjoyable!

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The following morning, Jyn awakes to find Bodhi already gone. Glancing at the time, she can't believe that she actually fell asleep, for almost three hours, no less. She allows herself exactly thirty seconds to lie in bed and orient herself, without thinking of everything she needs to do, of the responsibilities waiting for her outside her door.

All right, Jyn, time's up. Get out there and stop moping.

She heaves herself to her feet and moves to open her door. Squaring her shoulders, she lifts her chin and marches through it, walking with purpose, eyes clear and scanning. A stark contrast to her journey last night.

There's nothing she wants to do more than march herself right to the infirmary to check on Cassian, but she knows that the moment she sees him, she will not leave and will park herself there until he awakens, even if she has to shake him awake. She also knows that there's an incredible amount of work to be done, particularly with over three hundred new residents, and she wants to make herself useful. Especially to Leia.

Oh gods, she probably hasn't even slept! Jyn realizes with horror and rising guilt that she herself had snuck in a few hours when Leia probably hadn't even considered it.

Unsure of exactly where to find Leia, Jyn decides the storage-room-turned-living-quarters for the former residents of Andelm IV is probably her best shot. As she winds through the halls towards it, her feet slow for just a moment when she passes the turnoff that would take her to the med bay. It is so tempting to stop and march down that hall. But no, Yevez promised the minute anything changes, he will let me know. And Chirrut and Baze are with him. They had swooped in last night and demanded that she leave to try to catch a few hours of sleep. Or, perhaps more accurately, Yevez had practically thrown her out, stating that one of them might as well get some sleep and try to be a halfway decently functioning human being, and it wasn't going to be him because he was going to be running around med bay for the foreseeable future. She had protested. She really had. But then Yevez had called in the two Guardians, who had kindly but forcefully pushed her out of the room.

So, while there is nothing she can do for Cassian right now, for Leia, she can be there. She can be there for Leia.

Marching on without turning, she arrives at the storage-room-turned-living-quarters and discovers two rebels standing outside the door. Whether they are guards keeping people out or people in, she's not sure, and she wonders if she's going to have to fight with them to let her in, but the moment they see her, they leap to open the door and step aside respectfully.

Huh. That's nice, she muses. She'd been expecting to have to sweet talk her way in—or, more likely, throw her weight around… sweet talking wasn't her strong suit—and had been gearing up with all sorts of strong arguments. It is a pleasant surprise when she doesn't have to resort to such measures—which is just as well, because she's only functioning on a handful of hours of sleep. She searches their faces for the reason why they're so quick to leap into action for her. Though she recognizes one of them as the ensign she helped yesterday when she took over care of the woman with a shard of glass in her arm, and the other was a stretcher bearer, she doesn't find many answers there.

She frowns, unsatisfied with the lack of answers, but she's not going to waste time stopping to ask them why. And, never one to pass on an unexpected gift, she quickly slides through the doorway. It's then that she's immediately assaulted by a cacophony of noise reverberating through the room, despite it being still relatively early in the morning. No one is shouting, but the sheer volume of people means that normal conversation must occur at a louder than normal decibel. The number of people momentarily overwhelms her, but then the magnitude of what that means really sets in. Look at how many people we saved! It feels like such an accomplishment, a balm to the tired soul in the constant fight against the Empire.

A figure detaches herself from the crowd and makes her way directly to Jyn: Leia.

The younger woman smiles at her, and Jyn can see no trace of how tired she must be, she still stands tall and commanding, a beacon of calm amidst the cacophony. But Jyn knows she's gotten no sleep and must be exhausted.

Leia is the first to speak, and she leans in close in order to be heard. "Careful, don't go near any carbonite or your face will freeze that way," she declares, eyes sparkling with amusement.

Jyn stares at her in confusion. "What?"

Leia's amusement deepens. "You're frowning. Have I done something to cause such consternation?"

Jyn's confusion clears, and she quickly smooths her face into a genuine smile for Leia. "Oh, no, of course not, it's just the two people who let me in acted… weird. And I'm trying to figure out what it means and if I did something to offend or freak them out." It's always a possibility, but she doesn't think she'd done anything… not that she can recall, anyway.

Leia bursts out laughing, completely surprising Jyn. "Oh Jyn, sometimes you're the densest, most oblivious person I know. They're not upset with you, they're in awe of you!"

The frown returns to Jyn's face. "Now you're the one who's dense. You've gone mad. I wasn't the one who saved hundreds of people yesterday."

Leia sighs in exasperation. "Jyn, you may not have gone to Andelm IV, but you absolutely saved an untold number of people yesterday. Most everyone had no idea how to handle the horde that exited the Falcon; they were overwhelmed. And there you were, calmly giving orders, making the tough decisions, handling the difficult situations, effortlessly. It did not go unnoticed, least of all by your fellow rebels. While Scarif may have fallen into the past in some peoples' minds, this brought it roaring back, brough you and your heroics roaring back. And people are awed and grateful."

"Huh," is all Jyn can think to say.

"'Huh' indeed. Now what are you doing here? Have you even gotten any sleep?"

"I'll have you know I got a whole three hours," Jyn states proudly. "Which is more than I think you got. Which is why I'm here. You need all the help you can get and you need a break."

Leia sighs tiredly and her shoulders slump ever so slightly in the presence of her friend. "You're not wrong," she murmurs, before straightening her shoulders once more. "But there's too much to do for the moment. I can rest later."

Jyn's about to protest, but Leia plows on before she can. "Overall things are going better than could be hoped. People have settled in and been treated, and we're vetting them as quickly as possible, and Lieutenant Maera is staying with them as a familiar face, which helps. But even so, people are getting uneasy and restless. A few in particular."

Just them, a commotion rises above the general cacophony and catches their attention.

Leia grimaces. "There's one now."

Jyn takes in how overworked her friend is, how she's been going all night, just trying to make all of these people happy and settled at the expense of her own health. Leia's chosen to spend time making them feel welcome, when Jyn's certain she'd like nothing more than to spend that time sitting next to a man who is her brother in all but blood, who was—and still is—fighting for his life. Leia's chosen duty and compassion for complete strangers over her own personal wishes and well-being, and all some of these people can do is complain and make trouble.

It incenses Jyn. She won't let it stand.

"Right," she snaps briskly, "leave it to me. I'm told I have a knack for straightening people out and knocking sense into them."

The gratitude in Leia's eyes is all Jyn needs.

And as she turns to leave, she hears the Princess mutter something else, something that sounds strangely like, "'Knocking' is certainly an apt way of putting it," and she can't help but grin as she makes her way towards the commotion. Her methods might be unorthodox, but no one could argue that she gets results.

She marches up to a man who is yelling loudly, clearly unhappy that he has to stay in this room. Several other civilians are trying to reason with him, but he begins making his way towards the door. A woman seizes his arm, murmuring soothing explanations, but he whirls on her and flings her to the ground.

By this time, Jyn is within range and has had enough. "HEY!" she roars, surpassing his volume in order to catch his attention. Silence falls, all chatter in the room ceases and she can feel their eyes fall on her, but she pays them no mind. "KNOCK IT OFF!"

The man stares at her in surprise, but it quickly turns to anger and he steps towards her, apparently prepared to tell her to mind her own business—most likely in a more scathing and vulgar manner. She doesn't give him the chance.

Instead, she seizes his shirt-front in two hands and pulls him towards her, throwing him off balance. Tucking a well-placed leg behind his knee, she spins and forces him to sit down in a chair as his knees buckle.

"Shut up and sit down! We've no need for your ungrateful, stubborn-headed shouting! We saved your life and this is how you repay us?" she demands, keeping her hold on the man's shirt and preventing him from rising.

"We are doing our absolute best to help you and make you feel welcome and comfortable! In fact, that woman," she flings a hand out and points at Leia, who still stands by the door, with an expression that Jyn can't quite tell if it's one of exasperation, amusement or both. "That woman hasn't slept because she's been spending all of her waking hours looking out for you all! And she's not the only one! So, you want to leave? You'll be able to as soon as we can make that possible, just not yet. Give us a few moments to kriffing catch our breath, and we'll be more than happy to send you on your merry way just as soon as we can, because we have no time for people with less patience than a crying toddler!"

The man stares at her, making no move to get up but holding her gaze defiantly.

It's when the people around him, his fellow Andelm IV citizens, begin murmuring, telling him to be grateful and not to cause trouble, that he finally drops his gaze, suitably chastened.

"Sorry," he mutters.

Jyn finally lets go of him and steps back, prepared for him to change his mind, but the fight has gone out of his body as the mood of the crowd tells him he's in the wrong.

Crisis averted, she turns and reaches out a hand to the woman who'd been thrown to the ground earlier.

Clasping it, the other woman rises to her feet and Jyn gets her first good look at her and starts in surprise.

"I know you," she states a little dumbly, trying to place the piercing blue eyes that are now locked on hers.

The other woman smiles. "So you do. It seems we keep running into each other, perhaps because we both have a pension for doing what needs to be done, even if that resorts to physical action."

Jyn stares at her, mind racing to place her face.

"Oh." The other woman's eyes widen, realizing Jyn hadn't fully recognized her. "Sorry, we met yesterday, in the ship. The woman with the glass in her arm: I knocked her out."

"Oh, of course!" Jyn exclaims. "I'm so sorry! I knew I recognized you, just couldn't quite—"

"No, no need for apology, you must have met a hundred new faces yesterday, helping us all as you did. I'm Schaeli." She holds out her hand and Jyn grasps it warmly.

"It's still not an excuse, you were invaluably helpful in that situation," Jyn replies, "and thank you for your assistance in this situation as well, for trying to step in. I'm Jyn."

"Jyn, it's nice to meet you."

"Did you get your arm looked at," she queries, dropping Schaeli's hand and trying to ascertain the answer for herself by looking at the other woman's sleeves.

"I did, thank you. Like I said, just a graze. There were many others who were much worse off…" her voice fades a bit and her gaze drops. "Anyway," she shakes herself, "I want to apologize on behalf of my fellow people, for making your life more difficult when all you are trying to do is help. And if there is anything I can do, please let me know. Though it seems like you've got the knocking heads together when necessary down, so my help might be superfluous," she finished, forcing a grin to chase away the grief that had clearly come over her.

Despite the circumstances, Jyn's own smile is entirely genuine. She likes this woman. "Your offer is much appreciated, but for now, please just try to settle in." She winces at her words. Try to settle in? Jyn! She just lost her entire foundation, her planet and home and the Force knows what—who—else! "What I mean is," she stutters, "just please don't worry about that. Take a little time to look after yourself."

"And that's what you would do," Schaeli challenges.

Jyn grins again as the woman sees right through her. "Nope. If Leia were here now she'd be calling me the biggest hypocrite."

Schaeli nods. "I thought so. I haven't seen much of that attitude, of 'looking after yourself first,' since getting here. At least, not amongst your people," she clarifies, eyes flicking to the man Jyn had put in his places just a bit ago. "All I've seen from you and your fellow rebels is an extraordinary amount of care and self-sacrifice for complete strangers. Sometimes at great personal cost."

"Well, be that as it may, please take care of yourself. I'm a terrible role model because I never follow my own advice, but it doesn't mean I don't give good advice."

She nods. "I'll consider it."

Jyn knows she won't. Even having only known the woman for a few minutes, she can tell that it is not in her nature. But there's nothing she can do about that. Just then, she hears her name called, and glancing over her shoulder, sees Leia beckoning her. "Well, duty calls. I hope to see you around." It's a casual comment, a casual way of parting, but Jyn finds herself surprised by how much she actually means it. She would like to be able to get to know this person.

Jyn's pleasantly surprised, therefore, when Schaeli quickly responds, "You will. I didn't think much of this whole Alliance business before now; I always stayed as far away as I could and kept my head down, but things have changed," Schaeli admits, and her words make Jyn think of herself, of the person she was just a year ago, someone content living in her own corner of the world, not looking up to see the Imperial flag fly across the galaxy. She's certainly looking up now, she's come so far in just a little amount of time, and it sounds like Schaeli is ready to do the same.

If Jyn hadn't already decided she'd found a kindred spirit in the other woman, she certainly has now.

"I used to think it was all about a bunch of petty, political squabbles," Schaeli continues seriously. "That the Alliance was full of arrogant, egotistical people."

"Well, you're catching us at a very good moment," Jyn interrupts quickly. She wants Schaeli to stick around, but doesn't want her to be thinking the Alliance was perfect. "Because I must be honest we do have some of those," Jyn admits with a smile, clarifying, "Arrogant, egotistical people, I mean."

Schaeli bursts out a startled laugh. "Well, thank you for your honesty, but what group doesn't? And even so, that's not who you are at the core. We show our true colors in a crisis, and it speaks volumes that in the past 24 hours, I've seen countless numbers of you come to each other's aid, as well as to the aid of us," she gestures at herself and the other citizens scattered around the large room, "who are complete strangers to you. Two of you pulled myself and a handful of others out of a burning building with their bare hands, and another shielded me and my wife with his own body when a ship came crashing down and the shrapnel struck us. Who does that?" she asks, baffled.

She's not really looking for an answer, so Jyn doesn't give her one, but inside, she swells with pride. We do. We do that. She doesn't know who it was, but they do the Alliance proud.

Schaeli shakes her head in wonderment. "Before yesterday, I never would have thought there were people besides my wife who could be so utterly selfless. Who could care about someone they've never met and do everything in their power to save them. But he changed that. You changed that. So yes, Jyn, I will see you around. I think it's time I pick my head up, and stick around to see what all of this is about."