Cassian let himself doze in the pilot's chair for a little while, his long day on Garnib catching up with him in the quiet hum of the ship. K-2 would wake him up if anything happened and Ava had fallen asleep the moment she'd laid down so there wasn't much to do. It was strange, she didn't even know about the Rebel Alliance, especially having been on an outer rim planet where they were able to do more work without running into Imperial opposition. He'd never met someone who seemed so...disconnected. She just seemed out of place and angry at everything because of it. But anger was an important tool in survival, Cassian knew that very well.
A few minutes out from Yavin he yawned, glancing back at Ava who was still asleep. He didn't want to wake her, her hands were tucked up in the sleeves of his coat and the blanket had slipped down to her waist, it was probably the first time she'd had someplace safe to sleep in days, if not weeks. But there was no getting around it and she'd definitely be hungry again so he grabbed a ration bar from storage before laying his hand on her arm and giving it a light shake.
Ava jumped and blinked slowly as she remembered where she was and sat up stiffly. "Are we almost there?"
"Yes." He handed her the ration bar which she tore into without hesitation. "How is your shoulder?"
She shifted it experimentally and nodded. "Better...thank you. That goopy stuff works pretty well."
"It was just bacta..." It was just about the least he could've done for it, he didn't know why she seemed so surprised. He just hoped they'd give her a few hours to settle in once they got to Yavin, she had to be exhausted and if it were up to him, her first stop would be the infirmary. Then he had to remind himself that once she got there she wasn't his responsibility anymore. "We'll be there soon." Leaving her with the ration bar he went back to the cockpit as they dropped out of hyperspace.
Ava quietly chewed the weird tasteless granola bar Cassian had handed her and stared up at the windows while the ship shook and the sky turned from black to blue. For the first time that day she felt more than logical indifference to her situation. When before she'd had no other choice but to trust Cassian, now she became nervous. It was one thing to head towards an unknown destination, it was another to actually arrive and not know what she was going to find.
He'd said Bail Organa was a good man, but what was his definition of a good man? If she didn't know why she was there or how she was there, what meaning could she possibly have to a man she'd never met before? A whole plethora of scifiesque ideas came to mind but each was more implausible than the last and it only made her feel more jumpy.
The moment they landed she was on her feet, swallowing the last of her food and staring out at an airfield surrounded by jungle. At least if something horrible was going to happen, there wasn't any damn snow.
There were spaceships everywhere...well at least she assumed they were space worthy. The view, if not for the strange architecture of the building to the left and the alien ships, was not too unlike an airport. Hell, it almost felt familiar in that regard but that sense didn't last long. The door slid open and the coolness of the ship was replaced by hot, muggy air. It was almost difficult to breathe but god, it felt so good to be warm again.
She slipped out of Cassian's coat and laid it carefully on the seat behind her as he made his way towards the door, hoping he realized how grateful she was for it back on Garnib. He didn't even seem to notice but he did step down onto the tarmac and motion for her to follow.
K-2SO stayed behind in the ship as she followed Cassian through the field and into a giant stone pyramid that seemed awfully out of place being surrounded by so much technology. It was much darker inside and still very muggy. Voices were echoing off the bare walls and high ceiling into a mixed up hum she couldn't make out but it muffled when Cassian turned down a hallway.
The room he brought her to was a lot smaller and just as dim but looked like some kind of meeting room with a large round table under one central light. It would've felt ominous if the whole building didn't seem to be lit the same way.
Only one other person was in the room, an older tired looking man in clean cut clothes who'd started watching her the moment she came through the door. With her uncombed hair and torn jacket she began to feel self conscious and played with a loose string on the edge of her sleeve as a distraction.
After a few short moments he smiled, looking relieved. "Ava, I'm so glad you're safe, we intercepted an Imperial transmission that eluded to your whereabouts and I was afraid they would get to you before we could. If they had..." He shook his head, like he didn't want to imagine the consequences.
She'd been presumptuous to think she'd get answers right off the bat. As if she'd meet the man and everything would become clear. There was no doubt in her mind that if she'd been captured by Imperial forces it would end badly for her but she had a feeling he thought that for different reasons than she did.
"I'm...I'm sorry." Ava suddenly felt the need to be polite, the man she assumed was Bail, seemed to deserve her respect. "How do you know who I am?"
Bail's face dropped from calm relief back into worry. "You don't remember me?" He almost looked hurt, almost, but if he truly was he hid it well. "Once I learned you were alive I had...wondered why you never tried to contact me. You were still very young when the temple fell I suppose..."
Cassian slipped into the corner, not having been invited to stay, but not told to leave either so he leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed and watched the exchange.
For Ava, she felt like she was getting further and further away from what she was hoping for. "Look, I don't know what's going on. I don't know who you are or what this whole Rebel Alliance thing is that you're mixed up in but I just came here for answers."
Bail sighed and gave her a kind smile. "Ava, my name is Bail Organa, I knew you when you were a child, when you lived in the Jedi temple on Coruscant."
She frowned, she'd never lived anywhere but Utah and definitely not in some kind of temple or what not. "I don't think I'm the same person you're talking about, I've lived in Milford my whole life. I've never seen you before." The first two statements were true, but a small part of her questioned the third. She just wasn't sure whether that was because she had met him before, or because everyone said she had.
"Do you remember Ben?"
It was a simple question but it was the one that made her stop and think. That did sound familiar even though it had no reason to. She'd been quite sure she'd never been anywhere in the entire galaxy she now found herself in but for some reason that name made her wonder. God, why was it familiar? Who was Ben? When she tried to think back it all became a dark jumbled mess. But that name left her with the brief image of a faceless man in a brown robe.
It must have showed on her face because Bail perked up. "You do remember him, don't you?"
"Just...a brown robe but..." Ava pinched the bridge of her nose. "This doesn't make any sense." These weren't the answers she was looking for. They were supposed to know how she got there, how to get home! "None of this makes any sense!"
Cassian coughed and interrupted before Bail could continue. "Senator, she's been living on the streets on Garnib, she's exhausted..."
Ava took a deep breath, thankful for Cassian's intervention. The implications of there being huge gaps in her own memory, let alone involving another galaxy, were scaring her more than she wanted to admit. Coupled with the last several hours and the past few weeks, she felt like she was drowning in uncertainty.
"Of course." Bail said gently. "Captain, perhaps you could see that she settles in?"
Ava was out the door before Cassian could answer and if he hadn't followed her she would've wandered back out of the base, directionless and freaked out. There was...something there, in the back of her mind but she couldn't find it. Suddenly her life was not the same one she thought she'd had if these people were to be believed and she was most definitely considering it a possibility.
Cassian touched her arm to get her attention and looked down at her with the same soft look he'd given her while treating her shoulder. "Come on, let's start with the infirmary."
She nodded numbly, wrapped up in trying to figure out what was going on. Everything was becoming so much stranger than she'd expected. If he hadn't kept his hand on her arm as they walked she would've completely forgotten what they were doing. She wasn't even paying attention to where he was leading her.
Ava, while still completely out of sorts, had at least calmed down some since meeting Bail. The infirmary trip had been short and once the doctor had treated her shoulder and concluded she wasn't going to be killed by any other ailments she was released back to Cassian. He dropped her off at her new quarters which were small and bare, just a bed and dresser and a dark room the size of a closet that she was pretty sure was meant to be the bathroom.
He left, promising to bring her something to eat and she (after finding a couple clean sets of clothes in the dresser) was hoping to get a good shower. She'd made a concentrated effort to avoid looking in the small dusky mirror on the wall until she could clean up. The only problem was the shower itself. She couldn't figure out how to make it work. Maybe it was her addled brain or maybe it was just that complicated but no matter what buttons she pushed on the wall console, nothing happened.
By the time Cassian got back with a tray of food she'd braced her forearm against the wall beside the keypad and was randomly jamming her finger into the buttons. If Cassian found it amusing she couldn't tell, she only glanced back at him when he set the tray down on the bed.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't work the damn shower." She grumbled, frustrated enough that she could've cried. After all, he'd been gone for at least fifteen minutes.
He smiled, a bit confused by her ignorance but accepting of it nonetheless. "You have to activate the panel first," He started, showing her how to turn it on. "Then you set the temperature and you press this to turn the water on and off. No different from any other." It was the most basic and probably cheapest model the Rebellion could've installed. How she'd seemed to have never come across one before baffled him. "If you need anything else, there is a guard right outside."
Any other space shower, maybe. She tried not to let her feelings of stupidity show too much. "Thanks."
He paused like he might have something else to say, but he ended up leaving without another word.