Cassian left on another assignment the next morning. Three days later he came back with sludge in his boots and a bug bite on the back of his hand the size of which he hadn't imagined possible. Even after he'd had a chance to clean up and see someone about the bite he still felt like his toes were squelching in black goo. At least his hand was starting to clear up.
He didn't even realize he'd passed Ava in the hallway until something told him he needed to take a second look. She didn't look anything like she had when he brought her in from Garnib. No torn clothes, no soot smudged on her sunken cheeks, and even her eyes seemed different.
"Ava?" He probably should've left her alone. Whatever Bail wanted her there for, Cassian doubted it had anything to do with him. But still, he felt like checking up on her. Besides, it wasn't like he'd sought her out.
She didn't have the same trouble recognizing him that he'd had with her, she even smiled at him. Well, almost anyway. Her lips didn't so much as twitch but he could see it in her eyes.
"Captain Andor." She smoothed down the front of her shirt like she didn't quite know what to do with her hands. "Bail told me you'd left for another mission, I didn't know you were back."
First name basis with Senator Organa? Cassian took that as a sign to mean she really was who the Senator thought. "Only a couple hours ago." Abruptly he changed the subject. "How is your shoulder?" Of course he knew the answer already, familiarity with healing blaster wounds was an unfortunate side effect of his occupation.
"Almost gone. Although you were right, it was healing crappy so it left a scar."
They stood awkwardly in the corridor for a couple beats and she eventually took a step towards him.
"So that whole day is kind of fuzzy, not to mention I was really fucking dehydrated and hungry so I probably could've danced on a table singing kumbaya and not remember...Anyway if I didn't say thank you the other day then I'm saying it now. I probably would've frozen to death the night you picked me up."
Cassian hadn't expected thanks for what he'd done, in all honestly it hadn't felt like he'd done all that much. "I was following my orders, you..." He glanced down at his boots unintentionally. "You don't have to thank me." When he looked back up she was truly smiling at him.
"Well." She shrugged. "Too late? Anyway I've uh, Bail's expecting me. He keeps believing I'll suddenly remember this magical childhood I spent in space wizard school because some guy wore a brown robe and...I don't know. I'm actually not supposed to talk about it because...well that's another long story so...You know, I think I'll just go before I get myself into trouble, okay? Okay, good." she chuckled, "Have a good afternoon, Captain."
"Cassian." He blurted out before he could stop himself. "I mean, uh, Cassian is fine."
"Cassian." She repeated.
He stayed put and watched her go, thinking about what she'd said. Bail had mentioned she'd lived in the Jedi temple as a child back when they'd gotten back from Garnib. Was she a Jedi? Or at least might have been, if the temple hadn't been destroyed? It made the most sense, why else would a child live there? But something told Cassian it wasn't the simple explanation and he was inclined to agree. Strangely enough, Bail Organa seemed to be the only one sure of who she really was.
Turning he went back to what he was doing, reminding himself that he had plenty of orders to follow and none of them included Ava.