~Lux's POV~

True to his words, Aira did not take it very well. "You've got to be kidding me," she stated incredulously, staring at him with dark violet eyes that burned with deep and smoldering indignance.

Lux stared into the violet depths dreamily. He could get lost in the deep richness of her pupils if he wanted too. Along with straight blonde hair that flowed down her shoulders in magnificent locks, small pert, heart-shaped lips and arms that could manage to hold him down in an arm lock if need be sealed the deal with beauty. But in her eyes there belayed a deep intelligence and fierce independence…

And also an multi-layered hatred of the people he was suggesting they go see.

Lux cringed, understanding her plight, as he sighed. Inside of the small social tavern they were in, he sipped at his caf thoughtfully, stalling. "No," he decided to say after one moment of heart-pounding madness.

"I'm not. Trust me, Aira; I wouldn't spring this on you if I didn't think it would help. Your hatred…" she interrupted him, coldly. "Is perfectly reasonable. They murdered my father," she ground out between clenched teeth, violet eyes flashing a warning. Lux nodded, heart skipping a beat. He would do anything not to make her angry, to cause her undue stress.

Why had he agreed to anything the other's suggested?

"I know," he agreed softly, unwilling to remind her that it may not have been Jedi, specifically, to kill her father, but someone else. But he knew this would make little difference. She did not pin it on one person, did not lay the blame where it belonged, but placed it on them all.

And if he were not careful, him, too.

"Well, if you know, you should be on my side," Aira growled, her voice rising in the otherwise low murmur of afternoon voices inside of the small shop. They were among the only ones here.

Only few males, playing some card game in the corner, and a small group of multi-species to the left remained. At the sound of her voice rising, a few of the patrons glanced over.

Lux noticed some small sympathetic smiles from the women in the room at seeing his stricken, panicked expression and the males grunted and shook their heads in pity. No matter the species, their body language said it all. Been there, done that, you're gonna die lad.

Lux let out a slow breath. His heart was pounding. It always did when he got near her, and his casual charm and silver tongue failed him. He could not help but speak bluntly.

"Once, I would have been. But then I met Ahsoka," he reflected, lowering his voice to soothe her frayed nerves. A small smile played on his lips at the memory of them talking for hours on end. And the small infatuation they had once shared that had been broken, not sealed, with a kiss. It had made them better friends in the end.

"I realized she was just a kid, like me. Just as angry and pained by what had been going on, about the war," he reached over and squeezed her hand gently between his.

"They're regular people deep down, Aira. It's just they have to make so many impossible decisions a day," he trailed off with a frustrated huff.

"They don't have time nor the energy to show it," he hastened to explain. "Oh, so they don't have time or energy to stoop to the inconsequential levels of us lowly mortals? They sound like real good people," Aira hissed back sarcastically, snatching her from underneath his reassuring grip.

Lux sat back, at a loss for words. It would be much easier if she weren't so beautiful and didn't inspire so much fright in him. Finally, he turned to the last resort he had; pleading.

"Please, Aira," he tried to cajole. "At least come once, while your ship is in repair at the base. You don't have to talk to them or stay more than fifteen minutes if you don't want. I know this is hard for you. But….But, I…" he stammered on the next words, caught by the wonder of her gaze.

"I really like you," he finished quickly, hastening to get the words out and be done with it, glancing down as he said it. "And they're the only family I've got, and they want to meet you. You see Jedi all the time, you must. What with your profession and everything," he said.

Aira sighed, her eyes softening and looked away. Lux wondered if in the dim light he was hallucinating when he saw a rosy flush creep up a long and graceful neck.

He watched it, mesmerized. She was the best blusher he knew, that was for sure. "Lux, I…I mean…Well, I like you too," she stuttered out, looking down to fiddle with her thumbs.

Lux's heart leapt. He felt like bouncing off the walls in jubilation. She liked him? She liked him! He couldn't have been happier had she said he'd suddenly get a chance to end the war.

"And I…I want to get to know you more, and how you live and everything but…" She looked up into his eyes, saw the plead hidden there, and looked down again, biting her bottom lip fretfully. Was he trembling? For some reason his hand looked a bit unsteady.

"And I mean," she gave a helpless half shrug, still not looking at him. "I…I have seen Jedi sometimes after my father died, but they've never talked to me, I've never had to spend time in their territory before; and…"

She was saying 'and' quite a lot. Lux thought absently that if she did that at the house Obi-wan would tell her that it was improper grammar. The thought coaxed a tiny smile from him. It seemed to antagonize Aira further. She looked up at him, and she seemed almost to pale. "It's just…Kriff, it's just they're Jedi!" She blurted out, throwing up her hands.

Lux glanced around worriedly, anxious that she had been overheard, but none of the others were paying attention to their struggle anymore. Internally sighing with relief at the luck of that, he nodded. "I-I know," he agreed softly, ashamed that it was true and still ashamed that he was ashamed.

"Trust me, I know. I don't ask this of you lightly. But the hatred…All it does is eat at you. Besides, I know you can get to like them, maybe…Maybe unload some of that old pain if you only get to know them first," he said again, this meeting being just as much for her sake as his.

He knew firsthand what hatred did to a person's soul, and Aira had so much goodness in her…He could not let that go to waste because of hatred. It just could not.

Aira finally looked up at him, eyes locked unto his for a moment before she exhaled slowly. "I only have to stay for about fifteen minutes, right?" She asked softly.

Lux nodded emphatically. "And I don't have to talk to them? They won't talk to me?" he hesitated. Knowing his family…

"They'll try. But they can get the picture if you don't want too. They're perceptive that way," or at least they would be extra perceptive on that night. Or unusually quiet or at least just smart enough to know that she wanted them silent. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

Lux knew it would be, knew already that the Jedi would do anything to close the rift of tenseness between her and them. They were compassionate-and totally jejune-that way.

Aira, though, was blindingly ignorant to this fact. He saw the fight leave her when her shoulders slumped and she gave him a lopsided grin. "Alright, Lux. I'll come. But I won't like it," fine.

As long as she liked him, he couldn't care less. He nodded eagerly and could have kissed her if he were not on thin ice already. Admiring her strength and bravery, for he knew what obstacles and internal battles he had just fought to even agree to this, he nodded and shook her hand vigorously, having no other way to express his gratitude.

"I know you'll like them, Aira! I know it!" he lied.