The scents of the soup brought Zeb back to his childhood, when his mother would start a soup on the stove and let it cook from the early afternoon until it was time for supper. Most of the ingredients had come from the family's small garden – a variety of herbs, potatoes, mushrooms, and vegetables – and those were often put in with meats from a few local farmers that would trade a few hours of hard work from Zeb and his siblings for said meat. His parents didn't have a lot in the way of money when he and his siblings were growing up, yet that never seemed to be a problem then – whatever work they could do was often bartered for goods or other services in return; this kept their parents kits out of trouble after school let out and would almost always give them extra food on the table for dinner or breakfast the next day. Zeb remembered being allowed to take home extra eggs for breakfast during the winter months and a few plates of lunch were often sent home with him or one of his siblings after they helped cook in the kitchen of their neighbors; he was grateful for the cooking lessons he had been given in his youth. He was far from being a decent cook but those times he was in the kitchen and learned a few things, helped him in his later years.
Those memories gave him an idea. Once he and Alex were more settled in their new home, and they both had jobs and a steady routine, maybe they could start a small garden here. Their few neighbors had either chickens or other livestock native to Lira San, if the two of them could make a decent garden then they could barter some eggs or portions of meat with some of their vegetables or potatoes. Alex already had bartered some of his time with one neighbor, he helped them set up some system in their home and had returned with some sausage and a couple of steaks for his trouble – that had been a good dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. Zeb smiled to himself, stirring the soup and began to plan what they would plant later; meilooruns were on the list of things to plant even if it took years to grow them, just so he could send Hera a crate of them.
He was so lost in thought that while he knew Chava was talking to him, he wasn't paying attention to what she was actually saying to him. For all he knew she could've been just saying random words and he wouldn't know the difference, it was a rare time that the elder Lasat's voice was soothing enough that he could be lost in his own thoughts. It was only when she hit him on his back with a hiss of "Garazeb" did he break out of his thoughts, giving her a sideways look as he rubbed his back where she had hit him.
"You need to listen," she chided him, giving him her own look in return but the small smile on her lips told him she wasn't upset about him not paying attention. She hadn't hit him hard, not like she usually did.
"I am!" Zeb snapped, giving her a halfhearted glare before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe I wasn't. What were you saying?"
"No, you were lost in memory and your own thoughts." She gave him a knowing look as she took the spoon away from him and set it down on the counter top. "I asked you how you and Alexsandr were getting along."
"We're doing fine, besides the survivors meeting issues." Glancing over to Alex, he watched him reading something on his data pad before he returned his gaze to Chava. "He still feels like he doesn't belong here, but that'll take time. I know how he feels."
Chava hummed, stealing a glance over to Alex as well; they both knew how it was to be somewhere that they were the only one of their species around. There were so very few Humans and other galaxy-spanning species that knew Lira San existed, much less knew how to get to the planet itself, and the few that did wouldn't be planet-side often. The budding New Republic would keep the secret of Lira San safe for the time being, so Alex would be one of the few non-Lasat living there; Zeb felt a pang of sadness in his heart. At least Alex knew he wasn't the last Human, for Zeb, Chava, Gron, and any other Lasan survivors, they didn't have that luxury before finding their new home. While he first felt a bit of jealousy knowing that, Zeb had pushed it away and focused on knowing that no matter how isolated his lover felt being the only Human there at the moment, he wouldn't need to feel as though he was alone. Zeb wouldn't let that happen again.
"And you?" Chava asked quietly. "How are you coping here?"
"I thought it would be harder than it is, I'm still not used to being around anyone that looks like me. Haven't since Lasan." He smiled, remembering briefly the first time he stepped on Lira San and saw how the Lasat were thriving when he thought he was one of the last ones alive. "I'm grateful to be here."
"And if he wants to leave and make his home elsewhere? Maybe just return for visits?" Chava understood that before the Empire had fallen, Zeb couldn't stay on the planet for more than a couple of days at most. Then once the New Republic had been established long enough then he made his official home here, but that could change at a moments notice – something that she, unfortunately, knew all to well in her long life. First Lasan, then the few places in the galaxy that she and Gron had managed to stay long enough to establish a temporary home at, before being captured by the Empire and eventually settling on Lira San. She hoped and prayed that Zeb and Alex would stay here as well, long enough to reach their older years.
"Then I'll follow," he said, giving Chava a hard look. "As much as I would rather stay here and make a life on Lira San, if Alex doesn't want to then I'll follow him."
"Are you sure?" She asked, fixing him with a hard look and ignoring his ears folding back.
"Yes, I am," Zeb said a little too firmly and he hoped his tone gave his point across. "Both of us have already discussed this, Alex has to make an effort to want to stay here – with both do. We've talked about how long we both need to make an effort in staying here will take, its not something that can happen in a short time." He gave Alex another look, this time his eyes conveyed what he normally didn't say out loud when there were others close by. "But as long as I have Alex then home is anywhere, including a ship."
Chava sighed, then carefully chose her next words. "You've known Lira San has existed before coming here, you know other Lasat are alive."
"I know I could be with another Lasat, don't you think that hasn't also come up?" He growled, his ears fully plastered against his head, his eyes glaring at Chava with more heat than he normally reserved for her. "I don't, I haven't even when I knew I wasn't the last one in the galaxy. If I did then I would be, I much rather be with Alex."
"Good, that is something that I needed to hear from you." Smiling, she picked up the spoon and stirred the soup again. She wasn't worried about the heated glare Zeb was still giving her, she had needed to hear those words coming from him. As a kit, then as a member of the Honor Guard, Zeb had not been taken with anyone, sure he most likely had spent the night with someone in their bed but it had not been like this with anyone else. Not until Alex. Human or Lasat, it did not matter so long as both of them were happy. "Even if the two of you don't remain here, Alex needs to get his things together to have a full citizenship, he is fine for now but his stay will need to be more than temporary."
Zeb's anger cooled some, it still was there just below the surface from what he had read on Alex's data pad, and Chava's meaning behind her words hadn't been lost on him. Alex had asked him the unspoken question Chava hadn't said several times since finding out that Zeb wasn't the last Lasat, every time he had been told that he was the only one Zeb wanted to be with. And what he had said was true: no matter where they were in the galaxy, on Lira San or not, he'd follow Alex from one end to the other with no hesitation; he had made that promise to himself well before they had come here. And Alex seemed to know that he was now the prime subject of their conversation, despite not fully listening to what they were saying. Glancing over to where the two Lasat were talking, Alex put down his data pad and stretched – he needed to get up and see what kind of soup the two had made.
"That's something I wanted to ask you or Gron about, getting the things he needs to stay here," Zeb said, as Alex stood up and walked up behind him, giving him a tight hug from behind before moving onto the other side of Zeb and looking down at the pot. "We need – well, he needs – to get that settled before we do anything."
"What kind of paperwork do I need to do?" Alex asked, taking a few steps back to look at Chava.
"I can help with that," she said smoothly, turning to Alex. "You have an established residence here with someone who already has citizenship on Lira San, Gron and I are also willing to back you. The only issue being is that you currently don't have a steady line of work, both fo you, and for that Gron knows a few areas that might be good to start in."
"Anything that will allow me to stay here," he said slowly, hoping that this was the only issue he had to worry about. "What kind of work is it?"
"There's work with the schools, mostly to keep a few close by clean but also worth with their computer systems. The second often will allow you to work from him." She smiled at him. "Both are good for you, but there's others, like working with the town to help with its up-keep." Then she turned to Zeb, fixing him with a hard look. "The Honor Guard is looking for someone to help as a trainer, someone that already has the experience."
"I've done my time with the Guard, why would they want someone who hasn't been one in years?" Decades, even, if he remembered correctly. He didn't meet her gaze, instead focused on the wall in front of him; he didn't feel like he'd be an asset to him, not after what happened on Lasan. "Why would they want someone who failed?"
"No one besides yourself sees you as a failure, Garazeb, and working with the Lira San Honor Guard would do you – and them – some good. Besides, many of the younger ones already knows who you are and would be honored to be taught by someone like yourself." She hummed as she stirred the soup for the last time. "At least consider making some training guides for them, or even with them indirectly. There is plenty the younger generation can learn from you."
He knew she was trying to get the last dredges of that time afterwards out of his system, both she and Gron had been slowly working on him for years trying to get him to release the last specks of guilt he had on his part. It had worked up to this point so far and the thought of serving the Honor Guard in any capacity again had been at the back of mind for a while now, seeing the rituals on Alex's data pad had brought that to the front of his mind once again. Speaking of those rituals, Zeb and Alex shared a quick, Alex nodding to him and knew, in his own way, what his lover was thinking about.
"Speaking of the Honor Guard, where did Gron get the rituals from?" He quickly gestured to the data pad laying on the kitchen table. "He gave Alex some information, including information on atonement rituals, and I thought all of that was gone when Lasan fell."
Chava hummed again, reaching up and turning the stove top off. She knew Gron had asked her about such rituals, she had seen plenty herself over the years, and had almost advised Gron to not give Alex them; they both knew how bad some of the atonement ones were, she herself had done at least two of them herself when she was much younger than she was now. That was someone neither one of them needed to know at this time, probably not ever if she had her way, and knew precisely how hard they were – the only reason she gave her backing on them was because it was for information purposes only. If either Alex or Zeb tried to do one, regardless of the outcome, she would withdraw any backing of them and she had made sure Gron swore to Alex exactly what would happen. As for the Honor Guard things, that may or may not have been something both herself and Gron had willingly put in there, for both Zeb's and Alex's own peace of mind.
"Many of the older Guards kept written diaries of things, including their rituals and daily tasks. They came from them and other sources, after all some of the things from Lasan were recovered afterwards. As for the atonement rituals, they are for information only." Her eyes moved over to Alex briefly before she smiled and turned back to Zeb. "I will ask Gron if he has any more the next time I see him. For now, lets eat and talk of other things."