Aeris was thankful when she felt no judgement from Jek as she told him a little of her past. Instead, she felt something akin to relief from him, along with the same calm he always seemed to hold. He offered her a reassuring smile and she returned his smile with a faint one of her own as she stood and began to lead the way. She had felt his regret or sadness over having not been with her during that time, but even though she had missed him and some part of her had wanted him there with her, in the end, she thought it was better this way, even if it might not always feel that way.<br/><br/>If he’d followed her, he would have tried to protect her whether she wanted or needed it, and he might have died doing so. If not protecting her, he might still have died. She couldn’t bear that thought. Besides, he might not be disappointed in her now, but if he’d seen her then… She wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t have lost him anyways. That wasn’t even taking into consideration what would have happened after the war. All in all, as hard as it had been, as angry as she’d been, as much as she’d wanted to be selfish and take him with her, it really was probably for the best that’d he’d stayed. After all, at least this way he hadn’t changed, and he hadn’t been forced to watch when she did.<br/><br/>She’d been spacing out, lost in her own thought as she was leading them towards the hanger, until Jek nudged her shoulder, pulling her back to reality. She looked over at him, hanging on his words as he managed to find the good in her situation. “You always do that,” she said softly, stopping and taking his hand, turn to face him as he did, “Quiet my fears so easily,” she explained what she’d meant as her free hand reached up to gently touch his cheek before she kissed him softly. She lingered a few moments longer than she maybe should have, not really caring if anyone saw this time. “Thank you, Jek,” she gave him a soft smile, her eyes showing how much it meant to her.<br/><br/>She didn’t immediately move, her green eyes lost in the warmth of his brown eyes for just a little longer before she squeezed his hand, reminding them both that they had somewhere to be. She offered him another small smile before turning to continue towards the hanger, this time not releasing his hand as they slowly walked to the hanger. She didn’t force a hurried pace, instead matching the slow pace he had set before, not in a hurry to get back to the real word or to be apart from him.<br/><br/>Once they reach the hanger, she reluctantly released his hand, gathering her hair and moving it so that it was all on one side before pulling her hood up over her head. She gestured for Jek to do the same before the entered the hanger. The shuttle was not far behind them, arriving less than a minute after they had. Aeris strode towards the shuttle as they landed and the ramp hissed as it lowered, just in time for her to step onto it and enter the shuttle. “Lord Aeris,” she was greeted by a soldier. She gave him a nod as she approached.<br/><br/>“This is the new recruit,” she informed him in the same matter-of-fact manner in which she had spoken before. “He is an old friend from my Jedi days. He defected and found me, so he will be joining us,” she explained, her voice commanding but not harsh, “I can count on you to ensure that the commander if informed, yes?” she asked frankly. “Of course, ma’am,” the soldier replied before quickly correcting himself when she narrowed her eyes at him, “My Lord.” Aeris sighed and waved dismissively to excuse him to carry on with his duties, “You lot are hopeless,” she said with resignation rather than exasperation, taking a seat and strapping in for the ride up to the cruiser.<br/><br/>When they arrived, she stood freed herself from the safety belt and stood as the shuttle doors hissed to open. “I will make sure the commander knows that the former Jedi is accompanying you and will be joining us,” the soldier informed her. “See that you do,” she replied in the same frank, commanding voice as she turned to head down the ramp, giving a half-hearted two-finger wave without looking back. Once out of the shuttle, she gestured for Jek to follow her as she led them out of the hanger and to the hanger that held her ship. When they reached the hanger, she punched in the code and led Jek into the hanger, where Jax and An-Lok were waiting.<br/><br/>------<br/><br/>Jax smiled a little when An-Lok got a laugh out of his comment. She told him that they didn’t really have time now, which sense. He was a little relieved, not because he was confident that she would beat him, but because he wasn’t really prepared to duel, and he admittedly still felt a bit tired after everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. He could tell that she was more certain of her ability to win in a duel than he was, which was fine. He would not presume to know who would be victorious in a duel, as there were a lot of factors that came into play to determine the winner. Then again, it didn’t really matter to him. He thought that she was likely a great duelist after the war, and he would enjoy sparring with her sometime, regardless of the outcome.<br/><br/>“Sure,” he replied when she told him to come after giving him a little longer to take in the facility. She explained that she would have enough time to show him the areas she wanted to take him to before the other two arrived. He followed her out into the hall, to the lift, and then to their next destination, the power center. She explained to him that someone was always here as she took him around the core. He actually loved engineering, which was one of the reasons he had been so persistent about getting a ship of his own. They had gotten him an older ship in need of repairs, but it had suited him just fine, as he had enjoyed repairing it, and as he was able, he had upgraded some of the older parts.<br/><br/>He found the power center and the core fascinating, and only barely heard her when she told him someone was almost there. He was glad for her slow steps as they went around the large floor-to-ceiling console. He was a little disappointed when they had to leave so soon, but he made no complaints, following her when she motioned for him to do so. Perhaps he could take a look at it again sometime. He stopped himself before he started thinking about how cool it would be to get into all of the inner workings of the ship, otherwise he would end up distracted forever.<br/><br/>He followed her as she took him down a few more floors to show him a portion of the barracks, reminding him that the more important quarters were above them, telling him that the commanders and Sith Lords didn’t have to share. She went on to tell him about the showers and things like that before leading him to the mess hall. She hadn’t gone past the door of the room and he could feel the tension in the air, guessing that this was why she had called for food to be brought to her before. He was going to ask if she always ate elsewhere but thought better of it and kept quiet as she marched back out.<br/><br/>They were once again on the lift, going to the hanger this time. His interest was piqued again as he looked around the hanger, trying to spot what types of vessels they had. He gave her hand a light squeeze when he felt her take his hand as she led him through the hangers, telling him which ones held what. His eyes scanned the crafts in each one, or at least those that he could see as they passed by, finding that they were pretty uniform on the types they had, but he was still curious to see some of the up close at some point.<br/><br/>When they reached the hanger holding Aeris’s ship, he focused his attention on An-Lok as she spoke, telling him that Aeris had split off at the end of the war to do her own thing. “Do you know why?” he asked, curious. He hadn’t realized that they had been apart all this time, although he guessed it made sense, after all, he and Jek had not been together all this time, so why should he have thought they would have been?<br/><br/>He could feel the nervousness she felt through their bond as she put in the code to the hanger and he followed her inside when the doors had opened. As they doors closed behind them, he wrapped his arms around her, one at her waist and the other wrapped around her shoulder, holding her close as he planted a soft kiss on her head and then took in a slow, deep breath, trying to extend his calm to her and help her to relax. He didn’t think that he was as good at projecting his calm at the other man was, but he was still capable of doing it. He wished then that he were better with words, so that he could ease her worries, but he feared that anything he said might end up coming across as him trying to dismiss her worries, which he didn’t want to do.<br/><br/>He pulled back only enough to look down at her, moving the hand on her shoulder to gently caress her cheek, “You have nothing to be ashamed of,” he told her earnestly, his eyes gentle and sincere, filled with love. He couldn’t tell her not to fear, nor could he promise how Jek would respond, but he could make sure she knew that in his eyes, she was perfect the way she was. He said nothing else, just gave her a gentle kiss and held her until she wished to be released, or until the hanger doors would open again.