Star Wars: Rebel Rising(57)

“I can’t take that away from you,” Jyn said.

“And I can’t take myself away from you.”

He kissed her again, harder, and she could taste the longing within him, the feelings he’d tried to keep in check. And she understood why he’d wanted to take her outside the town and away from their home to say this, to do this. They could be honest out there, under the open sky, in a way they never could with a roof over their heads. They could pretend they belonged to forever just as much as they belonged to each other.



A long time later, Jyn lay beside Hadder, watching as the clouds drifted farther apart. He played idly with her hair, rubbing the silky ends between his fingers.

A rustling in the grass nearby caught Jyn’s attention, and she rolled over on the blanket, watching as a tiny brown creature crept forward. No bigger than her hand, the little mouselike animal had pale brown fur, a tiny pink twitching nose, and big black eyes, with a cute furrow in its brow that made it look comically worried.

“Hello, there,” Jyn whispered lazily.

Hadder looked up, and his movement made the little animal dart several centimeters away, standing on its hind legs and scrunching its nose in concern.

“A bulba,” Hadder said.

They watched as the bulba regained its courage, racing up and then halting again, tentatively touching the edge of the blanket with one tiny paw. Its long tail, covered in fine fur that ended in a tuft, curled around its body. Hadder reached over to the basket, plucked a handful of bunn from their reserves, and held it out for the bulba. It sniffed warily, then nibbled at a few grains. In moments, the bulba allowed Hadder to scoop his hands under it and lift it closer so Jyn could see.

“It’s adorable,” she said as the bulba stuffed grains of bunn into its cheeks.

“See this?” Hadder ruffled the fur on the bulba’s back. The little creature shuddered but didn’t pause eating. Jyn saw a tiny green vine stained with pink on the edges tangled in the fur along the bulba’s spine.

“Bulba mothers always make a nest out of a dying vine that grows here,” Hadder explained. “The seeds on the flowers of the vine plant themselves into the thin skin of the babies. They create a symbiotic relationship—the vines take root inside the bulbas. We had to dissect them in class. Bulba bones are incredibly thin. Here, feel.”

Hadder dumped the little creature into Jyn’s hands. It was practically weightless; her thin scarf was heavier.

“The roots wrap their way around the bulba’s bones, giving them strength. Without the plant, this little guy wouldn’t be able to live.”

“Wow,” Jyn said.

“It’s a true symbiotic relationship. The plant’s seed grows inside the animal, giving the animal life, because without it, it would never be able to survive. Once the bulba dies, new vines grow from its body, and bulba mothers turn their flowers into nests, which leads to a new generation being born and new seeds being planted.”

Jyn stroked the fur of the bulba, feeling the tendrils of the vine growing from its back. Its skin rippled in pleasure, and it chittered at her.

“I’ve been here almost a year, and I had no idea this little creature existed,” Jyn said. She lowered her hands to the quilt, and the bulba scurried away once it was certain they were not going to give it any more food.

Hadder shrugged. “They’re just rodents.”

“They’re amazing,” Jyn insisted. “We spend so much time pushing the edges of our galaxy, jumping on ships to explore new planets, but we know almost nothing about each individual world. There is so much about each planet that’s unique, that’s special, and we ignore it because we’re so busy trying to throw ourselves into space.”

“To be fair,” Hadder said, sweeping Jyn’s hair off her shoulder so he could kiss her neck, “I’m much more focused on throwing myself at you.”

Jyn playfully pushed him aside. “If you were so interested, why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“Because if you didn’t want me, you would break my heart and potentially my body.”

Jyn leaned in closer, her lips centimeters from his. “Who’s to say I won’t do that anyway?”

Hadder fell back onto the blanket. “You can do whatever you want to my body,” he said, his hooded eyes gazing up at her.

So she did.





It was dark by the time they got back. And Akshaya was there. Waiting in the hangar.

“I didn’t take the ship offworld,” Hadder said the second he saw his mother.

Akshaya cocked an eyebrow, and Jyn knew that for once she wasn’t worried about his flying. Akshaya’s gaze settled on Jyn, and she looked at her with evaluating eyes. Jyn hoped that she measured up.

“Why are you back so soon?” Jyn asked.

Akshaya’s shoulders sagged, and she turned around, heading back to their house. Hadder shot Jyn a worried look as he hurried to catch up.

“Mum?” he asked.

She waited until they were all back inside before she spoke. “The Empire’s cracking down. More than half the mines I usually ship for are now Imperial run.”

Jyn sucked in her breath. She had suspected as much based on how little work Akshaya had been doing lately and how close they were to the Tamsye Prime system, but she had let Akshaya’s confidence lull her into complacency.