flightforfreedom | A stupid post for stupid threads

"It is the farthest thing from native that you can imagine," Kes said, running his hands over the bark. "It was a gift. From Luke Skywalker, when we retired." He turned his head to look at Finn, as if gauging his reaction.

"It was one of two cuttings rescued from the tree that once sat in the Jedi Council. The last force-sensitive tree in the Galaxy. It was meant to be a sign of the forged peace - of the end of the war, of the return of hope." He turned back to look at it, his expression turning sad. "But it never ends."

He let his hand fall as he turned and walked toward the complex.

Finn couldn't have stopped himself if he tried. The moment Skywalker came out, he was reaching to touch the tree too. Force sensitive trees. He'd never have imagined. His tone turned almost reverent as he replied, taking along moment before he could pull himself away to follow the older man.

"They told us the Jedi were gone. There was no hope. But it's been out there the whole time. So that didn't end, either."

"They weren't lying. For all that it's worth, the Jedi are gone." Everything that they had done, pulled backwards as if it had never happened.

The galaxy reset, into another galactic civil war.

"It will just happen again, as it did before, and then there will be another reason to fight, after that. And another, after that."

"Yeah..."

He frowned. He agreed, on some level. Lots of levels, really. All that ones that had been ready to run to the outer rim and ignore it all, to survive instead of living. Finn's attention is fully on the nature around them instead of looking at the other man, not sure this would be a chat he could make it through with eye contact.

"But...could be something worse. Could be a galaxy with nothing left worth fighting for. Like the Order has in mind."

"You still have to be around to live it," Kes said, firmly, though not angrily. Just wearily. Someone who had this argument a hundred times before. Who had given the same argument, hundreds of times.

"You don't need to convince me of the cause, Finn."

"Wouldn't feel right if I didn't try."

Why go for the nice answers, the ones about how hard he believed in the cause, when the truth was easier. Because he agreed with the first point, it was one he'd made to Poe himself. But he knew where his loyalty was, and it was with the idiot napping the day away. So argue he would.

"It means too much to Poe."

Kes sighed, his head bowing as he looked at the ground - the lush, green grass that he and his wife had fought so hard, for so long, for.

And she barely even got to live it.

"I know it does," He said finally, heavily. "But he deserves more than to be canon fodder in a war."

"Poe is the best pilot they have."

What was happening? It was the same kind of talk he and Poe had had so many months ago, only with him playing the role of Poe today. But it felt right, clarifying how important it was. To Poe, if nothing else.

"It'd kill him not to be out there."

"And it will kill him to be there," Kes said, his back straightening, a firm warrior's look in his eye as he met Finn's.

"I know I can't stop my son from doing what he thinks is right. But that doesn't mean that it is."

Finn swallows, knowing way too well that statement's true. Poe was brave to the point of reckless. He'd die in that ship. More a matter of when than if. So he can't quite meet the older man's eyes as he replies, looking out over the green instead.

"I- I was a stormtrooper from a long time. No one asked what we wanted, just told us what was best. And all I learned was...A life has to mean something. To the person living it. Not anyone else."

If that meant Poe's life would be a short one, Finn has to accept it. But he can't find it in him to push the point any harder than that.

Kes just studied him silently for a long moment, as if weighing him, assessing... and then finally turned his eyes away.

"Come on. I'll show you where your rooms are," He said, with an almost weary sadness to his voice. It was a fight he'd long since been forced to give up, but that still managed to kill him slowly whenever he thought about it. "It's Poe's old rooms, obviously - I haven't really changed them, since he left." Just in case he ever decided to come home, is what he didn't say.

Finn's sure no where near all that could be said had, but he's happy to let the subject drop. He can get the stuff into the room then, if Poe was still knocked out, carry the man. He was curious exactly what a young Poe's quarters looked like, anyway. Though there was one thing that seemed a safe bet.

"Am I gonna need to pack up any fighter models to fit in the room?"

"Depends on how cozy you want to be," Kes replied, looking over his shoulder at Finn with a bemused smile, as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of that particular train of thought.

The house itself was more of a series of interconnected pre-fabricated buildings, but that had been worked on in the decades since. There were farm more windows, now, and a large porch made of wood from the surrounding area. It was minamalist, but nice. Poe's room was it's own little building, and it was very much a teenager's room. Pictures of fighters and other star ships took up the majority of the walls, and half built ships, pieces of droids and plenty of other things littered the shelves. It was, however, pretty clean.

There was, however, only one bed, and while it might fit two people, it would only do that if they were spooning. So Kes raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Finn.

Finn considers the bed topic to have been pretty well- if in no way subtly- covered by Poe earlier, so his attention goes right to the droid parts. He picks up a couple with a small, affectionate (and slightly amused) smile before putting them right back in place. It was pretty easy to picture Poe growing up here, waiting for the day he could go fly. So far as peaks into a childhood went, Finn liked this one as his first.

"I think we'll manage."

Yeah that was pretty firm. But that just made him wonder about the 'good friends' part. Poe wasn't usually one for hesitating. So Kes just nodded. "I'll give you the rest of the tour," He added, and then proceeded to show Finn around - the kitchen, small and utilitarian but bright, and the living quarters which were obviously the most lived in.

"There's a little hangar on the other side of the compound, but-- I don't know what state it's in. It was his mother's, then his. I only use the speeder."

Finn opens his mouth to ask about that, about how he could just let it...sit. When it'd been so important. But he knows Poe's looks when he talks about his dad, the talk he'd just had with Kes, and closes his mouth instead. No point poking around a kinrath's nest for no good reason.

"We should take a look. Just let me get Poe in a real bed first."

Before he managed to agitate something curled in the backseat for too long.

Kes smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I think I'll leave that to you," He said. "I'll make us up something to eat. You boys must be hungry."

"Meet you in the garage."

Finn wasn't sure this was the wisest choice, but it was the one he was making. Along with walking back out to the car to open Poe's door as fast as he could.

Poe was actually climbing out of the speeder as Finn approached, rubbing a hand over his eyes before looking up to offer Finn a sleepy, slightly sheepish, dimpled smile.

"Hey. I swear this never happens to me," He said, the sheepish smile sliding into a grin. But then he saw the oddly determined set to Finn's features and raised an eyebrow, glancing around for his father. "Where is he?"

The determination takes temporary leave, along with Finn's processing of that last question. Hard to keep them up, when his heartbeat stumbled for a moment at the picture Poe presented climbing out of the speeder, an answering fond smile forming without him thinking about it.

The hand that reaches out to smooth Poe's hair down is also automatic. Well, the hand run through Poe's hair with the excuse of fixing it. It's probably more of a mess by the time the hand has made it's way through and comes to settle lightly on the back of Poe's neck.

"Never figured speeder rides'd be the key."

Poe completely forgot the question too, thanks to the hand running through his hair. He leaned forward almost automatically for a kiss, though he caught himself before he fully committed.

"Like singing me a lullaby," He admitted with a grin. "That and probably all the moral wounds." He finished his action then, finally ducking in to take a slightly indulgent kiss.

"You alright?"

Who was Finn to refuse that? He had to work to keep the pressure on Poe's neck light out of respect for all those mortal wounds, but he made up for it by pressing back for a second after Poe's question. It was a couple more seconds before there was room for an answer.

"Yeah. No Sith invasions. Your dad showed me the tree. And your room," the smile grew into a slightly teasing grin. "You really did used to be a kid."

He didn't seem to mind having to wait through the kiss for an answer - probably could have waited longer, really, but he wasn't about to complain.

"What, you think I was born fully grown in a cockpit?" he teased back. "I think we'll be able to render that room a little more adult friendly, later."

"If I hadn't seen the vids, I'd have doubts."

He only partially stepped back, letting the hand that had been on the back of Poe's neck gently slide down to his lower back to guide him towards the compound.

"Told your dad all of us should check out the hanger. After lunch."

That got a raised eyebrow. The words, not the hand. The hand was perfect exactly where it was. Poe slid an arm around Finn's shoulders, just to secure it further.

"Yeah? I mean - I was going to show you in there, anyway, but... What'd he say?"

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