He trembled a bit, holding her close and kissing her face. I made you believe in a cause that killed you.

…No, the Empire did that. They'd taken back some of her own.

He hoped.

…He knew. He wasn't getting this guilt or doubt from her. Only himself.

It had been years since he'd allowed himself to indulge either such feeling.

Progress…? turning to humanity again…?

He tilted his face closer into her fingers, letting the shiver become more at her touch. Met her eyes, hoped his own weren't being too …emotive? …transparent.

"Sometimes I'd wonder," he said quietly. "If we weren't just doing the same work as the Empire. If the reason we fought was because life is precious and every being deserves to have the best they can… but we were just ruining lives too… "

He shook his head. No. The long view. Sacrificing the present for the future was sometimes the best resort.

"I sometimes think true freedom is only being able to be able to pick your own fights," he murmured. "There's always going to be something. If you're lucky, you make your own. Rather than give yourself to…"

He sighed. "I don't know what I'm saying. …Ignore me. I don't think I can keep thinking about it now."

He snugged his arms around her tighter and inhaled the scent of her hair. "Since we get to have a now. …I thank whoever they are for that too."