Cassian has always known that one day he'd probably get married for political reasons. Even before his parents were killed, his awareness as a six year of royal politics was alarmingly high. Fest was taken under the Alliance, becoming more of a province as various regents handled the day to day. Even now, he tends to stay away and throws himself into aiding the Alliance, the spy prince the people don't even know is one. It was lucky, they'd said: he'd been visiting Alderaan when the Empire attacked Fest, sparing him. Bail Organa took him under his wing too, but General Draven had essentially raised Cassian Andor, making him every bit a soldier as much as a prince. His title feels more like a formality, but Fest is so close to Hoth, and they can't afford to lose Hoth.
When Draven tells him they've found him a wife at last, he doesn't react, just nods like it's another mission. Bail seems sympathetic and reassures him it's not meant to be anything like a slight. Jyn Erso, long lost princess and apparently key to taking back the Erso family land and to getting Saw Gerrera fully aligned. Her birth father is an Imperial defector which is probably why Cassian was chosen above anyone else; Fest is smaller, not as central to the Alliance, and they can afford the risk of marrying its prince to a runaway royal whose own father gave away her land. Almost the entire Alliance is built on a mismatch of marriages to create a strong enough force to resist Imperial expansion.
He has nothing against Jyn. From what Draven told him, she has had pretty terrible luck in life, and Cassian can relate. They give him pristine blues and whites to wear and he even tugs on his good boots, the ones that cramp his toes because he never wears them regularly. Besides, Jyn beat Melshi with a shovel and he mistook her for a boy. He's very curious about the woman described as utterly filthy and almost feral who he is going to marry.
He's brought to the sitting room where they've left her, and when he opens the door (himself, despite insistence otherwise), he's drawn immediately to the way she's playing with her hair, and tries to figure out what kind of person she is to not seem concerned about the door. The second thing he notices is the white, which makes his nose wrinkle for a second, because someone decided to be funny. Haha, snow prince. There is no animal shit in sight, and he has a hard time believing this is the same person who bruised Melshi's ribs.
"Excuse me," he starts, because he may not like how stiffly formality sits on his tongue, but he knows how to play the part. "If I have interrupted, I can come back."
"You haven't interrupted anything indecent," Jyn offers by way of an invitation to stay. "I hope you're not personally offended by my hair."
She still doesn't move, studying his watery reflection in the window. All she can really make out is his dark hair and the colors of his clothes, but his accent is soft and doesn't remind her of Melshi, which is a bonus. He's very polite. He hasn't called her a little boy.
As much as the last few years of her life without Saw have hardened her into something harsh and unkind, Jyn can't hold this against Cassian Andor, orphaned prince of Fest because she doubts very much that they gave him and offering of unattached princesses and he personally selected her, especially considering the majority of the world thought she was dead. Beyond that, she's been gone for so long she doesn't even know how to be a princess anymore. They'd shoved her into a dress when she hasn't worn one in fifteen years, fully clothed and she feels naked and exposed. And cold.
Which may be in part because they'd put in her in very fancy shoes and she very neatly shoved them behind the curtain to go barefoot, but at least the way the dress brushes the floor covers up that particular fact when she tucks the last pin in and turn to face him, hands clasping in front of her. "They told me you're a captain. And a prince. Is there one you prefer over the other?"
He takes it as one, and closes the door behind them; not fully shut out of propriety, but enough to give them a sense of privacy. He almost smiles when she remarks on her hair and takes the chance to give it a closer look over; it's a tangled mess from her pulling it out of whatever they styled it as, but she's fighting the good fight to get it under control. "It's your hair. You can do whatever you want with it."
His posture is tall and his hands are folded neatly behind his back when she finally turns around, and his first thought is she's kind of adorable, grumpy faced and all. Everything he's been told about her so far doesn't line up with the word adorable, but it doesn't stop it from being applicable. She's cute, and her eyes are very pretty.
Cassian wonders if it was Bail that mentioned the captain part. Draven would have put pressure on the royal ties for strategic reasons, but Bail always looked out for his heart. "Captain," he says honestly. He's going to marry her, she's going to know parts of what he does anyway. "It's something I earned, rather than inherited." A beat. "Is there something you'd like me to call you, other than Lady Jyn?"
He knows what the Rules say about titles, but she'd asked him what he prefers. It seems only fair to do the same.
"Anything but Lady Jyn. Jyn is fine on it's own, Captain Andor." Her mouth twists in a wry smile, not quite as soft as it should be. "Besides, one of your men was convinced I was a little boy. I'm not sure Lady has been accurate since I was... four."
Moving closer, she perches on the little sofa, immediately tucking her feet underneath her and pulling one of the fluffy little throw pillows into her lap.
"Saw wasn't as... he didn't exactly care about manners and I don't remember anything my mother taught me." It sounds half-apologetic but more like she's offering him an out. Maybe he can tell them there is no way to salvage her, she's been on her own for far too long, she will never be capable of actually ruling her birthright. He should cut and run now, while he has the chance.
She makes herself comfortable, but Cassian can't quite bring him to do the same. He stays standing, only letting his shoulders drop just a little. "Jyn," he tests out, even though it feels like it should be wrong and dismissive to ditch any title whatsoever immediately, despite knowing what he does of her upbringing. "I'm afraid it's still what everyone will be calling you outside this room."
It's a quiet comment that he'll try to remember to call her just Jyn, even though in all the fancy hubbub she'll still be a Lady.
He recognizes that she's trying to maybe give him an out, and for one lone second, he's tempted to take it. Not by any fault of her own so much as it's a choice he can make. But then he remembers it's not really a choice at all. He gives his head the smallest shake. "I have spent more time in war rooms than ballrooms. I find the pomp and circumstance is doable, but not the most important."
It's not that he doesn't care about manners so much as he doesn't seem to care about Jyn's self-professed lack of them. She wasn't raised with it, and it's hard to be annoyed at that.
"If you want to be very proper and if I wanted to be very obnoxious, since technically my home is under Imperial rule, I could force people to address me as their Royal and Imperial Highness, Crown Princess Jyn of Aria Prime, Countess of Grange and Duchess of the Rocantor Sector, Companion of the Queen's Service Order, Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty."
She takes a breath and pushes it out in a rush, turning it into more of a sigh than anything. "And that is why I prefer just Jyn."
Not to mention she's been jut Jyn for so long she doesn't want to be anything else. Already the tiara feels uncomfortable, her hand lifting to adjust it like it's settled too heavy on her thin shoulders. She hugs the pillow tighter, shrinking in on herself. She wants to go home but she's almost never had a home to go back to, nothing has changed now.
"Someone may very well use the whole thing, sans the Imperial part," he says, biting back amusement. He already knew her whole title, but it's different hearing it aloud and hearing how ridiculous these things sound. "You'll forgive me if I put a 'Lady' in front of your name when the occasion may call for it."
But it's confirmation he will call her Jyn. If nothing else, he wants her to be as comfortable as possible around him. It's not like either of them asked for this. The way she tugs the pillow against her says a lot about how she's feeling tbh, and he wants to give her space, but they should probably, you know, talk.
He nods towards one of the chairs. "Do you mind if I sit?"
She clearly does not care about formalities but it's too drilled into him to completely abandon with her yet.
"I don't." Mind. Maybe don't forgive, it's all up in the air for now.
"You know the first time I met Saw he called me "your little highness". I was only four." She wouldn't normally admit something so innocent and sweet from her past, would never normally admit the affection and bond between her and her adoptive father, but this isn't a normal circumstance.
She's supposed to marry this strange man.
"I know this..." One hand gestures between them. "Is all because he wanted to protect me."
He sits and feels better, because now they're more eye level again, even if his posture is still tight and proper. He tries to figure out what to say when Jyn takes up the conversation mantle for him, and he just listens. It's easy to listen, it's very often key to his job.
Cassian understands immediately that what she tells him is kind of a private, soft thing, and he appreciates that she lets him know it. He supposes it's lucky they get to meet before they get married. He's known people who met their spouse the day of.
"The Alliance more or less raised me since I was a child," he offers, and he makes a similar gesture between them. "This is not something one sided. You will be better protected, and it opens up the door to better collaboration with Saw. What did they tell you about it?"
Her shoulders lift in a shrug. "Melshi wasn't particularly, um, talkative." Because he couldn't breathe thanks to her assault.
"It was that tall one that told me anything. Someone recognized one of my aliases and sent Bodhi to Saw, Saw came to you against... everything he believes, and in order to secure your help breaking me out of prison, he agreed to work with you and promised me." It's the general you, meaning the Alliance as a whole and not Cassian himself, not personally.
"I was too busy yelling at Saw to listen to what he was saying."
Melshi was probably ordered not to say anything, but also, yeah, because she beat him with a shovel.
Jyn deserves to know more about what she's getting into though. It's only fair.
"The Alliance wanted Gerrera's army and his support. They want the land that is rightfully yours to come back away from Imperial control. It was not your father's to give away. The marriage will strengthen the tentative alignment and bring Gerrera into the Alliance."
Marriage is a contract is a bargaining chip. Cassian is loyal to his country and to the Alliance, and there is no risk of him leaving it. He was a safe choice to marry Jyn beyond just being considered a "lesser" nobility than someone like Princess Leia. It's almost exactly what he'd imagined his marriage would be like one day.
It's not that Jyn's ungrateful to not be in prison, but she was raised at Saw's knee, listening to his dismissal of the Alliance and their inability to act when they should, they're inability to make hard choices. It's something like irony that they finally acted at the detriment to her personal freedom. One prison traded for another, at least Cassian is leaps and bounds better than the Empire.
She sighs again, shoulders hunching. "And you? Did you lose a bet, Captain Andor?"
He wants to point out that sometimes going against a person's will doesn't matter. Cassian knows Saw was and is very reluctant to ally with virtually anyone, and it's a testament to how much the man loves Jyn that he agreed to this to save her life.
It's always nice though to be called Captain instead of Prince. "I was the best suited choice, all things considered." He drums his fingers on the armrest. "Fest is in the Outer Rim. It borders Hoth. It is not so strategically important as somewhere like Alderaan." Which is where they are now. "My position is secure, but I am no Bail Organa. My achievements lie in the military not politics."
"Is that why I'm not going to be married to the princess. I had been wondering." While Jyn isn't hard to read, it's impossible to tell if she is teasing about marrying the woman who is effectively his sister. It also doesn't sound like a question, just an idle comment.
As far as good fits go, Cassian isn't bad. Jyn would prefer a military man over a politician, she knows he is an orphan and can relate to being raised by someone else and by a rebel faction, he's handsome in a way that almost irritates her because she can't find a flaw to exploit.
"Fest is..." She fidgets, setting the pillow aside finally and smoothing out the wrinkles of her dress as she shifts to let her toes touch the ground, the shift in her dress exposing the fact that propriety be damned she is not wearing shoes. "I've never seen snow before."
His expression edges between eye-rolling because sister reasons and amusement from the idleness of it. "She is a much better match for near everyone, I am aware." There's no bitterness in it. It's just matter of fact. Leia's marriage will be far grander than his would ever have been.
Cassian always expected some sort of noble in a similar position, perhaps of a country not yet tied to the Alliance but strategic enough to warrant a wedding. Jyn is unexpected entirely, but at least she isn't looking down on him. She's pretty straightforward and doesn't put much stock in royal order, and she's apparently barefoot. Definitely not the kind of princess he is used to.
"Fest is not as cold as Hoth, but it's quite snowy year round. You'll see plenty of it." There's a beat, and his brow pinches. "Weren't you born in Vallt?"
"I don't remember seeing snow before," she corrects, biting back a smile. "I was still an infant when my parents left Vallt. I've never--" Her mouth slants down. "I've never even been to my mother's home."
Princess of a land she's never set foot in because Krennic wouldn't let her father out of his grasp.
"I don't mean to be forward." Yes she does. "But you're very nice to look at. With a secure position and powerful allies and your very own captaincy. Why didn't they throw some other wayward princess at your feet years ago?" She isn't stupid, she realizes that Cassian is not a bad choice at all. On paper he is seemingly flawless and in person he is, well, flawless. She can't so much as find a freckle and Jyn isn't a particularly shallow person so she has to be slapped in the face with physical attraction to notice it.
It doesn't make a lick of sense that he hasn't been married off before now.
She almost smiles and it makes her look less hardened by life. He wonders what a real smile would do. But his expression turns sympathetic, not pitying. "With luck, this marriage will get you back into your mother's land. In the meantime, hopefully the snow won't get too cold for you." Not that he spends a lot of time actually in Fest, but the point.
Even though she says she doesn't mean to be forward, literally everything about Jyn Erso so far leads him to believe she is nothing but forward. And she thinks he's attractive, which makes the back of his neck turn red and he's glad she can't see it. "I'm flattered you already think so highly of me," he says politely, with the smallest trace of being self-deprecating. "There have been other possibilities in the past, and I was almost betrothed for the first time when I was only ten. The Alliance is full of nobility and alignment marriages. There were always more suitable matches than myself do to circumstance. It's just negotiation."
He's been pretty okay with it too, and it helped once he was coronated to have slightly more say. He'd never have actually said no if the Alliance needed him, but at least he felt more independent about it.
Jyn has been away from manners too long to really care about propriety and their farce as privacy means she genuinely doesn't care if anyone else cares. They need her.
"I can certainly negotiate away from this, if you'd prefer." She would prefer not being married but she knows that she doesn't have a choice. She is a pawn in this chess game.
He opens his mouth, closes it, then huffs a little breath. "That's not - you'll have your own rooms."
Cassian has made approximately zero assumptions. He feels a little stiff and awkward suddenly at her offer to try and finagle out of it, even if part of him kind of appreciates it too. But he knows he can't. He doesn't have much of a choice either. "I am not sure either of us will have much to persuade them otherwise. I know this is not ideal, and I am sorry you have been pulled into it." A beat. "I don't have as much sway as you think. I do promise to do right by you, if it helps."
And he kind of likes how little she seems to care about manners. But he's in this, stuck too just for different reasons.
After years of having promises broken right in front of her, Jyn doesn't put much stock in the concept of them. Her mother had promised to be there for her, her father had promised to protect her, Saw had promised he wouldn't leave her... Promises, promises, and now here is Cassian making another one.
Delicately, she unfolds from the sofa. His promise doesn't help, but she keeps that to herself, moving back to her chosen spot to look out the window, arms coming up to curl protectively around herself, hands rubbing her arms.
She doesn't believe him. He doesn't know how he knows for sure, but her body language is telling enough; she's closing herself off again, which means he's said something if not wrong then at least uncomfortable.
"I know there's no real reason for you to believe me. I don't know if I would believe a stranger either." There is a lightness to his voice that is somehow also wryly sympathetic at the circumstances. "I hope I can prove it." Cassian would do anything for the Rebellion but he still wants to be a good person, okay. He is 100% determined to be a good husband.
But it doesn't seem like something she wants to dwell on either. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
The view hasn't changed since she'd last looked outside, still just as dull as the clouds blot out the sun, but she doesn't look away, address his reflection instead of his actual body.
"Are you in love?" With someone else. Obviously not with her, but she can't marry someone if they're already in love, that would be cruel. She knows there is all sorts of things royals can't just do, marrying for love is usually one of them, but damn the consequences if that is the case.
He's surprised by the question. A lot of things she says and does are surprising him, apparently. It might be the first time anyone has ever asked him that, in relation to a marriage or potential one. Cassian has just always assumed it would never matter. He always tried to avoid developing any real feelings for people because in the end he knew it wouldn't be allowed to last.
"I am not," he says carefully. He looks over at her, trying to read her face in the window too but it's not quite working. "Are you?"
"No," she scoffs, shaking her head, like she knows he's still watching her. She's assuming. "Strangely prison doesn't leave much time for romance."
There was Hadder, once upon a time, but he's dead and gone like the rest of her family. At least she has Saw again, though she's not particularly sure she wants him after he abandoned her covered in blood.
He doesn't smile at her scoff. He doesn't, but he does feel a little lighter on the topic. "My own work has left little time for it either."
He's still watching her too, though it's more of a quiet observation than outright staring. "I suppose it's cheating if I say my preferences are irrelevant." A beat. It's not like it's much of a secret, and he is marrying her. It's like speed dating for royal weddings. "I fancy women as well as men. I hope you are not stuck against your own likes."
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ohnofeelstho2017-06-16 12:11 am
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When Draven tells him they've found him a wife at last, he doesn't react, just nods like it's another mission. Bail seems sympathetic and reassures him it's not meant to be anything like a slight. Jyn Erso, long lost princess and apparently key to taking back the Erso family land and to getting Saw Gerrera fully aligned. Her birth father is an Imperial defector which is probably why Cassian was chosen above anyone else; Fest is smaller, not as central to the Alliance, and they can afford the risk of marrying its prince to a runaway royal whose own father gave away her land. Almost the entire Alliance is built on a mismatch of marriages to create a strong enough force to resist Imperial expansion.
He has nothing against Jyn. From what Draven told him, she has had pretty terrible luck in life, and Cassian can relate. They give him pristine blues and whites to wear and he even tugs on his good boots, the ones that cramp his toes because he never wears them regularly. Besides, Jyn beat Melshi with a shovel and he mistook her for a boy. He's very curious about the woman described as utterly filthy and almost feral who he is going to marry.
He's brought to the sitting room where they've left her, and when he opens the door (himself, despite insistence otherwise), he's drawn immediately to the way she's playing with her hair, and tries to figure out what kind of person she is to not seem concerned about the door. The second thing he notices is the white, which makes his nose wrinkle for a second, because someone decided to be funny. Haha, snow prince. There is no animal shit in sight, and he has a hard time believing this is the same person who bruised Melshi's ribs.
"Excuse me," he starts, because he may not like how stiffly formality sits on his tongue, but he knows how to play the part. "If I have interrupted, I can come back."
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She still doesn't move, studying his watery reflection in the window. All she can really make out is his dark hair and the colors of his clothes, but his accent is soft and doesn't remind her of Melshi, which is a bonus. He's very polite. He hasn't called her a little boy.
As much as the last few years of her life without Saw have hardened her into something harsh and unkind, Jyn can't hold this against Cassian Andor, orphaned prince of Fest because she doubts very much that they gave him and offering of unattached princesses and he personally selected her, especially considering the majority of the world thought she was dead. Beyond that, she's been gone for so long she doesn't even know how to be a princess anymore. They'd shoved her into a dress when she hasn't worn one in fifteen years, fully clothed and she feels naked and exposed. And cold.
Which may be in part because they'd put in her in very fancy shoes and she very neatly shoved them behind the curtain to go barefoot, but at least the way the dress brushes the floor covers up that particular fact when she tucks the last pin in and turn to face him, hands clasping in front of her. "They told me you're a captain. And a prince. Is there one you prefer over the other?"
Oh he's very handsome.
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His posture is tall and his hands are folded neatly behind his back when she finally turns around, and his first thought is she's kind of adorable, grumpy faced and all. Everything he's been told about her so far doesn't line up with the word adorable, but it doesn't stop it from being applicable. She's cute, and her eyes are very pretty.
Cassian wonders if it was Bail that mentioned the captain part. Draven would have put pressure on the royal ties for strategic reasons, but Bail always looked out for his heart. "Captain," he says honestly. He's going to marry her, she's going to know parts of what he does anyway. "It's something I earned, rather than inherited." A beat. "Is there something you'd like me to call you, other than Lady Jyn?"
He knows what the Rules say about titles, but she'd asked him what he prefers. It seems only fair to do the same.
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Moving closer, she perches on the little sofa, immediately tucking her feet underneath her and pulling one of the fluffy little throw pillows into her lap.
"Saw wasn't as... he didn't exactly care about manners and I don't remember anything my mother taught me." It sounds half-apologetic but more like she's offering him an out. Maybe he can tell them there is no way to salvage her, she's been on her own for far too long, she will never be capable of actually ruling her birthright. He should cut and run now, while he has the chance.
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It's a quiet comment that he'll try to remember to call her just Jyn, even though in all the fancy hubbub she'll still be a Lady.
He recognizes that she's trying to maybe give him an out, and for one lone second, he's tempted to take it. Not by any fault of her own so much as it's a choice he can make. But then he remembers it's not really a choice at all. He gives his head the smallest shake. "I have spent more time in war rooms than ballrooms. I find the pomp and circumstance is doable, but not the most important."
It's not that he doesn't care about manners so much as he doesn't seem to care about Jyn's self-professed lack of them. She wasn't raised with it, and it's hard to be annoyed at that.
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She takes a breath and pushes it out in a rush, turning it into more of a sigh than anything. "And that is why I prefer just Jyn."
Not to mention she's been jut Jyn for so long she doesn't want to be anything else. Already the tiara feels uncomfortable, her hand lifting to adjust it like it's settled too heavy on her thin shoulders. She hugs the pillow tighter, shrinking in on herself. She wants to go home but she's almost never had a home to go back to, nothing has changed now.
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But it's confirmation he will call her Jyn. If nothing else, he wants her to be as comfortable as possible around him. It's not like either of them asked for this. The way she tugs the pillow against her says a lot about how she's feeling tbh, and he wants to give her space, but they should probably, you know, talk.
He nods towards one of the chairs. "Do you mind if I sit?"
She clearly does not care about formalities but it's too drilled into him to completely abandon with her yet.
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"You know the first time I met Saw he called me "your little highness". I was only four." She wouldn't normally admit something so innocent and sweet from her past, would never normally admit the affection and bond between her and her adoptive father, but this isn't a normal circumstance.
She's supposed to marry this strange man.
"I know this..." One hand gestures between them. "Is all because he wanted to protect me."
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Cassian understands immediately that what she tells him is kind of a private, soft thing, and he appreciates that she lets him know it. He supposes it's lucky they get to meet before they get married. He's known people who met their spouse the day of.
"The Alliance more or less raised me since I was a child," he offers, and he makes a similar gesture between them. "This is not something one sided. You will be better protected, and it opens up the door to better collaboration with Saw. What did they tell you about it?"
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"It was that tall one that told me anything. Someone recognized one of my aliases and sent Bodhi to Saw, Saw came to you against... everything he believes, and in order to secure your help breaking me out of prison, he agreed to work with you and promised me." It's the general you, meaning the Alliance as a whole and not Cassian himself, not personally.
"I was too busy yelling at Saw to listen to what he was saying."
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Jyn deserves to know more about what she's getting into though. It's only fair.
"The Alliance wanted Gerrera's army and his support. They want the land that is rightfully yours to come back away from Imperial control. It was not your father's to give away. The marriage will strengthen the tentative alignment and bring Gerrera into the Alliance."
Marriage is a contract is a bargaining chip. Cassian is loyal to his country and to the Alliance, and there is no risk of him leaving it. He was a safe choice to marry Jyn beyond just being considered a "lesser" nobility than someone like Princess Leia. It's almost exactly what he'd imagined his marriage would be like one day.
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It's not that Jyn's ungrateful to not be in prison, but she was raised at Saw's knee, listening to his dismissal of the Alliance and their inability to act when they should, they're inability to make hard choices. It's something like irony that they finally acted at the detriment to her personal freedom. One prison traded for another, at least Cassian is leaps and bounds better than the Empire.
She sighs again, shoulders hunching. "And you? Did you lose a bet, Captain Andor?"
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It's always nice though to be called Captain instead of Prince. "I was the best suited choice, all things considered." He drums his fingers on the armrest. "Fest is in the Outer Rim. It borders Hoth. It is not so strategically important as somewhere like Alderaan." Which is where they are now. "My position is secure, but I am no Bail Organa. My achievements lie in the military not politics."
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As far as good fits go, Cassian isn't bad. Jyn would prefer a military man over a politician, she knows he is an orphan and can relate to being raised by someone else and by a rebel faction, he's handsome in a way that almost irritates her because she can't find a flaw to exploit.
"Fest is..." She fidgets, setting the pillow aside finally and smoothing out the wrinkles of her dress as she shifts to let her toes touch the ground, the shift in her dress exposing the fact that propriety be damned she is not wearing shoes. "I've never seen snow before."
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Cassian always expected some sort of noble in a similar position, perhaps of a country not yet tied to the Alliance but strategic enough to warrant a wedding. Jyn is unexpected entirely, but at least she isn't looking down on him. She's pretty straightforward and doesn't put much stock in royal order, and she's apparently barefoot. Definitely not the kind of princess he is used to.
"Fest is not as cold as Hoth, but it's quite snowy year round. You'll see plenty of it." There's a beat, and his brow pinches. "Weren't you born in Vallt?"
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Princess of a land she's never set foot in because Krennic wouldn't let her father out of his grasp.
"I don't mean to be forward." Yes she does. "But you're very nice to look at. With a secure position and powerful allies and your very own captaincy. Why didn't they throw some other wayward princess at your feet years ago?" She isn't stupid, she realizes that Cassian is not a bad choice at all. On paper he is seemingly flawless and in person he is, well, flawless. She can't so much as find a freckle and Jyn isn't a particularly shallow person so she has to be slapped in the face with physical attraction to notice it.
It doesn't make a lick of sense that he hasn't been married off before now.
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Even though she says she doesn't mean to be forward, literally everything about Jyn Erso so far leads him to believe she is nothing but forward. And she thinks he's attractive, which makes the back of his neck turn red and he's glad she can't see it. "I'm flattered you already think so highly of me," he says politely, with the smallest trace of being self-deprecating. "There have been other possibilities in the past, and I was almost betrothed for the first time when I was only ten. The Alliance is full of nobility and alignment marriages. There were always more suitable matches than myself do to circumstance. It's just negotiation."
He's been pretty okay with it too, and it helped once he was coronated to have slightly more say. He'd never have actually said no if the Alliance needed him, but at least he felt more independent about it.
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"I'm sure you'll be there to keep me warm."
Jyn has been away from manners too long to really care about propriety and their farce as privacy means she genuinely doesn't care if anyone else cares. They need her.
"I can certainly negotiate away from this, if you'd prefer." She would prefer not being married but she knows that she doesn't have a choice. She is a pawn in this chess game.
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Cassian has made approximately zero assumptions. He feels a little stiff and awkward suddenly at her offer to try and finagle out of it, even if part of him kind of appreciates it too. But he knows he can't. He doesn't have much of a choice either. "I am not sure either of us will have much to persuade them otherwise. I know this is not ideal, and I am sorry you have been pulled into it." A beat. "I don't have as much sway as you think. I do promise to do right by you, if it helps."
And he kind of likes how little she seems to care about manners. But he's in this, stuck too just for different reasons.
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Delicately, she unfolds from the sofa. His promise doesn't help, but she keeps that to herself, moving back to her chosen spot to look out the window, arms coming up to curl protectively around herself, hands rubbing her arms.
"It helps, thank you."
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"I know there's no real reason for you to believe me. I don't know if I would believe a stranger either." There is a lightness to his voice that is somehow also wryly sympathetic at the circumstances. "I hope I can prove it." Cassian would do anything for the Rebellion but he still wants to be a good person, okay. He is 100% determined to be a good husband.
But it doesn't seem like something she wants to dwell on either. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
About the situation or him, probably.
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"Are you in love?" With someone else. Obviously not with her, but she can't marry someone if they're already in love, that would be cruel. She knows there is all sorts of things royals can't just do, marrying for love is usually one of them, but damn the consequences if that is the case.
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"I am not," he says carefully. He looks over at her, trying to read her face in the window too but it's not quite working. "Are you?"
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There was Hadder, once upon a time, but he's dead and gone like the rest of her family. At least she has Saw again, though she's not particularly sure she wants him after he abandoned her covered in blood.
"Do you even fancy women?"
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He's still watching her too, though it's more of a quiet observation than outright staring. "I suppose it's cheating if I say my preferences are irrelevant." A beat. It's not like it's much of a secret, and he is marrying her. It's like speed dating for royal weddings. "I fancy women as well as men. I hope you are not stuck against your own likes."
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