Star Wars_ X-Wing 08_ Isard's Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole [23]
“Or you get rolled over and killed and your feelings don’t matter.”
“Right.” She turned her head and looked at him with her violet eyes. “Are you saying you want to resign from the squadron, start a family, do something else?”
Gavin frowned. “The squadron is my family, you’re my family. I don’t want to walk away from that. We both know that someone is going to have to do something about the guy who died, and Wedge and Corran will push for it to be Rogue Squadron. I don’t want to sound silly, but that death was a shot taken at us, and showing the person who took it that they were wrong seems to be the right thing to do.”
“Agreed.”
He sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “As for the other stuff, like starting a family, I think I’d like that. I’d like to start a family with you. We could get married, make this permanent, and bring children into our lives.”
Asyr froze for a second and Gavin feared he’d somehow insulted her. Bothans were a proud species and very much tied into complex relationships involving kin and clans. Despite having been Asyr’s companion for the past two years and joining her at a number of social functions, he’d yet to meet another human-Bothan couple. And I know there are plenty of Bothans who don’t like the fact that we’ve managed to stay together as long as we have.
She glanced down at the hem of her gown and picked a piece of lint from it. “I like the idea of being married to you, Gavin, but there’s a lot to consider. You do know that it is impossible for us to have children together.”
Gavin nodded. “Yeah, both friends and enemies have clued me into that situation. Strikes me, though, that there are plenty of children who need adopting. I mean, we have those two little brothers who live in the alley near the squadron’s hangar. They’re just one example. Adopting would give us a chance to help heal some of the damage the Empire has done, you know?”
She looked up and nodded solemnly. “I agree. There is something else you have to know: If we adopt, I want us to adopt at least one Bothan child.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Asyr held up a furred hand to stop him. “Listen to me, Gavin, because it won’t be that easy. You know we Bothans set great store by our families. Political power flows from the networks we build up with alliances and everything. My family sees me as a disappointment because, while I have garnered acclaim in service with Rogue Squadron, I have not presented them with children. Those children would be well loved, but they would also be fodder for future alliances. I’ve managed to amass what Bothans recognize as a certain amount of power. I’m a political battery in that sense, and my family is disappointed that I’ve not provided them with a means to bleed some of that power off.”
“So you’re saying that if we adopt a Bothan child, your family will want to exert some control.”
Asyr laughed aloud. “How can you have lived with a Bothan for so long and yet be so polite when referring to our possessiveness?”
Gavin smiled. “Your possessiveness isn’t that bad from my perspective. Look, this would be our child. I wouldn’t be looking to interfere with the child’s assumption of his heritage. I wouldn’t want to try to substitute a human culture for Bothan culture, but I would want to provide some balance. I’d want to show him that different doesn’t mean bad. And I’d hope any other children we adopted—be they human or Rodian or Ithorian, whatever—would get that same message.”
Asyr blinked and Gavin saw a single glistening tear roll from her left eye. “How could I have taken you for an anti-alien bigot when we first met?”
“You didn’t know me.” He got up out of his chair and