SW: Beloved

Jaeriel looked up from her place lying on her bunk in the small cabin she had aboard the Alderaan's Tear as her door chime sounded.
“Come in,” she called.
The door hissed open to reveal a sheepish Orchid, the blue skinned chiss girl shifted nervously, diverting her red eyes from Jaeriel's own dark blue.
“Jae, sorry to bother you.” Orchid said shiftily. “But my refresher is busted...can I use yours?”
Jaeriel smiled and nodded as she sat up. “Go right ahead, you don't have to ask something like that Orchid.”
Orchid nodded, coming into the tiny cabin as the door closed behind her while she reached up and pulled her shirt off, blushing under Jaeriel's intent gaze. Jaeriel sensed the other girl's discomfort and quickly looked away from her disrobing.
“Jae?”
“Yeah,” Jaeriel replied.
“Do...do you really want to do this?”
Jaeriel frowned, turning to look at Orchid's back as she stood in front of the refresher door.
“Do what?”
Orchid put her arms around herself, seeming to shrink as she spoke quietly.
“Come with me...into the Unknown Regions...into Chiss Space.”
Jaeriel frowned and leaned forwards.
“You aren't getting cold feet are you? When we started this you told me you wanted to know who you were and we started where Quinn found you, Nar Shaddaa. We found what we could there and now we're heading towards your people's homespace...why wouldn't you want to meet your own people?”
“It isn't that!” Orchid said as she shook her head, tossing her black hair about roughly. “I—I don't want to bother you and I've already taken you so far away from the Republic and your family and Quinn and I—I don't even know if we'll find anything!”
Jaeriel scowled. “Orchid, we're at peace. For the first time since I can remember there is no war going on at all. The Empire and the Republic are at peace and we've got all the time in the galaxy to find the answers you've wanted to know all your life...why would I let you do this alone?”
Orchid turned to face Jaeriel, seemingly ignorant of her bared chest, tears in her eyes as she sobbed.
“Because I don't want to change! I just want to be Orchid...I want to stay the girl my mom adopted, I don't want to go find this other girl and have everyone treat me differently,” she looked at Jaeriel pleadingly. “Especially you Jae, I don't know what I would do if you rejected me.”
Jaeriel looked at Orchid in disbelief.
“You really think I'd leave you Orchid? You really think that I'd abandon my aliit?” she looked at Orchid. “My cyare?”
Orchid blinked through her tears, looking at Jaeriel helplessly as she cried.
“I—I don't know what to do, I thought I was ready for this, but now that we're here...Jaeriel I'm so scared.”
Jaeriel frowned and shook her head.
“You're not going to change because of this Orchid, not like you're afraid of...you will grow, we always do...but you will still be Orchid.”
Orchid tried to blink back her tears, wiping her eyes fitfully.
“I—I'm sorry, I guess...I guess I should go.”
Jaeriel snorted. “You can stay here as long as you like Orchid. I am not letting you do this alone.”
Orchid looked at Jaeriel for a moment before she broke down in a sobbing fit and threw herself into Jaeriel's arms, knocking them both over as she clung to the older girl in a shivering wreck.
“Shh,” soothed Jaeriel as she gathered the crying Orchid in her arms. “It's alright cyare, I'm right here.”
Orchid sniffled and cuddled up against Jaeriel, shivering as she felt the cool metallic fingers of Jaeriel's synthetic hand touching the small of her back. The feel of the artificial limb had once been unsettling to Orchid but now it was a comfort, it made Jaeriel all the more unique...if she wasn't already. Reaching for Jaeriel's other hand, Orchid laced her fingers together with hers as the pair of them lay together in the bunk.
“Thank you,” she murmured quietly.
Jaeriel held Orchid closely.
“You're never alone Orchid, I'll always be right there besides you cyare.”
Orchid squeezed Jaeriel's hand tightly, looking up with her red gaze into Jaeriel's deep blue.
“I—I love you Jaeriel.”
Jaeriel pulled Orchid against her, pressing her lips to Orchid's and holding her there. The warmth and gentle passion of the kiss was all Orchid needed as she returned the kiss with an uncertain passion of her own. Everything would be alright. As long as Jaeriel was with her, everything would be alright.
“Ni kar'taylir darasuum gar,” Jaeriel whispered between their lips.
Orchid shivered, she loved when Jaeriel spot mando'a to her, she didn't understand a word of it, but she loved hearing the way it rolled off of Jaeriel's tongue. It sounded so real, so impassioned, so truthful that it washed away all her misgivings and as the pair lay together in the cabin aboard the Alderaan's Tear, Orchid felt at peace and ready to face whatever she found before her at the end of her sojourn.