The walk back through the woods took longer than it had on the ride the night before, and you could tell that the group of officers were frozen through. The snow that had fallen through the night was nearly up to your knees, and it was wet along with packed, it was hell to walk through. You could hear the group ahead of you trying to keep up morale by talking about their training programs. One of the men had been assigned to Starkiller for a deployment, and he was telling stories about doing rounds or guard duty when a troop of stormtroopers was lost in the woods during a training mission. The group laughed at a joke one of the others poked at the man, who clapped him on the back in retaliation, causing the second officer to slip and fall into the snow. They erupted into another fit of laughter, but you didn't join in.
You had fallen behind them by about 50 paces, your mind too busy thinking about the events of the past day to worry about staying close enough to the group for protection. You knew these woods, they gave you no fear. But then again, you thought you knew your family.
Your arms came up to hug yourself, not so much as to shield from the cold, but also to hold yourself together. Allowing the tears to fall for the first mile of the hike, you then worked on compartmentalizing the hurt. It was working so far, but you could feel the anger boiling up in your chest and you let out a shaky breath.
"You did well, (L/n)." Hux's voice followed his footsteps as he returned to your side after checking the surroundings for any evidence of Resistance. "It is not easy to face your family in the way that you have. You showed true strength-" You rolled your eyes and turned, the anger in your chest bursting forward.
"Bullshit." You scoffed, causing Hux to glare at you. You ignored him, your eyes facing forward as you trudged through the snow. "That wasn't strength sir, that was self preservation." You shook out your hands before stuffing them into your armpits to force heat to return to them.
"True strength would have been refusing the invitation. Telling my mother that she was a selfish witch who wouldn't know hard work if it smacked her in the face." You kicked the snow in front of you, trying to dispel some of the anger before your mouth got you into more trouble than it already had.
"Your family seemed well off, do you not think that was due to their hard work?" General Hux asked. You looked at him with a slight tilt of your head to see him walking forward, hands clasped behind him as if nothing in the world would bother him. The snow didn't even seem to slow him down. He looked as if he was simply walking through the bridge. You nearly scoffed...nearly.
"No. That wasn't hard work. Everyone on this planet is some form of trader, merchant or creator. Its easy. Its in our blood. You make a small fortune if you simply build something worth selling. 'Made on the beautiful plains of the merchant planet!'" You mocked. "Has anyone seen this planet? Whatever part hasn't been taken over by industrial war mongers has been left to fight for whatever they can find. My village is one of the few that actually managed to resolve the fights, but not before losing nearly a quarter of the population." You again kicked the snow.
"What do you consider is hard work then?" General Hux asked you. You could tell that he was listening to your anger filled rant, and you were almost embarrassed. You wanted to look like a capable officer in front of the general, but so far, you had mostly shown him a child who lets emotion take hold. Even if he was angry with you, and the second you returned to base he was going to demote you, or worse, discharge you, you didn't care. You were furious.
"Hard work is going against what everyone around you expects of you. If you are told that you will never climb a tree because you are too small to reach the first branches, and you agree, walking away to find a shorter tree, that's easy. Even if you end up climbing to the very top of the tree, you chose the easy way, full stop." You look to the general and he is now watching you as you walk, his face a mix of carefully crafted admiration and stoicism. You cleared your throat and continued. "But if you keep trying to reach that first branch. You do everything you can, you run and jump, pile logs until you reach it, or even use a knife to claw your way to the branch. And then you climb to the top. That is hard work." Your anger had warmed you up and your dropped your hands to your side, regaining your composure.
