[it's a question, and it's unexpected. irritation, annoyance, everything in between all fall off of jyn's face as it turns serious, as her eyes find his, searching. it's a question, the kind cassian wouldn't ask her if it weren't serious; she knows that as certainly as what she can read in what he can't say. she knows that as certainly as she knows, now, that he trusts her. wants her.

(which is no small thing, either — being wanted, rather than left behind. there's a stupid moment where something stings in her eyes and lumps in her throat, but she manages to blink, manages to swallow, hopefully before it ever shows.)

at the same time, the question isn't actually unexpected at all.

because, suddenly, a knot in her chest that's been there for weeks starts to loosen. because, she admits,]

I've been thinking. [she pauses, idly dragging her bottom lip through her teeth, considering. over so many nights during which she'd given up on sleep entirely, she had been thinking; ruminating over something that'd turned her skin cold, but had just been frustratingly far out of reach. now, though, slowly, haltingly,] It's all stupid, but maybe Zenith isn't the best place to get anything done.

[that's exactly it, isn't it? the place she's tried to get to — and finally arrived at, with the help of a trusted confidant putting things to actual words that she hadn't quite been able. there are things that she could do in meridian to try to make this place better.

that they could do.]

And I think we should go. [she takes their still-joined hands, gives his fingers a gentle squeeze.] I'd go with you.