[ when he sits beside her and opens his arms, there's no resistance; river falls heavily against him as she sobs. he said it well - none of this should be real or possible, but somehow she's supposed to accept that it is.

for years, river lived in a world of monsters, hand-drawn by the alliance's finest scientists and injected directly into her brain. the scars from that will remain forever, the pieces of river tam that can't be fixed. simon tried - is trying - was trying, before river was stolen away and wound up here instead.

untethered. adrift. lost without her anchor, in a magical world where galaxies collide. it's impossible.

but cassian is here. solid, steady. a beating heart, contracting lungs. river doesn't have a way to stop the rush of his thoughts crashing through her mind in a confusing blur, a stream of memories and emotions that pass too quickly for her to comprehend. yet it's all the proof of a life lived, evidence that cassian jeron andor exists.

a helper. a knight. a thief and a theft. he offers to help and river knows he has been this whole time, even if he did it as 'alyx.' she has to figure out how to accept that it's all real - and he says she doesn't have to do it alone.

like partners in crime - 'we can figure it out together.'

river turns her face against cassian's shoulder and weeps. ]

I didn't know who I could trust. [ he said it well ] It can't be me. She's a liar. It's all nonsense - nonsensical. Simon would tell me, helps me understand what is and isn't. But he's not -

[ here. he's not the one here. cassian is. he's been with her since the very beginning.

still crying, her face a mess of tears and confusion, river pulls back to catch his eyes, frantically looking for the truth or the lie. ]

Alyx. Cassian. Can I trust you?

[ she doesn't, might not even be fully capable of it, but can she at least try? if she can find a way to believe in him, maybe the rest will come too someday. ]