Colour
An: I do not own Star Wars Rebels. After the episode Legacy of Mandalore, I was inspired to write this.
Summary: Sabine has re-joined Clan Wren and reflects on her time with the crew of the Ghost and what is needed to save Mandalore from the Empire.
The view from her bedroom window was predominately white. White snow on the ground, white snow in the tress and white snow covering all the hills, white, white, white everywhere. She was even forced to wear white for her protection. With her helmet on, there was no distinguishing her from the other members of House Wren, thus granting her some form of protection from assassins that might infiltrate their compound to kill her. The only form of colour she saw was the yellow in her clan's symbol and the black in her mother's armor that marked her as the Head of House Wren.
She had yet to paint the walls of her room. She respected her mother's rules and her fellow Wren's who all frowned upon her artist's ways. Their first meeting with another clan within House Viszla ended in spectacular failure. The leader of that house viewed her colourful hair as childish and refused to listen to anything she had to say. It had been extremely frustrating and it hurt to be disrespected because of her artistic flare but she had a larger goal in mind so she made the difficult decision to let the natural dark colour of her hair grow out. She missed the colours of her old room and her spray paint cans but sometimes sacrifices needed to be made for the greater good. If she was going to be asking the different Houses to put aside their difference and come to a compromise on all of their issues to be united then she could at least compromise her hair colour for them.
Krownest was a dull snowy planet. It was inherently cold but Sabine didn't feel cold because of the weather, she felt cold because of the absence of the crew of the Ghost. Though she had been a bit of a loner on the Ghost, her interactions with the crew always brought her warmth. Whether it was watching Zeb and Ezra fight, or Chopper trying to sabotage Ezra, or listening to Kanan and Hera debate a mission, they had become her family and her source of joy in the last few years. She had chosen to leave that family and return to her original because House Wren needed her more. Her people needed to be freed from Imperial rule and she was determined to find a suitable leader for her people so that she could return to her second family.
Gar Saxon's death was the start of the new Mandalorian revolution. It was ironic that it was again members of House Viszla that again caused the latest conflict in Mandalorian society. Her mother had been a member of Death Watch, the group that usurped Duchess Satine Krygze's pacifist reign. From Sabine's point of view, Death Watch's actions directly led to the Imperial rule they currently suffered under. She was raised to believe that Death Watch had been justified in their actions but she realised that it was more complicated than the dogma that they tried to push into her head. She had once believed in the Empire but once the weapons she had designed were used on her people, she truly understood what the Empire was. Perhaps the future ruler could again come from House Krygze.
Over the course of the week that she's been home, she has realized a few things. The Houses have been letting their differences divide them allowing their enemies to gain control. They are weak now. Forced to do the bidding of the empire. They were once a warrior people that fought for themselves not for anyone else's goals. She needed to remind the House leaders of that. Mandalorian's have never won against force wielders. They lost the Mandalorian wars and her nearest ancestor, Pre Viszla lost to Darth Maul but that didn't mean that history had to keep repeating itself.
She tried to approach the problem intellectually and leave her impulsiveness behind. Training to use the dark sabre with Kanan showed her how much she still had to learn. She examined what made the crew of the Ghost work. They were all different yet they forged a deep bond together over a united goal. She needed to unite the various houses behind one goal but what should that goal be? Freedom from the empire was not enough, she needed a shared vision that went beyond the Empire to the heart of the Mandalorian culture to keep the Houses united permanently. It made no sense fighting off the Empire to just have everything fall apart once the Empire was gone.
She practiced with the darksabre every day. She followed all of the steps and positions that Kanan had taught her and she actually missed fighting against Ezra. He was the perfect sparring partner. They egged each other on to be the best fighter they could be. She missed the green colour of Ezra's light sabre. After a while the black of the darksabre was boring. She was fairly sure she could make her own lightsabre and she was contemplating if it were possible to make one that changed colour.
After practicing with the darksabre she would then meet Tristan in the training room. He had learned a lot when he joined Gar Saxon's Super Commandos. She had never formally completed her training where as her brother finished his under the best warriors that Mandalore had to offer. He was now sharing that training with her.
The first few times she sparred against him, when they stuck primarily to the rules for single combat, he had defeated her fairly easily. Her brother thought a bit more rigidly than she did and he excelled in textbook situations. When Sabine changed things up and added different rules or different obstacles, her brother lacked the out-of-the-box thinking that Sabine had gained while working on the Ghost. That resourcefulness and innovative thinking was what kept them one step ahead of the Empire. While her brother refined her techniques, she taught him to expand his thinking.
Today's spar, they were tied at two all. The winner was usually declared after you won three fights. They varied the weapons used for each fight so that they would be proficient with every type of weapon. They both chose metal rods for the last fight. Sabine thought she saw an opening and ducked under her brother's swing at her head, and swung her rod at his legs but that was exactly what he wanted her to do. He jumped to avoid the swing at the same type bringing down his rod on her shoulder. She didn't have enough time to bring her rod up to block the strike and he hit her shoulder hard.
"That's three, I win," Tristan said walking over to the medical cabinet on the side to get a spray to sooth Sabine's shoulder. They didn't hold back when they sparred. In battle your enemy never held back and if you were injured you had to be able to fight with that injury.
Sabine grumbled. She hated losing. She pulled her top to the side and allowed her brother to tend to the hit. A massive bruise had already started to form. Her mother would not have made such a mistake in battle. Ursa was a fierce warrior who Sabine had yet to beat. Her mother wasn't respected because she was the Head of Clan Wren, she was respected because she had earned her position. Her clan mates listened to her mother and trusted her to make the right decisions for them. It was a heavy burden to bear.
"Sabine I have something for you," Tristan said when he was finished attending to her bruises.
"What?" she asked confused.
He held out his open palm and there was a gold firebird pendant on a gold chain.
"Your symbol as an artist was a firebird, was it not?" he asked.
"It is," she confirmed.
"Good. I got this for you. I don't want you to sacrifice that part of you for the greater good. It's given you strength Sabine. The strength to fight for Mandalore," her brother said moving to put the pendant around her neck.
"Tristan it's beautiful," she said looking down at the pendant. "Hopefully this will give me the strength to beat you up every day," she teased.
Her brother laughed, "I think you'll need a bit more than a pendant to do that," he said with a smile as he exited the training room.
Sabine tucked the necklace inside her armor. As important as the symbol was to her, she didn't want it getting damaged during the day. She knew it was there and she would see it every night when she took the armor off.
Dinner was always served on time, and if you weren't on duty you were expected to be in the dining hall for dinner. It had taken a while for Sabine to fall back into the rigid routine of living home. She had grown accustomed to the freedom on the Ghost. Dinner was made whenever they were hungry, heck there were days when dinner was never made because everyone was too tired to make dinner. The nature of life on the Ghost didn't allow for any strict routines.
"Sabine," her mother called as they finished dinner, "Walk with me."
Sabine followed her mother out of the dining hall. She knew they were meeting with an important clan in House Kryzge tomorrow to seek support to free her father from Mandalore. They had most of House Viszla behind them and they were seeking to gain the support of the other top Houses. She assumed her mother wanted to discuss the strategy for the meeting but she was surprised when her mother stopped in front of a door that lead to a supply room.
"Sabine, I am happy to have you back after all this time. I know you thought we turned our backs on you but you were safest away from Mandalore. Please accept this as my apology," her mother said opening the door.
The room was no long a supply room. A window had been added to look outside and there was an easel with various paints set up next to it. There were several blank canvases ready to be painted on spread throughout the room.
"What is all this?" Sabine asked shocked.
"A welcome back studio. I know it isn't easy for you to suppress your artistic flare so I converted this room for you to express yourself on canvas. I realise the medium isn't exactly what you've grown accustomed to but to source large pieces of metal for you to draw on is a bit difficult."
"Thank you mother," Sabine said throwing herself into her mother's arms. "This is more than enough."
Her mother smiled at her, "I'll leave you to it then."
Sabine sat on the stool for the first time and contemplated the paints in front of her. She preferred spray cans but she could adjust. The technique was different but she had started out with these types of paints so she should be able to adjust easily. She stared at the canvas seeking inspiration for her first drawing.
She dipped a brush in the paint and started. She drew her vision of a free Mandalore. This was what she was working towards. This is what she wanted their new leader to believe in. She realised that she could use her art to inspire the other Houses the same way her art had inspired others in the rebellion. She would not use just words but actual visuals of what their future could be, bright and colourful, to unite her people.
She worked on two pieces that depicted peace between House Viszla and House Kryzge. She would have done more but she needed to make sure she didn't look tired when she attended the meeting. The Leader of House Kryzge was known for his quick wit and intelligence and it was often hard to keep up with him. So she forced herself to stop early so that she wasn't on the receiving end of the leader's silver tongue.
For the first time since she had arrived at Krownest, she felt optimistic and she found herself looking forward to testing her new strategy the next day.