It'd be an easy run, Kanan had said.
Just dropping off some supplies for refugees to pick up, he'd said.
They couldn't refuse the distress call, he'd said.
"Some easy run", Ezra muttered through gritted teeth as he felt cold slime trickle down the back of his neck as he lay on the ground, watching the sky overhead as another TIE fighter passed over his hiding spot. Every inch of him felt like ice, chilled by the wet ground and the cool night air. His hair was glued to the floor by the sheer amount of mud, even underneath the rubble where Ezra waited for a chance to find better safety.
The Ghost was probably back in the atmosphere, Hera flying with expert skill to outrun a stray TIE fighter, or perhaps waiting with baited breath for the call to come down to pick the crew up.
Everything had gone wrong, the moment they'd pushed the last of the requested supplies onto the trading platform of planet Tarkath. A squadron of TIE fighters had descended from the bloodied clouds of a red star sunset, peppering the marshland with laser bolts. Kanan had ordered Hera to take off with Chopper, whilst he and the others bolted for the ruins of an old city. With the appearance of Stormtroopers, the decision to split up was made, but to keep an ear on the comm-links and an eye out for a way to get away from the ambush.
Ezra had stayed with Sabine for a while, until a group of Stormtroopers appeared and the Mandalorian had vanished into the mouth of a towering building, leaving Ezra to dash away in the opposite direction.
It'd taken running through a couple buildings and sliding underneath the pile of rubble to loose his pursuers, and now all Ezra could do was wait for the commotion to die down. If only just a little.
Any time now.
When the sounds of commotion had died down, and he'd not heard a Stormtrooper pass by in many, many minutes, Ezra edged his way out from the rubble pile. More mud was added to the cold sloop that stuck to his back as he wriggled backward, and sitting up just exposed it to the cold air. In the dark and surrounded by crooked buildings, it was hard to see the stars, or anything Ezra could've identified during the day.
Even in the dark, he felt cold and sore from lying still for so long. Wiping mud from wherever he could reach it, he hurried away toward the nearest building. They were all identical – grey concrete blocks made of many deserted floors and empty windows, sectioned off by random walls and connected by holes in ceilings and rusted metal that would have once been stairs. Even indoors the building was permeated by the cold, but there were stable walls, and a multitude of dry hiding places. It seemed like a good spot to wait out the assault.
But Ezra couldn't wait. He needed to move, he needed to find Kanan and Sabine and Zeb. Wherever they were.
Ugh, he was stuck in a maze of buildings with a small army between him and the rest of the Spectres.
Turning to his comm, all Ezra got was a buzz of fuzzy static, loud enough in the silence that made him switch it off within a few seconds. The signal was being jammed – finding the others had now become a tougher goal.
Groaning through his teeth, he sat himself down, leaning back against a slab of concrete that had fallen from the low ceiling (or perhaps one from further up the building). He needed to make a decision – move away from his safe spot to search out the others, or wait for them to come to him. One seemed easier to do, the other carried risk but would mean they could find each other quicker.
Ezra closed his eyes. Let a breath out, let his shoulder relax. Connect. The Force reacted in return. Kanan's signature within the Force was easily sensed, strong was the Jedi's connection no matter despite however long he'd resisted its use in the past. Sabine and Zeb, well, those were different -
Ezra wasn't alone.
His eyes snapped open, his connection to the Force held tightly as he looked up. There, watching him from the hole above his head, glowed a pair of yellow eyes.
It descended into the room as fluidly as a waterfall. A strong and lithe feline shape, covered in dark fur from flat muzzle to the tip of the long and shaggy tail. It's face seemed more lupine compared to the body, a pair of long ears tilted forward, and a messy mane of hair spilling over its short neck down the spine to the shoulders.
The important part however was the set of white canines that appeared under the warning curl of the creature's muzzle.
Ezra shied backwards as the creature approached, crouched low and already so close. As it sniffed at him, he reached out to connect with the creature's mind.
'Don't harm me. I'm a friend.'
She knows.
The rebound shocked him more than the creature's sudden appearance had. The words hadn't been spoken, it was more like they'd been sitting in his head already and he'd only just noticed the stray thought.
But now that he lowered his guard, even slightly more, the creature's nose had pushed past his protective arms. The smell of moss and musky fur mixed with hot breath that rolled off the creature's tongue as it leaned forward and –
Licked him.
It wasn't particularly slobbery, for which Ezra was ultimately grateful. But the act of affection got him behind the ear, for which he got disgusted shivers down his spine.
"Ugh, thanks", he muttered at the creature, who crooned quietly in response before pushing her muzzle into him. Her (for that was what he believed she was) behaviour was like that of a mother loth-cat, rubbing against a kit. Although the size of the creature made her nuzzling more forceful than tender, Ezra wasn't going to deny that her body warmth was much more favourable than the cold air. With care, he reached out slowly and touched the side of the creature's neck. No visible reaction, so he began to scratch, like he'd seen others do with pets, big or small. A rumbling sound echoed in the creature's throat, her eyes blinking slowly as she turned her head to the side and bared her teeth again. The action seemed less threatening now however – it was more like a friendly grin than a warning.
"Guess you like that, huh?", Ezra commented, moving to scratch the creature's chin. She let out a crooning sound, nodding her head in agreement. Wait, did she actually nod, or had she just adjusted her head to give the boy more access? Well, may as well find out.
"This is gonna sound weird if I'm wrong, but can you understand me?", he asked.
A different toned croon, mixed with a growl, came from the creature, as she turned to face him directly and nod once again.
"But you can't speak?"
A whining snarl, lips curling back to show teeth once more while her eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"Oh. You are speaking, aren't you?"
A huff, and a legitimate roll of the eyes. Ezra muffled a laugh, surprised and amused to see such intelligent emotion shown on the features of what he'd thought only minutes ago had been a feral beast. The creature joined in with a series of whizzing huffs, and promptly flicked his ear with another lick.
"Okay, okay, you can stop the licking now", Ezra full on laughed, pushing the muzzle away with one hand whilst easing himself off the ground with the other hand. The creature took a couple steps back to let him stand, watching him patiently. Now on his feet, Ezra could get a better sense of the creature's size; his chin came about level with her shoulders, whilst her head could've been level with Kanan's, had he been in the room.
Kanan.
"Karabast", Ezra hissed through his teeth, shooting a look back outside the building. "I still need to find them."
A confused croon came from the creature. Concern?
"I don't suppose you've seen a Lasat, a Jedi and a Mandalorian around, have you?", Ezra asked her. The question was a result of wishful thinking, but a shake of her head dashed his hopes for that. But then the creature lowered her head to the ground, and began to sniff around his feet.
"You could…find them by smell?"
She looked up to nod her head, before padding toward the doorway, continuing to sniff around. Ezra followed at a light jog – it was hard to keep up the creature's loping gate.
"How would you know where to start? You don't know their scent", he stated, before he remembered. "Although…I could give some pointers."
The creature paused in front of the building's exit, glanced back at the Padawan. He made his way over, hopping over a chunk of rubble and peeking outside the building. In the distance was the vague clunking of Walkers, and shouts of Stormtroopers, echoing off the sides of buildings despite the clear air. Breathing in deeply, Ezra focused once more, reaching out into the Force. Once more he found Kanan's signature within it. He couldn't pinpoint the Jedi's exact location, but he could tell he was in a particular direction.
Glancing back to the creature, he began to speak: "One of them's over in that-" But a forceful push into his side cut him off. One of the creature's paws shoved him over to her, nudging him up and forcing him to grab onto the creature's back. Left dangling, Ezra hauled himself the rest of the way up, finding a seat of sorts behind the creature's shoulders.
"That's one way of doing it", he mumbled, before noticing the creature was waiting. For directions, he was sure. Shuffling again in his seat, he pointed over in the direction he'd sensed Kanan.
"That way."