Kanan knew they'd been lucky for a while. Lasat were different enough biologically from humans and nearhumans that they didn't seem prone to catch the same illnesses. Ezra had been in excellent health the whole time so far, even after surviving for so long on the streets of Lothal.
Kanan had known they were overdue for something to go wrong, he just could have wished for better timing. Hera was negotiating a contract with a somewhat eccentric character who refused to allow males of any species to meet him in person. Both Sabine and Hera had gone, taking Chopper with them, leaving him and Zeb with the kid. Then it had seemed like excellent timing. Chopper had voted against any more crew being added and had been exceptionally grumpy about it. He seemed to dislike Sabine less, and some one on one time with just her and Hera might help smooth things out without constantly being reminded that he'd been outvoted when it came to Sabine and Zeb joining.
"Come on, Ezra. I still have a lot I need to do to keep the ship running and Hera's expecting all those upgrades to get done." Kanan kept his voice gentle, trying to unhook Ezra's claws from his shirt. Ezra just whined and clung harder.
"No. Please? Stay." Ezra ducked his head, sniffing pitifully.
Kanan sighed, rubbing over his back. He knew Ezra didn't mean to get sick and he didn't blame him, he just wished the timing wasn't what it was. Apparently Ezra got clingy when he felt bad.
"I can stay a little longer, then I really need to repair that faulty power coupling." Kanan leaned back in the seat, giving up on trying to remove Ezra and letting him go back to clinging to his front like a strange fuzzy burr. It had started that morning. Ezra had slept in for once, which was unusual enough. Then instead of his usual enthusiastic response to breakfast he'd barely picked at his food before declaring that he wasn't hungry.
That was enough for Kanan to seek out the med kit. The fact Ezra didn't even make a token protest at having the thermometer poked down into his ear to get a reading was another red flag, and he wasn't surprised when Ezra was running a fever. He'd done his best to get Ezra to just go back to bed, but the little Lasat was surprisingly stubborn about it. He'd get him settled down and go to take care of something and within the next few minutes he'd have an unhappy snotty Ezra clinging to his leg, sniffling and wanting his attention.
"You ready to lay down and take a little nap yet?" Kanan asked, trying not to sound too hopeful as he grabbed a tissue to mop under Ezra's nose before he could rub it on his shirt or scrub at it with the back of his hand.
Ezra shook his head and buried his face against Kanan's chest. Kanan tried not to let out the annoyed sound he wanted to. It wouldn't have been so bad if Hera was here. He could have tried to get Ezra to cling to her instead, or if Ezra was determined that Kanan was the only one he wanted then he was fairly sure he could have traded all the chores to her and just resigned himself to carrying Ezra around like a momma varactryl covered in babies.
Instead the only other person on the ship was Zeb. He couldn't tell him to do ship maintenance, if something went wrong because he was unfamiliar with it then it would be on Kanan's head. Kanan hadn't even seen much of him the past few days. It wasn't something he'd exactly been bothered by, normally he'd he appreciate that Zeb didn't feel the need to constantly socialize. Now though, he could have used the assistance.
Kanan rubbed his fingers through Ezra's hair, thinking. Even if he couldn't have Zeb do the work on the ship, maybe Ezra would be willing to stay with him. Just an hour or two would be long enough to get a few things taken care of, and to wash his clothes. He tried not to make a face as Ezra sniffled again.
"Want to go pay Zeb a visit?" Kanan tried not to sigh with relief when Ezra eventually nodded. He shifted to stand up carefully, holding Ezra as he clung.
"Maybe he'll have a few ideas for how to make you feel a little better."Kanan said hopefully. Most of what he remembered about being sick as a kid was getting checked out by a medical droid to confirm illness and injury, and other than the crèche master coming by to dispense medicine or check in on you, you were left alone for the bulk of the time and told to rest. And that was only if you were too sick to focus on lessons at all, just being a little ill meant you were just separated from the other students so you didn't distract or infect them while you studied.
It wasn't like Ezra had any lessons to miss yet, there weren't any medical droids, and Kanan didn't feel comfortable giving him any medications. None of his memories were exactly helpful there.
Kanan shifted his grip a little on Ezra, holding him with one arm while he knocked on Zeb's door. There was no answer after a few long moments and he knocked again, louder.
"Zeb? You in there?" Kanan waited. It was possible Zeb was asleep, though it wasn't that close to when they both slept through the afternoon.
After a few more long moments he could hear movement though, and finally the door opened.
"Yeah. What? Not really in the mood for company." Zeb's voice was gruff as he leaned in the doorway and Kanan frowned.
"Ezra's sick. Can you watch him for an hour?" Kanan asked.
"The kit's sick?" Zeb instantly perked up at that, and then looked guilty. "Karabast. Yeah, I'll watch him." He reached to stroke a clawed fingertip over Ezra's hair.
Ezra turned his head slightly at the touch and then sneezed wetly. Kanan sighed, and started rummaging in a pocket for a clean tissue.
"Here." Zeb thrust a handful of unused tissues at Kanan and he took one gratefully to wipe at the mess on Ezra's face and his shirt.
"Thanks." Kanan got Ezra's face about as clean as it was going to get before he thought of something, looking up to study Zeb more closely. He looked tired, ears drooping and his stance more hunched over than usual, his stance low enough that his heels nearly brushed the floor. That plus the tissues on hand…
"You're sick too, aren't you?" Kanan asked, as Zeb sat down heavily on his bunk.
"Yeah. Started feeling like crap right before Sabine and the Captain left. Was hoping the kit wouldn't catch it, but at least I think I'm through the worst of it." Zeb reached up for Ezra and it only took a little coaxing to get him to unhook his claws from Kanan's shirt so he could be handed over.
"You sure you're up to watching him? I can try to be quick." Kanan felt a little guilty. He hadn't even considered that Zeb might be avoiding leaving his room because he was ill. Hera would have paid more attention to what was going on in her ship.
"I'm sure. Just bring him some juice or something later so I don't have to haul him to the galley." Zeb said as Ezra sunk his claws into his jumpsuit, obviously willing to cling onto him for a while.
"I will. Good luck with him." Kanan gave Ezra a final pat before heading out.
Zeb stroked a hand over Ezra's back, letting the kit wiggle and squirm as he tried to find a comfortable position tucked up against his side. He hadn't really stopped wiggling since he'd been dropped off, sagging in place for maybe a minute before starting to move and resettle himself. Ezra snuffled wetly and Zeb tried not to make a face as he grabbed a tissue to hand over before Ezra could wipe his face against his side.
"We make quite a pair, huh kit?" Zeb patted his back as Ezra blew his nose, making a sad little unhappy sound after trying to clear his clogged up sinuses.
"My head hurts." Ezra sniffed again, wincing. "Lots hurts, but my head hurts most."
"Here?" Zeb touched carefully on Ezra's forehead. "Or all over?" There wasn't much to do if his sinuses were irritated, but if it was just a headache an ice pack might help. It was easy to slip back into Lasani with him, and probably easier for Ezra to understand.
Ezra scrunched up his face, but didn't wince at the touch. "All over"
"Then when Kanan gets back we'll do something about it." Zeb went back to slowly petting over him, trying to get Ezra to relax. For a minute it seemed like it had worked, the kit was limp against his side and looked to be starting to close his eyes. Then Ezra let out a soft whine and stretched out, squirming, flexing his toes into a fist then spreading them wide like he was trying to crack them.
Zeb could sympathize. Before his own fever broke his joints had ached horribly. Moving wasn't comfortable, but trying to stay still with nothing to distract from the discomfort was worse and there was always the false promise that this time moving or cracking the joint would ease the ache.
There was no real way of knowing if any of the medicines on board would help. Zeb had never been a chemist, back on Lasan he could have easily selected a medicine designed to ease fever and aches in a kit Ezra's age and known that even if he did have a problem with it there were medical experts who could step in. He wasn't even entirely sure what chemicals would have been in those medicines, much less know enough to figure out what they were called in Basic. If it was an emergency he would be willing to risk it, but Ezra wasn't in any danger. He was just uncomfortable and unhappy, and it would get better soon. He was sure if he asked, though, Ezra would insist it wasn't soon enough.
Zeb's ear twitched at the beep the door made as it slid open.
"Hey, brought you guys a few things." Kanan spoke with only a little forced cheerfulness as he made his way to the bunk.
Zeb felt Ezra's flinch and rubbed the back of his neck. "Little quieter? Kit's got a headache."
Kanan looked instantly guilty at that, dropping his voice down. "Sorry." He placed the bowl down where Ezra could easily reach it to poke at the ice. "You haven't really wanted to drink anything, but I know you like playing with ice cubes. I got you some water ones, and a few juice ones."
"With his nose all stopped up, drinking can feel like you're going to choke." Zeb offered.
Kanan nodded thoughtfully at that, holding out a large mug to Zeb. "I didn't know if you needed anything, but I figured tea wouldn't hurt."
Zeb took it gratefully. He was past the worst of it, but he still felt like he just finished a few dozen long spars where he'd taken a few too many bo-rifle hits. The thought of getting up to get anything for himself was an exhausting one, but he'd resigned himself to doing everything until Sabine came back. She'd handled him injured or sick in the past without getting frustrated at him.
"I can bring Ezra an ice pack for his head. It might help with his fever too." Kanan gently rubbed over Ezra's hair, as the kit nudged into the touch before stuffing one of the ice cubes into his mouth to chew on.
"Good idea." Zeb took a long sip of the tea, appreciating how the heat helped soothe some of the lingering soreness in his throat.
"I'll be right back with that then, anything else?" Kanan headed back towards the door.
"A light blanket if he's got a clean one. I spent most of the first day too hot, but later I started getting chills. If his goes the same way he'll want to wrap up in something." Zeb wracked his brain for anything else. "I think that's it. Maybe tomorrow he'll start getting bored and want something he can play with, but right now I'd bet he's not going to want to let go."
Kanan vanished out the door, only taking a couple minutes to fetch the ice pack. It was long enough for Ezra to go into another sneezing fit and Zeb just patiently held the tissues until Ezra finally stopped. Ezra scrunched his face, hiding it against Zeb's side with an unhappy whimper.
"I heard that from out in the hall, doubt that did his sore head any favors." Kanan spoke quietly but sympathetically as he returned with the ice pack, positioning it carefully on Ezra's head.
"Probably not." Zeb tossed the wet tissues in the general direction of the bin.
"Guessing from the way you said that about him clinging, this sort of behavior's normal?" Kanan asked.
Zeb chuckled softly, then tried not to wince when it turned into a dry cough. "Yeah. For the first cycle or so, kittens are really clingy. It was hit or miss on if you can even get them to sleep alone, though it's easier if there's multiples. New parents used to complain about it a lot." The last part came out more wistful than he intended, and he cleared his throat. "After that they slowly get more independent, learn to walk instead of just climbing. But if they're sick or hurt they go right back to the instincts to cling to whoever's closest. I'd be more worried if he wasn't acting like this."
"Talking about me." Ezra said, sounding grumpy even with his words half muffled against Zeb's side.
"That's what happens when you're too sick to think in Basic and join the conversation." Zeb teased him gently, before translating for Kanan's benefit.
Kanan smiled at that, giving Ezra's shoulder a gentle pat before he stood up to head to the door. "You can go back to talking. I still have more work to do."
"Go on, I'll make sure the kit is taken care of." Zeb rubbed over one too-hot ear, and then frowned at the way Ezra had his face pressed against his jumpsuit. "Are you rubbing snot on my clothes? Stop that. Eat another ice cube." He grabbed a tissue to try and get him cleaned up before he pulled the bowl closer, waiting until Ezra took one of the juice cubes.
It was going to be a very long afternoon, but Zeb would have been lying if he tried to say he didn't get a little bit of a warm feeling that Ezra was willing to tuck up against his side so trustingly. It was probably mainly because of how bad Ezra felt that he was willing to accept this kind of comfort from him, but he'd take it. Zeb didn't blame the kit at all, as far as he was concerned Zeb was still a near-stranger no matter their shared species. Still, no matter how normal it was that Ezra was taking his time to warm up to him it didn't stop him from feeling some sort of pang when Ezra turned to Kanan or Hera first for something he needed. Maybe in time that would start changing, Zeb certainly hoped so.
Kanan woke up for what felt like the tenth or eleventh time since he'd managed to fall asleep. Ezra was wrapped up tight in his blanket and tucked up against his chest. Ezra hadn't wanted to fall asleep with Zeb, and as annoying as it was to keep getting woken up, he was privately relieved that it was so easy to keep an eye on him. Ezra was coughing again, his small body shaking with each one and Kanan sleepily rubbed over his back.
"Here, drink a little." Kanan reached for the cup of water he had close, fumbling with the bowl on the nightstand before he found the right cup, sitting up so he could hold it up for Ezra. Ezra whined, but took a long sip, wincing when he swallowed.
"I know." Kanan said sympathetically, sighing and glancing at the time. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or annoyed that it was progressing exactly the same for Ezra as Zeb had described. Zeb said he'd spent most of the second day trying not to cough his lungs out and dealing with a sore throat on top of everything. Kanan had hoped it might go easier on Ezra, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. He'd already spent half the night trying to soothe Ezra back to sleep when he shivered and shook from chills, or seemed determined to figure out some way to kick all the blankets off and get as far away from Kanan's body heat as he could and still keep his claws firmly hooked in his shirt. The bowl of water was for those feverish spells, soaking the fur on his forehead and cheeks seemed to help cool him down a little, and it had enough blue fur floating in it that he didn't want to confuse that water for the drinking water he had. Drinking liquid may not have been Ezra's first choice, but the ice cubes in it had long melted away and the water seemed to help when the coughing started.
Ezra made a quiet unhappy sound and Kanan set the water aside, rubbing over his back. "Just relax and breathe, and go back to sleep." And then he could get a little more sleep too before he needed to get up and sort through reports for potential jobs.
Ezra fidgeted, bunching up his shirt under his claws a little tighter before he mumbled something. It was in Lasani, but Kanan had heard it often enough to not need a translation.
"Then go, 'fresher is right there." Kanan sighed as Ezra ducked his head, ears flat. "I promise, I'll be right here, you can get right back in bed with me."
When Ezra continued to hesitate, Kanan heaved a sigh and started getting out of the bunk. "Fine, I'll carry you to the door, and then you're going back to sleep." He shuffled tiredly, sure that even if Ezra fell back to sleep and slept soundly the rest of the night he'd be hitting the caf hard that day. Kanan was certain he had to be getting old far before his time if one night of interrupted sleep was this rough.
"Ready to keep him for a few hours?" Kanan peered into Zeb's open door, getting waved inside.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Zeb put his bo-rifle aside and reached for Ezra. "How's he doing?"
Ezra was a little more determined to cling this time, trying to keep his grip on Kanan's shirt even as the effort made him cough, a harsh series of barks that shook his whole body.
"His fever finally broke this morning, but you can hear what replaced it." Kanan carefully unhooked his claws one by one. Ezra seemed to have figured out that he was going to be left with Zeb all day again and he wanted to stay with Kanan. Finally Kanan got him unhooked, passing him over.
Zeb took him, holding him against his chest and rubbing his back as Ezra just kept coughing.
"I don't really know what we can give him for it, I don't really want to experiment with the cough medicine we have but…" Kanan sighed.
Zeb kept up the rubbing until Ezra's breathing finally evened out and he could drop him down to sit in his lap. "Could try alcohol, that helps with the cough."
Kanan looked skeptical at that. "I don't know that much about kids, but I think they're banned from bars for a reason. "
Zeb shrugged "It's the only thing I can think of that might help. It's not like we'd be getting him drunk for fun."
Ezra tried to say something, and it turned into a wheeze and his whole body tensing as he tried not to cough. He failed, and Zeb went back to rubbing over his back and trying to give him what comfort he could.
"Let's try it. Maybe it'll help him sleep. Between the fever and the coughing poor guy hasn't had much rest." Kanan rubbed over his face with a sigh.
"I've got something here, if you'll get something hot like tea to mix it with." Zeb suggested, shifting so he could get a bottle out of one of the storage drawers.
"Right, good idea." Kanan left to start the tea, leaving Zeb to finish comforting Ezra through the end of the coughing fit.
"Bet you're hacking your throat raw, huh kit?" Zeb waited for the tired unhappy nod. "Another good reason for the tea, so this won't burn as much. But it'll help ease the tight feeling in your chest."
"One mug of hot tea, I used the tart one that's supposed to be good for sore throats." Kanan carried the mug in carefully, passing it to Zeb so he could liberally dose it with the booze he had.
"Alright kit, little sips and don't burn your tongue." Zeb held the mug for him while Ezra tried to give it a suspicious stuffy sounding sniff before he took a cautious sip.
"Looks like you've got things under control. Need anything else?" Kanan gave Ezra's hair a ruffle and started to edge towards the door to make his escape before Ezra could get a claw hooked into any of his clothing in a bid to stay with him.
"Could you check the crated supplies for some kind of tinned soup? Checked the galley earlier and there wasn't anything, but soup's going to be the easiest thing for him right now." Zeb didn't add that at the time he'd been looking for something for himself and the thought of going down to the hanger to open up the food storage crates and look had been far too much effort. He'd ended up just eating what he could and going right back to bed.
"Yeah, not a problem. I did inventory pretty recently and I'm sure we've got something." Kanan reassured him before he ducked out of the room.
"Get that cough under control, get some food in you, you'll be feeling better before you know it." Zeb rubbed over Ezra's back, taking the mug away when it looked like he'd finished with it for the moment. He wracked his brain, trying to think of anything else you were supposed to do when a kit was sick. "Want a story?"
Ezra perked his ears up at that. "A story? What kind of story?" He was barely whispering, but Zeb didn't have any trouble making out the words.
"An old story. Have you heard about the two princesses of Lira San?" Zeb might have been able to translate the story to Basic if someone else wanted to hear it, but it was easy to slip back into Lasani.
Ezra shook his head and Zeb started the story. It took a little remembering to get the phrasing right sometimes, but the story was the sort of thing he'd heard so many times as a kit himself that the story itself came easily. He told him how once, long ago Lasat lived in a place called Lira San, and one day the Queen gave birth to twin princesses. As was the custom, the royal Wise Woman was summoned to determine which of the princesses would become queen, and which the Ashla had other plans for. The Wise Woman arrived and instead of picking one princess over the other, she said that both were destined to rule. This caused a great deal of concern, as both couldn't be Queen, but the Wise Woman would not be swayed and both princesses were to be raised as if they were to rule.
"Both were born white as sand, but as they grew their colors came in. The first had flame colors and she was Luc. The second had points of sky and shadow…" Zeb recited, remembering clearly the illustrations that had come with the words.
"Tene." Ezra said, then coughed. A little less hardy than before and it was only followed by a couple more instead of the long fit. Zeb still passed him the spiked tea, waiting until he'd taken a sip.
"Little liar. You said you didn't know this story." Zeb smiled, setting the mug back down for him. It seemed to be helping, or at least it certainly wasn't hurting.
"I want to hear it." Ezra pouted.
"I guess maybe I can still tell it, even if you lied." Zeb chucked and kept going, how Luc was a studious and dedicated princess, but Tene had more of a wild streak to her. She learned her royal duties, but she also studied at the Temple even though she never became a Wise Woman, and she trained with the soldiers even though she never became one of the Royal Guard. Ezra held on to every word as Zeb told how the day was fast coming that one of the princesses would need to take the throne, and there was still no deciding as to which was more suited.
"And then Tene had a dream," Ezra murmured, interrupting.
"I was just getting to that, don't rush me." Zeb bopped him lightly on the head with a knuckle, making Ezra grin. "Tene dreamed and when she woke she went to her sister and told her that she would never rule Lira San, her place was in the stars. Luc grieved to lose her sister, but could not deny her. The call went out for all the bravest and boldest to crew a great ship and Tene left Lira San. It was a long journey, with many adventures, but eventually they found a new land. Tene named it Lasan, sister to Lira San, and there the children of Tene lived." Zeb found his voice getting thick on the last bit, clearing his throat and covering it with a cough.
"Knowing that the light of Lira San was always waiting to welcome them home." Ezra finished, the same way Zeb had always heard the story ended.
"That's right." Zeb rubbed slowly over his back, pushing down the thoughts and emotions that came with the memories. It was hard, most of the time it was easier just not to think on the past at all, good or bad.
"Zeb?" Ezra made a soft questioning sound after his name and Zeb realized with a start he'd been quiet a lot longer than he intended, lost in thought.
"Sorry, kit." Zeb was saved from having to try and come up with an explanation or deflection by Kanan's tap at the door.
"I've got food for you both." Kanan carefully balanced bowls as he stepped in, handing the larger of the two to Zeb first.
"Thanks." Zeb picked up the spoon, taking a careful bite and glad when it wasn't too hot. The soup was mostly salty meaty broth with mushy vegetables, obviously from a tin but flavorful and easy to eat. It shouldn't bother Ezra's throat too much.
Kanan held the second bowl out for Ezra, waiting for him to take it. After a moment Ezra loosened his grip with one hand, unhooking his claws from Zeb's jumpsuit to take it and pull it close.
"You need to do more than just hold it. You barely ate anything yesterday." Kanan stroked over the top of Ezra's head.
"You can let go, I'm not going anywhere." Zeb tried to reassure him, setting his own bowl aside so he could rub over Ezra's side. Ezra just flattened his ears back.
"You're going to eat something." Kanan crouched down so he was on level with Ezra, getting the spoon from the bowl and holding it up to his mouth. Ezra opened his mouth willingly for the food.
"That seems to be working." Zeb chuckled softly as he picked his bowl back up.
"No, no way. He can feed himself just fine. Half the time he tries to feed himself stuff he shouldn't." Kanan tried to get Ezra to take the spoon.
"Yeah, but he's sick. If you don't want to feed him just let me finish and I'll do it." Zeb shrugged slightly as he kept eating.
"I can do it." Kanan scooped up another spoonful of the soup, slowly starting to feed Ezra.
"Sorry." Ezra spoke up after a few more bites, glancing down.
"Why are you sorry?" Kanan put the spoon down, reaching to rub over Ezra's upper arm.
"You don't want to." Ezra sounded stuffed up still, his voice still hoarse from coughing before.
"Don't want to what? Feed you like this? You like feeding yourself, and it's less messy." Kanan smiled some, trying to reassure him. Ezra made a soft frustrated sound, switching to Lasani when he couldn't find the words.
"Kit says all of it, having to take care of him like this. He knows you don't want to." Zeb translated quietly.
"No, Ezra…" Kanan set the bowl to the side so he could reach out and pull Ezra closer, hugging him to his chest. "I'm just frustrated because there's not much I can do to make you feel any better, and the ship still needs working on. But I'm not mad at you. If Hera and Chopper were here and could handle the ship we'd be hanging out and watching the holonet all day."
Ezra clung to his shirt, pressing his face against his chest, his voice muffled.
"Of course he means it." Zeb answered rather than bothering to translate. "You're both just tired."
Ezra started to say something else and then tensed as he coughed harshly. Kanan rubbed over his back, trying to be soothing.
"That sounds a little better at least. Look, I'm not leaving you here because I don't want you around. I'm leaving you here because I want to be sure that you're taken care of and not alone while I do what I have to. Besides, it's not fair to keep you all to myself, Zeb here wants to spend time with you too." Kanan waiting until Ezra's coughing eased up to pull back just a little so Ezra could see his face as he talked.
"That's right," Zeb reached to stroke his claws through Ezra's hair, combing it. "So quit acting like it's some kind of chore." He kept his tone light and teasing, getting a small smile from Ezra.
"I guess it does sort of feel like we've been passing you back and forth since you got sick. Maybe tonight we can all watch holos or something." Kanan glanced up to get confirmation from Zeb, getting a nod at the suggestion. "How's that sound, Ezra?"
"Good." Ezra's voice was still just as quiet and hoarse, but he looked a great deal happier as Kanan gave him another hug and then went to pass him back to Zeb. Ezra went willingly, not trying to take half of Kanan's shirt with him even if he did grab right back onto Zeb's jumpsuit as soon as he was settled.
Kanan picked up the bowl, getting another spoonful of soup. "And you're still not getting out of eating something."
Kanan made sure he had everything they might need before he slid into the side of the booth seat beside Zeb. Tissues, more hot tea spiked to help ease Ezra's cough, one of his favorite blankets for if he wanted to bundle up. As soon as he was in place he could feel Ezra shift, wiggling to cram in between both of them.
"Comfortable like that? Sure you're not being squished?" Kanan asked, just getting a content sounding chirrup in response.
"I wanted to ask, is that part of your language, or…" Kanan asked, hoping Zeb didn't mind the questions.
"Huh…" Zeb blinked slowly. "Never thought about it, but kind of? Kits make a lot of sounds to express basic feelings instead of bothering to put it into words. It's easy to figure out. Most stop doing it so much as they get older, it tones down to about the same amount humans do, I think." Zeb shrugged slightly.
"Wasn't sure. We've kind of just been winging it on a lot of things." Kanan admitted. He didn't want to go right out and say that he worried sometimes that he'd done something to mess Ezra up. Ezra would understand that in a flash and then he'd have to try and explain that he didn't think he was messed up, except yeah he did worry sometimes he was screwing up but that wasn't something Ezra should worry about. That would go over amazingly, he was sure. Kanan turned on the holo, so the sound and flickering lights would distract the kid.
"Yeah. Well, you're hardly much more than a kit yourself, eh? Doubt you planned on ending up with one this early." Zeb said easily, and Kanan bristled a little.
"I'm not that young," Kanan protested. "I mean, ok it's a little unlikely that…" He trailed off as Zeb chuckled. "Just watch the holo."
Zeb reached for the tea when Ezra coughed, the small mug nearly engulfed in his hand as he held it for him to take. Kanan was slowly relaxing, taking the teasing for the tentative attempts at friendship it probably was.
Kanan wasn't surprised when about halfway through the first holo Ezra had slumped between them and had his mouth open, breathing in little wheezy snores with his nose still stuffed. It was early for his bedtime, but even though Zeb said he'd gotten in a decent nap that afternoon it wasn't surprising. Kanan waited to be sure he was deep enough asleep not to wake at being picked up before he started moving to scoop him up in his arms.
"Looks like bedtime's coming early." Kanan spoke softly, knowing once Ezra was deeply asleep the hyperdrive could probably explode and he wouldn't even twitch. Ezra hooked his claws into Kanan's shirt, grasping automatically, but didn't stir.
"Looks like it. Thanks for letting me watch him during the day. If he's feeling better he might not need someone with him tomorrow, but… yeah." Zeb turned off the holo so he could stand, stretching slowly.
"You don't need to thank me for that. I want you two to spend time together. The more people he has keeping him out of trouble once he's back to normal the better. Did you know we've had to refit the air vent covers three times now? He keeps figuring out the old locks and then he's got all sorts of new tunnels to play hide and find in." Kanan smiled when Zeb chuckled at that.
"Just don't think I'm going to be crawling in there after him." Zeb warned
"I don't know, trying to get you unstuck from vents about half as wide as your shoulders seems like a fun afternoon. Right up there with fixing plumbing problems or cleaning scorch marks off the hull." Kanan said lightly. Or installing a fire-suppression system that could handle the kind of explosives Sabine wanted to store, which was next on his list of things to do.
"Go get some sleep." Zeb waved towards the door and Kanan smiled, carrying Ezra out and towards his room. The Lasat kit had stayed utterly oblivious to the quiet conversation, limp and snoring in his arms.
Kanan tightened the last bolt in place for the pipe to carry the extinguishing foam. They'd do a test with water-based foam to be sure everything worked properly, but the bulk of the work was done and he stepped back, stretching and bending to crack his back and loosen muscles stiff from holding awkward positions. He heard a muffled cough and turned to look for Ezra.
The Lasat kit was still a little clingier than normal and obviously still in the process of recovering. He had reached the same stage Zeb was when Kanan had first realized something was wrong; a little stuffed up and the occasional cough but mostly just tired. The most obvious good sign was that while he still wanted to be in the same room with either Kanan or Zeb, he no longer seemed anxious if he wasn't in physical contact with them. Just knowing he was able to go over and cling if he wanted to seemed to be enough.
"What have you got?" Kanan asked, not surprised to see Ezra carrying his drawing board. The smooth surface allowed for the markers to be wiped off easily with a cloth, or just with fuzzy Lasat hands. If it was a picture Ezra wanted to save, a holo could be taken easily enough. Ezra cling to his leg, showing him the picture. Kanan generally had no idea what Ezra was trying to draw, but it didn't hurt anything to praise him.
"Very nice, want me to take a holo of it so you can save it?" Kanan reached down to just pick Ezra up, drawing board an all. His back protested a little, but even if Ezra had walked there just fine he looked so tired like this. Kanan would have tried to convince him to take a nap, but right now Ezra seemed more tired than sleepy.
"Uh huh." Ezra smiled, content to be carried up to the cockpit. They'd done it enough times that all Kanan had to do was set him down in the chair and he held the board up to be scanned. They'd barely gotten finished with it when the console chimed to let them know there was an incoming transmission.
Kanan checked it "It's from the Phantom, hopefully good news," He hit the button to accept the transmission, the projection flickering to life and the blue light image of Hera forming.
"Phantom to Ghost." Hera's voice came over the speakers.
"Ghost here." Kanan replied.
"We're ready for a pickup, sending exact coordinates now." Hera sent them and cut the transmission. Kanan arched an eyebrow at Ezra.
"Well that could mean a lot of things. All we know for sure is nothing went too wrong and they're not coming in hot." Kanan settled down into the pilot's chair as Ezra made a questioning sound.
"If something went seriously wrong she'd give us a heads up about it, but a short transmission like that doesn't share many details and is harder to notice and track. So could be because of that, or could just be she didn't feel like making a longer one. We'll figure it out when we get there. You can be my copilot as long as you don't touch anything." Kanan calculated the jump, heading towards the rendezvous point.
The Phantom docked easily with the Ghost and both Kanan and Zeb were waiting by the ladder. Ezra had decided for the moment that Zeb made the taller sturdier perch to hang onto.
Hera came down the ladder first, landing lightly on the flooring.
"How did it go?" Kanan asked.
"We got the maps we needed." Hera said, sounding tired but satisfied, moving out of the way for Sabine to maneuver her way down the ladder, moving lightly even in all the armor. Chopper would take longer, it was quicker to get into his spot on top of the Phantom from the outside, but there was a mechanism for getting back inside. It just took more time.
"Oh we got them alright," Sabine grinned, flashing teeth. "It was great. Days of letting this kung string us along and go fetch this, go do this small favor, have dinner with me and maybe I'll negotiate for the maps you need and I was starting to worry we'd need to open with some more creative diplomatic solutions," Sabine patted one of her pouches, Kanan wasn't sure if she was referring to explosives or worse, but he got the idea.
"I didn't want to risk alienating a potential ally." Hera protested, but she was starting to smile.
"And then after the third dinner invitation 'maybe we can do business or maybe something else' she just heads to the Phantom. I ask if we were giving up on the maps…" Sabine glanced to Hera.
"And I told Sabine that Chopper had made copies of all the maps the first night we were there. Everything after that was just testing him. At that point it was clear he wouldn't be of any further use, so no reason to offer to pay for maps we'd already stolen." Hera finished, but she did look pleased with herself.
"And now we have a comprehensive map of every fuel station that isn't under Imperial control, from backwater pit stops to smuggler fuel caches that are willing to make a deal to the larger fuel depots that haven't currently accepted any of the Imperial regulations as to ship registration and approval out of fear of hurting business." Sabine looked pleased at that.
"How did things go on your end? Did you get all the repairs and work done on the ship?" Hera asked. "If you did, Sabine owes me forty credits."
Kanan glanced at where Zeb was holding Ezra. "Uh, well, about that…" He rubbed the back of his head.
Sabine laughed, elbowing Hera gently. "Looks like you owe me ten then."
"It wasn't exactly his fault," Zeb spoke up in his defense. "Ezra got sick."
"They both did." Kanan waved a hand to indicate both Lasat. "I got the repairs done and started on the explosives storage, but I figured it was more important to make sure they were taken care of."
"How sick?" Hera sounded concerned, stepping closer to Zeb to hold her arms out to take Ezra. Zeb handed him over.
"Sick enough to be floored for a couple days, not sick enough to be in any real danger. He's doing better now, but he's still coughing some." Zeb explained as Hera checked Ezra over.
Sabine stepped closer to gently punch Zeb's shoulder "Guess we have to declare the bet null then, we didn't factor in sick Lasat." Zeb chuckled, reaching to ruffle her hair.
"We planned on it just to inconvenience you." Zeb teased.
"I'd have contacted you if it was an emergency," Kanan assured Hera. "As it was, you just missed out on a couple days of little kid snot all over everything." That made Ezra giggle, ending in a cough.
"I am not sure which would have been worse, at least he'd only be slimy unintentionally." Hera made a face, but rubbed over Ezra's back, obviously not too bothered at being coughed on.
"Now that all that's out of the way, I vote lunch and no more business talk until we're done eating." Sabine spoke up.
"I'll agree to that. After you, Captain," Kanan let Hera take the lead, dropping back beside Zeb as Chopper finally used his jets to make his way into the Ghost proper, letting out an indignant squawk that everyone was already leaving.
Kanan just laughed at that, glad things were finally starting to settle into a new normal.