(A/N: Timelines in the Star Wars universe are…well let's call them messy. It's a little like political parties in that you can choose the one you like. There's ABY (After Battle of Yavin), the Great ReSynchronization (35 years before the birth of the Empire), the Lothal Calendar (a Lothal only dating system) and on and on. For the purposes of this chapter, and all previous chapters (EX: Ch. 8 of Flaming Rebellion), I'll be using the Galactic Standard Calendar. As to why I'm writing this lengthy prologue, well, you'll see. Thank you for reading.)
7-04-3280: 20:41
"Dear? Do you and Ezra have a moment?" I hear Mrs. Wren's voice carry thru the halls and to me as I'm changing from the shower. Sabine's reply doesn't float back to me as easily, but I quickly pick up the pace, throwing on some clothes and hustle out into the heart of the house.
I can always shave later tonight or tomorrow. It's just a trim anyway. Even though I am due to shave everything off.
"I heard my name." I smile at Sabine and her parents. Carid looks up from his datapad and Bo turns away from Sabine to smile at me.
"Hi dear. Carid and I just wanted to talk to you for a moment."
Carid raises his finger and points to his wife without looking up from his datapad. "She wants to. I'm just standing beside her. Metaphorically."
"Thanks." She rolls her eyes, causing Sabine to smirk at me. I smile back, seeing her smile finally reach her eyes.
Good. We need more smiles like that.
"Anyway, Carid and I were thinking of having me stop teaching down in Keldabe so that I can help you two around here while you're recovering. And we wanted to see what you two thought of the idea."
That's not necessary.
"Uhm…" Sabine stutters, then looks to me.
"That's nice. But I think we've got it." I smile at Bo.
Sabine adds. "Yeah, you don't have to change everything that you're doing just for me. Ezra and I can handle everything."
"Dear, you're falling into the same trap Ezra fell into with his arm. Thinking that things aren't severely impacted by your injury. Everything will be different now." Her father says, still looking at his datapad.
"Because I just need to rehab and follow my schedule, which I will, Ezra will make sure of it. Everything else like my armor and training will come back to me in time. The hard part will be patience. And I've got everyone telling me to be patient and annoying me about it." Sabine says exasperatedly. "I'll be fine."
Her father asks "Well what if things don't come right back? What if your best is just a tick behind what you used to be able to do? That wouldn't be shocking at all."
I hear Sabine take a sharp intake of breath before Sabine's expression turns furious and Bo says "Sabine, no—Carid, coming your way."
Sabine angrily wheels over to her father, then knocks the datapad out of his hands. "If you're going to be a part of this conversation, then be a part of it." She scowls at him, then turns her back and wheels back to me.
"Dear, it's not personal. These are just the facts."
"You don't have to stop what you're doing in the city though! Kanan and Hera will stop by, Rex and Echo too, probably Darcy when they get back from Lothal. Plus Ezra's here every day until he goes back to work." Sabine argues the point.
Bo interjects "Everyone gets tired of each other at some point Sabine. We're just thinking of adding enough variety to your recovery that it can be a positive. And that's not even mentioning that you're maintaining your role in the Rebellion while you recover."
"Because if she leaves the vacuum will be filled." I jump in.
Last time I commed to talk to Zeb on Crait, I was shuttled to a comms officer who legitimately had no idea who I was. Not that it matters, but we're still with the Rebellion. It feels a little too like the Empire for people on our own side to not know who Sabine and I are.
"That's the vanity play. Self-Importance." Mand'alor comments, appearing from the basement. "Sophie's going to bed now."
"Thank you Fenn." Carid smiles as Sabine and I look to each other and roll our eyes.
Bo catches us and smirks. "Well, regardless of what you two think it's happening. I've already put in my notice."
In response, Sabine grabs the holo remote and chucks it thru the kitchen before it lands hard on the floor and skids to the back wall.
9-12-3280: 18:01
Sophie's dessert bowl of eaten iced cream and chocolate clinks as Sof sets the bowl aside and moves to get the brush and soap to clean it before I scoop it up with her back turn.
"You can have another bowl." I smile at Sof while holding her bowl out to her. Sof adorably stops what she's doing, holding the brush and looks to me.
"Really?" She beams hopefully/ I nod, causing her to scamper back to the conservator. "Thank you Ezra!"
I laugh to myself. "You earned it. Thank you for helping Sabine and I today."
"You're welcome. I had fun watching her paint and getting her stuff." Sof perkily responds as I slowly start toward the office and the windows rattle from a gust of wind impacting them.
"Run those numbers." I hear Sabine ask as I'm at the threshold of the office, then slip inside to see Sabine sitting in the desk chair, holo inserted into the desk activated instead of the larger wall unit.
She's hiding her injury. Projecting an image of her usual strength to the Rebellion. Only Kanan, Ahsoka, the very higher ups know she's as hurt as she is.
I've been expecting to hear from Leia, knowing how on top of everything she is, but nothing yet.
Sabine hears me as I step onto a creaky floorboard and glances up, then smiles. "I'm replacing that stupid floorboard." I joke, joining her at the desk to see what she's looking at.
"The latest Star Destroyer movements." Sabine fills me in before Maddie appears back onto the screen with Zeb.
"Hey you two." He smiles at the sight of us as my spirits soar.
Sabine beams "Hey Zeb. How are you?"
"Good, the usual. How's the domestic life?" He teases us.
"The usual." Sabine jabs back playfully.
Maddie smiles at the exchange. "The Executor is dry docked at the Kuat Drive Yards. Multiple Star Destroyers left the ship before they jumped to Kuat and have been tracked to Lothal."
Back on that bantha fodder. As always. I guess you can't get back to something you're always doing.
"Have you been in contact with your teams on the ground there?" Zeb asks us.
I nod. "Yeah, the situation is stable."
Stable meaning that it continues being a humanitarian disaster and a moral atrocity, but we're making the best of it. Thousands of Mandalorians helping Lothal's rebels get by, stretch resources, assisting in any way possible.
"File is uploaded." Maddie smiles at us, causing Zeb to join in.
"Is Sof up?" He asks chipperly. "I saw that she set a new personal best on the sim."
11-18-3280 09:49
Get…off.
Closing my eyes again, I focus on pushing the suffocating influence of the Force off me and roll my neck in an effort to relax.
Nope. Woke up, felt the Force right on top of me. Mediated, and that worked a little bit, cleared things up a bit. Sabine and I aren't in danger, but there's something brewing.
In the guest room, I hear Sabine grunt, either from irritation or effort as I walk to the holo in the office and fire it up.
Protocol 179.
"Uhh…" I mutter to myself, then frantically dig in the desk for our master list of Codes and Protocols, meant to pass along vital information without writing it out.
Meaning eyes are watching…osik.
"Problem!" I call out to Sabine. "Protocol 179!"
A moment passes before Sabine grunts. "Dammit, out of the chair!" She hollers. "And I forget what 179 is off the top of my head!"
"Loss of base and full retreat!" I yell back, already walking toward the guest room.
"WHAT?! On HOTH?!"
"Yeah!" I answer, walking back.
"HOLO LEIA! LIKE!N—oh, I didn't know you were walking in here. Uhh!" Sabine winces, sitting down on the hardwood floor and reaching to scoot herself over a few more inches closer to her wheelchair.
Despite my rapidly darkening mood, I smirk and lift her into the air with the Force. "NO! Put me down Ezra!"
"Rehab can wait for an hour. We need Fulcrum." I say, just before the holo lets off its missed comm sound.
Sabine scowls as I gently set her into her wheelchair then watch her whip around angrily. "I felt like I was actually starting to activate some muscles."
"Great." I smile as she wheels away toward the office and follow her.
754121. That's Ahsoka and Lux.
Instantly, Sabine moves to return the holo. "Would you mind getting me and X-Lite? As sad as that is to ask since I've done nothing."
"You've done something." I correct her. "Second rehab day, trying to activate muscles you haven't used in a while. I'll be right back. Snack?"
She deliberates as I step into the hall before calling out "An apple would be great!"causing me to laugh to myself and pull one to me as I grab the X-Lite with the other hand.
"Sabine?" I hear the holo connect and Ahsoka's relieved voice. "Lux! Got her."
"Oh thank goodness." I hear Lux's reply and Sabine laugh to defuse some of the tension.
"What happened? We checked the holo this morning before cooking breakfast." Sabine asks as I walk back into the office and hand her the snacks before looing up into the concerned faces of Ahsoka and Lux.
Ahsoka gulps, then frowns. "Hoth fell."
"Well I know that. How? Where's everyone now?" Sabine asks sarcastically.
"We don't know." Lux responds. "We got a report saying that Han bumped into an Imperial probe droid and destroyed it. We recommended going dark in the least, with a partial evacuation. Then we heard nothing for 16 hours."
SIXTEEN HOURS?!
Sabine scowls. "Sixteen hours? And how'd we miss this?"
"I don't know." Lux says, hands up to indicate his non-verbal apology.
Ahsoka steps across him and continues his point. "Point is, that now we're scattered again."
"And no word from Luke or Leia." Lux shrugs.
Knowing them, probably up to their necks in trouble. AGAIN.
Sabine bites her apple angrily. "I'll get searching."
"What about Kanan, Hera…?" I trail off.
"We don't know. Hera and Kanan are on Glee Anselm with Rin and Pypey. But Zeb, Rex, Echo, nobody knows anything."
That could be a real problem if the Empire does something more to Lothal.
Sabine and I exchange looks before Sabine looks back to the holo. "Where do you think we should begin?"
12-19-3280 17:00
Three gentle taps on the glass causes me to turn away from my potatoes and to the glass door, where Prime, Will, Kal, Orir, Darcy, Katiey, Aiden, Brie, Tracy and Mira are all standing patiently.
"Oh!" Mrs. Wren yelps, then hustles to open the door. "Get in get in! You'll catch a cold."
"Already…done." Katiey sniffles miserably as the others let her go first, then follow right behind. "Thanks."
"Tea?" Sabine asks beside me as I take a closer look at the guys.
They've all grown their hair out. Even Kal, who keeps it buzzed so low he's nearly bald. They all minus Prime have decent beards. Even though Will's is super patchy.
Everyone minus Bo whips around and look thrilled. "You're up!" Will smiles as Darcy moves around the peninsula blocking her from Sabine.
"Yeah. Moving slow." Sabine smiles, then half hugs Darcy, who briefly seems hurt but brushes it off before moving out of the way. "Thank you."
Tracy sheepishly smiles, the only one to get a proper hug from Sabine. "No, really. You saved me. I could have died, I could have lost the ability to walk or use my arms. But no, I'm going to be fine." Sabine smiles. "Thank you."
Tracy blushes and tucks her hair behind her ear. "I just followed what I've been taught. I'm glad you're up and about."
"Yeah, last time we saw you, you were confined to a bed." Will smiles, leaning on the counter.
"And had a neck brace, and was trapped in a wheelchair." Her mother compliments her as Sabine suddenly looks disgusted.
"I never, ever want to see that brace again. Did everything I could to keep it clean and…yuck." She shudders. "Anyway, can someone help? I'm moving really slow and don't want to try and go faster."
"Of course." Prime volunteers, then is stopped by Kal's hand on one shoulder and Orir on the other.
"No, you're not burning this place down." Kal jokes, causing the room to erupt in laughter.
Bo quips "Yeah, please. They haven't refurbished anything in weeks, let's not force their hands."
"You did more?" Brie asks, following the others to wash her hands.
"Replace appliances." I dismiss the issue. "Wind storm broke a window in the back. Nothing dramatic."
Orir snaps dramatically. "Shame."
"You guys got a lot more snow up here than we did down in the city." Darcy adds. "What do we need to do?"
"Cut up some of the vegetables, pick out what you like. And for two people to make the salad. Ezra's making a different potato dish so he's tied up." Sabine explains, then watches as Prime and Aiden team up for the salad and Will to grab a vegetable and inspect it.
"Is the market here decent?" he asks curiously as the other begin to get themselves drinks.
I nod, returning to my potatoes. "Yeah, good enough."
"They don't have the depth of selection Keldabe does, or the quality in spice. It varies so much that we don't cook much exotic stuff."
Bo adds "That bad?"
"Not bad, just…where I don't like it as much." Sabine makes a face at the window. "Just a preference thing."
"Call ahead next time and we can grab a couple of things." Katiey smiles, tissues in her hand and sitting at the table.
"I like the rough and rugged looks. Lothal rub off on you guys?" Sabine teases Prime.
Prime and Kal laugh as Will self-consciously scratches his beard. "Sort of. Really it was practical. Made us blend in nearly flawlessly." Kal nods.
Yup.
"How are things there?" Bo asks, getting a refill on her wine.
Now that I think about it, I need a drink to listen to this.
Reflexively, I turn for Rex and Echo's brandy and refill my glass with a splash, then pour soda on top. Only to turn and see a sour look from Prime. "What?"
"That's it? That's barely a drop." He says dismissively, nodding to the three fourths filled bottle that I've very, very slowly been working my way thru.
"It's strong. 180 proof. I barely need any if I want to be useful."
Sabine chimes "I don't like him useful. I wish he'd have more."
THANKS.
Mortified, I turn to her as the room is in stitches. "Really? Really?"
Will sets his knife aside and rests his hands on the countertop as he continues laughing. "Truth." Sabine smiles.
"Mommy?" Sophie's voice calls out from the basement. "Can you help me with my hair please?"
Mrs. Wren smiles and walks over. "Yes ad'i—oh goodness. How'd you do this?"
"I was trying to comb it and I don't know what happened." Sophie says simply, sounding down before she appears, clad in shorts and a tank top with her small braid, becoming standard on the right side of her head with the comb caught up in her hair behind it.
OW.
"Nyehhh." Sabine utters behind me, causing me to look back at her and see that everyone has mixed looks of laughter mixed with pain at Sof's predicament.
"Stand here while I sit and have leverage. How did you do this?" Bo repeats herself.
"I don't know Mommy…" She replies, beyond sarcastically, facial expression of annoyance and mocking.
"Don't take that tone with me." Bo retorts, then yanks once on her hairbrush, causing Sof to wince in pain.
"OW!"
"Tone." Her mother repeats herself simply, then begins gently parsing thru her hair and massaging her scalp.
"You're defying gravity Sof." Darcy comments with a smile as she, Brie, Orir and Tracy are slowly approaching.
"Darcy! HI!" Sophie beams! "You're here? Weren't you on Lothal?"
Darcy nods. "Until just a few days ago. Now we're home."
"And now your hair is all messed up!" Will teases her, poking his head out. Tracy instantly whips around to him.
"Shut up. This hurts a lot."
"So I've heard." Will rolls his eyes.
Bo smiles. "Now you see why I keep mine so short."
"But it just got stuck…" Sof says miserably. "I was doing it like you told me to, and now it's like I tangled every cord in the house or something. Why do you guys all have beards?"
Prime turns to Will and Orir, who smile. "Lothal thing." Kal answers.
"To get back on subject from earlier, it's about how it has been. Supplies and tactics have stabilized. Given time, they'll dig in and eventually overwhelm the Empire's resources." Prime gets us back on track.
"Overwhelm?" Sabine says, sounding skeptical.
Prime nods. "Yes. And I'll bring this back around, but I learned about how he ticks while we all were there. How he's wired, tendencies, all of it." He says, pointing to me.
"What do you mean?" Bo asks, as she and Sof are listening intently.
"Okay, for example. Take Ezra's defiance to lose." Will jumps in. "How he defied every law of logic, physics, nature to take down that pirate ship? That's some of his Lothal spirit. To a man, every one of them have kept moving. Kept living. Never giving up, even when they probably should. Shuffled from camp to camp to camp. Hope lives eternal."
"It was inspiring." Brie smiles at me.
I feel my stupid smile on my face as Prime jumps in. "Even his hair. You know how he always trims it? Never fully cutting it? I know why. I know why!" He shakes his finger at me.
Oh no. He does know.
"Why? I thought he just likes it." Sabine comments.
"No, it's part of Lothal's culture. Nearly every man, almost every one younger than us, has long hair. That's just how it is. We noticed that they usually keep it until they find their wife or start a family, then they cut it and grow a beard. Ezra's playing it halfway, doing both."
"Kinda?" I say, unsure of how to play it.
"You mean that's true?" Bo asks as Sophie looks confused.
"Yeah, it's an older tradition. Goes back to the gods, shows commitment to the land and the people. Most people don't even think of it nowadays probably, but the gesture lives on."
Kal swallows then speaks up. "Even how the minute stuff works. Men do a lot of the heavy lifting, it's out of the question for them to fight. They view like cooking in an old Mandalorian way."
"Some aspects are very conservative, I'll give you that." I concede.
Now please keep it moving. That's the part I don't particularly care for.
"But it's a critical part of who he is. What's different, is his kindness, his heart. We assume Sabine and everyone on the Ghost taught him that."
"Reminded me, but yeah." I smile.
I had to forget it for years on end.
"So you're not cutting your hair for Lothal?!" Sophie asks, clearly put off by the idea.
I laugh, then smile at Sof. "At least not until Lothal is free and I've visited."
I want to walk around there and feel like I'm saying, even nonverbally that really, I never left.
"You sound like you've had this idea for a while." Aiden asks.
I nod, causing Sabine to frown. "And you never told me?"
"I didn't think it was important!" I say defensively. "It's hair."
"Well apparently it's super important to your culture!"
"I guess, but it's not something I think about daily. I just…fall back on it. Like Prime said, it's how I'm wired."
Prime jumps in. "Kind of like how my folks freaked when they saw me with this." He sweeps his hair back, so that it's almost slicked back, but without gel. "I mean, c'mon."
"It's freaking me out." Sophie says deadpan, sending everyone rolling onto the floor laughing.
12-19-3280 23:25
"—so after Hoth and that message from Leia, nothing?"
"Nothing." I nod, unsatisfied at my own answers.
Darcy flips thru a file. "It's been too long. Leia giving up operational control to Mon Mothma makes sense on the surface, I guess. But it's only a month? I don't know."
"It's very un Leia-like to give up control." Will shakes his head.
Prime adds "Whatever happened, and wherever it happened must have changed their priorities."
"You don't think she quit? Do you?" Tracy asks.
"No." I blurt out definitively.
"No way." Prime shakes his head strongly.
Orir laughs haughtily. "Hah! As if."
"I wish." Katiey muses.
Tracy glances down to her drink. "Oh. Sorry."
2-2-3281 18:00
The door creaks nostalgically as Sophie slips inside, darting in front of a few waiting parents with their children. "Sorry." I smile at them sheepishly.
Sof may be growing up, but she still has her moments.
Ori'bavar is abuzz with the chatter of children, students happy to be back along with their parents exchanging pleasantries.
"Ar'an!" Someone calls out in my direction, and I see multiple students of mine, visibly happy to see me while hustling over.
Brir, Der'k, Itas, Shi…
I smile to myself and bow respectfully to them. "Long time, no see. Everyone alright?"
"Yeah." "Uh huh." "Yes Ar'an." They all generally reply as the Force radiates with their happiness.
"How have you taken to your new instructor? Treating you alright?" I ask curiously.
Seeker says I'll have my job back whenever Sabine's good enough to be on her own day in and day out, but it can't hurt to see what they say.
"Alright, but he isn't you alor." Der'k says earnestly, getting a laugh out of me.
"Well thank you. I appreciate it. Missed you guys."
Itas takes advantage of the shift in conversation to ask "Is your wife okay? Seeker said something happened in Keldabe right after those pirates came in and busted everything up."
"Did you see the Mandalorian Knight come in though? The way he flew into action…Vroom shhhh!" Shi dances around, pretending to hold a lightsaber as behind them, Seeker gestures for me to come forward.
"I've got to go guys." I say briefly, then slip up to the front of the room. "Sir."
Seeker smiles at me. "Ezra, a welcome surprise. How's Sabine?"
"Better! Much better. Not 100%, not even close yet, but she's coming along. Thought I'd make a cameo real quick if that's okay with you."
"Of course, of course." Seeker brushes me off. "You'll just have to be my comic relief."
I smile thankfully, then wave at a couple of other instructors, who acknowledge me, but do no more.
One of the few things I don't like about this job is how cutthroat it is. Most everyone sees their peers as competitors. Comes from the dueling ranks, where most of them come from. It's not a friendly job, everyone is viewed with suspicion. I've even heard of teachers sabotaging students that they thought could one day steal their jobs or break their records.
My mind drifts away as I settle up front and Seeker begins to speak, welcoming back both the parents and students, while outlining the Academy to the newest crop of parents that are here for the first time.
"And last, but not least…some of our returners know him as the instructor who kind of vanished…" Seeker jokes, getting a decent amount of laughs, mostly from the students. "Ezra."
I wave to the assembly, then look back to Seeker as he holds court. "Ezra, how's things? Can you give a brief explanation of where you've been?"
Damn. I didn't think he'd make me say this. I heard he explained it away months ago.
"Uh, yeah." I nod, bringing up a microphone and speaking into it. "It's not really dramatic, my wife got caught up in the mess with the pirates down in Keldabe and got hurt. Been nursing her back to health ever since. But glad to be back for a night." I turn and smile at Seeker.
"And how is deal old Sabine? Coming along?"
"Yeah, she's coming along. Even though I'm starting to worry she just wants me out of the house with how much she keeps saying I can come back to work." I joke, causing all the parents to loudly laugh along with the instructors and Seeker.
Seeker smiles while shaking his head "Doesn't sound too bad to me."
"She's coming along Seeker." I smile, effectively ending his line of inquiry and forcing him to transition away from me and to the Academy, which he does.
2-2-3281 20:24
This time, it's Sof who pulls open the door for me, this time the door to the house, which is just as we left it. "I'm gonna take a shower Ezra, I'm kinda tired." Sof peers up at me.
"Sounds good Sof. Good job today." I compliment her.
We did a little training with everyone after we lectured. Sof definitely had the best footwork out of anyone her age and knew what she was doing.
Sophie smiles and turns to her basement as I slip back toward the guest bedroom.
Sabine's probably put everything up and is back in our room, it is late for her on training days like this.
As expected, the guest room is completely empty, with evidence that Sabine ran thru another full set of her rehab exercises, against what she was supposed to for the "afternoon" set.
She's only supposed to do a full set once a day. Well, at least I know where she is.
I walk back to our room, and find Sabine right where I'm expecting to, asleep on our bed with the holo playing a newscast, head curled up on a nook of the special pillow we bought for her neck with her wheelchair that she still has to use sparingly when she's absolutely exhausted set up like she basically fell out of it and into bed, pointed away from her.
Smiling to myself, I adjust her covers then turn around her wheelchair so that when she gets up in the morning she doesn't have to struggle with it.
I think I'll go to the office, see how the galaxy is today before I meditate.
Halfway thru my walk to the office, my stomach rumbles audibly, forcing me to audible, walking downstairs to Sophie's room, where as she said, the shower is playing with an audio file playing an informational program.
"—top speed of 45 KPH with bursts of 35 sustained, the interior working of…"
I knock loudly twice on the door before cracking it open and raising my voice. "SOF?"
"YEAH?!" She hollers back.
"I'm making a snack, you want some?" I ask.
She pauses for a moment as the sound of water rushing continues before she replies "Yeah, sure! Thank you!"
"You're welcome!" I call back, then close the bathroom door and start back upstairs.