A Fight to the Death?:

D4/1 BBY, Krownest

When Ezra and Sabine walked off the ramp of the Gauntlet, they found her father waiting for them at the base of the stairs that led into the back of the stronghold, a lean figure in silvery grey, highlighted by black and gold.

It seemed wrong to her that her mother wasn't standing at his side in a matched set; his formal wear to her armour.

As Sabine walked closer, she could see his expression of patient welcome, mixed with a hint of relief.

"Father," she said, her voice full of respect and love.

"Daughter." His tone reflected hers and he smiled warmly at her. Alrich flicked his eyes to Ezra and he bestowed upon him a similar smile. "Son."

Ezra's chest swelled a little with pride at the name, to be acknowledged as worthy of this stately man's daughter. "Sir."

"Alrich. Or Father."

"Yes, Sir."

Alrich chuckled, his slanted eyes crinkling with humour. "You'll get it one day."

"Perhaps." Ezra replied noncommittally. He wasn't so sure. The man seemed like an authority figure to him. He doubted he would ever see him as a surrogate father since Kanan already held that position. And calling him by his given name just seemed… weird.

Ezra had no idea why, considering he had no problem calling other older people by their given names. Like Rex.

Sabine squeezed Ezra's hand once before she untwined her fingers from his. Raising a brow at her father, she asked, "Is everything ready, then?"

Alrich nodded as he turned and started ascending the solid stone staircase. "It is. Everyone is gathered in the great hall and those on duty elsewhere around the planet are watching via holocam. Those members were asked specifically if they needed to be at the Challenge ceremony. None said yes."

"That's good," Sabine said, following her father, Ezra one step behind.

A door slid open at their approach after they crested the top of the stairs and walked across the vast stone deck covered in a snow blocking overhang and scattered with tables and benches for when the weather was nice enough to eat outside and enjoy the view of the mountains in the not so far distance.

Inside, staircases led up and down; up to living quarters for the members of the clan who didn't have their own houses nearby, and down to the massive training gym that featured a track, gymnastic equipment, sparring mats, a target practice area, and a pool.

On the main floor, the hallway they walked down had a vast assortment of rooms such as offices, kitchens, more sparring rooms for private practice, a library, a state of the art medical centre, and of course the Great Hall, which was their destination.

The all purpose room was made almost entirely of transparisteel and offered a phenomenal view of the frozen lake, the forest beyond it, and the encircling mountain range. There were no other buildings in sight from within the room on purpose.

At the moment, the Great Hall was filled with people and tables laden with food. And the clan had gone a bit nuts with the decorating. The two story ceiling was dripping with streamers in the clan colours. The windows were framed in greenery. Even the tables had greenery on them wrapped in silver and gold ribbons. The whole place smelled like a pine forest mixed with delicious smelling food. She'd never seen the hall this opulent before. Not even for weddings.

Sabine almost teared up again as she paused in the doorway to take it all in. "It's too much."

"Nonsense," Alrich said, stopping and giving her a one armed hug. "It looked just like this for your mother's coronation ceremony. You deserve nothing less."

"Oh." Sabine had been too young to remember that day, being only a year old when her grandfather died during a mission for Death Watch. The Clone Wars were still in full swing back then.

She took in a deep breath and squared her shoulders as the room gradually hushed once the first person spotted the newcomers to the hall. "Time to break the news," she muttered to herself, and then put on a confident smile.

Ezra and Alrich glanced at each other, exchanged hopeful smiles, and fell into step behind her as she walked up to the tiered dais.

She felt like a bug under a magnifying glass as her silent clan watched her walk up the steps, everyone standing and following so they gathered in front of the dais. Her mother's portrait that hung above it, staring out at the room, wasn't helping either, making her feel all the more guilty. Sabine came to a stop in front of the two person marble throne and turned to face the assembled. She clutched her helmet a little tighter to her side as Ezra stood on her left and her father stood on her right, both half a step further back but supporting her with their presence.

It was all she could do not to look at back at Ezra and silently beg him to take her out of here.

Why did her mother have to die?

Another deep breath. Another reminder to herself that she could do this. (To honour the memory of her mother and brother if nothing else.) And one more reminder to her limbs to hold her up or else. And then a sudden low level warning cramp in her lower belly that had absolutely nothing to do with nerves had her almost laughing.

No wonder she'd been feeling so weepy lately.

The days must have gotten away from her to forget that little monthly annoyance. Ezra was not going to be happy to have to put their honeymoon on hold for a few days starting in the morning.

Mood restored to something resembling confident (because that was the joy of hormonal mood swings), Sabine smiled tightly at her patiently waiting clan for her to say something. Her eyes caught on Junie, who'd made her way to the front of the pack of about forty people ranging in age from toddler to greying with age, and was looking up at her almost worshipfully, and Sabine felt her confidence increase.

And then Ezra touched her back with a supportive hand, and Sabine was ready.

"As you all undoubtedly know, I lost my mother and brother a few days ago in the mission to rescue my father by a weapon that I created." The crowd more or less nodded as one. Sabine made sure to look at all of them, and the hovering holocam, as she continued. "I'm sure you've also heard that I destroyed that weapon and that I assisted the new Mand'alor, Bo-Katan Kryze, in removing the rest of the Imperial presence from Mandalore." More nodding, and a few smiles of encouragement.

"What you probably don't know is that I had no intention of ever becoming the Countess of our clan. I was going to step down so that Tristan could lead when Mother was ready to retire." She pushed on, ignoring the quiet gasps from the crowd and from her father. "I had a life that I loved with my other family, fighting with the Rebellion. I had a purpose that suited me perfectly. I had a place where I belonged." Ezra's hand stroked her back slightly in approval even as the crowd shifted restlessly.

Sabine so badly wanted to turn her head and smile at him in gratitude, but she couldn't take her eyes off the clan. Not now.

"I also had a soul mate right under my nose that I didn't know I had until the events of a few days ago opened my eyes." This brought a few chuckles. Sabine held her left hand out to the side, indicating for Ezra to take it and step forward. As he did so, she said, "You also have undoubtedly heard that Ezra won a challenge for me and we're now married. Most happily, I might add." Louder chuckles and a few grins sent Ezra's way was the response to that.

Ezra smirked, not understanding the vast majority of what Sabine was saying in Mando'a, but he caught the gist of the meaning from the thoughts she was broadcasting and the reactions of the crowd. He laced his fingers with Sabine's and kissed the back of her gloved hand, just to show the room that he was quite happy to prove his claim on her.

"Save it for later, lover boy!" someone yelled in Basic from the middle of the crowd, much to everyone's amusement.

"Don't need to!" Ezra called back smugly. "I have nothing left to prove to my cyar'ika." He winked at Sabine. The crowd roared with laughter.

Sabine actually blushed a little. She fought past that and took control of the situation again. "I know Mother would have disapproved of my marriage to Ezra because he is a Jedi and she was firmly raised to hate them, just like most of us were, including myself. But I learned to see beyond the old prejudices and so can you. Ezra is my choice and I will not give him up for anything. Not even you." Her clan was silent again, the majority of them with nearly identical brown eyes studying her as they tried to figure out where she was going with this. "He's loyal and honourable and dependable and fights with everything he has for what he believes in. In short, he's very much like the best of what a Mandalorian should be, so I don't ever want to hear that I married Jedi scum or anything like that because I will very much hurt the one who said it." She gave the crowd her mother's patented glare just to emphasize her point.

"I approve the match, as well," Alrich added, earning a grateful glance from Sabine.

"I've seen firsthand that Sabine's Jedi is a worthy match for her," Shubin added. "I also support her choice."

"Thank you, Cousin." Sabine smiled at the older man warmly. She raised a brow at the crowd. "Does anyone have anything negative to say about my choice of mate?"

The people glanced at each other. One or two may have thought about speaking against Ezra, but they changed their minds to find that they were vastly outnumbered. Most shook their heads at Sabine.

"Good." She gave her clan a beaming smile. "Now here's the conundrum I find myself in. Ezra's world is currently occupied by the Empire and they are striping it bare to make weapons and TIE fighters in the factories of Lothal. I promised him long ago that we would free his world. Without thinking it through well enough, I came up with a plan that would win Ezra's world back. It involves the help of the Rebellion and the Mand'alor, which is fine. But it also involves moving Clan Wren to Lothal permanently so that we can protect the planet once we expel the Empire from it. The Protectors would take over guarding Krownest and the diamond mines. Some of you could stay behind and join them if you wished."

There was an immediate rumble from the crowd, as Sabine expected. She let go of Ezra's hand to raise hers, gaining their attention back. "Hear me out, please." They quieted, but she could see the frowns on many of their faces. "Technically, I am currently your Countess by right of blood, but it's not a done deal yet. I have every intention of keeping my word to my husband and doing whatever is necessary to help him in his mission. If that means that I step down now and leave you to fight amongst yourselves for a new leader, then that's what I'll do, but that's not what I want to happen. I want us to work together to fight for a worthy cause. I want to lead you, even though it took me a while to talk myself into accepting that fact. I want to be a worthy Countess for you."

She stopped, taking another deep breath. "So this is what I've decided we are going to start with. We are going to vote…"

"What!?"

She raised a disapproving brow at the teenage male who'd interrupted her. He had the grace to look ashamed. Sabine continued. "We are going to vote on whether or not you are willing to move the Clan to a dangerous location and follow my orders, keeping in mind that some of you may stay here permanently and that all the children and at least one parent will also stay here until it is safe to move to them to Lothal. And then, if the majority vote yes, we will continue with the proceedings as normal wherein any of you may challenge me for the right to lead the clan. If the majority vote no, then I'll step down right now. Understood?"

They nodded.

Alrich almost asked her if she was sure about this, but then changed his mind when he saw the determined tilt of her jaw and remembered that questioning a Countess' decisions was a bad idea. (Ursa did have him well trained, after all.)

Sabine gazed at her clan and the hovering holobot, giving them a moment to process their options before saying, "If you're voting yes, please raise your hand." And then she held her breath as one hand (Shubin's) and then another (Junie's) and then another and another and so on went up, until all but three hands were raised. (She wasn't counting the children too young to understand what was going on.)

She exhaled in relief, not realizing she'd been holding her breath. Beside her, Ezra and Alrich did the same. She smiled a little weakly at her clan. "Thank you for your faith in me. I believe that in the long run, you'll like our new home. It's warm, for one thing."

That generated a return of the chuckles.

Sabine smiled wider. "Now for the most interesting part. Do any of you wish to challenge for the right to lead the Clan?" She gave the two men and one woman who hadn't raised their hands a particularly pointed look. The men shook their heads and shifted back a fraction after thinking it through. (Sabine smirked internally, because they were both people that she'd beaten in sparring sessions over the last month.)

The woman, though, wife to the blond warrior who'd backed down, stepped forward. "I do. I challenge you, Sabine Wren, for leadership of Clan Wren."

Sabine practically felt Ezra and her father tense beside her. And the group kind of gasped again.

Sabine inclined her head at the brown haired woman who was also a distant cousin, being her grandfather's youngest sister's daughter. In all honesty, she had almost as much a claim on the title as Sabine did. "As you wish, Loral Wren. Shall we go downstairs and get this over with?"

"Yes, but I think outside would be more appropriate." Loral swept out of the Great Hall with her head held high and Sabine had no choice but to follow the older woman.

One of them might be about to die.

Ezra was on the verge of freaking out as he pieced together what was happening.

There was a mad dash of warriors for the balcony overlooking the lake, while a few followed Sabine and that other woman out of the hall, including the blond male Ezra sensed was attached to the challenging female. Ezra and Sabine's father were at the front of that group.

"This is what I think it is, isn't it?" Ezra asked Alrich quietly as he kept his eyes firmly fixed to Sabine's back. Her emotions were calming with every step as she found the well trained and confident warrior within herself once more.

"It is." Alrich sounded as unhappy about it as Ezra felt.

They stepped outside onto the front deck, also made of stone, and walked most of the way down the stairs. Sabine and her challenger were eyeballing each other at the base of the steps.

Ezra's stomach churned unpleasantly and he had to clench his fists to keep himself from stepping between them and giving the older woman a piece of his mind. (It would involve a lot of swearing and name calling.)

Alrich must have noticed Ezra's agitated state because he put a hand on Ezra's arm. "We can't interfere," he murmured quietly so only Ezra could hear.

"I know." The words were ground out through Ezra's clenched teeth.

He fisted his hands tighter as all his Jedi calm went flying out the airlock.

Sabine stared her older and bigger cousin in the eyes steadily. "How do you want to do this?" Because, as the Challenger, Loral had the choice of weapons, location, and how much armour they wore.

Loral narrowed her eyes at Sabine, giving her skimpy armour a sneer. "No helmets or jetpacks. No blasters or explosives. Blades and your own limbs only."

"Fine," Sabine said as she put her helmet down on the bottom step, then stripped off her belts and jetpack. Those went on the step as well. As she pulled her favourite knife out of its sheath on her utility belt, she kept an eye on the other woman who was also stripping off her belts. They both had the same idea then; giving the other less to grab on to.

Loral was wearing full armour, much like her mother's, just heavier on the silver and black and not so much gold. (As was appropriate.) She would be better protected and harder to hurt, but Sabine would be more agile in light armour. It was a fair trade off.

Their eyes were still glued to each other as they stepped away from the stairs and further out into the packed snowy landscape between the stronghold and the frozen lake that only thawed for two months of the year. "First blood, unconscious but healable, or to the death?" Sabine asked as they stalked around each other, because it was an important thing to clarify.

In hostile takeovers, to the death was common. But Sabine had always gotten along with Loral, if not exactly friendly since there was a seventeen year age gap between them. But the fact that Loral had chosen blades indicated that there was some resentment there that she wasn't afraid to demonstrate.

Loral took almost half a minute to answer, her mind obviously working over the pros and cons of each option. Eventually, she smiled tightly at Sabine. "I think unconscious and hurting is enough to make my point. I might not like your choices, little cousin, but you're still my family."

Sabine inclined her head slightly, griping her knife in her right hand with the blade pointed towards her forearm so she could still use that fist to punch. "As you wish." She continued her deliberate circle in the snow, waiting for Loral to make the first move, and ignored the holobot that hovered nearby, recording everything so that even the clan members who were on duty elsewhere could watch.

"Not to the death," Alrich breathed in relief.

"What?" Ezra said, not talking his eyes off of his wife and her opponent. Along with the others who'd come outside, they'd moved off the stairs and were now lined up against the wall of the building. He didn't feel the cold air that seeped into his clothes.

Alrich repeated himself in Basic. "Not to the death. They're not fighting to the death."

Ezra relaxed a fraction. "But…?" Because he could sense a but in that sentence.

"But they're still going to do their best to hurt each other badly."

"Great." It was anything but great, but Ezra would take it. Cuts and bruises could be healed, after all. The stars knew that both he and Sabine had their fair share of scars from years of dangerous missions.

Now he just had to watch as his warrior goddess did her thing and try to remember to breathe every once in awhile.

After ten minutes of punching, kicking, flying elbows, and the occasional slash with a knife, the opponents got serious.

Sabine scored a hit to Loral's upper arm, slashing through the thick bodysuit and leaving a line of red on the skin.

Loral hissed in pain and lunged at Sabine, taking the smaller female down to the snow where they proceeded to roll around with fists flying, both trying to pin the other.

Loral managed to straddle Sabine with her superior weight. Sabine's head snapped back as Loral landed a lucky strike to the jaw, but she shook it off and punched back, smirking in satisfaction when the other woman's nose broke with the impact. Blood splattered everywhere but it didn't knock her out. While Loral was momentarily dazed, Sabine aimed her open palm at Loral's jaw, but she moved her head to the side at the last millisecond, making Sabine's hand skim off the side of her face.

Snarling, Loral raised her knife hand and brought it down, aiming for a stab at Sabine's right shoulder. Sabine blocked her at the last second with her right vambrace. While they were locked in a power struggle, she rotated her left wrist, triggering the hidden blade in her left vambrace.

Sabine slashed at Loral's side, drawing another line of red to the surface.

Loral looked down at her side in surprise, giving Sabine the opportunity to throw her off. Loral rolled through the snow and came up on her feet with another knife that she drew from her boot.

Sabine copied her. They circled again, eyes glaring proverbial daggers to go along with the real ones.

"You're going to regret that," Loral growled.

Sabine curled her lip in a semblance of a smile, taunting. "I don't think so. You're bleeding in three places and I'm not."

Loral flew at her, blades slashing.

Sabine blocked and dodged as needed and slashed back.

Their arms were a flurry of movement that was barely followable with the naked eye. Their feet danced in the snow. Sweat plastered their hair to their heads. And drops of red fell from Loral.

And then Loral somehow got through her defenses, sinking a knife into Sabine's side before Sabine moved away. While Sabine gasped in pain, Loral moved again, slashing Sabine's arm and drawing another line of red hot pain. Sabine barely moved in time to avoid the elbow aimed at her nose, taking it to the cheek instead. It still hurt enough as the bone fractured to send fireworks through her brain, but she kept her feet out of sheer determination.

Now they were both dripping red on the white snow.

And Sabine was bleeding faster than Loral. She could feel the liquid seeping down her side and into her leggings.

She had to end this before she grew faint from blood loss.

Sabine went on the offensive more so than before, advancing on the taller woman with narrowed eyes and a determined jaw. She was not losing. No way, no how. Not now that she'd decided that being the Countess of her Clan was something that she wanted. Something that she needed to do to honour her mother's memory.

After a minute of feinting and blocking, she landed another slash to Loral, opening up a gash just below her cheekbone. As Loral turned her head to go with the blow, Sabine spun like lightning and kicked her hard in the stomach, sending the other woman flying. Sabine pounced on her, landing with her knees on the woman's chest, forcing the air out of her lungs. Then she dropped her knives and applied pressure to the sides of Loral's neck, cutting off the supply of blood to her brain until she went limp in the snow. "I win," she growled at the unconscious woman, holding the pose for a few seconds longer than necessary as primal triumph flooded her.

Sabine picked her blades up from the red tinged and much trampled snow, wiping one on her pant leg before putting it back in her boot. The other was cleaned as well, but she kept it clutched in her hand as she pushed off Loral's body and forced herself to her feet, every ache and pain making itself known to a nearly excruciating degree. Her sock squished with the blood from her side that had run down her leg, her bodysuit meant to repel moisture, not absorb it like a lighter fabric would have.

She'd only taken two steps when Ezra was by her side, wrapping an arm around her to help hold her up. Loral's husband went flying past, only pausing to give Sabine a brief nod of respect before he was kneeling in the snow and gathering his wife up in his arms to take to the medical centre.

Sabine just barely registered that there was a roar of cheering for her from the people on the balcony before she looked up at Ezra. "Catch me," she whispered as her knees crumpled and her eyes closed against her will.

He did.

She felt herself picked up in his arms as her last hold on consciousness fled.

Sabine fluttered back to consciousness only to find herself immersed in a tank of warm and thick bacta. She closed her eyes again.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was lying on the bed in her room, naked except for a bacta bandage on her side, on her cheekbone, and another around her arm, and covered by a silk sheet and thick blanket.

Ezra was lying on his side facing her in just his t-shirt and trousers, on top of the blankets, his eyes closed and his hand clutching hers loosely.

"Hey."

Ezra's eyes snapped open and he beamed at her. "Sabine. You're awake."

Obviously. And so was he, now. But Sabine didn't bother to point that out. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours. You lost a lot of blood, but otherwise, you're not too bad off. You'll have another sexy scar on your side for me to kiss. Your arm and cheekbone should heal without any complications. The med droid says you can take those bandages off in the morning and that you need to get the one on your side replaced at the same time." Ezra leaned over her, caressing her hair off to the side, his gem blue eyes looking worried despite the confident words.

Sabine raised her good arm and caressed his jaw in return, feeling the hint of stubble that was attempting to make itself known. She smiled at him. "Wonderful. I'd hate to have bandages mar the look of my dress."

Ezra laughed at the sarcasm that pervaded her tone. "Your father's postponed the rest of the ceremonies until lunchtime tomorrow for just that reason."

Sabine laughed before cutting herself off as her side twinged in protest. "He probably wants to paint my portrait like he did for Mother's Coronation ceremony. Bandages would not be the thing at all."

Ezra smiled at her dry tone, leaning over and kissing her lightly on the mouth. "That would be the end of the world, wouldn't it?"

"For an artist of my father's caliber, yes," Sabine said as she pushed the blankets aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

"Where are you going?" Ezra sprang up and off the end of the bed in an instant to help her, a frown of concern lining his brow.

"To the refresher. Aside from needing the loo, I have to take care of some girl things."

Ezra's eyes opened wider as a look of comprehension crossed his face. He stayed by her side and let her lean on his arm as she walked carefully to the attached refresher in her suite. "Ah. I was waiting for that."

Sabine paused, looking up at him in surprise. "You were?"

Ezra smirked and blushed crimson at the same time, an interesting look, to say the least. "I happen to keep track of your moody days in the interest of self preservation. All us guys on the Ghost did. Knowing that you're on regulators makes so much sense now, because you were moody every thirty days like clockwork."

Sabine opened her mouth but no sound came out. She was honestly speechless. And kind of embarrassed. She closed her mouth with a snap and sniffed before walking on via her own steam. "Right. Well, since you know anyway, I might as well tell you now there won't be any sex for three days."

Ezra snorted as he followed her, leaning on the doorway with casually crossed arms. He drank in the sight of her naked form as she stopped in front of the mirror and poked at the bandage on her cheek before running a brush through her hair to make it fall the way she wanted it, managing to almost cover that side of her face. "I was expecting that as well. But… how do you feel about shower sex? There's no mess and orgasms are supposed to be good for easing cramps."

Sabine gawked at him, meeting his twinkling eyes via the mirror. "Who are you and what have you done with the immature boy I first met?"

Ezra shrugged and grinned. "I grew up."

Sabine felt a smile grow on her face as she turned around and walked back to him. She pulled him down for a brief but thorough kiss by fisting the front of his shirt. When she pulled away, she said, "Yes, you did."

And then she closed the door in his face.

"Was that a yes, then?" he yelled through the door.

Sabine just laughed. Once. She'd tell him her answer later when her side didn't hurt so much.