It was over an hour later and Athena still sat in the pool - arms crossed and a frown on her lips.
Rae brought over another bucket of cold water and began to pour it into the pool. Seeing that Athena's overheated body caused the water to heat up and evaporate, more cool water needed to be added periodically.
It was refreshing, even though Athena refused to admit it.
"Okay, how are you feeling?" Rae asked.
"Better," Athena nodded.
Rae placed a careful hand on the girl's forehead, feeling a very high temperature still. "You are still burning. Man, those flames must have been intense."
"I was stupid," Athena rolled her eyes. "I should've turned those flames off when Ahsoka told me to."
Rae sat the bucket down with its bottom facing up and used it as a seat next to the little pool. "It's not your fault. You're brand new to this whole thing. You'll get used to it eventually."
"I just wish Zeb and Ahsoka hadn't come into contact with me," Athena grumbled. "Now their hands are all messed up."
"They'll be fine, Athena," Rae assured. "They got some bandages on them and should heal here soon."
Athena let out a heavy sigh and slouched her shoulders, leaning her back against the natural dirt wall of the pool. The water was about to her armpits when she sat up and was wide enough to where she could stretch her legs out and not hit the other side of the wall.
Her shoes and socks sat just outside of the pool as her clothes clung to her skin. Her hair floated loosely around her in the water.
"Hey, sorry I poured water on you yesterday," Rae said. "I just thought it was a fun way to bond with the crew."
"It was a silly prank. I'm not mad, Rae," Athena smiled as she rolled her eyes.
Rae smiled with relief and was about to say something when she felt a splash of water fill her mouth. She gagged and coughed it out as Athena laughed.
"Now we're even," Athena laughed.
"Okay, okay, fair, fair," Rae coughed out the last bit of water. "I had that coming."
"At least you won't have to sleep in the cargo bay," Athena remarked.
"Aw, we thought it would be fun for you to have a sleepover with Ezra," Rae teased. "Or, what did you call him? Blue fruit? Blue...berry?"
"Blueberry," Athena rolled her eyes. She froze as a shock of realization came over her. "Wait, he told you about me calling him blueberry head?"
"Yeah, we gossiped," Rae poked fun at her.
"Wow, okay, leave me out of the Jedi Padawan gossip?" Athena jokingly said in an offended voice.
"You were gone with Ahsoka already," Rae shrugged. "He told me how you two were having a little race yesterday up that tree-" she pointed to the tree with a snapped branch. "-and that's when Prince Charming saved your life~"
"Shut it, he ain't even cute," Athena scoffed.
Rae giggled and playfully shoved the girl's shoulder, "Aw, but he saved you! Then you gave him a pet name!"
"It's not a pet name!" Athena defended. "I was mocking him!"
"By calling him by the name of a cute little berry?" Rae sarcastically asked.
"It was a mocking term!" she said. "I was mocking the guy!"
"How adorable~"
"What about you? Has he tried to flirt with you?"
She shook her head, her dark and bouncy hair going with the motion, "Nope. He's stuck on you for now."
"Great," Athena rolled her eyes to the sky. "You're cute, why don't you do me a favor and flirt with him? Maybe get him off my back."
"Nah, I think you would be better," Rae shrugged. "Plus, I don't really like guys like him. Not my type."
"He's the Padawan of my brother, doesn't that make them like father-son?" Athena pointed out. "Disgusting."
Rae shook her head, "Nah, the bond of Master and Apprentice is a little different. It's all metaphorical, anyhow."
"I'm good," Athena scoffed.
"But you think I'm cute too?" Rae raised an eyebrow.
"You are cute, but not my type," Athena shrugged with a chuckle. "Sorry."
"Athena!" a voice called.
The girls looked over to the ship and saw Ezra at the base of the Ghost's ramp, waving. He wore his old orange clothes once again.
Athena groaned in misery as Rae chuckled.
"So cute," Rae fawned as she looked to Athena. "I'm thinking a small wedding-"
Athena stood from the pool of water and shook her head of hair like a wet dog.
Ezra came over to the two with a smile on his face, "Hey, Hera sent me on a mission to get some batteries from the city. You wanna come?"
"Take Rae, I can't stand her right now," Athena wiped her wet hair back out of her face.
"No thanks," Rae chuckled. "I still got clean-up duty on the Ghost."
"It's best to go in pairs into the city, so come on!" Ezra encouraged. "I'll give you my cloak for you to wear over that."
Athena sighed and glared down at Rae.
She had a choice. Stay in this ice cold bath and listen to Rae insinuate about her and Ezra's mythical relationship, or just bite the bullet and walk more than five miles to the capital city with Ezra?
"Fine." she spat out.
"Great," Ezra grinned as he handed the girl a mass of blue cloth.
She ripped the blue cloak from his hands and wrapped in around her damp shoulders as she stepped out of the pool.
She began to walk away towards the forest as Ezra called out to her.
"Athena, your shoes!"
"Don't need them. Let's go."
Ezra lightly chuckled and glanced over his shoulder back to Rae. The two shared a smile and a thumbs up before Ezra continued off with Athena next to him.
Sabine raised her eyebrow at this as she approached Rae from behind.
"You two are up to something," the Manadolian with wildly colored hair said.
"Ah, it's nothing," Rae smirked.
"It doesn't look like nothing," Sabine said with a small smile creeping on her lips. "You're trying to set those two up together."
"Are you complaining about it?"
Sabine scoffed and laughed, "No. Hopefully, this means I won't have to hear any pickup lines ever again."
"One can only hope," Rae joked.
"Come on, Hera is making us mop the common room and kitchen," Sabine nodded for the girl to follow.
Ahsoka gave them a wave 'hello' when she saw them pass her by in the cargo bay, hands covered in bandages.
The togruta stepped outside and sat on a crate by the dwindling campfire. She sighed as she watched the logs crackle and pop every so often.
How was she going to train this kid? Ahsoka knows that every Master goes through doubts as they start training their Padawan - but this had to have been different. This kid wasn't exactly normal. She was connected to a destiny far beyond the others. A destiny amongst the cosmos to fight for stability and balance.
She looked down to her bandaged hands and closed her eyes, focusing the flow of the Force to the blisters that riddled her palms and fingers.
It didn't work.
It brought temporary relief, but when she unwrapped the bandage, all she saw was bloody blisters.
She may have had the last droplet of Daughter in her - but that didn't mean she was up to the power Daughter had possessed. She may have brought Athena back to life, but that was Athena.
The child the Ones had trained. Destined to fight Abeloth.
It reminded her of Anakin's 'destiny' as the Chosen One. To bring balance to the Force.
That didn't seem to be working out.
Anakin was gone.
A gentle hand touched the togruta's shoulder. She turned to see a familiar face staring back at her.
Rex sat on the crate next to her and looked at her with a sense of concern.
"How are you holding up?"
She sighed, "Not as well as I had hoped."
"The burns still hurting?"
She shook her head. "Not just that. It's...it's Athena."
"You're having doubts about your teachings?"
"Every Master does at one point in their teachings," Ahsoka met his eyes. "I just didn't realize mine would be so much to bear."
"You got a special kid to train," Rex commented. "I've never seen a Jedi do what she does."
"She's nothing like any Jedi before her," Ahsoka admitted. "I don't know how to proceed."
"You're a great teacher Ahsoka, just as you were a great commander in the war," Rex assured.
Ahsoka looked up to the cloudy and grey sky. Her eyes filled with worry and dread.
"What if I can't train her? What happens then?"
"You'll do great Ahsoka," Rex stated. "It's either you train her or the Empire does."
Ahsoka shivered at that thought.
What kind of Hell could the Empire unlock if they ever got a hold of that girl?
"She'll do great. You'll do great, Ahsoka." Rex said again. "If there were one person in this whole galaxy to train a kid with that much power with the Force, it'd be you."
Ahsoka chuckled at that, reminiscing for a moment. "My Master was supposedly the Chosen One. Who better to train Athena than the Chosen One's former Apprentice?"
"It'll all be okay," Rex placed a sturdy hand on Ahsoka's shoulder.
"I hope so," she looked down into the flames of the crackling fire. "I sure hope so."
"Wait up!" Ezra called as he chased after the flowing blue cloth ahead of him. "You don't even have the map!"
"I can sense it," Athena called back to the boy as she continued to rush through the forest "Just hurry it up, slowpoke."
He caught up next to the barefoot girl and huffed, "What do you mean you can sense it? How do you sense a town?"
"I can feel the magma under the ground flowing from the main magma chamber. Ahsoka said the town was built right by the volcano's base, so that means I can follow the magma right to the town."
"You can sense magma?" Ezra questioned in disbelief. "No way!"
"I can control fire. Magma and lava are just a sublevel of fire. I can sense its movement."
Ezra looked down to see Athena's bare feet carefully tread through the dark soil. She didn't step on one sharp rock or thorn. Her feet knew exactly where to plant themselves with every step.
"So I guess training with Ahsoka was actually progressive for the first part?" Ezra asked.
It had been an hour since they had started off on their hike to town - the city was just 15 or so minutes away now. Ezra wouldn't shut up the entire time.
"Yeah, whatever." she snapped.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two. Ezra knew he shouldn't have mentioned training with Ahsoka, seeing that she felt bad enough about burning Zeb and Ahsoka without having to be reminded of it.
"Wow, silence. I don't have a lot of that with you around," Athena jabbed, glancing at him.
"Hey, I'm an interesting guy with lots to say."
"Sure you are."
"I am!"
"Whatever you say, Blueberry," Athena scoffed. She shook her head in anger once she realized that little name would come to bite her in the butt.
"Hey, if I'm Blueberry, what's your nickname?" Ezra said. He put a hand on his chin as he eyed Athena, looking for something to use as a nickname.
"Athena, how about just that?"
"Nah." Ezra waved that off. "How about Blondie? Since you're usually blonde?" he saw that her damp hair looked more brown at the moment.
"How creative." Athena rolled her eyes.
"We're here," Ezra stated, pointing off to the distance. "I guess you really did know where we were going."
"What, you think I'd lie about knowing the way? That would mean I'd spend more time in the forest with you," Athena remarked.
Just up ahead, between the trees, they saw a grey and blue town covered in fog. Ezra felt a sense of nostalgia as the buildings gave a similar vibe to Lothal's architecture. Roundish buildings that didn't really reach too high up.
Tarps lined the streets, stretched between the buildings to create roofs for passing pedestrians from the common day rain. Nearly no vehicles roamed the empty streets. A lone pedestrian or two passing by here and there.
Athena put up the hood on her borrowed blue cloak and tread carefully as they entered this new town.
The two teens were in awe not by the brand new city they laid eyes on, but rather what laid behind it.
A giant, black, mound of planet taller than any mountain either had ever personally beheld in their sight.
Athena's feet buzzed so much as her senses went nuts. A pool of magma larger than she could even comprehend laid just beyond the town and under the giant mound of dirt and rocks. Clouds swirled around the tip of the mound as most of the body hid behind a haze of fog.
"That's the volcano?" Athena's jaw dropped. "That thing is hugeeee."
"Yeah, I guess that's the volcano," Ezra chuckled in disbelief. "It's gigantic."
"That thing could wipe out this side of the planet if it wanted to."
The two were taken aback by the stranger's voice. Just a few feet away from them stood a human man behind a merchant's cart. Dangly and flashy jewelry hung from the top of the cart's roof, rings and bracelets stacked ontop of each other in the center.
"You two look like you are not from here," the man commented. He was somewhere in his late seventies, grey hair, dark eyes, thick and short beard on his chin.
Athena glanced at Ezra. She didn't know what people in this galaxy were like. Should they just keep moving? Should they respond?
"We just arrived here," Ezra said. "So, you from around here?"
"Born and raised," the elderly man laughed. "Now that volcano you were asking about? That's Hellvius Inferno. One hell of a volcano."
"Why was there a town built at the base of a freaking volcano?" Athena raised an eyebrow at the man.
"Ash."
"Excuse me?"
"The ash that comes from the top of that volcano provides eighty percent of this planet with fertilizer," the old man said. "It gives the farmers around here the boost they need to keep up with the Empire's quota."
"The Empire placed a quota on this planet's farmers?" Ezra asked, all too familiar with this topic. The Empire stealing from its people.
The man nodded in what seemed disgust. "Yep. For the last fifteen years, almost sixteen now, farmers have had to keep up with the quota while also trying to feed their families."
"Typical," Ezra rolled his eyes as he shook his head.
"Yeah, but at least merchants like me aren't bothered all too often," he then gestured down the street. In the distance, two figures in white armor.
Athena recognized those helmets. The same helmets they had her practice firing on. Now, they were full bodies with guns in hand.
"There are very few on this planet compared to most of the galaxy, but they hurt business nonetheless."
"This planet doesn't have many Imperials?" Ezra questioned.
The old man shook his head, "Not too many. We are simple people here on Bakunyuu. No need for force when there's never any trouble."
Ezra glared down the street, keeping a careful eye on the two troopers as they went about their patrol.
"Would you like to buy a pretty necklace for the pretty lady you have with you today, my good sir?" the merchant gestured to the array of colorful jewelry on his cart. "You can't let your girlfriend go about with no token of appreciation from you."
"I am not his girlfriend," Athena shook her head. "I have standards, ya know?"
The old merchant scanned his eye over the girl in front of his cart. She wore a blue cloak, hood up, and her feet were bare to his surprise.
"Maybe later," Ezra waved as he began to walk in another direction. "She's not in a good mood."
"I will light your ass on fire," Athena warned as she followed the boy down the street.
"You wouldn't dare."
They continued to walk down the street, scanning their eyes for some sort of shop that would sell batteries.
"So, what should I know about your galaxy that I don't already know?" Athena asked. "I'm not used to any of this."
"First, don't say anything when you don't know something," Ezra stated. "Also, don't mention any of your 'planet's' things."
"Alright, so just follow your lead for now?"
He nodded.
There was a moment of silence before they spoke again. The streets were mostly quiet. Barely a merchant cart with a depressed merchant behind them every couple of blocks.
Symbols of what looked to resemble gears were stamped here and there along the town. Athena eyed these symbols - never having seen them before in her life.
The town was so dreary. Everything, including the sky, was either dark blue or grey.
Boy, did Athena hate this color now.
She looked to Ezra - the only colorful thing in the town for what seemed forever. His orange jacket and pants contrasted so much with the world around him.
Athena didn't even realize that she had already blended into the rest of Bakunyuu. Her blue cloak, her dreary tone of voice, and her solemness helped her blend into this planet's atmosphere better than she even knew.
She was always good at that. Like a chameleon, the girl would blend right into whatever new environment she was brought into. If you never had a consistent environment, it was only natural you learned to seamlessly adapt. That, or you died.
The only thing that stood out about her was the bracelet on her wrist - hidden by the cloak draped across her body - that glowed teal every so often.
The two eventually came across a stand with a female rodian behind it - metal pieces and parts streamed across the table in a messy fashion. Athena couldn't decipher a single piece of the metal pieces and parts, so she kept quiet as Ezra purchased a square of metal.
He gave her some credits and she gave him the piece of metal.
Metal for metal.
Athena didn't understand it.
She followed him down the street as he shoved the newly acquired object into his satchel.
"Well, we got a new battery for the electrobinoculars, so that's good," Ezra said as he closed the satchel, them both walking back to where they entered the town from the woods.
"Do we need to get anything else?"
"Not that I can think o...oh no," Ezra let out a sigh as he looked just ahead of them.
Athena followed his eyes gaze and saw those two being in white armor with black guns confront the old man who had talked to them earlier.
"Please, I promise you I have my license at my home," the old man pleaded with the Stormtroopers. "Let me go home and bring it to you and-"
"How do we know you won't just run off?" one of the armored beings barked.
"I won't, I-" the man stammered. He scrambled over his table of jewelry and picked up a jeweled necklace. "Here, it's my most valuable piece. I promise to bring my license with me next time-"
The other armored being knocked it out of his hands with his blaster and pointed his barrel at the old man. "Is that an attempt to bribe an officer?"
"No, I-"
"We're taking you in," the other roughly grabbed the old man by his arm.
"No please-"
Ezra couldn't even react before he felt a rumble beside him. He was about to pull out the slingshot attached to his wrist when he froze. He stopped breathing, he was so shocked by the energy radiating next to him.
The boy watched in confusion and horror as the Stormtrooper who held the blaster towards the old man screamed in agony. His hand now outstretched to his side - twisting in unnatural ways. Bones cracked and audibly snapped as the Stormtrooper was taken captive by this mysterious force.
His partner let go of the old man and screamed, "What? What the heck is going on?"
Though a good thirty meters away, Ezra could see the confusion on the old man's face as clear as day as he fell on his knees. The old man looked at the Stormtroopers with a petrified look plastered on his face.
Athena's left hand poked out from her cloak as she clenched it in the direction of the screaming trooper.
How dare he point a gun at such a non-threatening man. How dare he manhandle a man simply going about his business.
Ezra could barely move enough to even turn his head towards Athena. Her cloak hood was still up, but he was just able to get a glimpse of her. Her eyes glowed a bright orange now. The ground around her bare feet began to glow red - as if the concrete was heated by her rage.
Her hand was barely even out of her cloak - elbow still bent to where her arm was just above hip-level. Her teal bracelet gifted to her from her mother glowed teal now.
And she crushed that man's hand with such force.
The second trooper was about to look at them when Ezra jumped into action.
They needed to hide Athena. She couldn't be known by the Empire. Not yet. Not now.
He grabbed the hand that had so much power radiating from it and interwove his fingers with hers. The power shook him to the core, but he couldn't mind that now. He had to keep her hidden.
It was like she was suddenly snapped out of a hypnotic state. The ground beneath her no longer glowed with heat and her eyes were teal again.
She gasped when she realized what she had done to that Stormtrooper's hand. It was mangled now. Red blood dripped out of his glove and stained his white armor.
"We got to get you to a medic," the injured Stormtrooper's partner looked around the area. The eyes behind the helmet landed on the two teens. "You two-"
Their hearts were in their throats. Athena clenched Ezra's hand a little tighter by her side.
"Where is the nearest hospital?"
"They aren't from here," the old man behind the troopers quivered. "There's a doctor's office on the west side of town-"
"That's no good." the uninjured Stormtrooper shook his head. "We're going back to the base." he glared at the old man. "Consider yourself lucky."
The Stormtrooper was still screaming bloody murder as his partner ushered him away.
It wasn't until the two troopers were out of sight that Ezra and Athena could breathe a sigh of relief.
They released each other's hands and hustled over to the old man to help him to his feet.
The man shakily stood up and sighed in relief once his hands could grip onto his cart once more.
"Are you okay?" Ezra asked, hand on the man's back. "Were you hurt?"
The man laughed. Athena and Ezra were off-put by this jolly laugh erupting from the old man's throat.
The man's eyes landed on the girl at his side and he gave a great smile, "It is not every day I have a Goddess to save me from my daily troubles."
Athena stammered and stuttered, taking her hood down to let her flood of loose blonde hair free. "Wh- what? Goddess? Me? No! I-"
He placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling with his eyes. "Thank you, mighty Inferna. I knew from the moment I saw your bare feet that you were one with Mother Bakunyuu. Now I know that the Gods have blessed me with the presence of the mighty Goddess Inferna. I cannot thank the stars enough tonight or for the rest of my life for you."
"I- I didn't do anything," Athena stammered. Talk about blowing your cover big-time.
"It is fine," he assured.
Athena and Ezra shared a concerned look over the man's shoulder.
"I will keep your presence a secret, your holiness," he promised. "You may proceed to bring your blessings unto this planet with no interference from a commoner like myself."
"Sir, did you hit your head?" Athena begged. "I am no Goddess. I am a child."
"I know. Mother Bakunyuu often gives her children a child-like appearance for as long as they bring about their blessings to us," the man nodded in certainty.
"Let's get you a seat, sir," Ezra let out a nervous chuckle. Boy, this guy sounded insane now.
"No, there is no need," the man smiled at Ezra. "For Lady Inferna has blessed me with her presence, I cannot take a seat before her and disrespect her."
"Sir, please," Athena figured there was no convincing him. "Just go about your life as you would any other day. My presence should not disrupt the pattern of the people I walk amongst for now. I came here not for that."
"I understand, your holiness," the man nodded in agreeance. "Thank you for your enlightenment."
Athena took a step away from the man, knowing he probably wasn't going to fall now anyhow. Ezra did the same and joined Athena by her side.
The man gestured to his array of jewelry. "Please, take what you like. I insist."
Athena knew the man would not subside if she did not oblige. Best to attract as little attention as possible from others on this street and to get out of here as fast as possible.
She looked over the mass of jewelry, scanning her eyes over the many beads, jewels, and stones. This man was already struggling, so there was no point in taking anything expensive from him.
She saw the jeweled necklace that had been knocked out of the man's hands from earlier and picked it up and held it to the man. "You dropped this, sir. You said it was your most expensive."
"No, your holiness," he bowed his head. "It is yours."
"Sell it. Say it has been blessed by the touch of a Goddess," she commanded with her strong voice. "I have no need for such jewels."
He obliged and took the necklaces of valuable green jewels into his hands. Athena looked to the table again.
She picked up a small black ring, the least valuable looking piece on the entire cart. A single circle of black.
The old man chuckled, "I would expect no less from the Goddess Inferna to pick the ring made from her own lava."
"This is made of lava?" she asked.
"Yes." he gestured to the giant mountain of lava behind himself. "Straight from Hellvius Inferno. Obsidian."
"I appreciate your generosity," she nodded as she put the ring on her right index finger. "Please, stay safe."
"I shall."
Athena looked at Ezra and they shared a concerned stare.
"I shall never forget your kindness today, Goddess Inferna. Thank you," he announced once again. "You and your devoted muse."
"Muse?!" Ezra questioned in offense.
"Yes, let us be on our way now, my noble muse," Athena glared at the boy as she tightly gripped his shoulder. "Or else."
Ezra let out a regretful sigh and began to walk with Athena out of the city and back to their ship.
After about ten minutes into walking in the forest when Athena glared at Ezra.
"You couldn't even try to tell that guy I'm not a Goddess?"
"He was obviously insane!" Ezra defended.
She rolled her eyes and stuck her hand out in front of her, fanning her fingers to display the black ring made of obsidian.
"Well, it's cool that I got this ring."
Ezra laughed, "Yeah, gotta love the fact there were all those pretty colorful jewels and you chose the black rock."
"It's made of lava!" she defended her little ring. "It's special."
Ezra snorted, "Alright, your holiness."
She playfully punched his shoulder, "You shut it - muse."
Ezra chuckled and continued walking.
After a moment, Athena spoke again.
"Let's not tell the crew about all that," Athena said. "I think we nearly gave ourselves away and that's deserving of a pretty long grounding and lecture."
Ezra nodded. He thought back to the whole incident. The dark energy that surrounded the girl. The red in her eyes. The power that she held. The screams of pain from that Stormtrooper. He never saw anything like it before. It didn't feel nearly as scary as the kind of darkness that Sith Lord or those Inquisitors had… Her's was far more elusive and intoxicating.
It couldn't possibly be the dark, then, he thought to himself, it felt too good.
"I'm just glad you saved that guy," Ezra admitted, speaking in a soft voice.
Athena sighed, "Yeah. I'm actually sorry about all that. I almost lost control there."
They walked in silence for a moment.
"Thank you," she said. "For stopping me. For calming me down."
"You were angry at the Empire. It happens to the best of us," Ezra said, looking to the girl on his left.
She looked at him. "Do you ever get angry like that? At the Empire?"
They stopped walking and turned to each other.
"More often than I should," Ezra admitted with a sigh. "It's hard not to."
"Is this Empire really that evil?" she shook her head in disbelief. "Forcing people to give up their crops? Beaten in the street over a simple license?"
Ezra looked down, a frown forming on the corner of his mouth. "They've done worse. Far worse."
"...your family?" she looked up to him, trying to regain the eye contact they once shared.
He nodded, looking back into her eyes.
"They murdered my mother," she sighed. "But I never faced them until now. I can only imagine what you've lived through, having to face them every day."
"Well, that's why we fight," Ezra gave a weak smile. "To bring this Empire down."
"We'll take them down," Athena offered a smile. She stuck her right hand out. "Shake on it? For the Rebellion?"
He chuckled and took her hand, "For the Rebellion."
"We got a lot in common," Athena smirked. "I think we'll make fine friends, my good muse."
Ezra laughed and dramatically bowed, "Yes, your holiness."
The two let out a roar of laughter as they continued on the trek in the woods back home.
"You are so weird," Athena cackled as she wiped away a tear of laughter.
"Says you!" Ezra howled. "The barefoot girl walking through the darn town!"
"Hey, I didn't need them, now did I?" she laughed as she kicked her foot in front of herself to dramatically display it.
"Maybe we'll take the Empire down with just the smell of your stinky feet," Ezra joked.
"Says you!" she roared with laughter. "Your feet are the absolute worst!"
"Then you've never been in the same room as Zeb. He could kill a man with that smell!"
"You're too mean! Zeb is great!"
"He smells!" Ezra laughed.
"So do you!"
And so the two kept jabbing at each other and laughing all the way back to camp. It took them just a little over one hour to get to town, well over two hours to get back. They nearly burst a lung the two laughed so hard as they trekked back home.
Hera and Kanan were sitting by the fire as Athena and Ezra stumbled back to camp. Both teens clutching their stomachs as they laughed.
The two adults raised their eyebrows at each other, surprised by the sight.
"You two were gone for a while. Did you get that battery for the electrobinoculars?" Hera asked.
"Yeah," Ezra giggled as he dug in the satchel and soon displayed the little battery.
"What got you two so giddy?" Kanan questioned. "Athena, you didn't teach him to smoke, right?"
"Nah, he's like this sober anyhow," Athena laughed.
Kanan looked down and saw Athena's bare feet and let out a sigh of defeat. "Did you seriously walk nine klicks through the woods with no shoes?"
"Yeah," Athena's laugh slowly began to die off, but her smile did not.
"Man, she's insane as is, I can't imagine her if she smoked or drank something," Ezra howled laughing.
"Says you!" Athena laughed with him. "You were the one who tried to communicate with a bug two klicks back!"
"I wanted to be friends!" he nearly doubled over in laughter.
Hera and Kanan shared a confused glance.
"What is with them?" Hera questioned.
Kanan rolled his eyes, "Teenagers."
Hera looked back to the two laughing teens and spoke. "Hey, giggle party. Go put that battery in the electrobinoculars before you lose it."
The two teens did so, going up into the ship as they continued to share a laugh.
Hera raised an eyebrow and siped her caf as she looked at Kanan.
"What's that look for?"
"Ah, just thinking," Hera shrugged. "How we were like that once."
"No, no, no," Kanan shook his head. "Never happening. I don't want to be Ezra's brother-in-law."
"Oh, so you've been thinking about marriage already?" Hera joked. "I was predicting those two-"
"No Hera. There is no 'those two'." he stated. "Not gonna happen."
Hera rolled her eyes and looked back down to the fire. After a moment of silence, she spoke again.
"I think they would make a cute couple."
"Hera, no."
"Hera, yes," she smirked as she looked to her Jedi. "I can root for a relationship."
Kanan sighed in defeat, "You are ridiculous."
Soon, Sabine and Rae came out of the ship and approached the two.
"Hey, did you see the giggle party pass through?" Sabine commented, gesturing back to the ship.
"They seemed to have fun," Hera smiled.
Kanan's eyes widened as he looked at the others in shock, "Did you three do something?"
"Nah, I take the credit alone," Rae chuckled, raising her hand.
"She got Athena to go with Ezra, but I'm not exactly what happened to where they are getting along this well," Sabine said.
Kanan palmed his face, "Is this entire crew working against me in this?"
"Aw, you don't want your sister to date Ezra?" Rae teased.
"I don't want Ezra dating anyone," Kanan exasperated. "And I feel like I'm the only one in the crew right now who thinks it's weird if my Padawan and sister actually liked each other like that."
"Ezra could be your brother-in-law!" Sabine laughed when she realized.
"No, not going to happen," Kanan shook his head. "I forbid it."
"Good luck with that, luv," Hera smugly smirked as she sipped her caf.
Kanan sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me Rex, Zeb, Chopper, and Ahsoka aren't with you guys on this too."
"I don't know about Rex and Ahsoka, but Zeb and Chopper ship it," Rae smiled.
"Great…" the Jedi grumbled. "What is this? Rebellion's favorite couple?"
"Yes," Rae and Sabine simply stated.