After the commotion with the hatchlings, the ship had quieted down enough for Hera to focus on the sky. Kanan tried his best to stay up with her. Halfway through the night, he fell asleep in the copilot's chair. Hera did not wake him. She knew he needed rest after the struggle he'd endured with Vader.
Hera's own vigilance began to wane as the night wore on. That is, until Chopper suddenly entered the cockpit. The shot of adrenaline that burst from hearing one of his inquisitive warbles was enough to keep her going for another half hour. That gave her an idea. In retrospect, it was a bad idea to ask Chopper to keep her awake by any means necessary. The droid all too eagerly agreed. Throughout the night, she had been awoken to trills, beeps, impersonated ship warning sounds, prods, and even an electrical shock, which she immediately banned. She didn't know how Kanan was able to sleep through it all.
Her decision had taken its toll. Now, as the crack of dawn spilled over the mountain, it illuminated the Ghost's cockpit to reveal an exhausted Hera. Her right eye twitched as she compelled her gaze to stay firmly on the sky above. The only thing keeping her awake was the fear that the Emperor would descend upon them as soon as she closed her eyes. Working against this was Kanan's peaceful snores, threatening to lull her to sleep.
Ahsoka entered the cockpit, "How are you?"
Hera yelped in surprise.
This time Kanan woke up instantly, "Hera?! What's going on?! I'm blind!"
Hera calmed herself with steadying breaths once she realized it was just Ahsoka who had disrupted the quiet.
"Hera?!"
"I know." she answered Kanan with more composure than she felt.
It apparently did nothing to ease Kanan's alarm, "I can't see you at all! Are you ok?!"
"Yes, I am," she said a little impatiently.
"I don't think you understand; I can't see you or anything around us in the Force!"
"I KNOW!" Hera's patience broke, "We have lizards all over the kriffing ship that are keeping you from using it!"
They entered a moment of silence as Kanan awoke to his most recent memories and realizations.
Ahsoka looked at each of them, "You two should go get some rest. I can take over."
"Good idea/I'm fine." Kanan and Hera said at the same time.
"On second thought, I'm fine too." Kanan amended.
Ahsoka rubbed her forehead in frustration.
Sabine yawned and stretched.
"You're awake! Want to get some breakfast?"
She opened her eyes to see Ezra peering down at her from the top bunk.
Sabine smirked, "Hungry already?"
He scratched the back of his head, "Yeah all that running around yesterday must have drained my energy."
"Agreed." She stretched again and worked out the knots in her shoulders from sleeping in her armor. They'd have to figure out a better routine if he was to share her room again tonight. Something that involved changing into sleep clothes privately. Sabine sat up, and started putting on her boots, "Alright, let's go to the galley."
Ezra slid blissfully down the ladder and sat next to her, donning on his own boots as fast as possible.
His closeness made her blush, but as long as he didn't try anything, she wasn't about to complain.
As soon as he was done, he got up and walked towards her door, turning around to her, "Hey, afterwards, do you want to spar?" he asked, "I could really use the exercise, and I doubt Kanan's up for it."
With the ysalamiri around, Sabine doubted Kanan would be doing any sparring any time soon. But that also meant ... "Are you sure you're up for it? I mean, now that you can't use the Force, I have the advantage." she smirked.
He smiled and crossed his arms, playing along, "Oh? What makes you so sure you'll win? I've fought without using the Force before."
"Yeah, but you haven't fought me without the Force yet." she jabbed his arm lightly and walked out the door.
Zeb was already in the galley when they arrived, "Well, well, how'd the honeymoon go?"
Sabine and Ezra each gave him a disapproving look.
Zeb chuckled and continued eating his meal.
Sabine found something in the refrigeration unit and proceeded to heat it up. Ezra waited his turn to search for what he wanted for breakfast.
Ahsoka entered the galley.
Zeb turned his attention to her, "Ah, good, have you checked on Kanan and Hera?"
"Yes I have, and unfortunately they still refuse to rest."
Zeb laughed, "Yeah I could have told you that. Long ago, I learned to just give up arguing with Hera when she's set on something like that. She'll rest when she needs to."
Ahsoka frowned, "I'm not certain." she looked to Ezra and Sabine, "Have either of you had any luck in changing Hera's mind?"
"Yes, I have," Ezra said proudly.
"Without using the Force?" she clarified.
"Umm, well ..."
Sabine caught on quickly, "Wait, have you been using your Jedi mind trick on Hera?"
He held up his hands, "Only when it was important! And honestly, it hardly works at all on anyone here."
Sabine and Zeb glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. Sabine frowned, "You've been using your Jedi mind trick on ALL of us?"
"Only once! I swear! It was just after Kanan taught it to me."
Zeb dropped his waffle and moved towards Ezra, "That's it, I'm taking back every favor I did for you. Starting with this one; you owe me five ration packs."
"I only borrowed 3."
"Not going to work this time, kid. You owe me 5!"
Ahsoka put herself between Ezra and Zeb, gently pushing them apart, "Let's settle that later. Right now, we have an exhausted, pregnant captain who needs rest. Any ideas on a solution?"
Ezra thought about it, "What if we threaten to mutiny unless she goes to bed?"
Zeb snorted, "Tch, kid, the last time Kanan and I tried to mutiny against her, she nearly put blaster holes in our chests. I don't want to experience that again."
Sabine looked at him, "When and why did you try to mutiny?"
"It was before you came onboard. We thought we were protecting her. Turns out, Hera was right. I don't want to talk anymore about it."
Ezra held out his hands as if the solution were obvious, "So we take away her blaster first."
Zeb smirked, "I've got 3 questions for you: Do you know how many she carries? Do you know where she keeps them? Do you want to attempt to retrieve them? Because I don't."
Ezra sighed in defeat.
"She must be hungry. What if we just offer her a filling meal? She'll want to sleep after that." Sabine suggested.
Ahsoka cocked her head, "Will that work?"
Sabine smirked and threw a sideways glance at the Jedi, "It works on Ezra all the time."
"That's true." Ezra said, a new plan forming in his mind, "And I know just the meal ..."
In the cockpit, Hera nodded off again. Then quickly opened her eyes again. Kanan could sense her struggle from the sounds of her breathing.
"Hera, ... I think it's time."
There was a long pause as Hera's tired mind fought to figure out what he was saying, "Time for what?"
"It's been many hours. The Devastator would have shown by now."
Hera suddenly gripped the ship's control yoke tighter, "They could have stopped for repairs."
"They didn't before."
" ... " Hera still held onto the control yoke. Almost afraid to let go.
Even blind, Kanan seemed to know where her hands were, and he gently covered one with his own, "Hera ... it's time to get some rest. Let Sabine or Ahsoka take over for now."
Hera broke her gaze out the window to look at him.
The entourage of four made their way down the hallway towards the cockpit. Ezra led the pack holding his crafted prize in his hands.
Behind him, Sabine shook her head, "I really don't think any pie is supposed to be made with a ration bar crust."
"Give me a break, I didn't have much to work with."
"I think it's disgusting," Zeb stated with an amused grin on his face. He couldn't wait to see how this would play out.
"Hold your opinions, please."
"Thank you, Ahsoka." Ezra said appreciatively.
Ahsoka continued her caution to the others, "Remember the main objective; to convince Hera to rest."
"If she takes a bite of that, she might have to run immediately to the vacc-tube instead." Zeb smirked.
Ezra came to the door and halted.
"Having second thoughts about your abilities as a chef?" Zeb taunted.
Ezra frowned at him and entered the cockpit.
He almost ran into Hera, who was heading out the door with Kanan saying, "... you'll feel much better with even a short rest." Kanan stopped talking when he heard the others' footsteps come to a halt outside the door.
Hera's gaze swept across the four people staring dumbfounded back. If she thought their expressions were odd, she didn't acknowledge it. Instead she got down to business, "Ahsoka, I'll take up your offer to trade posts for a while."
Ahsoka simply nodded, worried that if she said anything, it would break whatever fortunate trance the pilot was in.
Then Hera's eyes locked onto the bowl in Ezra's hands, "What's this?"
"Um ... it's meiloorun pie for you?" Ezra said hesitantly.
Hera considered the awkward pastry for one long, tense moment. Finally she said, "Thanks Ezra, that was thoughtful of you," and took the offering. Hera continued towards her cabin with Kanan in tow.
Once the door closed behind the couple, the other four released their breath.
Sabine leaned closer to Ezra, "You'd better run. Once she takes a bite, she'll be out for blood."
"I didn't know we had pie." Kanan commented once they were in her room.
Hera was already chewing a morsel, "Do you want some? It's actually not that bad."
He held out his hand and she placed a sticky piece into his palm. It smelled weird. Hesitantly, Kanan tried a small bite, then scrunched his nose, "On second thought, I'm not that hungry."
His traitorous stomach rumbled.
"Yes you are, love, go to the galley and get something."
"Alright. Anything you need from there?"
"Something to drink."
"Sure, but it won't be caf." He grinned as he exited.
In the hallway, Kanan could hear Zeb walking towards the common area.
The Lasat stopped when he heard a cabin door close behind him. Zeb sounded surprised to see him, "Hera kick you out already?"
"I'm just getting something from the galley."
"Heh, something more edible?"
"Meiloorun pie is ... not my cup of tea. Hera seems to like it, though."
"She does?"
Kanan hummed an affirmative, too focused on feeling his way to the galley to give Zeb's response much thought. They reached the galley, and Kanan began to feel around for a mug, then something for himself.
No longer able to sense the contents of each container, he realized life with the ysalamiri was going to be much more challenging for him now. Much like it was when he first became blind.
He grabbed a container and held it towards Zeb, "Mind telling me what this one is?"
Zeb looked up from his own snack, "Oh, I think that's the casserole Hondo and Melch made. ... Trust me, you don't want to eat that."
"Ration pack it is, then." Kanan grabbed one from the cupboard. The stack of packages felt a little scant today. Hera normally took care of keeping track of inventory, but he didn't want to bother her with such questions right now. So he asked Zeb, "How many days of food do you think we have left?"
Zeb thought a moment, "Hmm, enough for a few, I think. We do need to restock eventually. There's a forest outside. I could go hunting."
Kanan filled the mug up with water, "That's not a bad idea. Take Sabine with you. Be careful."
"Hey, no one's going to mess with a Mandalorian and a Lasat warrior." Zeb said confidently.
Kanan smirked, "Well make sure to check with Ahsoka first for any dangerous life and other surprises to avoid. Maybe bring Chopper with you as well. He has a copy of all the Myrkr data Ahsoka compiled for us."
"We'll be fine." Zeb waved him off as he headed towards the cargo bay.
Kanan just shook his head slightly as he made his way through the dark back to Hera.
When he entered her cabin, he was startled to hear her up and pacing around.
"Thank the stars you brought lots of water. That crust was unusually dry."
Kanan felt Hera take the mug from him and drink half of it.
"I'm surprised you liked that pie at all. I'm even more surprised to find you up instead of in bed. You're exhausted."
"Yes," she sighed, "... and I can't sleep." She didn't want to admit it was Chopper's anxiety-inducing actions keeping her awake. Actions she had ordered.
Fortunately, Kanan didn't pry, "Want a massage?"
"Mmm, alright."
He found her hand and guided her to sit with him on the bed. Her back towards him, Kanan worked on her shoulders. Gradually, her muscles loosened. The tension melted along with her restlessness. The exhaustion was beginning to overtake her. Hera laid down on her pillow.
"Sleep sounding more attainable now?" Kanan asked.
"Mmm hmm ... " she reached up a tired hand to caress his beard thankfully, "... What about you?"
"Hmm?"
"You only slept a little in the cockpit."
Kanan rubbed at the kink in his neck, "And not very well. In fact, I feel like I could sleep a whole other day." His stomach rumbled again, "After I eat my ration pack."
Hera was fast asleep by the time Kanan climbed into bed with her.
Zeb found Sabine and Ezra sparring in the Ghost's cargo bay. Rather than interrupt them immediately, he decided to watch the atypical match. The Mandalorian currently had the upper hand, pinning Ezra underneath her.
"Give up?" Sabine offered smugly.
"No!" Ezra struggled to free himself, but she blocked him every time he tried to twist out of her grasp. Sparring was way more frustrating for him without the Force.
"Give up?" she offered again.
Ezra nodded slightly.
Sabine released him and stood. Walking away to give him some space, she defined the score, "That's 3-to-0, my-"
Suddenly she found herself falling forward. Sabine caught herself on the ground just as Ezra came over to pin her.
"Sorry, but your win was premature." he gloated.
"You cheated." Sabine stated with an unimpressed sigh.
"I never said I gave up." Ezra clarified brazenly.
"Yes you did." Zeb snorted, "I saw you nod your head-"
"That wasn't a nod."
"Save it for the enemy, not your crewmates." Zeb grunted. He was about to descend the ladder when he turned back and added one last jab, "And maybe you should give up trying your Jedi mind trick while you don't have access to the Force."
Taking advantage of his distraction, Sabine found a weak point and threw Ezra off of her. She stood up and turned, hands victoriously on her hips as she watched him rise. After he stood up fully, she rested a teasing arm on his shoulder, "I like you without the Force." Sabine grinned.
"You just like to win." Ezra's tone was carping but his gaze on her was warm.
Finished descending the ladder, Zeb turned to them, "After your lovers' quarrel is over, let's go hunting, Sabine. We're running low on food."
"Ok ..." She decided to let Zeb's comment slide, "First, let's get the fauna data from Ahsoka."
"Aww, you're no fun." Zeb waved a hand dismissively at her.
A thought came to Sabine, "Better yet, let's just bring Chopper with us."
Zeb grumbled more.
Just then, the droid rolled into the cargo bay, warbling a question.
Zeb glared at the squat little can, "You'd better not slow us down."
Chopper shot back a long, sharp reply that the Lasat couldn't understand.
"I'll come too." Ezra said eagerly.
"Sorry, but you have to stay in the vicinity of those." Zeb pointed to the ysalamiri in the corner. The sight of Zeb looking straight at it, caused the creature to shriek. Zeb flinched as his ears plastered to his head, "Unless we can forgo the hunt and eat those. Please say we can eat those."
Ezra gave a disappointed sound. Quickly, he turned to Sabine, holding up his pointer finger, "One more round."
"No, I'm done."
"Please?"
"You just like to win."
"Yeah, I do."
"That's not entirely it," Zeb smirked, "Don't worry, kid, Hera's not mad at you. In fact, Kanan said she actually enjoyed that wreckage of a meal you contrived."
"She did?" Sabine and Ezra asked at the same time.
"Yeah." the Lasat shrugged, "Twi'lek taste buds ... go figure. Maybe you should open up a restaurant on Ryloth." Then he looked at Sabine, "So are you coming?"
"Hang on, let me get my gear."
After letting Ahsoka know what they were up to, the hunting team regrouped in the cargo bay, fully equipped. Sabine keyed the main door open. Before she stepped out, Ezra placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to him.
"Just ... watch out for pirates," he said.
His warm tone conveyed his genuine worry for her safety. Sabine was still irritated at him for cheating during their spar, but being this close to him with his gaze on her eyes was stirring familiar, uncomfortable feelings within her. Feelings very similar to the ones she felt that night on Lothal. Feelings she wasn't prepared to deal with just now. She pushed away her emotions and slipped into a casual tone, "Relax, there aren't any pirates around here. They're concentrated on the other side of the planet, remember? We're in the middle of nowhere."
"Besides," Zeb added, "We've been handling much worse than pirates over the years."
"Ok, ok, just ... take care of yourself.-Both of you." Ezra amended before Zeb could make another embarrassing joke about Sabine and him.
Chopper warbled angrily.
"-And you too." Ezra added hastily.
Chopper's tone became pleasant immediately.
After a nod, Sabine walked down the Ghost's ramp, and stepped onto the grassy meadow. The rest of the hunting party followed, as Ezra watched them depart.
Zeb confirmed their planned heading with Ahsoka over the comm.
"Copy that. Keep your comms handy. And if you hear me call-"
"Yes, we know: 'come back to the ship immediately.'" Zeb said.
Ahsoka kept her gaze dutifully on the sky, "May the Force be with you."
"Heh. Here, does it even matter?" Zeb smirked.
Ahsoka just smiled and shook her head.
With that, Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb made their way into the forest beyond.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, reflecting off the tree trunks. Faint wisps of mist engulfed the ground flora around them.
"It really is beautiful here," Sabine noted.
"I think it stinks," Zeb's ears flattened again, "And it's still noisier out here than in the ship."
Sabine couldn't imagine what the forest sounded like to Lasat ears. To her, it was relatively quiet, with the occasional chirp from some forest critter. Her armor was currently filtering the surrounding atmosphere, preventing her from smelling the forest. That was easy to remedy. Taking off her helmet, Sabine breathed in the fresh morning air.
"It's actually not that bad."
"Must be nice to be half deaf with a broken sense of smell." Zeb snorted.
He was interrupted suddenly by Chopper's impatient warbles.
"Yes, hang on," Sabine answered the droid as she cut down the tall ferns blocking Chopper from moving forward.
There was nothing resembling a path. Sabine took it as a good sign, but it meant they had to constantly cut down plants and clear fallen branches for Chopper.
"I knew you'd slow us down." Zeb grumbled.
Chopper shot back a sharp retort.
They made their way deeper into the forest.
A rustle in the trees drew their attention upward. Zeb saw a white squirrel-like animal balancing on a branch overhead.
"Chopper, can you tell us what that is?" Sabine whispered.
The droid's reply included a rather long audio recording of the exact pronunciation of the species' name. Zeb and Sabine looked at each other.
"That's what it's called?" Sabine stared incredulously.
Chopper confirmed.
"What language is that?"
Zeb shook his head, "There's no way I can pronounce that. Is there some sort of translation into Basic?"
Chopper explained that there wasn't; the language and it's word meanings had been lost to the sands of time. The recordings in this flora and fauna dictionary Ahsoka had procured were all that had survived.
"Whatever," Sabine decided to focus on the task at hand, "is it edible?"
After hearing an affirmative, Sabine pulled out a blaster and fired at the animal. The bolt only hit the tree branch as the white squirrel's reflexes were faster. It sprang away, further into the trees.
A rustle on the ground brought Sabine's attention to another animal. Rather than wait for an information dump from Chopper, Sabine immediately shot at the new target. She missed as the creature grunted and ran away into the underbrush.
"You're trigger-happy this morning." Zeb commented.
"I'm hungry this morning."
He nodded understandingly, "Too much exercise with Ezra last night?"
Sabine gave him as much of a death stare as her helmet would allow.
Zeb just chuckled.
Sabine refocused on the hunt. The soil was soft and there were hoof prints where her second target had been, "Maybe we can track down that animal."
"Which one?"
"The ground one, the ... non-puffer pig."
"Is that what we're calling it?" Zeb scratched his head, then looked at Chopper, "What's its real name?"
Chopper replied with another long audio recording in the alien tongue.
"Yeah, I like 'non-puffer pig' better."
"It went this way," Sabine used her scope to follow the tracks.
A few minutes later, their search came to a rocky dead end. The tracks led straight to a large area of flat, smooth stones bordering a small creek.
"Do you think it crossed the riverbed?" Zeb asked.
Chopper warbled an 'I don't know'.
Sabine looked all around. Finally she saw the trail again, "There! It must have doubled back."
They moved towards the new set of hoof prints. It lead them back into the forest, through a denser grove of trees. As they went deeper, less sunlight filtered through. The mist was thick here. It became quieter.
"I don't like this," Zeb whispered as they moved further into the increasingly constricting thicket.
The hairs on the back of her neck stiffened as Sabine stayed alert, keeping her guns up in front of her. Her scope cut through much of the mist, but the underbrush obscured the tracks. She had to resort to trading her second blaster for a knife as she cut enough of the ferns to follow the hoof prints a couple feet in front of her.
"Sabine!" Zeb warned.
Her head snapped up in time to see the dark outline of something they both feared looming ahead. Reflexively, she shot at it twice before realizing she was wasting ammo. Before them stood the wreckage of a TIE fighter.
"How did this get here?" Zeb marveled at it.
"It must have been shot down by the pirates." Sabine examined the vines curling around the underside of the ship. "Looks like this has been here a while."
Both solar wings had been stripped off during the crash. One was leaning against a boulder nearby.
Chopper asked a grim question.
Sabine adjusted her scope as she looked inside the broken cockpit window, "Yes, I do see a body ... or rather, the remains of one. This has been here a while."
Zeb made a face, "Let's go before we run into any ghosts."
"Hey, I thought you didn't believe in that stuff."
"I don-"
He was interrupted by the sound of a snapping twig.
Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper impulsively moved into a back-to-back position, guns up. Chopper held up his electro-shock prod defensively as he tucked into his crewmates further with a withering shudder.
It was eerily silent.
Really wishing he had a scope right now, Zeb looked around, but all he could see was mist. He was about to suggest a shift in tactics when movement caught his peripheral vision. He turned in time to see a green thing lunging towards him, with 6 thin limbs splayed apart, like a large mouth opening for a bite. Zeb yelled as he fired on the attacker. His blaster bolt hit the part which had eyes. Then the head exploded.
Sabine recoiled from the shower of guts that rained down on her armor. Zeb himself was covered. The hunting team took a few seconds to recover from the fright.
"What the kriff was that?!" Sabine shook off some of the slime on her arm.
Chopper answered her with an unhelpful official name of the animal.
Zeb glanced down at the carcass, "Multi-legger. Just great. I'm glad this planet has everything I hate."
Chopper shared some more facts about the species.
Sabine shook her head, "That doesn't look anything like a deer to me."
The droid offered an explanation.
"True, it doesn't have a head anymore. But deer aren't usually green and slimy."
"Let's just head back and call this hunt a bust," Zeb grumbled, examining the layer of goo matted into his fur, "I call first dibs on a shower."
Sabine and Chopper were still talking with each other.
"Really?"
The droid confirmed.
"Hey, Zeb, Chop says this thing is edible."
"No..."
"Yeah."
Zeb exhaled in frustration.
They walked back to the ship with their prize. Having carried out the kill shot, Zeb was awarded the honors of lugging the carcass. He chose to tow it behind him. It became stuck in branches and underbrush more than Chopper had. Zeb grumbled again as he and Sabine stopped to untangle another limb from a tree root.
Sabine watched him mutter a curse under his breath and continue forward. She shook her head, "Why don't you just carry it? It can't be that heavy for you."
"Hey, you want to try to walk with all those legs rattling against your armor? Be my guest." He shot back.
She shrugged, "Look on the bright side: Hera's going to be happy to have meat stocked in the refrigeration unit once again."
Zeb smirked, "Yeah, if she likes Ezra's awful cooking, she's sure to love slimy deer."
"Is that what we're calling it?"
"If you have a better name for it, I'm all ears."
Sabine shook her head slowly. Zeb stopped again and she helped him untangle the dead animal, which was becoming muddier by the minute, "Next time, let's bring a repulsorlift cart."
Ezra greeted them at the cargo bay door once they arrived back at the ship. His overjoyed delight that they were safely home was in sharp contrast to the three exhausted, muck-covered friends.
Ezra blinked, "What happened to you?"
"Slimy deer." Zeb answered shortly. He walked tiredly up the ramp and pushed past Ezra, placing a dirty hand on his shoulder as he did, "I'm going to take a shower now."
After he departed, Ezra examined the disgusting goo left on his shoulder.
"I could use your help." Sabine sighed.
"Sure," Ezra immediately turned his attention to her, "What do you need?"
She waved her hand towards the carcass, "We need to clean and butcher this and get it into containers for the refrigeration unit."
Ezra saw the slimy, muddy, headless body of their kill, "Oh ..."
After getting a crash course in butchering the new ooze-covered species, Ezra was certain he didn't want to eat meat ever again.
Sabine seemed less disturbed; more eager to get this over with so she could have a turn in the shower.
Chopper was enjoying himself. Perhaps a bit too much. He seared patterns into the jelly-like skin of the animal in between actually helping.
Finally, they were done. Having cleaned up themselves and the rest of the mess, they pushed the repulsorlift cart full of small containers up to the galley, and packed them into the refrigeration unit.
"They're not all going to fit." Ezra noted with dismay. All that hard work would be wasted.
"We can use the secondary refrigeration unit in the cargo bay. I'm glad Hera got one during her recruitment travels."
After loading the rest into the secondary unit, Sabine went to take her turn in the shower. Ezra followed her absentmindedly. For a moment, Sabine wondered if he was going to follow her all the way into the shower. She'd bring him to his senses at the door if he tried.
They ran into Hera in the common area.
"Can't sleep?" Sabine asked her.
"Actually, I slept pretty well." Hera seemed much more alert than she had been.
"Really? You didn't sleep very long."
"I slept for 10 hours."
Sabine glanced at her own chronometer, "Kriff! How did it get to be so late?" She turned to Ezra, "We have to find a more efficient way to butcher that thing next time."
Hera raised an eyebrow, "What thing?"
Ever-concerned that the Imperials would return, Hera was not happy to hear that the hunting team had left the ship while she was asleep. However, her mood improved when they showed her the results of their trip: fresh meat.
She decided to cook a dinner / breakfast for them all. Ezra passed, but everyone else discovered it was surprisingly palatable. Even good.
"And you call this what?" Kanan asked.
"Slimy deer." Zeb answered proudly.
Kanan made a face, "Maybe we can work on the name."
"I'm just glad they're not as gross on the inside," Sabine took another bite.
"Speak for yourself," Ezra muttered, trying not to watch her or anyone eat as he focused on controlling his nausea enough to nibble on a ration pack.
Hera finished and took her empty plate back to the galley.
Grabbing a clean one from the cupboard, she filled it with more of the cooked meat, and headed to the cockpit.
Ahsoka heard her enter, "The sky has been nice and boring." she reassured.
"That's good. Here," Hera offered her the plate and Ahsoka accepted thankfully. "I can take over now," Hera added a bit hastily.
"Eager to resume your post?" Ahsoka noted, standing to move out of her way.
Hera took her seat, "We need our most refreshed and awake pilot ready at the helm. It's your turn to rest."
Ahsoka gave a half-nod as a confirmation. Then she took her plate and exited the cockpit.
A few seconds later, Kanan entered, "Hera?" his tone was asking for verification.
"I'm here, love." she answered.
He sighed, and moved to stand between her and the copilot's seat, "Are you really going to stay up another night watching the sky?"
"Of course," She broke her upward gaze for a moment to look at him, "What else is there to do?"
Kanan shrugged, "Accept that they're not coming? That the plan actually worked?"
Hera examined the details of her beloved's face, remembering how strained he looked during Vader's attack. How helpless she felt. Sleep had eased her anxiety somewhat. But it was still something she never wanted to witness again. She could not risk losing him forever. Not now, when they were about to have a youngling together.
"One more day, love."
As soon as she heard Hera's offer to cook them all a meal, Sabine had postponed her shower until after dinner. Among the Spectres, Hera's cooking was legendary. Exhausted and hungry herself, Sabine wanted to make sure she at least got a taste of it before the others ate it all gone. She was glad she did. It was delicious. If only it wasn't such a mess to clean up.
Now in the Ghost's small shower room, which was further cramped by the tiny laundry unit, Sabine made sure the door was locked before she undressed. Though Ezra seemed to have woken up to his own auto-following behavior, she didn't want to risk dealing with the annoyance in case he forgot the shower was occupied.
Throwing her under-clothes and the washable parts of her suit into the laundry unit, she left the beskar on the ground and stepped into the sonic shower. A few moments later, all traces of the slimy deer were off of her. She stepped out of the sonic and glanced down at her armor.
"This is going to be a pain to disinfect."
Ezra had returned to his and Zeb's room only to have Zeb push him out of the door, reminding him his ysalamiri-free room was off-limits to Jedi. Ezra tried to explain he needed to change into cleaner clothes. The reply came in the form of his white sleep clothes being thrown at his face and the door shutting.
The young Jedi glanced around the empty hallway. He didn't have access to go into Sabine's room to change.
So he made his way to the refresher. The small room's door was opposite the shower room's. He could hear the laundry unit going. Glancing at the bits of slime still stuck to the shoulder of his outfit, Ezra briefly thought about knocking and asking if he could throw in his laundry with hers. That thought lasted about a quarter of a second before he realized she was likely already undressed and in the shower. A blush crept onto his face as he retreated into the refresher instead.
Changing quickly, he then attempted to use the refresher room's sink to clean his shirt. The slime sort of came off. Just not as much as he'd hoped.
Ezra opened the door to the refresher. He listened, hoping to hear signs that Sabine was done and about to come out. The laundry unit just hummed as steadily as it had when he went in the 'fresher. No other sounds gave the indication that Sabine would be opening the door any time soon.
Sighing, Ezra carried his dirty clothes as he exited to the common area. Ahsoka was there, tending to an ysalamiri cage.
"What are you doing?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Refilling the syrup in their nutrient frames." Ahsoka replied, "It's what they eat."
"They eat syrup?"
"These ones do. This syrup is a replacement for the olbio sap that they normally draw upon. I have limited quantities of the syrup, but I figured you could tap real olbio trees outside the Ghost and use it to feed them when you run out."
Ezra watched as the liquid was poured into a special port at the top of the cage. The syrup filled the inside of the semi-transparent artificial branch that the ysalamiri was attached to. He marveled at the engineering that must have gone into making this customized nutrient frame, "Who gave you these cages?"
"The same person who gave me the syrup; a local who you don't want to get involved with," she said succinctly, then changed the subject, "You should learn how to feed the ysalamiri as well. Come, let's fill the one in the galley."
Before he could ask any more questions, Ezra was given instructions and the syrup container to feed the lizard. His attention wandered and Ahsoka noticed that he kept glancing out at the common area.
"Something else on your mind?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"You keep looking into the common room."
"Oh ... yeah I'm just waiting for Sabine to get out of the shower room.-I need to do laundry." he quickly explained, holding up his dirty clothing bundle. Ezra couldn't tell if Ahsoka's silence was due to her respectfully listening or not believing his excuse. So he over-explained further, "I don't even have access to her room, so I can't change there or use the hamper. And most of my stuff is locked up in Zeb's room now."
"I see," Ahsoka held her chin in contemplation, "It can be frustrating adjusting to these new living arrangements."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Ezra said, relieved she wasn't going to inquire about his interest in Sabine. He had already had enough of that from Zeb.
"If you like, I can trade places with you and take Sabine's top bunk for my rest, giving you my cabin all to yourself."
"Uh ... Actually, no, that's ok."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll be ok."
Suddenly they heard a sound out in the common area. When a fully clean and armored Sabine came into view, Ezra's face lit up, "What took you so long?"
Sabine turned to look at them. Then she matched Ezra's lightly toned grievance with one of her own, "What? I had deer guts in every nook and cranny of my armor. It takes a while. Give me a break."
Their bickering continued, but it sounded like more of a show to Ahsoka than actual complaining. They walked down the hallway. It was just as Sabine opened the door to her room that Ahsoka remembered a chore she still had left to do, "Sabine, if you wouldn't mind, I need to refill the syrup in the ysalamiri cages in your room."
The banter ceased as the two acknowledged their audience member. Sabine nodded to her and gestured them inside.
Thoughts of her normal nighttime routine surfaced as soon as Sabine entered her own room. First, she would be changing out of her armor. Sabine froze when she realized Ezra had already followed her in. Turning quickly around on her heel, Sabine wasted no time. She placed both hands on his chest and began to push him back.
"Whoa! What-?" Ezra was clearly surprised.
"I need to change. You, out." She explained succinctly as she moved him back through the door.
"Hey-Ok! But, why doesn't Ahsoka need to leave?"
"Because she's a girl." Sabine answered quickly before locking the door.
"Lame excuse." muttered Ezra.
Ahsoka smiled and shook her head. People were fun to watch, even without the aid of the Force. Living with the ysalamiri for a while had encouraged her to take up a new hobby: reading people the way ordinary beings do; by paying attention to visual, tonal, and behavioral cues. Sabine's were certainly more subtle than her roommate's. Ahsoka was fairly certain she knew where Ezra's feelings lay at this moment. Determining Sabine's would be a challenge. A perfect opportunity to practice and test her abilities, "Is it difficult, having a roommate?"
"Yeah, a little." Sabine said, distractedly rummaging through a dresser drawer. She examined one shirt then another.
Ahsoka had an idea of what her answer would be to this next offer, "We could move sleeping arrangements so that you get your own room back to yourself."
"No that's ok."
"You don't mind him being in here?"
"Yeah, it's fine."
Ahsoka smiled, I thought so. Turning her attention back to the ysalamiri nutrient frame, she finished her chore.
Sabine was still busy finding something appropriate to wear in front of Ezra. Her normal sleep clothes, she realized, were a bit too revealing. However, there didn't seem to be a suitable replacement for them. Digging further, she found a much larger shirt that wasn't revealing, but it looked terrible on her. She may as well be wearing a trash bag.
"Why do I even keep this?" she muttered under her breath.
There was a knock on the door, "Hey, are you done yet?" Ezra asked, more teasing than impatience in his tone.
Sabine was beginning to get flustered. She finally gave up the search and grabbed her regular sleep clothes, grumbling. He'd better not get the wrong idea.
After changing, she picked up the too-large t-shirt as well and opened the door.
Ezra saw the cabin door open to reveal Sabine in unsurprisingly dark sleep clothes. She clutched another shirt to her chest, with a frown.
Raising an eyebrow he glanced at Ahsoka, "Were you two talking about me?"
"No/Yes" Sabine and Ahsoka said at the same time. Ahsoka's tone was much more confident than the Mandalorian's.
Ahsoka moved out the door. Passing Ezra, she placed a reassuring hand on the young man's shoulder, "Don't worry, she likes sharing a room with you just as much as you do."
Sabine's expression shifted to bewilderment for a moment until Ahsoka left her sight. Then she gestured to Ezra, "Come on."
He entered and the door closed behind them.
Wanting to forget Ahsoka's uncomfortable comment, Sabine started talking about art instead. Ezra joined in, eagerly, although he didn't have as much to say on that subject as she did. Eventually he shifted the conversation to the ysalamiri. They laughed at the memory of searching the ship with Zeb for the hatchlings. From that point on, their conversation quickly took a lighter turn as they relived happy events and shared funny stories from their past.
The two talked well into the night, staying up much later than either had intended to. Tired, Sabine sat down on her bunk. Ezra soon joined her, sitting next to her as he had done this morning when donning on his boots.
Sabine didn't mind. She was getting more and more comfortable with him. Some part of her wondered why, but she was too exhausted to analyze that now. Eventually, she even let the extra shirt drop away, tired of holding it up and across her. He was too busy telling his story to notice immediately.
She kept a close eye on him, and managed to spot him glancing at her chest for a moment before quickly looking away at something else on the floor. He restrained his gaze after that. Sabine was impressed by his self control. A couple years ago, he would have had a very different response. I'll bet he has Kanan's guidance to thank for that.
They began to talk about Kanan and Hera's kid, and what he or she will look like. It was very late, and their responses had slowed considerably. Still not wanting to call it a night just yet, Sabine fought to stay awake through the slow blinks and nods.
A moment later, she was jolted awake by a collision to the side of her head. Sitting straight up she turned towards the contact, only to find Ezra reeling back with equal confusion and shock.
They had both nodded off into each other.
Ezra chuckled, a little nervously, "Sorry ... I guess we'd better call it a night."
"Yeah," she agreed reluctantly.
She watched him ascend the ladder, and heard him settle in on the top bunk. Ahsoka's comment returned to her thoughts. she likes sharing a room with you just as much as you do.
Sabine had to admit, she did like having Ezra as a roommate. She would have hated this situation when they first met, but he had matured a lot since then. He was much more tolerable now. Even fun to talk with.
Sabine smiled, "Goodnight, Ezra."
"Goodnight, Sabine."
With that, she turned off the lights.
A/N: I did it again: I designed the Ghost's bathroom. There doesn't seem to be anything in the show to indicate where the refresher is on the Ghost. So I made it up. Off the lounge / common area seemed to be a good place. I also split it into 2 separate rooms: shower vs toilet, as that seems to be more practical than having it all 1 room shared by up to 8 people. Surely the designers of the VCX-100 light freighter took into account the annoyance of being locked outside the bathroom by someone taking a long shower when you really have to pee.