Bad News:

Ezra let out a relieved huff when the situation with Ketsu and her father was resolved without too much violence. He watched, standing shoulder to shoulder with Kanan as Sabine performed some sort of ceremony with Ketsu, clueless as to what exactly because they were speaking in Mando'a again.

"I really need to learn more than a few words of Sabine's language," Ezra muttered to his Master. "These people speak Basic about as often as Chopper is in a good mood."

Kanan barked a quiet laugh from beside him. "That's unfortunately one of the most accurate comparisons I've ever heard. Just don't tell Hera I said that."

"Don't tell Hera what?" a familiar snarky beep came from behind them.

"Krifff!" Kanan jumped half a metre in the air, Ezra would swear to it.

And oh, I'm going to tease him about that for a long time.

The blind Jedi Knight whirled around and glared at the Astromech droid. "What the hell happened to your squeaky wheels?"

If Chopper could smirk, then Ezra would swear that's exactly what he was doing. "Some nice Mando oiled them for me. Said the squeak was making horrible feedback in their helmets."

If Kanan wasn't a Jedi, and Chopper wasn't his mate's beloved droid, Ezra was pretty sure he would have sliced the gloating astromech in half with his lightsabre, there was that much barely suppressed annoyance radiating from him. His fists were clenched and everything. "One of these days, C1-10P, I'm going to..."

"You're going to what, love?" Hera's hologram popped up, hands on her hips, and poor Kanan nearly jumped again at the warning tone in the Twi'lek's voice.

Ezra couldn't believe that Sabine was missing all this right now.

"Hera!" Kanan said, pasting on one of the fakest smiles Ezra had ever seen. "How long have you been on call with Chopper?"

Ezra's surrogate mother smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Long enough to see Chopper scare the poodoo out of you, my wise and all-seeing Jedi."

"Frag," Kanan muttered under his breath. "She's never going to let me forget that," he said to Ezra over their bond.

The boy slid his gaze sideways and smirked just as widely as Hera. "To be honest, neither am I."

"Kriff you."

Ezra just chuckled.

Hera, never one to let anything slide, tapped her foot a couple times. "Sooooo. I'm waiting, Kanan Jarrus. What exactly were you going to do to my droid?"

As Ezra watched Kanan flush and open his mouth fruitlessly a few times with fascinated eyes, Sabine finally joined them, slipping her arm into his and whispering, "What's going on?"

Ezra squeezed her arm to let her know he'd fill her in later.

Kanan finally came up with an answer, his suddenly beaming smile saying he was pretty darn proud of it. "I was just telling Chopper that one of these days, I would remember to oil his wheels more often myself, and make sure he gets more frequent oil baths."

"Nice save!"

"I thought so."

Hera's expression looked about as sceptical as Chopper did, but her tone when she responded to her mate's blatant lie was entirely sincere sounding. "Thank you, love! It makes me happy when my family gets along and helps each other!"

"Kriffing hell! Now I have to keep the bloody droid well oiled! He's so much easier to keep track of when he's noisy!"

Ezra sniggered behind his hand as Kanan smiled tightly and said, "Of course, darling. You know I feel the same." His cloudy eyes suddenly pinned to Ezra. "Right, my Padawan?"

Karabast. Now I'm going to have to help keep the metal menace oiled too. Ezra gave Kanan the same tight smile. "Right, Master."

Even though Sabine had missed most of the conversation and all of the mental parts, she'd still caught enough to be sniggering too. Ezra turned his twinkling blue eyes to her. "And you can help me catch Chopper when it's our turn to make him squeak free."

One of her sculpted eyebrows rose. "Really."

Ezra beamed as Kanan and Hera took their turns laughing. "Really. Family togetherness and all that."

She growled softly in her throat for a few seconds – a sound that turned him on like practically everything else she did – and then huffed. "Fine.

"Good," Hera's hologram said. "Now that we have that settled, I have some very important news that is going to affect Mandalore and its war with the Empire drastically." She focused her gaze on Sabine. "You should probably go get Duchess Kryze. I don't want to have to repeat it twice."

Sabine and Ezra started looking around. "Um, sure. I just have to find..." Both teenagers groaned when they saw Bo-Katan and Fenn almost back at their tent. "Ezra, can you..."

"On it," he said, and fitted action to words, dashing after the couple at something halfway between a fast sprint and Force Speed before they could start getting frisky again. I already interrupted them once. I REALLY don't want to have to do that again.

His dash had him passing a few people whose heads whipped after him in disbelief and arriving in front of Bo-Katan's tent just before the couple. He blocked the door with his arms out to the sides. The older red-heads gawked at him with nearly identical expressions that he would find funny later. "Sorry, my Lady. Fenn. But Hera has some news from the Rebellion that she thinks you should hear."

Bo-Katan blinked twice and he saw the mantle of leadership fall back over her like an invisible cloak. "Of course. Just give us a minute to finish getting dressed this time and I'll call a meeting of all the clan leaders. We'll meet in the main tent in five."

Ezra gave a respectful bow of his head and stepped out of their way. "Yes, my Lady."

Relieved that had gone over well enough, he walked back to where his family was waiting for him.

"So?" Sabine asked as soon as he was within a few steps of her.

"They're coming. We're meeting in the main tent in a few minutes."

"Good," the half-sized Hera hologram said. "This isn't something that should wait."

"Can you give us a hint at least?" Sabine asked, sounding and feeling anxious to Ezra as she started walking to the big tent beside the communal eating area.

Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper automatically flowed into step with her, an unconscious united front that the Mandalorians moved out of the way for, and many curious stares and glances followed them in their wake.

Hera, whose projection was unaffected by their movement except to be turned more by Chopper, grimaced slightly. "Well, it's not good, I can say that."

"Shab," Sabine muttered.

They all filed into the tent and automatically gathered by the holo projector. And then they waited in uneasy silence. After maybe thirty seconds, Sabine started pacing. Ezra let her make two laps of that end of the tent before he moved to intercept her at her furthest point from the others and caught her hand, lacing their fingers together. "Hey," he murmured when she looked up at him with surprise. "It'll be okay. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. And Bo-Katan's a strong leader. She'll be fine too." He cupped the side of her beautiful, precious face and kissed her forehead gently before pulling her into a tight hug, resting his chin on top of her soft hair. "You're not alone with this stuff anymore." A brief pause... "Technically, you never have been. You just had to learn to let us in."

Sabine wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head into his shoulder. "I know, I had some issues to work through. But I'm learning. See."

Ezra closed his eyes as he felt her drop her shields and let him into her mind. Let him feel her fear and her hope. Her love and pain. It was such a gift, he was nearly overwhelmed with his own emotions for a few seconds before he gave the excess to the Force. "Thank you, cyar'ika," he whispered into her hair. "I promise I'll never betray your trust. And I'll fight at your side until the day we die."

Sabine looked up at him, her eyes shining with a mist of tears. "You really mean that?"

"I really do."

"Then will you change your mind about us not staying to fight this war? Especially if Hera's news is as bad as I think it's going to be?"

Ezra searched her eyes and open mind, seeing how very much it had hurt her to be asked to walk away from her honour and could only answer with a, "Yes, we can stay, and damn the consequences."

"Thank you," she breathed, her arms gripping him so tightly, it was on the verge of hurting. "I love you, Ez."

He hugged her even tighter. "I've waited so long for you to say those words to me, it's still enough to make my heart stutter. I think my heart will still stutter fifty years from now." He bent his head to kiss her, only stopping to breathe on her lips, "Force, I love you, Sabine Wren."

"Sap," she breathed back, eyes twinkling at him now.

Their eyes closed and their mouths met in a whisper soft kiss that abruptly pulled apart as the tent door opened again. Ezra tried not to move like he was springing away guiltily, but he probably failed. At least Sabine wasn't much better. Both blushing fiercely, they looked at each other and laughed, then walked back to the holo projector, meeting Bo-Katan, Fenn, and the filing in clan leaders there, all while ignoring Kanan's knowing smirk and Hera's satisfied smile.

Ezra was surprised to see that one of the new arrivals was the large teenage boy who'd given him such a hostile look earlier. "Who is that?" he whispered to Sabine, nodding subtly at the boy in question.

"I don't know him personally," she whispered back. "But his armour is marked with Clan Vizsla colours. To be in this meeting, he must be the heir."

Ezra eyed the boy suspiciously. Said boy was glaring back at him again. If looks could kill... "Vizsla. Isn't that the clan you're allied to that started Death Watch?"

"Yes."

"Fun."

Bo-Katan leaned over past Kanan and whispered. "That's Lord Dawcyk Vizsla. Son of Count Ramac Vizsla. Who was the younger brother of Pre Vizsla. Ramac still holds a grudge with me for rejecting his suit and also leaving Death Watch, so he doesn't usually show up to talk to me directly. But he shows his support of my cause by sending his son in his place. It works well enough for everyone."

"Well, I don't think, Dawcyk likes Ezra very much," Sabine whispered back, laughter in her tone.

Bo-Katan gave Ezra a twinkling smirk and said dryly, "I can't imagine why." Then she stood upright again, eyes on the assembled as she counted heads and nodded to herself, apparently seeing the number she expected. She turned to Hera's hologram, which Chopper had transferred to the holotable while Ezra was otherwise occupied with Sabine, and said, "All right. We're all here. What news have you for us?"

As Sabine listened to Hera, learning that Vader was amassing a huge fleet and that super star destroyers were being built and that one was likely joining that fleet as well, it felt like her world was crumpling under feet.

Everything she'd fought for, everything her clan had fought for, for the last few months was all going to be for naught. They'd thrown everything they had into the civil war against Saxon and the Imperials stationed on Mandalore. She knew that Bo-Katan had done the same. A fleet like Hera described wouldn't even have to land on Mandalore to wipe it out. All they had to do was bombard it from orbit and the planet would be toast. Or more accurately, glass, with how much sand dominated the depleted landscape.

If Ezra hadn't been holding her hand and bolstering her feelings with his own support through their bond like he'd done before, she honestly didn't know if she would have been able to keep it together as well as she did. There'd just been too many losses in the last two days. First my mother, brother, and clan members. Now the home planet of my people too? What else is this kriffing galaxy going to take from me?

Kriff that! I'm not letting anything else slip away!

With new resolve, she refocused on the people around her again as Bo talked to Hera. "This is deeply disturbing news. Thank you for bringing it to our attention."

Hera's hologram nodded solemnly. "It was the least I could do. High Command has offered your people sanctuary on all of their planets if you need it."

This caused an immediate outcry from the assembled.

Bo summed up the cries and growls to Hera. "As my people just said, we're Mandalorians. We don't run. But thank your High Command for the offer. We should have enough time that we can evacuate the cities of what's left of our peace-loving faction to our more remote planets and the rest of us are going to be here waiting for Vader and his fleet with every ship we have."

This brought a round of cheers from the assembled clan leaders and a sad smile from Hera. "If that's how you feel, then may the Force be with you. But I'm going to have to ask for my people back."

Bo tilted her chin. "As I expected. Your Jedi riduur has been very helpful, but of course you don't want him mixed up in our war. I will send him and your droid back to you."

Hera raised an eyebrow as Sabine and Ezra exchanged 'what about us?' looks. Their very protective mother figure asked the same question that was on their minds before either of them could. "And Sabine and Ezra?"

Bo crossed her arms over her armoured chest. "Sabine is an adult Mandalorian and leader of her clan. She knows where her duty lies." Sabine nodded slightly in acknowledgement as her distant relative glanced at her for confirmation. "And Ezra seems to be permanently attached to Sabine as far I can tell. If you can drag him away from her, I'd be very surprised."

Ezra squeezed her hand, the look in his steady blue eyes saying that he wasn't going anywhere.

Hera, of course, needed more than that. "Ezra?"

Sabine's brave cyar'ika turned to the hologram. "I'm sorry, Hera. But I'm staying with Sabine."

Hera turned her gaze to her mate. "Kanan. He's your Padawan, can't you order him to go with you?"

Kanan held his hands up. "Whoa. Don't put me in the middle of this! Ezra's a Padawan in name only. As far as I'm concerned, he's a Knight now. We just haven't had a chance to take to him to the Temple for his trials, what with the small issue of the Empire taking over Lothal."

Ezra blinked at his Master. "What? Really?"

Kanan nodded solemnly. "Yes."

"Wow," Ezra breathed, his hand tightening on hers as he nearly bounced with excitement before he remembered that he was supposed to be mature now. Sabine had to stifle the urge to smile, considering the gravity of the situation.

Kanan rested his hands on Ezra's shoulders, his cloudy eyes staring right at Ezra as if he was looking into his soul. "I can't make you come back to base with me and I wouldn't want to. You have to follow what your heart and what the Force tells you is right. Just make sure you're one hundred percent honest with yourself about what they're telling you."

And that's why Kanan will always be like a second father to us. He's so wise and caring. Sabine wanted to hug the man, but she'd save that for later, just before he left.

Ezra reached up with his free hand and squeezed Kanan's bicep. "Thank you, Kanan." The Jedi nodded at each other, their eyes locked and undoubtedly talking more in their heads then they were saying out loud. Still can't believe I didn't figure out on my own that they could do that. Then they let go at the same time and Ezra turned back to Hera. "I'm staying with Sabine. My place is with her now."

"Ezra, please..." Hera said softly, the sorrow in her eyes breaking Sabine's heart. She had no doubt Ezra was feeling it even worse. "What if I never see either of you again?"

Ezra closed his eyes, bowing his head for a moment before he looked up again, resolve resonating from him. "You will. I promise."

Sabine had never been prouder of him. And that was saying a lot, considering how much he'd accomplished since she'd met him less than four years ago. It doesn't even feel like that long. Where does the time go?

"All right," Hera whispered.

"This is all touching and shit," an unfamiliar male voice said from behind them, making Sabine and Ezra swing around in surprise, their hands parting necessarily. "But have you actually claimed this tiny Jetii wimp, Wren?"

"Ummmmmm, not yet," she was forced to answer truthfully. "And he's not a wimp! Or tiny," she added as an afterthought, really happy for the sake of Ezra's pride that Dawcyk Vizsla had switched to Mando'a to ask his question and that she could answer in kind. And that Ezra was only just starting to learn her language.

"Good," the cocksure teenager said, stalking up to her and staring down at her with heat in his pale blue eyes. "Then I claim the right to challenge for your hand!"

Sabine glared way up at the small mountain of a male, happy Ezra wasn't that tall, since her neck was already starting to hurt. "That won't get you anywhere, Vizsla! I will never accept your suit!"

The blond boy smirked at her. "While that would certainly be an added benefit to the challenge, with as pretty and feisty as you are, I don't care if you do or not. I just want to make it so that little Jetii shabuir can't court you either!"

Sabine swallowed hard, looking over at Ezra, who was of course giving her a 'what the kriff is going on!' look. Shab. He's not going to like this.