A/N: In this chapter, Zeb is still being pursued by the hunters and his health is beginning to suffer. The Lasat's injuries are becoming infected and in turn, he is running a high fever and hallucinating. Kanan and Hera will be leaving on the GHOST to search for their friend.

Chapter 8 Fevered Delerium

Zeb lay curled up in one of the threadbare blankets in the stone temple ruins, his large body racked with the fever of a massive infection that was in his right thigh. Two days ago, the Lasat had cleaned out the bone-deep cut and cauterized it, but it still held an infection. All Zeb did now was lay curled up, shivering with chills and calling out for Kanan and Hera or sometimes Ayessa. Ashla, his little furry companion stayed by his side and curled up licking his feverish cheeks hoping to ease his discomfort.

"Kanan! Hera!" he called out as he sat up, his big green eyes glassy looking with fever. He hoped to see his two closest friends nearby and he saw they weren't.

"Help me," he whimpered and pulled the blanket closer. He stretched out his injured leg and saw that it was swollen from the knee up, the fur standing on end. A bad smell eminated from the injury and in his feverish mind, Zeb knew that he had to clean it out again. The thought of touching the tender injured flesh and fur made a pout form on his bottom lip and he whimpered more.

Slowly he got up and found he couldn't put any weight on the leg and he fell on his left side aggravating the cut on the calf of his left leg. At least that injury wasn't a bad one. It just stung alot.

"Ashla," he said to his little friend, "I...I can't stand up or walk!"

The small creature went over and nudged his arm wanting him to get up. She grabbed onto his loincloth nearly pulling it off.

"Hey! Quit that! I can't put any weight on my leg, don't you know that?!"

Ashla kept pulling on him until he resigned the fact that the creature wouldn't let him give up. With alot of difficulty, Zeb stood up and grabbed one of his long spear weapons to use as a crutch. Taking halting steps, the Lasat made his way out to the river and sat down with a groan beside it. Biting on his lower lip, Zeb unwrapped the bandage on his thigh and gasped at how bad the injury looked.

"Oh...Karabast," he said softly and removed the tooka root poultice. The smell of the infection was bad but not as bad as it looked. The fur was singed and burned from the cauterizing of it earlier and a foul-smelling pus was leaking out of the open areas. Extending his leg out into the water, Zeb gently washed off the wound, cringing at how much pain he was feeling, and lowered his leg into the water to soak it awhile. He leaned back and sighed as the cool water felt comforting on the nasty wound. Ashla came up beside him and offered comforting purrs, seeing he had tears in his eyes.

A shaft of sunlight came down upon the water and he leaned over to look at his leg and saw a reflection of his face. His normally bright green eyes were dull with fever and half closed. Dark circles were underneath his lower lids and puffy from the constant tears. The lavender fur on the top of his head and on his face was covered with dirt streaks and the darker purple stripes weren't as vibrant as they usually appeared. His nose was red around the slitted nostrils and the fur above his upper lip was covered with dirt and dried muscus. He frowned seeing that his left ear was half gone.

"Karabast, I look like something a Rancor chewed on and spat out!" he said a crooked grin on his face. That got a chuckle out of him until he felt a pain in his broken arm. He adjusted the splint and leaned back to continue soaking his leg.

After an hour, Zeb dragged his leg out of the water, chewed some tooka root to a paste and placed a new poultice on the cut. He rebandaged the injury and limped his way back up to the temple ruins to try and rest. Just walking to the river had worn him out and he knew it was because he was getting weaker. Ashla followed him inside and watched as he sat on his makeshift bed of fur blankets and chewed on some dried meat from an animal they had caught earlier. He layed down and fell asleep to dream about being home with his family. The dream was so vivid that he shot up on the fur blanket hoping to see his family. All he saw was the dank, dark walls of the temple ruins. At that moment, Zeb felt extremely homesick and alone.

"Hera! Kanan!" he called out his deep voice echoing through the ruins, "Help me..."

All he heard was the gentle purring of Ashla beside him. Zeb clutched the blanket closer and raised his head to stare at the ceiling. Tears blurred his vision and he sucked in his breath in a sob.

"Hera...Kanan..." he whimpered as the tears began to fall, "Help me, please."

He sat sniffling when he didn't hear the maternal voice of Hera, or the calm tones of Kanan's voice. That caused the Lasat to break down and cry. He raised his head again and wailed at the top of his lungs. If anyone were nearby, they would've thought it were a child crying, not a former Lasan Honor Guardsman. The sound was sad, pitiful and above all heart wrenching.

"Hera...Kanan...!" he sobbed hugging the blanket closer and began to rock back and forth, the fever going up from his emotional outburst, "H...Hera! K...Kanan! I wanna go home!"

The wailing grew louder and he fell over to curl up as best as he could with the injured leg. He kept on with the crying that changed from wailing to just a loud sobbing that made Ashla come over to lay beside him licking each tear as it fell. In her own way she was trying to show Zeb that he wasn't alone.

"I wanna go home!" he kept sobbing over and over again for the next several hours until he cried himself to sleep with total exhaustion.

On Yavin IV:

The GHOST was ready to leave for her search of Zeb. Kanan and Hera argued with high command but they insisted on searching for the lost Lasat no matter what. They got permission to leave on one condition; if they didn't find Zeb within a week, they were to return to Yavin IV, no questions asked.

Kanan and Hera didn't care how long it would take to find the Lasat. He was family and family meant more to them than any mission or commands.

Ezra and Sabine still insisted on coming along but were told no. Leka and Ele also wanted to help but because they were young like the two rebels, they were also told no.

"Leka," Kanan said to his newest student, "Ezra will help you with your Jedi training until I come back. Sabine can help too."

"But...you need my help in locating Captain Orrelios," the young Lasat said his bottom lip in an almost pout. Kanan had to smile for that look reminded him of Zeb.

"No buts about it, young one," he said with an air of authority, "You are not trained enough and need more time. Don't worry, we'll be back and with Zeb."

Ele gave Hera and Kanan a kiss goodbye and shook Kallus' and Rex's hands to see them off. Ezra and Sabine gave all four hugs and they looked nearly ready to cry. Leka chose to give Hera a hug and also Kanan knowing that a Jedi student wasn't supposed to show outward affection but he didn't care. In the short time he had known Kanan, he thought of the older human male as a father figure, like Ezra did. Ele even thought of Kanan and also Hera as surrogate parents. She hoped they'd be okay. Ayessa stood back as her friends said goodbye.

"May the Barrelian gods go with you and protect you," she said as she gave them each a quick hug, "Bring my sycha home."

"We will, Ayessa," Hera said hugging the much taller woman back, "Don't worry so. Zeb is a tough Lasat and has been through some rough times and came through just fine."

Ayessa nodded and offered a silent prayer for Zeb's health and safe return to her so they could be joined in a Barrelian mind meld. This was similar to a human marriage. She also wanted to feel his hand in hers and also more of his touch.

The four youngsters watched as the GHOST took off and they blinked back tears, praying silently to any gods they believed in, and Ayessa stood with her arms crossed over her chest in a gesture of love...

Four days passed and Zeb awoke, his fever having broken during his slumber and the swelling was going down on the cut. Due to his Lasat physiology, he was beginning to heal and with the help of his first aid techniques, Zeb was on his way to getting better. He sat up on his makeshift bed and rubbed his eyes that felt like grit were in them. He looked around for Ashla and didn't see her.

"Ashla!" he called hoping nothing happened to his little companion.

A familiar grunting sounded and the furry creature crawled out from under a blanket that was laying in a corner. Zeb watched as she shredded the blanket with her sharp claws and appeared to be building a nest of some kind. Zeb also noticed that a distinct swelling was on Ashla's stomach.

"Hey Ashla," he said gesturing her to come over to him, "Are you getting fat? Because I know I'm not! "

Ashla turned over and Zeb saw that something was moving within the animal's body.

"Well, I'll be!" he said a smile on his face, "Ashla, you're pregnant, aren't you?"

His answer came in an affectionate lick to his furry face, making him forget his troubles for a moment.

"Guess I'll be an uncle of sorts," he said hugging the creature close. Ashla stepped up her licking getting him to double over with laughter, the sound echoing through the temple ruins. Their happiness was soon shattered when a sound outside made Zeb stand up in a stance of protection. The leg was still weak but better and he could now put weight on it. Grabbing a spear and his sling, he walked outside to confront the surviving hunters who were standing down by the river and a vicious smile crossed the Lasat's face. He saw that one of the hunters was standing close to one of his booby traps and he kicked at a stick with a vine tied to it.

The branch with the thorns on it came down and struck the younger hunter on the left arm and it cried out in pain.

"Ha! Serves you right, for trespassing!" the Lasat cried out and climbed onto a huge boulder to stand up and face the hunters, "Come and get me you karking pieces of bantha poodoo!"

The younger hunter growled and pulled the thorns out of it's arm and green blood leaked from the puncture wounds. Zeb's grin deepened and he stood up straighter hoping that he looked threatening enough. His thinner physique wasn't too convincing, but the raw anger in his eyes was.

The older and more experienced hunter pushed a button on his wrist gauntlet and disappeared. Growling, the younger one soon followed suit, angry at not killing it's prey...finally.

Zeb heaved a sigh of relief and sat down on the boulder his breathing easing up some. He knew that the hunters would be back and he was ready for them.

After the hunters left, they stopped to rest for a moment and the leader activated it's hologram device on one of the wrist gauntlets. An image of Zeb in his newer loincloth and armed with the wrist knives and assorted other weapons appeared, and a furry creature sitting next to his prehensile feet. The image grew larger in length and zeroed in on Ashla. They knew that their prey had formed a bond with the small animal and knew if they killed it, it would put the Lasat in a beserker rage of grief. They would get their trophy now...