Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

This was getting annoying.

Fifteen minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Twenty-five minutes of tense boredom.

Twenty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds feels like a kriffing century in a standoff, especially when you've got your dream guy with you forever on one hand and slavery on the other. Of course, after said twenty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds, all hell breaks loose very quickly.

First, the lizard got bored somewhere around twenty-six minutes forty-seven seconds. He began to grate about how we couldn't have a Correllian Standoff for the next forty-eight hours. At twenty-seven minutes two seconds, he said the whole "We can't have a standoff for the next hour" speech.

"We won't," I responded, smirking. Ezra blasted the guards with a Force-Push, which sent all the guards flying into the walls. I readjusted my aim and shot the two guards with three-round bursts. They collapsed, still alive but out of the fight for now. Almost immediately, Ezra was all over the lizard, whacking him silly. That unlucky reptile was in over his head already, and I hadn't even joined in. He desperately tried to fight back against my blueberry, who was wearing no shirt. Manda, he looked good. A third guard entered, so I bounced off the bed and landed down on him. He must have been too busy checking me out to put up a good defense, probably because I was wearing very little. Just a sports bra and some shorts. (If he was looking me over, it was all the more reason to kill him.) Anyways, I bashed his head in with two straight punches before standing and kicking him once. In the jaw.

Owch.

The lizard was no longer standing. Ezra had him on the ground. I ran to my nightstand and took out two rolls of surgical tape. Tossing one to Ezra, I bound the three guards, gagging them and securing their hands behind their backs. They would probably lose circulation like that. Too karking bad. After that, I dragged them inside and kept them against the wall.

Ezra tore off the lizard's hood, revealing him to be a Yinchorri. I muzzelled him with tape and tossed him against the wall, too. Roughly. Oh, and there was some shattered glass where I had put him. Whoops! How sad.

Hera appeared at the door, looking cross again. "What are you two doing?"

"Long story," Ezra said, shrugging while re-taping the lizard's feet. "Basically, this di'kut," (I told him a few Mando'a insults) "was trying to kill me and enslave Sabine. So we knocked them out, bound and gagged them, then tossed them in a corner and we're gonna leave them there."

Simple, but it didn't do justice to how tense it had been in the room. Twenty-seven minutes fifteen seconds in a standoff where you could cut the tension with a vibroknife is enough to drive you stark raving mad.

"You're lucky you didn't wake Jacen."

"It would be hard to," I responded. The little guy was a hyper-sound sleeper.

"Not really," Hera responded. "He sleeps light in new places. In any case, why didn't you lock your door?"

"One of the guards had a lockpick," I answered. Hera cursed.

"How long until hotel security gets here?" Ezra asked. I held up five fingers, one for each minute.

"Three minutes to mobilize, one minute to get up here, five seconds to find our room, forty seconds to get in position for a breach, five to breach," I explained. Sure enough, five minutes later three uniformed rent-a-guards with Stinger pistols walked in. I knew they were Stinger pistols because they looked like they were from Naboo and they freaking hurt when I got hit with one. But it wasn't a sharp, sudden pain like a normal wound from a blaster. No, it was a dull ache like someone punched me really hard and it bruised. More painful, though. It was acid, after all.

Hera laughed when the guards questioned who had done this. "I'm wearing sleepwear and carrying no weapons. These two have blaster pistols and a lightsaber, and they're busy bringing four guys bound with surgical tape over to you. They also look like warriors and are certainly able to do this. So- and this is just a wild guess- they might have been the ones to do this, maybe?"

The guard attempted to slap Hera for that. She ducked and slapped back, making the guard stumble. Everyone laughed as that guard's face flushed red from embarrassment. Ezra, Hera, and I all traded a look. We were all thinking what that man didn't know: You do not mess with this Twi'lek.

Jacen appeared at the door to Hera's room, rubbing one eye tiredly. His eyes then widened at the three guards. He waddled over to Hera and asked her, "Mama, what going on?"

One guard had the stupid idea to ask who was Jacen's mother. I looked at him with pity in my eyes (I assume: I know that's how I felt), then pointed to Hera. He nodded. I guess the guy wasn't as stupid as I thought. Anyways, after a quick prisoner exchange, Ezra and I were twenty-five-thousand credits richer from the capture of two genocidal maniacs and one dangerous murderer, as well as a glimmerstym-dealing criminal kingpin. And, even better, we had basically gotten 25,000 for defending ourselves. When they told us this, both Ezra and I nearly fainted, then denied reward…

For exactly five seconds. Then, we graciously accepted.

The small bag that we got was somewhat heavy, so I assumed that the guards had put the credit chips in non-digitally. If I wasn't so happy about the money, I would have asked for it digitally, but it wasn't unbearable. I commented about the weight as we carted it back to the Starhawk.

Ezra smiled at me and said that we could give it back whenever I wanted. I shook my head. Too much money to throw away. I mean, I was getting a fairly substantial income from selling my paintings, and I still had the prize money from making "The March To Restuss," but who throws away free money?

We checked out of the Dingo without any more complications. They seemed genuinely sad to see us go. I wasn't exactly happy either, but I missed Lothal now. Plus, Ezra hadn't seen the New Lothal. Lothal 2.0. Lothal Mark 2? Whatever it was called, it was way better than the old Lothal. Lothal First Edition. I've got to stop doing that. Capital City was repaired and expanded now, with the lives of the citizens looking up. Unemployment was nonexistent. Ezra would be happy, I hoped.

There were only two cabins inside the T-6. Ahsoka looked at me and shrugged. She was still taking her own cabin. I didn't really care; I was staying with Ezra. If he went with Hera on the Ghost, I would go too. If he went on the T-6, he was staying in my cabin.

He went with the Ghost. Ahsoka looked sad when I said I was going with him. Oh well.

"Besides, you and Lux need some time together," I said, smiling like a loon. Ahsoka blushed deep, her montrals darkening. I somehow kept myself from laughing. "Just go to Onderon, okay? Stay there for a while. I talked with Lux, and he's dying of loneliness."

Ahsoka feigned reluctance, but capitulated. "Okay, fine."

"Good. Get going." I clapped Ahsoka on the back and turned towards the Ghost. Jacen was running up the ramp, with Hera and Ezra close behind. Ezra was slightly ahead of Hera, but as I watched, she grabbed his shoulder and hauled him backwards, using him as an anchor to throw herself past Ezra. She made it up the ramp second, Ezra fourth. Why fourth? Because I joined in. I used my vambraces to tie his feet together, then sprinted past him while he struggled on the ground. Eventually, he got free and walked across the ramp, casting me a withering glare as I leaned against the wall. I tapped the button to close the boarding ramp before I entered my room.

Manda, it felt good to be back. Of course, Hera had probably changed my room, repainted it, made it a bit more suitable for a child. I didn't care. Paint was replaceable, after all, and my material possessions were long gone from the Ghost. I left them behind at the tower. I hit the button to enter my room.

I caught my breath. The room felt different now. But what had changed?

I realized what had changed.

Nothing had changed.

Nothing.

No new paint. No new additions. No new bed-covers, even. It was…. Eerie. I expected it to be different than when I had left. But it was the same. It was scary, in a way.

Ezra walked in behind me, putting his pack down on the floor. I followed him in happily. Jacen came tottering in and began speaking to Ezra. Hera was at the door. I got up and walked over to her.

"There's a spare room for Ezra if he gets you mad," Hera said. I shrugged.

"He hasn't made me mad yet."

"Even so, keep it in mind. Men have a habit of annoying us. I know Kanan annoyed me, at least," Hera joked, shrugging. I nodded.

"And everyone knows that Ezra can annoy me," I responded. Hera laughed. Ezra looked up at me before being drawn back into conversation with Jacen. He levitated a small stack of cards in the air, waving them around a little bit while Jacen squealed with excitement. "Are you gonna let Ezra train Jacen? Luke said he was strong with the Force."

Hera's expression darkened a little. "The Force took Kanan from me. I don't want Jacen taken from me as well."

"He won't be, Hera. Ezra will train him right. Besides, without training, Jacen will be even more vulnerable."

"I know. I'm going to let Ezra train him. But I don't like it."

"You don't have to," I said. "Anyways, happier topics?"

"Sunshine, rainbows, and loth-cats," Hera suggested, making me laugh. I continued to watch Ezra and Jacen. "Anyways," Hera asked, "Should we get going?"

"Yeah. Ahsoka already left. Nothing's keeping us here, and I want to show Ezra Lothal again," I responded. "Do you think he'll recognize it still?"

"It's his home planet, Sabine," Hera answered. "I've been away from Ryloth for five years, and yet nothing seems to have changed. He'll recognize it."

I turned to Hera once more. "Well, let's get going and find out!"

An hour later, Ezra lay down on the top bunk. I looked up at him, then pulled him down. He crashed to the ground. "Oww!"

"Well, if you hadn't taken my bunk, you wouldn't be in pain," I drawled. "Top bunk is mine, Bridger."

"Hey, I used it before!" Ezra said defensively as I hoisted myself up onto the bunk. He continued to stand, glaring at me. I smiled back.

"Well, that was then and this is now."

I waited as Ezra still stubbornly stood. He still had defiance in him. Good. I liked that. As long as he didn't try to own me, I had no qualms with letting him get his way. As long as it had an upside for me, of course.

"And, if you don't irritate me, maybe I'll let you sleep next to me," I added, as a sort of a clincher.

"Compromise?" Ezra asked. I raised an eyebrow, but nodded for him to go ahead. Ezra continued, "How about we both sleep on the bottom bunk tonight, and then if I don't irritate you tonight, I'll sleep on the top bunk with you."

I gave him a quizzical look for a second, then accepted and dropped down. "Oritsir gar, Ezra. Gar ratiin parjir ni jaon," I muttered. (It translates to "Curse you, Ezra. You always win me over.) I thought that Ezra didn't know any Mando'a, save for what I had told him.

So imagine my surprise when he tells me, "Elek, ni kar'taylir."*

I turned on him rapidly. "When did you learn Mando'a?"

"When you were on Krownest," Ezra answered with a shrug. "Took some lessons off of the Holonet. I hope my pronunciation is okay. Is it, cyar'ika?"

My heart began to try and escape my ribcage by going into my throat. "C-cyar-cyar'ika?"

"Of course, Sabine. You are my cyar'ika. You know that."

I wrapped my arms around Ezra's neck. "Ezra… you have no idea how much that means to me."

*It means: Yes, I know.

Also, if I ever forget to add a English translation of Mando'a, look up a Mando'a-English translator.

-RebelliousWaffle