Author's Note: Change of plans! Two chapters today, so make sure you read chapter eight if you haven't already. It wasn't this chapter that needed serious rework. It's the next one. This is another of my favorites, though it's front and back halves are a little bipolar. I almost split it into two short chapters but ultimately decided against it.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 9
The Jedi and the Mandalorian

The Great Hall was even rowdier by the time Sabine and Ursa returned to it. Alcohol had loosened tongues and raised spirits. In one corner there was an impromptu arm wrestling tournament. In another one of the older warriors was standing on a table telling the tale of some fight from the grand old days. Sabine then noticed Ezra and her father at one of the closer tables with Fenn Rau and a few other warriors. Someone said something to Ezra and punched him in the arm. Ezra frowned and tipped back a small glass of amber fluid. The others cheered and joined him in draining their own drinks.

"Great," Sabine said, rolling her eyes and pointing her mother to the table. "Looks like Ezra is making himself right at home."

Ursa laughed shortly. "My fault. Probably feels like he has something to prove after what happened earlier. Sorry, Sabine."

Sabine shook her head. "It's fine. He won't do anything too dumb. Probably."

One of the warriors at the table suddenly noticed Sabine and Ursa watching them and everyone huddled around Ezra. Alrich stood up and walked over to his wife and daughter and smiled politely. "What is that about," Ursa asked frowning and not taking her eyes off the other group.

Alrich cleared his throat. "Relax, I promise I had very little to do with what's about to happen."

Sabine suddenly felt a heavy feeling settle in her stomach. "Daddy, what did you do?"

Ursa looked at her husband nervously, an unspoken question in her eyes.

Alrich chuckled. "All I told Ezra is that it wouldn't hurt if he were a little more proactive about things. That's all."

Sabine looked back at Ezra. He caught her eye, winked, and mouthed the words "Trust me." She blinked.

"Alright," Alrich continued, "the alcohol might have been Fenn's idea. He thought it might help loosen the tongue a little. But I guess we'll just have to see about that now won't we."

"Wait! No, Dad this a bad idea!"

It was too late. Fenn Rau had already stood on his bench and bellowed "Members of Clan Wren! It seems our young Jedi wishes to propose a toast!" A round of cheers went around the room as men and women scrambled for their glasses. Fenn gave the stewards a few moments to attend to those that had already emptied their drinks. Stewards came and supplied glasses to Sabine and her mother and father as well. Then Fenn shouted again "Shall we hear the Jedi's toast?" Another round of cheers.

Sabine's heart stopped in her chest. She swirled her glass and looked at it nervously. There was nothing she could do to stop this. She sighed. Ezra had mouthed the words 'trust me'. He was making that a little hard at the moment. Not that she had done much better the last couple days with all that she had put him through. Okay, Ezra, she thought. Let us see what you've got. When she looked back up, he had already replaced Fenn on the bench.

Ezra smiled that dumb grin of his that she loved so much. "Members of Clan Wren. Let us toast the leader of this mighty Clan, the Countess Ursa Wren and her family!"

Okay, this was a good start, Sabine thought over the cheers. Maybe he was just trying to endear himself to the warriors after the disaster of the earlier evening. This might not be so bad if he didn't go overboard.

"Let us drink to Tristan Wren! A brave and noble warrior whom I fought with side by side on Mandalore. Long may his enemies lie beneath his feet!"

Sabine was so relieved that she barely remembered to take a sip of her drink. He was doing well. Of course, he was. Ezra wasn't an idiot.

"Let us drink to Alrich Wren! A man full of wisdom, honor, and skill. Long may his counsels guide this Clan to prosperity!"

This was... less good, Sabine thought, sipping her drink again. Proper order would have her preceding her father, but that was forgivable enough so long as the Countess was last.

"Let us drink to the Countess Ursa Wren! She is a woman of fervent loyalty to her people and a fierceness unmatched by any man; rightly have I learned to fear her. Long may she guide her clan to victory on the fields of battle!"

Sabine sighed. All things considered, it was a minor breach of etiquette, not putting her mother last, but it was one that would be remembered. Ezra had been doing so well too, she thought as she took a sip.

Ezra paused briefly and smiled again. "Let us drink to the flower of Clan Wren, the beautiful and deadly Sabine Wren! She has been my friend and ally through countless battles. She is the artful color of my life that gives it form and purpose." He paused briefly for effect. "And she is the woman I love, whose good graces I cannot live without."

Thunderous applause. Shouting. Whistling. Sabine suddenly realized she had dropped her glass and it had shattered, spilling amber liquid across the floor. She was having difficulty forming full thoughts. They all started, began to take shape, and then just... stopped. Surely he wasn't publicly professing his love for her in front of everyone. That...

Ezra was waving for attention again. The hall became quiet again, eager to see where else this could go. After all the entertainment the Jedi had provided tonight he was quickly becoming a favorite of those present.

Ezra stepped off the bench and walked straight to her mother, he bowed to one knee and spoke, still loud enough for all in the hall to hear. "Countess, I was caught off guard earlier this evening, but I will not be a victim of circumstance. Sabine is the best and greatest part of my life, and I will not rest until I have your permission to marry her." Ezra smiled and glanced at Sabine.

Sabine had thought it was silent in the hall before. She was wrong. It was so quiet now she could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her head.

And then her mother smiled, and tears began streaming down her face. She raised Ezra to his feet and clasped his hands in her own. "You have my permission. Further, you have my blessings. May you find the desire of your heart with all due speed."

And then the Hall erupted. Sabine simply stepped back in disbelief. Ezra was being lifted onto the shoulders of cheering warriors and paraded out of the room. She had no idea where they were taking him. Didn't matter. She just needed a little bit of quiet. There were gentle hands on each of her arms. Her mother and father.

"Well I think he did alright," Alrich said happily. "The boy can be eloquent when no one is threatening to kill him."

"And you really didn't have anything to do with that?" Ursa asked, amused.

"I already told you. I suggested to him that Mandalorians are impressed by grand deeds. He came up with a plan." The Hall was quiet again. Most of the warriors had left with Ezra's parade. "I hope that Ezra is tougher than he looks. The whole clan is going to want a piece of him to see if he's a worthy enough warrior to be Clan Wren."

Sabine laughed a small happy laugh. Her thoughts were beginning to make sense again. "Well let's go see. I guess they went to the training hall. We can watch from the observation deck." The three of them walked arm in arm to leave the hall. "Thank you," Sabine whispered quietly to her mother. She wasn't sure she had ever been so happy in her life.

"You're welcome Sab'ika."

It started with unarmed combat. To make it a fair fight, Ezra's opponents removed their armor plates and fought in their bodysuits since he was unarmored.

Tristan was the first challenger naturally. "Bridger, if you think I'm going to just let you marry my little sister before putting you through the ringer, then you don't know a Hutt from the business end of a bantha." There was a chorus of laughter.

"Bring it on then," Ezra said. Tristan won of course. Ezra put up a good fight, but in an effort to play fair he wasn't using the force for anything but reflex enhancement. No unnatural jumps, speed, or agility. And then the next Mandalorian warrior wanted a shot. And then the next. And the next. Ezra had won more spars than he had expected, but as the fights wore on he began to tire, and they began to go more and more against him.

"What's the matter, Bridger? I think you're slowing down," Rau taunted from the wall he leaned against.

"What, you too, Rau?" Ezra said. "I may be getting tired, but I've still got enough in me to take down one crusty old warrior."

"Ha," Rau laughed. "Sorry, there's not enough glory in defeating a young welp after the rest of the clan has been laying you flat for half an hour. What would be the fun in that?" There was a general round of laughter through the training hall.

"Alright," Ezra said. "Laugh it up. I've fought in your world. Now who's ready to step into mine?" he ignited his lightsaber with a snap-hiss and smiled his best cocky smile. There was a murmur of approval; now this was getting somewhere. Several warriors ran to the nearby armory to get a few training blades. They returned with an armful of blades of various styles. Ezra pointed at Tristan. "You're first. Honor duel. No gadgets. No tricks. First to tag the other wins. I'll set my saber to a low power training mode. But don't worry," he said smugly. "It will still hurt."

Tristan laughed nervously and selected a straight sword, turning on its magnetic sealing. It would repel the lightsaber even if it weren't in training mode now. He saluted Ezra and advanced on him. Ezra fought defensively for half a minute, letting Tristan swing and look for an opening. Ezra smiled to himself. He had fought inquisitors and even crossed blades with Lord Vader; this was child's play. The way Tristan fought reminded him of Gar Saxon. All brute force with no finesse. Good enough to deal with the average thug wielding a vibroblade, but not good enough for dealing with a Jedi.

Suddenly Ezra changed tactics and drove into Tristan. Tristan barely had time to back peddle and keep on his feet before Ezra spun around behind him and with a flick of his wrist knocked Tristan's blade aside. Ezra then made sure to leave a nice burn mark on the back of Tristan's thigh. There were cheers of approval from the crowd and a few taunts shouted at Tristan.

"Ahh! You weren't kidding about that hurting. I.. I thought I was doing well. You were just toying with me!" Tristan said in disbelief.

Ezra shook his head. "No, just judging my opponent's abilities before committing."

"No kidding. Alright, does anyone else want to try your hand at him? Watch out. He's good."

Several other warriors decided they would try and were left with nasty burns for their efforts. Ezra breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like there were no other challengers. He was nearing exhaustion and knew that eventually, someone would beat him, even at his own game.

"The boys have had their fun. My turn now."

Sabine. He turned to look at her. There was a cheer of approval from the warriors. This was good and proper; young lovers in a duel, their passions sated through violent sport. This was something they wanted to see. Sabine smiled. "Sorry, got tired of watching Clan Wren getting put down like sick kath-hounds. Realized that I'm the only person here that's even going make you break a sweat.

Okay, she was going to do this. Ezra chuckled to himself. All he wanted was a chance to talk to Sabine after this crazy day, but she just wanted to spar him in front of her evil cousins.

Mandalorians, he thought with a smile. Good thing he was in love with one.

Ezra gestured towards the pile of blades. "Choose your weapon."

"Brought my own," she said and suddenly with a snap-hiss, ignited a blue lightsaber.

"Wait where did that come... Is that Kanan's lightsaber?" Ezra's jaw dropped. "I gave it to Hera to keep. Why do you have it?"

"I know. I was there when you two had that argument. Hera got in the last word apparently because I watched her sneak it into your bag before we left." She turned it to training mode, and it's blade visibly dulled. "Oh, don't give me that look. We'll leave it on the Phantom for her to find when we swap ships. We both know she needs to be the one to keep it in memory of Kanan. But personally, I think he would want me to put you in your place with it." She moved to an opening position.

Great, Ezra thought. "You know this would be fairer if I hadn't gotten beat up by a dozen of your cousins," he said, drawing another round of laughter from the warriors in the room. He ignited his own saber and mirrored her stance.

"If it was a fair fight you'd put me down in seconds."

"True. So I'll make it fun," Ezra said changing his stance. After Kanan had been blinded, he and Ezra, realizing they needed a better technique for dealing with lightsaber wielding opponents, had worked to recreate Form II, Makashi. Kanan had explained that this lightsaber form, perfected by the famous Count Dooku, would be perfect for dealing with Inquisitors.

It had been hard work; the Empire had done its job in destroying all information related to the Jedi. After over a year of research and practice, they had a working knowledge of Form II and its use. Ironically, they had never seen another Inquisitor. May as well put all that effort to some purpose, Ezra thought.

Sabine recognized the opening stance at once. "Oh, I see what you're doing. I know what you two were working on. You expect me to stand a chance against a dueling form?"

Ezra laughed "Maybe. I only ever practiced it with Kanan, and those fights were more academic than what you're about to give me." He held his saber vertically in front of his face in a Makashi salute, then moved to a ready position with his off hand behind his back.

Sabine grumbled one more time and then moved immediately into a series of two-handed strikes, high, low, then high again. Ezra gave ground, deflecting each blow with ease. Makashi was a one-handed stance that favored precision over power, with a heavy emphasis on footwork. As long as he outmaneuvered Sabine, he would, in theory, be able to find an opening.

After the first series of strikes, he leaped lightly back out of her reach and then circled to her left side. "You going to fight or just dance, Loth-rat?" she smirked drawing a laugh from her clansmen.

"I don't know. Never really had a chance to dance with you, so I thought I would give it a shot. Can you keep up?"

Sabine paced towards him again and began to pressure him with strikes. Karabast, though Ezra. Guess she knows she needs to use strength against my one-handed grip. With each of Sabine's strikes, Ezra made sure never to let the blades lock; instead, he pushed her saber to the side or sidestepped each attack.

Deciding it was time to make Sabine go on the defense, he deflected an attack and in one fluid motion jabbed his saber toward her shoulder. Having no way to bring her saber up in time, Sabine had to duck beneath Ezra's green blade. And this was Ezra's moment. Suddenly off balance, Sabine was forced to step back as Ezra began to make small swipes at her guard. High, low, low. He then feinted high but chopped low again horizontally.

Sabine realized her mistake and tried to bring Kanan's blue saber down to block Ezra's strike. She managed to get her saber in front of the green blade but had no leverage from her current position. Ezra locked his saber with hers and shoved her backward to press his advantage. Pushing forward into her steadily and continually rotating towards her left side, he forced her to stay on defense, where her two-handed grip lost its edge.

She finally made another mistake when he cleverly aimed a slice at her midsection then turned it into an upward swipe. Desperately Sabine blocked his vertical swipe with a horizontal block in an attempt to lock his saber, but it was too late. Ezra simply slid out of the lock and with a flick of his wrist batted the saber out of her grip. It clattered loudly across the floor. There was a rumble of approval from the warriors. Though they had been hoping to see one of their own bring the Jedi down, it had been a good fight, much better than anyone else's in fact.

Sabine just placed her hands on her hips. "Not bad. You're going to have to teach me more than just the basics I think."

"Even so, you did well. I think you'd take anyone else in this room apart even with just the beginner's knowledge you have." A couple of warriors grumbled some doubts about that. Ezra called Kanan's lightsaber to him with the Force and passed it to Sabine.

She ignited it and pointed it straight at the doubters. "If you think you can do it, come do it. I'm right here." There was a little bit of laughter and a couple of apologies. "Good," she said flashing the group a wicked smile. "I need to take Ezra for a bit anyway."

"We know what for!" a voice yelled from the back.

Sabine turned a light shade of pink and shook her head. "Not what I meant moof-milker. You just keep shouting innuendos from the back of the room at the Countess' daughter like a coward, though. I'm sure that's going to get you places."

"Especially when the Countess is in the room," Ursa called out. Everyone looked up. Apparently, she and Alrich were still on the observation deck. There was another round of laughter.

"I'm sorry, my lady!" squeaked the heckler in a higher voice, to even more laughter.

Sabine shook her head and walked to Ezra. "You ready? I think I owe you a talk."

Ezra nodded and extended her his arm. "Yeah, I think it's about time." She took his arm and they left the training hall.