Author's Note: I made a minor update to reference Ahsoka.

Chapter 12
A Quiet Destiny

The next week was the happiest of Sabine's life. In the mornings she worked with Ezra and the armorers, reforging a set of her families ancient armor to fit Ezra. Thankfully an obscure uncle of Sabine's from a few generations back had had nearly the same size and build as Ezra. Still, spending four or five hours a day near the blinding heat of the blast furnaces was hard work. Ezra was not expected to do the skilled labor; there were trained armorers for that. But he was expected to assist in any way they needed.

Sabine was reminded of her own time here with the armorers years ago. She had received her set shortly before leaving to join the imperial academy. It had been much more challenging to reforge the pieces to fit her lithe frame properly, but the day when she fully donned her armor for the first time had been the proudest of her life. Her mother had not allowed her to be creative with the color scheme at that time and it had been painted in traditional Wren colors. That was the first thing she changed when she left the Academy.

Ezra took the task of aiding the armorers without complaint, despite all the sweating he was in for. Sabine wasn't sure how well Ezra would adapt to the armor, as he had never worn much, even in combat. There were Mandalorians that went without during their daily lives, like her father, but this wasn't common. Sabine hoped he would take to it naturally, as she was proud of him and his new place with her family.

In the early afternoons, they left the Wren Stronghold on a speeder bike to a nearby valley where a stand-alone guest house stood. It turned out her mother had already had it prepared as a honeymoon suite.

"I told you dear," Ursa had said with a knowing look. "Honeymoons are a thing, and if you weren't willing to think about it, I was." Sabine had been embarrassed but was thankful anyway.

It was there that Sabine fully learned the meaning of their vows, of truly being one with another person, of sharing all.

That had helped loosen her words, and they spilled out of her in a river on the second evening. As she began to repaint her armor to match the vision in her masterpiece, she told Ezra all she had longed to and more. How his unending patience had slowly warmed her heart to him, how she had cherished his kindness and devotion to her, and how one day she had woken up loving him, but unable to put it into words.

"It seems so silly now," she said testing the sapphire blue color she planned on using as a base coat. Hmm, she thought, still not quite the right shade. It didn't quite match Ezra's eyes yet. She went back to her supplies to find a darker color to mix in. "If I had had the courage to say something a year ago so much would be different."

"No," Ezra said "I'm glad you didn't. I wouldn't change what's happened for anything." He sat in a chair far enough away to be out of most of the fumes. Sabine had set up her portable field defumigater, and while it did an excellent job of removing most of the fumes from her paints, there were still a few that lingered in the air near where she was working.

He smiled as he watched her work. Sabine knew how much he loved watching her paint. It was something she had so rarely allowed in the past that he jumped at the chance anytime she let him. Now she would always let him.

There. That was the color she wanted. She made a note on her datapad so that she would be able to reproduce the color more easily and began to apply it to her armor. She had already stripped it to a bare gunmetal grey. Ezra's eyes had gone wide, and he had looked sad when he saw her armor in such a tragic state. "Don't worry. It's temporary," she said, rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't dream of wearing it like this in public."

Sabine careful covered the entirety of her armor in the new sapphire color. "I just can't believe that this all worked out," Sabine said with a gentle laugh. "I hoped it would, but now we're here, and you're a Wren. We're forging your armor."

Ezra shook his head. "I never dreamed it would happen quite like this. I thought you were going to make me work long and hard to win you over. Turns out I already had."

"Eh, you'd been trying to steal my heart since you first stole that crate of blasters from us." Sabine laughed. "I'll never forget the moment I took my helmet off in front of you, and you stared at me, dumbstruck."

"Hey," Ezra said defensively. "It was a big moment for me. I was meeting my future wife. It's not my fault you didn't realize the importance of that moment." As usual, Ezra easily dodged the object thrown at him. The Force did have its uses.

It took her two evenings to finish her armor's new paint job. Ezra whistled, impressed as she donned it for the first time. "I'm a little jealous and ready to match you."

"Soon," she said. "Soon."

They were standing at a small balcony much like the one at the main Stronghold. "You know," Ezra said, "the purple mixed with the blue and orange looks a lot like the sunsets here at Krownest."

Sabine looked down at her armor again and smiled. "I thought so too. You've got a better eye for color than I realized. I thought it would be nice to have some of my homeworld be a part of me again." She paused. "I thought about putting a bit of Lothal in your armor. Even thought of a loth-cat motif. You always liked that on your helmets, but I was afraid that that might be a giveaway if someone we knew saw me with a mysterious loth-cat themed Mandalorian..."

Ezra chuckled. "I would have liked that actually, but I guess maybe you can do a redesign someday when we retire to Lothal with the rest of the Ghost crew. I can't wait for them to get here in a few days. This is going to be fun. Can you imagine the look on Hera's face."

"Yeah, she's going to flip out. In a good way. But if Zeb says told you so, I'm going to punch him again."

"I'm too happy to care, just try not to hurt him. He was right after all" Ezra said. There was that dumb grin.

"Yeah, I guess he was. They all were. Speaking of things that could give you away I've been doing some thinking and you're not going to like this."

"What's that?" Ezra asked furrowing his brow.

"Your name. I know we've already talked about you taking Wren as your last name publicly." She hesitated. "I think you're going to need to drop the Ezra part too. What happens if someone from the Alliance hears that I've married an Ezra Wren? The game's over right then and there, even if you're encased in armor."

Ezra let out a long sigh, and his shoulders slumped. "I... I know. I was thinking about that earlier today too. Names are important. It was going to be hard enough giving up my parents' last name. Now I'll have to give up the name they chose for me at birth too."

"Oh, Ezra," putting a hand to his cheek. She'd known this would be a sore spot for him. "You'll always be Ezra to me. Privately I'll even take your name. We can be the Wren-Bridgers if you like the sound of that."

He laughed. "I do actually, but I noticed you put your name first."

"Obviously. Bridger-Wren just sounds bad," she said winking. "So what do you say. We can be Ezra and Sabine Wren-Bridger behind closed doors."

"I like it," he said thoughtfully. "That doesn't make it any easier dropping Ezra in public. As I said, names are important. How do you go about picking a new name? It has to be... the right name. It has to fit." He looked at her suspiciously. "You're bringing this up; I'm hoping that means you have something in mind. Probably some Mandalorian family name you expect me to take."

"Hey, that's not fair," Sabine said shortly. "And no I don't have anything in mind. We've got some time to talk it out.

"Hmm..." Ezra said stroking stubble on his chin. Sabine had suggested he trying growing a goatee to make himself look different. He wasn't sure what he thought yet, but Sabine liked it so far with just a few days of growth. Except for the part about how scratchy it was when she kissed him. Hopefully, it would get softer as it grew longer.

"Maybe we can ask Hera and the others when they get here."

"Yeah, we could do that," Sabine conceded. "But I'm afraid nothing is going to sound right to your ears.

Sabine stood thoughtfully for a moment, pushing the matter aside. "Changing the subject, can I ask a question?"

"Of course, anything."

She gathered her thoughts for a moment. "Where does our marriage put you as a Jedi? I remember Kanan talking about their doctrines forbidding attachment and, look, we're a little past that stage at this point. I know Jedi and the Force are outside of my expertise, but you're my responsibility now. I need to understand this."

Ezra nodded and paused thoughtfully. "Kanan and I talked about the Jedi and attachments many times, and in the end, we both agreed that this was one thing the Jedi got wrong. Sure, there was a danger that attachment could lead to the Dark Side. Jealousy, anger, fear of loss, all of those can lead a Jedi into dangerous territory. But that was attachment, and attachment without love is missing the mark. Attachment alone is possessive, and that can lead to the Dark Side. But Love is selfless and kind and never leads to the Dark Side. It always puts others needs before its own."

He looked out at the valley and reflected for a moment. "The Dark Side is entirely about the empowerment and advancement of the self. Power and personal fulfillment. I was... I was fooling myself when I used the Sith Holocron. I claimed I was doing it to protect you and the others. That it was for a greater good beyond myself. But I lied. I lied to myself." Ezra hung his head in shame. "In truth, I was just afraid to be alone again. I didn't care about you guys or what was good for you, only that you kept me from being alone. I knew you guys were ashamed of how I acted, that you were afraid for me, and that my actions harmed all of you. I was selfish. I was taking the easy road."

"The Dark Side is that easy path. A path for cowards, for those who are absorbed with themselves."

"But Love, Sabine, is about denying the self for the good of others. And therein the power of the Dark Side fails. Utterly and completely. The Jedi would have condemned Kanan's love for Hera. They would have condemned the very thing that made him strong and a bastion of light in a dark galaxy. They would have condemned my love for you, the very thing that makes me whole, that keeps the darkness away from me even today. How could I love you and rely on the Dark Side? The two can't coexist. And so I choose to love you. Which is as final a rebuke of the Darkness as I can imagine."

Sabine quietly took Ezra's hand. There was more she wanted to know about this, but she understood enough for now. "Then never stop loving me, and I will never stop loving you. If the Jedi were wrong, then they were wrong."

Ezra smiled and kissed Sabine briefly.

"There's another Jedi thing I want to talk about, Sabine. I... I don't know my place in this universe anymore. With Kanan, I thought we'd save the galaxy, but that purpose is gone now. I don't think that was ever our destiny. I think..." He paused. "Sabine I'm about to tell you the biggest secret you'll ever hear. It's about the Jedi and... Even Kanan and I didn't even tell Hera about this."

Sabine looked at him questioningly, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Was it hope? Fear? She didn't know. "Only if you're sure it's a good idea."

"I'm not, but I need to talk about it. Don't worry; I won't tell you enough that you could cause harm if the Empire ever found out you knew." Ezra lowered his voice to nearly a whisper. "I'm not the last Jedi, Sabine."

Her eyes went wide, but she didn't say anything. How was this possible? "You're not talking about Ahsoka, right...?"

"No. She... doesn't seem to have had a good past with the Jedi. I'm talking about someone else. I won't tell you who, or where, but a much greater Jedi than Kanan or I still lives. Possibly two, but I only met one in person. One of the heroes of old. And... Well, he didn't say much to me, but I sensed that there was a plan, a grand destiny that Kanan and I weren't part of. There is a hope for the Jedi still, beyond the Empire, beyond Vader, beyond all of it."

Sabine pondered this, wondering when Ezra had met another Jedi in secret. She couldn't ask, wouldn't ask as she didn't want to know more. There was danger in knowledge, and she didn't want to know anything that would put this secret hope in danger.

"I'll still do what I can to preserve the teachings of the Jedi," Ezra continued, "What little I know of them, anyway. I'm not even sure how thoroughly Kanan taught me their ways. I'll remember and faithfully record everything I can in case this hidden hope, whatever it may be, fails. But if it comes to that Sabine, I don't know what happens. I never was much of a Jedi, and I'm not sure Kanan was either. If I'm all that remains, I think the Jedi end with me."

"Nonsense," Sabine said suddenly, surprising both herself and Ezra.

"What?"

"Nonsense," Sabine said again with a confidence she couldn't explain. She wondered if this was what it was like when the Force gave Jedi those unforeseen nudges and premonitions. Was it like a voice speaking in their mind, or was it more like a sudden insight and ability to understand. She would never know for sure, but a part of her felt that maybe this clarity had come from the Force.

"I can't begin to claim that I understand the Jedi or the Force, Ezra, and yet even I can see your purpose in this. I believe that this hidden hope will succeed, that the Empire will fall, and the Jedi will rise again. And on that day, Ezra you will come out of hiding, with a wealth of knowledge, and the wisdom of knowing where the Jedi were right and where they were wrong. You will save the Jedi from repeating the mistakes of the past and teach them the difference between love and attachment; that love doesn't lead to the Dark Side. It saves you from the Dark Side!"

She stared into his eyes triumphantly, never more sure of anything than her next sentence. "And I'll be there, at your side, as a testament that you and Kanan were right, and the masters of the past were wrong."

She held him close as he began to cry softly. "Thank you, Sabine," he said.

"Oh stop, you're going to make me cry too. I'm getting used to the sappy stuff, but don't overdo it," she laughed happily.