Sabine and Ezra laid in the single bed that they had to share. Both were naked, tangled up in each other. They slept soundly in the warmth and comfort of each other's presence, the linen blanket covering only their lower bodies. Sabine's head resting on Ezra's firm but comfy chest.
Sabine was the first to wake up, she opened her eyes and glanced up at Ezra's face a few inches away, so peacefully asleep. She smiled as the memories of what went down earlier came back to her. 'That was fun.' she thought. As she tried to move, she felt something move in her lower body. She gasped as she felt a small surge of ecstasy flow through her veins. Slowly and calmly, Sabine untangled herself from within Ezra's embrace and redressed herself. The colourful beskar plates clicked into place on her black jumpsuit. Sabine decided to go and see Rowan Delk and ask for directions to the nearest civilisation outpost. She stole a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was 0900 hours, which meant they had spent a whole day in bed.
As she exited the bedroom, she found Rowan sitting at a table eating something. "Morning" he greeted her and stood up. "What the heck were you two doing in there?!"
Sabine blushed when she remembered that Delk had walked in on her and Ezra earlier. She sheepishly apologised and proceeded to ask for directions to the nearest outpost with a spaceport. "The nearest spaceport is in Anchorhead." he informed her. "It's about five clicks to the East, but it's a Republic outpost. Mandalorians aren't exactly welcomed with open arms." he informed her.
"Where exactly is East, Rowan?" Sabine asked, remembering that they had been wandering the desert blindly the days before they got here. The man stood up and went to rummage through a chest. He pulled out a small cylindrical object and placed it on the table. It had the letters N - E - S - W on it's face and two needles connected to each other, one red and one blue. The needles were freely suspended above the face of the device. A glass cover kept any dirt and itchy fingers away from the needle.
"This is called a compass. In the years before GPS and advanced nav computers, explorers used this to determine direction on the planet they were exploring." Rowan explained to the puzzled Mandalorian. "It responds to the magnetic fields of the planet to show you which direction is where. This one was made to be used on Tattooine." He then proceeded to explain how it was used.
"Okay, Rowan. Thanks for that." Sabine said, taking the compass from him. She then proceeded to the bedroom to wake Ezra up. He was still sprawled on the bed, the blanket covering the waist of his naked body. Sabine walked forward and planted her lips on his while pinching his nose. Ezra suddenly found himself struggling to breathe. He moaned in panic and his eyes shot open. Arms instinctively flew up and knocked back the Mandalorian that was playfully suffocating him with a kiss. Sabine broke out in laughter at the sight of Ezra panting heavily, trying to catch his breath.
"Why the heck did you do that?!" he asked just shy of yelling at her, but even then he was trying to hold back a grin. Sabine stood up, still laughing and handed Ezra his clothes. When he had redressed, he got off the bed and they kissed. This time, no one was suffocating.
"Rowan gave me this thing called a compass. He said it'll help us get to Anchorhead." Sabine informed him when they broke away. "There's a spaceport there, we can find a way off this planet."
"Then let's get going." Ezra said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room. They thanked Rowan Delk for his assistance and left the hut, walking in the direction of East. "Did Delk say how far Anchorhead is from here?" Ezra asked his girlfriend.
"He said five clicks." Sabine replied. As they continued to walk, another conversation started. "So what are you gonna do when we reach there?"
Ezra truthfully didn't know. He wanted to be with her, yet even though they had consumated earlier, did she want to be with him? Why did they even have sex in the first place?! "Well, if you feel the same way, I would like to uh... well see... be with you..." he stammered.
Sabine chuckled at Ezra's nervousness. "Of course I want to be with you, Ezra. Why would you think I let you take me yesterday in bed?" she asked, elbowing him. "We'll just go to one of the neutral worlds and live quietly there."
"But you'll willingly throw away your heritage? Our factions are technically enemies." Ezra pointed out. As far as he knew, the Jedi Order and the Republic thought he had died on Tattooine, and the Empire had tried to kill him and Sabine when they crashed here.
"I'm not throwing away anything, Ezra. Deep down, I am and always will be Mando'ad." she said tapping her chest where her heart was. "Just like how deep down, you'll always be a Jedi, right?"
Ezra sighed. Being a Jedi, meant following the Jedi code, and following the Jedi code meant not forming attachments. Was he still a Jedi if he disobeyed the Jedi Code? 'The Jedi fight for peace, justice and what they feel is right. Not forming attachments is just one clause. I'll just be a Jedi with an attachment, bingo!' . "Yes. Deep down, I'll always be a Jedi." he answered her. "By the way, what's a Mando'ad?"
"It means Mandalorian in the language of the Mandalorians; Mando'a." She replied, glancing at the compass to ensure they were still walking east.
"So like that 'Nee Car Tile' thing you said yesterday?" he asked, remembering that she said something strange to him while he was moving inside her.
"Yeah, ni kar'tayl gar darasuum. It means I love you." she translated. By the time they saw Anchorhead, Sabine had taught her Jedi a lot of Mando'a words.
"So vor entye means thank you, re'turcye mhi means goodbye, and cyari'ka means darling or sweetheart." he recited to himself. "So when someone gives me something, I say vor entye?" She nodded. "And you're my cyari'ka, which means you're my sweetheart."
"Now you're getting it." she said as they walked into Anchorage. "I'll teach you more later." she promised. "So what's the plan? How do we get a ship?" she asked him.
Ezra thought about it for a while. "We could steal one, or get someone else to pilot us off. Let's try the cantina."
"Ah ha, yeah, one problem Jetii, we're broke." she reminded him. But Ezra remained unphased, giving her a cheeky smirk and a wink.
However, on the roof of one of the Anchorhead houses, a sniper was steadily tracking the couple. She had arrived to track a bounty but seeing a Jedi escorting another Mandalorian, her own brother and sister, upset her. Who knows what the Jedi or their blasted Republic would do to them. Furthermore, the armor looked oddly familiar. The hunter set her sights on his head and pulled the trigger.
"Get down!" Ezra suddenly said, grabbing Sabine and forcing them both to crouch just as they heard the sound of a rifle go off. Ezra looked up and saw a Mandalorian with a rifle, aimed at him. He pulled out his lightsaber and skillfully deflected her shots away. Seeing that her target was now aware of her presence, the bounty hunter picked up the heavy rifle and ran. Ezra and Sabine gave chase, using the Force to throw her on to the roof before jumping up to join her. "STOP!" Ezra yelled.
Sabine pulled out her blasters, set them to stun mode and opened fire on the fleeing Mandalorian. But running and aiming was not exactly easy, even for a seasoned Mandalorian warrior like Sabine. "Sabine, I'm gonna throw you towards her. You ready?" Ezra said, realising that the mysterious Mandalorian assassin was getting away. Sabine nodded and prepared herself to fly again.
She felt her feet leave the ground and her body suddenly fly forward, straight toward the rifle-carrying assassin. Sabine collided with the fleeing Mando, knocking them down and off the roof of the buildings into an alley. But the assassin fought back, engaging Sabine in a brawl. They exchanged punches and kicks until Ezra jumped down. He cut the rifle in half and Force pushed them against the wall. He held them there. "What took you so long?" Sabine asked, teasingly.
"Stuck in traffic." he replied, walking towards the subdued Mandalorian. He released his Force grip on her, causing her to collapse on to the ground. Ezra held his lightsaber blade to her neck. "What's your game?" he demanded, grabbing her helmet with his free hand and tearing it from her head.
The Mandalorian was a girl with dark skin and purple eyes. She had a short patch of hair on her head. "Ketsu Onyo?!" Sabine exclaimed.
The girl known as 'Ketsu' forced a grin despite the blood dripping from her nose. "Yup, no other Mandalorian in the known galaxy as armor that colourful." she quipped, getting on her feet. Sabine extended her arm to help her up.
"Wait, you two know each other?!" Ezra asked, slightly surprised. He deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt.
"Ketsu was my childhood friend back on Mandalore" Sabine replied. "She was a skilled warrior, kicked the asses of all the boys."
"Well, you know what they say; ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya" Ketsu said. Ezra was left stupefied by the mess of words that had left her mouth. It was probably Mando'a, but he had no damn clue what it translated to in basic.
"Train your sons to be strong, but your daughters to be stronger." Sabine translated, her smile gone. "Then she left to work for the Black Sun." she continued.
"We'll talk later, Sabine. Can we kill the Jedi now?" Ketsu's request caught Sabine off-guard. Before she could refuse, Ketsu had pointed her blaster at Ezra's head and was about to pull the trigger. Sabine went wide-eyed in terror at the sight of her friend about to kill her sweetheart.
"Nu Draar!" She yelled in her native language, pushing Ketsu's blaster arm away. The bolt missed Ezra and hit the wall. "He's not an enemy, Ketsu, he's my cyar'ika." Ketsu recoiled at the word she used to describe the Jedi. How dare she!
"How dare you bestow that title upon him! He's a Jedi; our enemy, mir'osik!" Ketsu fired back, pointing her blaster at Ezra's face again. This time, he swung across with his saber and sliced the blaster in half. Ketsu responded by kicking the Jedi in the chest, sending him flying backwards to land on his back. She tossed her blaster remains to the side and pulled a vibroblade from her jetpack. Sabine ran in front of her and pointed her blaster at Ketsu's face.
"Drop the weapon now, Ketsu!" Sabine demanded. "Don't make me kill you." she added, glaring at her old friend.
"Has the desert heat gotten to you?! Or did that womp rat mind trick you into loving him?!" Ketsu asked, flabbergasted that Sabine would protect this Jedi and kill her own kind.
"Stand down now!" Sabine threatened, her index finger tightening on the trigger. To make her point clearer, Sabine raised her free arm towards Ketsu. A mini rocket emerged from within the gauntlet. After a few tense seconds, Ketsu finally gave in and deactivated her blade, returning it back to her pack. Sabine too lowered her weapons and helped Ezra up.
"I love him, Ketsu, I know it sounds weird but I do." she said as she pulled Ezra on to his feet. "Can you fly us out of here? To somewhere quiet hopefully?" she asked.
"I've got a bounty to handle here first. The ship's in Hangar 51, the Shadow Caster. When I'm done, I'll fly you two lovebirds far far away." she promised and they went their separate ways.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the second last entry to Falling For The Enemy. There will be an epilogue to follow and possibly a sequel that takes place in the times of Knights of the Fallen Empire (once Bioware has rolled out all the content). By the way, the original idea was to have Sabine and Ketsu fight, then Ketsu would be killed and our lovebirds would steal her ship. But I couldn't make it work. I also tried replacing Ketsu with generic thugs but decided 'Nah!' Anyway, thanks again and May The Force Be With You!
~Paul
Also wow, longest chapter ever!