Ezra was beginning to hate the routine. Check the time or have the alarm go off, take one of the medicines that numbed up his mouth and made everything feel weird, take the medicine that stung horribly every time, half the time get drowsy and stupid for a while, and then repeat all over again. The only plus was that both Kanan and Hera had spent time shining a light down his throat and said it was starting to look better. It didn't feel any better, and he still couldn't talk, but he was willing to trust them on that.
He stared up at the top of his bunk, feeling just well enough to be bored without actually having the energy to do anything about it. It didn't help that both Zeb and Kanan had gone back to work at the port and the ship felt strangely empty with just Hera, and she was frequently busy. He was considering dozing back off when he heard a familiar voice outside. He started sitting up, just as the door opened.
"Hey, long time no see." Sabine was carrying a fairly large bag and her hair was still wet, probably from outside. She gave him a grin, starting over. It was a little bit of a shock to see her in the drab Imperial grays and with her hair accented with brighter blue instead of the orange. It helped her fit in, but it still looked strange on her and he hadn't had much time to get used to the change.
"Sabine." He tried to talk and it came out more as a mangled croak, making him flinch as much from the sound as the fact his throat reminded him talking wasn't that fantastic an idea.
"You don't have to explain anything, I got most of the details from the others. I thought you could maybe use a friendly face who wasn't going to spend the whole visit trying to poke your throat." Sabine balanced the bag, starting up the ladder as he scooted to make room for her.
Ezra could have argued that Zeb had been refreshingly unconcerned about his illness, except for the times he actually needed his help with something. The lasat seemed fine with ignoring or teasing, and it made him feel a little more normal about all of it. There wasn't any real reason to try to tell Sabine that though, and he just smiled.
"I also come carrying presents, this first." She tugged a wrapped popsicle out of a side pocket on the bag and Ezra took it gratefully. He hadn't tried swallowing anything thicker than broth since the incident with the fruit. While he wasn't exactly feeling hungry with the low grade fever that stubbornly refused to break, just knowing he couldn't eat anything made him want to. Popsicles might just be more liquid, but at least they felt like food, and they were sweet.
"And, ok, none of this is really new. There's not a lot of art stuff here, which is frustrating. Nothing wet like paint dries in the damp, and it gets into all the dry media, or at least what's supposed to be dry. So all this is stuff I already had. But don't worry, it's not stuff I really used, or it's stuff I had plenty of." Sabine rambled happily as she pulled art supplies out of her bag.
"Pastels, I love the color and I love how easy they are to blend, but they're easy to smudge by accident unless you fix them as you go, and if you do fix them you can't go back and change them easily. Plus since they're dry I'd get them everywhere and not even realize it until I'd smudged everything. Then it just looked like exceptionally happy dust had gotten everywhere. Maybe you'll find you like them a little better. And if not, maybe they'll be useful later." She showed off the set of colorful pressed pigments, setting them on top of one of the sketchbooks she'd pulled out and stacked.
"The books are all odd sizes that don't really fit anywhere, before I settled on a size I liked best. I've hung onto them since they're perfectly good, but it's not like I'm going to use them anytime soon. Now the water color set. I got it because I've seen some amazing art done with it, but I don't have the patience. Plus it's not very forgiving, and using the resist so it doesn't just blob and seep all over the place is a little tricky. And finally just some pens and pencils because I have enough of those to build a fort if I wanted. What do you think?"
Ezra wasn't sure what he would have said even if he could manage speech, and he ended up just throwing an arm around her, hugging close and hoping his grin spoke for him.
"I know it's probably rough being stuck without much to do, but don't forget we're here for you, alright?"
Ezra nodded, taking a bite of the popsicle to let it melt.
"So are you going to try them out or make me wait all day?" Sabine leaned her chin in her hand, watching him.
Ezra scrunched his nose, waving the popsicle a little in her direction, not wanting to drip on the brand new to him supplies. Sabine laughed at that.
"Ok, you can finish eating, but then I want to see what you can do."
Ezra thought a moment, then nudged one of the sketchbooks at her. "You too."
Sabine leaned in to make sure she heard the whisper correctly. "Are you sure?"
Ezra nodded, taking another small bite of the popsicle before speaking again. "If you need some inspiration…"
Sabine shook her head with a smile. "You have no idea how frustrating it gets, sitting at the plain grey console all day long in the regulation brownish grey chair and everyone in the same grey clothes, I keep half hoping we get made so I can spray some color on the place before I go, liven things up a little bit. It's… it's depressing, is what it is. They probably do it on purpose." She opened up the book, picking up the pencil and tilting it away from him where he couldn't see before starting to put lines down.
Ezra finished the frozen sweet, licking the last of the sticky syrup off his fingers and feeling a little better after the sugar. He watched Sabine for a minute until she gave him an eyebrow raised look over the edge of the book and he took the hint, picking up the closest sketchbook and a pen, hesitating a moment before putting the tip to paper.
They both sat in companionable silence for a while, until the chronometer beeped. Ezra sighed, putting down the book. Sabine looked up, following his gaze and then reaching to grab both bottles for him, passing them over before going right back to her drawing, pausing and then reaching for the pastels. "If there's smudges of chalk everywhere it's going to be all your fault." She said it cheerfully enough, paying no attention as he took the medicine.
Ezra was grateful for the lack of being watched as he took both. The spray seemed to sting a little less, so maybe it was a good sign and he was starting to heal up. Or maybe he was just getting used to it, either way it only took a minute and he passed the bottles back to Sabine for her to put aside.
"Well this page is done, want to see?" At the enthusiastic nod she passed the open book over. Sabine's style wasn't anything like his own. Everything was loose and fast, an attempt to capture something in as few lines as possible. Mistakes were scribbled out, some with frowny faces beside them as quick commentary. It was full of movement, some scribbles started and then stopped partway through. And the most detailed and largest sketch on the paper was… him. He looked to be in mid-attack, lightsaber held high. Color had been applied over the pencil lines, quick strokes and smudges without a great deal of detail in the blues and oranges.
"I thought you could maybe use a reminder that this won't be forever, you'll be back on your feet before you know it. Do you like it?"
Ezra wished he could do a great deal more than just nod. He hadn't even picked up his lightsaber in weeks. Between the mission, and the constant rain, and now getting sick it just hadn't happened. It was frustrating, and as much as Kanan talked about patience being important it never felt like patience was helping him get any better at protecting people. There wasn't any way she could know that though, and just the reminder that she hadn't forgotten meant a lot. He held the book carefully, looking for the fixative that came with the pastels, spraying Sabine's art carefully so he wouldn't risk smudging it.
"Can I see yours yet?"
Ezra hesitated, he hadn't finished, and it wasn't anything like what Sabine did, but it seemed rude to refuse and he passed the book over.
"Hey, this is actually really good. You drew Chopper?" Sabine sounded impressed, and not like she was just humoring him, which he look as a good sign.
Ezra nodded with a small embarrassed grin. He didn't want to risk drawing one of the other members of the crew until he got used to the new materials, since they were so different from the stuff he had found before on Lothal. Chopper was safe enough though, if the cranky droid saw it he was likely going to make fun of it no matter how good or bad it was. He guessed he could have just drawn something random, but while sketching out objects was relaxing he didn't think it was the kind of thing you showed off. Not when a picture could be taken in a moment and be completely accurate.
"Well if you start running low on anything let me know." Sabine handed the book back. Ezra's style wasn't much like her own if that was how he always drew, deliberate lines carefully placed and more realistic than impressionistic. Given that Ezra hadn't seen Chopper for weeks and had to be working from memory it was especially impressive.
Ezra was starting to feel a little like a novelty toy, bobbing his head to everything, but it was still the easiest way to agree without having to whisper.
Sabine settled back with a sigh "I do have to go eventually, I want to get a few more things done and I have to be back in the apartments by curfew or it takes forever to get in. You have to show your ID, fill out a report explaining why you were late, either get it excused as an understandable breach of curfew which is filed but doesn't count as a penalty against you, or an unexcused breach of curfew and you get enough dark marks in your record there's consequences. Times like this don't exactly make me homesick for the Academy."
Ezra smiled, silently agreeing. He'd attended public school on Lothal mostly for the free food and it had been full of rules, and going undercover at the Academy had been worse. He supposed some people found comfort in the routine, knowing exactly what you were supposed to be doing when, and the Ghost crew did tend to settle into routines of their own. But there was a big difference between Zeb almost always catching a nap after lunch if they were on ship, and knowing you weren't allowed to deviate from a schedule without punishment.
"Until then though, want to hear some of the stories from work? They're not all boring, promise." Sabine smiled at him.
Ezra smiled back, settling in to listen and motioning for her to go ahead. While the job was to observe the other people just as much as the shipping communication, the vast majority of the information she discovered wasn't actually useful. That didn't mean it wasn't entertaining. Weeks before she'd even gotten there one of the oldest employees, an Adara, kept having his lunch stolen. He'd retaliated with bringing in cookies baked with a specific pickled berry that resembled pretty much any other dried fruit when baked. It was local and most of the birdlike Adara described it as sweet with a complex flavor. Most other species described it as unbearably sour and spicy hot at the same time.
The thief had taken one bite and hadn't even been able to talk for gagging and coughing and frantically searching for anything to drink to try and wash out the taste and quench the burning. Since then it seemed like once a week at least someone was bringing in some variety of fruit cookie and leaving them out to see if anyone would be brave enough to try them. Sabine had gotten the full story when she asked why there always seemed to be baked goods around.
There were other stories too, and while Ezra was sure they'd probably be a little better with faces to put to the names they were still entertaining. He knew they were probably at least a little censored. Hera got the full reports, but for the rest of them it was easier to actually be dumb about her subtle sabotage work than to remember to play dumb.
No matter how he fought it, the painkillers started making him drowsy again. After the second time Sabine caught him nodding off she wrapped up the story, helping him gather up the art supplies to put aside where they wouldn't get kicked or rolled on while he slept.
"Next time I manage to get away maybe we can trade some more sketches. Rest up and get better soon, alright?" Sabine tugged the blanket up for him, patting his shoulder and letting herself out.
Ezra closed his eyes, stopping his fight against the drugged dozing, feeling a little better already. No matter how long this took or how frustrated he got, at least he couldn't ever really forget there were people who cared now.
Author Note : I needed a species name, so I invented one, Adara. Chapter 7 may be a little late, but I will not abandon this, no worries