The roar of the Ghost's engines died down as the landing gears touched down on the surface of Cholestar. the boarding ramp slid down near-silently, as if trying to copy the planet it was lowering onto. Cholestar was a barren, empty snowstorm. When Sabine, Zeb, Kanan, and Ezra emerged from the conditioned halls of the Ghost, they were in full winter clothing - except for Kanan and Ezra. Master and apprentice both wore faux-simmersilk cloaks with hoods that their faces partly in shadow. This, while it wasn't something that bothered Zeb much, very much so annoyed Sabine.

For her, fighting was easier when the enemy had no face. But when her friend - brother, of sorts - didn't have one, she loathed the collection of artificial cloth. If her eyes could set things on fire at that moment, the entire cloak that draped over Ezra's shoulders would've been gone (along with a considerable of his hair).

She was aware that she'd been seeking him out for the past week whenever possible - which usually resulted in a passive aggressive 'No.' so he probably appreciated the facial obstruction the hood created. But when she did get the chance to talk to him, he'd always stay quiet, his responses low and as vague as his expression. The voice was always neutral, entirely unique, but unnaturally so. Just devoid of emotion, not even the manufactured kind. Before Ezra might've put up a polite, forced smile and played along, feigning awkward or tiredness to escape, but now he didn't.

No, now he'd always avert eye contact whenever possible, only making said contact when absolutely necessary. Were Sabine a person of lesser will, she'd have given up; but when you're born and raised a mandalorian, it doesn't breed a lack of will.

And so she continued playing the game of social cat and mouse for seven days, getting small scraps of information of about what exactly he and Kanan were doing for most of the day.

Apparently, darth Maul of all people had been attacking Ezra. Of course, it was metaphysical, like everything if with that kriffing force, Sabine thought bitterly. She glanced over at Ezra, who was walking beside Kanan dutifully and with shocking discipline; Sabine had never seen him act anywhere close to this. The two seemed to be one mind, linked together. If one made a misstep, or tripped on a stone that was nye invisible in the snowstorm, the other caught them. There was no word of thanks when this happened, merely a nod or grunt was exchanged; knowing the pair, Sabine guessed all the thanks and awkward pauses went on through the force - somehow.

While all this went through Sabine's head, Zeb gave her a curious glance that quickly morphed into one of immense amusement.

"Hey, I thought it was Ezra who had the crush!" He blurted out.

Ezra's hood shifted Zeb's direction, just as Sabine's helmet did the same. Sabien glared at the lasat, while Ezra simply made an attempt to shift his gaze to the snow falling in front of him. The mandalorian kept her eyes on Zeb for a moment more, before directing it firmly to a structure that was barely visible.

Kanan's cloak altered position slightly, as the faded symbol of the Confederacy Of Independent Systems came into view. Though his eyes were hidden, Ezra knew that his mentor still held deep seated and abject hatred of the long-dead group. Remnants remained, sure, but most often they were on far flung planets the former jedi could ignore with relative ease.

Now he was faced with one of the Confederacy's once numerous outposts.

Ezra's eyes studied the rusted, snow-caked exterior of the outpost with mild curiosity; the clone wars had always been portrayed, at least to him, as when the jedi made an attempt to overthrow the republic - which in a twisted way, they did.

Jedi had fought for three years against the CIS, and, if propaganda was to be believed, made an attempt on Chancellor - now emperor - Palpatine's life. In reality, the clone war was a conflict that was going to happen generations later than it did. It tore the jedi order apart, making cracks; jedi went rogue, died, or deserted the republic altogether. In the end, the clone troopers that had served by the jedi for three years betrayed them. The worst part, as Kanan described it, was that he - and the vast majority of the jedi - knew that order 66 was thing.

If a jedi went rogue, or betrayed the republic, the order was enacted. Instead, it had been used to eradicate the order in one massive swoop.

Ezra had never seen a battle droid - or any CIS property in his life - and now he was going to walk into the bantha's den.

When the group of four reached the main entrance to the outpost, Sabine instinctively reached toward her waist, retrieving a small, and very lethal, thermal detonator. Placing it in the center of the blast door, she set the timed charge and took several steps back. While tense moments passed, Zeb, Kanan, and Ezra all covered their eyes to protect from shrapnel, whilst Sabine smiled slightly behind her helmet when the durasteel of the door burst open, white hot for a few seconds, then cool.

She was glad to know that blowing things up was still just as satisfying.

Kanan's arms drifted to him waist, and he mentally commanded Ezra to do the same. Feeling his fingers close around his lightsaber, Ezra felt a small smile tug at the edges of his cracked, near-frozen lips.

Sabine was the first to enter through the vaguely human-sized hole she'd made. The mandalorian studied the old consoles and displays as they puttered along, cracked displays showing long forgotten holonet clips and irrelevant statistics. Ezra stepped in after her, his hood falling back as he straightened himself. Sabine's eyes were immediately drawn by the sound, studying his features with familial worry; his eyes seemed slightly more alive than the last time she saw them, with flecks of happiness in the blue irises. A small, blue-black stubble adorned his chin, something he either didn't or couldn't care about at the moment. His hair was in a familiar faux-shaggy fashion, with a few white spots that came from the snowstorm.

Overall, in Sabine's opinion, Ezra looked far better than he was the week before, but that wasn't saying much.

When Ezra noticed Sabine's staring, he gave her a pointed look before raising the hood again. Sabine internally sighed then blushed lightly when she realised Zeb and Kanan had been watching her. This was going to be a long mission.

AN: Hi. I said I'd do my best to keep to my schedule, and I am. So...here's another chapter. ;) I don't have much else to say other than that to say. So here's a terrible Segway into my outro! Any follows, favs, and reviews will be duly noted. - Raging Celiac