A/N: Thank you so much! This story is currently at 185 views, 4 follows, 3 reviews, and 1 favorite! Any suggestions or errors you notice, please tell me. :)
DimensionJumperAlpha - Thanks for the review. As for your questions, I like to think she'll be friends with everyone, but there will also be conflicts. One can only live in such a small space for so long before getting on each others nerves. I haven't really considered her relationship to Ezra. I kind of imagine Hera as filling the space left by his mother, but we'll have to see. :)
honey-nam - Yes, Winter is Force-Sensitive. Thank you for taking the time to review. :)
Grey Jedi Hazel - Thank you for the review, and thank you for pointing out my error. I've been working with multiple versions of the same chapter, and must have missed that issue. I have corrected it. :)
The Ghost drifted lazily through hyperspace, no destination set. Winter's holowatch said it was currently 8 o'clock standard time. She yawned, trying to get more comfortable in her post next to Ezra's berth. She glanced at him - still sleeping peacefully, showed no signs of waking. Except for the occasional frown, he seemed to be doing fine. She smiled tiredly; the excitement of the day, the escape, the lack of sleep in Imperial captivity, combined with the energy it had taken to heal his arm, was finally beginning to catch up with her, and she began to nod off.
A short while later, Winter was startled awake as her charge sat up abruptly, glancing around. "Where am I? Who are you? Was I captured?" He began to move off of his berth. Winter slowly sat up. "My name's winter; I healed your arm. I would recommend not moving, or you'll pull your stitches." He glanced down at said appendage, reflexively lifting it, then wincing. "Ow. That's gonna leave a mark." "Think of it as a nice battle scar to show off to the ladies." Ezra smirked, and Winter could tell that he was thinking of someone special when he said, "It will, won't it?" Winter shook her head and smiled. Boys will be boys, she supposed.
Half an hour later, the team, including Ezra, sat in the main area of the ship, eating a light supper since eating had been the least of their concerns that day. Winter had assisted Ezra to the table, much to his chagrin. "So, what are your specialties?" asked Hera. They were taking this rare moment of calm to get to know their new teammate. "Mostly I've just taken care of humanoid patients. Togrutas, Twi'leks, and Humans primarily. Unfortunately, I am unequipped to heal a Lasat." She looked at Zeb apologetically. "Or a droid." Chopper beeped something that translated to "I don't want anyone but Hera touching me anyways." Winter smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it." "You understand Binary?" asked Sabine. "Yes; years ago, I often had the opportunity to associate with droids. I picked up a few things from them." "Jack of all trades, huh?" asked Ezra. "I like to think so. What are your guys' jobs here on the Ghost?" "I'm the primary pilot and, as you can guess, mechanic," said Hera. "She keeps us all in line," said Kanan. Hera raised an eye marking. "And Kanan is our illustrious leader and developer of far out plans." "Well, they usually work," Kanan defended. "Sabine's the Pyro-artist," said Ezra. "And Ezra's the street-smart lockpicker," said Sabine. "Zeb's the ape muscle, and Chopper's the annoying... pet?" Said droid beeped angrily, and everybody had a good laugh. Looking around at her smiling family, Hera knew she'd made the right decision on insisting Winter stay with them.
After cleaning up the galley, they said their goodnights and headed off to bed. Since Winter and Sabine had struck it off, Sabine had offered to let Winter bunk with her.
Winter lay on her bunk, eyes closed, trying to relax enough to fall asleep. She could hear Sabine's even rbeathing coming from the bunk above; the younger girl had passed out as soon as she hit the bed. Winter glanced at her holowatch: 12:10. She'd been laying there for almost an hour. She finally gave up, releasing herself into the calm stream of the Force. She could sense Zeb, Kanan, and Hera in their respective cabins. She had ordered Ezra to remain in the medbay in order to get a more restful sleep.
Hera, Zeb, and Sabine seemed to be resting peacefully, but Kanan and Ezra... seemed to be having as many problems as she did. She sent a subtle, undetectable wave of calm toward both of them, urging them off to sleep. Eased by the Force, she drifted off a few minutes later.
Kanan's eyes flew open. It felt like there had been a disturbance in the Force. He followed the mental bond connecting him to Ezra. Other than a few twinges of nightmares, he seemed to be doing better than usual. Kanan shrugged and relaxed again. It was probably his over-tired mind playing tricks on him.
Blood, screams, tears. Her Master laying still and cold on the ground. The betrayal of trusted friends. The coldness of the severed bond... Winter sat up abruptly, a scream dying in her throat. She couldn't quite grasp the dream, but she knew it had been about her past, about the purge. Sabine sat back on her heels, her hand still resting lightly on Winter's leg. Winter closed her eyes, attempting to still her breathing. Sabine's still sleep-filled eyes showed concern. "You okay?" Winter shook her head tiredly. She'd hoped for a good night's sleep. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you. This tends to happen to me a lot." Sabine smiled. "No worries. You'll find that we all have our bad nights."
The door swished open and Kanan rushed in, followed closely by Hera. "What's wrong?" "Nightmare," said Sabine. Hera sighed in relief. "Great. Well, not great, but-" "It's fine," said Winter. "Nightmare's are much easier to handle than the Imps. You guys can go back to bed." Hera glanced at her once more, the turned and went back to bed. Kanan followed. Sabine climbed back into her bunk. "We have some instant cocoa in the galley; it usually helps me get back to sleep." "Thanks."
Winter sensed someone standing behind her. "I'm sorry I woke you," she said, glancing back to see Kanan leaning against the door frame. "It's fine. It happens a lot on the Ghost. Can I have some of that?" he asked, gesturing to the canister. She pulled out another mug. "Sure." They sat across from each other at the table, each alone with their thoughts. "Actually, you didn't wake me up." She looked closer at him, noticing for the first time the bags under his eyes, and realized that her Force calming must not have worked. "I learned to control the reactions most of the time, but sometimes it still slips through." He had a haunted look in his eyes as he said this. By 'reaction', Winter guessed he meant screaming like her. In reality, he meant causing things to fly around the room with the Force.
Kanan drained his mug, set it beside the sink, and gave a wain smile as he went back to bed. Winter stared into her mug, a small smile on her face. She felt as if he had started down the long road to trusting her.
Winter sat in lotus position, eyes closed, hands loosely positioned on her knees. She cleared her mind, letting herself drift into the Force. She focused on her roommate's breathing, making sure she was still sleeping, then turned her attention to several small items laying around the room. One at a time, they began to hover above the floor. Her master had referred to this as "Moving meditation". She held this position for several minutes, then gradually returned the items to where they were supposed to be. She stood and stretched, completing her daily ritual, then glanced around the room to make sure everything was in order. She had made her berth, and had unpacked before going to bed last night, so the room looked relatively tidy. She slipped on her shoes and went to see if anyone else was awake.
While Winter was looking through the galley storage for some breakfast, Hera walked in. "Did you ever get back to sleep?" "Yes. I'm usually up by this time anyway." Hera was reminded just how little they knew about this team member. She smiled. "I was just thinking about breakfast. I'll make you something." Winter looked sheepish. "Thanks. I'm not much of a cook. I was just going to break out the instant porridge."
A little while later, Hera set an omelette on the table in front of Winter. "Ummmm," Winter said as she bit into it. "This is awesome!" "Thanks. I do my best with the rations we have." "Kanan walked in, the delicious smells drawing him in. "Is there any left for me?" Hera scooped him one of the remaining omelettes and they both sat down. Winter poked at something on her plate. "Is this a Felucian mushroom?" "Um, yeah. Don't you like them?" Hera was afraid she'd somehow managed to offend their new crewmate. Winter seemed to snap out of a phase and smiled weakly. "No, they're great. I just have... bad memories from Felucia." The three ate in silence for a few minutes. "Are you two usually up this long before the others?" asked Winter. Hera stood and deposited her dishes in the sink. "Yeah, Kanan and I get up about the same time, plan our day and discuss any missions we have coming up. Sabine, Zeb, and Ezra get up in about an hour. They usually just fend for themselves for breakfast." "So, if I get up with you guys I get special breakfast?" Hera smiled. "Something like that." She left, saying something about setting their coordinates, leaving Kanan and Winter alone.
"So, what's the plan for today?" asked Winter, somewhat awkwardly. "We'll probably rest up, get some small repair work done, run a few errands." "What do you want me to do?" "You could help by taking inventory." "Great I'll do that. I'll also check on Ezra's arm, make sure it's healing right, maybe start him on some simple exercises to help him get mobility back." Kanan grinned."Whatever you say, doc."
Winter made a mark on her notepad. "Instant porridge, check." She circled around to another crate, read the label. "Dehydrated fruit, check. Dehydrated milk, ration kits, check and check. Just a few more..." She'd been at this since finishing breakfast an hour ago, and her head was killing her. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. She focused on the area, trying to Force the headache away. No dice; her abilities were still feeling strained after using them to heal Ezra. She flipped to another page on the pad. "Looks like we should pick up some eggs and vegetables. Um, non-food. I'll have to ask Hera about that.
"Hey, Hera," said Winter. "How are we set for ship-y stuff? I'm putting together a shopping list for the boys." "Well, let's see. We're set for air filters and fuel cells. We should look into getting a new fuel injector." "Right." She took note of that on her pad. "Thanks."
After handing the list over for Kanan to review, Winter sat at the table, bent over something. "Hmmm." She squinted through a special eye piece. "Whatcha doin'?" asked Sabine. Winter held up her work, the necklace that Sabine had helped her design. "Working on one of my projects. I like to keep busy." "That's awesome. Some time I want to see you design a blaster." "Sure, Sabine. Give me a design and I'll make it happen."
Kanan wandered into the main room, finished with the list. Winter and Sabine were seated at the table, gesturing wildly about something. He peered over Sabine's shoulder. "What are you girls up to?" "I'm working on a project, and Sabine was giving me some pointers." "Sabine was telling me about your collection. What kinds of crystals are those anyway?" "Just some odds and ends I've found throughout the years. Some sodalite, agate. Mostly just cheap replications of the real thing." "How long have you been collecting?" said Sabine. "Oh, 15 years maybe? Since I moved to Shili." "You lived on Shili?" "Up until a year ago, when I officially moved out on my own, to Ganymede, where there really weren't many medics. They've expanded some, so I don't feel bad about leaving. But if this were to become a long term situation, there are a few things I'd like to take care of." Kanan could sense Sabine's growing curiosity. "Why were you on Shili?" Winter cringed, not wanting to appear suspicious by refusing to answer. "During the fall of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire, my parents were killed and I was captured. I was in captivity for several weeks before a mysterious group raided the base I was being kept on and freed me. The leader put me on a ship headed for Shili, saying that there was a man that would care for me there." They weren't entirely lies, but Winter still felt guilty.
Kanan could sense that she wasn't telling the whole truth, but he could hardly fault her for that. He stood, gesturing to the pad. "C'mon, Sabine. Let's go grocery shopping."
