In hindsight, he should have told Sabine earlier that he was a Jedi. The girl already had trust issues, and there was no way keeping a secret that big would ever end well, but he hadn't really had a choice. Mandalorians and Jedi did not get along, and being a Jedi want something you could just tell every random stranger you picked up off the street. So Kanan kept his identity secret. Then time went on, Sabine grew more and more comfortable around them and Kanan didn't want to destroy that comfort by revealing his secret now. He almost did it when Sabine officially decided to stay with them, but he didn't want to ruin the moment.
Then the day came when he had no choice.
The job went ok for the most part. They snuck in, grabbed the food and a few shipments of explosives, and were making their way out when all went to hell.
A mouse droid. A stupid mouse droid saw them and tried to sound the alarm. Zeb threw it into the wall, and when it crashed it made a spark.
And a spark was all that was needed to ignite the painting Sabine had made to cover their escape.
The explosion set off a chain reaction that ended with the entire building on fire. Fortunately, the Imperials were too distracted by the burning building to notice them. Unfortunately, they were also trapped in said burning building.
He saw the crumbling support beam over Sabine and didn't think, just reacted.
"Sabine, look out!" She looked up as the beam started falling towards her and Kanan pushed.
Sabine went flying across the room and gaped as the beam crashed to the ground where she had been standing a moment before.
"Come on kid!" Zeb growled, dragging her to her feet, "We got to get out of here."
"But Kanan-"
"We'll explain later, now move!"
They managed to escape in one piece, only for Sabine to storm aboard the Ghost and start yelling.
"You're a Jedi!"
"Sabine calm down-"
"You're a Jedi and you didn't tell me!"
"I take it she found out?" Hera whispered, coming into the cargo bay.
"You knew too?" Sabine groaned, "Of course you knew. You know what? Forget it. I'm going to my room."
Kanan wanted to go after her right away, but Hera stopped him. "Give her time, love. She just found out we've been keeping a pretty big secret from her, and she needs a moment to process that."
"But Hera-"
"Kanan," she interrupted, "Give her time. And when you do talk to her, be honest. She needs to know she can trust us."
So Kanan gave it time.
Alright, he gave it ten minutes but it was killing him just to wait that long. Now he stood in front of Sabine's room, preparing himself for whatever was about to happen.
He rapped gently on the door.
"Come in."
Sabine was lying on her bunk, sketching, but she put her notebook away when he came in.
"So," Kanan said, sitting down, "I'm guessing you have some questions for me."
"You could say that," Sabine said, glaring at him.
"Alright," Kanan said, steeling himself. 'Fire away."
"You're a Jedi." it wasn't a question, more of an accusation.
"Yes, I am."
"And you were planning on telling me this when?"
"Eventually."
"Eventually?"
He could feel Sabine's anger rising and remembered Hera's words, Be honest.
"At first, we didn't know we could trust you." predictably Sabine bristled at that and Kanan raised an eyebrow, "We just met you. We had no idea who you were and in case you haven't noticed, it's not exactly safe to be a Jedi right now." He kept her gaze until she glanced away, forcing her to recognize the truth in his words.
"But what about after?" she challenged, "I've been with you for months now, you knew you could trust me. Why not tell me?"
"Because we didn't want to give you a reason not to trust us," Kanan explained.
Sabine raised an eyebrow, "How'd that work out for you?"
Kanan laughed, "Alright you got me, but let's face it Mandolorians and Jedi haven't gotten along historically."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I didn't know your opinions on Jedi, I had no way to know if you would hate me or not. This team needs you Sabine. We didn't want you to to run away. We wanted to make sure you got to know us better before dropping that bombshell."
Sabine fell silent for a moment, "Trust goes both ways you know."
"I know," Kanan whispered, "We should have told you sooner, I'm sorry."
The apology seemed to shock Sabine, who looked away from him and fell silent. He would have left, but there was something else.
"I trusted the Empire," Sabine said finally, "I followed orders like a good cadet and…"
Kanan put a hand on her shoulder. They still hadn't gotten much out of Sabine about the Imperial Academy, but he knew whatever it was was eating her up inside. He tried to remember how Depa had handled these things when he was a Padawan, "Don't run from it Sabine. Let it out."
"People died," Sabine whispered, tears streaming down her face, "My people died and it was my fault. Because I trusted them."
As he looked at the girl beside him Kanan was struck by how small she looked. She was only sixteen, barely older than Kanan had been when this whole war started.
He felt a surge of anger towards the empire, towards this whole war forcing children to fight battles that weren't their own.
Eventually, Sabine's tears slowed and she wiped them away.
"My mother told me stories of the Jedi when I was younger."
"Did she?" Kanan said. Knowing Mandalorians that could be a good thing or a very bad thing.
Sabine nodded. Some came to help our family during the Seige of Mandalore. I was too small to really remember it, the main memories I have are of the Clone Troopers that came to help us, but Mom told me stories."
"Were they good stories?" Kanan asked.
Sabine nodded, "She said the Jedi she met were kind and very honorable. That they were some of the greatest warriors in the galaxy."
Kanan smiled, "Well that's-"
"She also said that you couldn't trust them and not to go near one with a ten-foot pole."
"Ah," Kanan said. There was the classic Madolorian sentiment. "And what do you think?"
Sabine looked at him appraisingly, "I'm still figuring them out, but so far, they seem to be every bit as honorable as my mother always said."
Kanan grinned, "Thank you, Sabine."
Sabine nodded and then attempted to hide a yawn.
"It's been a long day," Kanan said, "I'll let you get some rest."
He went to leave but Sabine's voice stopped him, "Kanan?"
"Yes?"
"I- Thank you. For saving my life."
He smiled at her, "We've got your back Sabine."
"I know."
A few weeks later he opened the door to his room to find a drawing on his bunk. It was him, arm outstretched and lightsaber in hand.
He hung it on his wall and kept it there.