The next morning, Kanan wasted no time lounging in bed.
Yesterday, while playing with the clay on the creek's bank, he realized he could use the craft to create many useful things. Though his first attempt was a failure, Kanan was certain he could improve. Once he had a kiln, he could perfect his new skill to make more than just cups. He would finally be able to contribute to his family. That thought alone brightened his whole evening to the point that he felt like dancing with Hera in celebration.
That same energy greeted him this morning.
This time, he was the first to get dressed, with Hera following behind. He flirted with her on their way to breakfast. She was a little surprised but pleased by his mood. After a quick meal, the two made their way to the cargo bay.
Sure enough, Ezra and Sabine were already there, carrying out their routine spar.
Kanan waited for an opportunity to interrupt them. Eager to get his project underway, he was about to ask Sabine if she was ready when he heard a light tapping on the foliage beyond the open cargo bay door.
"Is that-?"
"Yeah, it's raining," Sabine finished for him, "We can't make the kiln today."
Kanan sighed. Disappointment crushed his optimism, but only a little.
"On the plus side," Hera added, "We don't have to water the crops today."
"How will we water the crops when nature doesn't do it for us?" Ezra asked, toweling the sweat off of himself.
Hera noticed that he had no shirt on today. When she glanced at Sabine, she found the Mandalorian looking in the opposite direction of Ezra.
"I-I have an idea for that," Sabine chimed in. Hera almost missed the small stutter in her comment. She tucked all of this information away for later. Sabine regained her composure in time to provide clarification for her idea, "it involves Chopper and my welder." she held the tool up with renewed confidence.
Chopper backed away, whooping with fear.
"Don't worry, it won't be permanent. Come back, I need to measure you."
The droid wheeled away, yelling all the flaws with her plan.
Hera considered one of the droid's arguments for a moment, "That is true. Sabine, your welder does consume a lot of power. Which reminds me..." she addressed the whole team next, "anyone have any ideas on alternate power sources?"
Chopper suggested a contraption powered by human pain.
"You mean human strength." Ezra corrected.
No, human pain, Chopper insisted. And suffering.
Ezra rolled his eyes. Then he looked to Sabine, "What if we tried something like water ... or wind, or solar?"
"Solar?" Sabine smacked her fist, still avoiding looking in his direction, "The TIE!"
"TIE?" Hera raised an eyebrow.
"The downed one Zeb and I found during our first hunt here. We could see if those solar panels still work. Even if they're only partially functional, I could adapt them to slowly charge the Ghost's battery."
"Anything that saves the ship's fuel is worth looking into," Hera gestured to Chopper, "Chop, bring that hovercart with us. Sabine, lead the way."
"Wait," Kanan stopped her, "I'm coming with you."
"Love, the terrain's too rough, and-"
"Then at least take Ezra."
"We haven't yet mapped out a path that way which is within ysalamiri bubbles. It would slow us down," Hera donned a backpack, "I'll be fine, love. I have Chopper and Sabine with me. And this." She held up her pistol.
"Yeah, but-" you don't have me protecting you, Kanan wanted to say, but he knew it wouldn't matter. With the ysalamiri everywhere, blocking him from using the Force, he was useless out there. Kanan sighed.
Hera kissed his cheek, "We'll be back soon."
Ezra gave one last dab of the towel to his neck and shoulders. He gave Sabine a nod and a farewell wish, "Be careful."
Sabine had already donned her helmet, hiding any blush that had crept involuntarily onto her face, "Hey, it isn't anywhere I haven't already been," she assured as casually as she could. It seemed to have worked as Ezra appeared none the wiser. Either that or he was getting very good at hiding his own feelings.
With that, the women and Chopper left the Ghost. Ezra and Kanan stayed with the ship, listening to their fading footsteps amid the pattering rain.
Chopper was quite happy to ride the repulsorlift powered cart. From it, he swore curses at each of the entangled roots which had tripped him during his first expedition here.
This time, it was Hera who was slowing them down, "Hold up."
Sabine grumbled, "Not again."
Hera bent down to pick yet another leafy vegetable. She held it up like a trophy, "I think we'll all love the taste of this one." she placed it with the others in her backpack. Hera had been reviewing the flora information Ahsoka had given her, memorizing the different edible plants that grew on Myrkr. Now she was enjoying a kind of plant-bingo as they progressed very slowly to their destination.
"You know, they're going to start to wonder what's taking us so long," Sabine commented.
"I think they'll forgive us once I start cooking something that isn't meat."
"Hey, what's wrong with my kills?" Sabine asked with only slightly feigned insult.
"Nothing," Hera assured, "But I know how much the guys are tired of eating slimy deer every day."
Sabine conceded, "Honestly, I'm tired of cleaning it out of my armor. Maybe during my next hunt, I'll get lucky and find that non-puffer pig again. It didn't look slimy."
They continued on until they finally arrived at the downed TIE. Though the mist had cleared, the extra visibility did little to quell the memory of Sabine's first time here. Even Chopper gave a small, stuttering warble.
It helped that Hera was not unsettled as Zeb had been. She walked right past the cockpit-turned-grave of the dead Imperial, to the sheared-off wing, "Chop, Sabine, give me a hand."
The massive wing was too heavy and awkward for the hovercart. They decided to have Chopper cut the wing in half. Then Sabine and Hera turned the hovercart on its side, clamped one half of the wing onto it's bed, and had Chopper and Sabine move the cart-plus-wing upright using their boosters.
The result was a ridiculously tall half-solar-blade balanced upon a hovercart.
Chopper rode on the cart again and kept an eye on the clamps to watch for signs of strain. Squeezing the giant half-panel through the trees was not as hard as they had worried it would be. Hera and Sabine guided the floating cart back to the Ghost.
Halfway there, Hera spotted it.
Her eyes never left it as she pointed up, "Chopper, what is that?"
Chopper calculated her vector and scanned the distant fruit hanging on a vine high up a tree. He noted it was a non-native species, and gave its common name.
Hera couldn't believe it, "No. way."
"What is it?" Sabine asked, alarmed at her comment. She hadn't heard the exchange between Chopper and Hera. A blaster appeared in the Mandalorian's hand before she had even finished her question. When she saw Hera's awestruck expression and followed her pointer finger to the warm colored fruit, all became clear.
"It's a meiloorun!"
"What's one doing on Myrkr?" Sabine commented skeptically.
"Ahsoka's data mentioned several non-native flora. Probably brought here by the pirates."
Chopper suggested an alternative theory. Sabine agreed to the possibility, "Or earlier."
"Either way, that one is mine." Hera walked towards the tall tree harboring the fruit's twisted vine that wrapped around the trunk of its host. The fruit itself was several meters up. "I just need to figure out how to get it down."
Sabine shrugged, "Well, guess I can shoot it down." she aimed her blaster.
"No, don't!" Hera swatted her arm down and away, "You'll hurt the vine if you do."
"So?"
"It's not that far to the Ghost. I want to keep it healthy and harvest more fruit from it later."
"Ok...," Sabine gazed up at the lone ripe fruit, "It's pretty high up there. I think I can reach it with my jet-pack. Stand back."
Hera and Chopper gave her space.
Sabine activated her jet and carefully rose up to the meiloorun. Just as she reached it's height, something dark further up the tree moved.
Chopper shrieked a warning, but it was too late. A medium-sized, black-furred animal screeched at Sabine, dropping down onto her helmet with muscular arms. The impact sent her off balance, and she flew backwards, into a web of mossy vines.
"Sabine!"
Entangled in the vines, she was still too high up for Hera to reach.
The animal paused it's attack to give a loud, sputtering howl. Suddenly the canopy rustled, revealing several more winged, descending creatures, each raining fists of fury onto the Mandalorian's armor.
Sabine shot at them, but they were wise to the blaster, and quickly dodged out of the line of fire. The vines she was entangled in prevented her from doing much to avoid their attacks.
"Chopper, cut her free!" Hera shouted.
The droid flew, just ahead of the battle, and began cutting the vines that were holding Sabine and the creatures.
Unfortunately the animals took notice of him. Chopper found himself involuntarily joining the fray. While yelling obscenities at the dark monsters punching his metal exterior, the droid did a wild mid-air dance to try and shake them off.
This gave Sabine the opening she needed to aim her blasters at the plants. With a few snaps of some strategic vines, the whole cluster, Sabine included, came crashing down. She managed to ignite her jet-pack just in time to avoid a serious injury on the ground.
Chopper landed less gracefully.
The animals immediately retreated back up into the trees. Apparently the ground was not territory they were comfortable with.
Chopper zapped the last one on him before it, too, flew up to join its kind.
Hera made her way over to them, "Are you alright?!"
Chopper grumbled an affirmative.
"Yeah we're fine." Sabine pulled the last of the vines off of her.
"How about the fruit?"
Sabine rolled her eyes.
Kanan sat on the cargo bay ramp, listening to the light rain, and meditating ... or at least trying to. Ezra's pacing footsteps were making it hard to focus.
"What's taking them so long?" the younger Jedi muttered again.
Kanan understood his worry. Losing the ability to sense whether Hera was ok or not just about drove him to race off into the woods after her. Blind or not. The only thing stopping him was his well honed patience ... and the small ball of clay he was currently playing with in his right hand, "What you need is a distraction. A hobby or something." he suggested to Ezra.
"Using the Force was my hobby," Ezra grumbled, kicking a stray pebble out of the cargo bay.
Kanan was about to respond when his ears picked up something beyond where the pebble thudded onto the soaked ground, "... They're back."
Ezra ran down the ramp, before Kanan even began to stand up.
As the young Jedi got close enough to see the grime covering Sabine's armor, Ezra's relief turned into concern, "What happened?"
His tone must have held too much worry for Kanan's liking, "What did happen?"
"We just ran into some small wild creatures. I'm fine, love." Hera assured him, "There isn't a scratch on me."
"Yeah," Sabine agreed sarcastically, "They're all on me instead."
"What kind of creatures were they?" Ezra asked, running his eyes up and down, searching her for signs of major injury.
Chopper answered his question with the full official name.
"And I'm calling them 'punching bats'," Sabine's tone and strong stance reassured Ezra that she wasn't hurt. Even her armor, dirty as it was, wasn't seriously damaged.
"What caused them to attack you?" Kanan asked.
"Fruit," Sabine huffed.
"Not just any fruit," Hera corrected, smiling triumphantly as she dug through her backpack, and held out the prize for all to see, "A meiloorun."
While Hera began fervently planting as many meiloorun seeds around the edges of their field as she could from the lone fruit, Sabine worked on wiring the TIE solar wing on top of the Ghost. The old, rusted wing proved more of a challenge than she had originally thought.
The light rain wasn't helping.
Ezra was ... and wasn't.
Lacking an umbrella or any proper rain guard, he held up a towel across his back and arms, acting as a human shield against the drizzle, keeping her work area as dry as possible. However, his presence was also causing the exact agitation she felt this morning when he decided to spar without his shirt. She knew what her feelings implied, and she refused to believe it. She decided to blame anything else. Perhaps it was the weather making her agitated more than usual. Perhaps she needed a more varied diet. Perhaps she hadn't gotten enough restful sleep last night. Whatever, it didn't matter. What she needed to do now was focus on getting this solar panel working.
"Wish I could help more." Ezra said out of the blue.
"What?" Sabine looked up at him, confused.
"I mean with the engineering stuff." he clarified, "Not with the makeshift umbrella."
"Oh," Sabine returned her focus to her work as she found it difficult to maintain eye contact with him for very long, "Well, maybe on the next wing part I can show you a few things-with the electrical panels, I mean."
Sabine had no idea why she said that. Right now, the idea of spending more time with him both terrified her and thrilled her. What was wrong with her?
"Really? I'd love that!-I mean, I'd love to learn all the things that you do. You know, engineering-wise." he clarified cautiously. He didn't want to overstep his bounds.
Sabine kept her focus on the wiring, trying to hold back an amused smile as she ignored the jest forming in her mind. Normally, she would just blurt out the insult that came to her and enjoy his annoyed reaction. But today, teasing him felt like it would only worsen her own frustration.
After the next configuration was in place, she called Chopper over the comm, "Alright, Chop, tell me how this one went."
Chopper read the Ghost's power level data sent to him through the droid port in the cockpit.
"Karabast ... let's try again." She ripped out the connections, a bit harder than was necessary, then searched the panel for the next least-rusted spot to wire, "I really don't know how I'll find time to get the second half today."
Ezra looked up at where the sun was barely peeking from behind the clouds, "It's only midday. You still have time."
"Not with Hera constantly stopping us for fruit and vegetable foraging," finally she found a new location, and began her arduous work again.
Ezra shrugged, "I could go with you instead."
"No," Sabine said promptly, less to him and more to the conflict within her.
Ezra held up his palms to her, "I promise I won't forage."
Sabine exhaled, "It's not that ... " she struggled to find an excuse, and then remembered, "it's the ysalamiri. Hera's right, we haven't yet mapped out a path."
Chopper suddenly interjected over the comm with news and an opinion of his own. Apparently he had been listening to them this whole time.
Ezra nodded in agreement, "91 percent sounds pretty well covered to me. I'm sure we can make some quick adjustments to the route to cover the gaps on this next trip. Good job out there, Chop!"
The droid welcomed the praise with an arrogant reply.
All Sabine wanted to do at that very moment was lock herself in her room and sort out her swirling thoughts for the rest of the day. She should have done that. Instead, she choose to brush off her confusion and distract herself by being productive.
Loading the wing half and carrying it back on the cart was a two-person-and-one-droid job. It would be faster with Ezra than with plant-bingo-loving Hera. Even with the mapping detour.
"Let's go." She told him.
Ezra and Sabine guided the hovercart through the forest. From the cart's platform, Chopper spouted directions to them as he calculated a new path within range of ysalamiri.
Ezra felt a little bad about not telling Hera before they left. But Sabine was right; if they had, Hera would have insisted on coming along instead of him. And Ezra needed this. He had grown restless, staying so close to the Ghost, unable to use the Force to sense what was around him. Kanan had suggested that he take up a hobby to keep his mind distracted. A little exploration might fit the bill, and this may be his only chance to venture out into the forest. Especially if Hera grounded him after finding out about this escapade.
And she would find out.
There was no getting around that once they returned with the second wing half. Their only hope was a swift success which would optimistically prompt forgiveness by Hera.
A few more twists and turns later, they arrived.
Ezra beheld the wreckage of the TIE.
A million thoughts swirled in his head as he gazed upon the remains of the pilot. Was he a typical bucket-head? Was he Force-sensitive? Were his last thoughts etched into this grave? Ezra wanted to reach out with the Force and answer all his questions with a single sense.
Sabine stopped him, "What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
She pointed to where he was about to place his foot, "Chopper says you have to stay at least one meter away. The ysalamiri's range ends here."
"Oh," Ezra took a couple steps away from the cockpit, "right."
Sabine turned and stepped rather quickly to the sheared off wing part. Either she was dutifully adhering to her promise of time-efficiency or she really wanted to get away from him as fast as possible.
She had been acting strange all day today. Without the Force, he couldn't tell what was up with her. How did ordinary people read others? Maybe he could just cheat by asking, "Hey, um ... is something wrong?"
"No, why?"
"It's just that ... you've been acting a bit strange-" he began carefully.
"Strange?" She interrupted, talking a bit fast, "I'm not acting strange. This is just how I act. If you have a problem with it, then go back and get Hera out here instead."
"-And I wanted to know: did I do something wrong?" Ezra finished.
Sabine stared at him for a long silent moment, and Ezra wished she didn't have that helmet on so he could attempt to read her face.
Finally, she sighed as her helmeted head tipped towards the ground, "No. It's nothing you've done." she said. He could hear the mild frustration in her tone, which he attributed to some other problem she was experiencing. Ezra was partially relieved that he wasn't the cause, but also more curious. Before he could ask further questions, Sabine pointed at the second half of the sheared off wing, "This one is within the lizards' bubbles. Help me attach the cart to it."
Ezra scratched his head. Something was definitely bothering her. Maybe she'd tell him at some point, but obviously, she wasn't ready yet. For now, he put away his curiosity and focused on helping Sabine load the wing instead.
Sabine wished this job could be done just by her and Chopper. Why had she invited Ezra along? She knew the answer. Well, she acknowledged half of the answer: the job required three participants, and it was going faster with Ezra than with Hera. She purposefully ignored the other reason; her contradictory feelings. She'd sort that out later.
Their task hit a snag when they discovered that this half of the wing had a sticky vine growing through a bottom corner. It's roots were strong. The humans had to lift the edge off the ground enough for Chopper to cut through the plant. Sabine tried hard to ignore Ezra's strained sounds as he lifted alongside her.
Soon, the team had the half-wing upright on the hovercart. Then they began their winding journey through the trees, back to the Ghost. Things were going well. Until Sabine noticed an unexpected reading from the hovercart's control panel.
"Uh oh."
"What is it?" Ezra asked from the front.
"The cart's almost out of-"
The control panel went dark. Like a giant heavy hammer, the hovercart dropped to the forest floor with a boom.
Uneven ground underneath caused it to tilt, and the momentum furthered the rotation until Sabine found herself under the shadow of the falling solar blade. Thinking fast, she raised her hands and ignited her jetpack, pressing against the giant panel to reverse its fall. But it didn't work. The heavy wing was already at too extreme of an angle, ready to crush her.
The impact came unexpectedly from her side. Sabine was startled, and even more shocked to find herself out of the way of the blade as it crashed onto the forest floor, spraying up dead leaves and mud.
From where she lay, Sabine could only see a fraction of the crash. Something on top of her was obstructing her view. Taking off her helmet to get a better look, she discovered that something was Ezra. He was curled protectively over her. Her disoriented mind finally puzzled together what had happened. Somehow he had found the speed and strength to successfully knock her out of the wing's path while avoiding being crushed as well, "Did ... did you use the Force?"
Ezra shook his head; no. His breathing was too ragged for him to speak.
Sabine pulled herself up into a more comfortable sitting position. It was then that she realized the sturdy branch she was holding onto was not a branch but Ezra's thick arm. His muscles had grown from his work on the farm and their spars. Perhaps he hadn't cheated and used the Force after all. Perhaps he now had the raw physical strength to move her out of harm's way on his own.
Finally, he recovered enough to stand up. Ezra offered her his hand. Sabine took it and he pulled her up. Tree roots and slippery plants tripped them and she found herself falling into his chest. She wished she had left her helmet on to disguise the maddening blush that formed on her cheeks as they both righted themselves and took a step back.
"Next time, don't try to get crushed," Ezra chuckled, attempting to use humor to distract from the awkwardness between them.
"Hey," Sabine retorted, matching his feigned irritation, "I was trying to save the panel."
Chopper whumped disappointingly. The two humans turned to see the droid slowly shaking his head at the crumpled wreck that was once the solar wing.
Sabine took a step closer to inspect the damage, "Great ..."
Even Ezra could see that it was beyond repair, "Well, I guess we'll be heading back to the TIE for the other one."
"No. You won't be." a voice corrected.
They both lifted their heads to see a very displeased Hera emerge from the thicket in front of them.
Ezra sighed in defeat as he let his head fall back onto his bunk's pillow. He was to stay here until dinner.
He spent the time mulling over what Hera had said to them in the forest. Her lecture had been long and laced with ... fear? Was Hera afraid?
Previously, where the Empire was concerned, Hera's desire to destroy it had outweighed any fear she had of its retaliation. Now, however, she seemed committed to the idea of hiding from it forever. They had had their share of close calls lately. Perhaps that and carrying an unborn youngling really had changed her priorities.
Ezra understood some of what she must have been going through. Family ties were strong. Onboard Thrawn's ship, when the Emperor showed him his parents, he realized how much he had missed them. He came so close to going through that door. Ezra was forever grateful he hadn't sacrificed his friends. He couldn't bear to lose Kanan and Hera, or Sabine. They were his family now.
Still, even though he agreed vigilance was necessary, he thought Hera was being overly cautious. He and Sabine had it under control in the forest. They were not in danger of falling out of the ysalamiri ranges. Nor getting discovered by pirates, who were too far away to have heard the fallen panel.
Ezra wished Hera would treat him as an adult more often. He would be 18 in a few more days, after all. And hadn't he proven himself in the final battle of Lothal? He groaned, embarrassed. What would his fellow citizens think of their liberator now that he had been grounded by his adoptive mom? He was glad no one would know.
No one, other than Sabine that is.
His thoughts shifted to the Mandalorian. What was she to him? A sister? No. A friend? Definitely a friend. Part of him still wished they could be more, but he knew not to push. Forcing the relationship he wanted was a path straight to the dark side.
Something had changed though. Today Sabine seemed ... off. Once again, another mystery which could have been easily solved with the Force. As an ordinary person, he couldn't begin to guess what it was. Did he say something this morning that upset her? Was she re-thinking their relationship? Was she changing her mind about staying here with them? Ezra growled in frustration. He was going to drive himself crazy with these guesses. He needed to stop.
Sitting up, he assumed his meditation pose. Going through the familiar motions, and casting random thoughts aside, he focused on just one more before letting it go; "Hopefully this meditation brings dinner faster."