Chapter 7: Blood Sisters
After Ibaar and her promotion to Lieutenant, Jaral had officially transferred aboard the Liberator to better attend to her new duties. In honor of her new rank and her status as the Ace of the fleet, the crew had made their best to make a cabin for her exclusive use. She actually tried to refuse it first, saying that she could sleep with the rest of the pilots, but they were the first to insist that she deserved a place to clear her mind so she could fly in her best condition.
And so, two days after the battle she was in front of the airlock, ready to board the corvette as the Specters were there to say her goodbye.
"It's still weird to think that you're moving." Ezra commented.
"Come on, bro, it's not like we're never gonna see each other again. The Ghost and the Liberator are pretty much the same ship while we're not on a mission." Jaral said cheerfully. "Besides, I'm still gonna need to come back here to keep the armor in order."
"I know," Ezra said with a smile. "but still, it's like you're moving out of the original family to go live on your own. I can't help but be a little sad."
Jaral rolled her eyes playfully, closed the bag and walked over to him. "Don't tell me you're gonna miss me that much." she said putting her hands on her hips.
Ezra chuckled, then enveloped his arms around her waist. "Of course I'm gonna miss you, sis, but I'm mostly proud of you." he said with the head over one of her shoulders as she gently hugged his back.
"I love you." Ezra whispered.
"I love you too." Jaral whispered back.
Then they separated, giving each other a warm brotherly smile before Jaral turned her attention to Sabine, who was smiling but her eyebrow indicated a hint of sadness.
"Sabine, keep an eye on Ezra's butt in my stead, okay?"
Sabine chuckled at her blatant choice of words, so she decided to hit on it. "Oh, don't worry. I'll keep his butt very close."
Ezra snorted and hid his eyes behind a hand as everyone laughed around him.
Then the girls hugged.
"I'll miss you, vod." the mandalorian girl said.
"Tell me about it. I finally had a little sister and I have to leave her behind." Jaral joked before separating.
Then she headed toward Kanan and Hera, who were looking at her with that mixture of pride and sadness that a parent feels when its child is an adult and prepares to leave the nest.
Jaral enveloped both of them in a hug that they returned fondly.
"Kanan, Hera, I have no words to express how grateful I am." she said, her voice muffled by their shoulders.
"About what?" Kanan asked chuckling.
"For giving me and Ezra a new family to love."
The adults tightened the grip on her, their hearts melted even more by the warm tone that she used.
"We're proud of you, darling." Hera said as if she was actually her mother.
Jaral snorted a laugh, not leaving them yet. "Don't tell me that, you know it's my weakness." she replied with a lump in her throat.
The three squeezed one last time before breaking away and Jaral moved on to say farewell to Zeb.
The usually grumpy Lasat was actually sniffing sadly.
"Oh, Zeb. Seriously?" she mocked him a bit, though she was indeed moved by it.
"It's just…" Zeb sniffed again. "my baby girl is grown up...and it's going to kick bucket-heads on her own."
From an outsider view, Zeb and Jaral might have seen cordial at best to each other, but that's because they just didn't go very public about their friendship. Since the siblings came aboard the Ghost, Jaral had sparred countless times with Zeb, considering he was the strongest and biggest individual aboard the freighter and could go against her head-on. The Lasat had also taught Jaral how to fight with a staff, in more than one occasion he let her train with his Bo-rifle, which was something unimaginable for the others. By all means, Zeb was like a grumpy bot loving uncle to Jaral and they have a bit of the bond that tied Ezra and Kanan as Master and Apprentice.
Furthermore, the two of them had been accomplices in pushing Ezra and Sabine together, as a show of how close they were.
Jaral couldn't help but let out a soft 'ooh' to him as she hugged his stern with all her strength. The Lasat hugged her back and also lifted her a bit from the floor, whining.
The rest of the crew couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the always cocky old Lasat warrior crying like a baby over a small separation.
When Zeb finally freed her, Jaral knelt down to face Chopper, who was, surprisingly, grunting with a melancholic beep. Believe it or not, he seemed fairly sad at the prospect of losing one of the only two persons he actually respected (the other one being Hera, of course).
"Chop, don't be too harsh on everybody while I'm not looking, okay?" she said jokingly, knowing full well that Chopper would never give up his sadistic and sassy attitude as long as his circuits were functional.
The droid warbled something among the lines 'Why can't that annoying meat-bag go away?" one of the handlers clearly indicating Ezra.
"Chopper, be nice." Hera warned him and the droid relented.
"I'm gonna miss you, buddy." Jaral caressed his dome one last time.
Now it was time to step out of the ship. Jaral turned around and walked toward the far door. She only stopped in front of Sabine and Ezra one last time, the latter having an arm around the shoulders of the former.
"I guess now you guys can have the cabin all for yourself." she said with a knowing smirk.
The other two teens blushed furiously. Since they arrived at this point, they thought that she would let that teasing slide.
"JARAL!" Ezra yelled while Sabine seemed intent on pulling her neck and head into her chest.
The girl exploded in a fat laugh as she walked away for real. Then she opened the door, gave one last smile to her family and finally crossed the threshold and the door closed behind her.
Ezra was still blushing but it didn't escape to him what just happened. Seeing his sister, the one person he considered to be the other part of his very soul, walk away on her own spurred a maelstrom of emotions in his chest.
He was still proud of her, and happy, because she seemed to have found her place in the galaxy. He was also sad and afraid. Jaral had been his point of reference his entire life. The person that would always watch over him and always be there for him. Sure, they would keep seeing each other again, but Ezra felt like her stepping onto the Liberator was marking a new phase of his life, and he wasn't certain what to expect from it.
Yet, he was quickly reminded that there were pretty solid positives to this new situation. While he was looking thoughtfully at the door the rest of the crew was going back to their duties. All except Sabine, who gently hugged him from behind, putting her head on his shoulder and leaning it onto his cheek.
"How do you feel?" she asked gently.
"Oh, I'm happy for her. It's just...everything feels different now, even though I know I'll keep seeing her regularly." he said in a hushed tone.
"I understand." she said. "However, she did have a point…"
Without warning, Sabine brought her lips on Ezra's neck and kissed it slowly. The boy shuddered from the surprise and barely suppressed a moan.
"Now we do have the cabin all for us." she whispered. "So I want you to move in with me." she said not letting his neck escape from her mouth's attentions.
"...ok, you convinced me." the boy strained to talk normally.
"Already? Come on, where is your spirit?" she teased him.
Ezra chuckled. "I just can't refuse my goddess."
"Correct answer, Ez'ika." she whispered.
"Did you just…" he asked turning his neck as much as he could to look her in the eye.
Sabine relented from her attack and nodded at him with eyes that turned his brain into mush.
Since he and Sabine started their relationship, he had looked up the HoloNet for endearment in Mando'a, for whenever he decided it was the time to escalate things even further. One day or the other, he promised himself to learn the language completely, so that he could "praise" his goddess the right way.
"We have a few hours until my daily Jedi training." he said. "How about I get my things right now and then we celebrate, cyar'ika."
He must have pronounced it perfectly, because Sabine widened her eyes in surprise.
"Have you been studying Mando'a behind my back?" she asked. Her smile betraying the frown of her eyes.
"I wanted it to be a surprise." he said. Now he turned with a swift movement and embraced her.
"Well, you succeeded. Now...I believe you have some moving to do. Don't take too long. And I want to assess how much Mando'a you can speak already." she said pointing a finger on his abs.
"Yes, ma'am."
The news that Ezra and Sabine were moving in together surprised no one. Hera and Kanan just told them not to be too loud. Zeb was just happy to have his cabin for himself again.
The teens felt like nothing could go wrong in their lives now that they could hold to each other every single night on the Ghost. As promised, they tried to keep their more intense acts as quiet as possible, and maybe not do that when everyone else was in the surrounding cabins, sleeping. Actually, their boldness encouraged Kanan and Hera to do the same and sleep together more frequently than before.
Jaral easily settled in her new life. She was given a uniform as the one wore by Darvos, to which his first comment was to say that it made her even sexier. That said, the man eagerly helped his girlfriend into adapting quickly in the hard work of being the mind of the fleet. Jaral had never had the chance to assess it, but she quickly realized how stressful and critical the job of Commander Sato and Lieutenant Darvos was. They had to calculate every single movement of the fleet. There was no room for errors, as one of those could result in losses of personnel and materials that they already were in short supply of.
However, she quickly proved to be a born strategist. Most likely her years of living in the streets, making plans for both herself and Ezra, had trained her into forward-thinking. She also had a natural disposition for learning, which Jinx said was a natural thing for Legionnaires, as the genetic modifications had enhanced their cognitive capabilities.
She also took the time to make herself known among the crew, believing that she had to maintain at least a cordial relationship with her underlings, something that quickly grabbed their respect. And almost every day she would meet with Ezra and Sabine, mostly at dinner with Darvos, pretty much having double dates.
Around 9 days after Jaral officially took her new role aboard the command ship, she had summoned Ezra, Sabine and Chopper in front of the Ghost. As the three Specters came off the cargo bay's ramp, they found the new lieutenant in her civilian attire, yet her pose was markedly military.
"Hang on, Sabine." Ezra commented theatrically. "Our big sister is about to give us a real mission for the first time." Sabine smiled at him and rolled her eyes.
As the three finally stepped in front of Jaral, the girl answered.
"Laugh all you want, brother. Remember that now I'm officially entitled to give you orders." she said in amusement.
"Okay, okay." Ezra gave up. "What's the mission?"
Jaral showed the two of them a datapad.
"There's a courier with critical information coming into the spaceport today. I need you guys to pick him up and transport him to Havoc outpost."
"Sounds easy enough." Sabine said, actually perplexed at how basic that mission seemed.
Jaral snorted. "If it was easy I wouldn't ask my best people to do it. Remember, this information is critical. No matter what, it needs to arrive to destination." she said sternly.
"Okay, sis, we understand." Ezra intervened. "Do we know what this courier looks like?"
"No, unfortunately. But he will answer to this code phrase." Jaral tapped the datapad and a second later Ezra and Sabine received the data on the omni-tool and the wrist-pad respectively.
"We got this." Ezra declared enthusiastically and putting his scout-trooper helmet on.
Jaral lifted the datapad to stop him and smirked. "One last thing. Sabine is in charge of the mission."
Sabine grinned at Ezra, whose body language clearly stated his confusion. "Why?" he asked.
"Because I can." Jaral said smugly. But before Ezra could reply she spoke again. "Besides, it's not like that would change anything. You two just work perfectly in sync. You and Chopper will officially be the backup."
Ezra groaned. "This is abuse of power, sis."
"I know, but it's just too fun to see your reaction." she replied in sass. "Good luck." she waved as she headed back for the hangar where the Liberator was sitting.
"Well, then." Sabine smirked, putting her helmet on. "Move it, soldier." said teasingly.
Ezra rolled his eyes and put on his own helmet. "Yes, ma'am."
The two walked out with Chopper following them.
While they passed the long corridors of the spaceport, Ezra walked up beside Sabine.
"Hey, I was thinking…" he started. "tomorrow we are supposed to have a free day after the usual chores on the Ghost, so why don't we go into the city? Just you and me?" he said with a carefree attitude, as if it was nothing.
"Are you asking me on a date?" Sabine said with an amused tone.
"Well, I promised you, didn't I? Will you grant me this honor, My Lady?" he said the second part with a mocking tone.
Sabine pretended to think about it. "Very well. I'm in."
"Neat." the boy said satisfied.
As they kept going down the corridor in silence, focusing on the task at hand, Sabine noticed a small graffito on the wall on her right. She quickly glanced. She was sure she recognized it, but didn't stop, hoping it was just a coincidence.
They finally reached Bay 22, where the shuttle from Coruscant had just landed. From the ladder leading to the shuttle's door, a river of people started to walk down.
"Force, everybody here could be the courier." Ezra commented under his breath. "Remind me what the code phrase is."
Sabine checked her wrist-pad briefly. "The phrase is 'It's a long way to Alderaan'."
"Well, guess there's only one way to find out." Ezra said with resignation before stepping in front of the first passenger and reciting the code phrase. The rodian shrugged and said 'Whatever'.
It might have not been a fancy idea, but Sabine understood that Ezra's solution was the quickest. At worst, the crowd would simply believe that they were street artist, it seemed unlikely that they would call the police.
They went on for the entire afternoon. They literally asked every single one of the circa 400 passengers on that damn shuttle, but nobody answered to the code phrase.
Tired and demoralized, the teens just paced around the shuttle. Ezra went to lean on a group of crates.
"It's gonna be a long way back to the Ghost if we don't find that courier." he said sarcastically.
"We can't have missed him." Sabine wasn't giving up. "Are you sure you said the code phrase correctly?"
"Yes, I did. 'It's a long way to Alderaan'" he said theatrically.
Right then, the crate he was leaning against started moving on his own, making him protract the last syllable in surprise. When he got back on his feet and looked behind him, Ezra noticed that he wasn't leaning on a crate, but on a gonk droid.
Sabine was surprised at first, then she chuckled. "Looks like you found the courier, Ez."
"Of course I have. I knew it all along." he said the joke to express his relief that they finally did it.
Sabine smiled under the helmet and knelt down to look at the panel that was the droid's face.
"It' called unit EG-86".
"Hi, EG." Ezra said cordially and the droid honked something in return.
"I must say," Ezra added. "this was a pretty good idea."
Sabine huffed amused. "Yeah, you wouldn't expect this thing to be a spy full of secrets."
"Surely the Empire wouldn't." Ezra answered.
"That's correct." a warbled voice coming from above commented.
The teens immediately looked in the direction from which the voice came. On the roof of the parked shuttle stood a woman in a bodysuit that Ezra identified more or less as the same model Sabine wore, a light-red helmet, a weapon resembling a staff with a curved blade on her back. Two shoulder pads with some emblem painted on both.
The woman jumped down from the top of the shuttle. Even though it was a few meters, she landed nimbly on the ground and immediately stood up, her hands near her belt.
"Hello, Sabine." the woman said.
Ezra was taken aback and looked at the girl in question, waiting for a reaction.
Sabine simply stared back at the woman before whispering a name.
"Ketsu Onyo."
Ezra looked baffled for a second. He detached his lightsaber from his belt but he didn't raise it yet, as he didn't want to be the one to start a fight. The two girls were staring at each other and also started to slowly move in circle.
"I saw your mark, old friend." Sabine commented, pronouncing the last words sarcastically.
"Friend? That's a generous term considering what happened."
Instead of asking questions that would probably not be answered in that moment, Ezra slowly withdrew behind the pile of crates, while protecting EG as well,
"Still a bounty hunter, I see." Sabine kept going.
"Tell me you don't miss it." Ketsu taunted her.
Now Ezra couldn't hold back his comment. "Wait, you were a bounty hunter…?!That explains a lot."
Sabine now stopped in her tracks and a sense of guilt came to her because she realized that he never told Ezra anything about her past, while she knew the most important part of his.
"Ezra...I didn't tell you because…" she couldn't find any word.
"It's okay, cyar'ika." he said kindly. "You'll tell me when you feel ready. Now we should really worry about your friend here, cause I don't think she's here for a reunion."
"Wait, you called her…?" Ketsu sounded baffled for a moment, then she made a scornful laugh. "I can't believe that you found yourself a boy-toy, Sabine."
"Don't you call him like that!" Sabine spat back, this time taking out her two blasters at Ketsu, who in turn took out her own.
They didn't shoot each other, but Ezra wasn't happy anyway.
"Sabine, we're trying not to draw attention…" he said clenching his teeth.
"She never told you how we broke out of the Imperial Academy?" Ketsu said it intended to Ezra, but was still staring at Sabine.
"That was before you left me for dead." Sabine hissed.
"You would've been better off dead than joining this band of rebels. I didn't believe it until I saw the Empire putting a bounty on your head."
"You're gonna try to collect it?"
"I haven't decided it yet. Besides, I work for the Black Sun, now. And I'm here to take that droid."
Chopper warbled, alarmed.
"Not you, Chop!" Ezra exclaimed with an annoyed tone. Then he tried to raise his arms and defuse the situation.
"You there!"
Ezra was interrupted by a patrol of stormtroopers, which was actually weird. Ezra figured that some normal patrolmen saw that three armed persons were confronting each other in a hangar and probably called for reinforcements.
The group of five stormtroopers, led by a corporal with the white pauldron, arrived in front of them, forming a line.
"Citizens, what's going on here?" the corporal asked with authoritative voice. "There's a curfew on this hangar. You need to leave immediately."
Ezra couldn't help but notice that the imperials didn't care if the women killed each other, as long as it was in another area, probably out of their jurisdiction.
The girls didn't move.
"Don't interrupt us!" Ketsu pronounced this words and suddenly turned around to shoot at one of the troopers, gunning him down.
Sabine rushed immediately behind another pair of crates, not far away from Ezra, who was returning fire with his lightsaber.
Ketsu and Sabine returned fire with precision, gunning down other two stormtroopers.
"Okay, change of plans." Ezra mumbled. "Chopper, get boxy here on that shuttle." he said pointing at the shuttle.
While Chopper and EG executed his orders, Ezra took a deep breath and focused. He activated his armor and took out his TL-50. Noticing that the stormtroopers were focusing fire on the girls rather than him, he leaped over his cover and opened fire with his weapon while advancing.
He immediately hit another stormtrooper while Ketsu and Sabine watched in disbelief for a moment.
The corporal noticed the armor and immediately brought a finger to his helmet to call reinforcements.
"This is GS-241, we have contact with the Orange Menace, I repeat…"
"Orange Menace?" Ezra snorted while taking cover again. "These guys really lack imagination."
"I think that designation is given by orange being the dominant part of your armor's color scheme." Jinx commented.
"Thanks for clarifying."
Just then Ezra noticed that Chopper and EG were done boarding the shuttle. He also noticed that the reinforcements had arrived. At least 9 stormtroopers were running into the hangar from the hallway. There was no way they would let him board the shuttle as well without gunning him down.
From his cover he screamed. "Sabine! Go!"
Then he stood up for a moment and under everybody's gaze, he activated his cloaking device, vanishing into thin air.
The troopers stopped shooting.
"Where did he go?!" one of them screamed in panic.
"Stay focused! Check your surroundings." the corporal ordered.
Ketsu as well had stopped shooting, since the Imperials seemed completely focused on finding Ezra, and she was keeping her head down.
Ezra in the meantime reached the side of a trooper on the furthest side of the formation and shot him with his lightsaber, stunning him. For a brief second, he partially materialized back, but he vanished immediately after. Nonetheless, some of the troopers shoot a volley in his direction even when he had left.
Ezra then slipped behind them. When he reached the hallways, he deactivated the cloaking device and started shooting with his repeater, fluttering bolts around only to draw their attention, and he did. Then he started running.
As the whole platoon started to run behind him, Sabine lifted the shuttle up, while Ketsu could only look.
Ezra ran and shot behind him. He was clearly much faster than the stormtroopers, who pushed their legs to the limit, but the boy was simply too quick. Their shots became imprecise as they were short of breath and were trying to fire in a frantic run.
"Sabine, do you have the droids?" Ezra said in the comlink.
"Affirmative, but what about you?"
"Oh, I'll be fine. Call me when you come back on Garel. Love you." he said it all with a smile on his face.
"Love you too. I better not find a single scratch on you when I'm back."
"Yes, boss."
Ezra closed the transmission in time to see that Jaral was calling him as well. As he rushed behind a couple of intersections, trying to lose his pursuers, Ezra picked up. Before he could even say 'hello', Jaral spoke with an upset voice.
"Ezra, I thought I told you to keep a low profile!?"
"Technically, it was not my fault. How did you know anyway?"
"You didn't raise your Force shields, genius…"
"Oh…" Ezra understood that she must have felt his sense of danger tingling through their bond.
"Do you need backup?"
"Negative. I'll lose these snails in a moment and Sabine is en route with the courier."
He heard Jaral sigh. "I guess I'll have to trust my little sister, here."
"She knows what she's doing. She's my cyar'ika after all." he chuckled before reactivating his cloaking device.
It didn't take long for Ezra to lose his pursuers. Other patrols were mobilized to try and surround him, but Ezra quickly reached the suburbs near the spaceport and there his cloaking device, plus his experience as a street rat made the escape an easy task for him.
Then he reached the Liberator at its hangar, went aboard and informed Jaral of what happened. Chopper had already signaled that he, Sabine and the courier were in orbit aboard the stolen shuttle, but that was all they knew.
Jinx did intercept some imperial communication regarding a light cruiser that had been destroyed by a civilian shuttle loaded with explosives. Two suspected rebels had escaped aboard the vessel of a bounty hunter or something along those lines.
The siblings concluded that Sabine and Ketsu might have joined forces to escape, but after Ketsu's ship, the Shadow Caster, jumped into hyperspace there was no way to confirm if Sabine and Chopper were still in one piece.
That was, until the Shadow Caster came back into the orbit of Garel that evening, making Ezra breath a huge sigh of relief as he and Jaral headed toward the hangar reserved by Ketsu. They watched calmly as Sabine walked out safely and with a satisfied smile, with Ketsu walking beside her and Chopper rolling in the front. Ezra noticed that now Ketsu had her helmet removed, allowing him to distinguish her dark skin, the mohawk and the purple eyes.
"Glad to see you worked it out." Jaral said with a knowing smile and a hand on her hip that Ezra thought she probably imitated from Hera.
Sabine smile was a bit more timid, but it was there. "I say it's a new start."
"And that's good enough. Congratulations on a successful mission." Jaral then moved toward Ketsu. "Thank you for helping our cause."
Ketsu answered in a cordial tone. "It was mostly an accident. I'm not sure I'm ready for a full-on fight against the Empire yet."
"None of us really is." Jaral tried to loose the tension. Then she left the two of them alone.
Ezra was waiting at a distance, not wanting to interfere with the reunion and not sure if he wanted to trust Ketsu yet.
Still, in the end, she left Sabine with a friendly handshake and after the Shadow Caster took out into the sky, he and Jaral walked near Sabine.
"So, you think she will help us sooner or later?" he asked.
"I sure hope so." Sabine answered as the ship of her old friend disappeared in the night sky.
Now Sabine remembered what she said back in the hangar before the gunfight and turned to the two siblings.
"Guys...there is something I'd like to share with you. Actually, I think it's more likely that I just want to tell this to somebody and...I'd be really happy if you could…" she rubbed her hands nervously.
Then, Ezra took one of her hands and Jaral the other. Both smiled warmly at her.
"You know we'll always be here for you." Jaral said gently.
"Thanks. Jaral, can you follow us to the Ghost for an hour?"
"Sure." the girl didn't even bother to think if she had work to do. She who she considered as her precious little sister needed her as well and no amount of duty would prevent her from helping.
The three reached the Ghost and went into the cabin that now was of Ezra and Sabine. The mandalorian removed her helmet and left it on the small desk before sitting on the bunk bed, her bodily language clearly saying that whatever she was about to say, was weighing on her like an entire satellite.
Ezra took place beside her while Jaral took the only chair in the room and dragged it in front of her, their knees almost touching when she sat as well.
Sabine took a deep breath and started.
"You already know that I was a cadet at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore?"
The siblings nodded, listening carefully.
"Yeah, well...when I was there I...created and worked on a project. A weapon…" with any sentence, her voice became croakier. "I thought that I was helping Mandalore...but I wasn't...I discovered that the Empire was...using my weapon on my own people...so I destroyed it but...it was too late…"
Sabine couldn't hold back anymore and started to sob loudly, tears streaming down as she was leaning her head against the palm of one hand.
Without thinking, the siblings instinctively hugged her from both sides.
It was at that moment that Ezra noticed that he was feeling Sabine's pain in full force. He didn't want to believe it at first, but then he realized that it was happening: he had formed some sort of Force bond with her too. It didn't seem strong as the one with Jaral, and he somehow felt like he was unilateral on his side, probably because Sabine couldn't feel the Force on any degree.
Still, he quickly learned how to send calming sensations to her, to absorb her pain and pour it into the Force.
He shushed her with a whisper. "It's okay. It's in the past." he added at the end.
Sabine managed to regain a bit of control and kept narrating.
"Later...I went to my family...to explain what had I done...but they didn't help me stop the weapon...they banished me...I…"
Now her dams really broke down. The thought of her family hit her the most.
Ezra found himself in difficulty. The amount of pain and sadness was just too big for him to pour it all into the Force but he did what he could nonetheless.
It was Jaral that finally took courage and talked to her.
"Not everyone can have the force to stand up as you did, not against the Empire."
She gave Sabine a minute to vent, before squeezing one of her hands and attracting her gaze.
"I'm not sure I understand everything, and you have no need to do it. Because no matter what you did, you also did your best to correct that error. Whatever happens in the future, this family here will never abandon you."
Sabine found the strength to give her dearest friend a smile between the tears. Jaral smiled back and stroke her cheek gently. Then she stood up.
"I have to go back to the Liberator, now. Ezra, be sure to take care of her." she said half-joking.
Ezra smiled to his sister first, then to Sabine. "As if you have to tell me."
Sabine smiled at him as the boy gently pulled her head into his chest, embracing her firmly. Jaral smiled at the two and left the cabin.
Ezra kept holding to the girl until she finally fell asleep, both happy and tired. Then he gently removed her armor plates, her boots and put her into the bed, where he joined her not long after, not letting her go and feel alone again.