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‘Cos even when there is no star in sight
You’ll always be my only guiding light
If we come back and we’re broken
Unworthy and ashamed
Give us something to believe in
And you know we’ll go your way --“Guiding Light” by Mumford & Sons Sabine swallowed shakily, blinking at the feeling of the blaster on her neck. Her thumb edged along the barrel of one of the WESTARs, only for the blaster to press further into her skin. She gasped quietly and stiffened, noticing Ezra tense at the soft sound.
Please don’t do anything stupid….
“I’m dropping them,” she said clearly, trying to keep her voice calm as she carefully raised each blaster so that they were away from her waist The pressure from the weapon against her neck slowly began to lighten and she allowed herself to relax as she dropped the blasters to the ground.“Gobi,” the man behind Ezra gestured to the figure in front of him. The man swiftly retrieved her WESTARs, along with Ezra’s ‘saber, from the ground and holstered the former pair before clipping the lightsaber onto his belt.“You’re Cham Syndulla?” she asked the man behind Ezra. He raised an eyebrow.“You are in no position to ask questions at the moment, bounty hunter.” The thickly accented Basic came from the person behind Sabine and she twisted, trying to see who was speaking. The blaster only resumed its former pressure and she stilled.“Maybe not, but I am.”He twisted his head around at Hera’s voice, but the muzzle of the weapon pressing against him suddenly jabbed further into his chest and he hissed in pain.“Hera. My daught—““Father, let them go.”“But they are Imperials! ”“Let. Them. Go.” He wasn’t used to hearing the steel in her voice applied in a protective way when it came to him, but he found he didn’t dislike it.There was a tense moment of silence.“Numa,” Cham finally said. Footsteps departed from where he sensed Sabine and he allowed himself to relax slightly. Cham’s voice dropped as the blaster barrel left Ezra’s chest and he took a step in Hera’s direction. “Gobi, keep an eye on him. Hera, have you lost your mind?! Why have you brought an Inquisitor, of all beings, to our encampment?! We have enough problems with the Empire as it is!”“Father, these two are under my protection, and you will not harm them,” Hera hissed. “Sabine is a naval defector and Ezra abandoned the Inquisitorius. The Empire has harmed them both enough already. They have just as much cause as you do to hate it and bring it down. ”Silence again.Finally Cham grunted. “Fine. Gobi, Numa, show them where our briefing tent is. I need to speak with my daughter.”“Hey Hera? Where’s Kanan and Zeb?” Sabine asked, her voice sounding further away than it had last. Maybe they had been gesturing for them to leave; if so then they clearly had yet to realize Ezra was blind.Chopper warbled in agreement, also curious as to where the remainder of their crew had gone.“Zeb’s double checking the power cells on our blasters, and I think Kanan’s—““He’s right here,” Ezra cut her off, nodding in the direction he sensed the Jedi. He heard Hera turn slightly as the man approached.“Cham.” Kanan’s voice was decidedly neutral, and Ezra tensed at the extra second it took for the Twi’lek to reply to the Jedi.“Jarrus.” Though Cham’s voice was respectfully neutral as well, Ezra winced internally at the fact that he had responded to Kanan’s use of his first name with the younger man’s surname.“Zeb should be along soon; Chopper can wait for him,” Hera cut in smoothly, diffusing the tension before it could tighten any further. The astromech grumbled in response but trundled off, the previous conversation distracting Ezra from noticing the droid was near until it was too late and he was already running into his leg.“Ow! Chopper!” he muttered. The droid only chortled and continued away, likely unable to speed up due to the terrain. He groaned, sensing for Sabine’s signature to follow it. If he tried to follow Kanan, they would likely both run into something.The group followed Gobi and Numa toward what he assumed would likely be the briefing tent; Cham hadn’t seemed to be lying when he had given them their instructions and he sensed no ill intent from any of them—now that Hera had diffused the situation, at least—anyway.Sabine stopped after another minute of walking and he cautiously followed suit before a hand grasped his. “C’mon, I’m just holding it open for you,” she chuckled softly as he ducked into the tent.“Ezra, are you sure you want to do this?”He nodded, and Sabine bit her lip. He couldn’t...he couldn’t do it. But she was just as much of a security risk as him, and Cham had assured all of them that they hadn’t spotted any female Stormtroopers around the property, either.But for Ezra to be the one taking the risk….No. No, he could do it.They just wouldn’t have to make him use his bad hand, that was all.“Alright, there’s not much I can persuade you to do otherwise at this point. We do need someone.” She could tell Hera wasn’t any happier, but likely for different reasons. She sighed inwardly.“Father, we’re ready.”Cham nodded, gesturing for the pair to follow him out to the speeder bike. As Hera gave Ezra a guiding push toward the exit of the tent, Kanan grasped her arm. She stopped as he leaned in and spoke quietly into her ear before nodding, slipping her arm out of his grasp as he let her. She said something in response that Sabine also couldn’t hear before following Ezra and her father out.Sabine followed them out, stopping just outside the tent and folding her arms as she watched Ezra slip the helmet over his head, completing the look. He must have sensed her gaze because he glanced back, giving a slight wave. She smiled and waved back before he turned; Cham was addressing the pair.And soon enough they were gunning the speeder’s engine and roaring off into the dust.She felt more than saw Kanan exit the tent and come up behind her, sure his sightless gaze was also fixed on the retreating cloud of dust.“You think they’ll be okay?” she asked hesitantly“I know they will. Hera can take care of herself, and Ezra’s...Ezra.” She nodded, glad that Kanan exuded his quiet confidence enough to make up for what she lacked, glad that he seemed to just know they would be all right.Because Sabine certainly didn’t.
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“Hold up.”The scout trooper slowed the speeder to a halt at the gates, waiting as the guard approached.“Where’d you find her?” the guard ‘trooper asked, nodding to the green-skinned Twi’lek female. She glared at him as he raised a hand, snarling and attempting to kick him before he moved out of range.“Out on patrol; she’s a reb—“Without warning she elbowed the scout trooper, cursing loudly in both Twi’leki and thickly accented Basic as she started to scramble off the speeder bike. The scout trooper retaliated, quickly grabbing her arm and pulling her back.The stormtrooper guarding the gate made a sound of amusement before nodding toward the property. “Alright, take her inside for processing. There’ll be a transport coming soon to pick her up.”He moved to the gates, unlocking them and standing by as they opened. The scout trooper nodded in thanks, forcing the woman back into a secure position on the speeder before gunning the engine and driving inside.He slowed the speeder to a stop again as they reached the steps at the front of the main building of the estate. The ‘troopers at the doors glanced down as he climbed off of the speeder and pulled the Twi’lek with him.“Prisoner, I’m taking her to processing,” he offered by way of explanation as he pushed the woman ahead of him and followed behind carefully. The ‘troopers let them pass without comment.Once inside with the doors safely closed behind them, the woman turned back to the scout trooper as he undid her cuffs.“Thanks,” she said quietly, rubbing her wrists and glancing around. “Come on, Ezra. This way.”He followed her as she led the way further into the building. “Where’s Chopper?”“He’ll be along soon enough. The kalikori should still be in my father’s office, and Chop can get the plans.”“Alright.” They fell silent once more as they continued into the house. Finally, Hera slowed to a stop, opening the door and stepping in silently. Ezra stayed outside to keep guard, and within a few minutes, she returned.“Got it.”“Then let’s go.“Wait. Back inside,” Ezra said, extending a hand to search for the door. Hera guided him toward it, unquestioning as she grasped the wrist of his good hand and led him to what he hoped was a spot out of sight.“Why—“Footsteps echoed outside and he exhaled shakily as the signatures he’d sensed a moment ago entered.“...as I was saying, Admiral, their attack strategies have been getting better, but with your reinforcements we have been able to stop them easily.”“Mhmm.” The other person, supposedly the Admiral, made a disinterested sound as the other man continued speaking.The conversation droned on, the Admiral only making disinterested, noncommittal sounds every now and then. Something about the officer’s signature struck Ezra as familiar, but he couldn’t place it.Finally the footsteps began to proceed to the door, and Ezra allowed himself to relax slightly.And then the other officer asked a question that required something beyond a yes or no for an answer.“Admiral, I just received a report from another officer. There’s been an attack on the lower gates. What do you advise?”His blood ran cold.“Assemble a strike team, and go after their leadership first.”“B—““Find something of value to their leadership. And then withhold it. It should be a simple enough task, Captain Slavin.”The pair exited and the door slid shut with a quiet whoosh, leaving Hera and Ezra alone. They waited several minutes in silence before he heard her start toward the door.“Ezra?” she asked quietly, but chills were still running along his spine as a distant memory surfaced in bits and pieces.
“This is the great Inquisitorius I’ve heard so much about?” The man approaches, glancing at everything and everyone in the room but at them, though his avoidance of their stares doesn’t seem to be out of fear—rather, he’s trying to place himself in charge early on.
He stops three feet away, eyes finally snapping to the pair at the end of the line.
“The Emperor has spoken very highly of you, sir…?”
“I am the Inquisitor,” his master sneered, hand going to his shoulder and tightening possessively as he winces, “and this is my apprentice.”
“Ah.” He says nothing more, only studies them carefully, and finally he drops his gaze. He’ll be punished for it later, but he can tell the visitor is upsetting his master’s routine as well as the rest of theirs; maybe he’ll forget.
You know I won’t.
He knows.
“My master did not give me a name,” his own master says finally, a quiet cold in his voice that scares him more than the heavy, threatening atmosphere in the atrium.
“Commodore Thrawn.”
The officer has the audacity to smile.
“I- I know him,” he said quietly, swallowing hoarsely. “I know him.”Sabine perched on the back of the speeder, pouring the fine, explosive powder into another bombshell as she listened to the quiet hum of Kanan’s ‘saber katas and Zeb’s conversation with the blue-skinned Twi’lek she’d deduced was Gobi. They were talking about the Clone Wars; it sounded vaguely like they were comparing various battles, but making the bombs required most of her attention. She set down one of the shells and carefully picked another up, unconsciously beginning to hum an old Mandalorian war song she couldn’t remember the name of off the top of her head.Numa, Cham, and several of the other Twi’leks they’d met since arriving had gone to scout the Syndulla House to make sure Hera, Ezra, and Chopper made it out safely. If it was silent for an hour or more, they were to comm back to camp.As if on cue, Gobi’s comm sounded from several meters away.“Jorhaa’ir be demagolka,” she muttered, finishing the bomb she was working on at the moment and setting it down with the others. She stood, dusting her hands off as she walked over to the growing crowd.
“We need reinforcements, there is no way they will be able to get out with how tightly the house is guarded right now. We will attack from the north, at the lower gates. Send your reinforcements to the upper gates when—” The comm abruptly cut out in the middle of Cham’s sentence and the small group stared at each other worriedly. Sabine was the first to voice her concerns.“They might’ve gotten ambushed; we need to go. Now.”“Right, b—” Zeb began before his ears flattened as he glanced behind them at a small sound. “Cover, now!” was all the Lasat had time to shout. Sabine dove behind the nearest speeder bike, not even glancing where everyone else had hopefully rushed to as the grenade went off.
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So as you guys have probably noticed...I haven't posted anything for this in a while. Not since 3/13, actually. It's because of many reasons: I've grown busy with other projects, I've grown away from shipping Sabezra for the most part (except in certain fics), I've grown bored with this one. You guys have seen my growth, from the disaster that was Trained in Darkness to the planned magnificence that Forged from Darkness was supposed to be. If you've read any of Hear the Falconer, you'll know my writing has changed greatly...and to be frank, I like my new style a bit more.I was looking back on fics I haven't updated in a while, which included this one, and I realized why--I had bigger plans for the story than was possible. And so I'm going to jump on those.Keep checking back on this fic, and you guys will get a surprise soon. I'm not completely abandoning Sabine and Ezra; they'll get their story. It's coming. Just in a way that befits me and the writing style I have now more than the one I had. For now, satisfy yourselves with this playlist, and keep watching and waiting.And, thank you guys. Seriously. I would never have gotten so far with this if it weren't for you guys--thank you.May the Force be with you, always.
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Thank you guys so much for the support through this transition, and I'm pleased to announce that the first chapter of the new version is officially up!