Taking In An Orphan

Chapter 25

During the week, Ezra also kept busy with Zeb’s self defense practice. After the dangerous people Ezra encountered during his trip with Hondo, the whole crew agreed that Ezra needed to learn to defend himself. Zeb taught him basic kicks and hits at first. He learned that Ezra was pretty good at basic defense, which made Zeb happy at first, but on further thought, Zeb realized what that really meant and he talked to Hera and Kanan about it.

“The kid’s doin’ well in self defense,” Zeb said one day when he found Hera and Kanan in the common room alone. 

“That’s great, Zeb,” Hera said, happy that Zeb had something to keep him and their youngest member busy. But when she looked up at his face, she frowned. “It’s good, right?” 

“Well, he already knew how ta defend himself when we started. I don’t really know when or how he learned that, but it’s probably not a good thing.” 

Hera and Kanan exchanged a worried glance. 

“Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Zeb. Maybe the empire taught him how to fight a little. Or his parents did.” 

But Zeb did worry about it. During their next lesson, Ezra and Zeb were working on getting away from a situation where the victim is cornered. 

“Since you're small, you can most likely dodge around ‘em. It’s different dependin’ on how many people are against you and how you’re doin’ in the fight, like how tired you already are or how injured you are. You can also look for other escapes. Sometimes, there’ll be a ladder to get up on top o’ a building or maybe a vent or sewage tunnel. Or you can make a distraction and get away that way.” 

Ezra listened to all of this, taking in the important information. He seemed thoughtful, like he wanted to ask a question. 

“What is it, kid?” Zeb asked. Ezra still looked shy about his question. “Go ahead an’ spit it out.”

“Well, what if you’re cornered by lots of people and there’s nowhere to go and no one to help you? What if they beat you up for fun and then leave when you can’t stand and then you have to sit there and wait for someone to find you and turn you in to the bad guys for money and then the bad guys bring you back to their base and hurt you ‘cause you ran away and didn’t listen to them?” Zeb was silent for a second, trying to calm his anger. The kid had gone through so much with the Empire and losing his parents. The last thing he needed was trouble on the streets, too. Zeb could only think about all of the things that Ezra hadn’t told them about that had happened to him. No wonder the kid was so shy and unsure. No wonder he embraced the care of someone who was willing to help him and care for him. Zeb knew he couldn’t let his anger get the best of him in front of Ezra, so he calmed himself down before responding. 

“Is this a real example?” Zeb growled in the least threatening tone he could muster at the moment. 

Ezra shrank away from Zeb, knowing he had said too much. Tears glimmered in his eyes. 

“Sorry that I made you mad, Zeb.” 

“You are not the one I’m mad at. I’m angry at the empire and other people on the streets for treating you the way they did.” Zeb took a deep breath to calm himself down. Then he did something that he would not tell Hera and Kanan when he recapped this story later. Zeb hugged Ezra, letting the kid bury his face into Zeb’s fur and cry. “You know what, kid?” 

“What?” 

“I’m going to teach you how to fight so you never have to deal with something like that ever again.” Ezra picked his head up and smiled at Zeb. 

For most of the week, Sabine had been in her room making a device that would be extremely helpful for Ezra and the crew. Sabine knew that she was isolating herself, but she needed to make the device correctly. She knew she was becoming obsessed with this. After a strange encounter with Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper, she knew the crew was worried about her. But she convinced herself that once the device was finished, she would make it up to the crew. 

 After four days of sitting in her room, isolated from the others, Sabine came out to show them what she made. 

Hera and Kanan had been extremely worried about Sabine. She had shut them out before, but the past few days had been the worst. After Kanan’s short discussion with her, Hera tried a few times to talk with her, but all the conversations seemed unsuccessful, lasting only a few minutes and mostly consisting of Sabine trying to convince Hera that she was fine. Hera could barely get her to eat and Sabine hadn’t seen the sun in a week. 

When she came out of her room, Kanan was extremely relieved. He and Hera had agreed that they would confront Sabine about this later that day, giving her no option to hide back into her room. Kanan had not been looking forward to that discussion and guaranteed argument. 

When Sabine came out of her room, she just carried a short rope. The crew was having dinner and they looked up at her entrance. 

“‘Bine, can you eat with us today? Please?” Ezra asked.

“Sure, Ez. But first, let me show you what I made.” Sabine went over to Ezra and started to braid her rope into a little part of his hair. Ezra tried to wiggle away, not understanding why Sabine was playing with his hair. 

When she was done, the crew could barely see the rope in Ezra’s hair. 

“Sabine, explain.” Hera said, watching Ezra’s uncomfortable face. 

“Well, I wanted to make a tracker so that the crew could always find Ezra. That’s really important because if he ever gets lost again, I know none of us want him to end up with Hondo, or someone even worse. I made the trackers so that it’s undetectable by others and it can be deactivated at any time if someone unwanted gets ahold of it. It has a built-in safety feature that requires anyone tracking Ezra to have a password that only we will know.” Sabine looked at the others and they seemed impressed. 

“So you’re telling me that that rope in Ezra’s hair is a tracker?” Zeb asked. 

“Yes. And the device connects to this hand-held tracker, which has one password. Also, Hera can track him through the Ghost if we ever lose this.” Sabine pulled a small device out of her pocket. 

“And what’s the password?” Hera asked, impressed by Sabine’s invention. 

“The password is Lothcat.” 

“So why’s it in his hair?” Zeb asked. 

  “Well, I knew that it needed to be a tracker that would fit on him, but be unnoticed. I did a little research and found out that Jedi learners used to wear braids to signify their rank as Padawan. I knew that Kanan didn’t give Ezra one yet, so I decided to do it with the tracker.” 

Kanan looked at Sabine with a mix of surprise and pride. 

“Is that true?” Ezra asked him. 

“It is. I remember my padawan braid. The masters that taught me all helped pick out the correct colors and design and then my master braided it in.” 

“Then how come ‘Bine braided it in?” 

“Because I know Kanan doesn’t know how to braid,” Sabine said. “I mean, why else would he just leave his hair straight? If he knew how to braid, he would definitely wear dreadlocks.” Sabine said, smiling, but she undid the braid from Ezra’s hair and handed it to Kanan. “Sorry, I didn’t get that far in the reading.” 

“Come here, Ezra,” Kanan said.

Ezra went to Kanan so that he could put in his padawan braid. 

“Sabine, that was a very smart idea to make for Ezra, but you shouldn’t have isolated yourself in your room for so long,” Hera said. “You’re going to help me fix some of the engines today and then help Zeb and Ezra with some chores.”

“Okay, Hera.” Sabine knew that she deserved this. She’d been neglecting the crew all week. 

Hera gave Sabine a side hug and then wrinkled her nose.

“But we’re not starting anything until you take a shower.”