Taking In An Orphan

Chapter 27

A few days after receiving their shots, Sabine and Ezra were back to normal. After the small fevers and sore arms from their shots went away, they were now getting a bit restless from the past few quiet days. Hera and Kanan were relieved when Fulcrum sent them on another mission. The mission was a simple supply recovery from an old abandoned base on Hoth, so the whole crew decided to go, leaving Chopper to watch the ship. Ezra was extremely excited to go on another mission. Hera and Kanan liked to give Ezra experience with the safer missions as much as possible. 

That’s why Hera was bundling Ezra up for the cold. 

“Why do I have to wear this?” Ezra asked, not complaining, but simply curious. 

“It’s cold on Hoth. The temperature is below zero almost every day.” Hera knew Ezra didn’t know what that meant, so she tried to explain. “Lothal’s winters usually only get down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit while Hoth’s can get down to -40.” Ezra tried his best to comprehend this. 

“Is it 40 today?” 

“No. If it were -40, we would not be doing the mission today. None of our species can survive that weather. Today it’s about 10 degrees out, which is cold, but is survivable. It should get up to 30 today if we’re lucky. Right now it’s summer on Hoth, so the temperature is warmer.” 

Ezra followed Hera to the cockpit. He looked out at the white expanse. 

“Why is it all white?” Ezra tried to get a closer look. 

“It’s snow. Lothal doesn’t get a lot of snow.” 

“I wanna see the snow!”

“Alright, I’ll take you out there in just a minute.” When Hera finished shutting down the ship and ordering Chopper to keep an eye on the ship’s inner temperature, she felt a tug at her hand. 

“Can we go now?” Ezra asked. Hera nodded and Ezra pulled her out toward the exit ramp. There, she met Kanan, Zeb, and Sabine, all in their snow gear. Ezra tugged her over to the controls of the ramp, which he was too small to reach. Hera pressed the button and the ramp opened. 

Ezra watched, wide-eyed at the volume of snow outside. Before anyone could stop him, the excited boy rushed out into the snow. He jumped around, scrambling the newly fallen snow around. Ezra ran around, watching the snow kick up from behind him. Once, he slipped and fell, but the snow softened the impact. Ezra laughed as he sat and let the snow fall on his face. 

The crew inside watched the boy, chuckling at his excitement as they got ready. They warmed up the two speeders they had, and Hera checked to make sure they would all be warm enough. 

It was still early in the day, so the weather would be cold for a few hours - especially on speeders. Kanan and Ezra wore hats, gloves, a warm coat, and a scarf, as well as snow pants, and boots with warm clothes underneath. Hera was glad they made the last supply run to get warm clothes before their trip. They had other cold weather missions and would probably need the clothes. Sabine had a coat pulled over her armor, but refused to wear a hat because her helmet protected from the cold. She also wore snow pants, even though she didn’t want to. Zeb was mostly protected by fur, but he had a hat that protected his ears, warm gloves, as well as long pants, a long sleeve shirt, and boots. Hera had a hat that fit over her long lekku, and the same clothes as Kanan and Ezra. She also wore goggles to protect her eyes from the snow while she drove the speeder. She assumed Zeb would be fine with the other speeder (his eyes were different than human or twilek eyes.) 

“Alright, we’re ready to go. Ezra, come on, we’re leaving.” Hera beckoned him in. Ezra was a bit disappointed, but he was also excited for the mission they were letting him go on. “If the mission is successful and you aren’t sick of the cold when we get back, you can play later,” Hera reassured him.