Chapter Text
Part I
The force lapped around them like a particularly calm river.
It weaved its way through them and into the dirt below, traveling up the trees and into the lifeforms that nestled within the cracks of solitude. Emotions flowed through the air; happiness, sadness, joy, fear, anger, love, and on and on.
The skies sang with whistles and chirps, the force passing back and forth as if part of a game. It was in the clouds, in the grass, in the stars. In all living things, the force was everywhere, surrounding them and pillowing them.
It hummed a familiar tune to one Ezra Bridger, singing inside of him in the way that had grown so comforting. It was like a home, second to only his family and the Ghost—
Ezra sat up sharply, disturbing the peace of the world around him like a blaster bolt. Pain lanced through his shoulder, reaching his mind and enticing a groan from him. It hardly registered in his mind, not as he looked beside him to see the very last being he would ever want to be stuck anywhere with.
Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Out of instinct, Ezra tried to move back. His left arm immediately gave out as the pain of the blaster mark in his shoulder struck through him, but he continued to attempt to scramble away. Memories of what had happened were flooding his mind.
He’d known he would survive. He couldn’t put it into words, just as he couldn’t put many things into words when it came to the force, but he had simply known that the purrgil wouldn’t take him somewhere to die. No part of him was surprised to wake up after leaving Lothal.
Yet, as he managed to get to his feet and look around, scrambling about with full-body turns and twisted legs, he had one question: where was the Chimaera?
Where was its crew, or the evidence of a crash? As he looked around at fields of short, blue grass and thin but tall trees with green fluffy leaves, he couldn’t see any sort of disturbance that the crash of a star destroyer would create.
It created a second question in his mind— he almost quirked a smile at how Sabine used to make fun of him for asking so many questions— once he recalled the Grand Admiral unconscious in the grass.
Why, of all of the imperials that had been on that ship, was Thrawn the one whom he was stuck with?
He took a moment to breathe, letting his stiff legs rest as he fell crossed-legged into the grass. The grasses were thicker than those on Lothal, obscuring any sight of the ground. He passed a hand through them, watching the periwinkle fibers bend into the gray dirt. His eyes drifted upwards, scanning the pink cloudy sky. It felt like he was inside of one of Sabine’s paintings, vibrant colors everywhere and exaggerated details in every plant.
It wasn’t hard to figure out that the planet was strong with the force, either. He wondered if that was why the purrgil had taken them here; though it didn’t even come close to answering why they were alone and away from the Chimaera. It had to be somewhere nearby, surely.
The force weaved around him, and he vaguely recalled basking in it before consciousness caught up to him. It was calming, and if his emotions weren’t such a mess and his adrenaline wasn’t spiked, he might enjoy it. Unfortunately, he could only focus on the pain in his shoulder and the figure of Thrawn.
The figure that was, much to his dismay, moving.
He looked around the grass for a blaster or weapon, but anything that hadn’t been secured to him was gone. It was as if they’d been dropped out of thin air— in the back of his mind he recalled the world between worlds, but he didn’t have time to truly think about it as Thrawn set up an arm to lean upon.
It was almost comical. The mighty Grand Admiral suddenly reduced to a heaving mess as he tried to sit up. If Ezra weren’t a Jedi, hell, if any of his family were there, they would have found a way to kill Thrawn even without a weapon.
He numbly realized that he wouldn’t be seeing them for a while. He hoped that they were okay— he knew that they were alive. They saved Lothal and would continue keeping it safe. He didn’t need a vision or to see them in order to know that; he trusted them.
He didn’t move from where he sat, instead opting to stare at Thrawn with as menacing a look as he could manage.
Thrawn’s hair was a mess, his stupid imperial uniform was crumpled and dirtied, and he was certainly injured in some way. Yet, Ezra still understood the way that he scanned his surroundings out of instinct and habit. He’d done the same thing a few minutes prior. It didn’t take long for his eyes to land on Ezra.
Ezra had been expecting him to react. His perfectly stoic typical Thrawn-suave coolness was already broken, and it made sense for one to physically react when seeing an enemy who had tried to kill them a dozen times and vice versa. In some odd way, however, Thrawn didn’t even flinch. His red eyes narrowed and he returned to attempting to push himself up.
If it was an attempt to retain his dignity, then it was long past that point. Ezra watched without pity as he grunted through grit teeth, pulling himself up into a sitting position with extreme slowness and struggle. Based on the way he was moving, he likely had broken ribs, which wasn’t entirely unexpected considering the way the purrgil had trapped him. He didn’t seem the least bit perturbed, excluding the obvious pain he was in, as he met Ezra’s stare directly.
He looked around, and Ezra could feel some sort of jumbled emotion that could possibly pass as confusion from him. Everything in the force was stronger on the planet, including the Admiral’s emotions in the force, but he was as unreadable as ever.
“Your fancy star destroyer isn’t anywhere around here.”
Thrawn looked back to him, his eyes narrowing even more.
“What did you command the purrgil to do?”
Ezra could have laughed. Thrawn truly understood nothing about the force, and that was going to work in his favor.
“I didn’t have them do anything. I’m as clueless as you.”
Perhaps not as clueless, not when he could feel the safety on the planet and the lack of other human lifeforms— indicating the lack of the Chimaera; if the crew was dead he’d feel that, too— but it was a close enough statement. Ezra didn’t really care about being entirely upfront with the Imperial, anyway.
Thrawn was silent for a long moment, “We are stranded.”
Ezra hated the way that it was a statement, not a question. He had just woken up! Who knew how long they had even been asleep? He should have been freaked out, confused, something. He wasn’t calm, Ezra could feel that much, but none of the emotions that he was feeling or would expect others to feel in this situation were there. It frustrated him.
He didn’t respond, instead opting to stand up. Thrawn didn't follow, likely too injured to stand on his own, which raised a situation that Ezra didn’t exactly like. He didn’t want to help Thrawn, nor did he want to work with him. He’d threatened to open fire on the innocents of Lothal. He’d been present when Hera was captured, and Ezra, unfortunately, was educated on what happened in imperial capture. He thought that he could take whatever he wanted. He was weirdly into art. He thought the force was a weapon.
He was an Imperial.
There weren’t any other reasons necessary to dislike him than the latter one, but they all added up to make him their most disliked enemy. Hera had muttered about his ridiculousness multiple times, Zeb had shouted about it, and their entire family strongly disliked him.
Ezra sighed, shutting his eyes and focusing on the cool air on his skin. At least they weren’t on a terribly hot planet like Tatooine, or a freezing ice climate like the moon Zeb had once been stuck on. He reminded himself that it could be worse. At least he knew that his home was on its way to being free, and his family was safe.
He let his hatred for Thrawn wash away.
The grasses at his feet promptly died.
In an instant, Ezra jumped away, his eyes glued to the crumbled grasses that left the gray dirt exposed. It was only a small area, but it was still alarming. The peace of the planet had been momentarily disturbed, absorbing the feelings that he had attempted to let out into the metaphysical. Instead, it had affected the physical; exactly the opposite of what he'd been going for.
“An interesting development.”
Any of the frustrations he had just let go of instantly came back as he looked to Thrawn. His expression hadn’t changed as he stared at the wilted grass.
Thrawn spoke again, “You clearly did not intend to destroy the fibers, but did you intend to do something… Negative in the force?”
Ezra hated the way he said it. He resisted the urge to ball his fists, finally tearing his eyes away from the dead grass to look at Thrawn. He still didn’t look critical, but he was curious. It was the most prominent thing he could feel in the force from him, and the only one that he could name. It wasn’t that he didn’t have emotions, they were undoubtedly there, they were just nothing like what Ezra had come to expect or understand.
So, naturally, of course he would recognize that he was curious about the force. It only filled him with more frustration.
“I’m not gonna be your science experiment, Thrawn. We need to go somewhere, we don’t know how safe this planet is,” he begrudgingly looked away for his next words, “Do you know where we are?”
“No, I do not. Though, based on the trajectory of our jump, I can assume we are in the Unknown Regions.”
He huffed, “Okay, that’s just great. Where’s the Chimaera?”
“Do you expect me to know that when you had the purrgil take us out here?”
If it were anyone else, Ezra would take it as immediate sarcasm. His frustrations momentarily skyrocketed as he made the assumption, but a single look at Thrawn and dip into the force showed that he was asking a genuine question. Ezra sighed.
“That’s… Fair. I don’t know. We thought you were from the Unknown Regions.”
“A correct assumption. I do not think I’m capable of standing on my own, but as you said, we need to find shelter of some sort.”
They stared at each other a moment. It clicked in Ezra’s head that he was testing the waters, seeing if Ezra would help him or if they would be enemies here. Ezra didn’t know the answer.
He definitely didn’t want to work with Thrawn, not for even a moment. Unfortunately, experience and Hera’s strictness had drilled survival skills into his head, and he knew what was necessary. That knowledge in no way meant that he was happy about it.
He walked closer to Thrawn, trying to fight off any intimidation. It was hard not to feel intimidation when faced with such a vicious Imperial.
“I don’t want to do this, but we’re stranded here for now, and I don’t plan on dying. We… We can have a truce. A temporary alliance. For the sake of survival.”
“What are your terms?”
Terms? Ezra didn’t know he had to make terms. It was a simple alliance that hopefully wouldn’t last long. He thought for a moment.
There were a lot of different requirements he could think of for an alliance, but most of them weren’t plausible. Mostly, he didn’t want Thrawn getting off the planet and going back to the Empire. There was also the question of the Chimaera, which Ezra was entirely sure had also been taken by the purrgil.
“Don’t try to kill or trick me, and I won’t try to kill or trick you. We don’t talk about the Empire or rebellion. This’ll never work if we talk politics. We work together, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends, or that I want to do this,” he took a breath, “And, most importantly, you have to promise that you never go back to the Empire. I don’t trust your word, but give it anyway, and I’ll see how much it means over however long this takes.”
He knew that getting Thrawn to agree to the last one would be a long shot. It was hardly possible, but it was a requirement, and they didn’t have much choice. Yet, to Ezra’s advantage, Thrawn was the one who could hardly stand. Ezra’s shoulder was still aching, and moving his arm was hellish, but he was mobile. Neither of them had much of a choice, but Thrawn was in more of a dire state.
“Those are agreeable. I have only one to add: if we do survive and make it off of this planet, no matter when that is, you do not reveal any information you have learned about my species, homeworld, people, or goals to any of your friends or others you may meet.”
Ezra was sure that his face only got more comical as Thrawn spoke. He didn’t believe for a second that Thrawn agreed to not going back to the Empire. His terms, his singular measly term, was even more confusing. Ezra didn’t know anything about Thrawn’s people, nor did he care. He didn’t plan on talking with him to find out.
“There’s no way you’re agreeing to not going back to the Empire like that.”
“It would only result in my death.”
“What?”
“I failed over Lothal, and your planet is surely free. They will not send any forces back after such a drastic loss. I equally failed to recruit you to the dark side as the Emperor asked of me.”
He wasn’t saying it in the way one would list their achievements; he might as well have been reading a grocery list.
“But-“
“I was already aware of the danger to my life prior to that loss. My loyalties to the Empire were in question due to an exchange with an old adversary prior to my arrival over Lothal. Had we succeeded, I was to return to Coruscant for a talk with the Emperor.”
“You’re not loyal to the Empire?”
The question came out of his mouth before he could think it over, but no part of him regretted it. It was important.
“My loyalties align with my goals. Currently, those goals have changed. I was loyal to the Empire.”
Ezra really wished that this could be easy, but his hands finally balled into fists and he took another step forward.
“You’re telling me, that everything you did and all the hurt you caused, was for some sort of goal? What was that goal even supposed to be?“
Thrawn pursed his lips, “I was seeking information about lesser space— your region of space— and the Empire was the best ally for that.”
“All of that, just for information?” Ezra shouted, his voice echoing in the landscape around him.
Thrawn nodded, glancing upwards, “Indeed. I agree to your terms. Do you agree to mine?”
Ezra looked up in turn, noticing that the sky had darkened to magenta. The clouds had begun to congregate together, and three moons were visible.
If he stepped back and thought about it rationally, imagining Hera coaxing him through the thought process and Kanan— the thought brought a twang of pain to his heart— bringing up questions. He could practically hear Hera’s rationales to those questions.
He had no other choice.
“Fine.”
Thrawn nodded, “Very well. There is a hill over there, where the trees are thinner. If we can get over there we may find a spot for cover.”
Ezra nodded, swallowing as he moved over to Thrawn. He already missed his family.
“You really can’t walk?”
“I presume at least three of my ribs are fractured or broken. Something happened to my left arm, though it’s not broken.”
He sighed, “At least it was my left shoulder that you shot.”
“Indeed.”
Ezra glanced back at the dead grass, worry churning within him. Letting emotions into the force was his best method to let go of anger, and he’d sworn to himself that he wouldn’t fall down the path of the dark side again— but he didn’t want to kill the planet. He couldn’t kill the planet, that’d be just as bad.
It was a problem for later. There were a lot of problems, questions, and the like. Survival came first.
He begrudgingly knelt at Thrawn’s right side and looked at him for a moment. The— former?— Grand Admiral nodded and set his arm across Ezra’s shoulder. Ezra could tell that it hurt by the heavy breath he took as Ezra dragged him up.
Zeb would absolutely lose it with laughter if he saw him right now. He’d also be pretty disturbed and would likely shout at Ezra to get out of the way of his blaster bolt.
There were no blaster bolts, and his family were as safe as they could be in a galaxy ruled by the Empire. Ezra had no clue how long he’d been asleep for, meaning he had no clue what state they were in. He trusted that Sabine and possibly Zeb would take care of Lothal, but Hera was probably already back on Yavin and in as much danger as ever.
In some twisted way, there was a chance that Ezra was the safest of them all. Sure, he was stuck with the Grand Admiral who had tried, and nearly succeeded, to kill them a dozen times, but he was the less injured of them both. He didn’t need a blaster, not when he trusted in the force— even if it would be nice to have his lightsaber. It didn’t mean he’d underestimate Thrawn, and he wasn’t any closer to trusting him, but he could see the advantage to their temporary alliance. He wasn’t that immature, not anymore.
Along with his somewhat new maturity, he had also grown taller, which made it significantly easier to half-carry Thrawn over to the trees he’d pointed out. It was still difficult, and his shoulder was aching, but it was easier than it may have been had he not grown tremendously. Hell, he was taller than Hera. That practically made him a giant in his eyes.
He and Thrawn must have made quite a pair, both of their breaths strained as Ezra took more and more of Thrawn’s weight. He either had a horribly low pain tolerance— unlikely— or he had more than a few broken ribs. It wasn’t as if those didn’t hurt like hell, but anyone in their lifestyle was used to maneuvering with those injuries. Ezra knew that even imperials experienced that from his conversations with Kallus.
After what felt like an eternity, they reached the thinner area of trees. While the area didn’t have many signs of civilization, the way that they seemed to form an exact line before giving way to plains was a heavy hint to some sort of destruction. It must’ve been a long time ago, and the dropped trees had been taken, considering the formerly flawless grass. Or, it was simply how the trees grew. He had no idea, he was just trying to be aware of his surroundings.
Ezra stopped moving, looking around. There was a stream weaving between the trees not far from them. A hill suddenly grew out of the ground, reminding him almost of Atollon.
“There,” Thrawn said without any indication of what he was talking about.
“What? Where?”
“The left of that hill curves abruptly. There could be a cave, or at least a small area of cover in case it rains.”
Ezra nodded, moving over there. He didn’t feel like talking, not to Thrawn.
Only a few minutes later Ezra was removing Thrawn’s arm from him and slinking to the slick ground of a small cave. Calling it a cave was generous. It was as if someone had imprinted the bubble of a cockpit into it. He looked at the back wall of it, nearly black shiny stone almost resembling space. He could almost imagine seeing stars outside of it and the controls of the Ghost’s nose gun in the floor.
“Thank you.”
Thrawn had also sat down, his back to the wall of the cave. They were as far in as it went, which wasn’t saying much. The dimming light of the outside was shining in, and with the darkness of the stone, even Ezra could tell that they would be entirely without light. He didn’t like that.
He also didn’t like that Thrawn was thanking him. He didn’t want to think of him as a normal being with morals and politeness. He knew that it was cruel, and he’d gotten better about remembering imperials were people, but after everything Thrawn had done it was impossible not to feel angry.
It was anger that he couldn’t let out into the force. He didn’t know what it’d do to the cave. He was sure that he hadn’t suddenly developed a new ability; it must have been the planet. With its sensitivity to the force, it wasn’t too out-there of an assumption.
He rested his head against the stone, wishing deeply that he could close his eyes. Unfortunately, Thrawn was there.
“Yeah, whatever.”
Unfortunately, he didn’t stay silent for long, “We need a plan of survival. Are you uninjured enough to attempt to find food and water?”
“I think so. But it’s probably best to wait until the sun comes back up.”
“We must hope that the night cycles are not too long on this planet.”
Minutes had passed by the time Ezra responded, “Are you going to kill me if I shut my eyes?“
He couldn’t have been unconscious for too long from the purrgil, because he was exhausted. Perhaps it was his injury or the strange environment. He had no idea. He just wanted sleep.
“There would be no benefit in the action, and I hold no hatred towards you. Can I say the same for you?”
Ezra let himself slump further on the uncomfortable stone, “I definitely don’t like you, but I won’t kill you.”
“I presumed so, considering your Jedi nature."
He groaned, but his eyes fell shut nonetheless.
He awoke to light reflecting off the back of the hideout and a dream of Kanan’s death. His breaths were hard to come by and he couldn’t seem to stop shaking, but it would be okay. He leaned his head against the cool stone and sank into the force, letting calm wash over him as the planet woke up.
When he opened his eyes without fear or frustrations, it was to bright white stone beneath him.
His panic came back.
He reminded himself of all of the calming methods that Kanan had taught him, but he still scrambled up and looked at the white stone that covered the space below where he’d been sitting. Thrawn was still asleep on the opposite wall, and Ezra wasn’t sure he’d ever been so thankful for something.
He counted in his head, imaging that Kanan was repeating the numbers back to him as he stepped around Thrawn and out of the hideout. The blue grass grew right where the dark stone stopped, and he carefully told himself not to kill it. He didn’t want to kill the planet.
The sun was up. He once again had no idea how long he had been asleep, but it couldn’t have possibly been that long. He was still tired, and his shoulder was aching worse than before. He really wanted some bacta.
The trees before him were very tall. He hadn’t realized it when he was struggling through them with Thrawn, but as he glanced upwards, he realized just how odd the planet was. The trees had white, thin trunks, and the wood almost seemed shiny; if it was even wood in the first place. Their leaves were green and fell down in chunks, many of them gracing the forest floor.
Past the trees and where he and Thrawn had first awoken were more hills and fields, the blue grass appearing to get taller until he couldn’t see any further. It didn’t look desirable to walk through. If loth cats could hide in grass similar to that, then so could much more volatile creatures.
There didn’t seem to be any food sources.
Thankfully, there was a stream weaving through the trees, and Ezra walked up to it quickly. It was wide enough that it could be a shallow river, but he didn’t exactly know how water bodies worked; Lothal wasn’t known for its oceans.
He knelt down, wincing at the pain in his shoulder as he reached out with the opposite arm and dipped his fingers into the rushing waters. It was cool, and he could smell the salt in the air. He hated to say it, but he hoped that Thrawn had knowledge of how to survive in the wilderness. He had plenty of survival skills when it came to running, hiding, or crashing on a planet. But, he’d almost always had places to steal from or at least a small amount of supplies. This was completely different.
A few meters away was a small space in-between a few trees, and it looked to be made specifically for meditating. The way that the trees circled around it and the stream flowed close by made it a perfect spot. His eyes drifted upwards as he made his way over, spotting the flying creatures in the trees. He’d already known they were there, he had felt them since he first woke up, but it was good to know that there was some other type of lifeforms.
He let himself fall down easily into the grass, looking at the trees towering above him. The singular sun was still low in the sky, leaving it a mix of pink and blue, almost reminding him of Lothal had the colors been reversed. After his moment of observing— he’d never been much for paying attention to his surroundings— he let his eyes fall shut.
Absolutely no part of him was calm, so he wasn’t even hoping to meditate. Yet, pretending to meditate had always been a good way to sort his thoughts when they were jumbled. Even if he couldn’t clear his mind and fall into that peaceful state, it was better than trying to think any other way.
There were a lot of problems to be solved and questions to be answered.
The one at the forefront of his mind was the strange reactions the planet was having to him letting go of his negative emotions. It was a good strategy, the best, in his opinion, and he couldn’t fathom holding it all in. He hadn’t even consciously thought about letting those emotions out when he woke up, it had been second nature. Yet, he refused to kill the planet, and there were a lot of negative emotions he could let out into the force.
If the planet was strong in the force, there was a chance that it could be absorbing those emotions. That of course raised the question of what it was doing with them and what dangers it could provide. Would it just happen when he released his emotions into the force, or if he got angry outwardly? What about Thrawn’s emotions? There were too many unknowns.
The Chimaera was also gone. His first instinct was to panic that it hadn’t actually been taken from Lothal, but he remembered very well what had happened. There was no way that he and Thrawn could have gotten on the mysterious planet without a ship for cover; Ezra had suffocated in the atmosphere on a purrgil before, and he was aware that the purrgil had no ability to give them oxygen. This time, there were no helmets for them to provide.
It was likely that the star destroyer was simply somewhere else on the planet. He didn’t know how large it was, though, and he couldn't traverse the whole thing. Both he and Thrawn needed some sort of bandages or treatment for their injuries. Hell, he didn’t even know what Thrawn’s injuries consisted of yet. He was lucky to only have one blaster shot.
Without the Chimaera, they had no familiar supplies. They were entirely on their own for every aspect of survival. He tried to dip into the force for any sign of food, but the only thing he found was at the top of the trees and presumably the living creatures. He wasn’t focused enough to actually investigate yet. It wasn’t as if he was actually going to be climbing up those trees, not yet. If he had been shot almost anywhere else it wouldn’t be a problem, but as much as he could push himself up with the force, he also needed his arms to grab onto things.
They were in quite the mess. He’d been in a lot of messes, but this one certainly ranked towards the top. In those other situations, he almost always had someone from his family. Now, all he had was Grand Admiral Thrawn, and that didn’t exactly provide comfort, alliance or not.
The alliance was a fickle thing. Ezra didn’t know where they’d be going next, or what their next step would even be. Key survival skills would make the most sense. The sad excuse for a cave wasn’t the best place for shelter, and they wouldn’t be very safe if it rained— they could possibly be if they both huddled at the back, but that would involve getting close to each other— and the water got in. Everything about the planet and its environment was a mystery, including what could come out at night. It already seemed like the day cycle was significantly shorter than Ezra was used to, which didn’t bode well for anything.
A pang of pain registered in the forefront of his mind, and despite his still aching shoulder, it wasn’t from him. He opened his eyes, carefully pushing down any frustration that threatened to rise at how quickly he was being interrupted. He had been hoping to go through his questions and problems and then attempt to meditate, but he was never going to feel comfortable enough with Thrawn there to actually relax.
His interest piqued as he felt Thrawn recognize the lack of him in their cave. It wasn’t surprise, nor panic, because nothing could ever be easy with the Admiral, but it was recognition. Ezra didn’t move, content to sit there and enjoy the cool air for now. He didn’t feel like talking to Thrawn yet.
Unfortunately, Thrawn didn't get the hint.
“Bridger?”
“I’m out here,” he didn’t keep the irritation out of his voice.
He took a while to respond, “We need to treat our injuries. We should have before resting.”
“Yeah, well, we also need food and water and probably better shelter. And, in case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have any bandages. Especially not any bacta, which I’m sure you Imperials never go without.”
Ezra knew what it was like to go without bacta. The rebellion didn’t have an unlimited supply, and more than a few times he’d allowed others to have it while he healed on his own. Once, when he was eleven, he'd broken some bone in his arm and had to wait weeks before he found any to steal. He was experienced with dealing with pain, but that didn’t mean he liked it.
He’d been waiting for Thrawn to answer, but no reply ever came. He felt more flickers of pain from the hideout. He was almost hoping that Thrawn would give his own snarky answer. Some sort of sign of familiarity, something like anyone back home would have done if he talked like that.
Of course, nothing of the sort ever came. With a frustrated sigh, he stood, resisting the urge to roll his shoulder. That was a mistake that he did not want to make.
The hideout wasn’t far, but he took his time walking over there. Sure, he’d matured and grown and knew how to survive on a strange planet, but he still didn’t like Thrawn, and despite the head shake of disappointment Kanan would give him and the stern look Hera would match, he wasn’t against making Thrawn’s life more difficult. Even if they both knew that was what he was doing.
He didn’t know what Thrawn knew. It was frustrating, and probably why he wanted to annoy him so badly in return. Everything about the Imperial made him want to tear his hair out.
Everything that Thrawn did also made no sense.
Such as how he had taken off his fancy white imperial jacket and begun tearing it into strips with strength that Ezra was sure humans didn’t have. It definitely hurt him to move so much, but he was ignoring it in favor of tearing up his coat. Ezra mildly wished that he’d been the one able to do it.
“What are you doing?”
He sat across from him, picking up one of the cloths and the removed Imperial rank pin. It was lighter than it looked, and the colored parts that indicated someone’s rank weren’t secretly buttons like he’d always thought.
“We need bandages. Unless you have found an alternative in your explorations.”
His voice had a tone of frustration in it, and for some reason, it made Ezra burst into laughter. All he’d heard from the Grand Admiral was stoic calculations and observations, but this was open irritation at Ezra, and at the moment it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
His laughter must have gone on for minutes, because by the time he was wiping his tears from his eyes and the last throes of laughter were vanishing, Thrawn was glaring at him.
“Do your eyes glow in the dark?”
He swore that they were glowing. Thrawn’s glare was intimidating as it was, but in the darker light of the hideout, it seemed even brighter. Ezra swore that they were illuminating the space around him. The question probably wasn't important, but the moment of laughter had relieved some of his tensions, and he was dying for something other than stoic, angry converastions. He was also curious.
“That is not important. We-“
“No, I’m curious.”
And, finally, Ezra felt the irritation wafting off of him in the force. Pure, easily named, annoyance aimed entirely at Ezra. It wasn’t ideal, he should be trying to work with him, but it was the strongest thing he’d felt yet save for his curiosity. He hoped that his smile showed just how victorious he felt.
Thrawn sighed, “Yes, in some cases. Now, it appears as if the daylight cycle on this planet may be short, and we cannot go on forever without food or water. We need to bandage our injuries and then you need to explore while I am incapable.”
Even with the confirmation of glowing eyes, he felt his mirth drain at the seriousness. Thrawn wasn’t exactly wrong, and Ezra hadn't begun attempts to actually look for food.
“Oh, right, the injury you gave me,” he looked outside, “There’s a stream of water and definitely some food up in the trees, but I can’t climb until my shoulder is better.”
“It would be wise to tear off the sleeves of your jacket. Perhaps the jacket entirely.”
“What if we get cold?”
Ezra got cold rather easily, considering Lothal’s warm climate. Hera had always kept the Ghost equally warm since she was also from a warm planet, and even his time on Garell and other planets wasn’t enough to make him truly accustomed to the cold. He didn’t want to freeze just because Thrawn needed more bandages. Unless Thrawn was resistant to cold, he wasn’t going to fare much better in his thin imperial undershirt. It was made for mobility, not warmth.
“I am much more concerned about our injuries getting infected.”
It was a fair concern. He still didn’t want to be cold.
Thrawn spoke again, “You will not be able to bandage your own shoulder.”
Ezra stuck his nose up, grimacing. He didn’t want to be near Thrawn, let alone let him treat his injuries. He wasn’t quite sure that a measly bandage would do much to stave off infection, not without some sort of medicine, but that had never been his strong suit.
It occurred to him, only after a night on the strange planet and an alliance was made with an Imperial, that he was going to be doing a lot of things he didn’t want to do.
He was stranded.
Just as Grand Admiral Thrawn was.
That fact alone made it a good thing, and anything he had to do would be worth it. Lothal was safe.