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“So,” Ice started, and he hoped it didn’t sound as provocative as he felt it did. “Are we going to talk about it?”
Maverick froze (they would laugh about the pun in any other case) where he’d just finished pulling his cloak over Bradley’s sleeping form and his head shifted, helmet glinting in the firelight. “I’ll do you the favor of not playing dumb.”
Ice said nothing, watching him caress Bradley’s curls softly and stand up all the way. In four steps he was back on Ice’s side of the fire, and there was a snap hiss as he reached for the seal of his helmet and it disengaged so he could remove it. He met Ice’s eyes, and though he couldn’t see well enough in the gloom to confirm it, Ice imagined they were still bleeding red at the edges of his irises.
When they’d encountered bounty hunters earlier that day, looking for the nice bundle of credits they would get by bringing in a Jedi, the hunters hadn’t counted on the righteous fury that was Maverick. He’d passed off his helmet to Bradley for his safety, Bradley putting it on without blinking twice, something that told Ice how practiced they were at this routine. And then, Mav had turned to Ice, growled an order to stick with the kid, and turned to face the music. Ice had had a front-row seat to Maverick’s eyes transitioning from white and green to blood red and if they hadn’t both known that Maverick was about as force-sensitive as the average blade of grass, then he would have wondered how Mav had concealed being a sith from him for so long. Instead, he was left with this knot of questions that he shoved away immediately to focus on the present danger.
A danger that wasn’t so present anymore.
Maverick shifted again next to the fire, making himself comfortable, and started at the beginning. “My father was chiss. It was easy enough for our clan to cast him out after he’d supposedly betrayed them, and then me by association once my mother passed and I was old enough to fend for myself, so.” Mav shrugged a little. “I got most of my mother’s human characteristics, so I pass pretty well on most days, but the dark hair and…the eye thing…well, that’s all Dad. Most people take it at face value once they find out, just like they did to him.”
“I’m sorry,” Ice said softly. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. The Jedi were supposed to keep the peace, to help those who couldn’t help themselves. But there was Mav, who’d been alone, and the Jedi hadn’t been there for him because he wasn’t force-sensitive. He wanted to go back in time and shake somebody.
“Thank you,” Mav smiled. He nodded over a bit at Bradley’s sleeping form, “You’ve probably guessed, but his parents, Carole and Nick, they weren’t like that. It was the happiest I’ve ever been when I spent those years with them. That’s why I can’t let you take Bradley back to the temple with you. It’s selfish, but I can’t be alone again. Not when he’s all I have left, and not when it’s just like what happened to me.”
“I understand, Mav. I wouldn’t still be here with you if I didn’t.”
“I know you do,” Mav said, with another small smile. He sighed. “If you want to teach him how to use one of those lightsabers, I guess I wouldn’t mind.”
Ice blinked, staring at Mav’s profile. Up until now, he’d been fine with Ice teaching Bradley the finer points of force sensitivity, and happy to get pelted by floating rocks once Bradley had mastered that. But the lightsaber had remained strictly off-limits.
“In the name of self-defense, of course,” Mav continued. “He has his little vibroblade, but I won’t be around to protect him forever. And if what happens today keeps happening, he should have all the tools at his disposal that he can.”
“I’ll make sure he stays safe,” Ice murmured.
“I know you will,” Mav grinned. “Mr. No Mistakes.”
Ice frowned playfully. And that was something else that had been a change, the teasing that Mav doled out in spades. At first, it had been a fight to not take everything at face value, to rise defensively against every seeming barb thrown his way. In those first weeks, it was only Ice’s Jedi training that saved Maverick from colliding with a fist (or a nearby tree). Eventually, he’d seen it as it was meant and learned to recognize the sparkle in Mav’s eyes which meant he enjoyed watching Ice’s brow tick in annoyance.
And Ice couldn’t say there wasn’t a small part of him that enjoyed getting a rise out of Maverick now and then either.
“How does that whole force thingy work?” Mav asked after a beat.
“You mean you haven’t been listening to me explain it to Bradley for the last few weeks?”
“Nope,” Mav replied brazenly.
Ice sighed, but conceded the point, taking a breath and slowly bringing his lightsaber up in front of him where it hovered, rotating slowly. Mav watched in awe as Ice methodically pulled each piece apart in time with the cadence of his voice. “Every living being is connected to the force. Even you, though not much more than that stump over there,” Ice teased with a sharp grin. “Every being is more or less connected to it, but some are connected enough to harness it and work in harmony with the power. Like myself, or Bradley.”
“And where does the lightsaber fit in?”
“It’s only a tool. It’s a symbol of the Jedi, of our connection to the force and our mastery of it. It gives me the authority I need to travel the galaxy and keep the peace.”
“A symbol of your status,” Mav surmised.
“Exactly,” Ice nodded. “Just like your armor identifies you, a lightsaber identifies a Jedi.”
“What about the red ones you were telling Bradley about?”
“So you were listening!” Ice challenged with a quicksilver grin. “Those are a special case. Dark Jedi, Sith, are the only ones that wield those. They’ve usually fallen from the standards we hold ourselves to and serve only themselves. If we encounter any, it’ll take a lot more than your efforts today to get rid of them. That’s why I need to train Bradley.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” Mav said, a little ruefully. He sighed and dropped his head down to rest on Ice’s shoulder. Ice stilled, ever fiber of his being screaming at him, and it was only his singleminded focus on the lightsaber in front of him that allowed him to keep it from wobbling and falling into his lap. “I’m glad you’re here to help us, help him.”
Ice said nothing, waiting for Maverick to move. When Mav didn’t, he sighed a little too, settling a little more into his place. “I am too,” he finally admitted.
His lightsaber kept spinning slowly in front of him, and he turned to look over, admiring how the glow of the blue kyber reflected in Mav’s eyes.
“Here,” he said, softly, afraid to break the moment. He separated the kyber from its casing and moved it in front of Mav. “You can touch it, I don’t mind.”
When Maverick reached out with a single finger to feel the smooth edges of the crystal, Ice felt it in his bones. The crystal sang, and he shivered, unable to contain it this time. At Ice’s encouraging nod, Mav reached and plucked it out of the air.
Something deep inside Ice clicked into place, a part he hadn’t known was missing, a part he hadn't even known would fit, but couldn’t deny that he was better off for its presence. Mav finished examining the crystal, and dropped it back into thin air, where Ice caught it and brought it back into the casing. Mav was smiling at him when he turned back after reassembling the lightsaber, and Ice smiled back.
“It really is a beautiful weapon,” Mav admitted.
“Well, I suppose you would be an expert in those matters, wouldn’t you?”
“I would. It suits you.”
Ice blushed a little, pleased. “Well, it likes you too.”
“It what?”
“The crystal,” Ice clarified. “It’s hard to explain, but they resonate. In the force, I mean. It…tuned itself, I suppose is the word, to your presence. That doesn’t happen very often.”
Mav smirked, and Ice rolled his eyes. “What can I say, Kazansky? I’m pretty special, you know.”
“That’s one word for it,” Ice replied, rolling his eyes.
But his tone was fond, and they both knew it.