Chapter Text
When Ezra Bridger opened his eyes with a throbbing headache, reality hit him like a slap in the face, or rather, as if a house had crushed him. Because that's how he felt. Everything around him was silent, broken only by a faint beeping in the steady rhythm like a heartbeat. The last thing he remembered was finding Ahsoka alive and well in the World Between Worlds and the inferno of flames that almost killed them both, before they could escape through the portals. However, Ezra hadn't really paid attention to which of the countless portals he'd jumped through and therefore didn't really know where he'd come out. But as he looked around a bit, at the sterile white walls and unfamiliar machines that surrounded him, he could say one thing with relative certainty: that he was definitely not in a rebel cell. The medical equipment was far too... well, too good. Rebel bases usually didn't have the resources to purchase high-quality equipment. At best, they could steal it from the Empire. But aside from that, none of the instruments seemed familiar.
Where was he? In the clutches of the Empire? On a remote world? His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar hiss of a door opening as a strange woman entered the room. She paid him no attention at first, far too busy reading something on her datapad. At first glance, Ezra had mistaken her for a Pendoran. Her dark blue skin and long purple-black hair. Some of it tied up in a bun and some of it loose down her back, contrasted sharply with her beige top and the white lab like coat she wore over it. But there were these little things that didn't quite fit the picture. Her cheekbones were uncharacteristically pronounced for a Pendoran, and her forehead also seemed much more dominant. But when she raised her gaze after a while, he noticed her glowing red eyes, which seemed capable of piercing into his very soul. Ezra froze. She looked like Thrawn. Ezra had never seen anyone like Thrawn before. A... At the same moment, he realized that he didn't even know what species the Grand Admiral belonged to.
She studied him for a long time in silence, her eyes narrowed, disparagingly like a predator, its prey, or some other strange predator. After a while, she relaxed, looked once more at her datapad, which seemed unusually thin and more manageable than the ones Ezra was used to. Than she began to speak. Not that that was any better than her stare, because Ezra didn't understand a single word. After a while of staring blankly, he finally dared to reply.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand a single word." She seemed relatively unfazed by this and switched to another language, and when that didn't help, to another, then to yet another. Ezra sat there, helpless. For him, this whole situation was so incredibly surreal. He was sitting here, still as a corpse, with a woman who, most likely, belonged to the same race as Thrawn, if not even knew the Grand Admiral personally. As far as Ezra knew, Thrawn could march through the door at any given moment, take him away, and have him executed. Or worse, bring him to the Emperor himself. One thing was clear: Ezra had to get out of here, as soon as possible.
"I don't think we're getting anywhere like this," he said after a while, more to himself than to the man in front of him.
Now it was her turn to stare at him in incomprehension, at least until her expression changed to something more than obvious frustration. She held out her flat hand, signaling for him to stay put, and then quickly left the room. At least, that's what he thought she meant. But Ezra wouldn't be Ezra if he listened to something like that.
The woman had locked the door, and Ezra was sure there were guards posted on the other side. But that didn't matter, since the young Jedi had no intention of using the door anyway. Unlike the doors, the windows opened easily. The sound of the nearby sea met him, as did the cold wind, making him shiver uncontrollably. He wanted to close the window again immediately, but he had to suppress this impulse. A quick glance down told him why the window hadn't been closed. The room was at a dizzying height; if he had to guess, he'd say at least the tenth or eleventh floor. For anyone else, a jump would surely be fatal, but for Ezra, it was the easiest of exercises. With ease, he swung himself through the window, let himself fall, stopped his fall with a Force push, and landed as gently as if he had jumped no higher than from the edge of a bed.
Another shiver ran through his entire body; it was really damn cold on this planet, and when Ezra looked around, he realized why. This whole place was built on a giant glacier. Maybe, Ezra thought, jumping out the window without proper clothing hadn't been such a good idea after all, but he could endure it; after all, he didn't plan on staying out there long. He just had to find a spaceport and he'd be gone. But before he could put his plan into action, Ezra felt something in the Force, right behind him.
He felt as if something was reaching out for him. Cautious, hesitant, something small and weak, almost like a... a child. Ezra turned around, and sure enough, behind him, a small group of children had gathered, all with blue skin, black hair, and those distinctive glowing red eyes, staring at him with curiosity and wonder. Only when he looked around did he realize he'd landed not far from a playground. The children must have seen him jump and thought who knows what. Traumatizing a couple of children was definitely not part of the plan.
Ezra looked around again. Everything seemed so peaceful, and he couldn't locate any stormtroopers or Imperial flags. Had he perhaps not landed in Imperial territory after all? It almost looked that way. The entire Ghost Crew were wanted criminals; the Gate must have sent him somewhere deep into Wild Space. Perhaps even to a planet outside the Empire's sphere of influence. A sigh of relief escaped Ezra; he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. One less thing to worry about. When he looked back at the building, he noticed a large, bright green cross, the universal symbol of medicine. A hospital.
A boy with slightly darker skin than the others was brave enough to cautiously approach him, extending a short arm and nudging the young Jedi once on the leg before leaping back to the others as if bitten by a tarantula. The small group then fell into whispers, never taking their eyes off the human. Did they think he was a ghost? With newfound serenity, he sank to his knees to appear a little less threatening, while the children watched his every move with eagle eyes, as if afraid he would dissolve, if they blinked.
"Don't worry, I'm flesh and blood just like you. My name is Ezra Bridger," he grinned, holding out his hand to the children, only to remind himself a few moments later that they most likely didn't understand Galactic Basic, if the doctors hadn't. He pointed to himself, "Ezra Bridger," and then held out his hand again. This time it was a girl approaching him. Her night-black hair was tied in two braids hanging over her shoulders and with green-turquoise ribbons. Curious, glowing eyes studied him restlessly as she took his hand. "Vira'luk'aneto," she said somewhat hesitantly.
"Vira'luk'aneto," the Jedi repeated, unsure if he had pronounced it correctly. Which apparently hadn't been the case, because the girl burst into giggles and shook her head wildly as if she was mocking him. She said it again, this time more slowly, but no matter how hard he tried, Ezra couldn't hear the difference. Then she suddenly said something different. "Aluka."
"Aluka?" Perhaps a nickname, Ezra wondered, and the girl nodded. Aluka turned to the others, who had been watching the scene intently, and said something that made the caution in their eyes fade somewhat. One by one, boys and girls, everyone approached, introducing themselves, and Ezra desperately tried to pronounce the strange names before each of them introduced themselves by nickname. Before he knew what was happening, one of the children was holding a ball in front of his nose.
He probably shouldn't get distracted, probably should get out of here as quickly as possible. But at that very moment, he felt that little something in the Force again. Only this time he knew exactly where it was coming from. At the far end of the playground, several statues stood close together. Presumably they represented some important personages Ezra didn'T evern care about. Behind one of them, a small head protruded, which immediately disappeared behind the statue as soon as its owner realized the Jedi had noticed it. Someone was shy, Ezra thought, smiling as he slowly began to approach. Before he reached the statue, he jumped up and, as was customary for Jedis, landed absolutely silently behind his secret observer. "Hello, there."
The girl, as Ezra could now see from up close, cried out, looked confusedly at the spot where Ezra had been standing just seconds before, and then back at him. Probably wondering how he had done it. Unlike the others, her hair wasn't black or blue-black, but a light blonde, and her eyes glowed a soft pinkish-purple. But above all, she had the most unprecedented baby face Ezra had ever seen in his life, framed by a short bob. She was small and delicate, so it almost seemed as if she would disappear into the thick coat she was wrapped in. Unlike the others, she didn't seem afraid of him; instead, she eyed him curiously, albeit cautiously. At the same time, he wondered why she was lurking here alone without her parents, watching him and the other children instead of joining them.
Now the young Jedi could also say exactly what this little something in the Force had really come from her. It was her. She was Force-sensitive, no question. He could feel her reaching for him; it was as if she were trying to take his hand, only with the Force. As if she wanted to say something she couldn't with words. Just like with the other children, Ezra imagined, but no sound came from the girl. Then suddenly she seemed frightened. Her fearful gaze wasn't directed at the person in front of her, but at what was approaching behind him. Namely, the rest of the children. They had gathered behind Ezra, standing almost like a wall, staring at the odd couple with contemptuous glances and whispers. Ezra may not have understood the language, but he had a bad feeling about this.
One of the boys approached the two, looked at the girl, and called out in a mocking tone, "Moactan teel." Without knowing why, Ezra's stomach twisted. He doubted that was her name; it sounded so different from the others. His suspicion was confirmed when he sensed through the Force how hurt the girl was by those words. Suddenly, all the children started shouting those words, which brought the blonde girl almost to the brink of tears and was also the point at which it was enough for Ezra. He grabbed the boy's hand, but instead of yelling at the child, he just looked at him with a mixture of disappointment and intensity. The boy remained silent, switching between the girl and Ezra before lowering his head and muttering something in her direction, which made the blonde look up in a positive shock. An apolegie at best. Her tears dried up, which didn't make the fact that she was crying any better, but it was at least a start. Ezra let go of the boy with a nod and patted the girl on the head in the same motion.
When she looked up, he gave her a smile to show her that everything was fine. For a moment, she didn't react at all, but then her features relaxed and she smiled at him as if she were the sun itself.
A firm voice, no, more like a bark, startled Ezra and the children. They all turned on their heels and looked into the face of the woman Ezra had visited earlier in the room. Only this time, instead of being annoyed, she was furious, to put it lightly. Her companion, a young man who had come to stand slightly behind the doctor, examined the jedi with a mixture of curiosity, astonishment, and appraising. As if he didn't know what to make of the strange alien before him. He was almost as tall as the doctor, but his skin was noticeably lighter and his hair was more bluish-black. Although Ezra was certain he'd never met him before, he seemed unusually familiar, but unfortunately in a very unpleasant way. Yet, even so, Ezra just couldn't stand it.
The woman cursed, or at least it sounded like it, and sent the children away with a short command. Only the small blonde remained, clinging tightly to the Jedi's trousers and not seeming willing to let go anytime soon.
"What is your name, human?" the man asked, his voice sounding younger than Ezra had expected, and it took the human a second to realize he'd been speaking Basic. True, he had a thick accent and didn't pronounce all the words correctly, but he spoke well enough for Ezra to understand.
"I'm Ezra Bridger." he answered truthfully, but even that elicited no reaction. So his suspicion had been confirmed. These people didn't know who he was.
The other nodded in understanding and then continued. "You are on Rentor, a planet of the Chiss Ascendancy." He pointed to the woman. "This is Ath'ina'sabosen." Ezra briefly tried to repeat the name Mental, but gave up after only two attempts. Were all the names on this planet so terribly long and complicated? The male Chiss seemed to have noticed, and another obvious smile crept onto his lips before he continued. "It would probably be easier to call her Hinasa. She is also the lead physician in this colony. We have both been —" he paused briefly, trying to find the right words. "entrusted with your supervision during your stay here."
Ezra grimaced. Somehow, he doubted that 'entrusted' was the right term; 'forced' would probably be more accurate, if he interpreted Hinasa's annoyed expression correctly. But he left it at that. Now Ezra understood why she was reacting so exaggeratedly, and he couldn't help feeling a little guilty, Just a little bit, as it wasn't unlikely that she would get into huge trouble because of him. Hinasa hissed something, and the man translated, "She wants you to know that you've made her more work than she likes."
For the second time that day, Ezra doubted what he was told and crossed his arms. "Did she really say that?"
The other remained silent for a moment. "No," he finally answered, his expression not changing in the slightest.
Ezra really didn't know what to make of all this. But really, it didn't matter; he wouldn't be here long enough to see the end of the story anyway. "Okay, look, I'm sorry I caused so much trouble, but I really need to get home to my friends. So, if you could lend me a ship, I'll be off and we can all get back to our normal lives."
For a second, an expression that could easily have been interpreted as confusion crept across the blue face. The man turned to Hinasa and exchanged a few words with her before turning back to Ezra. "I apparently didn't express myself properly, please forgive me. You will stay here until the Chiss Syndicure decides otherwise." That suddenly knocked the ground from under Ezra's feet. In other words, he was a prisoner. But why? He wasn't even given time before the man continued. "As you've probably noticed, I'm one of the few here who speaks Galactic Basic, and so from today on, I'll be your translator. At least, as far as I can. My name is Kivu'raw'nuru." He gave a slight bow, and when he looked Ezra in the eye again, he continued. "But please, call me Vurawn."