Work Text:
Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde. These are the Mandalorian marriage vows. Translated as, "We are one together, we are one apart, we share all, we raise warriors."
Sabine and Ezra had unknowingly lived by these rules their whole lives together. Knowing each other as if they were one, fighting by each other's side in perfect harmony. They knew each other better than they knew themselves. They were each other's perfect half. Partners in everything they did in their lives just as the riduurok described.
But there was one aspect of these vows that Sabine and Ezra had yet to live by. An aspect that was soon fulfilled once the pair had grown enough to realize just how much they meant to each other and that there was no one more perfect for them to raise their next generation of warriors with.
And by creating a family with both Jedi and Mandalorian heritage, two dying cultures, it made training their children a unique yet important challenge, one that they took very seriously, as they were doing right now. Going on a trip to a nearby forested planet, away from the distractions of home to give their five year old daughter Mira a calm, quiet place to listen to their instructions and work on honing her skills.
Unfortunately it appears their hopes for this chosen setting did nothing to quell the unbridled chaotic energy their daughter exuded as she swung their lightsaber around wildly, much to the concern of her father. The saber she had was precious after all. It was the one that Ezra had made, and left behind for Sabine to claim as her own, which made it only fitting to give it to their daughter, who like the saber, was forged by the strength of their love for each other.
And strong it was as Ezra seemed unable to pin his daughter down as she squealed and ran around the clearing, swinging her saber wildly.
"Why can't I cut things with it?!" Mira exclaims as she whacks the blade against a tree, confused as to why it wasn't cutting through it like her parents' lightsabers did.
"Because it's on the training setting and what you're doing right now absolutely proves why it needs to be on that!" Ezra shouts at her and lunges for her.
She shrieks as he pins her down. Ezra laughs triumphantly.
"Gotcha!" Ezra exclaims.
But Sabine can see the mischievous grin on her daughter's face, the one she had inherited from her. She can't help but laugh as Mira easily squirms out of Ezra's grasp and laughs as she runs away from her stunned father.
"How is she so slippery?!" Ezra shouts to Sabine.
"Don't ask me! She got that from you!" Sabine reminds him. "Isn't that right Caleb?" Sabine asks her infant son as she fed him his bottle.
Caleb gurgles and kicks his feet in response.
"That means yes!" Sabine calls back to him from the stump she was sitting on.
"How do you know-oh!” Ezra exclaims as Mira tries to jump on him.
"Don't be distracted during a fight!" Mira says, very proud at the opportunity to use her father's own words against him.
Sabine giggles softly as Ezra smiles and shakes his head, jumping to his feet and readying his stance to face his daughter's challenge. He twirls his lightsaber and holds it in ready position.
"You remembered that lesson. Now do you remember the other one I-oof!" Ezra exclaims as his daughter sweeps his leg and knocks him on his back on the ground. "And you did." Ezra groans on the ground.
"Yay! I won!" Mira proudly proclaims and jumps on top of her father, making him laugh as his daughter uses him as a trampoline.
"Not properly though." Sabine groans and rolls her eyes while taking the bottle away from Caleb now that he was done with it.
"What are you talking about?" Ezra asks her, catching his daughter so that she stops her celebratory assault on his abdomen so he can have a proper conversation with his love. "She totally caught me off guard! That's an amazing win!" He cheers and tosses his daughter into the air, making her squeal with laughter as he uses the Force to give her an extra boost.
Mira lets out a confused grunt as she stops moving fast and is gently lowered back to the ground. She looks and sees her mother raising her hand, gently easing her down with the Force while giving her father a judgemental frown.
"It's bajur, Ez!" Sabine whines and shifts her hold on her son, resting his head on her shoulder as she stands to approach Ezra. "These are important skills that she's going to carry with her for her whole life! She needs to learn her own instincts and natural reactions in a fight, not just how to take down a stationary target!"
"Isn't the point of her doing drills to have them become her natural reactions?" Ezra asks with a sheepish grin that has Sabine frowning at him before smirking.
“Hold this cyar'ika.” Sabine says and gives Ezra a kiss on his cheek, right over his scars. She hands their son to him after he stands up.
“Let me show our daughter how it’s done.” She says with a coy smirk that has Ezra's cheeks coloring as he admires his partner's confidence.
Caleb babbles in his arms and pushes his hands against his father's face, happily cooing for his attention, which Ezra readily gives with some kisses to his tiny palms.
Sabine twirls around her lightsaber a bit in her hand as she walks over to her daughter.
Mira very cutely attempts to match her mother's confidence, twirling her little lightsaber but being unable to do so as skillfully because of her lack of coordination. Which was normal for her age. And very adorable to both of her parents.
Sabine gave her daughter a mischievous and wicked grin as she got into a battle stance in front of her daughter. And Mira cheerfully mimicked her mother's face. Matching it completely. The similarity brought a smile to her father’s face. Ezra rubbed his finger on his son's belly as he held him in one arm, making Caleb giggle and reach up for his father's face.
"Jii aru gar buir, ni bir va'na dajun desii bat gar. (Now as opposed to your father, I don't plan on taking it easy on you.)" Sabine says coyly to her daughter as she gets into position.
"Ibic naas a anyc kaanir meh nari! (It's not a worthy fight if you did!)" Mira replies in mando'a.
Sabine beams with pride as her daughter answers her perfectly in her native language. Now she hoped to make her proud once again in a spar.
Her daughter tries to sweep her leg but Sabine knew she would do that. So she quickly hops out of the way and slashes her saber, also in the training setting, down towards her daughter.
Mira was able to use her height, or lack thereof, to her advantage and easily duck under the blade, dashing between her mother's legs. But she couldn't make it through as Sabine scoops her up by bending her knee and then laying on the ground, holding her between her legs.
Ezra is confused as to why she would leave herself in such a vulnerable position. But he'd learned a long time ago not to question her methods.
Mira struggles in between her mother's legs but then manages to slip out between them. She had to let go of her lightsaber to escape though. And Sabine quickly scoops it up away from her, causing her to gasp as defeat seems inevitable. But she wouldn't let her mother get the best of her that easy.
Sabine frowns as she watches Mira duck under the blades and hug her leg.
"Sweetie you know you're not strong enough to knock me-OW!" Sabine shouts as Mira bites her leg.
Sabine drops her lightsaber and Mira cheers and grabs it back from her, pointing it at Sabine with confidence as she now has her weapon back. But with a quick parry Sabine was able to use her strength to knock it out of Mira’s hands, and Mira onto the ground along with it.
Her daughter pouts on the ground as Sabine points her lightsaber at her in victory. But then Mira notices her mother's smile as she turns off her lightsaber and kneels down to scoop her up into a hug.
"You were wonderful ad'ika!" Sabine exclaims. "I'm so proud of you!" She affirms as she hugs her daughter tightly.
"We are too!" Ezra says and kneels beside Sabine and gives her a hug.
Mira smiles and snuggles into her parents embrace.
Sabine and Ezra each held one of Mira's hands as they walked back to their ship. Sabine also carries Caleb on her back in a birikad.
"I should try sparring with auntie 'soka next!" Mira suggests.
Sabine giggles from her daughter's idea, imagining how her master would react to getting bitten by her daughter.
"Yes and I'm sure she'd love that-" Sabine starts before being cut off as Ezra suddenly pulls her behind a tree.
On instinct she grabbed her children and pulled them behind the tree with her.
Ezra wraps his arms around Sabine and holds her to his chest, sandwiching their children in-between him. Mira hugging Sabine's legs and Caleb clutched to her chest in the birikad. He looks around the trunk of the tree and Sabine picks her head up from his collarbone where she had been resting it to look at his face.
"Ezra what's wrong?" She asks.
"There are stormtroopers near our ship. I can sense them." Ezra explains.
Sabine looked shocked since she didn't sense anything. But Ezra did have a more effortless connection to the Force than she did.
She pulled out her helmet and put it on. Using her visor as she peeked around the tree to see the troopers heat signatures as they milled about inside their ship. Her hands balled into fists and she growled from under her helmet before yanking it off of her head and frowning at the ship.
"Those stupid bucket heads are messing with our stuff!" Sabine growls. "I just got new paints from Corellia and they were expensive! I swear to the Force if they ruined them I'll make them pay for it! In more ways than one!"
Ezra smirks, always happy to see Sabine's fiery side come out.
"Are they going to hurt Mr. Fluffy?" Mira asks out of concern for her lothcat stuffie.
Sabine gives her daughter the most heartfelt look and kneels down to her level to pet her hair.
"Don't worry ad'ika, I'm sure they won't pay him any mind. And if they do hurt a hair on his head then mommy will sever their heads from their bodies." Sabine assures her daughter with the brightest smile on her face.
"Sabine!" Ezra exclaims and Sabine quickly stands up and slaps her hand over Ezra's mouth to shush him.
She didn't want their location being discovered. Not with their children with them. She brings her hand down and Ezra lets out a short laugh.
"'Bine you know you can't kill people over things like that. It's not the Jedi way." Ezra reminds her.
"Well being fiercely protective of my children is the Mandalorian way. I won't hold back against anyone who upsets them. Especially those same bucket heads that filled our childhoods with terror and fear." Sabine explains.
"Believe me I'm not going to fight you on that one." Ezra agrees.
They hear movement by the ship and see two of the stormtroopers coming out.
"Stay here and protect the kids." Ezra instructs Sabine. "I'll draw them away from the ship and you can hide the kids in there and then come and fight with me."
"Ezra, there's five of them!" Sabine exclaims.
"So?" Ezra asks with a cocky grin.
Sabine scoffs and shakes her head at his confidence.
"Do you really think you can take on five at once?" Sabine asks.
"I won't be fighting them, I'll just be distracting them and leading them away from our family. I can handle that." Ezra explains.
Sabine looks away from him, worry clouding her eyes and Ezra tilts his head and sighs.
"You know protecting our children is my priority, no matter how risky." Ezra reminds her and Sabine stuck her tongue into her cheek before looking up at him.
"I know. It's mine too. So why don't you let me draw their fire and you go hide our kids in the ship?" Sabine offers.
Ezra smiles and shakes his head.
"You know I'm faster and much more distracting." He reminds her.
"You are not faster!" Sabine argues.
"But you won't argue that I am more distracting." Ezra points out and Sabine grits her teeth again and frowns at him.
"Papa, are you going to be in danger?" Mira asks.
Sabine swallows a sob as tears start to burn her eyes as Ezra kneels down to cup his daughter's face in his hands, staring into her matching bright blue eyes.
"A little but I'll be okay." Ezra assures her before kissing her on the forehead.
Then he stands up and leans down to kiss Caleb on his head. Thankful his son had stayed quiet for now but he knew that couldn't be counted on for long.
Then he looked at Sabine. Who was still worried as he caresses her cheek and leans in to give her a long loving kiss. She reciprocates and brings her hand up to the scars on his cheek, gently stroking them as she savors the feel of his lips against hers. And his forehead resting against hers as he gives her a keldabe kiss. An intimate gesture from her people that always made her heart flutter as Ezra performed it for her.
"I promise." He tells her before pulling away and making his way over to the ship.
Sabine keeps her eyes closed, basking in the warmth of his presence until he leaves and the cold reality returns as she opens her eyes and pulls her children close to hide behind the tree to anxiously watch their father enact his risky plan.
Ezra casually strolls up to the ship as the stormtroopers are coming out of it. And Sabine held her breath and held her children close to her.
"Hey there fellas!" Ezra shouts.
Sabine lets out a huge sigh and rolls her eyes. Ezra's attempts at talking down stormtroopers had never stopped making her cringe.
"I think you've got the wrong ship there! You see that one's mine and yours is probably-" He's cut off by a quick blaster shot towards his head that he barely dodges and hits the tree trunk that his family was hiding behind.
That was way too close for Ezra. He definitely had to lock in now.
"Far. Far away from here!" He says sternly and ignites his lightsaber.
The troopers start shooting at him and he takes off in the other direction into the woods.
The troopers call out to follow him and Sabine winces as she hears the blaster shots following her riduur. But she has to have faith in him, as he's proven himself more than capable of these feats over the years. It doesn't make her any less worried though.
Mira gasps as she's suddenly scooped up by her mother as she sprints towards the ship.
She sets Mira down and then unclips Caleb from her back and leaves him in Mira's hands.
"Stay here with your brother and don't open up those doors until I give you the signal!" Sabine orders her daughter.
Mira nods and Sabine puts her helmet back on and runs out the doors of the ship, letting them close behind her and running to help Ezra.
Mira brings Caleb into the bedroom and sets him down in his crib. She didn't know why but she had a bad feeling about being alone. Without her parents. She felt like she didn't belong in the ship, like she should be fighting with them. Then she heard some branches cracking outside.
She runs over to the cockpit and peeks out the window, gasping as she sees more stormtroopers making their way towards her parents. Did they know that more were coming? She couldn't take that chance. She had to go and fight. To be the warrior her parents raised her to be.
The troopers heard the screams of their comrades being quickly taken down by the pair of Jedi. But they were almost in position to intercept them. They just had to make it through a clearing and suddenly a huge log came rolling towards them down the hill and mowed half of them over while the others scattered.
"What the hell was that?!?" One of them exclaims before getting crushed by a dead branch that suddenly fell out of the dead tree they were standing by.
"And what the hell was-" the other trooper says before getting crushed as well.
Mira let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully all of those things didn't require much more than a gentle push or tug from the Force to set them off. So she still had the energy to take care of the ones that remained to attack her parents.
Ezra was skillfully deflecting blaster shots with his lightsaber like he wasn't even thinking about it. And Sabine was knocking out their opponents with one hit.
Ezra smirks as he watches her, debating on if he should show off a bit just to make his way over there and give her a kiss. But seeing another trooper emerge from the bushes with his blaster raised at her while her back was turned had him making his way over there for a different reason.
"No!" He shouts and jumps directly in front of the trooper and takes the blaster shot to his side.
He screams in pain and falls to the ground, clutching where he was hurt. Sabine screams in horror and shoots the trooper with her blaster before rushing over to Ezra, throwing off her helmet as she runs to check the damage.
"'Bine I'm okay." Ezra groans then lifts up his hand. He sees red and his eyes widen.
But the look of worry on Sabine's face made him want to downplay it.
"It looks worse than it is." Ezra says and Sabine groans and facepalms.
Then they hear rustling in the bushes and gasp when they see their daughter emerge and grab onto the leg of a stormtrooper. She bites the vulnerable, unarmored place behind his knee.
"Ow!" He shouts as he goes down.
Once his partner aims his blaster at her, Sabine and Ezra are both on their feet, despite their injuries, and booking it to their child.
"Stupid bucket heads!" Mira shouts and jumps on the back of one of the troopers, grabbing him in a headlock and choking him as best she could with her tiny strength.
She was causing the trooper significant trouble. But his wild thrashing was also swinging their daughter around rather violently. At a rate that made her parents worry she would slip off of his shoulders and into a vulnerable position.
If the stormtrooper thought that getting choked out by a four year old was annoying enough, getting tag teamed by her parents, the mother sliding on the side of her leg and sweeping his legs, while the father did a graceful backflip, picking the little girl off of his back and tucking and rolling with her close to his chest to keep her safe while the mother took her place, wrapping him in a headlock that was far more effective than her daughters and the next thing he knew he was unconscious.
"Is he down?" Ezra asks.
Sabine nods and lets out a sigh of relief as the trooper slumps in her grip and she lets him go with a thud on the ground.
"Yay! We did it!" Mira exclaims and both Sabine and Ezra turn to frown at her.
"We did nothing young lady!" Sabine scolds her and Mira's smile falters.
"Mira what you did was incredibly dangerous!" Ezra explains to her. "You're far too young to be fighting anybody!"
"But I thought that's why you and papa were training me?" Mira asks. "So I can be a warrior like you!"
Sabine and Ezra paused at that and looked at each other, looking to each other for wisdom on how to parent their daughter on this matter.
"Oh verd'ika (little soldier)." Sabine says affectionately to her daughter and holds out her arms for her to run to for a hug. "I can already see that you're a fierce fighter with a fiery spirit just like me."
Mira smiles at her mother and Sabine looks kindly upon her daughter who looks up at her from her lap.
"And you have your father's bravery and courageous heart." Sabine continues and Ezra smiles at her. "But you have to be careful about that. Because sometimes that warrior's heart will lead you to doing reckless things that severely injure you!" Sabine growls the last bit while sticking her thumb into Ezra's blaster wound, making him cry out in pain.
"Kriff! Love, that hurt!" Ezra screams and knocks his hand away.
"I know and now our daughter knows, so now maybe both of you will think twice before running headfirst into danger without back up!" Sabine reprimands both of her loved ones.
"Yes mama."
"Yes, love."
Ezra winces as he sits up in his cot and grips his side. Caleb stirs in his crib beside the cot. Although calling it a cot wasn't doing it justice. It was actually pretty close to a full sized bed. Part of the renovations Sabine and Ezra had done to the Nightbrother had been to add a larger bed for the two of them to sleep in together. And then later their children along with them. One of whom was being very fussy as Ezra winces again as he reaches over to put his hand into his son's crib to try to calm him down.
"It's alright little guy." Ezra says and tries to catch his son's hand as it flails in the crib. "Your dad's fine!"
"It doesn't look like it." Sabine says and Ezra sits up to see her standing in the doorway.
And he found himself staring as he wasn't expecting to see her already changed into her sleepwear. A pair of purple shorts and her black tank top that she normally only wore during sparring sessions.
Sabine chuckles as she notices him staring and pushes off the doorway and climbs onto the bed and swings her leg over him to straddle his lap and places her hands on his bare chest.
Ezra smiles and holds onto her hips as Sabine settles onto his lap.
Ezra closes his eyes and lets Sabine lean in to kiss him. After what felt like a minute she pulls back and Ezra looks into her eyes.
"Feeling better now?" Sabine asks in a sweet tone that has Ezra letting out a deep breath.
"So much better." He gasps before leaning up a bit to kiss Sabine back.
She moans softly before pushing him back against the bed and holding his shoulders as she gently makes out with him.
He moves his hands down her back to support her rear to keep her against him. She smiles into the kiss and moves her hands down his abdomen. This causes him to smirk until he feels her peeling off the bacta patch on his wound.
"Now!" Sabine shouts as she quickly dismounts him, ripping off the bacta patch as she moves, while Mira jumps on the bed and slaps a new patch over the wound.
Ezra groans and tilts his head back on the pillow as Mira giggles and climbs next to him.
"'Bine…" he whines and Sabine just smiles at him as she props herself up on her side beside him. "Was that really necessary?"
"Yes! Bajur isn't just learning how to fight, it's also about learning how to administer aid to your fellow warriors on the battlefield." Sabine exclaims and gestures to their daughter. "She needs to learn how to properly apply bandages. And you always get fussy when I change them anyway so I thought this way would be quicker and easier."
Ezra scoffs as she insults his pain tolerance like that. Then brings his attention back to the noises in the crib.
"Speaking of fussy." Sabine says and picks her son up out of the crib. "It's time for someone to eat."
"Do you need me to get a bottle?" Ezra asks and then winces again, reminding him of the pain keeping him from getting up at the moment.
"No, you need to stay in bed." Sabine says as she crawls into bed next to him carrying their baby. "I'll just do it the old fashioned way." She says as she sits up against the headboard and pulls her left arm out of her tank top to pull the garment down just enough to expose her breast for her baby. She quietly shushes him as she brings his head up to latch onto her.
Ezra and Mira watch in awe as Sabine nurses the baby. Gently resting her head on Ezra's shoulder and his head resting on top of hers as he watches his son eat. Mira was amazed as she witnessed this miracle of life, that her mother was able to give her brother food from her body.
"Is he really eating?" Mira asks.
"Yes. He is." Sabine says and runs her hand over his little head. "You did this too when you were a baby."
Once Caleb finished Sabine fixed her shirt and handed him over to Ezra who happily let the little one snuggle into his chest as he began to go to sleep now that his belly was full.
Sabine lays on her side with Mira in her arms who was about to go to sleep until she asked one more question.
"Is dad going to be stuck with a hole in him?" She asks and the adults laugh.
"No, ad'ika." Sabine says. "The bacta patch will heal that up. He'll just have a scar."
"One to match yours." Ezra points out and rubs his thumb over the lightsaber scar on her side.
Sabine smiles brightly and cups his cheek before kissing him.
"I hadn't thought of that. That's so romantic!" Sabine says and Ezra scoffs.
"Mandalorians are crazy!" he says.
"We are not-" Sabine begins to counter.
"I want a matching scar too!" Mira exclaims.
Ezra gestures to her as exhibit A.
Sabine rolls her eyes and strokes one of her daughter's ponytails.
"We are raising warriors." Sabine reminds him.
"And I wouldn't have it any other way." Ezra assures her before kissing the top of her head.
"Remember ad'ika, Verd ori'shya beskar'gam (A warrior is more than the armor)." Sabine says to her daughter and gently tucks a loose strand of hair behind her daughter's ear. "Bal a verd ori'shya her size too (And a warrior is more than her size too.)" Sabine adds, making her daughter giggle as she boops her nose. "You'll become strong like us one day. But you'll have to be patient and take the time to grow."