Renaissance Archive

Season 3 Oneshot

Context: Sometime mid-Season 3, after the Ryloth episode (I don't remember which one it is, sorry)

Sabine usually didn't get visitors to her cabin late at night, but someone knocked at her door. "Yeah?"

The door opened and Ezra popped his head in. "Hey, are you up for some art?"

She raised her eyebrows and sat up. "What are we talking about here?"

From behind the door frame, Ezra held up the patrol helmet Zeb had gotten for him that day. "Can't have a white bucket."

"No, you can't," Sabine agreed, making grabby motions with her hands. "Gimme."

"All yours."

"Did you have a theme in mind yet?"

"Eh, your designs are always better anyway," he shrugged. After a moment, he asked, "Should I let you paint in peace?"

Concentrating on the helmet, she waved down at the bottom bunk of her cabin. "You can stay if you're quiet. I need to focus on this."

Ezra zipped his lips and relaxed on the mattress. The mission that day had been good. They had helped Hera's dad again, and he even got to see where Hera grew up. It definitely wasn't a typical mission, but a good one nonetheless.

"Paints," Sabine requested from above his head, and he leaned over across the bunk so he could reach the drawer with her spraypaints.

"Which colors?"

"Orange, yellow, white... and maybe green. I'm not sure yet."

Just in case, Ezra used the Force to lift all four cans as well as her sprayer up to Sabine. She gathered them onto her bunk and organized them. "Thanks."

"No problem." He leaned back, and before long he smelt the paint as she got to work.

True to his word, Ezra didn't say a thing while Sabine worked. He knew better than to distract an artist when she was in the zone. He had made that mistake before. She almost forgot he was there for a few minutes.

Seeing as he wasn't allowed to talk and he was going to be there for a while, Ezra figured he would meditate. After the whole mess with Maul, he had been really shaken up and he needed to relax a little bit. Something in the back of his mind told him this wouldn't be the last time they crossed paths, but Ezra doubted Maul was about to show up in Sabine's cabin. At least, he hoped he wouldn't.

Then again, if Maul interrupted Sabine's artwork, then Maul was the one who needed to be scared.

He was confused. It felt like he had been making so much progress with that holocron, with everything he was learning and doing. Ezra's missions had gone well for the most part. Yeah, he definitely screwed up on the whole bit with the y-wings, but that was a sharp downward turn from what was otherwise a steady uphill climb. Now he felt like he was at the bottom again. All of that progress had been for nothing.

Or maybe it hadn't been progress. Maybe it was just a distraction from what he was supposed to be doing. He had been getting stronger, getting better, but now that the holocron was gone Ezra felt... exhausted. Like he had been clenching his entire body for ages and he only just now released. All the tension was fading, which was great, but it left him tired afterward. Progress wasn't supposed to do that, was it?

An old conversation with Master Skywalker came floating back to him: "I know. I need to relax my back." "You do, but that's not going to do much if you don't relax your mind."

Maybe he should have listened a little more closely.

"Hand me the brown?" Sabine asked from above his head, her arm sticking into Ezra's peripheral vision.