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Even the Jedi needed to eat. Ahsoka found that unfortunate. If she was to choose the most unpleasant activity of all, grocery shopping would be unquestionably at the top of the list.
As she was walking back to her shuttle, a bag hanging on her every finger, her comm chimed.
Incoming - Huyang.
She gritted her teeth and set her bags on the ground. Breathe. I am the one with the Force and the Force is with me. I am the one with the Force and the Force is with me. Good. There was no danger of her saying something she’d later regret.
“What is it, Huyang?” she said.
“Master Tano - I am terribly sorry, but would you please hurry back to the ship? I’m afraid Padawan Wren has lost her mind.”
Oh, dear. What has Sabine done this time?
“Why would you think that?” she said.
“She decided to destroy her bunk. She has begun disassembling it.”
That’s odd, Ahsoka thought.
“Thank you, Huyang, I’ll be at the docks in about 10 minutes,” she said, and disconnected the call. She wasn’t in the mood for frivolous pleasantries with the droid.
Ahsoka picked up her bags, and continued walking with a sense of urgency towards the dock where her ship was parked. As she boarded the vessel, she heard muffled cussing and metallic clanking from the common room, where Sabine also happened to have her bunk. Ahsoka put the groceries on the floor, and went to see her padawan.
She saw Sabine kneeling on the floor, surrounded by metal and plastic parts, bolts and washers strewn on the floor. A large cardboard box from which she must have taken them was next to her. In her right hand, Sabine was holding a multitool, and in her left hand she had a booklet with instructions of some sort. Her bunk was half-disassembled and lacked the mattress.
“What are you doing?” Ashoka said.
“Oh!” Sabine exclaimed, putting on a fake smile.
“You’re back! Did you get everything you needed?”
“Yes - without any help from you, thank you. Care to explain why you’re ruining your bunk bed? And what are these parts? Huyang believes you’ve gone insane.”
Sabine laughed. “Good old Huyang - always thinking the worst of me. I am not ruining my bunk. Just making some modifications.”
“What sort of modifications? You seemed perfectly fine with it ever since you started travelling with me.”
“Well, yes - but that was then. Now, I need to improve it.”
“You haven’t answered the question. What exactly are you doing with it?”
“Making it more comfortable.”
Okay. Sabine clearly didn’t want to answer, and Ahsoka didn’t like it.
“May I see the manual?”
“Ahsoka…”
“The manual, Sabine. It’s my ship, at the end of the day.”
Sabine shoulders sagged. She proffered the booklet to Ashoka, who held it about half-arm length from her face. When did I become far-sighted? Ahsoka thought. Might want to get an appointment with an optometrist, see if I need glasses. But that was a matter for another day. Ahsoka had a more pressing matter at hand.
“Tyrex Furniture Bunk Extender - sleeps two instead of one,” she read.
“Uh, Sabine - is there someone you want to share a bed with on this ship?” Ahsoka asked.
The question was redundant. Both of them knew perfectly well who it was. That someone was currently at the spaceship supply store, purchasing lubricant for the shuttle’s engines.
Ahsoka chose Ezra as her volunteer for that chore about two hours ago, and he hadn’t returned yet. Strictly speaking, her engines could still go a week or two before lubricant replacement, but since they were on a planet where the oils weren’t renowned for their absurdly high sand content, Ahsoka thought they might as well do it now. But the main reason for her sending Ezra on a shopping trip was for Ezra to actually do it. After a decade in the wilderness of Peridia, Ezra was struggling with some basic skills for functioning in civilized society - such as choosing things in stores, paying for them, and talking to strangers.
After Ahsoka and Sabine returned from Peridia (where their stay has been, thankfully, short), they discovered just how much help Ezra needed. Today was the first time he’d get to buy consumables for Ahsoka’s shuttle without being supervised by either Sabine or Ashoka herself.
“So, Sabine, can you please answer?”
“Alright, fine. Yes - I’d like to sleep with Ezra,” she said.
“Aren’t you already sleeping with him?” Ahsoka said, schooling her expression into her best sabacc face. Sabine’s face became very red.
“All jokes aside, I’m yet to hear a good answer. Yes, I understand that you two are a couple - but that doesn’t mean you need to co-sleep on my ship. You have your tower on Lothal - please share the bed there to your hearts’ content.”
Sabine drew a deep breath. Her expression changed into something unusual for her, almost begging or pleading.
“Ahsoka, please,” she said, taking another deep breath.
“I actually have reasons for wanting to have Ezra near me when I sleep besides him being my cya’re. When he is near me - as in, next to me - I actually sleep well. I sleep through the night without waking up five times. I feel rested the next day. And I don’t have nightmares. When he’s not next to me - I am tormented by them, Ahsoka. I see things… awful things that happened, and also those that didn’t. But just sleeping next to Ezra gives me relief.”
Ahsoka closed her eyes for the moment and exhaled. Poor Sabine, she thought. She knew Sabine’s sleep cycle was always very irregular - Sabine always slept in her day clothes, boots included, and more than a few times she had been fully awake in the middle of the night and drowsy the next day. But Ahsoka hadn’t paid much attention to it as she should have. You need to do better, Tano, she thought. There were many things she needed to do better.
“Okay,” she said after a moment of silence. “If you require Ezra to be your sleep aid, I understand. You have my permission.”
Sabine’s face brightened. “Thank you, Ashoka,” she said.
“But,” Ahsoka continued, “you can share the bunk only as long as sleeping is all you two are doing. Clothes stay on.”
Sabine buried her face in her hands. “Why,” she wailed, “does everyone assume we’re going at it like rabbits?!”
“You aren’t?” Ahsoka asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow. Sabine’s jaw dropped, her mouth moving like she was struggling to articulate any proper words.
Ahsoka decided to take pity on her student.
“As I said - you can sleep together. But only sleep,” she said, turned around and walked out of the room to place her food in the fridge. Behind her, she heard Sabine muttering obscenities in Mando’a. Ahsoka smirked.
As she was arranging the food on the shelves of the large fridge in the shuttle’s small galley, she heard Ezra’s foodsteps in the airlock.
“How did it go?” she asked. “All done,” Ezra said. “Bought 200 litres of Grade 5 engine lubricant, as you asked. Should be here tomorrow morning. Can I help you here?”
“Yes, please - take those packs of chicken breasts, open them, rinse the breasts under the water here, and then put them in ziplock bags and put them in the freezer,” she said. Ezra nodded and set about doing as instructed.
“Ezra?” Ashoka said.
“Yes, Ahsoka?”
“You did good today. I know things like this are still hard for you. So, I am proud of you.”
Ezra snorted.
“It’s pathetic. Having problems with the most simple things - paying for stuff with a card, not knowing where to find things, not understanding what workers at checkout are saying to me. I didn’t think I was that stupid.”
Okay, that wasn’t acceptable.
“Ezra - no. Stop speaking badly of yourself, I will not tolerate that on my ship. Nor, I think, will Sabine appreciate hearing her boyfriend saying these things about himself. I’ve seen enough of Peridia to understand what an achievement it is just to survive there. You did it for a decade. It’s a miracle you are as well-adjusted as you are, really. A few things you forgot - you’ll get there. You are making great progress,” she said. Ezra bowed his head in gratitude.
“Thank you, Ahsoka,” he said quietly. “It means a lot.”
Ahsoka decided to change the subject.
“Are you aware Sabine enlisted you as her sleep aid?”
Ezra smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.
“The bunk extender? She was talking about ordering it, but she didn’t tell me she’d actually bought it.”
“Well, we have new sleep arrangements. You and Sabine will share. I only allow actual sleeping, not…” Ahsoka trailed off. Ezra averted his gaze.
“After we’re done with food, I am going to meditate. You’re welcome to join me, if you’d like,” she said.
“Of course,” Ezra said.
They meditated for about three hours - a long time by any standards, but neither Ahsoka nor Ezra considered time spent communing with Force time wasted.
“Alright,” Ahsoka said, rising from a meditative position, “I think we’re done for today. Very good technique, Ezra - you felt really centered in the Force. I have issues with finding my centre sometimes, so well done.”
“Thank you, Master,” he said. Ahsoka shook her head.
“I’m not your Master. Just a former Jedi. At this point, I probably learn more from you than you learn from me. Anyway, it’s almost lights-off time. Take a look if Sabine finished building her contraption.”
Sabine was indeed finished. The new bunk was wider, had a new mattress, two pillows, and was covered with a puffy duvet.
“Wow, Sabine,” Ezra exclaimed, “this looks so nice!”
“You think so?” she said. “I’m glad. Let’s take showers - you first - and turn in for the night. I, personally, am ready for bed.”
Ezra gave himself a good scrub in the shower, and after dressing himself in a clean T-shirt and pair of shorts, he climbed into their bunk, covering himself with a duvet.
Sabine emerged from the shower a few minutes afterwards. Her appearance was radically different from what she usually wore to bed when on the road - instead of her armor suit or long-sleeved shirt, trousers and boots, she was barefoot, dressed in mythosaur-patterned pajamas.
“Sabine,” he said, “you look incredible.”
Sabine laughed. “Flatterer.”
“Truth-teller. Why mythosaurs?”
Sabine blushed.
“Ah, yes. Remember our date a month ago?”
“When we bought wine and shared it while watching the sunset?”
“Yes. Well, for some reason, after having quite a lot of that excellent red, I thought I needed pajamas with mythosaurs. So, I ordered a pair on the Holonet while you were in the shower later that night. What was I thinking? Now, I have to wear them.”
Ezra laughed. Sabine gave him an embarrassed smile.
“You, my love, look so beautiful in them,” he said.
“Can I give you a good-night kiss?”
“Yes, please.”
Ezra pulled Sabine towards himself, kissing her deeply.
“Sweet dreams, my love,” he said.
“You too,” Sabine said before switching off the light.
The next morning, Ahsoka was up early. After performing her morning ablutions, she decided to check on the lovey-dovey couple.
As she walked quietly into the room, she saw both of them partially covered by the duvet, still fast asleep. Sabine was lying on her side, her face buried in the crook of Ezra’s neck, her mouth slightly open, her left arm thrown across Ezra’s chest. Ezra’s right arm was wrapped around Sabine’s torso. Ahsoka quietly stepped out of the room.
I’ll give them, say, one more hour. Maybe an hour and a half, she thought.
About an hour later, she heard the sounds of the caf machine being turned on. That meant Sabine was awake. Starting the caf machine was the first thing Sabine did after waking up, before even brushing her teeth.
Ahsoka walked into the galley. Sabine was still dressed in her pajamas.
Why mythosaurs? Ahsoka thought as she looked at Sabine.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Did you sleep well?”
Sabine yawned and scratched her butt.
“Alright,” Ahsoka snapped, “Sabine! I am glad you had a restful night, but we have a tight schedule today. So, please - make yourself presentable, wake up your cya’re, have your caf - and then we have a delivery of engine lubricant. Two hundred litres of it. You and Ezra are offloading. Chop-chop.”
“Yes, Master,” Sabine said, finally coherent. “Thank you for letting us sleep together. I had a wonderful night.”