Saga - OT Strict, Unbending Rules for Dealing with Stray Loth-cats | Cat Challenge | Sabine pre-Ahsoka

Title: Strict, Unbending Rules for Dealing with Stray Loth-cats
Author: Raissa Baiard
Genre: Cats, humor, slight angst
Characters: Sabine Wren, a Loth-cat, Hera Syndulla, mentions of Ezra Bridger, Ahsoka Tano and Jacen Syndulla.
Synopsis: After the end of the Galactic Civil War, Sabine moves into Ezra’s old communication tower seeking solace and solitude, but the arrival of a persistent Loth-kitten disrupts her plans.

Notes: Written for the “Meow You’re Talking” challenge. My prompt was “claw and order” and it was further inspired by this bit of internet humor: “Strict, Unbending Rules for Dealing with Stray Cats.”

This story contains mild spoilers if you haven’t been watching Ahsoka.

Thanks, as always to @Findswoman for beta reading.
----

“This is the last crate.”

“Thanks, Hera; just set it down over there with the others.” Sabine paused from organizing her art supplies and brushed a sweat-sticky tendril of hair out of her eyes. She wasn’t used to having it this long and it felt like it was constantly in her face. It was a warm Lothal day, and the air inside the communication tower was stuffy and hot even with the door open. She could hear Jacen’s shouts and laughter as he prowled through the long grass below, trying to catch a Loth-cat. The wild tookas were common in this part of Lothal, and particularly numerous in the prairie around Communication Tower E-272, or Fort Ezra, as its eponymous former resident had called it. It was almost as if something of Ezra’s presence lingered on and drew the grinning felines there.

Sabine must have stirred up more dust cleaning Ezra’s old collection of trooper helmets than she’d thought, because suddenly her eyes were prickling with tears. She swiped them away with her sleeve, lest Hera think she was really crying or something.

“Ugh, this place is in worse shape than I thought it would be,” she exclaimed. There were centimeters of dust blanketing everything; it had been more than five years since the last time she’d been here with Ezra—no, closer to seven years now. It had been just before Kanan’s death, the night Ezra came up with his plan for the Loth-bat gliders. (So much stupid, kriffing dust and it would not stop getting in her eyes!) “There’s an epic scurrier’s nest in the environmental control unit. It looks like they’ve been building their own civilization inside there. Not looking forward to dealing with that. It’s going to be pretty warm in here tonight without any air conditioning.”

Hera looked around the tower room with a pensive glance, and Sabine wondered if the tiny frown that touched her lips was directed at the mess or at the disheveled Mandalorian trying to impose some sort of order on it all. “Sabine…” Hera began in that oh-so careful tone of voice that she used so often with Sabine since, well, everything. “Are you sure--”

“Yes, I am absolutely sure I want to live here.” They’d had this discussion before, several times. Too many times. Sabine reiterated her reasons anyway. “I need to get away for a while. I can concentrate on my art here. It’s got a great view.”

“It’s also got a lot of memories.” Hera stepped around the stack of crates and laid a hand on Sabine’s shoulder. “No one blames you for not finding Ezra, Sabine. You did the best you could with what little information we had. You kept going long after most people would have given up. And no one blames you for what happened with Ahsoka, either. She isn’t always an easy person to work with, and less so since she came back.”

Sabine shrugged away with a small, noncommittal noise, and turned her attention to rearranging the helmets slightly so she wouldn’t have to see the pity in Hera’s eyes. It wasn’t true that no one blamed her; she blamed herself. For Ezra, for Ahsoka, for everything. She should have tried harder, trained longer, done more. Sabine never gave up, but now it felt like that was her only option. If she gave up, though, and let go of everyone and everything she’d lost, what did that leave for her? If she broke her promises to her friends and family—to herself—who did that make her? “Ezra’s counting on me to watch over Lothal, and I can’t do that from the Home One or Ryloth or Lira San or wherever, even if you and Zeb could put up with me.” She was under no illusions that she would make a good house- or shipmate for anyone anymore. Ahsoka certainly had not thought so.

Hera tsk-ed slightly. “All right, but watching over Lothal doesn’t mean you have to live here. I can understand why you don’t want to go back to Capital City, but you could go find a nice place in Jhothal or Kothal or even Tangletown, now that it’s been rebuilt. I don’t like the idea of you being out here all alone.”

“I’ll be fine.” Sabine couldn’t decide whether to smile or roll her eyes. Hera was the closest thing she had to a mother figure now, and sometimes it was nice to have someone to worry over her and play the mother avian, but not over this. This was something she needed to do for herself and for Ezra. “I’m a big girl, and I’ll have my work to keep me busy. The mural…”

“You’re sure?”

“I am. You’ve got my comm frequency. You can check up on me whenever you want.” And now Sabine couldn’t help but smile a little. “I know you will anyway.”

“I can’t help it. We’re family, Sabine, no matter what.” Hera laid her other hand on Sabine’s left shoulder and drew her away from fussing over the row of stormtrooper helmets. “And Jacen would never let a week go by without talking to his favorite aunt.”

“His only aunt,” Sabine corrected with a laugh.

“That, too.” Hera pulled Sabine into a hug and murmured, “So take care of yourself.”

-----

Sabine didn’t sleep well her first night in the tower. As she’d predicted, it had been stiflingly hot since she hadn’t been able to get the environmental control unit functioning again. There had been a stuffy, musty smell in the close confines of the living quarters, and the dust must have still lingered in the air, because Sabine’s eyes wouldn’t stop watering. No matter which way she turned on the narrow bed that had once been Ezra’s, she couldn’t get comfortable.

There was a lot that needed to be done to get the tower into order, but after spending a frustrating and unproductive hour cleaning scurrier droppings, grass, bits of chewed up flimsy and other less identifiable but equally unsavory detritus out of the enviro unit, Sabine decided the best course of action would be to tune up her speeder bike while she let the tower air out for a while. Some fresh air would help that mustiness and hopefully dissipate some of the dust that still made her eyes tear up at odd and unexpected moments.

It was another warm, bright day, perfect for working outside. The bike’s engine was in surprisingly good condition considering how long it had been in storage, and it only required some minor tweaks and recalibrations. Its paint job, on the other hand…orange and blue was no longer her style. It needed something brighter and bolder. Purple, Sabine decided, with accents of yellow and magenta. That was what it needed. She went back upstairs to the tower to get her paints, air brush, tape and a drop cloth.

When she returned, there was a Loth-cat sitting on the speeder bike’s seat, enjoying the warmth of the Lothal sun and the sun-warmed seat as it groomed itself, back leg hoisted high in the air. Its ears perked in mid-lick; it slowly lowered its leg and turned towards Sabine.

The cat blinked at her; Sabine blinked back. At second glance, she could see that the cat was really more of a half-grown kitten, a tawny ball of spotted fluff with wide eyes and a plume of a tail that seemed too big for its body. The cat blinked again and then grinned in the way that only a Loth-cat could.

“Mrrrrrup!” it exclaimed, leaping down from the speeder and making for Sabine’s ankles like a furry guided missile.

“Oh, no.” Sabine took a hasty step backwards, but it was too late. The kitten was already underfoot, weaving between her legs in figure eights, rubbing its fuzzy cheeks against her boots, and chirruping and purring like it had just found its new best friend.

“No, no, no…” Sabine tried to extricate herself from the kitten’s determined advances without stepping on the little furball, her movement hampered by the armload of painting supplies she was carrying, “I am not a pet person.” Sure, the kitten was fluffy and adorable and all that, but Sabine had never been the fluffy, adorable type. Besides, she was doing well just to take care of herself most days.

She gently nudged the kitten away with the toe of one boot, only for it to bounce back and pounce on her foot like it was a game. “Go on— shoo!” she said, nudging it a little more firmly. “Go on; I’m sure your family is waiting for you somewhere. So, scoot!”

The kitten, however, did not scoot. It grinned at her and butted its head against her legs.

“Look,” Sabine sighed, taking a step back, “If Ezra were here, he would take you. He loved Loth-cats and they loved him. But me..? I—” She took another step as the kitten kept coming, and lost her balance as her left foot caught on a rock that was hidden in the grass. She regained her feet in time to keep from falling, but dropped her load of art supplies, which hit the ground with a clatter. Paint cans burst open on impact, splattering magenta and yellow everywhere.

The kitten gave a startled yowl and bounded off into the tall grass to stare at Sabine reproachfully.

“…I can’t.” She surveyed the wreckage of her painting project. Paint puddled on the ground, magenta and yellow bleeding into each other, her roll of painter’s tape standing on edge in the middle of the puddle. Her airbrush, covered in a thick layer of paint, was now bright magenta with yellow speckles. She kicked the nearest paint can. “Karabast! I just can’t!”

And just to make matters worse, she was apparently developing an allergy to prairie grass, because her stupid eyes were watering again.

++++
Notes:
Comm Tower E-272
Kothal
Jhothal
Tangletown

 

I loved the conversation between Sabine and Hera, very much in character with candor and warmth. Magenta and yellow speckles ... what a mess! The kitten is persistent if nothing else. Poor Sabine, missing Ezra and feeling guilty for not finding him. Sheesh, seven years is TOO long a time ... you feel stuck between knowing you have to 'move on' but not being able to quite.

 

Woot, it's up!

As someone who was recently adopted by a kitten, I can completely empathise with Sabine's situation here

Yup, that's exactly how they start charming you, and then they rub themselves against your legs, and then you're in trouble.

I'm putting the rest of my comments behind a spoiler tag in case other reviewers haven't watched Ahsoka yet.

Spoiler

I really liked how you exploited the small details of the Sabine we see at the beginning of the series; I have my reservations about some of Filoni's narrative choices but one thing that I found really well done there and that you managed to keep here is how Sabine is neglecting herself (unkempt hair, chipped nail polish) and how that conveys a sense of failure. One line that really stood out to me was this:

It reminded me of the moment when Azadi tells her in episode 1 that "everyone was at the ceremony" and she replies "not everyone" – it's kind of obvious that Ezra wouldn't be there, since the ceremony was to honour his sacrifice, but she deems that he should be. Similarly, when Hera said "no one" she obviously wasn't including Sabine in there, but Sabine includes herself. She's in this typical depressed corner where her view of things is impervious to the rest of the world, and she doesn't want to come out.

And of course, while the recurring point of the dust causing her eyes to water brings a bit of levity to all this, it's also part of her depression that she doesn't want to acknowledge it. By the time she started thinking that she's growing allergic to the grass, I thought, "lady, denial isn't just a river in Egypt."

This was a lovely beginning, and I'll be keeping an eye out for updates, because that kitten isn't going away and I want to know how he managed to worm his way into the tower

 

Oh, this is such a great Sabine POV! I really enjoyed all the details, even the heartwrenching ones.

Aww! That is such an Ezra thing. And I really love that his hard-earned affinity for feline-kind is not only mentioned but looks like it will have a starring role in Sabine's journey here.

Those pesky allergens. The way that Sabine doesn't quite acknowledge her pain and grief directly a lot of the time, but clearly shows it in these moments, really rings true for her.

This is so very painfully in-character. Sabine is very hard on herself, and that can be a plus when it drives her to achieve but also makes her failures (real or imagined) that much harder.

Ugh, now this is just too real. Hot weather on plains with no shade and no AC.

Nice to see her continuing to change her favored color schemes over time as she used to do!

The dignity of cats.

Aww, itty bitty kitty!

Resistance is futile, Sabine.

The weariness is really well-portrayed here. But her new buddy will be having none of that, I think.

This is known as Kitty Help in my family.

She is having a rough time, and I can only imagine how hard it's been to miss Ezra for that many years.