AU: Kid Ibani Field Trip!

[last_kallig]

They've been unreasonably lucky, and they haven't had to deal with the question of what to do with Ibani if a Jedi comes to the temple. But that luck couldn't last forever, and it finally runs out less than a week after her first sparring session.

The safest path is to go, to take Ibani out of the Temple and into the wilderness of Jedha for as long as the Jedi are in residence. The official story is that this trip is for survival training, hands on experience in the wild. Ibani's hardly going to complain about having her Dads all to herself for a while!

She's watching the last of the supplies they'll need be loaded as the cold Jedhan sun starts to rise.

Comments

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut's hug is probably too tight. He tries to loosen it, fails, and decides that if it's really that bad, she'll let him know.

He can't really afford the tears that slide down his face either, crystallizing as the air becomes cooler, but... there's only so much control he can muster, at the moment.

[iprotectyou]

Baze peppers her face with kisses, holding on to Chirrut with one arm and Ibani with the other. Tears trail down Baze's cheeks and sobs wrack his shoulders, and he takes some time to compose himself.

"Ibani," Baze says, managing to keep the snarl out of his voice, "you are never to do something that dangerous ever again."

[last_kallig]

Ibani almost, almost argues that it wasn't dangerous, that she wasn't in danger. But she knows that's not the right thing to say right now.

"I won't," she promises, voice shaky. "I keep hurting you and Chirrut and....and I don't mean to."

"You'd be better off if you'd never met me." she says, not realizing that that last sentence was aloud.

[idontneedluck]

"Never say that." Chirrut's reply is sharp and wounded. "Never think it. I would go through a thousand days like today rather than lose one second of my time with you."

[iprotectyou]

"Don't, dear heart," Baze says, pressing another kiss to her brow. "Just... Just don't. We love you. We don't want to give you up."

[last_kallig]

There's nothing to say in response to that, so Ibani's just going to cling to both of them for a while.

As cold as its getting, they should probably get near a fire.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut would like to stop being the responsible, logical one now. He's not good at it, and it's tiring.

"Alright, up." He sighs, giving a lock of Baze's hair a tug and shifting Ibani so he can lift her when he stands. "I, for one, don't intend on surviving a walker just to turn into an ice cube."

[iprotectyou]

"I did pack plenty of fire paste," Baze says, slowly getting to his feet--oh, his arthritic knees!--and meandering over to the packs. He starts a fire, reconstitutes a meal for the three of them, and finishes setting up their campsite.

Soon, it's time for bed. Baze finishes teaching Ibani a lesson on how to navigate using the stars, and kisses her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

[last_kallig]

"Goodnight, Dad," Ibani replies. And if she happens to curl up as close as she can to Baze and Chirrut, well, it's cold and frankly all three of them need the comfort of cuddling tonight.