lothrat, lothcat, lothwolf run

Linking previous posts about how Baylan becomes a wolfwalker and stuff here bc it's been a while and this ramble makes zero sense without a ton of context lol: gets wolfed, sion hell trip, therian hcs, peridea lore(wolf ezra post)

So by the time the Sion arrives on Peridea, Sabine left Baylan comatose in a bacta tank for a couple weeks at least, right? I've been SLEEPING on the potential ramifications oh my goddd. He is not thriving rn actually.

I was already gonna have Thrawn use his life as leverage to ensure Shin will do whatever he wants. You want your master to live? Then you will follow Sabine Wren and if she finds Bridger you will kill her and lead us to him.

But then what? I never considered taking it further than that but the more I think about it now the more I doubt Baylan's just gonna waltz off the Sion/Chimera when he's recovered and go on his merry way. Thrawn now has another powerful wolfwalker completely at his mercy and just let's him go?

They were never allies. Baylan was just Morgan's hired mercenary in it for his own gain and no longer needed now they've made the journey. In the show, Thrawn explicitly stated he didn't give a shit if Skoll and Hati were stranded after sending them to hunt down Ezra and Sabine. They're nothing to him but pawns. And sure, Thrawn would much rather return with Ezra, but he knows there’s only a slim chance of capturing him.

So he agrees to let Baylan go only if he does capture Ezra. If he loses Ezra, if Shin fails, he'll just keep Baylan as compensation. And seeing as Shin does completely fail and Ezra and Sabine get away now I have to figure out how Baylan gets away...

Seems the only way to accomplish this is for the pack decide to help him in part to keep wolfwalkers out of the Empire's hands (man I just can't stop making Sabine's day worse lol). Been stumped on how I was gonna orchestrate that without rearranging a lot of existing plot (I've neglected this plot hole way too long smh). But then I realized it could just be a component of Operation Kyber Bomb (Sion disablement/season finale).

This raises questions about what Baylan's up to in the month or so before then (originally he did just waltz off the Sion, say goodbye to Shin and then fucked off into the sunrise but now he's stuck in place)

In the show they were gone within like 2 days but in this au Thrawn is determined to capture Ezra and it takes two maybe three weeks to realize that's not happening; setting Sabine loose was a grave miscalculation. The Sion probably also needs to refuel and repair after it's maiden voyage which takes a while for such a massive craft on a resource barren world.

After Sabine fucked him up, it's a couple weeks before Wolf!Baylan appears despite him being unconscious. The wolf can't appear until it's well enough to survive without medical assistance. And when the wolf does awaken? Thrawn just let's him go into the wild. He doesn't need to worry about the wolf as long as he has his body captive. So Baylan can reunite with Shin as a wolf, but he's on a tight leash and can barely walk still due to his injuries. He can't begin his quest until he's fully healed and free (then he'll be thriving).

Though even when when he is fully healed, he's permanently disabled. Putting weight on that leg is excruciating as a wolf; his shoulder is ruined. It might have healed better with the bacta treatment if he wasn't forced to walk around as a wolf early during recovery. I also suspect he'll be forced to wake up too soon for it to fully heal in the bacta tank. By the time he leaves he'd probably be better off having his arm/leg amputated but. Well. His only option for that now would be to chew it off himself after he learns healing powers eventually. Which, you might think healing would come naturally to him bc of his heartrender talents. Maybe it would have once. But I feel the further he's slipped towards the dark side the more destructive that power becomes. Tearing a body apart comes far more naturally than healing it. Also for plot reasons both him and Shin can't know about healing powers too soon so that's my excuse...Ok I guess he could use his lightsaber to chop it in human form or maybe the Hundr Ridarri could amputate it for him but I wanted to make him suffer.

Anyway I guess he just hangs out with Shin to protect him while he heals (they also probably both stay with the Ridarri), and waits for the pack to make their move against Thrawn bc there's simply no escape without help. Shin can't possibly sneak his body off the destroyer or his giant wolf ass onto it without a distraction. Lucky for them, Ahsoka, Sabine and Ezra could also use a distraction from their operation. They agree to help each other. An attack on two fronts. This does not lead to a longterm alliance. Maybe if Shin didn't hate Sabine currently and Sabine didn't hate Baylan even more their short term goals of survival in the wilderness might align, but as it stands they had better go their seperate ways ASAP.

I'm realizing that Baylan not only being almost killed but held ransom bc of it would fuel Shin’s anger even more. And Sabine? Well Baylan didn't just try to kill her at the end of the journey, his idea of making friends during it was to psychologically grind her to a fine powder (more on that if I ever finish the fic ig). And when she finally had the chance to kill him she only succeeded in giving him what he wanted. RIP

Man idk how he's going to break it to Shin that he's leaving her behind once he is free...

I suddenly find myself undecided as to whether Baylan dismisses her as his apprentice in this au. I was disappointed with how abrubtly their relationship ended in the show but at the same time it seems Baylan has no plans of returning and is tying off loose ends, setting her free because he knows he will not return, will not survive. Either way he's making this journey alone.

But Shin fought so hard to protect him and now he's just going to leave her? Damn. I feel like after he leaves, all of Shin’s anger just kind of burns out. Now she's just lost and sad and lonely :( if only there were other wolfwalkers around to be friends with :((

Baylan isn't done bothering Sabine though. I can't do much with this idea until I know more about his end game, but I bet he would have been very interested in the Jedi Temple on Lothal and it's connections to Mortis. He never got the chance to explore it himself, and there are exactly three people left who could tell him about it. Of which, Sabine might actually have the most useful information? Ahsoka and Ezra experienced the place but Sabine studied it, the mythology, the artistry, the symbols (going off of wolves and a door in rebels S4 and assuming she looked into it further after the war while looking for clues of where Ezra disappeared to. Presumably Huyang would have some records in his archives too).

Sabine is also the most vulnerable of the pack compared to the Giant Wolf Jedi, and Baylan’s already had plenty of time to learn how to manipulate her. He probably found out that she knew about the temple during the voyage, but never managed to pry any details about it out of her, and at the time was more invested in wolfwalker lore anyway. But on Peridea, perhaps he finds ancient Mortis art full of clues he doesn't know how to decipher. But maybe Sabine could, or at least fill in missing pieces based on what she learned of the temple.

I have an idea for a chapter in post ashowka season one aka The Wolves of Peridea in which Sabine, Ezra and Ahsoka are traveling over a glacier field as wolves and Sabine falls through the snowpack into a crevasse. It's too deep and narrow for her to climb out or for the others to reach her, but it leads to a labrynth of ice that turns to stone as it runs into the mountains. She gets lost af and Wolf Baylan is the one to find her and lead her to safety, but not before asking (threatening) her to help decipher the carved murals he's found there. Not that I can develop that any further without knowing exactly what he's searching for and why...