Ashes of the Phoenix

Ezra hesitated. "This doesn't feel right Kanan."

The young man's mentor turned to look at him. No, not look. Face. Kanan would never look at anything again. Maul had seen to that. "I know. But the Rebellion needs information, and Ahsoka played a lot of her cards close to her chest. If she kept any intel on the Empire that we don't know about, we need to find it."

"Yeah, that's the part that I don't get," Ezra said. "Why us? We spend a lot of time on the front line. If anyone's going to be captured by the Empire, wouldn't it be us? Wouldn't it be better for sensitive information like that to be found by…I don't know. Commander Sato? That Mon Mothma lady? Even Hera would be a better Fulcrum than us, she can always see the big picture."

"We're not the new Fulcrum," Kanan grimaced. Ezra was reminded that Ahsoka had been a mentor to both of them. "It's not up to us to figure out what to do with anything we find, we just have to pass it on to high command."

"Right…" Ezra said skeptically. "But that doesn't explain why we're the ones who have to—"

"Because I know her better than anyone," Kanan snapped.

Anger poured off of him. With that new mask of his, sometimes Ezra couldn't help but feel Ahsoka wasn't the only one he lost on Malachor.

"She fought with Rex in the war, sure, but I grew up in her home. We shared classes with Yoda. Her beginnings were the same as mine. We were Jedi of the Order." Kanan seemed to realize he'd lost his temper, and suddenly his entire face was mask-like. "If she left any hints, there's no more secure locks than to hide them in a way only a Jedi could find. So that's why I'm here. You're here because I'm hoping she might have one more lesson for you."

Kanan faced the door once again.

"…And this doesn't feel like an invasion of privacy to you?" Ezra asked, hoping the man would answer instead of the mask.

"It did. That's why I asked Hera to check first and clear out her wardrobe of anything embarrassing."

"But what if there was something import—" Ezra noticed the sly grin that slid across Kanan's face. "You're joking?"

Kanan's smile dissolved. "I'm sorry. This is a time of mourning. I know how much she meant to—"

"No, don't be sorry," Ezra said. "We need more laughs right now. But before we go in…"

"What is it?"

"What's the over-under on us finding lingerie?"

"Ezra! She was a Jedi! She didn't—"

"—do the things you're trying to do with Hera?" Ezra said with a smirk.

"And this conversation is now over," Kanan said, escaping into Ahsoka's quarters.

Ezra followed.

Kanan stood rigidly in the center of the dark room, focused upon nothing Ezra could see. "I don't feel anything in here," he said. "Lend me your eyes, Ezra. What do you see?"

Ezra flipped on the lights. He wasn't sure how he expected Ahsoka to decorate. Spaceflight left a person with a lot of free time, and even Jedi training left him plenty of time to research his idol's adventures during the Clone Wars. So many planets visited, so many tremendously important people she'd met, and yet this spacious room was almost bare.

"There's a lot of empty space," Ezra said. That was putting it mildly. As a commander, Ahsoka had enough room to raise a small family, but outside of a couple pieces of furniture, her personal belongings could probably be carried in a backpack.

"Probably for training," Kanan mused.

"A low, hard bed. Only big enough for one. A chest of drawers, a bathroom—"

"Inside?" Kanan asked.

"A toilet, a shower—"

"Not the bathroom, the drawers!" Kanan said with exasperation.

"Oh, right. Just some clothes. An outfit that pretty much looks like the one she always wore, a full robe, and… well it's not lingerie, but what do you make of this?"

Ezra held up a sheer silk ensemble. It was a beautiful hue of turquoise, with actual gold lining and…was that a crown?

Kanan shook his head, "Not important. What else?"

"All that's left is the table right in front of you. Here." Ezra guided Kanan's hand to the surface of the shin-high table. "I don't think it's what we're looking for. All that's on it is junk."

Kanan shook his head, "There's no other junk in here. There's no other junk in here; she's no hoarder. If she kept anything, it's important. What's on the table?"

"Not much," Ezra said honestly. "A gray helmet with yellow markings. No language I can understand. Not a trooper helmet either. It looks custom, but it definitely wasn't hers."

"What makes you say that?" Kanan asked.

"It's too small," Ezra answered. "No room for her…head things."

"Montrals. Anything else?"

"Um, a jar of white sand. A couple busted lightsabers. And a holocron that doesn't—whoa."

"What?" Kanan asked. "What is it?"

"Well, I was about to say the holocron looked broken since it wasn't glowing but, er, it started glowing. And…okay, and now there's a hologram of Ahsoka."

The small, glowing togruta began to speak, "Hello, I am Ahsoka Tano. Contained on this holocron are the stories and lessons I've compiled in my efforts to live my life and make others' lives better. If you're hearing this, then I've gone missing and am probably dead. If that isn't the case, you're probably Imperial, working for the Empire, or Ezra. Much of the information to follow is very personal, very sensitive, and may be integral to the destabilization of the empire and the future of the force."

"Ahsoka must have recorded that to play around us. Or Jedi. Or rebels." Kanan mused, "I mean, there must have been some security protocols in place, right?"

Ezra shushed his master.

"Context is of the utmost importance. As such, I mean to not only tell my secrets and, in many cases, the secrets of my friends and adversaries, but also what that information means to both myself and to them. I apologize if you are in a hurry, but I urge you to listen to everything I have to say before acting on anything you learn. Knowledge, ignorance, and mistaking the one for the others can be the mostly deadly weapons in the Galaxy, even if the person wielding them isn't trying to harm anyone."

"Is that Jedi wisdom?" Ezra asked.

"Not that I've heard," Kanan answered.

"I might suggest that you make yourself comfortable. If I do this properly, it may take a while."