Written from a prompt on tumblr;
"I wish you would write a fic where Kanan meets Kasmir again (with Ezra or without is up to you)"
This actually spawned a couple of extra chapters, so I thought it had earned being posted on here. I'll update over the next two days.
"Well, well. Long time no…" the tall Kalleran man hesitated. "Sorry. I suppose I shouldn't say that, should I?"
Ezra watched him warily, his hand on his lightsaber. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kanan too, trying to gauge his reaction so that he could back him up if necessary, but without having to take his eyes off the newcomer.
The man didn't look like much of a threat, but of course that was no reason to let their guard down. Appearances could be deceptive, sometimes deliberately so, and you couldn't trust that even the most innocent looking person wasn't planning to plant a knife in your back. And this guy definitely wasn't innocent looking.
Kanan didn't appear overly concerned though. Ezra could tell from the way he folded his arms, and his tone of voice, as well as the information that he could glean through the Force that he didn't feel threatened, but there was a wariness there, he wasn't entirely at ease.
Ezra kept his hand on the hilt of the lightsaber, but relaxed just slightly.
"You can say what you like, Kasmir," Kanan said, "you never censored yourself before, why stop now?"
"Good point," Kasmir, whoever he was, agreed. He hesitated, then sighed deeply. "So, you got yourself caught up in the Rebellion, what were you thinking? And this," he reached out and touched the lightsaber hanging from Kanan's belt. "I thought you gave this up around the time you cut that braid out of your hair. For someone who claimed not to need me anymore, you sure made a lot of stupid choices since you've been out on your own."
"Maybe," Kanan said, "From a certain point of view."
The Kalleran huffed, like he had been hoping for an argument and had been disappointed.
"Wearing that out in public though, kid. It's still risky, you know. There are still plenty of people that remember."
Ezra released his grip on his own lightsaber, deciding that the man didn't appear to be enough of a threat to warrant drawing attention to the weapon.
"Looks like it already got you into trouble," the man continued. "I'm betting that mask is covering a burn, am I right?"
Kanan sighed. "It wasn't actually this one that did it," he said, indicating his weapon with a wave of his hand.
"It was one like it, what difference does it make?"
Kanan folded his arms again and replied through gritted teeth. "Mostly, the difference is that if it was this one, that would mean I either let someone steal it, and I'm not that stupid, or I did it to myself and I'm definitely not that careless."
Kanan had let Ezra steal it once. He didn't mention that, he didn't want to interrupt. It felt as though Kanan had almost forgotten he was there, lost in the conversation with this man that had approached them in the street.
The Kalleran — Kasmir, Kanan had called him — laughed deeply. "Well, you used to be pretty clumsy, you know."
"No, that was an act. Jedi aren't clumsy, I pretended once to put them off my tail."
Ezra leaned against the wall, confused. He was going to have a lot to ask Kanan about after they got back to the Ghost.
Kasmir shook his head. "No, kid. You're thinking of that time you did it on purpose. I'm thinking of that time you tripped over your own feet and landed inside the crate we'd just unloaded."
"That was different; I'd been drinking. You got me drunk, as I recall."
Kasmir shrugged. "I was testing to make sure alcohol wouldn't loosen your tongue. Wouldn't have done to have you spilling my secrets whenever you walked into a bar." He hesitated. "Or your own secrets for that matter, especially those. But okay, maybe not clumsy then, but careless. What else would you call someone that trusted a guy like me to tell them when to stop drinking?" He laughed.
Kanan laughed at that too, loudly. "It's good to see you again, Kasmir."
Ezra watched in fascination as the two men very briefly embraced, clapped one-another on the back, and then backed away again.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened to you?" Kasmir asked. "Or are you going to leave it to my imagination?"
Kanan appeared thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "It's a story for another time," he said.
For a moment, Ezra thought Kasmir was going to argue, but he shrugged instead, and nodded. "So there'll be another time, then?" he asked.
"It's a surprisingly small galaxy," Kanan told him. "I'm sure we'll run into each other again. In fact, if you're going to be hanging around this planet for a few days, I'll make sure of it."
"Maybe we can get a drink," Kasmir said, "see whether you're still as impressively tight-lipped with your secrets."
Kanan nodded. "But right now, we've got some of those secrets to take care of. It really has been good to see you again, Kasmir."
Kasmir snorted in apparent amusement, and turned away. Ezra waited until he was a safe distance away, before looking back at him, and then to Kanan. "So, what was that about?" he asked.
Kanan shook his head. "That's a story for another time too," he said.
That one, Ezra got the distinct impression, he wouldn't be hearing any time soon.
