Waking up to twin suns forced the perspective that this planet is nothing like Lothal. Some of the people were similar, but whenever Ezra breathed in the dusty dry air, he felt a little homesick. Not that he was homesick, what are you even talking about? Of course, home didn't have a babbling Luke or a vast array of semi-useless parts. Some were better than the ones on the Ghost, but a desert planet isn't fun, just like being on one of the moons of Genosis. Ezra shivered as the memory of his leg freezing up in the blistering cold when they were picking up Zeb. He was only out there for a minute, but that minute almost destroyed his leg, revealing his secret. Not that it was much of a secret now.
Waiting for Hera, Sabine, and Zeb to show up was harder than if he had to sprint without his leg. He would know. It wouldn't have been as hard if Luke wasn't talking to him all the time, question by question falling from his mouth about the galaxy away from here. Every now and then he was happy to oblige, but after the tenth question he was sick of it, 60th, completely dead inside. He didn't know much about Wild Space, which seemed to be Luke's topic of desire for that hour. When he wasn't asking questions, he was talking about his friends, the latest model in speeder bikes, droids, or Old Ben the hermit who they had to meet.
Kanan seemed interested in the old man who lived by himself in the cave. Aunt Beru had whispered when it was only them that he had only been a hermit for as long as the Empire ruled, there was something else, but she wasn't allowed to tell. When Luke had decided to introduce them to the hermit, Kanan happily tagged along. "Always ready to meet a new face," he said, only mentioning to Ezra about the small push from the force to meet this man. It's somebody important, but keep it quiet.
Getting to Old Ben's territory was difficult, concerning the fact that Luke didn't know exactly which cave he lived in.
"You don't actually know how to get to him," Kanan said, staring at the boy leading the way.
The boy shuffled his feet. "I've only been there a few times. He just finds you and then leads the way. I've always been here when he's found me so we just wait until he finds us."
Ezra swallowed. "How has he usually found you?"
Luke shrugged. "When I need him, he comes."
"That's not really good for social calls," Kanan muttered.
"He is a hermit," Ezra replied.
"Who just happens to be the second most awesome person," Luke said.
"Who's the first?" Ezra asked.
"My Dad. The best pilot in the galaxy. He can fly anything. Awesome mechanic too," Luke said, his voice rising in excitement.
"Wasn't he a Jedi too?" Ezra asked.
Luke turned to him, "You knew my Father?"
"No," Ezra said, "But you said—"
"Ezra," Kanan's voice was soft, yet commanding. Stop talking.
Ezra obliged.
Luke kept talking about all the ships his Father had flown, lamenting his sorrows of the galaxy being unexplored by him. "I want to see it all. When Uncle Owen lets me join the Academy then I can see it all."
"Do you like the Empire?" Karan asked.
Luke shrugged. "It's a way out of this backwater planet."
"What if you had a different way to explore?" Ezra asked.
"Your Uncle wouldn't want you to go," said a voice coming from above.
Ezra's attention whipped up to the man standing on the rocks above them. He didn't look very old, just aged well beyond his years. A memory sparked in the back of Ezra's mind, but he couldn't grasp at it. Familiar. This man had suffered, much more than a majority of the people suffering from the Empire. His greying hair dominated his tired face, even as he leaped down the rocks to talk to Luke. He never really smiled, as if he had smiled too much in his suffering. A quick pulse in the force came from the man. Ezra glanced at Kanan, wondering if he had felt the same thing.
Kanan seemed to be lost in his memories, mouth open slightly as he processed the man before him.
After Luke's conversation with the man, he turned to his new friends. "This is Old Ben, the guy I was telling you about."
Kanan closed his mouth, eyes still wide in amazement. Ezra smiled, stepping up to him. "I'm Ezra, and that's Kanan. What do you do as a hermit?"
"Come with me and I'll show you," Old Ben said. He smiled at Luke. "You should go home. It's getting late. Don't want to worry your Aunt and Uncle now do you?"
"But they're my guests, why can't I stay?" Luke said.
Old Ben turned him toward his house. "I'll take good care of them. We have much to discuss."
Luke groaned, walking back toward his house. "See you tomorrow then."
Old Ben nodded, waiting for Luke to disappear before turning to his guests. "Come sit with me and share your stories. I'm sure you have much to tell." Old Ben guided them to his cave, shutting the door behind him.
"As do you, Master Obi Wan Kenobi,' Kanan said, kneeling by the table, Ezra following suit.
"So you recognize me. I don't believe that I recognize you, however," Obi Wan said, sitting in a stool by the wall.
"I was Depa Billaba's Padawan during the Clone Wars," Kanan said. Ezra listened eagerly. Kanan never talked about those days. If he did, it was with Hera and the doors tightly sealed.
Obi Wan nodded. "The inquisitive Padawan Dume survives. I'm happy to hear that some of you young minds escaped the massacre."
"How did you escape, Obi Wan?" Ezra asked. Dume. The name did not fit the man before him. All he could see was a Jarrus.
Kanan nudged him. "You call him Master. It's a term of respect," he said just loud enough for Ezra to hear.
"I don't call you Master, Master," Ezra said, just as soft.
Obi Wan laughed. "You can call me an old fart and I wouldn't care, young one. The Jedi ways are gone and are better left unspoken. Tell me, Caleb. I go by Old Ben for my protection, what do you call yourself for yours?"
"Kanan Jarrus."
"Tell me, Kanan, have you taken on a Padawan in these dark times?"
"Yes."
"What have you learned from being a teacher?" Obi Wan grabbed a chest but didn't open it, instead lightly stroking the bindings, keeping the lid closed.
"Even though I never finished my training, learning along with Ezra has taught me more than if I had continued my training by myself," Kanan said, his voice deepening under the burden of memories. Ezra's force signature brushed against his master's in comfort. Caleb Dume. A forgotten name, best left forgotten. He wondered if Kanan would ever go by Caleb again.
"What of his lightsaber?"
Ezra grinned, pushing the thought of forgotten names and unclipping his lightsaber from his belt, he handed it to Obi Wan.
Obi Wan turned it over in his hands a few times, mouth opening and closing in shock. "It's… a peculiar design. Why is it rectangular in shape?"
Ezra took the lightsaber from him, standing to have some room for a demonstration. The lightsaber ignited with the familiar hiss, Obi Wan admired the blue blade before Ezra turned it off, shooting a stun bolt towards Kanan's already ignited lightsaber. Obi Wan stood, shock clearly written on his face, his mouth wide open in a silent scream.
His mouth opened and closed, but no sound moved past his lips. It was a time before he could speak again. "That's, an… interesting design. Why would you add on such an uncivilized design to your lightsaber?"
"Uncivilized?" Ezra asked, holding the lightsaber in his hands. Studying it as if for the first time.
Obi Wan pulled out his own lightsaber. "The weapon we Jedi choose is the most elegant weapon of destruction. It takes skill in its forms to use it, unlike a blaster where anyone can shoot it and still hit the side of a house if they can see. Since anyone can use a blaster, it makes it uncivilized as a tool and as a weapon, which is why we Jedi don't use blasters as weapons."
Ezra stared at Kanan, disbelief written in both of their faces. A weapon was a weapon, and Kanan wielded both in a harmony that Ezra believed Obi Wan could never accomplish. Ezra's mouth opened in a comment, but closed it after reviewing what he could possibly say for that. He opened again, a spark of an idea bursting on his tongue. "It has a blaster added on because lightsabers are a spotlight to finding the survivors. Plus, you get long range attack along with the short range with a lightsaber, so when the enemy pushes you away, you still can attack them while the Inquisitors can't. It's really helpful. If I had a baster added onto my knife, back on the streets, they probably wouldn't have taken my leg."
Obi Wan's mouth opened and closed, unsure of how to react. Karan seemed to be in the same state of mind, controlling his emotions later than the older Jedi.
Ezra laughed, uncomfortable with the new information he had just played out. "Don't bring a knife to a blaster fight, am I right?" He laughed a little more, hoping to ease the tension growing in the cave. Don't tell the whole story, Kanan doesn't want to know what happened. "So yeah. That just happened. I'm going to shut up now." Nobody ever wants to know.
Obi Wan turned to Kanan, deftly ignoring Ezra and the past few comments he had just made. Ezra tuned out the voices, embarrassed of what he had just said. Closing his eyes, he tuned himself into the force, curious as to what having an old Jedi would feel like.
Ezra's legs instinctively moved inwards towards his chest. So much sadness radiated from this man. He tried to hide it under wisdom and control, but he could feel the sadness pulsing underneath his wall. So much suffering and loved ones lost, and so much pain tearing at him under his shields. He felt as if he was drowning under it. Gasping for breath, Ezra didn't notice Kanan pulling him close until the smell of his shirt registered with his mind. He didn't notice the tears cascading down his face. This man refused to cry, so he cried for him.
Ezra didn't notice Kanan picking him up and laying him down in a cot, letting him expel his emotions until he was ready to face them. The boy did notice that Kanan never left him, never stopped holding him as he expelled all of his tears. Obi Wan stood near the boy, amazed that he had felt the pain underneath when their force signatures touched. The old man knelt by the weeping Padawan. "He has a talent for connecting."
Kanan smiled, pulling Ezra into his lap, the twin suns setting behind him. "I know. He's done so much more than I imagined. Sit, and I'll tell you all that he has done."
