A/N: Thank you to all of you who have shown this story love. We still have a few more chapters to go, yet, and plans are definitely in the works for sequels following Caleb Jarrus throughout his life to show how he is involved during the fight with the First Order. (An A/U, of course). If you're up for something like that, shout out... I love to hear from you...
7
Hera gave them the location of a parts/repair shop that was near the starport. She and Zeb were heading back from the meet with the client and offered to get dinner on the way back if Ezra and Sabine would check out the shop.
Ezra smiled at Sabine as Caleb jumped up and down, excited that he might possibly find some components for his own lightsaber. They hadn't started lightsaber training yet, but when they did, Ezra planned on letting Caleb train with his father's lightsaber until the kid was able to build his own.
"Go grab a jacket." Ezra called to him. "It's cooling off out there."
As they exited the Ghost, Ezra couldn't help a suspicious glance across the way again. The ship was still where it had been, but this time there were no beings eyeballing him from the ramp. Maybe he had just imagined the uneasy feeling from earlier.
They entered the large starship parts shop and even Caleb was quiet, his eyes taking in the tall rows and rows of mechanical parts. "Where would the alluvial dampers be?" Sabine asked. She followed the Rodian employee down an aisle, while Ezra and Caleb went towards a large bin, filled with various bits and parts.
"How do you know which part to get?" Caleb asked softly as he glanced around. The only person he saw was an older man who was not near enough to overhear them, but he still spoke just a little bit above a whisper.
"I can't really answer that. Kanan told me that every Padawan had to feel their own way when building their lightsaber. You've seen the parts that made up mine. Maybe start there?" He suggested, watching with interest as Caleb peered over the side of the bin and began picking through the parts. It took about ten minutes for Caleb to find three pieces: a power insulator, power vortex ring and field energizer.
While the kid picked through the bin, Ezra saw a new individual enter the aisle. The shopper was younger than Ezra, perhaps in his early 20's, dressed as a typical spacer. He nodded once to Ezra, the universal symbol of acknowledgment between males, then his eyes slid to Caleb. Ezra sensed surprise from him. The individual looked a bit too long for Ezra's liking, but then he turned abruptly and headed down another aisle. During his short life, Caleb had drawn stares from plenty of people due to the combination of his brown hair and lekku. Some of it was just simply surprise or honest interest, but Ezra, who grew up on the streets, was all too aware of how often children were snatched for purposes he couldn't even bear to dwell on. And a Twi'lek child? With lekku, as well as brown hair? Suddenly Ezra felt nauseous.
"What happened?" Caleb said in a whisper.
Ezra realized he was allowing his unease to flood through his Force signature, and Caleb was picking up on it. "Nothing." Ezra said, "I just thought I saw someone familiar. Get what you need?"
"I think so." Caleb nodded.
"Good. Let's go find Sabine."
They turned around and went back the way they had come and found Sabine looking for them. "You guys need anything else?" She smiled at Caleb who was holding what could only be components for his lightsaber, but her smile faded when she saw Ezra looking over his shoulder. All day, he had seemed stressed but trying to hide it. "Ezra?" she gently questioned.
"Yeah?" he turned back and met her eyes. He was definitely distracted, and she felt a spike of worry. He'd had a hard week. She found herself wishing that they'd put this trip off a little, to let him get his equilibrium back. The panic attack about Maul, finding him unconscious in what she now thought of as Kanan's cave, then all the strain with Hera and now training Caleb. It was a lot at once, and she couldn't help being worried. Showing it, however, was tricky. Sometimes he needed to lean on her, then other times he hated himself for being weak, as he saw it. This would require some careful negotiation.
"I think we're ready to go, if you are," she said gently.
He nodded, placing a hand on Cale's shoulder and guiding him along after Sabine. "Yeah, we're ready."
They paid the shopkeeper and headed out the door. It had indeed gotten colder and when they turned down the alleyway, Sabine stopped to fasten Caleb's coat.
Ezra was the first to sense the two men tailing them. Their keen interest made his skin prickle as they entered the alleyway. With a smooth motion, his lightsaber flew into his hand, hidden by the sleeve of his coat. He slid between Sabine and Caleb and the men, his back still to the possible assailants, but with the full power of his Force precognition focused on them.
The two men never knew what hit them. They took a few steps forward, and Ezra used the Force to toss one against the far wall. The other one was thrown against the opposite wall and held there with his lightsaber. Ezra recognized both of them as the men from the parts store.
"Who are you?" Ezra growled.
"Please…" the younger man whispered in fear, both hands up. "We were just walking…"
"Ezra…" Sabine spoke near his ear. She'd drawn her Westar and thrown an arm across Caleb's shoulder and chest protectively as she glanced at both men.
"They were watching us in the store, Sabine," Ezra spoke, his voice low and tight.
Sabine narrowed her eyes at the men who were claiming to be innocent, and waited, covering Ezra with her Westar.
"Why are you following us?" Ezra threw the man back again with the Force, pinning him against the wall.
"We're not. We're not. I swear. Our ship's in the spaceport, and we were just heading back that way. It has a bad motivator."
"So why didn't you buy one?" Sabine asked suspiciously, seeing their empty hands.
"Our ship's a junker. Old and hard to find parts for," the older man said. "Please let us go. I'm…I'm so sorry if we scared you."
Ezra dropped his saber but still appeared unconvinced. He could feel the two men were lying, but he could also feel their fear. "You don't want to see us again," he said, using a mind-trick to make sure that the sleemos would want to get as far away from them as possible.
"We don't want to see you again." The man against the wall spoke in a dulled voice.
"If I see you again, I'm going to slash first and ask questions later. Understand?"
The two men nodded, and backed out of the alley, keeping their eyes on Ezra the whole time.
Sabine heaved a sigh, then glanced down to see a stricken look on Caleb's face. "It's okay, Cale." She leaned down and kissed him on the top of the head.
Ezra was staring after the two men, but once they were gone, he turned his attention to Sabine and Caleb. They were okay, and he tried to focus on that; even though Caleb's Force signature showed fear. "Ezra. Wh-who were they?"
Ezra knelt and wrapped both arms around the boy, reassuring himself that the kid was safe. "I…I'm not sure, but I don't think they were up to anything good. But we're okay. Let's head home."
"I could feel bad stuff coming from them." Caleb said.
"You did?" Ezra glanced up at Sabine, who looked concerned. "Well, that's good. One of the things a Jedi does is sense trouble before it happens. It means your focus is getting better." Ezra stood up and placed a hand on Caleb's shoulder.
"I don't know what they were up to, but I think they were up to no good too." Sabine said, glancing the way the two men had gone. "That place had all kinds of parts, even used. If they were looking for a hyperspace motivator, they could have found one in there."
"Let's get back home." Ezra said softly. Sabine reached out for Caleb's hand and together, they made their way back to the Ghost. As they reached their bay, Ezra glanced across the way to the ship that had given him such an uneasy feeling earlier in the day, but it was gone.
"So, what do you want to do?" The younger man asked the older one. They had gone back to the parts store and stood outside, talking in low voices.
"I say we just get out of here. He didn't tell us there would be a Jedi, and that's banthashit." The older man said, stroking his beard. "I can see why he was interested in the kid though. Little half-tailhead boy would bring a pretty good price on Nal Hutta."
"Yeah, well, he can find somebody else to do it. I'm not kriffin' with no Jedi." The younger man snorted. "I might be dumb, but I ain't that dumb."
Sabine woke up in the middle of the night to find herself in bed alone. She and Ezra slept in her old room; they'd made some modifications to the bunk to make it larger, but other than that, the room was much the same as it had been when they were teenagers on the ship. Zeb and Hera had kept their own rooms and Caleb, of course, took Kanan's room next to Hera's.
There had been a lot of discussion about the possibility of leaving Sera early. Ezra didn't like the idea of staying; apparently the strangers and the ship across the way had unnerved him. However, he knew it was important to follow through with the contract they'd taken. Hera asked him what the Force was telling him to do, but he'd said it wasn't warning him one way or the other, so in the end, they'd made the decision to stay. Hera had left Chopper on guard duty, monitoring the sensors. He was to wake the crew immediately if he so much as saw another being step a foot in their bay.
It was the middle of the night, so either Ezra couldn't sleep, or was having a sleepwalking episode. Sabine got up and wandered into the hallway, then checked the common room. Sometimes she'd find Ezra in there, slumped over a cup of caf, but this time, it was empty. She located him in the cockpit, standing on silent guard in the night cycle lights of the Ghost. His lightsaber hilt was in his hand, held idly by his side, as he gazed out into the darkened spaceport.
Chopper warbled softly, telling Sabine that Ezra had been this way for two hours. In the old days, he would have made a crack about Ezra needing a battery change, but time had mellowed their lovable murder droid, and he had a habit of keeping a watchful eye out for Ezra at night. One time, when Ezra had a particularly bad one, he'd followed the Jedi to the Ghost, and watched over him while he commed Sabine to let her know.
"Cyar'ika," she said gently. "It's cold. Come back to bed."
"I'm trying to find…something," a crease appeared on his forehead as he stared out of the viewport, his eyes searching the darkness.
She took his cold fingertips in her own, trying to sense if he was truly awake or sleepwalking. Often it was hard to tell. He didn't grasp her hand back, a sign that he was in some sort of dream or trance state.
"Find what? Ezra. What are you trying to find?" she asked gently.
"I don't know," his voice took on a note of distress, "but it's everywhere…" His eyes were huge, his pupils large in the dark as he searched for something she couldn't see. For a moment, it felt like they were back on Hoth and she was fighting to pull him out of a panicked state. "The dark is coming, only I can't see it…It feels like it's everywhere, but I can't see..."
Battle scars. They all had them. She was well aware that his sense of protectiveness was driven by his fear of losing them. He'd never quite gone back to the same person he was before Kanan had died. That Ezra had believed that everything would always turn out alright. The Ezra he'd become was terrified of losing them. He would sacrifice anything to keep them all safe.
He lowered his head, taking a shaky breath. Her fingertips went to his cheek and trailed down it. "Ezra, love. It's okay." Her hand fell to his shoulder and squeezed it. "Come back for me…please."
He began to come awake under her touch. "Sabine?" He looked confused, then his face darkened as he realized he'd been sleepwalking again. "Kriff. I'm sorry." He went to rub his face with both hands and realized he was holding his lightsaber. He looked around worriedly. "Did I…Did I wake anyone this time?"
She took his free hand in hers once more. "No. Everything's okay. Come back to bed."
When they were settled back under the blankets, she snugged up against him, trying to warm his cold skin with her own. "Do you want to talk about it?"
He shook his head, leaning forward to kiss her on the top of the head. He left his cheek pressed there as she settled down against him, wrapping one arm over his chest. Knowing he could feel it, she closed her eyes and focused on how much she loved him and trusted him. When he wrapped both arms over her, she knew his mind began to settle down. The tension in his body relaxed; however, it was a long time before he could go back to sleep.
Ezra seemed a lot more relaxed when they reached Neelsa with the shipment the next day. There were a couple of reasons for that; one, they were close to home and two, Neelsa was a safer port than Sera.
It was a simple operation. They offloaded the shipment, accepted payment, and headed back home.
On the way home during their last hyperspace jump, Hera found her son sitting at the table, staring at a pair of dice. He'd finished his schoolwork a little while ago and was now intently focused on the two tiny objects on the table.
"What are you doing, little one?" She asked, sliding into the seat beside him.
"Trying to move them." Caleb whispered, not taking his eyes from the dice.
"Did Ezra tell you to…"
"Yeah." Caleb answered. "I have to be able to move things before we can work on Force pushes."
Hera found her own gaze caught by the pair of metallic dice, and she began to stare as well, wondering if they were going to move. Caleb had moved things before, when he was a toddler having a tantrum, but this was different, she sensed. "How's training going? I know you've been meditating with Ezra everyday."
"Yeah. It's good. Meditating is easy."
"He's pretty good at it." Ezra came in the common area with mussed hair and rumpled clothes. Sabine had said they were up late the previous night, and so the Jedi had taken a nap and slept through their last jump.
Hera watched him go to make some caf. "Want a cup, Hera?"
"Sounds great," she called back, "but should I leave or something? I'd hate to be a distraction."
"Nah. He's going to have to be able to deal with distraction." Ezra had gotten everything settled and pressed start on the caf machine. He turned to glance over his shoulder at Caleb, who had his head inclined and his lekku stiff with attention.
"You're trying too hard." Ezra said finally, bringing two cups of caf over. He placed a hand on Caleb's head and ruffled his hair before went back into the kitchen, and came back with another mug. This one he set in front of Caleb.
"Time for a break," he said to Caleb. "Hot chocolate…so be careful."
"Yes, Master." Caleb took the mug in both hands and blew softly on the contents before trying an experimental sip. "It's really good."
Ezra smiled affectionately. He was tired. He hadn't meant to sleep so long, but knowing they were on their way home did a great deal to soothe the anxiety he'd been feeling.
The kid had been working at this for a while, he could tell. He'd set the practice task before the kid to test his perseverance and he was pleasantly surprised, even though there had not yet been results. "Are we almost back to Lothal?"
"About an hour left." Hera assured him, and took another sip of Ezra's caf. It was good, almost as good as Kanan's.
"Okay. That's plenty of time, then." Ezra leaned forward. "Caleb. I want you to try this. Look at the dice. Concentrate on them." He waited until Caleb moved his cup to the side and re-centered his attention on the dice. "Now look at where you want them to be, and push them in that direction."
Caleb looked up at him with confusion.
"Okay. Try this. Watch me. Pay attention to what happens with the Force when I move them, okay? Ready?"
Caleb nodded. Hera watched, fascinated. She realized that while she saw nothing, they saw the flow of the Force. She wondered, as she'd frequently done in the past, what it was like to experience the universe in such a different way.
Ezra didn't even close his eyes, he simply made a small gesture with his hand in the direction he wanted the dice to go and they rolled that way.
"Did you see?"
Caleb nodded. He steadied himself then did the exact same thing as Ezra did. The dice rolled a bit more forcefully to slam up against Hera's cup, which she steadied just in time.
"Good. Control over it will come with practice. Try it a few more times."
He and Hera watched as Caleb began to tumble the dice back and forth across the table. "He's a quick learner," Ezra said to Hera, with obvious pride. "Give me just a second."
When the Jedi returned, he had Kanan's holocron in his hand. "Caleb…before your father started training me, I uh…" He glanced to Hera, not wanting to be untruthful. "I guess you would say I stole this."
"You…you were a thief?" Caleb's eyes went wide.
"Um…yeah, I guess you might say that. My parents were taken away by the Empire when I was seven. I had to steal to survive."
Caleb's brow furrowed. "Wait. You were seven. Where did you live? Who tucked you in at night if your parents were gone?"
Ezra started to answer, but Hera interrupted with a hand on Caleb's arm. "He didn't have anyone to do that, sweetheart. Ezra lived on the streets, and had to do what he could to survive. So please don't think he was a bad person…I saw he had a good heart from the first time I met him." She glanced over to Ezra and smiled gently. "I guess Kanan never told you, Ezra. The holocron was a test."
"Really?" Ezra's eyebrow went up.
"He set you up to steal it. If you could open it, then he would know you were Force-sensitive and then invite you to stay with us to be trained." Hera looked down at the jewel-like box in her son's hands. "It was part my idea, and part his idea. And when you opened the holocron, we knew."
Ezra blushed and looked down as she took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Ezra?" Caleb began. "What happened to your parents? Did they ever come back?"
Ezra shook his head sadly. "No, Cale. They didn't. The Empire killed them."
Caleb slid around the booth until he was sitting beside Ezra. Then the boy threw his arms around his teacher. "I'm sorry."
He hugged his Padawan back, looking at Hera over Cale's head. The love they both felt for the little boy was apparent in the gaze they shared. "It's okay, Caleb. I lost a family, but I gained one too." When Caleb finally let him go, Ezra went on. "The reason I wanted to tell you about the holocron is that we're going to start using it more. Jedi Master Depa Billaba gave it to Kanan as you know, and then it passed to me. One day it will pass to you. For now, however, your job is to figure out how to open it. When you do that, I'll know you're ready to move to the next level."
"I will work hard on it, Master." Caleb said, holding it reverently.
"I know you will." Ezra said, reaching up to ruffle his hair gently.
A month later, they celebrated Caleb's 8th birthday. And by late summer on Lothal, life had settled into a predictable rhythm. Ezra and Caleb had begun lightsaber training; Caleb was working with Kanan's saber in training mode. They began working on the rudiments of saber form one, and Hera found herself watching the two of them more and more while they would spar in the front yard.
Early evening was falling while she was talking to Zeb. The two of them were discussing their next few jobs off planet when Zeb looked up from his datapad to watch Ezra and Caleb. Her kid had just thrown up a hand and pushed Ezra back five feet. Hera found herself grinning at Caleb's unexpected move. She'd been keeping a watchful eye on the Jedi training at first, but throughout the months since she'd agreed to it, she'd realized something. Caleb was growing by leaps and bounds, and becoming exactly what he was meant to be under Ezra's gentle, steady guidance. He was more like Kanan everyday, and instead of making her sad, the thought was becoming a comfort to her. A guarantee that everything Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight, had been would carry on in their child. Caleb realizing his full potential…it was all she could ever ask for. And Ezra. She couldn't have been more proud. He was such a great teacher. When the Jedi was instructing Caleb, Hera would find herself hearing some of the same phrases that Kanan had used when teaching Ezra. The thought that Kanan's teaching was impacting her son, even today, made her turn away in tears on more than one occasion.
"Oh! So it's gonna be like that, huh?" Ezra said, getting to his feet with a grin. The kid had surprised him with that move. He pushed the Force forward and Caleb was carried back at least ten feet. Always careful, Ezra used the Force at the last minute to cushion the impact so the boy wasn't seriously hurt as he fell back in the grass.
But Caleb laid there a moment, not moving, and Ezra made his way over with concern. "You okay, Padawan?"
Caleb opened one eye and began to giggle and kick his feet. "Tricked you, Master!"
"Oh, okay. See if I pull my punches next time!" Ezra reached down and pulled the boy to his feet, then began tickling him before trying to wrestle him into a headlock.
Hera and Zeb were both laughing at their antics when Ezra and Caleb immediately quit playing and did a quick 180. Coming around from the nearest rock spire, was a white Loth-wolf. Ezra found himself throwing an arm across the eight-year-old, protectively holding him close.
Hera and Zeb stood up as well, eyes wide. "Ezra?" she called softly, fear in her tone.
Five Loth-wolves appeared in all, padding silently toward them. They stopped just short of the house, the lead Loth-wolf followed by two sets of two wolves each. There was a final creature to close the circle of them at the base.
As if the other wolves were only reflections of the first, they all turned their heads at one time to face Hera.
Zeb took Hera's hand, and they stood there, frozen in place, until the wolf spoke.
HERA
She let out a shaky breath and squeezed Zeb's hand.
Ezra and Caleb had been edging toward the house. Ezra whispered to Caleb and the boy ran to Hera and promptly attached himself to her side.
Ezra held out a hand toward the wolves and they swung their heads toward him a moment, then back to Hera.
HERA, the lead wolf said, focusing its yellow eyes on her.
"Hera, you need to come out." Ezra said, his eyes closed.
Hera felt herself shaking as she let Zeb's hand go and looked at Caleb, whom she had her arm around. "Spectre Seven," she said softly. "S-Stay with Zeb, no matter what, okay?"
Caleb didn't like it, but he slowly nodded. "Okay."
She kissed him on the head and then walked out to where Ezra stood.
"W-why are they here, Ezra?"
He shook his head, still keeping his hand out…connecting to the wolves. He could detect no malice or violence in their Force signatures. "There's nothing in their Force signatures that would make me think that you're in danger."
She nodded. "What do I do?"
"We'll go together." Ezra said, taking her hand. Together they drew closer to the golden-eyed creatures who were so still. As they stood in front of the lead wolf, the others rearranged themselves until they were in a circle around Ezra and Hera.
"It's okay. You're okay." Ezra said softly, trying to calm Hera. He could feel her tremors through his touch on her hand.
The giant white wolf leaned close to Hera and took a great sniff as she flinched. Ezra felt satisfaction from the animal, as if the wolf had found what he was looking for. His head bowed, the wolf spoke one last time.
HERA
When the wolf spoke, his breath brushed Hera's face and her eyes rolled back at once. She began to fall, but Ezra's reflexes were so fast he caught her before she hit the ground and he lowered her gently to the grass.
He looked up at the large, mystical creature with wide eyes.
-Safe— This time, the word was in his mind instead of out loud, but he still understood. Hera was safe, the wolf was telling him, wherever her consciousness was.
"Momma!" There was a yell from Zeb and Caleb's direction.
"Stay there, Spectre Seven. She's okay. I promise." Ezra sank down to the grass, laid a hand over her forehead and tried to connect with her. However, she was surrounded in a halo of light that he could neither see into or pass through. The sense of her safety was confirmed once more, however.
There was more commotion from their house and he knew Sabine had come out. She began to run out, toward them before Zeb could catch her. The wolves reacted by looking at her and growling low in their chests-a warning to stay back.
"Ezra!" Sabine cried.
"Sabine. Go back. We're okay. Stay with Zeb, okay?" Ezra made eye contact with her.
She nodded, backing away slowly, and Ezra returned his attention to Hera. Her eyes were moving quickly under her closed lids, and her breaths were deep and heavy. He reached for her pulse and found that her heart was beating fast. "Hang in there Hera." He whispered as he glanced up at the Loth-wolves surrounding them. "I'm right here."
A/N: What did you think? I've been fighting a bit of writer's block lately...so writing has been tough. We start back to school tomorrow, but I will be checking reviews! They mean so much to me.
