Chapter 6: Caff Shop

Ezra followed a few steps behind Tua as she led him towards the caff shop. Her idea of 'bonding.' Ezra had no intention of bonding with an Imperial, but he figured, he might as well let her in a little, if it would make things easier. After all, he just had a timeout, yes he was 14 and just had a timeout, because she did not understand why he had an outburst at the vendor.

Ezra pulled lightly at the collar of his shirt. It was a bit uncomfortable. He was so used to his jumpsuit, but Tua made him change into one of the outfits she had bought him about a hour ago.

"Do keep up Ezra." Tua said glancing over her shoulder.

Ezra quickened his pace a little, rolling his eyes, making sure Tua wasn't looking when he did so though.

As they were walking Ezra glanced over at an alleyway, and saw a few troopers terrorizing a homeless person. He stopped in his tracks, for he recognized the man, they helped each other out of some tight situations before.

*Flash back*

Ezra was eight years old at the time. He had been on the streets for nearly a year now. He was looking for anywhere to get food. He went up to a vendor and tried to snatch a yogan, when the merchant caught his wrist.

"So the little street rat wants so food?" the merchant asked with a fake sweet voice.

Ezra naively nodded.

"Then how about I cut off your hand and you can eat that?" the merchant asked, pulling out a knife.

Ezra's eyes widened and he tried to pull away.

"There you are!" a voice called out.

The merchant and Ezra both looked over at the approaching man. He seemed to be in his mid to late twenties, he had shockingly red hair and bright green eyes.

"Young man I've been looking everywhere for you." the mysterious man said. Ezra took in his appearance quickly. Although his outfit was a bit nicer, Ezra could see the fine layer of dust and dirt and the small patches of grim. This man was homeless too.

"I'm sorry." Ezra said, somewhat confused.

"You better be." the man replied.

"You know him?" the merchant asked.

"He's my son, who seems to have a habit of running off." the man said.

The merchant studied him and Ezra, trying to add things up, like, how the mystery man didn't look at all like me. "Well, he does take after his mother." The mystery man said softly.

Ezra saw where this was going. The man was claiming to be his father to get him out of this situation. Giving an excuse as to why he didn't look like him claiming he looked like his mom, and also adding in the sob story that his mom ran off. Clever.

"I'm sorry." the merchant apologized, releasing my wrist. Ezra ran and hid behind the man, hoping to add to the part. "Keep a better eye on your kid."

"Trust me, I will." the man said.

He led me off into an alley way.

"Thanks," Ezra said.

"No problem kid." the man said. "What's your name?"

"Ezra," Ezra relied.

"I'm Jym," the man replied. "How long have you been on the streets?"

"About a year. I'm eight years old." Ezra answered.

"What happened to your parents?" Jym asked.

"The Imperials took them." Ezra said.

"I'm sorry." Jym sympathized. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Three days ago." Ezra answered.

"Here," Jym said, pulling a fruit from his bag.

"But Jym, that's your food. You're homeless too, aren't you?" Ezra asked.

"Yeah, I am, but I ate last night." Jym replied. "You need this more than I do."

Ezra hesitated, but took the fruit. "Thanks."

"You owe me one kid." Jym said.

*End Flashback*

Over the years Ezra helped Jym, and Jym helped him.

"Ezra," Tua reprimanded.

"Are you just going to let those troopers harass that man?" Ezra asked.

"They are just doing their jobs." Tua replied.

"But they're just harassing him because he's homeless." Ezra argued.

"It's not our place to do anything about it." Tua said, she turned to continue towards the caff shop.

"Two weeks ago that was me." Ezra reminded.

Tua stopped and sighed. "What do you plan on doing?"

Ezra smirked, and headed off towards Jym.

"Dad, there you are!" Ezra called. "Mom's been wondering where you were."

"Oh, sorry son." Jym instantly joined the act.

"You didn't come home last night. Did you get drunk and pass out in an alley again?" Ezra asked.

"It would seem so." Jym replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry sir," Ezra apologized to the trooper. "If you don't mind, I'll take my father home now."

"Move along." the trooper said.

"Come on dad." Ezra told Jym. Jym followed Ezra to where Tua was standing.

"The Minister?" Jym asked.

"Yeah, some ISB agent caught me and didn't want me messing with anyone on the streets, so he basically put me on house arrest with her as my warden." Ezra said.

Tua was about to protest when Ezra added, "Come on you know that's basically what happened."

"Well Ezra," Jym said. "It looks like I owe you know. Thanks again."

"Just stay out of trouble Jym." Ezra waved as Jym walked off.

Tua sighed, "Are you quite done?"

"Yes ma'am." Ezra said.

"Alright, come on." Tua said, as they continued to make their way towards the caff shop.

"Hello, may I take your order?" the barista asked once they arrived.

"I'll take a tall ice decaf caramel mocha please." Tua ordered.

"Is that all?" the barista asked.

"What do you want?" Tua asked.

Ezra looked up at the board. It was all so confusing, plus his reading skills were a little under par. "Um,"

"How about an ice dark chocolate mocha?" Tua suggested.

Ezra shrugged, "I guess."

"And a tall ice dark chocolate mocha." Tua ordered.

"Alright, that will be ten credits." the barista said. Tua handed over the money. "Thank you, we will have those out to you shortly."

"Let's find a table." Tua suggested.

"Alright." Ezra agreed.

After they sat down Tua started asking questions, which Ezra did not fully enjoy.

"So, you seemed really confused while looking at the board." Tua brought up.

Ezra shrugged. "I can't read that well."

"Why not?" Tua asked.

"Give me a break, my parents were taken away when I was seven." Ezra remarked. "Can't really get good schooling on the streets." After he said that he hoped he didn't go too overboard on the sass. He did not want another half hour maybe more time out—that was just annoying.

"Point taken." Tua muttered. "We'll have to change that."

Ezra stiffened, "You aren't sending me to school are you?"

"No, I can teach you myself." Tua replied.

Ezra let out a sigh of relief.

The drinks arrived, "Thanks." Tua said.

"Um, yeah thanks." Ezra said, figuring that Tua would expect it.

Tua took a long sip of her caff. "That hits the spot."

Ezra tentatively took a sip of the drink Tua had ordered for him and found it to be really good.

"Now, a few other things that should probably be discussed." Tua stated. "Do you have any allergies?"

"No." Ezra answered.

"Alright, and you're fourteen right?" Tua asked.

"Yeah," Ezra replied.

"When's your birthday?" Tua asked.

Ezra took a long sip to avoid answering, so long in fact, he got a pain in his head. "Oh," he said, putting his hand to his head.

"Brain freeze?" Tua smiled.

"I guess." Ezra muttered as he waited for the pain to disperse.

Tua saw that Ezra clearly wasn't going to answer so she just moved on.

"So, what did happen to your parents?" Tua asked once Ezra recovered from his brain freeze.

"I don't really see how that is any of your business." Ezra replied.

Tua gave him a careful glance.

"Well I'm sorry Minister." Ezra said, somewhat sarcastically. "But you must be at least on level 4 of my trust tier to unlock my tragic back story."

"Alright, and where am I now?" Tua asked, playing along with the troubled teen.

"Like everyone else." Ezra smirked, "One."