[Jaster]

Groaning as he rolled out of bed he checked his comm for any alerts and let out a sigh of relief when he saw nothing that couldn't be dealt with later. A quick trip to the fresher later he was throwing on his armor and heading for the mess. The late shift would be getting off and the early shift would be heading to get some rest so the line for food was quite long. Looking around he noticed all the subdued or downright miserable verde and snickered to himself. It looked like some of his soldiers had indulged a little too much.

Jaster remembered those days. Now he only drank when he wanted to forget, which was a rare occurrence. His responsibilities as Mand'alor and duty to Jango made heavy drinking unappealing in the long run. He wasn't young anymore either and the medics tended to give him the stink eye when he drank too much. That wasn't even touching on his son's reaction either. The boy could be a right little bastard when Jaster did something Jango thought was a danger to his own health.

Grabbing a cup of shig and some hot breakfast cereal he sat down wherever there was room and dug into first meal. As he sipped the steaming hot liquid he glanced around and frowned when he didn't see Ben or Jango anywhere. He hadn't seen Ben acting drunk the night before, even if he'd sucked back enough tihaar to down a bantha, so he didn't think the man was sleeping off a hangover. In the mornings Jango always got up early for target practice and was almost always in the mess by the time Jaster got around to grabbing first meal. The lack of either of them was a little concerning.

Catching sight of Myles near the caf table, yawning wide enough he could practically hear the man's jaw creaking, he waved his second over.

"Morn' Alor." The man mumbled as he plonked his ass on the bench across from Jaster. Dark grey eyes drooped slightly and he snorted in amusement.

"Long night?" Myles glared at him but the effect was lost when he yawned again.

"Had a long talk with the Allit'alor. They were a little less than impressed that I adopted someone without clearing it with them first." Jaster winced even as a small smirk crossed his face. He was glad he was the head of his own clan. Dealing with chiefs from other clans was hard enough. He'd hate to clash with someone in his own clan. Jango was still young enough that although he could get argumentative he still obeyed Jaster when given a direct order.

"What happened?" Myles smiled triumphantly.

"Ben is still thoroughly adopted." Jaster snorted. "Clan Vhehn is very proud to have the wielder of the Dha'kad'au as part of the family. Especially if the Mand'alor themselves has his eye on them." Choking on his shig he wheezed and slapped his chest to clear his burning lungs. Looking up at the smug grin and mischievous twinkle in Myles' eyes he let out a low groan.

"…that obvious?" He asked when he was finally able to speak without coughing.

"Alor, you made him Mereel Clan Tiingilar. The only time you cook is when Jango is sick or missing home. Otherwise? Everyone knows you hate being in the kitchen." He had to look away from Myles as his face began to feel a little too warm. "If it's any consolation I don't think Ben has noticed." Jaster frowned.

"He's a bit…" Myles snickered.

"Oblivious? Yeah. Not his fault though. The one who taught him was a New Mandalorian, they probably didn't even know half the cultural context when they taught him Mando'a. He said he was sixteen and living in Sundari at the time so I'm surprised he even knows as much Mando'a as he does." Jaster grunted in agreement as he took another bite of his meal.

"I'll hold off on telling him about courting traditions for a little while but if you're going to be that obvious about it he's going to notice." He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. Did he want Ben to notice his interest? He'd only just lost his family and given up his past life. He was going to need time to adjust. The poor man didn't need the Mand'alor he now served to be showing that kind of interest in him.

"It wasn't…" He hesitated. "I only made him the tiingilar because he asked about different recipes. He didn't know so it wasn't a real offer of courtship. Just an offer of friendship. He has enough on his plate." Myles watched him, intelligent eyes narrowed slightly.

"Okay, I get it. But you know Jango isn't going to stop. He wants to see you happy and he already likes Ben." And Jango was rarely wrong about people. He wondered if that was due to him having the Force or if it was a gift from Manda. Either way it should have been obvious that Montross was scum with how his son always bristled in his presence. Hindsight was a cruel bitch. "That boy loves you something fierce but I think he's been missing the attention that comes from having a second buir." Jaster let out a low groan and Myles gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Should have thought of that. He's always such a good kid when he's not being a contrary little bastard." Myles laughed, shaking with mirth.

"He is a teenager now." Jaster gave him a dry look and it sent the man into another round of laughter.

"Do you know where he is this morning? Surprised I haven't seen him yet." Myles downed the last of his coffee.

"In the training room with Ben. He actually skipped blaster practice this morning to learn some force osik. Saw the two of them sitting in a corner, eyes closed and all quiet. Not sure what they're doing now though." Jaster smiled at the idea of Ben teaching Jango. They hadn't talked further about it but it looked as if he'd made up his mind on his own.

"I think I'll go see how they're doing before I tackle the rest of the datawork. It'll give you a little extra time to wake up too. Unless you want to sort it for me?" Myles snorted and cradled the empty cup.

"Nope. I'm getting more caf. See you in an hour?" He nodded.

"Around then, yeah. If something doesn't explode and need my immediate attention." Myles gave him a searing look.

"Don't call the stars down around our ears now, we just got out of one hell of a mess. We don't need another." Jaster chuckled.

"Fair enough."

[Ben]

Sitting across from the young Jango Fett he carefully hid his trepidation behind his strongest shields. Considering they were enough to keep Anakin out of his head he was certain that the young teenager before him wouldn't be able to feel how anxious he was. Thank the force.

When Jango asked him that morning if he would teach him how to strengthen his bond with his elder sibling Ben could feel the teen's worry and concern plainly. It tore at his heartstrings, especially because of the all too familiar eyes that were looking up at him as if he held all the answers. He'd caved immediately and now here they were in a corner of the training room that was filled with the early risers as they went about their normal routines.

"I want you to close your eyes and focus solely on your breathing. Inhale and exhale, this counts as one. It doesn't matter how long you take, just breath as deeply and evenly as possible. As you breathe continue counting until you reach ten. When you've reached ten I want you to count back down to one. Always counting an inhale and exhale as a single instance." Jango's nose crinkled and how brow furrowed as he frowned in concentration. Ben had to be very careful not to let his amusement show. Force it reminded him of Anakin when he was younger. "If you lose track of the number, become distracted, or you hesitate I want you to start over again."

"Why?" Ah, he was at that age wasn't he?

"Because this is about clearing your mind and learning focus. Once you can count consistently without being distracted I will teach you the next step." Jango was quiet for a moment before he seemed to give a mental shrug and closed his eyes. "Be sure to sit up straight." One eye cracked open and he could read the unasked question on his face. "Cramps aren't very fun and curling in on yourself makes breathing more difficult." The teen grunted and closed his eyes again.

With a small chuckle Ben closed his own eyes and began to just breathe. After so many years of meditation he had earned the ability to just slip away into the flow of the force and let it fill him.

It was as simple as breathing now.

He could almost pinpoint the exact moment a stray thought caught the teen's mind and how he got annoyed before he had to start over. It was perhaps fifteen minutes later, a whole six minutes longer than Anakin at his worst, before the teen was huffing in frustration.

"What's bothering you?" He asked without opening his eyes. Jango started slightly, apparently he thought Ben was too focused to pay attention to his surroundings.

"Can't stop thinking." The teen said after a moment of silence. Ben hummed in response and slowly opened his eyes, coming back to himself fully.

"When do you feel the most at peace?" He was given a blank look and let out a small sigh. "Do you ever have moments where time just seems to slip away? When you're so focused on something that you don't notice anything around you or time passing at all? Where everything just feels right?" The teen blinked before smirking at him.

"Blaster training." Ben huffed a small laugh. Of course it would involve blasters or otherwise some kind of fighting.

"How about hand-to-hand? Same thing?" Jango thought about it for a moment and shrugged.

"Kind of? Everything narrows and I get really focused on the person in front of me. Makes it easier to predict what they're gonna do next." He paused for a moment. "Sometimes I can see exactly how I'm going to win. And it feels like… like I forced them to make a mistake somehow." Ben felt a jolt of surprise.

"Does the reverse happen?" The teen looked at him quizzically.

"Do you imagine your comrades winning, even if the odds are against you, and they somehow pull off the impossible." The teen's eyes widened slightly and he nodded.

"That a jetii thing?" Ben placed a hand on his chin, giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts.

"From what I've heard, yes. Although it isn't something the jetiise have taught in nearly a thousand years. They called it Battle Meditation. It is a rare gift." Jango looked skeptical. "It is said that a single jetii could cause an entire enemy army to falter while simultaneously granting a boost of morale to their comrades. Unfortunately I don't have access to the archives anymore. But I might be able to look into this further for you, if you like?" He could practically see the gears turning in the teen's mind.

"Yeah. Sounds useful." He frowned. "But what about Arla?" Ben gave him a reassuring smile.

"We'll focus on finding your sibling first, of course. But I think a moving meditation might work better for you."

"That's a thing?" Ben chuckled.

"It is. My last padawan-" He stalled as a wave of loss made his throat constrict. "He found it very difficult to quiet his mind. He found working on machines was far more calming than to sit still. I imagine someone like yourself, used to being on the move and always thinking, would find it easier as well." Motioning for Jango to stand he got to his feet, running his hands self consciously down the new training clothes Urmai had handed him the day before. "Have you ever trained with a sword?" Jango perked up.

"Some, not much. There's not many people who know how to wield a sword that have the time to teach me." Something about the way the teen said it made Ben think that even if they had the time Jango might not have wanted to learn from them.

"Well, if I'm going to teach you jetii meditation I might as well teach you the sword as well. It's how I learned in the first place." A wide grin crossed Jango's face and Ben's stomach clenched.

Force he looked just like a younger version of Cody, it was almost too much.

"…are you okay?" Blinking he forced himself to smile.

"I'm fine. You wouldn't happen to know if they keep swords in the armory here, would you?" Jango eyed him with a look that clearly said he didn't believe him for a second. But thankfully he didn't comment on the raging emotions Ben was trying to keep under wraps.

"They do. Come on, don't have all day." Ben chuckled and followed behind the teen as he led the way toward the armory.

Watching him Ben felt a warmth in his chest. It was hope. Hope that the future would be better, that his loss was a simple price to pay for the betterment of the galaxy.

This was the right path. He just had to remain strong.