Ezra's New Home:

D28/1 BBY, Lothal

Sabine woke up instantly when her alarm went off at 0500, sitting up quickly and looking around the cabin on the Gauntlet in confusion, somehow expecting Ezra to be with her and wondering where the romantic candlelight and music had gone. She sighed as she realized she'd just had the most erotic dream starring her missing husband. It had involved a lot of very expensive melted chocolate and licking said chocolate off of each other for many bliss filled hours. Force, she missed Ezra. And, kriffing hell, she needed to get rich enough to afford all that chocolate and live out that fantasy as soon as she got him back.

Sabine sighed again and slipped off the bed. She had a planet to organize and today was day one. Yay.

Cerulia

Ezra was reluctantly dragged from his newest favourite fantasy dream by the sound of voices speaking in his vicinity, the sweet taste of chocolate and Sabine on his tongue. As he became more aware, he listened carefully, keeping his eyes closed and his breathing even, assessing the situation, since the last thing he remembered was passing out in the escape pod.

"It's been almost a whole day, Link. Is there any change in his condition?" a mature sounding female voice asked.

"Not yet, Master Tia," a male voice replied. "But he grows stronger by the hour. I've healed his blaster wound and given him as much energy as I could. The rest is up to him."

Blaster wound. Right. Now Ezra remembered that too, and he realized as he lay on a relatively soft bed that his shoulder didn't hurt anymore. In fact nothing hurt and he felt pretty fantastic, all things considering. Ezra wondered how he'd been healed so quickly. He'd had blaster wounds before, and they usually took days to heal, even with a bacta patch. From what the woman was saying, he'd only been here for less than a day. And did the man call her Master? Now there was a riddle. He could think of a few reasons for a man to call someone Master, but he was really hoping it was in the sense of a Jedi Master and not a slave Master. He also noticed he didn't seem to be wearing much in the way of clothing, for he could feel the light sheet that covered him and the sheet below him. That was somewhat disturbing.

The woman sighed. "You'd think by now I'd have learned the art of patience, but I'm not the only one dying to know where he came from. And he needs to be awake to tell us that."

As a pressing need to use the refresher became much too apparent, Ezra decided now was a good time to wake up. He opened his eyes and pushed himself upright, looking around curiously. He was in a medical facility of some sort, based on the equipment around him and the other empty beds, but it looked strangely put together. The walls were all made of durasteel, but had the appearance of being reformed to a new purpose based on the many welds in unusual places.

There were two people in the room with him; a middle aged, blue female nautolan and a male something that appeared to be in his prime. The male had a human face and eyes, but short tentacle like spikes all over his head. He was also a very interesting luminous shade of grey. Ezra had never seen anything like him. A few similar species, but nothing exactly the same.

They both noticed his movement and smiled at him as they came over to his bed.

"Oh good, you're awake," Master Tia said.

Ezra smiled in return. "It would appear that way," he joked. "I know you're very curious about me and I am just as curious, but I have to ask. Where's the refresher?"

Both Tia and Link blinked than laughed. Link pointed to a nearby door that Ezra would swear came from a ship. "Through there. Are you alright to get up on your own?"

Ezra nodded and swung his legs off the bed, grateful that he was still wearing his undershorts at least. He put his feet on the floor and tested his legs. They held his weight without any problem so off he went, walking with as much dignity as he could muster to the refresher door.

Ezra looked in the room and then glanced back over his shoulder. "Is it okay if I take a shower too?" It had been days since he had a shower and he was feeling it.

"Be my guest," Link said. "There are clean towels in the cupboard in the corner. I'll be here when you get out."

"Thanks," Ezra said before disappearing into the room.

He remerged fifteen minutes later feeling a million times better, dressed in his freshly laundered clothes that had magically appeared in the room while he was in the shower. He didn't even care who had put them in there, he was just grateful to not be walking around in his undershorts anymore.

The person called Link was the only one in the clinic. Ezra assumed he was a doctor based on earlier conversation and the feeling that this was his place. Link looked up from making notes or whatever at a desk and smiled at Ezra. "You look better. Your energy signature is much stronger too. When we found you, your signature was pretty depleted. We all want to know what you've been doing to be that exhausted."

Ezra just stared at the doctor. Since when do medics talk about energy signatures? "Are you are a Force user?" Ezra asked curiously, as that was the only conclusion he could come up with that made any sense.

Link raised a hairless brow. "Of course. Can you not feel it? Because I can sense the Force in you."

Ezra blinked and then opened himself up to the Force, assessing the other male, and yes, he did feel something from him. He resonated in the Force in roughly the same way that Kanan, Ahsoka, Master Yoda, and Master Kenobi did. "I guess I do," Ezra answered. "I only know four other Force Users and we don't exactly go around sensing other people just because."

Link gawked a bit. "Only four other Force Users? That can't be possible. Master Tia said that there are thousands of Jedi in the galaxy and since you don't feel like the Dark side, we assumed that you were one of them."

Ezra breathed deeply once at the hint of pain the Force shot through him at the reminder of the loss of the Jedi. He shook his head sadly. "You assumed correctly. I am a Jedi, but as of this moment, I'm one of only three left alive who more or less call themselves that." At Link's shocked look, Ezra kind of felt sorry for him. "There is a lot going on in the galaxy right now and it's going to take some explaining. And we haven't even introduced ourselves."

Link stood from his seat at the desk. "You're right. Where are my manners? Then again, I've never had any call to use them. You're the first visitor to our planet in more than two hundred and fifty years." He walked forward and bowed slightly. "My name is Link and I am the only land doctor here on Cerulia and I am a Force Healer."

Ezra had heard of those, but of course had never met one. That explained how his shoulder was healed already. There was barely even a scar when he'd looked at himself backwards in the mirror. He bowed in return. He'd never seen this routine before, but went with it. And wait a minute? Did he say the only LAND doctor? "I'm Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight, from Lothal. And we have a lot of mutual explaining to do."

Link laughed and indicated a door that led out of the clinic. "Come on, Ezrabridger. You should meet the others and we'll do all the explaining at once."

Ezra smiled. "Great. And it's just Ezra. You can call me Ezra. Bridger is my last name."

Link nodded in understanding and led him outside. Ezra blinked his eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight. All of the buildings around him looked like they were made from scrap metal but were well put together regardless. The small village of metal buildings was perched at the edge of a beach that overlooked a vast teal blue ocean. And behind the village there was a small green covered mountain range. Ezra thought it was very pretty here and said so.

Link looked pleased. "I'm glad you like our world. We love it as well. The life is simple up here on the land, but I prefer it to the chaos of the ocean cities. And I turned out a bit too human to do well down there anyway," he said pointing to his normal looking human blue eyes.

"Ah," Ezra said as he was starting to get an idea of what the story was with his new home. Most of the people they passed as they walked towards the biggest building in the village were human or human hybrids, with either the spiky tentacles or the long ones of a nautolan like Master Tia. Humans obviously weren't native to this planet but they'd been here for at least two hundred and fifty years. He was guessing all of the buildings were made from a crashed space ship. One that had at least one Jedi on it. And they still practiced the ways of the Jedi, if Master Tia was anything to go by.

Link led him to a large building that had been constructed in the shape of a circle and opened the door for him. Ezra and Link entered and were followed by what looked like the entire village, who'd trailed after them curiously. The large open space appeared to be used for many purposes. There were stacked tables and chairs against a wall, indicating they had communal meals often enough to need them. At the moment there appeared to be lessons going on in the space. Master Tia had a group of children around her and she was instructing them on floating small objects with control and precision. A red haired girl who looked close to Ezra's age was in charge of an older group of children and they were practicing Form II with some sort of glowing sword; none of which were the same colour.

Ezra soaked in the atmosphere of the big room with great pleasure. With his Force senses open, he could feel all of the Force Users in the room and it was almost overwhelming. And as he began to sort things out, he realized the humming in his mind was coming from the swords. Were they Kyber crystals? Was that even possible? The strength in the Force here was something he'd never felt before. The only thing that came close was the Jedi Temple on Lothal, and that was the Temple itself that felt strong, not a sheer number of Jedi.

"Wait 'til you feel it in the underwater cities; over ninety percent of the world's population are Force users but not Jedi per say." Link said, surprising Ezra.

"What?" Ezra exclaimed.

Link flushed a little. "Sorry, that was rude. I forgot you're not used to us. We're highly telepathic, so if you don't want every Cerulian in your vicinity hearing your thoughts, you might want to learn to shield them. Oh and they don't talk out loud. You'll get used to it."

Ezra blinked. "Okay. That's going to take some getting used to. My Master and I had a strong bond that let us feel each other's emotions but we didn't exactly hear each other's thoughts all the time. I do know how to shield though. There are just some things you don't want your Master knowing."

Link laughed. "I totally get where you're coming from."

By now everyone had stopped what they were doing and were all looking curiously at Ezra. And the herd of people behind them were waiting patiently for them to move further forward into the room. Ezra and Link walked up to Master Tia's group at the far end of the room. The children made way for them, backing up a little but quickly surrounding Ezra and looking up at him curiously. Master Tia was sitting on a raised cushion in a cross-legged fashion, dressed in a simple short tunic and robe of a bright gold colour that complimented her blue skin tone. Her skin was lightly crinkled around her massive unblinking brown eyes and she held herself tall and straight, reminding Ezra of royalty. Ezra got the impression that she was very important on this planet. And this time, Ezra remembered to shield his thoughts. He wouldn't want to offend anyone if he was wrong.

Link smiled at Tia. "Master Tia, may I present Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight, from Lothal. And Ezra, this is Master Tia Fisto, formerly of Coruscant, Queen of the Cerulians. We've come to appease your curiosity," he said teasingly to the Queen.

Tia smiled fondly at Link. He was related to her husband in some distant fashion and she considered him one of her family. She turned her attention to Ezra. "Welcome to Cerulia, young Jedi. I so look forward to hearing your stories."

Ezra bowed respectfully to the Queen. "And I yours, your Highness."

Tia waved a hand dismissively. "None of that Highness business. Call me Master Tia. Everyone does. My husband might be the King, but I have very little to do with running the planet. I train the younglings, as you can see."

At that moment, the doors opened again and a dozen full blooded Cerulians entered the room. People made way for them instantly as they walked to where Master Tia held the center of attention. At the front of the group was a large male who carried himself with a regal bearing that made Ezra instantly think he was the king of these people. His suspicions were confirmed when Master Tia rose gracefully to her feet and walked forward to meet him, exchanging a chaste but loving kiss. A teenage male split off from the group and stood beside the red haired girl, interlacing their fingers together and looking at her adoringly.

Tia led the king the last few steps towards Ezra by their interlocked hands. "Ezra, this is my husband, Wayve, King of Cerulia. We're actually celebrating our two hundred and fiftieth wedding anniversary tomorrow." Ezra's jaw almost dropped as she continued the introductions. "And, love, this is Ezra Bridger, a Jedi Knight from Lothal."

Ezra had enough presence of mind to bow to the King and answer appropriately upon being introduced, but he was still reeling over the fact that these people were more than two hundred and fifty years old. Assuming they were around twenty when they got married, that made them ancient in his eyes. But they really didn't look it. Now Master Yoda on the other hand, who Ezra had heard was something like nine hundred years old, he'd looked it. Ezra almost wished he was an amphibian so he could have that kind of lifespan with Sabine. But they were humans and were lucky if they hit a hundred and twenty. Thinking about Sabine made him miss her something awful, and it had only been a couple of days since he'd last seen her. And he'd been asleep for half of that.

"I might be able to help you with that," Ezra heard a deep sounding voice say in his mind. He realized he'd forgotten to shield his thoughts again. He was going to have to work on that.

"Help me with what?" Ezra asked curiously.

"Seeing your wife again," the King replied. "We're all assuming you have no current way to get off this planet and will be a guest here for some time. I can teach you how to project your image to her, if you are open to learning."

Ezra nodded eagerly. "I would love that very much. Thank you."

King Wayve smiled. "Glad to be of help. Tia says you have stories to tell and Link says that the Jedi are almost extinct. If you would be so kind as to think clearly about everything you wish us to know, I'll forward it to the rest of us. Much faster than talking."

Ezra nodded and concentrated on centering himself. He closed his eyes and almost went into a meditative state. And then he started at the beginning of when the galaxy changed as far as he knew it, assuming that Tia would want to know what she'd missed being here for most of her life. Ezra thought about the war between the Republic and the Separatists. How the Republic fought with Jedi and Clones, and the Separatists Dark siders and droids. He thought about how both sides were meant to lose so that Emperor Palpatine could use the war as an excuse to take over the galaxy. He thought about how the Clones had been used to exterminate their Jedi commanders and brothers at arms against their will with implanted chips in their brains. How the Emperor was really a Sith Lord who now commanded Darth Vader and an unknown amount of Inquisitors to do his bidding, eliminating Force sensitives and surviving Jedi as they found them. He thought about how the Empire had brought suffering and strife to the galaxy, turning a blind eye to slavery and ruining worlds as they wished for the resources. Ezra gave a brief history of how he met Kanan and the Ghost crew and his life with them and some of the battles they fought and the other Jedi he'd met. (Ahsoka might not call herself a Jedi anymore, but Ezra considered her to be one.) He finished with the final battle to free his planet and the trip he'd taken with the purrgil to remove Thrawn from a position of power in the Empire. His last thought was that he was grateful to the purrgil for delivering him to such a nice planet with people who understood him and that he was eager to learn anything about the Force that they'd be willing to teach him.

Ezra opened his eyes to see everyone around him looking shocked and sympathetic. "That is quite the story," Tia finally said, her big eyes shining with tears. "I do remember a time, about eighteen years ago, when we all felt a great disturbance in the Force. It had felt like the Force was mourning. Now I know why. The loss of so many Jedi at once was a great blow to the Force. I am glad to hear that Master Yoda is still alive though. I remember him from when I was a youngling. He was one of my teachers in the Temple. What surprises me the most is that Master Guji never told me about a second Jedi Purge."

Ezra looked blank at the name. "Who?"

"My Master," Tia replied. "He is one with the Force now, but visits frequently. I'm sure you'll meet him sooner than later. I can sense your curiosity. If you will allow, Wayve can show you my story?"

Ezra nodded once and closed his eyes. Images immediately flooded his mind but quickly slowed down to something he could understand as Wayve sensed his discomfort. Ezra saw a teenage version of Tia and her Master on a ship, exploring space. He saw the crash and her first meeting with the Cerulians. He saw them move the massive star ship with the Force through the ocean. Ezra saw them build a village out of the ship. Saw both Tia and her Master fall in love and get married, rewriting the Jedi code to suit their new life. Saw them teaching scores of younglings how to be Jedi. Saw Master Guji's death as he gave himself to the Force when his body was too old to function properly anymore. Saw the generations of descendants come and go, some Force sensitive, some not. But more and more so as they married the Cerulians and raised hybrids. The last thing he was shown was his escape pod crashing into the sea.

Ezra opened his eyes and smiled in wonder. Centuries of history had just been passed to him in minutes. What a wonderful way to learn new things. "Thank you," he said to both Tia and Wayve. "You have an amazing legacy here," he said to Tia.

She smiled widely. "Yes, I do. Not sure what the old Council would think of it, but the Force seems to approve. That's good enough for me."

Ezra smiled back. "Kanan and I disregarded the no attachments rule as well, so I perfectly understand."

Tia and Wayve grinned as they glanced at each other with love shining clear in their eyes to see. "Would you like to see my world now, Ezra?" Wayve asked.

Ezra nodded eagerly, closing his eyes and expecting to see more images. They popped open again when he heard an actual audible laugh from the King.

"Not that way. In real life," his voice said with clear amusement in Ezra's mind.

"But isn't that underwater?" Ezra stammered. "I can't breathe underwater."

"Don't worry, we solved that problem long ago," Wayve said with a smile. He turned and walked towards the exit, Tia's hand still held tightly in his and his retinue following in his wake.

Ezra glanced at Link and received an encouraging nod, so Ezra followed the Cerulians. This was bound to be interesting.

As Ezra followed the Cerulians towards the exit of the big round building he saw the teenage couple exchange a quick kiss before the girl joined her group of older younglings with Master Tia's younger ones. The tall luminous blue skinned boy jogged over from across the room and fell into step beside Ezra. "Hi," he said in Ezra's mind with a wide, tooth filled smile. "I'm Raign, and that's my girl, Krystal," with a nod of his head at the red haired girl. "Grandfather said I'm to be your shadow until you get used to how things work here."

Ezra smiled back at the boy who topped him by a head but looked about the same age as him. "Great," he replied out loud, already sensing that they were going to become easy friends. "Everything sure is different here."

Raign chuckled as they walked out the door and back into the sunshine. "I suppose you would think so. You're life is much different from mine. And you don't have to speak your words if you don't want to. Just think them at me and I'll get them."

Ezra raised a brow and then smirked a little. "Alright then," he said aloud again before adding a very joking, "Testing, testing. This a test of the Raign frequency," as loudly as he could think in his mind.

Raign winced and laughed as well as all of the Cerulians leading the way down to the beach, clearly overhearing their conversation. "I think every Cerulian in a hundred kilometre radius just heard your test of the Raign Frequency," the King said to Ezra, laughter in his mental tone. "Raign Frequency. I like it."

"You know I'm never going to live that down, right?" Raign said with a sad shake of his head to Ezra.

Ezra shrugged and smiled apologetically. "Could be worse." He looked at the ocean that the others had disappeared into with a graceful dive. "Now what? Cause honestly, I'm not even all that great of a swimmer. I think I've gone swimming maybe five times in the last four years."

Raign gawked at him in astonishment. "I can't even imagine a life without swimming in it."

Ezra showed him a mental picture of the endless sea of grass on Lothal. "Where I grew up, this was my ocean. We actually did have oceans, but what little beaches we had were made off limits to the public by the Empire. Sometimes us kids would sneak down to the beach in the dark and splash around a bit, but that doesn't really count as swimming. It wasn't until I met my new family that I learnt to swim for real on one of our rare holiday trips."

"You poor thing," Raign thought. "We'll have to work on your swimming then. But for now, I'll do all the work. You just relax and enjoy your ride, courtesy of Raign Transportation."

Ezra laughed as the other boy expanded the new joke, wondering what he meant. His laughter died as he felt himself being lifted off the ground with the invisible hand of the Force. Raign had his eyes closed and a hand reaching toward Ezra. Then he pressed his hands together and spread them apart creating a shield bubble around Ezra, trapping air inside the shield with him. Ezra couldn't see the shield but he could feel its energy. "This is amazing," Ezra complimented.

Raign opened his huge black eyes with a triumphant smile. "This is how Krystal gets to my house. She can swim, but like you, can't breathe under the water. Since you can use the Force too, you should be able to do this for yourself sooner or later." While he'd been talking, Raign had pushed his Force bubble into the ocean, Ezra still floating in the middle of it. Ezra was astonished at the control Raign showed over his Force talent as the other boy swam and kept Ezra alive in a bubble made entirely of the Force. And talking too. Ezra suddenly felt like his Force tricks were juvenile in comparison and that he still had a lot to learn; more than he'd ever even knew that there was to learn.

"From what I've seen of what you know, you're doing very well for only four years of training," Raign said as he swam and pushed Ezra's bubble at an astonishing speed Ezra thought was pretty similar to what an A-Wing could do in atmosphere, making it almost impossible to see any details of the ocean they were speeding through. "I've had almost twenty years of practicing the Force in comparison. We grow up using the Force in everyday life. Those not born with a Force sensitivity are considered handicapped and need a companion to help them with many things in our world."

"That's sad," Ezra thought.

"True," Raign replied, "But it's the way of things here."

"How is it that so many of you are connected to the Force? That is extremely unusual as far as I know."

Ezra felt Raign's anticipation as he said, "You'll see soon enough. You should be able to feel it in the next few seconds."

"Feel wha... Oh!" Ezra thought when he suddenly heard the familiar but faint singing of a Kyber crystal again. And with every second the singing grew clearer until there was a whole symphony of Kyber crystals humming through his whole being to the point where he thought it might get too loud to bear but it never did.

Five minutes later they turned a corner around an underwater cliff and there in front of them was a glowing rainbow city made entirely of Kyber crystals that grew from the ocean floor. Each crystal looked like a normal massive crystal at the bottom but then as you looked up the length there were protrusions for doorways, balconies, and even entire rooms. Many of the crystals reached all the way to the surface of the ocean and above. Some of the crystals were narrow, about the width of the Ghost. Many of them were big enough to hold three or four Ghosts side by side. And then there was the focal point of the city. The gleaming blue crystal would easily hold a Star Destroyer. Ezra's ability to breath was severely hampered by his brain shutting down at the jaw dropping sight. Raign let him gawk for several moments, uninterrupted, before saying, "Welcome to IncandesCity, capital city of Cerulia."

"It's beautiful," Ezra breathed out loud, temporarily forgetting about mind talking. It's a good thing he was in an air bubble, or he would have just swallowed a lot of water. "No wonder you're all Force sensitive with this as your home. There are more cities like this?"

Raign grinned at Ezra. "Yes there are. About a hundred of them scattered all over the globe. We live wherever the Kybers naturally grow. I'm glad you like ours. Wait until you see the Palace. It's the biggest Kyber crystal on the planet. That's where we're going first. Grandfather is waiting for us. Along with practically everyone else. As you can tell, we're a curious bunch and not a lot happens around here. You, my friend, are the most exciting thing since Grandmother's ship fell from the sky."

And with that, Raign pushed Ezra's bubble towards the city, a lot slower than before, so Ezra could appreciate the rainbow of colours as they approached. "Do the Kybers naturally grow like this? All colourful and with those shapes?" he asked.

"No," Raign replied. "All the newly forming crystals are actually clear. They take on the preferred colour of the person or family that lives there as they bond with their crystals. When making a new home, the person lives with a forming crystal for days, weeks, or years, depending on the size of the home, picturing how they want it to finish in their minds. So you better have a good idea of the layout of your home before you start or could end up with a very confused looking house. You can make small changes with a lot of concentration and cooperation from your crystal but we try not to do that to them."

"That's amazing. So you need to be Force sensitive to make a house," Ezra said, making a statement more than a question as he figured things out.

"Yeah. And to get in the doors and use the lifts. The nulls, as we call them, are usually paired with a Force sensitive of the same age when they're about two years old. More often than not, they end up married. We have a few people who are especially good at sensing possible bonded relationships and they're in charge of the nulls."

Ezra chuckled as they approached what appeared to be the Palace's main doorway as it was massive. "I'm married to a null, and I can guarantee you that she'd have an absolute fit at being dependant on me and being called that." He thought of some of Sabine's more explosive temper tantrums for Raign's benefit. The week she was learning to use the Darksabre was probably the most notable. She'd stormed off in a huff at least a dozen times when Ezra was trying to teach her the basic Forms, but always came back eventually for more.

Raign laughed. "That sounds like my Krystal. She's just as fiery, although now that she's officially Master Tia's padawan, she's getting better at keeping her temper. She has to set a good example for the younglings, you know."

"Of course," Ezra said with an answering grin.

Raign swept them through the main arched doorway and into a huge open chamber. Hundreds of Cerulians were gathered in the space, floating easy in the water, their skin varying in colour from a rich grey to the darkest of blues and everything in between. Most of them had spiky tentacles, but a few had the long tentacles of a nautolan. He assumed they had to be related to Master Tia like Raign.

"That's correct," Raign said. "Those are all part of my family, although just a small fraction of it. You'll meet them all eventually. We're very long lived so we try to have just two children per couple, but even that tends to accumulate over the years." Raign waved at the curious people cheekily so Ezra did the same while Raign pushed them past the crowd to the back of the room where an extra tube ran up from the floor and into the ceiling of the level above them.

Raign directed Ezra's bubble into the tube and then joined Ezra inside his bubble so he could fit in the tube as well. He looked down at the floor under their feet and made a rising motion with his hand. The floor rose quickly, shooting them up the tube past at least fifteen floors. When Raign sensed they were close to the floor he wanted, they slowed down and came to perfect stop level with the floor. This part of the tube had an extra layer of kyber wall around it forming a small room. He made a gesture and the door of the tube opened. He walked out of Ezra's bubble, pulled Ezra out of the tube and then sent the lift floor back down to ground level before closing the door. Sensing Ezra's curiosity, he explained. "Most of us just swim up and down the tubes, but I wanted to show you how they work in case you ever want to use one like a lift." The water that had come out of the tube with them sat on the floor of the small room. Raign waved a hand and a small opening appeared in the floor, the water draining away quickly.

Raign grinned at Ezra. "Thank you for choosing Raign Transportation. We look forward to being of service again in the future." And with that, he snapped his fingers and Ezra's Force bubble disappeared and Ezra's feet touched the floor again.

"That was officially awesome," Ezra thought to Raign.

Raign's grin widened. "You're welcome." He waved a hand at the door in front of them and it slid into the wall, giving Ezra a view of a large luxurious throne room. All of the furniture was made of Kyber crystals of different shades and shapes. The Throne that the King sat upon sideways with his legs over one side was a deep shining gold. Master Tia was sitting on Wayve's lap and they looked like they were having a very serious conversation as they stared into each other's eyes. Scattered around the room were other chairs and couches, all in shades of yellow or orange so they contrasted with the blue floors and walls but didn't steal the thunder of the brilliant gold throne. There were Cerulians in most of the seating arrangements, talking in little groups. All without a sound. It was quite disconcerting.

"You'll get used to it," Raign laughed.

He was about to close the door when Ezra stopped him with a hand. "Can I try?"

Raign made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "Be my guest."

Ezra stared at the Kyber wall that the door had disappeared into, then closed his eyes, feeling the Kyber crystal and how alive it was. This wasn't just closing a door like on a ship; this was moving a piece of something that was more or less alive. He smiled as he felt himself sync with the hum of the Palace's Kyber crystal and waved a hand. The door slid closed without a sound, sealing the air into the room. "Hey, where does the air come from?"

Raign looked up at a small hole in the wall near the ceiling. "If we want them to, the crystals will grow all the way to above the surface of the ocean higher than the waves reach and leave tubes open for air to cycle in and out. The walls are riddled with air vents and water drainage pipes. There's even a system that takes care of the refresher facilities, as you call them, which leads to an ocean current that sweeps past the city and further into the ocean. Not everyone wants air rooms so not all of the crystals go all the way to the surface. Those houses are much easier to imagine as they form."

"Well, you can consider me impressed," Ezra thought with wide eyes.

"Glad you like our homes," said the King, walking up to Ezra and Raign. "This Palace has been the home of my family for more than five thousand years. A lot of work was put into it as it formed over the course of a century. I've added more air rooms since the humans crashed here, but other than that it has stood unchanged in all that time." He nodded towards a bank of large windows that were covered in the thinnest layer of transparent crystal. "Come, young Ezra. I wish to show you something."

Ezra dutifully followed the King to a window where he looked out over the city of Kyber homes. King Wayve stopped at the window and knelt on a cushioned pedestal, resting his hands on his thighs lightly and closing his eyes. In that moment, he reminded Ezra of Kanan and he felt a moment of pain and longing for his Master, but was comforted by the knowledge that Kanan wasn't really gone, just in a new place. And still with him in a vague sense, their bond still there for him to feel if he looked for it.

Ezra's eyes focused out into the ocean again as an image of the King appeared in the water, ten times larger than life. In a minute or less, almost every citizen of the city was outside as well, swimming into orderly lines in front of the King's projection. His image looked down at them with a regal smile. "Citizens of IncandesCity," he projected into everyone's minds at once. "In case you haven't heard, which I doubt, as news travels faster than the speed of light here, we have a new addition to our planet." Ezra saw an image of himself in his mind before the King continued. "This is Ezra Bridger, a Jedi Knight like my beloved wife, come from her part of the galaxy. He was delivered by the purrgil in a similar fashion as Tia was and has no way home until someone comes to find him. I wish for every one of you make him feel welcome. He also comes with news of what is happening elsewhere in the galaxy. The galaxy is on the brink of war as the people are gathering to take back control of their planets from an evil Darksider who murdered most of the Jedi and Force sensitives through treacherous means. We have no way to help them at the moment, but we should prepare for war nonetheless, just in case we are found by this Empire. Ezra is certain that his friends will find him eventually. When that day comes, all those who are interested may join him in his part of the galaxy and help end the rule of the Darksiders. If this is your path in life, than you now have time to learn the Jedi ways and the use of the Kybersword. My Tia has been training a small number of you that were interested in the Jedi way of life, but I expect this number will increase drastically now that war may be imminent. Our planet has been peaceful for as long as anyone can remember and centuries before that as well. I would prefer for it to stay that way, but it's best to be prepared anyway. Please don't overwhelm my poor Tia though, by showing up at Seeker Island all at once. Please contact her mentally first and she'll organize training groups." The King sighed mentally and visibly through his projection. "My heart is saddened by the news from beyond our planet but I know we will rise to the challenge with honour and strength. My beloved people, may the Kyber of your home forever warm you."

The King's image winked out and the people dispersed, returning to their homes or whatever they were doing before. King Wayve opened his eyes and focused on Ezra, eye level with him, despite his kneeling position. "That is how you can talk to your Sabine. It will take a lot of training and concentration but you seem like a determined young man. I'm sure you'll master the skill. I'll be glad to teach you how whenever I have an hour or two to spare."

Ezra nodded, already determined to do whatever it took so he could see Sabine. A Force projection was better than nothing. "Thank you, your Highness," he replied out loud with as much sincerity as he could put into his voice. "Seeing Sabine again means everything to me."

The King smiled warmly. "I understand. I can't imagine being parted from my Tia. She too is my everything." He glanced over his shoulder at Raign. "Now you can return to Raign's tender care. He'll give you a tour of the city and then take you back to the island. I believe Link has requested that you move in with him as he has a spare room in his home and you seemed to enjoy his company." Wayve breathed deeply once before closing his eyes again. "Now I have a ridiculous number of cities to visit and give that same speech to. I might have to start changing it up by the time I get to city number fifty. It gets mighty repetitive after a while," he thought dryly.

Ezra chuckled before leaving the King to his duties. He wouldn't want to be him right now. Ezra liked the role of protector. He could never see himself as a politician / ruler.

Raign met him halfway across the room and they walked together back towards the exit. "Come on, Ezra," he said with a smile. "I'll show you 'round. You can see my little house too. It's red like Krystal's hair. You should have seen her face when I showed it to her. Pleased would be an understatement."

"I bet," Ezra thought in return. He'd have a hard time matching a house to Sabine's hair, since she changed the colour every year or so, but it would be fun to try just to see her look of astonishment. Maybe he'd paint his tower as a surprise one day. Or the Gauntlet. It needed a new paint job anyway. Or maybe not the Gauntlet, as a flash image of the ship appeared in his mind, already repainted in silver, orange, and blue; Sabine was going to beat him to that one. Ezra smiled to himself as Raign did the whole air bubble routine again in the transition chamber. The tower it was then. Someday.