The day had finally come, the day Kanan was nervous about. But he knew it had to come sooner than later; today was the day Kanan was going to begin Ezra's Jedi training.
Truthfully, Kanan had been trying to prolong it for as long as he could. When Ezra first came aboard his excuse was he wanted Ezra to get comfortable with the idea of being with the crew before they started training. However, since it took Ezra about a week to feel at home with the crew, that reason went out the window quickly. Kanan's next excuse was he wanted to wait till Ezra was moved in with Zeb, saying 'he needs to be well rested to train properly'. But then Ezra moved into Zeb's cabin a week ago, he was beginning to run out of reasons to stall the inevitable.
It was late last night when Kanan realized that he did need to stop procrastinating; well more or less it was Hera telling him to begin training Ezra soon. Kanan was cornered by Hera in the galley while he was making himself some tea.
"Kanan, you told him you were going to train him to be a Jedi, I'm sure he is just itching to learn." Hera told him, while the rest of the crew slept.
"I know Hera," Kanan responded a little annoyed, "I'm just waiting for the right time to start."
Hera then smiled at him innocently and rested her hand on his shoulder, "Kanan, do you know why they call 'now' the present?"
Kanan knew where she was going with this and sighed, "Because it is a gift."
Kanan then felt a little punch from Hera into the shoulder her hand was resting on, "Exactly. Training will not only be good for Ezra but it will be for you as well. So you will start teaching him tomorrow, right?
Kanan knew he could never argue with Hera, "Yes love."
Hera then smiled sweetly at the human and kissed his cheek gently before heading off to bed, leaving Kanan smiling for a bit, before remembering what laid ahead of him tomorrow.
Soon morning came and he got up, got ready for the day, and went to the kitchen to find Hera and Ezra making breakfast.
"Hey kid," Kanan greeted happily to Ezra, actually getting excited about training Ezra, "Guess what we're going to do today"? You're going to be really excited."
"Excited about what?" Ezra asked a little confused, but genuinely happy that Kanan was happy about something.
"Well today I thought it would be a good idea to begin your training," Kanan told Ezra. He let it sink in a bit before he asked, "So what do you say, after he grab some breakfast we head outside?"
Kanan had braced himself for Ezra to squeal happily at the idea of training to be Jedi, but Ezra's face just went blank. At first Kanan was wondering if Ezra had heard them, then suddenly Ezra got up and left the kitchen without a word and in a hurry, leaving both adult human and Twi'lek confused.
"What was that about?" Hera asked a little worried.
Something then hit Kanan, a terrible thought he should have realized sooner "I'll figure it out and go talk to him" Kanan told Hera, he had a feeling he knew what he did wrong.
As soon as Ezra left the kitchen he made his way to the cockpit's ventilation system, his designated hiding spot. Once inside he just sat there, hoping he could avoid Kanan and "training" as long as possible. It wasn't that he thought Kanan would ever hurt him. The problem was the word 'training' made his stomach churn, it reminded him of his time on that base.
Throughout the day Ezra would be rudely kicked in the ribs by a trooper who would then drag him outside in the bases enclosed yard. There the Inquisitor would be, with that same scowl on his face, like he was disgusted by Ezra's presence. If he thought Ezra wasn't listen, he would use the force to make Ezra face him, causing Ezra to struggle painfully. The Inquisitor would tell Ezra to focus on the pain he endured and the fear he was facing. Ezra wouldn't though, his parents always told him to never act out on anger or pain. When Ezra would shake his head of the Inquisitors dark thoughts, the Pau'an would use the force again to throw the child across the courtyard. As Ezra would get up, the Inquisitor would send the trooper around them to "hunt' for Ezra on stun. If the troopers weren't trying to shoot him, they would make him run crazy courses that ended with burns on his hands and an electro-whip mark on his back.
Almost every day the Inquisitor would look down on him, smiling at Ezra's agony before the man told the troopers to take him back to his cell. But not before pointing his red lightsaber at Ezra, just close enough to his face so that he could feel the heat radiating off the blade, telling the child, "Boy, you will succumb to the dark side and obey the Empire, and I will beat that lesson into your skull until I do!" The Inquisitor then used the force to throw Ezra's head into the wall behind him repeatedly until he went unconscious.
Ezra just wanted to close his eyes and forget that those two months ever happened. Remembering that time at the base and the head beating really made Ezra want to throw up now, he could feel the content from breakfast creeping up his throat. That was when he heard someone's footsteps enter the cockpit, resulting in Ezra to swallow down the little vomit that was beginning to form. The voice then revealed who had entered the cockpit.
Kanan could sense Ezra in the cockpit, while on the way there though he wanted to kick himself for not explaining how his training was in no way like the "training" Ezra went through in that prison. Of course "training' to Ezra met pain, torment, and all those horrible memories of that base. In his haste to start training Ezra and getting Hera off his back about it, he hadn't thought of a how he should talk to Ezra about the matter. He should of came up with some kind of speech to explain how they were going to go about training, not just blurt it out first thing in the morning. As Kanan got to the cockpit, he had thought of how they were going to begin training, and how he could explain it to the kid. First though he had to find the kid.
"Ezra, I know you're in here," Kanan said looking around, trying to find his ward in the room.
"I just need you to listen to me kid," Kanan told Ezra before he began to explain the matter to the kid he couldn't find. "I know that when you hear the word 'training' your thoughts go back to what that pau'an scum did to you. But I need you to realize this; what he did was not training, it was cruel torture and abuse. My only regret about finding you kid was I didn't find you soon enough to prevent the nightmare you went through. I wish I had found you sooner."
This was true. Whenever Ezra came into Kanan's room at night after a bad nightmare, he always wished he could have found Ezra before the Inquisitor did, before he had to learn to be alone on the streets.
Kanan was about to explain his plan for training when he heard the voice from the vent.
"It wasn't your fault," Ezra blurted out from his 'hideout'. Kanan opened up the vent to reveal the boy sitting inside it, Ezra then continued, "You didn't even know me then, and it's not like you knew. You're the one who saved me. I know you'd never hurt me, I just get scared when I remember." Ezra said all of this quickly so Kanan knew he was happy Kanan had saved him. Ezra soon could feel Kanan's guilt lift a little through their force connection. Ezra was relieved by this as he did not like Kanan being sad.
Kanan smiled and helped him out of the vent continued to explain how his training was going to be far different from the Inquisitors.
"Well kid, our training is going to be as different as possible, we're going to take our training slow. We're going to go over the basics first."
"What are the basics?" Ezra asked as he wiped away the tears from remembering darker times, feeling better now that Kanan was explaining things to him.
Kanan and Ezra began walking out of the cockpit when Kanan began to continue his explanation.
"When I was beginning my Jedi training at the temple, the Jedi instructors would teach us about the force and how to take a hold of it. They would also show us to focus on the force so we could mediate and later how to use it in combat to protect people."
The two had finally reached the intended destination, Kanan's cabin, when Ezra asked, "So how do I focus on the Force?"
Kanan smiled as he reached the item he was trying to find, the holocron. Ezra smiled as Kanan handed the shiny square object to him.
"Remember when you opened it, how you were focusing on that calming presence to help ease your mind?"
Ezra did remember that moment. At the time he was scared and confused about the sudden change going on, but now he just smiled because after he opened it, Kanan came and brought him back to the Ghost, as an official member of the crew; that memory made Ezra smile and forget those memories that should be forgotten; for the time being that was.
Kanan continued with his explanation, "Well Ezra, what you were focusing on was the Force, you just weren't aware of it at the time. That is what we are going to begin with; we are going to help you focus on the Force and take a hold of it so you can meditate. Which will help you to control your connection to the force better. Does that sound okay kid?"
Ezra thought about it, he wanted to be like Kanan and if he was able to learn from Kanan's teachings, maybe he could forget about that time with the Inquisitor.
With the idea of learning to be like Kanan, Ezra smiled and nodded yes. Kanan then lead Ezra to the top of the Ghost so they could meditate in a quiet location.
Kanan sat on top of the Ghost and nodded for Ezra to sit next to him, which the boy happily did.
"Okay, now the Force is everywhere. One must clear their minds and focus on one's connection to it," Kanan began to explain as he himself attempted to enter a meditative state, only to be disturbed by Ezra.
"Kanan?" the boy asked.
"Yeah?" Kanan asked.
Ezra though just smiled and said, "Nothing, I just want you to know I'm glad your training me," the boy happily expressed as he followed his masters lead and closed his eyes to focus on the Force.
Kanan smiled at the boy's gratitude as they began the rest of their meditation exercise. The whole morning was dedicated to trying to meditate, trying to connect with the force, to try clear the mind. Trying though was the word of the day. With the crew going about their business below and each member checking on them every twenty minutes, focusing became a bit of a challenge. From Hera sneaking a peak at the two 'bonding' to Zeb and Sabine causing a ruckus with whatever, it became clear they couldn't really focus.
"How about we get up early in the morning to mediate kid?" Kanan asked. Ezra just nodded and agreed.
The next morning Ezra woke up and raced into Kanan's room and woke him by jumping onto his bed, excited to continue their Jedi training so he could one day be as nice and awesome as Kanan was.
A/N: This is the chapter that begins Ezra's training. So many of you guys have asked for it and now it is here. I wait a bit for the reason (excuse) Kanan gave, I wanted Ezra to get comfortable with the crew before he dove into training. I also want to give a shout out to Nonagon, a user in the reviews who mentioned the idea of telling Ezra is wasn't training it was abuse. I tweaked it a bit but am happy with how this chapter turned out. Anyways I have to begin studying microbiology, so hoped all enjoyed. Oh also I want to give a shout out to user DaFreeze, who actually translated this in Russian on another site, it was pretty cool to see my work in a different language.
