The stern looking woman at the controls for the full body scanner gestures for me to step into the machine. I comply with the request as to my right, my backpack is being sifted thru by two other security agents.

Once I'm standing on the footprint decals, the machine spins around me tice, then comes to a halt.

"Clara."

Clear.

Making sure to smile as I step out of the machine I then take back my keys, wallet and cellphone before striding to the end of the conveyor belt. While I wait for my backpack, I slip my items back into my pockets, then let out a breath.

Private airport. Public security.

I miss PreCheck.

My backpack is ungraciously shunted thru the belt at top speed before I stop it with my hand and slip it over my shoulder.

Alright…

Scanning the small terminal around me, I spot the private jet the Council has sent ahead for me, complete with the correct tail markings.

JDI-0170.

Without a word to the scarce parties around me, I cut thru, to the door to the tarmac and stride out into the morning sun.

Done. Mission accomplished.

After a minute of walking, I take the waiting stairs into the aircraft two at a time before stepping onto the plane and taking the right as dictated by the design of the aircraft.

Immediately, Cayle pops out of his seat and his face splits into a large smile. "Surprise."

"I didn't know you were here." I reply.

I thought I was going to be alone on the flight back.

"Eh." He shrugs, before I set my bag down on an empty seat. "Figured you'd want some company. And our mission windows ended at about the same time. So they're opting to save fuel."

Before I can reply Cayle retreats towards the cockpit, leaving me to eye the plane.

Eight seats. The first four of which can rotate. I think the others can convert into a couch. Lavatory in the back, leather seats, climate control…cup holders and a full entertainment section.

Very nice.

"You want something to drink?" Cayle calls out, as we begin moving.

"Sure. Caffeinated, please."

I want to know how his mission went, and I didn't get much rest last night.

The signature red of a Coke can slides in front of me before Cayle drops into the seat across from me. "So."

"Thanks." I counter.

"How'd it go?" He presses, gently while smirking.

"Well enough. Twos messaged that you all got what you needed?"

"Ahsoka didn't give me details either." He reveals. "Just that the job got done. What'd you think?"

"I don't think I like royalty all that much."

Cayle nearly snorts out his drink while laughing. "What makes you say that?"

"No really wasn't a concept she registered. Most people at the party I found were beneath her notice. But once I figured that out, it wasn't all that bad."

"Did you have to peacock?"

Yup.

I smile, then sip my Coke. "A bit. Played high stakes Craps, won a fair amount. That got her attention."

"Niiiice." He smiles, as we take a turn. "I thought you were on a yacht."

"I was. Just got back from Ibiza."

A song that Sabine likes pops right into my head, before I shake it away.

I guess I had to show the Princess that I was cool. But I don't feel any older and it was indeed something to do.

I had a job to do.

The overhead speaker crackles to life. "Seatbelts on, we're up next Commanders."

Commanders?

Doing as I'm told I add "Whose flying?"

"Hawk, he's on vacation from the 501st."

501st.

"So he knows Master Skywalker?"

Cayle nods in assent just before the engines truly kick into gear.

Here we go.

I grab my drink just as we begin really picking up speed. Seconds later, the front landing gear are off the ground, followed by the rear landing gear.

The next few minutes are silent, with Cayle peering out the window at the rapidly disappearing skyline of Barcelona as I sip my drink and grab my backpack so that I can stow it away when we level out.

Once we do indeed level out, Cayle gets to his feet and starts back towards the front as I stand and put away my backpack in the overhead bin.

"So. Was he right?"

Master Skywalker.

I nod. "Unfortunately."

"You don't have to say that, I wouldn't tell anyone."

"I was hoping to get the mission done without having to resort to that." I remind him.

Cayle laughs before reappearing, new drink for me in his hand. "Hey, you got laid. Which is something that you didn't do all semester. Somehow, you damn prude."

"I could have." I defend myself. "But—"

"You want Sabine."

"It never really materialized." I clarify. "It wasn't an 'if' thing."

The longer the semester dragged on, the more female attention I felt. Some, as Trey and Matt called 'cleat-chasers', some girls looking for a fun night, some her own teammates looking to piss Sabine off.

She was right about that.

"With Sabine? Or everybody else?"

"Everybody else." I frown at Cayle. "She cooled off the latter half of the semester."

Cayle has his retort ready. "Because she was at your apartment."

"Because she wasn't feeling it." I correct him. "You know what I told the Council. Wasn't the only time."

The plane continues its climb to 41,000 feet. "You didn't make a Freudian slip I hope. Say 'Leia' instead of 'Leah'."

CAYLE.

"You're terrible." I pinch my nose.

That's an awful thing to say.

"It could happen."

"Lee-ah. Not Lay-ah." I phonetically sound out the two, completely separate names.

"I know." He shrugs, before I look away from him out to the sky.

Pretty morning.

"You're tense."

Maybe.

…

"Did something go wrong there?"

"No."

Cayle lets out a quiet breath. "Okay. Do I have to pull teeth?"

"The idea blew up." I blurt out, then spin my seat towards the window.

She hated it.

She ran off the plane crying, Because I pressed the wrong buttons, all at once.

I've been debating whether or not I need to actually look into this guy or not. Because if he can cause my mistake to have such a drastic effect…

"Sabine's Christmas present?" Cayle asks. "What'd you get her?"

"Gift card for coffee—"

"Okay."

"—some leggings from a site I heard about—"

"Smart."

STOP INTERRUPTING ME.

I pause pointedly to make my point, then finish. "And a necklace. A nice one."

Spent over $250 plus shipping just to make Sabine cry.

What a debacle.

"And it didn't work?"

"It's not about it working." I frown in his direction. "I gave it to her last. First the card, then she picked the leggings. Then the necklace."

"And?" He tees me up.

She was already rattled. I think she was shook by the revelation about my mission. And I surprised her with the whole thing.

But it still doesn't explain her reaction.

"She took one look at it, said 'Oh, dammit' then closed the box back up and tried to look alright. It clearly wasn't alright, and right after she hid her face in her sweatshirt and started crying."

For the next forty five minutes.

Cayle doesn't have a quip at the ready and when I turn back to see his reaction, he's reclined in his seat while clearly thinking about something.

"That's…weird."

WEIRD?!

"That's not the word I was thinking." I answer. "From then until we landed, it was maybe the worst 45 minutes of my life."

"Which is saying something, coming from you." He muses before nibbling on his nails.

"Thanks."

Cayle blinks, then turns to me. "Didn't mean that like that. Sorry."

Yeah yeah…

"It's the other guy. I know it is."

"He—"

"I don't want to know." I cut him off, which gets his full attention. "I haven't decided if I'm digging into it or not."

"I can have Kyle pull up the file." He volunteers.

I shake my head. "No. That's not happening. But I assume you've seen it."

"I might have had a meeting or two about it."

"Don't give me specifics…" I preface my statement. "She's not in any danger, is she?"

Please say no.

"No." Cayle quickly tells me. "No. It's…how do I say this?"

Cayle leans back in his seat for a moment, clearly choosing his words carefully before finally sitting up. "It is kind of an odd situation. The Council was right, at least I believe so in that she is running from somebody. Vader also was right—"

Of course he was.

"—was a gap in her social media starting in late July, early August. Analysis of her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera showed that it began on a certain date. Complete and total purge of one specific person. Others got caught up in it."

"The purge, or multiple people?"

"The purge of information." He clarifies. "Pictures, photos, anniversaries, birthdays, all that. Wasn't just them."

"Them?"

Cayle tilts his head. "Can I elaborate a little? Not too much?"

"I don't want a name."

"No name." He holds up his hand. "But they were an item, for an extended period of time. And remember, Mandalorian society isn't like American society, or Jedi, or anything you've seen. Master Kenobi believes that could be why she's acting like she is."

"Master Kenobi is involved?"

"Ahsoka pulled him in. He, Master Skywalker, Kanan, Master Dooku. Kept it pretty in-house." He clarifies.

"I thought Dooku was with you."

I thought they went to Kamino.

"He was." Cayle nods. "Holo-call. He believes it would be a good idea for you to research and understand Mandalorian culture over the holiday break."

"I can do that." I respond.

The Archives should have a vast library of information from which to pull from. The Jedi and Mandalorians have been adversaries for millennia.

"I'm sorry it didn't go as you planned." Cayle says gently after a minute.

"I made her cry." I spit the words out of my mouth. "I don't think I played it totally right either, especially since I kind of got backed into a corner with the timing. But…"

I don't get it.

It's my fault though. I pushed too far. I crossed an invisible line.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. That won't do you any good."

Silently I spin my seat back towards the window. "I'm still kind of in a bad spot. It sort of came out that I was doing something Jedi related on this trip."

"How?" He asks, then by the sound of it picks up his drink.

"She stole my tablet."

Cayle laughs for an instant, then falls silent again.

"She asked me to text her when all this is done." I add.

"It's done. Text her."

"I made her cry." I remind him. "She needs space."

"Maybe." He concedes. "But she's probably staring at her phone right now, wondering why it's taken so long. It's what, seven hours' time difference?"

Yeah. It's seven hours ahead,

"It's a new day. She might be freaking out."

I counter. "Doubt that."

"You're in uncharted waters." Cayle reminds me. "Don't be too sure about anything. Send the text, worst case scenario she doesn't reply. Then we'll go from there."

We…I guess he's right.

Without another word, I get to my feet and pull out my backpack. Maneuvering straight thru the pockets, I pull out my phone, turn it on then meander towards the back of the plane.

I don't really know what I want to happen. I've got a ton of things to do over this break, and I need to keep my focus.

I hope she does at least read and reply to my text.

My phone finally loads up, followed by the various notifications I have set up.

How can the semester be over and yet I have fifteen new emails to my university account?!

Swiping the bulk of the notifications away, I tap my way over to my last text conversation with Sabine.

"Hey, I invited Matt and Jaicey over. They helped me pack and want to help you too. Told Jaicey to bring wine too." – S

I replied "They don't have to. I was planning on being up most of the night packing."

"That's a terrible idea." – S

The conversation ends there, with no response from me.

Well here goes nothing I guess.

"Hey." I begin typing off the top of my head. "Finished that thing we were talking about safe and sound. Sorry about the long wait time, I forgot the time difference. Have a good Christmas Break."

…

Send.

I tap the blue button before I can get cold feet, then watch as the message just sits there for a minute before it reads 'Delivered'.

Out of my hands now.

Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I walk back to Cayle and sit down. "So. Where are we going now?"

The sound of Cayle's footsteps, mine and the Temple Guard echo all around us as we walk down the hall towards the Council's chamber.

The New York Temple is a lot more ornate that the California one. More paintings, more prestigious.

More vain.

Our party continues walking before the large wooden door comes into sight, then opens outward revealing—

The full Council. Again.

I guess we're hashing everything out here.

The Guard stops at the door, allowing Cayle and I to walk to the center of the room. The chamber echoes with the sound of the door shutting before we both nod our heads to the Council.

"Young, Bridger. Jedi Knight Cayle. Welcome." Master Windu greets us.

"Thank you, Master." Cayle replies.

"We appreciate you taking the small detour we requested of you. Well done in Kamino." Master Kenobi tells him.

"Thank you. It was no trouble."

"We'll discuss our next course of action further when the Tournament begins. It'll be decided there if you are kept in the loop." Master Unduli informs him.

Cayle nods in understanding. "Yes Masters."

The room is silent for a moment before Grand Master Yoda speaks. "Young Bridger. Congratulations on a job well done."

I take the compliment and nod in understanding, but don't speak.

"We read your report. Well done in Spain." Master Skywalker commends me.

"Thank you Master Skywalker."

Next, Master Tano speaks up. "It is important to be flexible when on a mission like that, where infiltration and stealth are important factors."

Yes, it is.

I remain silent, then scan over the seats of the Council.

Masters Yoda, Windu, Mundi, Koon, Kenobi, Skywalker, Tano, Jinn, Dooku, Unduli, Shaak Ti, Yaddle, Jarrus.

No Master Billaba.

That's weird.

"You seem tense." Master Mundi observes.

Turning to his seat, I reply. "It's a personal matter, Master. My farewell with Sabine for the holiday didn't go as planned. I'm trying to let it go, but not having much success."

"What went wrong?" Kanan asks, garnering a few looks his direction.

"I…gave her a gift for Christmas. Which was the wrong thing to do. It upset her, and she ran off the plane."

"Ran off?" Master Tano adds.

I nod before a deafening silence falls over the room.

It was a nightmare.

"We'll have to table that for now." Master Windu shifts in his seat. "As I imagine you've deduced young Bridger, we're here to discuss your performance this semester."

"Yes Master."

They opted to push my review until after the mission so that I could more effectively use my cover.

"Your final grades are in. Did you know that?" Master Kenobi asks.

"No." I answer him. "I haven't looked at anything."

After I wrote my report on the plane I got a light nap in.

Didn't get much sleep last night after all.

"A's across the board. All five courses." Master Plo Koon speaks up. "Head of the class in four of the five courses, the only exception being Freshman Composition."

Really?

"Forgive me Masters, I would have expected the exception to be Spanish." I say.

"No, you led the class by a solid two points." Master Mundi issues his rebuttal. "You were overtaken by a student who has already declared their major to be creative writing."

I bet I know who it was.

There was one guy in the back. Never said a word unless he absolutely had to. Doodled in his notebook, not as well as Sabine does basically the whole time. Mostly geometric shapes. Every paper that was handed back in class I saw he got an A on.

"Congratulations. You have exceeded even your own expectations." Master Kenobi gives me a small, sly smile.

Before the semester began I was asked to estimate my expected performance. And I said 3 A's, 2 B's.

Straight A's puts me in a great spot to continue my studies.

"This Council is very pleased with how the fall semester transpired." Master Windu reveals. "Perfect attendance in all classes you could attend, no disciplinary problems, adapting to the social environment…not an easy task."

"Thank you Master Windu." I nod in thanks. "What about the incident in September?"

That was indeed a disciplinary problem.

"In the eyes of this Council, that has been put to rest and the case is closed." Master Dooku informs me.

Oh. Okay.

I try to hide my smile as nevertheless my spirits soar.

I did it. I made it thru.

"As a condition of that being a closed matter, we will be removing all surveillance and monitoring equipment from your apartment when you move in the coming days." Master Tano reveals.

"You are?" I blurt out.

That's not a condition of the USC agreement. That's a condition of my surrender. Period.

I have to be okay with 24 hour monitoring.

"We are." Master Mundi parrots me.

"You have demonstrated a desire to blend in with the greater student populace and live life as a normal student." Master Kenobi adds. "There is no need to watch over you unnecessarily."

Unnecessarily…

I move to speak before my words get caught up in my throat. "Thank you, Masters."

I can't believe this.

Incredible.

"The device in your television will remain, as well as a few sensors to ensure your own safety." Master Windu amends Ahsoka's revelation. "But nothing more than is absolutely necessary."

Numb, I nod but add nothing further.

"Believe, I do. One other thing to address have you, Master Jarrus." Yoda takes his eyes off me to look at Kanan.

Kanan doesn't reply, instead getting to his feet before I feel the Council's energy shift significantly.

What in the—

Kanan moves to stand behind me before his hands fall onto my shoulders. "With your permission Masters, I take Ezra as my Padawan Learner. He is powerful and gifted with the Force, but still has much to learn."

WHAT?!

"Ill-informed of the nature of the Living Force, the boy is." Master Yoda replies.

"Yes Master." Kanan nods while simultaneously attempting to calm me down thru the Force. "But he must be trained. And with your guidance and the Force as my ally, I believe that I will succeed."

I keep my eyes glued to the floor before I wipe off my sweaty palms onto my pants.

Don't let your hands shake, don't let your hands shake—

Kanan doesn't have a Padawan. He was due to choose one just before I flipped.

He and the Council have run an odd arrangement since then. Not nearly as formal and rigid as the Council likes it.

"Does anyone on this Council have an objection to this?" Master Windu asks before I dare to look up.

Say no. Please nobody say anything.

The Council chambers are silent before Yoda shifts and lets out a noise. "Approved, your request is Master Jarrus. Young Bridger is now your Padawan Learner."

—

I duck my head and bite my lip to try and conceal my smile before I feel Cayle's Force Signature explode with happiness and Kanan gently massages my shoulders.

"This Council is now adjourned. We will reconvene after the Christmas holiday to mark to arrival of our guests from around the world." Master Windu proclaims. "May the Force be with us all."

The Council adjourns, only for Kanan to keep me in place as multiple members of the Council including Master Dooku, Windu, Yoda and Mundi pass us on their way out of the chambers.

Masters, Kenobi, Skywalker and Tano however all come to a stop before Kanan and I, before all three smile. "Congratulations, young Padawan." Master Kenobi continues smiling.

"Thank you Master." I reply, quieter than I intend.

My throat's kind of closed up.

I can't believe this.

"I hope you know this means you can't get sick of us." Master Skywalker smirks. "You're in our sphere of influence now."

Yeah. I guess it does.

"Meaning you'll be able to go on more missions now." Ahsoka smiles at me. "More formal and structured responsibilities."

The Council allows the various masters to form their own alliances within the group. Mentoring each other's Padawans, sharing intelligence and the like. Those alliances are formally known as Spheres of Influence.

It used to be Master Dooku and Master Jinn's Sphere. But they handed over reigns to Kenobi and Skywalker, who pulled Kanan into the fold after his Knighting ceremony and Billaba's cold shoulder after.

Apparently. I still can't get the full story out of anyone.

I might actually be able to now.

"Looking forward to it." I reply to the three of them.

Master Skywalker then adds. "Have faith. Time and patience are your greatest allies, not your power. The events on Kamino and abroad will come into further clarity. And from there we will act accordingly."

"Yes Master."

Master Kenobi claps me on the shoulder before he and Master Skywalker walk away, leading Ahsoka as well before I feel Cayle pull me into a bone crushing hug.

He knew.

"You knew." I gasp out as Cayle is still hugging me tight before Kanan laughs.

"Yeah, maybe." He finally lets go and smiles widely at me. "Still didn't ruin the moment."

Kanan laughs at Cayle statement he speaks up again.

"C'mon. Let's go home."