(A/N: A sincere apology off top here on two fronts: Firstly for the hiatus: Sometimes life changes in your family and you have to react. Thankfully I'm in a position to do such a thing for my family. Unfortunately that's what I had to do, resulting in the month long break in posts. On a lighter note PLEASE don't become a hoarder when you become old and need to move. Life becomes difficult then.

Lastly: This chapter is one of two. The fallout from Chapter 93 can't quite be summed up in one chapter. 6000 words here and way more to come in 95. So a heads up about a split chapter up top. Sincerely, thank you for your patience during the recent time. And I hope you enjoy the chapter.)

(Matt Saracen POV)

The conversation occurring nearby that is floating to me thru this…whatever this is over my head, obscuring my vision and making slightly difficult to breathe.

The material is breathable at least.

"—teammates react?"

Oh, that thing.

I called a team meeting for everybody on Football that was at the party, first to make sure everyone's okay but more importantly, to get everybody on the same page about Ezra.

The guys reacted exactly how I thought they would, how the team will. Ezra was there during the dog days, when nobody told him he had to be there and it was hot as shit outside. He did multiple people's jobs to make everybody's lives easier and we're a better team because of it today.

Everything happened so fast last night, Ezra might as well have never been there. Gos and a few people near the BP table said they forgot Ezra was even there, even though Trey was adamant that he was for a split second. So that's what we're going with.

I told the guys what Ezra's told me and what his buddy told us. Ezra's just trying to keep everybody safe. Everything he does is towards that end. The best thing we can do is cover for him.

Good enough for me, the team, and hopefully—

My head covering is torn off without notice, causing me to blink at all the sudden light around me before a figure crouches down beside where I'm sitting. "Hi. We talked for a moment last night. Do you remember me?"

"Yeah." I nod and squint at the woman with multicolored head tails. "Your name's Ahsoka."

You were the woman dressed in all white at JJ's.

"That's me." She smiles before her tone turns serious. "I'm sorry about having to cover your head like that. It's nothing personal or about you, it's mandatory for all incoming traffic to the Temple."

"It's okay, I just wasn't expecting the Jedi to be quite so…mafia-like."

Thankfully the woman laughs, at least to play along while rising back to her full height. "I'm sure you heard about our intruder this summer?"

Behind her, the words get the attention of two clearly dressed guards, who looks menacing and emotionless. "Uhh, a little bit."

"Well there's one more part to clearing security, and it's a classic metal detector. Anything you got on you that we should know about? Maybe a fake hip?"

I chuckle to myself, then peer back and see Ahsoka smiling at me.

I like her. She's at least trying to keep it light after almost kidnapping me.

"No, nothing to declare. But I need to empty my pockets—" My words are cut off by a plastic tray appearing in front of me followed by another guard.

Ahh jeez. Hurry it up, Matt.

As fast as I can, I empty out my pockets onto the tray with my phone on top before it's all whisked away and I'm left to stare at the metal monolith before me.

Blinking twice, I try to take everything in before stepping into the circular device.

Crazy that here, in one of the oldest spots in the world that there's something as standard and 21st century as a metal detector.

It is out of place amongst all the stone and marble.

This place is friggin huge too, I don't get how they hide it—

The metal detector stops whirring around me, and I reflexively step out before peering up at the enormous, arched ceiling.

It's all one big piece. I'm not an art expert like Sabine but I know it's a compilation of a bunch of different scenes meshed together in a mosaic.

Must have taken an eternity to paint.

"Are we clear?" Zeb asks the Temple Guards just before the nearest guard extends something to me.

Oh, it's a badge.

"Temple Policy for guests requires you to wear that badge at all times as well as staying within eyesight of your host, young Bridger, at all times."

"He will." Zeb annotates, then looks to me as I turn to him. "Won't you?"

"Yeah, yeah." I turn back and smile at the guard. "I will. Where is Ezra?"

"He's nearing the conclusion of a lesson with Master Dooku. So I suggest that you hurry." Ahsoka announces her return thru the metal detector.

Zeb motions for me to follow him, and we both hustle off towards an impossibly long corridor.

…

Well, this is better than the drive in.

It was quiet for a while as he navigated his way back to the highway. Nice enough guy, Zeb. But not the best with iPhone maps and navigation.

Then he had this…weird and dark thing about how glad he was to hear me sticking up for Ezra. Talked about how he doesn't have many friends and that he really seems to like and care about us.

The tone was just…awkward. And forced me to think in the quiet parts of the conversation about how Ezra isn't just connected to Vader.

He is Vader.

Which is just CRAZY! Because twenty-four hours ago? I would have lied at first, but get some truth serum into me? I've thought about it. We all have, between Sabine, JJ, Jaicey, and I.

What exactly is Ezra?

As a group we settled on some sort of Jedi-Black Ops mix that was brought into the Jedi fold early on the contingency that he gets to go to college. And now the Jedi are taking advantage of that.

At least that's what Sabine was saying, before she and Ezra had their big whole fight, and somehow managed to not speak to each other basically all summer?

"So where are we going?" I ask, briskly walking behind Zeb.

Zeb seems to peer back to me for a moment then pause before answering. "You know how I told you that Ezra had a tough time of it growing up?" I nod to show understanding and he follows up. "This is one of the few good things to come out of it."

That still doesn't tell me where I'm going.

"So we're going to where Ezra is?"

"Right, yeah." He nods. "You'll be able to see some of what the big deal's about."

"What the big deal's about?!" I echo his words.

Zeb audibly laughs while keeping up his pace. "Yeah. And it's a helluva sight to see. Not many people have gotten to see it and have it not be coming at your neck."

It all happened so fast last night I didn't even see it.

After Ezra vanished, I went downstairs and had my guys round everyone they could up. I asked Trey to make something up, which wasn't that hard because he got pretty much everybody together and organized a happy birthday toast—

Then all hell broke loose.

The first thing I noticed wasn't something I saw. I heard a scream, then a looming figure on the follow through on a punch. After that, it was a stampede deeper into the house.

I wasn't even thinking about Ezra at that point.

The corridor we're walking down opens up to the left, directing right towards a cluster of people and small children, most of which are dangling—

Sabine said he worked with kids.

Bypassing a final entryway, the scene becomes fully visible, with—

WHOA. Dooku's here, and got a cane and—

Dooku raps the cane three times right beside Ezra's feet, who is very clearly the subject of the lesson. Behind Ezra, there are two more Guards in fearsome masks.

A jab in my ribs jolts me out of staring at Ezra, who is wearing something I've never seen him in before Zeb motions for me to stand beside the railing.

Uhh…

Not a single one of the kids looks away from Ezra and Dooku in what kind of looks like a ring or stage of some sort, marked out lightly on the ground—

"—single, precise plane." I catch Dooku telling Ezra as Dooku rounds him and draws a straight line parallel to his right foot straight ahead to infinity. "Do not yield off that plane—"

I don't quite catch the rest of Dooku's sentence before I look to what Ezra's rotating at warp speed.

Is that…does he have a lightsaber?

Lightsabers are so freaking cool. As a kid it was half the reason you wanted to grow up and become a Jedi, to get a lightsaber and swing it around.

Then you grow up and find out that they don't take anyone and you can't apply to join. It's—

Dooku concludes whatever it is that his point is before turning towards the stairs nearest Zeb and I as Ezra walks away.

It looks like he has a purpose, has a place where he's—

My train of thought gets completely derailed when Dooku takes the stairs, and his shoes clipping on the floor cause me to jump slightly. Immediately, Zeb chuckles.

Not funny!

As if I said the word aloud, Dooku turns to me and glances at me for an instant. "I see that you have acquired one-half of the set Captain Orrelios. Should I fear why Miss Wren isn't here?"

Zeb opens his mouth to respond, then stutters. "I moved on her before acquiring him, Master Jedi. She currently is being run by the soccer team captain."

Wait, run?

"Run as in…?"

"Sprints, sir. We called them suicides at my elementary school; you go five feet, stop, come back. Ten feet, stop, touch the ground, come back. On and on again on usually a basketball court until—"

"I am aware of the concept. Miss Wren is running? Or being run?" Dooku makes a dismissive motion towards the arena.

"Being run sir."

"For how long?"

"I don't know. I asked that, and the response I got was and I quote 'Until she learns her lesson.'"

Lesson for hitting Ezra in the head?

—

Dooku shifts a few feet from me before making another motion to the enclosure. "I assume that there are contingency plans? We need her here, least of all for her safety and well-being. In addition to the Mandalorian element to all this."

"A couple of Rex's men are working a loose follow of the girl. She knows she's supposed to come here, and they'll bring her here."

Dooku takes a moment, then appears to accept the outcome. "I'd like to be notified whenever the girl gets here."

The girl.

I don't know if he likes Sabine all that much.

"Of course Master Dooku. Excuse me." Zeb nods then looks to me before taking a step behind me and vanishing.

Wait, aren't you supposed to—

"I would keep your focus on what is in front of you, Mister Saracen."

Feeling a sense of shame, I turn back to where Ezra is pacing, but at a snail's pace while his head is turning every few seconds.

Wonder what he's looking at?

Dooku makes a third motion out towards Ezra and the guards before two circle things both come to life and begin hovering before—

WHAT THE HELL!? They're got super-advanced floating drones?

Ezra's expression isn't fazed by the circle drone things now revolving around him like a sun before he bends down slightly and almost puts his elbows on his knees while looking in the direction of the guards.

Oh guys I don't like that look. I wouldn't do this.

He looks different than last night though. Looser, not nearly as rigid and stiff—

He did go stiff after Sabine bumped him. That's when everything changed.

Zeb described Vader as 'seeming to have a switch', so…

"One plane." Dooku calls out. "Go."

What's one plane—EZRA!

Ezra rotates his lightsaber, which he just activated in his hand while keeping his focus on the guards—

In the blink of an eye, everybody's moved and flashes of light begin popping up every few feet, followed by blurs of color and movement and yells and—

One of the drones shoots out some sort of laser, which gets blocked out of danger by one of the three duelists—

EZRA!

He's moving so fast I can hardly even see him, just—flashes—

A flurry of them follow my thought, ending in Ezra stopping just long enough to extend his arm and—

That guard flew back from—he can use the Force…

The move seems to put a pin in the action, leaving Ezra isolated one on one with the faceless Guard. Ezra however doesn't seem intimidated in the least before a laser is shot at him, only to be deflected away.

"Nice!" I blurt out, then feel my mouth get shut for me as all of the kids turn in my direction.

I—I can't—move!

The people in the enclosure act like I never said anything and clash once more, this time slow or close enough for me to pick up a downward chop from Ezra, followed by a block and Ezra sending the Guard away from the corner and out towards the center of the ring.

"Focus." Dooku calls after Ezra presumably. "Keep your balance…"

He looks perfectly balanced to me. He hasn't come close to wobbling or anything—

Dooku makes another motion and the drones seem to start humming before simultaneously firing on Ezra, who sends one to the sky and another out of harm's before he picks up his feet and—

The lightsabers colliding sound out right in front of me as blue collides with what kinda looks like yellow, broken up only by the drones as they keep following Ezra, firing shot after shot that he sends away.

It's hunting him! That's not fair!

The blows and flashes continue speeding up, up up until both Guards slice and—

Every kid watching ooh and ahhs after Ezra completes his flip and the scene seems to stop as soon as Dooku raises his hand.

Ezra's about as close as he's been. Maybe ten feet away, I don't know. Close enough to notice that he's got his hair in a modified top knot.

Sabine would KILL to see this.

Looks good on him though.

Ezra rotates the lightsaber in his hand, causing the blade to turn and for my eyes to follow before in a flash it's gone—

Jerking my head to find him, as well as the Guards he's fighting I spot the three as they cover acres of ground in a step or two, seemingly gliding on the air as—

I jump out of my skin at the rage and fury in the strikes between the three parties before Ezra blocks two strikes with the flick of his wrist that brings his saber from up above his head down to block the swing at his waist. He follows that up with a—

—

—

What the hell was—

The fighting stops due to both Guards being pushed away by an invisible force. The stoppage is only temporary, with both Guards seeming to synch their movements and forcing Ezra—

HOW DID HE GET OUT OF THAT?!

Ezra's head snaps in my direction, and he makes some sort of a motion, followed by a silver blur flying thru the air—

He got a new lightsaber!

Ezra activates the other lightsaber, in his right hand and adds his blue to the white one in his left hand before all four droids fire on him. Everything just becomes blurs and blue and red and a flash of Ezra's dark clothing for an instant before the Guards are on him.

One swing, then the other followthrough on the promise only for Ezra to meet both about a third of the way from the tip of both swords before releasing his momentum and pushing them back to give himself some breathing room.

The Guards refuse to give him that, and Ezra compensates by turning to the one on his right and meets his blade with two up high and two more down low when the Guard counters. However, by the time Ezra comes to a stop, the other Guard has snuck around and—

HE BLOCKED IT AGAIN!

The Guards refuse to give up and both wind up to take huge swings at Ezra, WHO FLIPS AND—

Bolts fly around as Ezra gets his lightsabers up to everything and sends it away, pivoting out and covering ten feet in a couple of strides.

He looks like a natural.

Dooku waves his hand and the silver what must be lightsaber flies back towards the small group to my left—

The sound of lightsabers crashing against each other forces me to whip back around and catch Ezra batting away Guards' blows with graceful waves of a hand before he catches a bolt fired his way.

Everyone takes a blink to reset, and Ezra meets the challenge of back to back to BACK challenges by giving ground and doing just what he did before, waving his hand and the threat was gone. Blade knocked away.

Can't hurt him if you never get close.

—

Wait, what happened?

The guards both have straightened up, followed by the beeping of all four drone droid things that were giving Ezra hell. Ezra follows suit by raising his lightsaber and twirling it—

That's nice…

Zeb chuckles off behind me, causing me to glance back and see Dooku and Ahsoka moving down a set of steps, followed by that Kanan guy.

I…guess we're done now?

Turning to my left, I catch Zeb looking out to where Ezra is and also see the kids from earlier making their way down the stairs in two neat rows down into the arena floor.

"Hey." I hear below me. I turn and see Ahsoka— "Get down here. C'mon."

Okay.

As fast as I can, I loop around the small staircase and descend the five feet or so from the corridor and hallway to the arena floor.

"—because he had a plan. Young ones, what does planning do?" Dooku asks as our group approaches.

"Prevents poor performances." Every single child recites back to the Jedi Master.

—

"With the advantage of plenty of space to operate with, young Bridger leaned on that to give him answers when the droids and Guards were pressing in on him. Yes, young one?"

A child amongst the group courageously has raised his hand. "What about when he borrowed Master Tano's lightsaber?"

"That was a moment of improvisation," Dooku replies before his expression turns stern. "and one that he was not supposed to perform."

Oh.

"But he stayed within the fundamentals of lightsaber combat, and strategic thinking, and trusted in the Force to guide him. If nothing else, he had the Force."

The Force.

One of a billion topics the Jedi refuse to speak on under any circumstances according to JJ. It's merely a rumor, followed up with eyewitness accounts of the unbelievable. Except now that we have video proof, dating back to Korea and Vietnam, even as recently and Vader and his brother and their fight.

"Young Bridger, do you have anything you'd like to pass along?"

I can't help but turn to Ezra and catch him look uncomfortable for a change. "No Master. Not at this time."

"What do we say?" A—

A green dude that looks like a dinosaur says…Who are YOU?!

"Thank you Master Bridger!" All of the younglings recite to him, only for Ezra to smile and bow his head.

"May the Force be with you."

"And with you as well young one." Dooku says, then motions towards me. "Now I do believe that we're interrupting Master Trebor's…"

"No, you're never interrupting Master Dooku—." The Dinosaur guy says before Ezra walks up to me.

"C'mon. They didn't show you around did they?"

I can't stop a laugh. "No, they haven't. That was incredible by the way."

"Nyhhh…" Ezra makes a face. "I did what was asked of me."

He leads me up the stairs and turns back to look at the little kids. "Those are your kids, the ones you teach, aren't they."

"I guess, yeah." Ezra seems almost indifferent while squirming.

"What?"

Why so weird?

"I…" he starts, then stops himself and glances over at me. "I, uhm. I read up on last night. And everything, so…but I'm distracted. Point is, you can't possess people. They're not 'mine'." Ezra air quotes me. "And I can't afford to look at it that way. I teach them a couple of things once a week. More if I'm lucky."

"They love you. They have to be learning a lot."

Ezra shrugs before the sound of many, countless lightsabers lighting up behind me gives me no choice but to turn and see each little Jedi kid with a lightsaber in their hand.

"Ready position." Dooku calls out. His words are followed by every kid, many of whom do some attempted waggle thing much like Ezra did.

I turn to catch Ezra's reaction, only for him to inhale sharply, then push off the ledge with his arms and flex his fingers before exhaling. "What?"

"That's…so unnecessary. That's not the point. That's not what to pick up…" He grumbles, trying to keep his voice down.

I don't think they can hear him…

"They're copying you. Whatever that wave, waggle thing is that you do. You ever heard what the finest form of flattery is?"

I know your ass hasn't seen like, ANY movies.

Ezra gives me a cross look, then turns away and begins down the corridor.

I guess I better follow him.

I hustle on behind him, only for him to not react when I do catch up.

…

I guess I shouldn't be surprised he's in a bad mood. This is the worst mood I've ever seen him—

"Okay, first of all…" Ezra breaks out into speech. "Half the things you heard from JJ on those websites are crap. But one of the things that's not? The fact that I can pick up people's thoughts."

—

"Seriously?"

Ezra nods. "It's more of a feel thing…your mind's not a book. I can't flip thru memories or things like that. But yeah. I'm in a bad mood. I'm sorry. I'm trying to hide it."

"It's normal." I smile at Ezra. "You never let yourself get mad."

And now I know why, because—

"Yeah." Ezra cuts off my thought. "Because I'm the monster kids tell their parents about at night."

That's—

"For what it's worth to you, I don't know and I'm not going to Probe your mind to get the answer to this, but I gave up the Dark Side. And being a Sith. Everything, all of it. Turned myself into the Jedi. I didn't know what else would happen."

That happened six years ago. It's one of those 'You know where you were' things, like Pearl Harbor or JFK getting shot or 9/11.

"What do you mean 'Probe' my mind?" I turn to him.

Ezra seems to consider it, then replies "You'd call it reading your mind but that's not it. Really what I'm doing is I'm using the Force to probe your mind and catch your thoughts. It's not perfect, and usually, I don't use the techniques when I'm out in the world. Especially around you, and JJ and Jaicey. You're my friends."

Not necessary.

"Can I stop you, or do anything to slow you down?"

"Against me, no." Ezra replies simply.

Oh. Great—

"But then again, if I'm being just honest? 99.9999 percent of people can't do anything about it. Even Force Sensitive people, well-trained people. I can reach in and get what I want if I want to."

"So it's not a slight." I feel oddly reassured.

And he said that he doesn't use it around me.

I guess I just have to go ahead and trust him on this one.

I turn and smile at Ezra. He looks to me a second or two later, then smiles while looking self-conscious about it. "I'm sorry about last night."

"You saved everyone." I reply as we keep walking down this corridor, approaching a turn. "That's all I know."

I know Vader came in and beat Maul, threw him around then got taken into custody. That's all anybody knows. The internet has gone crazy from there but…

I've got the source right here.

Ezra doesn't seem to be reading into my head at all, instead looking straight ahead. "None of that was supposed to happen. We were…monitoring some people like I said. Maul's people. I don't know how they found us, found me, but they did. Again."

"He attacked this summer."

Ezra nods once. "Beat me, stole Sabine's beskar from me along with some valuable Jedi artifacts from this very Temple. I lost, I failed."

"You're not repeating this mantra here too are you?" I ask him.

The Jedi can't be standing for this crap!

The night we got him drunk, eventually that's what it boiled down to with Sabine's stupid metal. He lost to Maul's people, he failed.

He kept repeating it, like an idiot.

"It's not a mantra." Ezra's tone drops, causing my stomach to before he turns to look at me. "It's a fact. Maul beat me. I lost. Sabine entrusted me with her beskar. He came for her last night. To hurt me. I…"

Ezra stops and runs his hand thru his hair. "I'm sorry. I don't—The Council, when they come to reconvene in two days, they might pull me out of school. Class hasn't started yet, who'd miss me—"

"I'd miss you!" I cut him off. "Whole damn team would miss you!"

Shit, I need to tell him about that.

"Tell me about what." Ezra again looks at me.

That's…spooky.

"Matt. If it's so important that you need to tell me about it…" Ezra trails off, then shrugs his shoulders at me. "What is it?"

Oh! Talk Matt!

"I called the team in for a meeting. Everybody who was at the party. I told them what you and Cayle and Ahsoka have told us: You're protecting us. And that should be good enough for us. I agree, and the others did as well."

They were more focused on the fact that you were okay.

Rey even pissed me off and asked if he could borrow a couple of guys to look at Clemson film.

"Rey…" Ezra's voice rises into almost a smile. "You hate it when guys look ahead."

Yeah. He's heard me say that probably a thousand times.

Don't look ahead. Focus on what's ahead of you. You can't beat the team ahead of you in three weeks without winning the opener.

Can't skip steps.

"Which…is a Jedi ideal. A tenet of the light side of the Force, generally." Ezra says warmly, and I see his expression keep brightening before he adds "Bringing us full circle. Welcome, by the way to the Los Angeles Jedi Temple."

Laughing, I smile at Ezra and reply "Thanks. This place is crazy."

How have they hidden a building this big…anywhere?

"It's called urban camouflage." Ezra explains. "I don't know all the ins and outs of it."

"Yeah!" I reply. "I'm from here and I don't know where it is! Where am I?"

"You're in LA." Ezra looks away and smirks, I know it. "At the Jedi Temple."

"Thanks…now where are you taking me?"

We turned a while back and I don't know where we're going anyway.

"To the kitchens. I need to put in my lunch order for today, and you can order something too."

"I'll be fine. You don't have to."

Ezra glances back and frowns. "It's what?" his hand dips into the pocket of his robes. "9:42 AM." Ezra reads off his phone screen. "If you called that meeting, you didn't eat. And you'll be hungry eventually. They can cook just about anything, as long as they've got the ingredients for it. Food's good." He smiles. "Kind of has to be. The Order hires out some good chefs."

"How would you—"

He eats everything he sees. On pizza night he gets a pizza to himself and tips whoever is paying for it, if not himself.

"Nevermind." I say, more to myself than to Ezra. Thankfully he laughs and continues walking.

…

…

…

"How'd you figure out that it was me?" He breaks off our silence before glancing back at me.

I didn't really.

"I didn't. I, uhh, I left the house after you threw Maul out of the backyard to go find you and make sure you were okay. I followed the chaos and saw Zeb, Ahsoka, and all those officers, and…it just I don't know." I shrug. "It made sense to me."

He won't get mad because he's afraid he's going to hurt people again. He doesn't want to do that. He's trying to…I don't know.

I don't think I know much about him anymore really. A good dude though. And that's what matters.

"One last thing, we're almost there." Ezra says, weight falling into his voice. "It's all over the news isn't it?"

It was the top trend on Twitter this morning. Number One: Vader.

"Yeah, it is."

In response to my words, Ezra just closes his eyes and grasps at the top of his hairdo, the bun, and pulls on it out of what must be sheer stress. But Ezra doesn't say anything before gesturing me to move along, towards a large set of doors.

Oh. These must be the kitchens.

(Ezra Bridger POV)

I made it.

The younglings continue down the corridor, towards the lifts and their waiting parents and/or guardians.

Out of all the days for it to be a Thursday today…

Windu, Kanan, and Dooku didn't seem to care about last night, passing everything off to the High Council. They just said that expectations for today were the same, I'm due to teach my younglings in the afternoon today.

So bring something good.

They failed to mention Palpatine, or Maul or anything. And I figured they'd chastise me for asking, so I didn't. Then Dooku ended the session by jumping straight into a lesson.

I knew it right when I woke back up, in the containment cell that Dooku would be furious with how that fight went.

No flow, no rhythm. No composure.

Vader just threw things and bashed heads in and choked people. That's it.

Brute force. All brawn, no brain.

And Dooku wants the antithesis of what happened.

The Trial wasn't all that bad. I was expecting him to limit my use of the Force or remain stationary and let the Guards and drones take free shots on me.

My feet stayed on one consistent plane, my rhythm was good despite the Guard's best attempts to impose breaks in the dueling and I blocked all the drone shots.

Anticipation reaches out to me thru the force, and I come back to myself and see that we're at the door to the waiting area. "Thank you for being patient guys." I say to the group, before pulling open the door.

The younglings quickly begin filing out as Matt approaches my shoulder. "Just hang back, I doubt anybody will bother you."

"And their parents just come and pick them up?" He asks before I nod.

How else would they do it? They have to. We can't throw them in Uber's and ship them home.

They're some of the very few people allowed to know where the Temple is located. They have to know where to park, etc.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." I wave him forward as Jacen, toting Mira walks through the doorway. Following Matt, I—

"Ezra!"

"Ezra!"

"Ezra!"

I turn my head to the sound of multiple parents flagging me down, and I divert on the spot over to them.

It's Arieanah, Lisa, and Liam's moms.

Not too bad. They're at least reasonable people.

"Hi. What can I do for you guys?"

"We just wanted to talk for a minute." Lisa's mom opens up. "About the, uhh."

"The—Vader—thing." Arieanah's mom interjects.

Oh—

"Just to make sure everything's okay. You know?" Lisa follows up. "That happened just down the road in Northridge."

"Uhh…" I begin, then shut my mouth.

"If you don't know anything that's okay!" Arieanah's mom almost reaches out to me.

"Maybe we could talk to Master Tano or somebody…?" Lisa's mom suggests.

Yeah. Good idea.

"They'd have a better answer than me." I choose honesty with them before digging into my pocket and pull out my phone.

"Oh, that's sneaky…"

"Do the other Jedi know you keep your phone in there?" Liam's mom smiles mischievously at me.

I smile while tapping in my password and navigating to Ahsoka's contact.

Please be close, please be close…

"You've got good timing. We're walking your way." Ahsoka picks up after two or three rings.

"Great!" I smile, lighting the mood around me. "I've got a few parents here that have a couple of questions I can't answer."

"Questions about what?" Ahsoka follows up.

Help me out here!

"Current events, what's on the news." I allude vaguely to the situation as several younglings are looking at me and the sight of me on the phone.

"I can probably handle that." She replies coolly. "Hang tight, I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Thank you Master."

The call ends, leaving me to slide my phone back into my robes. "So she's headed this way?"

"Already headed in this direction."

"That's convenient." Liam's mom adds helpfully.

"Sorry to ambush you right out of the door." Ari's mom apologizes.

I wave down her concern. "No, I understand. It's fine. I just haven't had much of a chance to check the news today. Is it everywhere?"

"Everywhere, on everything."

"Gosh, where would a kid like you even get news Ezra?" Lisa's mom asks.

"Social media?" Ari's mom follows up. "As long as it's not—"

"I get briefings from here on essential matters. I don't pay attention that much. And today I've been too busy." I honestly counter to the trio of mothers in front of me.

"Getting ready for school, class?"

I nod. "Under two weeks now. Books and schedules and apartments."

Liam's mom groans at the mention of moving. "I so don't miss that."

"I am so the worst. I'm sorry Ezra. I'm sure you just wanted to be in and out." Lisa's mom says, looking very sympathetic towards me.

"Don't worry about it." I deflect the concern. "Part of the job, I'm in charge. Kind of." I joke, thankfully getting laughs. "From what they tell me."

"Liam loves you." Said child's parent informs me.

"Absolutely! You're a great teacher too—"

The sound of the door opening behind me sends a wave of relief thru my body before I turn and spot, Ahsoka, Zeb, and Kanan among others.

Keeping my focus on Ahsoka, the chatter amongst the moms stops as Ahsoka walks over. "Hi, I apologize for the slight delay. You have questions? About…"

"Vader." Lisa's mom says plainly before I catch Lisa, along with Ari and Liam shadowing Ari's Mom.

They're listening.

"—know that's close. We just want to double-check that there's no chance of contact between him and the kids. It makes logical sense—"

Ahsoka nods, silencing Liam's mom just before I hear a couple of loud cries of excitement. "There's been no contact between Vader and any of the younglings. I can't comment on his situation specifically, that's a delicate matter. In terms of Maul and that front, he's safely in custody. Nobody that participated in last night can come close to harming the younglings."

Oh wow.

That's uhm—

"Does that mean that the security checkpoint gets lessoned?" Liam's mom jokes, causing everybody to involuntarily laugh.

"I hope so." Ahsoka smiles. "And thank you, as always for complying with the measures. The Jedi Council knows they're a hassle. I expect they'll evaluate the security here pretty soon and loosen some restrictions."

"Wonderful." Lisa's mom smiles.

"Master Tano, Ezra, thank you so much." Liam's mother adds.

"Our pleasure." Ahsoka speaks for the both of us before I smile and nod.

Ari's mom calls out for her child, who has now drifted over to the reading table along with Lisa and Liam. A slight tug on my shirt causes me to turn to Ahsoka.

"Go talk to Hera, she's got a plan for dinner tonight."

Alright. Sounds great.

Without another word, I turn back and—

"Ezra!" Jacen calls out to me, just before Mira turns in her arms.

It's—

"Ezra! Look! Sabine's back!" Jacen says, smiling from ear to ear before he points behind him to where Sabine's crouched and holding Mira.

Sabine.