Chapter 5: First Day
Ezra awoke the morning after and was startled by the new surroundings. This was not his room; where was he then? Yawning, the boy suddenly remembered the events of the prior day and a bright smile illumined his face. Leaping from bed, Ezra dashed into the fresher to prepare for his first day as a padawan.
"Good morning Ezra," Caleb said from behind the child. He jumped and turned around sheepishly.
"Good morning Caleb!" Ezra greeted enthusiastically. The man laughed at the kid's energy and proceeded to walk over to the kitchenette.
"What do you want for breakfast? Cereal and blue milk or blue milk and cereal?" Caleb asked jokingly. Ezra stuck his head out of the fresher to answer and paused as if thinking through the non-options before him.
"I think blue milk and cereal sounded better," the boy replied. Caleb laughed again and left the boy to get ready.
The new master had just enough time to brew some caff, pour the cereal, and sit at the table before his zestful apprentice barged in. Ezra sat at the table and began eating the cereal as if some beast would come any moment to snatch it away. Caleb smiled at the recognition of events mirroring his own first day with Master Billaba.
"Excited?" Caleb asked.
"Yes!" Ezra replied.
"I can tell. Just slow down. We've got the whole day ahead of us and I don't want to explain why my new padawan developed stomach cramps on the day he moved in," Caleb directed humorously. Ezra smiled sheepishly again.
"Sorry, master. I'm just really excited. What are we doing today?" Ezra asked.
"Well I think the best place to start is to see where you're at with your lightsaber training and force abilities. I know we've practiced together before but since I'm doing all the teaching now I need to pay a bit more attention to the finer details. Then later I thought I might take you to see Master Depa Billaba. How does that sound?" Kanan explained.
"Sounds awesome. Who's Master Billaba? Isn't she on the council?" Ezra inquired with his mouth full.
"She is, but more importantly she was my master," Caleb laughed.
"You had a master," Ezra mumbled to himself. Certainly he was aware of this information but it was odd for the boy to imagine Caleb needing instruction.
"Of course I did. She picked out this scrawny little human boy who was hopeless at meditation and made him into a Jedi. I thought we should go pay our respects," Caleb smiled and prodded Ezra's shoulder.
"Sounds familiar," the boy responded. Caleb nodded in agreement; he only hoped he would be as good a master to Ezra as Billaba had been to him.
The door chime sounded suddenly and the pair looked at each other quizzically. Who would be dropping by at this time of the morning? Caleb wasn't one of the more famous Jedi and Ezra was still a youngling in all but title. It was highly unlikely any emergency would be brought to them. The man walked over to the door and opened it to find a very amused Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"Master Kenobi," Caleb bowed. Ezra leaped to his feet to bow as well, only stumbling for a brief moment.
"Sorry to disturb you so early in the day, but I thought you might be wanting this," the senior Jedi said before handing a small metallic cylinder to Caleb. It was a lightsaber with a child's hilt; Caleb realized it was Ezra's lightsaber.
"Thank you, Master Kenobi. This will definitely be needed," Caleb said while giving Ezra a look of unserious scolding. The boy blushed profusely.
"I—um—I thought I grabbed that," the child stuttered.
"Well you did not. But now harm this time around," Kenobi said before turning to leave.
"Thank you," Caleb said.
Kenobi turned and joked: "If young Ezra is anything like Anakin losing a lightsaber will pale in comparison to the dozen or so he'll manage to destroy somehow. Good luck."
Caleb shook his head and allowed the door to close behind him. Now looking at Ezra he could not help a small laugh from escaping his mouth. The boy looked up in both surprise and apprehension. Caleb handed the weapon to the child but did not release it until giving some advice.
"Alright Ezra. Lesson number one: this lightsaber is your life. Don't lose it. Don't treat it lightly. The crystal within is drawn to your Force and can help you channel it. Treat the lightsaber like an extension of your own body," Caleb said. Ezra nodded solemnly.
"Yes, master. I understand," Ezra said. As soon as the device was in the boy's grasp he clipped it to his belt and looked back up at his master expectantly.
"Are you done with breakfast?" Caleb inquired.
"Yes! Can we go train?" Ezra said excitedly. Caleb shook his head and finished draining his caff. This kid was going to wear him out with all this boundless energy.
"Alright. Come along. Now that you have your lightsaber we may as well test your ability to use it," Caleb instructed.
The master and padawan stepped out of their apartment and walked down the corridors of the Temple. Caleb greeted various Jedi he knew and he felt a sense of satisfaction seeing and feeling Ezra trailing along just a pace behind him. The boy looked as proud and Caleb felt; the padawan chain behind his ear worn like a great trophy. He was also amused to notice Ezra keeping a hand on the top of his lightsaber. The lesson had obviously hit its mark. Hopefully Caleb wouldn't have to spend as much time on the lightsaber carousel as Master Kenobi did.
"Here we are," Caleb noted as they stepped in front of the door to the training rooms. Entering, the master picked out a space in the back. Ezra took his lightsaber in his hand and stood ready for instructions. Caleb silently looked him over.
"Everything alright, Caleb?" Ezra asked.
"Yes, yes. Sorry; didn't mean to make you nervous. I'm just thinking through some things. Let's get started. Ready position!" Caleb instructed. Ezra followed the order swiftly. Caleb nodded in approval.
"Good form. Alright, go through the Form I velocities," Caleb continued. Ezra complied and his movements were smooth and controlled.
"Nice. You've really done well with the Shii-cho training," Caleb complimented.
"Well you've helped me a lot with it," Ezra replied.
"True, but discipline must ultimately come from within. Now let's increase the challenge," Caleb said while activating a training remote. The spherical droid shot into the air and began to send shock pulses Ezra's way.
Ezra grunted with surprise but immediately started following his training to block the pulses. Caleb was surprised when he chose to dodge a couple of blasts instead of catching them with his blade, but overall the boy's form was acceptable. His small stature made the movements seem cramped compared to their idealized rendition, but Caleb recognized that time would sort out this irregularity.
"Okay. Let's stop for a bit," Caleb said. He deactivated the remote and Ezra deactivated his blade. The boy stood at near attention to await his master's next instruction. Caleb smiled at his padawan's serious devotion.
"How did I do?" Ezra asked.
"I think you've done well with Form I. Now we'll continue running through the Form I drills for a few more months, but I also need to teach you another form. Are you familiar with the lightsaber forms?" Caleb asked Ezra.
"Kind of. Knight Tano walked us through them one day, but I forgot a couple of them," Ezra nervously answered.
"That's okay. I can refresh you. Form II is known as Makashi and it is well suited to dueling and very controlled movements. I'm personally rubbish at Makashi and I doubt you'll find it very useful. Form III—Soresu—is what Master Kenobi, Master Billaba, and I favor. It's defensive and good for keeping yourself safe. One way or another you'll end up learning some Soresu movements from me. Form IV, Ataru, is acrobatic and aggressive. Again, I'm rubbish at this one. I could see you taking to it though, so maybe in a couple of years I'll loan you out to Master Skywalker. He's the unrivaled authority on Ataru fighting. Form V is composed of the disciplines Shien and Djem So, and you are not ready for that yet. You'll recognize it though as Knight Tano's form. Form VI is known as Niman and is used to bring advanced force abilities into combat. Many of the Masters would be hard pressed to become proficient in that form so forgive me for not offering it to you as an option. The last form, Form VII—Juyo and Vaapad—is both very difficult and overwhelmingly favored by Sith. The Council won't let you learn it and the only one who could teach you would be Master Windu anyways," Caleb explained at length. Ezra looked overwhelmed by the information.
"Wow," Ezra said in awe of the list.
"Sounds like a lot doesn't it? Most of us only master one or maybe two of those though so don't let it overwhelm you," Caleb directed. The boy nodded.
"I'm going to learn one?" Ezra clarified.
"Yes. I think we should focus our time on Form III. I don't want you left without some good defensive moves and I can actually teach that one. Sound good?" Caleb inquired.
"Yeah! I'm ready to learn whatever you think I need," Ezra trustingly replied. His master smiled fondly.
"Alright then. We'll get on that first thing tomorrow. For now let's go back to our room and meditate," Caleb led. Ezra groaned in revulsion towards the tedious activity.
"Do we have to?" the boy asked, finally sounding like the child he truly was.
"Yes, we do. Come along. Being a Jedi isn't all about fighting and lightsabers," Caleb gently corrected while leading the way back to their apartment. Ezra followed obediently.
They arrived at the residence and Caleb placed his own lightsaber on the table, gesturing for Ezra to follow suit. Hesitantly he did so and followed his master to the meditation stools that stood to the side of the room. Sitting in proper form, Caleb waited for his padawan to copy him and then closed his eyes.
"Focus on the force, Ezra. Let it flow though you and don't interrupt what its trying to say," Caleb instructed. The boy closed his eyes and silently tried to comply.
After a few minutes however he spoke: "What now?" Caleb laughed.
"Now you continue focusing and slowly allow your mind to quiet until only the Force remains. That's the way of the Jedi. We must channel the Force in our thoughts and not our own feelings. Be still and silent. Try to open yourself to the Force until I tell you otherwise," Caleb commanded. The boy nodded shallowly and followed his directions.
The pair sat in meditative peace for a long time—Caleb estimated it was nearly two hours. At first, he could feel Ezra's frustration and expected the boy to speak up again. After a half hour though, the child seemed to calm. Caleb could sense that he was beginning to understand the purpose of the meditative life and that the Force was calming within him. The channel was weak, but Caleb knew the kid was trying.
Interrupting the silence, Caleb said: "You may relax now, my padawan." Ezra slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Caleb as if expecting a judgment of his performance.
"You did well," Caleb assured.
"I did? I have a lot to learn from you," Ezra softly replied.
"Yes you do but we can make sure you learn it my young padawan," Caleb answered. Ezra smiled proudly at the mention of his status as Caleb's apprentice.
"Thank you," Ezra mumbled. Caleb nodded his acknowledgement.
"There's one more thing we need to do today before we go see Master Billaba," Caleb said.
"What's that?" Ezra asked enthusiastically.
"We need to complete our training bond. It's a bit jarring to most padawans at first, but masters need to be able to sense their pupil's feelings and state of mind more clearly than others. It will help me train you, and provide you with an avenue to help when you need it," Caleb explained. Ezra nodded.
"Okay," the boy said. Caleb stretched out his hand towards Ezra and closed his eyes to concentrate on the Force.
"Open your mind to me," he instructed.
"Yes, Caleb," Ezra said nervously. He opened his mind as best he could and tried to maintain calm as his master focused on him. A slight surge in the Force is all Ezra felt before the older Jedi opened his eyes.
"Wow," the man said. He seemed awed by the new bond.
"I don't really feel a big change," Ezra confessed.
"No worries. I do and I'm sure it'll become apparent to you one way or another," Caleb comforted. Ezra smiled and the pair looked at each other fondly for a minute before the boy spoke again.
"Can we meet Master Billaba?" Ezra asked hopefully.
Chuckling, Caleb said: "Yes. Let's go see her."