A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you like this chapter. I keep finding that this story is not just Caleb's story, but it's Ezra's story too. I am in love with our little blueberry, all grown up! This is sort of a bridge chapter, but I think you might find a few things you like. I am working on a little spin off that concerns the info in the first two paragraphs, if anyone's interested...

As always, I'd love to know what you thought.

Chapter 5

The Adagio was the sort of a dive where one would come to get into a bar fight. Ezra had found his way into a few of them, in those dark months after Kanan died. He would get sent on a supply run, or to meet with this operative or that operative on a planet somewhere, and alone, he would complete the mission. Then he would find his way into the nearest hole-in-the wall and drink himself into oblivion. Sometimes he woke up with battered knuckles, other times he'd woken up with a black eye and a cut on the back of his head that required stitches. Once he'd been hit with a blaster bolt, but it had been a glancing shot. And that wasn't the worst, he thought. He'd begun with alcohol, but it had gotten worse than that. But even when things had gotten as bad as they could get, it seemed like the Force always kept an eye on him even when he wasn't keeping an eye on himself.

Hera never said anything to him about it, but she knew something was wrong with him. He'd see a frown on her face and her shoulders would seem to slump a little more, so he would try to limit the amount of visible damage. Sabine had figured it out sooner. After Hera had discovered everything, he'd taken off, not really knowing what he was going to do, but knowing something had to change. Sabine had found him in a bar, very much like this one on Garel, (she'd planted a tracker) and looking into his eyes and holding out her hand, she'd brought him back home where he belonged. Not long after that, they'd gotten engaged, then married. It hadn't stopped his anxieties, but her steady influence had kept him sane in a very dark time.

"Ezra?" Caleb asked. Ezra realized he'd paused by the entrance, lost in thought.

"Sorry." Ezra put a hand on Caleb's shoulder as they entered the Adagio. The bar was the way most people liked it; cool and dark. The bartop ran along one wall of the place, and opposite to it was a small stage where instruments were set up. Apparently, the band wasn't on yet.

Since it was early afternoon, Ezra and Caleb were able to find a seat in a booth where they could see the whole stage. Ezra came back from the bar with two glasses, setting one down in front of Caleb.

Caleb took an experimental sip. "Jogan Fizz." It was his favorite.

"Yeah." Ezra said, taking a seat on the other side of the booth, and taking a sip from his own fizzy drink. "Pretty good. I see why you like it."

They sat for a while, watching the people go in and out of the bar. Some people ordered food, but most were drinking. Many of them were sad…drinking to forget their problems. As he and Ezra chatted, he could feel that Ezra understood that.

And he knew that Ezra had had problems that he'd run from. Throughout the years, in the whispered, hushed tones of a family secret, he'd come to know that Ezra had struggled greatly after Kanan died. The struggle had crested on Hoth, and the tension had only started to ease after his father had appeared on Lothal. However, since Ezra had come to rescue him from the Inquisitor, things had improved. The nightmares, the staring out of the window in the middle of the night, the worried crease in Sabine's forehead at Ezra's quiet moments had all seemed to have run their course. There were certain times of the year when Ezra was quieter than others, but the depressions seemed to last only a day or two before passing like a quiet summer storm. He thought again about talking to Sabine about it but decided that maybe it wasn't necessary. He still worried a little though because Ezra meant so much to him.

After about an hour, they saw several humans come through the door. One was thin and scrappy-looking, carrying an instrument case. The other was tall, with broad shoulders and dark skin. Long braids hung around his face and he wore a slouchy hat. He lagged behind his skinny bandmate, talking with the bartender a moment. Ezra saw money and drugs exchange hands.

"That's him." Caleb said.

"Let's go. You're on lead," Ezra gestured, "but I'm right behind you."

Caleb made his way across the club toward the bandstand where the two bandmembers had begun setting up. He waited until they glanced up at him.

"Hey, kid, what you want, huh?" The skinny guy raised an eyebrow at him as he set up his voice amplifier. The dark-skinned man worked on his drums, getting just the right sound from them as he watched Caleb and Ezra with dark, wary eyes.

"Hi. I'm a friend of Phaedra's."

"Phaedra?" The singer laughed harshly. "That your girlfriend, pretty boy? She's a real bitch…" He shot a glance toward the drummer, who immediately stood up.

"Shut the kark up. Jus' cause the girl knocked out your tooth when you tried to make a move on her don't mean she's a bitch. Jus' means she's got sense, you kriffin' ugly bastard."

"You shoulda let me teach her a lesson."

As soon as the smaller man spoke, the big drummer advanced on him. "Karkin' pervert." They bumped against each other again, staring at each other, but the hard glare of the drummer won out. His bandmate walked away, knocking over his voice amplifier stand and making his way to the bar. A friend or possibly another member of the band met him there and they talked in low voices.

The man with the braids nodded at Caleb. "What's Phaedra need? She in trouble with the law?"

Caleb shook his head. "Are you BoDan?"

"Yeah. That's me." Suspicion grew in his eyes like stormclouds.

"You know something was stolen from her recently. A weapon."

The drummer shrugged, backing off. "Hey, man. I know the girl, but I ain't involved in her everyday life like that."

Caleb knew the drummer was lying. He drew the Force to him and then used it when he spoke next, applying the mind trick technique, even though his heart was hammering out its own drumbeat. "Think again. It was a golden lightsaber."

The drummer paused a moment, as if thinking, then his eyes grew hard and he shook his head. "Man, I don't know shit about a lightsaber. Are you kriffin' with me? Get the frack out of here."

"Wait a minute…I…"

The big drummer stood up and advanced on Caleb. "Look. I don't kriffin' know you…and I don't want to know you. I'm not in the mood for this banthashit."

Ezra rested a hand on Caleb's shoulder. "Ask again," he said in a calm voice.

Caleb felt his mind's focus sharpen. "Help us help her out. You can trust us. What do you know about Estin Devian?" Caleb felt the Force strengthen around him and he felt the man's mind in front of him begin to give.

"The guy is a sleemo. Saw him talkin' to a pilot in here that ships from Jantal. Think he was buying passage that way. In fact, I know they left together. Devian is probably gonna sell that lightsaber thing in Jantal's Great Market." BoDan blinked several times, as if surprised.

"Thanks." Caleb said.

"Um…yeah, no problem." BoDan looked slightly confused and a little worried that he'd said too much.

"You have nothing to worry about. You can go about your business." Caleb added, and BoDan relaxed a little and began tapping out a beat to test the sounds of his drums, effectively ignoring them.

Ezra used his touch on Caleb's shoulder to guide him out. As soon as they'd left the club, Caleb looked over at him. "Sorry, I messed that up."

"Yeah. But you got it the second time."

"Only because you helped."

"All I did was calm your mind. You did the rest." Ezra said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Let's get back to the Ghost."

The sound of the Ghost's hyperspace engines hummed around them. Ezra was sitting in the pilot's chair, staring out at the stars streaking past in blue washes of color. It was late evening, and he'd come to check on their progress through hyperspace.

"Hey, you. Want some caf?" Sabine held out a mug.

He nodded, taking it from her. "Thanks, Sabinika."

"Kids are in bed," Sabine said softly, sliding into the co-pilot's seat.

"That's good. By the time they wake up, we'll be close to Yavin 4."

She nodded, watching the endless streaks of light right outside the ship. "You've been really quiet tonight."

He glanced at her. "Just been thinking."

"About the past." It was a statement, not a question. She took a sip of her caf, watching him with a focused look in her brown eyes-the look that said Sabine Wren had sensed a problem and would not be letting this go.

"Yeah." Ezra tried his caf. "Kriff you make good caf."

"Distraction's not gonna work with me, babe." She raised an eyebrow.

"It's nothing. Just…been thinking about the kid. Phaedra. Brings back a lot of memories of the street."

She nodded. "She does remind me of you."

"We've got to help her." Ezra murmured.

"We will. Believe me, once Hera gets a look at this kid, there's no way she'll be going back to her life on Queln."

Ezra nodded to himself. "Yeah."

Sabine glanced over to Chopper. "Chop can watch the jump, and we should head to bed." She knew her husband hadn't been sleeping well, and she wanted him with her, not sitting up watching the starlines in the night. It was too much like…before. Since Ezra's fight with Tarek years before, he'd had a much better hold on his anxieties—for example, she rarely found him holding watch in the night anymore. He still had the occasional nightmare but hadn't had a panic attack since Caleb's rescue. She desperately wanted it to continue. She was no mind reader, but she had a sense for stress in Ezra and she could feel it building.

He took her hand but pulled her back to him and wrapped her in both of his arms. "You know you don't need to worry about me, Sabinika." He leaned in and kissed her. "I'm all good."

She broke away, pulling him by the hand. "Yeah? Then come prove it to me."

"There are two kids aboard," he said, putting up a slight token resistance. However, he couldn't do it without a smile, so she knew he was game.

"Yeah, and we'll be really, really quiet," she whispered, pulling him along in the darkened ship until they disappeared into their room.

Hera was sitting on the ramp of the Phantom, talking with a few pilots when she saw the Ghost landing on the pad outside the New Republic base. She began to walk towards her ship when it settled to rest.

The cargo ramp let down, and as she stepped onto it, her eyes dazzled at going from the bright of outside to the interior of the ship.

There was a tink, tink, of feet on the ladder and then Caleb was standing in front of her. "Mom," he said, hugging her.

She hugged him back with as much enthusiasm. "Missed you," she said against his ear, then placed a quick kiss on his cheek. Then she leaned back and took him in. He was looking more and more like Kanan as he got older, she thought. Her eyes drifted to the bruised area under his eye.

"It's okay, Mom." Caleb said.

"Mmm-hmm." She said with a raised eyebrow. She brushed some of his hair out of his eyes and put a hand on his shoulder as they turned to see Sabine, followed by Ezra and a girl with short curly hair.

"Hello," Hera said.

The teal haired girl looked around uncomfortably. "Um…Hi." Ezra placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her forward. She was limping a bit from the injury Ezra had mentioned. She couldn't help but feel sympathy for the teen. The girl was very thin, wearing threadbare clothes that were too big, and had wary, frightened eyes.

"Hera, this is Phaedra Alata. Phae, this is Hera Syndulla, Caleb's mom."

"I'm sorry, General." Phaedra said in a whisper. Last night, they'd talked a bit about Hera and although everyone had told her it would be okay, she was still nervous to meet Caleb's mom.

Hera raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What for, love?"

"About stealing your droid's memory core." Phaedra's eyes darted away and back nervously. "I…I didn't have a whole lot of options, but I…didn't do the right thing." She forced herself to look at the green Twi'lek who was smiling at her.

"May I call you Phaedra?"

She nodded. "Phae, if you want. It's my nickname."

"Okay. You should call me Hera. Very few people call me General anymore." Hera paused a moment, thinking, then went on. "Phae, everyone in this room has made mistakes. Big ones, small ones, ones that ended up not mattering and ones that we still regret today. We would be a poor set of people if we didn't forgive mistakes in others, so please don't worry." She extended her hand and Phaedra took it. "It's nice to meet you. My family thinks a lot of you, obviously."

"Th..thanks. Same here." Phae was at a loss at being greeted so warmly. She'd not expected it. She watched as Hera approached Ezra and gave him a hug, then did the same with Sabine and Zeb, who had just come down the ladder.

"These guys will offload the shipment." Hera said, gesturing to several military personnel who were at the foot of the ramp. "Then we can talk."

"Fifteen on the kid," one of the pilots said to his friend as they leaned back against their ship. "The old one's gonna be too slow, I think."

"I got you on that bet. You're gonna lose that money, bishwag. Know who the other guy is? That's Ezra Bridger. Hero of Lothal." He shook his head. "He's like Skywalker. A Jedi. Kid's his student. My money's on the Jedi Master."

"No betting on my kids." Hera smacked one of the pilots on the shoulder and the other one on the chest with a glove as she walked by.

"Yes, Ma'am." They straightened up, but immediately began whispering about Hera in tones of hushed admiration when she was gone. She was as much a legend as Ezra.

Hera reached the Ghost's cargo bay ramp, where Sabine, Zeb and Phae were sitting. They had joined the crowd watching Ezra and Caleb spar on the tarmac. Caleb's twin blue sabers were flashing, trying to find any opening in Ezra's defense, but everywhere the blue sabers struck, the green lightsaber was there to deflect.

Hera sat near Sabine with Phae in the middle. "Did the medics take a look at your knee, love?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Phae said. "They said it's healed up a lot. Sabine came with me."

"Yeah, they said they couldn't believe how quickly it was healing." Sabine added.

Hera nodded. "Good." She glanced back at her son and Ezra. Ezra would win the bout, of course, but Caleb WAS getting rather good. Again, she thought of how much Caleb reminded her of Kanan. The two blades, his and Kanan's, were the same exact color. A matched set, although the lightsaber hilts were different. Caleb had begun learning with Kanan's saber and hadn't wanted to give it up when he'd built his own, so he used both.

"They're amazing," Phae whispered. She let out a little gasp as Ezra drove Caleb back with several slashes, then Force pushed him back about ten feet.

"Yeah." Hera said. "Don't worry though. They're training. They can't get hurt from the lightsabers. It just gives a jolt." As if to prove her point, Caleb fooled Ezra with a feint and struck him on the knee with a zap.

"Okay, that's it, huh? That's how you're gonna play this? I may have taught you everything you know, but I haven't taught you everything I know." Ezra gestured with a grin. "Guard position, Padawan."

They began to spar again, back and forth across the tarmac. This time, Ezra used some different moves, and caused Caleb to drop a saber. The teen was so surprised, he didn't react quickly enough before Ezra called the dropped saber into his hand and was now fighting Caleb with two sabers. Caleb went into a conservative guard and Ezra nodded. "Form three. Good choice to defend from a variety of attacks."

"Economy of motion." Caleb replied, blocking a flurry of attacks from Ezra with calm, practiced moves. There were a few gasps from the crowd of pilots as both Jedi were using the Force and moving faster than humanly possible.

"It doesn't leave much room for offensive action, though, does it, Caleb?"

"But Master, survival leaves room for offensive action later, correct? If you outlast your opponent, you can take offensive action, yet you can take no action if you are dead."

"That's a good response. But what if the situation requires you take immediate action, or another's life could be lost?"

"I see. Then another form would be better. Perhaps Ataru."

Ezra didn't respond, but it was clear he was pleased. After a few moments, as Caleb tried a few different attacks, Ezra prompted him. "You are tiring. Form three is your best choice in such a situation." He began using Ataru himself, forcing Caleb to go into defensive mode once more.

Finally, Caleb stumbled. Ezra held out a hand and his Padawan stopped mid-fall. "You're off balance." With a push, Ezra gently stabilized his Padawan and disengaged his sabers. "And tired. We should take a break."

Ezra handed back Caleb's saber to a flurry of scattered applause. Ezra raised an eyebrow, but smiled at the onlookers as they slowly dispersed, going back to their tasks. "The distraction of the crowd was good for you." He ruffled Caleb's brown hair and grabbed the bottles of water they'd set out earlier, handing one to Caleb.

"It was different. I could feel the different emotions from them." Caleb drank deeply, then made his way back to the Ghost with Ezra.

"Good shot on that knee, Cale." Zeb grinned. "Better watch your back, old man. He's gonna beat you one of these days." He wrestled Ezra into a headlock and the two of them ended up on the ground laughing.

Phaedra stood up as Caleb came close. "That was amazing. You were so good, both of you." She added, looking to Ezra. It was clear who she'd been watching however.

"We practice a lot." Caleb said modestly. "Want me to show you a move or two? We can go real slow…I know your knee's still healing."

Phaedra looked down at the temporary brace on her knee, then back up at Caleb. "Sure. That'd be fun."

The two of them returned to the empty tarmac and Hera watched as Caleb moved Phae slowly through a few paces of a Jedi form. She didn't know them all, but she recognized the moves as some of the ones Ezra had started Caleb with, all those years ago. Ezra and Zeb talked for a minute until the Lasat left to climb to the upper level.

"What did the doctor say?" Hera asked casually as she glanced to Sabine.

"They did a full workup and gave her all her immunizations." Sabine began. "Other than the injured knee, the medic said she was in fairly good shape. She has a few suspicious looking scars, one underneath her chin and a few on her back. She's had a broken arm. It was set through, probably by someone with some training. She's a good bit underweight and small for her age, probably due to some malnutrition, according to the doctor."

Hera's jaw tightened as she thought of Ezra and how thin he'd been when they'd gotten him. "Okay. We can help with that."

"I have some vitamins and meal supplements from the medbay," Sabine said.

Hera nodded, looking out at Caleb and Phae, who were moving mostly in tandem. They did about five different moves very slowly before Phae lowered her sword. She was looking at Caleb and laughing at something he said to her.

"She's a cute girl," Hera said.

"She has a Jedi's heart." They'd almost forgotten Ezra was behind them. His voice came softly, and as Hera looked up, she saw that his eyes were a bit unfocused as he stared out at the two teenagers.

"Ezra…" Sabine raised an eyebrow. "Ezra?"

Ezra's face showed he didn't hear her. He simply had a distant look on his face. She shared a look with Hera—Kanan had sometimes said things that turned out to be true without remembering them. This wasn't Ezra's first time doing it. "Is she supposed to become a Jedi?"

His face twisted with effort as he narrowed his eyes. "It's hard to see through all the darkness…"

She met Hera's eyes again as her alarm rose. She reached up from her sitting position and brushed his hand with her fingers. Immediately he shifted to look at her. "I didn't hear you. Sorry."

"You said something. Something about Phae?"

"I did?" Ezra blinked at her.

"Did you see something about Phae? Something in the Force?"

Ezra's concern showed on his face. "I don't think so…I don't remember."

"It's okay. You might remember later." Sabine shrugged, knowing the bigger deal she made of it, the more disconcerted he would become. "Wanna come up and make dinner with me? I was going to show you how to make that soup. Vegetable nerf?"

"Oh. Right, yeah. I'll need to get a shower first."

"That's fine. I'll meet you up there in about ten minutes?"

"Sure." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before he climbed the ladder.

"The Force is at work again in our lives." Hera mused.

"It wouldn't be the same without it." Sabine said, glancing at Hera. "Did Leia or Luke Skywalker find anything about Phae's mother?"

Hera nodded. "Some of it we should definitely share. Some of it…I'm not so sure."

"Why?"

"It comes from Inquisitor records. There's…footage from a security feed. It shows…her mother's death." Hera grew serious. "It may be too much for her to see at this point, I just don't know."

Sabine nodded slowly. "We'll let Ezra take a look, then decide."

"Good idea. Sabine, let's go on up." She turned to call to Caleb and Phae. "Dinner's in about an hour. See you then."

"Ok, Mom." Caleb waved, a big smile on his face. He turned to Phae. "Want to take a walk around?"

She nodded and they headed off through the ships toward the complex. Hera couldn't help but smile as she watched them go.