11.

Kanan sat motionless on the plain for a long time, his face composed and peaceful as Hera stole expectant looks at him. Then, after a time, the wind on the plain changed around them. The great wolves that had been sitting impassively now lifted their heads and sniffed the cooler air. When she turned back, Kanan had opened his eyes, but they weren't their normal blue green-they were like a star field-points of light glimmering within their black depths. "Kanan?" she asked, fearfully. His gaze was other-worldly.

He didn't reply, and she didn't let go of his hand. As her heart thudded in her chest, she reminded herself that Kanan was still Kanan, down to the scar on his palm from the early days-when he'd cut his hand on one of the Ghost's manifolds-she could feel the thick ridged scar with her thumb. He was still himself, but so different…more fully a creature of this new world.

He startled her by speaking. "Do you feel it?"

"Feel it?" Hera asked, still holding onto his hand. Wherever they really were, this was not exactly Lothal and she was too afraid to let his hand go. "What do you mean?"

"You're being called back." He murmured. When he blinked, his eyes were again their normal blue green. He stood and pulled her to her feet, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hera, I don't want to lose you again, but I think you have to decide to go back. For them."

She turned her mind toward her loved ones. Caleb and Ezra, Sabine and Zeb. Did they need her? The past with them felt unreal and far-away when compared with this vivid reality of Kanan's. The grass waving around them, the wind blowing gently against her lekku, the smell of the earth…it was all incredibly peaceful and beautiful. "I…I love them. I do, but…I've missed you so much." She looked up at him uncertainly.

Kanan immediately drew her close in an embrace. "I know. I missed you too, Hera." She felt his kiss brush the top of her head. "But our time is not yet. If you die…there are risks. Caleb could fall."

"What do you mean?"

"Fall to the dark side, Hera. Lose himself in anger." The scene shifted around them and they were in front of her home on Lothal, facing a darkened plain. It was late afternoon and one of the frequent summer storms was brewing up above them. Thunder rumbled while Hera heard something over her shoulder.

It was Ezra and Caleb. Caleb had just come out, slamming the door behind him and Ezra followed. She watched as the Jedi grabbed her son's arm, his voice stern.

"Caleb. You're going to have to deal with this anger…You can't keep running." There was a pause in which Hera heard him lower his voice and saw him look at the young man tenderly. "Trust me, I know what you're going through."

Caleb stopped, but his head was down. His shoulders and lekku were stiff with tension and he stayed turned away from Ezra. "I…I can't…I can't let it go into the Force like you want me to." He said through clenched teeth.

"I know. She was like a mother to me too." Ezra said, his voice rough with emotion. "But she would want you to be happy, Caleb."

"She's dead. The Force let her die." Caleb whispered brokenly, his lekku drooping. "Why? Why did it let her die?"

"You can't think about it like that-"

"But that's how it is!" Caleb whipped around toward Ezra and the Jedi flew back three feet, slamming into the porch post. It wasn't enough to hurt Ezra, but they were both clearly shaken.

Caleb looked horrified. "I'm sorry. I didn't…"

Ezra stepped forward only one step, not wanting to crowd Caleb again. "It's okay. You have to push the dark side away. Let me help you, Cale."

Hera's heart was breaking as she watched her son turn away, wiping the tears off of his face, only to be replaced by more. When he let out a sob, Ezra came forward, this time wrapping the young man in a hug.

She looked up at Kanan's face. "Does this mean he will let Ezra help him?"

Kanan's eyes were far away. "I'm not sure. He will blame himself for not saving you. The dark side's grip on him starts from this point on." His gaze began to darken again as he searched the future with the Force. "He blames the light side of the Force; he lets his anger take control and then all I see is darkness. An anger and all-encompassing darkness, but the source is unclear…it could be from within or without."

"We can't let that happen." Hera said, her gaze searching the deepening gloom for both of her kids. Gradually, Ezra and Caleb faded from view. She could look up and see Kanan, but other than that it was impossible now to tell where they were. "I can go back?"

"You can." Kanan nodded as things grew dark around them.

"I'm scared; if I leave, I might not see you again."

"I will always be here, Hera. Watching over you." As she looked up into his eyes this time, she saw that his face was like before; his eyes were an ocean color and a gentle expression sat upon his features. "I love you and I will always be here."

She felt a tug on her being; it was as if someone had a string around everything inside of her and was pulling her back, away from Kanan. "I love you too," she replied, clinging tightly to him and burying her face against his chest. She could smell the scent of the soap he had always used, and something about that made her want to cry. Whatever new abilities…whatever Kanan had become in the Force, he was still the other part of her heart and she missed him.

He cradled her in his arms as light began to grow about them. At first it was soft and warm, then it grew to a bright yellow-white until it dazzled her eyes. The last she felt of him was a kiss he placed on the top of her head. Then she was pulled away into the light.

Ezra was the first to sense the shift. In his grief, he hadn't noticed at first, but now, it was impossible to ignore. All of the Force energy was being drawn toward one area. The only thing he'd ever felt like this was when he'd come up against Vader with Kanan at Malachor. There was nothing about the dark side here, however. Only light. Brilliant light being funneled towards Hera.

Look for the Light, Kanan had said.

He turned toward Phaedra and inhaled sharply when he saw her shining with the Force. He broke from Caleb and Zeb's grasp and went to her.

The girl's eyes were closed, her hands lying lightly over Hera's wounds. Ezra knelt beside her, looking on in amazement. As far as he knew, no one who had died could be revived with the Force. Kanan had said there were Force healers during the height of the Jedi Order, but Ezra had figured that the knowledge had been lost with the Jedi who had died. However, he looked at Hera with the Force and sensed the barest wisp of an ethereal connection to their plane of existence. He'd missed it the first time he'd looked … perhaps his battle meditation had allowed her to cling to life or perhaps it was some mystery of the Force. Whatever it was, he could sense Phae struggling to grasp at it. He put a hand on her shoulder, bowed his head and closed his eyes, lending his own Force energy to her to save Hera.

Do what you can, he thought. I've got you.

Caleb and Zeb looked on in stunned silence as Hera's chest began to rise and fall again. Caleb fell to his knees and reached down for his mother's hand.

"She's…she's alive." Zeb said, stunned and afraid to hope.

Whatever was happening seemed to be at an end. Ezra's hand dropped from Phaedra's shoulder and with effort, he opened his eyes.

"Is…did it work?" Ezra breathed, looking at Hera's face.

"Yeah." Zeb said. "Whatever you did…she's alive."

Sirens were heard in the background and they realized that city security was on its way. Phaedra opened her eyes, smiled when she saw all of them, and abruptly passed out. Ezra caught her in his arms.

Caleb stared into the bacta tank where his mother was floating in the transparent fluid; she had a breathing mask on and monitors attached to her chest. The medics said it was necessary that she spend several days in the tank. It was the first time he'd been in a medcenter since Ezra's injuries from his fight with Tarek. With a worried heart, he watched his mom's lekku sway gently in the healing liquid.

He placed his unbandaged hand against the plastisteel and bowed his head, trying to use the Force to figure out if she was feeling okay, if she knew where she was, and if she was frightened. He sensed her dreamless sleep, caused by the drugs the doctors had given her. If she was asleep, she wasn't in pain, so he felt slightly reassured. She'd been so close to death, however, that he couldn't fully relax. He kept seeing her broken body and hearing her last words echo in his thoughts. It made him shudder.

Chopper let out a low moaning noise and grabbed Caleb's bandaged hand gently in his manipulator. The little droid had not left Hera's side since he came to the medcenter with Sabine. He'd even gotten into a nasty fight with a meddroid that had tried to get him to leave. If there was one thing Chopper loved in his convoluted circuit banks, it was Hera.

"Thanks, Chop." Caleb said, moving his hand to rest on the droid's dome affectionately.

Caleb looked up again and noticed Ezra's reflection appear beside him on the plastisteel. Ezra was better; he'd had to be treated for a really painful headache from whatever he and Phae had done with the Force. Phae was still asleep in a hospital bed, but she would be okay, Ezra had assured him. "How's the arm?"

"It's okay." Caleb shrugged. He could still feel the heat from the burns, despite a bacta treatment and some pain medicine. "A wizard scar to start my collection, right?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to see if Ezra remembered the words he'd used when he'd lost the sight in his eye.

His master did. Ezra smiled and hugged Caleb with one arm. "Come on, you've been here all night. You need to get something to eat." He knew that Caleb was exhausted and needed a moment to regroup.

"What if…what if she wakes up and I'm not here?"

"She's going to be in there for at least three days. Zeb will stay."

"I got it, kit." Zeb took a seat near the bacta tank.

"C'mon. We'll be back in an hour." As Caleb and Ezra began to head into the hallway, Alexsandr and Roxi came through the door at the other end.

"We just arrived and were told what happened. How's Hera's condition?" The lines in Alexandr's face had deepened with worry as he placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder.

"She's in serious but stable condition…in a bacta tank right now." Ezra said.

Alexsandr's voice lowered, "Ezra, how did she survive? They told me she…"

Ezra shook his head, glancing pointedly in Caleb's direction; however, the boy was occupied talking with Roxi. "She did, but…Phaedra was able to do something with the Force that I can't fully explain. Hera is alive and healing thanks to that girl."

Caleb turned to Ezra, hearing Phaedra's name. "Maybe I should go to Phae's room; she's gonna wake up before Mom…"

"Sabine's in with Phaedra. You need something to eat," Ezra said, in a firm tone.

Roxi spoke up, "I can go to the cafeteria downstairs and bring food up. Go back and stay with them."

"You don't have to…"

"That's what I'm here for, Ezra. Go rest and be with them. It's the very least I can do." Roxi hugged each one of them quickly and was gone down the hall to the lift.

Ezra nodded, rubbing his head in exhaustion. "Okay, then. Caleb, go ahead and check on Phaedra. We'll get you when she gets back."

Cale walked down to Phaedra's room, while Ezra and Alexsandr entered Hera's room.

Zeb and Alexsandr clapped each other on the back. "Good to see you, brother," Zeb said.

"I'm glad to see you're…mostly unharmed." Alexsandr replied, eyeing Zeb's bandages.

"Aww, it was just a little scratch."

Kallus snorted in reply. When he looked over to Ezra, he saw that the Jedi was staring at Hera. They all could see the obvious blaster wound damage to her abdominal area and her normally vibrant green skin was pale. Kallus slowly approached. "We almost lost her?" he confirmed, his voice low.

"She was so close to death, I thought she was gone." Ezra breathed, trailing his fingers across the thick plastisteel of the tank.

"It was hard on the kid, wasn't it?" Alexsandr said with regret. "They're close, as you would expect, but even more so because of Kanan," he mused.

"Yeah. It would have been hard on all of us." Ezra admitted.

Alexsandr simply nodded, then went on after a time. "I know it doesn't make it any better, but I just wanted to let you know that Sekkak and two other Force user's bodies were found at the scene. Plus a few other lackeys. We figure your battle took out most of the gang's major players. The others scattered."

"Good." Ezra murmured.

"So, um…how…how did the kid do during his first battle?" Alexsandr raised an eyebrow, showing a small moment of levity.

Ezra smiled. "Pretty good. He had a couple of wounds, but he handled them well. He's Kanan's kid, after all."

"And Hera's kid." Alexsandr said thoughtfully, glancing back to the tank. "Let's not forget that."

Hera slept a long time after she was removed from the bacta tank. It was late evening, four days after the fight at the warehouse and everyone had felt safe enough to back to the ship to change clothes and wash up. Only Ezra had stayed by Hera's bedside.

They brought her something to eat and she'd slowly woken up at the movement and talking in the room. "Mmm. Ezra. What time is it?"

"Eighteen hundred," Ezra replied. "Are you hungry?" He lifted the cover on some of the food. "There's soup and it actually looks pretty good."

She nodded and tried to sit up, wincing at the pain in her stomach. The wound was closing, but it would still be tender and painful for a while.

"Take it easy." Ezra was there, supporting her as he positioned pillows behind her.

"Where is everyone?" She rubbed her eyes.

"Back at the Ghost for a little while. Eating a real meal and changing clothes. We had to pry Caleb away from your bedside." He watched as Hera began to eat, ready to help her if she needed it.

"I'm glad you did," she said. "Promise me you'll go back there too and get some rest. You look exhausted."

Ezra shrugged. "Hera, you sat by me after Tarek…Just figured I'd do the same for you."

She smiled at him, and finished eating while they talked about what Alexsandr was doing to take care of the part of Sekkak's crew that escaped.

When she had finished, Ezra took away the bedside table so that she could lay back again. He returned to his seat beside her as she began to speak. "I've been meaning to mention something to you, but the others were always around. When…when I died," she made a face, still hating saying that, "I saw him."

"Kanan." Ezra guessed.

She nodded. "He told me…I wasn't supposed to be there yet. That I had to come back."

"Phae pulled you the rest of the way," Ezra replied, "with the Force. I've never seen anything like it."

"That girl." Hera smiled, then her eyes drifted. "I had to come back. I can't remember it all, but it was something about Caleb. He needed me…and I had to come back."

"We all need you, Hera." Ezra looked up and Hera reached out to hug him as best as she could from the bed.

"There was something about you. Something I saw…You and Caleb…" She reached up to knead her forehead as if it would bring the memory back. After a minute, she sighed disgustedly. "I'm sorry. It's gone."

"Don't try so hard. It might come back to you," he said.

She sighed with the effort and laid her head back on the pillow.

"Why don't you try and get some sleep?" Ezra said, laying a hand on her shoulder. He could feel Hera's pain increasing, and he reached for the Force to use it to ease her back to sleep.

"Mm…okay," she murmured as her eyes slipped closed.

A nurse appeared a few minutes later. "How's she feeling?" The nurse whispered, checking Hera's IV.

"She's in some pain." Ezra said softly, not breaking his touch on her shoulder.

"We'll get that taken care of," the blond woman replied. She left and came back with a hypospray, pressed it to Hera's arm, and then took her pulse. Afterward, she noted some things on a data pad. "Are you…" She began, then stopped, a blush on her face. "Are you the Jedi they say got rid of Sekkak and his gang?"

Ezra nodded slowly. "I am."

"I just wanted to say thank you. My…my brother was one of the security officers in town. He was killed by one of those thugs." She met his eyes. "I'll never forget how you helped us."

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could help." Ezra pulled the blanket up a bit more over Hera as she eased down into sleep again.

"We'll take good care of her. I'll make sure of it." The nurse promised.

Ezra nodded. "Thank you."

The trip home took less time than it took to get there. Hera was walking, although she left all of the flying to Caleb, Ezra and Zeb.

They had just landed. Sabine was helping Hera into the house while Zeb unloaded gear from the ship. There were blasters to be cleaned and food needed to be moved to the conservator into the house. Caleb was going to stay and help, but Zeb waved him off.

"Go show Phaedra around the place." Zeb said. "I've got this."

Caleb and Phaedra disembarked. The day had been sunny, but they had arrived in later afternoon and stormclouds threatened far off in the east. Where they were, however, the sun was still filtering down its golden light. Caleb led her through the grasses toward the house.

"Well, this is Lothal." Caleb said, gesturing around.

Phae smiled, brushing her hand over the tops of the grasses they were walking through. "It's beautiful. Peaceful." The currents of wind played over the grass as far as she could see and it undulated like a beautiful green ocean.

"How…how did your family end up living here?" she asked.

"It's Ezra's home planet…and…it's where my father…died."

"Oh." She nodded slowly. "If you don't want to talk about it…it's okay."

Caleb shook his head, dropping his backpack and lowering his voice. "No, I can talk about it. It happened when Lothal was under a blockade and Imperial control. My Mom was in Imperial custody. Ezra, Sabine and Zeb were pinned down in the Rebel base in the rocks when there was this green flash of light across all of Lothal. It covered the whole planet and deactivated every Imperial weapon. Somehow, my father did that. The Rebels were able to take back the planet. But my father died. I…I don't know a lot more. I'm not sure if it was a redblade that got him, or a blaster, or what. I've asked, but they don't like to talk about what happened very much."

"Wow. I'm sorry." Phae said.

"Oh, it's okay." Caleb nodded, and shouldered his backpack again. "Hey, um…come on inside and I'll show you where to sleep. I usually take the couch when we have visitors so you can stay in my room."

The two made their way inside as Ezra watched from the Ghost's ramp.

"I think he's ready." Ezra murmured as Zeb came up, carrying a suspensor crate.

"Ready for…?"

"Hearing about Kanan. About what happened the night he died."

Zeb nodded. "You gonna take 'em to the cave?"

"Tomorrow, yeah." Ezra nodded as they closed the ramp and headed toward the house.

"Think she's gonna want to become…like you and Caleb? A Jedi?" Zeb asked.

"I do." Ezra said, thinking of how she'd used the Force to bring Hera back from the knife edge of certain death. It had been an intuitive use of the Force, displaying a unique ability. An ability that Ezra didn't have the least amount of skill with. That bothered him as he tried to see if her path coincided with theirs. "Whatever happens, I think she will be a powerful Force-user with the right training."

"So, here's my room."

Phaedra entered the room and looked around. It was spare, neat and uncluttered. There was a model of the Ghost hanging suspended from the ceiling. Along the wall was a bed, about the same size as the bunks on the ship. Along the ledge of a window was a collection of interesting rocks, some lined in crystals of various colors. There was a datapad on a desk, along with the grey disk of a holoemitter.

"It's nice," she spoke, looking around. "I always wanted one."

"A geode?" He asked, putting away his backpack.

She was holding a geode with green crystals, but she replaced it on the window sill as she answered: "A room of my own."

Caleb looked over at her with surprise and then sadness. "Oh."

"It's okay." She waved it off. "Mom and I were always travelling, living in hotel rooms. One time we were on the planet Jaenia, and mom rented this nice little apartment. It only had one room, though. We weren't there long, but it was pretty cool." She went to pick up another geode, a blue one. "There was this tooka that we adopted after it started hanging around, but we had to leave him." She put the other geode back.

"Oh. Well, if you like tookas, we have a lot of them on Lothal. They just show up here. Mom blames Ezra for them, but she's just teasing."

"Why blame Ezra?"

"They think it's the Force. He…he has an easy time connecting with animals and they just show up here. You can set your bag down, if you want." Caleb gestured to the chair.

"Oh, okay." She nodded. The emitter caught her eye. "Can I see the holo?"

"Sure." Caleb gestured as she picked up the gray disk. She activated it and inhaled sharply in surprise. Caleb went on, explaining. "It's my dad. Before I was born. My mom said that was what he looked like when she met him."

The image showed a young, clean shaven, brown-haired man with short spiky hair and bluish-green eyes. He couldn't have been older than his twenties, and she recognized him. "Caleb…I-I…" She gestured at the holo of the man as she tried to get out what she wanted to say. "Th-this…"

"What?"

"It's him. I saw…I saw a man when…when I was trying to help your mom. I didn't know what I was trying to do to save her but he seemed to know. He told me to use the Force. He said…he s-said…I had to 'find my way on my own.'"

"My dad. You saw my dad?" Caleb's eyes widened. "You really saw him?"

"Yeah. As clear as you right where you are."

"Kriff." He breathed.

She looked wonderingly at the holo. "He had a scar on his face, right here, but other than that his eyes were the same. His hair was short, just like that."

"Come on." Caleb said, grabbing her hand. "We should tell Ezra."

After dinner, Ezra, Phaedra and Caleb sat to meditate on the grass outside the front porch. Ezra was going to guide them in a deep meditation that he said was necessary for connecting with the Force in the caves on Lothal. Phaedra's eyes had shone at that, realizing that Ezra was going to keep his promise to take her to the Kyber caves.

Before the meditation, however, Ezra had brought out the three darksider blades he'd acquired. As Caleb and Phaedra watched, Ezra broke down each blade, removing their bleeding crystals. They glowed like coals in Ezra's palm as he held them.

Caleb felt sick as soon as he saw them. The dark side oozed from them, even though Ezra held it at bay. "Will they…be like this forever?" Caleb breathed.

"I'm not sure." Ezra said simply. He turned to Phaedra. "Kyber crystals are attuned to the light side. Darksiders turn the crystal to evil, which causes it to bleed red. Perhaps it will be possible to clean the crystal of the dark energies that were poured into it to subvert its true purpose. ." He laid the stones down in front of him, then continued.

"The Jedi teach that we are luminous beings, made of the Force. What I want you to do is to close your eyes and look inward. Look for the light that makes up your inner self." He waited for them to arrange themselves into meditation stances, before closing his own eyes and continuing. "As you connect with the Force, emotions and thoughts will occur to you. This is normal and even expected. You must acknowledge, then release each emotion…and each thought into the Force. Let each thing go until you are empty of cares, worries, even self. When you are an empty vessel, the Force will be able to fill you, and you will see deeply."

Ezra had spoken softly and gently, guiding each of them into a state of peaceful light meditation. He sensed their thoughts and emotions without judgement, watching with satisfaction as the teens began to release them into the Force. They'd been through so much and needed a moment to clear their thoughts.

Phaedra's cares and worries were light wisps of color and shadow; she was having difficulty releasing the thoughts of her mother. She desperately hoped to speak with her mom, and clinging to that hope was making it impossible to sink deep enough in the Force tide to let herself fully go.

His mind brushed her own. You cannot cling to the past, Phae. You must find a way to let your grief go. He told her gently.

He sensed her acknowledgement. She was shaky, moving between the real world and the world of the Force, but he knew she would get better at it.

Caleb was working on his own struggle. Thoughts of his mother's broken body lying on the ground were thrumming in his mind like an instrument out of tune. Ezra sensed him releasing the helpless and angry emotions as quickly as they appeared and reappeared.

They remained this way a long time, Ezra using his connections to the two teens to monitor the mental work of releasing their emotions into the Force. When he sensed that they had reached an appropriate state of mental peace, he began to draw them deeper into the currents of the Force.

Hera and Sabine came out to the front porch. The Twi'lek was slowly walking on her own, but Sabine stayed nearby, just in case.

"I haven't seen that in a while," she said, nodding toward the three Force-users.

There were floating rocks around the three meditating Force-sensitives. Hera could also see that all three were hovering about an inch off the ground. She remembered the first time she'd seen Kanan do something like that. It had been right after they'd taken Ezra on board—before Kanan had accepted the fact that he had to train the young Force sensitive.

Early one morning before the rest of the ship had awoken, she'd come down to the cargo bay. It was springtime and they were parked on one of Lothal's plains, laying low while the heat from their latest heist went down. She realized the cargo bay was open, which meant someone was up. When she reached the bottom of the ladder, she saw Kanan sitting out on the grass in front of the ship.

He was meditating. She hadn't seen him do this but once or twice, usually when it was quiet around the ship. This time…this time was different, however.

The first thing she'd noticed was that tiny rocks and pebbles were hovering in the air around Kanan in about a two-foot radius. And it was then that she noticed that Kanan himself was hovering a few inches off of the ground.

She'd been so stunned, she'd had to sit down on a supply crate.

Now, however, such things happened with regularity. She didn't take it for granted, but it wasn't as startling. Everytime, however, she thought about Kanan and how much she missed him.

"Kanan would be so proud of Ezra." Hera whispered.

"He definitely would." Sabine added. She suddenly stood up on her toes and looked out across the darkening plain. "I see a Loth-wolf."

They both watched as the creature approached. This one was a brilliant white, almost glowing under the moonlight.

Ezra was obviously aware of it. As it padded to him, the Jedi opened his eyes and smiled. It bumped him with its nose, then licked him. Sabine brought her clasped hands to rest over her heart. The Force was deeply connected to the Loth-wolves and any visit from them was like a blessing from the Force itself.

"Hi." Ezra said, a laugh in his voice as the wolf nuzzled him.

Caleb and Phae emerged from their trance, and the levitating pebbles fell back to the ground.

"Kriff…" the girl breathed.

The wolf sniffed Caleb and licked him as well. Then it swung its great head to Phaedra, blinking its glowing, golden eyes at her.

"Is…it…going to hurt me?" She asked, afraid.

The Loth-wolf walked around behind Caleb and stuck its snout into her hair, mussing the curls. Then it sniffed her and licked the back of her head head, hair and all.

"I think you can consider that a no." Caleb said.

When the wolf completed its circle around them, Caleb was able to see the scars in its fur…this was the same wolf that had attacked Tarek so long ago.

As the animal came around, it noticed the red glow of the bleeding kyber crystals in the grass. It sniffed and snuffled around, then breathed out onto the crystals.

Caleb, Phae and Ezra saw the red light die. The crystals now glowed a soft, colorless white.

"It…did you see?" Caleb pointed.

Ezra nodded. The animal sat and then laid its head in Ezra's lap. He petted its scarred nose gently. "It's a good sign."

"Can I…" Phae asked, leaning in. "Can I pet him?"

Ezra nodded and watched as the girl gently wound her fingers through the beast's fur. "He's so soft," Phaedra murmured. Seeing one of the scars that wound across the animal's nose, she looked up at Ezra questioningly.

"He was hurt a long time ago." Ezra said. "By a darksider."

The wolf let out a snort at the word, then nuzzled into her hand, before finally standing up again. The creature looked into Ezra's eyes deeply, as if imparting some kind of wisdom, then it turned and began to walk back into the grass-vanishing as quickly as it had come.

Ezra reassembled each blade with the cleansed crystals. He turned each of them on, and they glowed brilliant white. "We'll take these into the caves tomorrow. Perhaps we can lay them to rest there."

They all stood and Ezra placed a hand upon each teen's shoulder. "You did well tonight. The visit from the Loth-wolf was evidence of that. We'll leave for the caves at first light." With those words, he shepherded them to the front porch where Hera and Sabine waited for them.

A/N: Hi, everyone. Hope you like the new chapter. I will have a stand alone story coming out on Wednesday or Thursday, so keep your eyes open for that. I hope you have a great holiday season! Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter. We should have one, maybe two chapters left and the story will be over!