We're getting down to the wire! Three chapters left!

Summary: Ezra has a strange method of comforting himself.

It was late and Ezra had already gone to bed. It had been a while since he woke up hysterical, but that night's nightmare shook him to the core. He had watched his family be slaughtered. He had watched his parents be arrested all over again. Everything that could have gone wrong in the dream went wrong. He didn't scream thankfully, but he needed to calm himself down or things were going to start flying. He quietly slid out of his bed and after making sure he didn't wake Kanan, he exited the room.

Little did he know Kanan had been awake for a while.

Kanan had sensed his padawan's distress the moment the nightmare hit. He gently eased Ezra back into the waking world, but Ezra was so shaken up he didn't even sense Kanan was awake. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Kanan heard footsteps and the sound of the door. A few seconds later, Kanan snuck out behind him.

Ezra ducked into a closet and curled up, willing the anxiety to go away. He rocked on his heels. He had to comfort himself somehow. A song was the first things that came to mind, a song he once heard his parents sing. He took a moment to try to remember the lyrics before his mouth opened and a melody filled the silent room.

The dead man, he sang in the shadowy grove

Lost and broken nowhere to go

Time has no meaning once it has past

Here in the shadowy grovE

Kanan was halfway to the closet when he heard the song. He paused for a moment, listening. Was that his padawan singing? Kanan couldn't believe he had never heard Ezra sing before. His voice was beautiful. Kanan continued towards the closet where Ezra was currently hiding. He didn't recognize the song. It had to be a Lothan folk song. He moved slowly, continuing to listen.

The trees they are grey in the shadowy grove

Lifeless and dim, without any hope

Time has no meaning once it has past

Here in the shadowy grove

Kanan stopped just outside the closet, blocking himself enough to keep Ezra from knowing he was there, but not too much in fear of sending the boy into a panic. He continued to listen, still in awe.

Someday light will reach the shadowy grove

There will be joy that was lost long ago

Time has no meaning once it has past

Here in the shadowy grove

Kanan heard the singing stop. He waited for a few moments, making sure Ezra wasn't going to sing some more. After making sure he was finished, Kanan decided to make his presence known.

Ezra had just stopped singing. He felt calm again and was about to fall back asleep in that very closet when he heard a knock at the door. Ezra opened the closet and found himself face to face with Kanan. "How long have you been standing there?" Ezra whispered nervously. Force, did Kanan heard Ezra sing? That would be unbelievably embarrassing!

"Long enough," Kanan replied with a smile. Ezra felt himself turn a deep red. Kanan must have sensed Ezra's embarrassment because he placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go back to my room."

Ezra nodded and followed.

"I don't know why you're embarrassed," Kanan told Ezra after they reached the cabin. "That was beautiful."

"It was?" Ezra asked timidly. "I just don't sing very often."

"Why not?"

"Well, music was very big in my family. My parents would take turns singing me to sleep every night. My mother would sing while doing the dishes and my father sang as he worked. They made sure I knew all the folk songs."

"So you didn't want to bring up memories? Ezra I'm-"

"No, it's not that. Singing just dropped on my priority list after my parents were arrested. Street performing was illegal and I had better things to do. It pretty much fell between comic books and starships on my priority list. At least starships would give you tips about food shipments..."

"Was that one of the folk songs?"

"It was, at least it was at first. It became a song of rebellion after a while. It hasn't been outlawed yet. The Empire outlawed some of the newer ones after finding out what they meant but they haven't found out about the older ones. The ones that sort of evolved after the Empire rose to power."

Kanan nodded. The first time he had come to Lothal was shortly after they had met Sabine. He had done his research and found that it had been colonized for a while. It may not have had it's own language, but it did have its own culture. But folk songs? That was new.

"How many are there?" Kanan found himself asking.

"How many what?" Ezra replied. "Songs of rebellion?"

"Yeah."

"A bunch actually. I could teach you if you wanted."

Kanan smiled. "That'd be great."

Kanan did not know any folk songs from his home world. Heck, he hadn't even been to his home world since the Jedi Order took him as a baby. However, it was something he was interested in now. He would need help learning them due his his blindness, but he vaguely wondered if his homeworld had any songs of rebellion.

To the Empire, they were just songs.

To the rebels, they were another step towards victory.

Wrote that song myself. It is based off a headcanon of mine. Is it bad that I want to hear Ezra sing at least once? Just once?

Just one week until Rebels! We almost did it! We almost made it through Hiatus Hell!