It wasn't often the Ghost crew had a moment's peace, but when they did they usually spent it training Ezra. He was standing between Kanan, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper, deflecting blaster fire.

Now that he was using his own lightsaber instead of someone else's, he wasn't doing half bad. It always helped when it was your own kyber crystal in the weapon. Kanan remembered how when Younglings switched from the training sabers at the temple to their originally crafted ones, their lightsaber skills always took off. This was hardly different.

"You've got the blocking down for the most part," he noted from the side, "but you shouldn't just randomly deflect the energy any which way. You've yet to hit the target I gave you."

"Yet!" Ezra insisted, dodging another shot. "Key word is 'yet'."

Kanan rubbed his forehead. He should have seen that coming. Waving his arms to call off the shooters, he approached his apprentice. "You're distracted, impatient," he accused him. He was getting better at reading Ezra's emotions without having to ask him. "What's your rush?"

Retracting the face shield on his helmet, Ezra confessed, "I don't want to miss Senator Trayvis's transmission."

"You don't even know if he'll transmit today."

"He's been on more frequencies lately," he reminded his master, "and I have a feeling. Today's the day."

Sarcastically, Kanan put on a fake optomistic face. "Well, I have a feeling you're gonna get stunned if you don't stay in the moment. This moment," he specified, pointing at the ground. Backing up again, he motioned for the drill to continue.

Sabine and Zeb obliged, and even Chopper threw some charge in Ezra's direction. Kanan watched him train, still not quite deflecting the bolts at the stormtrooper helmet off to the side. They were getting closer, though.

Trust the process, he told himself. He's figured it out so far, but it's a staircase, not a ramp. Sometimes the best way to learn is to stumble through the mistakes.

As if to prove the point, Ezra finally managed to hit the helmet with a deflected shot. Then another, and another. Kanan grinned, but got a little confused when he saw his face shield was pulled back again. His eyes were closed though. Still, it seemed to be working.

He let it go for another ten seconds, letting Ezra get the hang of it. Then he waved again, signalling to the other three that was enough. Right as the ceasefire was called though, Ezra collapsed on the ground, mumbling a little bit.

"Ezra!" Kanan called, running over to him. The others crowded around, wanting to make sure he was okay. They didn't think any of them had hit the kid, but then why had he fallen?

It took a second, but Ezra gasped and sat up, fully conscious now. "I got stunned, didn't I?"

"No," he corrected, pointing at the smoldering helmet on the ground. "You deflected every blast back at the target."

~

At the end of the day, the entire crew walked back to the Ghost. Everyone was pretty devastated about Trayvis, but none so much as Ezra. Kanan and Hera walked behind him, and it was very clear how low he was hanging his head.

Kanan knew the feeling. It wasn't the first time he had been betrayed by someone he thought was a friend. That was the thing about betrayal: it never came from an enemy, or at least anyone you thought was an enemy. You don't see it coming until it's too late to do anything about it. Maybe you can survive or escape, but you can't change their mind and you can't undo what had already been done. Whatever connection you had with them, whatever good moments had happened, it wasn't enough to win them back.

"I didn't see it," Ezra admitted as they were walking up the ramp, and Kanan and Hera paused next to him. "I was so wrong."

"We all thought he was a good person," Hera reminded him, resting a hand on his shoulder, but it didn't seem to console him any.

Looking at the ground, he went on. "You always say I should trust the Force," he told Kanan. "I thought that's what I was doing."

"Your emotions clouded the vision," he explained, turning away. "It takes-"

"Training and discipline?"

"To see things clearly, yes. Visions are difficult, almost impossible to interpret."

Curious, Ezra asked, "What was the last vision you had?"

Smirking, he walked further up the ramp. "I saw this bratty kid that constantly caused me trouble," he teased, looking back at him.

"I guess you read that one wrong," Ezra suggested, but Kanan smiled.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Climbing up the ramp, he thought about his own master. He didn't get much time with her, only a little bit less than three years. He had never asked what she thought of him, not that he ever had a reason to. Depa hadn't chosen him as a Padawan but had been assigned him by the Council. Again, Kanan never knew why, but he was glad it had happened. She had been so patient with him and had helped him grow a lot. Sometimes pairings like that just happened, and most of the time it was for the better.

Technically, Ezra didn't have much of a choice, as there were no other Jedi alive, but Kanan still believed the Force brought them together for a reason. Not just because Ezra needed to be trained and Kanan needed to refocus on the Force, but because of who they were as people. Kanan wasn't the patient master Depa had been but he was making strides with his apprentice. Trust was being built and growth was happening. both as Jedi and as friends.

Kanan paused outside his cabin. As close as he had been with Depa, 'friend' wasn't really the word for who they were to each other. That was a word he had saved for his peers and his mentor. There were plenty of other Padawans he had been close with, but only three that he had ever considered a friend.

They had all been about three years older than him. Jinx and O-Mer had been captured and missing for years when they were rescued and brought to the temple. They had been assumed dead, so the return surprised everyone. They had to make up for all the training they had missed, so they had to go to Illum, pass the Padawan trials, and do extensive lessons before they were finally assigned to masters. It was a rather humbling thing for sixteen-year-olds to submit to, but Jinx and O-Mer had risen to the occasion.

A year after they returned, Kanan had gotten really close with them. The three of them had pack-bonded and found themselves relating in a lot of ways. Despite how much older they were than he had been, they were all at about the same skill level. They ended up helping each other a lot. Jinx and O-Mer hadn't taken advantage of his age, and he hadn't taken advantage of their struggle. It made the recovery process easier for the two of them, and they had all looked forward to the day they became Knights together. They might have made a competition about it, too.

The reason Kanan had met them at all, though, was because of his mentor. Ahsoka had been the one to rescue them after being captured by the same organization that had abducted them. Once they had returned, Ahsoka introduced him to the survivors. As his mentor, Ahsoka trained Kanan occasionally and talked with him often, but when the other two showed up she made sure to keep in touch with them too. At that point it had been a 'mutual friend' situation.

In fact, it was her choice to leave that had brought the other three together. Jinx and O-Mer had seen how disappointed he had been in her absence and took it upon themselves to look after Kanan, or Caleb, as he had been back then. They weren't exactly mentors, but they tried to help him through the loss of Ahsoka as best as they could. Caleb learned about their leader during their capture, Kalifa, and how her death had affected them. They grew closer as time went on, and by the time Ahsoka appeared again, the three of them were practically inseperable.

Speaking of betrayal, Kanan still didn't know what had happened to them after the Jedi Purge. He knew Ahsoka was dead, but what about the other two? He just didn't know. He assumed they were dead so he didn't get his hopes up, but what if they had hidden and survived, just like he did? If they were alive, what were they doing? Had they found students as well?

He was overcome with the urge to seek them out and reunite with them. It would be incredible to see familiar faces after all this time. What would they think of the crew, of Ezra? There was no way to know, but he thought that Ahsoka, in particular, would probably like him. Kanan hadn't been the only kid she had connected with as a Padawan. Tons of other Padawans and Younglings looked up to her even after she left the Order. Who knew what kind of trouble she would get into with Ezra?

Steps came up the ladder leading to the cabins and Kanan turned to see Ezra climbing up. "You weren't waiting for me, were you?" he asked, pointing to himself.

"Nah," Kanan shook his head. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

Always with the questions, Kanan thought to himself. "There was an old friend of mine, I think she would have liked you."

Ezra smirked, propping his hand up against the wall. "Must be my irresistable charm."

"Nope. Not even close," Kanan laughed. "You think you cause problems? I hate to break it to ya, but you've got nothing on her."

He didn't offer any context, but went into his cabin and shut the door, grinning to himself. Not even Ezra could put one over the Jedi Gone Rogue. Kanan ought to know.