Darker the Night (A Star Wars Rebels AU)

Chapter Three

Sammo Quid yawned loudly and poked Caleb in the ribs. "How much longer?" he asked, not bothering to lower his voice in front of the younglings.

They were standing side by side in one of the Temple training rooms, watching two of the younglings spar with training sabers. "Another 20 minutes," Caleb sighed, exasperated. Sammo, a Twi'lek with cerulean skin, was Caleb's best and laziest friend- and a terrible teacher who disliked children on principle. Caleb loved working with the younglings, but he would never have admitted that to Sammo.

Sammo yawned again. "All right," he said, blinking his green eyes in a deliberate manner as if it would help him become more alert. He pointed at the pair of younglings ineffectually whacking at each other with their sabers. "That's enough of you two. Let's see someone who's better. Where's Bridger?"

Caleb scanned the heads of the jostling little group of younglings, all around seven or eight standard years old. He did not see the unmistakable dark blue hair of the particular problem child in question.

"Where is he?" he asked the group. A couple of them shrugged and shook their heads, and a few more gave him blank looks. Caleb's eyes came to rest on Jai Kell, who had a suspicious expression on his face.

Caleb raised his distinctive eyebrows and gave Jai a look. "Well? Where'd he go?"

"I told him not to," Jai said. He turned and pointed towards an adjoining room, where only Master Jedi were allowed to train.

"Ugh," Sammo huffed. "Kids."

"I'll get him," Caleb told Sammo. "You all keep working."

Sammo rolled his eyes. "Do I have to?"

Caleb ignored him, heading past the group of younglings and into the adjoining training room. Ezra Bridger was there, all right. With a red-bladed lightsaber ignited in his hand.

He shut the lightsaber off and hastily shoved it back into the carved rack affixed to the wall, turning towards Caleb. His small face filled with remorse when he saw Caleb's livid expression.

"I- I'm sorry," he stammered. "I just wanted to look."

"You know you're not allowed in here. You are definitely not allowed to touch those lightsabers!"

"I know. I'm sorry, really I am. I just wanted to look. Honest. Didn't you ever want to look?"

The kid had found the kink in Caleb's armor. Caleb had always wanted to look, and know the answer to every question. His irritation with Ezra evaporated.

"Yeah, I wanted to look. But the rules are the rules. If you want to be a Jedi when you grow up, you have to follow them. That's all there is to it."

"It's hard to follow the rules sometimes," Ezra observed.

"Yep. It is. But that's a part of life, kid. You have to do what they tell you if you want to get what you want. You know?"

"I guess."

"Anyway, I hope that's the last time you see one of those red blades up close," Caleb told him, unable to resist playing the role of the more knowledgable adult.

"Have you...?" Ezra asked, his blue eyes wide.

"No. I've never encountered anyone who used one of those. C'mon, we better-"

Just then, the door opened.

"Well, well. What a surprise to find Caleb Dume and Ezra Bridger in a room that is off-limits to both of them," Obi-Wan Kenobi said, his lips curved into a faint smile.

"Master Kenobi! This looks worse than it is," Caleb said.

"I am quite certain I've heard you say those very words on more than a few messy occasions, Caleb. What, pray, are you two doing in here? Having a nice chat?"

"Well-" Caleb started.

Ezra interrupted him. "It was me," he said. "I just wanted to look. Caleb was just coming in here to fetch me."

Master Kenobi was trying not to smile and failing miserably. "Out with you two," he told them, making a shooing motion with his hands.

Out they went. When they were beyond being seen by Master Kenobi, Caleb chuckled. Ezra looked up at him and broke into a grin.

After the incident in the Master's training room, Caleb would occasionally catch Ezra tailing him like a poorly-trained spy. During a meal, he'd look up to find a pair of admiring dark blue eyes watching him. Sometimes he'd sense that the kid was trailing him through the cavernous halls of the Temple, and his evening sparring sessions rarely had fewer than an audience of one small blue-haired boy. Ezra also went out of his way to be on his best behavior whenever Caleb and Sammo were in charge of helping the younglings with their lightsaber training, and Caleb's presence seemed to have a positive effect on his performance, as well- a fact that did not go unnoticed by some of the masters.

Master Yoda commented on it: "When present you are, more focused young Bridger is, young Dume."

Master Billaba, too, had some thoughts.

"You and Ezra seem to have forged a connection, Caleb," she commented, after watching her apprentice assist the child with some very basic Ataru moves during an afternoon training session.

"If by 'connection' you mean he follows me around everywhere, then yeah."

"Do you remember when I was in the bacta tank after that run-in with the permacrete detonator on Nal Hutta, and we felt a connection to one another?"

Caleb pursed his lips. "Yes."

"The Force sometimes shows us the special connections we will make in unusual ways. Perhaps he will be your apprentice when you are old enough to take one. In the meantime, he is just a child seeking the brotherly affection of one he admires."

Caleb shifted his gaze to watch the kid, who had an undeniable talent with the lightsaber. The Force was strong with him. Caleb felt a little burst of pride, as if Ezra was already his responsibility. Maybe Master Billaba was right.

She watched him watch Ezra and smiled. "Caleb, since you are such a good teacher, and a very capable pilot as well, I would like you to go tomorrow to the Academy to evaluate and work with the newest class of cadets. I think perhaps it will do you good to work with people who are not Jedi, and your patience and expertise will benefit them greatly."

"I don't know where you get this idea that I'm patient, Master," Caleb said, smiling.

"You are when you are helping others, my apprentice. Not so much when you are supposed to be following the teaching of others, though."

"I'm working on it!"

She smiled and turned to leave. "While you're at it, Caleb, work on getting a haircut, too."

He laughed loudly, causing the entire training room to stop and look at him- including Master Yoda.

"Sorry!" he yelped, as he quickly resumed what he liked to think of as his "Serious Jedi Face." Immediately, however, his mind wandered, wondering what the cadets would be like- and how he would need to alter his teaching techniques to account for the fact that they weren't Jedi.

"Focus, young Dume," Master Yoda called. "Need training, these younglings do."