Unsettled/Disillusioned

Chapter 4: the Legacy

"Wait, you're going too fast, go back," Kanan's voice cried out from the galley of the Ghost. Kallus had come by to meet with Zeb, but found the two Jedi Knights sitting by the table with a holobook between them. Kanan's hand was in Cal's.

Ezra was also in the room, sitting beside BD-1, cross-legged on the floor with a small, gold-and-blue object floating in front of him. There were smaller components like triangular corners also floating around the main object: together, it seemed to act like a sort of holoprojector, as the whole room was illuminated by what looked like a star map.

"Okay, now you can turn the page," Kanan said. With his free hand, Cal swiped the holobook's surface. Kanan nodded and his head moved slightly as if he were reading the pages, even through his mask. Then, Cal looked up at Kallus and waved.

"Hey, wait, it's just getting to the good part," Kanan said.

Cal rubbed his eyes and looked back to the holobook again, "sorry, okay, how's that?"

"Good, thanks," Kanan replied, his head slightly turned to acknowledge Cal.

Kallus tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah, just when you thought they couldn't get any weirder," Zeb called from behind him, "they'd been like that for hours," he pointed a purple thumb at Kanan and Cal.

"Some sort of new meditation technique?" Kallus pondered.

"Not quite, they're just reading," Ezra said from his spot on the floor. The object's light faded away as it folded up into Ezra's hands, it was some sort of polyhedron with octagonal and triangular faces of light blue glass lined with gold.

"Reading?" Kallus repeated. Kanan couldn't read anymore. Not without tactile notation or someone reading to him out loud.

"Cal was able to make a connection with Kanan, and he's read the book before, he's just sharing the memory of it, mostly," Ezra explained with a shrug but Kallus and Zeb still had bewildered looks on their faces, "uh, Jedi stuff."

"Ha, yeah, weird Jedi stuff," Zeb called over Kallus' shoulder.

"It's not weird Jedi stuff," Kanan argued, his head resting on his free hand, "it's High Republic Jedi stuff."

"Where did you possibly get a holobook from the High Republic?" Kallus asked.

"This is some of what we could salvage from the Archives, after it was destroyed by the Empire," Cal said, his usually calm and easy voice tinged with a hint of sadness. Zeb gave Kallus a shove.

"Well, what's that?" Kallus pointed at the object in Ezra's hands, hoping to move away from the topic of the Empire.

"It's a holocron!" Ezra said excitedly.

"A holocron? That doesn't look like Kanan's though," Zeb argued.

"My Grandmaster gave it to me," Cal explained, "he was an explorer, an archaeologist of sorts. He found lots of High Republic relics like it. I like having it, it feels like he's right here with me, like we're discovering new things together." BD-1 chirped happily, something about how Cal's Grandmaster was also his first travelling companion.

"I thought your Grandmaster was Master Yaddle?" Kanan asked, taking his hand back from Cal. Clearly, Kallus and Zeb were too distracting.

"Yes," Cal said, "but I also consider Master Cordova my Grandmaster. He and Cere, my mentor after the Purge, they helped guide me on my path. I'm following in their footsteps, preserving what remains of our culture."

Kallus recognised the names, the ones Cal was repeating over and over the previous night like a prayer.

"Wait, you know other Jedi?" Ezra asked, his face alight with hope.

"Yes, they saved my life from the Inquisitors," Cal revered, "I owe them so much."

"Can we meet them?" Kanan asked excitedly. But when Cal turned to face him, his lips slightly quivering without giving him an answer, Kanan's shoulders sagged with the realisation, "oh, I'm so sorry."

"They are... one with the Force, now," Cal forced the words out, his lips twisted into an uneasy smile. BD-1 quickly scampered up his leg and climbed his arm and settled onto Cal's back. "They died protecting their family, me and the Mantis crew. I'm carrying on their work, so their legacy lives on."

"Was it the Inquisitors?" Zeb asked. But Kallus got the sense that Zeb had struck a nerve. Cal's shoulders were stiff and his green eyes unfocused. BD-1 was tapping his shoulders in a rhythm.

"I'm sorry, I..." Cal said. Then, he quickly grabbed the holobook and tucked it under his arm. Then he stood up from the table and grabbed the holocron from Ezra too and left the room, squeezing past Zeb and Kallus, careful not to touch them. Kanan sat with his arms crossed and his lips twisted with disappointment. Then he, too, got up from the table and hurried after Cal.

The three of them were left in the galley, wondering in the awkward silence what had just happened.

"Karabast, I guess the Inquisitors ruin everything, huh?" Ezra sighed as he stood up and left the Ghost, trying to follow where the two Jedi went.