Unsettled/Disillusioned

Chapter 19: the Disciples

Pyloon's Saloon was a warm and welcoming cantina, and certainly felt a lot cleaner than most of the dives Kanan spent time in when he was a bartender himself, from before he met Hera. He could sense the love and care that was woven into the walls of the place and how much work Greez and Cal had poured into making this cantina into their home.

"So, heading off on another adventure soon, huh? Bet Cal is just itching to get off-world for some action," Monk said as he whizzed past Kanan to serve Zeb and Hera another round of drinks. Then he handed Kata a glottsamcrab doll from a high shelf for the little toddler on the counter, Jaro, who had not stopped crying since Cal had left with half the Ghost crew in search of the things they needed for the mission. Hera said they needed an Imperial shuttle, and stormtrooper armour: Cal said he had that and more, in the remains of a Star Destroyer by the ocean on the far side of the province, the result of a 'date night' with Merrin. Kanan should have expected something crazy from the ginger Jedi, but when Sabine sent Zeb a holo of the wreck and what they'd found inside, Kanan couldn't help but smile. Cal was still full of surprises.

"I thought Cal spends a lot of time going off on archaeological expeditions anyway?" Zeb asked, then nudged Kallus, "and he works with you, too sometimes, doesn't he?"

"He does, but he's usually supposed to avoid fights while he's working," Kata said, a mischievous tone in her voice, "unless of course Rebels garner the attention of the Empire."

"Haha," Zeb smiled as he took a sip of his drink, "what do you mean 'supposed to avoid fights'?"

The star within Kata's soul flared brightly as she tried to comfort the toddler and teased, "Merrin would kill him if he died out there."

Kallus choked on his drink and accidentally spilled Zeb's. Monk whipped along his rail to fetch them a dishcloth.

"She would what?" Kallus gasped.

"Merrin can raise the dead," both Kata and Monk said, all too casually.

"Remember when your pet bogling died, little brother?" She cooed at the toddler, loud enough that Kanan could barely hear her over his crying, "where did you let him run off to now? I hope he didn't get into a tousle with a shiverpede again."

This line of questioning seemed to have given the Zabrak toddler pause, enough for Kata to stuff a pacifier into his mouth and he finally stopped crying. Kata had assured them Jaro was just being loud and cranky, no tears were flowing from his eyes. But Kanan could sense tears welling up in his eyes now.

"Did anyone ever tell you how Merrin became leader of the Bedlam Raiders?" Mosey asked the remaining crew slyly. She was standing by a table nearby, with local troublemaker, Turgle, a friendly, frog-shaped alien.

"The Bedlam Raiders are a band of marauders, right?" Kallus asked.

"Yeah, when they first came to Koboh, they muscled the townsfolk and prospectors around. Sometimes there were fights, and then some," Mosey said, she pointed up at San Dersen, who was seated in the loft on the second floor. Kanan heard them grunt, but not unpleasantly as they simply crossed their arms and relaxed in their seat. Mosey continued, "under their first leader, Rayvis, the Raiders were bullies at best and murderers at worst. They'd even shoot at boglings for fun. I had to deal with more than a few grunts myself."

"What happened?" Hera asked, "seems there's lots of them living and working in the town."

"Hmm, where to start..." Turgle pondered aloud though something in him told Kanan he knew exactly how the story went, "Rayvis was threatening the town because he was looking for something! When he couldn't find it, he would get angry and kill someone!" Turgle cried, "one day, he caught me and ordered his Raiders to kill me! But right then, Cal Kestis came and he saved me! He stood up to the Bedlam Raiders!" Turgle exclaimed so loudly Jaro spat out the pacifier and began crying again.