It was nearly sunset on Bakunyuu. The sky was lit up with a hundred shades of gold and orange as the final beams of sunshine glowed amongst the clouds.
Athena was just about half-way up a tree when she heard a voice from below.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
She gripped the branch in her hand a little tighter as she forced herself to look down. A boy with orange clothes and blue hair stood at the bottom of the tree. He looked up to her in curiosity.
"Um...climbing a tree?" she called down.
"Why?"
"Why are you asking?"
"Curiosity?"
She rolled her eyes and continued climbing upwards.
After a few moments, she froze again as she felt a vibration travel up the tree and the leaves shake a little more.
Soon enough, Ezra's face was next to hers. Hanging onto the branches just beyond the ones she held onto, Ezra had already scaled most of the tree in a moment's notice.
"Can I join?"
She blinked a few times out of shock before she spoke. "Um, I don't think I can exactly stop you?"
"Cool. Are we going to the top?"
She shrugged, "I was."
"Race ya," he dared, a smirk on his lips.
She rolled her eyes once more and scoffed. "I didn't climb this tree to enter into a race."
"Is it because you know you'll lose?" he provoked.
"Fine. And if I lose?"
"You gotta admit I'm better at holo-pod racing."
"We'll see about that," Athena guffawed. "On three?"
"Okay: one, two, three!" Ezra quickly counted and soon sprinted up the tree.
"Hey! Cheater!" she began to chase upwards after him.
"You just gotta be faster!" Ezra laughed, continuing to scale the tree. His Jedi senses and heightened jumps greatly helping him gain ground.
"You are so-"
Crack!
The world fell around her. All the blood drained from Athena's face as she felt the wind rush past her body.
She was so high up.
Gravity was so fast.
It pulled at her like a cement block in the middle of a pool.
Faster and Faster.
Ezra had nearly no time to think.
He stretched out his hand and used the Force.
She flew off her current path.
Athena soon felt something hit her back. It engulfed her like a pillow.
She sunk into the bubble of water engulfed in a membrane of dirt and moss and sprung up back into the air - screaming with the impact.
Ezra sighed with relief as he saw the girl bounce back down onto the bubble. He chuckled, seeing how fun the trampoline-like bubble looked.
"Geronimo!" he shouted.
Athena was wide-eyed as she watched Ezra leap from the tree towards her. Soon enough, she was thrown up into the air as Ezra landed on the ground bubble with her.
She let out a scream with him as the bubble tore open, letting the water gush out. Thanks to gravity, they both fell down into the pool of remaining water.
Ezra groaned as he felt Athena hit him on their way down into the pool of water. They shot up and gasped for air once they breached the surface.
Athena let out a scream of horror whilst Ezra just laughed.
She looked to the boy next to her and splashed him with water. "You idiot!"
Ezra just laughed. "That was great!"
"We could have died!"
"But we didn't!" Ezra grinned, meeting Athena's eyes.
They were sopping wet now standing there in the pool. Athena's ponytail clung to her back as Ezra's mop of blue hair stuck to his face.
After a second of staring at the boy, Athena couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "You saved my life."
"Aw it was nothing," he dramatically waved it off. He looked at her with a sly eye. "Though, it was an act that prompts one to give a kiss of thanks~"
She splashed him again. "Disgusting."
Ezra laughed.
She splashed him again, "Stop laughing, idiot!"
He splashed her back.
"Hey!"
Soon enough, water was flying in a turbulent war between the two teens. Ezra was just thankful she didn't decide to use her powers on him. Just plain splashing. Like normal kids.
"Agh!" Athena shouted as the water got in her mouth. "Jerk!"
Ezra was yelped as he felt the water around him lift upwards, Athena the force behind it. She picked him up in the water and shoved him out of the pool. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the fact that she was in the water too and got sucked into the same stream she had sent Ezra flying in.
They coughed once they hit the grass outside of the pool.
"What are you two doing?"
They looked up to see Hera and Kanan. The pool they just got shoved out of was a few meters away from the clearing of trees - meaning they were outside of the 'camp'.
Okay, which do they explain first? Nearly getting killed racing up a tree? Using the ground bubble as a cushion for the fall? Ezra breaking the bubble open when he jumped on it? Or them splashing each other in the pool?
"Don't look at me," Athena stated and nodded to Ezra. "I was minding my business and he came along."
Hera furrowed her eyebrows, "Were you two swimming in this pool? We have one over there?" she gestured to the one closer to the ship.
Athena and Ezra stood and began to shake the water off themselves.
"We..." Ezra realized that racing up a tree was a bad idea to bring up to them, seeing it almost got Athena killed. "We accidentally popped this ground bubble and fell in?"
"What? What were you two doing when you popped the bubble?" Kanan questioned.
Athena sighed. Ezra was terrible at cover-ups apparently.
"We jumped on the bubble at the same time and it broke," Athena said. "We thought it would be a cool trampoline."
Ezra let out a sigh of relief mentally. Thank Force Athena was better at twisting stories to make them look better.
"Alright, go and dry up. I don't want you in my ship until you're semi-dry." Hera instructed. "Maybe you two can make us a little fire pit."
The teens sighed, following their captain's orders. They looked at each other.
"I'll go make a pit, you get the fuel?" Athena suggested.
Ezra nodded.
Athena walked over into the camp and Hera walked towards her ship. Ezra was about to follow until Kanan abruptly stopped him.
With a hand on the boy's shoulder, Kanan asked, "What were you two really doing?"
"Um, what do you mean? Athena told you," Ezra said. Too much stammering for Kanan's liking.
"Ezra, I'm warning you now," Kanan started. "She is off-limits."
"Because she's your sister?"
"Because you're my Padawan and she's a bad influence," Kanan stated. "You are too young, she's way too young, and you both need to focus on Jedi training."
"It's because she's your sister though for the most part, isn't it?" Ezra chuckled.
"Ezra, just don't even think about it," Kanan warned, pointing his finger at him. "You need to focus on Jedi training. Not girls."
Ezra rolled his eyes, "Ok, fine, fine. She doesn't like me anyway so there's no need to worry."
Kanan patted his shoulder, "Good. But I'm always going to worry. You're my responsibility now."
"Thanks, Kanan," Ezra nodded.
After a while, the two teens sat in front of a circle of dirt, surrounded by some rocks, a couple of logs in the middle. Both of their shoulders slumped as they sat on a couple of crates.
"Please tell me you're joking," Ezra sighed. "You can only use water now?"
"Bruh, not my fault," Athena glared at Ezra. "I just found out I had powers a few weeks ago."
"The sun is going down and I'm cold!" Ezra complained. "Can you please just figure out how to light a fire?"
"I am not a human-lighter, ya know," Athena said. "Are you telling me you don't have some kind of lighter?"
"No!"
Athena paused, contemplating. Then an idea popped into her head.
"Wait, I was a smoker, I have a lighter!" Athena cheered. After a moment of realization, she slumped her shoulders again. "And it's in the ship..."
"We are going to freeze because of you," Ezra grumbled.
"Oh, you wanna talk about freezing?" Athena glared at him. "Try having frost grow across your body as you sleep."
Ezra scoffed, "And you still can't shoot fire out of your hands."
"You can't create fire at all!" Athena retaliated.
"Alright you two, stop bickering."
"Rex, our savior!" Athena cheered, seeing the clone who carried a lighter in his hands.
Rex chuckled and came over to the fire pit. He lit the kindling wood at the base on fire and let the flames engulf the logs.
"We're saved!" Ezra cheered.
"We won't have to sleep outside!" Athena celebrated.
"Well if miss fire princess over here could actually get ahold of her powers, maybe we could've been in the Ghost for a while now," Ezra remarked.
"Shut it!"
"Both of you shut it," Rex said. "You two are annoying when you argue like that."
"So, what brings you out here, Rex?" Athena asked.
"Hera told me to check in on you two - said you were making a fire."
"Why'd you bring a lighter then?" Ezra asked.
Rex shrugged as he sat on another crate by the fire, "You can't trust that a young kid's crazy powers are always gonna work on a dime. That and I figured you two would've been dry by now if you had already gotten a fire going."
"Thank you for understanding that my powers aren't mastered yet, Rex," Athena glared at Ezra.
"Well, you still don't have much experience. I imagine you don't have much of a clue what you're doing," Rex said with a chuckle. "Trust me, even wise Master Tano wasn't always as experienced and composed as she is now. Everyone starts out as a beginner."
"Rex, are you telling stories about me?"
They turned to see Ahsoka exit the ship. She walked over to the group.
"Not yet, I'm not," Rex joked.
The togruta stood by them now, looking down at Athena, "Did you make the fire?"
She shook her head, "No, Master. For some reason, it seems I'm stuck on water powers. I can't do anything with fire-" she glared at Ezra again. "-not even when someone makes me angry."
"Hmm," Ahsoka put a hand on her chin. "I guess we'll have to figure that out during training."
"Make sure she doesn't run off on you this time, okay 'soka?" Rex joked.
Ahsoka chuckled, "Hopefully we can manage that. Right, Athena?"
"Alright, I'll try," Athena said with a smile.
"Do or do not, there is no try," Ahsoka said.
Athena knitted her eyebrows in confusion and looked up to Ahsoka while Ezra nodded in agreeance.
Athena saw this and threw her hands up in defeat, "Alright, I'm just gonna agree and move on."
"Do you think Hera will let us in the ship by the night?" Ezra asked. "I'm still soaking."
Athena sighed, "Same." she bent over and took off her sneakers and socks. She laid them out by the fire to dry. "Maybe we can go inside by midnight at this rate."
Ahsoka chuckled, seeing the sopping wet mess she still was. "I wish you both the best of luck."
Several hours later...
"Hera, please!" the teens pleaded, standing at the bottom end of the ship's ramp with Hera at the top.
"You two are barely even dryer than you were before!" Hera said gesturing to the dripping clothes. "Did you even try to dry off?"
"Zeb came out there with a bucket, we had no say!" Ezra implored.
"Why-" Hera pinched the bridge of her nose. "How did two Jedi Padawans manage to not sense a two-meter tall lasat with a bucket of water?"
"We're still in training!" Athena said.
"I'm sorry, but I don't need you two making my ship a mess," Hera shook her head. "It's getting late and I want to go to bed. I can't leave the ship open overnight."
"What?!" the two teens yelled.
Meanwhile, Zeb, Sabine, and Rae were high-fiving. Somehow the two teens only saw Zeb during their attack of water-filled buckets.
"The best I can do is let you sleep here in the cargo bay," Hera shook her head. "I'll bring you some towels to sleep on."
"Heraaaaa!" they pleaded.
The captain turned around and began to walk up the ramp. "You two got your choice. Outdoors or the cargo bay."
They looked at each other and made a decision. Trudging up the ramp, the teens grumbled and groaned.
"Maybe you'll think twice next time before playing kissy-face in the pool," Hera remarked just as they reached the top of the ramp.
They flushed bright red.
"We- we were not-" Athena stammered, face warm with embarrassment at even the accusation.
"AHH!" Ezra screamed as soon as he caught eye of Athena.
"Hey, I'm not that horrible looking..." Athena looked offendedly towards Ezra, face still burning.
Hera turned around and let out a scream as well.
A bright flame erupted from the top of Athena's head to match her red face.
A wave of water suddenly dropped down onto Athena's head, extinguishing the flame in an instant.
Hera's eyebrow nearly twitched as she looked up to the deck just above them in the cargo bay. There stood Rae, Sabine, and Zeb with a now empty bucket.
"Why did you three just happen to have a bucket of water?" Hera questioned.
The three looked amongst each other - not exactly sure how to answer that.
"See, we told you!" Ezra exclaimed as he pointed at the three with a bucket.
Athena stood there, soaked and confused. She blinked as she looked around for an answer.
"What...was that for?"
"You were on fire," Sabine said.
"You're welcome," Rae commented.
"Why-" Hera tightly closed her eyes in frustration as she composed her next sentence. "Were you three just waiting there just to pour water on these two?"
"It worked out in the end, didn't it?" Zeb pointed out.
"You three are grounded." Hera then looked to Ezra and Athena. "I'll get you both some towels and you can sleep in here."
Sabine raised an eyebrow and dramatically spoke, "Mmmm, I don't know, Hera. Those two-"
The captain glared at her, "I don't want to hear from you for the rest of the night. Go to bed."
The three quickly ascended the ladder, knowing they had upset Hera enough.
Hera then went up the ladder as well. Upon entering the cockpit, she saw Kanan sitting in the co-pilot seat.
"You look happy," Kanan joked.
"I just can't believe everything that has happened in this crew today," Hera shook her head.
Kanan chuckled, "These kids are a bit much, huh?"
"First we had Athena run off and learn to control water, then we caught Ezra and Athena doing whatever the heck they were doing, then Sabine, Rae, and Zeb poured buckets of water on those two, then Athena's head caught on fire!" Hera threw her hands up in exasperation. "And today started out great! Athena hugged me and everything!"
"Athena's head caught on fire?"
"Yeah," Hera sighed. "You said emotions play a big part in her powers, right? Well, I guess embarrassment helps with fire too."
Kanan sighed, "Great. That's just great."
"I'm getting them some towels and letting them sleep in the cargo bay. They are both soaking, so I don't want them in most of my ship making it a mess," Hera said.
Kanan paused for a moment. Was it a good idea for someone to be near Athena when she sleeps? Will the whole training with the Ones cause anything to happen? She did create a lot of frost the previous night because of Daughter.
"What? Do you not want them to sleep in the cargo bay?" Hera asked, seeing the concern on Kanan's face.
"It's just that Athena doesn't feel safe when she sleeps, remember?" Kanan made that up on the fly. Just like Athena, he was pretty good at making things up on the fly.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. That's a good point," Hera nodded. She looked over to the security camera control panel and squinted when she saw Athena and Ezra on the cargo bay's camera, both sitting on the ground. "What in the universe?"
"What?" Kanan turned around to look at the video as well. He squinted soon after.
Ezra had his index fingers to his temples, eyes tight shut, as Athena sat in front of him - a ball of fire in between her hands.
"What are they even doing?" Hera laughed.
"I don't even know..." Kanan shook his head.
Meanwhile, with Ezra and Athena:
"Can you communicate with anyone yet?" Athena whispered.
"Quiet, I'm focusing," Ezra kept his eyes closed as he pressed his fingers on his temples.
"Tell Ahsoka I want waffles," Athena said.
"Quiet! I'm trying to use the Force, ya know?"
"Is the fire helping?"
"It's keeping me warm, so keep it going," Ezra said.
"Ok. Use the Force, Ezra."
Kanan and Hera both had their mouths agape as they turned to each other.
"I love them, don't get me wrong, but how stupid can they look?" Kanan said with a laugh. "It looks like they are trying to summon a ghost."
Hera laughed, pressing a button on the screen to capture the moment between those two in a photo. "Well, one is your Padawan and the other is your sister."
"Hey, is that a crack at me?"
"Maybe," Hera shrugged with a smile before walking off to get some towels.
Athena looked at Ezra intently as the boy opened his eyes and took his fingers away from his head.
"Did you tell Ahsoka to get us waffles?"
"I think she got the message, I'm not sure," Ezra said.
"Good. I'm starving."