Ezra opened the door, panting and trying to mask it. "Hey, Kanan. Sorry I'm late. I was with Sabine," he explained, trying to pass off his tardiness with a smile. "So, you gonna invite me in?"

Kanan, who hadn't opened his eyes when he arrived, continued to keep them shut. "You didn't knock, so what makes you think you need an invite?"

"I'm sorry," he apologized, walking in.

He didn't quite accept it. "Then you should knock first."

"Not for that, for missing training."

"It's all the same thing! The fact that you don't see it-" he paused, trying to be patient. He really hoped he hadn't been this exhausting as a Padawan, but he was beginning to fear he had been. "Ezra, when we were on that asteroid, you made a dangerous connection through the Force. Now I have to know if you are ready."

"I am ready," Ezra claimed without thinking. He chose to do that second. "Wait. Ready for what?"

"For a test, a real challenge," Kanan told him. "One that could determine if you're meant to be a Jedi...or not."

That threw Ezra off, he could see it in his face. "But you said I was a Jedi. Why else would you be training me?"

Yeah, he saw that coming. "I never said you were a Jedi. I said you had the potential to become one," he corrected, "but you lack discipline, focus."

"Come on! You know how I grew up. I'm not used to all these rules," he excused himself, turning away. "Kanan, I want to become the Jedi you see in me, the one I don't always see in myself."

"You're lucky I'm not my master," Kanan noted, grinning slightly. She'd never let you get away with-"

"All the things you tried to get away with?" he guessed.

Was he right? Probably, but Kanan wasn't about to admit it. "You want a second chance or not?"

Ezra seemed to hesitate. "I mean, if you want to give me one."

"I'm not giving you anything," he said sternly, looking down at him. "Now go prep the Phantom."

He walked out, complying to the order. "As you say, Master."

Kanan followed him for a second, leaning up against the doorway. "I might regret this," he noted to Hera, who had come up behind him.

To her credit, she was much more sure than he was. "You have to do this, Kanan," she told him. "After what happened on the asteroid, you have to help him."

"I hope I can."

"I know you can," she encouraged him, making eye contact. After a moment, he nodded and left, going to join Ezra in the Phantom.

It was true, Depa would never let some of the things Ezra was pulling slide, and if she could see Kanan now, she'd probably have a heart attack. He was much less disciplined than he had been as a teenager, but that was with operations, not the Force. Depa would have isolated Ezra from the temptations he was facing until he was more stable in the Light Side of the Force. That wasn't an option for outlaws like them, but Kanan could see why she would have done it. It would have kept him safe until he understood more about the Force and his abilities.

Not for the first time, he found himself grateful that Master Windu hadn't been able to train Ezra. Just like his apprentice, he would have disciplined Ezra for the stunt he pulled on the asteroid, and probably more harshly than Depa would have. Kanan didn't plan to punish or even discipline, really, but he did want to teach his apprentice. Even a shakey start could be corrected.

...his master wouldn't have stood for this, but his mentor might have, Kanan realized. That was one of the things about having a rogue Padawan for a mentor: she hadn't exactly stuck to the Code. He wondered what Ahsoka might have said about Ezra. If he was as similar to Kanan as he had been as a teenager, she'd probably love the kid. There was no way to know now, of course, but it was entertaining to think about.

~

"Big fears have you faced, young one," a voice spoke to Ezra, who was finally having a moment's peace after getting rid of the illusion of the Inquisitor. This voice didn't seem to be disturbing that peace, though, and it was coming from Ezra's own head.

"Yes," he answered, also in his head. Was telepathy a thing in the Force?

The voice considered before speaking again. "Hmm. For what lies ahead, ready are you?"

Despite having said that before and being wrong, he replied: "I am."

"Come. See more clearly what you could not see before."

"Who are you?" he asked, out loud this time.

"A guide." Ezra opened his eyes to see a cloud of twinkling lights hovering in the air. It seemed kind, inviting, but there was a certain taint to it, like it wasn't altogether pure. Still, any company was better than no company. Crawling to his feet, Ezra followed the lights back into the same door as before, following it down the stone path that had originally been dark. The door closed behind him.

~

In the room he had just left, Kanan was still kneeling but hadn't known that Ezra had also been with him in the room. He had no idea what Ezra was doing. He hadn't heard, seen, or felt anything since he had disappeared behind the door.

"Agh, the kid's taking too long," he decided, rising to his feet.

"Patience!" a familiar voice told him, and he looked around for the speaker. "Remember you nothing of your own training?"

"Master Yoda!" he cried out, but immediately he doubted himself. "It can't be. I'm losing it." How long had he been in here?

"Losing? Lost. Yes," Yoda decided, "but not as lost as I am. What loss, hmm? The question, that is."

So he really was here! Or at least, Kanan was really talking to him. "Master? How...how can this be?"

As ever, his answer was elusive. "Be not concerned with how. Know I am here because you are here."

Closing his eyes, Kanan breathed a little easier. "Thank you, Master."

"Thank you?" Yoda repeated. "Nothing have I done, nor am I your master. But for another time, that is. Changed, something has."

"I've taken on an apprentice," he explained, which seemed to peak Yoda's interest.

"Apprentice? Hmm. And now, master are you?" When Kanan hesitated, he went on. "Of this decision, honest you must be."

He sighed, grateful Ezra wasn't here to hear this. "It's true. I'm not sure of my decision to train Ezra. Not because of him or his abilities," he quickly added, just in case. "Because of me, because of who I am."

Well, that was honest. More honest than he had been for a while. "A dangerous time this is for your apprentice, for you."

"I know. I can sense it. I feel as if his abilities are growing faster than I can teach him."

"You sense, or you fear?"

Kanan should have known, Yoda was always able to see past the attempts to hide the truth. "I lost my way for a long time, but now I have a chance to change things."

"Hmm. Last chance," Yoda perceived, accurately.

Shaking his head, he promised, "I won't let him lose his way, not like I did."

~

In another part of the temple, Yoda watched as young Ezra walked in the wake of the twinkling lights. He was so young, so hopeful, so energetic, but that spirit had already been tainted. That was the danger of training those who grew up outside the sheltered home of Jedi temples: they didn't have the roots that trained Younglings did.

Yet maybe that was for the better. Yoda had doomed the Jedi Order, perhaps this was part of it. He had to know, he had to make sure none of his mistakes would be repeated. He could not let Ezra Bridger become a Jedi if he intended to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

"Tell me. Why must you become Jedi?"

"I don't know," he answered, "I guess because Kanan believes I can."

That wasn't an answer. "Ah. Kanan thinks you can. Hmm. And you?"

"Well, I'll become stronger, powerful," Ezra explained.

"Ah," Yoda recognized. This wasn't the first time he had heard this. It was very similar to something Dooku had once told him. "Power you seek."

The Youngling didn't see anything wrong with this. "I'd make the Empire suffer for everything it did, for everything it took, for my parents, I...I wouldn't be helpless anymore!"

So angry, so narrow-minded. "Ah. Jedi Way is revenge? Teach you this, your master did?"

"No, Kanan would never," he answered certainly. "He's a good master, a great master."

"Then why seek you revenge?"

"I don't," he denied, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hmm. Inside you much anger, much fear," Yoda recognized. Yet, there had been others who had been the same way, and not all of them had been lost to Darkness.

Ezra shook his head, then looked back up and said, "I just want to protect myself and my friends."

"And this is why you must be Jedi?"

"Yes," he went on, his voice softening, "and not just them. Everyone. I'll protect everyone. Before I met Kanan, I only ever thought of myself, but Kanan and the rest, they don't think like that. They help people, they give everything away, and I see it. I see how it makes people feel."

Yoda like the change in tone. "Feel, yes. How?"

The Youngling answered simply. "Alive. They feel alive, like I do now."

"Good. Good," Yoda decided. This new mindset didn't eradicate the words he said earlier, but it did show the truth. The emotions and fear he felt stemmed from something honest, something good. If Ezra let that be his focus, there was hope for him. "Ahead of you a difficult path there is, Padawan. A Jedi, you may yet be."

The ex-Grandmaster looked on as Ezra's crystal began to float down to him, blue and shining like a beacon. He watched as Ezra clasped it, his face glowing with curiosity and hope. Satisfied, Yoda retreated out of his vision and opened his eyes, where he saw his little hut on Dagobah again.

He had not delved into the Force in a long time, but he could not resist the call he had felt when the two Jedi entered the Lothal temple. It was a risk, it was such a huge risk to allow another untrained child try to be a Jedi. Skywalker had been one risk, but this was another.

There was no option, though. If the Jedi were ever going to be reborn, they had to start somewhere and Caleb Dume wasn't enough. Who knew what had happened to Skywalker and Kenobi, Yoda certainly didn't. He doubted there were any more survivors, but he didn't know. He had cut himself off from the Force for too long and he didn't plan to return again. Today was the only exception. The Jedi Order had to rise up without him.