Kanan woke up a lot earlier than he usually did. He got dressed quickly and stole out of his room quietly, trying not to wake the others. He didn't know what being a part of the Rebellion meant for the crew, but it probably didn't entail staying on this cruiser for long and he wanted to talk to Master Skywalker again before they left.

Not that he really knew what he wanted to talk about. It didn't really matter to Kanan, but it would also be pretty awkward if they sat in silence for half an hour. Walking down the ramp of the Ghost, he started wandering around looking for the Jedi Knight and thinking of something to talk about.

He could feel him pretty quickly, actually. Not many people were up and about this early but Master Skywalker was. Pulling his hair back into its usual ponytail in the back, Kanan wandered through the halls in the general direction of his presence. It wasn't long before he saw him walking alongside a blue astromech droid, just in clothes and not his armor.

Master Skywalker raised an eyebrow when he saw him. "I would have expected you to still be resting after yesterday."

"I'm fine," Kanan assured him, crossing his arms. "It's Ezra who might need a day or two. I don't think he's used to all of this quite yet."

"He didn't get tortured," he reminded him, waving for Kanan to walk with him. "But I won't push the topic. I just wouldn't overexert yourself for a while."

"Noted," Kanan nodded, before asking, "What are you doing so early?"

Grinning, Anakin resisted the sarcastic urge to ask Kanan the same thing. "Training, while I still have the chance. Rebel command has a mission for me and I'll probably be taking off in the next day or so. There's a bit more space on the cruiser than there is on my ship, so I try to take advantage of it when I can. There's always room for one more, though."

He was so distracted by the 'mission' sentence that he almost didn't comprehend the offer. "Really?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I want to!" he told him, his face lighting up like a lightsaber. "I've been so focused on training Ezra that I've barely trained myself."

That's what Anakin was hoping he would say. It was also the actual reason he had been up so early in the first place. "Come on, there's a storage room in the back that not normally in use."

Kanan followed his wake, walking through the halls towards the back of the cruiser. The astromech droid was still with them, chirping a little bit at other droids as they passed. Squinting at the droid, he asked, "Isn't that the same droid that you flew with in the Clone War?"

"Yep," Anakin answered proudly, patting Artoo's metal head. "He's stuck with me ever since Order 66 and saved my neck more than once."

"I remember him from the time I met Senator Amidala," Kanan noted, before making a face. "Let's hope he gets along with Chopper. He's not always friendly."

Smirking, Anakin rolled his eyes. "I know, I've met him. Either they'll hit it right off, or they'll turn each other into scrap. Artoo got into a fight with another droid yesterday. And the day before that."

"Great," he groaned, and Anakin smirked as he knocked Artoo's leg with his foot. Artoo grumbled at him but didn't retaliate, for once.

It wasn't long before Anakin found the storage room he was talking about. The door opened and the lights flipped on, having sensed movement in the room. True to his predictions, the shelves in this unit were completely empty. There were no crates lining the walls or stacked up to the ceilings. Lifting the empty shelves, Anakin moved them all over so the middle of the room was open.

"Why is this room empty?" Kanan wondered, crossing his arms.

"I'm sure Commander Sato would prefer that it wasn't," explained Anakin, "But most of the resources that come on board either get used or redistributed to rebel systems right away. They don't accumulate enough that they need this room. Until that happens, though, it makes a decent training space."

Shrugging, Kanan offered, "It's better than an airlock, at any rate."

Glancing at Kanan, Anakin asked, "Do you have a training routine these days?"

It was almost enough to make Kanan laugh as he removed his armor plates. "I don't even have a training routine with Ezra. I should probably make one though."

"It's fine," he assured him, "but if you had a rhythm, I didn't want to mess it up. Do you want to meditate first or last?"

In the Clone War, he had always meditated at the beginning of training sessions, so for old times' sake he answered, "First." The two of them kneeled in the center of the room, and Artoo muted his speaker system. He knew better than to interrupt Jedi when they were meditating.

Ever since Ezra had stumbled into Kanan's life, the Force had been much more active than it used to be. Now that he was in proximity to Anakin, though, it seemed to wake up further. The Force was being absorbed and radiating from him in steady pulses, almost like a heartbeat. Maybe it was just from being away from other Jedi for so long, but it seemed so much brighter than Kanan remembered it. He felt rather dim in comparison.

Anakin knew this wasn't his fault, though. Pain and fear had nested in Kanan for years and he had never given himself a chance to heal. Or rather, the Empire had never given him a chance to heal. Not to mention the Jedi Order had been corrupted in his time, thanks to their old friend Sideous. All of this wrapped up in a package deal had taken its toll on the grown Padawan.

This wasn't the first time Anakin had seen this happen. In fact, the first person had been his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. It had been painful to watch him lose faith in the Force and cut himself off from it, but Anakin hadn't let his brother succumb to the loss of the Jedi Order completely. Healing had taken time and patience and understanding, but Anakin had walked with his friend through the recovery process. He hoped he could do something similar for Kanan, although he was sure it would look different this time.

One of the biggest differences was that Obi-Wan hadn't been looking to recover at first, but Kanan was already pursuing healing. He knew better than to rush the process, but Anakin was grateful for the advantage. Simply opening himself up, Anakin let his Force signature fill the room so Kanan could feel it too. All he had to do right now was show him what was possible.

There was a certain warmth to the presence around the Jedi Knight. None of the emotional distancing that the Jedi Council had exhibited had retained itself in him. Anakin was passionate, and strong, and still impulsive, although less so than he had been as a young adult. Many burdens and responsibilities had settled on his shoulders over the past decade, but instead of closing himself off because of it, he had opened up. Just as the Rebellion had come to rely on him, he had also in turn learned to trust and rely on them. He had a network of relationships and connections to people both within and without of the Rebellion, and it showed in his signature, strengthening him.

Kanan, on the other hand, guarded his Force signature like a secret. He had every reason to, given his experience, but Anakin's openness reminded him that he was safe here. He leaned into Anakin's warmth, letting it comfort him. After his harsh experience with the Inquisitor, it was a welcome change in company.

He began to open up, just a little bit. It was the first petal of the flower, but even that one sign of vulnerability told Anakin a lot. As silent as he was about it, Kanan was desperate for some kind of guidance or leadership to follow. He wanted to know that he was doing the right thing, or at least know how to fix it if he was doing the wrong thing. The bottom line was that he couldn't let his team down, but Kanan knew he wasn't perfect and that he was very capable of failing. If that did happen, he wanted to know that there was someone behind him who could pick him back up. Years ago, he had found that someone in his master and in his mentor. Now he had no one to fall back on should the worst happen. Both of the people he had depended on were dead.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this to Anakin was that he felt compelled to fill that void. He didn't consider Kanan his apprentice and he was sure the feeling was mutual, but Anakin was nothing if he was not the master of failure. How many times had he lost a loved one? How many times had he suffered casualties? How many times had he failed to uphold the teachings of his superiors? He had long since stopped keeping track, but since then Anakin had learned how to bounce back from failure and loss. There was something he could teach Kanan here. As long as he was around, he could be someone for Kanan to ask questions of, and hopefully one day, Anakin could teach Kanan how to pick himself up.

One step at a time, Anakin told himself, and he began to retreat out of the meditation. He hadn't gone very deep into the Force, but he didn't feel it was necessary today. This first day was about grounding themselves. When Kanan opened his eyes, Anakin stood up and asked, "When's the last time you've run your basic sequences?"

"Not long before I got captured," he answered, "although I ran them by myself. It's kind of difficult to practice them with Ezra."

"The height difference would do that," he agreed, pulling Kanan to his feet. "Want to brush up on them or do something different?"

Kanan shrugged, pulling the pieces of his lightsaber off his belt and connecting them. "Sounds good to me."

Obliging, Anakin took his own weapon out and activated it. Out of habit, he twirled it before stepping into stance. He started on the strikes while Kanan parried his movements. "One... two... three..."

His voice was still very similar to the holocron recordings Kanan kept hidden in his cabin. After having listened to it for so long, it was strange to hear it in person. It didn't have the crackle recordings usually did, but the tone and the inflections were still the same. Not for the first time, Kanan was grateful to have a live remnant of the Jedi Order again.

"Watch your feet," Anakin warned him once they finished the sequence. "You've got a lot more height on you than you used to, which makes you easier to topple over in a saber lock."

"I've noticed," he admitted, glancing down at his boots. "It's happened a couple of times. I've been trying to widen my base to lower my center of gravity."

"Has it worked?"

Kanan made a face that suggested it hadn't. Anakin thought for a moment. "Well, if that's the case, then let's try something different. Hop a few times."

He looked at the Knight, silently asking if he really wanted Kanan to look that stupid, but Anakin was being serious. "Trust me, this works." He did it with him, just lightly jumping on his toes and making Kanan feel like a fool. "Notice how your heels never touched the ground as you were jumping?"

Furrowing his brow, Kanan tried it again and noticed it the second time. "Yeah."

"If you aren't going to lower your center of gravity, move it forward by staying on your toes. Do the sequence over again, and don't let your heels touch the ground."

They tried it again, this time with Anakin's suggestion. He made sure to move a little slower so Kanan could concentrate, but it was working already. His toes provided less of a base than his whole feet, so he automatically had to work harder to maintain his balance. The best way to do that? Lowering his center of gravity. Anakin had tricked him into making the change by asking him to make another one.

"Better," he praised, stepping back. "Switch. You strike, I'll block. Keep those heels up."

It was a little easier to do so on offense. Kanan was moving forward now and wasn't being pressed back as much. Leaning back was more of a defense problem.

Once the sequence was over, Kanan suggested, "Maybe I should start learning to fight in high heels."

Anakin laughed. "I have a friend who wears them all the time. I'll try to swipe a pair if you want."

"Seriously, though, I wished I had figured this out sooner," he explained. "I could have been doing this years ago."

"I doubt you had this problem years ago," Anakin reminded him. "It really is a height thing. Kids have to dig in their heels to get traction or otherwise they'll get pushed down to the ground. It works great for them, but you've been out of action for over a decade and you've gotten top-heavy since then. You have to retrain your mind to take in your anatomy into account. Your old techniques may need updating."

"So the raised-heels thing needs to become normal?"

He shrugged. "At least until you can bring your body forward without raising them. Just to retrain your posture."

Kanan nodded to show he was tracking. "Not all the time, though, right?"

"Right, right. It's a case-by-case basis, as always," Anakin confirmed. "Switch hands. Let's keep moving."

Complying, Kanan caught his lightsaber with his left hand and repeated the sequences in the same fashion as before. Neither of them were left-handed, but they were still able to complete the motions proficiently. Whenever Kanan's heels brushed the ground, he made sure to raise them enough to keep his balance forward.

When they were finished, Anakin checked in with them. "You good?"

"Yeah, just getting used to it," he told him. "I'll figure it out eventually. I don't suppose you have a drill or something for that?"

"I think so," Anakin replied. He looked over at the shelves against the wall and reached a hand out to them. Two of the shelves floated up and on their sides in the center of the room. The metal panels were now on their side and made interconnected balance beams for them to practice on. "If you can fight on a five-centimeter pole, you can fight on flat ground."

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Kanan asked, walking over to one of the shelves and climbing onto a beam. "Is there a handbook with training techniques or something that I just haven't read yet?"

Anakin laughed, wishing any such thing existed. "It's been easier for me to hide my training for the past few years, so I didn't have to stop as you did. I've had time to think through this stuff." Hopping onto shelf, he pulled his weapon out again. "Let's rerun the sequences, just to get used to the beams."

This time they had to move much more slowly. Anakin had a pretty stable grasp on how to spar on beams, but Kanan was trying to rest his heels on ground that was no longer there. It took multiple runs of both sequences on both hands for him to get comfortable.

When they were finished, Anakin took a step back. "Ever heard of the game The Floor Is Lava?"

Kanan blinked once before looking at the beams, then the ground. "No, but it sounds pretty self-explanitory. Where did you get that name from, though?"

"There's a pair of teenagers I see every once in a while," he explained. "They're the kids of a friend of mine, and I used to watch over them. They loved it as kids. Still do, actually."

"Huh," he shrugged before raising his weapon. "So don't touch the ground?"

Nodding, Anakin jumped forward and started the bout. He didn't throw in a ton of extravagent moves, but he made sure not to stay in one spot for very long. Leaping from beam to beam, he kept Kanan on his toes figuratively and literally. He had to keep his balance now or he would fall over whether Anakin was attacking him or not.

It was kinda fun, actually. It reminded Kanan of the games the Younglings used to play in the temple when they didn't have lessons. They would take all the pillows off the couches and make stepping-stone paths with them. You either had to jump on the cushions or the furniture to get from one side of the room to the other. They never called it The Floor Is Lava, but Kanan began to wonder if he had done this before, just not with lightsabers.

Though it took a few rounds of trial and error, but Kanan finally figured out to not keep slipping. Of course, the key was to do exactly what Master Skywalker was telling him to do, but his subconscious was only figuring it out now. Wide base, on his toes, crouching just enough to keep him stable.

Of course, right when he got the hang of it, Anakin switched it up on him. Flipping off the beam, he called Kanan over to him. "Adjust to the ground, same technique!"

The transition was jarring, but it was necessary for Kanan to put the drill into practice. Anakin dialed up the duel but kept his focus on Kanan's feet. Whenever he saw Kanan letting his heels drop, he locked sabers with Kanan and started to shove. That usually fixed the problem right away, and if it didn't, it ended with Kanan falling on his back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Anakin saw Ezra open the door and walk in. He didn't make any mention of it. Instead he went for one last combo with Kanan, hoping to show him off to his apprentice. Anakin went through the basic sequences again but rushed them, weaving in saber twirls and spins to try to throw Kanan off. He recognized what the Knight was doing though and parried them successfully, taking steady steps back as Anakin made advances. Finally, this time, he kept his weight forward and as soon as the sequence was done, he spun through his final deflection and kicked Anakin square in the gut, sending him backward. He skidded to a halt and Kanan raised his lightsaber, expecting the fight to go on, but Anakin held his position.

"You've been holding out on me!!!" Ezra accused Kanan, alerting him to his presence. Anakin smiled as he deactivated his saber. Mission accomplished.

Realizing the duel had ended, Kanan turned his own weapon off and stood up straight. "What are you talking about? Holding out with what?"

"That! That was incredible!"

Trying to hide it but failing, Kanan grinned. Turning to Anakin he asked, "Did you set this up?"

"I just saw him at the door," Anakin confessed, raising a hand and waving at R2-D2. The astromech caught the signal and ejected a bottle of water out of his head at his master. Catching it, he continued the conversation. "Watching those heels is going to make all the difference, and you don't need a partner to use it to train."

"It's still nice, though," insisted Kanan. "Training by yourself gets kind of boring."

Anakin laughed before he took a drink. "I know the feeling." He nodded at Ezra. "I think it's your turn."

"What, me?"

"We'll trade," he offered. "You and Kanan can train, and I'll watch this time."