Ezra looked very uncertain while Anakin put the shelves back in place and took a seat next to Artoo by the wall. Downing some more of his water, he asked, "How'd we look?" privately to the astromech. Artoo whistled in satisfaction which was enough for his master.

He was really glad that Ezra had seen a glimpse of Kanan in full throttle. He still hadn't really heard about the Inquisitor fight and he didn't know how much of it Ezra had seen. Still, people learn plenty just by watching. If Ezra saw what Kanan could do, maybe he'd believe that he could do the same one day. 

Anakin needed to step back, though. Guiding sparring was one thing, but he was just here to watch now. He had to draw that line early or it would get blurred later. Not that he had anything against training Ezra, but it couldn't be in the same way Kanan did. Master-Padawan relationships had certain boundaries that Anakin knew he ought to respect, even if Kanan wasn't aware of them yet. If Kanan wanted to know more about teaching, this was the place to start.

So he sat back and watched as Kanan had Ezra run through his basic sequences, although a lot more slowly than before. Ezra had the technique down, but it was clear it still wasn't natural for him yet. Not surprising given that he had only had his lightsaber for maybe a few months. 

From the sidelines, Anakin tried to take mental notes on what he saw in Ezra's form. It was clear that even though he was a rebel, his primary focus was survival. He was always moving, never really holding a position for too long. Kanan, for example, followed through a lot of his strokes and sometimes even held himself in place if he could spare the time, a habit taught by the Coruscant temple in order to perfect his technique. Ezra hardly ever did this, except for when Kanan specifically asked for it, and usually retreated almost immediately into a defensive position. Anakin could see the strategy in it: hypothetically he would be ready for whatever came next. It needed to be harnessed, though, because right now it was just a habit, not a tactic. If Ezra could realize what he was doing, he might be able to use it for something.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he also saw Kanan making sure to stay on his toes. He knew Kanan knew Anakin was watching him, and he wasn't wrong. He wasn't there to judge, though, just to watch. Despite having known Caleb in the past, Anakin had only met Kanan and Ezra yesterday. Getting to know them was the first step on a very long road he hoped would end well. Like he said, there was a lot to learn from watching. 

When they were finished with sequences (a good fifteen minutes later), Kanan turned to Anakin. "You think you could help go over deflecting blaster fire? I don't think the others are up yet, or I'd ask them to help."

"Sure," he responded, but he didn't grab a blaster. Instead he reached into one of his back pockets and pulled out a small metal sphere. "Do you think this would work?"

"How-? How did you...?" He shook his head. "What else did you manage to snag from the temple?"

"Some textbooks, holocrons, old manuscripts..." he listed, throwing orb into the air before catching it. "I don't have any of it with me, unfortunately."

Ezra stared at the little ball in his hand. "What is that?"

Powering it on, Anakin explained. "Training remote. It won't kill you, but it'll give you a nice shock if you don't deflect the charge. Do you have a helmet with you?"

"I've got a blindfold," Kanan offered, pulling a strip of cloth out of his belt. Wrapping it around his apprentice's head, he made sure it was secure before stepping away. When he nodded to Anakin, he started the remote on the first level and stepped back. 

When the shots came, Ezra's first instinct was to dodge them. Again, not surprising. The logic was that you shouldn't take a hit where you don't have to. In survival it was common sense, but a Jedi didn't always act out of common sense. 

"It's just a sting, Ezra, don't worry," Kanan assured him. "Try to deflect them, just like we did with the crew."

"Why would I put myself in the line of fire when I don't have to?"

Kanan glanced at Anakin. He knew what he wanted to say but not how to phrase it, but maybe he would know. Anakin obliged. "The only reason you would do that was if there was something else in the line of fire behind you. Something that couldn't deflect the shot." Or someone, Anakin added silently, but he knew he didn't need to say it out loud. The subtext was there. 

Ezra began standing still and letting the remote target him. When the shots came, he opted to deflect them up where they wouldn't be close to anyone else. It was good to see that Ezra could deflect fire. At the moment, it was more useful than dueling. The only other duelers on the playing field were Inquisitors, and none of them were deployed right now. At least, not in this part of the galaxy.

As they watched, the remote began moving up levels. The longer Ezra sustained under the fire, the more difficult deflecting the charges came to be. The remote was good because it was effective at setting a gradual pace, and Ezra seemed to be getting the hang of it.

If Anakin was going to choose one thing to work on with Ezra, it would have been the cohesiveness of his deflections. Again, he was always returning to a defensive position after every move. It was fine right now, when the shots weren't coming quickly, but when the fight started to speed up, Ezra wouldn't have that kind of time anymore. 

After about five levels, it was clear that Ezra was getting a little tired. Kanan powered down the remote before speaking. "Not bad. If you can deflect this thing, you won't have a problem against stormtroopers. They're not nearly as accurate."

That made all three of them laugh. Despite their varied backgrounds with the Empire, it was clear they were all aware of the incompetence of stormtroopers. Ezra pushed the blindfold off his eyes and onto his forehead. "Well, that's not a high standard to beat."

"You said you had been working with your lightsaber for a month?" Anakin asked, just wanting to clarify.

"I dunno, the past few weeks have been a little crazy," he admitted, powering his weapon off. "I haven't been keeping track."

Kanan wasn't quite sure either. "Somewhere in there, I'd guess."

Oh well, either way it didn't change what Anakin wanted to say. "Even if it was longer, you've picked up saber technique fairly quickly. For having not trained at all as a Youngling, you've got a good basis to build off of."

Ezra grinned at Kanan. "See?" he asked smugly, forcing Kanan to groan. Anakin laughed and wondered if Obi-Wan had ever felt like this. It was a lot funnier when he wasn't on the receiving end of the sarcasm. 

"Don't get cocky," Kanan scolded him. "There's a lot you can learn from Master Skywalker."

"Yeah, like how to duel like you guys were," Ezra agreed wistfully. "That looked amazing, and it was so fast, too."

Thinking quickly, Anakin looked to Kanan. He seemed to realize that he had an idea and nodded. With Kanan's approval, he went for it. "Part of that comes from experience. Kanan's had the time to learn how all the pieces of fighting fit together. You've got some pieces, but you're still learning about them. It's going to be more difficult for you to understand without the lessons we were able to have in the temple, but give it time. You'll figure it out."

Ezra snorted. "Yeah, I never got the official classes."

"You're not the type to sit still long enough to make it through a class," Kanan reminded him. "I'm pretty sure this will work out much better."

The Padawan looked unimpressed with his master's opinion on the matter. Anakin, on the other hand, walked over to the remote. "Well, the content of the classes still applies. You said you wanted to learn how to duel faster, right?"

His ears seemed to perk up. "Yeah."

Adjusting the settings on the remote, Anakin kept talking. "Part of increasing your speed is blending the beginnings and ends of your motions. Keeping your saber moving is key to deflecting fire from multiple adversaries. Move in motion: one into the next, into the next, and so on."

"Wait, I've heard this before," Ezra realized, looking to Kanan who was grinning. "The holocron! One of Kanan's recordings, that was you!"

He paused for a moment, before glancing at Kanan. "You have that one?"

Shrugging, he crossed his arms. "It was a coincidence, really, but yeah."

"Huh." Returning back to the remote, he went on. "When you were deflecting earlier, your movements were separated, and choppy. This time, try to let it flow. You can keep the blindfold off if you want."

Handing the cloth back to Kanan, Ezra turned his lightsaber back on and stood in front of the remote. Anakin started it again, setting it for interval burst. It would fire six times at Ezra, pause, and do six more. Perfect for sequence training. "Remember the Form IV techniques I showed in the holocron?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what Form IV means."

"Don't worry about it," Anakin assured him. "Try using that sequence, but hold the positions as you go. Focus on staying in motion."

Ezra did as he was asked. It took a fair amount of concentration, but he dialed in on his task and tried to copy how he had seen Anakin do it in the recording. 

If he was honest, Form IV suited Ezra. He was wild and unruly, and Ataru complimented that well. He was too small to use Form V, Shien, which usually utilized overpowering the opponent, and too undisciplined to prefer Form III, Soresu, which focused on efficiency and patience. The others were even less applicable to a new Padawan, save for Form I, the most basic and fundamental of them all. Anakin knew that he had a textbook describing some of the more subtle nuances of each lightsaber form, and he wondered if Kanan or Ezra would benefit from reading it.

After a couple repetitions, Ezra was getting familiar with the sequence. The motions looked slightly smoother, but it was still a conscious choice for Ezra, not quite natural. If he wanted to be more proficient at it, he would have to practice this often. The problem was that rebels didn't normally have a set schedule. It would be up to him and the rest of the Ghost crew to find time to train.

Speaking of, they were running out of time. Anakin had to start packing up if he wanted to make his rendezvous in a few hours. He waved to Artoo, pointing for him to warm up the engines on the Rogue. The astromech got the message and quietly dismissed himself.

Kanan noticed out of the corner of his eye. "Something wrong?"

"Wrong, no," he assured them, and Ezra paused his training to listen in to the conversation. "I can't stay any longer, though. The leadership council has a mission for me."

"But you just got here, and so did we," Ezra complained. "You're leaving already?"

Anakin laughed and picked up water canteen. "Don't worry, I plan to be back. With the Inquisitor dead, though, the Empire is probably going to retaliate. It's my job to figure out how so we can counter it. Will keeping the remote help with training sessions?"

Glancing back at Ezra, who was nodding, Kanan answered, "Probably, yeah. I'll keep it on the Ghost when we don't use it."

Heading toward the door, the Jedi Knight went on. "Just make sure you don't go too long without training. We don't know when something will pop up again. And speaking of the Ghost," he turned back to Kanan and pointed. "You might warn Hera that the rebel command wants to talk with her about yesterday."

"Why not?"

"Well...technically they didn't have orders to extract you."

Both Kanan and Ezra looked confused, so Anakin sighed and explained further. "I had orders to tell Hera that she shouldn't get you, but I didn't have orders to order her not to get you. I'm not a commanding officer, so I can't give orders to anyone. Still, if Hera wants to get let off the hook for this, she's going to have to be careful with her wording during that meeting."

"Ohhh...that's smart," Ezra realized, looking at Kanan. "It's a nice loophole, if you think about it."

It wasn't clear whether Kanan was impressed or concerned about the situation. "The only reason Hera was able to get me was because of your vocabulary? Does anyone else get to disobey orders like this?"

"Doing what the rebel council says is one thing," Anakin reminded him. "How we go about doing it, that's another."

"Is that how you got away with doing so much during the Clone War?"

Grinning, Anakin turned back toward the door. "I don't know what you're talking about. I never bended the rules, ever."

Resounding laughter could be heard from the storage unit as he walked out. He didn't blame them: If Kanan had told Ezra anything about him from the Clone War, then he undoubtedly heard about the shenanigans he pulled as a young adult. 

He found Artoo already on their ship, just as the rest of the cruiser was getting to work. Anakin disconnected the hose from the Rogue's fuel tank and set it back on the pump. Screwing the cap back on the port, he shut the panel to the main engine and grinned when he saw the symbol painted there six years ago when he joined the Rebellion.

Speaking of disobeying a council, Anakin thought, smiling before he boarded the ship. He had called his ship 'the Rogue' for a reason, after all.