After a minute, Ezra said that he wanted some time to think. Knowing there was no better place to think than in a cockpit, Anakin let him be and left to check in with the other Ghost members. He ran into Hera first.

"I was looking for you," she told him, stopping in the middle of a hallway. "Have you seen Ezra?"

"He and I were just talking," Skywalker explained, pointing over his shoulder. "He wanted to know more about the contact he ran into the other day. Did you need him?"

"Just wanted to know where he was." Hera looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "Speaking of talking, I think Kanan could use a minute or two."

Anakin crossed his arms. "Is he okay?"

She shrugged. "I don't think so. He said he was going to brush up on his dueling, but he doesn't normally do that when we have guests. Especially you."

He sighed, letting his gaze drift off a bit. "I owe him a conversation anyway. After leaving you all hanging out to dry with the Inquisitors, it's the least I could do."

"You've done more than enough," Hera assured him, "but a pep talk could go a long way right now."

"Where does he normally train?"

"Cargo hold," she answered, pointing toward the Ghost. "I'm assuming you know your way around by now?"

Nodding, he walked off in the appropriate direction. "Thanks, Captain."

"Thank you," she returned, watching him go. If there was anyone who could sort out what Kanan was going through, it was Skywalker.

Sure enough, when he got close enough to the hold, Anakin heard a lightsaber humming from inside the room. He walked in and up to the railing on the side of the ledge, leaning over it to look down at Kanan. It took him a minute to realize that he was being watched, but he ran through the end of a sequence before looking up at the other Jedi.

"Nice work on your heels," Anakin praised, nodding to his feet. "Have you noticed a difference in your balance?"

"Huge," he responded, grateful that Anakin hadn't asked why he was training. Deactivating his lightsaber, he stepped out of stance and looked down at the ground. "I've felt more grounded recently than I used to. You're not surprised, I'm sure."

He shrugged, walking to the ladder and climbing down. "I'm glad it's been helping. Anything to keep you alive a little longer."

Kanan laughed, though he knew it was entirely serious. While Anakin still had his back turned, he asked a question before he lost his nerve. "Can you tell me something?"

"Sure," Anakin responded, turning around and sitting on a supply crate nearby.

"Why is Rex training with Ezra so often?" Kanan asked, crossing his arms. "Is he trying to say something to me? About how I'm teaching him?"

He shook his head, letting his gaze drift. "I doubt it. I don't think it has anything to do with you."

Well, that was nice to know, but it didn't tell Kanan much. "Then what is it?"

Anakin sighed and closed his eyes. He hadn't asked Rex about it, didn't dare bring it up, but Anakin thought he knew why Rex was training Ezra because it was the same reason he was, or at least something similar. That reason wasn't a happy one. He didn't dare make Rex recall the reason; he would never do that to him, but Kanan deserved an explanation, and that meant Anakin had to be the one to give it to him.

"What did he tell you about the Purge?"

That was entirely the opposite direction Kanan thought Master Skywalker would take the conversation, and he started to doubt whether he wanted to know or not. "Just that he didn't betray you."

"Is that what he said?"

"He said 'I didn't betray my Jedi.'"

Anakin's heart beat a little more painfully at that. He finally looked at Kanan again. "Rex wasn't with me when Order 66 was activated. He was with Ahsoka on Mandalore."

He saw Kanan's face glaze over. Anakin wasn't surprised and spoke slowly. "By the time the day came, Rex and a handful of other clones already had their chips removed. They didn't follow the order; they faked it and got Ahsoka out of danger alive. They hid out in the Outer Rim and sent a message to me saying that they were somewhere safe.

"I took a Jedi shuttle from the Coruscant temple to get there, but I didn't realize the Republic was tracking it. A group of chipped clones followed me there. It turned into a shootout between the free clones and the inhibited ones.

"One of them, Commander Cody, threw a grenade at Rex, knowing either Ahsoka or I would defend him from it. Ahsoka was closest and pushed it away from him, but left herself vulnerable. Cody shot her while she was standing in front of Rex."

The sick meaning behind the story worked its way into Kanan's mind: Rex blames himself. It didn't make him any more affectionate for the clone, but they had something in common all of a sudden.

Anakin wasn't done. "Right now, there's an impulsive teenage Padawan out there who's trying their best to fight a war that's a lot bigger than them. Where do you think Rex has seen that before?"

He looked down, knowing that he didn't need to answer. Anakin went on. "We all have to wrestle with our past. I think Rex is telling himself this is how to make up for his."

"What do you mean?" he asked, but no longer in the demanding tone he had spoken in earlier. "You said he wasn't the one who shot her."

"You're not the one who killed your master either, but you still blame yourself for it," Anakin reminded him. "Guilt is powerful, and sometimes it's more powerful than the truth."

The accusation cut deep, but it got the point across. Master Skywalker didn't cut corners or sugarcoat anything when it came to his lectures. It was probably for the better, but it still stung. Kanan knew he would only say something like that if he thought he needed to hear it.

Anakin seemed to be doing a lot of lecturing today. In fact, it seemed like every time he saw Ezra and Kanan, that he was teaching at least one of them something. Maybe it was just because he didn't see them very often, or maybe he just needed to back off for a little bit. He decided to make this lesson, at least, short. "The two of you are going to remind each other of everything you want to forget. If there were any way to change that, I would do it."

"I know," Kanan nodded. "It's not your fault. It isn't anyone's fault."

"Oh, it's somebody's fault," he corrected, "but that somebody is in charge of an Empire. That's why we're here, if for no other reason."

"What happened to 'revenge is not the Jedi Way'?"

"Eh, I've never followed the Code that closely anyway."

"So you'll lecture me about guilt but not about revenge?" Kanan asked, raising an eyebrow. "Where are you getting your lesson plans from?"

He laughed, shaking his head and looking around. "I don't know. I guess this is more important to me. I have more to say about guilt than revenge." Grinning, he started walking away. "Have fun training."

"What about you?" Kanan asked, right as Anakin was about to reach the ladder. "You don't talk about...it, except the one time when we arrived, but..."

He paused, not saying anything. Anakin knew Kanan was watching him, waiting for an answer, but he didn't give one.

Anakin knew his answer. That wasn't the problem. It depended on the day. There were some days when he could go without thinking too much about Ahsoka, even weeks sometimes. There were days when he remembered her fondly, usually laughing about some reckless stunt they had pulled or a joke they had made. Some days he focused on lessons he had learned from teaching her or watching her live in the Lower Levels, or he tried to remember things she had said about Tyrannus in the hopes of using it against him.

Then there were the days, which happened less often than they did fifteen years ago, when the pain of her death hit him at full force all over again. Those were the days Anakin spent on his ship, where no one but his droid could hear him, and he would mourn for his lost friend. There had been crying and screaming and silence, and he never got much done on those days. He had noticed that the annual passing of her death day was always a bad day for him. It was always the day after Empire Day.

He didn't have any reserves about telling Kanan this, and it might even let him know that it was okay to grieve for his friends too. That wasn't why he hesitated to tell him. He hesitated because he knew Ahsoka didn't want him to grieve over her when there was still so much left to fight for. She made her choice, and Anakin ought to allow her the dignity of that choice. After all, he was a Jedi, and part of being a Jedi was learning to let go of attachments when the time came. That time wasn't every day, but fifteen years later was probably long enough. If Ahsoka were here, she'd tell him to stop grieving over her and move on. He had to listen to the very thing he had told Ezra minutes ago.

Reaching over to his wrist, he decided to speak without words. Mourning Ahsoka was one thing, but remembering her was another. He activated his comlink and showed Kanan the Fulcrum callsign.

It was only then that Kanan made the connection between the rotating diamonds and the ex-Padawan. When it hit him, his eyes grew a little wider, and he looked up at Anakin. He wondered if anyone else knew exactly where the sign had come from, if anyone else had realized.

Powering down the small projection, Anakin opened the door and began to walk out before deciding to remind Kanan about something else. "Remember what my ship is called?"

"The Rogue, right?" he answered quietly, but he still didn't understand.

"Think about it."