Unsettled/Disillusioned

Chapter 5: the Duel

"Whoa, Kallus, you gotta come see this!" Wedge called into his office. Rex wasn't going to get these reports on time either, Kallus thought as he tucked his datapad under his arm and followed Wedge to Chopper Base's main courtyard. Two figures, Kanan and Cal were fighting with lightsabers and Commander Wolffe was acting as referee. Wedge and Kallus saw Sabine, Ezra and BD-1 sitting on some benches with someone else and took a seat with the group.

"Seems like he's feeling better," said the green-skinned Twi'Lek with a heavy Ryl accent. Toa had been brought to Chopper Base with Cal, though Kallus hadn't seen much of her since she arrived. She usually stuck with the rebels on the other side of the base or was content with sketching the different rock formations in the landscape beyond.

"Oh, yea, we may have struck a nerve with him earlier," Kallus admitted.

"What did Zeb say this time?" Sabine teased.

"No, it's alright. Cal understands. You couldn't have known about the Masters. It happened a long time ago and it really changed him, but he has methods of dealing with it now," Toa shrugged, "other than the research, the work, I'm sure he loves training with his lightsaber, like physical meditation. He feels most comfortable with a blade in his hand, I think, even if he doesn't want to admit it," She rested her chin against her fist as Kanan and Cal's blades danced against each other; Kanan's defence was impenetrable but Cal's attacks came quick, unrelenting.

"Is he using Ezra's lightsaber?" Kallus asked, he knew the blade Cal was using wasn't his own. BD-1 sat beside the large hilt alongside his blaster. Cal was wearing the empty holster, the green-and-gold charm dangled from his hip as he danced on the courtyard with Kanan.

"Yeah, he had to borrow mine," Ezra said, "Cal's lightsaber doesn't have a modulator to switch it to training mode like mine and Kanan's has. If he used his own lightsaber, he could really hurt Kanan."

Kallus could feel his face heat up at that statement. He wasn't sure why seeing Cal fight put him on edge.

"Sorry, I'm not sure we've properly met, I'm Wedge," the pilot interrupted Kallus from his thoughts.

"Toa, a pleasure," replied the archaeologist.

"You're his partner, the one who was on the expedition with him?" Wedge asked.

"Yes," Toa said, but then her eyes widened as she corrected herself, "but only in an academic capacity. Cal is actually married to our town marshall."

"Wait... he's married?" Ezra sputtered. From what he heard from Kanan, Jedi weren't supposed to form attachments... whatever that really meant.

"Indeed, they're quite the power couple, and their kids are cute too," Toa smiled, "They made Koboh a little haven. I hope Commander Sato will let us go soon, I think I'm starting to get a little homesick. That doesn't usually happen."

"Koboh?" Kallus echoed, "never heard of it."

"It's a small planet on the Frontier, far from many main hyperspace lanes and surrounded by a nebula. There's also a celestial anomaly beyond our moon that can tear ships apart if you're not careful, keeps most trouble away. We mine priorite and grow protatoes there," Toa explained. "There are some Jedi Temples from the High Republic scattered throughout the plains and mountains. Cal helped me with my dissertation about it, but the Empire censored me. What can you do, right?"

"I'm sorry, Cal's married and he has kids?!" Ezra repeated.

"Married to our marshall, yes," Toa said proudly, "any trouble that does manage to get to the planet, whether it be pirates or crime syndicates, Merrin deals with them. Though their daughter, I'm not sure how exactly they adopted her. All I know is her biological father died so they took her in. And their son... I know they waited a long time to have him... He looks more like a protato than either one of them," she gave a light laugh, "but I suppose that's because he's only a few months old. They're an odd family but that's what makes the Galaxy interesting, isn't it?"