A Star Among Planets (Star Wars Rebels Fanfiction)

Chapter 56: Jedi Retreat

    Halftail sat meditating for what appeared to be forever. He hadn't thought that he had ever meditated this long, even after a long meditating punishment from Master Brisk. Keen and Ezra were supposed to meet him and Kanan two hours ago. When they hadn't shown, both Halftail and Kanan had decided to go on without them.

After a while Halftail finally heard pawsteps and footsteps approaching them. Keen emerged, followed by Ezra, hesitantly creeping toward their Masters. Halftail opened one eye and Keen could tell he was displeased. "Oh, hi, Halftail," barked Keen as he smiled awkwardly.

Kanan stood up and towered over Ezra. "You're late," he remarked as he crossed his arms to show his displeasure.

Ezra just shrugged, which Halftail thought was very disrespectful. "Over two hours late," he pointed out as he rose to his paws stiffly and strode over to Keen, his tail tip twitching crossly. "A Jedi is always on time and keep their word when they say that they're going to be. It is very disrespectful."

Ezra scowled at him while Keen hung his head as if he understood what Halftail was talking about. "We just had other things that we had to do," he mumbled shamefully.

"Were they important," asked Kanan and Halftail could hear in his voice that it was a trick. He had heard Kanan use this question numerous times, even on Halftail himself, but Ezra had never heard it. He was about to get a lesson.

Ezra raised an eyebrow. "Of course it was important! If it wasn't important then I wouldn't have been doing it," reported Ezra, the teenage attitude showing in his tone.

Kanan sighed heavily and his nostrils flared in displeasure. "Is becoming a Jedi important to you?"

Ezra rolled his eyes. "Well yeah but-"

"Then you have to chose which is more important to you. A few moons ago you did something very dangerous. We need to work on that so that it doesn't happen again, but we only can if you're dedicated," explained Kanan. Although, Halftail wasn't sure that Ezra was getting it.  

Halftail turned his attention to Keen. "Keen, what were you doing," he asked as he sat next to his apprentice.

Keen shuffled his paws in embarrassment. "I was just following Ezra. I'm not really sure what he was doing, but he's my companion. I'm supposed to follow him, right?"

Halftail's mind whirled as he tried to figure out how to explain this to Keen as gently as possible. "Yes, but you also have to be your own mind and make your own decisions. You don't have to do everything that Ezra does, especially if you know that it's wrong."

Keen's eyes flashed in fear as he looked up to Ezra. "I know but it's hard since we lived together and alone with Bluefeather for so long. I really don't want to leave him."

Halftail touched his nose to Keen's ear comfortingly. "Just try it."

Keen nodded as his puffed out his fur in determination. "So what training are we doing today?"

"Sorry, Keen, but I had a limited amount of time to spend training and I promised Birchfoot that I'd help him out today," he meowed as he strode from his room and down the hall to Birchfoot's room.

He pushed himself in and saw Birchfoot by himself, facing the wall, his tail curled around his paws. Halftail tilted his head in confusion as he drew forward slowly so not to spook him. Birchfoot caught his scent and turned his head. Once he caught sight of Halftail, he purred noisily. "Oh thank Starbound that you're here, Halftail!"

Halftail touched his nose to Birchfoot's before he looked around. "Where's Swifttail?"

Birchfoot lowered his head into his shoulders. "That's a good question," he muttered into his chest fur.