The Littlest Warrior

Chapter 4 - The Test

The Littlest Warrior
Chapter 4
The Test

Nobody on the ship could find Ezra. He wasn't in his room, Kanan's room, the main room or kitchen. Where could he have gone in his condition? Chopper checked the ventilation system but came up with nothing. Kanan felt out with the Force but wasn't getting anything, which meant he was unconscious. Even more a reason to find him urgently. Finally he was found in the storage room, collapsed next to a bucket and rag that he had been using to clean and try to feel useful and helpful. Kanan sighed and bent down, putting a hand gently on his face. Ezra was trying and fighting so hard. He was being difficult but it was only because he was scared. He had never been sick like this before, none of them had. He put a hand over Ezra's chest and closed his eyes, feeling in with his Force energy. He remembered when younglings had gotten sick back at the temple that one of the healers would do this to try and help them recover, or at least to find out what was wrong in case medical treatment was necessary. Kanan was no healer and was far from a doctor, but he thought maybe it might help even just a little. He could feel Ezra's heart beating quickly, his body was working hard to fight this infection. He could feel him breathing, thankfully his lungs were clear and his breathing while shallow was not congested. The strain was coming from the swelling of his airways, he moved his hand up to his neck and could only feel the hot anger of the infection raging inside of his head. He placed his hand on his neck, his lymph nodes felt as hard and large as small stones. He let out a sigh, his immune system was working on overdrive. They had to convince him to let them give him that test. It was the only way to diagnose what medication he needed to finally get better.

"Ezra?" Kanan spoke quietly. "Ezra." He spoke a little louder, still no reply. Kanan made a thoughtful face, he felt his pocket and pulled out the box with the test, forgetting that he had it on him. He looked down at his unconscious Padawan and realized this may be his only opportunity and better yet, Ezra would never even know. "Sorry kid." He tried to open his mouth but his limp jaw proved difficult to keep open. Finally he managed to pry open his mouth with one hand and keep it open as the second one went to try and fumble open the box. Ezra started groaning. "Uh oh...." Kanan turned back but it was too late, Ezra was waking up, he opened his eyes and finally realized what was going on. He made sounds of protest and Kanan let go of his face while he scrambled back away. "Ezra!"

"What are you doing!?" Ezra caught his breath, rubbing his face.

"I...." Kanan thought fast and decided not to tell him the complete truth. "I found you unconscious, you were not responding. I thought you might need resuscitation." Ezra gave him a look of disbelief but finally let out a sigh, believing his excuse at last. Kanan relaxed, "What were you doing in here anyway?"

"I was tired of feeling like I wasn't contributing, all I'm doing is just laying around like a lazy useless lump. I might not be able to take part on missions but I can at least pull my weight here on the ship."

Kanan sighed with frustration. "We don't expect you to have to do anything like that in your condition. All we expect of you is to rest so you can recover."

"Well a lot of good use that's doing, I'm only getting worse just resting. When does the recovery start?"

"When you let us do that culture swab on you so we can get you some medicine."

"Ugh. Not this again..." Ezra folded his arms and turned away.

"I don't know why you are being so difficult."

"My throat hurts bad enough as it is. Having you do that test on me is going to hurt even worse!"

"I know your throat hurts. I can hear it, and see it."

"Having you all continue to poke and prod me is frustrating." He broke into a coughing fit before continuing. "Do you know how helpless and weak it makes me feel?"