Ezra The Stray

Growing Pains

Ezra had been diligently reading the book Kanan had found at the library, enamored by the fact that his favorite bedtime story was not only true, but he was the next chapter in it! He also kept busy doing all the studying on Jedi culture and history lessons Kanan had been giving him while recovering, he had learned very much and Kanan was pleasantly surprised and glad for his interest. Ezra had never been able to go to school when he was little, so this new concept was intriguing to him and he took to it positively. Thankfully his parents had home schooled him on the basics like reading and math.

As the month finally passed and Ezra was healed, and not just the blaster injury, he was finally starting to feel more comfortable around the crew. Sabine had been no different around Ezra than she was before, even with having seen him with his shirt off, so Ezra was very relieved about that. His insecurity was long forgotten and he resumed his pathetic attempts to get her attention. She just rolled her eyes but was glad to have the annoyance back, she mused that he was like a cat constantly weaving under foot.

"Here, I found something to help you with your studies." She tossed him a small toy model of a brain. "You probably don't even know what it is since you don't even have one."

"I know what this is...." Ezra rolled his eyes as he held it upside down. She walked out of the room, he leaned over to Kanan. "Hey, this is like a liver or something, right?"

"Don't ask him." Zeb chuckled coldly. "He wouldn't know, he doesn't have a healthy one of those anymore either." Kanan shot Zeb a hard glare, Ezra just tilted his head with confusion.

Ezra and Hera had apologized and made up, they weren't as close as they were before because Ezra was still feeling a little guarded and not ready to open back up to her again. She understand, she knew she broke a part of his trust and it needed to recover. She missed their conversations but kept herself open for whenever Ezra would be ready to confide in her again. Thankfully for her it wouldn't take very long. In the meantime she continued to do his wound care but never tried to press the issue again about examining his Lothcat features. She figured if he ever felt willing to he would tell her she had permission. Getting his injury cleaned and repacked every day was painful and uncomfortable but he persevered thru it, the risk of infection was too much of a concern not to. Hera was diligent, Ezra allowed her to tend to him, cringing and whimpering thru the burning stinging pain of her debriding the tender wound to promote quicker healing, he tried hard not to cry each time. Hera told him it was ok to cry if it hurt, but he didn't want to seem any weaker or more pathetic than he already felt over something like that. Silly boy, his stubborn toughness amused her. He was so much like his mentor. She thought maybe she should tell him about the first time she patched Kanan up and he cried? Yes he was drunk, and he would deny it to this day, but still, it might make Ezra feel better and have a laugh.

Ezra and Zeb seemed closer almost over night, the others were shocked and didn't know how to explain it. They joked and played and rough housed and ran around the ship giving Chopper a hard time, although having to be cautioned repeatedly due to Ezra's injury to take it easy. They even found the boys asleep on the sofa together after Ezra was having feverish nightmares, Ezra was curled up against his side and Zeb had an arm around him protectively. Chopper swears he didn't take a holo of the scene, but I think we all know that was a lie.

Kanan and Hera grew concerned as the fever didn't break and only got higher, even tho his wound was healing slowly but surely and yet showed no sign of infection. At the time they were nearby another rebel ship and Hera reached out to them for help, they sent a med droid to check him out. Ezra sat on the cot, his body trembling uncontrollably as the med droid stood before him. Being injured and feeling unwell had already shaken his constitution. Hera held his hand to try and keep him calm, Kanan was not sure why Ezra was so uncomfortable and scared around the med droid but he would have to deal with that later, right now they needed Ezra to be brave and face that fear. Zeb disagreed. He even playfully got up in the droids face to warn him not to hurt Ezra, threatening him and pushing him around a little, which caused a bit of a smile and giggle from Ezra and caused him to relax, so they let Zeb's actions go this time. Kanan decided to try a different approach. He began to pet and stroke Ezra on the head, petting his hair soothingly like a cat, while the droid ran a thermometer across his forehead and scanned his body with the scanner. Ezra closed his eyes and began to calm his nerves. With his three protectors around him he felt safe. With his family around him, he knew he was safe, none of them would let anything happen to him. The droid deciphered that due to his body working hard to heal the wound, his immune system was weakened and became compromised and he succumbed to a random bug. He also showed signs of malnourishment which meant he was not eating. Kanan and Hera were pretty cross with that last bit of information and Ezra just gave them an awkward toothy grin. They told him to please be more honest and open with them, they would have to try and coax Ezra into eating while recovering. His depression and discomfort had stolen his appetite so he was forgoing eating without them even realizing it. Zeb slapped him gently upside the head, Ezra just smirked and shrugged with embarrassment.

As his injury continued to heal he had been able to go on a few small supply runs and participate in minor repairs on the ship with the others. Kanan let him work on non stressful training, things like martial arts forms and trying to meditate. He was surprised at how quickly Ezra picked up on the forms, his cat like flexibility and poise made him a great martial artist. But they had to keep an eye on him and remind him to pace himself and go slow and take it easy, and of course to eat. Zeb challenging him actually helped with that, the boys constant competitions with food or just about everything was good motivation and also a great way to get him to engage more. Ezra was all too eager to get back into things and start helping, but he still needed to rebuild his stamina and take things slowly and not aggravate his injury. His first Jedi lesson definitely needed to be one to learn patience. But Ezra seemed to become happy again, livelier and even more confident. Kanan could feel that he had finally accepted who and what he was. He was comfortable with his new family and comfortable in his own skin. He was ready. Kanan meditated with the holocron to confirm the information about the Jedi temple on Lothal. It was time, Ezra was ready, Kanan was ready. It was time for him to face his real test. Ezra would get his kyber crystal and officially become his Padawan.