Rebuilding (COMPLETE)

*Episode 15 (1)

Anakin could swear he could feel Kanan shrinking into his skin beside him. He understood it, he did, even if it wasn't preferable. Even with the abolishment of the Jedi Order Anakin was still Kanan's superior. In their past, superiors were supposed to be revered and casual relationships were seen as disrespectful. Anakin didn't want that though. If it was at all possible to change that tradition, he intended to.

"Are you okay?"

The question startled Kanan, and he nodded quickly to try and regain his composure. "Yeah, yeah I'm all right, I just..." he sighed, looking back at the floor. "I never imagined that there were other survivors, I thought for sure I was the only one."

He nodded, slowing so they were walking side by side. "I'm partially to blame for that. I could have reached out much sooner and didn't."

"Why?" asked Kanan, almost immediately regretting asking but not losing his resolve. "I get it if you couldn't for some reason, but you've been in contact with Hera for months at least. I've been with her for years, so..."

"Safety was the biggest reason," Anakin admitted, remembering the first time he had heard about him. "Even though I thought I recognized you from her reports, the Empire hadn't at the time. I didn't want to be the reason your identity was compromised. I wouldn't exactly be helping you if my involvement led to your capture."

"Which happened anyway," reminded Kanan, and Anakin laughed quietly. "Were there other reasons?"

"Protocol, mostly. As Hera said, your crew wasn't supposed to be a rebel cell. As a rebel agent, any contact could have resulted in an intelligence leak." He said most of this in an unconcerned voice. As ever, Anakin wasn't as concerned about protocols as other people were. "That was more of a decision made by Rebellion leadership. The other reason I didn't reach out to you was that I didn't think you needed me."

"Why wouldn't I need you?" he wondered, pausing in the hallway and confronting the Jedi Knight. He gestured down the hall to the command center where the rest of his crew still was. "It's not like I had a chance to finish my training and most of them don't know that. And then there's Ezra, it's not like I'm supposed to be teaching him either."

The corner of Anakin's mouth turned up. "Then how was he able to rescue from the Empire?"

Snorting, Kanan had an answer ready. "Luck. There's no way I should be alive right now."

"Yet here you are," Anakin mused, "and in no small part to him and the rest of your family. For someone who's 'not supposed to be teaching him', you've done a pretty good job."

Kanan could tell Anakin was trying to compliment him, but his confidence in his abilities was limited. "I wasn't even close to Knighthood when the Order fell. I don't know how to be a good teacher when I never stopped feeling like a student."

It was taking a lot of control for Anakin to not laugh. He wasn't laughing at Kanan, but more at himself for finding himself repeating the words his master had once told him. "There's always more to learn, even for a Master. You can go your entire life always feeling like a student, but that doesn't mean other people can't still learn from you. Your rank has nothing to do with that, and your Padawan certainly doesn't seem to care."

"My Pada-are you saying that...?"

"I think you should continue to train Ezra," he confirmed, saying it out loud in case Kanan still doubted him. "Knight or not, you've shown that you can guide him in the Force. As long as he wants to be your apprentice, I believe he should be."

His words nearly overwhelmed Kanan. When he had seen Anakin, he had planned to hand Ezra's training over to the Knight to continue. He didn't expect to receive his blessing to remain his teacher. Kanan didn't realize that a Padawan could take an apprentice, but what he didn't realize is that Anakin had once been the apprentice in a very similar situation. If Obi-Wan could train Anakin at age twenty, he was sure Kanan could learn to do the same for Ezra at an older age.