Chapter Text
"And then, he just stood up and walked off the speeder. He took a dive into the planet like it was nothing! And motioned for me to follow!" Ezra throws his hands in the air, still baffled over what Kallus did on an undercover mission on coruscant. He turns to the Loth cat he's retelling the story to, "I watched that man scale at least 70 stories upwards in less than five minutes. How the kriff is that physically possible?"
A rumble comes from the chest of his company. "Brrrewh."
"I know! It's un-kriffing believable!" Ezra sighs. "When I had been told that he grew up on Coruscant, I assumed it was the upperlevels. But the deeper into the planet we went, the more it felt like he was in familiar territory."
Ezra lays on his back, looking up at the blue sky filled with clouds that pass him slowly. He loves his home dearly and is glad to be back. Kallus did not have the same experience returning to the coreworld.
"He doesn't like talking about his past a lot. The only bits I've ever been able to pull from him have only been about Lasan. He's never been one to hide his pride or his shame. He owns one just as much as he owns up to the other." Ezra’s hands fall over his stomach and chest.
Another rumbling purr comes from the loth cat as she pushes herself underneath his hands.
Ezra huffs a tiny chuckle, gently scratching behind an ear. "Not gonna lie, sorta reminds me of Zeb. A bit. Zeb never liked talking about his past either. But he seemed to run away from it, shy from it. Kal fully embraces his, even if he doesn't talk about it. But I think he talks about it to Zeb or Rex. I hope he does." It took Kallus a while to start opening up to the crew.
"If I'm being honest," Ezra grins to himself as he soothes over the fur on the loth cat, receiving appreciative purrs in return, "I've trusted him for a while. Not right off the bat, obviously, but…" Ezra thinks back to the attempted extraction.
Before leaving, Zeb had emphasized to Ezra that Kallus might not come with him. That he would feel like his work wasn't complete. Ezra could tell that Zeb wanted to say more, to try and explain it further, but they were out of time. And Ezra understood even if he didn't. And even though Zeb didn't say it, he knew that Zeb wanted to tell him to trust him. Something about Zeb’s energy reminded Ezra starkly of when Ahsoka told Kanan to trust Rex. Zeb wanted to see just how much Kallus had changed for his own eyes, there was something he needed to see. But… then Kallus did what Zeb had said he was going to do.
Ezra may have trusted Kallus, but he wasn't going to tell him that. He wanted to see for himself what it was that Zeb was searching for. And he did. He found it.
So when he returned without Kallus, Ezra still had something to tell Zeb.
"My trust in him has only grown since. But he's still hesitant to fully trust himself. So he holds back sometimes. But other times he’s still just as prideful as he's always been."
The loth cat has long since fallen asleep, but Ezra continues to talk to her anyway. Not like he's going to be allowed to move anytime soon anyway. "He may not talk about his past much, but there's a way that he's so certain about the future. It's a bit funny. But more than anything, it's uplifting. He has this deep faith in everyone. Even those who distrust him. He knows how to figure out a person with only a few interactions and uplifts that."
A laugh seeps from Ezra’s lungs. "I had been worried about going to Coruscant. Yeah, I grew up in the city, but the capital of Lothal is a far cry from the planet that is thousands of cities built on top of one another. Kal made a small joke about how he had faith that I'd figure it out. He said something," Ezra strains his mind to try and remember the exact wording, but it escapes his memory, "looking back on it, I think he had referenced his own time in the lower levels. But it was something about having faith in my capabilities."
"Ezra Bridger, you've pulled off the impossible time and time again. The lower levels are no match for a star like you."
Kallus had said it with such… softness. He added on that he would be by Ezra’s side every step of the way. And he was.
"Now that I think about it, any mission that Kal and I are on together, he's always sorta… mm…" Ezra trails off. It isn't his imagination, is it?
"Brr?"
Ezra's eyes dart over to the Loth cat that is wide awake, staring at him expectantly, as if to say "well, go on."
Ezra rolls his eyes. "Shut up. I was thinking, can't I take a minute to do that?"
The Loth cat yawns deeply before swatting at his hand. Still waiting.
"Fine, since you're so invested in the story, I guess I can continue," he continues with a heavy sigh, "If I must." The loth cat moves to his lap, allowing him to sit up. "He always seems a bit protective of me. Of any of us, honestly. He'll be on edge, as if waiting for someone to suddenly jump out." Ezra narrows his eyes. "Sure, everyone is always on guard, but… something is very different about it when it comes to Kal."
Ezra sighs. "One of these days," Ezra smiles as he straightens his shoulders, giving the Loth cat a look of determination, "I'll get Kal to share a story with me. I know he's from the lower levels of Coruscant, so maybe I can tell him about a story he relates to, maybe he has similar ones."
"Brreow!" His friend begins to chirp at him.
"Thanks for listening, talking to you is always nice." Ezra tilts his head as he showers the loth cat in scritches.