Nomming
the pudding out of the bowl, Ezra shot the ones in his room a big
smile even as he tugged the blanket more up around himself.

Caleb
smiled at the sight, before turning to healer Eerin. “So he’ll be
okay in a few days?” He questioned quietly, relaxing as the mon
calamari nodded.

“Indeed,
his fever is going down as we speak and he’s recovering thanks to
the food we’re giving him which he has to continue eating so we
will be giving the creche a schedule for him and approved food items.
He’ll be able to join them soon enough and start socializing with
kids his own age.” She said happily.

The
healers had done the best they could, putting in a colorful blanket
with tooka’s covering it and a few soft toys but a Hall room was no
place for a child long term though some could not avoid it. They
always tried to make the rooms as child friendly as possible when
that happened but thankfully Ezra would only need the room for a few
more days until his fever and infectious period was over and then
he’d be able to be around other children.

He
had been given all his immunization shots and Healer Eerin had
actually been happily surprised by how strong Ezra’s immune system
was.

There
were a few other notes, a few strong vitamins the kid would have to
take for a few weeks and he was allergic to a particular Lothalian
grain but other than that, Ezra would be just fine.

There
was of course the trauma and Eerin had warned Caleb, as the boy’s
future master, that Ezra had a badly healed break in his left wrist
that they would have to take a closer look on as he got older since
Ezra was left handed.

Which
had confused Caleb and he had refuted that by saying Ezra used his
right hand quite a bit which lead to them discovering that Ezra was
neither left or right handed, he was ambidextrous, being equally
adept at using both right and left at the same time.

Ezra
had just shrugged when asked about it and said that sometimes his
left or right ached so he used the one that didn’t ache.

A
simple and blunt explanation from a child who didn’t see what was
so special about it.

Bowing
to the healer, Caleb moved to Ezra’s side, sitting down on the
bedside with a small smile as he held up the pad. “Brought the
story I promised.” He chuckled when blue eyes lit up, excitement
filling the air as Ezra tucked back into the pillows though he also
pulled the tray with him to finish off his pudding.

Pulling
the blanket up to the boys armpits to leave his arms free to continue
eating, Caleb settled back against the headboard covered in large
pillows, powering up the pad to start reading and
as they got into the story, he felt Ezra settle into his side.

Quickly,
Caleb looped his arm around the boy to make it clear the contact was
welcome.

()()()

Ezra’s
first few hours in the creche was…quiet, the boy staying close to crechemaster Dutra for the most part with an uncertain look in his eyes as he looked around at all the kids.

Caleb
kept a discreet eye as he volunteered that day, just to keep an eye
with his future padawan but kept a bit of distance too so Ezra wouldn’t
latch onto him. He had wanted to be around the boy but the
crechemaster had warned him that Ezra needed to find his own legs and
not latch onto Caleb.

Making
him dependent on Caleb and him alone would be bad as he needed to be able to rely on the other adults in his life and reach out to other kids but if Ezra showed
signs of outright distress he could intervene.

Luckily
Ezra started to come out of his shell after a few of those quiet hours of uncertainty, finding another human boy by
the name Jai and a rodian girl named Saph that shared his interest in
animals, all three of them looking up different animals on the holopad stationed in the learning corner and
attracting a small circle of younglings that listened to the holo
audio explain the animals they saw.

Ezra
quite liked the purrgils
for some reason, clapping his hands in excitement.

Letting
out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding, Caleb felt some calm
settle into his body, knowing that Ezra was making bonds in the
creche…

That
felt good.

Even
though he was still a tiny bit tense around adults he didn’t yet
know, that was fair too with his life until now. Ezra would learn that the temple would
safeguard him and that was all Caleb needed in that moment to feel
himself settle.

The
knowledge that his future padawan was safe and would be cared for
until it was time.

Caleb
would be ready by then.

He
had
to be ready by then because there was no way he’d let Ezra slip
through his fingers.

With
that in mind he turned to the togruta he was feeding only to feel his
face fall as a certain smell reached him, informing him it was diaper
change. ‘Never to much of a Jedi to be humbled by poo diapers I
guess.’ He sighed and set the bowl aside, lifting the youngling up
with a half smile.