Chapter Text
Mace found Ezra eating breakfast in the Viper Squad's quarters, looking far more rested and not ready to jitter out of his skin. Mace took the win. They were all laughing uproariously, which made him concerned.
"Sir!" Neevels snapped to attention, or tried to, only to be tripped by one of his squadmates who collapsed his legs before he could rise, howling in breathless laughter.
"Oh, Hey, Mace." Ezra grinned from the center of the laughing clone pile.
Mace felt a twinge of fond amusement goes through him at the sight. Kanan was right; he did grow on you, "Did you get any sleep at all, Bridger, or were you all up all night gossiping like initiates?"
"Oof, last names." Ezra made a face sending the squad into more peals of laughter, "I had all 8 hours before we got to gossiping honest truth."
Mace just sighed, unable to hide his amusement, "I came to see if you wanted to get your first glimpse of Coruscant from the bridge."
Ezra perked up immediately, "That'd be great!"
"You've never been to Coruscant?" One of the clones asked from the pile.
There was an 'oomf!' As one of the others smacked him. "Were you listening to nothing he just told us, you nerf brain?"
"Oh, yeah."
Neevels rolled his eyes and finally clamored to his feet, "Sorry about them, sir."
A chorus of "Sorry, General!" came up from the pile as the squad untangled themselves.
Mace hid his outward amusement, but by the way, Ezra grinned knowingly at him; he didn't hide his inner amusement nearly as well. "Well, come on, Bridger, if you wanna see it when we come out of hyperspace, you'll need to get a move on."
Ezra early followed him up to the bridge. The Viper squad followed him as they chattered like a pack of ak pups. It was amusing watching a group of highly trained and dangerously competent soldiers trail after a baby-faced young adult who somehow didn't look a day over 17. Force help him, as if the Kenobi-Skywalker-Tano show wasn't chaotic enough.
Ponds even had the nerve to smile at the kid when they reached the bridge. Mace had to admit; as he spotted Ezra beaming back, the kid grew on you. "Ready?"
"Yeah. It's just a planet-wide city." Ezra shrugged cheekily.
Mace couldn't help but roll his eyes at the tone but didn't say anything as they pulled out of Hyperspace. In an instant, the blue light of hyperspace was replaced with the black expanse of real space. And the glowing planet of Coruscant.
Ezra gasped at the sight, and Mace smiled at his look of awe. For someone who had never seen a planet city, Coruscant was indeed breathtaking. It glowing from every crevice making mesmerizing patterns with its endless lights. In between the higher levels, clouds wove around the buildings illuminated by the nearby sun, glowing gold and pink. The airspace swarmed with ships, if ever kind glowing like fireflies, and between it all, the Temple, with its aura of light, permeated everything as you reached out.
"It's so warm." Ezra breathed, staring at the floating metropolis in awe as the Ventor began its descent into the upper atmo of military airspace.
Mace looked over at his youthful and longing expression and realized this was probably the first time he'd encountered anything remotely like the beacon of light that was the Temple. For Mace, who had grown up in the Temple, the warmth was like coming home. But for Ezra, who had lived his life in the darkness, knowing light only in fragile pockets, this was like breathing for the first time.
Mace clapped him on the shoulder as tears began to form in his great grand padawan's eyes, "Wondrous, isn't it?"
"It's-" Ezra sniffled, blinking the tears away, signature thrumming with deep grief and all-consuming wonder, "It's so bright ."
Mace reached out in the Force, suddenly worried it might be too much and smothering Ezra only to find Ezra basking in the light as emotion after emotion washed over him in the Force, filled with more peace than Mace had felt from Ezra yet. There was grief and sadness and yet such peace .
It almost brought tears to his own eyes. Mace squeezed Ezra's shoulder again, letting him bask as Ezra looked over at his touch, "As it should be."
"Yes." Ezra breathed, inhaling deeply like he was tasting fresh air for the first time, nodding as he looked back out the bridge windows at the city, "As it should be."