Video; UN Bridger (back dated to the beginning of the month)

[ezra_of_lothal]

[The first month Ezra arrived in Trench, Madam Generosity gifted him with a crisp white and bronze Jedi style outfit. He’s never felt like there’s been the right occasion for it.

Until today.

His Omni is set down for a wide view, the Sanctuary grounds in the background, and Anakin Solo, in his own robes, at his side.]

Some of you may have heard me talk about, or seen a memory of my master, my first teacher, as a Jedi, Kanan Jarrus. Or even met him, because he was here, briefly.

[Ezra flashes a smile, bittersweet.]

Before he left these shores, we did an impromptu ceremony here at the guardian tree of the Sanctuary. A knighting. [His smile turns sheepish; he’s not here entirely to toot his own horn, honest.]

Back in the galaxy I’m from, Jedi Knights have taken a lot of different variations of oaths, over thousands of years of history. I’ve been thinking for a while about how to express my commitment to being a Jedi of Trench– believing that, for a lot of reasons, something closer to traditional wasn’t in the cards. So, with Knight Solo’s help, I wrote an oath that I think fits...here.

And accountability is important, at least to me, so- [He takes a deep breath, and raises his right hand, palm out.]

Here goes:

I, Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight, vow to use all my skill and abilities to serve others rather than ruling over them.
To not seek personal power, but knowledge and enlightenment,
To act not out of aggression, but to defend and to protect,
To preserve what grows and lives well in its own way,
To support betterment and ease pain,
To guard justice and peace,
To put ever aside fear for courage, hatred for compassion,
And when it is fitting to do so, death for life
— looking always towards the Force, in which all are one,
Until my final death, or I return to the sea.

[Anakin nods, very solemn for a 17-year-old.]

Oath witnessed and acknowledged, Knight Bridger.

[Then Ezra and Anakin beam at each other with excitement, like the very young men they are, and Anakin claps a hand on Ezra’s shoulder. ]

And now the part I’m sure more of you will care about-

[Anakin rolls his eyes and talks over Ezra.]

We’re having a celebration tonight- [Ezra mouths ‘party’.] at the Sanctuary. Contact me or Sansa if you want to be more involved than showing up.

[Ezra has to get the last word before signing off.]

Everyone’s welcome!

(OOC: Ezra in blue, Anakin in green, obv. Link to party log here)

Comments

Video; UN Bridger

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra gives Shigeo a small smile and bow back.]

Thank you, Mob.

Questions? [He pretty much never minds any questions, having some about all this is very valid.]

[centile]

[ah, very faint relief. he didn't want to be rude asking questions he should already know, but...]

You're like Obi-Wan now? Did you always want to be a knight?

[he understands jedi stuff better now but he still keeps thinking of this more like ezra should have some armor and a horse.]

cw: allusions to genocide

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ah. We are both Jedi, and Obi-wan was once a Jedi Knight, yes, and he has been one of my teachers along my path.

[He would say they are both members of the Jedi Order, but he and Obi-wan have had the frank conversation that Obi-wan now sees being a Jedi and being part of the Order as not entirely the same. That Obi-wan considers the time of his Order as past. That future generations will be part of something new.]

Although under the old Order, his formal rank was Jedi Master - well, I assume because he trained an apprentice - a padawan - to knighthood. That was the usual reason for formally granting the rank of master to a knight.

To muddle things even further, knights sometimes are addressed as master as a sign of respect, especially if they're actually teaching. I sometimes called Kanan 'master' because he was my teacher, you see?

I can't say I always wanted to be a knight. [His expression goes solemn.] I...didn't know it was an option, for a long time. I thought all the Jedi had been killed around the time I was born. I didn't even know that some of what made me, ah, different, and sometimes spooked people, was Force sensitivity - the basis for the abilities Jedi were famous for.

But Kanan noticed, within minutes of meeting me, and he took the risk of telling me he was a Jedi. When he offered to teach me, I immediately said yes. I was 14 at the time.

I had some doubts, along the way. More than a few times, and sometimes big doubts. I had to face them, to be ready.

[centile]

[he nods- the master thing makes perfect sense to him at least.] That's what I called my teacher too. I think some people here find it weird though.

[cultural stuff.

ah fourteen huh? his age now. honestly a lot of this hits a familiar bell, ignoring the complicated jedi history parts. being different, trying to figure that out, someone reaching out to offer support. doubts.]

What were your doubts? [a moment to consider.] I see, this really must mean a lot. It took a long time to get here. [at least that's how it feels to him.]

[ezra_of_lothal]

Some people think calling someone master means not questioning anything they say, or that they think they own you, or something like that. Rather than an ever-changing relationship where both of you even up learning things.

[Ezra goes quiet a moment, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his tunics, while he considers how to summarize those doubts.]

Doubts. Some of it was just that I was an orphan on my own for a long time, and I had a hard time believing I could belong and have a family again.

[All of his cultural and identity issues fall broadly under that. Not the most relevant part for Mob here, he imagines. He huffs a bit of a laugh.]

Practically the first thing Kanan told me, my first lesson, was 'do or do not do; there is no try', repeating something from one of his teachers. I immediately scoffed and said that didn't make sense, because you have to try to do something, right?

[Ezra grins.]

Which threw him through a loop. Some life knocking us around later, he eventually told me he was going to stop trying to teach me. And that I immediately took badly. [He shrugs a shoulder.] Orphan trauma.

Then he said he would teach me. And that he might fail, or I might fail, but basically we had to commit together. And it didn't take me terribly long after that to work out that sometimes our abilities mean we do things accidentally, but to use our powers intentionally? With purpose? Any wishy-washiness can mean they simply literally won't work, not the way we intended to, maybe not at all.

And yet - another widely used Jedi saying is that we are seekers, not paragons or saints. Which means...all there is, is the trying. We won't always do everything right, and even if we did, we can still fail. The most important part is still trying.

And if you see a contradiction in all that, well, you're right, but as far as I tell living with it is the only way to do good, in any world I've lived in. Maybe especially when you have powers rooted in emotion and will.

I think most of my doubts can be summed up in, um, encompassed in, struggling with that tension.