The Padawan and the Rebel

The Padawan: Battle of Felucia

A/N: It's been a long time since I watched this episode of TCW so please bear with me if it doesn't completely mimic the show :)

Adhara was granted the role of Padawan almost a year later, shortly after her fourteenth birthday.

She did not feel joy, or fear. Just resolve to be better. To protect the galaxy. To end the Clone Wars.

For the last year of her time as a youngling, Adhara worked to fix everything that was wrong with her training. She harbored too many connections, too many emotions.

Purpose over passion, she told herself. Purpose over everything.

She let the Force become her heart, let her lightsaber become an extension of her arm. She was nothing but a Jedi.

And over that last year, thinking about Ashoka no longer broke her heart. She just felt fond memories, and knew it was enough. It had to be.

When she got the word that she was to be a padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi, there was no celebrating, no one to run to for her, like there had been for Ahsoka. No one to congratulate her.

No, there was only the past, and the future.

A youngling, and now, a Padawan.

A Jedi.

Nerves ran through her body as she stood in the hangar of the ship as it tore through space, clones surrounding her. She adjusted her lightsaber belt, running her fingers across the hilt and the Miralan symbols carved into the rubber.

Adhara wore new clothes for her journey as a padawan – black arm guards that went up to her elbows and black leggings tucked into sturdy brown boots. She wore a white thermal crew neck shirt, and over top of it, a short faded burgundy cloak that wrapped around her waist and tied in the back just below her belt. Her hair was pulled up into a bun on her head, still half black and white. She'd french braided her bangs to her ear, where the braid dropped down, swiging against her neck - her padawan braid. A series of Miralian tattoos were under her eyes, her first ever, to signify becoming a Padawan. They still hurt to touch, but they reminded her of who she was and where she'd come from. They grounded her, even as her body vibrated.

"Where are we going?" she asked the clone captain beside her. A smile twisted his face -it was the third time Adhara had asked him the question. As if she hadn't repeated the name over and over in her head the night before, laying for the last time in her bunk in the dormitories. As if it wasn't the first name on her mind in the morning, and every hour since as she drew closer to her destination. To her future.

"Felucia," he replied, reaching out to grip her shoulder as they descended. "It will be fine, Commander Starseeker. You're ready."

Adhara inhaled a shaky breath, nodding, shooting him a grateful smile. Then she stilled her mind with the Force. Let it into her, to wash away her fears. Immediately, her legs stopped trembling.

Purpose over everything, she reminded herself.

They entered the Felucia atmosphere, and suddenly Adhara could hear everything, sounds that made her blood run cold. She could hear the sound of ships tearing through the sky, gunning other ships down. She could hear the sound of laser guns on the ground, of yelling men, the clomp of droids. Adhara flinched, squeezing her eyes shut.

Red laser beams flashing all around them, flashing in her father's chest as her mother screamed and the gun fell from his fingers, his own body following after.

Then red, slamming into her back. Red lighting the sky as she toppled forward, and Adhara was screaming and Arus and Anali were crying and Aitor was tugging on her sleeve, bellowing "We have to go!" Red as her mother's body hit the ground, and blood leaked out of the side of her mouth, as red as the dawn.