The Words We Left Unspoken

> 𝙘 𝙝 𝙖 𝙥 𝙩 𝙚 𝙧 𝙤 𝙣 𝙚

14.

She was a padawan at 14.

To The Chosen One: Anakin Skywalker.

There was a certain weight of expectation when it came to being a padawan. The step from youngling to padawan was a hefty one, and one that was a respectable step to make. To start: you have a master, someone who takes care of you and guides you in your training; you have a lightsaber, which is immensely different from the harmless training sabers used by the children in basic sparring sessions; and, on top of everything else, there is now a war that you are required to fight in because the Jedi have military status.

Ahsoka knew all this, she was told multiple times- not that she needed anymore stress. As a youngling, she always expected to be handed off to Master Plo or Master Ti as they seemed like the type of master's that taught successful Jedi. The last thing that she expected was to be assigned to none other than Anakin Skywalker. The Chosen One. The man who came from nothing. The man who faced Count Dooku and lived to fight another day (albeit without a hand). The man who the other younglings would gossip about as they were about to fall asleep because he was their hero. The man who every youngling aspired to be.

He was Ahsoka's hero.

And they always say to never meet your heroes.

The day that Ahsoka Tano met Anakin Skywalker he was...less than pleased to be assigned a padawan. He denied all responsibility to the young togruta. Even on their way back from Tatooine, Anakin had remained stoic and brooding- not acknowledging Ahsoka in the slightest.

He wasn't mad, or annoyed- he was just overwhelmed. In a mere day, another life had been put into his responsibility when he could hardly look after himself- a life that had hardly lived yet. She was young, merely a teenager, thrown into a fight that wasn't hers. A war that should have never started in the first place. Which only meant that for him, Ahsoka was worth protecting even more. And in that same day, he had revisited the one place he swore he would never go back to. The one place that replayed in his dreams and haunted his nightmares. The very place where he was abused as a slave to Watto. The same place in which he watched his mother die in his arms and proceeded to murder the people who he deemed responsible.

But Ahsoka didn't know that.

No, how could she?

Neither of the two enjoyed change, however, it was a formality for master and padawan to share a living space meaning that Skywalker had to get used to sharing a space with another person again and Tano had to get used to sharing a space with just one. To say the room felt quiet was an understatement, all the buzz from the temple hallways quieted down as they stepped into their living quarter. It was all a bit silent.

A cough so subtly broke the silence. A cough from the older person in the room. It wasn't his first time being in a master/padawan quarter, however, it was his first time being there as the one who was supposed to be responsible.

"So, Snips," He looked down at the young girl stood on his right, "This is where you live now. I know it probably doesn't seem too...homey right about now but we can do something about that. But for now, you should really get some rest. You haven't taken a break all day."

"I'm good, Master, but thank you. I think I'll probably just go for a walk or something." Ahsoka responded wearily, the trueness of her tired nature shining through.

"Ahsoka, you need to rest. Even the best jedi need to sleep from time to time. You're not invincible."

"Neither are you, Skyguy. When was the last time you slept?" The young girl questioned her master.