The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Nine

Chapter Sixty-Two: Banishment

AHSOKA TANO

They assembled at dawn.

On silent feet, Masters and Padawans walked to their designated spots on the road from the Jedi Temple, standing in long lines in with their hoods drawn low over their faces. The garrisons of Rebel Troopers assigned to Cialone to protect the Jedi Temple stood just behind them to perfect military attention, their weapons drawn and held against their shoulders.

It was truly an awe-inspiring sight, but such an aura of somberness and deep sadness presided over everything that it was impossible to take one's mind off of what was about to happen. Ahsoka knew that better than anyone, and, even with her friends and family standing with her, she could feel the sorrow clouding the Force around her chipping away at her heart, piece by piece.

Lux put a hand on her shoulder, gripping it comfortingly. She reached up, linking her fingers with his for a moment. Their eyes met, and he nodded gently.

It was time.

The door to the bottommost hangar bay in the New Jedi Temple slid open. From the glow emerged Kaylira, flanked by two impassive Temple Guards.

Where Kaylira would once have cowered and hurried past the rows of people as quickly as possible, she now stood tall, her head held high. Her hair, secured in a bun with the exception of her Padawan braid, glowed as brightly as the fire in her eyes in the first rays of sunlight peeking over the mountains.

Ahsoka exhaled softly, the fog that appeared in front of her for a moment mirroring the one that had settled over her thoughts. The strange feeling from two days before has only worsened, but she couldn't let that get to her. She had to focus on the task at hand.

Steeling herself against a nearly inevitable emotional collapse, Ahsoka let go of her husband's hand, giving him leave to go be with their kids. As the two Guards stopped, Kaylira in tow, in front of the rocky ledge slightly above ground level that she, Lux, the kids and the other members of the New Jedi Council were assembled on, she took a few steps forward, clearing her throat.

"Today dawns gravely, my friends, for it is today that we lose one of our own," she began, her voice cutting through the crisp morning air with a steadiness that, thankfully, completely belied how frazzled she really was. "The Force has chosen to carry Kaylira Tramino away from us, down a path we cannot follow – it is up to her now to make her own way in the galaxy."

Then, the Guard to Kaylira's right lashed out, one golden blade on his saberstaff shearing her Padawan braid off an inch from her scalp.

Kaylira didn't so much as flinch.

Tears ran down Ahsoka's cheeks, but she willed the rest of her body into conformity. She could not permit herself to show any weakness. "By the right of the Council, you, Kaylira Tramino, are hereby expelled from the Jedi Order."

Ahsoka gazed out at the Jedi and Rebel Troopers present as she tried to find strength to continue. She didn't dare look into Kaylira's golden-violet eyes, for she knew that if she did, her heart would break.

"Furthermore, it is the Council's decision that you are to be exiled to Uluno, the Dark Eye, at the very edge of the star system. There you will remain until a ship arrives that can bear your heavy heart away, or you find inner peace and reconciliation with the Light Side of the Force."

She opened her mouth to finish speaking, but, then, Aluxso escaped from where his father had been kneeling beside himself and his siblings. He leapt down from atop the ledge and ran out towards Kaylira.

Ahsoka's eyes widened. "Alux–!"

Kaya Ti, who had been standing to her right, started after him, but one of the Temple Guards held up a hand to stop her before she could get too close.

"Kayli," Aluxso said, wrapping his arms around her waist, "Kayli, I don't want you to go! Please don't leave us!"

"Don't worry," she said, separating herself from him gently and bending down so that she was eyelevel with him. There was a soothing smile on her face, but something about it seemed... false. Like there were darker thoughts just beneath the surface, biding their time to show their true colors. "I'll be back someday."

Then, she stood up, looking over at the adults, and her tone grew ever so slightly more menacing with the promise of things to come. "I'll be back."

As much as Ahsoka wanted to believe it was impossible that Kaylira would return, she just couldn't. She had condemned her apprentice to a slow, painful death as her body destroyed itself from the inside out. There was no forgiving that.

Eventually, there would come a day when her apprentice would seek her out. Whether it would be to offer forgiveness or the consolation of death by the stinging blade of vengeance, she didn't know.

Then, the Temple Guard nodded to Kaya, who darted over and scooped the little boy up in her arms, carrying him a safe distance away. Once she was out of the way, the two Guards escorted Kaylira to a repurposed escape pod a few feet away.

As the girl that had once been her apprentice stepped inside the pod, just before the hatch closed, Ahsoka managed to meet her eyes.

There was absolute hatred in them, but, although Ahsoka could have been imagining it, also complete and unconditional love. It was then that she realized that to hate someone so deeply, a person also had to love the object of their rage and unquenchable thirst for justice against them.

Ahsoka tried to cry out for the girl who would always be like her daughter, to say she was sorry she had let her down and swear that she would never fail her again, but it was too late. She was left with a hand outstretched towards a sealed hatch on a pod that was flying away through the air, taking Kaylira with it.

As the Jedi and Rebel Troopers filed away and Lux ushered the kids back inside, Ahsoka walked over to where Kaylira's Padawan braid lay forgotten in the dust. Her dark brown cloak pooled down around her as she sank to her knees beside it, sobbing uncontrollably.

I shouldn't have done that. I should not have done that. How could I have been such a fool? Oh, Kaylira, I shouldn't have let you go...

And now, it's too late.

*Ahsoka is regretting the choice she made to let her apprentice go. Was it really the right decision on the Council's part? Is it possible it will come back to haunt them? How will Ahsoka and her family manage to cope with the loss? And what could be the meaning behind the strange feeling Ahsoka has been feeling for some time now? You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

FIRST OF THREE UPDATES WHOOP WHOOP

THE LAST THREE IN THE BOOK

I'm really quite excited, if you haven't noticed.

This chapter was actually kind of hard to write, just because, while it's fun in small doses, writing as much angst as we've had in the last ten chapters puts a strain on a person, because you have to draw on different emotions that might not come as easily to you. I've been enjoying the new experience, but even so, I'm glad it's over and done with so I can move on to slightly happier stuff.

Or, at least, stuff that focuses more on action than emotional depth XD

Anyways, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER...