The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Chasing Shadows

JANIRA BONTERI

Slowly but surely, Janira was beginning to feel consciousness returning to her.

First it was the flicker of sunlight against her closed eyelids, then the feeling of dust settling in her lungs. She nearly put up a hand to shield her eyes and coughed to clear her throat, but she stopped herself. She didn't know what had happened, and it was best to be careful until she had a better grip on her surroundings.

She stayed perfectly still for a long moment, listening to the birdsong and faint whispering of wind in the trees for anything out of the ordinary. Once satisfied she wasn't in any danger, she opened her eyes and tore the oxygen filter from her face, murmuring a quiet prayer of thanks that they were still alive and unharmed.

They had cut it close this time, Jani realized suddenly. Usually, it didn't bother her so much, but now, with the kids in danger...

Me and Ahsoka are probably the only people that can save them, except for Father. And we don't even know if he's with them... But the point is I should have been more careful, for their sakes. Or at least avoid crashing the ship beyond repair.

Ahsoka stirred beside her, and she leaned over to touch her shoulder. A pair of deep blue eyes met hers a moment later, and then closed as Ahsoka cradled her lekku with a grimace. Jani guessed she had hit her head hard on the way down.

"Good, you're awake," Jani said, unclipping the bindings keeping her in her seat and dropping down to what had up until quite recently been the ship's ceiling. "We'll have to move fast; get to the house as quickly as possible. Sooner or later the Imps are going to notice there's no meteorite crater and come to investigate."

"All right," Ahsoka said, loosening her seatbelts and holding out a hand for Jani to her pull her down.

Jani frowned as she noted how the other was still pressed to her lekku, but Ahsoka waved her away. "It's nothing; it'll pass. Let's just get back to your father's place and find the kids."

Jani nodded, but she wasn't confident enough in Ahsoka's answer to let go of her hand right away. And so, together, Rebel captain and Jedi took off running through the jungle, leaving the wreckage of the ship behind.

Jani considered herself to be well in shape, but next to Ahsoka she felt anything but. Her sister-in-law moved with the deadly grace of a predator poised to spring, and definitely had the stamina of one. Jani was struggling to keep up, and the three towers of Enarion's summer home in the distance were a welcome sight.

But then, she stopped, her heart sinking as she noticed something above the house – or rather, noticed something that wasn't there.

"Father," Jani whispered. And then, before Ahsoka could protest, she was running; sprinting faster than she had ever gone in her life. Her vision was blurring together into one colorful mirage of leaves and indistinct shapes that had to be trees, and somewhere distantly at the back of her mind, she realized it was probably a miracle she hadn't hit anything yet.

Her only thought was to get to her father; her kind, gentle father... It should have occurred to her sooner that as a Force user, even one less powerful than most, he would be in just as much danger as the kids. The thought of him lying dead somewhere was the blade of gappa grass that broke the bantha's back, and made her heart race with the panic she had been fighting to suppress ever since she found out about the threat to the kids.

But then, just before she could reach the break in the trees created by the long front lawn of the house, fingers closed around the collar of her jacket and yanked her back. Ahsoka slapped a palm over Jani's mouth before she could make a sound and locked one arm over her neck to keep her in place. When she spoke, her voice was soft but harsh with anger. "Jani, what the hell has gotten into you?"