The cool breeze drifted slowly through the trees, making Ahsoka shiver slightly as she stood with crossed arms overlooking the Coruscanti night sky. Exhaustion dragged at her heels, but her mind was fully awake and still reeling after the events of the day.
Master Kenobi had called ahead to inform the Council of their situation as they flew back to the Temple, so by the time they reached it there were troopers ready to recieve her imprisoned former master. He had been ushered straight to the cell block but not without giving her a nasty glare that, despite herself, had made her wince just slightly in fear. Then the two Jedi had insisted Ahsoka return to the Halls of Healing for the third time in the past couple of weeks, and after her checkup she was cleared to leave but was ordered to have a few days of rest before she re-entered the field. Then again, Ahsoka wasn't sure whether she'd ever re-enter the field.
She sighed and reentered the Temple hall, frowning. With everything going on she hadn't even considered her life after her master was incarcerated; if she wasn't reassigned within a few days, rumor had it that padawans without masters were either expedited to Knighthood or reassigned as a Temple worker. Ahsoka would mush rather become a Knight than a Temple worker, but she knew given her age that was unlikely. Nevertheless, she braced herself for the undoubtedly chaotic next few days as the Council rushed to find her a master and Krell stood trial with her as a key witness against him.
Once Ahsoka entered her now half-empty shared quarters, sleep came to her quickly. Her body rejoiced at the chance for some true rest, and although her mind was still racing eventually it gave up and allowed her the sleep she needed so desperately. The padawan closed her eyes, and the next thing she knew her chrono read 0925.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, already feeling much better physically than she did yesterday. Ahsoka decided to wake up by performing some stretches, flexing and twisting her already limber body in order to keep it that way. Once she was done with this she exited her quarters, only to almost run into her good friend Barriss Offee.
The hooded Miralian jumped slightly, a shocked look on her face that Ahsoka thought was amusing. "Oh! Stars, Ahsoka, do you always sprint headfirst out of your room?"
"Only sometimes." Ahsoka replied with a small smile.
Barriss gave a small shy smile of her own, then cleared her throat. "The Council sent me to fetch you; they wish to talk to you about your next steps."
"I already know my next steps." The padawan grumbled, falling into step with her friend. "Either be reassigned or become a Temple worker."
The Miralian sighed lightly. "I'm so sorry you've had to deal with this all on your own, Ahsoka; if I had known of the mistreatment you were undergoing, I-"
"I know, I know." Ahsoka gently cut her off. "But I couldn't tell anyone for obvious reasons."
Barriss's eyes drifted towards the floor. "I know."
The two padawans walked in silence the rest of the way until Ahsoka reached the lifts. She shot her friend another smile. "Thanks for the walk and talk."
Barriss gave a slight bow, something that Ahsoka always found formal but amusing. "Of course. I hope you find the answers you're looking for."
"Doubtful." Ahsoka muttered under her breath once her friend was far enough away, entering the lift and traveling towards the Council chambers. Once she arrived she stepped inside, bowing to the members and observing in surprise that every single Council member was physically present; the odds of that ever happening during the war was astronomical, yet here they all were.
"Masters." She greeted, clasping her hands behind her back. "You called for me?"
"Yes, Ahsoka." Master Kenobi answered, giving her a subtle but comforting smile. She returned it, listening expectantly. "After careful consideration, the Council has decided to accelerate Pong Krell's trial to tomorrow."
Ahsoka's white brows shot up, and once she was sure Kenobi was done talking she started to speak. "So soon? Forgive me, Masters, but why the rush?"
"Wants to hold a proper trial, the Republic Senate does." Master Yoda declared. "Expell him from the Order immediately, we must, if this is to occur."
"Pong Krell can only be tried by the Republic Senate if he is stripped from his rank as a Jedi General and becomes a citizen." Master Windu elaborated, leaning forwards in his chair. "After tomorrow, we have no jurisdiction over his fate."
Obi-Wan, seeing Ahsoka's uncertainty, quickly added, "But the Senate will likely be even more harsh towards him than we are; we are only trying him for abuse of power, not for collusion with the Separatists."
"We wanted to make sure you were fully aware of the situation, Ahsoka." Master Ti added, her voice gentle. "Our last wish was to give you any more stress."
The padawan nodded after a moment of absorbing the news. "Thank you, Masters. I will be ready tomorrow."
"Then dismissed, you are."
She bowed and turned to leave, but hesitated. Master Yoda tilted his head slightly. "More to say, have you?"
Ahsoka paused, then turned back towards the Council. "Forgive me Masters, but... Has there been any updates on my situation within the Order?"
The Council immediately detected the question underneath: Has anyone offered to take me as their padawan? Based on the subdued reactions Ahsoka knew immediately. She swallowed a lump of emotion in her throat and nodded. "I understand. Thank you for your time."
"It has only been a day, Ahsoka." Master Kenobi stated quietly. "Give it time."
"Yes, Master." She bowed and exited the chamber, blinking rapidly to fight the tears that were sprouting. No one wanted her because she was too old, too scarred. They sense a lot of anger in me, which scares them. Ahsoka thought darkly. It would scare me too, I suppose.
The padawan, almost on instinct, headed for the training rooms, eager to get her mind off of her predicament and practice her techniques. One silver lining of many of this situation was that her training was something she actually could look forward to, not dread. She sighed and walked away, wrapping her arms around her as she did so.
===
"And the worst part about the whole thing?" Anakin hooked his robe onto a hangar in his quarters with a scowl. "He didn't even look a tiny bit sorry on the entire ride back to the Temple."
Padmé sighed, shaking her blue holographic head sadly. "What a mess." She declared. "How is Ahsoka?"
"I don't know, it's only been a day."
"Has she rested?"
"I don't know, Padmé."
His wife frowned. "I thought you'd be one of the first to know what she's been up to."
"No, I've been busy enough today." He turned from the wall to look down at her on his table. "I just received new orders; I ship out in two days."
"To where?"
"Don't know yet, but I'll tell you as soon as I do."
"Alright." But Padmé had something else on her mind, Anakin could tell. He sighed lightly.
"Everything ok?"
"Oh, yes." She paused. "Have... You ever thought of taking a padawan yourself?"
Anakin scoffed. "First Obi-Wan, now you? I'll tel you exactly what I told him: a padawan would just slow me down and get themselves killed." He shook his head. "I don't want to drag a kid into the messes I make, and Obi-Wan knows better than anyone that I'm not exactly good with kids either."
Padmé's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "What about one that was more advanced?"
"What do you mean?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "Ani, you can be so dense sometimes. Ahsoka."
The Jedi sighed after a moment. "She's probably the last kid who needs to be dragged into my messes; she has enough of her own to sort out."
"But-"
"Padmé, this stuff's complicated. If I take a padawan, that means I'm responsible for both their life and mine on the battlefield." Anakin's frown softened. "And I don't know if I want the pressure of keeping a kid alive in the middle of a war while also throwing them headfirst into danger."
Padmé nodded softly. "I understand, Ani, but aren't the padawans thrown into battle either way? I think you could really do some good as a teacher."
Anakin stared at his wife with another sigh, tinkering with an astromech part he was working on enhancing for Artoo while the droid stood powered down in the corner. He'd been working on it for too long; he missed the little droid's presence. "I gotta go; I have a lot to do before I ship out."
"Okay." Padmé's brown eyes crinkled up into a small smile. "Think about it."
"Mhmm." Anakin rolled his eyes jokingly.
"I love you. Be safe."
"I love you too. I will." After a small smile of his own Anakin ended the call, looking down at the part in his hand with a sigh and then glancing over at Artoo. Deciding that enough was enough, he made some finishing touches and reattached the part, powering the astromech back up.
Artoo came to with a little flurry of beeps, swiveling his head around and staring at Anakin expectently. The Jedi smiled. "Welcome back, buddy. It's been a bit."
The astromech asked how long he had been deactivated, to which Anakin answered that it had been a couple of days. "You somehow managed to miss a lot." He declared, standing back up and walking towards the door. "I'll fill you in later, right now I'm gonna go train for a bit."
Artoo gave a halfhearted grumble as the door slid shut behind Anakin, causing the Jedi to chuckle. If he had known of the craziness that went down on Algeroth beforehand he definitely would have taken the droid with him, but either way he was back now.
Anakin could hear someone practicing in the primary training room long before he reached the entrance, and was going to go into another room but heard a loud "UGH" that sounded familiar. Keeping his presence minimal, he quietly slid into the doorway and watched, arms crossed, as Ahsoka dusted herself off and eyed the training droids with a scowl.
He observed as she took a moment, rolling out her neck and shoulders, before reactivating one saber and holding it in front of her with a reverse grip. As she began fighting Anakin recognized the Form V nature of her style, knowing that it would likely be the Shein form with both sabers but for now she was sticking to basics with only one. Ahsoka was quick and nimble, utilizing her size in order to deflect and dodge with ease. But Anakin noticed her footwork was a little disorganized, and she moved quickly but threw too much of her momentum in one direction which caused her to be unbalanced. Soon enough her momentum got the best of her and she made a move she couldn't recover from, landing a hit on the droid but also stumbling and not recovering in time to deflect the droid from hitting her square between the shoulder blades.
Ahsoka groaned in equal pain and frustration, standing back up straight and rolling out her shoulders yet again. Anakin deactivated the droid, and when Ahsoka turned back around she stared in confusion and surprise at the Jedi holding the ball in his hand. But her surprise quickly turned to embarassment as she realized he had watched her blunder, and she took the ball from him quickly. "Oh, Master Skywalker." She greeted quietly, not exactly happy to see him. He understood; he remembered the feeling of messing up in front of a Jedi when he was still a padawan himself. It wasn't a good one.
"Care for a real partner?"
The padawan's white brows shot up and she laughed lightly. "Oh no, I don't want to embarass myself again. You'd wipe the floor with me."
Anakin gave her a small smirk, backing up and getting into a defensive stance. "Then I'll go easy on you." He declared smugly, hoping she'd take the bait.
Ahsoka stared a moment, holding the droid in her hand, before her face melted into a carefully smug look of her own. "Alright then."
The padawan put the droid back and squared herself up, eyeing Anakin up and down. He did the same to her, activating his saber and twirling it lightly. "Attack me." He ordered. "I want to see what you're made of."
Ahsoka nodded, her blue eyes darting back and forth but not necessarily giving away her plan. She activated her saber as well, swinging it and crouching into an offensive stance of her own. For a moment the two stayed still, each preparing themselves for either defending a strike or initiating one, then Ahsoka sprung into action. She was quick on her feet which Anakin already knew, and he humored her for awhile in order to give her some good attack training. "Good, you're quick and agile." He praised. "However..."
Anakin took advantage of her unbalaced attacks and soon enough her lightsaber was on the ground with his pointed at her face. "Your footwork could use some work; you're allowing your upper body to lunge without the right lower body stances to back it up, leaving you unbalanced. Ane because of your size, you can topple over easily if someone my size really wanted you to."
He deactivated his saber and held a hand out to her, which she begrudgingly took. Anakin saw her physically swallow her pride and grab her saber from him, which was very familiar; she was a sore loser, just like him. He gave her a knowing smile and got back into a defensive position. "This time, keep your attacks less frontloaded and more balanced; focus more on keeping yourself in the fight instead of besting me."
"So defense?" Ahsoka rose a white brow. "I'm not usually a defensive fighter."
"Yes, defense." Anakin reactivated his saber and twirled it once. "Sometimes a good defense is all you need."
If only Obi-Wan could see me now. Anakin thought with a small, wry smile. But it faded quickly when he realized what exactly he was doing without even meaning to do it; he was teaching Ahsoka as if she was his padawan.
But Ahsoka's lightsaber igniting brought him back to the moment, and the two engaged in another low stakes duel that lasted longer, but still ended with Ahsoka on the ground. Anakin helped her up and gave her advice, and they started again. This pattern repeated for longer than either of them intended, and by the time they were ready to call it a night both were breathing a bit heavy and covered in a layer of sweat.
"Thank you for all your help, Master Skywalker." Ahsoka smiled up at him as they walked down the hall.
"Yeah, of course."
"No, I mean..." Ahsoka stopped, causing Anakin to stop and turn back with a frown. "Everything. You helped save me from my master, you helped save my life back on Algeroth, you..." She shook her head with a small laugh. "I honestly have no idea how to repay you."
Ahsoka formed a fist with her left hand and closed her right hand around it, going into a deep bow. A traditional and meaningful Jedi show of gratitude and respect. "Thank you."
A small smile twitched at Anakin's lips as he reciprocated the gesture, thinking about how a couple of weeks ago he'd likely barely even look her way if they passed each other in the Temple and how quickly things had changed. "You're welcome."
They bid each other goodnight and left for their respective quarters, and Anakin had already won his internal argument by the time he reached his. With a resigned sigh, feeling both nervous and excited, he commed his wife.
"Amidala."
"It's me." He sighed again. "You were right."
"About what?"
"I... I think I'm ready for a padawan, but only if it's Ahsoka."