Ahsoka arrived at the top of the hill on the outskirts of the city at sundown as the note said. It had taken some persuading to get Anakin to let her out for a walk, though she knew he suspected something was up. He finally let her go upon Padmé's insistence to let her have some space, and she left.
By the end of the lunchtime meal, the four of them had managed to narrow down potential spies to Mark or Doll, which they found a bit unnerving. They could only hope that no one had given away too much information or lacked too much knowledge about any subject.
Lux was waiting for her when she arrived, and he turned around when she reached him.
"I'm surprised you showed," he admitted.
"Do you doubt me that much?" She asked teasingly.
He chuckled. "No, I just didn't know if you'd be able to get away."
"It did take some persuading. I never said what I was doing, but Padmé finally convinced Anakin to let me leave."
"Is everything okay, Ahsoka?" he asked more seriously.
Despite the fact that she had already checked the area and sensed nothing, she looked around again before sitting down. Lux followed suit. No one and nothing appeared to be anywhere nearby. She could feel that they were safe.
"Apparently the Sith have taken a force-sensitive child, and my master and Padmé are here to go through with some deal to get the child back. It's still a baby, so they needed someone to care for it for a few years still."
"So Anakin and Padmé are pretending to be the ones to take care of it?"
"Yes, at least for the rest of the week."
"And you're pretending to be their servant?" he asked, leaning back.
"Temporarily," she admitted as well. "It really isn't a big deal, but it's difficult to remember to keep up appearances."
"Well, no one should have to be a servant," he stated.
"Well, it was either I be a servant or I didn't come at all. I didn't want to stay at the Temple."
"Still," Lux said bitterly, more to himself than to her.
Ahsoka sighed quietly. "It's only for a few more days. I don't have to do a thing except protect Padmé if need be, and my master already has that covered. He won't let her out of his sight."
Lux listened as she spoke. Then, his brow furrowed. "Is your mas—Anakin... close... to Padmé?"
Ahsoka nodded absentmindedly. "They've always been close."
"No, I mean... close?"
"Oh," she looked down at her cloak, lekku turning a deep blue. "It's not really my place to say who is close and who isn't."
He nodded in reply. "My apologies, I didn't mean anything by asking."
"I know you didn't," she paused, then said, "For this week, they have to be close."
Lux glanced around, then decided to be a little more daring. "You didn't have to be a servant, you know. You could have come with me and we could have pretended to be close... like old times."
She chuckled slightly, and he was glad to see that his comment did not have a negative reaction. "I didn't even know you would be here. It's a little late now."
He smiled. "Probably, but it would have been fun."
"Sure it would have been, as long as it turned out better than Carlac."
"Hey," he complained. "I thought we went over my bad decisions already."
"I was simply remembering the good 'old times' as you said."
"It's bad enough that Saw still won't let me live down that time when I fell from the top of that tank."
"Well, some people need practice," she joked.
"I know. I guess some people are just naturally good at things like that, like you or Saw."
"Well, you know your way around politics, and I'll never be as good as Steela was at—"
Both of them paused, and she avoided his gaze.
"I'm sorry—"
"It's fine, Ahsoka, I have long since come to terms with everything."
They sat in silence for a few moments longer, and a small breeze tossed Lux's hair.
"I've always felt... like it was my fault," Ahsoka admittedly quietly.
"That's not true Ahsoka, and you know it," Lux responded, sitting up.
"Do I? What if I had just caught her a moment sooner? What if I could have sensed that something was going to happen? I should have known, Lux! I should have been able to save her, but I didn't!"
"Maybe there was something we all could have done, but what if something else went wrong while we tried to save her? What if someone else died? Would it have made a difference? We'll never know, Ahsoka. What happened, happened. We can't spend our whole lives believing we're to blame. Steela wouldn't want that..."
Ahsoka stared at the ground, eyes watering. "I know."
"For some time, I considered her to be one of my closest friends, and there was a time when I thought maybe she was more than that... But that day she kissed me, I realized I never really felt that way about her. She had always been a close friend, and it was fine for things to remain that way."
"Oh," Ahsoka said, not really knowing how else to respond.
Neither one of them moved, and they continued to sit in silence for some time, simply taking in the sight of the city and the late evening sky.
"I'm glad you came, Ahsoka."
Finally, she replied. "I am, too."
*****
It was a few hours later when Lux walked Ahsoka back to a building near the place she was staying. They had talked for so long, and they felt much more at ease. They bid each other goodnight and parted ways.
When Ahsoka entered the apartment, the lights were off and everything was still. She took a single step before she felt another presence in the main room.
A small light turned on. "Where did you go, Sasha?"
She felt a small bit of anger coming from him.
"I took a walk."
"Where did you walk to?"
"Just... around?" she said, though it sounded like a question.
"You were gone for four hours, Sasha. Do you know how worried Shiemma has been?"
Ahsoka felt her lekku darken in shame. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"It took a lot of persuading for anyone else to go to sleep. I've been waiting here for you for the past two hours. I tried calling you, but then I realized your comm was in your room," he continued as if he hadn't heard her.
Ahsoka briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to have a father or older brother. Someone who cared if you didn't come home on time. She could feel pain and hurt through their bond. She knew Anakin knew she had been with Lux.
"I'm sorry, Master," she repeated, feeling stupid for having caused them to worry. Who knows what they had thought while she was gone?
He rose from where he was sitting on the sofa and stood in front of her.
For a second, she thought she would be receiving some kind of punishment.
Instead, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know you are, Sasha," he said, and he left her alone.
The next morning, she was in for it. Padmé lectured her under the guise of Shiemma for a great deal of time, but Ahsoka could clearly feel that she was upset. Even Obi-Wan told her she no longer had permission to leave on her own. She understood she deserved it for making them worry so much and leaving her comm in her room.
She was only surprised that her master said nothing about Lux, though she supposed he really couldn't without giving away too much information.
With a sigh, she finished getting ready for breakfast, deciding to focus on the day's schedule rather than the events of the night before.