One Night in the Pantry
"Psst . . . Coralie." A small voice of a little girl piped up in the dark.
Disturbed from her slumber, a pair of indigo eyes blinked open, and the tiny figure of a young, pink-skinned Zeltron girl stirred beneath the sheets. She didn't need to see the face of the one who had woken her; Coralie recognized the voice of her friend and Clanmate, Ahsoka Tano.
"What?" The four-year old youngling Coralie whispered, groggy in her response as she rolled over to the opposite side of the bed to meet the Togruta's light blue gaze, peering over her.
Crouching beside Coralie's mattress, Ahsoka adverted her eyes in slight embarrassment before letting out a soft peep. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry," Coralie mumbled in a deadpan manner.
"I know, I'm hungry now."
Coralie groaned inwardly, knowing all too well what her friend was hinting at. "So?"
"So, come with me," Ahsoka prodded. She kept her tone hushed and glanced around the room warily, careful so not as to arouse any of the other fourteen members of Clawmouse Clan who were currently fast asleep on their beds, lined along the floor – judging from the snores and heavy breathing sounds that could be heard around them.
Coralie tried to shake off Ahsoka's attempts to convince her to sneak out of the room and into the dining hall. "We're gonna get caught," she protested, not having to mention the fact that there were hall monitors in the form of droids everywhere.
"Pleeease?" Ahsoka begged, her long note barely above a whisper.
"Ugh." Coralie flopped onto her back and shut her eyes, hoping that her friend would drop the subject and go back to bed. Secretly though, Coralie's excitment was sparked, and it was hard to resist Ahsoka's invitation. Her thoughts drifted like a scent trail towards the kitchen . . . and Coralie's own mouth began to water with a started craving for cookies, even as she tried to hold back a impish smile and resume a sleeping position.
"You want some too," Ahsoka asserted, pouting a little at Coralie's attempt to ignore the temptation of sneaking a midnight snack herself. "I can sense it."
Unable to deter her friend from her mission, Coralie let out a sigh in the form of a short puff from her lips, before she finally opened her eyes and gave in.
"Fine, let's go," Coralie urged as she cast her bed sheets aside.
Ahsoka grinned. She knew she could count on Coralie to come with her.
Padding along barefoot in their nightgowns, the two younglings tiptoed hastily out of the Clawmouse Clan's dormitory chamber and poked their heads into the dimlit halls of the cavernous Temple.
Coralie led the way, her loose curtain of midnight-blue hair nearly masking the back of her head in the darkness as she crept forward. Ahsoka trotted after the Zeltron, tingling with anticipation, and feeling Coralie's anxiety in front of her as well. Slinking in the shadows, the two younglings zigzagged across the hallways from pillar to pillar, hugging the walls, and crouching around corners to scan the next hallway for any signs of activity before darting further into the maze of Temple floors. The thrill of playing a one-way "hide-and-seek" with any hall-monitoring droids was an easy feat for the two young Force-sensitives to accomplish, by simply using distracting Force measures to divert any droid's unsuspecting attention as the two children scurried on past.
Ahsoka and Coralie had struck a bond of close friendship since the first meeting of their initiation into Clawmouse Clan – only a month ago. Both girls were equally spirited. Like the rest of their Clanmates, all sixteen younglings had been grouped together for exhibiting similiar streaks of defiance and independence, as noted by the fosterers at the Temple nursery. Whereas Ahsoka was more impulsive and outspoken, Coralie was more cautious and discreet, albeit slightly more carefree and detatched from learning than Ahsoka, who seemed to take her new lessons in Jedi training much more seriously . . . Except for when she was hungry. Right now, the only focus on the Togruta child's mind was to satisfy her sweet-tooth craving by diving into a can of Cocoons candies and a tin of zwil biscuits, which were stashed away somewhere in one of the kitchen's pantries . . . How she knew that — well — she and Coralie had done this sort of thing before. Proof of it being that a few Jedi members were starting to raise eyebrows at the dwindling inventory of cookies and sweets that appeared to go missing overnight, but hadn't yet suspected who the culprits might possibly be.
Shortly, the two younglings made their way into a small refrectory and began rummaging through the cupboards and shelves of a kitchen storage room, fumbling around in the darkness as they scrambled in search of their snacks.
Coralie climbed on top of a counter, reaching her hand into one of the overhead cupboard. Her fingers felt for the familiar box-shaped tin of biscuits amidst the stacks and rows of other containers. Blindly, she pulled out several rectangular tins, and pried each of their lids open, bringing the containers to her nose so she could pick out their aromas, without relying on her vision in the dark to identify what was inside.
Ah-ha!
Coralie took a whiff of one of the contents, inhaling a mix which smelled like cinammon and vanilla . . . the unmistakable spice of zwil . . .
"I got it!" Coralie showed her tin of zwil biscuits to Ahsoka, who had been on her hands and knees, probing her head inside one of the large bottom cupboards for a can of Cocoons candies, which she successfully managed to retrieve.
Like the times before, both girls would dispense a palmful of chosen candy – as much as their tiny hands could hold – and carefully select two or three smallest biscuits in the tin, scarf down their treats, cover up their tracks by tidying up the pantry just as they had found it, and then make a fast getaway, back to their chamber before anyone else realized they were gone . . .
No sooner were Ahsoka and Coralie in the process of dishing out their amount of treats that they then froze abruptly to the spot, when a light flicked on overhead, illuminating the small pantry . . . exposing the two young perpetrators in the middle of the room. With startled looks and paled expressions, the two younglings stared wide-eyed at the tall individual who had caught them in the middle of their act.
Standing barefoot in his nightwear tunic at the doorway to the pantry, a red-skinned Devaronian male – bald-headed and looking in his mid 40s – had his hand stopped over the light switch. It was Master Bynaldi, and for a moment, the Jedi instructor of the Clawmouse Clan looked equally surprised at seeing the two younglings under his ward staring back at him with open containers of biscuits and candy in their hands. If Ahsoka and Coralie were bracing themselves for swift punishment or chiding, they would be taken by Bynaldi's shocked reaction, who looked as wide-eyed if he himself had been the one entering into the pantry, caught by his students.
"Hello, Master." Coralie broke the air of stunned silence, piping up with a sheepish grin. Although both girls were the same age, Ahsoka stood a few inches taller than Coralie. And despite the height difference between them, Ahsoka tended to lean on the shorter Zeltron as her shield, especially when it came to owning up to her superiors.
"Sorry ..." Ahsoka ducked her gaze from the older Jedi, wanting to dissappear from sight. While Coralie was a lot better at concealing her shame and putting on a look of quiet confidence, Ahsoka always had the guiltiest of looks that overwhelmed her.
With a smile of amusement, the Devaronian stepped forward and approached the two younglings.
"Well, I was hoping you two would at least share some with me." Master Bynaldi gently swiped the tin away from Coralie's arms. With a kind smirk and a hint of mischief in his eyes, Jedi Master proceeded to pick out and bite into one of the golden biscuits, munching away on it nonchalantly.
"We in trouble?" Ahsoka flicked her gaze up at her instructor, expecting to be firmly disciplined.
"I won't tell if you won't." Master Bynaldi winked.
The trio helped themselves to an entire tin of zwil biscuits and ate two whole cans of candy-shelled Cocoons, and then snuck across the hallways together to toss out the emptied containers of evidence into the incenerator, before parting ways and heading back to bed.
THE END
* Author's Note: Yup. Just a little something that popped out at me during the night. I've been thinking about making a series depicting Ahsoka's youngling life at the Temple, growing up in the Clawmouse Clan. Might decide to follow this up with more chapters later or create a separate story, but for now ... Here's a brief oneshot. Hope you enjoyed!