It was winter on Shili, and Obi-Wan Kenobi was miserable. The Force was useful for a lot of things, but keeping a body warm wasn't one of them. At least his padawan, Anakin Skywalker, looked as miserable as he did. Anakin was supposed to be learning at the Jedi Temple, but Yoda had insisted on Obi-Wan taking him for this mission. Apparently, the eleven-year-old had caused some sort of accident, and it would be best if Master Windu didn't see him for a bit.
In front of them, Master Plo Koon strode ahead through the bitterly cold wind. It wasn't snowing—yet—but Master Plo acted like he didn't even feel the wind.
Obi-Wan really, really hoped that sort of thing came with experience.
Their mission on Shili had been reconnaissance. It appeared that the Separatists had wanted to set up a base—they hadn't. False information, but worth checking out nonetheless.
It wasn't far to the fighter, but as they grew nearer to the town where they had landed the fighter, they heard shouting. Anakin sniffled into his collar, looking more than miserable. "Master, are we going into the town?"
Master Plo inclined his head towards them. "No—I will join you aboard the Interceptor in a moment. There must be a cause to all this commotion. Togruta are not so foolish as to stage a fight right before a snowstorm."
"Thank you," Anakin said in a muffled tone, burying his head inside his coat.
Obi-Wan watched Master Plo walk off purposefully, trying to shake off a niggling feeling of doubt.
Master Plo loped into town. A crowd of Togruta women, with some men, shook angry hands filled with whatever weapon they could find. A young Togruta woman—perhaps in her late teens, judging by the length of her monotrails—held a squirming bundle in her arms as she backed herself into a corner, surrounded by angry townspeople on all sides.
Master Plo quickened his step.
As he drew nearer, he heard the shouted jeers. "She destroyed my field! With a wave of her hand!" "The little brat made my oxen run wild!" "My little boy's sick! Just yesterday, he'd been playing with her, and now he can't wake!"
The young woman shook her head frantically. "Ahsoka didn't do any of that!"
"Lies!"
The dreaded word: "The little brat's a WITCH!" "Burn her!" "No, drown her!"
The young woman quailed. Finding some inner reserve of strength, she straightened. "You will not kill my daughter!"
It was time to intervene. Master Plo pulsed the Force through the riot, making his presence known. "May I know the accusations?" he questioned mildly, strolling into the center of the riot to stand at the young woman's side. The bundle, he discovered, contained a young Togruta toddler, with large blue eyes. Those eyes were wide now, feeling the rage and fear of the crowd.
She's strong with the Force…
The thought pushed into his head, and Master Plo suddenly understood he had to protect this child. They hadn't been able to find out the source of the false information that led to this mission—the Force had acted so that this child could be saved.
"She can move objects with her mind," an older woman pushed through the crowd, leaning heavily on a walking stick. There were murmurs spreading from the epicenter of the riot outward. "I'm Gupta, the village healer. Ahsoka has power that I know not, but it's not healing. When she's angry, like she was at that Hun boy, she can make objects fly around her."
"Hun didn't do anything!" Another woman, presumably his mother, shouted. "Now he's in a death-sleep!"
Gupta grunted. "The child's not evil. She's three. She can't control this power."
At that, the crowd burst out again, but Master Plo blocked them from his mind and turned to Ahsoka's young mother. "I believe Ahsoka is Force-sensitive. Normally, we would wait until she was older to take her to the Jedi Temple--."
"My name's Kali," the woman interrupted him. "Kali Tano. Please—I won't be able to defend her from these townspeople. They are ignorant country folk. Please, take her and protect her, Master--?"
"My name is Plo Koon, and I will ensure no harm comes to your daughter," Master Plo assured Kali gently. He picked up Ahsoka out of her mother's arms, cradling her to his chest. The toddler looked up at him, confused. He clearly was not her mother.
"Hello, little one," he murmured to her. She relaxed in his arms, closing those startling blue eyes and falling asleep almost immediately. Kali laughed weakly.
"I swear, that child could fall asleep anywhere." She leaned over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "May Earth Mother protect you, child of mine."
Master Plo turned to the crowd. "I am taking this child," he said clearly. "She will not afflict you anymore."
Hun's mother shouted, "Good riddance," and the crowd followed up with similar epithets. Shaking his head sadly, Master Plo left the town.
Right before boarding the Interceptor, he turned back. Kali was sobbing into her hands as the crowd dispersed, and Gupta stood close to her. 'The Force bless you,' Master Plo prayed, boarding the fighter.
Obi-Wan and Anakin had warmed up the fighter considerably—to the point of not having to wear their oversized coats. Anakin had fallen asleep almost immediately in one of the chairs, but Obi-Wan remained awake, typing the coordinates for Coruscant into the computer. He turned slightly when he heard Master Plo board, his eyebrows raised at the unconscious bundle in the stoic Master's arms.
"She's Force-sensitive, and powerful enough to move objects with her mind at three." Master Plo remarked, settling the child safely on one of the chairs and strapping her in. "They were going to kill her for being a 'witch.'"
"Ignorant country folk," Obi-Wan replied scornfully, getting up to get a good look at the child.
Master Plo shrugged. "What else were they to think? A life was saved, today. That's what matters."
"I suppose," Obi-Wan muttered, going back to the computer. "Let's go home."
"When I was three, it was Master Plo who found me and brought me to the Jedi Temple where I belonged." Ahsoka Tano