Ahsoka: Origins

Chapter 2: One Year On

As weeks gave in to months, and months gave in to a year, Maak and Ta'zeek Tano found themselves celebrating Ahsoka's first birthday. They decided to go into the village of Tebrokk to one of the finest restaurants on Shili. They did take Ahsoka with her who kept a smile on her face most of the time. Of course she wasn't yet eating solid foods, but the restaurant had alternatives for babies.

As the family was seated by the waiter, they were talking to their baby, even though she most likely couldn't understand them. "We'll have a bottle of milk for our daughter please." Ta'zeek kindly said to the server.

"Coming up mam. Are you both ready to order for yourselves?" He asked.

The two ordered for themselves. When the waiter was bringing a bottle of milk out for Ahsoka, something very strange happened. The bottle went flying out of the waiter's hands and landed at the base of Ahsoka's hover chair.

The waiter and her parents were both very alarmed at what had just happened. Ahsoka just giggled in her mom's direction despite her mom's look of concern.

"I'm so sorry, I don't really know what happened, I had a firm grip on the bottle then it just flew out of my hands. I'm so sorry." The waiter said with a nervous apologetic tone.

"It's, okay I." Ta'zeek said with confusion. Surly the waiter didn't throw that bottle at their baby, she thought. She had her eyes on him as he walked out of the kitchen.

After the waiter walked away from the table, Ta'zeek leaned over to whisper to her husband as all of the other tables were still looking at them. "Maak, what in the universe was that?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, everyone is still looking at us." Maak said.

The couple was unable to eat their meal although Ahsoka's bottle was empty by the time they left the restaurant.

"Well, I'm glad she got to eat." Maak stated with a bit of irritation. The family hopped in their speeder and headed for home.

Ta'zeek sat Ahsoka down in the middle of the living room floor to watch what she would do now that she had drank an entire bottle of milk.

Ahsoka just giggled and rolled on to her back and stuck her feet and hands in the air. Right above her attached to the ceiling was a circular light which began to move as the baby Togruta moved her hands.

Ta'zeek became aware of this and became alarmed again.

The light suddenly fell out of its fixture and was about to land on Ahsoka.

Ta'zeek dove over Ahsoka grabbing her in her arms and rolling out on the other side of the landing zone for the falling light. The light soon crashed on the floor, and there Ta'zeek was kneeling holding the baby Ahsoka in her arms. "What is going on?" She asked herself.

Maak came rushing in to the living room to see the light shattered on the floor and his wife holding on to Ahsoka. "What happened in here Ta? How did the light fall?"

"I don't know, it started shaking and moving then it suddenly fell." She said worriedly.

"It's a good thing you have quick reflexes Ta." Maak said as he leaned in to kiss both his wife's and his daughter's foreheads. "I'll get the mechanical droids to clean this up." Maak added as he walked outside to the gardens.

That evening, Ta'zeek was putting Ahsoka in her baby bed for the night. One thing that they were able to buy for their child was a stuffed convore toy.

Ahsoka held it close to her all the time and she loved to throw it around as well.

"Here you go Soka." Ta'zeek smiled as she placed the convore beside Ahsoka's head.

Ahsoka who was still in a playful mood at the time then grabbed it and gave it a little toss out of the baby bed.

Ta'zeek just laughed, until she saw the toy hovering in the air and making its way back to Ahsoka in the bed.

Ta'zeek's mouth dropped and her eyes began to water. She now knew what was happening, and she wasn't excited about it. She hurried out into the den where Maak was looking at expense reports for his job. "Maak! Maak! I think our daughter's force sensitive." She said with fear and holding back tears.

Maak just sat in his chair but didn't have any words at the moment. He eventually looked at his wife and stood up. "Well, what should we do?"

"I'm calling the doctor to see if there's anything we can do." Ta'zeek said as she hurried to her communicator.

A hologram of the doctor appeared. "What seems to be the problem Mr. and Mrs. Tano?"

"We believe our daughter is force sensitive." Ta'zeek explained. She then went in to details about the bottle at the restaurant and the light, and then the stuffed convore toy. "What can we do about this doctor?"

The doctor rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Hmm, there's really nothing I can do with the use of medical procedures. The force is a powerful entity, it will find a way to penetrate your daughter. The only thing I can think of is if we put her in restraints and I don't think you want that."

"Well, we don't want that but I don't want her to get hurt or worse; involved in that whole Jedi action." Ta'zeek said.

"Ta, maybe we should ease up." Maak tried to calm his anxious wife down.

"Ease up? We discussed this Maak, we are not letting her out of our site."

"Well we have to at some point. She will need to go to school, eventually she will be off at work. We can't hold her down and control her destiny." Maak added.

"So, you're telling me that you'd be okay with her becoming a Jedi?"

"Well, not particularly, but the force seems to surround her. It's not up to us honey." Maak said as he grabbed his wife's petite hand and brought it to his lips.

"You two have some things to discuss. Keep in mind, that she's only a year old, she has plenty of time to figure out her destiny." The doctor said as he signed off.

"Listen Ta, we just need to get someone to train her and keep her force using under control." Maak stated.

"Maak, I really don't want to talk about this now, we finally have a child and she turns out to be some sort of force user, I'm not okay with this Maak."

"Ta, we can always try to have another child."

Ta'zeek looked at Maak with anger. "You think it was easy for me to lose out first child, and now we may lose our only child to the Jedi, I'm not letting this happen to another child Maak."

Maak suddenly began to remember about the hooded figure that claimed to be from a very good school. He wondered if he should talk to this man and learn more about the school.

Malachor, 35 BBY:

"Darth Sidious, are you paying attention to your mission of the little Togrutan girl?"

"Yes Master, I must make a return visit to Shili. The father of the girl wants to meet with the head master of the finest school in all of Shili."

"He will most likely deliver the girl right to us. She will become a powerful ally."

Darth Sidious walked out of the temple and sat in a shuttle that he would fly to the world of Shili to meet with Maak Tano.

While on the shuttle, he received a transmission.

"Is this the head master of the School for Defense?" Maak asked.

"Ahh, yes it is. How nice to speak with you again Mr. Tano." Sidious stated.

"May I request a visit with you to discuss something important?"

"Of course Mr. Tano, I'd be happy to hear the word on your daughter."

"Thank you head master." Maak said as he bowed and signed off.

Darth Sidious let out a hardy laugh at the situation at hand.

Shili, 35 BBY

Maak was preparing for work, and after work was his meeting with the "Head Master" of the school. He wasn't sure what he would tell Ta'zeek but he knew he had to think of something. He was not the type that generally lied to his wife. His vows were sacred to him.

He leaned down and kissed his wife who was still sleeping. When he kissed her, she awoke.

"Have a great day sweetheart." She said rolling over onto her back.

Maak smiled down at her. "You too love. Also, I may be home a little late, I've got a meeting with a partner about hunting stuff." He lied.

"Okay, I'll see you when you get home." Ta'zeek informed.

He felt so guilty about lying to Ta'zeek. He knew it was only a matter of time before he either told her what he was really doing, or she would figure it out and he'd be in deep trouble.

The work day had finished, and he was waiting for the supposed head master of this school to show up. He was waiting nervously for the dark hooded figure to come through the shop door. After several minutes of waiting, he showed up.

He opened the door and immediately spoke to Maak. "So Mr. Tano, you see what's so special about her now, don't you?"

"Yes we do Head Master, but is there anything we can do to restrict her abilities?"

"There is no way to restrict the force. It is a powerful energy that will find a way to her, this is why you must send her to my school. I'd love to meet with you and your wife and the youngling herself in a few years to take care of these concerns."

"Well, I suppose that would be okay, I need to convince my wife, she's definitely not on board with this whole "force" thing. We actually lost a son two years ago when she was pregnant and…" Maak was stopped when Sidious started talking again.

"I understand your concerns Mr. Tano. Trust me, she will be in good hands in our school. Not only do we train them to contain their abilities but also to explore all aspects of it. How much about the force do you know, Mr. Tano?"

"Almost nothing, other than the fact that it's used by the Jedi in order to keep the peace." Maak Answered. "Is she to become a Jedi?"

"The Jedi are flawed, they are much more selfish than they seem. She will be a powerful asset to our school which is about maintaining peace unlike the pathetic Jedi Order." Sidious informed Maak.

"Really, I had no idea. We don't have many Jedi come to Shili."

"Consider that a good thing Mr. Tano." I'll be in touch with you in a few years when she's almost 3 years old." Sidious said as he turned and walked out.

This was not exactly how Maak had thought this conversation would go. He grabbed a few of his things and headed out to his speeder to head home to his beautiful family.