He's Not Our Enemy
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all credit goes to George Lucas and Lucasarts.
Summary: After vanishing from the Jedi temple ten years ago, Anakin Skywalker is found. The Jedi imprison him until he decides to tell them what happened to him. After getting lost after fleeing from some of her abusive class mates, Ahsoka stumbles into Anakin's room and discovers a side to the force she never knew.
Second Visit, Day Three, Ahsoka Tano
The feeling of floating is a good one; the feeling of falling is a bad one.
I'm not sure what it was that woke me up, but I can place money on the fact that it was because someone entered my room. Scratch that, three someone's entered my room. Naturally, it was my instinct to wake up but I decide that keeping my eyes closed would be a good idea; the voices do not sound happy, they are in a heated argument about something. Only when they stop do I realise that they have sensed that I am awake, a downside of trying to eavesdrop.
"We know you are awake, little one." A familiar voice says in an almost scolding matter. I can't be sure until I open my eyes, but it sounds a lot like Master Windu.
Opening my eyes, I realise that my head is turned towards the wall so that I cannot see whoever it is that has walked into my room unannounced. I have a few ideas as to who one of them might be, but I am simply too tired to sense who else is in the room with me. Still I have no idea why they need to check up on me so many times, its not as though I'm going to get caught when going to see Anakin; they really have no idea. Sitting up, I turn to see that there are four Jedi masters in the room, not three.
Master Windu, as I first thought, Master Ti - which surprises me because I could have sworn she was on Kamino - Master Yoda and Master Plo, whom I do not exactly feel safe around any more. I am uncertain at first - I'm still only half awake - but it looks as though they have been divided onto two sides, there is a very obvious space between where Master Ti and Master Yoda stand and where Master Windu and Master Plo stand. Surely, Master Windu would not be against Anakin Skywalker... would he?
"Not to be rude, or anything, but... why are you all in here?" I ask, it is probably the smartest way to phrase a question when four respected Jedi masters are in your room.
"We are here because of who you met two days ago," Master Windu said. "And what he might have told you."
I frown, completely confused. "Told me about what?"
"About his past."
Ah; now I understand. But why should I tell them anything? It would only prolong their argument and make things worse for Anakin. "He didn't tell me anything about his past," I lie. "Just that he used to be a Jedi and disappeared for ten years, then he got imprisoned here."
I have never seen someone give a better warning look than Master Windu, and the same holds true now because this stare that he is giving me would make most younglings confess to anything, but not this youngling. Matching the stare with a blank one of my own, it is silent for quite some time and whilst I keep the blank stare on my face I place solid barriers around my mind in case he tries anything. If they had any wonders about how patient I can be they must be gone now because I have never sat stiller in my life, not even in Master Yoda's lessons on meditation.
There is silence for at least twenty minutes and in that time I must have felt each of them brushing against my mind about four times, but they recoiled when I pushed them out violently. After they see that I am not about to be persuaded into telling them a thing that I know, if they still believe that I do know something, Master Windu sighs and looks away - meaning that I have been more patient than him, odd.
"Why will you not tell us?" He asks.
"Because you imprisoned someone who saved your life," I return smartly.
That might have been the wrong thing to say because he looked as though he was going to hit me, really hit me. It was worse than with Master Plo shortly after the first time I had seen Anakin Skywalker, and I wouldn't even be saying all of these things if they would just give me a decent explanation as to why he is imprisoned – I might learn to live with it, eventually. Reflectively, I shift back on the bed – Master Windu is starting to frighten me now.
I must have given Master Ti a clear indicator about that because the next moment she has moved closer to me and in the path of Master Windu, whom she turns to face.
"I think, perhaps, we should leave young Tano alone for now. She has made it quite clear that she is not going to tell us anything, if she does know anything." She says, making me feel like Christmas has come early.
I'm off the hook.
I'm off the hook.
"Of course," Master Plo agrees much to my surprise. "Let us be on our way."
They all turn around at the same time, which makes me positive that this was planned, and depart my room. I do not breath a sigh of relief for several reasons. One; I can still sense and hear them standing just outside of me door. Two; they will not get off my back for a week at least, wanting to make sure I keep my promise – which I have already broke. Three; I have no idea how I am going to make it to Anakin's room with them standing right outside my door.
Sighing, I turn to look at the chrono on the table just across the room and gape at it. It's six o'clock in the morning. Why on earth would they decide to come into my room at six o'clock? Don't they know how tiring making fire with the force is? Groaning, I rub my temples. Of course they don't, no one but Anakin has any idea that I have done it; speaking of which, what did he mean by saying that I shouldn't have been able to do that? It was rather easy in my mind. You think of time when you have felt a strong emotion and click your fingers, what's so hard about that? And then he started acting really strangely and said that I had to come back today; I reason that it must just be him over reacting to how quickly I can learn things, it is rather surprising to most people.
Laying back down on my bed, I have had quite enough of being woken up early in the morning, a loud sound comes from outside. It sounds like a speeder, I've heard many of them pass my window, but more powerful; what speeder sounds like that? It does not take me long to realise that my tired mind is playing tricks on me and that the noise outside did not come from a speeder, it came from a ship. Of course; the younglings on their way to Ilum, I'd forgotten. Well, I only have to wait until the competitions next month – which isn't that far away now – and then I can go and make my lightsaber.
With all of the noise outside it is obvious that I am never going to get back to sleep, so I do the natural thing.
I get out of bed.
Rather stiffly – might I add, I stand up and stretch my arms out above my head like I do every morning. This time I hear a lot more cracks and pops, which means I must have been sleeping in a pretty uncomfortable position – though did not feel it. The four force presences outside of my door are still there, but I can tell from their voices that they have moved further away; if I want to get back to Anakin's room then they will have to be at least a few corridors away.
So... what can I do?
A grin spreads over my face. What does any person do when they learn how to do something that no one else can do? I click my fingers whilst focusing on a time when I have felt a strong emotion and the fire springs to life again. It must be affected by how tired I am because it is very small, only a few centimetres wide on each side I would guess. Checking to see that no one is coming back inside, I sit down on my bed and watch the small flames as they flicker and dance around in the palm of my hand. Fires aren't always this small... are they?
I mentally slap myself. Of course they are; fires start out small as any normal thing does and it just needs time to grow, that's all. I do not know how long I have sat on my bed, just watching the fire that plays in my hand yet does not burn me. After a few minutes it has grown bigger, to fill up the whole of my palm but not with huge flames – the flames are still small but I do not really care about the size any more, just the ability to conjure fire out of thin air is a privilege. It's a good thing that I can, too, because early mornings at the Jedi temple are colder than Hoth – except without the fun of snow.
Thoughtfully, I reach out through the force to see if I have been left alone - I have. They are all heading in the opposite direction of both my room and Anakin's, meaning that getting to him will be only too easy. This early in the morning the only people who are awake are the Jedi council members that aren't out fighting against the separatists - if Master Windu and Master Yoda are here at the same time then it means that there will be a council meeting soon, and I have the sinking feeling that I am going to be the topic of a few conversations.
I shake my head, desperate to push all thoughts of the council aside, and get to my feet. Staying in a room on my own with only the confusing thoughts of the council and Anakin Skywalker for company is a good way to make myself go insane - I made a promise and I intend to keep it. Without taking anything with me - why would I need to why I'm going to be with a force wielder? - I walk to the door and sense around outside once more. Getting caught snooping around the temple after talking about a force wielder that I am not supposed to know about is a very bad idea. Without bothering to think about the consequences - I never have been one for rules - I walk out of my room and head straight for the corridor where the ventilation shafts that I used yesterday are located.
There is no one around at this time of morning, just a few maintanence droids and astromechs that paid me no attention as I side step them and come to a halt in front of the cover to the vent. It shouldn't be this easy, surely, but it is. No one suspects a thing and I am beginning to think that what Anakin had said to me on two occasions is exactly what the council think, that no one likes a force wielder; the council either believe this and think that I am not going back to see him because I do not understand what a force wielder is and have more pressing things to do or they just don't know me at all, which no one appears to anymore.
Crawling inside - again, unnoticed - I secure the cover back in place and begin the walk through the vent in the direction of Anakin Skywalker's room; he made me promise to go back today, not that I needed encouragement, and I never go back on a promise. I have to stifle a yawn behind my hand since it is very early in the morning still; he might be asleep but I wouldn't know because I've no time to go all the way back to my room if I'm just going to come right back again. It's a four mile walk - if you take the long way - and by the time I reach his room it will be seven o'clock at least.
As I walk I become emersed in my own thoughts and pay no attention to how fast I am going; everything that has happened is far too peculiar for me not to spend most of my time thinking about it. The first thing that springs to my mind is that those old stories that Master Yoda used to tell the younglings about force wielders are true; those stories never seemed to have any real elements, besides from the force, but now I know differently. However, if those stories were true then what other stories could be true? How many times had Master Yoda gone on about how the force had physical ties to the world? Or how the sith would one day be destroyed?
I stop abruptly when I spot the vent cover that I am supposed to exit through out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I quickly slide it out of place before climbing through the - now exposed - space and replacing it exactly where it was before. Anakin's door sits exactly where I remembered it did and I waste no time in walking down the corridor to stand before it. How on earth did the council force Anakin to stay inside of this room for a month? He's a force wielder, surely he could've broken out by now? Then again, since the walls were made of something specific and the window was ray shielded, he might not have been able too.
Knocking, I wait to see if he wakes up as early in the mornings as I do - when I'm woken up by four members of the Jedi council. When the door opens my first thought is he does but then I notice the way that he is standing on the other side of it. He's slouching, his hair is ruffled and he has baggs under his eyes - not to mention the fact that his eyes have turned blue and are staying blue. It is obvious that he does not like the fact he was woken up so early - judging by a look at his chrono it's about ten past seven.
"Ahsoka," He yawns, theres a hint of agitation in his voice. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Smirking, I reply, "It's almost ten past seven."
Anakin rolls his eyes. "It's a rhetorical question."
I shrug my shoulders. "I got woken up at six so waking up at seven isn't that bad," I tell him. "When do you usually wake up?"
"Whenever I want to and whenever my mentor -" He stops mid sentence, even though I am hanging onto every word, and frowns. "Never mind."
Cocking my head at him, I watch Anakin very carefully as he walks across the room and shakes his head slightly. He almost let something slip that he knows he shouldn't have and I really want to know what it is but his reaction shows that I probably shouldn't push the subject. The deep breath he inhales is obviously one to calm himself - though I'm not sure why - and when he turns around his expression is more guarded, just as it was the other times I saw him.
"Why don't you go and sit down in the lounge? I'll be back in a minute." Anakin suggests, taking the few steps necessary to go inside of his bedroom. I watch the door close behind him and frown in my confusion. What was his problem?
I shrug my shoulders again and make for the lounge. It probably has something to do with not wanting to talk about his past - after what Master Kenobi told me about what half of the council tried to do I am unsurprised. Sitting down on the couch that I was sat on yesterday - there appears to be only one couch - I wonder if Anakin will always be this guarded about his past. Surely the council would have learned by now that trying to read a force wielders mind is impossible, so why keep him here?
The objects on the table catch my eye again and I cannot help but wonder what they're for. They are reasonably distanced from one another but not so that they fall off of the table and onto the floor. I have seen every one of them before, since they're plants and rocks, but I still wonder why they are on a table in a force wielders suite.
"Curious about something?" Anakin asks from behind me, obviously wide awake now.
"You could say that," I reply. "Those things on the table... what are they for?"
I look over my shoulder to see that he has arched both eyebrows, in confusion or surprise, and is looking repeatedly from the things on the table and then back to me - maybe I've touched another dodgy subject? After a few seconds his shrugs his shoulders with an expression which plainly says 'why the hell not?' and one that I have used myself many times before.
"The first one - the one at the top of the triangle - is a sedimentary rock which contains a vast amount of smoke." He explains. I arch my eyebrows in surprise - a triangle? That's what it is? "The object in the right hand corner is a leaf found on juniper trees - a juniper leaf, to be specific - and contains a specific kind of acid that rots away the layers of the sedimentary rock - named barkrock. That third item is the juice from a guppa berry, you can just crush those in your hands, and it creates a clear path for the smoke from the centre of the barkrock to pass through."
I frown and slowly piece it all together. "It's... a smoke bomb?" I ask uncertainly.
Anakin nods. "Yes, but not yet. You need to put them all in water first and if you don't do it in a specific order you run the risk of being blown up."
Blown up. I look back at the three ingrediants on the table. "That's not good." I comment.
He chuckles. "No, I suppose its not." Anakin agrees with me. "Well, since there's no smoke detector in here and I can get rid of it quite easily, how about I show you?"
That wasn't what I was expecting. A guarded, unwilling personality that he uses whenever he's asked the simplest of questions was what I was expecting, not a suggestion to show me what happens when the three ingrediants are combined in exactly the right way.
"Okay," I accept, curious to see what a smoke bomb looks like. Jedi are not allowed to do things such as set off smoke bombs in the temple and if you do you get the biggest punishment of your life. There are two younglings - twins - in the temple who are two years older than me and they live to cause trouble. I'm good friends with them, so I never get pranked, but when they do decide to prank someone you usually end up feeling sorry for that person - one time they took a huge risk and pranked Master Vos. The rogue Jedi went into an all out battle with the twins and I ended up being dragged into it so when a massive food fight was started we all got the blame, even though I was in training at the time.
Anakin walks towards the table and I stand to follow him. There is a bowl of water in the centre of the triangle that I had missed before - though I cannot see how I did - and I wonder if Anakin had ever planned this as a way to escape. Either he had these items in his pocket when he was imprisoned or someone brought them to him without knowing exactly what they were; Master Kenobi said that he was a good friend of Anakin's before he disappeared so it might have been he who brought these specific things to him.
"What order do you put them in?" I question.
"Barkrock first," He says, using the force to levitate the rock up and into the bowl of water where it began to steam slightly. He didn't move an inch when he used the force.
"Then what?"
"Guppa berry." The berry levitated into the air - once again Anakin did not move - and squeezed itself before dropping down into the water. I know which one comes next but am unprepared for what Anakin says. "Stand back, this part causes a violent reaction."
Frowning, I do as I am told and have to take three steps back to match the one stride that he takes. The juniper leaf is in his hand, though I do not know why.
Without warning, he throws it into the bowl of water and there is a loud bang followed by a spark and a lot of smoke. It flows out of the bowl like it has a purpose and that purpose appears to be to blind because after a few seconds I cannot see a thing and begin to cough - people don't tend to breathe too well in smoke. Just as I begin to consider finding my way out of the room, the smoke disappears and once it clears I can see that Anakin has ignited the substance with the fire from his hands and effectively staunched the effect that it was having. The fire goes out quickly and leaves no trace that there was ever anything in the bowl, which I find quite astonishing.
"Woah," I comment.
Anakin chuckles. "For lack of a better word."
I glare at him for a second before looking out of the window. It is still light, I would hazard a guess at mid day - meaning that my time here has been longer than I first thought. Around this time I would be getting something to eat with Barris, but I'm far too content to stay where I am and don't even feel the slightest bit hungry. Truth be told, I'm supposed to be searching for a mentor to tutor me on how to survive in my class competition in three weeks. The winner and runners up are going to be taken to Ilum to build their lightsabers, and I would prefer to build my saber sooner rather than later.
The point being that I should get going if I want to find a mentor.
"Going somewhere?" Anakin asks as I start to walk towards the door.
"I have to find a mentor for my class competition in three weeks so I should get going to find one." I say, continuing on my way.
"I'll be your mentor." He says unexpectedly, forcing me to stop in my tracks and turn to look at him, the disbelief etched upon my face.
"You will?" I question, stunned.
Anakin nods. "Of course I will," He confirms. "You have that free for all, don't you?"
I narrow my eyes slightly and nod. "Yes, its the first one to retrieve the HoloFlag."
"And you get the next three weeks off to work with your mentor?" Anakin asks, arching an eyebrow to indicate that he already knows the answer.
"Yes." I say, wondering whether his cockieness is the reason he was imprisoned. "But the mentor has to know about the competition and since your imprisoned here I don't see how you could -"
"Just because I'm imprisoned doesn't mean I don't know about your competition." Anakin cuts across me.
I find it highly unlikely that this is true and cross my arms over my chest. "All right, what do you know?"
"Sit down and I'll tell you."
