An Oasis in a Sea of Hate

Chapter Seven

The Ghost Crew Meets the Family

(Ahsoka, Lux, Barriss, and the named characters of the Ghost are the property of Disney.)

Then, as the woman moved her head slightly to touch her mouth with Lux's, Kanan could see more of her face. Then he remembered who she was from such a long time ago. This was the woman whose face markings were on the bows of the Admiral's fleet. Now he remembered who she was; someone along with Lux Bonteri who helped him escape the Hell that the Jedi Temple had become.

Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight.

After a while, the two broke apart. They looked at each other as if they were seeing each other for the first, or maybe the last, time. That could only be a look of deep love for each other.

"Tṳg apisim giesna, føtewa," said the Shili woman softly, "Ṳ zivirandin giesna, emirh apasda."

"Evindar uAhsoka, elbet kimin izivirandin. U nezikesna hevran inobe, elbet inobe," replied the passenger that the Ghost crew brought to this planet and this scene, Lux 'Terry' Bonteri, Rear Admiral of The Alliance to Restore Democracy. The crew couldn't understand what they were saying, but they didn't mind. Hera, however, could hear a few of the words the woman said resonate in her own lekku, but even though she could hear Lux say the same sounds, they didn't resonate like the Shili woman's.

Then, the man and woman before them kissed deeply as if they could only get this taste of each other for their entire lives only this time. A taste of each other that would last a lifetime.

After a while they broke apart again. Lux's wife, as the crew of the Ghost now took her to be, remembered hearing some voices but she wasn't so sure. She looked at her husband and then towards the assembled crew, and with a surprised, "Oh," from his wife, Lux looked towards the others who, they felt, were looking upon something personal, but something completely they were a party to only between them at this special time. They seemed to have formed a special bond, this crew and this husband and wife.

The Shili woman stood up and as she did so the crew could see the lightsaber she had attached to her special belt. More than that, though, they were astounded at the beauty of this woman. Such relationships between those human and those non-human were banned and looked down upon in common society, but before them they could see nothing but love, a love that transcended all boundaries. Some on the Ghost crew only wished they could feel a smidgen of this, and in doing so, be satisfied for a lifetime. And looking at the woman, they could see her pride in the choices she made.

She was wearing a calf-length brown dress with somewhat stiff fabric in the front and back but with softer fabric at the sides. She was also wearing a matching tunic, attached around her neck with a simple but elegant clasp, that covered her arms but left her forearms and hands bare. In the front, the crew could see two sashes—a longer sash the same color as the dress that went down to just below the hem of the dress but in front of that sash was the Togruta sash that they had heard about. It was relatively short and purple in color with a nice design. It seemed to be the oldest accoutrement to her dress.

The crew hadn't seen many women from Shili, especially this close up—they mostly stayed on their home planet in this Empire—and they were fascinated by the woman's montrals and lekku. Her montrals were tall, swept back a bit and pointed almost straightly in that direction, with the same triangular metallic pieces that the Admiral had around his neck on his tunic placed around the edges of her montrals, highlighting her face. Kanan remembered seeing Jedi Master Shaak Ti and that her montrals had curled outwards at the ends whereas this woman's montrals did not. They were also fascinated by the markings on her face, and then they remembered collectively the markings on the Alliance ships that helped them out of Tatooine. These, like her decorations on her montrals, were elegant and highlit her beautiful face rather than overwhelmed it.

But it was the lekku (Hera wondered if Togruta called their lekku by names like tchun and tchin as Twi'leks did) that showed perhaps what she had been through, such as the scar on the right cheek of Admiral Bonteri. While her right lek, or tchun to Hera, reached much lower than she had seen on any woman from Ryloth, her left lek ended just above her waist and seemed to be tucked in at the end rather than end at a point as her other lek. Lux then introduced the crew to his wife, "Everyone, this is my wife, a woman from Shili, Jedi Knight Ahsoka—"

"Tano," divulged Kanan.

"Bonteri," finished Ahsoka slightly flustered. Then, Ahsoka looked at Kanan rather pointedly.

"E'vin," started Lux a little disconcertedly, "This is the crew of the Ghost who brought me here. This is Hera Syndulla, the captain of the Ghost."

Hera nodded her head a little toward the Admiral's wife all the while shaking the hand proffered by Ahsoka.

"Any relation to Cham?" questioned Ahsoka, "I have had the pleasure of knowing him."

"He was my brother," replied Hera.

"Was?" questioned Ahsoka with some shock and a lifted eye marking.

"I haven't heard from him for a long time. I don't know where he is," replied Hera sadly.

"That is bad news. We would miss him in this."

"And this is—" continued her husband, Lux.

But before Lux was going to to introduce Kanan to Ahsoka, she, while looking rather directly at Kanan, started to lightly purse her lips, and, with slightly puffed cheeks, was ready to say the first consonant of the name of the person she knew who was somebody from the Jedi Temple before her.

"Kanan, ma'am, Kanan Jarrus," he introduced himself very quickly, as if he were preventing Ahsoka from saying something.

Ahsoka lightly blew out the sound she was about to say. "Kanan," said Ahsoka, "right," while looking rather closely at Kanan.

"And this is Zeb," continued Lux.

"Garazeb Orrelios, ma'am. My friends call me 'Zeb,'" he said while looking at the Admiral.

"And what do your enemies call you?" Ahsoka asked.

"The end of all things," he answered.

"'The end of all things,' I like that," replied Ahsoka with a pretty laugh. "Zeb," she said with a rather happy smile.

"And this is Sabine Wren," continued Lux.

"A Mando," said Ahsoka. "It's good to have you on our side."

"Thank you ma'am," returned Sabine.

"And, uh . . . , uh . . . ," continued the Admiral.

"Ezra, ma'am, Ezra Bridger," continued the boy.

"Nice to meet you Ezra," said Ahsoka rather curtly, looking askance at her husband with a smile.

"Thank you, ma'am," returned the boy.

"Well," began the Admiral, "Let's go ahead to the house." And in doing so, he picked up his wife and carried her, as if he was carrying her across the threshold of their new house. She didn't seem to mind and since she was so thin, the Admiral didn't tire along the way. As they were walking Ahsoka had her arms around Lux's neck like she never wanted to let go.

Zeb, who had been carrying the Admiral's bag since he so suddenly sprinted away, picked up the heavy bag (he wondered how the small human was able to carry it) and followed.

They were walking in a continuation of the masterpiece of landscaping they saw before, finding it very peaceful so that they could rest their guard for the first time since they couldn't remember. It is very stressful, to be on your guard at all times. Here, they could release completely that stress for at least a short while. The planet's rotation seemed rather slow compared to others so that there was little darkening towards night and they could still make the scenery and other things out quite well.

After some time, they came to a low area and in the dip of the land, in a clearing so that the crew could see what was around them even better. There was a low, squat, rustic, but spacious house hard against the perpendicular side of a hill. The house seemed to blend into the surroundings—but whether that was just the intention or the style, the crew could not determine.

From the outside, it seemed to be a spacious house. It was not the rough cabin some would imagine being made from nearby wood by unskilled hands. It was, if anything, refined and handsome. The wood was very good and cut well. The roof, with some of the same kind of moss as that which they were then standing on, growing on it, blended in with the surrounding trees and was camouflaged. The house itself was not tall, with just a few small windows over the main section, but very spacious. To the left, jutting out at a 45-degree angle from the main section, there was what seemed a rather spacious, single room, somewhat set back from the front of the house but connected to it. To the right, angled back more than the large section opposite it, as if to take better advantage of the angle of this planet's sun, were what seemed much smaller rooms, as attested to by the several small windows spaced evenly apart.

The living section was in the front and they could see a low chimney off to the left side of this section. Towards the rear was obviously the kitchen, since they could see another very low chimney. However, there was not a whiff of smoke coming out of either chimney.

The entrance, however, first caught one's eye as it was elegant with two broad doors below a large glass window, and a very large patio before it.

Off to the distance a way they could see a cave with a low entrance but one that was very wide. From the looks of it from the distance outside the cave, they couldn't of course tell how deep the cave was, but it seemed to go a ways into the mountain. They could also see a light trail that headed in that direction. Getting closer to the house, Lux put Ahsoka down and she went towards the house and called out, "Hey guys, your father's back. Come on out! Let's go!"

"Dada! Dada! Dada!" the screams of joy came out from the rustic house.

Soon, there were eight children, one being carried by an older child, aged between very young to high-teens who rushed out of the house. The older children were more adult-like in greeting their father, but the younger ones couldn't help but almost tumble their father over in their joy on seeing him. Of course, the older ones were over-joyed at seeing their father, as attested to by the large smilies on their faces.

The crew of the Ghost looked on the scene with varied emotions. Hera seemed to be overjoyed at this spectacle, and Zeb was laughing low and loudly at it. This brought back fond memories to them. Kanan, having grown up at the Jedi Temple, smiled lightly at the scene, as was Sabine, who could understand the joy of seeing a loved one, even if she was Mandolorian. Ezra, however, had scrunched his eyebrows together as if he couldn't make sense of it. He had never experienced or seen this so he didn't know what to make of it. He then looked over to the older children who were standing close by, and as he did so he suddenly stopped and his eyes became very big; and then—

"Well, guys, if you could release your father for a few minutes—" said a very happy Ahsoka.

"I can introduce you to our guests," said a Lux happier than these guests of him and Ahsoka had seen anybody in this sad galaxy in a long, long time. His children then let their father go and gave him a little space as he introduced his family to the crew of the Ghost, all the while lining up in order from oldest to youngest. They were obviously well-mannered.

Ahsoka and Lux's children lined up to be introduced. The oldest was a purely human girl about seventeen or eighteen but the others they could see were clearly the children of Ahsoka and Lux. They had not heard that Humans and Togruta's could have children with each other—especially this many. But then with the Empire, not many couples like this were known to exist. Their children were wearing variations of what Ahsoka was wearing, some in skirts, some in pants, with similar tunics and materials. All were simple, yet stylish, yet functional. Only the oldest girl, the human girl, was wearing somewhat more colorful clothing. All the girls were wearing the Togruta sash similar to what they saw Ahsoka wearing.

The three oldest had human hair and their skin tone was progressively a deeper shade as they got younger, and one-by-one their facial markings, all similar to Ahsoka's, but not exactly the same, became more and more prominent. The four youngest, including one being held by one of the other older children, all had lekku in the pattern and color similar to Ahsoka's but with slightly different shapes and lengths. The oldest one had the longest lekku but the one just younger seemed to be fuller at the sides. Their skin tone as well became deeper as they got younger, like their older siblings with hair, so that they became more similar, but not quite, to Ahsoka.

The crew also noticed that the two oldest with hair and the oldest with lekku had lightsabers attached to similar belts as the one Ahsoka was also wearing. The child holding another smaller child could have had one but they couldn't see. These same four children also had the same triangular pieces as Lux and Ahsoka; the ones with hair on a hairband and the one with montrals placed similarly to Ahsoka's, around her pretty face. They also noticed that all the children, no matter how small, had a small pouch on their belts.

Lux started the introductions. "Everyone, this is the crew of the Ghost. This is Hera. She's the captain of the ship. They brought me here and they'll be staying for a few days." Their children said 'Hello' and nodded their heads a little, but Ahsoka's heart dropped on hearing that. She had hoped her husband would be staying for a longer time than just a few days.

"Sorry, e'vin," Lux started. "Just before they picked me up, Admiral Ackbar said I was needed to help with evacuating Dantooine." He had already told Hera and Kanan.

"All right," she answered, "but there are too few of us," she said while looking towards her oldest child.

Ezra's heart took a dive as well, ever since—

"Well," started Lux, "this is Zeri," he said while gesturing to the human girl with blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

"Nice to meet you Zeri," said Hera.

She gave a light bow, but looked a little confused. Hera raised an eyebrow at that.

"This is Mina," Lux continued to the next oldest, the oldest child of his and Ahsoka's, "She's named after my mother."

"Hello Mina," said Hera.

"Nice to meet you, Hera," Mina said while slightly bowing her head.

"This is Aila," continued Lux.

"Aila," said Hera.

Aila also bowed and said "Hello" to Hera. Then Aila had turned her head a little and saw a boy. She was looking at a boy who was looking at her in a peculiar way. She was a little confused. 'What's the matter with this boy?' she thought. Not having had much experience with boys, she didn't know what to do. She would have to think of something.

"And this is Arya."

"Arya," Hera said as she and Kanan nodded. They noticed she was holding a younger girl that was covered in a blanket.

"Here is Alina," Lux said as he introduced the oldest with montrals and lekku.

"Hi, Alina," said Hera.

Her father then hugged her and said, "Thanks for meat, sweetie. You're not hurt or anything?"

"No, Dada. I'm all right."

Ahsoka interjected, "She did a good job, Terry."

"That's good to hear."

"Thank you, Dada."

"U Zerih akurhevalt obehrita?" Lux asked with a smile

"Bele, Dada," replied Zeri, with a slight blush and a nod.

Ahsoka was smiling at this. Kanan was looking at this smiling as well, albeit not understanding what was being said, and Hera was looking at Kanan, with a little sadness on her face.

"That's good," replied Lux. "Well," he continued, "this is Amini," her father continued.

"Nice to meet you, Amini," said Hera. "Hello," said Amini. Sabine looked at the girl and noticed something about Amini. She seemed to have a sharpest eye amongst the others, who, by the way, all had very sharp eyes. Something a Mandolorian could see right off.

"And this is Almas," Lux introduced the youngest there.

"Hello Almas," said Hera. The Ghost crew wondered if Lux and Ahsoka were trying to repopulate the planet with all these kids. 'Obviously,' thought Kanan, 'The Force is working more for this man and woman than just glowing for them.'

"And this," he said looking at the girl Arya was holding, "is Precious," Lux said sadly as he put a hand softly on the small montrals of the youngest but one present. They could also see the same peculiar triangular pieces on this girl's montrals as well. Looking into the girl's eyes, however, they could see that nothing was there. That her body was alive, but her brain was not. Ahsoka was sad suddenly and they could see that she was trying to hold back some tears. Lux went over to her and hugged her for a while.

After a short time, Lux explained, "We were being attacked by the Empire while Ahsoka was in labor. We were being buffeted and blasted all over space. I was flying the ship, Zeri, Mina, and Aila were shooting back; our helper was trying to help Ahsoka, but, . . . Precious lost oxygen a little too long during the process, and . . . ." Lux himself looked as if he were to cry as he bent his head down. Now, it was Ahsoka's turn to comfort him. The crew, from Hera, Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, down to Ezra, were deeply saddened as well. This too was a new emotion for Ezra—caring for the sorrow of another. Maybe because she was a sister to Aila, that he cared for Precious now as well.

Lux recovered after an effort. He looked up. "But where's Akila?" He said letting go of Ahsoka as if he remembered something.

'What?! There's another one?' thought the astonished crew.

"She's here. I was just changing her diaper." came the sound from inside the rustic house. Soon a little girl of about a year and half came trundling out followed by a tall Mirialan woman with diamond tattoos across her cheeks under her eyes.

Lux looked at the baby and yelled with happiness, "Ohhh! Look who's walking now!" The little girl in bare feet walked as best she could to her father. And she did that very well for her age. Lux bent down to hug her while lifting her up, and as he did so, Akila, who this obviously was, wrapped her arms around her father's neck.

"Well, well," said her father in a somewhat choked fashion, "You've gotten stronger as well. I'm about to suffocate," he said laughingly.

Akila let go and Lux put her back on the ground. The crew could now see that Akila was going to be an exact copy of Ahsoka, from skin tone to lekku and facial markings. Except for one thing. Akila did have a human trait. She was, if anything, extremely pudgy, in addition to being very strong for her age. Her little arms and legs were more akin to Corellian nerf-sausages than to arms or legs.

As Akila got her balance, she looked over to the guests. She looked steadily at one, walked over to him, put her arms around his leg, and hugged tightly.

"Well, well," shouted Zeb, "you are strong, little one." Everyone laughed at the new friend Zeb had made. Zeb patted Akila on the head and she then let go of Zeb's leg all the while looking up to him, letting him rub the hurt smilingly, as she walked back to her family.

"And here," Lux said as he picked up Akila again, "is Akila. Well, this is everyone in the family." He put Akila back down. He walked over to the Mirialan woman and nodded a greeting with a smile. "This is Barriss Offee," Lux introduced her. The woman bowed somewhat deeply. "She's been helping with the children ever since Zeri." The name didn't mean anything at all for any of the crew, except for Kanan. He would have to try to make sense of this later. He saw that she noticed his lightsaber, and had a very sad look.

"But Admiral," started Zeb, "they're all, . . . they're all, . . . they're all, . . ."

The Admiral knew what he was trying to say, so he finished the sentence for Zeb. He swallowed hard and while barely moving his lips, he said,

"Girls."

All the crew laughed at this, especially Zeb, with his deep, resonant laugh. Ezra, while looking at Aila.

"Oh Dada, someone'd think you didn't love us," an older girl said, perhaps Alina.

"And that would be their last mistake," Lux replied with a smile. "It does make sense, though—if you knew Ahsoka Tano."

Everyone laughed at that, especially Ahsoka. Joy seemed to be all around.

After a while, Hera got control of her laughter enough to introduce her crew. "Yes, and we're the crew of the Ghost. I'm Hera like your father said. This is Kanan."

Kanan bowed to the girls. They could see the lightsaber clipped to his hip.

"This big guy over here is Zeb. He's our muscle fighting the Imperials."

Zeb bowed as well and sent a big smile to Akila. It was returned.

"This is Sabine, from Mandolore." Sabine said "Hello" as she bowed.

"And this is Ezra." He bowed and raised his hand a little all the while looking surreptitiously towards Aila.

"OK, everyone, let's go inside," Ahsoka said. Then everyone started to walk towards the entrance to the front patio of the house. Ezra, of course, started to get closer to Aila. She started to get a little worried. Then she got an idea.

"Chirchir," said Aila, the Togruti for 'whoops,' suddenly. She had dropped the small pouch on her belt. Ezra started to pick it up for her. But she was quicker.

"It's all right," she said as she picked up the purposely-dropped pouch. And then she said, while looking at Ezra with slightly narrowed eyes, "I can handle it."

Both Ahsoka and Lux smiled at this, especially Ahsoka as she looked at her husband. But then, perhaps remembering what came of a very similar meeting on a planet far away a long time ago, Lux started to scowl at the boy. He was very protective of his girls.

But while Ezra was quite taken aback by Aila, fortunately not noticing the Admiral; Aila, as she entered the house, was starting to regret what she said. He had such soft, pretty eyes.

"Let's get inside," Ahsoka said as she gave her husband a look that said, 'calm down.' Ahsoka was also wondering if Aila had the same feelings afterwards as she did so many kids and years ago. There was a part of her was hoping Aila would be careful so she didn't do something stupid, like Carlacc. She'll let Lux take care of the boy, and she'll watch her daughter.

"Great," said Barriss, "I just started a stew with the Akul that Alina got us. I'll try to find some vegetables," she continued looking at Hera. Hera and Kanan were surprised at this as they could not see smoke coming from the rear chimney.

"Thank you, Barriss," said Ahsoka. "Barriss teaches our kids to find wood that doesn't smoke when you put it to fire," she said to Kanan as they were headed towards the house. "She, and they, are very good at it. Something they didn't teach you at the temple."

"Yes, there's a lot I see now they didn't teach us."

The Ghost crew entered the house and as they did so, Barriss took their jackets or whatever to put away for them. Kanan didn't have anything for her to put away but he just looked at her very hard.

"Don't judge too quickly, Kanan," Lux said to him. "There is always more to things in this life than meets the eye."

Kanan looked down and then walked past Barriss. He would have to try to understand what has happened. The Admiral was right; he shouldn't be so quick to judge. So much has happened in these few hours that his world seemed to have a new perspective. Barriss didn't do anything, but looked down.

"Barriss," the Admiral said quietly as he gave her his coat, "Thank you." Barriss just nodded. The Admiral put his hand on her upper arm and smiled at her.

They all entered the spacious entranceway of the house and after that, entered an even more spacious living area.

༺⍟༻

Thank you for reading this. Again, I had larger plans for this chapter but in this section I decided I needed to get the children down in detail before moving on. I hope you liked the family. It might be too sugary, but Lux's and Ahsoka's family is supposed to be an Oasis for the crew.

How Barriss came to be here, like how Ahsoka became a Jedi Knight, will be written about in a later chapter.

Another quiz; what sound (or even better, what name) was Ahsoka going to make (say) when she was introduced to Kanan?

First off, what do you think of that big, big family? I guess the Force does have a plan. Lux and Ahsoka just need to be patient. Of course Ahsoka and Lux love each other very much. 'Guest' mentioned in a review that Ahsoka's and Lux's children should not be old enough to fight in the Galactic Civil War and, sure enough, after doing an extensive spreadsheet, I removed a character from an earlier chapter that should not have been there. Thank you, Guest.

Some people might not like Ahsoka being something like a 'baby machine.' A lot of people have her as a bounty hunter after Order 66. Even though grantgoboom's 'Bounty Hunter Ahsoka' on DA is real sassy, I don't think she will do that. She was never one to harm others unnecessarily. (There was another picture on DA where Ahsoka and Lux pair up bounty hunting.)

I think after having fought since a child, she would rather find some peace for herself with the man she loves and couldn't be with him while she was a Jedi. I also think she would find protecting her family, which started just before Order 66 (in my other fiction), to be priority Number One. Besides that, well, the Force—and other things—just sort of took over. That happens a lot in life. In any case, please let me know if you think she is way too OOC.

Next, let me thank Ahsoka Tano, channeled through katierosefun, in her "ranting" about fanfiction, for helping me to avoid making a Mary Sue. Until I read what Ahsoka told katierosefun, I was very close to doing that with Aila and Ezra, as in:

But Aila didn't hear her. Aila had turned her head a little just before and saw a boy. She was looking at a boy who was looking at her, and, suddenly, was seeing only him. Her eyes went big and her head went blank.

And this boy was looking at the prettiest pair of big blue eyes he had ever seen. Enchanted he was, and looking at her, he knew she was enchanted with him. Neither knew what to do, say, or think because they had never felt this way before. But they would remember that it felt very good and that they would make each other the center of everything else.

Not that it was going to be easy. The Admiral would see to that. But right now, he didn't notice. But Ahsoka his wife did, and she knew how her daughter felt. She knew her job with this would be to soothe her husband.

Aila and Ezra were hearing some sounds and it took an effort to pay attention to them. Aila's father was continuing with introductions. Aila and Ezra were blinking quickly as they turned their heads.

and then later on:

Sabine bowed. Aila wished Hera would hurry. She couldn't pay any attention to anyone's name except—

"And this is Ezra." He bowed and looked surreptitiously towards Aila. So that was to be the name etched into her heart. 'Ezra.'

Gooey, right? I agree with Ahsoka, via katierosefun, that Mary Sues are sometimes the first thing you write when you introduce an OC. I took Ahsoka's advice, stepped back a little, and thought of a better way to start their relationship. I am planning that they do like each other since that is a device needed later on. Thank you katierosefun for sending on Ahsoka's advice—all the way from a galaxy far, far away, going back a long, long time ago (in your time machine, I suppose).

There was another deleted scene where Kanan is a bit more of a jerk. Do you think he would be like that? I also thought it showed better how humbled Barriss had become.

The Ghost crew entered the house and as they did so, Barriss took their jackets or whatever to put away for them. Kanan didn't have anything for her to put away but he just looked at her very hard.

Kanan then walked past Barriss, but not without bumping her in the shoulder. She didn't do anything, but looked down.

"Barriss," the Admiral said quietly as he gave her his coat, "Thank you." Barriss just nodded. The Admiral put his hand on her upper arm and smiled at her. He looked hard at Kanan for that.

"Kanan," Lux said, "I invite you to my house. Is it too much to ask to treat those here with dignity?"

"I'm sorry, Terry," Kanan said. "I knew it was wrong when I did that, and I am sorry for it."

"Did what?" asked Ahsoka.

"He bumped into Barriss," answered Lux, nodding his head towards Kanan.

"Kanan," said Ahsoka exasperated, "the war is outside, not in here. Understand that, Jedi."

"Yes, ma'am," said a contrite Kanan. He had been fighting for so long perhaps he didn't know any other way. "I'm sorry, Barriss," apologized Kanan.

"It's all right," said Barriss, "I understand."

There has been much more out about the other characters in Rebels, including a new Imperial captain with the distinctive sideburns. I don't know much about him but if he fits, he may show here. I still hope to finish this before the series starts.

Since I might have a bit more free time now, I am hoping to get the updates in sooner. In the next chapter, they will get to know each other and the crew will spend their first night on the planet. Until the next update—

Take care,

johnt