Hey there!

Thank you all for the kind tips considering running! :) They were all useful (so thanks a lot!) and worked pretty well. In the end, I ran 8.5 laps in 9 minutes which is the best record yet in my entire life, because in the past, I would simply break down and moan when I completed 7 laps, which is the passing mark. That may not be the same case for you all athletes out there, but considering my very terrible PE skills and sore legs (that feel as if Darth Vader has sat on it), I am pretty satisfied with the result already. :D So thanks again! Here is an especially long chapter as a token of my gratitude to you all who kindly read this fic. :)

' Welcome to my humble room,' Caleb said proudly, gesturing around him.

Ezra blinked once or twice to check that his eyes weren't fooling around with him. He had expected a completely unruly, after-tornado room, but instead, the room was orderly and in fact, well-kept that it could reach the level of tidiness of Kanan's room on the Ghost.

' Uh, nice room!' He managed to say after a minute or so. ' I didn't know you have a tendency of keeping tidy rooms. I had expected your room to be, uh, messy.'

Caleb explained, ' A clean room helps with concentrating and meditation, don't you agree?'

' Yeah,' Ezra said, shrugging lightly. ' I agree. Can I look around?'

' Sure,' Caleb said, while carefully smoothing out non-existent wrinkles on his blanket. ' Be my guest.'

Ezra trudged over to the writing desk under the window, and examined the tabletop. He stifled a giggle when he saw a stack of unfinished Language homework and a couple short, broken pencils lying near the monstrous pile. Caleb seemed to know that Ezra was looking at his blank worksheets, because he chuckled, ' Yep. All my homework. My Master dug them all out from the rubble and wanted me to do it.'

Wrinkling his nose, he plucked out a random paper from the pile and read out loud, ' Write an essay describing the Jedi Temple. How lame is that! And there is another one... Write about a mission of your own choice with your Master. Force, and look at this one from last year. Compose a poem about yourself and read it out to the class. Like I am going to do that and die of embarrassment. I would run them over with my lightsaber if I could.'

Ezra knew a little about schools because he had never been to one. Heck, he was a street kid before he joined the Ghost crew. The closest thing he had 'entered' was the Imperial Academy, but it wasn't really a school and he was just working as an undercover cadet for a mission. But he knew 'homework' was create to help someone do well in exams.

' But homework is supposed to help you do well in exams. I presume you have exams too? So how are you going to score high if you don't practice your knowledge?' Ezra pointed out. ' Besides, you don't even attend classes.'

Caleb dug out a nearly crushed booklet from the bottom of the stack and handed it to Ezra proudly. Ezra looked at it and his eyes nearly popped out in surprise. Because:

Report Card of Padawan Caleb Dume

General Information:

Name: Caleb Dume

Rank: Jedi Padawan

Master: Depa Billaba

Language

Term Mark: 3%

Exam Mark: 100%

Attendance: 1/10

Remarks: Caleb is an extremely clever student, as he scores perfectly in all his exams or practice tests. However, his conduct needs further improvement, because he is often late or absent from classes. And it is advised for him to turn in all his homework and assignments.

Mechanism

Term Mark: 82%

Exam Mark: 95%

Attendance: 7/9

Remarks: Caleb is a capable student who actively participates in class discussions. His handiwork are all excellent, but further care would be advised, because his clumsiness gets in the way of his cleverness.

Politics

Term Mark: 10%

Exam Mark: 97%

Attendance: 3/8

Remarks: A clever student, but if he works harder during the term and avoids careless mistakes in exams, it would be better.

Lightsaber combat

Term Mark: 98%

Exam Mark: 99%

Attendance: 12/12

Remarks: Caleb is very good with his lightsaber, and he has almost perfected Form III. However it would be much better if he avoids tripping over his foot while duelling.

Forget about the term marks, but overall, his exam marks were very good.

' How do you even do that?' Ezra stared at Caleb. ' Like how can you score so high without studying?'

Caleb shrugged, ' That is probably why I don't like to go to classes. The answers just pop up in my head naturally. Don't really know why, I was born this way, I think.' He didn't sound arrogant or anything, he sounded plainly clueless.

Ezra sighed and put down the report card. Little did I know my master was a child prodigy.

Ahsoka forgot how to breath.

Sitting in front of her, were stunned clones, and most of which were her brother in arms and basically friends.

Then Order 66 came back to her mind, fresh and new. She should have resented them for murdering all of her friends in cold blood. She should have hated them. But she knew that it wasn't their fault, mostly.

A couple years after taking up the position of Fulcrum, the rebel informant, she was contacted by a strange transmission from Seelos. To her surprise, it was Captain Rex contacting her. At first, she demanded for explanations for Order 66, but then Rex told her everything. Everything about the inhibitor chip in their heads that caused them to go killing everything. He mentioned about Tup, Fives and that he wasn't involved in the Purge. He had removed his inhibitor chip along with Gregor and Wolffe before the Purge happened, and retired from the legion.

Understanding came to her. Immediately, she felt a sense of pity for the clones despite that they had carried out the Order. They were programmed to complete assignments, there were no stopping, no matter how attached they were to their fellow Jedi. It was like being possessed.

So she couldn't help but feel her heart break a little for the clones. Every single one of them, whether she knew them or not.

The clones stared at Ahsoka in an expression as if they had just seen a ghost. Kix had just had a bite of bread in his mouth, completely forgotten that his left cheek bulged.

Echo gasped, ' C-commander!'

The others followed suit in a chorus of, ' Commander Tano!'

Apparently this caught the attention of the rest of the clones in the hall, because they were all muttering, turning in their seats to get a good view and gasping in awe.

Of course they knew of the story of the former Jedi. Her departure had been a hot topic amongst the legions even outside the 501st for weeks, until Rex threatened them to stop. Even then, the clones discussed secretly about the matter (of course not in front of Rex, because he had actually thrown a cheese sandwich at Jesse for announcing Ahsoka's departure loudly in the mess hall. The cheese had taken a long time to wash off).

The others had interesting theories about where she had gone to. They were not created out of fun or boredom, but they were all guesses from fellow clones out of concern and respect for the former Commander. Fives was very convinced that she had stayed around Coruscant to keep an eye on them. Kix reckoned she had stayed to work at Dex's Diner as a cook or something. Tup even suggested that she had gone to live as a Grey Jedi in the faraway outskirts of Coruscant. Fox thought that she had gone off to live on Tattooine as a bantha herder (that simply made no sense and earned him a couple weird looks).

Of course all were conducted in secret or in the dark between training and war sessions, as none of the clones liked idea of being attacked by Rex's new powerful weapon besides his double blasters - The Destructive Sandwich, as they all called it behind sniggers. But the clones reckoned Rex knew about their underground discussions, because he would shoot them suspicious glares during free time when they were huddled together. However, as long as the clones didn't mention a single word in front of the General, he would not bring out The Destructive Sandwich. It was hard, because on the first mission after Ahsoka had left, the legion clearly felt ill at ease, as they couldn't get used to the absence of the snippy commander to the General's right. It could be said that they actually missed her snippy retorts.

As for the General, they knew her sudden departure hit him hard. For months, he couldn't get over the fact she was gone. For example, when they were out for a mission on Felucia...

' Now people, we have a serious business to finish,' Anakin said, standing tall in front of the sea of clones. ' I want you to split the legion into two parts. The first half will be led by me towards the centre of the place, and the other half will be led by Captain Rex and Commander Tano-'

His face darkened within milliseconds. The clones looked at each other worriedly, especially Rex, who was fidgeting around with his painted blue helmet nervously.

' Forget about it. She's gone,' He continued coldly. ' I repeat one more time. The first half will be led by me, and the second half will be led by Captain Rex. We shall rendezvous here again when the task is done. R2, guard the ship and wait for us. We'll take off immediately when we return.'

Or the other time...

The 501st legion and 212th Attack Battalion were standing on the hangar bay, waiting for the General to arrive patiently. Anakin and Obi-wan arrived at the same time, so they prepared to board the ship.

It was when Anakin looked around him, as if sensing something amiss, he blurted out, ' Wait, not yet. There's still someone, wait till I give her a piece of my mind for being late.'

The men stopped, already aware of the General's mistake. Of course the older Jedi sensed it too, because he said firmly, ' Anakin. There's only me and you on this mission. Cody, set for-'

' No, we are missing Ahsoka, she is always late-' He stopped in realisation.

Cody and Rex eyed each other nervously, both secretly worried that the General would whip out his lightsaber out of blind frustration and start to skewer everything in sight. Luckily that didn't happen, because Obi-wan scented danger in the air as well, and ushered Anakin up the ship before he could say or do anything.

Now. The mystery of the era was solved. Not quite solved, as one thought went through the men's thoughts at the same time.

Blimey. She's grown so old.

Gone was the snippy, young teenager they knew. Standing in her place was a mature, tall Togrutan woman with eyes that simply spoke of wisdom and understanding and a posture of experience, confidence and strength. Clipped onto her weapons belt were new lightsabers and they definitely weren't the ones she used in the past.

Rex was the first to recover from the silence, ' G-general Skywalker, this...'

' At ease, men,' He said. ' She is not a ghost. This is indeed the former Commander Tano. But she is not exactly the same one we used to know.'

Kix said with a mouth full of food, ' Chwot zhu rmin kzay xnch cham?' Anakin raised an eyebrow.

Kix seemed to finally notice of his bulging mouth, that he blushed and swallowed, ' Excuse me, I mean, what do you mean by not exactly the same one? She looks exactly like Commander Tano, but well, much older. No offence.'

' Indeed I am Ahsoka Tano,' Ahsoka spoke for the first time, her calm voice washing over the clones. ' But I am Ahsoka Tano from fourteen years into the future. So naturally I look older. No offence taken, Kix.'

The men muttered amongst themselves, incredulous at the story. Even Fox's story about Ahsoka living as a bantha herder on Tattooine didn't sound so bizarre at that point.

' The Force works in a strange way,' Anakin said, as if knowing what the men were pondering about. ' It isn't up to you or I to know what the Force wants. But just so you know, Ahsoka will be around for a week or so, and she will be back to her timeline afterwards. Treat this week as some sort of reunion week, and remember, don't ask her anything about the future, as we won't want to disrupt the universe.'

Thanks for reading and thank you once more. :D