I am, in parts at least, somewhat worried about this one. Some of what's going on here is in it because I felt it was the right place, and wasn't actually supposed to happen until later on.
Chapter 11
This time the Jedi Council did not meet in their normal chamber. If they had not been Force users they would have considered it coincidence that they all slowly drifted towards the wide room that functioned as the Order's crèche for the few very small younglings. They all stood in the wide corridor in front of the one-way observation window Fleet Engineers had fitted this morning and looked at the future of their Order. For most of them this was the only family they remembered.
"Decide we must, before act we do."
Mace glanced down to where Yoda was standing on a hover cart that allowed him to look in. He was right of course. If they really wanted to ask the people to volunteer themselves and their children for testing, they would want something in return. For all the good the Jedi had done to those people and for all the very up front and personal contact the two groups had had with each other, almost none of the freed prisoners had ever seen a Jedi up close. Much of the initial mistrust had disappeared, but sentients being what they were, their prejudices were there, and it was hard for all species to let something like this go. Master Drallig had taken to holding training classes outside near the settlement when the weather allowed, and this was always well-attended by spectators. Even Master Yoda was holding Living Force classes where everyone could watch.
When the day's work was done, both groups mingled, something that would never have been possible on Coruscant, and yet it would be naïve to assume that parents who had grown up with stories and rumours about the Jedi to risk their children being taken, however much this would not be done against their wishes.
Besides, pushing the decision into the future wouldn't solve anything. They wouldn't actually come to a final verdict until Skywalker and Obi Wan had returned, but both had made their opinions on the matter at hand clear. All the Masters knew that were they still on Coruscant and slavishly following the Code as it stood, then Skywalker would leave the Order and take his family to he ends of the Universe before he would subject his wife to having to give up her children and any future ones they might have. He suspected that some in the Order suspected that Skywalker would seize the opportunity to try and dismantle the code completely, but he had publicly stated that he thought it best if the existing code was reformed.
If the Ruusan Reformation had been wrong to start with or a good idea whose time had come and gone didn't really matter, he'd said, and Mace had come to the conclusion that Skywalker was right, and that Yoda had been right when he'd said that an Order unable or unwilling to change with the times it existed in could not stand. Neither the Jedi or the former Senator he was married to knew, but it was an unspoken agreement that their marriage would be officially sanctioned, and that there would be no further repercussions. It amounted to rewarding Anakin for having breached the code, but he had done so much for the Order, not the least he had saved all their lives by exposing the Chancellor for the Sith Lord he was.
That left the rest of them though..
"A mistake it was, to forbid them contact with their families. Served us well, the Ruusan Reformation it has, but too isolated from the people we were."
Mace sighed. "Looking back at it now... you are right. But the issue of divided loyalties remains. What is to stop the Empire from using a Jedi's family against him?"
Tiin spoke what most of them seemed to think. "Master Windu, this has always been the case, if not under these particular circumstances. Time and again we have seen attempts by our enemies to use a Padawan against his master or vice versa. Why should this be any different. And wasn't it Skywalker who said the other day that his attachment is not a weakness but a strength? That it gives him even more to fight for? I must admit, I was not among those very supportive of him, but I have watched him since the Exodus, and I must say he is closer to the so-called model Jedi than he has ever been since I've known him."
That much all of them knew. It was an unspoken truth that Skywalker had changed a lot. Fatherhood had made him grow up in a sense. He was still Anakin Skywalker, he was still rash, impatient and had a very unique sense of humour.
But he also was a doting father, a reliable Jedi, he was a surprisingly good role model for the Younglings, they regarded each other with very much mutual adoration and unlike the old Skywalker he was very much aware of his limits. No one but Mace knew this, but he had privately expressed his doubts that he would have the necessary detachment needed to train the twins once they were old enough. He had been honest about everything that he had kept from the council, including that unfortunate episode on Tatooine where he had once more all but requested that they dismiss him for it. It had caused quite a stir among the Council, but Skywalker's remorse and self-doubt, coupled with the likelihood that this too had been one of Palpatine's machinations had helped them resolve it after a long and difficult journey.
At the same time it didn't mean that he had turned into perfection. He still had no compunctions about telling off the Council when he believed they were wrong, and it was obvious to everyone that he would continue to fight for Ahoska Tano until the matter was resolved to his satisfaction and not theirs.
"I agree." Mace said and turned back to the window. In the last months he had done a lot of soul searching and he come to the conclusion that he owed Skywalker, all of them, and Tano an apology. He may have had acted correctly in expressing his doubts at the time when Skywalker had first been brought to them, but his continued disapproval had helped push him towards Sidious. The other the Jedi owed an immeasurable debt of gratitude was Obi Wan Kenobi, because it had been him who had given Skywalker that extra shred of confidence and trust when needed. Between them those two had single-handedly saved the Jedi Order.
"The mistake we made," he said, "was that we assumed that repressing certain emotions, shoving them away... It may have been the correct thing to do once, but we continued with it even when it all had outlived it's usefulness. We were too set in our ways to see the will of the Force, and that helped everything up to the Exodus to come to pass. Consider, if you will, this possibility. If we had exposed and disposed of Sidious before he became Chancellor or at some point before he became too powerful to oust by legal means, and Skywalker had still married the Senator, and then she had become pregnant as it happened, we can assume that we would not be so open to amending our ways. Even if we hadn't known that he was the father, the moment we would have broached taking Luke and Leia Skywalker in for training, he and they would have disappeared into the void of the Galaxy."
Tiin nodded thoughtfully. "Indeed. How many parents have hidden their younglings from us because they feared we might take them against their will? What's more, how many lives and families have we ruined?"
They all considered this. Yoda especially. It was common knowledge that many sentient relationships could not survive the loss of a youngling, and how many had done so even though the parents knew that their offspring was alive, simply because they also know they would never see it again? To all the Jedi Masters present it seemed that in their haste to do what was best for the younglings they had completely dismissed what was best for the rest of the Galaxy and helped cement their own separation and distance from those that lived in it. After the Ruusan Reformation the Order had deliberately done so in an effort to.. what exactly? At the time retreating from involvement in the Galaxy seemed to have been the right thing to do, and since he had met and talked to some of the last pre-reformation Jedi in the Order during his youth, Yoda had long ago admitted to himself that it had been taken too far.
He could remember most of this only dimly, it had been almost nine centuries after all, but he had spent many an hour pouring over their Holocrons and other documents that had been saved during the Exodus, and he had come to a conclusion.
"Too fearful of the future we have been, and change, that must. Yet to the past we must look to go forward."
"What do you mean?" Mace asked.
"Inspiration we take from the past for the future."
"Are you suggesting we dismiss the Reformation completely?"
"I do not. Guidance we may seek from the past, yes. Rule our decisions, it must not. Reasons there were for change, reasons there are now. All the old ways are bad, you think, yes?"
Mace shook his head. "No."
He sighed, letting the last of his irrational feelings against necessary, vital change flow away into the Force. "Not any more, Master."
Yoda nodded sagely. "Difficult it is, to let go of all we have known for our entire lives. But possible it is in both directions. Shown us this, young Skywalker has. Shown us this the other young Skywalkers have. Their abilities and training, impaired it has not."
That much was true. Luke and Leia had begun attending the basic youngling training with the others, and the only difference between them and the pre-Exodus younglings anyone could see was that they returned to their parent's quarters each evening. Already it was blindingly obvious to anyone who looked at them how they took after their parents. While Luke was more like his mother in demeanour, and Leia had clearly inherited much of her father's 'unusual' personality, they both possessed the undeniable charm that had been gifted to them by both their parents.
They were every bit as strong in the Force as their father was and would one day make great Jedi. They would be the first of the next generation of Jedi, those that would lead the Order into a future so unlike anything what the present council had experienced. What was more, and what Yoda had kept to himself for the moment was that he had seen a vision that told him that it would be the same for their own children and untold generations of their families to follow. The Skywalkers and their descendants would be great servants of the Force indeed.
If he had to discuss this with anyone, it would be their parents, though at present none of them was near.
"No longer forbidden, romantic attachment should be. Other forms there are, forbidden those should remain."
It went unsaid that this would have the welcome side effect of eventually producing more Jedi.
The others made the appropriate noises of agreement.
"We should discuss this in a more formal setting, when everyone concerned is present."
Mace saw that the others agreed with him, and so the informal, impromptu meeting dissolved as they each went back to their various duties. As he gave the smallest of the Jedi one last look, he wondered if it might be a good idea to ask if Senator Skywalker wanted to be present when this was formally discussed.
Yoda lingered for a moment. "Another thing there is for you to do."
Mace sighed. "I know."
Padmé was in a meeting with the Committee, so she had asked Ahsoka to have an eye on them while they played with the rest of the younglings and some of the non-Jedi children a few hundred metres up the river near where it fell into the ravine over a beautiful waterfall. The later afternoon turned into evening and the various parents and children began to drift back to the dwellings that now lined as-yet unpaved dirt roads that were supposed to be covered by the standard cheap road pavement colony worlds had been using since the dawn of the Old Republic, as soon as some could be stolen or bought. The three weeks since the landing has been busy, and there would be more in the future. Since this settlement was likely to be a permanent one, there were grandiose plans and some that where not as much. For instance, a sewage system was planned, as was a power generator hidden away in the bedrock and buried against observation, something that Anakin had suggested.
But she didn't really think about that. She was far too busy tending to the twins. They had finally learned not to pull on her montrals, so she was glad to give them a ride on her shoulders, even though when one of them was there, the other complained. At the moment though Luke was busying himself with one of the musical toys Anakin had brought back for them from the last raid, and Leia was her usual self, looking out at the world from Ahsoka's shoulders with her usual curiosity.
Padmé met them half-way up. When she had given the twins back into their mother's care, she sighed. "Still no news?"
"Afraid not." the older woman said and shook her head. "But this wouldn't be the first time they didn't call in."
"Doesn't stop you from worrying though, does it, Padmé?"
"I wish it would. Still," the former Senator said with a smile at her friend, "they aren't overdue yet. Besides, I knew if he was... in danger."
Ahsoka was fascinated by the bond Padmé shared with her husband. It wasn't like the one she herself had with him since Padmé was not a force user, her count was substantially below the minimum threshold, but the way Anakin broadcast his Force presence to her was probably unique, but then, there wasn't much institutional knowledge about this sort of thing, at least not in the holocrons.
She glanced over to where the air-capable ships were parked, willing the battered freighter to return for her friend's sake.
"Master Windu!"
As if hit by a lightning bolt, Ahsoka turned at those words. True enough, the dark-skinned Jedi Master had walked up to them and respectfully waited. "Senator, Commander Tano." he said for a greeting.
Ahsoka looked at her feet and didn't reply, but Padmé did. "Can we do anything for you?"
"I would like to talk to the Commander here, if I may?"
Padmé saw that it was something important, so she made her excuses and took her children to the cafeteria.
Ahsoka dearly wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Since the Exodus she'd done her level best to avoid Windu, but it seemed the confrontation she'd been trying to avoid was at hand. What Windu said next took her her completely, utterly by surprise.
"I owe you an apology. It is inexcusable how you were treated after the Temple bombing, and I fully understand that those events were largely my fault. I made it worse when I dismissed it as part of your trials. It cost me... self respect, I know that now. As well as the services of a Padawan who has turned out to be an excellent, powerful Jedi and never given is the least reason to doubt her. We dismissed her commitment to the Force, a very, grave mistake. For that I am sorry, Commander."
She was glad that no one was close enough to hear, or to see how she stood there with a flabbergasted expression and her chin probably hanging somewhere near her navel. As much as she had wanted, needed to hear those words, it was surprising they came so easily and, she sensed it clearly, with so much sincerity. It was next to impossible to lie to a Jedi. Thankfully, Windu cleary sensed her discomfort and just continued.
He lowered his head. "Much of what was done to you is my fault, and mine alone. It was I who pushed for the Council to see it as a part of your trials. That was wrong, and I apologize again. On my behalf and on that of the Order as a whole."
Ahsoka had no idea what to say, so she said nothing and merely stared at Windu. She knew he was sincere, that he meant every word he said and that he felt genuine remorse. What he said was what the Order wanted to be said. The part of her that had made her remain with the Remnant even though she hadn't had any formal obligation to do so, the part that still wanted acceptance from the Jedi leaped to that, knowing what was coming next.
Yet the cynical part of her that was still hurt and that had made her leave in the first place tried to keep her from truly accepting the words. She was sure that Windu sensed how broken and conflicted she was and his next words confirmed it.
"If you wish it, I will repeat those words in front of the Council, in front of Knight Skywalker if you want to, but know this: Our arms are always open to you. If you wish to return to the Order, as a full Jedi Knight, then you only need to say so, because you have more than proven that you deserve that rank."
Instead of walking away like she had wanted him to, Windu remained. Clearly he was expecting some sort of answer, but what she'd just heard was so unexpected that she had trouble thinking coherently, never mind speaking aloud.
Her cynical side told her to reject the officer, but she knew that she really, really wanted to accept it. Windu had given her the one thing she wanted. And yet, the pain that had been inflicted on her kept her from accepting on the spot. Though it wasn't the same Order that had rejected her. Beyond the current circumstances, the sheer fact that Windu, the one who had been most dismissive about her and her Master, stood here and honestly regretted what he had done.. She searched her feelings and knew it to be true. She thought of the trust Master Ti had put in her even when Ahsoka had been torn by doubts during the Exodus, and as much as she wished she could ask for Skyguy's advice, a sense of serenity settled over her.
"Master Windu..." she said with a small and hesitant but very genuine smile, "I... will accept that offer. But I have a few things to say first."
Windu nodded.
"If you'd asked me just after the Exodus, I would have refused. Now.. the Order has changed as much as leaving it has changed me, and I think that it was for the better. I will be honoured to help rebuild the Order and to fight by my fellow Jedis' side." She bowed respectfully.
Anakin and Obi Wan returned two days later, and he was ecstatic when told the news. Normally Knighting was conducted by the High Council and them alone, but it had always been so that the ceremony was adapted for circumstances.
Ahsoka slowly walked into the Council Chamber as she had been directed, not really knowing what to expect. The Knighting Ceremony had always been a topic of discussion among younglings and Padawans, though during her time outside the Order, Ahsoka hadn't really thought about it. Because of all this she didn't really know what to expect, as the study of the higher ceremonies of the Order would have happened during her last year at Anakin's side. She had been aware though that Anakin hadn't known he was about to be knighted until he had met Obi Wan in front of the chamber, who had promptly scolded him for being late.
Obi Wan had only smiled sadly when being told that the reason Anakin had been late was a certain Senator and then said to Ahsoka that he was glad the one thing Anakin hadn't taught her was his sense of punctuality.
The Chamber was pitch dark, but she could hear Anakin's footsteps as he joined the others. When she reached the centre of the half-circle, five lightsabres were activated, providing a shadowy half-light. The Jedi High Council with the addition of her old Master saluted her with their weapons. Like herself, they had dressed in classic Jedi robes for the occasion.
"Step forward." Yoda said.
Ahsoka crossed the few steps, pulled down her cape and went down on one knee in front of the Grand Master, handing him her own sabre.
Yoda ignited it and welcomed those present.
"Jedi we all are. Through us, the Force speaks. Proclaim itself and what is real, the Force does through our actions. Here we are today, to acknowledge what proclaimed, the Force has."
He brought Ahsoka's sabre down over her left shoulder. Had she been growing a Padawan braid, it would have been cut at this point. Instead he placed it over her other shoulder.
"By the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, dub thee I do, Jedi, Knight of the Republic."
He shut off her sabre and held it out. Ahsoka got to her feet, picked up her weapon and left the chamber without another word.
tbc
Comments fuel me.
The details about Anakin's knighting are taken from the 2003 Clone Wars 2D Cartoon. Since I do not own the book that details the ceremony itself, I kept it vague except where I felt a few changes to adapt to the circumstances were appropriate.
