A.N.
Important update on my profile page for those wondering why I was so late to update. Please read before continuing.
Chapter 21 – Crossroads
Day 15; Dantomeer, The Ventooine System, The Outer Rim
The mist in the air grew heavier. It hung over the city streets, the dampness made it hard to breathe and seeing where you were going took more effort than Ahsoka would've liked. She lingered at the back of the group, at first she believed she could help to keep on the lookout for any bugs, but then it became clear that she ended up babysitting again.
A loud noise cracked from behind her, and she sighed despairingly. Clearly, the boy she had the displeasure of meeting on the raft earlier found a stick to play with and obviously that meant making as much noise as possible to attract unwanted attention.
Meanwhile, Anakin led the group ahead until he paused in front of a broad stone pillar erect in the middle of a crossroads. Everyone quickly gathered around it to read what characters were engraved on it, "It's not a language I've come across before." He pondered aloud.
"That's because it's Aghawite," The thickly voiced, and even more thickly mustached, Fareed stroked his fingers over the engravings, "A very rare dialect of ancient Mandoa, effectively a dead language. None of us can speak it."
"They're directions." Dan stepped beside him and just barely contested Anakin's height, he nodded his head at the pillar, "If we carry on this path for several more clicks it'll take us through the city's main square, and straight to The Hanoon district."
Anakin crossed his arms and turned to him with a determined scowl, "You can read this?"
"I picked it up when I was here many years back. For a time The Hanoon raised me under their household, I used to come here in the summers especially. You can understand, there were more things to do in a big place like this than stay in that secluded farm we call home."
"I see," Anakin lifted a bemused brow, "And none of your family can speak it?"
Dan scoffed, "None of them believed they needed to." He threw his father a mischievous smile, "Am I right, father?"
Fareed's bushy moustache curved over his lips, "Don't get witty with me, son. It was your brothers who refused to pick up the language whenever I offered to keep them with you over those summers."
"Father, even if they wanted to, they didn't even stay long enough to pick it up in the first place."
"Let's try not to lose focus here," Obi Wan interjected as he stepped between them with an outstretched palm towards the young man, "Dan, how well do you know this city? Could you perhaps recognize any landmarks that we might come across?"
"I can't say." He replied dejectedly, "It's been a long time since I've been here. It hasn't changed from what I can see, but it's all still coming back to me."
"Hmmm," Obi Wan scratched his chin, "Then we'd best be on our way. We have no time to waste."
At the back of the group, Ahsoka approached the stubby boy with an aggressive spring to her step, "Look, I understand you're a little bored, or whatever, but could you PLEASE try to keep things down? We don't want to attract anymore attention than we already have!"
"I want to attract attention, girl!" he jeered in a voice that wasn't fully matured yet. He clumsily swung the crooked stick towards her face, which she deftly dodged, "The stupid bugs are way too scared of us to fight. I'm totally in control, you'll see! Check out these moves I've been working on."
He proceeded to hop from side to side, quite energetically Ahsoka had to admit, but in terrible form, meanwhile the jagged stick only contributed further to underline his awkward stances. It was painful to watch, but she couldn't look away, she was almost certain she had never seen something quite like this and was quite effectively dazed by it.
"Sein, hey, Sein!" Remi, his cousin and Dan's first brother, interrupted the performance quite surprisingly without injury, and placed both hands on his shoulders to slow him down, "Save it for the real fight, buddy."
"I'm tired of waiting!" Sein whined, then fist pumped the air repeatedly, "Bring'em on now, I want t- !"
Remi's hand met his mouth, silencing the boy's enthusiastic yelling, "Come on," then guided him over to the front of the group.
Ahsoka blinked at last, "Is this guy for real?"
"I'm afraid so." It was Dan who stood beside her, he chuckled lightly, "Come, I'll tell you a little bit about him."
They journeyed through the city for several minutes. There was a lot to admire from the ancient architecture, despite its poor conditions and the evident lack of care put into maintaining most of it, yet for some reason, Ahsoka felt that it added to its charm in a genuinely worn down sort of way, and the mist only emphasized the ghostly mood that enchanted her.
"So, let me get this straight." Ahsoka rubbed her forehead exasperatedly, "You have three brothers, Remi being the eldest."
Dan smiled, "That's right."
"Sein is your uncle Fordo's son. No brothers or sisters?"
"Nope, he's an only child."
"Figures," She rolled her eyes, "So he's your only cousin."
"You wish." He sneered, "This may sound a little complicated, but bear with me for a moment; The Hanoon, in a way, are an extension of our family."
Ahsoka held a strained frown at him as he continued, "You see, a Hanoon woman named Loka was once married to a Borazwe, who was actually my great grandfather."
"Wait," Ahsoka interrupted, "Then that means she's your grandmother."
"No."
She winced, "Great grandmother?"
"Yeah." He smiled.
"Then her sons…" Ahsoka froze, and then urgently gripped her head-tails, "…wait…"
"She had two children, a son and a daughter. The son is my grandfather, while his sister married from The Hanoon. This made their children extended cousins to us."
Ahsoka twitched, "I…think I'm following you."
"This is not unusual. It happens a lot throughout our generations, you'll figure it out eventually. Over here, keeping track of the family tree is an honored tradition."
"Being a Jedi," Ahsoka held back a growing smile, "I'm going to have to pass on that."
"No attachments rule, huh? I didn't realize that included ancestry." He mumbled then shrugged, "Loka is still around. After her husband passed away she moved to here and stayed watch over her youngest son and his grandchildren, until her son… passed away."
A tremor in the Force erupted from him. She recognized the signs, he said nothing, but his eyes betrayed him, Ahsoka didn't need to study him too hard to realize a disturbed history was involved with this story, she replied, "She must be really old."
"Actually, she was much younger than her husband was, so you'll find that she's not as old as you might think. She was a very hands on babysitter from what I recall, loved to read us stories and discipline us when she had to. She was practically a second mother to me."
Ahsoka noted the brief silence that erupted between them and noted its familiar undertone. Stealing a glance his way she noted the extended period his still expression lasted for, the furrowed brow, the dazed blue eyes, and the particularly subtle tightening of the lips all indicated to one thing Ahsoka liked to call involuntary-reminiscent-syndrome. The symptoms are all the same, she's seen them enough to recognize them, particularly on her fellow Jedi after extended weeks in combat, or on the clone troopers when they've spent far too much time entrenched on the frontlines.
Finally, she decided to break the silence, "So, why did you never come back to visit her?"
His gaze shifted swiftly her way, then back over the road they've been treading over, "I, uh…I don't know." His tenor said otherwise.
"Uh-huh?" She narrowed her eyes at him, "Things didn't quite work out I take it?"
"No," he snapped and shook his head, "Things were great. I just…", he sighed and look away, "things changed."
"I remember what you said back in the woods." Ahsoka added, "About how you no longer feel connected to this place. That you want to put it all behind you."
Dan's face shrivelled, almost disgustedly, but kept his face forward without acknowledging anything she said directly, "I think we've talked enough about this."
His pace hastened until he marched ahead of the group. Ahsoka squinted thoughtfully, she realized she was finally getting somewhere; this wasn't an ordinary reunion after all. He clearly cared about his great grandmother Loka, but what was it about her son's death that bothered him enough to make him never want to come back?
There is something between these two families, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Day 15; The Roche Asteroid Belt, just off The Perlemian Trade Route, The Colonies
The resting quarters hummed harmoniously with the sound of the life support systems aboard The Diligent star cruiser. Its illumination reflected brightly against the elegant black and white décor in the tidy and minuscule room.
Mace Windu lay meditatively on the comparatively small bed, both index fingers resting on his lips as he contemplated the Republic Fleet's next move. He had been resting here for just over an hour; meanwhile his commanding officers must undoubtedly have numerous updates they're itching to report to him.
However, now is not the opportune moment to be disturbed, not when his mind has finally been cleared – not while his emotions have at last been detached from the here and now.
Spiritually, he became one with the stars; a traveler across its many countless, limitless stretches in search of answers, in effect he was now a student of the galaxy.
Skywalker.
A whisper in the deepest regions of his mind echoed a wave through the darkness. He carried the wave and took it with him everywhere his journey led him, from star system to star system, propagating it over and over again.
Skywalker.
And it wasn't just a whisper; it was a call, and a trail. There was a pattern appearing, while at first the pattern was a path of destruction – places torn apart by war, decomposed and rancid of death, contaminated sections of space, but these later disappeared and the path started to carry only one common feature – a signal.
Skywalker.
The signal was constant; it was mysterious, unheard of before, it was in every sense alien to this galaxy, full of malice, full of monstrous intent – a cancer, conjoined in a web of planets, a web of…beacons. What could they possibly mean?
Skywalker.
He followed the path to its last stop. The whisper matched a fresh aura – it was alive, pulsing heavily from one source, feeding off a celestial rock, a nurturing moon, its name…its name…
Dantomeer.
The vision blurred, the path withered and died, like a cloud of smoke it engulfed him and he found himself lost in a whirlwind of stars, ashes and clouds until…
Windu's eyes shot open.
He blinked to adjust to the lights of his resting quarters while the quiet hum of the life support systems greeted him again. Windu slipped out of the bed and stood over the faucet and sink opposite, rinsed his face and dabbed it with the towel supplied.
He found himself staring back through the mirror over the faucet, a firm gaze piercing his own chocolate brown eyes, he mumbled, "Dantomeer." then slipped out of his quarters.
Day 15; Dantomeer, The Ventooine System, The Outer Rim
Slowly the mist faded and allowed the soft nightly breeze to carry the soggy smell of the nearby river through the relentlessly humid haze at last.
The group camped around the town square and lit campfires to keep warm against the cold breeze. At the centre of it was a tall statue, extending from the ground like a pillar, with an archway beneath it and at the top it spread outwards in different directions like tree branches – except it wasn't like any tree Ahsoka's seen before. These branches curved back inwards, in fact, she would say the large statue was shaped more like a vibro-whisk than anything else.
She stopped thinking about it by the time she came to that point and separated from her resting companions to look for Anakin. Her boots clicked to a stop just a few steps behind the statue where she found him sat alone in front of his own campfire, keeping very quiet.
She stared at him not knowing what to say. She remembered the last time they sat together and the way they kissed, but each time she thought about it she wondered w about where their relationship is going and just how it ties together with the fate of the galaxy.
If their mission is a success, would there be any hope for them to stay together? And if they fail, what could that mean for both of them? Will they live to see that day come?
Anakin finally broke the silence, "We're being followed."
He had caught her off guard, she stuttered, "The bugs?"
"Mm-hmm." He said, and by that point she timidly closed the distance between them and sat on the floor facing him. Both hands tinkered with the mechanical chamber of his lightsaber, tweaking a screw, or adjusting a pivot. It didn't matter what he was technically doing, but she knew what it meant.
The mechanic inside Anakin doesn't come out unless something was bothering him, and it didn't matter how many times she asked him why or how, he won't talk about it unless he wanted to.
She would wait instead however long it would take and he would choose when he was ready. Finally, a heavy breathe escaped him and he dropped his hands slowly then looked at her.
His eyes betrayed the anxiety she suspected was boiling inside him all this time and when he spoke it came with a cheerless voice, "I don't think the Jedi at the temple made it." He winced.
Ahsoka never realized how heavily her lips were pressed together until her jaw fell; she froze before she could sit up properly, "What do you mean?"
He put his lightsaber down beside him then extended an arm towards her, "Come here."
She took his hand and was guided until he turned her around and pulled her into a backward embrace. She was smaller than him, lighter and so when he sat her on both his thighs she comfortably put all the weight of her back against his chest and immediately felt wrapped in his friendly warmth.
"Look at the fire." He explained, in her excitement she almost didn't comply but quickly heard the serious tone behind his command and decided to focus. It seemed too much like another Jedi lesson, but she really didn't want it to be.
"Focus on it." He continued, "Now I want you to picture in your mind the place around you, everything you can remember. See yourself and where you're sat, here, and now."
Both his gloved hands shadowed the bright sparks of the fire from her eyes, she almost felt as if she was back in the cave on Tatooine – the significance of that place and her encounter with Master Qui Gon still fresh in her mind, never wanting to let go.
"Don't get distracted just yet," Anakin chuckled, and that quickly brought her out of her thoughts, with his breathe softly bouncing off her cheek, and clear voice being so close to her she was suddenly distracted in a whole other way. She only wondered if he was getting distracted at all, "You're still not focused." He added.
Ahsoka loudly started, "I'm not…"
"Shh, shhh, shhhh," He calmly interrupted, "Listen, do you hear the fire's sparks?"
Her breathing was getting uneasy. She wanted to protest and finish from this boring lesson and get to the good stuff, but decided not to spoil the moment. Surely, he felt it, but maybe he was deliberately teasing her. She's sat in his lap!
She sighed, restrained herself, tightly restrained herself and reached into her mind, then listened…
Yes, the fire crackled… a lot. It felt rather intimidating without being able to look at it, and somehow, relaxing when trying to pay attention to it. Okay, now she was finally focusing.
"Good," He said, and she frowned trying not to drift in thought about him again.
"Now, pull away from the fire, I want you to picture a place on Coruscant. Go there. Listen to its sounds, the brush of the atmosphere, the echoes of all the beings talking, breathing, thinking – can you feel them?"
Her memory served her well, it took her back home yes, but this was just her imagination serving her. No special powers involved here.
"Look." He ordered and as soon as his hands broke apart from her eyes she was practically blinded by the fire and in that moment she saw it all.
She was breathless, as if she had sprinted a mile uphill across a field of spiky bones and thorns while being chased by a pack of rancors. Although it disappeared in a flash she saw the Jedi Temple on fire, wreckage, destruction and death strewn all across its once beautiful and majestic architecture. What had happened?
As quickly as it came the vision disappeared.
She was shaking, and didn't even realize it until Anakin had wrapped her tightly with his arms, he didn't say a word, clearly waiting for her response, but what could she say? She was…terrified, was the only word she could find.
At last, her breath caught up with her, and in a quivered voice she uttered the only question she hoped she didn't know the answer to, "Is…is it…real?"
He stroked one of her shoulders, gently, "Not always."
She closed her eyes and allowed that glimmer of hope sink in, until she discovered a lingering mystery, a new question raised by this experience which she had neglected. It wasn't a new question; she had asked it before, many times. Her pupils peeled open and she turned to him with a quizzical scowl, "This is not a Jedi technique, is it?"
A soft smile crossed his lips and he slowly shook his head.
She didn't smile though, "Where did you learn it from?"
He looked back across the square to escape her intent gaze and simply said, "I'll tell you another time."
"Anakin, there may never be another time," She shuffled herself to sit beside him on her knees so that she could be at his height, "I've watched you for nearly two years now, you don't think I haven't noticed the difference between your Jedi techniques and your…other tricks?"
She finally got his attention, and she met his narrow gaze head on, "I know there are things about The Force you're not telling me."
He thoughtfully dropped his gaze and sighed, "So what, you want me to give you a little back-story?" he grimaced.
"These powers you showed me," She explained and shrugged her shoulders, "They…they're foreign to me. I use them but they don't feel anything like the ones other Jedi use."
He didn't phase, rather he just stared at her deep in thought. She edged closer, "Don't they feel foreign to you sometimes? Not even at least a little?"
He glowered uncomfortably at the floor, she knew she had him and it was just a matter of time to finally get the answers she wanted for so long. He lifted his head, sighed heavily and nodded submissively, "Fine, I'll tell you."
She pressed both arms against his lap excitedly, blue eyes glowing, and listened to hear the defeated Anakin Skywalker break down one of his greatest mysteries to her.
"It wasn't long after I lost my mother." He mumbled, blinking, "I just wanted to escape that reality. Getting married to Padme, it didn't give me the closure I needed. I had to go somewhere far away – away from the watchful gaze of Master Obi Wan, and Master Yoda, I needed…I needed time alone, you understand Snips?"
She nodded eagerly.
He brought his fingers to his lips before he continued, "The war was my best chance, and although the Jedi were keeping a close eye on me, I learned how to disappear. Sometimes, I would break away from missions to deliberately throw them off and make them think I was just ill-disciplined." He laughed.
She beamed back at him. She loved his sense of humor.
"Other times, I knew when to peel away from the Jedi Order and The Republic completely without notice. I'd linger for days, sometimes weeks in distant sectors of the galaxy. Parts not known to Jedi, beyond Wild Space, or across the farther end of The Tingel Arm, you know, the outlying sectors, places where no Jedi would dare explore."
He paused, processed his thoughts, "I found planets completely untamed and full of The Force's natural impression, and beings I could best describe as shamans, witches and wizards among others that had no real affinity to the Force but were wise beyond your average Master Obi Wan or Master Yoda."
He looked at her with a glow and fascination in his eyes she hardly recognized, she smiled casually before he could notice her stroking his leg, "But despite all that I've learned," He continued, "I can't say I ever truly found the answer to it."
Ahsoka froze, "The…answer to what?"
His tone turned morbid, "The answer to how I can put the loss of my mother behind me. Even through all that, I was still thinking about her. I still couldn't... let go."
Ahsoka wrapped her fingers in his and squeezed tightly then swiftly closed the gap between them both. Her big blue pupils brightly sparkling under the fireplace she whispered enthusiastically, "Well, maybe together we can discover the secrets!"
Anakin didn't waver, but countered her with a rather sarcastic demeanor, "Obi Wan might be watching."
She planted both arms over his shoulders, and smugly lifted her chin at him, "You know, for once, I wish you would agree when I say – I don't care."
He chuckled just before she slipped her arms around his neck and squeezed her lips against his. For the first time since their relationship took this exciting new direction she found herself to be the one consciously and deliberately touching her lips together with his.
It took her some time to build that confidence, but perhaps it was the regularity of it happening in recent days that made her cross that boundary on her own this time, yet it had that same daring feeling that the first kiss brought, and of course there was that element of fear that someone might be watching that also added to these splashes of emotions.
She was…in every sense, engulfed by this moment.
They didn't break off and she wasn't going to let that happen this time. Instead, she dropped all her weight on him, pressing him against the floor, breathed quickly and sunk back into it. She was in control and she liked it! No powers were going to save him from this enchantment and she would make certain of it.
It didn't matter how selfish it sounded to her, but she felt a pulsing need for more and she knew how heavily that must've resonated in The Force. It dizzied her, impassioned her and exposed her most tender emotions to him the more she became engaged in this embrace.
Time lapsed without the briefest notice and the world around her faded beneath a heavy cloak, numbing her to a deep sleep and peeling away reality…
She woke…
Her bright blue sparkling pupils glowed in the darkness of the night. She lay on top of Anakin who appeared to be fast asleep then turned the other way and found there was no working fireplace, they were still in the square, but not at the same location where they first started.
She sat up quickly, looked both ways and found that no one had disturbed them. Her focus returned to her, and then the memory of all that just happened slowly sank in.
She stiffened, smiled, and practically whispered, "Whoa."
Trivia:
1. Revenge of The Sith is my favorite Star Wars. See if you can spot two direct quotes I pulled from the movie! Even if they're a little distorted.
2. Aghawite is a made up language and dialect used in the city of Bint Al'agha. No real source within Star Wars lore.
3. The Perlemian Trade Route stretches from Coruscant through The Colonies and into The Outer Rim. It would've been an ideal hyperspace route for Mace Windu to find a hiding place within the thick Roche Asteroid Belt, in this case he chose to relocate what's left of The Republic fleet there and setup a rendezvous point.
4. The Tingel Arm is a stretch of The Galaxy just beyond The Outer Rim. The Mytus System is located within this sector!
A.N.
Season Three of The Clone Wars came to a spectacular conclusion. I don't know about most of you, but Lost Hero came to mind on some occasions while I watched it - especially in that cage that cargo ship Ahsoka was kidnapped on board, come on. Anyway...
For readers still trying to piece together clues behind the 'secret news' I haven't revealed to you all yet since my holiday last summer. Please check out the update on my profile. There are some tips in there!
Thank you to all my dedicated readers across the globe and a special credit goes to the following reviewers for their encouragement:
JediPadawan123(Next update will be sooner, almost maybe guaranteed!), IchigoxRukia19(Thank you!), LinkandZel (Ohhh, not gonna tell you yet!), general-joseph-dickson (Yep, more to come!), The Once And Future Thing (I'm really glad you enjoy this story so much. Maybe some material in this chapter might rank it up higher!), Blackrose (Not so aloof this time, maybe? World's most awesome cake might help me write quicker next time, just saying.), the stone tiger (All will be made clear by the end!), storylover789 (So glad you're enjoying it, many thanks to you too!)