Chapter 21

They were packed up and making the jump to hyperspace before Obi-Wan and Celibrie even came close to waking up. Ahsoka shoved out of the co-pilot chair and walked over to the deactivated R2D2. They kept him turned off during the day for the most part to conserve his battery, but now that the ship was powered up and in the sky, there was really no reason for it. He bleeped at her and she smiled at him, "Yup! Time to move."

With astromech on her heels, she walked back to the cockpit. Anakin stared at the holographic map, gnawing on his bottom lip as he circled it. "You said you had some ideas planned out?" he said as she entered.

"Yeah," she stepped up next to the map she often spent her evenings pouring over.

He walked around her, wrapping his arms around her waist and dropping his head onto her shoulder. "Go on, love," he said, his breath tickling her lekku and her neck.

"If you keep tempting me, I'll never decide," she said with a chuckle.

"Fine, fine," he made to move away, but she held his hands firmly in place.

"Anyways," she adjusted the map. "I was thinking this little planet here."

"Thabeska," he said the name with a small amount of uncertainty. The ship shuddered as it came out of hyperspace, floating in the orbit of some unnamed moon. "Never heard of it."

"It's a smaller Outer Rim planet," she said. "Nondescript. We'll likely have to keep our identities as former Jedi a secret though."

"Hmm," he squeezed her and she giggled. "Sounds better than isolation. Who knows? Maybe something interesting will come our way?"

She smirked, turning slightly to meet his gaze with a raised eye-marking, "Like bounty hunting?"

Red blotched across his face and she smiled fondly. "You heard that?"

"Mmhmm," she faced the astromech droid that had brought them out of hyperspace soundly. "Calculate the jump to hyperspace, Artooie. We've got a new destination in mind."

The former Jedi retired to the back of the ship, leaving the mech to pilot for the time being. They dropped heavily onto the bench and Ahsoka leaned into Anakin's warmth. She pulled out the datapad clipped to her belt, "I was seriously hoping we'd be safe there for a little longer."

"It was gonna happen sooner or later, Snips," he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He watched as she checked the pad for any way they could be tracked and hacked into it. "You've gotten better at that."

"I learned from the best," she said with a faint smile.

He pressed a kiss against her montral. She flipped through the datapad, finding a lot of plans about moving back into the Temple and a log of Obi-Wan's search for them. "Wow," she commented and lifted the pad to show Anakin.

"He's been looking for us since Naboo?"

"Apparently so," she pursed her lips together. "And we're apparently fugitives."

Anakin stiffened next to her, a spike of panic running through him. He took the datapad from her, if only to confirm her words. Ahsoka dropped her head onto his shoulder. "Think they've heard of us on Thabeska?" he questioned.

"I doubt it," she said before pointing to the information. "It doesn't even name us specifically and that's a pretty vague description."

He sighed, swiping the information away. His frown deepened and she raised her head to look at him. "What is it?"

"They declared us dead," he said. "I guess they want to keep this all very hush-hush."

"Explains the description," she muttered. "It's just for bounty hunters and Jedi and likely clones that might've known us before... Well, before we left."

He flung the datapad onto the floor and turned to Ahsoka. She beamed up at him. "Let's not worry about that for now, okay?"

"Fine by me, Skyguy."

Thabeska was a dusty planet. It clung to their clothes and got underneath their fingernails, but for several peaceful months, Ahsoka and Anakin lived there. They worked under the Fardi clan, the leaders of the planet, as mechanics and pilots. They built a domestic little life for themselves and Ashla and Niko, the mysterious, but kind strangers that showed up out of nowhere.

But nothing lasts forever.

Ahsoka busied herself with some droids in the shipyard while Anakin went to get lunch for them. Most of the young Fardi girls often cooed over him and subsequently, his relationship with Ahsoka. Even some of the older Fardi women had commented on how lovely they were together and often asked Ahsoka when they planned to get married.

She never answered that question.

When her hand ghosted over the ring tucked into her clothing, she smiled. She raised her gaze to watch the Fardi children playing around some crates. It was a dangerous thing to do and they knew that. With a small huff, she shoved herself off of the ground, ready to scold them if the need arose.

That's when disaster struck.

One of the crates tipped, causing a chain of events that made all of the other crates fall, along with the children. Without really thinking, she immediately reached out with the Force, slowing the descent of the heavy boxes and the children. They ignored the situation when she reminded them not to play with the crates. Instead, they just begged her not to tell Fardi, the leader of the clan.

But the youngest girl, a tiny little thing of three, stared at Ahsoka with fascination.

Anakin appeared in the shipyard and the children scuttled away to play somewhere else. They loved and respected Ashla, but she knew that they often felt intimidated by Niko.

She didn't blame them. She watched him as he approached, a little apprehensive about what she'd done. They spent a lot of time mediating and when they transported goods, they sparred on the ships, but they both agreed not to use the Force on the planet. "What did you do?" he questioned, his eyebrow arched into the air.

"The crates were falling," she gestured to the fallen mess. "The children were on them."

That was the only explanation he needed. With a soft smile, he pulled her into his arms and placed a kiss on her lips. "You're not mad?" she asked quietly.

"Of course not, Snips," he cupped her cheek. "We'll figure it out. We always do. Now, are you hungry?"

"Always am, Skyguy."

Ahsoka leaned her head against Anakin's shoulder as she watched the rambunctious children run around the courtyard. They were lucky, very lucky, in that the Fardi clan let them live in their compound. He was watching the podraces again, twitching her fingers in his. Her gaze remained on the young Fardi girl, Hedala. She was staring at some rocks with a determined gleam in her eyes.

The Togruta was starting to drift off when the pebbles jumped off of the ground, levitating in the air. "Ani," she whispered, grabbing onto Anakin's sleeve.

"What is it, Snips?" he questioned, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

"Ani, look," she yanked his sleeve again and pointed to the young Hedala Fardi and her floating rocks.

His eyes widened, his grip on Ahsoka's hand tightened. "Is she-" he breathed.

Ahsoka bobbed her head eagerly, "She's Force-sensitive."

And then her heart sank. The Order would find her sooner or later, which meant they would also find Ashla and Niko.

The pebbles dropped to the ground. The children disappeared inside. Eventually, even Anakin retired after Ahsoka promised to join him later. She remained rooted to the spot though, staring at the abandoned pebbles. Again, an idea was forming in her head and the longer she looked at the rocks, the more she saw.

There. There it was.

Exhaustion weighed heavily on her, but Ahsoka stood with new purpose. Anakin might've killed Palpatine, but there was still something that needed to be done to bring balance to the universe. Something important.

They needed to start their own Order.

A grey Order.

Sorry for the late update. FanFiction wasn't working for some reason.

Anyways... It makes me really happy when I think about the fact that Ahsoka likely knew Leia.

In other news, the Thabeska idea was very much taken from Ahsoka.