Chapter 21 – A Crystal revived
The normal conversations in this chapter are all in Togruti because we're still on Shili. When things change to multiple languages I'll add a little note.
So, "text like this" is normal conversation, "text like this" are thoughts of people.
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"Come on Skyguy, I know you can do better than that!" Ahsoka taunted Anakin as she brought her twin blades down on him. He grunted as he blocked her strike with his own lightsaber. "Not bad Snips, you've gotten faster." He replied with a smirk. Ahsoka chuckled as she disengaged their blade lock and struck at Anakin's feet. He dodged and jumped a few feet back. "I told you that I've become a lot stronger! Don't underestimate me Anakin, you'll regret it!" Ahsoka teased. Anakin chuckled. "It's good to have you back Snips." He said with a large smile.
;-
Ahsoka's point of view
I yawn loudly as I get up and rub my eyes. I'm still a tad sleepy, that party really wore me out. It was definitely worth it, though. "Those girls…" I think with a smile. "To think that my sisters and the princess of Shili would do such a thing." I lay back down on the bed and cross my arms behind my head. "What was with that dream? Was it some kind of vision?" The dream I just had confuses me quite a bit. I saw myself sparring with Anakin in one of the Temple's training rooms. "Does this mean that I'll rejoin the Order one day?" I ask myself. I let out a deep sigh. "It would be great to be back with all of my friends again, but I don't think I return soon." The betrayal of the Council is still fresh in my memory. If I were to return now, I don't think that I would be able to trust them. It's still too soon. "I wonder how they would react when they learn I met my family?" As the thought crosses my mind I can't help but laugh a bit. That would be an interesting conversation…
I shake away the thoughts for now. "I'd rather not think about these things any further now…". I decide to concentrate on a different part of my vision. "I saw the same thing in my other vision yesterday. Hmmm…" I stare at the ceiling for a while as I think about the idea. "I should be able to gather everything I need in the city, although some parts may not be so ease to come across…" I mutter quietly to myself. "Wait a minute, Zaa told me to tell her if I needed anything. Maybe I could ask her to obtain some of the parts for me?" A smile spreads across my face. "That just might work." I get out of the bed and grab some clothes. After getting ready for the day I make my way downstairs.
As I enter the living room I find Lilo and Rosette both sitting on the couch, Rosette watching the tv and Lilo reading something. "Good morning." I tell them. Lilo looks up from her datapad. "Morning Ahsoka." She replies. "Hi auntie 'Soka." Rosette says as she looks at me. I look around the room. I can hear mom and dad in the kitchen, but I don't see Marina. "Is your mommy up yet?" I ask Rosette. She shook her head. "Mommy's sick, she's still in bed." Rosette replies. This confuses me quite a bit, she looked fine yesterday. "Hey Rose, how about you go and see if breakfast is ready yet?" Lilo asks. Rosette nods eagerly and jumps of the couch and goes to the kitchen. Lilo sighs a bit. "Marina has a bit of a hangover… she may have had a bit too much wine." She explains with a slightly amused smile on her face. I can't help but laugh a little as I recall that part about last night. Marina had spent a lot time talking with Zaa's older brother Zolar, all the while drinking some wine. "She did seem to enjoy being around prince Zolar…" I say to Lilo. She nods. "Yeah, that's certainly true." She replied with a giggle. "What do you mean?" I ask curiously. I can tell that there's more to it. "Marina and him went to the same school for a long time. She has a bit of a thing for him." Lilo replies with a smile. I sit down next to Lilo on the couch. "Really?" I ask with a chuckle. "Yeah, she told me that some time ago. She never told him about it though." Lilo replied. "Why not?" I ask my sister. "Well, being a prince, you can image that Zolar was quite the popular one. Marina was always a tad shy back then and she didn't think that she would have a chance with him. She also didn't want to be rejected." Lilo shrugged. "And now that she has Rosette, she's not sure that he'd be interested in her. They became good friends, but not more than that." Lilo explained. I nod. "I see. That's… well, kinda sad in a way." I reply. "Yeah, but Marina is still pretty happy with Rosette. So don't let it worry you." Lilo says. "Alright, I won't." I reply as I look at the stairs. "How is she feeling now? You said she had somewhat of a hangover." I ask Lilo. "She's got a pretty bad headache and she's a bit nauseous from the alcohol. She just needs to rest a bit." Lilo explains. "Maybe I can help her out a bit with the Force later. I'm not an expert, but I do know I few things about healing and easing pain with the Force." I reply. "That sounds useful. I'm pretty sure she might appreciate that. She didn't sound very happy when she woke up." Lilo comments. We both chuckle for a bit.
"Anyway, enough about that for now." Lilo says with a dismissing wave of her hand. "Did you like the party?" She asks excitedly. I smile widely. "Like is an understatement. It was great!" I reply enthusiastically. Lilo smiles as well. "I'm definitely not used to things like that, but I won't complain. It was amazing." I say. "That's great to hear, Ahsoka. We really wanted to make sure you had a good time." Lilo replies. "I had a great time, thanks sis." I say as I lean towards her and give her a quick hug. She hugs me back. "You're welcome Ahsoka." Lilo replies. As we separate again Rosette walks in. "Breakfast's ready." She says excitedly. We both get up follow her into the kitchen.
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After breakfast I quietly make my way into Marina's room. She's lying down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Hey Marina." I say, making sure to keep my voice down. "Hi Ahsoka." She replies softly. I make my way to the bed and sit down on the bed. "Lilo told me what happened. How do you feel?" I ask her. Marina sighs. "Of course she told you…" she says. "Well, after 'visiting' the refresher I'm not so nauseous anymore, but I still have a massive headache." I manage to suppress laughing at her frustrated voice. "I see." I reply softly. "Hey Marina, I know a few things about using the Force to heal wounds and ease pain. I'm not a trained healer, but I thought that I might be able to ease your headache a little." I explain. "That is, if you want me to try?" I ask her. "Gladly, anything is better than this. It feels like there's a rancor is dancing in my head." She replies with a groan. I chuckle a little bit before placing my hand on her forehead. I close my eyes and outstretch my feelings with the Force. I slowly sense around Marina's feelings, making sure not to overdo it. The healing lessons I followed at the Temple and the few things I learned from Barriss are really helping me now. I can clearly sense Marina's pain and where it's coming from. With the Force I gently push it away in waves. After a few minutes of doing this I open my eyes again. I study Marina's expression for a minute, she looks a lot more relaxed now. Marina sighs with relief. "That worked wonders Ahsoka, thank you." She says with a tired smile. "You're welcome Marina, especially after that great party you guys organized for me." I reply. Marina chuckles a bit. "I'm glad you liked it." She says. I smile at her. "You still look very tired, sis. You should try to rest a bit more. Try to keep your relax your mind a bit, otherwise you headache might return." I tell her. She nods slowly. "Alright." She replies as she rests her head comfortably on the pillow. I leave the room and quietly shut the door.
As I come back down in the living room Rosette immediately walks up to me. "Is mommy okay?" she asks concerned. I kneel down so that I'm at eyelevel with her. "She's going to be just fine. She just needs to rest for a little while. Maybe you can bring her some juice or something later, that should help her get better." I say to her. Her worried expression changes into a smile. "Okay, I will." She replies happily. "So you were able to do something for Marina?" Lilo asks. I get up and nod. "Yes, I was able to ease her headache, she just needs to sleep now." I explain as I walk up to the couch. "Good, she really sounded quite irritated when she woke up." Lilo replies with a smile. I chuckle a little bit. "She'll hopefully not have that problem again." I say to her.
At this moment my dad walks in the room as well. "Hey dad?" I ask him. "Yes Ahsoka?" he replies as he moves towards me. "I wanted to go out and pick up a few things in town. Can I borrow the speeder bike?" I ask. "What kind of things do you need to get?" he asks in return. "That's a little secret." I reply with a little smirk. "Hmmm. Well, you know how to fly that speeder right?" he asks. I nod. "I can fly pretty much anything. Guess that was one advantage of having a technology obsessed master." I reply with a smile. Dad chuckles a bit at that. "I guess that's true. Alright, you can take the speeder. Just be careful." He says. "I will, thanks dad." I reply as I go upstairs to grab a few things from my room. When I have everything I make my way down again. "I'll be back later." I tell my family and go to the garage.
;-
A few minutes later I'm flying through the streets of Corvala. The traffic is pretty quiet thankfully, so I can fly I little slower and enjoy the sights a bit more. The only other time I could really see my people's culture was on Kiros and that wasn't really a moment for sightseeing. Being around so many of my own people is great.
I arrive at the main shopping area and park the speeder in one of the designated zones. I make my way to the main shopping mall. "This place is pretty big." I think to myself as in enter the building. "Now where to go?" I wonder. There is a map of the building so I make my way towards it. "Let's see… Clothes, sporting goods, toys…" I study the map a bit. "Maybe there, mechanical goods and hobby items, that's worth a try." I decide and begin walking to the area I saw on the map.
It takes me a short moment to get there, this place is a lot larger than it appears on the map. Getting through the large toy section in one piece was a challenge as well. Dodging remote controlled cars, planes and helicopters would make an excellent Jedi agility exercise. Still, it's great to see so many children just enjoying themselves.
After reaching the area I look around. There are just as many stores here as in any other parts of the store. I sigh a bit. "Where to start?" I wonder. I decide to try and see if the Force can be of help. Letting it guide my feet, I move to one of the stores. I guess the gamble paid off, because this place has a large supply of different types of materials and whatnot. "Good morning miss, can I help you find something?" One of the store clerks asks as he walks up to me. "No thank you, I'm sure I can find what I'm searching for." I reply. He nods in response. "Very well miss, if you need anything be sure to ask one of the staff." I nod as well. "Alright, I will." I walk towards the boxes of materials they have on display. There are a lot of different materials available in this place. I walk past the different boxes and check the materials inside, trying to find one type that feels right. After examining numerous different types I stop at one of the boxes. The material in here is very familiar. "This is the same lightweight material as my…" I think as a smile spreads on my face. This is definitely the right one I was looking for. I make sure to get enough of the material before continuing looking the rest of the parts I need.
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After a few hours and visiting multiple stores I've gathered almost all of the parts I require. However, there's still a few parts I was unable to find. "Perhaps Zaa Vashee can help me with those. I'm sure she can have a bunch of people look for them…" I think too myself. I make my way back to the parking area and pickup my dad's speeder. I depart for the Royal palace, hoping that Zaa is there at least. "Being a princess she probably has a pretty busy schedule."
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About twenty minutes later I arrive at the main entrance of the palace. It's busy as it usually is, a lot of people entering and leaving the large building. "How am I going to find her in this place?" I can't help but wonder. After passing through the security check at the entrance I walk through the main hall of the palace. I spot Cira, one of the H'Raani M'Kai soldiers, walking through the halls as well. "Hello Cira, how are you?" I greet her as I walk up to her. "Ah, hello Ahsoka." She replies. "I'm fine. How about you?" she asks in return. "I'm doing a lot better. Thank you." I reply with a smile. "That's good to hear. Is there something I can help you with?" Cira asks. "Actually yes. I was looking for princess Vashee, I wanted to ask something of her. Do you know where she is?" I ask. Cira nods. "Yes I do. She's leaving for a meeting in about 10 minutes, so if you want to talk to her you'd better make it quick." She replies. I nod. "I won't take that long." I say. Cira nods. "Alright then. Come on, I'll take you to her. But we'd better hurry." She replies as she gestures at one of the other hallways. "Right, lead the way." I say.
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As we arrive at the room Zaa Vashee was in preparing for her meeting, she and her escort just got out of the room. She smiles when she spots me. "Hello Ahsoka." She says as she walks up to us. "Hello princess Vashee." I reply as I bow respectfully. Zaa told me to save all of the formalities when we're alone, but around so many of the palace staff it might be better to show the proper respects. "I wanted to ask you something real quick, if you don't mind." I tell her. "Off course, what is it?" she replies. "Well, it's about what you told me at the party, that if I needed anything I should ask you." I tell her. She smiles. "Well, you've certainly thought of something real quick, haven't you?" she replies a bit teasingly. I look at her in slight surprise. "I'm just kidding, what can I do for you?" Zaa asks. "I was trying to gather a bunch of materials for something. But I'm having trouble finding a few things and I thought that maybe you could help me with that." I explain. "Sure, that I can definitely help you with." She replies with a smile. "That's great. I wrote the things I need down so it's a little easier." I say as I give her a small list. She looks at it for a minute before frowning. "What could you possibly do with these? These are a bunch of random parts, aren't they?" she asks slightly confused. I chuckle a bit. "To you they might appear to be, but I can do something with them." I reply. "Really? What could you possibly make with those things?" she asks. "That's still a little secret." I reply with a teasing smirk. "Oh alright then, but you better show me later." Zaa replies. "I will." I tell her.
"Excuse me milady, but we have to leave now." One of Zaa's escorts tells her. "Oh right." She replies. Zaa turns back to me. "Sorry Ahsoka, but I have a meeting to attend. I'll make sure to take care of this as soon as possible." She says as she waves the list I gave her. "That's wonderful. Thank you." I reply and give a respectful bow. After Zaa Vashee and her escorts have left I turn to Cira. "Looks like we arrived just in time. Thanks Cira." I say to the Togrutan warrior. "Don't mention it. Can I help you with anything else?" she replies. I shake my head. "No thanks. I think I'm going to head back home and check up on Marina. She wasn't feeling very well this morning." I tell her. "Oh, I see. Well, I hope she gets better soon." Cira replies. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll pas soon." I say. Cira nods. "Alright then. I'll see you some other time." She replies. "See you later." I say with a smile before I begin making my way back out of the palace.
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When I arrive back home I find Marina sitting outside in the garden with Rosette on her lap. "Ahsoka, you're back." Marina says when she sees me walk outside. I nod. "Yes, I'm back. How are you feeling now?" I reply. "I'm feeling better, thanks." Marina says. "I brought mommy some juice like you said." Rosette said with a smile. "Yes you did. And it really helped." Marina told her as she patted her daughter on the head. Rosette laughed happily. "So what have you been up to Ahsoka? You went to gather a few things?" Marina asks. I give her a little smirk. "Like I've said to the other that asked, it's still a little secret." I reply. "I want to know." Rosette says. "Not yet Rose." I reply. "Why not?" asks a bit disappointed. "Well, I need to have a bunch of different parts in order to do what I wanted to do. But unfortunately, I don't have everything yet." I tell her. "What are you going to do to get the last things you need?" Marina asks. "I've asked Princess Vashee if she could find the remaining parts for me. She seemed happy to do so. As soon as she gets back to me I'll let you know." I explain them. "Alright then." Marina replies, "Can you wait for that too Rose?" she asks. "Okay." Rosette replies softly. I chuckle a bit and sit down next to them in another chair. Rosette jumps of her mother's lap and starts to run around the garden.
"Hey Marina?" I ask after a few minutes of watching Rosette playing with a few of her toys. "Yeah?" she replies. "When exactly is Lilo going to leave? Has she finished planning the flight yet?" I ask her. I know that Lilo has her meeting on Coruscant soon, but I don't know when she leaves. "She's going to leave tomorrow evening. Her flight departs at ten pm. That way she'll arrive on Coruscant in the morning, leaving her a few hours to get settled in the apartment we have there before she needs to go to her meeting." Marina explains. I nod. "I see, it's sometimes better to travel at night and get some sleep during the flight." I reply. "Yeah, that's true." Marina replied. We continued to sit in the garden for a little while. After that we went back inside.
;-
The next day
General point of view
Ahsoka and her family sat in the living room, discussing the last few things before Lilo had to depart later in the day. "As long as you don't wander off alone into the lower levels of Coruscant there's not much to worry about." Ahsoka told her parents. "I'm not stupid enough to do something like that and besides, I know how to use a blaster in case something bad happens." Lilo added as well. Their mother couldn't help but be a little worried about Lilo going to Coruscant alone. "I know that, but there are quite a few bad rumors about the planet." Yuae replied with a slightly worried voice. Ahsoka nodded. "Believe me mom, I know. There are a lot of villains and whatnot in the lower levels of the city where the law enforcement has difficulty controlling everything." Ahsoka said. "However, the upper levels where most people live and where Lilo is headed aren't like that. Those areas are quite safe, regularly patrolled by both Jedi and clones." Ahsoka continued as she turned to her sister. "And besides, if Anakin learns that you're my sister I'm sure you could ask him for a clone escort or something if you do need to go somewhere." She explained to her sister. Lilo nodded. "That's good to know, thanks Ahsoka." She replied. "You see Mom? There's nothing to worry about. I'll be careful." Lilo said as she turned to her parents. "Don't worry dear, I'm sure everything will be fine." Haymish said to his wife. She sighed. "Alright then. I'll stop worrying so much. Just promise me that you'll look after yourself." Yuae told Lilo. She smiled and nodded in response. "I will. Don't worry." She replied.
All of a sudden the doorbell rang. "I'll see who it is." Haymish said as he got off the couch and moved towards the entry hall. "Where you expecting someone?" Yuae asked her three daughters. "No, I'm not." Marina replied. She looked at Lilo and Ahsoka who both shook their heads as well. A moment later their father returned in the living room followed by princess Zaa Vashee. "Milady, what a surprise. What are you doing here?" Yuae asked in surprise. "Hello everyone, I just wanted to stop by with a little something for Ahsoka." Zaa Vashee replied as she held up a small bag. Ahsoka looked a little shocked at the princess. "Really? You already have everything?" she asked. Zaa smiled. "Yep, it wasn't that difficult. My family has a lot of connections, so I was able to gather everything quite fast." She explained. Ahsoka moved over to Zaa and took the bag. She took the parts out and floating them in front of her with the Force. "These are perfect, thank you." Ahsoka replied after having studied the parts. "But you didn't have to bring them yourselves, right?" she asked. Zaa smiled. "That's true, I could have just asked one of the palace staff to have it delivered to you. But you've gotten me quite curious as to what you're going to do with those." Zaa replied as she gestured at the floating parts. Ahsoka smiled and lowered the parts back in her hands. "Hang on." Ahsoka said as she went upstairs to her room. "She's certainly excited all of a sudden." Lilo said. "Please, have a seat milady." Marina said to the princess. They all sat down and waited. Ahsoka came back down about a minute later carrying a small box. "So, Ahsoka, are you finally ready to tell us what your secret project is?" Haymish asked. "Yeah, you spend a lot of time working with dad's tools yesterday evening." Marina added. Ahsoka chuckled as she moved to the opposite side of the room so everyone could see her. "I'll show you." She said as she sat down cross-legged on the floor. She placed the box in front of her. "As you well know," Ahsoka began, "I've been trying to find a way to repair this." She said as she pulled Lux' locket out of her pocket. Ahsoka levitated the locket with the Force. "I've had a few visions and I found the ideal solution." She continued as she manipulated the broken locket and removed the crystal, floating it in front of her. She lowered the locket to the ground next to her and opened the box she had brought along. Ahsoka then raised her hand and concentrated. From out of the box all of the parts Ahsoka had gathered floated up into the air next to the crystal. Her family and princess Vashee stared in amazement as Ahsoka made all of the parts combine around the crystal into a very familiar cylinder shaped object. A smile spread across Ahsoka's face as all of the parts connected and everything clicked into place. She opened her eyes and took hold of her new lightsaber. She ignited the weapon and revealed a bright shining cyan blade. "Lux wanted his locket to keep me safe." She began as she stood up. "This way, it will certainly do just that." She said as she waved the blade around.
Ahsoka extinguished the blade and looked at her new lightsaber. She had made it in the same design as her first lightsaber, the only difference was the crystal inside. With a large smile on her face she clipped her new lightsaber to her belt.
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That's it for this chapter
I know, the first part was a bit confusing. Just a little tease of something that might happen later in the story. But, as you know, the future is not set in stone. It's a Force vision that might or might not come true. In any case, this story is nowhere near the part where that might occur yet. I just added it to help describe Ahsoka's feelings at this point and of course, her new lightsaber. I read a story before (one story of Ahsoka's life after Order 66) in which she build a new cyan lightsaber. I liked the colour with her, so I made her new lightsaber this colour. The story I got this idea from was deleted however and the author changed his name, so I don't really remember where it was from.
I've decided to move Lilo's meeting with Padmé to the next chapter. I don't have any more time to write now. I didn't want to rush the whole meeting and ruin that part, so I postponed it for now.
I'm going on vacation, so I won't have access to my stories anymore. The soonest I will be able to write again is somewhere mid/end of august. I'll see you again then.