A few weeks later…
The first time it happened, she had been alone. Thank goodness, she didn't know how to explain it. It was on the battlefield, a bomb went off a little too close to Cody for her liking. She had managed to use the force to shove him away, but when she called out after the explosion had gone off, he didn't answer. She panicked, and electricity crackled around her fingers, she didn't understand why, or how it happened.
The second time it happened, she'd just woken up from a nightmare, electricity emanating from her fingers, filling her room with light. At first, she had panicked which only charged her fingers even further. Eventually, with a few deep breaths, the crackling subsided. She kept having strange dreams about that zabrak from Mortis. She assumed it was only a remnant of the son having control of her mind, so often dismissed them as merely bad dreams.
After a few more times of it happening, she learned what triggered it, and how to control it.
It happened whenever she got scared, panicked, or angry if she kept control of her emotions, it stayed under control. She wasn't planning on telling anyone, because she had it under control. Plus with all her responsibilities as a Commander, a padawan, and taking care of her sister, she didn't have time to talk about it with anyone anyways.
One day later…
With a final kick to the head, Esinon had dismantled the last droid. She held her ready stance until Fives signaled it was alright for her to relinquish, she settled into a relaxed position, her whole body threatening to tremble with exhaustion.
"Congratulations Taz! You are an unofficial ARC trooper!" Fives shouted, scooping her up onto his shoulders. She smiled tiredly, she had passed, actually passed the ARC exam. This training sucked, but she was better Jedi because of it, plus it had been a good reason to see Echo and Fives all of the time.
"We need to find a way to celebrate," Echo said,
"How?" she asked tiredly, resting her chin on Fives's head, Fives raised his finger to give a suggestion,
"No Fives we are not taking her to 79s."
"You'd be wise not too," Cody said, entering the training room, both Echo and Fives stood up a little taller for the Captain. Esinon merely waving a couple of fingers,
"Hey, Codes," close to falling asleep on Fives's shoulders,
"Commander, General Kenobi is looking for you," he informed her,
"Why didn't Master Kenobi just com me?" she asked,
"You left if at the apartment, but he needs your presence immediately… or maybe after you shower," he said, eyeing her sweat-soaked tunic. Esinon rolled her eyes,
"Hardy har," she grumbled, jumping off of Fives's shoulder, and walking out of the training room, Esinon walked past Neyo who she had failed to notice had been watching their entire training session. He had sat in on most of her ARC training drills, she never really asked why because why question it when he wasn't bothering anybody. She smiled and waved and disappeared to find Obi-Wan.
A few minutes later…
Esinon walked into the apartment, dropping her keys in the bowl, she was greeted with their dining room table covered in boxes of flimsi and data cards.
"Master… what is all this?" she asked,
"Hello Esinon, congratulations on passing your ARC test by the way,"
"Thanks," Esinon was really hoping these were the notes that she had managed to get him to bring up. "So what's all this?"
"Remember when I told you about Master Qui-Gon's research," She nodded, trying not to seem too excited. She'd done it! She got what she needed! "Well I thought it might be beneficial for you to see some of it…" he said, as she began flipping through a couple flimsi, "You remind me a lot of him," She smiled softly at him, "Now come padawan mine, help me organize this mess."
A few weeks later…
Esinon's mother's death had put a damper on everything she had been doing, and she had been visiting her dad a lot more often under the false pretense of helping the Coruscant guard. It was nice to be away from the temple, for now, she had managed to get Qui-Gon's notes from Obi-Wan. She felt bad about manipulating him, but she had gotten him to open up a lot about Qui-Gon, and he seemed a lot happier as of late. The only problem with the notes is they were largely unfinished and disorganized. Even with her speed, it was a large task.
Esinon was currently laying on the couch with a one-year-old Thea, drooling on her chest. She rubbed the babies back, everything felt calm here, she had just woken up from a nap herself. Her father walked past them, patting Esinon's head as she went.
"Senators Organa and Amidala are coming over in a bit, we've got an emergency meeting about the banks in a couple hours, I heard they're bringing puzzles if you want to help," he said, scanning a datapad, Esinon cradled Thea's bottom as she gently eased into a sitting position.
"Yeah Dad, I'd love to," she replied, her father smiled at her softly, studying her for a moment, 'You look so much like your mother,' She knew she wasn't meant to hear that thought, but it made Esinon's heart clench all the same.
She'd never been close with her mother until she'd start opening up as of late… it wasn't the kind of ache that she was met with when she had realized Gregor was gone as well after Sarrish. It was the kind of sorrow that came along with an entire shiny squad that had been wiped out before she even got to know their names. It was the loss of a relationship,
Thea began to stir as Esinon's sadness increased, the Jedi padawan quickly shoved her emotions downward and sent a wave of calm to the baby. It scared Esinon that her baby sister was already starting to show signs of force sensitivity, she didn't want the Jedi to catch wind of it.
She'd have at least until Thea was two until the Jedi could come and try to take her to the temple. But if the Jedi wanted Thea they would have to go through her first.
Esinon had started to increasingly act more like Qui-Gon, his lessons made more sense to her as a person than anything the council had ever taught her. Yes the lessons she had learned at the temple were invaluable, and she treasured Obi-Wan's teaching more than anything, but she was realizing that Qui-Gon was right when she was fighting for something, she felt stronger.
When she was with Fives and Echo she felt stronger when she was with Ahsoka, Xavier, and Barriss, she felt stronger, and she felt stronger when she was with Obi-Wan. Her love gave her strength, it was the reason her troops trusted her because they knew her not as a cold Commander, they knew her as the goofy teen who snuck around in the vents, and loved piggyback rides.
Thea cooed, reaching for her padawan braid, Esinon quickly flipped the braid behind her back. Thea had quickly expressed the trait of loving to pull on hair, and gumming Esinon's padawan braid.
She stood up, sensing that Thea was starting to get hungry. If there was anything she could do for her father at this point, it was to help take care of Thea. After all, Esinon was almost sixteen and had plenty of practice in the creche.
There was a knock at the door, probably Senator Amidala, and Organa. "Are you hungry?" Esinon asked, shaking a bottle and searching for Thea's sling, Thea cooed in response,
She could hear the joyful chatter of Senators and the sound of a puzzle being spread out. Personally, Esinon didn't have the patience for puzzles and ended up doing most of it with her speed, so Senator Amidala often brought three extra for Esinon to do. She put the sling on, placing Thea in the middle of it and joining the Senators,
"Esinon!" Padme exclaimed, immediately pulling the young padawan into a hug, careful not to jostle Thea too much.
"Hello Senator," Esinon greeted returning the gesture,
"Padme," she corrected before releasing Esinon. She sighed with a smile, leave it Padme to make Esinon feel more like a normal kid instead of a Commander. After all, this was the Windcaster home, her father and Bail were already set to work over the puzzles and a datapad. Esinon joined them, helping Thea with the bottle, using her free hand to help construct a puzzle of the Coruscant skyline.
She tried to let the Senators' conversation fall in the background of her mind because she didn't want to think about the war any more than she had to. She blamed the war for her mother's death, and Clovis. If he hadn't betrayed the Republic, her parents would be safe on Scipio right now.
"Esinon," Senator Organa spoke up, Esinon looked up from the puzzle, "How are the troops performing in the field?"
"As well as they always do, I can only speak for the 212th and the 501st, but they are performing valiantly," she replied, Bail nodded, turning his attention back to the datapad,
"Dad, speaking of troops, Fives and Echo said they were gonna stop by later," Esinon said, her father nodded absentmindedly. After her mother's death, her dad had thrown himself into his work trying to get the war to end as swiftly as possible because he wanted his daughter off the front lines.
A few hours later...
Esinon bounced Thea on her hip as she watched the Senate meeting from her perch with Anakin and Ahsoka. The entire room was a ruckus, and Esinon was lucky that Thea was a fairly calm baby. All this meeting had been was yelling about deregulating banks, and more money, more clones, and interest rates. This meeting was supposed to be about the war effort, but they never actually talked about why they were fighting in the first place.
When Esinon had been younger she didn't ask why they were fighting because Dooku carried a red lightsaber, and led the Separatists. Being only twelve she had reasoned that Dooku was a Sith, sith were evil, and any systems that followed behind him must be evil too. Now that she looked back on it, that was flawed reasoning… but other than military leaders she hadn't met other Separatists. Not that she wanted to, they were all pawns of Dooku.
"Order! Order!" Mas Amedda cried, rapping his staff against the floor of the Chancellor's pod, "Let Senator Saam finish," The senator from Tibrin moved his pod forward further,
"This is not a matter of philosophy. More troops are needed!" he yelled, Esinon wasn't sure if she agreed.
More troops meant more squads needing to be trained, and even with accelerated growth, it took years for a clone to fully grow. As many ARC troopers that could hit the field needed to, instead of being stuck on Kamino, besides the troops they had were performing well.
She didn't exactly want to deal with a bunch of stiff and excitable shinies, new troops were like trying to herd puppies, and the battlefield could get chaotic when too many people were asking her questions. "The Republic cannot afford to let the Separatists gain any more ground."
"Our Generals in the field have reported in the field continue to perform valiantly," Senator Organa said, Esinon's eyes flicked over to the Scipian pod where her father had been silently watching the whole time. "We cannot afford to be irresponsible. The Republic is nearing bankruptcy due to the cost of this war."
That was for sure, buying food and supplies was getting difficult with the amount of money that was being poured into this war. The mechanics had been working overtime to fix ships without access to new parts, hammering out coolant vents to repair them wasn't fun. It was tedious and time-consuming.
At Senator Organa's last comment, the crowd erupted in both cheers and boos, but the yelling caused Thea to start to cry. Esinon bounced the baby, her father glanced up and Esinon motioned that Thea was fine.
"Bankruptcy is not necessary my friends," Lott Dod said, the ruckus in the room quieted for a moment. Esinon personally didn't like members of the banking clan, because she didn't trust people who dealt so closely with money. It made them greedy and selfish. On top of that, the Muun people ran a hefty part of the banking clan. The Muuns had almost made her people extinct, it was the reason Scipian's had yellow markings. They were easier to see in the snow and you could tell who was friend or foe. Many years ago the Muuns had attempted to exterminate every human from the planet's surface of Scipio… until they had made peace, either way, it made her uneasy.
And the banking clan may have been paying Scipio hefty amounts of money to keep the vaults on Scipio, but again she didn't trust people who made friends with credits. "If we pass Senator Saam's bill, to open new lines of credit, we will gain access to the needed funds."
"Won't this bill essentially deregulate the banks?" Mon Mothma asked,
"A small price to pay to finance the war, is it not?" Senator Burtoni said, another person she didn't trust. She didn't trust the Kaminoans, not with the way they looked at the clones. Her brothers.
"We must keep the war going!" Someone in the room shouted,
"Get the bill on the table!" Another cheered, the room burst out in a cacophony of shouts and screams with a recurring theme, keep the war going, keep the war going, keep the war going, she scoffed to herself.
'Senators can sit here and yell about war all day, but they're not the ones fighting on the front lines.' She saw her father move his pod forward,
"Members of the Senate!" he shouted, commanding all attention to himself. He looked regal standing there, Esinon turned Thea to the side so she could see their father. "Do you hear yourselves? More money, more troops, more war. Say nothing of fiscal responsibility, what about moral responsibility?" He glanced up at his daughters, "Hasn't this war gone on long enough?"
"Senator Windcaster, are you suggesting we surrender to the Separatists?" Senator Saam accused, her father didn't even bat an eye at the accusation of being a Separatist. He had become accustomed to it after Clovis.
"Of course not," he replied, "But negotiation might be a better course of action."
"You can't negotiate with those animals!" Mot-Not Rab shouted, throwing his fist into the air. Before her father could get another word in, Mot-Not shouted again, "Keep the war going! Vote now!" A chant began to echo through the room,
"Keep the war going! Keep the war going! Keep the war going!" Ahsoka glanced at Esinon, both girls were getting tired of the war. Ahsoka was going on eighteen, and Esinon on sixteen. It'd been almost four years of this and neither of them really understood what they were fighting for exactly.
"Members of the Senate," Bail Organa said, the room again went silent. "I suggest we table any emergency bill until it is determined whether or not deregulation is necessary is the right course of action."
"Very well," Mas Amedda said before anyone could start arguing again. "We shall let calmer heads prevail." Esinon studied Lot Dod's and Senator Saam's faces, they didn't look too happy. She smirked, let her father stick it to them.
She followed Anakin and Ahsoka out, they headed towards the Naboo pod as she headed towards the Scipio pod. Her father met her at the door, looking a little worse for wear than he had inside the meeting room.
"You did great dad," she said, shifting Thea in her arms a little bit.
"Thanks, Peanut," he replied, already staring at a datapad. "Can you watch Thea for a little bit? I'm heading to Mon Mothma's for a little bit so I can talk with Bail and Padme about our debate on this new bill."
"Course dad, Fives and Echo'll help me,"
"Good, good, brothers are always helpful," he murmured absentmindedly, kissing her temple, "Love you Peanut,"
"Love you too dad," she said, he smiled at her before leaving. Esinon headed down the hall to find Anakin, Ahsoka, and Padme,
"You must ask the Jedi council to speak with Chancellor Palpatine." Padme implored, Anakin shook his head,
"Don't involve me in this," he said,
"A peaceful solution is the only way out of this morass of war." she shot back,
"That's not my role, Padme."
"Why not?" Ahsoka asked, "Why isn't it your role? Aren't we Jedi Knights?" Well, Anakin was a Knight, she and Ahsoka not so much, but they still had their duty. Thea stirred at the increase of heated emotions around her, "Isn't it our duty to speak our minds to advise the Chancellor?" Anakin cleared his throat uncomfortably,
"Uh I suggest you teach my young padawans a thing or two about politics," he said, Obi-Wan and Anakin had always had a dual-training arrangement with their padawans.
"After today's debate, I was hoping they learned a great deal," Padme replied,
"Truthfully I don't understand any of it." Ahsoka said, "I know the Separatists are evil, but all anyone argued about was banking deregulation, interest rates, and well, almost nothing about why we're fighting in the first place." Anakin quickened his pace to get in front of the group.
"War's complicated Ahsoka. But let me simplify it. The Separatists believe the Republic is corrupt, but they're wrong, and we have to restore order."
"That's a very black and white way of looking at it," Esinon remarked, Padme nodded,
"Maybe talking to the Jedi council isn't the role for you after all." she began to stroll past him, "Thanks for your help, come along Ahsoka," Esinon shrugged at Anakin before leaving for the Windcaster apartment.
A few hours later…
"How many times have you watched this movie?" Fives asked as Esinon mouthed the next line that came out of Inigo Montoya's mouth. My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.
"This is my favorite movie, I used to watch this with Nadar all the time," she replied, as Wesley and Inigo began their duel. Echo hadn't been saying much since he and Thea were passed out asleep. The baby girl was steadily drooling down the ARC's chest plate as Fives and Esinon continued their movie.
"The effects are terrible,"
"It was created a long time ago," she said, "now shush, the man in black is probably gonna say something cool in a minute." The door to the apartment opened and one of her father's aids came walking through. "Hello Mirian," Esinon greeted,
"My lady," Mirian replied, ducking her head slightly as she grabbed a few new data cards. Her parents had only ever hired the one aid when they came to Coruscant to help them because they mainly relied on each other. "Fives, Echo," Fives waved to the aid, and Echo gave a soft snore in response. Mirian smiled before leaving the room,
"I like her," Echo murmured,
"Inconceivable," Fives joked, Esinon giggled, slapping her brother's shoulder.
A few hours later…
Esinon as overjoyed, exhilarated, any word you want to use because, by some act of the force, the Separatists had extended an olive branch of peace. She hadn't believed it when her dad came rushing into the apartment, almost talking faster than she could. Now she was trying to keep Thea entertained while listening to Senator Amidala, Esinon suspected that Padme had something to do with the fact the peace negotiations had been extended in the first place.
"Given that the Separatists have put up a call for negotiations on the table, the need for additional troops is ill-timed," Padme said,
"This means there will be no need to deregulate the banks." Senator Organa finished,
"I move that we vote down the need for additional troops, now," Daniel added,
"There is a move to vote on the proposed bill to lift regulations on the Banking Clan." Mas Amedda said, "You may now enter your votes," the Senator room went quiet except for the tapping of fingers against buttons. Her father looked up at her and smiled when everything suddenly went dark, the emergency lights flickered on, flooding the room with red light as the room filled with the commotion of voices. Esinon jumped to her feet, a loud explosion sounded outside,
"We're under attack!" Senator Taa screamed, of course, he would be the first to panic, but Esinon's heart was thumping loudly. Coruscant hadn't been attacked in a thousand years. All of the Senators who had had their pods out in the open quickly returned to their spots. Esinon spotted Ahsoka at a perch across the room, they nodded to each other, stepping out of the Senate room, Esinon sprinted to meet up with Ahsoka.
"What's going on?" she asked, Ahsoka wrung her fingers,
"Until someone contacts us, I don't know," Esinon passed Ahsoka Thea, reaching out for memories, a few images of a burning power grid appeared, droids, droids armed with bombs that were disguised as cleaners.
"The power grid… it's been bombed."
One hour later…
"The bombing of the power generator has been confirmed as a Separatist attack," Senator Saam said, "They must pay for what they have done!" Strategically, this attack didn't exactly make sense with the Separatists just extending an olive branch of peace.
"But it was the Separatist Congress that issued the bill of peace!" Senator Amidala argued,
"Obviously a tactic to lower our defenses, and attack." Mas Amedda shot back,
"That's not true!" Padme said, panic and frustration starting to creep into her normally even voice,
"I move to immediately deregulate the banks," Senator Burtoni said, her elderly head wavering on her long neck. Of course, she would, she just wanted more money.
"We need a bank loan to get more troops now!" Mot-Not shouted,
"What are we waiting for?" Another asked,
"I'm afraid we've been given little choice, to ensure the safety of the Republic, we must deregulate the banks." Chancellor Palpatine said Esinon's heart sank. Everything her father was fighting for was crumbling.
Midnight, the Jedi Temple…
"Wait, wait, wait," Esinon giggled, "He tried to flirt with you?" Ahsoka snorted,
"Yeah, I said 'see I'm not so bad' and he went," she went into a terrible accent, "No, not bad at all," Esinon burst out laughing,
"That's awful!" she exclaimed,
"I know, it was bad," Ahsoka replied, except her lekku had darkened ten shades,
"Wait a second," Esinon said, getting a big grin on her face, "You like him,"
"I do not," she protested, but her lekku darkened until they were almost black.
"Ahh! You do!" Esinon teased, Ahsoka rolled her eyes,
"He's handsome in a square-jawed kinda way,"
"I can't believe it! You like Lux Bonteri!" Esinon stuck out her tongue in a childish manner. "And on top of you being a Jedi, he's a Separatist? Ewwww,"
"Says you, you've fallen for a Mandalorian Prince, that's almost as bad." Ahsoka retorted, Esinon blushed,
"Korkie and I are just friends,"
"Friends don't make your cheeks flush like that," Ahsoka said, tapping Esinon's face. The Scipian rolled her eyes,
"What would our Master's think of us?" she wondered aloud,
"They're almost as bad," Ahsoka giggled, "Probably worse, have you seen Master Skywalker around Senator Amidala?"
"It's not as bad as Master Kenobi and the Duchess," Esinon said, mock gagging,
"Some Jedi we are," Ahsoka joked,
"Knighthood is just around the corner," Esinon added, they fist-bumped before returning to their game and talk of boys and the terrible examples their Master's were.
Did I write this while watching the princess bride? Yes, yes I did. That may or may not be the reason I used it in this chapter. And just think that the movie is set before Jedi used lightsabers. Jedi used to use swords made of metal before the invention of lightsabers.
#puzzleparty for whoever wanted it
enjoy some wholesome Ahsoka and Esinon banter. For the sake of the story moving quickly, I have to cut a lot of the scenes between Esinon and Ahsoka where they're just talking, but this one got to stay in. They spend a lot of nights hanging out in each other's room and playing board games in the dead of night.
My aesthetic is that when Esinon isn't around to care for Thea, Daniel just goes into a Senate meeting with a baby strapped to his chest. He's talking about interest and bank regulation while Thea chews on his robe, yet everyone still takes him seriously, because, just like his daughter, Daniel can command a room.
Even though not a lot happens action in this chapter, it was fun to write. A lot of Esinon's own internal thoughts about war.
Next up on let's make this canon corner: For my peoples who have read Calvin and Hobbes. Remember Calvin ball? And the rules changed every four seconds, I feel like the clones have their own version of that. It's basically a stampede of armored children as they tackle each other for the ball. Anakin tried to play once but quickly gave up, because he didn't understand the rules. Problem is, there aren't any rules.
Thank you for reading! Make sure to leave a review!