Ahsoka brought her sword down and it hissed against a blue one.
Youre getting good, said Anakin, pulling back and striking again.
You did teach me, said Ahsoka with a smirk, jabbing at his side so fast he barely had time to side step.
Maybe a little too good,"said Anakin.
It was a fresh summer day. Coruscant's sky was bright blue and dotted, as usual, with the shapes of starships and speeders zooming in and out of the atmosphere. The Jedi Temple was unusually peaceful for a day during the war, and Anakin and his padawan were getting a well deserved break from the warfront or any other unprecedented missions. The wind waltzed with the limbs of the tree that sat in the courtyard, where the younglings often practiced. The master and padawans walk outside had quickly turned into a lighthearted duel--and the winner was not yet decided.
Ahsoka dodged and striked the light of her masters blue saber, but she had not yet brought out her second green one. She was able to hold her ground, attacking and parrying with a single saber--but she could soon feel herself becoming overpowered by her masters powerful execution of Form Five. She performed two back handsprings to get out of the range of his saber, before igniting her second lightsaber with a kssshhh. Anakin quickly advanced forward and began attacking again. Ahsoka dodged.
The fight continued for a couple more minutes, before both of them started to lose steam. Especially for Ahsoka, whos Form Four was only supposed to be used in short, precise bursts.
Anakin could feel himself getting the edge, and he liked it. He decided to go for the deciding strike. He brought down his saber with all the strength he had.
Ahsoka held it for a second, but her first saber soon fell to the ground. Now it was just her Shoto left protecting her from Anakins burning blue blade. She sweeped his legs out from under him with one of her own and Anakin fell hard onto the pavement. His saber left his hand and extinguished. Her yellow-green saber was soon hovering over his shoulder.
Got you, Ahsoka said slyly.
You can't do that! said Anakin, The leg sweep isn't even a thing in sword fighting!
And yet I won, Ahsoka said with a smug smile,You just don't want to admit Im better than you.
She extinguished her saber and helped him to his feet.
A couple minutes later, which were filled with lighthearted discussion, another Jedi walked through the courtyard, looking down at a data pad and munching on a rations bar. Anakin checked the time.
"The mess stops serving in thirty minutes, let's go."
--
The sound of chatter and chairs screeching across the floor filled the Jedi Temple's mess hall. About 90% of the attendees were clones, and only 10% were Jedi. During a war, making it to meals wasn't exactly a Jedi's main priority. The clones outnumbered the Jedi by thousands anyway.
Anakin and Ahsoka went through the line and found a seat at a far right table. They dug into their brown squares of food, which tasted like nothing but if you ate them frequently enough they started to taste like something. Nobody could pinpoint exactly what though. Soon, Rex joined them.
"Hello General," he said formally, pulling out a seat.
"Hi Rex," said Anakin, "How're the boys?"
"We've been practicing some new attack strategies Sir, and I think you'll find them highly effective on the battlefield."
"Oh loosen up Rex," said Ahsoka, punching him playfully in the arm, "It's our day off."
"Yeah," said Anakin, "what's new, really?"
"Well--" And Rex started going into a prank Hardcase had recently pulled, which he had first been wary to tell, but soon Anakin cracked a joke and they were all laughing while munching on their nothing that tasted like something, and when Rex looked around at their smiling faces he couldn't help but wonder if this was what it felt like to be part of a family--at least part of one where not everyone looked exactly like you.
--
After lunch Ahsoka got a comm saying she had studies to attend to in the Jedi Temple library, and Anakin was assigned to data sorting. Data sorting was a boring job but it needed to be done, and it was often handed off to whichever Jedi had nothing better to do at the time. It was dull and tedious, not unlike Ahsoka's studies with Jocatsa Nu, but at least Ahsoka had other padawans to talk to while she was there.
Two hours later, while she was finishing up a report on the Devaronian species, Ahsoka got a comm from Anakin. He was finished with sorting and waiting outside. Ahsoka finished up her report, said goodbye to Katooni, a Tholotian youngling she had befriended and who was studying too, and left the library. She made her way through the Temple's many twists and turns to get outside, going through the Temple's garden room and passing through the underground water section, in which aquatic species swam and trained in their natural element. It was all so beautiful.
Ahsoka found Anakin waiting patiently outside, his robes and shoulder length hair blowing lightly in the breeze.
"Hey Skyguy," said Ahsoka as she approached him. Anakin smiled as they began to walk.
"Hey Snips. It's been a while since you called me that."
"Yeah," said Ahsoka quietly, her mind glancing over the many memories they had together and the many times the frivolous nicknames had been used. Eventually, Anakin spoke again.
"So, we have the rest of the day as a free period, what do you want to do?"
A smile split Ahsoka's lips. "I have some ideas."