Alright then, chapter four.
Snippittysnips, they really moved the episodes to the next season? Well, that's not very nice of them. Let's hope that they will start airing the season 6 soon and not at the end of the summer or something like that… (which they probably will, unfortunately)
Thanks for all of the reviews, favs and follows. I got a lot more than I was expecting to be honest.
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Chapter four – Taking a well-deserved break.
Lux Bonteri is sitting at the table in the dining room, looking through some documents he had received earlier. Because of recent events on Coruscant all kinds of new security matters were being sent in to the Senate. Lux looked through the long list of suggestions, some of these were pretty absurd. "Coruscant will become one big reality holonet show if they really implement all of these measures…" he muttered to himself.
He heard a door open behind him and turned to look. "Well, look who's finally awake!" He commented mockingly as Ahsoka walked in, still a little drowsy. "Good morning Lux." She said smiling. "Don't you mean: Good afternoon?" he replied. Ahsoka shot him a questioning look and he shrugged and gestured towards the clock on the wall. Ahsoka looked at the clock and saw that it read 2:03 PM. "Wow, I must've been more tired than I thought…", Ahsoka commented with a slight laugh.
Lux laughed along with her. She sat down at the table across from Lux. "I eh…, I'm sorry for passing out on you like that last night." Ahsoka said a little bit ashamed. "Don't worry about it", Lux replied with a grin, "after everything that's happened, you deserve some rest." "Thanks Lux, I…" Her growling stomach interrupted her before she could finish. "Eh…" She laughed nervously. "I thought you'd be hungry so I had the chef droid prepare some extra lunch. Nothing special, just some eggs and bacon, things like that." Lux replied, holding back a laugh. "Thanks Lux, you're the best." Ahsoka said as she turned to face the droid bringing in a plate of lunch, or in her case 'breakfast'.
Lux looked through a few more documents before putting his data pad aside, while Ahsoka was eating. After she was finished Lux asked her: "So you really left the Jedi Order?". Her face saddened a little before replying. "Yes I did. I just… I'm so confused right now. I don't know what to do." She looked down and Lux moved next to her. "I just, couldn't go back, pretending as if nothing had happened. The council didn't trust me and they expelled me without giving it a second thought. There was no way I could just go back, at least not now. I need some time to sort things out, my inner sense is completely torn. I'm just so confused about everything right now." She looked at Lux, the confusion very visible in her eyes. "Don't worry Ahsoka, like I said, you can stay here for as long as you'd like." Lux replied as he took her hand, hoping to comfort her a little. "It's the least I can do after, well, you know, saving my life a couple of times and freeing Onderon." "Thanks Lux, I'd be pretty lost right now if it weren't for you." She said with a small smile, her mood visibly improved. "Anytime Ahsoka."
They moved to the terrace and sat down in the lounge chairs. The sun was shining bright, it was a beautiful day on Onderon. "So Lux, what have you been up to these days?" Ahsoka asked, enjoying the sun. "Well, I've been pretty busy with Onderon joining the Republic and all. There's a lot more boring paperwork that comes with it then you'd think." Lux replied and sighed. "Forms here, forms there and some more after that. I thought my hand was going to fall off after filling in all those things.". They both laughed for a little while and enjoyed the scenery. Lux had quite an impressive mansion, a bit similar to his old house on Raxus with an equally impressive garden.
"Hey Ahsoka," Lux began. "Hmm?" Ahsoka turned lazily towards him, obviously enjoying taking a break. "Have you thought about what you're going to do now?" Lux asked curiously. "Well, not really…", Ahsoka replied. "I was hoping I could stay here for a little while so I could figure it out. There's a lot of things that I can do, there are even more things that I always wanted to do but couldn't because of me being a member of the Order, but now… I guess I can just do the things I want to do". She said with a lazy smile. "Well, if you're not sure yet maybe I have an idea." Lux replied with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice. Ahsoka looked at him, nodding to tell him to continue. "Onderon has changed a lot since the Separatists were driven out. It would be my pleasure to show you around later. That is, if you want to?" He asked a bit nervously. Ahsoka replied with in eager voice: "Sure, that sounds great. But, do you have the time to do so? What with all of the Senate things and all?" "I have to do a few more things later today, but after that I'll be free for a couple of days. I could really use a break myself." Lux said as he relaxed a bit. "Well then, that's settled." Ahsoka replied with a grin. "I didn't exactly get a change to look around during my last visit here." "Trust me Ahsoka, Onderon has become quite a little paradise. The people are a lot happier than before. There's going to be a fun-fair in two days, they're building it now. It was to celebrate Onderon officially joining the Republic. I looked at the construction plans, it's going to be great." Lux said with enthusiasm. Ahsoka looked at him smiling and wanted to ask him about the fair but she was interrupted by one of Lux's assistants stepping out on the terrace. "I'm sorry to interrupt senator, but it's almost time for your meeting the king. We have to leave in a couple of minutes."
Lux groaned slightly before replying: "Oh yes, that's right. Thank you, I'll be ready in a moment." The assistant nodded and went back inside. Lux stood up and turned to face Ahsoka. "I'm sorry Ahsoka, but I have to take care of a couple of things." "It's alright Lux, I understand." She replied. "When will you be back?". "If all goes well I should be back at, uhm…, 6:30PM or something." He said a bit nervously, he didn't want to leave Ahsoka alone right now. She looked at him with a slight pouty look on her face. Lux smirked a bit before saying: "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you. How does dinner sound?" "That sounds great, Lux. I'll wait here since, ", she shrugged, "well, since I really have nowhere else to go right now." She replied with a grin. "Alright then, I'll see you later Ahsoka. Feel free to make yourself at home." Lux said as he moved back into his house to grab his things. "See you later Lux!" Ahsoka yelled after him as he went through the door.
She sat in the chair for a couple of minutes until she could no longer sense Lux' presence in the house. She decided to take a walk through the garden. Lux had obviously spared no expense in decorating it. A wide array of flowers of every colour surrounded her as she made her way across the stone path. She sat down next to a small river that separated the garden in two. She crossed her legs and tried to call on the Force to get some idea of where else she could go. All of a sudden she felt a wave of worry and sadness creep up on her. She looked up slightly confused. She focused a bit and quickly felt where it was coming from. "Oh Skyguy…" she muttered, blinking away a tear she pushed the feelings away.
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Coruscant, apartment of Senator Padmé Amidala, around midnight.
Anakin sat on the couch in the living room of his wife's apartment. His wife looked at him with worry and confusion. She needed to sign a few more documents when he entered. She had expected him to be cheery and happy now that Ahsoka's name had been cleared, but he was obviously very depressed. He had been staring at the floor for the past fifteen minutes without saying a word.
"Anakin?" She asked as she sat down next to him. "Anakin, what's wrong?". "It's… It's Ahsoka…" He answered softly. "What about her? Isn't she back with you as your padawan? Surely now that her name is cleared the Council let her back into the Order, right?" Padmé asked optimistically. Her mood quickly changed when she saw the reaction on her husband's face. She grabbed his hand and moved closer to him. "Anakin, what happened?" She asked with concern in her voice. Anakin let out a heavy sigh before answering. "The Council offered to reinstate her into the Order as a Jedi Knight. They…" he hesitated before continuing. "Ahsoka was allowed to come back as a Knight, but she refused." He said quietly. Padmé's calm face quickly turned to shock. "She… She left?" She asked, not believing what her husband was saying. Anakin looked at her, sadness filling his eyes. "She said that she wasn't coming back and walked away. She told me that she couldn't trust the Council or herself anymore. She left the Order and I have no idea where she and if she's ever coming back." Anakin was shaking with depression now. Padmé pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry Ani. I'm sure she'll be fine. Ahsoka is strong, she can take care of herself. You know that, you taught her everything." She said with a comforting voice. "I know that, Padmé. It's just that…" Anakin replied, the sadness very obvious in his voice. "She got hurt in battle before and a part of me was always worried that I would lose her. Either in battle or some kind of terrible accident during a mission, things like that. But not like this… Driven away by the same Council she served without a second doubt for years. They drove her away Padmé, after everything she did as a Jedi. All of the people she saved, the battles we won. After everything they just tossed her aside because they thought she was guilty. They didn't even give her a fair trial, they just expelled her without giving her a chance to explain!" Anger and frustration were creeping into his voice. Padmé looked at him with concern.
"Anakin, calm down. It's going to be alright. Ahsoka means just as much to me as she does the you. She's been like a little sister to me. She'll be fine." Padmé assured him again. Anakin's tension lessened a bit, but he didn't reply. "Come on, let's go to bed Ani. Worrying to much won't do you any good and I don't think that it's what she would want." "I know, Padmé. But, this whole situation is just… I can't…" he said in a sad voice. "I know Ani, I know." They stood up and went to the bedroom. Padmé just hoped Anakin wouldn't beat himself up over this. She was just as shocked as Anakin by Ahsoka's decision, but she needed to act strong for her husband. He needed her support, now more than ever.
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And that's the end of this chapter. I know, not so much really happened. I'm trying to work on that but it's a little difficult to sort things out. And skipping things to quickly move ahead in the story will just ruin the whole plot.
By the way, I have absolutely no idea if there are different time-zones between Onderon and Coruscant (or any planet in the Star Wars universe). I just assumed so.
The part about the sunny weather is just wishful thinking on my part. It's supposed to be spring now, except it's STILL freezing and snowing over here! Enough already, I've had my fill of this cold weather. Long live the summer.
I've got a lot of things to do in the weekend so I don't think I'll be able to write much. Next chapter will probably be on sometime next week. Lux and Ahsoka will take a tour of Onderon and I'm going to try and add some other conversations between a few Jedi.
See you next time.