Note: For the purpose of less confusion I will embolden the timeframe, in which a certain action, scene or sequence is occurring. We'll see, how it goes.

Note 2: I have checked the writing of the title "padawan". Turns out it has to be written with a capital "P". Whether or not I wrote every single time a capital "P", from this chapter the mentioned word will be written this way – "Padawan".

- Trepidation. Ahsoka Tano's closest friends are turning their attention away from her, while the Military and the Jedi remain in a limbo state towards her. Some masters are circling around the issue, trying to look at it in as many ways as possible. What are their plans? -

Chapter 5. More Uncertainty

Since Padawan Menson did not use the Force to ascertain the people within the War room, a being managed to stay hidden from him. This made the conversation one, which was overseen. After the previously mentioned 10 minutes were up, the figure came out from the shadows, although both Masters Mundi & Koth were not fazed by this action.

"Were you successful?" – asked Mundi.

"To some degree."

The figure was Master Saesee Tiin, the male Jedi from the planet Iktotch.

"I did notice one crucial thing."

"I believe we've acquired a similar view from the conversation."

Master Tiin walks half a circle around the huge holoprojector. The end point leaves all three Masters in a small space.

"His facial expressions to the news of the Force choke. They were mostly … sending waves of … a very strange shock. Quite quickly the Padawan quelled all of them."

"It could be his training paying off. Let us not forget that my Padawan is 19 years old."

"It is not his experience that I'm doubting, friend."

At this moment Eeth Koth moves forward and puts a hand on Mundi's shoulder.

"He fears the loss of trust."

The Cerean male gained a good amount of disbelief, than turned around to face Master Koth.

"Are you suggesting he has fallen to the dark side?"

"Not at all." – answers Tiin.

His eyes stray back to the other Master.

"The first thing he stated was that it "is highly strange". It is not his statement that stuck with me. It is his calmness. I'm strongly considering his prior knowledge of an aberration in the bombing."

Mundi turns around and takes a few steps back, this way the other two are both in his line of sight.

"You assume he knew something about it before our talk?"

"Correct."

"When it comes to this sort of unexpected event, word travels quickly."

Koth makes an extremely serious look.

"To me, someone told him of a seismic shift."

"This is not a surprise, Koth. More than a few in the Order know about the relations between Oswald and Ahsoka."

"That's what worries me. The current plot is not conclusive enough to sustain a level of trust from your Padawan. The Jedi Council might be pushed to a very … uncomfortable situation."

"I trust Menson will listen to reason before blind passion."

"Reason? Yes. Our reasoning? Not necessarily."

Tiin looks to the door, which the human male exited not so long ago.

"Your Padawan is a deep thinker, greatly active in any area, which directly affects him. A close friend's murder allegations certainly affect him."

His sight returns on them.

"If Master Koth is right, than he and the person, who told him of this event, might be conducting their own search for the offender."

"And you fear that their conclusion will take the superior position over the Councils?"

"Yes. Yet time is still in our hands. The one thing we don't need right now is another crazy step in this bombing case."

"Agreed." – say both masters.

A little later. The high ground of the Temple was made of polished beige stones, the top coating – smooth. When the sun was shining on the area, some beings took great pleasure in walk around the trapeze. Younglings Pedro and Katooni intentions were not of that origin.

"Today's second lightsaber practice session was short for our standards." – said the human from Corellia.

"Your right. Master Sinube did spend less time us."

Pedro rolled his eyes around, stared into the city.

"We still have the third one."

"Let's hope it will be a standard one."

"Yeah."

A bit over a minute passes and suddenly a freezing blow is dealt to the female youngling through the Force. Right away she stops her movement. Of course, Pedro notices the unforeseen change in behavior.

"What is it?"

"Didn't you feel it?"

His face starts to display signs of confusion.

"Feel what?"

"The coldness." – answered Katooni.

Her voice tone changed from a surprised one to a concerned one.

"You felt coldness … through the Force?"

"Yes."

"That is nonsense, Katooni. We're at the Jedi Temple of all places. How can a dark side presence be felt here?"

"I don't know, Pedro, but I felt it."

"Maybe it was just a Padawan dealing with his or her emotions."

Katooni shakes her head in disbelief of such a reason.

"No, Pedro. That's not it. The feeling … was … of … a far stronger sense."

He is getting tired of this crazy conversation.

"Calm down, Katooni. Let's go inside and do something … fun."

"I know what I felt."

Obviously, they are now opposite ends of the specter. Where one wishes to forget this conversation all together, the other wants to find out the truth of the disturbance. Quite quickly the Tholotian girl decides to try and find the previous presence. Her eyes close, she raises her hand, makes the palm vertically straight. Pedro just closes his eyelids a little. A lot of attempts were made, the concentration level increased with every one of them. This in turn called upon a growing strain on her health.

"I'm not giving up."

Soon she comes across a weak spark of similar origin to the previous blow.

"Whoever he is, he is working on hiding it."

The walks a few steps forward, with every step the feeling grows.

"It … is …"

All of a sudden another freezing blow comes at her through the force, this one even stronger than before. With the added strain on her health, the wave knocks her out completely and she starts falling to the ground. Like a rocket ship Pedro sprints towards the falling being.

"Katooooooni!"

Few seconds pass.

"What is it, my Master?" – asked a human male.

"An unfortunate turn of events has occurred, Lord Tyranus."

Dooku's face became even sterner.

"What is it?"

"A being of the Force has sensed my presence. I do not need to remind you of the harm this can cause our plans."

"Indeed. How severe it is?"

A malicious smile appeared on Lord Sidious face.

"Not severe, my friend. Whoever the person was, I stifled his … curiosity."

"Then the threat has been dealt with, Master?"

The very powerful dark side user loses his smile and slowly sits on his chair.

"For now, Tyranus. We must be on high alert for the upcoming few days to see, if something comes from this person's Force sensing."

"I will be waiting."

"Goodbye, Tyranus."

The transmission ends.

Back at the Temple, 2:30 hours till Ahsoka's escape from captivity. There was no absolute dominance of silence in the halls of the Jedi Temple, at least one being from each rank walked through them. Oswald was carrying a dark grey, aluminum tray with 3 large glasses on it. The liquid was of deep orange color, a slice of an orange was pushed onto each glass. The blond haired Padawan still remembered the talk with Masters Mundi and Koth, tried to guess the end goal of that meeting. Yet when he arrived at a familiar door, the thoughts were dispatched to all sides and a knock was heard. Quickly a female voice said:

"Code."

"Orange drinks."

"In?"

"Large glasses."

The door slides open.

"There you are, Oswald. Zane has been waiting for it an eternity."

"Wouldn't be Zane if he hadn't, Kelan."

He walks in, the door slides shut. The trio reunites, right away the white chocolate skinned male jumps from his seat, rapidly closes the space between them.

"You took longer than expected."

"I had to make a … detour."

"Not one you volunteered for?"

"Exactly, Zane."

Everyone takes one beverage container from the trey, it is lowered down by Oswald's left hand.

"To our friendship." – says Zane.

They take a sip.

"Mmmm! So delicious."

"Oh yes."

"It had been a while for me."

Short smiles brighten up the mood of the area. With Kelan's encouragement they all get to their circular shaped objects. The traditional meditation position of the Jedi is with a person's feet crossed inwardly, a simple chair, couch or armchair wouldn't really be that comfortable for it. So there the circular shaped objects come in. Oswald took a seat on the most left one, Zane sat in the middle one, while Kelan – right one.

"Remember, who our suspects are." – states Mundi's Padawan.

"Admiral Tarkin or a non-sympathetic Padawan."

"We are searching for the latter."

Suddenly all of them closed their eyes and dived deep into the Force. Mentally they were on a different plane, silence filled the room. Kelan & Zane had an advantage over Oswald in the "memory rewind", the reasons being: they were younger than him, started this procedure way earlier than him. Over half an hour passed, none of them were satisfied with their results as of this time.

"I'm not quitting yet."

All of a sudden Oswald started seeing bizarre images of the Jedi Temple. They would appear and fizzle out extremely quickly, although, the time they were seen still instilled emotions to his mind, which were not friendly. Cruelty, malice, destruction, loss – a group of dangerous states.

"Why are they appearing?"

It didn't get better. The images became more detailed with each new flash.

"Get away."

They did not. Furthermore, the details became unbearable fast. The thing that broke his concentration, took him out of the mentioned different plane was a scene in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. He saw slashed, arms or legs severed Force users, a sea of blood everywhere.

"No!"

Oswald loses control of his body and tumbles to the ground.

"Oswald."

His peers come to his side, the fallen Force user slowly get up from the ground, puts his right elbow on the circular object.

"What happened?" – asks Zane.

"Visions. Visions intruded into my mind."

"Visions of what?"

His face immediately expresses sadness.

"Loss, great loss."

"Whose?" – asks Kelan.

"Our fellow Padawans. Through very small glimpses I saw their … slaughter … in the Room of a Thousand Fountains."

"It was that clear of a vision?"

"Yes."

The squatting Padawans feel concerned, confused, Zane even experiences fear.

"This is not comforting."

The human male looks away into the dark spots of the room.

"What is going in the Temple lately? Things are getting weirder and weirder not by the day, but by the hour."

"I agree, Kelan."

Soon the trio stands up, everybody felt everybody's uneasiness. The actions, which have been brought upon to them, were becoming to shake their emotional health. Oswald felt very lost, Kelan couldn't believe, how much everything has gone out of the whack at the Jedi Temple, Zane feared the reason or reasons of Oswald's images.

"We should take a break."

"I don't think we have that luxury, Oswald. Ahsoka's chances of survival are greatly decreasing."

"We can't help her without sorting our emotions out, Zane."

"You … might … be right, Kelan."

"Let's take a seat, relax for a few minutes. I just now had drawn up a new plan in my head."

The mere probability of a clear direction extinguished most of Zane's fear. Without speaking the trio get back to their spots, initiate various practices to achieve harmony. What the future holds in store for them is a tricky question, as of this moment they dismiss it in the pursuit of restoring their well-being.