Chapter 5: Resetting
Coruscant, the Jedi Temple: A Year and a Bit Ago
There was a soft knock at her door and she groaned and scrunched up her eyes.
"Ahsoka?" a familiar whisper came through the door. "Ahsoka? Can I come in?"
Ahsoka palmed her eyes and rolled over and nearly fell out of her bed. She stumbled and yawned and checked her comm. "It's two in the morning," she moaned.
"Please, I need to speak with you."
She grumbled and crossed her small, spare room and slapped ineffectually at the wall before finally hitting the door panel. It rumbled open and Barriss stood outside, glancing around nervously. Like Ahsoka, she was only wearing the loose sleeping robes provided by the Temple. She wasn't wearing her hood and her hair fell around her face, with its familiar wave pattern.
"Thank you," Barriss said, slipping inside as Ahsoka shut the door. Ahsoka grunted in response and tapped at the controls. The blinds on her window opened slightly, letting the dim revolving light of Coruscant filter through, allowing them to just see one another. She dared not turn on the full lights: not at this hour and not when she was still half-asleep.
She yawned again and rubbed her eyes again as she sat down next to Barriss on the bed. Her friend was fidgeting, wringing her hands around, and noticeably had not said anything about why she was here and why she was waking Ahsoka up at this Force-forsaken hour of the morning.
Better hurry this along... Ahsoka thought. "Look Barriss, I don't mean to sound rude," she began, prompting Barriss to look over at her. "But I'm going to be shipping out soon, so if you have something you need to say can you...hurry up with it."
"You're leaving?" Barriss asked.
Ahsoka yawned again, putting a hand to her mouth. "To Cato Nemodia," she explained, "The Seppies have been causing trouble, so me and Master Skywalker are heading out there to sort them out. Don't know how long we'll be."
"Oh. So you won't be around the Temple." There was a curious note of relief in Barriss' voice. Had Ahsoka been more awake and in a better mood she might have picked up on it, but she let it drift out of her grasp.
Barriss fumbled with the folds of her sleep robe a bit more, her jaw twitching as if she was working her way up to something, and Ahsoka was on the verge of grabbing her and telling her to just spit it out when she finally spoke.
"Do you ever have nightmares?" she asked, voice quiet.
Ahsoka blinked. "Of course I do," she replied, trying to keep the note of incredulity out of her voice. "I mean, the night before the lightsabre exam I had a horrible dream where I turned up naked and worse I was holding a blaster and-"
"No," Barriss cut in to clarify, "I meant, do you have nightmares about the war?"
Suddenly she was there, her boots sloughing through the dust and the ash, the sound of fire and screams and blasters rattling and echoing around her and there was a mother who clutched her child to her chest to protect her but it hadn't mattered because they were both dead and I DID THIS IT'S MY FAULT MY FAULT MY
Ahsoka's face twitched. "Sure, of course," she set her expression firm. "I have nightmares about all the horrors the Separatists are unleashing across the galaxy. But that's why we have to stop them, why we have to continue fighting." She grinned and playfully punched Barriss on the shoulder. "And we will. And when we do, we'll have peace again, and you and I will get to be Jedi Knights, protecting the galaxy and have Padawans of our own!"
"Yes, of course." Barriss sort of smiled at her, and there was an odd mix of expressions on her face, some kind of cross between pitying and pleading as if she was looking for some answer and Ahsoka hadn't provided it but she still had a chance to do so.
"Don't worry Barriss," Ahsoka said, putting on her most reassuring voice. "This will be over soon. And then you-we-won't have to have nightmares anymore."
Barriss expression died into just the smile and Ahsoka felt relief, that she'd said the right thing to comfort her friend. "Thank you Ahsoka," Barriss said. "I...I needed to hear that."
"No problem, it's what I do." Ahsoka grinned and then playfully pushed Barriss to her feet and toward the door. "Now get out of here, I need to get some sleep before I ship out or I'm just going to be staggering about and yawning all day, and I don't want to give Master Skywalker even the smallest opening to tease me with."
"Okay, okay!" Barriss laughed lightly and walked towards the door. But she paused, hand hesitating over the panel. "Ahsoka...do you remember your mother?"
Ahsoka rocked slightly. It was a question out of nowhere, one no one had asked, not since the very earliest days at the Temple. No rule was laid down, but everyone understood that such questions were taboo and now being confronted with it after so long she'd even forgot it existed as a question...
"No I...no I don't," she replied, shaking her head. "I can vaguely remember the ceremony the village had when I was chosen and I left..." She paused. "Or at least I think I do, but I might just be making it up based on what Master Plo told me."
"I don't remember either," Barriss said quietly. She turned toward Ahsoka and she looked...tired. "Do you think they remember us?"
Ahsoka shook her head, her mind whirling. "I-I don't...Maybe I guess?"
They stared at one another for a long moment. And then Barriss laughed softly and shook her head. "Look at me with all these silly questions," she said. "The places your mind goes to at this hour." She smiled at Ahsoka. "May the Force be with you. And be safe."
"You too," Ahsoka replied.
Barriss nodded, hit the panel and slid out the door, the door shutting behind her.
Ahsoka laid down and stared at the ceiling and tried to remember her mother, but all she came up with was her own face aged up in numerous variations until the sun started to rise and her comm beeped its alarm.
Ahsoka's eyes opened.
She was stretched out on her bed, lying on her side. Drool was dribbling from her lips and her left lekku was numb where it had caught under her body. She blinked her eyes, bleary, and picked up her comm. A half-hour had gone by since she sat down to rest.
All the signs of a good nap.
She wiped her mouth and pushed herself up, her bones cracking slightly and shook her head to clear it.
She'd dreamt, but it hadn't been a dream. It was a memory long buried. She sat forward and draped her arms over her legs, staring at the floor, pondering.
That time... she thought. Must have been right before Barriss bombed the Temple. A couple of days before anyway. How did I miss all those signs? Was there something I could have said, could have done that might have stopped her, made her change her mind?
She shook her head. There was no sense in dwelling on it. The past was the past, and what was done was done. She'd wasted long hours going back over her memories of Palpatine, convincing herself that she'd spotted something in his manner, in his way of being and berating herself for not saying something, but she had no way of knowing how true those memories were or what was just her reading present knowledge into the past.
"He's been groomed for this role for a long time."
Maul's icy words snuck into her mind, and she shoved them aside and buried them. She didn't want to think about it. She wouldn't think about it. Maul had been wrong. Anakin had died during Order 66. She wouldn't think about it, wouldn't think about how tempted she had been, how close she had come, how she had almost...
No sense in dwelling on it...
She slipped off the bed and walked to the door. As she did, her belly let out a low Wookie-like growl. She glanced down at it and raised a brow. "Well, I guess that's what I'm doing next sorted..." she muttered, amused, as she stepped into the living space.
Scorpious' patience was being sorely tried by the bartender. He'd come into the casino, currently cleared of patrons as clean-up and investigations continued, with some simple questions to ask about what was going on, and was being treated to an extended moan about the man's most minor of annoyances.
"Spent years working at this place, years!" the bartender carried on. "Never has there ever been anything approaching job security or decent pay. And I look after everything. It's not just managing the bar, oh no! There are all sorts of other-"
"Yes, it sounds horrible," Scorpious cut in. He pointed to the front of one of the gaming tables. "I understand a man died there, shortly before the incident?"
The bartender, a bit miffed at his tale of woe being interrupted, nodded. "Yeah, it was some guy...arms dealer I think he was..." The bartender snapped his fingers a moment as he thought. "Oh yes, Kam Sentarou that was it. He was a good guy, tipped generously. Real shame, just suddenly had a heart attack and collapsed."
"Indeed..." Scorpious frowned. Granted, an arms dealer being at a casino wasn't a big deal or surprising. But combined with Barriss Offee's presence, and him suddenly having a heart attack...there may have been foul play of one sort of another involved.
"Never got a chance to save him, poor guy. Not long after he collapsed, that's when it all kicked off, and then everyone's attention was on that Mirialan bitch and the Togrutan bitch having a lightsabre duel, whilst one of my favourite customers gasped his last-"
Scorpious snapped his head around, registering his words. The bartender's voice died in his throat as he suddenly caught sight of Scorpious' yellow eyes. "A Togrutan...bitch did you say?" Scorpious asked. "In the gendered sense of the term?"
"Uh...yeah..." the bartender said, mouth dry. "She...she sliced through some vintage wine. Dunno how I'm going to explain that to the bosses. Boy, she looked angry at the other girl though, dunno if they were competing for the guy or...or what..."
"I doubt it, the Jedi code is quite strict about the whole attachment thing, not that either of them is really a Jedi anymore..." Scorpious turned away and rubbed at his chin. It couldn't be, surely? There was more than one female Togrutan Jedi or ex-Jedi or at least there used to be...and yet the coincidence, the reaction to Barriss Offee...it couldn't be...
But it had to be.
"So...Ahsoka Tano has come out to play..." he murmured, a grin splitting his cheeks.
"They...uh...they some friends of yours?" the bartender asked, curiosity getting the better of his instinct for self-preservation. "We did have them in the cells, but they escaped, and boy do I not want to be in Cantiss' shoes right now..."
Scorpious turned around a flicked a credit chip at the bartender, who skilfully caught it. He glanced at it and his eyes went wide at the number displayed on it. He looked up, jaw dropped as Scorpious walked towards him. "That is for current services rendered," Scorpious said. He slipped another credit chip out of his pocket and held it up where the bartender could see. "Now, for another one of these, perhaps you can tell where I might find Kam Sentarou's associates?"
They shoved her to the ground and her knees clunked painfully onto the iron floor. She bent over, hissing with the pain, her hands in binder cuffs behind her. A hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back and she let out a cry and they took advantage of it to shove a dental gag between her teeth, winching it so it forced her jaw open wide. A bucket was dumped in front of her and she made little panicked 'haa, haa' sounds as she breathed out. A trooper moved to stand in front of her and he sneered down at her.
"I'm going to enjoy this," he said, taking out a thin metal rod.
He rammed the rod into her mouth, down to the back of her throat, and she gagged and bent forward and vomited into the bucket. When she finished they pulled her back up and shoved the rod down her throat and she vomited again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Until all that came out was acid and her tongue lolled and drool dripped from it and her face was stained with tears.
They picked her up, removed the gag, removed the binders, and flung her into her cell and laughed as they closed the door. She braced herself in the corner of the cell, heart hammering, sobbing, and trying not to scream and then she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around herself and she was no Jedi anymore, in reality, or in spirit, not even a dangerous terrorist.
She was just a frightened, humiliated girl, whimpering and weeping and wanting it all to go away.
The door opened and she looked up and Ahsoka stood there, looking in at her.
Barriss blinked and shook her head. She rubbed at her eyes and opened them again.
Not a cell. The spare room. Ahsoka's ship.
Ahsoka leaned against the doorframe, looking curiously at her.
"Sorry," Barriss said, raising herself up on her elbows. "I was sleeping."
"Oh, sorry, I should have thought."
Barriss raised a hand. "Don't be. You saved me from a horrible dream." She slid around to a seating position. "Well, I say dream, more of a memory."
Ahsoka rubbed her arms, looking away. "Yeah, I had one of those as well."
They were both silent a moment. Then Ahsoka smiled slightly and raised a brow. "Are you hungry?" she asked.
"I reckon I could manage something," Barriss replied, rocking onto her feet.
"Then follow me," Ahsoka beckoned, turning around. "It's no 'Dex's Diner' but it's better than..." She paused. "Did you ever eat at a place in the Underworld called, 'The Shadow Driver'?"
She looked back and the expression of sheer horror on Barriss' face told her the answer. Ahsoka grinned. "Well, it's not as bad as that," she said, sheepishly.
"An assassin trying to kill someone through food poisoning wouldn't be as bad as that place..." Barriss muttered as she followed Ahsoka to the Living Space. A pot was bubbling on the stove, and Ahsoka picked up two glasses containing a thick blue liquid, passing one over to Barriss.
Barriss cocked her head, looking suspiciously at it. "Bantha milk?" she inquired.
"Nope. A little speciality from an Outer Rim world."
Barriss shrugged and drank a gulp. Her eyes popped and she let out a wheezing cough as the liquid burnt her throat. She held the glass away and blinked at it. "That's like engine fuel..." she coughed, patting her chest.
Ahsoka grinned and sipped her own drink. "You get used to it. It has a very nice tingle."
And Barriss could feel it, the burn disappearing to leave a nice and pleasant tingling sensation at the back of her throat. She sipped from the drink again, feeling the heat of it and the taste of it in the smaller amounts. "It's quite good," she said. "Strong. Didn't know you drank?"
Ahsoka shrugged. "Well, having all the clones you thought of as friends suddenly turning on you and trying to kill you as run through a ship with no clue what's going on, whilst also having a Zabrak Sith out for your blood does something for the nerves."
Barriss stared at her and took another sip. "I...I didn't know you got caught up in all that..." she said, quietly.
She shook her head. "I got out of it fine, in the end. I don't really want to revisit it." She stared at the table, eyes unfocusing, as memories and feelings she'd tried to suppress came back into her awareness.
"Ahsoka...?"
"What?" she looked up.
Barriss pointed at the stove. "The pot is overflowing."
Ahsoka looked over and her eyes bugged as the liquid bubbled out the side of the pot and hissed when it came into contact with the stove. "Oh, kriff!" she cried and dived for it.
Kimmy looked across the table at Celine, trying to keep her expression neutral but not quite managing to keep the worry out of it. She thought they'd already gone through all the questioning after Sentarou had died, but apparently, they were now being called back in and by some strange man she'd never seen before. Celine looked at her, reassuring, keeping herself completely neutral. It was a skill Kimmy hadn't managed to grasp yet, no matter how hard she tried.
The man who had brought them in, Scorpious he called himself, was sat between them at the long oval table. He had a pleasant smile, but it couldn't detract from the fact that his eyes were an unsettling yellow, and when they turned on Kimmy they seemed to burn through her, stripping away her flesh to her insides, and it took all her willpower not to shudder when she was under their gaze.
"I wonder if you two charming ladies could help me," Scorpious began, tone mellifluous. "I'm trying to sort out the details surrounding Sentarou's murder."
Kimmy and Celine traded a glance. Murder? No one else had suggested that. "What do you mean, murder?" Celine asked. "He had a heart attack, didn't he?"
Neither of them had quite believed it. Though Sentarou had been prone to finer and rarer vintages of wine and food he had been in good shape and health. He had often laughed that, as an arms dealer, he was always upsetting someone so it paid to keep himself in good shape. That, of course, was Celine and Kimmy's role as well. To outside observers, they looked like the usual eye candy that the wealthy and powerful delighted in surrounding themselves with, but they were important parts of his operation, keeping their eyes and ears peeled, distracting others and looking innocent, naïve and airheaded. So many people were willing to say more than intended around such acts. When Sentarou had died it had been easy for them both to act the 'hysterical girls in over their head' part and the security had soon let them go.
But Scorpious, his casual use of the word murder, was making Kimmy nervous.
"Yes, I believe so," Scorpious continued. "One of the...parties to the incident is known to have participated in assassinations before." He spread his hands. "It seems a bit of a coincidence that she should be here and Sentarou dies."
Celine shrugged, but she let her lip wobble, a deliberate display of weakness to garner sympathy. She was always the better actor. "It's possible. Master Sentarou was an arms dealer and I guess the targets of those arms would be unhappy."
Scorpious smiled. "No doubt," he agreed. "And would you happen to know who he was here to meet?"
That threw Kimmy and it nearly knocked Celine off her stride as well, but she recovered. "I don't...I don't think he was here to meet anyone," Celine said. "At least, he didn't tell us. I thought he was just here for gaming. He liked to relax out here."
Kimmy's heart pounded as Scorpious scratched at his eyebrow. He seemed so perceptive, or was he just acting confident? Speaking of things he didn't know to try and get them to slip up? It was hard to say but Kimmy was growing increasingly uncomfortable and she just wanted them to get out of there as soon as possible.
"Yes, it's possible and I understand this is a stressful situation for you, my dears," Scorpious said, the warm smile back. "But the Togrutan woman that was here...she is a, shall we say, known agitator and I am aware that Sentarou has sold weapons to rebel groups in the past." He raised a hand to forestall protest. "Fear not, you are not in trouble. The Empire is aware that sales go to whoever pays for them. I just want to know who the client in question was."
Celine shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir, but we really don't know. Master Sentarou never discussed business with us." Scorpious frowned and stood up. He turned his back to them, clasping his right arm in his left hand and stared out the window, onto the bay. "I'm very sorry, we would love to help with your investigation but we really don't-"
Celine slammed her head into the table.
Kimmy flinched, stunned, and Celine brought her head back up, blinking, dazed.
She slammed her head into the table again and let out a cry.
Then she did it again and she screamed with pain, as a soft crack accompanied the bang as her temple smacked the edge of the table. Kimmy screamed and shoved herself out of her chair, clasping her hand to her mouth, eyes watering as Celine brought her head back up, an indent in her forehead the skin cracking and blood dribbling down before she launched her head back again.
Kimmy couldn't understand it. What was she doing? Why was she doing this? But then she saw the panic in Celine's eyes, as she screamed and desperately braced herself against the table with her hands and she realized that she wasn't in control and that something was compelling her to do this against her will.
Celine's head slammed down again, her hands splaying across the table and the edge caught her in the mouth and shattered her teeth. She drew back up, wheezing, her mouth a gaping maw of blood as her body lolled back.
And then she slammed her temple onto the edge of the table with one final, vicious crack.
Kimmy sobbed and slipped down the wall as blood and green fluid leaked from Celine's forehead, and drip drip dripped over the side.
Scorpious turned around, a kind smile back on his face, and planted his fists onto the table and his yellow eyes bored into her. "Maybe your memory is better, hmm?" he asked.
Kimmy let out a mewling sob of terror.
Ahsoka and Barriss ate the meal, a rice porridge with hunks of meat threaded through it, at the table in silence. Every so often Barriss snuck a glance across the kitchen units. Without looking up Ahsoka pointed to a small jar on the left. "The salt is over there if you're looking for it," she said.
Barriss blushed. "I would never suggest your food is under-seasoned," she said, in a reassuring tone. But she reached out with the Force and drew the salt cellar over. "But I do have a very high tolerance for it."
Ahsoka smiled as Barriss sprinkled the salt over her food, and then she used the Force to pass it over to Ahsoka. There was a brief moment where the cellar wobbled in the air and a tendril of sensation passed between them as Ahsoka used the Force to take the cellar from Barriss. And then it was completely under Ahsoka's control and she sprinkled some over her own food.
"So you left the Jedi Order," Barriss said, after a moment. "Does that make you a Sith now?"
Ahsoka gave a mock eye roll. "No. There is a large grey area between the Jedi and Sith and I operate at the lighter end of that grey spectrum."
"That's a shame because I really think you could have pulled off Darth Snips."
"And ruin these beautiful eyes?" She batted her eyelashes. "I think not."
They shared a chuckled. "Actually, I was very close to re-joining the Order," Ahsoka said. "I mean, the Jedi Order was my whole life, it was everything I wanted to be, it was... well you know." She waved a hand through the air and Barriss nodded. "But then, when I was just about to say I'd go back they tried bullshitting me with this story about how it was all 'a great trial from the Force' and that we'd all learned and grown through the process." She snorted. "At that point, the blast door came down and I knew I had to get out of there."
Barriss looked at her in awe. "That is fantastic..." she murmured. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"I know! Think of all the things we could have got away with if we knew that was a legitimate excuse!"
"Yeah." Barriss smiled. "Like that time Zonder snuck that Holovid Console into the Temple."
Ahsoka looked blank for a moment and then her face lit up and she tapped the table. "Oh yeah! I remember!" She leaned her elbow on the table with a sly smile and pointed at Barriss. "I remember I had to drag you to the room whining and complaining the whole way about how we were breaking the rules."
"And if you'll remember I was vindicated because we had to spend hours in the freezing cold scrambling around the outside of the Temple when Master Windu nearly caught us."
They laughed. "You say all that, but I remember you getting into it when you were there. You were a demon at that Podracing game."
Barriss blushed. "Well, it was nice to spend time with you-with everyone in a situation that wasn't life or death, or training or something else. Just, something that felt normal."
"Yeah..." Ahsoka looked away and they sat in comfortable silence, with warm smiles at the memory.
Neither one wanted to give voice to the thought that was at the back of their minds, the one saying 'hard to believe they're all gone'.
"Why did you never visit?" Barriss said after a moment, her voice quiet.
"Huh?" Ahsoka looked over.
"After I was imprisoned. I thought you would come to see me but you never did."
Ahsoka put her hands to her elbows. "Oh, well, I was a civilian then and I didn't think they would let me in," she said.
Barriss raised an eyebrow. "That's a lame excuse and you know it."
Ahsoka nodded. "Yeah, I know..." She took in a breath and then sighed. "All right, the truth is I was a coward. I was afraid of going to see you because, if I did, then..." She tailed off.
"What? You might believe me? Agree with me?" Barriss pressed, trying to keep the note of hope from her voice.
"No. Not that. I mean, I admit that in hindsight you had a point about the Jedi and the Republic, and we should have listened to that, I should have listened to that. My journeys through the Underworld, my relation with the Council and subsequent events...well they all demonstrated what you were saying. But you were wrong to do what you did. I think that now and would have thought it then. And back then I don't think I would have been able to agree with any of your argument."
"Oh...so why..."
"Because you were my best friend Barriss." Ahsoka looked at her and her eyes glittered with tears, and it seared through Barriss and made her heart race, her mouth dry and her body ache. "You were my best friend. And I couldn't...I didn't want to see you because I was afraid that if I did I would find out that...that you hadn't fallen to the Dark Side."
"What do you mean?"
Ahsoka steadied herself and flicked the tears away with a finger. "It was possible...lots of Jedi had fallen to the Dark Side, there was Count Dooku right there as an example. So, it was easier for me to pretend that Barriss, the Barriss who was my friend, had died and she'd been replaced by this Sith person, this Darth Puke-"
"Darth Puke?!" Barriss shouted, outraged.
Ahsoka flashed her a grin. "All right, in my defence, I was angry and upset."
"S'okay... I forgive you..." Barriss planted her chin on her palm. "Even though we did agree my Sith name would be Darth Corvus."
"I'll remember for next time." Ahsoka chuckled and then lapsed into quiet, her expression falling. "So that's why. I couldn't bear the thought that, that you had done all of that, that you had bombed the Temple, tried to frame me and nearly get me executed and... that it was still you, that you hadn't fallen. Seeing you again, now..." She shook her head, the tears coming back. "It was hard. So very hard because...because there was the old you. Rougher around the edges, changed, more prone to sarcasm, but still you. And there were moments when it was like having my old friend back. But, that made it more painful." She wiped the tear away with a self-deprecating smile. "My fear turned out to be true."
She went silent.
Barriss planted her fist on her lips and glanced away. She wanted to say something, wanted desperately to say something, but the words wouldn't come to her. She tried a couple of times, almost getting the point of forcing air through her windpipe to form words, but would back off. She was afraid. Afraid of what she could say, what she should say, afraid of speaking the truth, afraid of speaking lies. She wanted to say something to comfort her, but what could she say? What could she say that would make things right, or even a little better?
What could she do that would make over a year of pain go away?
"...Ahsoka...I...I'm..."
"Why did you do it?"
Barriss looked up. Ahsoka was glaring at her, her eyes still wet, but there was a fierce frown to her.
"What?"
"Why Barriss, why did you do it?"
Barriss' heart pounded. "I...I said why. In the court, I explained..."
"No." Ahsoka shook her head, lekku swinging. "How did you get to that point? How do you go from being the 'ideal Padawan', to...to doing that?" She gestured with her hands, exasperated, frustrated, trying to put the pieces together in her own head and failing.
Barriss sat back and sighed. "Oh...right...you want the whole sob story..."
Ahsoka glared. "Don't demean it, don't you dare do that! I'd put all this behind me, I thought I had made my peace with it, with thinking it wasn't really you, that you'd been corrupted, that you were dead, but now I know all that isn't true and I don't know what to think or believe or..." She slumped, forehead in hands, looking down at the table. "I have a right to know," she whispered. "I need to know. Please."
Barriss stared at her, at her defeated expression and form, for a long time. She sighed and turned her face away. "All right..." she said, quiet.
Ahsoka looked up. She didn't say anything, but she sat there, patient, waiting for her to begin.
Barriss swallowed. "Well, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away there lived a girl named Barriss who wanted nothing more than to be the perfect Jedi..."
Looks like the heavy talk is getting going...
Originally I was just going to have Barriss talk about how she got to that point, but I figured that it would probably be better to show it. So the next chapter is going to largely be going back in time and relating how Barriss gets to the point of wanting to bomb the Temple.
We're also getting a bit more of Ahsoka's own difficulties and pain. Fortunately, I have now seen Season 7 of The Clone Wars so was able to include a bit more references to that. At root, what we have here is two people who were chucked onto the front lines of an enormous, and horrific conflict and they both reacted to the trauma of that in different ways. That's something that will start creeping into the dynamic and being explored in the story.
Force slamming someone's head into a table is an idea that's been kicking about in my head for a while; Scorpious is quite the vicious person beneath the polite exterior.
To clarify two points: Ahsoka thinking Anakin is dead is my read on where she's at, at the end of Season 7. She maybe knows, or suspects, deep down that something happened involving Anakin and the Dark Side; but she avoids thinking about it by pretending that he's dead and that what she felt through the Force was him dying.
The dream/memory of Barriss is the clones getting the bombs out of her system via sadism/torture. According to Filoni, the original end for Barriss was her blowing herself up in her cell, presumably having ingested the same edible bombs, but it was ditched as he had ideas for furthering her story (and it also would have been a very dark way to round off the season). So that sequence is explaining why that didn't happen.
Also, I've spotted that I've spelt Barriss' species name, Mirialan, wrong the entire time, so apologies that's now been corrected ^_^;
Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!