Author's Note: This is more of a transition chapter, so I'm not sure this is super interesting. It is important! Also I'm aware some of this isn't cannon.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my original character!

When Jana left the Council room she was first greeted by an eager as well as anxious Anakin Skywalker. He seemed stressed, creases from his frown laying directly between his eyebrows. Had it been normal circumstances Jana would have warned him about his incoming angry elevens.

"Jana! How did it go? I see your braid is still there." His voice revealed how hopeful he was, and it warmed her heart in spite of its brokenness to know she still had people who cared so much for her. Jana managed a forced half-smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and nodded in reassurance. "So? Who is it? You have to tell me that one, Jan." He nagged her as he kept walking at her side.

"Plo Koon." She forced very quietly while taking note of how much her voice hurt when she croaked it out. Anakin's eyes lit up at her slow improvement, though he felt a bit of pain at the raspiness of her words.

"That's great! Master Plo Koon and I work together often in the battlefield, so hopefully we'll get to see each other more often." He smiled at her with his typical boyish grin that used to inevitably make her return one. But this time she merely nodded before pondering what the future looked like. How incredible and cruel that Jedi were expected to recover so quickly from something so disturbing. This was the life she had signed up for, a life of war.

"Are you going back to your quarters?" Anakin asked her, mentally frustrated but choosing to respect her boundaries. He was sure under Master Plo Koon's wing Jana would recover quickly from the loss of Master Jeng. If anyone could fix a broken Padawan it was Plo Koon, in Anakin's eyes. Jana looked up with her blue orbs and slowly blinked, communicating a yes to him. It was almost supernatural the way that she could communicate without words. Then again, her mother had been a handmaiden to the Queen of Naboo, so it was possible the art of silent language was genetic. "Alright, don't stay in there too long. Maybe get some training in if you think about it, it could help your focus." He encouraged and then left her side. He knew she could take care of herself and make it to her sleeping quarters just fine, so he had little to no worries about looking after her.

Anakin Skywalker thought back to the last memory he had shared with Jana before he had departed for the Geonosis fiasco. Actually, Jana and her master had helped escort Anakin and Senator Amidala to Naboo since it was Jana's home planet. There the Padawan had forgone her typical tunic and leggings to the surprise of the party. Instead, she had worn a traditional Naboo floor length pink dress made of chiffon with white ruffles at the sleeves. Her face presented some make up, but only to a just barely more than natural extent. Her Master had found amusement in the child's excitement to be home, and Anakin would have teased her endlessly about the frilly attire if Padme had not expressed love for Jana's passion for Naboo's culture.

Back then Jana could hardly keep still at the sight of her home- she bounced around the transport area to set eyes on everything she could with such eagerness and love, soaking up the site. Seven years away truly had made her homesick, and Master Jeng had specially requested the assignment as to help with Jana's longing for home. Even though it was only a day trip, she had smiled so brightly while on Naboo, unknowing of the pain to come in such a short amount of time. Although Anakin didn't know of what they had done on the planet after they parted at the Naboo palace, he knew she most likely had gone to see her grandparents who had taken care of her on a farm in the country side. Her hair had been let completely down aside from her braid, an odd sight since he had grown accustom to her space buns. He recalled how she fit in perfectly with the planet, as if she had never even left it.

At the palace Anakin had noticed the amount of pure awe on her face, making him laugh at the time. Her smile had reached ear to ear as she dragged her master behind her, too excited to tell she was going too fast for the woman. Back then things had been easier, and that was mere weeks ago.

Anakin shook himself out of the memory and continued into a room with some other Generals as well as Cody and Rex. The two greeted him with a salute and nod, stopping their planning over a battle on some Sepratist invaded planet.

"General Skywalker! Good to see you, sir." Cody greeted.

"You seem to be pensive, sir, if you don't mind me saying." Rex observed, already wondering what had come about with the young Padawan's case. Although Rex and Cody had never met Jana before Geonosis, they had met Sarissa once when she came to inspect the Clones just after Kenobi had left. Immediately they had picked up on her qualities of strength and patience, always analyzing both emotional and physical wars before entering them. Similarly, the two clones had noticed that Jana herself was a strong fighter, and her style reflected that of Anakin's in many ways. She seemed extremely protective of the clones, which showed both on and off the battlefield. Often times the young Padawan would interact with the clones when not tending to her Jedi duties. It used to irk Rex since it seemed she saw them as toys, but as he got to know her he began to trust her just as much as he trusted General Skywalker, even though she carried the baggage of ambiguity.

"Yes, the results of Padawan Jana were announced a few minutes ago."

"And, sir? Will she be staying with us?" Rex asked.

"Yes, she has been assigned to Master Plo Koon, so if anything we will be seeing more of her." The two clones bumped fists with a smile.

"That's good news, sir, but I'm assuming she hasn't perked up yet, seeing as your thoughts look occupied?" Cody frowned when Anakin didn't quite celebrate with them.

"You know me well, Cody. Luckily she spoke to me, and I'm assuming she said something to the Council as well. But she isn't recovering as quickly as I'd hoped she would." Anakin scratched the back of his head in thought.

"Talking about Jana, are we?" The familiar voice of Obi Wan entered the conversation. Anakin nodded in affirmation. "I must say, her reaction to this has been strange. Can't say I ever imagined her being so..."

"Dreary?" Rex finished, remembering how the Jedi had described Jana in previous conversations.

"Precisely. Master Shaak Ti said something had brought Sirissa and Jana even closer on Naboo, but with what we know not." Obi Wan did his characteristic chin hold as he thought. "Jana will be interesting to follow for the proceeding months. I'm assuming she will either return to her old self or become someone we do not know at all."

"Aye, sir. Seems like she's pretty into this whole new person thing from what you Jedi tell me. It's like Cody and I are meeting a whole new Padawan, which means we have no idea how she'll act as a soldier if she changes back or keeps evolving as you say." Rex crossed his arms.

"Yes, and that's precisely what concerned the Council. Still, she is a promising apprentice. I'm sure that regardless of who she becomes in personality she will be a strong Jedi. Her connection to the Force matches those who we hold highest in the Jedi realm." Obi-Wan explained.

"Jana will be fine." Anakin interjected a bit too harshly. "She just needs time to realize there's nothing she can do about that anymore other than bring justice to her master and go after Douku."

"Hmm, perhaps you're right, Anakin. But something tells me our friend will not be back to normal so quickly." As Anakin began to refute the claim, Master Plo Koon entered.

"That's enough discussion of my Padawan for now, gentlemen, though I promise to relay her progress as often as I can and appreciate the concern you show for her. In the meantime, there are other things we must tend to." Plo Koon moved to the center of the hologram and began to explain the mission he and his new Padawan were to take on.

*

On the other side of things, Jana sat on the ground of her quarters while staring into the abyss of her shrine. So many thoughts and memories swirled through her head- she was losing control of her brain all too quickly for her taste. Anakin was right, she needed to do something to take her mind off of things. Although she was hesitant to enter the next chapter of her life, she knew this was turning over a new leaf for her. She was about to embark on a whole new journey with a new master and a new version of herself.

But she didn't seem like a good new version of herself. She seemed so off, so lost, that she hated what she sensed in her own being, and that only lead to further it. It was time to use this change to propel her into the light instead of making her shift this way and that on the fence of it. Sure, she may end up changing again once she made it through whatever phase she was currently going through. But change was always like that and eternally in motion. Change is a type of control, and I need to control this change.

Walking to her washroom and turning to her mirror Jana stared at her reflection. Her eyes had sunken in, and she had lost both shape as well as color in her face. It was time to woman-up. Her mother would have been ashamed to see her daughter so put down. And although Jana couldn't help the feelings she felt, she could change the attitude she exuded during this time. She was not the only one grieving, so she needed to stop seeming like she was.

Grabbing the scissors from one of the bathroom drawers she went to delicately work on her hair. She didn't want anything too short, but after the haircut her once waist length corkscrew golden hair now appeared to halt at her mid-back. Her braid still trickled all the way down to her waist as she had been careful to leave her braid out of the cut. Next she took her razor and went to town on her left eyebrow in order to create a slit in the arch of it. Looking at herself, she wanted to begin to look less like the ten year old she had arrived as and more like the seventeen year old girl she had grown to be. Wanting to incorporate apart of her old master's look she braided a portion of her hair that lead to small space buns on the back of her head. The rest she allowed to cascade down her back. Then, to manipulate her sickly appearance, she covered up her bags with foundation her grandmother had given her at their last meeting and dabbed on a bit of blush and charcoal liner to make her look more alive.

When it came time to put on her true Padawan attire she first thought about how she couldn't bare to put on the same clothes she had worn to the fatal battle. Blood still stained the tunic and wide rips appeared in the beige leggings. The leather was scratched to death from the damned Geonosian bugs. But upon further inspection, Jana found that at least for now she wanted to keep this part of her around, for it was not as if she had gotten over the passing of Sarissa all of the sudden. She needed to put this on and force herself to accept what had come to pass no matter the hurt she felt.

Putting on the pieces of the outfit, she had expected to sense a foreign feeling. In contrast, she had felt momentarily like she had before the battle of Geonosis. It was if nothing had changed, but that had only been for a split second. Before long she could feel the rips and tears along the cloth. But in its own way, it was a statement, and it lead her to purposefully rip some parts of the clothes further to evenly spread the tarnished look out. After that, she put on the last touch: her golden arm band. It fit perfectly on her right bicep and had been a gift from her grandmother before she had been taken to learn the ways of the Jedi. Jana associated so much of herself with it that she found she felt more complete with the piece on.

The hardest part came quickly as she realized she had to pick up her saber in order to go to training. Sabers. There are two. Jana reminded herself. Going to the shrine she set her eyes on the brown cloth that withheld her sabers. One was an Avenger hilted blue saber she had made herself, as all Padawans did. The other was a shoto blade passed down to her from Master Jeng. She had only trained with it a few times as they had never imagined she would be in the situation she found herself in now. Upon observation once taken out of the brown sack, they were covered in oil and dirt, dust jamming the components and intricate ridges. Her breath quivered, but Jana was grateful that it wasn't a blade or sword that had been passed down. If it had been, the blood may have stuck to it however it may have come to be on it. Jana sat in front of the shrine and used the Force to summon forth a basin of water as well as cloth to her side. Moving forward, she concentrated on the equipment, passing the cloth and water around the bits to cleanse them of whatever Geonosis had left on them.

Jana felt the Force surge through her entire body. In her concentration she could feel the life of her body, the hum of the Kyber crystal, the movement of the water, and the clink of the metal hilt's parts. Yet she was also hyper-aware of the sounds of footsteps walking outside her quarters, the speech of some foolish younglings farther down, a light saber somewhere activating. All this she could feel along with the life as well as people on Coruscant as she cleaned her saber. It wasn't along until she was ready to quit and deemed the job done, though maybe not done perfectly. Of course it could have been done better, but she didn't feel the need to truly go through the process of oil removal just yet. That took too much time.

Finally, she hooked the sabers onto either side of her hip, the weight of the shoto saber feeling so odd and misplaced. Jana took one glance at herself in the mirror before feeling exhaustion overwhelm her body; she had drained herself through meditation, socialization, stress, and compensation. Guess I won't be heading to training, but at least I'm working toward improvements. Jana flopped backwards onto her cot only to hear the knock at her door. Sensing a strong Force presence, she hastily got up and sprung to the door.

"Ah, Padawan Jana. I see you have already begun working on yourself and are true to your word. Very good, little one." Plo Koon stood before her with his hands behind his back. "Now if you are ready, I'd like to take you to be briefed for our first mission together."

Speechless but feeling the return of her natural duty, Jana nodded in affirmation. It was time to return to the battlefield again.