An early morning on Bakunyuu meant thicker and cooler fog settling on the planet. The sun provided what little light it could through the constant grey and dreary clouds. A small drizzle barely even noticeable sprinkled through the air.
Kanan's breath was visible as he carefully tread down the Ghost's ramp. At the end, the silhouette of a twi'lek in a pilot uniform.
He stood next to Hera now, looking out from the Ghost to the rest of the camp.
Hera took the cup of caf away from her lips and spoke without turning to Kanan, "She's been at this all morning. I don't know why."
Kanan watched carefully as his little sister stood in the middle of the fog, bright orange streams with the consistency of molasses swirling around her in rings. You could barely see her silhouette, the fog hanging in the air was so intense.
He squinted a little closer as he heard running water in the distance - like a river. To his amazement, a clear stream of water matched the molten material around the girl. Both circled like hoops around her body.
"She should really have a Jedi teacher out here with her, but she didn't want to wake you guys," Hera spoke softly.
"Did she say why she's up again so early?" Kanan asked in a soft voice, as if both of them didn't want to disturb the Padawan's self-training.
Hera lightly shook her head. "I think she just has a general problem sleeping. I found her earlier this morning push-ups in the common room."
"She might still be upset from that whole Ezra thing from last night," Kanan murmured. "Did she mention anything to you?"
"No," she said, watching the girl train with fire and water. "I think this is something else. This kid is certainly complicated, I'll tell you that."
Another set of footsteps descended from the ladder and joined them on the ramp. The two glanced behind them to see the togruta who had just woken herself up.
"Athena is training already?" Ahsoka asked in a hushed and sleepy voice.
"She wanted to get in some of her element practice," Hera said. "I've been watching her for a while. It still gives me chills when I see her do this stuff."
Ahsoka watched as Athena slowly moved with the lava and water, slowly dancing with the two as her bare feet brushed against the wet green grass. The girl had her hair combed back into a ponytail and her clothes were all black once again. Her hair wavered between a brown to a dimly glowing red.
"She's balancing opposites," Ahsoka murmured. "She's learning more control over opposing elements."
"Hey, can Jedi heal?" Hera turned to Ahsoka. "I noticed your burns healed up within the day they happened. Same with Zeb."
Kanan and Ahsoka shared a glance.
Kanan sighed, "To be honest, I didn't even know she could heal others until she healed Ahsoka and Zeb."
"Does Zeb know?" Hera asked. "He just seemed confused as to why his hands healed."
"Probably not," Ahsoka said. "We've been trying to get her to refrain from telling the others all she can do in case the Empire ever wants to know more about her. Even we don't know all she can do."
"Isn't it dangerous if you two don't even know what she can do?"
"She...probably doesn't even know all she can do," Kanan admitted. "Being born and raised on Earth gave her a lot of abilities many Jedi never heard of."
"I don't get why she was so intent on doing this training this morning, though," Hera nodded to the girl. "She could fight a volcano and control a storm yesterday. I don't see why she would want to do this. Seems below her talent."
"She's trying to learn balance without losing control it seems," Ahsoka said. "Yesterday, she blacked out while fighting that volcano. She may be trying to learn to control opposing elements without losing control or blacking out."
Hera lightly sighed and looked to the girl. Her eyes went wide and she just about sprinted over to the girl as she heard an: "OW! Shi-"
Kanan placed a hand on Hera's shoulder. The pilot was confused as to why he would stop her from giving aid to the girl until he nodded in her direction.
Hera looked over to see Athena's blurry picture through the screen of fog, clutching her left hand in pain as it glowed a dim red.
The girl huffed and puffed to soothe the pain with her breaths. The lava ring around her splattered onto the ground and quickly turned into grey goop. The water soon took over and twirled around her.
The stream of water intricately split into multiple streams, dancing around the girl's hand now. It slowly wrapped around her hand and her hand slowly cooled from a dim glowing red back to its normal tan hue
"She...can just do that sort of stuff?" Hera turned to Ahsoka and Kanan.
"Like I said: we barely have a clue what exactly she's capable of," Kanan admitted. "But, we know she can somewhat take care of herself."
"We have no idea how those powers will hold up in a fight with an Inquisitor," Ahsoka said. "All she can do now without blacking out is simply swirl the elements around herself. She can only do that for so long, too, before risking losing control."
Hera looked back to the girl and watched as she turned to the three adults. Her hair faded back to blonde and her teal eyes filled with intrigue.
"What are you guys doing up? Did I wake you?"
"No, I got up on my own," Ahsoka said. "Is your hand okay?"
The girl displayed her left hand, nothing but a small pink dot on the back of her hand now. "I'd say that's good after getting a droplet of lava to nearly burn me to the bone."
"Be careful with that lava," Kanan warned. "Don't test your healing just yet."
Athena rolled her eyes and sighed, "Alright…"
"I'm going to go back in the ship since these two are watching you now. Is that okay, Athena?" Hera called.
The girl nodded.
Hera turned to the two Masters. "Keep her and yourselves safe."
The teachers nodded and Hera ascended the ladder in her cargo back up to the cockpit.
Athena immediately knew what the two Masters were going to talk about as soon as Hera left. The girl met them half-way in the small field, water falling out of her grip and onto the ground.
"So, how was One's training?"
Athena knew she had to answer that question. She dreaded it but expected it nonetheless.
With a deep sigh, the girl stated, "It was mostly just scolding from Daughter. She was angry about how I almost lost control several times yesterday. She wants me to hold back my anger so I don't get anyone hurt."
"Well that's good," Kanan said. He was surprised by Athena's disgruntled face.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," she spat the words out as she crossed her arms. "What good is a Goddess if all she ever does is tell me that I'm doing everything wrong?"
Ahsoka knew to tread lightly. Athena was obviously irked at Daughter at the moment - like a little child who had been scolded.
Athena didn't let the two get a word in before she ranted again. "I saved all those people and what does she do? Berate me for the entire session I was with her. I mean, what good does that do? Couldn't at least teach me how to keep control? Just yell at me for almost losing control? Useless deity."
"You look tired," Kanan commented. "Did you not go back to sleep after her training?"
She shook her head - ponytail swaying side-to-side with the motion. "No. Couldn't. Too pissed at everything."
"Today is a 'don't mess with you' day?" Kanan inquired.
Athena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever, Dad."
"You're tired, we get it," Ahsoka nodded. "It has to be difficult what you're going through."
Athena looked as if she were a beaten puppy when Ahsoka met her eyes. Tired. Tired of putting up a fight. She still had some fire, some fight left in her, but boy were these Gods trying to beat it out of her. They were omnipresent and intimidating deities and she was just a kid. She didn't even want to train with them - but she couldn't say 'no'. She had no choice whatsoever.
"You want some caf?" Kanan suggested.
Athena gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, thanks."
As Ahsoka and Kanan followed Athena back into the Ghost, side-by-side, they couldn't help but to share a glance shared with worry and pity. Pity for this girl. The girl who had no choice on who she lived with on Earth. No choice on whether or not she left her home planet and everything she knew. No choice on becoming a part of this war. No choice on being a Jedi. No choice on whether or not to train with the Ones.
She was being yanked around like a ragdoll. Her powers. The Gods. The Empire. Everything yanked at this girl with no power to stop it.
She had more power she could even comprehend, but not enough to control her fate.
Later in the afternoon, Ahsoka took the two female Padawans on for a training session. Rae really didn't have a 'Master', so Kanan and Ahsoka had to find a way to balance her in between the two.
Thankfully Rae was obviously trained and molded by the disciplined Master Luminara. She was a prodigy at the lightsaber Form III, making it even easier for Kanan to help her in that aspect of training. The girl was also focused and precise whenever using the Force - though she wasn't one to heavily rely on it. Ahsoka could see the shadow of the old Master move with her with every block and strike she did.
Ahsoka couldn't help but be reminded of Barriss every once and a while when she watched Rae's style. The way she fought.
Ahsoka found it ironic that her Padawan was now becoming best friends with Luminara's Padawan.
As Rae laughed and held a hand out for Athena to take to stand back up, training sticks by their sides, Ahsoka couldn't help but to smile.
Maybe this was the Force's way of recreating that old friendship Barris and she once had. The Padawan of Luminara Unduli and now the Padawan of the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker becoming friends. A new generation of Padawans healing mends left by those behind them.
Ahsoka wondered if Master Unduli ever even mentioned Barriss to Rachelle.
Ahsoka hardly mentioned Anakin or Obi-wan to Athena.
Athena gave a weak smile and got into a ready position to once again take on Rae. Though she could now hold a semi-decent stand against her for a moment, Athena didn't really have too much of a chance against the girl.
The two girls waited for Ahsoka's go-ahead to begin.
Athena managed to block the throws Rae gave, barely having to retreat back as fast as she used to.
Ahsoka watched intently as she sensed something was up with Athena's planning.
Rae didn't even know what hit her as a splash of cold engulfed her; a stick whacked her side before she could even figure out what had happened.
The Jedi teacher was wide-eyed to see water drip off Rae now, Athena smiling with pride as Rae confusedly wiped the water from her face.
"Hey, no fair!" Rae complained. "I wasn't expecting that!"
"You should expect the unexpected from your opponent, Rae," Ahsoka reminded. She turned to her Padawan, a stare close to a glare on her face. "You used your elemental powers with lightsaber training?"
As Athena's hair darkened to brown, the girl brought the stream of water that had splashed her friend back by her side. She made it into a small stream and put it back into a small brown satchel attached to her belt.
"Yeah, great surprise, huh?" Athena shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't hurt at all since it's room temperature water lightly splashing her, but it'd be enough of a surprise for me to get a hit in."
"I think that was the first time you ever got me. Nice." Rae chuckled, holding her fist out. Athena rolled her eyes and completed the fist-bump.
Ahsoka pondered that move for a moment. The girl didn't really know her powers all too well to fight with them now. She could just swish the elements around her without losing control.
That move could buy her a mere millisecond in battle, but it was still valuable.
Ahsoka sighed, wondering what her training would even look like when she could use her elements in an attack. How would the others even be able to train with her?
How could they even defend themselves against daggers of ice? An inferno of flames? A twister of wind? A crushing tsunami of rocks?
Though it would be amazing for the Rebellion to have that on their side against an Inquisitor, it would be devastating if she ever so much as turned her back on them.
Athena stood there, a smirk dissolving from her lips.
Ahsoka too? Did everyone in this family think she was going to turn on them?
Her heart felt like crumbling. Ahsoka was like a mother to her and yet she would think such thoughts about her?
Rae wished Athena had spoken up about this. Maybe then she could explain why their fears weren't based on her character, but rather the mere fact the Empire does not ask nicely for someone to come to the Dark side. It didn't matter how nice you were or how young you were - all the Empire saw was a tool for the Dark side.
Athena's solemn eyes turned to Rae. "You wanna go again?"
"Uh, yeah, lemme-…" Rae wiped off the last bits of water. Her eyes were caught by the movement in the distance. Across the camp, she saw Chopper, Kanan, Ezra, and Zeb. Chopper and Zeb threw random pieces of trash, rocks, and sticks at Ezra for him to block with his blue blade as Kanan watched.
Athena saw Rae's eye focused on something behind her, so she turned to see the same thing as her friend. She sighed as she realized she had yet to even speak to Ezra today.
"You gonna talk to him?" Rae asked softly, knowing Athena wasn't in all too much of a joking mood about the matter.
"I should…" Athena admitted. "I really overreacted yesterday. I could've killed him with my fire."
"It's best to talk these things out as soon as you can," Ahsoka advised. "Sour feelings can boil over if left unresolved."
Zeb held an old carton in hand as he paused, Chopper saw this and beeped in confusion at the lasat. Zeb noticed Kanan looking across the camp and followed his gaze to see Ahsoka, Rae, and Athena.
Ezra was confused, "Guys, come on! I wanna get better at this!"
He shook his head and looked to where Kanan and Zeb were once looking. The boy's chest tightened a little as he saw Athena's eyes looking at him from across the clearing.
"You two haven't talked today," Kanan said, looking at his Padawan now.
Ezra lightsaber retracted back into his hilt and he looked up to Kanan, "No. I haven't gotten the chance."
"Well, best now than never," Zeb shrugged. "Best try to talk now than to never even speak again."
"She probably doesn't even wanna see my face," Ezra grumbled.
"She actually said she wanted to talk to you yesterday," Kanan said. "I talked to her after she ran off and she said that she didn't want your friendship to end. She likes being friends with you, Ezra. You two just need to communicate a lot better."
"And I'd say she'd want to see your face, seeing that she's walking over here," Zeb gestured with his thumb over his shoulder.
Ezra panicked a little and looked to the other males. "She is? Crap! How do I look?"
"Don't worry about how you look and go apologize," Kanan said, shooing his Padawan on.
Ezra gulped and walked past Kanan, Chopper, and Zeb towards Athena. He could barely keep his heart rate down as he and Athena walked towards each other. He couldn't help but be reminded of the fire that erupted from her body last night.
Kanan and Zeb looked to each other as they saw Ezra nervously approach the girl in the middle of the clearing - both walking half-way to meet.
"You think this will go down well?" Zeb asked. "Athena seemed pretty mad yesterday after Ezra's little stunt."
Kanan sighed and crossed his arms, "I hope. Athena seemed to want to apologize, even. She was worried that she had gone overboard with her anger towards him."
"I don't blame her. That was a really stupid move from Ezra," Zeb shrugged.
Kanan nodded, "It was. But, Athena knows her powers are highly attached to her emotions. She was actually scared she could've killed Ezra in her anger."
"Poor girl," Zeb sighed. "First she gets an unwanted kiss from the idiot, then she feels sorry about powers she didn't ask for? It's like the girl can't have any say in anything anymore."
"Yeah…" Kanan sighed. Zeb could even see how helpless Athena was, despite the overwhelming amount of power within her.
"It's kinda like that whole Goddess Inferna prophecy," Zeb commented. "It was crazy how many things lined up for that to come true - all the way down to her not wearing shoes. It was obvious she didn't want to even be on the planet after she felt that quake, but she still ran towards the volcano to fight it - like something was making her."
"The Force works in mysterious ways," Kanan admitted, shaking his head.
"My people had lots of prophecies and all that magical crap they believed in, but I never quite had an ounce of belief anything could be prophesied," Zeb said. "That was until this Earth rat showed up and started doing all this stuff."
Kanan wasn't even sure how to respond. He wasn't even sure what to think. Even with his knowledge of Athena's training with the Ones, Kanan still couldn't decipher why exactly this kid was the way she was.
"That kid's gonna be a big part of all this now, isn't she?" Zeb asked, not really sure if he wanted the truth.
"I think the whole game just got changed with her on our side - whether or not that's good I'm yet to determine," Kanan said. "She has massive amounts of power, but is a prime target for the Empire to hunt down."
Zeb and Kanan turned back to see Ezra and Athena stop in front of each other. Athena's arms crossed and her eyes dreadful as her hair slowly faded back to blonde. She looked so tired and sorry.
"I shouldn't have yelled at you so much," Athena started right off the bat before Ezra could even mutter a syllable. "I let my rage engulf me and I could've hurt you."
"No, no, I should be apologizing," Ezra shook his head. "You had every right to be infuriated with me."
"I could've killed you."
"You didn't," Ezra said, holding his left elbow with his right hand. "But I really messed up when I kissed you. I'm sorry. I guess I read the situation wrong."
Athena nodded.
"I get if you don't want to be friends anymore," Ezra sighed. "It was wrong for me to cross that line. I never even asked you if you saw me...that...way."
"I don't, to be honest, see you 'that' way," Athena shook her head. "I see you as a great friend and my fellow Padawan learner. I shouldn't threaten a friend-"
"Stop apologizing," Ezra shook his head. "You did nothing wrong. I'm the one at fault. I kissed you without asking. I crossed a line in our friendship and messed everything up. You were right to get mad. You're a person and you have every right to get mad if someone does something like that to you without permission. I was just a...just a…"
"Dumbass?" Athena chuckled.
Ezra slightly smiled and met her eyes, "Yeah. A dumbass."
"I wanna be friends, still," Athena stated. "I just don't want a romantic relationship with you right now, okay?"
He stuck out his hand, "Friends?"
She took his hand in a firm grip and they shook. "Friends."
And so they remained friends for the weeks they spent on that planet Bakunyuu. Eventually, the two trained together and played holo-games together again as good friends. They remained neutral, though Ezra still had to repress the feeling in his heart for the good of their friendship.
Athena continued to fight at night and train in the morning as the days continued on. They felt endless. It was like a never-ending workout.
The crew didn't have much to do at all while on the Empire-less little farming planet. For the most part, they stuck to their main agenda: stay there to keep the Padawans hidden and train them to be stronger.
They of course kept their minds, skills, and bodies sharp as they laid low on the remote planet, but they made sure to have at least a little fun here and there.
The Jedi were the ones doing the most training, of course, but the Padawans found fun in their downtime. As a way to play and train at the same time, they would pass a ball to each other using nothing but the Force. At other times, they'd play Dejarik, Sabbacc, and other games with the others.
One time, Athena couldn't help but smile as she stood still for hours for Sabine to complete the finishing touches on the newest painting in the Ghost. The little 'Goddess Inferna' mural painted in an array of fiery colors was immortalized in the Ghost's halls.
They may have had their doubts and fears about the girl's powers, but at least they still loved her.
They still treated her like family.
