Chapter III: Turbulence

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The chrono on the shelf next to the bed blared loudly. A previously sound asleep fourteen year old teenager stirred slightly. The incessant ringing made the groggy togruta blindly reach out from under the sheets and slam her fist onto the source of the irritating noise. In her drowsy state she missed, sending her chrono bouncing and falling off the metal shelf it sat on. Groaning loudly, Ahsoka reached down to the floor and used the Force to call it to her hand. With the offending object barely making it to her palm, she pulled it under the cover her blanket offered. The flashing numbers on the device made her squint, in her bleary-eyed state, the red color was almost blinding. Blinking a few times to focus, she was finally able to discern what they were.

Zero Six Fifteen hours

Closing her eyes again for the briefest of moments, Ahsoka pressed the 'snooze' button, and haphazardly chucked the chrono back onto the shelf. She wasn't ready to get up, not by a wide margin. Readjusting her pillow, the sleepy girl rolled over and attempted to fall back into the relatively peaceful state she had been in only thirty or forty seconds earlier. Feeling herself slowly slipping back into the sensation of unconsciousness, Ahsoka felt her mind go back to the bad dream that had occurred three days earlier.

She saw herself walking in the corridor with her master back on their ship. They had been arguing about her not being allowed to come with him to the Pammant system to search for the mysterious Separatist warship. The words came in choppy utterances, barely allowing her to hear the whole of the conversation.

"You can't come with me on every mission."

"…aren't you behind on your academic work?"

"I am studying!"

"I know it was you!"

"I didn't lie!"

"Do you remember what I told you on Christophsis?"

The stripes on her lekku darkened from his censure, even as she watched herself from a third person perspective. Even from her dream state, the very thought of him going through with it sent shivers all throughout her body. Drifting again, her thoughts moved onward to her arrival on Master Kenobi's ship. From the echoes of the hangar to the sounds of the doors whooshing open. It was like hearing everything under water. The interior of the ship had dark and bright spots, coinciding with her thoughts at each moment.

"Everyone on this thing must be set like a chrono."

"I apologize for not contacting you directly upon your arrival."

"…why did you put me next to you?"

"Do you believe your recent actions have been reflective of those attributes?"

"…if you wish to have an attitude about the situation, then stand up."

"May I leave the corner and come back to the table Master?"

The entirety of her arrival played out in slow motion. The embarrassment alone from being put in the corner left such a sour taste in her mouth. Her mind drifted forward again. They were at the mess table from last night. The reading and the review of each chapter had drained them both. Luckily, dinner hour had arrived. In her dream trance, the echoes and clouded nature of her previous scenes transformed. Clarity was the best way to describe them, though there was still the faintest twinge of haze. She felt her perspective switch back to first person, and back to sitting across from Obi-Wan.

"Alright padawan. That will be sufficient for today. Tomorrow we will focus on Chapter Eleven and delve into hyperspace calculations" she heard him say as he put down his personal datapad.

"Great, I'm starving" Ahsoka heard herself respond as she too turned off her datapad.

Nodding his head in agreement, Obi-Wan stood up from the mess table and walked over to the storage compartments containing the meals. Pulling out two packages, he placed them both on the table and retook his seat. Passing the teen her meal, the older Jedi took the opportunity to comment on the day's events.

"In light of a rather bumpy start, I must say I'm impressed with your progress Ahsoka. You grasp the concept of hyperspace travel quite well. Almost as well as Anakin did when he was a padawan"

"Thanks" she absentmindedly responded as she opened the packing.

"At this rate, you should be able to take your test again by the end of the week"

She nodded her head and after opening the packaging, began chowing down. Even though it was the same food she had on a daily basis on the Resolute, she practically inhaled it. Working for almost six hours straight was taxing that way. Looking back up to Obi-Wan, she paused momentarily, his raised eyebrow making her feel self-conscious about her eating mannerisms.

"What?" she heard herself say while her mouth was still somewhat full.

"Ahsoka it's time" he replied blankly.

Swallowing her food, she had a confused expression on her face.

"What do you mean 'it's time'?"

"It's time to go"

"But I'm still eating my dinner" she responded, wholly baffled by what he was getting at.

"Ahsoka! You have to go!" he said more forcefully.

"But-"

"Get up!" she heard him say as he stood up.

"I haven't finished!" she yelled back at him.

"Get up now!" he said as he stepped in front of her.

"No!"

"Padawan! Get out of bed!" he said loudly.

"Wait…what?"

"You're late!"

In an instant, she felt her world suddenly shift from Obi-Wan's quarters to her room as a blinding light flickered on. Turning over quickly, she felt herself sliding and then falling. Flopping down onto the deck below, Ahsoka was entangled in her blanket. She struggled to find an opening before hearing the sound of someone clearing their throat. She knew who that was even without seeing his face.

"Are you quite finished playing in bed?" Obi-Wan said flatly.

"I wasn't playing. I just didn't expect anyone to enter my room without knocking." She answered with a twinge of sass.

Raising an eyebrow, Obi-Wan bent down and picked up the discarded chrono that was supposed to be on her shelf. The outer casing was dented and scratched. Staring at the device, he frowned and returned his attention to the girl still piled on the floor.

"I did knock. You continued sleeping. As you can see on your alarm, it is zero seven twenty-five. I told you the first night to set your chrono to zero seven hundred. Since you are late, we will have a working breakfast. Remember to set your chrono tonight. And Ahsoka, I do not want to find this on the ground again. Keep it intact, or else I will personally come and wake you up at zero six hundred instead. Now get ready, we have ten chapters to read through today."

The Jedi Master placed her damaged chrono back on its shelf. He stood in place waiting for her to stand up. Ahsoka rolled her eyes at his actions and statement. She collected herself from the floor and threw her blanket back on the bed. Walking into the fresher, Ahsoka cleaned her teeth and washed her face. Upon leaving the fresher, she noted Master Kenobi had left, meaning he was most likely back in his quarters waiting on her. She checked the damaged chrono on the shelf.

Zero Seven Forty hours

Forty minutes late. Not off to a good start. That would mean they were probably going to have a working lunch today. How exciting and wonderful. She now wished she had simply gotten up when her alarm had gone off over an hour earlier.

"So much for hoping this was just a bad dream" she muttered.

Grabbing her datapads and previous night's assignment, she walked out of her quarters and traversed the short distance to his. Entering without knocking, she was surprised to see him already sitting down at the table, reading. The only thing on the table was a single meal pack in her spot across from him.

He wasn't going to eat breakfast with me?

Approaching the table, she placed her stack down and took her seat. Looking expectantly at him, Obi-Wan sensed her eyes on him and peered up from his reading.

"Aren't you going to have breakfast too?" she asked.

"I already ate." he answered simply.

At the mildly hurt expression on her face, Obi-Wan clarified his reason.

"I told you to be up early, you were not. Since I knew you were most likely still asleep, I ate without you."

"But you said we would eat together so I wouldn't be alone when I ate."

"In case you haven't noticed, I still have my own duties to attend to on top of what I am working on with you. As I said before, you were informed to be ready at a certain time. Since we will be arriving at the medical facility tonight, I took the opportunity to finalize the last of my reports for our injured and transfer once we reach Kaliida. I had hoped you would have been up by then considering it was already fifteen minutes past. The fact that it took me ten minutes to get you to wake up in the first place has not exactly made me amenable to your wants. "

"But you promised-" she began before being cut off.

"I won't put my schedule on hold to wait for you to get out of bed, padawan." Obi-Wan stated frankly.

She looked down from him and set her gaze on the meal pack before her. This would be a working breakfast, meaning that she wouldn't be able to fully wake up before starting her course material. Unwrapping her breakfast meal, Ahsoka stood and walked to the sink, filling a mug with water before returning to the table. Grabbing the datapad next to her, she pulled it up alongside her food and drink and powered it up. All the while she gave a hard stare in return.

Ignoring her obvious show of contempt, the bearded Jedi proceeded to open his personal datapad to the same chapter. He looked over her work and upon seeing it was completed to his liking, returned it to her. For the next four hours, the two Jedi worked continuously, pausing only for fresher breaks for both of them. During this time, Obi-Wan was grateful for the fact that Ahsoka was carrying herself with more maturity now. It made his job considerably easier and got her work done much faster. Twenty minutes before lunch hour, they had made it to the end of Chapter Fifteen. The halfway point, which meant that if the current pace continued, they could be theoretically done with this course by dinner. A lofty goal, but achievable.

"Since it is almost lunch hour, we will stop for the moment. I need to stretch and I would assume that you would like to as well." Obi-Wan said as he powered off his datapad.

"Yes please." She said as she did so and began stretching her arms.

Standing up from the mess table, the older Jedi stretched. His back was feeling rather tight. A symptom of old age as Anakin had once put it. Shaking his head in mild amusement, he turned back to the padawan still at the table. She was only now getting up and heading to the tap for water. Upon completing his stretching, Obi-Wan also walked over for water. Looking down at the teen next to him, he spoke of his goal for her.

"As you know, we are halfway through the chapter at the moment," he started, "Which means that, after we are done eating, we will be in a position to finish the entire course section tonight."

"Which would be wonderful." Ahsoka responded dramatically.

"Indeed. That means tomorrow will be your test. Do you feel you can accomplish this goal?" he said seriously.

"Pfft, without a doubt. This stuff is pretty easy." she responded conceitedly.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. He knew there was a bit of hubris in her tone, but actions speak louder than words. Cautiously, he shook his head in acknowledgement before turning back to the storage compartments to grab their lunch. Pulling out two packs, he placed them on the table in their respective spots. Ahsoka took her seat again and immediately unwrapped hers. It would seem her concerns about a working lunch were unfounded, something she was grateful for. Both ate in silence, and after ten minutes, finally finished their food. Pulling out the datapads again, the two began to work in earnest, picking up from where they had stopped. Six hours later, they were nearing the end of the course. Yet by now, Ahsoka was beginning to daydream. Obi-Wan observed her blank expression as they neared the last pages of the section.

"Are you paying attention?" he asked bluntly.

"Hmm?" she hummed, caught off guard.

"Focus Ahsoka. We are nearly done. Once we are, we will stop for dinner. Now, pay attention so I don't have to repeat myself."

"But this is so boring! I know everything I need to about this to pass. Can't we just skip it?"

"Much as I would like to, the last section contains important information for your assignment tonight."

"Ugh!" she said as she put her head down in exacerbation.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at her dramatics. Tapping on the table petulantly, the teen popped her head back up and looked up to see his impatient expression.

"Boring as it may be, you must still complete this section to pass your course. So I would advise you to pick your head up off the table and scroll down to section forty-nine so that we may finish."

Speaking under her breath, the togruta pushed herself back up. She looked through the passage before finally seeing where the older Jedi had indicated. Leaning on her elbow, she placed her chin in her palm and used her free hand to hold the datapad. While he wasn't exactly thrilled with what was most likely back talk under her breath, Obi-Wan did not wish to invite further delay and so resumed reading with her.

Of course of all the traits to have gleaned from Anakin, she picked up on his arrogance and impulsiveness. Obi-Wan thought to himself.

Finishing the last section thirty minutes later, both Jedi put their datapads down. Ahsoka took the opportunity to stand and walk over to fill her mug with water. Obi-Wan stretched before also standing to get himself a drink as well. As he did so, the Jedi Master opened the food storage compartment and retrieved their meals for dinner. Turning to her, he addressed the teen.

"Now that you're done with the reading, there are two assignments, twenty questions each that you are to complete tonight as your homework. I have read through them already. Tomorrow morning I will look through them."

"Forty questions?!"

Nodding his head, Ahsoka slouched in her seat. She sulked and crossed her arms.

"But that's going to take me forever to finish!"

"You were paying attention today correct?" he asked as he sat down.

She nodded her head.

"Then they will be easy for you to answer. Right on schedule for your bedtime."

Still not looking anywhere near appeased, Ahsoka settled into a mood as he passed her meal over. Aggressively tearing open the package, she kept her eyes locked on the meal. Obi-Wan frowned at this as he opened his meal up. The pouty expression she wore only served to prod at him. This was not going well. The teenage girl stole a glance at him, he caught it before she could quite look away. She had scowled at him and with her obstinate silence, gave him the notion she was boiling inside. Figuring that she was about halfway to a tantrum, Obi-Wan leaned in while she stuck a fork in her food. He fixed her with an equally determined look before speaking to her.

"Keep your attitude at bay young one. Remember, I am not here to be your friend. I am here to be your teacher and help you with your courses. When we are done with your studies, then I will be more than happy to make time to be more sociable with you. Until then, I expect you to stay focused on your work. Is that understood?"

"Sure thing, Master." She answered moodily.

"Would you care to try that again?" Obi-Wan said as he raised his eyebrow.

She shifted in her seat, refusing to meet his gaze. After all this time, he was still treating her like she was a bad child. Frustrating was a mild way to label it. She wanted to tell him off, but once again, that threat from Anakin was enough to keep her mouth shut. But wasn't enough to prevent her tone from slipping through.

"No." she answered sharply.

That was enough to get his teacher mode into high gear.

"Finish your dinner. When you are done, you will take your datapad and write out for me one hundred times I will not be disrespectful to my teachers."

"For what?!" she said incredulously.

"For starters, rolling your eyes at me, sassing me, your defiance, and now for raising your voice to me." He answered, sternly.

Looking back down at her food, she bit her tongue from letting her mouth run at him for such a punishment. She gripped her fork tightly and balled up her free hand into a fist under the table. She let out a loud sigh and opened up her hand, slowly letting the flare up of irritation disperse. It would be better for her in the long run anyway since having a tongue as sharp as hers had a tendency to get her in trouble.

"Yes Master" she replied through gritted teeth.

Shaking his head at her, Obi-Wan resumed eating his food. However, the sound of the young togruta obnoxiously eating her dinner poked at his sanity, though he kept his expression neutral. A few minutes later, she finished, much to his relief and as promised, began writing out her words using the built in stylus. He figured it would be at the least, fifteen or twenty minutes before she was done. With that time to himself to work, the older Jedi picked up two datapads and began working on them as he ate. Ahsoka took note of his actions, but remained silent. Around ten minutes had elapsed, by which time she had finished. Her hand was cramping after writing so quickly. Seeing her stop, Obi-Wan looked up from his work and peered down at her words. Her handwriting yesterday was nice and neat, but on the screen he could see she was virtually scribbling.

"Redo it" he said after examining the lines.

"What?! Why?!" she asked exasperatedly.

"Your handwriting from yesterday was neat and clearly legible. What you have on that screen right now is closer to womp rat scratch. Do it again. This time, neatly."

"You didn't say I had to do it neatly." She retorted unpleasantly.

"Did I really have to tell you to?" he asked pointedly.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Taking another deep breath, Ahsoka cleared out the lines she had written and began writing neatly, albeit while pressing down on the stylus. Obi-Wan watched her as she was doing so. He could just about hear the writing utensil scraping on the screen surface. Any harder and there was a good chance it would crack. Her hand gripped the stylus tightly, causing her pain, but she ignored it. Damn the sore muscles and damn him for making her do this. She became hyper focused on pressing down that she failed to notice the crack the utensil made. Obi-Wan quickly reached over and swiped it out of her hand, startling her.

"Corner. Now." he said as he picked up her datapad and checked the screen.

"I didn't mean to-" she started

"Yes you did mean to," he began, "You've also broken the stylus and damaged the screen. Now go to the corner. Do not make me repeat myself padawan or you will not like what happens."

Butterflies immediately fluttered in her stomach and she almost felt herself run at the wall. That implication was something she was very much inclined to avoid. Why had she done it? Why had she knowingly acted out? If she wasn't sure he would give a bad report on her behavior before, she was now. Regret and guilt filled her conscious as she obediently stood. Obi-Wan for the moment began to rub his temples. He had honestly believed Ahsoka wouldn't have been this much to handle. But with her master being his former padawan, the leap wasn't too far to be made. Placing the damaged devices down, he walked over to the solemn teen. Standing off to her side, he questioned her.

"Explain yourself." He said none-to-kindly.

"I'm sorry" she replied softly.

"I'm sure you are. Now explain yourself."

"I was upset. I didn't mean to break it Master. I really am sorry. Please don't tell Master Skywalker." she said miserably.

"It is not the Jedi way to let our emotions control us young one. For now, you will be staying here in this spot until I return with a replacement. As for whether or not I inform your master of your behavior is not up to you." Obi-Wan said as he turned away from her and picked up the broken datapad and stylus. Looking back at her one last time, he shook his head in disappointment before exiting the cabin.

Twenty minutes later he returned with the repaired datapad, courtesy of the electronics repair shop in the hangar. Upon entering his quarters he saw that Ahsoka had obediently remained in the corner as instructed. Calling her over to him, he placed the repaired device on the mess table and waited for her to sit down. Taking her seat, the togruta kept her head ducked, knowing that Obi-Wan was definitely upset.

"Be grateful for the fact that the electronics department was able to repair this. Now, since it is getting close to your bedtime, I want you to start on your homework right this instant. Whatever you do not finish tonight, you will wake up early tomorrow to finish. And if I so much as hear that stylus scrape on that screen, then you will be sleeping on your stomach tonight. Is that understood padawan?"

"Yes Master Kenobi." Ahsoka replied quickly, trying to keep the stripes on her lekku from darkening.

Placing the stylus next to the device, Obi-Wan pulled his chair out and sat perpendicular to her. She hesitantly picked up the writing instrument and after opening up her homework, began to answer the questions to the best of her ability. While the questions weren't particularly difficult, the sum total was taking its time. Before she knew it, the bearded Jedi spoke to her.

"Bedtime Ahsoka. How many questions do you have left?"

"Eleven." She answered nervously.

"Then you will wake up at zero six thirty tomorrow and finish them. Remember to set your alarm." he said as he stood up and took her datapad away.

"Yes Master" she answered quietly.

Taking that as her cue to leave, she stood up from the table. Ahsoka could only wonder what that report on her behavior would like for Anakin when he came back. She trudged out of the older Jedi's quarters and upon entering hers, slipped into her bedroom. She walked over to the shelf and picked up the scuffed chrono. Setting the alarm to the time he had specified, she placed it gently back down on the shelf. Climbing into bed and pulling her blanket over her head, her heart pounded in her chest. She hadn't intended on breaking the screen or the stylus. She had just been so frustrated at what he said. But at the same time, she knew he was right. Jedi weren't supposed to allow their emotions to dictate their actions. She could only hope Master Obi-Wan would have mercy on her for the conduct she had displayed tonight. But if he didn't, then there was always another option. One she hoped would work if it came down to it. Time seemed to move slowly and before she knew it, drowsiness began to overcome her. She figured maybe fifteen minutes passed before she finally slipped into unconsciousness, her mind entering a fitful sleep.

Tomorrow would be a better day…maybe.