AN: I've been sick...I really hate being sick. But I still updated. :) Enjoy!
"Oh, not a good idea, not good at all." Ahsoka murmured to herself, nervously righting her position. The lake lay below her, gleaming and still as always. This was a room in the Temple, one of the eight year old's favorites. Her friend, Alia, looked up with scared, puppy-brown eyes. They hung just below the turboshaft, thanks to Ahsoka's shortcut to class. But maybe this wasn't the greatest ideas for a shortcut. Maybe it was downright stupid. Ahsoka berated herself silently, half intent on her insults, half on getting out of this mess.
Ahsoka reached a trembling hand to Alia, straining to hang onto the thin wire. Alia looked at her friend's hand dubiously, like she was wondering if she should actually trust her friend. The wire cut marks into her skin, but she ignored that. Right now, she feared something slightly more important. A deep rumbling was like a distant bell, screaming "Do you remember me? I'm part of the danger!"
"Um, Ahsoka?" Alia asked, her voice albeit wobbly, "There's a turbolift coming, and I, uh, I...what's your idea?" The deafening noise was louder now, looming over them. Ahsoka, disgusted, muttered to herself silently, Wow, great way to die.
"Well, I'm really sorry, Alia, but let go!" Ahsoka's fingers uncurled and she was falling blindly into the lake, blindly to her death. She clung to nothing, only the vague knowledge that her 'great idea' was dumb. Hurtling through the air, she hit the water with a sickening splat and a rush of pain traveling from her stomach. She shuddered slightly as the water immersed her, drenching and cleansing her. Alia's body shot through the water next to her, and Ahsoka grabbed her friend's shoulder. She swam to the top quickly, and when she burst out the water, her breathing was harsh and hurried.
Alia's glare was hostile, but the two swam out of the lake, and dripping, ran through the halls to their class, an unspoken agreement that it would just be best to remain quiet for now with each other. Ahsoka swallowed her apologies, knowing Alia would never accept them, and when they arrived at class, she would take the blame. That is, if she had to.
"Hello, Master Yoda." Ahsoka said, ignoring the sloshing water in her boots. She tried to take her place, but Yoda's heavy-lidded eyes stopped her without words. There was silence, deafening silence, for a moment.
"Go to your quarters, Youngling, you will." Ahsoka's lekku, her only way to really blush, turned a slight more vivid blue as some of the others stared at her, snickering behind their hands. It wasn't fair that she always got bored of doing the same old things, was it? She wanted to try something more...she always was. Just the past week ago, she taught herself reverse Shien grip, something very few did. And yet...she could never just quietly meditate. So if, if was a pretty small word in this case, it was do or not, if she got kicked out, where would she go? What would she do? Somehow, Ahsoka got the feeling that she could never just be a farmer. "Youngling." Yoda repeated in a sharper voice that obviously meant 'go'. Ahsoka beckoned to Alia to follow, but Yoda said, "Stay her, Alia will."
Ahsoka, rather dejected, rather angry, walked down the hall. She kept her small shoulders square, but she could feel desolate atmosphere everywhere. So intent on her glum, Ahsoka didn't realize another person in the hall.
"Youngling?" The voice was deep, on edge, but there was a touch of compassion there. The compassion wasn't for her, Ahsoka observed. Rather, for whoever he cared about. The male - human - was about fifteen standard years. His brown Padawan braid slapped against his shoulder, and his fiery blue eyes landed on her heavily. Ahsoka stared at him. He was obviously irritated by being defied - it wasn't something he was used to - and he stared at her reluctantly. Then Ahsoka remembered him. Anakin Skywalker. Oh, yeah.
"Can you move?" The boy asked. Ahsoka could tell he was awed that a mere, small eight year old could stand there stubbornly without shrinking away. But Ahsoka did. Besides, this boy was linked to something inside of her, something very important. Her future. She could see he knew it, too, but didn't know if to accept it or not.
He didn't. He brushed by her, barely looking back into the two hopeful, shining eyes, bluer than his own. Ahsoka found something else. He wasn't going to remember her. But she would.
"The youngling should have one more chance." Master Plo said decisively, speaking of Ahsoka to the council. Again. No one mentioned the girl's past chances, all taken and faded.
"Yes." It was Yoda. He leaned against his gimer stick thoughtfully, "Reminds me of another problem, she does. Fix the problems, they can." No one asked for more detailed advice, for they all knew who Yoda spoke of. The reckless boy Anakin Skywalker was a Knight, fully capable of taking on a Padawan. The fourteen year old Togruta and he would probably do well with each.
Master Plo shifted before standing, giving Yoda a chance to reject the plan, "I'll bring her." He volunteered, praying that the situation would work out for the child's sake. She was special, to him and to the galaxy.
"Ahsoka?" It was Master Plo, Ahsoka thought rather nervously. Was she out of the Temple yet? What would they do, "Come with me." Ahsoka stepped outside, glancing at her friend reproachfully, hoping for a chance to redeem herself. They walked through the halls to the Council, but Plo remained silent. No information was offered.
In the High Council, everything was orderly. The same, all of the Masters there who would meditate, who liked to meditate. "Tano," Master Windu began, "You have been apprenticed to Master Skywalker. You will travel to Christophious and inform them of an emergency. Details will be given when you contact us."
Ahsoka nearly choked, "I'm a Padawan?" Her face stretched into a wide grin, something that all the masters ignored. Only Shaak Ti gave her something, a string of silka beads to hang on her lekku.
"Your Padawan braid." She said quietly, "You are dismissed, Padawan Tano."
Padawan Tano. See? I can amount to something.