Whoo, chapter two! …Stang, that rhymed, didn't it? Ugh. Oh, well. I've noticed my chapters are tending to be decently long in this story. It pleases me. Though I already anticipate chapter 3 will be comparatively rather short, but hey, they can't all be perfect. XD As a side note… YAY! The site listened to me! I sent in a suggestion for them to add Ahsoka to the character list, along with other Clone Wars people – Dooku, Rex, Ventress, Master Plo, Grievous – and today, they were all added! I feel accomplished. Yay for mine being the first story to list officially list Ahsoka as a character, as of 12:00 AM EST on October 13 when I noticed and added her on. :D Anyways, as usual, thanks for reading, and please review!

Chapter Two

Ahsoka had finally managed to cry herself out and, exhausted and aching, slip back off to sleep with the feline-thing – Keida called him Cerano – lying beside her. She'd drifted in and out of restless nightmares for a few hours, images of droids and spaceships and her Master and clones and flashes of color from blasters and sabers alike; things that muddled together in her mind, things she couldn't quite make sense of. Now she awoke with a whimper on her lips, roused again by voices, opening her eyes to find Cerano curled on her chest, nose-to-nose with her and purring. She moved one hand to stroke his soft fur while trying to make sense of what had penetrated her dreams – voices, yes, Keida and a man, outside the door to the room she was in. The house was small, she guessed, and her hearing was good; they were only a room away, and she didn't have to try to eavesdrop to manage it.

"What do you want me to do, Manny, we can't just turn her out now. She's hurt." Keida's voice, soft as ever. She had no doubt that it was her being discussed.

"We can't keep it here, either, Kei. Shouldn't have brought it here in the first place. Stars and galaxies, it's… it's an alien!" That was the man's voice now, and Ahsoka winced slightly at the tone, and the harsh word. That was insulting somehow, she knew that much, but she supposed she was in little position to be too badly offended.

"She is a Togruta, and her name is Ahsoka," Keida said pointedly. "Maybe if you'd take the time to actually look at her instead of just seeing 'the alien from the UFO crash'…"

"I've looked at her, Keida," the male voice – Manny? Or Manarin, Keida had said – responded. "She's red with… weird blue tentacle-horn things on her head," Ahsoka self-consciously lifted a hand to touch her head-tails – They're not 'weird'… are they? – "and white markin's. Definitely not Terranean. What am I supposed to see but an alien?" There was a pause. "What the heck is a 'Togruta' anyway?"

"I assume a Togruta is a red-skinned humanoid with white markings and little striped horns and… tentacle things on their head," Keida replied coolly. "Much like the young member of the species who is recovering on the pullout in there." Another pause. "Don't look at me like that, Manny; you did ask."

"Ha ha." She heard footsteps, like someone was pacing – too heavy for Keida; must be Manarin. "So… how is she, then? …Don't you grin at me like that, woman, I just want to know how soon we can get her out of here is all. I want my study back."

"One of these days you're going to finish growing that heart of yours, and then we're all going to be shocked." Keida sounded amused.

"Answer the question, Kei, before I decide I don't care."

Ahsoka heard Keida sigh slightly. "She's… better. I'm certainly no doctor…"

"Coulda fooled me."

"But, the fact that she awoke long enough to talk a bit is encouraging. I think she still has a slight fever, though – but, maybe her core temperature is just higher than ours, I've no way to know. She's still quite weak, though, and the poor dear's in a lot of pain…" It was odd to hear people talk about her like this, and she was struck with the sudden feeling that she was intruding on their privacy – after all, they didn't know she could hear them. She tried to block the voices out, taking advantage of the opportunity to assess her own condition herself.

Well, her head hurt, and her mind still felt… hazy, fuzzy. Like there was a cloud blurring her thoughts; something just seemed… off. It was an odd feeling – she assumed it would fade in time… hopefully. She moved her attention to other issues. Her side was aching, as was her stomach, and her chest hurt every time she tried to take a bit too deep of a breath. Ugh, I'm a mess. She tested all her limbs, making a mental checklist of what still worked. Left shoulder hurt – lingering ache, maybe she'd sprained it. Right arm was okay. All fingers were functional. Right leg was fine. Left leg… she barely managed to stifle a cry of pain, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes tightly; Cerano gave a concerned mew, and she shushed him, not wanting to make any noise yet to let them know she was awake. Stang, that hurts… She caught the last bit of what Keida was saying, despite herself: "That leg's going to take a while to heal, though; it'd definitely broken, she really took a beating…" No kidding, Ahsoka thought wryly. Note to self: moving leg bad idea. Let's not try that one again anytime soon.

As the distraction of the pain faded, the conversation outside her door tuned back in. "So, what did you find out, talkin' to her? I mean… agh. Why is there a Tag… Terg… Tog… eh, whatever you called her. Why is there one in my study?"

There was a pause. "I'm not sure. She's pretty shook up… pretty disoriented. It took her a while to even come up with her name. I'll admit, she asked more questions than answered them, though who can blame her… and she seemed really upset when I told her we didn't know where the 'Skywalker' person is; after that, I didn't feel right questioning her."

Another pang jolted Ahsoka's heart at the sound of the name. She'd never known it was possible to feel such… emptiness, just because someone's presence was missing from her. Is this what Master Yoda was talking about when he told me about Force Bonds? The thought was a bit sudden, a bit surprising. A memory she couldn't quite link to anything, but she knew the name and she knew the term and she knew somehow this was the best explanation. She shoved the curious fact that here was yet another 'Master' to the back of her mind – he was not her Master – and instead chose to store away this memory for consideration and analysis later. Because now Manarin was talking again, and curiosity won out over propriety.

"Oh, him again? Man, that guy's all she can think about, even when she's dang delirious. Did she say who he is, finally?"

"Not really," Keida admitted. "Just that he was a 'human' – she said like us, so I guess he looks Terranean…" Well that was a strange thought, they weren't human? Or maybe they just wanted to differentiate themselves by planet, she didn't know. "But all she'd really say is that he was her 'master'. Best I can guess, all things considered, is that she's some sort of slave and he's the man who owns her, but… I don't know; the idea seemed to upset her." Ahsoka frowned slightly. No, 'slave' just… wasn't right. No one 'owned' her.

"Well, you wouldn't like it if someone accused you of being a slave girl right after you'd woken up from a near-death experience by crash landin', either, I'd wager." For some reason, this made her giggle slightly. "But, what's really buggin' me is… what's a kid like her doing pilotin' a UFO alone, anyways? I mean… where is this 'master' of hers? Unless her folk are just naturally that little, she's gotta be a kid. And who puts a kid in a spaceship alone and sends 'em off at a random planet? And then… how'd she crash, anyways? Somethin' about this just don't seem right." Ahsoka felt an odd mixture of affront and uncertainty. So what if she was young? She could take care of herself! …Claims the girl who hardly knows her own name and is confined to bed barely able to move after her blinking pod crashed.

"I don't think she was piloting anything; I think that thing was an escape pod," Keida answered thoughtfully. There was a pause, and then she cleared her throat. "Or, well, something of the sort. I mean, it looked too small to be an actual spaceship. Aren't they supposed to be big things?"

"How could you tell, the thing was so beat up… besides, you never know, what with all the fancy technology aliens are supposed to have, and… oh, dang it, not my point. There's a freakin' alien kid taking up the pull-out bed, Keida. She fell out of the sky and crashed in the plains and you went and dragged her home like… like some sorta stray kiflu. It's only a matter of time before one of the hands figures out somethin's going on.There's been three Agents out at the crash already; sooner or later someone's gonna to come here to see what we know, and we're keepin' an injured alien in my study. How can you act like this ain't completely insane?"

Keida never got the chance to answer. A strange sound interrupted their talking, an odd, high-pitched ring that echoed in Ahsoka's montrals and made her wince. What was that, some sort of alarm? "Whoops, I got it," Keida announced. "Manny, go check on Ahsoka, please? Come on, if she's going to be here, the least you can do is make nice. And if she wakes up, you can take a look at her leg; you know more about that sort of thing than I do…" and her voice faded; Ahsoka could only assume she walked away. She heard Manarin grumbling and a creak from the door as he moved to open it, so she hurriedly closed her eyes and pretended she was still asleep.

Cerano meowed as Manarin walked into the room. Ahsoka could hear his footsteps – he walked heavily, or maybe the hard floor and small room just made the sound seem louder – but something felt off. Not about him – about her. She could sense his movements, of course, she always could, but… that was oddly hazy, too. Vague, uncertain. Like the fog in her mind was fogging her spatial sense too, and this was a very strange feeling for the young Togruta. She kept her eyes closed as she puzzled over this and the footsteps halted beside the bed. Cerano meowed again.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya, skelti. Hush up, you'll wake the kid," the man said, his voice politely quiet, and Ahsoka felt a slight pang of guilt for the charade – she just didn't know how to face these unfamiliar people right now, wasn't ready for another question-and-answer session. Cero faded back into purring, and for a moment that was the only sound. Then Manarin's voice came again, still quiet. "Don't know what the big deal is, darn woman. I seen you when we brought you in here. S'not like you need people to watch you sleep. I don't like it when people watch me sleep, it creeps me out."

Cerano meowed and was shushed a third time, so he proceeded to nudge her pointedly; Ahsoka wasn't sure whether she wanted to grin or sigh at the creature. Oh, well… it was an excuse to 'wake up' – she still didn't much want to, but she felt guilty. She felt she pulled off a pretty good yawn-and-stretch act – inasmuch as she could comfortably stretch – and moved one hand to pet Cerano as she opened her eyes. "Hey, little guy…"

"Darn skelti, I told you you'd wake the kid," Manarin muttered, and Ahsoka looked over at him. She wasn't exactly sure what she'd expected, but whatever it was, he wasn't it. Manarin was tall and appeared strong, but somehow, he didn't look as… intimidating, as she'd thought he would. His short, slightly spiky hair was a dark blonde color with just the slightest hints of grey, and his eyes were green and had a sort of mischievous glint to them. He wore a vest and trousers vaguely reminiscent of farmers she'd seen once on Naboo.

"Oh… uh… hi," she tried hesitantly, self-consciousness flooding back as her mind reminded her that this was the man who thought her a weird, tentacle-horned alien creature who was infringing on his room.

"…Hey." There was a short but very awkward silence, broken when Cerano got irritated by the fact that her hand was resting on his head but doing no scratching of his ears and proceeded to mrow and nudge at her hand in protest. Manarin frowned. "Dang thing's so needy. Can't stop pettin' him for a minute else he goes nuts."

Ahsoka smiled slightly, resuming petting the creature. "He's cute."

"Eh, I guess." Silence again. This time, Manarin broke it. "You speak Common. Didn't expect that, to tell the truth."

She blinked. "Common? You mean Basic?"

"No, I mean Common. But I guess maybe it's the same thing, I dunno. Point is, I didn't expect you to understand our language."

Ahsoka wasn't too sure how to respond to that. "Well, uh… I do." She paused. "It's, uh… it's the standard language… most everyone knows it."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." More silence. Ahsoka fidgeted a bit; Manarin cleared his throat.

"I'm Ahsoka," she finally offered, feeling an introduction couldn't hurt.

"I know. I mean, Kei told me. I, um… I'm Manarin. Manny, really." He hesitated a moment, then glanced around the room, grabbing a small wooden chair and pulling it over so he could sit in it. "I guess this is interestin', when I really think about it… I never met an alien before."

She frowned slightly, despite herself. "I'm not an alien," she said softly, "I'm a Togruta."

"That's pretty 'alien' to me, kid," he responded. "All we've got here are Terraneans, and none of us fell out of the sky. 'Togruta', you said?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

He nodded. "Interestin' word. I'll forget it by tomorrow. And the name's nice, 'Ahsoka', but I don't say it like you do." It was true: Manny had an odd accent, which made her name sound a bit awkward when coming from his mouth; he drawled his vowels a bit too much. "I hate when people butcher my name, so I ain't gonna do it to you. Since you don't like 'alien', I think I'm just gonna call you 'kid'. Better'n nothin'."

She blinked, not sure how she felt about that. "Well… it's… better than 'alien', I guess," she conceded begrudgingly, earning herself her first grin from the man.

"Well, then, kid, Kei's gone and told me it's my job to see how you're leg's patchin' up."

She frowned. "It hurts," she stated simply.

"I'd figured that. But that ain't quite enough information, really. So I'm gonna have to take a look." It took her a second to figure out exactly why he was saying this and looking at her like that – Oh. She blushed slightly. Except for blankets and bandages, she wore nothing but a cloth tied into a loose skirt. Torso-wise, bandages covered everything she might worry about – but he didn't know that, and what with that and the length of the 'skirt' he probably wanted permission, to make sure he wouldn't offend her. She nodded slightly.

He was surprisingly gentle as he rearranged the blankets, keeping her covered as best he could while still granting himself access to the leg in question. He stifled a whistle; she risked a glance down and soon wished she didn't. She'd been bandaged and splinted, but it was still clear where her leg was swollen, and there was blood on the bandages – not fresh, but it was still enough to make her look away quickly. He noticed.

"Don't look pretty, I know… but don't worry, kid, it'll heal. I may not look it, but I know a thing or two 'bout broken bones." He knelt beside the bed, trailing his eyes over her leg before reaching out to gently shift it for a better look; she winced and gave a small hiss of pain. "Sorry." He cocked his head slightly. "Gonna be a while before you're walkin' on this regular again, though, I'll tell ya that."

She didn't like that idea. "Don't you, like… have any bacta or something?"

"What's bacta?" he asked, and she blinked.

"Bacta… is… well, it's a… medical… substance, that you… you put it on a wound, and it makes it heal faster. Like… really fast." She felt awkward, trying to explain it – she'd never had to explain something so common and well-known as bacta. "It's got something to do with tissue regeneration… I'm not really sure."

"We don't got anything like that around here," Manny said. "Wish we did, sounds like good stuff." He shook his head. "Nope, it's good old-fashioned natural healin' for you, kid." She sighed. "I'm gonna have to get some stuff to re-do this splint for ya." Manny stood back up. "Um… do you want anything? You hungry?"

Now that he mentioned it, she was. "Yeah, actually."

He nodded. "What do… Togruta? What do you Togruta eat?"

She shrugged one shoulder, wincing slightly at the sting of it – wrong shoulder. "What do you have?"

He thought for a moment. "You like fruit? We got a lot of fruit… got an orchard. Bread, meat… I dunno, we're food-farmers here." He mimicked her act of shrugging one shoulder. "I'll bring ya a bit of everything, we'll see what you like." And with that he headed out the door, and she leaned back against the pillows with a sigh and petted Cerano the skelti as he lay back down beside her. She missed her Master and she was rather confused and she still didn't know where she was, and every passing moment was convincing her that this was going to be a very strange experience. When I said I wanted experience… this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.