Here we go, new chapter. Yay. Sorry it took so long – I blame college. I also think this one's a bit short – it was going to be longer, actually, but I wound up deciding a bit past where I end this one that if I didn't split it in half it would 1) take even longer to get out, and B) be like twice as long as any other chapter I'd yet posted. So I split it – which might explain the ending, which I feel is a bit awkward, but originally there was more to this which has now been moved to the next chapter. So there you go. Oh, side note. To all of you who keep asking where Artoo is. I'm not going to tell you; that would ruin it! :P No, but seriously. I am aware he's mysteriously missing. This is actually intentional. It's not an authorial oversight; don't worry, I know exactly where our favorite little droid is and this issue will be solved when the time comes. So, please keep reviewing, and as always, thanks for reading!

Chapter Six

Cooking was oddly therapeutic. It was a bit surprising, really – Ahsoka had never cooked anything before. It was all dry rations or pre-prepared food or things made by droids or sometimes the Masters at the Temple or something bought at a market or a cantina, at least half of which was more pre-prepared stuff. Cooking, real cooking, had kind of become a lost art, at least among those who travelled between planets without settling down on one. She'd never thought about it much before, but it was a bit of a pity, because cooking really was strangely calming, and home-cooked food was undeniably good.

Keida had been surprised when Ahsoka had told her that she'd never really cooked before, and she had determined to teach her immediately. "Every girl should know how to cook! The men will never learn, so it's up to us to provide food that's actually nutritious." Ahsoka wasn't sure how she felt about that statement – why should it be the girl's responsibility to make sure the guys ate right? – but she couldn't deny that this was an enjoyable thing to do. She was currently involved in chopping karrots, while Keida was cutting up some strong-smelling vegetables called onions into small bits. They were making stew for the night's supper. It was a silent affair – save for the sounds of the knives on the chopping boards – but not uncomfortably so, at least not for Ahsoka. She was thinking, and silence was good for that.

She'd learned a lot the previous night. She wasn't sure what to do with the knowledge, but she'd learned a lot. That is, after Keida had finished 'freaking out', as Manny referred to it, overcome with relief to see Ahsoka was alright. It had taken manifold reassurances of her safety to calm the woman, who had seemed quite in a thither about her having been outside when the Agents arrived and how lucky it was she'd managed to hide quickly enough – "Luck nothing," Manny had argued, "I had to haul her into the barn like a sack of vegetables, kid was all concerned with askin' questions." But they'd eventually calmed Keida down, and then the explanations had started.

"Who were those people?" Ahsoka had felt like some broken holo-recording, repeating the same question yet again.

"Agents of the Terranean Alliance," Manny had answered, which hadn't seemed like much of an answer at all. Ahsoka had blinked at him, expectantly, and after a moment he'd expounded. "The Terranean Alliance is our government. Most people just call 'em the Alliance – or Allies, sometimes, informally. The Agents are kinda like… like the elite police force or somethin'." He frowned. "They're the guys you really don't want comin' to your house and askin' you questions, 'cause that's when you know you're in trouble."

It had been easy enough to make the connection. "You're in trouble… because of me?"

"Oh, sweetie, it's not your fault," Keida was quick to assure her. "It's just… well…"

"You aren't supposed to be here," Manny interjected, then after a moment seemed to realize how that sounded when Keida glared at him. "Not 'here' like with us here… I mean 'here' on this planet here. People aren't supposed to randomly show up in spaceships… or, well, crash in them, I guess…"

"It was an escape pod, not exactly a ship," she admitted, out of some weird desire to defend her piloting abilities – you couldn't exactly 'pilot' an escape pod; it hadn't been her fault it had crashed like that. "The ship itself was… damaged." With a slight jolt of surprise, she'd realized for the first time that hers was the only vessel she'd heard about crashing – had Master Skywalker managed to get the ship away to safety? Maybe he wasn't even on this planet – that thought brought an odd mixture of despair and relief all at once. Or maybe the ship didn't even make it to the planet to crash… no, she'd been over this before, he wasn't dead. Just… missing.

"Oh?" Keida looked a bit interested at this new information – and strangely triumphant, Ahsoka thought. "I thought it was rather small for an actual spacecraft."

Manny shot her a look. "Yeah, good for you. Not the point. Point is, you ain't supposed to be here, kid… far as this place's concerned, you're not even supposed to exist. And that's more'n enough to send them Agents out here lookin' for ya." He paused then, looking as if something had just occurred to him. "Don't know why it took 'em so long, either – I'd had thought they'd be here a lot sooner, we're the only place for miles on the Plain, and definitely closest to where your ship-pod-thing crashed… an' comin' on Sunday, when all the hands got the day off, I'd have thought they'd wanna come on a day they could question 'em…"

"Maybe they had other concerns," Keida said quickly, "bigger things to worry about. They are the government, after all, and with everything going on here right now, this is probably just a small concern, a bit of… space-debris landing here. For all anyone knows it's just a downed aircraft or something."

"A small concern? Keida, an alien fell out of the sky in the middle of the night in some sorta 'escape pod'. There's no way they coulda seen that thing and thought it was just random junk – or an aircraft? We don't got anything like that, and if we do, they'd be the ones that knew about it. If they really thought it was a downed plane, they wouldn't have asked us about a downed plane; that was a cover story and you know it."

"Of course I do, but only because we have proof it wasn't just a plane. Besides, maybe they didn't think anything was in it. I mean, they didn't ask if we'd found anything living, they just asked if we'd seen anything odd or knew anything about an aircraft crashing… at least, that's what they asked me. Nothing about an alien or anything specific…"

"Well of course they're not just gonna out and ask 'Y'all seen any space aliens around here lately? We think we might have lost one.' That'd go over real well to the general public…"

Feeling a bit forgotten and beginning to get a little irritated at the word 'alien' being thrown around so much again in reference to her, Ahsoka had cleared her throat and raised one hand to interject. "Uh, excuse me, still here. Still confused."

Manny looked over at her. "Sorry, Red. Anyways, like I was sayin' outside… they're lookin' for you. Don't know why they're so sure somethin' survived that – I wouldn't have thought it, seein' the mess that thing was. Or you when we found you, to tell the truth. But, they were askin' enough questions, an' I don't doubt they'll be back, tryin' to search the place again."

A glance at Keida's expression had been all Ahsoka needed to know that she agreed. It had been a weird feeling, the mix of guilt and responsibility Ahsoka felt about all of this – the knowledge that this trouble was her fault, even if she'd had absolutely no intention of causing this sort of thing, or any control over it happening. "Well… I mean, uh… if… if it's me that they want… then why'd you make me hide? I mean… I'll talk to them, I don't mind… I can answer their questions. Maybe they'll even be able to help me get back where I'm supposed to be." It had felt like it should make sense. Of course the government was curious about her, they'd never seen a Togruta before, but if she just talked to them, explained the situation… they should know, shouldn't they; the government should be told, about the galaxy and the war and the… everything. And then they could help her find her Master, and get home. It made sense. But Manny was looking at her in a way that made the idea seem a lot stupider than it had felt, and even Keida looked uncertain.

"They don't want to talk to you, Red." It was said so matter-of-factly that it left her feeling silly for the suggestion.

"Then what…"

"They'll want to study you."

She blinked. "…'Study' me? Well, that… I mean, what, height and weight and midi-chlorian counts and things? I can tell them all that…" Manny stared at her blankly for a moment, while Keida narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

"Midi… whatsits? Oh, it don't matter. That's not what they'd be after. I mean, yeah, they'd want to measure you and weigh you and what-not, but… look, I know you don't like it, but on this planet, you're an alien, kid. Chances are they wouldn't be stoppin' at just takin' a good look at you. They'd want to know what you are, how you work. They'd wanna know what you can do, what you can't, an' what it all means. They'd turn you into a science experiment. They'd drag you off to a lab somewhere to do all the testin' that they do, I dunno, I ain't no scientist. But they'd poke ya and they'd prod ya and they'd test ya and when they were done with whatever use you are alive, they'd probably dissect you to figure out how your insides are set up an' all that junk."

"Manny!" Keida scolded, for Ahsoka was staring at him, eyes wide in horror at the thought and a shade or two paler than normal. "We don't know that they'd do any of that… in fact, they likely wouldn't… you're a little girl, surely they'd… I don't know, consider things…"

Manny sighed heavily. "Yeah, right, consider 'em and toss 'em out. I doubt they'd care she's a kid; she's an alien first." He looked back over at Ahsoka. "Look, I'm bein' blunt and honest here. But this is why lettin' 'em take you is not a solution. Leastways not one I'm considerin'." Though at this point that wasn't exactly a surprise, it was still a giant relief to hear it said; Ahsoka relaxed noticeably, leaning back in her chair.

"Then… what is a solution? If they're going to come back… I don't want to cause you any more trouble." And Manny smirked at her.

"From what I've seen, Red, you're just a walkin' ball of trouble anyways; I don't think it's avoidable." She wasn't sure whether to glare at him or laugh – hadn't Master Skywalker told her the same thing before? In the end it had made her smile, either way. "I don't know what we're gonna do, but we'll think of somethin'. An' in the meantime, we ain't gonna worry about it anymore'n we have to."

So here she was, chopping karrots and trying not to worry. It was easier said than done. She'd taken to the habit of repeating the old five-line mantra in her head, over and over, reminding herself of the Jedi Code. She liked the older version better, though they'd been taught the newer one at the Temple – the 'there-is-no' version, she'd once called it, to the amusement of the other Younglings and the disapproval of the Master teaching it to them. 'There is no, there is…' it seemed a fitting title to her, but apparently it was disrespectful. But she'd found the old, original version in an old datacard in one of the Temple libraries, and preferred it; after all, didn't it all mean the same thing? This one just didn't seem so… forbidding, in its wording.

Emotion, yet peace. She wished this one were easier to pull off. It was hard to turn all the emotions she was feeling right now into peace – they needed a lot of sorting, first. But she couldn't just ignore them; she'd have to work this through. She'd have to find the peace amongst the emotions. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Then again, sometimes ignorance really was bliss. Things were a lot more complicated, the more 'knowledge' she gained. But, this was a good thing – as Master Yoda said, one's mind was their greatest weapon, and knowledge would bring her the power she needed to work it all out. Passion, yet serenity. She still wasn't exactly sure what that one entailed. Didn't it basically say the same thing as the first one? 'Serenity' was basically the same thing as 'peace', she thought. But if they'd added it in, it must be different somehow, important in some way. She assumed it was one of those she would figure out with time and training. Chaos, yet harmony. Another tricky one to understand – as far as she could figure it was a matter of cosmology. Everything was in harmony, no matter how chaotic it seemed – and that meant Terrania, too. This planet was a part of the whole, and the Force was here too, even if it was hazy and clouded. The idea was a comfort. Death, yet the Force. The one she wasn't sure she'd ever fully understand – until it was her time to, and she would admit, she wasn't exactly in any rush for that. And it began again.

"That's probably enough karrots," Keida's voice broke into her mental mantra. "Add them to the pot and then we can start peeling the spuds." She nodded to the little heap of oddly-shaped brown vegetables; she'd called them 'potatoes' earlier – Ahsoka wasn't sure which was the proper term.

"Okay," Ahsoka responded, obediently turning to dump the chopped veggies into the pot of water and seasonings. She stirred the contents with the ladle for a moment, mixing the karrots in – they didn't really need to be mixed, but she did it anyway, an idle fidget. Then she turned back to Keida, and the next few minutes were spent in more lessons as Keida taught her how to safely peel the vegetables – "Always hold the blade away from yourself; many a one's got nicks on their fingers for peeling the wrong way," – and then they faded into silence again.

Keida had been rather quiet ever since the conversation the previous evening. It was a bit strange; usually she was quite talkative and Ahsoka had a hard time getting a word in edgewise. But since last night she'd hardly said a word to her outside of cooking lessons, and something in the back of Ahsoka's mind wondered vaguely if she'd done something wrong, if Keida was upset with her. Somehow, though, that wasn't the feeling she was getting, untrustworthy as her Force-sense may have become. She had no idea how to broach the subject, and so she didn't, and let the silence continue.

They'd gotten about halfway through the stack of vegetables when they heard the voices outside. Manny was shouting, and another voice with him – Ahsoka assumed one of the farmhands – and someone was shouting back. "Oh, no, they're not back already…" Keida exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "I… come on, Ahsoka, we need to… hide you, somewhere, quick."

But Ahsoka didn't move. She'd frozen in place, half-peeled potato in one hand with knife still in it, listening. The third voice… she couldn't quite make it out, what the words were, but it wasn't muffled like the Agents' voices had been. And there was no Force barrier around this presence – quite the opposite. She knew that voice. She knew that presence. Vegetable and knife clattered to the floor; she was on her feet and heading for the door before she'd even quite registered the movement. "Ahsoka, wait!" But that wasn't an option.

If her leg hurt, she barely noticed; she was probably limping without the crutch but it didn't slow her down much this time. She hardly paused to turn the doorknob – what sort of doors had knobs? They should just slide open; that would be so much easier – all but flinging the door open, vaguely aware that Keida had come after her but not slowing to explain. It occurred to her too late that it might not be a good thing for the farmhands to see her, but she had to admit, she didn't care one bit what was a 'wise' idea right now.

"I told y'all yesterday I ain't lettin' ya on my property without a warrant, now get out of here!" Manny was shouting, and the man he was shouting at was shouting back, "I wasn't here yesterday; I don't know what you're talking about! Just tell me if she's here!" and one of the farmhands was standing between them as if hoping he might be able to stop a fight from breaking out, looking baffled and trying to get a word in between all the yelling. Her voice interrupted all three.

"Master!" Manny whirled, looking shocked to see her and either angry or afraid, she couldn't tell; the farmhand gawked at her, exclaiming loudly in a language she didn't recognize; and behind her Keida was saying something, some sort of explanation or excuse. But her eyes locked with Anakin's, and he shoved past the other two men, ignoring Manny's protest, and caught her up in his arms, and she thought vaguely that he must have been really worried, because he wasn't usually one for hugs. The three Terraneans were talking, but she tuned out their voices; she only cared to listen to him.

"Damnit, Snips, I've been looking all over for you," and the words were scolding but there was nothing but relief in his tone. "When I saw that pod…" She tilted her head to glance up at him.

"I had you scared, huh?" Her voice was teasing, but sounded shaky to her ears.

"Me? Scared? Of course not." He tightened his arms around her. "But never do that again." She returned the embrace and nodded. Things were still complicated – and possibly now moreso, because she could hear the farmhand still exclaiming while Manny tried to calm him down – and she might get in trouble for it but she'd worry about all that later, because for the first time since landing on this planet she finally felt whole and safe again, and with her Master here she could at last believe that things would turn out alright.