Ahsoka's POV

I plucked tiny crumbs from my eyes, barely sustaining consciousness. I must have been the only one able to fall asleep, after what just happened. The faint figure of the familiar base drifted further and further backward into the snow mounds, plumes of smoke still visible over top of the peaks.

The pod was very cramped quarters; besides a control panel and two benches sitting on opposite sides of the structure- the pod was a place you could not get comfortable in. I sat squished in between Anakin and an anonymous clone, both battle hardened and bruised.

Obi-Wan's deep groans spread across the pod every now and then. Of course, they were muffled the odd time from the control panels alerts. Rex stood in front of us, fiddling with the controls. "Increasing our speed" he said plainly when we hit a hill, though I still believed we kept our pace the same; slow and bumpy.

I placed my head on Anakin's shoulder pad, looking for a soft nook to settle into. Anakin sat emotionless, glaring over at his sickly Master. His eyes filled with racing memories and regret. I only thought of how Shmi was getting along with the order.

She was only six months, right? It's not like she can "do" anything yet.

The pod dove abruptly down to a swell of snow. Crystal snow blasted against the glass, recreating a hose's effect on a flat surface. Obi-Wan groaned once more, switching sides on his bench.

I hope she's not giving the order a rough time up there.

"Shuttle is straight ahead, sir." Rex affirmed, glancing back to Anakin for a quick second. He grunted in agreement, leaning backward against the wall. I was forced to adjust again, pinching my neck in the process. I swallowed in pain.

They can't be in more of a rough time than me, right now.

Luckily, the shuttle travelled back to Coruscant faster than the pod. Anakin immediately disbanded what was left of the troops when we entered the temple and left to bed.

"Snips, I'm dusted. What about you?" Anakin groggily asked, hiding a very obvious yawn. "You looked pretty tired on the pod."

"Um, I think I'll walk around for a while. I heard they replaced the curtains around here." I joked. Anakin himself knew I was going to see Shmi, so he laughed meekly and said goodbye. I really could go for a nap right now, but some things are better than a well-deserved sleep.

I took a quick trip through the newly repaired north corridor, straight to the nursery. I had never been so excited to see Shmi since her birth. I don't know if it was the time I was away or just because, but I lengthened my walk to into a run, eventually to full blown lunges.

A smile beamed across my face as I glided the nursery door open. I pranced into the room, expecting to see Shmi's glowing face. To my sadness and confusion, I found her crib to be empty. I rummaged hopefully through the soft blankets, only to find nothing.

I sped around through the doorway down the hall. Where could she be? I peered through open doorways as I passed. This really was more time saving then entering and exiting each of them.

I was losing hope. It was not like an infant can leave the temple un-announced. Thinking the worst of possibilities, I backtracked to the closed infirmary.

My sweaty hands jiggled the doorknob open eventually. The startled faces of Master Windu and Master Gallia greeted me as I strutted into the infirmary. I tried to wet my pasty mouth before speaking to the two jedi.

"H-have you seen Shmi? She is not in the nursery and-"

I lost all feeling to speak as the two warriors stepped aside, revealing a small child in an incubator, covered in clear tubes: Shmi.

My mouth dropped as I inched closer to her. She was in a soft sleep. Her eyes spat open in alarm when the machine stationed next to her beeped shrilly.

"Padawan Tano, I am afraid we have some disturbing news. Shmi's blood levels have dropped drastically since your departure."

Master Gallia rested a comforting hand on my shoulder. I glared back and forth between the two of them. This did not make any sense: countless medical droids assured me her health was top notch.

I found breathe for words. "Do you know why?"

"Well, we ran several tests whilst you were gone, but still the answer is blurred." Master Gallia handed me a pad of medical records. Each one inscribed with a daily blood record. It had been true; her blood had been losing midichlorian counts since last week.

"Maybe Master Yoda would have a diagnostic suitable for these symptoms," Master Windu suggested. I nodded slowly, hardly paying attention: my eyes were still stationed on Shmi's incubator.

My feet seemed to think for me as I exited the room. I was unsure if I should tell someone or anyone else, but I just kept walking.

"Ahsoka."

The two jedi sympathetically spoke words only a friend would say, certainly not two council members.

"Just remember, we knew you could handle this. We supported you keeping Shmi, and we don't regret out decision."

Now I could hardly hold back tears. Numerous jedi scholars created rules that a jedi should never share personal emotion during the raging tides of the war. However, Obi-Wan told me about the meeting to decide Shmi's fate when I was still pregnant. Maybe these rules were meant to be broken.

I rolled open the long wicker doors, peeling the sight of Master Yoda's meditation room to the rest of the corridor. Master Yoda's shadowy figure in the faded light motioned me to come in. I settle into a circular cushion, wiping the pre-tear water from my eyes.

"Padawan, inside you, I sense great confusion." He grumbles.

"That's quite correct, Master. Shmi's midichlorian levels in her blood have dropped mysteriously. Master Windu and Gallia are quite puzzled as well." I explain. Yoda twirls his fingers in his palms, pondering possibilities like practically everyone else.

"Hmm, foreseen this fate, I have. Change drastically, the future does. Shmi has discovered an un-physical bond between the two of you, it seems."

My mouth goes dry. "You mean, a paternal bond, like an invisible bond?" If so, a paternal bond is very common between any mother/daughter pair. Never one that would affect health, but…

"Oh no, quite visible, it is," he says bluntly. I fail to see his point, but I believe he knows what he says. "Started by the corrosive medical serum yerophyll, the bond was."

Of course yerophyll started this whole dilemma. That complete dunce Kayril injected me with it whilst those nine months, me believing it had been procedure. It obviously was poisonous.

"I understand so far, Master. But how does yerophyll effect midichlorians?"

Master Yoda stretches out his toes and I prepare for a long explanation. "Tendencies to destroy signs of power, yerophyll does. Fortunately, only dissolved midichlorians inside you, it did. However, not strong enough to create more, Shmi was," Yoda explains even more, "Shared with you when she was growing, she did. Explain your lack of force sensibility, this does.

I finally had the last piece of this conundrum: The serum killed Shmi's midichlorians, so she created a natural bond between me and her to keep her level up. But since she was born, and since I left her for the first long-term time, her levels had begun to drop again.

So there is a bond between us, which no one knew about except for Shmi.

"Well Master Yoda, is there any way to break this bond, before her condition gets worse?" I ask, fearing a 'no'.

"Of some sorts- a donor. Copious amounts of midichlorians, one with."

I knew the answer before he had finished his sentence.

I gulp. "D-do you have anyone in mind, willing to donate?"

"Perfect, your Master would be."

Her H