"aaaa" - talking through a holocomunicator or comlink. aaaa - inner thoughts and Force Visions. 'aaaa' - talking through a bond. 'aaaa' - regular dreams

AN: Hi everyone! I know I was supposed to release this chapter over the weekend, but I ended up going out of town and didn't have time to write any of this until today.

For those of you who are wondering, this chapter takes place after the events of ARC Troopers.

Also, the inspiration for one of the scenes in this chapter came from the fanfic Three's a Crowd by Existingally.

Anyways, thank you princesselsaamidala22 for your review of the last chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed the scene where Rosella and Padmè got to deepen their bond while playing a game of dejarik.

On with the story!

While on a break from the war, Rosella continues her training by tackling an obstacle course.

Interlude: Obstacle Course Training

Rosella took a deep breath and centered herself. She was currently in one of the larger training rooms, running through an obstacle course that Anakin had set up for her. The first part had seen her climb a ladder and then carefully begin to make her way across a 5-inch balance beam that was suspended twelve feet off the ground. As the teen hit the halfway point, she turned to the right, glanced down and watched as her father strode over to a short shelf where a few training spheres were sitting.

As she heard the small, round machine come to life, she unhooked her lightsaber from its place on her belt and ignited it. Readying her blue blade in front of her, she watched it float up towards her and move to the right before beginning to fire lasers at her, causing her to start deflecting them.

Anakin held back a yawn as he turned around and watched as his apprentice continued to deflect the incoming lasers as she continued to make her way across the beam. The sun was just beginning to set, casting an orangish-red glow throughout six windows that lined the back of the room. In the back of his mind, he figured that Obi-Wan was either busy writing up his side of the report to send off to the Council since they had just come back from Kamino or off training Ahsoka.

Once she had reached the end of the beam and deflected twenty-five lasers, the training sphere drifted back down to where Anakin was standing. Deactivating her saber and hooking it back on her belt, she turned around and launched into a neat backflip, feeling the need to show off a bit. Landing on the platform, she quickly surveyed the next section which required her to make her way across a series of moving and non-moving platforms.

Hoping that she wouldn't miss a step and fall, Rosella stepped onto the first platform and then leapt onto the first moving platform as she began to make her way through the area. As soon as she reached the end and stepped on the small platform that was the size of a brick, she felt it begin to move. Knowing that she would have to be quick, the young padawan jumped off the platform and grabbed onto a horizontal pole that was a little smaller than her lightsaber hilt.

Flipping off the pole, she executed a clean dismount and began the final section, which involved navigating a series of platforms, all of which were moving. After making her way through the area and climbing down another ladder at the end, she was exhausted. Panting as she bent over to catch her breath, she heard footsteps heading her way.

Looking up, she saw her father standing in front of her with a smile on his face. "You did a great job today, sweetheart," he said.

"Thanks, Dad," she said, smiling back as she straightened up.

"Go back to our apartment and get cleaned up," he told her.

Rosella nodded and left the room, knowing that he was going to be spending the night with Padmè. She was fine with both of her parents spending time together while she stayed at the temple.

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As she walked into the main area of the training wing, Rosella encountered a group of younglings - they looked to be about seven or eight - who were headed towards one of the rooms that had been designed for teaching clans how to properly use their lightsabers. Stepping to the left as she walked by, one of the children, who was in the middle of a conversation with another youngling, slammed into her as she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings. "Oof," the teenager said as she stumbled back a little, tripped over her feet and landed on the ground.

"Sorry," the girl said, sounding the least bit apologetic as she shared a sideways glance at her friend before looking at the teenager.

Rosella shook her head a little and then glanced up, noticing the girls standing there. "It's ok," she said as she got up, a small amount of tiredness in her voice. "Just watch where you're going next time, alright younglings?"

"Hey!" the other child said indignantly. "You're not allowed to call us that. You're a youngling too."

"Actually," the teen said as she turned so they could see her braid, which was hidden within her long hair, "I'm a Padawan."

"You can't be a Padawan," protested the youngling that ran into her. "You don't look old enough."

She softly smiled and replied, "Master Yoda and the rest of the Council thought I was ready, so they promoted me when I was thirteen." Rosella didn't mind speaking to the girls about the reason why she had been granted an early advancement towards becoming a Jedi Knight, but knew that they probably wouldn't understand why since most potential padawans weren't chosen until they turned fourteen.

After that, it was either the Service Corps or leave the temple.

While Rosella liked spending time with the girls, - she was even hoping to help take care of the younger kids who were in the temple one day - all she wanted to do right now was go back to the apartment as she was sweaty, hungry, and tired.

"What's your name?" one of the girls asked suspiciously.

Rosella rolled her eyes and let a tiny smirk appear on her face. "My name is Rosella Ngaire."

A small flash of recognition seemed to register on the face of the child who had run into her as she excitedly began to hop up and down. "Hey! I know who you are!" she said excitedly. "You're Master Skywalker's Padawan! I like listening to the stories that some of the crèche masters tell us to help us fall asleep at night. Will you come watch as Selina and I train with the rest of our clan?

"Kyra, I'm sure she has other things to do right now," the other girl said as she crossed her arms over her chest and jerked her head to the left. "Come on, we're going to be late for class."

Rosella softly laughed and knelt down, placing a hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Your friend is right," she said. "You should really be in class with the rest of your clan. Besides, I just got out of a long training session and need to go wind down before finishing some homework. I promise to come watch you train some other time."

"Alright," Kyra said as she stepped to the right, allowing Rosella to pass by. "See you later!"

She waved to the girls as she headed over to the turbolift. Reaching out, she pressed the button and got in when it arrived. Turning around, she reached over and pressed the button that would take her to the wing that was reserved for Jedi and their families. As the door closed, she watched the girls walk down the hall towards the room that the rest of their clan was in.

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Once she got to the apartment and finished taking a quick shower, Rosella changed into her sleepwear, put her sweat-soaked training tunic in the laundry bin and left the refresher. Walking down the hallway, she headed into the kitchen and turned on the lights before making her way over to the cold box, opening it and pulling out items for a soup and sandwich combo. After preparing and eating her supper, she relaxed for a bit by meditating and watching a movie on the holonet.

As soon as it was over, she got up, turned off the holonet and tossed the remote on the coffee table. Moving around the couch, she turned off the lights and then headed to her room.

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Letting her bedroom door slide shut behind her, Rosella used the Force to turn on her wall lamps as she unhooked her saber from her belt and laid it on her nightstand.

Walking over to her desk, she sat in the chair and reached for her datapad. Switching the device on, she tapped on the screen a few times in order to bring up the required reading for her Rules of Diplomacy class. As she finished the reading, the tired girl let out a huge yawn. Knowing that she needed to get some sleep, she quickly went back to the home screen and shut the datapad down. Placing it on her desk, she got out of her chair, changed into her sleepwear and turned off the lights. Silently moving over to her bed, she pulled back the covers and climbed in.

Soon after, she fell asleep.