Their quarters were exactly as she had left them. The teacups neatly stacked next to the sink, the datapads scattered on the coffee table - it was almost as if they had never been gone.
But the dust that had started to collect told a different story. Just like the echoes in the Force that slowly began to fade away.
Her heart aching, Ahsoka tiptoed through the apartment, letting her eyes roam over the remnants of her past.
She had snuck into the temple, even though she didn't really have to. But she needed a little time to herself. To collect the things she wanted to take with her.
Her fingers tightened around the bag she was carrying over her shoulders as she pushed open the door to her room. The first thing that caught her eye were all the pictures she had taped to the wall above her bed.
Each of them felt like it had been taken a whole lifetime ago.
Ahsoka padded over to the bed, carefully plugging one of the pictures of the wall.
It showed her and Anakin on Christophsis, staring daggers at each other. Captain Rex had taken this picture while Ahsoka had told her master that she was to be his Padawan.
You're stuck with me, Skyguy.
Things had been different then.
She put the picture down on the bed, refocusing on the remaining ones on the wall.
There was another just showing Anakin and Obi-Wan. The two men were standing in the kitchen. Anakin grimaced apologetically as he held the frying pan out to his master, with a charred something in it, while her grandmaster stood across from him, a steaming cup of tea in his hands and an exasperated look on his face.
"I swear, I was just trying to make pancakes like you always do!"
"Anakin, using R2's rockets to cook isn't how this works..."
She let the image slide onto the one she had already taken down and swallowed hard.
It was too much to bear.
Using the Force, she grabbed the remaining pictures and plucked them off the wall before letting them float to her outstretched hand. Not daring to think about it any longer, Ahsoka gathered all the pictures and stacked them into a neat pile before sliding them into her backpack.
Ahsoka turned away from the now empty wall and let her eyes wander through the rest of the room. On the shelf next to the door, the picture of Alderaan and the river stone Anakin had once given her still stood.
Something that connects our lineage.
She grabbed both and shoved it deep into her bag. There was hardly had anything else. Her lightsabers hung off her belt, the crystals constantly humming with melancholy.
Ahsoka lingered in her room a moment longer, before she forced out a breath and stepped back into the living room.
Her master's room was still locked, the door acting like a mental barrier - keeping her from thinking about the man who was supposed to lead her to knighthood.
She kept away from his room.
Instead, she turned to her grandmaster's room, where the door still stood ajar as it had been the last time, revealing the few boxes he had packed.
Quietly, Ahsoka padded in, reaching out for a moment to the presence that still lingered inside the room.
Where there had once been joy now hung dark shadows, sadness and pain.
Biting her lip Ahsoka quickly hid from these feelings before they could overwhelm her.
Her eyes fell on a wooden box that had been neatly placed on the desk. Before she could think about it, her fingers latched under the lid and carefully opened the box.
Inside were more small tins and two lightsabers. One painfully familiar, the other a weapon she did not recognize.
Ahsoka took out Obi-Wan's lightsaber, running her finger over the small scratches on the surface.
The kyber crystal hummed a quiet song, saddened by the absence of its guardian.
He would certainly like to have it back.
Resolutely, she clipped the hilt to her belt before turning to the other lightsaber.
She had an idea who this weapon must belong to - or rather had belonged to.
The man Anakin worshipped. The man Obi-Wan never spoke of.
Qui-Gon Jinn.
Ahsoka had no opinion of the deceased Jedi Master. To her, he was an unsolved mystery.
How was it possible that the two people who were so important to her had such different reactions when it came to Master Jinn? While one person's eyes lit up, the other's filled with pain and sorrow.
Maybe this was a similar expression she now wore when thinking of her own master.
Next to the remaining lightsaber was a small box with a clear lid, revealing a braid of ginger hair.
Ahsoka gasped as she realized what it was. "Master Obi-Wan's padawan braid..."
It hurt to see the braid lying here, knowing that her grandmaster had never had the chance to present it to his Master. Instead, it lay here now, locked in a dark box – forgotten.
She also knew that Anakin had not given his braid to Obi-Wan - perhaps the first painful reminder of their broken relationship. Instead, the box - like this one in front of her eyes - was sitting on a desk in Padme's apartment.
Did Anakin even realize what he had done?
If the Padawan withheld the braid from the master after the knighting, it was considered a disgrace. A sign that the student wanted to turn his back on his mentor.
In her mind's eye, Ahsoka could almost see her grandmaster's smile drop when Anakin must not have handed over the braid during the ceremony.
Swallowing hard, she tore herself away from that thought.
There was another small, delicately crafted box in the box. Whatever it was, it called out in the Force.
With suddenly trembling fingers, she lifted it out of the box, hesitating for a moment to open it. It felt like she was intruding, but then again, the Force was almost beckoning for her to go on.
She eventually opened the box. Her heart dropped when she saw what was inside.
A ring - an engagement ring.
"Oh master...," she croaked, tears stinging her eyes as she took out the fine silver ring. Like the figure on Stewjon, there was a strong memory attached to it.
Ahsoka let herself be drawn in.
"...I don't know what to do, Dex," Obi-Wan muttered, staring absently into the glass of whiskey in his hands before taking another generous swig, emptying the glass in one go.
Grimacing as the alcohol burned down his throat, he set the glass down on the counter in front of him.
"How about you stop drinking for now," Dex grumbled beside him, pushing the glass aside and shooing the waiting bartender away, "...and tell me what's going on."
The Besalisk twisted around on his barstool, turning to face the Jedi Master.
Instead of answering, Obi-Wan pulled the small box from his pocket, putting it on the counter right in between them. His eyes found the wall of alcohol behind the counter again.
"What's this?" the cook asked.
"Just open it."
Obi-Wan continued to avoid his friend's gaze as he took the box, opening it carefully.
He heard the soft click, followed by a moment of silence.
"Oh, Obi-Wan..."
"I know it's stupid-," he began, but was interrupted by a meaty hand on his arm.
"No, it's not," Dex countered amicably, turning his friend with his hand so that Obi-Wan had to look at him and firmly pressed the box with the ring into the other man's palm with his other hand, "You love her, don't you?"
Obi-Wan pressed his lips into a thin line. "I am a Jedi, Dex..."
"That wasn't my question."
"...I do," the Jedi Master breathed softly, his eyes glassy, "...even if that's hard to believe."
"Why would that be hard to believe?" Dex probed, his expression growing concerned.
"I have been told that I am incapable of such emotion...," Obi-Wan offered, stealing the glass back from Dex and having another whiskey refilled, "...obviously nothing even resembling affectation."
He took a large sip, sadly eyeing the engagement ring in his hand.
"Did Anakin say that?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "I don't think that's what he meant... besides, it's not important."
Dex shakes his head in disbelief. "Of course it's relevant! He hurt you with his words."
Letting the engagement ring disappear back into his pocket, Obi-Wan stood up from his chair. "... I should get home... Anakin and Ahsoka should be back from their mission today."
"Oh no, forget it," Dex also jumped up and grabbed the Jedi's arm again, "You stay with me today, you hear? I'll make you something sensible to eat, you'll sober up and then we'll talk as adults."
"I'm not a child, Dex," Obi-Wan stated firmly, setting his jaw, "Let me go."
"I'm worried about you," countered the Besalisk, "Maybe you don't want to see it, but you need help, Obi-Wan. You are pushing yourself too far and I'm afraid you stumble over the cliff one day and there's no one there to catch you. So please, let me help you - as your friend."
With that, he let go of Obi-Wan's arm and took a small step back, waiting for a reaction.
The Jedi Master stood unmoving beside him. "I don't want to drag you into this."
"So you want me to watch you go down a path you won't come back from? Forget it."
Obi-Wan turned his head, watching Dex with reddened eyes. "Why do you care?"
It was disheartening, seeing him like this.
"Why shouldn't I? ...You're my friend. And I know you would never hesitate if I needed your help."
Casting his eyes to the floor, Obi-Wan hummed quietly in response.
Dex gently placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, beginning to steer him out of the bar. "Come on. Let's go back to the diner."
There was no more protest and Obi-Wan resignedly let himself be pushed out the door, stopping only when his feet met the sidewalk. "What do you think she'd say?", he rambled quietly, "With the war and all... we haven't seen each other in person in years."
"Don't sell yourself so low, Obi-Wan," Dex said honestly, "I've seen you two together. I think she would say yes in a heartbeat."
A small smile pulled at Obi-Wan's lips, even if it didn't reach his eyes. "But is it the right thing to do? Isn't it selfish?"
"It's your life. No one can force you to stay or do anything you don't want to do."
Except that they could. As they had bitterly experienced with the Rako Hardeen mission.
She closed the little box again with a pit in her stomach. Obi-Wan and Satine had never gotten a chance together.
The Force urged her to take the ring, so she carefully placed the box in her bag as well.
She then closed the wooden box with a soft clack, exhaling a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
Ahsoka scanned through the remaining cardboard boxes, finding mostly datapads, some clothes and some old books printed on flimsi. Only in the last box did she find something that made her stop.
A holocube, some printed pictures like the ones she had hanging on her wall - and a larger framed picture that looked very old.
Ahsoka knew immediately who she saw there. Obi-Wan, still small, together with his parents.
Did he take this from the house?
His father looked so damn much like him. The beard, the red hair, the smile - it was all there. Only his eyes, Obi-Wan got them from his mother.
It was hard for her to imagine losing her parents like that. Maybe it was like a protection for her - not knowing her parents at all.
Even though she knew that Obi-Wan could no longer see the pictures, she took them all with her .
They are his after all.
And he had never gotten the chance to get his things.
The rest of the room was mostly bare now, only on the bedside table sat the small fox figurine she already knew.
Ahsoka grabbed a small towel and wrapped the finely crafted figure in it before stowing it safely in her backpack.
"Okay...," she muttered to herself, "I think I'm done here."
Her stomach still churning, she left her grandmaster's room, a heavy weight having settled on her shoulders.
As she stepped over the threshold, it suddenly felt like a storm was coming down on her. Her breath was stolen from her lungs and all of a sudden Ahsoka found herself on her knees, holding her head.
The Force screamed.
And Ahsoka screamed with it, though her voice was drowned out by the alarms that were going off in the temple.
So many lights - snuffed out as if they were nothing.
The Padawan crawled on all fours over to the window, trying to figure out what was going on.
She couldn't understand what she was seeing - maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.
The clones were storming the temple.
