"What do you know of the Jedi?"
Ahsoka and Leia sat across from one another on a mat crafted from the finest fibres. The child's gaze shifted incessantly across the small room, as though possessed by a wild impatience.
"The Jedi twisted the teachings of the Light, and were punished for their hubris," said Leia.
"Hm... and what was this crucial teaching they failed to heed?"
"We must accept the grand totality. Calm and anger- love and hate- all things have their place. To deny the self is to invite its destruction," she recited.
"...Very impressive."
"You sound surprised."
Ahsoka smirked.
"Your instructors told me you neglected your studies."
"I'm not stupid. They'd spend hours trying to teach me things I already knew! I'm not going to just- what's the point of learning something that I already-"
"Perhaps the hardest things to learn are the things we think we already know. And perhaps that was the lesson they were trying to teach you."
"But-"
"The lessons you learned had their place. If you cannot see that now, you will someday soon. Now... may I continue?"
"...yes, your Luminance."
"Then... if you've already grown impatient, let me teach you something new. What we now call the Light, the Jedi once called the Force. They described it as an energy field created by all living things- a metaphysical power that binds the universe together. It was through harnessing and channelling this Force that Jedi were able to achieve feats most would consider impossible. The greatest among them could weave through a hostile army without so much as a scratch and crush durasteel with nothing but their resolve. Many in the galaxy are still familiar with tales of such exploits- and many of these are true- but we have branded every such record as subversive fabrication. Do you know why?"
Leia shook her head.
"The greater power a person wields, the greater their capacity for destruction," said Ahsoka, clenching her fist for emphasis. "And the very idea that power can be attained inspires the wretched to seek it. If they believed it possible, could you imagine the number of people in this wicked galaxy who would fight tooth-and-nail for just a taste of such strength?! It is a number beyond fathoming. That is why we hold this power close. Why we keep its secrets."
"So then... you aren't actually a god."
"What?"
"All those miracles- your strength and your magic- they just come from this... 'Force', right?"
Ahsoka suppressed a grimace.
"As prophet and divine arbiter of the Light, I have been gifted with a certain level of knowledge and aptitude beyond the common man. It's true that the abilities of Missionaries are the product of specialising and mastering particular aspects of the Light, or... Force, if you'd prefer. But true understanding- true enlightenment- is something only I possess. To teach the truth of this power would be to sow the seeds of the galaxy's destruction."
"Then... why are you teaching me?"
"Because the Light has gifted you with a grand and noble purpose. You're special, Leia. And within the design of the Light, you have a crucial role to play."
"I'm... special?" responded Leia, her eyes widening in awe.
"Don't let it go to your head," said Ahsoka, her voice growing momentarily heavy. "Arrogance is a poison that has destroyed destinies far greater than your own."
"...oh," muttered Leia at the sudden seriousness in Ahsoka's voice.
"Now... in your training, you must heed that crucial lesson the Jedi chose to ignore. Close your eyes, and try to-"
"What has this got to do with-"
Ahsoka raised a hand.
"Silence. If you wish to see your destiny fulfilled- if you wish to remain my student- you will follow my instructions to the letter. And you will not speak unless I permit it. Understood?"
Leia nodded.
"Good," said Ahsoka. "Now... close your eyes, and take a deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Concentrate on your breathing... and as you do so, notice the thoughts that crystalise in your mind."
Leia complied with evident hesitation as Ahsoka continued to speak.
"Your emotions are a wellspring- they are the source from which you must draw your strength. Your thoughts are what direct this strength- the prism through which this power is focused. Embrace your emotions in their totality. Light and Dark. Good and bad. And tell me- what do you feel?"
The first thing Leia was struck with was a profound sense of loneliness. She hadn't any friends on Alderaan, and her years of intensive training had left her isolated and empty. Her teachers treated her like a nuisance- an inconvenience- someone they'd be glad to be rid of. But things had changed. Ahsoka Tano- the mythical god-empress she thought to be fiction- had seen something in her. Suddenly she'd been immersed in a world of opulence she couldn't have conceived of even as a princess of Alderaan. She'd been elevated to student of the most powerful being in the galaxy. And she had already learned secrets beyond those even her instructors were privy to.
"I'm special."
There was a warmth in those words. There was hope. And there was an overwhelming determination to prove them right.
With the extensive damage dealt to the Royal Palace, Governor Gar Saxon had been relocated to one of the city's countless nondescript skyscrapers along with a number of high-ranking officials and trusted Paladins. But the banal exterior was deceptive. Inside was a heavily fortified operations base- the interior walls reinforced with pure beskar, turrets and security systems monitoring every possible entry point, and a command centre from where the entire planet's affairs could be managed. From here, Bo-Katan's agents had pursued every possible lead in an effort to hunt down the terrorists now plaguing her world. And finally, it seemed, some progress had been made.
"As much as I hate to admit it..." Bo-Katan muttered. "It seems Thrawn's assessment was correct. The use of kyber weaponry suggests some link between the Beskar Raiders and the Children of the Watch."
The High Paladin stood before the governor in a small and brightly lit conference room, delivering a report of the information she'd begrudgingly obtained from the Chiss captain.
"How did he make that connection?"
"I... don't know," she said with an exasperated expression. "According to him, the Beskar Raiders have some kind of connection to Concordia- he's refused to elaborate on what he means by that. But in any case, Thrawn believes the Children of the Watch are a splinter group of the Death Watch- reasonable given their name and stated motivations. The Death Watch, as we both know, also originated on Concordia. And for a long time, Concordia's harboured many extremist factions of Mandalorian traditionalists. There's clearly more he's not telling us, but since he's been placed in charge of an investigative task force by the Empress herself, even my station doesn't give me the authority to press him for more information."
"...I still wonder what Empress Tano was thinking. But I suppose I can't argue with results. Now- what of the analysis of the bomb employed in the failed attack on the Sundari garrison?"
"Not a single trace of kyber. And another thing worth noting- even in mind-flayer interrogation, the would-be bombers reported no ties to the Children of the Watch. However, they seem to have been receiving arms and supplies from an anonymous donor."
"Could it be..."
"We believe so, yes. The Beskar Raiders and the Children of the Watch could be one and the same. We suspect they've been hitting our transports, selling the spoils on the black market, and using the funds to support a number of smaller insurrections across the planet."
"But that doesn't make sense. If they've been content to operate in the shadows for so long, why reveal themselves now? The Council Chamber bombing was... about as public of a statement as one could make."
"...unclear. Maybe they got clumsy, or... impatient. Maybe they really believed they could destabilise Mandalore's government by eliminating all of our key officials. Whatever the case, we're also unsure how a Mandalorian sect even developed such sophisticated kyber weaponry to begin with."
Saxon shook his head.
"...I don't like this. Not one bit."
Bo-Katan gave an uneasy smile.
"Neither does our Empress. She's dispatched an Inquisitor to Mandalore. I... hope they'll be able to shed some more light on things."
Saxon's expression darkened. The Inquisitors were the oldest of Ahsoka's Missionaries, and their reputation had gained fearful notoriety. They were relentless hunters whose very identity was stripped from them to become faceless extensions of the Empress' will. Generally, Inquisitors went only after the most dangerous of heretics- witches, Jedi, and all others who would defile the sanctity of the Light. For any Missionary- let alone an Inquisitor- to set foot on Mandalore was entirely without precedent.
"An Inquisitor? Here?"
"What's the problem?"
"...politics. What message does it send if the galaxy's protectors cannot protect themselves? This is a political move as much as it is a military one. In sending a Missionary here, the Empress demonstrates that even we- the warriors of Mandalore- are dependent on and subservient to her. It is a proclamation that she and she alone is the ultimate authority in the galaxy."
"You don't know that."
"And you underestimate her shrewdness."
Bo-Katan let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm not saying you're wrong, but... our situation is quickly becoming more than a planetary affair. And politics be damned- if it means eliminating these terrorists, I'll take whatever advantage I can get."
"Heh... I remember the days people considered us the terrorists."
The fingers of Bo-Katan's prosthetic arm twitched involuntarily.
"Times change. And we change with them."
Leia was arrogant. Impatient. Impulsive.
"So much like her father," Ahsoka had thought to herself on numerous occasions. Between meetings and audiences and public appearances, the Empress was as busy as ever. Yet it was her new student who remained at the front of her mind. Leia had potential. That much was undeniable. But Ahsoka knew better than anybody that potential was a double-edged sword. She sat now in her vast throne room, busily scanning the holoprojections that floated around her as she worked to coordinate a response to the recent crisis on Mandalore. Still, her mind circled back to Leia. Ahsoka had given the young former-princess a tightly regimented schedule. Leia's body would be honed by masters of the blaster and the blade. Her mind would be sharpened for both military and political manoeuvring. And as for her spirit- that would be where Ahsoka's own teaching would come in. Ahsoka was plagued with the persistent fear of creating another Vader. But the potential! It could not be ignored! Who in the galaxy could be a better heir to her empire?
Now more than ever, indecision was the last thing the Empress could afford. Leia was among her least pressing concerns. All across the galaxy, Paladins had been pulled back from their distant crusades to reinforce the security of Mandalore. With that came the risk of new insurrections.
"Could that be by design?" Ahsoka thought to herself. "If this is indeed a diversion, what is it intended to draw our attention away from?"
There was no way to be sure. Once again, Ahsoka felt an uneasy sense of foreboding.
"Plots within plots... shadows within shadows."
She and Maul had employed similar tactics to draw the Old Empire away from Malachor. Was this just an isolated incident, or part of something larger? And was she making a mistake by committing so much to Mandalore's defence?
"No. Threats can be opportunities if properly exploited."
After all, the unrest on Mandalore had given her the perfect justification to tighten her grasp. Compared to other worlds of the First Light, Mandalore enjoyed an illusion of relative autonomy- a special status granted in exchange for the loyalty and service of Mandalorian Paladins. But Mandalore's Ruling Council had proven itself woefully ineffective at curtailing insurrections. And so, this was the perfect chance to expand her power base. The Ruling Council were little more than First Light puppets. Still, they were an inconvenient intermediary which lessened Ahsoka's direct influence on the system.
"Now is the time to change that."
The people of Mandalore were terrified. But that same terror could be leveraged. Ahsoka knew a fearful people would give anything for security. And she would be happy to provide it.