The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Seven

Chapter Ten: Gone

LUX BONTERI

“Ugh! I still can’t believe they left without telling me!” Ahsoka yelled. “They knew I would worry, so why did they do it?”

Lux knew that she would normally have been pacing back and forth hard enough to create a dent in the floor, but she was still unable to walk. So she contented herself with slouching in her pillows and blankets, arms crossed and a frown on her face.

It was a few hours after Semm, who had gone to tinker with the hyperdrive of someone’s speeder – having been bribed to do it with desserts – had found Anakin and Christo’s Jedi fighters missing. He had reported straight back to her, informing her that three of them were unaccounted for. The pair’s fighters, as well as one of the regular ships that no one else preferred over the others, were gone.

“And why didn’t they leave a note? Where could they have gone? I checked their tracking beacons on my comlink. They aren’t on the planet.” She turned to look at Lux, where he was sitting up against the wall and reading an article on a datapad. He mumbled some sort of a reply.

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you even listening to me?”

He looked up from his reading. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t. I’ve been hearing you say the same thing for six hours. You’re lucky I don’t rant like you do when I get mad,” he remarked dryly.

Lux always seemed to know exactly which buttons to push to get her more enraged moods to evaporate. “I’m sorry, Lux… I just wish they would have told me.”

He got up, stretching his legs, and walked over to come sit next to her. “Flip over,” he ordered. When she did, and was lying on her stomach, he proceeded to give her a back massage.

She relaxed into his steady rubbing. “I hate being bedridden, because… I feel like I can’t do my duty. They’re all like my kids. Even Anakin and Christo, Lux. I am – or I was – almost constantly chasing after everyone to get them to do this or that. But sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I hadn’t chosen this path.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if you had stayed on Onderon all those years ago instead of going to Coruscant for that speech. I wouldn’t have been there for Order 66, and we might have had a chance of getting away safely. We could have lived together, hidden away on Kashyyyk or somewhere really remote…” she trailed off.

Lux was surprised. She had never talked about what their life would have been like if they hadn’t created the New Jedi Order. It wasn’t often that she had reflections like this aloud. He kept massaging her, because he knew that she was more likely to talk if she was comfortable.

“I would have hunted for food. Every child on Shili learns how to use a bow and arrow as soon as they can hold them, not to mention that there’s my teeth.” He nodded, because he had seen what her teeth looked like: her canines were longer and sharper than the others.

After a moment she continued. “We could have built ourselves a little house, and maybe, just maybe…” She sighed. “We could have had a child.”

Now that really surprised him. She had never said anything about wanting a child. Though, she had always had an overdose of the maternal gene, so it made sense. She was strict, but not unkind, allowing, and loved to play with the kids. She would make an amazing mother, just not with the lives they had chosen…

“What brought this on?” he asked, when he was able to speak again.

She rolled over, and stared up at the ceiling.“To be honest, I don’t know. I love kids, and I guess that sometimes I want one of my own.” Then she changed the conversation as quickly as he could enter his passwords. “And have you seen Amni? She was acting a little skittish earlier, as if there’s something she isn’t telling me.”

“I’ll get her,” he said. He was just about to open the door when he heard a crash from outside.

*What has become of the note that Anakin left Ahsoka before his departure for Tatooine? Will Ahsoka figure out what Amni is hiding? And could there be something else on Ahsoka's mind? What could it be? You will find out in the next chapter!

Build your lightsaber out of your own lightsaber crystal and may the Force be with you,

Sharron