A Face I've Never Seen Before

Babyface

This was supposed to be simple. Really.

Just a tiny little border scuffle on some teetering neutral planet made up of crescent-moon reeds and iridescent waters. This one tribe and this other tribe fighting about ancient cultural territories, both of them touting some pretty heavy weaponry. (Maybe if the Jedi are nice they'll join the Republic). Ahsoka didn't even technically have to do anything, no specific responsibilities. Sure, she had to behave herself, but nothing more than that--other than observe.

Obi-Wan is the one who's really suited to these diplomatic missions anway, while Anakin sits firmly on the complete opposite side of the spectrum of handling-oneself-gracefully-during-non­battle-scenarios. Ahsoka falls somewhere in the middle, which makes perfect sense.

What makes even more sense though, is that it was Anakin who was the one that kriffed up somehow. (She doesn't know how yet, still wading through the waist-high, glass-colored foliage of the planet to get to wherever she's going). All she got was a very minimal comm from Rex telling her to ~ get to that one alien temple to the south of HQ ASAP ~ and Ahsoka bolted out of her temporary living space, brows creasing and stomach flipping. Something bad must have happened. But... it couldn't be too disastrous. As she forces her way through the planet's wilderness, she can't discern the sound of blaster fire ringing out of the chirping wood, nor the buzzing hum and glow of lightsabers in the distance. The hilt of her own blade is gripped tight in her hand though, just in case, slowly growing sweatier by the moment.

No, the Force just feels... weird. Not another word comes to mind when she tries to put a finger on it. It's all just making her heart beat faster with the uncertainty of it.

She pushes aside more crystalline reeds and narrowly avoids tripping over some outstretched roots. Ahsoka had assumed cutting through the short stretch of forest would be faster than the somewhat meandering pathway to the temple, but now she's not so sure.

It feels like another hour before she finally breaks through the tree-line, but it was probably only a couple minutes.

The first thing she sees is the blue of Rex's armor standing out against the white coquina temple. He's standing at the bottom of the temple steps, helmet tucked into the crook of his arm, kicking dirt. Okay, not the stance of someone in the midst of an emergency. The rigid line of Ahsoka's shoulders relaxes a bit, but there's still that underlying, wavering sense of something different.

"Rex! Is everything okay?" she asks, jog coming to an abrupt stop when she reaches him. She has to crane her neck to look him in the face.

"Yes. Um, everything's fine." He glances back at the darkened arch of the temple door. "You'd better go see it for yourself, though, sir." With that, he gestures up the stairs, and Ahsoka obliges. Alright, okay, everything's fine.

The temple steps fall under shadow as a cloud passes overhead, and the temperature suddenly increases as she passes under the archway. Light spills in through the tall windows lining the walls and flickering candles cast little circles of warmth around. Refracted light falls through the stained glass ceiling. She's momentarily distracted by the multi-colored prism above them, footsteps faltering. Rex doesn't move ahead of her.

Across the long hall, Ahsoka can make out the figure of Obi-Wan, a few clone troopers, and several native aliens all grouped together. And... a child on Obi-Wan's hip?

Doing her very best to remain composed in front of their hosts, Ahsoka all but runs over to meet them.

"Master Obi-Wan, what happened?" she says, voice surprisingly steady.