Illusions

Chapter 5 - Order

Author's Note: The beginning of the end. ;)

~ Amina

"When I mentioned coming to Naboo again together, I was hoping it wouldn't be for something like this," Padme says.

"We should have expected," Anakin points out, watching the passing trees and waterfalls far below as he flies the shuttle from Theed out to where Jar Jar is waiting, so they can go to Gungan City. Predictably, he's here because of war again. This time, because the Gungans are considering marching on Theed, obviously due to some prompting from the Separatists. They can only hope they'll be able to calm down the new Gungan leader before things go that far.

Padme looks none too happy as she nods. "How's Ahsoka been doing?" she queries, "You mentioned that she... left to explore the galaxy on her own."

Anakin couldn't really explain the details of what Ahsoka was really doing, after all. No one can know the details. He told Obi-Wan and the boys, of course, but other than that they've been... vague about it. There's no point talking about it unless they find something, anyway. "She's trying to find a path beyond the Order," he answers, after a pause, "She's been searching for remnants of what Force users used to be like, before organized orders were created."

"You think there's still traces of that?" she asks, surprised, "It was so many millennia ago."

"She found a lead in the Archives. She went to that planet and found ancient writings in the Jedi Temple there, about Force users who once roamed far deeper in Wild Space. She's been searching for any other such evidence for some time."

"Has she found anything?"

"Not that I have heard." Ahsoka hasn't called him in a while, but he can still feel their bond pulsing with life, so he knows she's alright. That doesn't mean he doesn't wish she was still with them sometimes. Taking care of Ahsoka has been a constant part of his life – and Rex's and the others – since almost the beginning of the war. It's strange to not have her right next to him, to have to constantly worry that she might run into something she can't overcome alone, even if nothing's happened yet.

He misses her, but what she's doing is important too, and he knows it's not forever. Even if it's been dragging on for several months now.

Sometimes it's hard to believe it has been months since they crashed on the machine planet. Everything has changed since then. The bond he's formed with the clones since then is even deeper than it was before.

"Must be different having her gone," Padme comments.

"Yes," he agrees, "But this is her choice." Sometimes, he wonders how many of the clones who still fall too fast for him to save could still be alive if Ahsoka were here, but she never should've had to fight on the front lines in the first place. None of the padawans should have.

He'd had to grow used to the very real fear that something could happen to her out here, and in that way, it's almost relieving that she's not still fighting.

"I'll be curious to know what you find," she remarks, "History from that long ago is something occasionally depicted in art on Naboo – probably inaccurately."

"If she finds something, I will tell you." Or at least whatever he can.

The lake that leads into Gungan city is right up ahead, so for now, they have a planet to save.

... Typical day.

***

Anakin knows something's wrong from the moment he got into Gungan city, though he can't say he fully anticipated what it was. When Padme told him that there were rumors the Gungans were planning to attack their human neighbors, he suspected from the start it had something to do with Mon Cala.