Hymn of the Gods

Chapter 6 - You Are The Morning When It's Clear

Author's Note: Thoughts? We are at the climax now! :D

~ Amina Gila

They report to the Council as soon as they return to Coruscant, even if it's barely dawn. Ahsoka doesn't know what will happen now, but they need to investigate this... anomaly in the clones. She also doesn't know what will happen about the way they displayed their abilities. People talk. Word will spread. And what happens if – or when, rather – the Sith find out... She doesn't know what will happen then. Anakin will protect her, of course, the best he can, but they're still Sith. They'll try to take advantage of them, turn the war in their favor. What will happen then, she doesn't know.

After the Council meeting, Anakin takes her, Rex, Fives, and Echo, and they go to Kamino on the Twilight. The flight is relatively quiet, after the initial barrage of questions from the ARC troopers, who have an almost infinite number of questions about their new abilities, most of which they can't even answer. They don't know what they're capable of. They don't know what the limits are to their abilities, if there even are any limits. It's a little terrifying, Ahsoka thinks, but she's also infinitely grateful. She doesn't know what she would have done if Rex died there on Lola Sayu. He came close, so close, but she'd done it. She'd been able to bring him back before he faded.

There had been a certain thrill in it, knowing that she could heal him before it was too late, and once it was over, her relief had wiped out her fear for him. She is still afraid for the clones, as she always has been, but knowing that she can heal them brings her a certain sense of peace.

Shaak Ti meets them on Kamino when they arrive, and Anakin tells her the situation, tells her what Ahsoka felt in the clones. "We need to know what this is," he explains, "And we need to know if it's dangerous, if it'll hurt them."

"I will summon Nala Se," Shaak Ti answers, "I'm sure she can provide insight on this issue."

They wait for the Kaminoan scientist in the command center. "Listen," Anakin says quietly, looking between them, "I feel that this is something deeper than what we will be told. I may need you to keep her distracted while Ahsoka and I dig into it ourselves, with Artoo's help, of course."

"Whatever you need, General," Rex replies, nodding, "We'll do it."

Ahsoka shifts closer to him, bumping their shoulders together. She feels a pull to him that she hasn't before, a strange, almost irresistible urge to hug him. She – doesn't do that. They're her men, and she's not physically affectionate with them, not really. This is something wholly different and unexplainable. Or maybe it's not so strange, after all. She healed him, brought him back from death. Of course, there would be a... link between them that didn't exist before. Probably, she should talk to Anakin about it.

This is something more than her residual fear of losing him. It's deeper.

Rex nudges her back, and she can feel the warm fondness for her in him. She can feel his smile, even if his helmet is on so she can't see it. "Don't get in trouble, Commander," he says dryly.

"We'll try," she answers brightly, grinning.

She pulls away from him when Nala Se enters the room.

"General Skywalker has a question about the clones," Shaak Ti tells her.

Anakin steps forward, the relaxedness of his posture falling away as he straightens, slipping effortlessly into the leadership role that he carries on the fronts. "Yes, thank you for coming. I – we recently discovered an anomaly of sorts in my captain's brain, one which we have found in others as well. Do you know what it is?"

Nala Se hesitates, and Ahsoka immediately knows that she knows more than she is saying. "That would be the inhibitor chips," she answers.

Ahsoka can feel the way the three tense at the word.