Broken Beginnings (A Star Wars: Clone Wars fanfic)

Chapter 14: Anakin's Bath

Anakin POV

It surprised me that Alexa could appear to be such a strong confident girl on minute then ask me for permission to stay up to an average bed time. To anyone else she would seem awfully strange, but not to me.... To me she is she is an amazing, powerful, sweet girl. She is a beautiful mystery that the Force wants me to solve and luckily enough I have a long time to do that.

The two of us walked to the centre of the camp and joined the rest of the group who were sitting around the fire that Graffin had started just mere moments ago.  I made sure that I sat close to Alexa, just in case she had a change of heart and wanted to tell me about what she had seen or felt earlier.  However, I soon became distracted as Ahsoka came and sat down on the other side of me.

'Well done on the fire Graff.' Tila smiled at the Trandoshan.

'Thanks.' Came the gruff reply as he shot her a small smile in return.

'Indeed, if only we had some food to cook on it.' Connas murmured and we laughed as his stomach rumbled.

'Do you always have think about your stomach?' Tila asked, hitting her brother playfully.

'Most of the time.' He smirked.

'Well then I suppose you'll be awfully glad to see this then.' Ahsoka pulled out some local food from behind her back and began passing the wooden "plate" around.

Everyone took some of the food and ate, the only exception being my padawan whom I could sense was still feeling troubled though she tried to hide it. All the same I left her alone and decided it was best to let her come to terms with it herself, rather than bugging her.

'The palace guards seemed to learn quickly in their lessons this morning.' Obi Wan mused.

'Yes, they did well for their first try.' Connas agreed.

'We're a little closer to bringing peace back to this planet.' Tila nodded.

'Yes.... We accomplished much today, but we still have a lot to do before we are ready to take down the Separatists and their base.' Ahsoka murmured, determination shining in her sea blue eyes.

'I agree, on both counts.' I nodded.

'We will have to discuss future strategies, but not tonight. I think that soon we should all be getting some rest.' Obi Wan suggested and we all nodded sleepily.

'In that case, why wait? Goodnight.' Alexa murmured before getting up and returning to her hut.

'I think you should follow your fellow padawan's lead, Rendal.' Obi Wan mused turning to his own apprentice.

'Very well, goodnight everyone.' The boy smiled and headed to bed.

The rest of us adults continued to talk for a while, until I started to yawn and my eyelids became too heavy for me too keep open.

'You should get some sleep, Master.' Ahsoka nudged me.

'You're probably right.... And it's Anakin now, remember?'

'Right, sorry, it's going to take a while for me to get used to that.'

'Heh, me too Snips.... See you in the morning.'

'Night.... Skyguy.' She replied and I went to bed, instantly falling asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

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The next morning I woke stiff and sore; these thin mats really aren't very comfortable to sleep on. I mused as I sat up and stretched my neck from side to side.