Hiya, Skyguy.

Old faces, New places

Chapter 2

Anakin pov

"Ahsoka?!" I gasped, earning me a smile and a nod from my former Padawan

"Anakin" she bowed her head slightly, showing respect " it has definitely been a while."

" To say the least" I replied. I looked Ahsoka over. She had grown quite a lot in the two years that I had not seen her. She was taller, with a strong posture. She wore the same outfit she had when she was my Padawan, with the absence of her lightsabers and Padawan braid, of course. Her lekku was almost at her waist, and her monrals had increased in size by a few centimetres. Her face was the same, strong yet peaceful. She had grown up. I smiled at her, after which I couldn't help myself any longer. I stepped forward, and hugged my former apprentice. I was still taller then her, so she gripped my waist as she melted into the hug.

" Ahsoka... where have you been? I, I missed you." I muttered. She heard.

" Just... growing up I guess." She shrugged and we pulled apart. " it's so good to see you Anakin" she beamed at me.

I felt the already pure waves turn into bolts of happiness as she smiled at me. She had found herself. I was about to ask her more when a sharp pain in my leg brought me down onto one knee. Some of the shrapnel from the battle was still wedged in my calf. Groaning, I went to dislodge it when Ahsoka place a hand onto mine.

"No", she muttered, making eye contact with me as I looked up at her in confusion " it will only get infected. Let me help you up, I have a place a few clicks north of here, we will fix you up then go get Obwan."

"How did you know about..." I began

"Master, um, Anakin. I think you can sense the force here. The force in me. Can you not?"

I nodded in response. She continued,

" I trained hard and found out a lot about myself. But that's a story for later. I could sense Obwan as soon as they brought him here. Selfishly, I didn't want to get involved with the affairs of the council. But when you needed help, I couldn't just stand aside and watch you die Anakin. You still mean more to me than anybody ever has. I only wished to help you, to not get so involved. But it was the will of the force that brought you here. It happened for a reason. I will do what I can to help you, and the force shall decide what steps I take from there. Who knows, perhaps a return to the order is foreseen?" She sighed, " we shall see."

And with that, she lead me to her speeder, before whizzing away to her home.

We arrived shortly after, stopping in front of a large tree. It was coated with ivy and odd looking birds hung in the branches, tweeting songs of peace. Ahsoka helped me off the speeder, before force jumping both of us onto a large branch. The branch lead into a small carved out room within the tree. It had a hammock, a chest and many different gadgets and supplies hanging from the walls. I looked around all the the creations, some of them glowed, others ticked, some even looked dangerous. She smiled,

" I gather parts from wrecks in the desert not far from here, I started by making weapons to replace my lightsabers, but they never felt right in my hands. So, I moved on to anything the force showed me how to make." She smiled, pulling a cord. The entire ceiling ignited with colour, all flowing through crystals in a perfect melody. So peaceful.

She lead me over to a stool in the corner, before turning to grab a few items off of the wall to her left. She then rummaged through the chest. She came over to me with a set of odd looking items, and sat cross legged on the floor by my injured leg. As she worked on my injury, I couldn't help but ask.

"Ahsoka, how did you end up... here?"

She smiled at my question, but her eyes burned with deep emotions...sadness?

"After I left the order, I wanted to find a life away from the war, away from the jedi, away from the force. I went back to my home planet, and began work at a bar there. It was a simple waitressing job, but I was saving money to buy my own ship. One night a couple smugglers came in. They assumed I was a pleasure slave, and tried to pay for time with me. When I rejected them, they attacked me, and took me to their ship. I was defenceless. They were going to use me, to violate me. I was surely done for. But something changed that day, I found a source of calm within my fear. The force lead me, guided me. I used it to escape the men before they could touch me, and I took their ship. I flew for days, the force guiding my direction freely. I realised that no matter how far I got from the Jedi, the force was a part of me. A part I should not lose. The ship eventually ran out of fuel, crashing me here. This planet was so far out from the war, I was hoping peace would find me. I trained constantly with the force, growing in power. It spoke to me. It told me how part of the sister had latched onto me, and how I should prosper with it. I quickly became more powerful with the force then any jedi or sith I had ever seen. But I continued to train, to work with my power. A few months ago, I decided to return to the order. I saw that I had found myself and that it was time to go back. So I trained again, with weapons now, and found that my abilities with the force helped me in battle too, helped me to fight better then I thought was possible. I was proud, and I wanted to help the war effort. But the war found me. Dooku brought his droids here a few weeks ago. I found that the war would follow me everywhere. I wanted to fight him, knowing that I would be a fair challenge with my force abilities. But it felt wrong. It felt wrong to use my gift as a weapon. I didn't want Dooku to capture and abuse my power. So instead, I decided only to use my gift as defence, to protect those who need it. It felt right... I felt complete. Pure. Then they brought Obiwan. I was going to intervene, but u got here and u was hoping you would get Obiwan and leave. But when I saw that you needed help, I couldn't stand by and watch. I had to get involved. I didn't want to go back to war, but I now know that this is what the force wanted. It was our fate for it to go as it has. I will continue to use my force as only defence, but I hope that I can fight as a jedi, to help those who need it."

When she finished, her eyes were teary, but she blinked them away.

" I am at peace, I am one with the force." She muttered

I knew she was telling the truth. I could feel her purity, her strength, her power. She was incredible. I could see that she had been hurt. I wanted to hug her, to comfort her. But she put on a brave face, she didn't want to show weakness. I hated what those scavengers did to her, they deserved to die. But I could not focus on my hatred for those men while she sat in fort of me. She was grown up, I respected her, I just wished I had been there for her at the time. But I knew that she wouldn't have found herself if she had stayed with me. It was good for her, her spirit was free and she knew it, and her words reflected it. She was glad about everything that happened, hurt, but glad. It had made her the person she was right now.

"Ahsoka, the Jedi will be honoured to accept you back into the rankings." I said, smiling with the thought of it.

" I have a few conditions on the matter, but those we shall discuss at a later date with the council. For now, let's go get Obiwan."