Learning to Live (COMPLETE)

8.2.2

Leslie and Jackson showed her to a closed walkway above the shop, with glass windows overlooking the massive workspace. Ahsoka surveyed the room, trying to take in as much as possible.

There was a back exit in the corner of the room, this walkway that led to the lobby, and a door that led to a garage that connected to the shaft. There were eight sections with tools and parts scattered in them, four wide and two tall. Those must be the workbenches. If she could get on top of them, she could see the whole room from about two-thirds of the way to the ceiling, which was about thirty feet off the ground. It was the second-highest platform in the room, the first being the walkway, but this was closed.

She could probably get on top of those rafters, though. Ahsoka was light enough that they could support her weight if need b-

But there shouldn't be any need. Ahsoka wanted to kick herself. She was trying to move on from the war, but her first instinct on entering a new room was still to analyze it for battle strategies.

She smiled before the other two could suspect what she was thinking. "It's bigger than I thought it would be. You wouldn't guess it from the outside."

"Yeah, I think Fuller built it that way," Jackson said, leaning against the glass a few feet away from her. "Makes it looks like there isn't much worth stealing."

Ahsoka nodded. "Does it work?"

He shrugged. "So far."

"So you live in the Lower Levels now?" Leslie asked. "Where were you before now? Unless it's a touchy subject, I-"

Ahsoka smiled and assured her, "Don't worry, I don't mind sharing." She recalled the story she had come up with the night before. It wasn't altogether a lie, either. "I've been traveling for the past year, seeing what else is out there. I got stuck a few times, though, and eventually turned up back here. Figured I might as well stay and start over."

Just enough of the truth to sound believable. That was how Ahsoka was going to live, for now, she had decided. Just enough to create an honest lifestyle.

"Where did you go?" Jackson asked, turning his head to look at her.

Ahsoka shrugged, trying to appear disinterested. "Separatist systems, mostly. New places I haven't been as often. It's not much different than the Republic systems, actually." She chuckled. "If you replace clones with battle droids, it looks more or less the same."

Jackson laughed with her, but Leslie seemed startled. "They really have droids just swarming the place? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Well, think of the surface," Ahsoka explained. "The clones up there, they're for protection. The droids are the same thing for their citizens. Unless it's a war zone," she remembered, feeling the need to clarify. "Then yeah, it's dangerous."

"Did you go to war zones?" Leslie inquired.

"A few times. Only when necessary."

Jackson looked through the window, staring off into space. "That's so crazy. You've probably seen everything."

Ahsoka gave him a half-grin. "Some days I think so, and then tomorrow happens."

"Okay, then," he said, standing straight and facing her. "What's the coolest planet you've been to? Go."

Ahsoka blinked, caught off guard by the question. The coolest planet? How was she supposed to decide, or even remember? How many had she been to?

Just pick one and go with it, she told herself. Just not Mortis, because it technically doesn't exist.