How to Take an Empire

Chapter Five: Trust

Though she'd been worried about standing out, Ahsoka figured that two babies strapped against her chest was the best way to blend in and stay hidden from the Empire. Because why would a Jedi knight have newborns strapped to her chest? As it was, no one looked twice at her as she walked into the bustling town in the middle of the day with Artoo and Threepio, carrying the one large duffle bag of their belongings behind her.

Her mind automatically began cataloging all the things she was going to need to do. First and foremost, find shelter. After that, she needed a way to make money. As a war vet and Jedi, those two things weren't all that difficult to figure out, but two babies strapped to her chest made that infinitely more complicated. Who would hire her when she had two children to tend to?

Leia whined, and without looking down, Ahsoka said, "Am I worrying too much?"

She nudged against their bond, not sending any particular emotion over except to let the girl know she was there. Leia yawned and settled back down, though Ahsoka wasn't sure for how long that would be. Already, she was a lot more demanding than her brother, and only so many nudges against their delicate new bond would continue to placate her. Ahsoka sighed. Force knew she didn't want to before looking into all her options, but she was going to have to find somewhere to stay for the next couple of days until she could figure something out.

She headed to the more commercial area, figuring that was probably the best way to find room and board, and true to her suspicions, it didn't take her long to find someone renting a room for a reasonable price. Or what she thought was a reasonable price anyway, until the store owner renting rooms upstairs took one look at her and tripled the price.

"That's not what your sign says," Ahsoka said to the male twi'lek.

"Maybe, but babies cry. And if I have to listen to it, you have to pay for it."

Ahsoka didn't have an argument against the crying thing. The twins didn't cry nearly as much since they'd bonded, but they still did if she didn't change them or fix their bottle quick enough. Still...

"That's outrageous," Ahsoka argued. "A room in a crummy place like this is barely worth the price on your sign, let alone three times that."

"Four times, since you think it's so crummy."

Ahsoka fought the urge to choke the man. Normally, she wasn't so short-tempered. But even though she wasn't nearly as overwhelmed as a week and a half ago, she was practically starving, worried about running out of money, and more than anything just wanted a couple of hours of sleep without having to get up and tend to a baby. All of which was likely too much to ask.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn't worth creating a scene here that could somehow get back to the Empire, no matter how far out of the way this planet was. She opened her eyes and got ready to put all the charm and negotiation skills she'd picked up from Obi-wan over the years to good use only for someone else to intervene.

"Shi is a crabby old dick with no compassion. You'd be wasting your breath trying to make him budge."

Ahsoka turned to look at the petite dark-skinned human woman, maybe only a few years older than her, with dark bushy hair and a distinctive nose ring.

"Tend to your own business, and I'll tend to mine," the twi'lek, Shi, snapped.

"Hard to do that when your terrible personality is stanging up the air I'm trying to conduct my business in," the woman snapped. Then she looked at Ahsoka. "You need a place to stay, sweetie?"

Ahsoka nodded warily.

"I've got an extra room. You can stay with me. And I've got a little boy at home. So the sound of your babies crying won't bother me."