Afterglow II | The Clone Wars

Within Stone and Steel

They say the tree is force-sensitive, it grows at the heart of the Jedi temple amongst the stone and the steel of the planet Coruscant. Endless cities, industry, the core of the inner planets. The question always plagued her mind as a young Padawan, how could something this ancient and sacred reside on a planet such as this? It's stark contrast confused her, even now.

She stood beneath the branches as its golden leaves fluttered in the wind. Her eyes, dull in the now cloudy atmosphere, reflected a small bit of its nature yet barely managed to focus on its detail. All that was present in her mind was denial.

There was no way in hell that she would've allowed herself to be left behind, to be nearly blown to particles at the hands of droids. To have lost a limb, fingers, and the entirety of her mind.

It felt as if a pin had jabbed itself into her side, popped a hole, and all the air that keeps her together on a day to day basis is escaping. Slowly she's deflating. He said she's improving, but he doesn't know. She wanted to find him, to tell him that she's sorry for what she said, but it'll only happen again, and again.

Lifelong habits never go away, it would seem. After all these years, she hasn't changed. The dark cloud that she acquired as a child was brewing once again, rearing its ugly head after a brief period of solitude. People used to avoid her, to form gaps in the halls when she walked by.

Back then, Dakota had accepted that as life, that she would just have to carry her darkness with her forever. Obi-wan changed that. His friendship brought her out from her turmoil, at least enough for the galaxy to catch a glimpse as to who she truly was, a caring soul.

A golden leaf drift towards her in the wind. She reached her hand up to let it land in her palm. His disappointed blue eyes flashed across her memory. Her only intent was to raise awareness about how dangerous the two Sith brothers are, not to cause an upset. Master Windu had already walked away from her that morning, then Obi-wan. Two people that had changed the trajectory of her life.

Then there was Savage and Maul, two people that hold the potential of changing everything for the worse if they're left unchecked. Maul already had by killing Qui-gon Jinn all those years ago. Who knows what life would look like if the chosen one had been trained by Qui-gon.

Obi-wan had lost his master, his friend, his father-figure.

"Then start acting like it." her own words echoed around her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, regretting it.

It was then when she realized that her hand had close around the leaf, and crushed it to wispy pieces of dust. She opened her palm, allowing the remanentes to blow away in the breeze. Her eyes followed the trail of the lead as it drifted across the courtyard towards another solemn figure and passed by into the distance.

He sat alone by the tree at the opposite end of the yard. A small youngling who was vaguely familiar to her. His eyes were low as he sulked on the stair, muttering inaudibly to himself.

She studied him for a long moment, wondering what had brought him to the Uneti tree that day. The youngling hadn't looked at her. He kept to himself. It felt familiar to her. She herself had spent many hours sitting out here under the tree, admiring the bit of natural life that didn't talk back to her, that didn't judge her.

The boy was young, tanned skin, brown hair, blue eyes. Undoubtedly she had led a lightsaber technique class with him. She recalled him being defiant and impatient.