Bad Blood

Chapter 15

"Keeping your saber moving is the key to deflecting multiple adversaries," a voice said. There was a hologram of a young man coming out of what appeared to be a glowing box. "Fluid motion, one into the next, into the next and so on. I've made some... adjustments to the classic form four techniques that I think you'll find work well against droids and other ranged attackers."

Kneeling in front of the hologram was a young togrutan girl, no more than ten years old. She sported white and blue stripper lekku that reached down to about the tops of her shoulders. Her skin tone was a tan color, more similar to that of a human than a togruta, which she probably got from her father. However, her face was still decorated with the usual togruta facial markings like her mother's. Her eyes were the only thing that couldn't be attributed to one of her parents. She had bright emerald green eyes that shone like the new spring growth. She was staring intently into the hologram.

"Here, I'll show you," the hologram spoke out again. He drew his saber and activated it, showing a dull blue color. "One, two, three, four, five, six. Again. One, two, three, four, five, six," he counted off as he blocked blaster bolts coming in from various angles. "Practice these exercises mindfully, and you'll see improvement, I promise."

As the young girl was watching the recording, an older togruta woman sat on a tree stump not far away, meditating on a variety of things. She felt everything around her. The presence of her daughter watching the recording over and over again, practicing the different blocking stances as the man called them out. The presence of her husband probably doing something stupid as per usual. The presence of the rest of her "family" not too far off from them. The blowing of the breeze, the swaying of the trees, all the feelings of nature flowed through her. However, she did feel something out of the ordinary. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind that kept telling her something was about to happen, but she couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

She tried to push it out of her mind and continue her meditation, attempting to focus on the nature around her, but the feeling wouldn't leave. It continued to grow stronger and stronger until she could no longer focus on her meditation. She groaned as she opened her eyes, scanning the area for any threat that the force could be warning her about. After a few solid seconds of searching her surroundings, and the increasing of the feeling, she couldn't find anything.

The woman started to rise to her feet to go investigate the surrounding area, when the feeling went away. She didn't know how it why, but it just vanished. She looked over to her daughter to see her unfazed, continuing to watch the recording and practice her stances. The togrutan woman decided to dismiss what had just happened and she closed her eyes to continued her meditation.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she felt something. Not like before, no this was different. She felt a new presence, one that hadn't been there even a few seconds earlier. She turned around, but saw nothing, even though her senses told her someone was there. She looked back over to her daughter, who again appeared to not feel a thing.

"So you still have that recording even after all these years?" A voice spoke from behind her, but it wasn't an unfamiliar voice. It was, however, a voice she never thought she'd hear again. Tears began to brim up around her eyes as she pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Slowly she turned around and came face to face with the ghostly face of the man she hadn't seen in nearly twenty years. She just sat there, starting at him in disbelief. "Hey Snips," he said softly.

At the sound of his voice, Ahsoka broke out of her trance and flung herself onto him. She was half expecting to go right through him, but when she felt herself hit his robe and felt his arms wrap themselves brightly around her, she was overcome with joy. She began to sob uncontrollably into his chest as he rubbed circles on her back in an attempt to calm her.