The things a friend can change

The gathering part 1

(Caleb's POV)

"Barriss! Did you hear? I'm going to the gathering tomorrow." I yelled with joy, happy that after all the hard work it was finally time.

"That's great Caleb, I'm proud of you." She answered kindly.

There weren't many times when Barriss would actually be here in the temple. Normally it's just me, Katooni, Gungi, Petro and the others. I'm just glad she'll be here for the rest of the week, long enough for me to go and return from Ilum.

"So who's the Padawan instructor?"

"I don't know if I've ever seen her before, but her name is Ahsoka Tano." Though something told me that Barriss already knew her.

"Ahsoka?" She gasped, "Well lucky you, she's possibly the best Padawan for the job."

"You know her?"

"Yes, we fought together in the last battle of Geonosis, it was there that I befriended her."

"Is she cool?"

"Hmm hmm, yes very. I think you'll like her. Oh and she's the Padawan that Anakin always talks about."

"He has a Padawan? Huh, I guess it's been way too long since I've seen him."

"Yeah, you and me both."

The next day, the 4 of us Padawans were off to Ilum. We had to wake up before 0600 to be fully prepared for the day ahead of us. I ran closely behind Stahl, Ashla and Pad, who were as old as I was.

Pad's a mirilan boy, much like myself. Though he can be very tough in training, he still has an amazing sense of humour. He's told the best jokes I've ever heard of, always earning his rank of number 1 in the class clown list.

Ashla's a togruta girl, much like Master Ti and our instructor today Ahsoka Tano. The girl's often nice: confident, courageous but also kind and caring. However she's still a bit of a show off since whenever we were in class she was always the first to raise her hand.

Stahl's a human male, tough in training, even tougher on the inside. He's also quite a rebel. We were once in a class with Master Windu when the two ended up in a heated argument. He's not exactly one to show kindness, but at the end he's still got a good soul.

I was one of the shortest among the group so I had trouble getting a good look on this Ahsoka Tano legend person. When I did get to see her however, I saw that she was quite an attractive girl and so it was difficult for me to get my eyes off of her.

Her bright orange features seemed to have dominated the entire problem. She also had wonderful blue and white lekku that were dangling just below her shoulders, right beside her...her...her...... ahhh, what was I thinking?

I wouldn't have even known that I was blushing if Pad hadn't told me. I felt it too. Embarrass crept over me and so I was left with no other choice than to hide my face among the group.

Then within seconds, my 3 friends suddenly started cheering.

"Umm, Stahl, why are we cheering?" I whispered.

"Weren't you listening, we're going to build our own lightsabers."

"Oh really?" I asked, followed by a series of cheers.

Throughout our trip, I was just so distracted by Ahsoka that there were many moments when they had to do something firm and severe until I would come back to reality.

"Why are you acting so strangely today?" Stahl asked.

"Wh...what?" I gasped, "No I'm not."

"Then how come you aren't contributing in our little discussion." Ashla raised, using her supreme intelligence.

"I'm...just thinking about Ilum. For all we know there might be a chance that we won't make it out alive."

"Don't say that Caleb, I don't even remember the last time someone hadn't made it out." Ahsoka chimed in. She then gave me a reassuring wink which was starting to affect my already burning face.

No. What's wrong with me? I'm 12, I should know that attachments are forbidden. But no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't help myself. Whatever this faint feeling was, I sure as hell don't understand even a small fraction of it. Help me force.

So I distracted myself by asking my peers some questions.

"Pad, how are you doing?"

He raised a brow, "I'm good why?"

"Umm, well you're the only mirilan on the ship." I acted as normal as humanly possible.

"True, but there are only a number of mirilan's in the temple anyway, so I'm kinda used to it."

"Hang tight younglings, we're about to land." Ahsoka announced.

We all blushed undeniably, since everyone on the ship should know that we don't like to be called younglings.

"Padawan Tano, we'd prefer not to be called younglings if that's all right." Pad stated. Of course he would. You can't be a class clown without being an amusing confident Mirilan.

"Don't be offended kids, I'm only saying that cause you're all very cute."

That sentence made all of us laugh, all except me who was blushing endlessly. Blast it! Why couldn't I have been a Mirilan or something, at least that way I'll be able to hide a blush.

"Everyone ready?"

"We're ready Padawan Tano."

I walked out with my shoulder partners to reveal the ice cold snowy planet of Ilum.

"The...the temperature here m...must be below z...zero." Ashla announced, being the nerd that she was.

"We're almost there Padawans." Ahsoka yelled through the tangy wind.

"It's a dead end!" Ashla informed.

I could've sworn Ahsoka had a smirk on her face when she said, "Younglings, outstretch your hands and focus the force. Together and only together can we enter."

So without a second of doubt, we raised our hands and felt the strong glaciers start to diffuse.

"Master Yoda." Pad bowed, followed by the rest of us.