This is an Ahsoka fanfiction. It kicks off before the show, will extend through the end of season one, and hopefully conclude with post-show content before season two of the real thing airs. Let me know how I’m doing in the comments!
I’ve started loading chapters into Archive of Our Own. Let me know if you follow over there!
Rating: General, Spice Level: None
Characters/Tags: Original Character, Master and Apprentice Relationships, Original Female Character, Original Jedi Character, Ahsoka Tano, Huyang
Read Chapter 23 here.
Chapter 24: Scared but not Bored
The sun shone on Seatos, and Kendra meditated on the cliff. She didn’t sit near the ruins, where Baylan had apparently thrown Ahsoka into the waves, but she stared at the ruins. She stared at that spot. And wondered how Ahsoka survived.
Also, why didn’t Baylan kill her? Or Sabine? She felt sure now that it was Sabine who spoke to her; that she’d gone with him. Kendra didn’t understand, but she was glad. They should all be dead.
She closed her eyes against the light. The right eye still barely opened, and that half of her face swelled to the point of constant pain, though Huyang supplied her with less sedating pain medications. Her stomach still wasn’t quite settled, and her equilibrium was off enough that she felt like she swayed to the nosies of the waves.
Maybe Baylan was right. Kendra wasn’t very good at fighting. What was she supposed to do against a trained Jedi or his apprentice, who had clearly spent most of their lives training for battle? Ahsoka could not defeat him, and Sabine could not defeat the apprentice. Kendra was a lost cause.
“Anakin became a Sith Lord.” Then there was that thought she could not escape.
Ahsoka didn’t argue with Baylan when he brought it up on her arrival. She’d never really talked about her master before. Master Edith had called Anakin “headstrong and restless.” She said the same of Ahsoka.
Did the woman she’d been traveling the galaxy with have that same dark power within her? Although Kendra hadn’t always agreed with her methods, she’d never sensed anything evil. Would she be able to?
Should she ask Hera about Anakin? Would Hera know? Huyang? He wouldn’t tell her, even if he did, she suspected.
How did Ahsoka survive?
She knew the older woman stirred on the shuttle. Even with her incredible headache, Kendra could sense Ahsoka in the Force. Did she feel different, or was Kendra tricking herself now that she knew about Anakin? Or did her head injury also impact her perception?
Kendra listened to the waves and let her worries wash over her. She didn’t think Ahsoka was evil, but Baylan had said it must have left a mark. What was that mark?
And where was Sabine? She felt ever more confident that she’d heard Sabine speak after the fight, and that the other woman had tried to protect her from someone. But Sabine was gone.
“Are you okay?” Jacen bounced into her field of view.
“What?” Kendra startled.
“You look scared,” he said.
She tried a comforting smile. “Jedi don’t get scared.”
“That’s not true,” he replied. “They just don’t dwell on their fear.”
She didn’t know what to say to the sudden burst of wisdom. “Do you know any ambassadors? Diplomats?”
“Maybe. I think the ones I’ve met are boring.”
“Somebody said I’d be good at it,” she said.
“My mom said the Jedi used to do that kind of thing,” he said. “Though never my dad or Ezra.”
“Because it is boring?” she asked.
“Probably,” Jacen said.
“We can be scared but not bored, got it,” Kendra said.
“So, can you tell me about the fight? How many people had lightsabers?”
“I don’t really remember,” Kendra said. “I think I got knocked out pretty early on.”
“Oh.” He chewed his lip. “Well, I guess I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Me too,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t stay awake longer to have a better story.”
“That’s okay. I can ask Ahsoka. I heard lightsabers.”
“Yeah.” She blinked. “Wait, what?”
“In the water, when she was missing. That’s how I knew she was out there.” He picked up a rock and threw it off the cliff. Then he picked up another and threw it, too.
Had he sensed the fight with Baylan? But why in the ocean? “Who was fighting?”
“I don’t know. Ahsoka, probably. She was fighting somebody. That’s why she lived, I bet.”
Kendra opened her mouth and closed it again. She remembered Ahsoka fighting in her confused dream state during the same time.
He threw another rock into the water and looked back at the ships. “Oh! She’s awake!”
Ahsoka emerged from her shuttle, smiling and walking toward Hera. She wore white, not her normal color. Jacen ran towards her. Kendra remained still.
“Go with her.” Another thought from her dreams that floated around her head, opposite the one about Anakin. This voice called her to trust in the older Jedi.
Hera and Ahsoka walked to the center of the ruins, where the remnants of the map lay, destroyed by Baylan’s lightsaber at some point after the fight. As they walked, Ahsoka made eye contact with Kendra and grinned.
“When the time comes, go with Ahsoka.”
Kendra could not remember a time Ahsoka had grinned. Intrigued, and heeding the voice in her dream, she rose and walked toward the ruins to join the two women.
~~~
“We do not need more supplies.” Huyang stood at the door and tried to dissuade Chopper from rolling another crate onto Ahsoka’s shuttle.
Chopper let loose a series of angry beeps and continued pushing the wheeled cart up the ramp. He’d done nothing but move supplies from Hera’s ship in the hour since Ahsoka emerged from her rest.
“That is more food than we would possibly need, even for four people.”
More beeps from the smaller droid inside the ship.
“Yes, Kendra is a growing woman, not a girl,” Huyang said, “but that does not mean she needs more chocolate.”
There was a loud crash, angry beeps, and the sound of frantic shuffling.
“Be careful!” Huyang said. “Also, Lady Wren does not eat that much, and you should not talk about her so in her absence.”
If droids could giggle, they’d make the noise Chopper let loose as he scurried back down the ramp. He rushed toward Hera’s ship, circling the general and a pilot discussing the bad news of a New Republic fleet on the way. Chopper threw more angry beeps at that conversation.
Ahsoka stood at the bottom of the ramp, ignoring both droids. “Kendra, I’m not asking you to go.”
“I know,” Kendra said. On learning the plan to talk to the purgil about taking a ride to wherever Ezra was, Kendra informed Ahsoka she’d be coming.
“Your master did not obligate you to stay with me.” Ahsoka crossed her arms.
“I know.” She held her hands behind her back in the hopes no one would notice them trembling.
“You should go with Hera,” Ahsoka said. “You can help the New Republic. It would be safer.”
Kendra struggled to keep her voice level. “That’s what Baylan said.”
Ahsoka closed her eyes. “Baylan… seems to know what to say to people.”
Doubt entered Kendra’s mind. Ahsoka did not deny it. Her master did not obligate Kendra to go with Ahsoka, but she also didn’t obligate Ahsoka to keep her. “If you think I’d be a problem, I understand. I’m not good at fighting.”
“You lost to a man who threw me off a cliff; I wouldn’t use that as evidence of your skill. But I may be going to an entirely different galaxy. And that’s the best outcome among many.”
“I agree,” Huyang offered from the door. “This is not a good idea at all.”
Kendra remained focused on Ahsoka. “Master Edith told me, ‘we’re never ready, and it is never safe, but we’re still needed.’”
Ahsoka sighed. “A wise statement, but why do you want to go?”
“To help?” Kendra bit her lip. She didn’t want to sound crazy. “I think the Force told me to go.”
“Oh.” Ahsoka glanced at Hera and stepped toward Kendra as she lowered her voice. “I didn’t tell them this, but you should know before deciding. Sabine went willingly.”
“I know.” Or she thought she knew, Kendra wasn’t quite certain. Ahsoka had apparently determined that from the memories she read off the map. This wasn’t the time to sound unsure, though. “You know, and you’re still going.”
“I’m going to stop Thrawn.” Ahsoka shifted her weight between her feet. “And for Sabine.”
“As she went for Ezra,” Kendra said.
Ahsoka stared at Kendra for several seconds. Kendra realized the subtle worry lines on her face had relaxed in the last day, even during this somewhat tense conversation. Ahsoka seemed taller, somehow. What had happened while she should have been drowning? Was it related to her dark master, or something else?
Kendra might never know, but she wasn’t going to miss her opportunity to find out. The Force told her to go, but she knew deep down she wanted this adventure. How far would she end up away from Fernwood?
“Besides,” Kendra said, “there are space whales.”
Ahsoka chuckled and dropped her arms back to her sides. “Fine. Let’s hope this works.”
“Great,” Kendra came up on her toes.
“Huyang,” Ahsoka said, “get Kendra some of the anti-nausea meds before we take off.”
“Of course,” he said. “That will be easier than cleaning up again.”
“We could also try not getting shot at.” Kendra jogged up the ramp while Ahsoka went to Hera. “I was doing fine until that part.”
“I will get you the medicine,” Huyang said. “There is no telling what trouble Ahsoka will get us into by day’s end.”
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