Captain Rex watched intently as the silent duel between the future teacher and his new student unfolded. Asoka was the first to break the tense silence:
"Did you persuade the Council to assign you to me?
"Believe me, this is as much a surprise to me as it is to you. I didn't think that my future mentor would want to be friends with me. I thought they had other goals," Anakin said, unable to contain his long-held resentment.
As already mentioned, the last six months had been surprisingly turbulent, and Asoka had hardly seen her former close friend during that time. Or rather, she believed that it was only her busy schedule at the front that had caused the estrangement between them. Togruta did not know that on that morning in the medical ward, Anakin had heard her say that he was only a friend to her and how much that revelation had hurt him. It simply turned his soul upside down, and Skywalker decided then and there that a part of him had died forever, along with his severed arm. At that moment, Anakin firmly decided that he would no longer dwell on his love and would finally become what he was meant to be in the first place — a Jedi, whose life had no place for attachments and foolish romantic dreams. No sooner said than done, he checked himself out of the medical ward and, without even stopping by Ahsoka's quarters, headed straight for the training hall. The teenager spent almost the entire day there, getting used to his prosthetic arm and his new life — without passion, without laughter, without love. And so every day passed, which could not go unnoticed by the Master mentors, who were pleasantly surprised by the changes in the young Skywalker's behaviour, which coincided in an amazing way with his fourteenth birthday. That same evening, a Council meeting was convened to decide on Anakin's promotion to Padawan and who would be appointed as his mentor. In the morning, he was delighted with such important news, but he reacted sourly to it, thinking more about the fact that Ahsoka had not only given him nothing, but had not even congratulated him. At least a message. Skywalker waited for this, staying up until midnight, hoping to see a message from a familiar contact. But no, the comlink remained silent. That was the last straw, and Anakin mercilessly destroyed his last hope that he would ever be more than just a childhood friend to Tano. He destroyed it along with the gift he had prepared for her nineteenth birthday, deciding that neither of them was needed by the Togrute anymore. He was apparently so consumed by his resentment that he didn't listen to who had been assigned to him as a teacher, only finding out about it as they approached Christophsis. No one listened to his objections, and no one who was with him at that moment — a silent clone pilot — could have answered them. All that remained was to accept what was, even though it would be excruciatingly difficult, because at the first glance at Togrutta in a long time, Anakin realised that all his beliefs against her were crumbling and he was almost ready to forget all his resentment and rush straight to Asoka, embracing her. But that was just it, almost... No, that was all in the past. He would not give her another chance to mock his feelings, even if it meant a lecture from the Masters.
"Don't worry, Tail, as soon as we get back to Coruscant, I'll fix it. Your suffering won't last long, I promise," said Ahsoka with a sarcastic tone, folding her arms in front of her.
She had thought about him for the past six months. She had waited for him to come to her, to talk to her, to explain where he had gone and why he was upset, but no, he had left everything as it was. He spat on their years of friendship as if they had never existed, and at the slightest attempt by Ahsoka to approach him and find out anything, he was always either in the company of someone else or trying to find an excuse to leave. Asoka, without realising it herself, was worried about this and at the same time hated herself for crying over some teenager. And today it turned out that her first student, whom she didn't even want, would be Anakin. No, she would not allow him to mock her and openly disregard her. She would immediately show him his place.
"Commander Tano," Captain Rex approached her, "The situation on the left flank has become complicated. Take a look."
A hand in a white glove pointed to the field where long-necked enemy droids were lined up in neat columns. Even at first glance, there were at least a thousand of them. But worst of all, they were surrounded by a transparent blue protective field produced by huge generators hidden somewhere at the end of the battlefield. Ahsoka followed the captain to the observation platform, where Master Plo was already standing, and judging by his expression, he was no less shocked by the situation.
"We can't get through there, the protective field won't let us," he said, seeing his young colleagues approaching him.
"If the problem is just the field itself," Anakin said without waiting for permission, "then why not just turn it off?
There was a few seconds of silence, which was broken by Plo:
"I don't think that's a good idea, we can't take such an unnecessary risk.
"I agree with him," Ahsoka unexpectedly supported him. "If we sneak behind enemy lines, I think we can disable the protective field generators."
"Are you sure, Asoka?" asked Plo, habitually concerned about his former student.
"No," she admitted honestly, "but it seems we have no other choice. Let's go, Tail.
Anakin had no choice but to follow his mentor, while the Master and Rex watched them go, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Is it hard to let a student go?" the captain finally asked.
"The main thing is that she understands what she's doing," replied the general, imagining what awaited Ahsoka in the future and how she would cope with the mentorship that had come to her at such a difficult time for the Republic.
"You know what, dear?" said Asoka, making sure that the Master and the captain couldn't hear her. "If we return alive, we're going to have a very difficult conversation.
"Don't lose the swords, or the Council will have another topic for criticism and another candidate for it," Anakin replied, grimacing in annoyance.
"Make more promises to Captain Rex, he'll explain to you that respect for your elders is the key to success," Tano smiled crookedly and said no more, thinking about how she and the Padawan could best make their way through the crowd of droids. Finally, she saw a large, fairly deep metal box and suddenly realised that this was exactly what they needed.
"Listen, can I stand up now, my back is numb," complained Anakin when they had covered themselves with the box and crawled about halfway across the field. Above them and very close by, they could hear the pounding of metal limbs and repeated shots, as well as the occasional heavy thud of falling bodies. One even fell on top of the box and, bouncing off it, slightly shifted the metal cover. Ahsoka tried to put it back in place, but it was too late; the droids had already spotted the scouts and aimed their disgusting blasters at them. Forgetting their goal for a moment, they had to fight for something else — their lives and the life of their apprentice. However, considering that he had studied under Ahsoka his entire childhood, Anakin was almost a master swordsman. Red flashes flew off in all directions until the two young Jedi finally reached the tall generators. They were already waiting for them at the foot of the generators.
"Three with blasters, one with a sword," Asoka would have joked another time, but not now, and not because there were more than three comrades with blasters, but because the one with the sword was missing altogether. They hadn't expected this, but there was no time to think, and one had to distract the enemy while the other climbed up.
"Anakin, hurry up!" the Togruta shouted, continuing to fend off enemy blows. Realising the situation, he quickly began to climb the fence using the holes in it, but the droids remained and had already managed to surround Asoka. A little more and she would be overwhelmed. Skywalker realised that he had to help his mentor; there was no time for hard feelings. He was already on the other side of the fence and, looking around, noticed a fairly large hole at just the right angle. What if he did this, and then that... A few seconds later, the fence swayed and the piece with the hole began to fall slowly onto the droids.
"Stay where you are, don't move!" he managed to shout to Asoka before the wall fell right where Tano was standing, trapping her in the middle of the hole.
"Well, well, you almost killed me!" Asoka exclaimed indignantly, approaching her apprentice.
"I admit, I was tempted," Anakin smiled, pleased that he had been able to save her.
"Yeah, at this rate, I feel like I'll have to sleep in clone armour," muttered the Togruta, figuring out the best way to approach the generator shields. In the end, they decided that each of them would take one and managed to disable them without any major problems. At least something had to go right today. Nothing bad happened on the way back, and upon returning to the observation post, Ahsoka went upstairs to report to the Master that everything had gone well and to receive instructions on what to do next. Anakin stayed downstairs with Rex and the other clones.
"A daring attack on Jabba the Hutt's palace has been carried out," said the transparent hologram of Master Yoda, whose message was now being displayed by Plo when Ahsoka approached the post. "His young son has been kidnapped, and it will be your task, Knight Tano, to return him to his father.
The message cut off, and Ahsoka grimaced in annoyance. Oh no, back to Tatooine again. How she had hoped never to see that filthy, dusty ball again. That solid mass of pain and suffering, where all the most bitter and terrible things in a Togrutan's life were concentrated. Thoughts she wished with all her heart she didn't know. But she had no choice, she would have to go, and with that apprentice... They had imposed a burden on her, although she had to admit that Anakin had helped her a lot today.
"Do you have any thoughts about who might have kidnapped him?" Asoka asked the Master, then immediately corrected herself: "You and Jabba."
"Actually, we do, but according to our calculations, this man has been dead for a long time, as has his son, for six months now, ever since we were aboard the infamous Invisible Hand.
"Are you saying..." Asoka began, but couldn't continue, overcome by the horror of the cruel truth.
"Yes, Asoka," the Master finished with uncharacteristic harshness. "We shot down the Fetts' ship. It fell somewhere in the Arcanis sector. They made it there after all, just as they wanted.
"But, as always, you didn't check to see if the job was done," asked Asoka, already knowing the answer. Of course...
"No, we're Jedi, not mercenaries," said Plo calmly. "Next thing you'll be saying we should have fired a warning shot."
"That would have been nice," the Togruta smiled grimly, understanding the consequences of such love for all living things, even if death was more fitting for them. "Now try catching him all over Arcanis."
When Ahsoka came back down, the first thing she heard was the boastful voice of her apprentice standing opposite Rex:
"Can you imagine, they surrounded her on all sides, but I knocked the wall right onto the droids, they must have been crushed flat! She would have been dead if it weren't for me!
"Anakin," came a voice from behind him, and a tall shadow immediately fell over him. "Has no one ever told you that modesty is a virtue for a Jedi?"
"Forgive me, Master," Anakin said, folding his hands over his chest in feigned embarrassment. "I just wanted to boost morale.
"I'll explain to him what respect is," Rex interjected, defending him a little. Although he was about the same age as Asoka, the programme that had created him had long since made him a grown man, and he was now unaccustomed to obeying such a young commander.
Anakin had already moved away and was now sitting on a low fence, gazing thoughtfully into the sky, which was already beginning to darken. His huddled figure seemed somehow forlorn to Asoka, and she felt involuntarily ashamed. After all, if it weren't for him, she might now be being carried to the ship's medical bay, having numerous holes from the droid blasters sewn up, or maybe even in the cargo hold, in a cold metal coffin. Brrr, such thoughts made her shiver. Togruta sat down next to him and hesitantly touched his shoulder. Anakin turned and, still lost in his thoughts, which he had apparently been deep in for quite some time, stared at her with wide eyes. Tano shuddered, a genuine and very serious sadness piercing her soul. He was completely alone here, and no one understood him at all. Asoka now saw herself in Anakin more clearly than ever, when she had just been brought from Tatooine and, unexpectedly understanding all the feelings of this teenager's soul, made an equally unexpected decision, but before she could voice it, she had to hear:
"Tell me, when you first became an apprentice, did they also consider you a frivolous child?"
"Sometimes," Ahsoka replied as calmly as she could, "but other times, when you prove them wrong with your actions, the Council takes that into account."
"Like today, right?" asked Anakin, visibly thawing under her attentive gaze.
"Yes, indeed," confirmed Tano and suddenly smiled, just like before, before their ridiculous quarrel. "You're a desperate little boy. Master Plo would hardly have got along with you, but I think I've managed it."
Anakin beamed and seemed to become his old self again, once more letting the young Togruta into his heart, not yet knowing about her chance or whether she would ever find out about it.
***
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