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Emancipation means a lot of things. It means resettling. It means the war is over. It means time to mourn. It means time to celebrate. It means what the hell do we do now?
It means that as a new day breaks on the Republic — she still stands, smelling of smoke and betrayal but sturdy and whole — a lot of choices are to be made.
Commander Rex of the 501st (previously CT-7567) visits the Jedi Temple gardens. He’s never been inside the temple walls before, never seen the place beyond tall spires on the horizon, minarets splitting sunbeams. He never knew there was this much life inside the ancient stone walls. It… Fills him, somehow, like he’s a glass jar that someone slowly pours a pale golden liquid into.
He tries his hand at meditating. It’s not quite his style, being still, but he tries anyway because it feels right. Still in his armor, helmet set aside among the grass, face tilted up into the light that filters from the ornate windows high above. Eyes closed, trying with all his heart to just be that glass jar, to let the temple air fill him slowly with something he recognises suddenly as the Force — he isn’t entirely sure how he knows, but he does. It swims and trickles through his veins and creeps into his bones until he feels soft and floaty and strong.
The gardens around him become clear in his mind’s eye, like he has his eyes open even when he doesn’t.
Commander Tano- Ahsoka is walking towards him, picking her way through the lush foliage with a meandering, idle manner he’s never seen before. She feels… Closer than she is, somehow, like a little bit of Rex is her. Like she’s been magnified in the light.
“Rex,” she says as she comes into view. Breathless for some reason, even if he knows she hasn’t been running. “Rex, you’re-“
He opens his eyes for real then, smiles at her.
“Sorry if I’m not actually allowed in,” he says in lieu of greeting. “I asked one of the kids, and they said it’s all right, but…” A vague gesture. “I was waiting for you.”
Ahsoka sits cross-legged in front of him, her blue eyes wide and bright and expressing something he doesn’t quite understand. Awe? Wonder? Confusion? She’s out of her armor now, dressed instead in comfortable tunics and boots. She’s smiling.
“Rex, I don’t know how, or why, but you were… Reaching out. With the Force.”
“Was I?” He doesn’t know why he isn’t more surprised. It felt so… Natural. Easy.
“You were. Have you done that before?”
Something serious burns bright on her face.
“Can’t say I have. Not like… That. Not so strong.”
“But you’ve done it before, haven’t you.”
Rex nods, and to his surprise, Ahsoka laughs. Laughs, and then looks at him funny, and she laughs more, leaning back on her hands in the warm grass. Not entirely sure why, Rex laughs with her — what a fine pair they make, a clone and a Jedi, laughing until their ribs hurt in the quiet Temple gardens. Laughing for the joy of being alive, for victory, for death and loss and pain, for the many gifts of the Force.
“You should stay,” Ahsoka says when they’ve settled a little.
“Oh.” He pauses. “I… Don’t think I could be a Jedi.”
“That’s not what I mean. But- You could definitely still learn some things. I’ll teach you.”
“That sounds… Nice. Yeah, I'll stay." It's so easy to say. Like he was always supposed to stay.
"Do I call you Master Tano, then?”
Ahsoka laughs again. It’s a very lovely sound, one that Rex would like to hear more. She’s so young, but she’s saved his life again and again, a constant at his side through the turbulence of war, slowly winding their two lives together until now, in the gardens, he realises he can’t quite picture any future without her. That, Rex decides, is what family is all about.
“Hey, have you picked a last name yet?” She peers at him curiously, still just basking in the sunshine. It’s odd — they don’t have anything else to do today. There’s not going to be any alarm bringing them both into tense anticipation. There’ll be no orders, no battle plans. It’s strange. It's good.
“I haven’t,” Rex confesses, giving her a wry smile. “Bunch of the boys had a field day picking new ones. I didn’t really think about it, but…”
“But…?” Ahsoka needles, nudging him with an elbow.
“I was thinking,” he says, quiet, “that Tano might be nice.”
Ahsoka puts her head on his shoulder. “Yeah,” she says, looking up at the midday sun through the distant windows, and beyond that, the endless sky.
“Yeah, vod. That might be nice.”