Chapter Text
The first thing Ahsoka became aware of after slowly waking from a dreamless sleep, was that she was lying on her left side, legs pulled up close to her body and that she was feeling cold. The mattress under her was soft and her cheeks were resting on a thick pillow. With her right hand she pulled the thin blanket that was only covering her up to her waist further up her body and over her shoulders, but as she did, her feet and most of her naked legs became exposed to the cool air. The blanket had apparently become turned in her sleep.
Slowly opening her eyes to the semi-darkness of the room, Ahsoka extended her legs, trying to turn the blanket around again and promptly bumped her toes on the bed frame. It brought her up short - why was the bed so small? - and she lifted her head to take a look at her surroundings.
She recognised the room at once; the floral painting on the ceiling that was softly glowing in the dark, functioning also as a night light, was something she had spent hours marvelling at during her first year at the Jedi Temple. She was in the dormitory of the Clawmouse Clan in the crèche in her small bed and all around her were small bodies of children from different species sleeping peacefully.
But that was not possible!
Ahsoka sat up straight and blinked several times, but what she was seeing in the dim light stayed the same. She was in her first dormitory at the Jedi Temple, half-sitting on the bed that had once been hers. Next to her, the Mon Calamari girl, Karbini, was sleeping with a hand under her pillow and beside her, Ahsoka saw Viqui, a girl from Kuat with deep black hair and further down the row was the brown and black Wookiee boy, Jentuwr.
The cool air of the night registered on Aksoka’s skin once again and she pulled the thin blue blanket in front of her body, only now noticing that she was completely naked. Gripping the blanket tighter in her hands, she tried to come up with an explanation for what she was seeing. The last thing she remembered was being in her cabin on her Corvette lying down on her bunk for a few hours of sleep before she wanted to fly to Chopper Base on Atollon to meet with Kanan and Ezra and join them on their quest to Malachor.
And now she was sitting in her old bed in the crèche, but in her own grow-up body, surrounded by her childhood friends that looked no older than three or four standard years. Ahsoka was relatively certain that this wasn’t a dream, but she pinched her arm anyway just to make sure. It hurt exactly as it should so her first assessment had been right.
Slowly, Ahsoka lowered her mental shields and a second later she was able to feel the calm minds of the children around her as well as the faintly pulsing presence of numerous Jedi in her vicinity. The Jedi were gone though. The Temple had become the Imperial Palace. And despite all of this, Ahsoka was here now and she could feel in the Force that this was real. She didn’t know how or why, but she would find out soon enough.
Ahsoka swung her legs over the side of the bed and placed her bare feet on the floor. The floor was as warm as she remembered. Wrapping the thin blanket around her midsection, she stood up and walked down the row of small beds towards the door, cautious to be silent and not to wake one of her friends. Thinking that made Ahsoka shake her head, but she pushed that thought aside for the moment. When she reached the door it slid open soundlessly and she entered the common room where the younglings of the Clawmouse Clan ate together and spent their time between classes. It was dark in the room except for the lights of Coruscant’s air traffic high above that shone through the big windows.
Ahsoka padded to one of the small terminals located on the wall next to the window. She sat down on the plush cushions and holding the blanket with one hand, Ahsoka activated the terminal with the other. The familiar interface greeted her and she had to blink several times against the bright light of the screen. Her gaze immediately wandered to the upper right corner though and when she saw the numbers there, she stopped breathing for a moment. The interface informed her of the time and date, but Ahsoka only saw the year: 7945 CRC.
It was impossible! In 7945 CRC Ahsoka had been 4 standard years old and she had been in the Jedi Temple for only close to one year!
The last thing Ahsoka remembered was the year 7974 CRC, wherein she had been 33 standard years old.
Ahsoka gripped the blanket between her fingers even tighter, while she tried to understand what was going on here. There had to be an explanation for all of this!
She stood up again and walked to the door that led to the main corridor of the crèche. The door slid open and Ahsoka stepped outside. The floor here was cold under her bare feet and the lights on the walls lit up as they reacted to her presence. After a few steps however, Ahsoka stopped again. The door behind her slid closed with a faint sound, but Ahsoka just stared at the opposite wall.
She had no idea what she should do now.
A moment later the sound of the lift doors at the end of the corridor to her left made Ahsoka turn around. At first, she thought the lift was empty, but then her gaze wandered lower and her eyes widened as she saw the small green figure that exited to lift. Master Yoda was clad in his usual cream coloured robes and his gimer stick made a clicking noise on the floor as he stepped out of the lift. The doors slipped closed behind him again and after he had only taken a few steps Master Yoda stopped. Resting both of his hands on his gimer stick he looked at Ahsoka with a contemplative expression on his face. He didn’t seem surprised to see her though and after a moment his ears twitched and he sighed, a sympathetic look entering his eyes.
“Guided here by the Force I was. Your presence I have felt, Ahsoka Tano. Familiar, but different you are,” he said.
Ahsoka took a shaky breath and for a moment she wasn’t sure whether she was relieved that Master Yoda recognised her or terrified that this was real after all. And all of this left her with only one possible explanation.
“Master Yoda,” she said and had to take a deep breath before she was able to continue. “I think I travelled back in time.”