Chapter Text
Two young children ran past, screaming in delight as they chased each other with wooden dowels- eyes wide and manic with grins so bright they'd blind a more light sensitive species- and Ahsoka side-stepped them deftly with a knowing smirk. The two called out half-hearted apologies and continued on, giggling with malicious intent. Ahsoka watched them go out of the corner of her eyes, thinking involuntarily about the trouble she got into with her crechemates as a youngling.
The thought made her smile- until it made her frown. That had been a long time ago, and she had a lot more bad memories there than good. Most of her clan had distanced themselves once they realized she was going to age out- and then when the war started, and she turned thirteen, and then fourteen and hadn't been assigned to a service corps, the other initiates started to feel... she couldn't think of a better term than resentment. Everyone in the temple had seen friends age out, get assigned to a corps, but Ahsoka had been an exception. She didn't become a Padawan for nearly two years after she should have washed out, and people had started to question why she was still there when so many others had been shipped off to go be farmers, explorers, or teachers. She'd even heard rumors that she was getting favoritism from Master Plo, which was frankly absurd.
After all, for all his compassion and all that he had done for Ahsoka, he hadn't chosen to take her as a Padawan.
And even though she'd been initially assigned to Anakin, even though he'd been forced to drag her along, he had chosen her. He saw something in her worth nurturing, and made the decision to accept her, even though it had been the council that had paired them. Ahsoka had loved him for that. Still loved him for it, despite the things that had happened, the things he'd done.
The things she'd done.
She shook the thoughts free, returning to the present. Concentrate on the moment, Anakin would have said, repeating the words of his grandmaster, Qui-Gon.
So she turned her attention back to the gently snow-laden streets of Yūkura, the small village in the mountainside of Serenno. It was early morning, yet the village was already alight with activity. Merchants and farmers filled the streets, dressed in traditional clothing and talking animatedly. It had been a year since the fall of the Empire, and already the people here had begun to heal. Ahsoka envied their resilience, their ability to forget the scars of the past. They were a hardy, determined people. Yan Dooku had been among both the best and worst of them, and even 25 years later statues of him still stood proud in secluded places like this.
Ahsoka watched as a young man in a plain tunic finished his business with a food stall, the scent of cooked meat travelling the distance to her and filling her nostrils. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly watering. She pulled out her cred-pouch, counting out what funds she had. She grinned.
She could afford a small treat.
She approached the food merchant, eyes focused on the sizzling cuts of meat as they were cooked in oil. It wasn't until the woman at the stall spoke that she raised her eyes to see who was behind it.
"You seem hungry, don'tcha stranger?"
The merchant was a blonde woman of about forty, with dimples and spectacles, with her hair pulled back into a long ponytail and a too large robe with gold trim and white lace adorning the crimson cloth. She had a kind, disarming demeanor about her that would have put Ahsoka at ease if it weren't for the ice in her brown eyes and the forearm length blade hidden within the folds of her robe.
"Always," Ahsoka nodded. "How much?"
"Five credits for a rice bowl, six for noodle."
Internally, Ahsoka deflated. She would have just liked the meat but she knew the merchant would have balked at the idea of just bagging up meat for someone off the street. "A noodle bowl please. Spicy if you have it."
"Coming right up." The woman began to skillfully cut a portion for Ashoka, grinning as she did. "Can't say we get many off-worlders around these parts. Especially non-humans."
A brow-mark lifted quizzically. "Something wrong with that?"
The worker smirked, butcher's knife spinning idly. "Not for a small village like Yūkura, we're just glad for the visitors. You might run into some trouble in the capitol though. Especially near the palace."
"I find that surprising, considering."
"Considering?"
"The fact that the Confederacy was made up of so many non-human systems," Ahsoka explained, thumbing the bracer on her left arm. "I at least figured they'd be more popular on Serenno than in the core."
The woman huffed, turning over a slice of the meat. "Probably would have been, back in the day. Now, though? Too many core worlders settin' up shop in the rim. And with 'em they bring their crazy ideas."
Ahsoka nodded slowly, eyes drifting over to a human woman across the street scowling at a duros in a gardener's uniform. She couldn't hear, but she seemed to be berating him for something. "I suppose that tracks."
"Galaxy's a-changin' though. I'm sure things'll get better now that the Empire's on the back foot."
"But not gone."
Now the blonde turned, eyes regarding Ahsoka with reserved sympathy. "No. Not gone."
The woman finished up with her noodles, exchanging it for Ahsoka's credits and handing her a disposable plasti-bowl. Ahsoka thanked her and began to eat with gusto as she made her way further down the street. After finishing her food, she trashed the bowl and made her way to a run-down inn on the far side of the village. She watched the faces of those she passed more warily now, though none seemed to regard her with anything more than polite curiosity.
Ahsoka was just in a bad mood, she knew. Though these days, that seemed too common for her. So as usual, she turned her mood into solemn silence. Once she spotted the inn, however the bad mood began to dissipate as a bubble of laughter fought its way from her throat.
The inn was a wooden structure.
With a exterior made from rustic, greying wood and a roof made from some corroded green metal, the inn was an adorable little hideaway with a lovely garden and curving sloped roofs. Ahsoka made her way inside, meandering as she took in the building appreciatively. The foyer was a crowded hallway with a small desk off to the side. Behind it, an older human man with enormous round spectacles flipped idly through a force-forsaken
book
as she approached. He looked up with polite disinterest as she stepped to the desk, setting the book down and bringing out a datapad. "Room for one?"
Ahsoka nodded, bringing out her cred-pouch once more. She set the chips down on the desk as he indicated the cost, and directed her to a room on the second floor.
The room was as rustic as the rest of the inn, with aged wood moulding and paper walls with a sliding door. The bed was a deceptively soft mat on the floor made up tidily with a plush down blanket to stave off the icy cold from outside. a small wood-burning stove sat near the exterior wall, with a metal chimney piping smoke out through the ceiling.
The man left her to her business as she settled in, watching through the window as the street lamps outside came on, illuminating the snow and casting the village in an ethereal glow. She smiled softly at the sight, remembering the first time she'd ever seen snow, on Illum. She changed into her nightwear, tossing a fresh log onto the fire and preparing to bed down for the night.
As she folded her traveling clothes, she glanced at the bottom of her rucksack. The wooden box strapped there stared back at her accusingly, and she scowled. After several moments of silent protest, she finally unstrapped the cursed thing and set it on her lap as she kneeled seiza on the wooden floor. As her hand reached for the durabronze latch however, she hesitated. Memories and ghosts lingered at the base of her skull and she snatched her hand away.
Roughly re-strapping the box, she threw her pack into the corner and frustratedly pulled herself into bed.
She felt the thing staring at her throughout the night.
~*~
The next morning, she checked out of the inn and began making her way out of the village.
She ascended stone stairs as she climbed through the higher tiers, passing villagers going about their routine in the early morning. The path to the top of the mountain passed straight through Yūkura, and the village itself was staggered against the mountainside. As she reached the village edge, stone pillars with fluttering lanterns took the place of street lights, an the duracrete street was traded for a gravel footpath. She took in a deep breath of the cold morning air, and prepared to leave civilization for the last time in a while.
But then, a commotion from behind caught her attention.
"You leave him alone!"
Ahsoka turned to catch a glimpse of the scowling woman from the day before, anger traded for fear and outrage as the duros she had been with was shoved roughly to the ground. Six rough figures draped in smuggler's garb were jeering and laughing as the largest of them, a human with a prosthetic arm, grabbed the duros by his shirt collar. The woman was dragged back by two of the other men, shrieking as she went. "Madon!"
Ahsoka set her jaw, fingering her lightsabers as she turned to regard the incident. The big one lifted the duros into the air, grinning nastily as the alien struggled fruitlessly against the brute. He lifted his free hand, curling it into a meaty fist as he prepared to pummel the poor man.
“That’s enough of that,” Ahsoka called out, hands resting on her belt. The two silver hilts flashed as her cloak was brushed aside, exposing the deadly weapons to the early morning sun.
“Oh really?” One of the five men hanging back grinned, stepping between her and the rest of his friends. They leered at her. “And what’s a pretty slip of a thing like you doing out so early?”
“I said, put the man down.” She ignored his question, stepping forward to meet his gaze. The was close enough now that she could lash out and strike him, but refrained.
Though she didn’t really see the purpose in attempting to de-escalate.
“Or you’ll make us, right?” The grinning man stepped even closer, his breath stinking of deathsticks.
Big mistake.
Her left hand flashed out, gripping his throat as she twisted her arm so that her thumb pointed down. She then twisted, her body contorting as she flipped the man from upright to upside down, his skull crashing into the duracrete with a crack . She stepped up onto his back as the other four rushed her, somersaulting forward and bringing the heel of her boot down on the next idiot’s head. He crumpled as the third and fourth rushed in from either side, and Ahsoka found herself horizontal, facing the ground.
She pushed up, shooting backwards and over the second as she backpedaled away from three and four. The ringleader stumbled upright, clutching his face as crimson spilled from a gash in his forehead.
“You- you karking schutta!” He stumbled up, blaster pistol flipping out of his holster as the barrel leveled with her eyes.
The pistol barked a retort, bright red particles flash heating the air her head occupied nanoseconds prior. She closed once more, jumping up and kicking three and four simultaneously, legs outstretched in a split. She rotated forward midair, legs closing as she brought both legs down on the first man’s blaster. It misfired into the dirt as the man stumbled forward, and Ahsoka landed lightly, feet together. She lashed out with her right hand, twistin the pistol to the side and disarming him as she spun and drove an elbow into his bleeding head. He lurched to the side, spittle and blood flying and mixing in the air.
A click warned her from behind.
She threw herself forward as a blaster carbine began to fire repeatedly, and she dashed headlong beside the low stone wall that ran along the path. Hot particles ate at the stone behind as she ran, before stopping short as the gunman adjusted his aim, hitting the stone in front of her- where she would have been if the force hadn’t spiked a warning.
The big one had dropped the duros, drawing a rifle from a sling on his back. Yellow teeth flashed in a snarl as he hit the heat dampener, flushing the weapon as he brought it up to bear.
Ahsoka’s hand reached back, settling on the hilt of her lightsaber. Time seemed to stop.
Before three stun rounds barked out in quick succession.
The big guy went down like a brick, crashing into the duracrete and snow with a thud. Several more stun rounds flashed out, the last three going out like the big guy had. The woman from before was hurriedly gathering up the duros, fussing over him as Ahsoka stood to her full height.
A slim pistol lowered between Ahsoka and her apparent savior, and Ahsoka caught a flash of brown hair and eyes that sparked memories of a woman long dead.
“Fulcrum,” Leia Organa bit out, holstering her blaster. “I’ve been looking for you.”