Chapter Text
Part 1: The Meditation (Ahsoka)
Jedi temple on Coruscant,
Seven years before the battle of Christophsis
“Some claim, that the Force, while it connects every breathing, living thing in this universe by nature, also bounds people by fate. People who are destined to meet and to build a deep connection, to learn from each other, grow with each other and to love each other… Some people even say that these people are connected by a red or golden string, invisible to the eye but tied around their little fingers, creating an unbreakable bond. The force works in mysterious ways, never underestimate the Force and it’s will. As Jedi knights we have to learn to listen to the Force, to live in it and to use it to help this galaxy!”
Ahsoka listened in awe to what Jedi Master Cytzuné Zkalley told her and the other younglings in the room.
And while Master Zkalley had already moved on to the next topic (“How to use the force to determine someone’s life force and how to uplift and heal it”) was Ahsoka still thinking about the red tie that was supposedly attached to her finger.
She had no doubt that it was there. Sometimes, she had felt an odd pull at her pinky finger, when she was meditating and very relaxed. It had only been faint and she had not thought much of it back then in these moments but now she understood everything!
Of course the thread had been pulled from the other side (whoever it was), of course she would feel it! How exciting!
Ahsoka liked the thought of having a person who the Force had decided, that they should belong with her in a way.
‘Connection to others is what makes us strong’ was she always told since she came to the temple, so it made sense that sometimes it would be decided that there is a special person for a special bond.
Ahsoka inspected both of her hands closely but couldn’t find any trace of the thread.
She reached out into the force, tried to feel it there but there was nothing really. How odd.
Well, maybe it was the will of the Force to not always find it, maybe it would only be revealed in special moments or when she was physically close, or perhaps mentally close, to the person on the other side of the thread.
It became a habit for Ahsoka in the coming years to reach for the thread around her little finger in the Force and sometimes she would feel it. Sometimes it tugged or pulled, sometimes she pulled at it just to feel the resistance of the unknown other side and sometimes it was just there. She found comfort in it’s existence and in dark nights during training trips to cold, unfriendly, remote planets she was feeling better deep down in her soul to know that there was a person somewhere in this galaxy on the other end of the string, that they were connected no matter their physical distance and a lonely, exhausted night was suddenly not so lonely anymore.
And after the Clone Wars broke out she felt the pulling and tugging more often, even without reaching out into the Force and focusing on it. Surprisingly she never really thought much of what this could mean about who was on the other side.
Her training and her studies kept her busy, she did not have much time to dwell on the string, when she was still struggling to learn everything that was expected of her.
And then she got the call that she was chosen to become Master Obi-Wan Kenobi’s padawan!
Finally!
Or too soon?
Was she ready?
Yes, she definitely was ready!
Ahsoka could not wait to meet her new master, to fight in the war that she had only heard about in theory and on rare occasion was she and other younglings allowed to join conferences and strategy meetings.
She was sure that this is what she wanted to do!
And she wanted to meet the clones. She had only seen them from afar, in the senate or on the streets of Coruscant but she had been close enough to feel them slightly in the Force.
They all looked the same, of course, but in the Force they all felt different.
She had not felt too much, but what she felt had been determination, courage, loyalty and individuality, in the Force were they all unique. She was convinced that she would feel even more when she would be closer to them.
She never questioned why she was already so fond of the soldiers of the Great Army of the Republic, tho.
It was the night before her departure to Christophsis, tomorrow she would be a padawan and soon a Jedi knight!
She tried to sleep but excitement and maybe also some fear (that she would never admit!) kept her awake and when tossing and turning did not brought her any closer to sleep she began to meditate.
Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander off to a calm, empty place, there was nothing but the living force around her and bright fog that was swirling in pirouettes on the horizon.
It was dancing and spiralling around in all the colours of the universe, some light and friendly, some dark and unwelcoming and there were even swirls so dark, so evil that she prayed, that they wouldn’t come any closer. When she suddenly saw herself standing there, looking in the distance, a hand rose to cover her eyes from an invisible sun and a red string was tied around her vision’s self little finger.
The string was glowing golden from within, a warm, friendly light and it lay on the ground, reaching far into the fog and Ahsoka could not see it’s end as it suddenly started to move.
From the bright fog that was dancing far away on the horizon exited a figure made of light, of all the friendly colours in the universe but the most prominent colour was a rich blue.
The person seemed to be broad, taking big confident steps and appeared to carry something under their arm, something rounded and slightly bulky. As the light figure came closer to her vision self saw Ahsoka that it was where her string ended. Tied around the little finger of the light figure was the other end of the string!
She watched as her vision self took a few steps to greet the person that had come from the fog, she extended her hand towards them and as the light person grabbed her hand and as their fingers intertwined turned the blue and the white light into white armour pieces with blue markings and a black clothed hand…
Fingers curled around each other, tenderly and yet absolutely confident in their love, and the red string, that was now prominently shorter than it had ever been before was pulsating with energy, it even felt like a melody. A melody that Ahsoka could only hear deep within her heart and not with her ears.
Suddenly they were voices, maybe her own but older and a male voice, and shadows of images around the Vision-Ahsoka and the figure of light.
‘Find him, Fives…’
‘Then I’ll definitely outrank you!’
‘I have to sort this out on my own!’
‘You are a good soldier…’
‘It’s good to have you back, Commander!’
‘I could be there in two rotations…’
Ahsoka awoke with a scream of a name on her lips that was gone as soon as she came back to her senses.
She was laying on the floor, where she had sat down to meditate, she must have fallen asleep, her whole body was cold, sore and stiff.
Groaning, she pushed herself up from the floor and stretched out her arms and legs and checked the time. She had still three hours left until she would be picked up to fly to meet her new master and to bring supplies to Christophsis.
She climbed into her bed, wrapped herself tightly into her blanket and as she drifted off to a unruly sleep was she still hearing her own older voice and the stranger’s voice.