Chapter 4 – The Trip Back

This is the last chapter for The Hunt. Ahsoka and Aisha say their goodbyes to the Zalanos tribe and head home. Before they go there however, there's something that Ahsoka wants to try out.

Thanks again to Count Mallet for letting me use his characters from the Zalanos tribe.

Hope you enjoy.

;-

Ahsoka and Aisha stood at the edge of the Zalanos settlement, about to depart and head home. A number of people of the tribe, including chief Thiros of course and the huntmaster, were there to see them off.

Ahsoka and Aisha bowed to the chief. "Chief Thiros, thank you for your help and hospitality. Our stay here has been great," Ahsoka told him.

Chief Thiros and the huntmaster bowed to them as well. "It was our pleasure to have you both here, lady Ahsoka," Thiros replied. "And it was our pleasure to assist you with your right of passage, young lady Aisha."

"It was a pleasure to meet all of you," Aisha said with a smile. "I'm sure that I will always remember my stay here and the lessons I was taught."

"It is our hope that you may one day share with others what we have taught you," Chief Thiros told her with a smile. "Knowledge is meant to be passed on after all. Perhaps we will see you both here again someday. Until then, may our ancestors watch over your path."

"And may they watch over your tribe as well," Ahsoka replied. They said their final goodbyes and Ahsoka and Aisha began to make their way back to their speeder.

;-

The two sisters were back at their speeder. Once they were both seated, Ahsoka fired up the engines and lifted the speeder off the ground.

"Here we go," she announced to her sister as she activated the thrusters. The speeder quickly sped off away from the tribe in the direction of Corvala.

"It's nice to go home again," Aisha admitted next to her as she looked over the grasslands. "It was great to be with the tribe, but it'll be nice to be back home with everyone."

Ahsoka smiled next to her. "I know what you mean. Life in a tribe like the Zalanos is nice and peaceful, but also very different. I have to be honest, I don't know if I could live like that all the time," she replied. "It'll be nice to get back and show everyone your success."

Aisha smiled as well. "I'm really excited to show everyone!" she said happily. "This was a really exciting trip. That Akul was pretty scary, but I was able to keep my composure with the Force. It helped me stay focused and I was able to do it."

Ahsoka nodded at her. "Yes, the Force is always a powerful and helpful ally," she said as she briefly looked over to her. "It will always be there for you if you need It."

Aisha nodded. "I'm really happy that you could teach about It. I learned things that I never thought were possible," she replied. "I can't wait to learn more about the Force and using my lightsabers when we get home again."

Ahsoka gave her sister a smirk. "Don't worry, there's plenty that I can still teach you about the Force and we've only begun to scratch the surface of lightsaber combat. We'll be doing a lot more together," she told her. "Speaking about the Force, we'll be making a short stop before we head home. There's something that I wanted to try out myself before we reach the city."

"Really? What is it?" Aisha asked quickly. Her usual curiosity for the Force and eagerness to learn brewing slightly through their Force bond.

Ahsoka was silent as she thought it over a moment. "I think that trying to explain it to you right now will be very difficult, sorry sis," she replied. "Then again, I'm not even sure yet if it will even work. I'm just going to have to try it first. No matter what, I'll be glad to have you there with me."

"If I can help you then I will!" Aisha said eagerly.

"I know you will sis," Ahsoka replied with a smile.

;-

Later that day

Aisha waited and watched her sister. They were now about a forty minutes distance away from Corvala. Her sister had landed their speeder next to a large lake so she could try whatever it is that she wanted to try. They were alone here, so they had complete privacy. She could tell that her sister was a bit worried about something related to this, so it was probably part of the reason why they were out here instead of trying it at home.

She still wasn't sure just what her sister wanted to try. Ahsoka stood a short distance away from her, eyes closed and a calm expression on her face. Aisha could feel her drawing on the Force like they always did in their practice. Then the flow of energy suddenly changed and a bright light surrounded her sister's form.

Aisha looked on in wonder as she felt the Force swirl around her sister. She knew her sister was very strong, but she had never sensed anything like this before. The energy felt so bright and warm.

Bright light continued to swirl around her form and it suddenly grew. Her sister's form changed completely, growing significantly taller. After a short moment, the light began to fade away and Aisha was left staring in surprise and wonder.

Where her sister was just standing a moment ago, now stood a large dragon-like creature. It had the shape of a wyvern-type creature. It had a long slender body with orange scales all over it, with several white accents here and there. It stood on two legs, two large wings moved gently at the top of its body, a bit below the long neck. The inside of its wings were a pure white, almost glowing in the light of the sun. It had a mouth filled with sharp teeth and two horns sticking out backwards on the top of its head. The being also had very sharp looking claws on its arms and equally sharp looking talons on its feet. For a moment, Aisha was worried as she stared at the being, but then it looked at her and she could see her sister's warm blue eyes looking at her.

Aisha slowly walked a little closer, completely overtaken by wonder. "Ahsoka, is that really you?" she asked. The being nodded at her. This was her sister. Somehow she had taken on this form by means of the Force. It was amazing to witness. She thought back to the lessons that she had had in school. She had always enjoyed learning about the different creatures in the galaxy, especially those that were considered to be more mystical. Her sister in this form looked very similar to an Arkanian dragon.

Her sister seemed to look herself over, craning her neck around and stretching her wings. The long slender tail moving behind her then caught her attention. After a short moment, she moved over to the lake and studied her reflection in the water.

Now that she was turned sideways towards the lake, Aisha could truly see just how big her sister was in this form. The Force just emanated so powerfully from her. She was probably staring at her with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, but she just couldn't help herself. She would have never expected something like this to be possible. She just witnessed it happen, but it was still difficult to comprehend.

After a short moment her sister turned back to her again, satisfaction and approval clearly visible in her eyes. Then she closed her eyes and the same white light surrounded her form again. This time the light shrunk back into her the familiar silhouette of her sister. The light faded and her sister appeared again, standing there with a smile on her face. Then her smile faded and she staggered on her feet before falling to the floor.

"'Soka!" Aisha cried out in shock before she quickly ran to her. She dropped to her knees beside her and studied her. Her eyes seemed to rove everywhere and she was shaking a little. "'Soka, are you alright?" she asked concerned, noticing how her face seemed paler than normal.

"Y… yea-yeah…" Ahsoka answered slowly. "E-everything's just spinning and I feel a little faint." She took a deep a few breaths and worked on releasing the feelings to the Force. She could feel a hint of a smile tugging at her lips when she felt her sister trying to help her through their bond.

For a few minutes they were silent, Aisha doing her best to help Ahsoka get over this discomfort. Once her face had returned to its original color, she helped her sit upright. "Are you alright?" she asked again.

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, I'm okay. Thanks for the help sis," she said with a little smile. She looked herself over for a moment, inspecting her hands, arms and the rest of her body. "Well, that was an interesting experience."

"What did you do?" Aisha asked in wonder.

Ahsoka looked at her, thinking over the right words for a moment. "I've been teaching you about the Force and what the Jedi can do with it, right?" she asked, quickly receiving an affirmative nod. "The Jedi know a lot about the Force. The Jedi archives are filled with the knowledge gathered over the centuries. But even with all of that, there are still plenty of mysteries in the Force and in the galaxy."

She moved a little to sit a bit more comfortably. Aisha sat down next to her. "At one point during the war, we intercepted a strange transmission. In this transmission, a Jedi rescue code was buried, a 2000 year old code," she explained to her sister. "Unsure of what this meant, Master Obi-Wan, Anakin and I were sent to investigate. We were going to meet up with our troops on a Republic cruiser, but that didn't go as planned. We found… something… and got swallowed up by some strange lights. After that, we all lost consciousness."

"When we woke up, we were on a very strange world, but very powerful in the Force. There, we met some very unique beings," she said as she looked at her sister. "They called themselves Force Wielders. They were the embodiments of the Force itself and immensely strong. I suppose that there are some people and species in the galaxy that might consider them to be some form of deities, considering how powerful they were. Maybe they were some kind of deities, I'm not fully sure to be honest."

Aisha's eyes widened in surprise. "That's amazing," she whispered back. It felt nearly impossible to imagine for her. "What happened there?" The moment she asked that, she could see numerous emotions flicker in her sister's eyes.

"There were three of them. The Father, who was the balance and kept the balance in the Force on that world. He had two children, Daughter, who was the embodiment of Light and the Son, who was the embodiment of the Dark. The Father wanted to see if Anakin was indeed the Chosen One, to see if he could take over his task of keeping balance, or something like that," Ahsoka continued. "However, the Son then got a different idea. He wanted to use Anakin's powers to escape the planet. In order to do that…" She hesitated a moment. "He kidnapped and cursed me, took full control of my body and forced me to fight Anakin and Obi-Wan. And when he had no more use for me, he killed me."

Aisha's eyes widened again, in shock this time. Some being of the Force had killed her sister? "But… You're still here, right?" she asked, a hand reaching out to take hold of one of hers.

Ahsoka took hold of Aisha's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "The story didn't end there, no. After he had done that to me, he tried to kill his father so he could leave. Daughter caught the blow of that weapon. The Son flew off in rage while she was dying. Anakin pleaded with the Father to save me, that there had to be something they could do. It was Daughter who offered to transfer her life energy to me in order to save me. It worked, I woke up and at that time, I didn't remember at all what had happened. There was a later showdown with the Son, during which the Father stabbed himself with that same weapon to distract his son, giving Anakin the chance to end it. After that, the world started to fall apart. We woke up back on our ship in space, Rex waiting for our answer on the comms. According to him, we had gone silent for a moment. Somehow, the days we spend there, were but a short moment to him."

Aisha thought all of it over for a little while. While she had learned more about the Force, something like this was still difficult for her to comprehend. It all seemed surreal and impossible, but from what she herself had experienced from the Force up until then, she wouldn't truly say that it was actually impossible.

After a short while she looked up at her sister again. "Did you get that power there somehow?" she asked. Her sister probably wouldn't have told her if it wasn't relevant. It was obvious that it was a partially painful memory for her.

Ahsoka nodded slowly. "In certain ways, yes," she answered. "I didn't know it at that time, nor were Anakin, Obi-Wan or any of the Council able to sense it either, but in that moment, Daughter gave me far more than just her life energy. She also gave me her Force powers."

For a third time, Aisha could feel her eyes widening in shock.

"At first, nothing changed for me. I certainly wasn't aware of the fact that I had such powers sleeping inside me now. It was only until I returned to my, our, family, that those powers began to awaken," she said as she squeezed her sister's hand again. "Love plays a significant role in the Light Side of the Force. So when I finally accepted that into my life, her powers began to merge with my own, making me stronger than I was before." She held up her other arm and concentrated a moment. A soft white glow surrounded her arm. "With time, I'll become a Force Wielder myself."

Aisha looked at the glow, utterly amazed by everything that her sister had just told her. "So that was the adventure you mentioned when we first met?" she asked.

"Yes, that's right," Ahsoka replied with a small smile. "Learning the truth about all of this was a pretty big shock for me, but I've learned how to handle it."

Aisha nodded as Ahsoka made the glow on her arm disappear again. "Does that transformation come from those powers too?" she asked her sister. It would make sense to her.

Ahsoka nodded at her. "That's right," she answered. "The Force Wielders were able to transform like that themselves. Since I learned about these powers, I've been wondering whether or not I would be able to do it as well. Guess I have my answer now, huh?"

Aisha nodded excitedly. "You were huge! And you were such a beautiful dragon! It's amazing! Can you do that all the time now?" she asked.

Ahsoka smirked at her sister's usual excitement for the Force. "Technically, yes, I can," she replied. "If I want to, I can transform into that shape. However, it's not something that I should just do on a whim."

"How come?" Aisha asked in curiosity.

"Well, you saw how that short transformation affected me, right?" she asked in return. Aisha nodded. "I didn't even do anything while I was transformed and the mere minute of being in that form was enough to really disorientate me and knock the wind out of me. If I use it too much, I don't think the effect on me will be very pretty."

Aisha nodded, thinking back to what Ahsoka had told her about using power with care. How the Jedi usually used their lightsabers as a last resort. Having power and using it was easy, using it with proper care and consideration could be a lot more difficult. "Is that also why you wanted to try this here?" she asked as she looked her sister over. She still looked a little drained.

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, that's right. I had a few concerns about this. I wasn't sure how it would affect me and I didn't want to send mom into a panic attack," she answered. "When these powers first began to awaken, I subconsciously used them to prevent a large accident. It… knocked me out into a small coma-like state for almost three full days. I really wanted to prevent that from happening again."

Aisha hummed in agreement. "Yeah, mom would have really freaked out if you had done that," she said slightly worried. She would certainly have been herself if anything were to happen to Ahsoka. "But what else were you worried about?"

"Well…" Ahsoka began as her lekku darkened a little. "You saw how large I was in that form. I was worried that if I did do that transformation and changed back… I wasn't sure what would happen to my clothes…" she admitted a little embarrassed. "Sure, the Force Wielders could willingly change between forms no problem, but I wasn't sure how it would be for me."

Aisha nodded, feeling a little awkward as well. "But everything went well, didn't it?" she asked. "You're feeling alright, don't you?"

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. It just made me a bit tired, that's all," she replied to reassure her sister. "I just have to be very careful in how I use my powers. I think I'll only use that transformation if the situation is really dire. I fear that I can do some great damage in that form."

"It really is amazing. There is so much possible with the Force," Aisha said with wonder in her voice.

"Yes, there is. I don't think that anyone can ever claim to have uncovered all of Its secrets. Unless they happen to be immortal and maybe live for 10,000 years or more," Ahsoka replied with a smirk.

Aisha laughed a bit at her comment. "It might take that many years," she said as she looked her sister over again. She seemed to be more relaxed again.

Ahsoka smiled as she sensed it. "Don't worry Aisha, I'm fine," she reassured her sister. "I just needed a moment to relax a bit. I'm feeling better already."

"Okay," Aisha replied as she nodded. She was still a bit overwhelmed by everything she had just seen, sensed and heard, so she couldn't help but still be a bit worried for her sister.

Ahsoka chuckled a bit and wrapped her arm around her sister. For a couple of minutes, the two of them just sat there by the lake. Ahsoka resting up a bit more and giving Aisha a bit more time to let everything sink in.

Once Ahsoka felt fully normal again after just transforming into a different being, she stood up again and helped her sister stand up as well. "Come on, let's continue and get back home," she said. Aisha nodded and they walked back towards their speeder.

;-

Ahsoka smiled as she walked into the living room of their families home. Just as she had expected, her mother instantly came up to her. "Ahsoka, oh thank goodness, how did everything go?" she asked as her father joined her as well.

"See for yourself," Ahsoka said with a smirk as she stepped aside to let Aisha in. Their parents instantly smiled when they saw the headdress on her forehead.

Haymish walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Well done Aisha, you did great," he told her. "You have certainly proven what a brave young girl you are."

Aisha smiled as her father pulled away, making room for her mother who hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad to see you back here safe and sound," Yuae said before she pulled back and held her at arms' length. "Your headdress looks really good on you."

"Thanks mom and dad," she replied happily. "Hunting the Akul was exciting and a little scary, but I was able to do it thanks to the lessons from the tribe. I did get hurt a bit, that Akul was able to claw at my back, but it's fine now. The healer of the tribe really knew what she was doing."

"That's good to hear," Yuae said a bit relieved. "Let's wait until your sisters get back from the palace. Then we'll go out and celebrate."

"Sounds like a great plan to me, doesn't it sis?" Ahsoka asked her with a smile. Aisha nodded excitedly and they moved to the living room so the two sisters could tell more about their trip.

;-

That's the end of this story.

Aisha has successfully killed an Akul and made her headdress. Ahsoka has also grown a lot stronger in the Force. The power that Daughter gave her is awakening more with every passing day.

As is obvious from this chapter, I did decide to give Ahsoka a transformation ability like the Force Wielders themselves had. I first presented this idea in Tale of a Togruta. Back then I wasn't sure about whether or not I should add it, but I eventually decided to do it. However, as you can tell, it's very hard on Ahsoka to do it. The drawback on her is immense. It will be a technique left for use in emergency situations. Otherwise she might end up hurting herself quite badly. This was my way of balancing this power out.

Now that this side story is finished, I will be returning to my two main stories. A Mirialan's Story will get the first update. Barriss' story picks up a little before Ahsoka's does. I have a few things planned for her before we get to one of the bigger parts of both stories.

Until next time.