At last. This chapter is done. It's been hell of a week, sorry for the delay. Now that I'm rereading the chapter, I realize the purpose of Ahsoka's arc in this fic might not be so obvious for people who haven't read the Ahsoka novel. I wanted to fill some gaps and explain things such as why Ahsoka was so careful not to get too close with people or why she hadn't helped Hedala Fardi when she had the chance. Hopefully it makes sense for those who read the book and for the others, I'm sorry I didn't set this straight earlier and I hope you'll still be able to enjoy the story.

Part XVII: Once a Jedi, Always a Jedi

Ahsoka took a few steps back to have a better look at the droid she was repairing. She tilted her head to the side; maybe that arm was a little crooked after all. She glanced at the chrono on her wrist. She wouldn't have the time to do it before her lunch break; she might as well take her pause right now. With a little sigh, she removed her goggles and put her tools on a stool next to her. She had forgotten how hot the Fardi's shipyard could become when the sun was at its zenith.

After their mission on Onderon, Fardi had refused to let Makala leave Thabeska again. The girl had been sent to help her aunts with domestic work and Ahsoka had returned to the shipyard to repair Fardi's ships and droids. It could have been particularly boring if Makala had not found a way to sneak out of her family's house to spend her evenings with Ahsoka. Sometimes they would stay at her house, but most of the time, Makala would take her out of the town to show her the Thabeskan countryside or other cities of the region. And for the first time in months, Ahsoka began to heal. The time spent with Makala; her comfortable company, almost filled the void created by the sudden disappearance of the other Jedis and the collapse of the world she had always known. Almost.

She was still thinking about the evening to come when a loud noise followed by laughs caught her attention. Ahsoka immediately rushed to "the dump", a part of the shipyard where workers would dump the ships parts and droids too old or too damaged to be repaired. Usually, only people working in the shipyard were allowed to go there, but during the last few weeks, Ahsoka had noticed that a group of Fardi girls had chosen the place to play games. And sure enough, when she reached the dump, she saw three girls climbing on top of a pile of crates that seemed dangerously unstable.

"Hey!" She shouted. "Get down from there!"

She knew the girls didn't like when she was raising her voice — they were not used to people scolding them — but at the moment, Ahsoka didn't care. She much preferred knowing the girls were safe than making them like her.

The three children immediately turned in her direction, but in the panic, one of the girls slipped on one crate and the whole thing collapsed. For a second, Ahsoka watched with horror as the girls' laughs became screams when they realized that everything was crumbling beneath them. Then, purely by reflex, she raised her hands and called upon the Force to stop the crates from falling and prevent the girls to be crushed.

The crates lightly settled on the ground and so did the girls. Ahsoka sighed with relief; none of them had been hurt. The fear that one of the girls had noticed the strangeness of the situation crossed her mind, but the three of them seemed too relieved to have escaped the worst to care. Still, Ahsoka decided not to let them the chance to think about what just happened too much. She walked towards with her most severe look.

"What are you doing here? You know you're not supposed to play out here. You were almost crushed by falling crates. That's no way for a Fardi to go out!"

Three pairs of eyes stared at her, terrified. But Ahsoka knew the threat of a punishment was the only thing that would prevent them to talk about the incident, protecting her own secret at the same time.

"Please! Don't tell our uncle," one of them pleaded.

Ahsoka crossed her arms.

"And what if it was the only way to prevent you from coming back and endanger yourself?"

"We won't come back again, we promise!" Another one said, tears in her eyes.

"We'll give you anything you want! We have lots of candies…"

Despite the tentative of corruption — something even the youngest Fardis seemed to master — she couldn't help but smile at their offer.

"How much can you give me?" She asked.

"Half!"

"I'll only accept two thirds."

The girls glanced at each other as if consulting together.

"We'll give you two thirds."

"Deal."

They high-fived her to seal the promise and Ahsoka let them go. She was about to leave the shipyard herself to go to lunch when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw little Hedala Fardi's head sticking out a crate. She must have been left behind by the others who deemed her too young to play with them. The girl was looking at her with wide eyes and Ahsoka immediately knew the youngest of the Fardi girls hadn't missed a second of the scene.

When she came home that evening, she found Makala sitting on her bed as usual, but Ahsoka couldn't bring herself to smile when she saw her friend.

In truth, Makala had been more than a friend lately, but the term "girlfriend" still sounded wrong in Ahsoka's head. Even if she had left the Order for a little more than a year now, the teachings of the Jedis still resounded within her. She had done nothing wrong but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had.

"Not too soon," Makala said, standing up. "What took you so long?" She asked with a smile.

She didn't wait for Ahsoka's answer before walking towards the young Torguta and kissed her gently to greet her. But her smile faded when she felt Ahsoka's lips remaining immobile.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the other answered with a sigh.

Makala frowned.

"I'm not Force-sensitive but I can see there is something wrong."

Her words seemed to trigger something in Ahsoka as the Togruta brought her hand up to her forehead with a small noise which sounded like a groan.

"What is it?" Makala insisted.

Ahsoka looked at her for a moment then sighed.

"I guess there's no point hiding it from you."

"You're starting to worry me."

"It's your sister. Hedala."

Makala froze.

"What about her?"

"Something… Something happened today and…"

She paused, hesitating.

"Well, I think she might be Force-sensitive."

She saw the panic in Makala's eyes.

"What makes you say that?" The Fardi girl asked.

"She saw me using the Force. Nobody else understood what happened but I am certain Hedala did."

As if in a trance, Makala went back to Ahsoka's bed and slumped into it.

"No… It can't be. Hedala has always been different, but…"

She lifted her gaze to look into Ahsoka's eyes.

"She would be hunted down by the Empire like you."

Ahsoka decided to be honest.

"Well… She is too young to have been trained by the Jedis, but I doubt the Empire will ignore the Force-sensitive children of the galaxy. Whether it's to kill them or recruit them, I can't tell, but she would have to stay hidden."

"She can't!" Makala said with despair in her voice. "You are strong, you've been trained all of your life. But Hedala… She's just a child."

Ahsoka didn't know what to say.

"Train her."

She turned to Makala.

"What?"

"Train her. That way she will be able to defend herself if the Empire comes."

"I can't," Ahsoka protested.

Makala got up and walked towards her to take Ahsoka's hands in hers.

"Please, it's her only chance!"

"She's too young. No amount of training would make her able to resist the Empire by herself before a couple of years. Plus, if they discover she has been trained by a Jedi…"

She didn't finish her sentence. She didn't want to scare Makala more than she already was, but Ahsoka knew that a child who had been trained was more of a menace to the Empire than one who had not. And so far, the Empire had always sought to destroy what was threatening it.

"Then she is lost," Makala whispered, dropping her hands.

"Hey," Ahsoka said, cupping her chin in her hand to force the young woman to look at her. "The Empire has not found her, yet. And who knows, I might be wrong. Perhaps she is not even Force-sensitive."

But Ahsoka didn't dare hope for that much.

And three days later, that hope vanished for good.

As Ahsoka was leaving the shipyard after a long working day, she had found young Hedala Fardi on her way. She was alone and by the smile she gave Ahsoka, the Togruta knew Hedala had been waiting for her. When she had asked the girl what she was doing there, Hedala had only lifted a hand and a small rock next to her had risen into the air before Ahsoka's horrified gaze.

That evening, she had taken an important decision. She would tell Fardi the whole truth. She hoped that knowing his own daughter was in danger and that Ahsoka was the only being for miles around that was able to help her — she refused to think she was the only remaining Jedi in all the galaxy — would prevent Fardi to give away her true identity and alert the Empire.

The following morning, Ahsoka didn't take the road leading to the shipyard. Instead, she walked straight to Fardi's house, determined to convince him to let her take care of Hedala. Despite what she had told Makala and herself, she knew she was Hedala's best chance of survival. She wasn't sure what exactly she would teach the girl. After all, she had never been more than a padawan herself. One thing was for sure, she would ensure Hedala knew how to control her abilities so she could hide them would the Empire ever come on Thabeska. Once that was done, Ahsoka would do her best to pass on everything Anakin had taught her.

The thought of her old master made her flinch. She missed him everyday but she had stopped looking for him in the Force. Every time she had tried to reach out to him, she had found the place where he used to be empty. And every time it had felt like someone was stabbing her. The pain didn't lessen, she was just getting more used to live with it.

When she arrived at Fardi's house, it was still early in the morning. Ahsoka knew through Makala that her aunts were late sleepers so Ahsoka was fairly certain she could speak to Fardi away from prying eyes and ears. But when she arrived at the door of the lounge he used as his office; a guard immediately blocked her way.

"The boss is with someone. You will have to wait."

A meeting that early? Ahsoka was a bit surprised.

"For how long?" She asked.

"I can't tell, miss."

Ahsoka did her best to hide her frustration.

"Fine, then. I'll wait here."

She leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, and waited. And after a few minutes, the voice of Fardi filled the room.

"Is it Ashla, Tariv?"

"Yes, sir," she heard the guard answer.

"Let her in."

The guard turned to Ahsoka.

"You may go, now."

"Thank you"

She entered the lounge and immediately noticed Makala sitting on a couch across her father. She could only see her back but Ahsoka would have recognized that neck and that hair anywhere.

"Ashla, perfect timing!" Fardi said with a big smile. "I was going to send someone to fetch you."

Ahsoka raised a brow. That wasn't the welcome she had expected.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes. Sit down, please," he said, gesturing at the couch in front of him.

Ahsoka did as he said. She got around the edge of the couch to sit next to Makala and only then did she notice the young woman's face. Makala's expression was perfectly neutral but it was easy to see she had cried. Her eyes were red and puffy and her nostrils were irritated as if she had blown her nose too much. Ahsoka managed to stifle the urge to take her in her arms to comfort her but couldn't supress the worried look she cast her.

"Is everything alright?" She asked to Fardi and his daughter.

"Yes, thank you," Makala said with a tone too polite to be sincere.

"My daughter has good news to share with you," Fardi added, still grinning.

His joy was beginning to worry Ahsoka. Nevertheless, she turned to Makala who swallowed hard before croaking.

"I am getting married."

The news came as a cold shower for Ahsoka. She was left in shock for a few seconds then pulled herself together, or at least just enough to talk again.

"It's… It's wonderful, Makala. I wish you all the happiness you could ever know."

"Thank you, Ashla."

"I know you are a good friend of Makala," said Fardi whose presence had been forgotten by Ahsoka for a short time. "I thought you would like to tell her goodbye before she leaves for her fiancé's household."

Ahsoka lifted her gaze towards Fardi. He was still smiling but when she tapped into the Force to try to understand what was really happening in the room, she only sensed anger in him. Somehow, she realized, he knew. He knew for Makala and her and he was not happy about it. That little meeting wasn't a goodbye, it was a punishment. Fardi wanted to separate them for good and he was going to make sure that both of them understood the message. Makala wouldn't go against her father's will anymore and Ahsoka was to stay away from the Fardi girls. She was their employee. Nothing more.

Suddenly, she wasn't sure of her decision to tell him about Hedala anymore. His trust in her had certainly been shaken and he probably wouldn't allow her to grow too familiar with one of his daughters again; even if it was only to train her. On the contrary, telling him about her Jedi past would serve as an excellent pretext to turn her over to the Empire, thus keeping her away of Makala's life forever.

Guilt overwhelmed Ahsoka as she realized the mistake she had made. She had gotten attached and because of that, Makala was getting married and Hedala would never receive the training she needed to survive. She might not be a Jedi anymore but that didn't mean she could afford attachment. She understood the lesson.