AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka reeled back, recovering her senses. Her breathing quickened almost to the speed of hyperventilation, and she gasped for air. She sank to the ground, her heart beating wildly, and her blue eyes, normally so serene, were unnaturally wide.

“Ahsoka!” Lux ran over to her, catching her as she fell over. “Ahsoka, what’s wrong?” he asked, fearful.

She raised herself as much as her trembling limbs would allow. With a gasp, she managed to whisper, “B-B-Barriss…”

Lux held her even tighter, but it didn’t help her much. Ahsoka saw flashes from her dream of the many copies of Barriss advancing, stalking her to kill. She strained, against her will, towards the face of the girl.

But on closer inspection, this girl wasn’t Barriss, but someone who looked almost exactly like her. Her face had softer contours, and the purple, diamond-shaped markings on her face were patterned differently. The design was similar, almost identical, in fact, but it wasn’t her.

It’s not her. The thought was comforting, but it was still another ten minutes of being rocked gently in Lux’s arms before Ahsoka stopped trembling. She realized that she had been crying, and wiped her tan cheeks dry.

Despite herself, she laughed softly. “Whew. I just got the scare of my life.”

“Are you all right? I have to say, honestly, I wasn’t expecting that,” said Lux, laughing too, but uneasily.

She kissed him to answer. It had the dual purpose of dissolving his anxiety and cheering them both up. Neither could resist the other when they kissed, and she felt his mouth, which had been compressed in a tight line, become pliant, and kiss her back obediently. They were both crazy about one another.

Eventually, she remembered the cause of all of this chaos, which happened to be injured and in need of medical assistance. “Lux?” she said, pulling away, “I think we need to treat that person in the backseat of the speeder.”

“Of course.” He got up and walked towards the unconscious person, then turned back around to face her. “I think that I should do it, though. Remember, um, earlier?” he finished awkwardly.

“Okay.” Ahsoka watched as Lux got the medical supplies out of a compartment in the speeder, opened them, and carefully began to dress the wound. She stared at him, her gaze drifting down towards his hands. He had that lovely kind that, no matter how hard they worked, always seemed long and smooth. It was a nice feature, one that she had always appreciated.

Soon the girl was treated and ready to go. Ahsoka ran and made a flying leap for the driver’s seat. “I’m driving,” she crowed. “And Lux – I now know that you can do things other than stare at the screens in the Lookout.”

He cracked a grin. “Sure – I’ll let the reckless driver fly it. But no one stares at the screens like I do.”

They broke out laughing. Then it faded into looking into one another’s eyes. Ahsoka leaned towards him a little, instinctively, and Lux did the same. She felt another kiss coming on.

A low moan intruded on the moment from the back seat. Tearing her gaze away from Lux’s loving blue-grey eyes, she looked at the girl behind them, who now sat up, rubbing her forehead.

“Ooh. Where… where am I?” Then she seemed to wake up completely, and spoke louder, in a tone of voice similar to Barriss’s. “Where are you taking me?”

“To our camp,” Ahsoka said, truthfully enough, with a slight edge to her voice. “What’s your name?”

“Give me your name, and I’ll give you mine,” she replied, without hostility.

“I guess that’s fair enough.” She started the engine up, and called over her shoulder, “My name’s Ahsoka Tano.”

“I’m Chenai. Chenai Offee.”