AHSOKA TANO

Crying softly, Ahsoka climbed back up the complex system of vents and towards the sunlight, They used their cable guns to get back down to ground level, and slunk away into the nearby streets.

She didn’t say a word until they had boarded the freighter back to Onderon, as if holding a silent vigil for the way of life that she had left behind. But she finally broke down, saying, “Hold me, Lux.” 

He did as she asked without question, gently rubbing her back to ease the sobs and offering murmured reassurance, as more and more tears streaked sown her tan and white-marked cheeks. But she soon sat up, sniffling, and wiped the wetness from her face. 

“Thank you. I’m – I’m okay now.” She was still struggling against the last of the sobs, but she managed to get the words out. 

“No, you aren’t. You look absolutely exhausted. You really need to sleep it off. I’ll watch over you.” 

Snuggling back into his warm arms, she mumbled, “You’re not going to knock me out cold, hide my lightsabers and bring me to Death watch on Karlak again if I start trusting you, right?”

“Never. But come on, I’m more creative than that!” She laughed sleepily, and he smiled at her. “Now rest,” he said soothingly, and listened to her breathing become deeper and more even as she finally fell asleep.

A few hours later, he ship landed, causing Ahsoka to wake. She found herself curled up in Lux’s arms, and for a moment wished that she could have stayed like that a little longer, so safe and warm. But she would have to wake up sooner or later, so she untangled herself from Lux and stretched gracefully. As the ship emptied itself of its passengers, they left hand in hand.

Once back at Lux’s villa on Onderon, they played a few variety games, both to unwind and to celebrate their success. Lux ended up winning most of them, because Ahsoka had had little time to get good at such things as a padawan, and he had. But she proved to be exceptional at Dice, a game that Anakin had learned on Tatooine and had taught her. There was lots of laughing, talking and the telling of hilarious stories to go around, but Ahsoka could not stop thinking about when Lux had kissed her back on Coruscant.

That evening, not long after a scrumptious dinner, as most of Lux’s were, they took on a more serious air. Sitting down together on a couch, they got down to more important matters.

“Lux, I need to know something. Why did you kiss me?” She was having trouble keeping her gaze steady. “I don’t know if–” 

He put up a hand to quiet her, then took one of her own. “Look, I know that it was a bad time and place, but I needed to tell you somehow. Especially when it occurred to me that I might never see you again. I realized that I… I love you, Ahsoka.” 

Ahsoka sat there, numb. A blaster set on stun mode and accurately shot at her couldn’t have been more effective. She, up until the previous day, had thought that they were just very good friends. It was true that the had had their separate spells of liking one another, and that Lux had kissed her once back then, but she had never thought that it would amount to anything serious. 

“I never thought that I’d hear you say that. I thought we were just friends.” Lux looked so disappointed, and she suddenly knew that it was they way that things were supposed to be. She took his other hand. “But don’t get me wrong, Lux. I love you, too. I just wish I had been brave enough to say something earlier.” 

“Coming from a Jedi, whose heroics have saved the Republic time and time again?” he asked. “No way. It isn’t about bravery. I think that this just needed to grow a little between us.”

“Then let’s be more than friends.”

“Okay.” 

She tilted her face with its stark white markings up towards his, winding her arms around him. Their eyes met for a moment – Ahsoka’s deep blue ones with Lux’s rich blue-gray ones – and their lips met. They loved each other. It was as simple and as complicated as that.

Ahsoka remembered something that her old Master had told her once, when she had been on Onderon aiding a rebel group trying to overthrow a Separatist-aligned king. Lux had been a part of it, and she had been distracted from her work by his obvious infatuation with another girl.

In a holotransmission from Anakin, he had told her, “Ahsoka, letting go of our attachments is a difficult struggle for all of us, and I understand what you’re going through.”

“Really? You do?” she had asked him, surprised.    

“I do.”

She had wondered long and hard about its meaning, but she didn’t have to at the moment. Convinced that the Force – as well as the blessings of Anakin Skywalker – was with her, she knew she was facing her destiny head-on, and that there was nothing she couldn’t do.