AHSOKA TANO

"Everything's ready. Are you still sure that you want to go through with this?" asked Lux, putting the finishing touches on their backpack.

 "Yeah. I can't back out now," said Ahsoka, determined. "You don't need to come with me, you know."

 "I feel like I have to, Ahsoka. And I know that you'll never forgive me if I don't help you break in to the Jedi Temple," he said, punching her lightly on the arm. 

 She smiled. "Jedi don't carry grudges, remember? Even former Jedi," she added sadly.

 "Well, I know how much a Jedi's weapons mean to them," he said gently. "It'll be like getting a little part of you back."

"Thank you, Lux. For everything." she said, putting her arms around him. He stiffened, but then held her too.

ANANKIN SKYWALKER            

Anakin was in deep meditation. In his room with its faded pod-racing posters, model spacecraft and spare parts corner, in perfect silence, he concentrated hard and thought.

 Channeling the Force to his powerful mind, he called up old memories of Ahsoka, and everything that she valued or cared about. He smiled when he saw her come up with her nickname for him, Sky Guy, and felt himself clench when he remembered how worried he'd been when she had been buried under the wreckage of a droid factory on Geonosis.

 What could Snips be after? He asked himself, the question rippling through his mind. Mentioning his old nickname for her seemed to have done the trick. He saw it, or rather, felt it: just a glimmer of an answer from his inner midichlorians. But before he could catch it... 

 BAM! BAM! BAM! Someone knocked loudly on his door, shattering the young Jedi's (for once) peaceful state. He was tempted for a moment to yell at whoever was that was making that aggravating knocking noise, "Go away, didn't you see the sign?!" But it occurred to him that it might be someone important, so he resisted the urge. 

(He had, in fact, put up a sign that very clearly stated, DISTURB AND FACE THE WRATH OF ANAKIN SKYWALKER!)

"Anakin? Anakin! What are you doing in there? Can I come in?" The young Jedi groaned as he recognized the voice. With a wave of his hand, he used the Force to open the door as he got up. There stood Obi-Wan, his hand poised to knock again. 

"The great Master Obi-Wan Kenobi honors my humble self with his presence," he said sarcastically, with a mocking bow.

"Sometimes I honestly wonder if you have hearing problems, Anakin," commented Obi-Wan with a sigh. Not only was he a Jedi Master, but he was also the Master of bugging his former apprentice. 

"And sometimes I wonder if you have sight problems. Didn't you see the sign?" He too wasn't half bad at teasing his former Master. "No? All right, I'll just make a bigger one next time." 

"Any bigger and Senator Bonteri will be able to see it from his home on Onderon. But coming back to our original subject, why didn't you answer when I knocked?"

"I was meditating on something important. Thanks for interrupting it."

"You were meditating? Well, that's a first. I'm dreadfully sorry about that, but I am in a bit of a hurry. There's to be a meeting of the Jedi Council in a few minutes, and I wanted to ask you: you seem a little preoccupied lately. Has something happened involving her that I should know about?" The Master's sparring mood dropped; he now seemed concerned.

"Yeah, little wonder: remind me why I'm not on that Council, again?"

Obi-Wan just looked at him.

Anakin sighed, breaking down under his raised-eyebrow stare. "Well, Master Yoda spoke to me a few days ago about how there would be an intruder in the Temple. It's confirmed to be Ahsoka. He also told me that she wants something from here. And I was just getting to a point when that stupid knocking thing you were doing distracted me!"

The older Jedi looked thoughtful at those words, but then shook his head, exasperated. "Oh, Anakin, you really do amaze me sometimes. Answer me this: what's a Jedi without his or her lightsaber?" 

Anakin's eyes widened as he considered the possibility of what his friend said. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because I make observations while you think with your lightsaber. Which is fitting, in this situation, don't you find?" he said with a wry smile. 

"Heh, heh. Yeah... whatever," said Anakin, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to make a more humorous quip. He looked up. "I know what I have to do. Thanks, Master."

He ran from the room and down the airy hallway of the sleeping quarters of the Jedi Temple. Chuckling softly, Obi-Wan Kenobi closed the door and walked away to his meeting.