AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka Tano, the eighteen-year-old Grand Master Jedi of the New Jedi Order on Cialone, awoke with a smiled on her face. She had just had the most wonderful dream… about something that was tragic in real life, but sweet and innocent in the world of fantasy. She sat up, and a beam of sunlight streaming in through her own window warmed her body almost immediately.

She stifled a yawn, and got out of bed, commencing her morning stretching ritual. She pulled out her joints, cracking her knuckles and her toes, thinking about how very rare it was that she actually woke up happy. She usually had something to worry about that had survived being blotted out by sleep to the morning when she rose, and then she had to rush to get it done.

But on this particular morning, there was nothing. Many of the younglings had been shipped off to Ilum the day before to harvest their lightsaber crystals, and ever since then almost everything had been quiet. There was nothing to do.

Ahsoka stood perfectly straight, then slid down into the splits. Keeping her legs in the same position, she bent the rest of her body forwards. Things began to pull as she slowly lowered herself down, but she wanted that. It would make her, over time, even more flexible than she already was.

But when her nose reached a few inches from the floor and her muscles and ligaments were about to kill her, the door whipped open behind her. She yelled in surprise, then, due to the same emotion, ended up flying forward a few inches, and hit her chin hard on the thinly carpeted floor.

Muttering curse words because her state of tranquility had been shattered, her back was now killing her, and at herself because she hadn’t heard the person coming, she rolled onto her back.

“I am going to kill you for that!” she said, making at her boyfriend of three years, the former Senator Lux Bonteri of Onderon, the subject of an evil glare. “Ow, I think I pulled, like, eight muscles! Thanks a lot, Lux."

He immediately ran over to her, put a hand on her shoulder. “Come, on, Ahsoka, you’re just making a big deal out of nothi–” He rolled her over, and she winced in pain. “Okay, I stand corrected. Sorry.”

“Ow. Ow, ow, ow, ow. Get Amni, please!” Ahsoka said through a groan. She was referring to Amni Chelsu, the seventeen-year-old Twi’lek girl who was the head Healer of the New Jedi Order. If anyone could heal anything, it was her. The other Jedi dotingly called her ‘magic’. She had been an apprentice Healer at the Temple on Coruscant before the Jedi Purge, the Galactic Empire, before the Dark Times…

“No, Ahsoka, it’s okay, just… Just watch this.” Lux picked her up and laid her down on the bed on her back.

“What am I watching, exactly? Ow!”

“Watch.” Then he put one hand over her forehead. He closed his eyes for a moment, then moved his hand in a slow, circular motion. As his fascinated patient watched, a blue glow emanated from his palm and fingertips.

Gently, he added the other hand, and the same thing happened. He then moved his glowing hands down over her entire body. Suddenly Ahsoka felt like she was being bathed in light. It was a nice feeling, and she was almost sure that she could sense the muscles healing.

She didn’t know when he had closed his eyes, but all she knew was that she opened them a few minutes later she felt unbelievably refreshed. “Wow… that was nice,” she said, rubbing her back as she sat up. “But you never told me that you had Healing powers, Lux! It’s a rare talent!”

“Not really,” he said modestly.

“Well, anything I can’t do I consider to be rare.” They both laughed. “But who taught you? I don’t think that even Amni knows how. Yet. Knowing her she’ll probably figure it out on her own before I turn nineteen.”

“Ben taught me. Remember when we went back to Tatooine a week or two after your Knighting? When you went on that meditative retreat for a few days alone and I stayed with him? That was it. But he wasn’t sure if you wanted to learn how, and you weren’t there…”

“Yeah. It’s okay. I’ve tried before, but I don’t think I can do it.” Suddenly Ahsoka remembered what had caused the need for the Healing. “But getting back to before, what happened? Why did you barge through the door without knocking for the umpteenth time and scare me out of my wits?”

“How could I forget?” he yelled, slapping his forehead. “We’re in the middle of a crisis! Reports have indicated a meteor shower in thirty minutes!"

She put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. “Hey, Lux, it’s just a meteor shower. We get those at least once a month. No big deal.”

“No, it is a big deal, Ahsoka! The ray-shield is down! It was some kind of explosion!” He ran a hand through his bangs, something he always did when he was nervous or scared. Or both.

“Then we have to run!” She darted over to her small closet, and pulled her usual outfit on in less than fifteen seconds. Then she grabbed a Jedi cloak off a hook in the wall, took his hand and together they charged down the hallway.