The Rise of the Valkyrie *ON HIATUS*

Chapter Forty-Three

Ashara was in her quarters when a knock sounded at her door. She waved it open with a hand, not moving from her meditative position. She knew it was Anakin, but she said nothing, waiting for him to speak.

"Ash..." Anakin started but trailed off. "... I just want to say that I'm sorry for how I reacted earlier."

"It's okay, Anakin. I expected you to react that way", Ashara replied coolly, showing no emotion whatsoever. "I also need to apologize for keeping the fact that Obi-Wan was alive from you. But I do still believe that the reasoning was good at first."

"It was, and I couldn't see that until I had some time to process your words."

Ashara rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing you finally talked to Obi-Wan, now that it's been a few days since he got back and your anger has had time to cool?"

Anakin chuckled, and sat next to her. She opened her eyes, and smiled at him. 

"Yeah. I'm still a little mad at him, seeing as it was his idea, and he coerced you into not telling me."

"Well, his reasoning made sense at the time, but when it was actually happening, it was killing me inside", Ashara said softly. "Obi-Wan can be very convincing when he wants to be."

Anakin shrugged. "I brought you a gift anyway. To say I'm sorry."

"Anakin, you didn't have to", the togruta  argued. Anakin just smirked and handed her box. She raised an eyebrow, and opened it, only to drop it on the ground in disgust. It was the outfit she wore during the whole rescue the people of Kiros thing. She grimaced.

"Really, Anakin?" She closed the box back up and set it to the side.

"Yes", Anakin answered immediately. "Because I happen to recall you mentioning some point in the past few weeks that you, and I quote, 'kind of wanted to have Rex see you in it'. And I may or may not have talked to him about, and he kind of wants to see you in the outfit."

Ashara's face flushed and she felt extremely embarrassed. "You're not serious", she said, though she knew that he was being entirely serious.

"No, I'm serious. I could even set you up with a private spot for you guys to meet where no one would see you, and you could have your own little date..."

Ashara bit her lip, debating it, before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Anakin. But I can't. I'm not like you, I'm... I'm afraid of doing the wrong thing. What if... What if things with Rex don't work out? What if he doesn't actually like me the way I think he likes me? I just... I can't..."

Anakin raised an eyebrow, and waited a couple minutes. Ashara grew uncomfortable for a moment. 

"What if I told you that he was planning on kissing you on this little date?"

Ashara's eyes widened as she remembered their almost kiss. "Then I definitely can't. I'm not ready to kiss anyone, besides... I uh... I have to go spar with Teriko. His forms are still fairly sloppy, you know, and as his teacher, I um, I'm responsible for that!"

She leapt up, and hurried out the door, rushing to the training center, where she knew her padawan would be, sparring with his friend Caleb. They were fairly close, and she had gotten to know Caleb fairly well. Well enough that she knew if he ever had to, he would change his name to Kanan Jarrus. They had all spoken extensively about what they would change their name to if they absolutely needed new identities. Ashara would change hers to Melanie Teromi, which was much more bland that Ashara Ki, but that was the point of a secret identity. It was boring, so no one could find out who you really were. Teriko said he would just go by Terry Chong, which both Caleb and Ashara said was too obvious, but her padawan didn't seem to care. He liked the name, and it was still close enough to his real name that it didn't matter to him.

She found the duo in the training room as expected, and rushed up to them. "I'm going to steal my padawan for a bit of sparring session, Caleb. Sorry to interrupt."

Teriko looked at her, and he smirked. After saving the people Kiros, he had discovered about her little crush on Rex, and he knew that Anakin had been trying to get them to go on a date for weeks now. But Ashara always found an excuse, mostly using Teriko, and that his forms were "sloppy" even though he had improved immensely than when he first began his padawan training.

"Anakin try to set you up on another date?" Teriko asked when Caleb was out of earshot. Ashara groaned, and ignited one of her lightsabers. Teriko ignited his.

"You have no idea", Ashara grumbles, circling around Teriko. He matched her steps entirely. "I don't know much more of Anakin's attempts at getting Rex and I together I can take. It's been far too many already. One more time, and I might punch him, and then run away from him."

Teriko laughs, as he suddenly leapt forward, aiming his lightsaber at her arm. She blocked it, and then tried to hit his leg. He also blocked it. They returned to circling each other. "I'm sure that everything will turn out fine. Besides, you never know, maybe one day it'll be Rex that asks you on a date." He leapt over her, and swung at her back, but she whipped around, and blocked it quickly, before pushing him back several feet. "Well, if you punch him, don't use me as an excuse next time. I'm nearly matched at your level."

Ashara snorted. "Yeah, but I'm using one lightsaber. How well can you defend him if I use two?"

She pulled out her other lightsaber, and swung both at his left side. He managed to block both of them, but he was struggling to keep her from pushing him back. He eventually decided to simultaneously turn off his lightsaber, and lean backward, allowing her lightsabers to pass over him, and cause her to stumble, giving him the upper hand. He aimed his lightsaber at her back, and she froze, glancing over her shoulder him, before turning off her lightsabers. He did the same, and she turned to face him.

"Good thinking, that was a very clever move", she said. "I don't think anyone's ever done that."

Teriko beamed, before bowing to his master. "Thank you, Master Ki."

"In fact... you did so well today, that I think perhaps it is time to go to Ilum so you can get another kyber crystal to make that second lightsaber you were wanting."

Teriko's face lit up, and Ashara smiled at his excitement. "We will have to go when the next group of younglings go, however. And I'm afraid that won't be for another few months."

His face fell, but it brightened quickly. "That's okay. I'm going to go tell Ahsoka that I'm going to get another lightsaber soon!"

Ashara chuckled. "You do that, Teriko. You do that."

"Still avoiding Anakin's attempts at trying to get you to go on a date with Rex?" Obi-Wan asked as he approached. Ashara rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I love Anakin, but he's getting on my nerves. I don't know how Rex feels about Anakin doing this either, or if he's putting Anakin up to this. But while I do like Rex, I'm just not ready for it to be forcibly moved forward. We'll move on our own time, I don't need him jumping the gun here. Because I just know that as soon as we finally go on that date he's been trying to get us to on, he'll start talking about marriage, and I am definitely not ready for that."

Obi-Wan chuckled, before he turned serious. "Ashara, I need to tell you something... And you're not going to like it."

The togruta tilted her head. "What is it?"

"Maul is alive."