Tenacity

Chapter 4: Obstacles

With Ahsoka by her side, Briony strolled towards the Jedi Temple. The sun was beginning to set and cast a glaring light onto the exterior of the building. The shadows of their bodies were boldly visible against the pavement they walked on, the setting sun peeking out from behind them.

Despite her slight limp and bandaged leg, in a physical sense, she felt relatively alright. Afterall, getting your leg sliced open, no matter how superficial it may be, never feels great.

"Wait..." Briony said coming to a halt while absent-mindedly cracking her left thumb knuckle.

Ahsoka stopped in her tracks and turned to her friend. "What is it?"

"I could probably just patch this up on my own," Briony shrugged, cracking the knuckle on her other hand.

The Togruta gave her a knowing glare as she crossed her arms. "Yeah, right. You just don't want to go to the Jedi Healers," she teased with a smirk, knowing that she read the underlying meaning of Briony's sudden proposal.

"I- That is a very plausible assumption, I give you that," Briony started.

"A very obvious fact, I think you mean," Ahsoka corrected. She squinted for a moment. "But seriously, what are you? A contortionist? How exactly do you plan on treating a slice to your calf all by yourself?" She jokingly mimed someone struggling to sew up a hard-to-reach leg wound. This got the attention of some people passing by the evidently comedic duo.

Briony scoffed in amusement. "First of all, we both could definitely find a position in which we were able to reach the back of our leg," she clarified while Ahsoka hummed in agreement. "Besides, you could sew it up if it needs to be," she shot Ahsoka an awkward grin, hoping she could avoid a trip to the Halls of Healing.

"Although I am pretty good at basic suturing, I'd still rather get Kix to help patch you up. He'll be able to assess it better," Ahsoka reasoned. "There's actually a small med-bay located in the clone barracks here on Coruscant that Rex mentioned to me before."

"I've never been inside any of the clone barracks. Have you?" Briony wondered. She had passed by the barracks plenty of times but was yet to ever see a Jedi enter them.

"I haven't been fully inside," Ahsoka admitted biting the inside of her cheek as she thought of a memory. "A while back, I stood in the doorway waiting for Echo and Fives since we planned on going to Dex's Diner together." Her face flashed with sadness. Even after quite some time, Echo's death still affected her and the rest of the 501st hard. It even hit Briony when she had heard the news. Briony felt like she could relate to Echo in some respects, which allowed them to forge a solid friendship. Whenever she and Ahsoka saw each other in between missions, Briony would always make sure to say hello to the trooper who sported the handprint on his chestplate. The fact that he was no longer around was an unthinkable concept to grapple with.

The barracks that housed the 501st wasn't far from the girls' current location, so they figured they head in that direction. In a very continent stroke of luck, they bumped into Rex as they neared the clone quarters. The clone captain had a datapad in one hand and his helmet tucked under the arm of the other. It appeared that he just so happened to be on his way in for the night.

"Rexster!" Ahsoka called out, catching the man's attention.

"Ah! Commander," he responded to the Togruta's endearing and goofy nickname. He nodded politely at Briony as well, causing her to reciprocate the action. There was a slight look of surprise sketched on his features at the prospect of the two young Jedi seemingly on their way towards the clone barracks. "What brings you both over here?" he genuinely asked with a raised eyebrow. While he loved his commander like a little sister, and was friends with Briony, he knew that them being over here at such a time of day meant that something was up. Unfortunately for him, that something was currently an enigma.