The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Forty-Three: Putting Teachings Into Practice

LUX BONTERI

"I hate this!" Jani yelled, a sound like a smack to the dashboard echoing up into the New Hope through the comm. "My head knows what to do, but my hands just– just aren't doing it!"

"Jani, you're thinking too much," Lux informed her as patiently as ever.

Lux had managed to persuade the medics to let him take Jani flying for a while so long as they stayed within a one hundred kilometer range of the fleet. For the better part of the past hour – including a ten-minute-long period of yelling at him before finally agreeing to come – his sister had been parked in her fighter, trying to get a feel for the controls again.

Lux himself had been in the cockpit of his and Ahsoka's little freighter, keeping a watchful eye on the docking clamp keeping the two ships joined together.

Most of that time had been spent hearing Jani venting her frustrations, cursing, and telling him – or maybe telling herself – that she couldn't do it.

"You're not living in the moment," Lux continued after a moment. "When have you ever thought about anything past the immediate consequences when you're in the cockpit? You have to let go. You have to feel your way through it."

Janira was silent for a long moment. Then: "Disengage the docking clamps."

"Jani, you know I can't do that."

"Come on, please?" Jani sighed. "I promise I'll keep the comm on."

"No."

"Lux... this isn't flying. I've got a hunk of metal thirty times my weight strapped to my underside. I can't maneuver, so I can't react. I can't react, so I can't fly. If you want to help me then you'll have to let me go."

Lux closed his eyes eyes and tried not to think about the deeper possible interpretation to what she had just said. "Fine. I'll trust you on this. But don't do anything crazy," he cautioned her.

He could practically hear his sister's smile through the comm.

It was a tremendous risk, putting her back in complete control of a fighter again – any matter of things could happen, ranging from her hitting the wrong button and sending it spiralling out of control to her trying some fancy maneuver and then spiralling out of control... But perhaps, in the end, it would be for the best.

And so it was with trembling, reluctant fingers that Lux keyed in the commands to break the magnetic seal on Jani's fighter and let her take off.

The only things Lux could really liken the feeling in his gut to were the times he watched each of his three eldest children in turn take their first ride on a speeder bike. It was Aluxso's face in particular that came to mind.

Enarion had taken more after Ahsoka, and Aluxso had taken more after him. But it was then that Lux realized that while he saw a lot of himself in Alux's innocent and untroubled face, as someone with an identical twin, he couldn't see himself without also seeing a lot of his sister.

They had gotten lucky this time. Lux didn't know what he would do if he lost Janira for good.

A tremor of uncertainty running through the A-wing Jani was piloting brought him back to the present. The little fighter wobbled and pitched downward, and Lux's heart did the same. But, as Janira's reflexes apparently took over, it steadied itself, and Lux breathed a sigh of relief.