The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Seventy: New Missions

AHSOKA TANO

Lux was indeed with Chulya Angine, one of the youngling instructors and overseer of their training. Chulya often said she was too devoted to the children under her care to worry about having any of her own, and Ahsoka knew from experience that the whole business of carrying and birthing children mystified her.

"Four already... and you're thinking of having another one?"

The question was clearly mid-conversation and directed at Lux, but Ahsoka figured they wouldn't mind if she interjected. "Togrutas have big families. It's just who we are as a species." She smiled, taking Lux's hand in hers. "I'm lucky I found someone who was all right with that."

"Big families aren't all that uncommon on Onderon, either," Lux added. "But anyways, if we do have another kid, it's not going to be for a while. We've agreed to wait until things calm down a little – with IronFist for me, and the trouble with the Inquisitors for Ahsoka. It's not safe for her to go on maternity leave while they're still out there, especially considering they're after Force-sensitive children."

Ahsoka nodded, placing a hand on her belly without thinking. "The Rebellion needs as many Force users on its side as it can get to keep them off their backs."

Something in the way she said that must not have agreed with Lux, because he pursed his lips, his quick grey eyes darting over her as if searching for something that was the matter. "Can I talk to Ahsoka alone for a minute?" he asked.

Chulya nodded and went off to talk to someone else. Lux followed her with his eyes for a moment, turning back to her as soon as she was out of earshot. Then, he took her gently by the shoulders and looked her right in the eye.

"So, when do you leave?"

Ahsoka stood in shocked silence for a moment, unable to meet Lux's gaze. She wasn't entirely surprised he had seen through her façade, but it still made her uncomfortable to think that maybe she had underestimated just how much he picked up on. It certainly exponentiated the potential number of her secrets he shared in or had at least guessed at without her knowing...

And there were some things she had to keep from him, no matter what. Rebellion secrets. The truth about Anakin. And the whole mess with Kaylira that was jumbled up in her head even now. And what she had seen in the Jedi Temple on Lothal. And every other failure to protect innocent lives that stained her conscience.

She shook the thought away with a sigh, wrapping her arms around herself as though trying to keep away a chill that was somewhere unreachable; gnawing away at her insides rather than brushing over her skin. The last thing she needed to be doing right now was second-guessing her husband.

"I guess I'm getting worse at keeping what's on my mind off my face, huh?" she asked after a moment.

"Not as far as everyone else is concerned. But I'm not everyone else." Lux reached up and tilted her chin up so their eyes met. "Talk to me."

"Semm's program has located another Force-sensitive child somewhere in the Japrael sector. We don't have anyone else here to send – even Kanan and Ezra are busy helping establish the new base on Atollon."

"Let me talk to Enarion about it," Lux said. "He's a lot closer; maybe he can take care of it."

"This isn't going to be a quick in and out retrieval operation – there were no specific coordinates given, so for all I know it could be parsecs away from Onderon. I don't think he'll have time for a trek from one end of the sector to the other. And besides, he has a lot of extra work on his plate with the new base." Ahsoka's hand found his, and she ran her fingers over his palm, tracing the lines that ran across it. "I have to go, or I risk losing another innocent child to the Empire."