The Republic has fallen.
In the final days of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine died under mysterious circumstances. With the Senate struggling to retain a sense of unity, it was the perfect time for the Separatists to strike. And strike they did...
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Ahsoka was no expert on politics (she couldn't learn everything by osmosis, regardless of what the Jedi Council had said before that Force-forsaken investigation two years ago) but even she could tell Lux's claims he was terribly out of shape were blatant exaggeration.
Having spent two years out of the public eye, Lux thought himself something of a recluse. Clearly, he and Ahsoka had different definitions of losing one's people skills. The passion in his delivery was magnetic, and the tone that carried it informal enough to make even topics like workers' rights and Imperial security in the outer villages seem unassuming. The balance it struck, the place suspended between emotion and voice that Lux seemed to thrive in, was striking.
'Ex-politician' my sheb. We always need extra bodies for the Rebellion, but people with his ability as an orator could sway billions, Ahsoka thought.
She shook it away, shifting uncomfortably in the thick shawl that protected her from the chill. She couldn't start thinking like that. Lux was useful, and his sunshine was a great comfort to her, but his reputation would invariably precede him anywhere he went – the good and the bad parts of it both.
Lux lightened a heavy statement with a clever joke and wave of his hand; she smiled proudly from the sidelines when his audience of miners and farmers laughed. But the sting of old wounds quickly soured her pride.
Perhaps that was why she was drawn to him. Lux made her feel comfortable in a way no one really had since her childhood. (Save Anakin, but he wasn't here now.) The power he had when he spoke, though – that was glaringly like Padmé. At times, Lux's pensiveness and warmth almost made Ahsoka feel like she was with her old friend again on Coruscant, a cup of expensive tea at her lips and a chuckle in the back of her throat as they gossiped about mutual friends...
Not light years away, with a tracker in her chest to keep her from wandering too far out of Lux's – her master's – sight. Ahsoka supposed the likeness made sense, if Padmé had been so close to Lux's family before Ahsoka's time. But it still hurt.
"Believe you me, my father will not hear the end of this until real changes have been made," Lux was saying, and the emphasis on the word 'father' snapped her back to the task at hand.
She'd heard him practice this part of the speech several times the night before to get the inflection right, and she knew his concluding statements would soon follow. He'd be distracted for a while after that by the cam droids – of which there were still far more than either of them had estimated – and by the question and answer session, which was growing more popular with every village he visited.
The time to move was now.
Ahsoka had chosen her spot by Lux's riser with care, making sure she was too far into the background for any droid or sentient to notice her. She only had to trick two troopers with a subtle pressure on their minds – I belong here, I am your better, you will let me pass without question – before she could slip through their line of defense and melt into the shadows beyond.
