It Takes Two to Tango

A Boy, A Wolf, and A Message

Ahsoka walked through the marketplace of Capital City, observing. The Imperials weren't doing anything to provoke the citizens, but their presence was certainly noticed. People didn't walk around to socialize; they went out to get what they needed and go back home. The sunset was obscured by TIE fighters and a star destroyer hovering over the city.

She turned into an alleyway and pulled her hood over her lekku. Making a call to Senator Organa, she brought her comlink up to her face and crouched behind a fuel canister.

"Senator Organa, this is Fulcrum."

"Fulcrum, how goes the investigation on Lothal."

"Fantastic," she whispered, scanning for stormtroopers. "There's some potential here. I think we should seriously consider backing the cell already here. They have all the pieces, just not the momentum they need."

She could hear him breathing slowly on the other end. "We can't help them."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Our resources are spread thin. We aren't as strong as the Republic's armies were, Ahsoka. We can't afford to send people places whenever we want. The Ghost crew is going to have to do what they can until we are stronger."

Ahsoka sighed. She was afraid he'd say that. "Very well. I'd like to explore for a few days. This place is... strange. Familiar, even though this is my first time here. I'm going to follow up on some things as well. Let me know when you have another assignment for me."

"Of course. Senator Organa out."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and stood up. She hated politics and logistics. That was Lux's thing. She made a mental note to give him a call later.

She emerged from the alley just as a fight broke out in the town square. A man with a short brown ponytail and green armor punched a stormtrooper and took a crate. He ran off into the crowd as Imperial officers started to catch on.

"Dume," she whispered. The man stopped in his tracks and looked around. There was no way he could've heard her. He looked around and made eye contact with Ahsoka for a brief second. She wanted to help him, but she couldn't risk getting caught by Imperials. Not now, anyway.

She secured the hood over her head and turned her back to the scene. It was getting dark out, and she would have to find someplace to hide overnight that wasn't the middle of the city. There was a tower out in the distance that could work. It was remote enough that she wouldn't have Imperials snooping yet close enough to the city that she could get there on foot.

It began to rain as Ahsoka reached the top of the tower. Up close, it looked like a water tower, but without the water. She slid open the door and stepped inside.

Clearly, someone had already claimed this spot as a hiding place. Stormtrooper helmets were scattered about the room, with crates arranged by the walls to form a bed. Smaller toys and clothes were piled up in the middle of the room surrounding a radio.

A boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, emerged from behind a sheet draped over crates in the corner. "Uhhh... hi. What are you doing here?"

She removed the hood and hung her cloak up beside the door. "I need a place to stay for the night. I didn't think anyone would be out here."

"Well, I am. Who are you?"

The force was strong with this kid. He was clever, too. She could feel the connection between the two of them, pulling their energies together. That tended to happen when she ran into another force sensitive being. She could see the curiosity in his eyes, eager to learn about the thing that made him unique from everyone else.

"I'm like you," she said. "Do you mind if I stay?"

His eyes wandered to the lightsabers. He'd be a fool if he didn't know what they represented. "I guess so. My name is Ezra."

"Thank you, Ezra. You can call me...um...Ashla."

"Nice to meet you, Ashla."

Ahsoka nodded and stepped outside. The sun would be out for only a little longer, so she wanted to take advantage that time.

She sat down by the railing and crossed her legs.  The force flowed through her, rooting her to the ground below. She could feel the life of the planet breathing with her.

The white wolf's face was stuck in her mind's eye. It wanted to show her something important, but there was nothing here except tall grass and some Loth cats.

Ahsoka Tano.

It was the same voice as before – the wolf.

See with eyes.

Green, orange, black, circle, rectangle, pink, rectangle, red, yellow, star, purple, square, blue. Love, sadness, peace, despair.

But what did it mean?

Hear.

Laughter, silence, screams.

Feel.

Love, sadness, peace, despair.

SEE!

Everything became a white blur as Ahsoka's senses became numb. She didn't feel anything that made any sense to her.

She opened her eyes, suddenly conscious of her heavy breathing. The stars were her only company, other than the boy fast asleep inside.

For the first time in a long time, she felt small. Typically, she was confident enough in her abilities to trust herself, but now, she couldn't feel the force at all. The wolf's energy was restraining and suppressing it, hiding it from even her.

Was this all because she couldn't "see" whatever the hell that animal was trying to show her?

She stood up and huffed back inside, trying to control her frustration. She had been trained as a Jedi to understand this sort of stuff! When that training was taken away from her, that didn't mean giving up her gift. She had no intention of doing so now.

As she closed the door behind her, her eye lingered for a moment on the star destroyer passing overhead. Usually, she was able to see auras of the people on board. Now, it was just another heap of floating metal.

A/N: Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is doing well. I'm crying a little inside because school started last week, but at least I have some time now to finish some stuff up.

So Ahsoka met Ezra and Dume. Stuff happened. Yeah.

This chapter was a bit of a decision-making process for me. There were several places I could go from this point forward. I wanted to be as close to what could reasonably happen in canon, but there isn't really that much officially official canon stuff for me to go off of here. I mean, there's the Ahsoka novel, but I've elected to take a step away from that because I don't feel the need to rewrite something that's already written.

I was considering three paths from here for the rest of this part, and I think I'm happy with the one I chose. There's a moral to the story here; if it isn't clear now (which I'm hoping it isn't obvious), then it definitely will be in chapters to come.

I have no idea when the next update will be. I'd like to think it will be this week sometime, but I honestly have no idea. We'll see what happens.

See you in the next update!