The Edge of the Universe

XLIV

3 days later

Ahsoka's POV

Obi-wan and most of his family got along great and Anakin, Rex and I tried to give them as much time together as possible but we also didn't want to seem rude. Anakin seemed to naturally get along with Obi-wan's family as well and Obi-wan's father seemed to treat Anakin like he was his son as well as Obi-wan but sometimes I could sense a tiny bit of guilt coming from Anakin but I didn't know why. I found myself talking to Obi-wan's 27-year-old sister, Lyra who looked a lot like Obi-wan and acted like him too. I saw her looked at Anakin a lot but decided not to think too much about it. Obi-wan's mother, Elenor, was so kind and caring and just a sweet person in general but she could be stern if she needed to. Obi-wan's brother didn't appear much, he wasn't married and spent most of his time in his room and when he did come out for meals he didn't speak to Obi-wan that much and I could tell Obi-wan was slightly confused by this. 

I had been practising breaking off small branches and leaves and it was getting slightly easier but according to Anakin I still needed to keep practising for a bit until I could try to shatter the glass. Rex and Obi-wan's brother, Owen, seemed to talk a lot when he was out of his room, I didn't know what they talked about but Rex seemed interested in whatever it was. 

It was 5 o'clock pm and the sun was casting a golden light across the land and the trees, Anakin and I were in a clearing in the trees and he was teaching me a new lightsaber form. I was learning form IV which was kind of confusing at times and didn't feel natural, there were 11 basic lightsaber forms altogether and so far I had learnt 5 including form IV and I still had 6 more to learn. Anakin and I were slowly sparring with our lightsabers using form IV and slowly we began to pick up the speed until we were sparring at a fast pace, my technique was sloppy but I still managed to perform the different positions. 

"You ready to do it again?" Anakin asked.

I nodded and we quickly engaged in a battle again, it felt weird to be spinning my lightsaber this much but I managed to block Anakin's hits. Anakin used form V which required a lot of physical strength and was a very dominant form that pushed the other person back and it required quite a lot of power, Anakin also used the acrobatics from form IV and he often spun and twisted his body around and his lightsaber. I had the acrobatics part under control but spinning two lightsabers and blocking his blows from angles I wasn't used to, was hard. My main lightsaber form was VI Jar'Kai which was the form that catered towards duel lightsabers, I also used a fair amount of form V because I picked it up from Anakin. 

I concentrated hard on remembering the different positions and I was doing okay, Obi-wan's family and Rex came to the clearing and they sat down at the edge of the clearing and Obi-wan stood in amusement watching both of us. I ignored them and continued to fight and tried to make my strikes stronger but it didn't do much, after a few minutes I was still holding out and I was trying to strike back but I guess I got a little ambitious. Anakin's dark blue blade stopped a few centimetres before the side of my stomach and I groaned and lowered my lightsabers as he pulled his back.

"I know, you've told me before, after position two one hand should use position 6 and the other should go into position 8," I groaned.

"Do you want to practice just that slowly?" he asked.

I didn't want to in front of Obi-wan's family because I didn't want them thinking I was bad at lightsaber combat and Anakin seemed to know what I was thinking because he sent a stern look towards me. I sighed and nodded, practising that position movement would help me and I should put my benefit before the judgement of others. 

We moved slowly practising my positioning and slowly began picking up the speed as I began to get the hang of it. 

"Can I try it in a duel now?" I asked.

Before Anakin could reply Obi-wan's mother called out.

"We're eating dinner out here tonight, you can take as much time as you need to finish your training, don't feel pressured," she said.

"Thank you," I replied nodding my head towards her.

"We can try it in a duel if you want," Anakin said.

I nodded eagerly and we quickly engaged in a duel, I found it easier to block from odd angles and to twist a lightsaber around but it still kind of felt strange. After a few minutes I did the positioning and I managed to block his hit, I smiled and faltered slightly but managed to recover, Anakin grinned at me briefly to show he was impressed that I had done the positioning right. We continued to fight flipping and twisting around in the form's style but eventually, Anakin twisted the lightsaber out of my hand and into his. He had his dark blue lightsaber and my small shoto blade, I looked at the two lightsabers in his hands and then jumped forward, I hadn't seen my Master fight with two lightsabers before but of course, he was good at that as well. I managed to hold my defensive position for a bit until we were locked in a lightsaber hold, he pushed my lightsaber up and I already knew I had lost, my shoto blade was hovering before my stomach and I dropped my hands back down as Anakin straightened up again.

"That was good Ahsoka, great positioning," Anakin complimented.

"I'll never beat you in lightsaber combat," I complained.

"You're using a new form that you just learnt, if you were using any form then I think you could beat me one day," he replied, "That day is not for a long time yet though,"

I rolled my eyes and grinned at my Master, we turned out lightsabers off and he passed me my small shoto blade and I placed them on my hilt.

"Don't be so sure about that Anakin, I thought you wouldn't beat me in lightsaber combat until I was at least 60 but here we are," Obi-wan said walking up to us.

"I thought you were 60, your grey hairs are coming in early I guess," Anakin joked.

"Yes well having you as a Padawan definitely caused them and especially working with you afterwards since I have not much control of you now that you're a Jedi Master,"

"But here we are, stuck on Stewjon together," 

Obi-wan rolled his eyes and we walked towards Obi-wan's family and Rex who had begun eating, dinner was full of laughter and afterwards, when the sun had set, Elenor had lit candles and placed them in the grass around us as Obi-wan and Anakin told stories of the things they did together even I hadn't heard some of them. I looked around at everyone, the force seemed content and happy and Anakin's shields were relaxed and for the first time in a while I saw a true, genuine smile on his face, no cockiness or sarcasm detected. Not many people saw Anakin's true genuine laugh and smile but when he did show it the force around the area always seemed bursting with happiness because it's not something Anakin could hide behind his shields. 

"What's the coolest thing you've done as a Jedi?" Lyra asked Obi-wan.

Obi-wan thought about it for a second before smiling.

"I danced with the devil in pale moonlight," he replied.

"You mean when you did the macarena to try and distract General Grievous?" Anakin asked.

Everyone burst into laughter, including me, I hadn't heard this story before and I was kind of surprised Anakin hadn't told me about it.

"In my defence, it did work," Obi-wan said slightly blushing.

"Master Yoda seemed to enjoy watching it happen," Anakin added.

"When did this happen?" I asked between fits of laughter.

"I was about 32 and I think Anakin was 16, I had to distract Grievous while Anakin snuck onto his ship and rescued one of the Senators," Obi-wan explained.

We had all calmed down from laughing and I smiled when I saw Owen laughing as well, he didn't seem to show that much emotion but right now it brought a warm feeling to my heart seeing him laugh, through the force I could just sense that something traumatic had happened to him. I looked around at everyone's smiles and sighed slightly, soon enough all this would be gone and we'd be back to missions and the war. I looked up at the stars and silently sent a prayer to the force that the war would end soon because it was taking a toll on everyone.