Chapter Text
Really, Mace reflects on this later in his life, after all the craziness that has happened and the changes that have wrecked their havoc on the order and the Republic, that he knew the second he saw Skywalker that he was going to be a problem.
“At least,” he says to Yoda, pinching his nose and sighing deeply, “We know that Skywalker is well under wraps with Kenobi by his side to keep him in line.”
Yoda chuckles his croaky laugh and shakes his head.
“Good idea, this may have been,” he says cryptically, “My idea, it was not.”
“Not your idea?” Mace says looking at him with narrowed eyes, “Then whose idea was it?”
“Consult with Qui-Gon, through the force, I did,” Yoda explains, “Right, he seems to have been.”
“You let Qui-Gon Jin decide the fate of the entire galaxy?” Mace says, a vein starting to pop on his forehead, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He gets hit with Yoda’s gimer stick and hisses.
“Let him decide, I did not,” Yoda says sharply, “Listen to what he had to say, I did. Come to my own conclusion, I did. Know his own Padawan, he did. Find a solution, he did. Save the Republic, who is to say? Perhaps we’ll never know.”
Typically, Anakin thought as he looked down at the Togruta looking up at him, when a child with abilities in the force was found they were directed to the creche. However, with the creche currently evacuated he understands why the small Togruta isn’t there.
That doesn’t explain, however, why the Togruta is currently in his quarters, sitting on his bunk wrapped in one of his cloaks, gnawing away at a ration bar.
“Rex!” he barked, turning when the captain appeared, “Why is there a child in my bunk?”
“Ah yes!” Rex responded wincing slightly, “You see General Skywalker, the creche has been evacuated and the younglings needed somewhere to go.”
“What does that have to do with her being in my bunk?” Anakin gritted out, feeling like he knew where this was going.
“Well it was decided that every Jedi Master was to be given one of the children,” Rex continued.
“Do I look like a Jedi Master to you Rex?” Anakin asked, leveling him with a hard glare.
“Uh, no General,” Rex admitted, “However she’s been with General Kenobi for the past several days and once we rendezvoused with them, he asked that you take her for a couple of hours. According to Cody, the General has been having a hard time keeping up with his duties and the duties of watching her.”
“Where is Obi-Wan?” Anakin huffed, putting his head in one of his hands.
“Hopefully in his quarters,” Rex responded.
Anakin huffed out a hard sigh and looked at him again, “Stay here with her, make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
“I gotta name y’know!” the Togruta said to him, “It’s Ahsoka!”
Anakin looked over at the young Togruta, who didn’t look like she’d been sleeping well either if the dark bruises under her eyes were any indication. Anakin couldn’t believe this was the best the Temple could come up with, letting children be brought into active war zones.
“Oh is it?” Anakin asked, walking over to her and bending down so that he was eye level, “That’s a nice name. My name is Anakin. How do you feel about lying down for just a little bit? I have to go find Obi-Wan.”
Ahsoka frowned at him and pulled the cloak tighter around her, “I don’t want to lay down.”
“Why not?” Anakin asked, “You look like you could use a nap.”
“I can’t sleep,” she responded, looking slightly ashamed.
Anakin sat down in front of her and folded his hands into his lap. They sat in silence for a minute.
“You know when I first came to live on a spaceship I had a really hard time sleeping,” he started.
“Really?” Ahsoka asked, trying to look uninterested even as she leaned in with rapt attention.
“I’m from Tatooine,” Anakin explained, leaving out the parts she didn’t need to hear, “I never really liked it, I’m not a big fan of sand, but it has a binary sun system, -which means it has two suns- and so it was always super hot and quiet. When I first was on a ship it was really cold and loud, and I wasn’t used to it.”
Ahsoka looked bashfully down into her lap, “At the creche, it’s really quiet. Here in the ship, there’s always a lot of clanging and alarms going off. And you’re right. It’s super cold. I’m not really used to it.”
“Well,” Anakin said, “Let’s try this.”
He got up and started rummaging through the small closet in his quarters, finally pulling out a thick, worn blanket and a couple of thinner ones.
“How about we try this?” Anakin asked, piling the blankets next to her, “The thinner ones are made from cotton, so they aren’t so warm on their own but this thicker one was a gift from my master. It’s lined with synfleece and the top is made of bantha hide, so it keeps all the heat trapped inside. We’ll layer them up and then that should keep you warm.”
“Are you sure I should be using it? If your master gave it to you?” Ahsoka said shyly.
“It’s survived the ten years that I’ve used it,” Anakin explained, “I’m sure that if it can survive after the amount of times I dropped my soldering gun on it, you’ll be just fine.”
“Okay,” Ahsoka nodded, unfolding one of the cotton blankets and laying on top of her, doing the same with the second.
“Here,” Anakin said, tucking the blankets in around her and then layering on the thicker one, “That should keep you warm. Rex is going to stay here with you so that you aren’t alone okay? No matter what noise the ship makes, Rex can keep you safe, okay?”
“Okay,” Ahsoka mumbled her response, already starting to drift off as she warmed up, “You’ll be back right?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Anakin promised, waiting until she closed her eyes before getting up and going to find Obi-Wan.
They had some talking that they needed to do.
Anakin finally got to Obi-Wan’s quarters, after trapezing through both the Negotiator and the Resolute, and lightly knocked on the door.
“Obi-Wan?” he asked and heard an unhappy groan coming from behind the door, followed by footsteps.
“I give you my word, I will take her back in just a couple of hours,” Obi-Wan was already promising as he opened the door, “I just need to clean up and take a short nap, and then I will be back for her. I know she can be a handful but she seems to enjoy talking to the clones and maybe Rex can-.”
“Master,” Anakin cut him off, taking in his disheveled appearance, “Don’t worry about ‘Soka. She’s already asleep. You look like you could use more than just a short nap,”
Anakin poked his ribs gently, “And maybe some food. You look like you’ve been run over by a bantha.”
And he did. Obi-Wan’s dark circles were so much worse than Ahsoka’s, his beard was untrimmed and his hair was unkempt. It was shocking to see his usually so put-together master looking like this. He was in his sleep pants, his robe off one of his shoulders.
“Why thanks padawan of mine,” Obi-Wan said dryly and then blinked, “Did you just say Ahsoka was asleep?”
“Yes,” Anakin said, “Rex is sitting with her in my cabin.”
“How on earth did you manage that?” Obi-Wan said incredulously, “She hasn’t slept for more than five minutes at a time since she was put into my care days ago.”
“Master,” Anakin scolded, “You let her go without sleep for days ?”
“Not purposely,” Obi-Wan said hands raised in a placating manner, “I was beginning to think I was going to have to get Kix to give her a shot or something. She just can’t relax.”
“She’s a child in a war zone,” Anakin rolled his eyes, exasperated, “Of course she can’t relax. Whoever’s bantha shit idea this was, had to be out of their damn mind. I don’t understand how the Council could ever have allowed this.”
“Master Yoda was the one who came up with it,” Obi-Wan said pointedly, “Mace has been having premonitions, or at least that’s what he thinks they are. The whole Jedi temple ends up burning, all of the children are cut down by an unknown assailant.”
“For the love of the force,” Anakin groaned, leaning his head against the bulkhead, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish,” Obi-Wan responded, “Until we can figure out what’s going on, we know the younglings will not be safe at the Temple.”
“Yeah because ‘Soka is doing so much better here under your care,” Anakin argued, “Why aren’t the creche masters with them? Surely there is a planet they can be in or a-a base that we can keep them in. On a ship that is constantly under fire isn’t safe.”
“We thought so too,” Obi-Wan explained gently, “Until one of the bases we were planning on sending them off was blown up. It was in well controlled Republic territory but that didn’t stop the locals from angrily setting it ablaze. No, I’m afraid as much as it pains me to admit it, the only safe place for them is with a Jedi Master.”
“What about the younglings who are younger?” Anakin asked, feeling his throat constrict.
They were children . The point of society was to secure their world for the generation after them. Had the war taken even their humanity? What else was there to take at this point? What was their left to save?
“The creche masters have divided them up,” Obi-Wan assured him, “They’ve been taken into hiding. None of the council is to know where they are, just in case one of us is captured. They will be waiting on the all-clear signal from the Temple to return.”
“This war really is taking everything isn’t it?” Anakin said bitterly, “What’s the point if we can’t even keep our own children safe?”
Obi-Wan gave him a sad smile, “We are doing the best we can. That’s all we can do. We work to end this war, so that the generation after us doesn’t have to fight it. We will win and we will restore the Republic. I believe it.”
Anakin looked back to his exhausted master and sighed, “You need to clean up, and eat, and sleep. In that order Obi-Wan, I’m not kidding about the food. I’ve noticed you are getting thinner these days. It won’t help anyone if you end up dead because you’ve starved yourself.”
Obi-Wan sighed and rubbed the side of his face tiredly, “I will head to the ‘fresher now. And then I will scrounge up a ration bar.”
“I’ll go looking for something of more sustenance. You need more than a ration bar at this point. You get into the ‘fresher,” Anakin instructed.
“Okay,” Obi-Wan agreed, turning towards the ‘fresher and then hesitantly looking back for a second, “Thank you Anakin.”
“Of course master,” Anakin said, already calculating where he could find Cody.
Anakin was right, when he thought that Cody might be inclined to help him. He not only had porg jerky that he had happily given him but also gruel, which wasn’t so easy to come by these days.
“I’ve also got it on good authority that the General keeps some tea in his cabin,” Cody informed him, “If one would be so inclined to bring him hot water, I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”
“Sure thing,” Anakin said gratefully as he accepted the food, “I’ll make sure he eats, don’t worry.”
“Thank you General Skywalker,” the captain said, looking as relieved as Anakin had ever seen him.
“If you really are thankful maybe you can go make sure Rex is okay?” Anakin asked, wincing slightly, “I kind of left him in charge of ‘Soka.”
Cody gave him a nod, “I’ll go check on them both, General.”
By the time Anakin returned, Obi-Wan was looking slightly more alive, with his hair in order and his beard neatly shaved again, but the dark circles hadn’t left and he still moved sluggishly.
“Here,” Anakin thrust the tray towards him and started rummaging through his cabinet.
“Anakin, what are you looking for?” Obi-Wan asked tiredly.
“I’ve got it on good authority that you have-oh here it is,” Anakin said grabbing the canister and plopping it down on the tray, “I’ve heated the water to the right temperature I swear, I know how prickly you get when you waste perfectly good tea by preparing it poorly. ”
“That isn’t what I sound like,” Obi-Wan grumbled even as he deftly pulled out a tea bag and set it into the water to steep.
“It kind of is,” Anakin said, “Anyway, what do you say to me taking Ahsoka for the day? She seems to enjoy Rex’s company and she seems to like me alright. Maybe you can actually sleep and get some things done. We’re still waiting on our next directive so we could be sitting tight for a couple of days.”
Obi-Wan sat quietly for a second and then his head dropped in between his shoulders in relief.
“Just let me know if she gets to be too much,” Obi-Wan told him, “She is very...lively.”
Anakin snorted, “We should get along just fine then.”