DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS ONES! This is part of a series:

Part 1: In the Path of Revan

Part 2: In the Path of the Ravager

Part 3: In the Path of Keepers

This story takes place a few years after In the Path of Keepers.

Prologue - Ahsoka/Varus

"You know how hard it is to keep a secret when you have a hard time keeping your mouth shut?" Ahsoka complained.

"Hard." Padme offered.

"Hard. Now imagine trying to keep a secret while the person you want to keep the secret from is tied in to your emotions and thoughts. Yeah… it gets kinda hard. Now, granted, it has been quite some time. We have developed the bond to the point that we only share what we want shared. The rest is just empty noise. Technically I can hear every thought, and in the same way he can as well with me, but we have decided to make the thoughts we specifically want to transmit on purpose are much more emphatic and understandable in comparison to the rest. There is just… too much to really dig through. People don't actually realize just how much of your thought pattern is utter illogical gibberish and noise until you have to start taming it."

"Sounds complicated." Padme said emptily. In truth she already knew this. The couple had been relying on her, and so she got to understand what it was like indepth. All the same, she just allowed Ahsoka to vent her frustration. She placed a set of dirty dishes into the cleaner and shut the drawer. The machine turned on and in seconds all her dishes were sanitized.

"He's keeping secrets from me…" Ahsoka whispered.

Padme shushed her. Her focus was on the cleaner. Like she wanted, the next cycle sprayed a layer of liquid on the dishes that made them shiny. Padme opened it and pulled one out to find it had some kind of black powder on it. The powder residue was easy to lift with her finger. "Why does this keep happening?"

"You are not listening to me."

"No, I am listening, but you have to realize that it is normal." Padme slammed the door shut again. She had more pressing matters. "Couples have their secrets, Ahsoka. Just because you and Varus are tied on the mental level doesn't make that any less true. You can't be a completely open book or it is just boring. There has to be a little mystery. A little excitement. A little guessing to ask yourself what will he do next to excite you. Enough wiggle room for him to do something unexpected."

As she spoke, Padme passed the lounge room to her own room to select a dress. There was a big family gathering coming up. Darth Plageus had moved his entire planet to a system nearby for ease of transport. (Scared the New Republic into mobilizing half of its fleet in the process, much to Son's amusement.) Ever since returning to Naboo, the times when the family could get together had lessened over time, and it didn't get any better with Ani traveling the galaxy preaching to the Jedi sects. The Skywalker family would have its little get-together, and how could she neglect Ahsoka (who had no family of her own and was practically one of them) and Varus (same)? With Varus attending, Koj'Ineh and Cahjinawl were returning from their work with the Rebel Alliance to attend as well. Then, of course, Ani had to invite Obi-Wan.

It had been rough enough having Varus and Obi-Wan under the same roof, now they were going to be exposing the older man to Ani's family. This would be fun.

Originally Padme wanted to host the dinner and show Skywalker's family the kind of home he had gained of his own merits, and with her in his life, but between the number of people coming, the powder on all the dishes, and a whole slew of other things not going right, she changed her mind. Thankfully she hadn't made arrangements to begin with, so no harm done.

"Well him cheating on me is certainly unexpected."

Padme slid to a halt and turned to look Ahsoka dead in the eye. "What?"

Ahsoka shrugged. She didn't look hurt, more unsure of herself. Okay. Padme concluded that Ahsoka didn't have actual facts, just speculation. Otherwise, knowing Ahsoka, she would have beaten her boyfriend within an inch of his life and left him to rot.

"Ahsoka, what makes you think he is cheating on you?" Padme asked. She tried to focus on changing into her dress, but Ahsoka's sudden choice in topic kept her attention.

"Well, its just…" Ahsoka sighed. "He has never purposefully tried to keep secrets from me."

"You mean like all the other times? Where, which I might add, so far as I know, he fessed up."

Ahsoka shook her head. "I know what you may be thinking, but… he is avoiding me. He has this feeling of guilt in him lately. He can't look me in the eye when I do see him. When I wanted to go to this place, which granted, is more expensive than we usually go, since we usually just go to places that are a bit on the cheap side, he declined because he was strapped for money."

Padme found that odd. "He never spends money. He isn't the kind of person to even want things." Good food notwithstanding. Ninety-percent of his expenses was just paying rent in her home!

"Exactly!" Ahsoka exclaimed. "When I asked him where his money went, he got all nervous and said he spent it on me."

"And you have no knowledge of him spending anything on you?"

"No gifts, nothing that expensive on our dates to explain it. I mean, he does give me things, but it is mostly cheap items he knows I have a sentiment for."

"So you assume he is lying?"

"I don't know…" Ahsoka sighed. Padme could see the stress pouring off her. "That was when the guilt really hit him, and he started avoiding me."

Padme watched her freak out inside and considered them. She knew Varus. She knew Ahsoka. It wasn't adding up. It wasn't like them. Something else was going on, but she couldn't say what. "Look… Ahsoka. It comes down to this, how does he feel about you?"

Ahsoka gulped and took a moment to compose herself. "He believes he isn't good enough and he loves me."

"Then at this exact moment, that is all you need. Now, if he goes to you and wants to have a serious talk or confess something I would be worried. Until then, just remember what you just said. Now… focus. We need to leave soon and you came over to have me help you into the dress, not to mourn something that isn't lost."

"You're an idiot." Mustachio, aka Obi-Wan, says down at me.

I glower up at him, "Thanks, Mustachio. What do you think, Tree-Hugger?"

"I agree with Mustachio. You're an idiot."

I sigh and put my head in my hands. "Yeah, I get it. I screwed up."

"Not just a little screwed up, big screwed up." Tree-Hugger puts his hands apart for emphasis. "I mean… I thought you had more sense than that. He can't get a refund, can me?" He poses the question to Mustachio.

"Nope." Mustachio answers.

Tree-Hugger pinches his nose in frustration. "Lovely. So you had to go and feel adventurous! Look, Varus… You should have just gone to me. Even Obi would have been able to lead you in the right direction! I mean, didn't you have any idea what kind of establishment you were walking into!?"

"It was my problem!" I exclaim.

"And how has that worked out?"

I glower to the side. They must feel so big of themselves to just be pounding on me. The two men have a collective sigh. "I'm just gonna have to do it and let my wonderful personality win me over." I decide.

Tree-hugger says, "I appreciate the timing of it and all, but I really have my doubts. I think you should wait a while, get more in control of where you stand, and then lay it on her."

"No, I… it feels right."

"Look…" Tree-Hugger tries. "You in this stage of your relationship had one job. Just one job, and you managed to botch that. What you need right now is time."

"Speaking of time." Mustachio elbows Tree-Hugger and nods in the direction down the street. We are at the port waiting for the girls. I look over and am left stunned. Cyborg-Hugger looks beautiful, as always. She has this mature beauty to her and calmness. Her choices in dresses are a bit overly… there is just too much stuff to it. And her hair style when she thinks its dressy just makes me want to giggle. Still, she is beautiful, but the one who really catches my eye is Ahsoka. Its just a simple green dress. Nothing really to it. But it works well with the natural red-tint of her skin and emphasis her features. She looks warm and inviting and…

Oh, yeah. I'm in trouble.

Suddenly I really want to get moving, and I get on the transport.

Padme checked in on the others, and noted how the only one avoiding them was, of course, Varus. The kids were with him, but she concluded this him avoiding them wasn't natural. Ahsoka had the dress picked out for him. Not only because he liked green the most, but because green naturally worked well with red, such as Ahsoka's skin, and the simplicity of it was a beauty of its own. Padme saw the yearning in his eyes when he first saw them, but then just as quickly he shut himself out and hid.

The other occupants were around the shuttle waiting patiently for the several-hour ride to end.

She returned to the bridge and sat in the co-pilot seat. "Varus is avoiding Ahsoka."

"I noticed." Tree-Hugger muttered. He hit a few keys and leaned back. He looked to her. "I thought for sure he would have lost it when she walked down the street in that. Did you help pick it out?"

"Mhm."

He smiled. "Explains why it was a head-turner. Little odd I've never seen you in something as simple. You have a thing for complexity?"

"It's more expressive and artistic this way." Padme defended.

"That it is," he agreed. "Varus is just… being an idiot. He screwed up."

Padme gulped. She had hoped it wasn't the case. She had hoped it was just Ahsoka having wild speculation. But if Ani had some idea what it was… "How bad is it?"

"He lost it all in one swoop." Ani muttered. "Now he wants to tell her."

Padme put her head in her hands. Shit. Shit shit shit. "He'll destroy her…"

"Er, I don't think it will be quite that-" Padme cut him off with an evil glare. "Okay. Guess this is worse than I thought. Maybe." Ani relented. "Didn't realize girls put so much emphasis on this stuff."

"We put a LOT of emphasis on it."

Anakin sighed. After a moment he said, "We have to stop it. He needs more time."

"Time is the last thing he needs. He should be skinned alive."

Anakin started to sweat. "Angel… Let's not pull out the pitchforks just yet. They can overcome this."

She scoffed angrily. As if. "He definitely doesn't deserve her, not anymore… and if you have the nerve to defend him, then while I may smile for your family, I don't plan to go out of my way to make this pleasant for you, and we are going to have some words when we get home." With that she angrily left.

Anakin stared wide-eyed out the window and slowly turned around to look at Obi-Wan, who was sweating and wide-eyed as well. He had been silent in the whole exchange, taking the defensive measure of blending in with the wall. "He's screwed." They both said.

"It's worse than I thought." Obi-Wan said.

"We have to stop it." Anakin said.

"That alien brother of his, what's his name?"

"Koj."

"We might need him as backup."

Koj listened to the two Jedi. He didn't say anything as they laid out the whole story, and he glanced in the distance to see everyone else greeting Plageus and his children. Koj had arrived the day before, having much further to travel and wanting to rest through the time lag between planets.

"I fail to see how this whole matter results in my brother being in danger." Koj concluded.

"Koj, look." Anakin tried. "You know the concept of a flag, yes?" Koj nodded. "It's symbolizes something. You don't damage it, burn it, or tarnish it in any way without being in trouble because it represents a given nation. Is that something we can agree with?"

"We can."

"Great. Now. What Varus did, tarnished his relationship with Ahsoka. Because it has that kind of symbolism."

"I see. So he lost something and so he has lost his love?"

"Not quite. They can make it work again, but it requires time. We thought it was bad, but then we aren't women… apparently its really bad."

"Then I fail to see what you need from me. I cannot give him advice on something I am not adequately understanding. I recognize what you are saying, but little beyond that." Koj said.

"Just… stop Varus. He is going to talk to Ahsoka, and it will be ugly."

Koj nodded in understanding. "That I can do."

I breath in and out, and head to Ahsoka. I realize I don't have much to go on, but hopefully it will work. Ahsoka doesn't see me coming. That gives me a moment to compose my thoughts as I take my time.

Okay… time to do this.

"Varus." Koj walks up to me.

"Yeah?" I ask. Talk about timing. What does he need?

"Walk with me."

"Can it wait? I need to talk to Ahsoka about something before we all have dinner."

"I am afraid this cannot wait." Koj nods in the direction he wants us to go.

Must be serious. Did something happen with the Rebel Alliance? With his people? With Squirt? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let him down. It just… the timing REALLY sucks. Oh well, I can do it later. I have all day. "Alright."

Koj nods and I follow him. We enter the hall and Koj leads the way. I follow. We take turns. With each open door, I expect us to enter and to find what it is he is taking me to. With each turn, I expect him to talk. Yet… he doesn't open his mouth. I get more and more worried. Koj is easily the silent type, but he is also balanced by the fact that he talks when it is important or necessary.

But after we pass the same room three times, my worry turns to annoyance. "Koj, do you know where you are going?"

"Yes."

I nod. Okay. He knows where we are going. So… "What are we doing then?"

"I am distracting you."

I come to a halt. I do nothing. I just stare at him dumbly for a solid second while my brain plays catch-up with what I just heard. Even knowing what I heard my brain still is confused. "What?"

"I am distracting you." Koj repeats himself. "I would say I have succeeded."

I can only blink. "So, this wasn't important?"

"It was very important that I distract you. It could not wait."

Okay, now I'm annoyed. I grit my teeth angrily. "Tree-Hugger and Mustachio put you up to this, didn't they?"

"If those are the names of your two Jedi friends, then yes."

I turn around. Just as I do Koj throws out his Void-arm and covers my path. "Koj." I growl. "Get out of my way."

"I am still distracting you."

"Don't make me fight you!"

"Despite what you may be feeling, this is for your own good. I do not want you damaged, and I would rather you don't fight me. Someone would get hurt… most likely me."

I glare darkly at him. I am not hurt by Koj, not really. He doesn't get it. He is just doing as he is told by the Jedi, which is an ironic position in its own right, to protect me. I almost appreciate the gesture. Its just… I'm hurt. Right now is not the time for this. I unleash a burst of energy into the wall and walk through the door I just made. If Koj won't let me pass, then I will make my own way.

I enter the primary room to search, and lo and behold there is no Ahsoka. I try to ask where she is in the bond, but she is distracted by meditation.

…

Why is she meditating?

I close my eyes and extend my senses out. Through my Miraluka sight, I find her elsewhere in the temple meditating with Tree-Hugger. Typical. Well, two can play at this game.

I run through the temple trying to remember what the layout was. As if on cue, Son appears in my path.

"Sith."

"Sorry, don't have time for you." I respond as I run by.

If only it was that easy. He waves his hand and I run face-first into an invisible wall. I breathe in and out angrily. My frustration and temper is rising. All these distractions. All these attempts to screw around with me. Yeah, I'm getting aggrivated.

"That hellion you brought with you last time, I am curious as to her mortal identity." Son asks.

First, let us say it takes a long moment to understand exactly what it was he just said. Even then, I have to ask, "What?" This is now the second time I have been confused by the randomness of things in the last few minutes.

Son rolls his eyes and explains slowly as though I am a dumbass who can only understand by speaking slowly, "The. Blind. Hellion. Mortal. I am curious what her name is."

Blind hellion. "You must mean Visas." I answer. "Why? Wait… don't tell me they hired you to distract me!"

He scoffs indignantly. "Please. I am not hired to do anyone's bidding, nor is it required that I be hired to actually distract one such as yourself. You are a distraction already. To yourself just as much as those around you. No, I ask for curiosity. I acknowledge her as one of the few worth having a name to. All the rest of you are the same to me."

"Wow, thanks. We are so lowly we should bask in the knowledge that you allow us to exist in the same universe as your magnificence." I reply with dripping sarcasm.

"You should. Pity you don't." He examines his fingernails. He waves his hand. "You may pass now."

"Remind me to kiss your ass later." I flip him off and return to running.

I run into the room where she is, only, she isn't here. Okay, I am going to close my eyes, and when I open them she will be her- she's not here.

Why isn't she here?!

They sensed me coming and took her elsewhere. Now I am really getting ticked off!

'Ahsoka, where are you?' I ask through our bond. She pushes back defensively in that I shouldn't be getting angry, and they are about to have dinner. I'm about to be late.

For some reason I feel she is afraid… of me. 'I don't know what is going on. Perhaps I have been a bit distant lately, but I've been nervous. There is something I need to talk to you about.' I say.

'What is it?'

'I'll explain when I see you. Tree-hugger has hired people to keep me away. Just hold on. I got something to get off my chest.'

'Can't it wait until after the family dinner?'

'I'd rather not. I've waited long enough.'

I feel she is apprenhensive, as she doesn't know what it is I want to talk about, and naturally that brings to mind a lot of different possbilities. Well, time to put it to rest.

I storm into the dining room. Everyone seems was just sitting down. Ahsoka gets up politely and says, "If you will excuse me a second." And she starts to come to me.

Judging from Tree-Hugger's surprise, he didn't expect me to want to do this in the middle of the dinner. Well guess what, I'm stubborn. Koj shares a worried glance with him as well.

Darth Plageus looks to us curiously. I explain politely, "This will not take long. There is something important I need to discuss with my girlfriend."

As if on cue, there is another distraction. This time, Cyborg-Hugger has to be the one getting up, and for some reason she looks infuriated. Koj and Tree-Hugger get up as well.

I ignore them and turn to Ahsoka. She recognizes how serious I am and is understandable unsure, and a bit afraid. "Ahsoka-"

"You have some nerve doing this to her now!" Cyborg-Hugger exclaims.

I put my hand up and ignore her. "Not right now. Now… Ahsoka."

"This is most unwise." Koj adds.

"Varus, think about this." Tree-Hugger begs me.

I say louder, "Guys, will you give me a second!?" They are getting more and more on my nerves. I can barely think with them on my back.

"Varus, come on. Come sit and enjoy the dinner." Koj insists.

"You know, I thought you were always a little weird, but doing this to her right now, after what you did… Its like I don't even know you anymore!" Cyborg-Hugger exclaims.

That hurts. Like I know I do, I turn it into anger. My vision goes red, but I am still trying to focus on just doing this with Ahsoka.

"Varus-" Tree-Hugger starts.

I snap. "LAY THE HELL OFF! I AM TRYING TO PROPOSE HERE AND I CAN'T DO THAT WITH ALL OF YOU ON MY ASS!"

The room goes silent. Everyone is staring at me. Except for Son. He bursts out in laughter till he cries.

…

I growl, "Great going. Now it's all out in the open. You happy?"

I turn back to Ahsoka, only to find she is the one with the most surprised expression of them all, and she is swaying. I feel her mind is part swimming in a never ending echo of 'propose', 'propose', 'propose' and part shutting down.

Correction, she is shutting down! "Agh, Ahsoka!"

Ahsoka woke up to a migraine and a kink in her neck. "Ow." She groaned. She rubbed at her neck. "What happened?" She asked Obi-Wan, who was sitting by her.

He looked a bit on the depressed side, but was happy to see her awake and seemingly well. "You passed out. The Sith boy managed to catch you."

"Passed out…" She muttered. Her thoughts were cloudy. She didn't remember passing out. She remembered being worried about something lately, and Padme consoled her that everything was okay, and Fly-boy wanted to meditate with her a bit to calm her nerves and talk for a few minutes before dinner.

The dinner…

Varus interrupted it…

Her eyes flew open wide and her heart jumped into hyperspeed till it hurt. "Varus proposed!" She whispered in disbelief.

"Mhmm. Sith Boy did." Obi-Wan agreed with a nod.

Ahsoka looked around. There was no one in the room but the two of them. "What happened after I passed out? Where is everyone?"

He chuckled nervously. "Well… long story short. There was an argument. Lots of yelling. Padme was in Sith Boy's face, and he looked like he was on the verge of snapping. His eyes were red and everything, and he was trembling in rage. Ani couldn't let his former padawan hurt his wife, so he stepped in, which nearly resulted in him and Ani fighting. Finally the former Sith Lord, the alien… ugh… Koj, and I had to separate them before it came to blows."

"Oh, Sithspit." She muttered.

He nodded. "It was bad. Thankfully, rational minds won out and got it boiled down."

"Was he actually cheating?"

"No."

"How it is boiled down then is that I didn't believe in him." Ahsoka concluded guiltily. She put her head in her hands. "I screwed up."

"Not entirely." Obi-Wan half-denied. "The signs Padme described were spot on. Varus was reacting in a way associated with cheating men with a guilty conscience, at least around you. All you did was see the signs and worry. It was the rest of us who took it the extra mile, because, something did actually happen, but we had been trying to keep it under wraps and… it got complicated."

She nodded. "What happened?"

"Well, he came to Ani and I saying he decided to propose. We told him to buy a ring. He bought a ring, but made the mistake of not going to a proper jewelry store. He got scammed, it was fake. Then he lost it down the drain."

Ahsoka let that sink in while she struggled to calm her heart that he was proposing to her, put aside her guilt, and not throw up from sheer emotion. She found it typical really. Everything with Varus tended to get blown out of proportion.

No wonder he had trouble with a normal life. It was as if the Force wanted things to constantly spin into chaos around him. If he didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all.

"What happened next?"

"He decided to go through with it anyway. We tried to stop him. Padme brought it up, and we thought she knew. We didn't check to be sure she had all the facts. What we said only seemed to prove in her mind that he was cheating. We thought she was blowing it out of proportion, not realizing she had concluded cheating rather than losing a ring. But not being women, we thought it was a lot worse than we originally decided… We tried to stop him and well, the rest is history."

She couldn't help but chuckle despite how awful she felt. "For once, everyone around him is freaking out and causing it, rather than him."

"No, he is definitely partially at fault. The kid kept too tight of a lid on it and felt guilty over something that, let's be honest, wasn't the end of the world. Then with both of you tied together on a mental level… it caused you to see signs of things while he had to keep an iron-tight lid on himself to keep his plan a secret."

Ahsoka nodded. She had a pretty clear picture now. "Where is everyone?"

"Well, after all was said and done. Apologies were made, but people felt it best to keep some distance from each other. Padme and Ani are going on a walk to clear their head. Sith Boy is pouting at the table. I don't know where the others are. They're around. Everyone checked on you."

"Thanks for staying with me." Ahsoka smiled warmly. He most likely put it on himself to explain things and take the brunt of whatever impact the news had. He smiled back and patted her on the shoulder.

"If there is anything else, just ask."

"I will." Ahsoka stood and stretched. Obi-Wan left, and Ahsoka frowned. She felt awful. She probed the bond. Varus was churning in himself. She conveyed how sorry she felt, and he brushed it off easily, conveying back how meaningless her fault was.

Now who is the one forgiving too easily?

'Always will be you.'

Ahsoka found him at the table with his head resting on his overlapped arms. She sat by him and rested her own head on his shoulder. They sat in silence while she conveyed how sorry she was and he repeatedly said it was okay.

'I wasn't aiming for perfect… just to get it done semi-properly. Can't even do that right.'

"Why go to Obi and Ani about how to do it right? Didn't your parents have a ring?"

"No, they didn't. The concept of a ring is one I have never heard of, ever. The Miraluka version is a Force Bond. The one we have. Only, I'm told you didn't accept it as a marriage or proposal."

"Of course not. It was for medicinal reasons." Ahsoka explained.

'Not arguing with that.'

"What do Togruta do for a ring?" Varus wondered.

Ahsoka closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know. All I remember of my parents is they gave me up when I was a child."

She felt Varus get aggravated. "So a ring means what to you?"

"Not much. It's a tradition associated with human cultures."

Varus groaned. Ahsoka smiled. It was almost cute. "Marry me?"

'Okay, now you're just mocking me.' Varus grumbled. 'Tree-Hugger said that part is my job.'

"He also said to get a ring, and we saw how that went. Plus we just proved neither of us really care about that. Plus I was the one who asked you to date me. Plus I was the one who made the Bond. Face it, I was going to be the one doing this."

…

Varus sighed. 'Under one condition: If anyone asks, we say I did it.'

Deal.