Whoosh.

The War Room's doors hissed apart to reveal the central holotable, and as Mace entered, he groaned inside. Over the course of the Clone War, he spent hours of his time in here reviewing battle strategies, sifting through intelligence on the CIS' activities, and holo-conferencing with Jedi out in the field.

More often than not, that information meant depressing updates on the Republic's war effort—such as a Jedi General losing an entire fleet, or civilian casualties outnumbering those of the Separatists.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Mace nodded in greeting at those gathered—Yoda, Obi-Wan, Plo Koon, Saesee Tinn and… Luminara Unduli. Tano crossed her hands and bowed, but suspicion rolled off her and into the Force as she sideeyed the Mirialan.

The Jedi Master returned the girl's gaze, unflinching.

Obi-Wan glanced up from his comlink, ginger eyebrows together in a frown. "Mace, I do believe we have a problem," he said, skipping any pleasantries. "Our technicians just sent over the files of Barriss' message, and… well. See for yourself." He pressed a button on the control panel closest to him.

There was a moment of silence, and then another holo replaced the map of the galaxy hovering over the holotable. Random code scrolled up and down, so fast only the photoreceptors of a droid would have been able to catch it. What in the name of the Force? Mace watched as this continued for a couple more seconds, only for the holo to flicker and then fizzle out.

Tano brought a hand down on the edge of the holotable, sending ripples through the blue-tinted image. "Why would Barriss go through all that trouble to send us junk data? The technicians must have messed up. Or something."

"Atypical of Temple workers, that is, but the case that seems to be." Yoda breathed a deep sigh. "Sure they will right things soon, I am."

"Perhaps," Luminara ventured, her tone careful and guarded, "we can discuss the details of some of Barriss' latest acts while we wait to hear back from the technicians. Master Kenobi briefed us just a few minutes ago, but there are some things I'm still not quite clear about."

Irritation flashed across Tano's face, but she seemed to force her features into a neutral expression. "I don't see what there is to miss, Master Unduli."

Luminara opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "I fail to comprehend why you, Skywalker and Master Windu together failed to bring her in. Skywalker has beaten her before, and Mace is one of the Order's most powerful duelists. And Ahsoka, although I haven't seen you fight as of late, I am sure you have improved much since Geonosis."

A Jedi does not have regrets, but something that felt much like guilt formed in Mace's chest, the feeling weighing him down. It wasn't often that the Jedi Master was wrong, in his opinion, but he had been painfully wrong about so many things—be it Former Padawan Tano's involvement with the Temple bombing, or just how far Padawan Offee had fallen. It cost the Order one talented Jedi, and now, if the situation didn't brighten soon, what appeared to be another.

Though she was staring Luminara down, Mace could feel Tano's attention was more on him than anything else—

Beep. The holotable's screensaver faded away, the white grid running across its surface beginning to pulse off and on.

Mace glanced down at the nearest control panel. "We're receiving a call from an unknown channel."

"So the comm identification has been blocked, then?" Saesee said, the Iktotchi Jedi Master's piercing gold eyes narrowing in thought. "This war room has not allowed open communications since the days of the Old Republic. Curious."

"Every Jedi and Senator's comm ID is in the Council's database, as is that of Temple security and the Chancellor's office," Plo added. His breath mask hid his expression. "Most curious indeed."

"It's Barriss." Looking as if she wanted to kick them all off a cliff, Former Padawan Tano reached across Mace and slammed a hand on his control panel.

A holo of Barriss Offee sprang into view, her features flat and annoyed. "Finally. Is the Council truly so far gone you had to run whether to answer the comm by the Senate—" She cut herself short when her eyes fell on Ahsoka, her annoyance shifting to something more akin to hatred. "…my eyes must be deceiving me, because I clearly remember putting you in a medical bay."

"Better get your vision checked, then." Tano began to cross her arms under her chest, but let out a pained breath and left them at her sides.

Barriss seemed to notice this, but said nothing. She only smirked.

Luminara stared up at Barriss with an unreadable, confused expression. But after a moment her eyes cleared. "Ahsoka… of what does she speak?"

The former padawan didn't respond.

Barriss laughed into her palm—a high, clear sound. "Your ego rivals Skywalker's, Ahsoka," she told the girl, before turning her attention to Luminara. "You should have seen it—I didn't even need a lightsaber to bring her to her knees. Really, the Order would have another dead youngling on their reputation if it weren't for her precious Skyguy."

Mace saw one of Tano's slender hands twitch into the gesture for a Force choke, though nothing happened. "What do you want, Barriss?" Her jaw was locked tight. "You were surprised when I was in the Chancellor's office yesterday. This can't be all about me."

"Perceptive, aren't we?" Barriss examined her nails. "But yes, you are a variable, and this was all envisioned before you were in the equation."

Even in his heavy tunic, something about those words were chilling. He assumed this was an elaborate revenge plot against Former Padawan Tano and Skywalker, as well as a way for Barriss to show Count Dooku she truly no longer considered herself a Jedi. For not the first time, he assumed wrong. But if he was incorrect… what was all of this? What purpose did it serve? And how did the Separatists factor into that purpose?

I've many hours of meditation ahead of me tonight.

Obi-Wan lifted his eyebrows. "Other than getting to those he is close to, there is no purpose in kidnapping Anakin."

"Oh, but there is, Master Kenobi. There is." Barriss paused to give the words weight. "You see, I have… reason to want codes for a hyperspace lane—codes the Republic possess. Codes I'm sure the Jedi Council would be eager to trade for the Order's posterboy."

"…you speak of the Nexus Route," Plo murmured, trading a look with Saesee.

Mace swallowed. Discovered by Jedi Master Even Piell, the Nexus Route was a classified hyperspace lane between the Republic and CIS homeworlds. As was the Order's luck, the Separatists found out about this, ambushing the Lannik's fleet and imprisoning him and his crew in the Citadel.

But even if he did crack as a result of the prison's brutal torture, his intel would have been useless: upon the ambush, he wiped clean his Jedi cruiser's computers and split the codes with his then-captain, Wilhuff Tarkin. The Council soon organized a rescue mission, with Obi-Wan and Skywalker at the helm. Ultimately, it was a success. Except—

Except Master Piell was mauled to death by an anooba. Except the now Admiral Tarkin hated the Jedi and all they stood for, and declared he would only turn his half over to the Chancellor. Except someone who shouldn't have gone—who stowed away against her Master's orders—shouldered Even's half of the intel, because she was with him when he died.

And now, that someone had left the Jedi Order, and no longer trusted the Council or Republic.

"Have those codes in full, the Republic does not." Yoda peered up at Barriss. "Neither do the Jedi—assure you of that, I can, Padawan Offee."

"Barriss is fine, thank you," the Mirialan snapped, irritated. "And do you honestly expect me to believe that? You are many things, Master Yoda, but a good liar is not one of them."

"…you want us to give you the Nexus Route in exchange for Anakin. Don't you?" Tano sounded as if she didn't even want to know the answer.

"Yes, that would be perfect, though I don't see what you have to do with any of that." Barriss' gaze was calculating, and she seemed to be studying Tano. "Unless…"

"Enough," Mace cut in, in a desperate attempt to distract her. "If this is Count Dooku's way for you to prove yourself to the Separatists, you're out of luck. He's given you a task even he failed to accomplish."

Barriss took the bait, her focus shifting to him. She opened her mouth to reply—

"Barriss, please. All of this… it's unnecessary. The Dark side has clouded your perspective, there are other ways to effect change." Luminara's green skin was ashen, as if in disbelief at how far her apprentice had fallen. She shook her head, her headdress swaying.

"I was once of the belief milder methods would be effective. But seeing as my own Master simply told me to release my concerns into the Force—" Barriss let out a harsh scoff, "—I have found ignoring things fails to get people's attention."

Silence fell across the War Room.

"Done are you, Padawan Offee?" Yoda asked quietly, leaning forward in his hover chair.

Barriss narrowed her eyes. "You all have twelve hours to comply and get Skywalker back, or I will turn him over to Count Dooku. And if by some miracle you have discovered his location, any attempts to rescue Skywalker will result in nothing but… well." The Mirialan trailed a finger down the hilt of Petro's lightsaber.

When no one replied, Katooni's lightsaber hummed to life in her hand, and she slashed at something in front of her—her transmitter, Mace realized. The connection broken, her hologram vanished.

Former Padawan Tano stared off into the distance, a dazed hopelessness clouding her features. But she snapped out of it, again reaching across Mace for the control panel.

Yoda cleared his throat as the holotable began to project various previews of all the Jedi Order's info on the Citadel. "Now that concerns the Nexus Route, we know this does, perhaps involve the Chancellor this should."

"…what?" Tano froze. "Master Yoda, none of this has anything to do with the Republic—"

"Except it does, in many ways," Luminara interrupted. "Barriss bombed the Chancellor's office, and her original bombing killed clones as well as Jedi. Clones that were technically Republic property."

Obi-Wan crossed his arms, bringing up one hand to stroke his beard. "I daresay the last time the Council let the Senate and Chancellor take control of an internal Jedi affair, things went… off the tracks." He paused. "Your thoughts on this, Mace?"

While Mace had his opinions on all of this, he was more fond of actions than words, and preferred to leave the talking to more, well, talkative types such as Obi-Wan. The holonet nicknamed his fellow Jedi Master The Negotiator for a reason. "Time is a luxury we do not have right now." He paused for a moment, noticing Tano's slight shudder at the words. "If we were to stage a rescue, we'd be going in blind. The Separatists locked down the entire system after the Jedi's last mission there, and I'm sure security in and around the Citadel itself has increased tenfold."

"Yes," Saesee agreed, lacing his clawed fingers together in thought. "Reconnaissance on Lola Sayu is near impossible for the Republic's spies. And—"

"Incorrect in her statement that nothing to do with the Republic this has, Former Padawan Tano is." Yoda was silent for a long moment. "Because have the other half of the Nexus Route, an admiral in the Republic Navy does. A Jedi matter entirely, this is not."

Sensing shatterpoints was something Mace could do ever since he was only a youngling, a type of sixth sense even other Jedi Masters required years of training and meditation to hone. He could take one look at something or someone and see faultlines, the points of choice and stress that weave the cosmos together.

Points where, hit right, whatever or whoever it was would crumble. And one of the points of this situation had just shattered at Yoda's words.

"All due respect, Master… I don't care if you meet with the Chancellor." Tano's words were laced with durasteel. Shatterpoint. "Even if Tarkin gives up his half of the codes, I won't give up mine." Shatterpoint.

Mace inhaled a sharp breath. It was one of the unofficial tenets of the Order: one did not disrespect Master Yoda. The tiny being was older, wiser and more powerful—no matter over ten years ago a blood test revealed Skywalker had the highest midi-chlorian in the history of the Jedi, raw ability is nothing without discipline—than any other living Jedi. He had a longview of the current Republic itself, having been born only a century after its formation—Tano's sixteen years, Skywalker's twenty-two, Obi-Wan's thirty-eight and Mace's fifty-two were the slightest blips on his almost millennial radar.

"Former Padawan Tano," Mace warned, quietly. For her sake. He almost placed a hand on her shoulder, but he knew she'd only knock it aside. "Calm down. Nothing is decided yet."

Tano looked away, heaving a shuddering sigh, but no apology fell from her lips. She didn't regret even one of her words, it seemed. "I want to rescue Anakin more than anything," she said. "But I'm not going to throw away everything he and I have fought for… everything the whole Republic has fought for."

Yoda let out a sigh of his own. "Understand this, I do, but as Master Windu said, decided yet, nothing is."

Luminara spoke up. "While I do not advocate giving the Separatists anything, we seem to be forgetting Barriss threatened to kill Skywalker in the event of a rescue mission." She looked directly at Tano. "Have you considered this, Ahsoka?"

"We can do it." Tano's expression was one that said whose side are are you on. "We at least have to try—"

"And if we fail?" Luminara pressed. "If we fail, then what? And as for you refusing to give up your half of the Nexus Route, if the Chancellor decided the situation was desperate enough…"

"We won't fail." Tano sucked in a deep breath, not releasing it for a long moment. "And I seriously doubt the Republic has started using torture. Especially on its own citizens."

Luminara's mouth thinned. "No, it hasn't. But with the Emergency Powers the Chancellor has gained over the War, he and his administration have a legal right to intel shared by both the Jedi and the Republic. Intel such as the Nexus Route."

"But I'm not a Jedi." There was a concentrating edge to Tano's voice, and something told Mace to glance down at her hand. Shatterpoint.

He nearly choked. The Council kept spare datachips in compartments under the holotable, for when Jedi departing on a mission needed copies of data. Tano had levitated one into the air with the Force, but seemed to make a point of not looking as she did so—which would have made the task difficult for even a more experienced Force sensitive. It wobbled closer and closer to her grasp.

She was going to copy the data on the Citadel still displayed by the holotable. Her distrust of the Council and the Order ran that deep, and Mace just didn't comprehend it.

…although he was starting to understand. He could see the shatterpoints that spidered out from Tano—interstitial lines of fear and distress and betrayal.

The Jedi Master's first instinct was to ask the girl what she was doing. Shatterpoint… but he dared not make this situation worse. Besides, her intentions rang pure in the Force.

So he waited.

"Yes." Luminara nodded. "Which means if your refusal to give up your half of the codes was viewed through certain lenses, you could be arrested and imprisoned on charges of treason or sedition at the Chancellor's behest. And there would be nothing the Council could do."

Shatterpoint.

Tano flinched. Mace saw her hand, clearly shaking with anger and the effort of trying to keep the chip in the air, pull into a fist. The datachip dived, but just as it was about to clatter to the floor, Tano narrowed her eyes at Luminara. The tiny device stilled, hovering above the ground, then zipped up into her hand. She inserted it into a port, and it flashed red, then orange as she braced her hands against the edge of the holotable.

No one had seen. No one but Mace.

"Luminara." Obi-Wan was known for his kindness, his openness, and even now he hadn't raised his voice above its usual tone. But the one word had the force of ten yells. "That is quite enough."

Shatterpoint.

"Is it?" Luminara asked, advancing the issue and ignoring Obi-Wan's obvious warning. "Ahsoka and Barriss are both children whose perspectives are lacking the fundamental understanding that the War does not center around them. And furthermore—"

"In case you've forgotten, I almost got put to death for sedition just two short months ago—after being framed by your precious child of a padawan. And my half of the Nexus Route would have died with me if I was found guilty." Former Padawan Tano's voice cut through Luminara's, cold and clear. "That wasn't a child we fought last night. Children aren't serial killers, and they don't bomb hangars, or kidnap people, or betray the entire Order—her own Master included. You… she…"

And then her anger seemed to fail her, and she seemed to just… stop.

Yoda's already wrinkled brow creased in concern, and he leaned forwards in his hover chair. "Former Padawan Tano? Former Padawan Tano? Ahsoka?"

No response. Mace knew the girl's washed out complexion had nothing to do with the blue-white glow of the holotable. She seemed… tired. Drained. Old.

And none of those were words Mace thought he'd ever associate with the once energetic teen.

A long forgotten image surfaced in his mind: a nervous fourteen-year-old in a tube top shaking with apprehension at summons from the Council, and then nearly bouncing off the walls at the news she was now Anakin Skywalker's apprentice and was to leave for Christophsis immediately.

That heavy guilt was back, a sense his and the Council's actions two months ago had shattered that girl.

"I…" Tano's eyes grazed over Yoda, and she shook her head as if to clear it. The datachip went yellow. "I'm fine."

Yoda glanced at Obi-Wan, then Mace. "…perhaps take a break, we all should."

The datachip blinked green—download complete. Tano called it back into her still shaking hand, then inhaled a breath and whirled to face toward the door.

She left the War Room, no one attempting to stop her. And yet another shatterpoint cracked into white-hot shards.

When the door to Anakin's cell hissed open, he didn't look up. He knew who it was, knew that Force signature—one of the most chaotic he had ever sensed. "What… what do you want—" A shrill, mechanical beep cut him off, and that feeling of sensing but being unable to use the Force lifted.

Only to be replaced with pain as he thudded to the floor.

Dizzy from the fall, the Knight rolled onto his back with a moan. "Ow."

Those Magna guards had left a while ago, taking their electrostaffs with them. Which was good, obviously, as being jabbed at with metal poles for two hours—or an hour, he didn't trust his sense of time anymore—wasn't enjoyable. Much less when those poles crackled with electricity at the touch of a button, because everything hurt tenfold. He could already feel his chest bruising beneath the layers of his tunic.

"You are a pathetic excuse for the Chosen One." The disgust in Barriss' voice brought him back to the present. "Really, I would kill you now if it wouldn't make things considerably harder for me."

Anakin glared up at her, ignoring the nausea surging through him. "I didn't know being crazy was grueling work." Exhaustion slurred the words together.

When Barriss stiffened in rage, he briefly considered using the distraction to drop kick the Mirialan and behead her with her own weapons. But then he noticed the commando droids mere meters away, blasters held at the ready.

That probably wouldn't end well. For me, anyway.

He waited for Barriss to retaliate, but instead she stooped down to his level. Grabbing him by the chin and yanking him into a sitting position, her nails dug into his skin as she looked him in the eye. "Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the galaxy tend to do just that."

Anakin jerked his head away. It was probably in his mind, but her touch burned. "I'm pretty sure it matters if the galaxy's changed for better or worse," he snarled.

"The Jedi Council commits crimes everyday in the name of the greater good." Barriss smirked at the flash of hesitance that crossed the Knight's face at the words. "Light and dark, better or worse… they are mere points of view. You'll do well to—" The high-pitched beep of her comlink interrupted her. "What?"

The jerky voice of a tactician droid responded. "Mistress, Count Dooku requests an audience with you. I told him you were occupied, but he has been most… insistent."

"You told him what?" Barriss stared down at her comm, furious, and Anakin found it surprising sounds of the droid melting into spare parts weren't audible. "Redirect the signal to the projectors in this room, then. Now!"

"Yes, mistress." The tactician droid hung up.

"Count Dooku, huh? Nervous?" Anakin didn't manage to keep the words from slipping out, snorting.

Barriss' anger flared in the Force. "Put him in binders. Keep away from the holo's sensors until I say otherwise." She turned away as if to pace. But she seemed to force herself into standing still, hands folded tightly behind her back.

As the commando droids descended on Anakin, yanking him to his feet and slapping a pair of binders on his wrists, he couldn't help but think how his captor was still very much Luminara Unduli's student. The Jedi Knight always strove to respect other teaching methods in the Temple—well, at Obi-Wan's insistence, really—but more often than not he failed at it. Because some of them were just plain stupid. Completely ignoring one's emotions instead of trusting them had never been his style—he knew firsthand it only lead to bottled up feelings and general dislike of one's surroundings.

Forcing that type of existence on someone whose well being he was legally responsible for was a terrible, terrible idea. And of course, he'd been right. Maybe Ahsoka had wound up leaving the Order when faced with the same facts as Barriss, but she was a functional member of society. Functional, and definitely not insane.

"My Lord," Barriss said suddenly, curtsying.

Pulled from his thoughts, Anakin's head snapped up, in time for him to see a life sized hologram of Count Dooku flicker into existence. He bit back an insult.

"The tactician droid kept me waiting. Insisted you were… busy." Dooku narrowed his eyes, not bothering with a proper greeting. "It seems that was untrue."

A strange, high-strung fear surrounded Barriss in the living Force. "Yes, my Lord, it was… misinformed. I'll have it replaced immediately."

Dooku snorted in a way Anakin decided meant Barriss had lost points on something. "See to it. Now, as to why I've commed you…"

"Anakin Skywalker is here, in the Citadel, and being held under the highest security protocols." Whatever nervousness Barriss harbored seemed to fade away, and she grinned, gesturing toward the droids holding Anakin tightly by his upper arms.

The Knight glared as they walked him forward. "Hello, Count. You look worse than usual."

"One could say the same for you, Skywalker. Impertinent as ever, I see." After this, Dooku ignored him, now looking at Barriss with something that was almost admiration. "You have done well. Even some of my best commanders have failed to accomplish such a feat."

Barriss relaxed slightly, albeit in her own tense way. "Thank you, Master—" She stopped, almost as if catching herself.

"I am not your Master yet." Dooku followed the words up with a sneer. "You may have captured Skywalker, but it remains to be seen if you will use him as you need to—or even keep him for more than a day."

"Of… course." Barriss nodded, a little too quickly. "I will report back when I have news, then. Offee out."

After Dooku cut the transmission without farewell, the Mirialan was quiet for a long time.

Use him as you need to. The words crawled up Anakin's spine. He had assumed his abduction was Barriss' way of both messing with Ahsoka and getting revenge on him for proving she was the Temple bomber. But now, it seemed broader than either of those—like he was the key to getting something Dooku wanted.

He made a mental note to tell Ahsoka the next time it was safe to open the bond.

"Well," the Knight said finally, as Barriss started toward the door, "I guess the Dark side isn't all it's cracked up to be." Like all the other times, this didn't appear to get a real rise out of the Mirialan.

Until she outstretched a hand into the air, calling one of the commando droids' weapons into her grasp. The Force shrieked a warning as she aimed and pulled the trigger, a brilliant red blaster bolt screaming a path through the air.

It zipped through Anakin's right leg, and he had to bite down on his tongue to keep a yell from escaping. He felt his leg give, and then the only thing keeping him on his feet were the droids. His vision swam, the world breaking into hundreds of spots.

For a moment, things cleared enough for him to realize Barriss was dangling something in front of his face. It was slender, and its silvery surface caught in the light. And his heart clenched, because that was Ahsoka's padawan braid.

He couldn't get out more than an agony-mangled version of the first syllable of the word he was trying to say. How? But he already knew. His utility belt had been taken, and he kept the string of beads on there in a hidden pouch ever since Ahsoka folded them into his hand all those weeks ago.

Anakin tried to stay conscious, tried to keep his eyes on the braid as Barriss began to swing it back and forth. "P-put—"

"Put it down?" Barriss tilted her head. Her tone, expression, everything—they were those of the mild-mannered padawan she once was. "Now, why would I want to do that?"

"…don't… don't…"

"Do not what? Do this?" Barriss let the braid fall to the floor and stepped forward, crushing the delicate beads under her boot. She leaned closer, looking him in the eyes as her act fell away. "The Citadel has a reputation for breaking Jedi, Skywalker. Unless you want me to find reason to see that reputation through, do not test my patience."

Anakin wanted to say something, anything to show her even now, she hadn't won. But the droids let him drop, and everything went dark and quiet.

Ahsoka leaned against the floor-to-ceiling-windows of the turbolift, the transparisteel cool against her back head tail. She shut her eyes as the lift started downward with a jolt, her heartbeat thumping loud and scattered in her montrals as she tried to take in enough air to slow it down.

"[…] you could be arrested and imprisoned on charges of treason or sedition at the Chancellor's behest. And there would be nothing the Council could do."

Her hands began to shake again. Arrested and imprisoned, treason or sedition. The two sets of words had a cold rhythm—hearing them was like a kick to the gut. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't loosen the tangled knot of dread in her core. She couldn't keep her breathing steady, couldn't make her thoughts slow their rapid fire, couldn't make her shoulders relax and unravel their cords.

Because dead, dead, everyone was dead. The victims of the Temple bombing, Letta Turmond, Katooni and Petro… life after life Ahsoka could have saved if only she knew, if only she was there.

And Anakin was on the shortest possible route to joining their ranks.

The lift came to a smooth stop, and a ding sounded. Reinforcing her mental shields, Ahsoka took one more deep breath and walked out into the Halls of Healing.

The same soft light fixtures from the night before lit the empty atrium, the only sound the quiet rushing of the waterfall behind the front desk. Good. She wouldn't have to talk to anyone.

Any form of running was forbidden in the Temple outside of training areas, but Ahsoka never followed this rule anyway, so upon making sure she was alone she she broke into a jog. But when she reached the actual entrance to the medical bay, she had to stop and place a hand on the wall, just above the security panel beside the door. Moving too fast made her blaster wound ache.

The flat clack of bootsoles echoed across the marble flooring. "There you are. Just in time."

At the thick Twi'Lek accent, Ahsoka snatched her hand off the wall and righted herself, turning to see Vokara Che's nearing form. "…Master Che."

"The Council adjourned early, then? Odd." One of the woman's painted-on eyebrows rose as she came to a stop just a meter short of Ahsoka. "As serious as Master Windu sounded when he came to me for permission to let you attend, I assumed they'd go late into the night…"

…permission to let me attend? Annoyed at that choice of words, Ahsoka lifted an eye-marking of her own, but switched the conversation's track. "You said I was just in time. For what?"

Vokara's gaze dropped down to the datapad in her hand. "…bandage change." Muttering something in another language, she sighed. "Well, what are you waiting for? I haven't got all night." She fluttered the fingers of her free hand Ahsoka's way, in a gesture that meant pick up the pace.

Forcing herself not to roll her eyes, Ahsoka planted a palm on the backlit scanner set into the control panel, and after a moment, it glowed green and the doors slid into the wall on either side. After that, it only took a couple minutes to reach the room she was staying in.

Flipping on the light, Vokara set her datapad down on the nightstand and moved purposefully over to a cabinet set into the wall opposite the bed, bustling around in it for a few moments.

She blinked at Ahsoka upon glancing over her shoulder, then snorted. "Thank you for your faith in my abilities, Former Padawan Tano, but even I cannot get the job done with that top still on." She pointed at the bed. "Sit."

Trudging over to the bed, Ahsoka plopped down and yanked the garment in question up, working it over her headtails and then setting it aside. She did not want to do this right now. She needed quiet, she needed space to think, to plan, or even talk to Anakin over the bond if Barriss wasn't still torturing him.

"Relax," Vokara said, placing all the supplies she needed on a small table pushed up next to the cabinet, then wheeling it over to the bed. "This shouldn't hurt very much."

Picking up what looked like a bottle of hand sanitizer, she emptied liberal amounts of the gel into her blue hands and rubbed them together. Once they were dry, she snapped on a pair of disposable gloves.

Ahsoka stayed silent, trying to keep still as the Jedi Master knelt and began unwinding the bandages she already had on.

"Hmmnn." Vokara placed the synthetic material into a plastic bag. It was faintly bloodstained. "You know, you never told me exactly what happened with Padawan Offee—I mean, I'm assuming she's behind complicating things, correct me if you just… tripped." Mouth pressed into a thin smile, she focused on the gauze covering the girl's wound itself, gently pulling her skin away from the material.

Ahsoka bit down on her lip in discomfort. "No—ouch—no. She… she kneed me in the chest."

Vokara added the old gauze into the same bag as the used bandages, but for a moment, she stilled. "Ah. I see." Taking off the disposable gloves, she sealed them into the bag and placed the whole thing in a larger one. Repeating her earlier ritual with the sanitizer, she quickly replaced the gloves with a new pair.

As Ahsoka watched the healer work, the reality Barriss once tended to someone—lots of someones—with the same skill and care didn't seem much like a reality at all. The only thing that seemed real was the memory of lying bleeding on that warehouse's duracrete floor.

"Barriss—" The girl was caught off guard by the sting of antiseptic as Vokara sprayed the clear liquid several times. She winced. "—did you know her before she fell?"

Not replying, the Jedi Master patted everything dry with a piece of gauze, and then threw it away. Ahsoka was surprised the tiny square didn't get its own bag. "Your sutures need replacing."

Stitches. Oh, joy. "Master Che—"

"I heard you." Vokara's mouth thinned again, but this time it wasn't a smile. "And yes, you are… correct. Barriss Offee is one of the most gifted healers I've ever known, and I've been in charge of overseeing all of them for over twenty years now."

Ahsoka didn't immediately push the point, letting the woman apply a new piece of bacta lined gauze and secure it firmly in place with medical tape.

"Was there ever any sign?" she asked Vokara quietly, as the Twi'Lek unrolled fresh bandages.

"None perceptible to me." Taping the end on the left side of the girl's waist, the Jedi Master began winding the bandages up and around—toward her heart. "At the time, at least."

Ahsoka tried to catch Vokara's eyes, but the woman was focused on her work in a way that rang stubborn in the Force. "…'at the time'?"

The stubbornness faded into resignation. "You… are too young to understand, or remember, but there was a time when the Force was clear. And that time was over ten years ago. Now… now, very few healers can consistently physically manifest the Force's healing capabilities." Vokara called a pair of scissors to her hand, snipping the bandages from their roll. "I and Barriss were two of them."

Ahsoka blinked. "She's still alive, Master Che."

"Giving oneself over to the Dark side has been known to poison a Jedi's healing ability." Setting the scissors down, Vokara reached for the medical tape again and carefully secured the end of Ahsoka's bandages. "It takes considerable amounts of hate and anger to accomplish what the smallest amount of peace and serenity can, no?"

"In my experience, the Dark side can still do a lot of damage in the process." Glad the Jedi Master was finally done, Ahsoka reached for her top. But she found herself staring down at the grey material, bunching and twisting it in her hands instead of putting on the shirt. "What you said about Barriss being one of the best healers… she saw a lot of the worst patients, didn't she?"

"When she was here in the Temple, yes. She was often away on missions with her Master." Vokara paused, curious when Ahsoka stiffened at the mention of Luminara, but continued as she stood. "When she was here, though… she would have killed herself trying to save some of those souls, and sometimes very nearly did."

The former Jedi felt as if the temperature in the room dropped, and in response pulled her top over her head. She ran into a problem trying to get her left arm back into its sleeve.

Vokara rolled the little table back to its original position, and started placing her tools back where they came from in the cabinet. She stilled at Ahsoka's hiss of pain, glancing over her shoulder. "How's your arm?"

"Hurts." Ahsoka gave up on the sleeve, simply laying back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

She felt more than saw Vokara's concerned frown. "Do you need something for—"

"…no." Ahsoka pulled up into a sitting position, and in the nanosecond it would have taken her to talk herself out of taking a nap, angled her injured arm all the way into its sleeve. It burned when she was done. "No, that won't be necessary." She couldn't chance growing any drowsier. Well, she couldn't stay awake for the next twelve hours either, but if she slept now, Anakin would be dead once she was done having nightmares.

Vokara hesitated, but slowly nodded and finished her task, finally disposing of the used bandages and gauze. "…alright." She paused. "I—or a med droid—will check on you in an hour, and I expect you to still be in that bed."

"I'll be here." The lie felt thick and wrong in Ahsoka's mouth, so she dissolved it with something genuine. "Thanks, Master Che."

"You are very welcome, Former Padawan Tano." The Jedi Master nodded again. Force-calling her datapad from the nightstand and into her hand as she turned to go, she began typing notes onto it even as the door slid shut behind her.

Ahsoka was motionless for a long moment, eyes closed as she felt Vokara's Force signature move away. Once she was sure the healer was well and truly gone, she sprang into action.

Leaning over and sliding open the nightstand, she snatched up Anakin's lightsaber and comlink. The hilt of her former Master's weapon was far too big for her hand, but it would have to do, though she couldn't help but miss her own. And aside from that, she had no idea what she was going to do with a lightsaber without a utility belt to hook it on.

But it was better than fighting with Barriss' lightsaber.

As she slipped the comlink into her pocket, her fingertips brushed up against something else. Frowning, she pulled it all the way out and stared down in confusion.

The datachip's tiny indicator light blinked green at her from the folds of her palm. What the—

Oh.

She'd stolen data from the Temple, and barely even remembered the act. And that wasn't even the only thing she'd done. She'd argued with Master Yoda. And stormed out of the War Room minutes later.

Ahsoka wanted to feel guilty. But the former Jedi suddenly felt incapable of that emotion.

She stuffed the comlink and chip back into her pocket and raced over to her bag, ruffling through the contents until she found a cloak: dark and slightly darker green, with an interlocking geometric pattern.

It was no Jedi cloak. But it would have to do.

Putting it on and fastening it, Ahsoka traced her eyes over her room one last time and Force-waved open the door. And as she crossed the threshold, she found herself reaching out into the living Force…

And then a determination matching her own slammed against her sense so hard she almost doubled over. And it was drawing closer, and closer…

Master Windu, she realized. Mace was on his way. If she was going to save Anakin, if she was going to do anything, she had to get out of here.

But… how? She couldn't chance the lifts, and the wall to her left was a dead end, with an air vent mounted in the ceiling just above it.

Wait. An air vent.

For the first time in forever, Ahsoka grinned. But after a moment, it faded.

This is what the Council would expect from a child. Maybe… She hesitated. Maybe I should be here in an hour. Maybe I should be lying down when Master Windu arrives…

Ahsoka ducked back into her room, smiling. Quickly removing her cloak and boots, she set them aside, slipping Anakin's lightsaber into the right boot, and then crossing over to the bed. Sliding between the covers, she pulled them over her head.

Maybe I could use an hour nap… and a little misdirection.

Whew, that was a long one. The longest chapter yet, actually. And it took just about forever to write (in fanfiction time, anyway, pfft. :P) In any case, Once a Jedi passed 101 reviews a couple weeks ago, so thank you so much to each and every one of you who has supported and reviewed this story. May the Force be with you all!

Original version posted 4.21.14

Current version posted 5.16.14