Chapter 51: 51. Chapter

From the perspective of Ahsoka. 

After I left the room I stopped to wait for my master. As we planned, at the time, those two were arguing with each other. 

Master luckily managed to follow me soon enough. He nodded towards me with a short smile, then began to speak.

-I can't really read those two girls. They are crazy to an extent for sure. Why did they even begin to call each other by different names? Those are probably some internal jokes or nicknames, and what is with this Revan name? It sounds familiar... I think Obi-Wan must have said something about that... We should call him while we are still on the planet. Otherwise, it will be harder to make a connection.

I sighed... 

-Yes, well... Nizzy is not crazy. You just don't know her... The other one though... I am not quite sure what to think of, yet. Also, we really should speak with Master Obi-Wan. He is probably worried sick about us right now. The palace is in the middle of a battle, after all. 

I looked aside contemplatively for a second, then turned back to master.

-Did you manage to record their conversation? Master?

Anakin only winked at me, that was supposed to signal a positive answer, especially with his usual smug smile that he currently showed off. 

As we left the main hold in silence, we walked through a short corridor that ended in a room. There was another side corridor to the left, but we walked by it. Soon the corridor turned right; as we followed along we reached a door that automatically opened when we got close.

The moment I looked into the room, my feet felt as if it rooted into the specially reinforced steel plate that made up the floor. 

There was a very familiar form of a certain girl inside the room. She was sitting backwards to the door as we stood in the doorframe. That was, by the way, a bedroom with three different beds and other living comforts, but I didn't really care about that at the moment. I looked at the familiar form with a fair amount of suspicion in my eyes, that long black hair I could easily recognize, yet I wasn't willing to believe my own eyes just yet. The girl heard the door open and turned around nonchalantly. The moment our eyes met, I immediately recognized her face. 

Her eyes, also grow to a pair of perfect circles when she finally realized who had walked into her room. I sensed, a spike of  fear, embarrassment and confusion emanating from her in quick waves. 

-Ah..Ahsoka? Ho-w did you... I... It's not what you think it is... I wasn't expecting you here... ~Stuttered the girl, clearly shocked from seeing me here. 

The girl began to speak while she slowly stood up and began to back away... Only to realize that there was no other way out of this room... When she understood this, I saw the panic grow in her eyes while she tried to spy on my reaction and mood as well. 

I was angry. It was one thing to figure out that one of my friends was lying to me and manipulating me, even if she really thought that this was the best for both of us. Now, I had to see this... I was shocked, to the extent that I began to feel numb towards this whole situation. Was there a single person who didn't lie to me? First, I realize, that the Jedi order was lying to me. Then I figured out, that Nizzal is also lying to me, just like my master... And now my other friend too? What kind of sick joke is this? 

I bit into my lips to swallow back my growl. I was annoyed to an extent I rarely felt before... Anger was threatening to burst out of me. I wanted to shout at her, at anybody to vent this frustration, but I needed to focus, to calm down.. I am a jedi padawan, and I shouldn't let my anger control me. It would be a disgrace... There could be a logical explanation to this... Even if it isn't likely... 

Anakin was also frozen from the moment he saw who the girl was in the room. He also knew her quite well, as one of my closest friends... I sensed his confusion through the force. He was also disappointed, to see her here. I expected him to be angry, but strangely, he wasn't... not much, at least.

I felt a warm hand touch my left shoulder. It was master's hand. I could almost hear his voice calling out to me, to reign in my anger and let it disperse on its own, with his help and warm, unnaturally warm force presence. Was his presence always this comforting? No... there was a coldness to it, until now, a shadow, that I sensed, but never really dared to mention it, to anyone... It was still there, but much weaker, as if it dispersed overnight... Maybe it did? Was the cause of that coldness, because he had to lie to me about his life, that he had a wife... Was he afraid from my reaction this much?

I looked up at Anakin. His eyes were looking straight towards the other girl... There was a clear frown in his expression, but his force presence was clear, clearer than I ever knew. He turned towards me, and gave me a slightly worried expression. I realized that he just had figured out something, that I needed to know too. 

I took a deep breath, and turned back towards my... friend.

-... You know, it is quite interesting for you to ask that... I was also wondering about just that! What the hell are you doing here, Rika? And I hope that you have a particularly good reasoning... Otherwise... ~ She flinched from the ominous tone of my words.

I became so angry from the very moment I saw her familiar form sitting in this room, completely relaxed without the slightest care in the world. 

The girl, who I have become very close friends with in the last two years. She was still shy, and had low self-esteem. She was also a kind girl, and a very hard-working one. She was thirteen years old now, just like Nizzal, and about to become a jedi padawan for the second time. As her former master died in the first clashes of the clone wars on Geonosis. 

I thought that I knew almost everything about her, but she was now standing in front of me and there were no signs of her usual shyness... She was a completely different person, and she knew, that she was busted. She didn't even try to act anymore. She only tried to find a possible escape route. But where would she run anyway... We were on a pretty small ship... There was nowhere to run or hide, not for long.

Rika didn't give us any answers. So Anakin also decided to pressure her a bit.

-You should answer those questions right now. Otherwise, I will have to arrest you for betraying the Republic and the Jedi Order, by infiltrating the Coruscant Jedi Temple with the intention of spying, misleading, and impersonating a Jedi youngling for years.

She looked a bit amused by those statements, yet she wasn't bothered by any of them. 

I decided to find my answers in a different way. I stepped closer to her while asking.

-Why are you here? 

She didn't answer. She only looked at her feet, avoiding my hurt expression. 

-Did you lie to me too? Was our friendship just a lie as well? 

She looked up and said immediately. 

-No! It wasn't... I just had to do it... I could have left years ago, but... I decided to stay because you needed me... After Nizzy left...

She looked to her foot again. She was ashamed... 

-Why did you have to do it? Was it because of this whole grandmaster trial thing, Nizzy was speaking off?

She looked at me with surprise in her eyes. 

-How do you know about this?! 

-They basically told us Nizzy, and that other woman, Bastila, if I remember correctly... Why? 

-Why did the elders tell this to you!? This doesn't serve any purpose! She only knew you for a few weeks. Why would she tell something like this to you!? 

It was more like that they completely forgot about us in the heat of their discussion, and we accidentally spied on them... But that is not something I need to tell her right now... or ever.

-They told it to us, because they trusted us... So it is time for you to do the same. After all, we know each other for quite some time... isn't that right? 

-...I, wait did they, truly? I should ask them about this... before...

-No. ~ I stated, having enough of this bullshitting once and for all. -Tell me, who you are, now! Is your name even Rika or was that a lie too? 

She looked at me with a thoughtful expression. She was not that surprised anymore. Her demeanor was very different than it used to be... Now she was in complete control of the situation. Even master trying to put pressure on her didn't work... That would have made her a stuttering mess before. Did she act the whole time over the last six years, from the moment she was brought into the order? This is just ridiculous... 

-Why would you do that in the first place? ~I questioned her again. 

She sighed with a hint of annoyance. That was new too. I... I think I never actually saw Rika showing clear signs of annoyance before. Not that I ever tried to annoy her... 

-Look, Ahsoka. ~She started in an obviously annoyed tone. My eyes blinked instinctively, not wanting to believe the uncharacteristic ways she spoke. -It's not that I never wanted to tell, you... or something like that. But think for once, what would you do with that knowledge? Would it do you any good? I don't think so. 

-Then why don't you let me decide that? 

-Because, Ahsoka... You are not the centrum of the world, and neither are you, Master Skywalker. There are things that are bigger than you, things that you should figure out on your own, or not at all.

---

From Anakin's perspective.

My frown deepened to a scowl as I looked at the haughty thirteen year old girl in front of me. She was Rika, a kind girl from the Jedi temple, and Ahsoka's best friend. At least that was what we thought until now... She was at the moment lecturing me and my padawan about how insignificant we were while taking her time to remind us about the wider scale of events happening around us.

This kid was reminding me, to the way, Yoda and Obi-Wan were lecturing me in the past and sometimes even in the present, and it left a particularly bad aftertaste in my mouth. 

I used to complain about things being way too boring, but now... This was starting to get to me. I am getting older, I guess... Obi-Wan would probably start to tease me right now... 

How the hell am I supposed to react to this whole situation? A big chunk of the order were passively searching to find some clues about the location of the Grey Order in these two years.

I felt the need to laugh at that moment.

How would we find anything meaningful, when they were practically part of our ranks from who knows how long? From the very beginning they had known  about us for hundreds of years, while we only realized about their existence in a few. 

I looked at the girl, and asked her a straightforward question. 

-Are you also like Nizzal? 

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She stopped her lecturing. I gave a sideway glance to check on Ahsoka... Oh, boy... she wasn't taking this well... Not at all. Not that I blame her, but still. She looked like her sanity was about to slip away. That is not what we need right now, definitely not. I took over the conversation to hopefully stop Ahsoka from pounceing on Rika and bite of her head. That would be interesting to see, but a bit too risky even for me. 

Rika turned towards me, and asked suspiciously. She was clearly guarded against that question.

-What do you mean by that? ~ She was trying to find out how much we already knew. That's okay with me. 

-Come on, do I really need to ask?

-I am afraid you do. ~She practically hissed at me with a scowl of her own in full display. 

I rolled my eyes, and asked.

-Are you also like two thousand years old mentally, or more? 

After my question, Rika seemed to turn paler and paler as the seconds passed by. After half a minute she rigidly turned around, and walked to one of the beds that were lined up next to the wall. She laid down, turned sideways towards the wall, and began to mumble to herself. 

I looked at Ahsoka, trying to find an answer to see if she knew what the hell was going on. Seeing my own confusion mirroring in her eyes, I realized that she had no clue either. Figures. 

So we turned towards Rika, or whoever she was really called, and began to listen to her half-loud muttering. 

-... why the fuck did I even bother with proper infiltration tactics when these idiots spilled out everything in two seconds? I was working on this mission to impress the elders for six years... This is what I get in return... I will send a complaint to the Immortal Conclave for this... Even Revan's line can't get away with such impudence. And Aomi, you won't get away with this either... I will shave off all your hair the moment you fall asleep, then I will take a picture of you when you realize what happend, and plaster it all over the temple... Hehehe, that will serve you as a proper punishment for taking the younger generations lightly... At this point I wouldn't care if you were the new grandmaster of the order... I won't forget this... I won't! Damn bastards... Megtudnám fojtani őket egy kanál vízben... Jebem ti... Cyka...

We listened for a while until her words began to turn into a constant flow of curses in plenty of different languages and dialects. Many of which I didn't know myself. 

-Well, that kind of answers my question, I guess.

---

Ahsoka's perspective. 

Rika curled into herself, and began to mutter a series of unintelligent words, again. This... well, this at least wasn't a new thing. She used to do that at times. Especially when she seemed to have some kind of mental breakdown. My anger, began to dissipate to an extent as I saw her hugging herself on the bed while being in this state. I gave a worried glance to master. He nodded, and I walked closer to Rika's bed. I was standing next to it, hesitating for a second. Then I sat down next to her and carefully reached out to grab her hand, only to show her, that she was not alone. She immediately grabbed onto my hand as if it was a lifeline of some sort. After a few minutes spent in this manner, she finally stopped muttering. and seemed to calm down a bit. 

Not long after, I heard a familiar voice, that was more like the personality... or the side of her personality I was familiar with. 

-... I am sorry... 

-What do you feel sorry for? ~I asked her without mercy. I was evidently still just as annoyed as before. 

-Well... for not telling you who I actually am... 

-And who are you? 

She sat up on the bed, and while letting go of my hand. She also looked at me, if only for a second, then looked aside, still quite embarrassed for her recent breakdown. 

-You know... I didn't imagine this moment to be so... 

-Awkward? ~Asked Anakin over my shoulder, since he decided to silently look around the room, while I tried to calm her down... Of course, he was picking up everything from left and right, only to place them back later at a slightly wrong angle. At times like these I began to think, that everyone in this world was crazy in one way or the other.

Meanwhile, Rika began to fiddle with the bed-sheet, while giving an even more embarrassed nod. 

I sighed... This will not help her to open up, if master continues to purposefully make this conversation even more awkward.

I gave him a warning glare. To that he only reacted with a partially raised brow.

I turned back to Rika, and asked. 

-Rika, would you mind answering some of our questions? We only heard the basics and you could imagine, that we are quite confused...

She sniffled a bit, to my question... I was getting more and more confused... As she began to act the way she did back in the temple... Why would she begin to act like that again? I couldn't find a reason for that...

-I don't even care anymore... ~She said with a hint of anger in her eyes... - Ask whatever you want... 

Well, that was easy... I looked back to master, and he seemed to be eager to grab onto this chance to learn more of this order. He immediately asked a question, as if afraid that the girl would have a change of heart at any given moment. 

-First of all, tell us who you are? Your real name will be a good start. 

-My real name? ~She sniffled again. -The one you know is as real as you can get. 

-What do you mean by that. ~ I asked. 

-I have many names, as I had many lives... no... I have only this one... and they had their own, which I learned of... remembered. Experienced? Rika is my name. I didn't lie about that... The others, the other memories have their own names. 

-You mean, that you have memories from other people? How is this possible? 

-It is because we are, we are turned into a... 

-Into a what? ~ Anakin and I both asked this question at the same time. 

Rika's eyes were unfocused for a moment. She was looking through us as if she wasn't here anymore. Then her eyes began to glow with a powerful golden hue, as a completely different cold aura filled our surrounding. Her face snapped towards me, then I felt a powerful force push crash into my body from her direction. 

I was hurled backwards into my master who was standing behind me, and we both fell into the old armchair that was placed behind us. Both of us looked up at the girl, who was still sitting on the bed... Her expression was of pure disgust at the moment. She looked at us, and said it in a very unfriendly tone.

-You should learn to mind your own business. We give you a chance to learn more about us, and you have the face to blatantly ask for our most guarded secrets. You Jedi are truly the worst. At times like this, I feel bad for leaving behind my old ways. 

-Who the hell are you?! ~I shouted the very moment I managed to get out of my stupor, this person was not Rika for sure. It was an entirely different personality. 

-You are not worthy of knowing my name, kid. Your arrogance to want to know everything by simply asking questions from others, holds no bounds, it seems. Find your answers by yourself if you are willing to spend the effort. I had enough of seeing your sorry faces, don't bother me for now. 

Then she jumped off the bed, and stormed out of the room while constantly cursing us. 

As the door closed after she left. I felt even more confused than the moment I first entered this room. I had literally no idea what the hell was going on. This place was reminding me of how I imagined a lunatic house as a kid.

-Cough, cough... 

I looked up and my eyes met with master's eyes. 

-What? ~ I asked.

-When do you plan to stand up? ~He asked.

That was the moment I realized that I was basically sitting in his lap since we were being pushed into the armchair. 

-Oh... so-sorry about that...

I immediately stood up, and stepped to the side... 

He also stood up soon enough... straightened his golden-rimmed and kind of skin-tight slaver clothes, which he still was wearing from the palace at the moment. 

I felt a small blush finding its way to my face as I glanced at him, and of course that was the exact moment he looked at me.

He smirked like an idiot.

At that moment, a strange urge surfaced in my mind, for some reason the thought of shaving off someone's hair while they slept didn't seem quite as hilarious as before. 

 

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