CH-36

She had seen several Jedi who she never would have imagined be tainted by exposure to the Dark Side, no matter how strong willed or well intentioned that Jedi may have been. Even her old master had been changed by his exposure to the Dark Side. Aayla herself had once fallen to the temptation of the Dark Side after her mind had been wiped with Gliterral. She knew what sort of attraction and power waited there for those too weak to not resist it.

Ahsoka Tano had always had a good heart, but she wasn't even a full Jedi. She was still a Padawan before she was dismissed from the Order. She had also been brash, reckless and headstrong, much like her Master. She wouldn't be the first with those qualities to find themselves falling in circumstances such as this.

"I can't tell you what he's shown me," Ahsoka said with a shrug.

Aayla quirked her eye at the statement. Perhaps Ahsoka simply didn't wish to spread knowledge around of what the uncivilized man had offered her, but the way she said it sent chills up Aayla's spine. Her eyes narrowed, but something nagged at the back of her mind, telling her there was more to this situation than appeared at first glance.

"Explain," she demanded curtly.

Ahsoka smiled, and there was a bit of a smirk to that smile. "Demand all you want. I literally can't, Master Secura. If I break my oath, my connection to the Force will be stripped from me."

A look of utter horror crossed Aayla's face at that idea, and at the idea of what this man had somehow subjected Ahsoka too, worse it seemed that Ahsoka didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"He did what?" Aayla sputtered, "How has he trapped you like this?"

Ahsoka hesitated a moment, before she seemed to consider what to say. She spoke slowly, as if testing the very words that she spoke. "It's one of the ways his people keep secrets. Oaths, vows, and contracts mean a lot to his people, and it's backed up and enforced by the Force itself, well, Magic as he says."

Ahsoka shrugged off the idea and, to Aayla's incredulity, her expression said it was no big deal, "Harry said that magic itself will also work to protect that knowledge so it can't be forced or coerced out of me."

Seeing Aayla's expression and assumption Ahsoka shook her head. "I'm not trapped. I can leave at any time I want. I just can't talk or communicate about what he teaches me or what he does with his magic or teach it to anyone else.." Ahsoka gave Aayla an odd look, "Unless you, of course, give him the same kind of oath."

Aayla was shocked at the statement, and a bit offended, "I have my own oaths and promises to uphold to the Jedi Order. I will not spread my loyalties much less to some bounty hunter scum."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at that last description, and her voice turned chilly. "I'll let that slide this time, Master Secura, but don't ever insult Harry around me again."

A thought occurred to her as she glanced around. "Er… or around Dobby. You saw what he did to those he felt were going to harm Harry's ship. Harry has warned me more than once that Dobby can be a little overzealous in defense of him. Then again, until a few minutes ago, I was starting to wonder if Dobby was just made up as part of some prank Harry was playing on me…"

Ahsoka then shook her head, letting her lengthening lekku fall freely out of the cloak she had been wearing. Aayla remembered Ahsoka right when she first was assigned to Skywalker. Back then, her lekku barely touched her shoulders. Now, they were halfway down her chest and back.

"I'm staying with Harry, Master Secura. He saved my life. He's funny and, while he may be crude, he's never given me one reason to doubt his intentions. He has also been truthful with me as far as I can tell. Harry didn't make me come with him, I asked to go with him."

She shook her head slightly, "And I had to convince him!"

"But...the moment the idea to stay with him popped into my head, the Force all but screamed at me to follow through with the idea." Ahsoka hesitated and her eyes got a serious look in them, and her voice went from defensive to earnest. "Somehow… I knew… I was meant to do this. That the implications would be staggering for myself, the Jedi, for everyone in the Republic."

"It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I mean... I've felt the Force guide my movements in battle. I've felt nudges and urges and subtle insinuations that I should do something...every once in awhile… but I've never felt it just stand up and say 'If you ever want to make an impact… you need to do this now.'" Ahsoka's eyes had a faraway look in them as if she was reliving the memory.

She glanced at Aayla, "And I won't you or anyone else speak ill of him without even spending time around him. Real time around him, not time when he's amped up from getting shot at because of people after me or dealing with Jedi incompetence."

There was silence as Aayla processed that impassioned statement. She had never heard Ahsoka so passionate about anything in her life. But she couldn't help but be a little suspicious of the timing too, wondering if this 'Harry' hadn't done something to influence the girl.

Ahsoka broke the silence, snapping out of the memory "Speaking of staying or leaving, what will you do now, Master Secura?"

Aayla winced at how formal Ahsoka was continued to address her. She had hoped that Ahsoka would lighten up and get more comfortable as they talked, but quite clearly that was not happening. Anakin Skywalker had warned her via a private communication after she had departed that Ahsoka was extremely hurt by the Council's actions and inactions.

He wasn't certain she'd be receptive to talking to her, or anyone but him really. Aayla initially thought there was a bit of arrogance in the statement, but in retrospect, Anakin was more accurate than she gave him credit for. Clearly, Ahsoka was unhappy with the Council, which showed Anakin knew his student very well. It was now very likely the only Jedi who Ahsoka wouldn't remain on-guard around.

Aayla wondered if perhaps Anakin had underestimated how much she had been hurt.

Ahsoka mistook Aayla's extended silence for a loss. "You do realize you have no ship to get out of here, right?"

"I will find a way." Aayla said with more confidence than she felt. "I'm sure an option will present itself, the Force will help provide a way."

Ahsoka snorted, "I think I'd prefer to rely upon myself to provide.."

Ahsoka did have a point, Aayla thought. She was in more than a little bit of trouble at the moment. No ship, and no secure means of communicating with the Jedi Council

With her ship blown up, along with the manner she went silent immediately afterwards, the Order's first assumption would be that she had been killed. There was always the chance that the more 'excitable' members of the Council would think Harry had done the act.

They all seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact Ahsoka was now one of the higher bounties in the galaxy now that she no longer held the Republic's and Jedi's protection. Aayla wondered why so many were so insistent on figuring out Harry. They were possessed with almost a single-minded focus upon Harry, blind to all other threats.

Idly, she wondered what would've happened if they had been this quick to chase down ghosts such as Harry back when Master Qui-Gon Jinn had died at the hands of a Sith.

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