WHO: Ahsoka Tano, The Mandalorian (with cameo by The Child) WHEN: Today WHERE: Tano's Gym WHAT: Mando finds a younger, confused Ahsoka when he arrives for the kid's training session. TRIGGERS: Recollection of war casualties.
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It was a walk. There was no understating that. From the Razor Crest as it was situated on the outskirts of town to Ahsoka’s gym wouldn’t have taken very long with wheels, but by foot it took the better part of an hour. The kid wasn’t cut out for that much walking, and definitely not before training; he offered a small gurgle here and there from his higher vantage point at Mando’s shoulder, watching the world with his oversized eyes and wriggling every so often to get comfortable against the beskar steel armor.
No one really stopped to ask questions any more. Most of the people on the route knew there was some sort of destination and schedule to the odd sight walking down the sidewalk. They waved. Or they didn’t. Either way, Tumbleweed seemed fine about a personal choice made by one inhabitant to wear full armor and a helmet in public, and to carry around some sort of animatronic green creature. To each their own. He didn’t bother anyone.
The door to the gym was pushed open. Mando never announced himself, but he rarely had to. Ahsoka explained that the Force was a conduit of emotions and energy. He assumed she could sense the kid’s arrival. He’d made peace with that idea, but never thought to confirm. Maybe he didn’t want the real answer. Knowing everyone’s business usually came at the cost of sharing some of his own, and that…
That was a tall order.
Ahsoka sensed them alright. Her grey cloak hung limp against her body as she stood up from the seating she must have been asleep on. Someone had to have poisoned her, kidnapped her, and brought her — it didn't seem right. The paperwork on the desk she now inspected had her name on it, in a strange language that she somehow understood. It didn't look like Basic, but it read like it.
Tano Gym.
That couldn't be right though. She had just witnessed the end of the Clone Wars, on a ship destined to crash into a moon. It wasn't by her hand, but it may as well have been. She'd let Maul out to cause a diversion. She'd practically egged him on. All those soldiers died when they didn't have to.
And they were all dressed in her colors. Every last one of them had painted her markings on their helmets, and each one she buried and rested the helmet on a stick to mark their spot weighed heavy on her shoulders. One day, she may get over it. One day, she might allow herself some breathing room.
But there was no way that was happening right now.
She sensed two beings, one strong with the Force (and looked like a tiny version of Yoda, but that wasn't how Yoda felt in the Force), the other in beskar and Mandalorian gear. No markings, save a mudhorn on his shoulder. Was he Death Watch? Night Owl? Was he one of Maul's men that he'd left to die?
Ahsoka stepped out of the office, pulling her hood down. Her montrals were shorter, headtails barely past her shoulders. "Who are you? Where am I?"
Mando stopped in his paces, but his arms moved to pluck the small green kid from his shoulder and (carefully) set him down on the ground. He wasn’t quick to respond, merely taking in the questions and trying to figure out what prompted them.
She looked younger. And maybe a little more ragged in this moment than he could ever recall seeing her, even despite not knowing her all too long in the grand scheme of things.
The kid was less inclined to be cautious. He knew the sight of a friend. He was already marching his short legs in Ahsoka’s direction with all the trust and innocence of… well, a child.
Didn’t people say that weird things happened here? People woke up different. It was just the make of a life in Tumbleweed, although Mando himself hadn’t been present for any of those apparent portal mischief events. He stayed on his mark.
“The kid trains with you. You don’t remember?”
Ahsoka cocked her head to the side, looking down at the little green stump of a — whatever Yoda's species was. His little hands reached up for her, so she squatted in front of him to scoop him up. "It's been a while since I've done any training with younglings."
Not since she'd left the Jedi Order.
And now there was no Jedi Order.
With the tiny figure in her arms, Ahsoka's expression turned sad. Was this little one gone too? After she and Rex landed, every chance she got, she tried to reach out to someone, anyone, but there was only emptiness. A wild, vast emptiness that may as well have been the void of space.
"I'm sorry. I don't remember you. Or him —" she inclined her head toward the little one who was playing with the end of her montral. "I don't even know how I got here, or why everything says Tano Gym."
Someone else really needed to be here to handle this. Mando didn’t have to look around to know that option wasn’t within reach. So, she didn’t recollect anything about Tumbleweed? Start at the basics.
“You live in this town. This is your gym.” No one could say he wasn’t direct. What was it that Cara remarked? His bedside manner was terrible. He didn’t soften any blows when it came to words. Learning now wasn’t going to happen. “Sometimes stuff happens to people here, and they… wake up confused. I was told.”
He pointed at the kid. “He’s a foundling,” was added, as per usual, correcting that he wasn’t just some youngling. He was a foundling first. Did it matter to anyone else? No. But it mattered a little more than it should to Mando.
"I'm not confused about anything except this." Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. Was this one of Maul's tricks? Did he somehow manage to sneak one Mandalorian through to kidnap her. Where was Rex? "How did I get here?"
Beneath her robes, she realized she didn't have her lightsabers. She'd just dropped them on the surface of the moon as proof that she was gone, died with the rest of the Jedi. "Make it snappy, pal."
“Portal.” Really, there should be literally anyone else dealing with this. “There’s a portal, takes people from their world. Puts them here. I don’t know what you remember last, but we don’t have problems -- you and me.” That should sum it up. And snappy-ish, as requested.
Mando waited. Either that was enough for her, or he’d have to deal with the next demand. Now that she had the kid, he wasn’t too keen about being patient, but he knew better than to poke the wrong buttons. Ahsoka had easily taken the footing out from under him during a sparring match once. That Force stuff was potent.
"Did Maul send you?" He had no idea that Ahsoka would never use a child as leverage. She just wasn't that kind of person, and when she really thought about it… Maul wouldn't use a Force sensitive child and a Mandalorian without his crests on his armor to check on her. She was pretty sure if she was unconscious, she'd stay that way until she became one with the Force.
She forced her lips into the corner of her mouth. "Forget that. Maul wouldn't bother with all that. He'd just stage a war."
Mando stayed silent for a moment. Then, he sighed, bowing his head with some resignation. “You told me the Force lets you read people. Whatever they’re feeling, right? Do it.” He was loath to extend the invitation, but this wasn’t going overly well. “What do you get from me?”
Ahsoka closed her eyes. It was hard to sense him over the pings of emotions the child was sending. He was immensely strong with the Force for someone so small. If she hadn't just lost him, she might have thought of Master Yoda. She reached out her free hand and concentrated.
"The armor… you use it as a shield because you don't want people to know how… sad you really are underneath the calm, cool exterior. Trust. You're way more trusting than most Mandalorians I've met."
The regret was near instant, but Mando let her work through it all. When she stopped, he merely offered, “I thought you would realize I’m not going to shoot you and I wasn’t lying.”
He shifted on his feet, as if trying to unholster some invisible burden to get comfortable again. “You’re talking about a point in time several cycles back. The Clone Wars have been over. Portal did something to you, and you don’t remember.”
He looked around. Her being in a gym she didn’t recognize wasn’t a good thing. Probably should help her close up before someone turned up hoping to use the facility. He didn’t know where she lived, and it was doubtful she did, either. Reach out on the network, then? But to who?
"I got that from the moment you said to read you." Ahsoka hadn't lost her trademark sarcasm just yet. It would take a few more years for her to become the much more subdued version that the Mandalorian would come to know. This one had earned the nickname Snips just a few years back, but war, loss, and the iron grip of the Empire would squash a good deal of that out.
When he looked around, so did she. "So you're saying this is my gym, and that a portal changed me." She shook her head as if that would clear away her confusion. The green child in her arms mimicked her, but with gurgling noises. "Still doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I can tell that you believe this so I'm going to trust you."
There wasn’t a shrug from Mando in response to the quip, but he tilted his head just a few degrees -- which may have been even more telling that the sarcasm was noted and received with exasperation.
“That’s what I’m saying,” he echoed after her. “Your…” Mando hesitated. “That Skywalker you know. He’s here.” Maybe Anakin Skywalker was better suited to this? Or that other woman. What was her name? “Could close this place up before someone starts hassling you.”
Ahsoka's eyes immediately widened. Maul had said that Anakin would be Sidious's new apprentice, but that was wrong. It had to be because she knew Anakin Skywalker, and there was no way he'd turn to the Dark Side. But then just before the clones attacked, there was that moment when she felt that something had happened with Anakin and Master Windu, and someone else.
"Anakin's here? Where is he? We have to go find him!"
That was half of what Mando had planned, but not with any sort of urgency. Ahsoka seemed to be coming at this from another angle. He was merely thinking someone she knew better -- or knew at all -- would have the advantage with… knowing how to talk to people? Thinking of it that way just made him sound completely inept at socializing or else too eager to get out of more prying.
“I… don’t know where he lives.” This was momentum being picked up down the wrong path. Reverse. Try again. “He’s been here for a long time. So have you. No one’s in danger.” A bold statement, and hopefully that wasn’t going to get thrown back at him if the portal decided otherwise.
Ahsoka shuffled her grip, crouched, and let the squirming green child hop down onto the floor. He gave her cheek a little one-two pat-pat, then toddled along, seemingly (but not completely) oblivious to everything going on. He was comfortable with her. He obviously knew her.
"Is he okay?" she asked from her crouching spot. "The last time I felt him, something not good was happening. I don't know what, but I got a little distracted after that." Her face twisted here, knowing that no good was going to come of that conversation. "The soldiers, the clones — they turned on me."
As usual, the kid was off to explore. He found a potted plant in the corner and started to poke around the leaves at the base. Mando left him to it. He was mostly weened off putting everything in his mouth at this point.
It felt odd being asked if the man who he’d only known as Darth Vader was fine, but Mando bit back the urge to say anything upsetting about someone Ahsoka clearly cared for. Ahsoka had also told him about all of this once. Order 66. An army of clones turned on the Jedi. She was one of few who escaped with her life.
He dipped his head, helmet turned downward in a thoughtful moment. When he lifted it again, he gestured to the exit door. “I’ll help you lock up. Can find your friend after that, if that’s what you need.”
Ahsoka and Rex had been stranded on the moon for a while after it came down. They needed rations and supplies and anything they could find to make sure the Y-wing would get them where they needed. Truth be told, Ahsoka was hoping they could salvage enough to make another ship space worthy. The two of them together would only bring trouble.
Ahsoka narrowed her eyes a little. "Would you say we're friends?"
“I would say I don’t know much about Skywalker, and haven’t felt inclined to go asking,” Mando answered. He stooped by the kid and hoisted the little one up into his arms.
There was a perplexed noise given, as the kid was sure it was time for training. This didn’t feel right.
Sometimes if it was a late enough training session, Ahsoka would lock up as Mando was getting the kid ready to head home. He knew the general sequence of events. There was a key that would go to the front door’s lock. Maybe in her office.
"I meant you and me."
There was a too-long silence, solely because admitting to things felt more soul-bearing than Mando usually was comfortable with. Also, he wasn’t actually sure from Ahsoka’s perspective.
“We speak in friendly terms,” he lamely offered.
"If we speak in friendly terms, then I would consider you a friend," Ahsoka replied bluntly. She wasn't in the habit of pretending to be friendly with someone. Even if she still wasn't sure which side of the Mandalorian Siege he'd been on.
She reached out her hand, blaster burned and scraped from a duel with Maul, evading blasters from the clones, and falling debris, to touch the little one's ear. He seemed to put up with it. "He considers me a friend."
He noticed the state of her hand and, shortly after, the state of her clothing. It was quietly processed, albeit much later into this conversation than it should’ve been. His grip was slipping, but that was just because he’d come to see this gym as a sanctuary.
“He does.” Mando’s voice took an uncertain tone. “I don’t know what you need. Maybe I’m not the one who should be here.”
Ahsoka thought of her training. All is as the Force wills it. Did the Force will the destruction of the Republic and the Jedi into being? Ahsoka's grip on reality was slipping. She needed something to fall back on, and the training was all she had. "The Force leads us to where we need to be, whether we understand its purpose or not. Maybe you are the one who should be here. We just haven't figured that out yet."
He wasn’t going to dispute it. He understood having an anchor. The Force. The Way. In uncertain situations, there was a mantra or a lesson to lean on.
Mando steeled himself. “Let’s close up shop. Being here isn’t gonna give you any answers.”
"I can think of an answer I'd like." This entire time, she had no idea what to call either of them. If there were more Mandalorians, she'd need a name. The child wasn't Yoda, so he needed a name. "I don't know your name."
“Kid didn’t come with one, and he’s too young to help out there.” That was the easy one. The second reply came after a pause, although Ahsoka wouldn’t have realized why the hesitation.
“Din.” He moved off his footing right after, as if he didn’t care to linger in that moment or space any longer than needed. She was right. He trusted people more easily than most Mandalorians.
"Din," Ahsoka repeated with a smile. It was something to grasp onto that wasn't the memory of burning spaceship. She still didn't understand why she was here or how she'd gotten here, but she got the feeling that this was an unusual moment that was created by some odd sense of trust.
She'd seen a set of keys on the wall just on the other side of the door. Ahsoka reached in and grabbed them. "This key very clearly says Tano Gym. I'd be willing to bet that's how we close up shop."