"What happened here?" repeated the authoritative male voice. Both students shuddered and raised their heads; they hadn't expected this. They respected this man and secretly feared him.
"Chancellor," Ferrus began hesitantly, "I didn't mean to, she did it herself.
"Help her, we need to get her to the medical wing immediately," said Anakin, ignoring his friend's pathetic excuses. He knelt down next to his friend and lifted her head, not noticing that the blood flowing from her was staining his hands and beige tunic.
"Don't worry, boy, I'll carry her myself, just help me," the chancellor quickly joined in and, with Anakin's help, lifted the unconscious Togruta into his arms. Skywalker followed him, leaving Ferrus standing in the middle of the corridor with his mouth open.
"What's wrong with her? Why won't she open her eyes?" he asked anxiously, holding Asoka's cool hand.
"I don't think it's serious," Palpatine reassured him. "But she must have a concussion, she hit her head pretty hard, didn't she?"
"I don't think so," Anakin tensed, trying to remember the moment when Ahsoka fell, "but the blood... why is it still flowing?"
"She hit her temple, it's serious, she could have died," explained the Chancellor as they entered the corridor of the medical wing, which occupied a separate building. There, unlike the Temple, the atmosphere was completely different. There was constant noise, ringing and buzzing. Staff rushed around and shouted, giving orders to mechanical droid assistants. And unlike the beige and brown tiles of the Temple, the medical wing was decorated mainly in white and yellow. The employees here were also Jedi who had chosen healing as their specialisation. One of them was the Talothian woman Stass Allie, whom Ahsoka already knew. However, Master Unduli's apprentice also frequently visited the medical facility to take lessons from the supreme healer who reigned there. Her name was Vokara Che, she belonged to the Twi'lek race and, despite her considerable age, was a very active and energetic person. It was she who now received Ahsoka, who had been brought to her office by Palpatine. Anakin, who ran in after him, immediately told her what had happened.
"You're like street urchins, even though you're Jedi," grumbled the Twi'lek, asking the attendants to leave the room.
"Take good care of her, this girl is very important to me," said the Chancellor before leaving.
"And to me! If you need anything, just let me know, I'll bring it! I'll sit with her afterwards! Just don't send me away," Anakin declared passionately, and Palpatine had to almost force him out of Master Che's office.
"I'm very worried about her," he said to the chancellor as they sat down on a bench in the corridor. "She's the only one here who understands me."
"That's right, Ahsoka is a very sensitive girl. Very vulnerable, no matter what she says," Palpatine confirmed. "Does she trust you?"
"Yes, completely!" Anakin said eagerly. "We often talk about everything under the sun, about home, about our assignments, about our teachers. She is often dissatisfied with the Masters and often thinks they are unfair to her."
"In what way, for example?" The Chancellor sat up straight and raised his index finger, as if he had heard something important in the young Jedi's words.
"For example, Asoka always thinks that they deliberately give her assignments that are too easy for her, that she can do better, but they don't believe her." Skywalker himself didn't understand why he was saying this, but he couldn't stop himself. His concern for his friend compelled him to speak, because if he remained silent, it would weigh on him three times as heavily.
"She told me that too. How is her father? Does she talk about him?" — the Chancellor asked.
"Ahsoka misses him very much. Her teacher says that she sometimes talks about him in her sleep." Skywalker said the most important thing: "She cherishes those who are close to her. Sometimes I even think that Ahsoka is very afraid that there will be fewer such people. She gets so emotional when she talks about everyone. About her father, her teacher, about you. But she doesn't talk about me, probably because she's shy. I've heard that girls often don't dare to talk about their boyfriends.
"Interesting. Do you already have something to hide?" Palpatine asked, glancing at the door to Vokara's office. He deliberately looked away so that Anakin wouldn't see the strange gleam in his eyes.
"I really like her," Anakin said confidentially, glad to finally be able to speak his mind, as he couldn't say anything like that in the Order for fear of reprimand, but Palpatine wasn't a Jedi and could understand him. "When she first came to me on Shili with her teacher, I noticed right away how special she was. I'd never met anyone like her before. I've never had any friends, but I trusted her right away. I could tell her anything. And now too. She's like the sun, she comes and everything gets brighter. I'd even marry her if it weren't for the rules.
The last sentence sounded more embarrassed and quieter than the others. It was clear that Anakin was saying it out loud for the first time, having only ever thought it to himself, and even then very timidly. In the darkness and before falling asleep. And now, finally spoken aloud, it took on an even more mysterious, almost sacred meaning.
"Does Asoka feel the same way about you?" the Chancellor asked, responding to his thoughts.
"I'm not sure about that. She's always happy to see me, always honest, but to think the same way... I don't know. Maybe I'm too young for her..." Doubts poured out, doubts that Anakin had also thought about but was afraid to even tell Asoka.
"Has no one told you about the Force connection between two Jedi?" Palpatine asked, either genuinely surprised or simply feigning surprise. "From time to time, this phenomenon occurs in the Order. Attachments are forbidden, that is true, but what if the Force itself indicates that two Jedi are meant to be together? "Have you not thought about that?"
Anakin thought about it for a moment. Yes, he had been told something like that in his spiritual practice lessons. But at the time, it hadn't seemed very interesting, and he had quickly forgotten about it. Now, however, he was suddenly intrigued.
"Have there been such cases before? Among the Jedi themselves?" he decided to ask.
"Not among the current generation," Palpatine searched his memory conscientiously, "but several centuries ago..."
However, he didn't have time to finish, as the office door opened and the chief healer called them both in. She had already finished her work and made sure that the girl was not seriously injured, just a concussion and a small cut on her head. The healer put her into a healing trance and promised to bring her out by tomorrow morning. Now the Togruta lay in a special closed transparent capsule filled with a thick yellow-orange substance, a breathing mask on her face and her eyes covered. A red line of stitches crossed her right temple, and her chest rose evenly in time with her calm breathing. The capsule was located in a small room accessed by an internal door from the office. The light was dimmed, and the only sound was the soft hum of the breathing equipment. It was a pity that he had not been allowed to stay with Asoka. The Chancellor was waiting for negotiations, and Anakin had to tell Master Plo everything. He seriously doubted that Ferrus would do it. But nothing worked out. He was on a mission, and Asoka didn't have time to tell him about it. So, in his absence, Skywalker felt that he was responsible for the girl. He was the one who needed to be with her until his teacher returned. However, this was not so easy, because you couldn't stay at the medical corps for as long as you wanted, especially when you were a junior apprentice and couldn't go anywhere without the approval of the Yungling group supervisor. And he would hardly have allowed Anakin to spend the night in the medical ward, near his sick friend. But when such trifles troubled a heart eager to help another, the medical ward was not locked at night, nor were the rooms of the junior students, which should have played into the hands of the little adventurer. Barely waiting for his comrades to fall asleep, and for Ferrus to stop glancing at him with a malicious look, wondering why Skywalker was going to sleep without undressing, and turning on his side, snoring loudly, he carefully got out of bed and slowly moved down the corridor. Stepping silently, trembling at every noise, Anakin made his way out of the living quarters and was already walking down the corridor leading to the medical ward. When he reached the middle, he suddenly heard a door creak and two voices, one belonging to the chief healer, the other strangely familiar but as yet unrecognisable. Skywalker shuddered and at the last second managed to duck behind a curtain so as not to be discovered and returned to his room with a scandal. He knew that Vokara was capable of this when angry. Ferrus once left his long hair loose for a week to cover his swollen red ears. He shouldn't have been sneaking into her office at night, stealing Force stimulants that were locked away in a secure cabinet anyway. But Anakin would escape such a fate, for he was now invisible, yet he could hear every word perfectly.
"Master Che, tell me, will she be all right?" the stranger asked the healer.
"She will. And if you don't disturb her, she'll recover even faster," Vokara reassured him. She always stayed up late and only left after making sure that her charges were safe.
"Maybe she needs something special? Tell me, and I'll bring it," said the man, almost exactly like Anakin, who couldn't help but look through the small gap between the curtains. He immediately hid back. He hid and clenched his fists. He saw who was talking to the healer, and he didn't like it at all.
"How dare you worry about her? Say the same words as me? Don't you ever do that again! Otherwise... otherwise I'll just destroy you, and no Code will stand in my way!" thought Skywalker, watching the chancellor's figure recede down the corridor. In a single second, this man had gone from being someone he deeply respected and revered to a vile, disgusting creature who had taken away what was most precious to him. A friend, a confidant and... Yes, Anakin himself didn't really know what the "and" was yet, but he was clearly beginning to feel that Ahsoka was clearly more than just a friend from the Order to him. And right now, he was heading straight for her, so she could see, so she could understand that he was ready to do anything for her, and certainly more than this elderly Chancellor. Ahsoka often spoke of him with great enthusiasm, almost as much as she did about her father. This had never been very pleasant for Anakin, and now, hearing it out loud, his heart was subconsciously touched by something akin to jealousy. And not just childish or friendly jealousy. It took him a great deal of effort not to show it until the two had left, and only then did he emerge from his hiding place to sneak, looking around like a thief, into a small room near the head nurse's office. The lights had already been turned off there, and light poured in only from the window, covered by a semi-transparent curtain. It was reflected by the pale silver full moon and its children — tiny dots of stars grazing on the dark blue field of the sky. They tried their best, casting bright reflections that danced across the shiny surface of the capsule, so that the girl lying there could see the beauty of night-time Coruscant and open her eyes. But no, she did not open them; she was still in too deep a trance. However, the efforts of the heavenly bodies were noticed by another night visitor — a skinny ten-year-old boy who had come to visit his sick friend. She was sick because of him. Very quietly, trying not to make a sound, Anakin approached the capsule and knelt down on the floor next to it, staring intently at the sleeping girl. Ahsoka showed no signs of life, only her breathing betrayed her, and now, in this silence, with her thin arms folded across her chest, the Togruta looked especially defenceless and fragile. This girl, always so brave and lively, who knew how to stand up for herself and others. Anakin's heart almost broke at the sight of her like this. How he wanted to hold her, press her close to him and never let her go, not even to the disgusting Chancellor. But he knew that now it was impossible. Ahsoka couldn't even hear him, let alone let him touch her. But Skywalker knew what to do. He only had to remember the lessons of Master Yoda, which he had hated so much before. The boy closed his eyes and began to peer into the black darkness before him, and at first he saw nothing but blackness, but soon it began to turn blue, and then a single point appeared on its surface, glowing with a faint yellow light. Like a guiding star for someone lost in the forest. That was exactly what he needed now to point to the only living creature nearby. Anakin couldn't see himself, so only Ahsoka was visible in the Force, while she could only see him. He made sure of that by mentally drawing an invisible line between himself and that pale dot. The thread became tangible, meaning that a mental connection had been established and any thought or message could be transmitted. But Skywalker reported otherwise:
"Ahsoka," whispered his voice, inaudible to others, "I'm here, I'm with you. And I won't let anyone hurt you again. I promise that from now on, you will be my family, just like my mother and your father. And also, I will marry you as soon as we grow up. I know we can't, but I will find a way. I will definitely find a way. Just believe me and let me know that you agree too."
The mental connection disappeared in that instant, giving way to a physical one. Asoka opened her eyes for a second and, finding her friend, brought her palm to the glass of the capsule. Anakin saw this and placed his hand in the same place, even feeling the cold glass become warmer from her touch. Or from his. No, from both of them. Thus, a strange betrothal took place between two children, grown up so early by the will of fate, but strangely strengthening their bond. Although it only lasted a couple of seconds. Then Ahsoka took her hand away and fell asleep again, while Anakin sat there until morning, managing to leave a couple of minutes before everyone woke up. Togrut was discharged in the evening, and after dinner, Anakin did something unusual for her...
***
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