(Drops down into the middle of a group of CIS Droids).

"Hello there."'

What a time to be alive or something. Chapter 6 coming right at you from the Chrome Dome or something.
So good news, bad news situation. I haven't had any time to write in the past couple of months. It has been hell on a handbasket at work. Four of my colleagues quit or got fired which took away half the workforce. A lot of new hires and they needed training up and just this Thursday one of my new colleagues died in an accident. I only met him the once, so as cruel as it is to say I'm not personally affected by it beyond being sad at the loss of life but it does mean that my weeks have been rather busy and it hasn't stabilized yet. Hopefully I'll keep to the schedule but otherwise I'll let people know if I get delayed. So yeah... It will hopefully get better but seeing as I got two extra shifts this week out of nowhere I have no idea.

P.S. Give Valyris Reinhald a massive thanks for his help with this chapter. He has a series of stories on AO3 that are just brilliant called "A Life by the Sea" so go give him some love on there.

Enjoy
WaskeHD

Light. Harsh, bright, nauseating clinical white light brought a pounding migraine with it when Harry regained consciousness. A soft hand was gently running through his hair as he rubbed his temples. He was too old now to startle out of his sleep when he wasn't in any danger.

"How long?" Harry mumbled.

"Almost a week," Ahsoka replied.

"Soka?" Harry slowly opened his eyes to find her sitting at his bedside. "You're looking less paralysed."

"Your potion worked," Ahsoka gave him a tight smile. "It was painful."

"I'm sorry," Harry apologised. "Any side effects?"

"I feel more in tune with the Force," Ahsoka said. "But other than that, no."

"Good," Harry deflated and snuggled back into the bed.

"No, not good," Ahsoka hissed quietly.

"What?" Harry asked bewildered. "You're not hurt any longer and you won't be needing extensive surgery to walk again. All is good."

"You inconsiderate asshole of a human man-child," Ahsoka exclaimed.

"What have I done now?" Harry asked tiredly.

"What have you done? What have you done?!" Ahsoka asked incredulously.

"Well if I don't know then I don't know," Harry said breezily.

The whipping sound of air being displaced was the only warning he got before a stinging smack hit him across the face. Harry stared at her part in shock and part in annoyance at her audacity.

"I can't even look at you right now," Ahsoka choked as she fought to hold back her tears. "Do not come looking for me."

His brain hadn't managed to reboot before Ahsoka was gone from the room. He forced himself to sit up in the bed but found that it was all he could do before exhaustion overtook him again. Rubbing his cheek with his left hand, Harry thought back on the admittedly short conversation between him and Ahsoka but, for the life of him, he couldn't understand what she'd gotten so angry about. He was old enough to realise that it probably was his fault but he had no idea what had angered Ahsoka enough for her to slap him.

"Well, at least I am awake now," Harry thought sardonically. "I guess I better check up on the state of my body and then call for someone to bring me some food."

Diving into his own body with the Force was always an interesting experience. He wasn't sure whether other people imagined the energy pathways the same way he did, but they did make it infinitely easier to notice when something was wrong and how to guide the Force to help speed up the process of recovery. He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard the door to the infirmary open up again. With a laboured sigh, Harry ended his meditation session and opened his eyes to the outside world. He had expected Ahsoka to be the one to come back, or maybe Aayla, but instead, he found Shaak Ti leaning her back against the door.

"Hey," Harry said nervously. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, thank you, Harry," Shaak Ti said as she stalked across the empty room towards him.

"Are you angry with me as well?" Harry asked feeling a little nervous. There was just some sort of mature presence that made him feel like he was a Hogwarts student being caught doing mischief.

"A little," Shaak Ti said easily. "Though I understand from Ahsoka's panicked mutterings that you don't seem to have a clue."

"Uhm…" Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "No, not really."

"It's because you got injured and hurt," Shaak Ti said, the stern expression on her face melting into an almost motherly warmth. "Aayla has been beside herself with worry and Ahsoka has taken it upon herself to correct your misconception about how to treat yourself. It is not the first time you've thrown yourself into a situation which would likely have resulted in certain death for anyone but you."

"I can't die," Harry sighed, a small bonfire of guilt appearing in his stomach. "I can get injured, sure, and I can even lose decades at a time as I recuperate, but I can't die."

"We do not want to lose you for decades," Shaak Ti said as she sat down on the edge of his bed. "You, Harry James Potter, are important to us. Ahsoka would be filled with grief and mourn you like you'd passed if you were unresponsive to us. Aayla would try to rationalise and support Ahsoka but she would be filled with guilt because of her sense of honour and responsibility. Maris… I don't want to admit it but Maris would likely burn down the Galaxy in revenge if such harm came to you."

"And you?" Harry asked, the guilt settling in around him.

"Me?" Shaak Ti asked. "I don't know… Maybe I would hide myself away with your body never to resurface, waiting for you to wake up again or die of old age beside your body."

"No," Harry whispered. "Please promise me not to do something like that. Any of you."

"I won't," Shaak Ti said steelily. "Your actions and injuries have consequences. You matter to people that care about you, Harry."

"And I pretty much shrugged Ahsoka's worry off," Harry sighed, a tiny whine escaped his throat as he leaned back into the headrest. "I'm going to have to grovel."

"Undoubtedly," Shaak Ti nodded.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I… I didn't think it through. I sometimes forget that we recognize time differently. Decades have long since stopped seeming like a long time to me. I've even run experiments that lasted a century. I'm sorry to have put all of you through that."

"I understand," Shaak Ti said gently.

"Thank you," Harry smiled. "But everything worked out on your end?"

"Yes," Shaak Ti said. "We even picked up some slaves from a fleet of pirates. The Wookies were happy to help them start new lives here on Kashyyyk or in another part of the Galaxy."

"Gotta love em," Harry smiled. "And Maris?"

"You've already felt her," Shaak Ti sighed. "She's been meditating but the temptations of the Dark Side are there. She channelled it in fear of losing her life on Mustafar. It echoes strongly on the planet. She opened up too much and now she has trouble controlling herself…"

"I see," Harry said. "Well, I guess I'll have to help her with her mental training and whatever psychological help I can give her. Is she alright though?"

"Physically yes," Shaak Ti nodded. "She's become a little more standoffish and she has been in a foul mood since she found you bedridden."

"And the Empire?" Harry asked.

"Nothing major," Shaak Ti shook her head. "The fighting has stopped for the moment."

"That's good."

"Harry?" Shaak Ti asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Yes," Harry swallowed.

"Please, promise me you'll be careful," Shaak Ti said, turning teary eyes upon him. "I do not want to see you hurt like this again."

"I'll try," Harry said. "That is the best I can offer you."

"Thank you," Shaak Ti said. "I'll be sending the others in now."

"They wanted you to scout out my mood?" Harry asked bemusedly.

"Indeed," Shaak Ti laughed gently. "Ahsoka was afraid you would be angry at her."

"I'm not," Harry shrugged. "Maybe a little annoyed, but I'm too old to be angry at such a small thing. Ahsoka isn't the first female in my life who's felt the need to adjust my attitude with physical measures."

"I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that statement," Shaak Ti shook her head. "Please be well."

"I will be," Harry promised. "Far sooner than you'd expect. Could you send Toby in here?"

"Of course," Shaak Ti said.

The guilt didn't fade as Shaak Ti walked out of the infirmary to call the others. He was an idiot. Shaak Ti was right, he really needed to grovel when the other three came back. A pleasant warmth spread throughout his chest at the thought of his lovers and friends. It was good to have people who cared for him in his life again.

Having the same conversation as he'd had with Shaak Ti was less than ideal. He could feel a rift had formed between him and Aayla especially. It was the small things, none of them seemed as eager to hug him or initiated any sort of physical intimacy. Ahsoka especially had gone from a very touchy feely presence in his life to almost shunning him. She still shared his bed but where before she would have almost laid across him she instead cuddled up with Aayla leaving him alone and while Shaak Ti had never seemed interested in the act of sleeping in the same bed as the rest of them, she seemed almost distant with him after their initial conversation.

Even while he found himself waylaid in the hospital, he didn't receive many visits. Aayla had begun to spend hours practising her lightsaber forms and studied the more aggressive tomes in his collection. Knowing why she felt the need for it hurt almost as much as the lack of visits while he was cooped up in the hospital. Ahsoka had been busy with helping as a healer and defender, while Shaak Ti had begun coordinating the formerly imprisoned girls' new life either on Kashyyyk or finding them transport back to their homeworld. Ko'Rell and Nikki had already taken a transport back to Pantora while Zantarra had taken it upon herself to ferry the remaining girls back with a new ship captured during the Battle's with the Empire. Maris had been the only one to regularly visit him where he recovered, but even she was slightly standoffish with him only seeking help from him during her meditation or when she was stuck on something in her training. None of them came around to just spend time with him, giving him more than enough time to reflect on his behaviour.

It all came back to the one question, should he have taken Aayla with him into a situation he wasn't sure she would be able to survive? He didn't know and in the end it didn't matter now. He'd broken his promise to her and in turn he'd broken the trust established between him and the others.

Feeling a tad bit underappreciated, Harry instead decided to help the wookies repair and upgrade their defensive fleet. His magic especially helped with setting up a planetary defence position around Rwookrrorro though in the past month since he'd been back on his feet a lot of things had changed. A lot of the smaller wookie settlements had moved to the larger cities around Kashyyyk, forcing them to expand almost threefold as the wookies arrived. He'd also helped them set up a spaceport for their ships where they could make repairs and upgrades planetside.

On the whole, Harry felt he'd spent his time productively. He liked being around the wookies. On the surface they seemed like a rather simple if technologically intelligent people, but underneath all that the concept of family and the clan was the cornerstone of their culture, something that reminded Harry of some of the better parts of his past on Earth. Still, no matter how much he liked the wookies, he was beginning to feel restless. He wanted to explore more of the Galaxy. Thankfully for him, he wasn't the only one in their group who felt the need to move on. Five weeks after the others had arrived on Kashyyyk, the five of them could be found in their own treehouse, eating breakfast.

"I want to go take my rite of passage," Ahsoka said interrupting the technical discussion between Maris and Aayla. Shaak Ti was sitting at the table reading a book while she nibbled on some spicy jerky alongside a rather interesting purple fruit.

"I want to have my rite of passage as well," Maris added.

Harry observed her for a moment before nodding his acceptance. Maris had been in an agitated state when she'd visited him in the infirmary. Her presence in the Force had been wild and chaotic, her thoughts all over the place, and she'd been frighteningly close to losing her mind on Mustafar. He'd spent most of the past month helping her with her mental fortitude in their training sessions and finally she seemed to be at the same place as she was before her brush with the Dark Side on Mustafar.

"And where do you need to have your rite of passages?" Harry asked.

"On our home planet," Ahsoka replied.

"I see," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't see a problem with that. I was beginning to feel restless and there wasn't a lot more that I could work on with the wookies. Are you lot done ignoring me?"

The four women exchanged a long glance between them, he tried to keep a smile from emerging on his face. The sight of them reminded him too much of when Tonks would look at him like that after he'd done something stupid. They'd been easing up on his punishment for the past week and it seemed like he was officially out of the doghouse.

"I suppose," Aayla said slowly, her voice coming out in a controlled and measured manner. "If you promise never to leave one of us behind when you're about to do something stupid. You promised me that you wouldn't go into the Shadow Lands alone."

He was just about to shrug his shoulders in a 'sure if that's what it takes for me to get out of this punishment' gesture when he actually took the time to look at their faces. Ahsoka's body was closed off, while Maris tried her best to keep a nonchalant expression on her face. Shaak Ti had closed the book and was staring at him intently not giving anything away but her entire upper body was leaning slightly forward in her seat. Harry cast his thoughts back to conversations he'd had with Aayla, and it didn't take long before he visibly winced as he recalled their first night on Kashyyyk.

"Right," Harry said. "I'm sorry. I did promise not to leave you behind and I still did it."

"Never again," Aayla said, her hazel eyes searching him for any sign of prevarication.

"I'll try not to rush into danger without any of you," Harry said finally. "So I'm forgiven?"

"Yes," Ahsoka said. "You're forgiven, you stupid man."

"Thank Merlin for that," Harry sighed loudly in relief. "I was going spare."

"Good," Shaak Ti said. "You deserved it."

"Mmhmm," Aayla interjected. "You had us all worried sick when you didn't wake up for a week. Maris even cried."

"I did not!" Maris denied fiercely though her skin had taken a decidedly reddish hue. "Don't spread lies about me!"

Honest to god he didn't mean to but seeing the embarrassed expression on Maris's face and the mischievous twitch on Aayla's lips made him break out in laughter. A full on deep belly laughter that took away the stress he'd unknowingly accumulated the past month. He jumped to his feet and almost ran over to Ahsoka, pulled her out of her chair before he swung her around as he kissed her deeply on the lips. The first kiss, she wholeheartedly reciprocated since he'd woken up. They didn't stop kissing until Maris coughed loudly at their display of affection. Almost reluctantly he put Ahsoka down but his hesitation didn't last long as he felt Aayla's arms around his stomach.

"I missed this," she whispered in his ear as her teeth nipped at the back of his neck. "It wasn't fun denying your every attempt at intimacy, but we didn't know how to make you realise you'd done something wrong other than that."

"I missed you, too," Harry leaned his head back onto her shoulder. "And I am sorry for worrying you so much. I missed all of you. Message received. Next time I'm forced to do something reckless I'll bring all of you along. Shaak Ti?"

Maris had joined the impromptu group hug soon after Aayla had hugged him and Ahsoka had almost encompassed the young Zabrak between them. Shaak Ti, however, only smiled as she watched over all of them.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"I'm feeling a little queasy," Shaak Ti admitted. "I might be coming down with something. I'll ask Toby to have a look at me as soon as we're ready to disembark."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "Is there anything we need before we leave?"

"No," Ahsoka shook her head. "Aayla and I have already set up the hydroponics farm. We've also managed to analyse the composition of the fertiliser from your trunks, Dragon Dung I think the sack said. If my translation of your language is correct then it's some sort of creature excrement."

"Yeah," Harry laughed. "Big fire breathing winged lizard things. Their dung apparently had something in it that made it very good at growing magical plants."

"There are traces of the Force in it," Ahsoka sighed. "But other than that it's just regular Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. It's highly concentrated sure but other than that it's not really all that special. The first batch of potions ingredients have begun to sprout nicely."

"Good," Harry smiled gently down at her. "I'm glad that it's working out for you."

"It is," Ahsoka said excitedly. "I think the concentration of the Force all around us and even in space will be enough for them to grow healthily."

"Do we have to do anything for the wookies?" Harry asked.

"No," Aayla shook her head. "They're more than happy to take care of their own planetary defences. Your help in setting up the spaceport here in Rwookrrorro is more than what they'd imagined would happen. You have no idea how quickly that was set up do you?"

"Ehm no," Harry shrugged. "It seemed to be the same pace as magical construction on my homeworld. I feel like there's something we're forgetting."

"The droids!" Maris blurted out. "We forgot about the droid code."

"Right," Harry slapped his forehead. "Yeah, it'll probably be a good idea to make sure they haven't been activated since you got that. Also I need to hide them under the Fidelius."

"The Fidelius?" Shaak Ti asked with a gleam in her eye.

Of all of the women around him, Shaak Ti had been the one who'd taken the biggest interest in anything Harry had to show them.

"Yeah," Harry laughed gently. "It's a charm ritual that hides a secret in the soul of a living being. I'm not sure how it actually hides the information, it might remove it from people who know about the information beforehand or it might just occlude it in their mind as long as they haven't been told the secret by the secretkeeper."

"And who is supposed to be this secret keeper?" Maris asked.

"Ahsoka," Harry said easily.

"Why not you?" Ahsoka asked.

"I'm going to power the ritual," Harry said. "Also I told you. You're the one who has to make the decisions."

"I don't want to make the decisions," Ahsoka sighed. "Why not Shaak Ti or Aayla or Maris?"

"Nope," Maris said, crossing her arms. "Not it. I don't want the responsibility."

"Me neither," Aayla said. "You're our heart, Ahsoka."

"I agree with the others," Shaak Ti said. "You have the heart to know right from wrong in a way that none of us do. I… I was content to just let others decide my fate and lead me to my death. I cannot bear the burden of that much power though I promise to help you carry it."

"I…" Ahsoka looked around at all of them. "Fine. I don't like it but fine."

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, "I remember having the weight of the world on my shoulders. It was my friends and my family who helped me carry the burden, just like we'll help you."

"I know," Ahsoka said as she visibly steeled herself. "Let's get this over with."

"We'll do it on the ship," Harry untangled himself from the group hug. "I'll even find the book describing the charm for you."

"Thank you," Shaak Ti said as she stood up from her chair. "No time like the present."

Half an hour later, Harry had drawn out the ritual circle, thankfully it didn't have to be that big for the secret they were hiding this time. They uploaded the data to one of the Astromech droids and they were going to hide the droid under the Fidelius.

"You need to stand in the opposite circle from me," Harry explained. "We'll place R3 in the middle of the circle."

"What will happen exactly?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Well…" Harry scratched the back of his head. "Until Ahsoka deigns to enlighten us about the secret we won't be able to see R3. Ahsoka will be the only one to remember and the only one able to tell the secret. The rest of us won't even be able to say his designation either when anyone not told the secret is within hearing distance. We won't even be able to acknowledge that R3 exists through any means. He'll be hidden in the background of the Force. It's a rather disconcerting experience when you're standing inside of a secret. Your eyes keep glancing over anything hidden by the secret. Normally the Fidelius is used to hide a location but with a little tweaking everything can be hidden. That doesn't mean the secret is intangible. You just won't register walking into or bumping against the secret. If you walk into R3 after he's hidden then you'll explain away the sensation by thinking that you'd bumped into a piece of furniture or a wall or something."

"That does sound terrifying if it fell into the wrong hands," Shaak Ti admitted.

"Yeah," Harry shrugged, "That's why it was a restricted ritual, though most people didn't really use it all that much. The problem with having a location hidden under the Fidelius is that the ritual becomes compromised if the secret keeper lives under the secret for too long. The weakness of the ritual is trust. Do you trust your secret keeper with your secret? My parents shouldn't have trusted their secret keeper. He led my homeworld equivalent of a Sith directly into the house so he could murder me and my family."

Gasps of shock erupted around him but he didn't seem to notice them, compared to the sudden outbreak of violence as Maris crushed a nearby empty wooden crate.

"You alright there?" Harry asked worriedly as they all watched her breathe in deeply.

"No," Maris said, opening her eyes after a moment. "Please tell me he got what he deserved."

"Well he ended up getting choked out by a quicksilver hand conjured by the same Sith sixteen years later," Harry shrugged. "Shall we?"

Ahsoka nodded hesitantly as she sat down in her circle. As soon as the first sounds escaped Harry's lips a small change in the Force around them happened, slowly growing until their senses were almost blinded. The ancient tongue Harry had initially whispered in had reached a crescendo as his voice blanketed out everything around them. A massive flash of light blinded them, forcing them to cover their eyes and look away. Turning their heads back the first thing they noticed was the smell of charged ozone in the hangar of their ship, the second thing they noticed was the haggard expression on Harry's face.

"What's going on?" Aayla almost panicked. "What was that flash? What's wrong?"

"Ahsoka?" Harry rasped.

"Right," Ahsoka said, opening her eyes. "What a fascinating sensation. It's like a weight is hidden behind my chest."

"Ahsoka!" Harry snarled as he tried to stand up.

"The droid codes are hidden in R3-D42," Ahsoka barely noticed that her voice had taken on an almost unearthly tone.

"Wow," Maris hissed, holding her forehead. "Damn that hurts."

"Yeah," Harry said as he leaned against Aayla. "The rush of memories involving the secret, especially for the people who have more than just passing knowledge. It can give quite the migraine."

None of them got a chance to calmly integrate their memories back before something big smacked against the ramp of their ship.

"I think Unduli might have found out we've been up to something," Harry chuckled weakly.

"What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked worriedly.

"Nothing," Harry coughed. "The ritual just takes more power the wider the secret is spread before it's hidden. I'm not surprised it took that much out of me. Thankfully, specific knowledge of the CIS droids programming isn't as widespread as I had feared."

"Explain," Aayla said. "When we didn't know the secret I could remember that the droids existed and that they had programming, I just couldn't remember anything about what went into it."

"That's about it," Harry said. "You would still remember that the droids existed but anything to do with their programming and their code would have been impossible for you to recall. Even their location would have been removed if you knew about them."

"I'll go talk to her," Shaak Ti said.

The group watched Shaak Ti leave while Aayla and Ahsoka fussed around a greatly weakened Harry. Maris was still rubbing her forehead even though she kept sending worried glances towards him.

"Is it something I've done?" Harry asked as soon as he was on his feet.

"What do you mean?" Aayla asked.

"Shaak Ti," Harry cast a longing gaze towards the direction she'd disappeared. "She's been…"

"I don't think it's something to worry about," Ahsoka said, though her furrowed brow betrayed her true feelings.

"She's probably hesitant to show her emotions because of Master Unduli," Aayla said. "Like I was when we arrived almost two months ago."

"You never told me how your discussion ended," Harry said.

"There wasn't much to say," Aayla shrugged as she took a step back from him and Ahsoka. "She just told me that what I was doing was against the Jedi Code and said I would be facing censure for my actions. Then I asked her who would be in position to censure me. She did not like it when I pointed out that the Jedi Council is no more."

"Rituals!"

Nobody made a move until Harry almost bent over laughing so hard tears began to appear in his green eyes. Maris was the next to crack though Aayla looked almost horrified at Unduli's loud outburst. Ahsoka was fighting hard to contain her mirth but she was losing fast against Harry's joyful laughter.

"Oh I did not see that one coming," Harry wheezed. "Five galleons on her thinking I'm a Sith Lord in hiding and that I've corrupted all of you to my Dark ways."

Maris snorted loudly while both Ahsoka and Aayla looked scandalised. Neither of them thought it was funny any longer. Ahsoka had lost some of her orange skin colour, paling at the implication.

"Do I tell her the secret?" She asked in a whisper.

"That's up to you," Harry shrugged, not feeling nearly as drained as he had before. "You can tell as many people as you want or you can just keep the secret between the five of us."

A tiny whimper escaped Ahsoka's lips, Harry quickly put an arm around her waist as she almost seemed to stagger on her feet. He'd seen the heavy set shoulders before when he'd looked in the mirror. A bitter taste seemed to spread through his mouth as he pulled her against his chest. He was a cruel man. He could have borne the secret himself, it might have taken the four of them to power the ritual to complete the ritual but he just hadn't wanted to be the one people turned to for solutions or answers. He'd shoved the responsibility onto a woman who was nowhere near as naive nor as jaded as he'd been at her age.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered. "I swear that I will become a bulwark to protect you from anyone who wants to harm you. I promise that I will steadfastly support you in all of your endeavours whether it will lead me to war or to peace, through the path of destruction or as we walk to build a home for the weak and weary."

"Thank you," Ahsoka whispered back as she felt the promise cement itself in the Force.

"Come on," Harry said to all three of them. "Let's go rescue Shaak Ti."

"Mmhmm," Ahsoka nodded, a little strength returning to her shoulders. "I'm ready to get out of here."

When they arrived at the ramp, Harry couldn't help himself and shouted. "Yo. What's up, Unduli?"

"The wroshyr trees?" Unduli asked, looking rather perplexed at his question.

Harry let out a snort before he could school his face. "I'm sorry. What's up means how are you doing? It's slang from my homeworld when I was around Aayla's age."

"Right, of course," Unduli blinked slowly, everything seemed to slow down as she tried to process his words. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Eh," Harry said. "You've got to be more specific than that."

"Rituals?!" Unduli accused.

"Just the one ritual actually," Harry shrugged. "It worked as it should and the price to pay was just a bit of power from me."

"And what ritual would that be?" Unduli asked.

"One from my homeworld," Harry said easily. "It was a success and the result is a secret."

"The result is a secret?" Unduli looked at him like he was slightly insane, hurtful but likely true.

"Quite literally," Harry shrugged. "I can't even tell you the secret. It's not mine to share."

"Whose is it to share then?" Unduli asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Harry replied. "Why do you think you deserve to know a secret I painstakingly hid via a ritual?"

"I'm a Jedi Master," Unduli would have screeched if it wasn't so beneath her.

"And that's worth all of nothing to me," Harry insulted her. "Did you even stop to think about why I would spend time and energy on hiding something? No, you just…"

"Enough, Harry," Ahsoka interrupted him.

"What?"

She just gestured towards Shaak Ti and Aayla who looked about ready to throttle him for his attitude towards Unduli. Feeling a little sheepish, Harry stepped back until he stood diagonally behind Ahsoka next to Maris on the ramp.

"Padawan Tano," Unduli said measuredly.

"Former," Ahsoka corrected her. "I'm not a part of the Jedi Order."

"That was your decision," Unduli said.

Ahsoka held up a hand to signal to stop Harry from interfering. She could almost feel waves of annoyance coming from behind her.

"Indeed," Ahsoka said evenly. "I wasn't sure the Jedi Order was the right place for me when it so easily sacrificed me to the Senate's judgement. Especially not when they didn't do anything to prove my innocence or let me defend myself before putting me on trial."

A part of her rejoiced in the wince on both Unduli and Shaak Ti's faces but a bigger part of her was just tired of it all. The politics and the power plays. The moral highroad and the slight arrogance which almost seemed ingrained in the Jedi Order.

"On behalf of the Jedi Order," Unduli began pompously.

"Just don't," Ahsoka sighed. "I don't need empty platitudes, I bear the Order no ill will."

"I see," Unduli tried to hide her grimace behind a blank expression on her face. "It is good to finally have a chance to speak with you."

"Likewise Master Unduli," Ahsoka said genially. "It saddens me that the war is continuing. I had hoped the galaxy would obtain a lasting peace after the war between the Republic and CIS."

"If only we had been so fortunate," Unduli said. "Can I ask…?"

"No, Master Unduli," Ahsoka said apologetically.

"That is unfortunate," Unduli grimaced fully, even Shaak Ti seemed to want to speak up though something in Ahsoka's demeanour if her slumping shoulders were any indication.

Unduli had barely made it a few feet away from them before Shaak Ti and Aayla caught up to her. Harry didn't know what they were telling her and honestly he didn't care. They wouldn't be able to tell her the secret, so whatever they were talking about didn't matter to him. He was just about to turn back towards the ship when he found himself lifted off the ground by two wookies growling in their language.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"It seems like the wookies, don't want us to leave before throwing us one last party," Ahsoka said with an amused expression on her face.

"I got that," Harry said. "I just don't understand why you would do that."

"Love," Ahsoka said exasperatedly. "We're going to the party. It would be rude to decline an invitation like that."

"Who said, I didn't want to party?" Harry asked, his face an exaggerated expression of disbelief. "Bring out the booze!"

Hours later, the five of them stumbled back onto the Marauder, Harry carrying a rather dead drunk Maris in his arms.

"Well that was exhausting," Harry murmured as Ahsoka plotted their course towards her homeworld Shili. "Who knew the Wookies would throw such a big leaving party?"

"I did," Aayla groaned, as she rested her head against his shoulder. "I just wish the ship would stop spinning."

"I know what you mean," Maris whispered. "What's making that noise?"

Shaak Ti watched them with an almost subdued amusement as she passed around cups of Felucian tea to the three drunk people. "I suspect it would be better for you to go lie down as we take off."

"Probably not a bad idea," Harry murmured as he poked one of Aayla's fleshy lekku. She didn't respond beyond the steady snoring coming from her mouth for the past minute. "I should at least dump this one in a bed. Maris, are you going to be okay?"

"Nope," Maris said, her normally pale skin turning almost green as the Marauder launched itself into the air. "I need a bathroom."

She quickly stood up, holding a hand to her forehead as she stumbled out of the door to the living quarters of the ship.

"I do hope she'll be alright," Shaak Ti shook her head with some fond amusement. "Not that I've been much better lately."

"Did you find a time for Toby to run a scan?" Harry asked, sobering up slightly.

"No," Shaak Ti replied. "I'll make my way to the medbay as soon as we enter hyperspace."

"Please do," Harry said seriously, grasping her hands in his own, any thoughts of drinking the warm cup of tea forgotten as he gazed penetratingly at her. "I care for your health and safety and I'm worried about you."

"I'm alright, Harry," Shaak Ti said gently as she pulled her hands out of his. "You do not have to worry about me."

"I'm still going to do it," Harry said as he picked up Aayla in his arms. "I'm just going to put Aayla to bed and then check up on Maris, please get him to check you out soon."

"I will," Shaak Ti said.

With one final glance at her face, he nodded to himself as if he'd confirmed something important. Shaak Ti's expression closed off as soon as Harry turned his back to her and Ahsoka while Aayla snuggled even deeper into his neck as her arms latched themselves lazily around his neck. As soon as the drunken pair left the bridge, Shaak Ti rose from her own seat and moved towards the co-pilot's. They were just about to reach the edge of the planet's gravity well when Ahsoka turned her blue eyes onto Shaak Ti.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Ahsoka asked nonchalantly (or innocently?).

"No," Shaak Ti shook her head.

"Not even the way we parted with Master Unduli?" Ahsoka asked. "Or the way Harry treated her?"

"No," Shaak Ti hesitated. "Well, yes. I do suppose I want to talk about that."

"I don't agree with his antagonistic position towards the Order either," Ahsoka confessed. "I understand where he's coming from but his attitude is awful. Not that Unduli's attitude didn't rub him the wrong way."

"I suppose she would," Shaak Ti sighed. "It's just…"

"You've been on the Jedi High Council while she was a valued advisor for the past seven years," Ahsoka said. "You've known her for longer than I have and have worked intimately with her before. She's even someone that you seek approval from."

"Yes," Shaak Ti said. "And he…"

"He makes that hard," Ahsoka said. "I know."

"I…" Shaak Ti began."

"You're afraid you made a mistake," Ahsoka said shrewdly.

Shaak Ti breathed in sharply; she refused to look anywhere but the empty black space in front of the glass. She almost jumped when she felt a hesitant hand on her arm, only then turning her head slowly to look at Ahsoka's face. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, fearing that she'd somehow ended up offending or irrevocably destroyed something between them. She had not been ready to see the look of understanding in Ahsoka's eyes as the younger Togruta gently squeezed her arm in support.

"It's okay," Ahsoka said. "You do not have to fear being rejected by any of us, even if you decide that friendship is enough for you. I noticed your changed demeanour while we were on Kashyyyk. I think we all did, well, maybe not Maris."

"I'm sorry," Shaak Ti said, surprised to find that she actually meant it.

"Don't be," Ahsoka said gently. "You and Harry rushed into it too fast. Well, I think Aayla and Harry did as well but Aayla has been craving that form of companionship for a long time. He still annoys her greatly at times but she's wanted something like what they have for a long time."

"And you?" Shaak Ti asked.

"I guess I took after my Master a little too much," Ahsoka joked. "I sometimes still wonder if it was the right decision. Don't get me wrong, I'm not regretting anything at all about it. I'm happy for once in my life, and Harry… Harry gave me a sense of peace that I hadn't felt since I was still an initiate or maybe even before that. I don't know how to explain it but… those months we spent alone on Felucia. It was the first time I forgot about the war. It was the first time I felt safe and it was the first time I felt at home. I… I couldn't let it slip through my fingers. So, when Aayla and Barriss landed on Felucia… Well, I decided to grab hold of the one thing I wanted above all else in the Galaxy at that moment. No, I don't regret making Harry my mate and I don't regret letting either of you join."

"I see," Shaak Ti said softly, closing her eyes as she leaned her head back against the headrest of her chair. "I feared the worst."

"That we would kick you off the Marauder?" Ahsoka asked with a teasing smile. "No, you're stuck with us until you decide to walk away. I'll even tell Harry and Aayla to not rub their almost disgusting amounts of Public Displays of Affection in your face. They tend to forget themselves when it's only us around."

"Thank you," Shaak Ti said with a heartfelt sigh. "That would greatly help."

Ahsoka turned back to the console, taking a moment to collect her thoughts as she typed away on the screens.

"You're welcome," Ahsoka said finally, a small part of her noting the change in the older woman's behaviour. "I've plotted out our course. Entering Hyperspace in three… two… one."

Several days had passed since they'd entered Hyperspace for the first time since Kashyyyk. Harry was sitting in the kitchen with his last cup of Felucian tea. He still wasn't sure how he was supposed to behave around Shaak Ti. He'd barely had a chance to have a hangover when Ahsoka had asked him for a talk and if those weren't the most feared words for any male in the history of sentient life then Harry wasn't sure what those would be. Shaak Ti had been regretting their intimate relationship. It had hurt, it had hurt him deeply to be rejected like that. He was at a loss for how he was supposed to even talk to the older Togruta. It was all so… frustrating. He knew his reaction to being rejected was deep seated, almost engraved into his psyche. Thousands of years of experience and he still reacted like the frightened little boy living in a cupboard on number four Privet Drive.

The door to the kitchen opened, making him look up at the intruder disturbing his solitude. Shaak Ti was standing in the door, looking just as uncertain about herself as Harry felt about anything at the moment.

"Here you are," she said quietly. "I've been meaning to find you."

"You have?" Harry asked, hating the small part of himself that unwillingly grasped at any validation from those who had rejected him.

"Yes," Shaak Ti said as she took one hesitant step into the room, letting the metal door close behind her. "We need to talk."

"Oh good," Harry snarked sarcastically. "Just what I wanted to hear."

"I'm sorry," Shaak Ti said, her voice only carrying a hint of trepidation.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Harry said breezily. "What can I do for you?"

"I found myself worried about…" Shaak Ti didn't say anything else as she sat down across from him.

"Where are my manners?" Harry stood up and moved to the kitchen. "Would you care for something to drink?"

"No," Shaak Ti blurted out.

Harry almost deflated as he stopped moving his hands around the cupboards. He'd hoped Shaak Ti would have gotten the hint that he was uncomfortable being in a room with her, especially being alone with her in a room. Turning around, Harry made his way back into his chair, his hands clutching the tea in his cup as if it was his last lifeline. He didn't dare make eye contact with her.

"Harry?"

Merlin, her voice was like a dull spoon scraping against his gut. He took another sip from his cup before he finally looked up into her dark almost black eyes.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Sure, yeah, I'm good, you?" Harry floundered a little.

"I'm fine," Shaak Ti said, a small sigh escaping her lips. "Maybe a cup of something would…"

"Yes, right," Harry almost sprung to his feet. "Right, what do you want?"

"Tea?" Shaak Ti asked.

"We've got some leaves from Kashyyyk," Harry said. "Though I'm afraid we don't have anymore from Felucia."

"Kashyyykian will be fine," Shaak Ti replied.

"Coming right up," Harry said, as he bustled around the kitchen.

Neither of them said anything while Harry focused on making Shaak Ti the perfect cup of tea. He slowly boiled the water on the kettle before gently applying the dried leaves into the water. Precisely forty five seconds later, Harry gently fished them out of the mug with a little twitch of his fingers, levitating them to the biological disposal. Another ten seconds of waiting before he picked up the steaming cup of tea and brought it over to the table where Shaak Ti was sitting. He'd felt her eyes on the back of his head throughout the whole process, the escaping sensation intensifying the longer their silence lasted.

"Here you go," Harry said as he placed the cup in front of her. "Did you ever get that check up from Toby?"

"Yes," Shaak Ti said, her fingers tracing the edge of the cup.

"And?" Harry asked.

"Nothing I needed to worry about," Shaak Ti said. "It was just a small something in my stomach making me queasy. I'll be better soon."

"Oh," Harry sighed in relief. "That's good. I'm happy to hear that."

"Yeah," Shaak Ti said, sipping slowly on her tea. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is this so hard?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Haah," Harry sighed loudly. "I'm sorry. I should have been the bigger person…"

"You've been avoiding me," Shaak Ti said with no trace of accusation in her voice.

"I have," Harry confessed. "It's… it's just something I have to deal with on my own."

"You've been distant from the others as well," Shaak Ti said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Harry said, looking her directly in those expressive sad eyes. "You cannot control how you feel nor how you don't feel about a situation. Emotions are messy at the best of times. It might be why the Ruusan Reformation was so successful."

"Maybe," Shaak Ti's lips twitched before her face fell back into that sorrowful expression she'd been showing since they'd left Kashyyyk.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I don't think I understand," Shaak Ti said.

"It doesn't matter," Harry replied after a moment. "How long until we arrive on Shili?"

"Not long now," Shaak Ti said. "At most thirty hours."

"Good," Harry said. "I think I might be going stir crazy. Even though the ship is large for its size…"

"There aren't a lot of things to do in space," Shaak Ti agreed. "I've spent most of my time in the library?" Her voice had an almost questioning quality to it.

"That's good," Harry said.

"Right," Shaak Ti said. "Thank you for the tea… and the talk."

"You're welcome," Harry said, his smile felt fake even to himself. "I'll just… see you around the ship then."

"Yes," Shaak Ti said, her cup left forgotten on the table as she stood up. "I'll probably be in the library or on the bridge if you have need of me."

"Yeah, sure," Harry said. "I'll be around."

His eyes lingered on her back as she strode out of the kitchen, though he averted his eyes to his cold cup of tea when she turned around to look at him. He didn't see the sad expression on her face turned almost sickly nor the way her hand traced the edge of her stomach.

For the rest of the journey, Harry spent his time alone with R3-D42 as he taught himself the basics of galactic programming. He did have some prior knowledge of programming from his time on Earth. He'd gotten bored for a couple of decades around the middle of the twenty-seventh century right around the time when his great-great-great-grandchildren's generation forgot about him. They didn't forget about him as much as they just never had a reason to talk to him. He didn't even have a reason to talk to them. They looked less like him for every generation until he couldn't even see traces of himself or his wives in them, so he faked his death and disappeared into the Muggle world immersing himself in their scientific discoveries.

That's when he spent a couple of decades learning different sciences but programming had been what he'd found most interesting. The first fully evolving AI had just been officially released at the time. It behaved like a living being and the thought of creating at least a facsimile of life had fascinated him. He didn't have enough time before they arrived on Shili to really begin to even understand the fundamental differences between Earth-programming and Galactic programming. It was almost like… the hardware had progressed beyond anything Harry had ever seen on Earth when he looked through the Datapad he'd gotten from Ahsoka back on Felucia. It was like the whole philosophy around the galaxy was to just upgrade the hardware when you needed a better or faster ship or droid. Their programming had barely made any progress compared to what he'd seen happening on Earth. Maybe it had something to do with the distances between provider and products. If you couldn't send out the software updates to everything at once then you'd soon have incompatible systems all around the galaxy. It was definitely something worth exploring if he ever needed to make a better product than the rest of the galaxy.

"Everybody report to the bridge, we'll be arriving on Shili in five minutes," Aayla's voice sounded out over the internal speakers.

"Well R3, I guess we'll work on the programming at some other time."

The beeping from the droid almost sounded excited at his words. Harry was almost proud of the fact that he could decipher the different beeps and boops coming from an R-series droid, though he was nowhere near as fluid in their specific way of communication than he was in any other galactic language apart from Basic.

Entering the bridge, Harry spotted all of the others already sitting in their designated chairs. The oppressive atmosphere between his four travel companions was almost suffocating as he sat down in the co-pilot seat. He smiled briefly at Aayla who was sitting in the pilot's seat before nodding to the others.

"So," Harry said. "What should I be aware of when it comes to Shili?"

"It's the homeplanet of the Togruta," Ahsoka said. "Both Shaak Ti and I were born on the planet before we were taken in by the Jedi Order as kids."

"I see," Harry said. "Anything special about the place?"

"The Togruta are a rather secluded people," Shaak Ti said. "We are known throughout the galaxy for being closely connected to nature and the Force."

"Interesting," Harry said. "So a larger percentage of the population have been given to the Jedi Order?"

"No," Shaak Ti said. "Very few of us are actually strong enough in the Force for the Jedi Order to recruit us. Ahsoka and I are both exceptionally strong in the Force compared to other Togruta."

"I see," Harry said. "Excited to visit home?"

The oppressive atmosphere became even heavier at his words. Turning around his seat, Harry saw the awkward gazes being shared between Ahsoka and Shaak Ti. It wasn't until he replayed the conversation in his mind that he realised what was wrong.

"You haven't been on Shili since you were taken to the Jedi Temple?" Harry asked.

Shaak Ti almost deflated in shame, while Ahsoka decisively looked away from her.

"I haven't been on my own homeworld since I was kidnapped by slavers. It was Jedi Master Plo Koon who rescued me from them and took me to the temple," Ahsoka said. "I've met other Togruta on Kiros but other than them I've never spoken to another of my people beyond Shaak Ti."

"And you?" Harry asked the silent Jedi Master.

"I've trained two padawans on Shili," Shaak Ti said.

"What happened to them?" Harry asked.

"I do not wish to discuss them," Shaak Ti said. "They are in my past and no longer relevant for my future."

"Okay," Harry said. "Sorry for asking. Where are we going specifically?"

"The capital city, Corvala," Ahsoka said. "It's the only place where we can get our ship serviced and refuelled."

"Good to know," Harry said.

"Exiting Hyperspace in five… four… three… two… one…," Aayla counted down.

In front of the windows a large planet with six orbiting moons appeared in front of them, it almost reminded Harry of Earth with its large swaths of water between large continents of almost yellowy grasslands spanning the entirety of the planet. There didn't seem to be any polar caps on either of the ends of the planet making the north and south poles almost indistinguishable from the other parts of the planet. This was the part he enjoyed most since coming to the galaxy. Seeing new planets always brought a smile to his face.

"It's gorgeous," Harry exclaimed, before he quickly brought up the planetary information on his datapad. "Large swaths of grasslands, forests. I see… I see… Native population is Togruta but humans and Twi'leks have also established their homes on the planet."

The women on the bridge shared a wry smile between them. It was almost cute the way Harry would get excited about every new planet he arrived at. It was at times like these that even Maris lost her usual defensive attitude towards the others. Shaak Ti found herself idly rubbing her stomach as she looked at him. They hadn't spoken since their last conversation in the kitchen. Harry had avoided her like he had before but it had been the first time since they'd gone into Hyperspace where Harry had joined Aayla and Ahsoka in the largest bed.

"How long until we arrive in Corvala?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Maybe thirty minutes?" Aayla suggested. "We'll have to make our way across the planet's sunbound side to descend towards Corvala, we did arrive a quarter of the way around the planet."

"Right," Harry said. "Anything I should pack? What about money?"

"They would be using Credits on Shili," Ahsoka said. "Shili and most of the planets closest to the Hydian Way were part of the Republic."

"And we have enough credits from the Wookies right?" Harry asked.

"More than enough," Aayla agreed. "You do know how much they paid you for your help right?"

"Ehm no?" Harry said. "Money was never something I cared about before."

"For the confiscated battle spoils we got twenty five thousand credits, for the repairs you did and the building of different new homes and the spaceport over Rwookrrorro they paid us almost a hundred thousand credits," Aayla said with fond exasperation. "That's almost enough to buy a brand new corvette from SoroSuub."

"How big is a corvette?" Harry asked.

"Between ninety and two hundred metres," Ahsoka said.

"Wow," Harry exclaimed. "I never realised."

"Obviously," Maris scoffed, though the smile on her lips betrayed her feelings.

"Yeah yeah," Harry laughed. "Make fun of the country bumpkin. How was I supposed to know?"

"It's in your datapad," Ahsoka said.

"Is it?" Harry asked, flicking through the different files. "Huh, you're right. Comprehensive guide to spending power in the Republic. Merlin, that sounds boring."

"You'll need to understand it though," Ahsoka chided him. "You can't just go around without any common sense."

"Why not?" Harry asked. "It's not like I need to understand these things to survive. Also you all have more than enough common sense between you to cover for me."

"Uh-huh," Ahsoka said. "Sure, the secluded Jedis have common sense. I never understood the need for credits before I left the Jedi Order. I would always just give them the number to one of our accounts with the Galactic Banking Clan."

"I as well," Shaak Ti said.

"I usually just ate the rations the troopers got from the Republic acquisitions office," Aayla said. "I do know a lot about surviving in the criminal underworld because of the training I got from my Master Quilan Vos and from Master Tholme, but I don't actually have a lot of knowledge about how to live like a civilian."

"Don't look at me," Maris said. "My master took care of all of that before we separated."

"So… none of us have an idea on how to live as a civilian," Harry laughed self-deprecatingly. "Why are you forcing me to have common sense then?"

"Because one of us needs to focus on it," Ahsoka said simply. "I grew up fighting as a commander in a galactic wide war, how did you expect I was raised?"

"I grew up infiltrating the worst of the worst the galaxy has to offer," Aayla said. "Not that my Master was the best individual to raise me."

"Not even you Shaak Ti?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"No…" She answered. "I… I do not have the necessary qualities for raising someone properly."

Harry sent a piercing glance at Shaak Ti but she wasn't looking at any of them, her eyes were focused on a large tome in her lap or at least that was what she wanted the others to believe. Harry hadn't heard nor seen her move a page for the last ten minutes. Something was definitely going on with her and part of him wanted to figure out what it was. The same part of him that needed to figure out who was trying to steal the philosopher's stone, solving the issue of the basilisk, finding his godfather or any of the hundreds of harebrained schemes he'd been part of throughout his life. A different part of him realised that Shaak Ti didn't want him to bother her or have a relation with him beyond being on the same ship or loosely part of the same working environment. Not that they'd established what they were working towards. They hadn't formalised anything beyond them being on the same ship.

Getting clearance to Corvala was more tedious than Harry had expected. The wookies had spliced him an actual identity in the Galaxy and registered the Marauder to his name. Seeing as all of the others were technically wanted by the Empire it seemed prudent to have Harry become the face of their group seeing as the only thing known about him could be found on Kashyyyk and the wookies were notorious for keeping the secrets of their allies.

As soon as they landed, Harry almost ran to the ramp in his excitement. Aayla had to grab the collar of his coat to slow him down.

"Let Shaak Ti take the lead on this," Aayla suggested. "It's her homeplanet."

"Not Ahsoka?" Harry asked.

"No," Aayla said. "Shaak Ti has contacts in Corvala."

They were interrupted by the arrival of the others. Ahsoka looked slightly nervous at the prospect of actually standing on her home planet again. Shaak Ti looked almost pale though it was hard for Harry to spot the difference between her usual deep red skin colour and her nervous colour. Her poker face was immaculate as always. Maris just looked bored.

"So," Harry began. "Do any of you need a disguise or something?"

"No," Shaak Ti said. "The Empire should have little to no presence on Shili. The Togruta take care of their own."

"Where are we going first?" Harry asked.

"To the city of Jerra," Shaak Ti said. "It's where the Togruta sharing Ahsoka's colouring and tribal patterns live."

"I didn't know that," Ahsoka said in shock. "You're telling me that would be the city where my parents live?"

"I do not know that," Shaak Ti said gently. "It is my best approximation of their location based on the colour of your skin."

Ahsoka definitely took on an almost yellow hue when she realised she might meet her parents, with her mate by her side, a human as far as she knew. One she shared with a Twi'lek.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Ahsoka groaned.

"What?" Harry panicked. "What's wrong?"

"You're about to meet the inlaws," Aayla teased him.

"What?" Harry began only to stop thinking about it. "Oh. Right… The in-laws usually love me. Should be interesting."

"That's it?" Aayla asked, feeling a little cheated at his lack of reaction.

"Well yeah," Harry said. "I'm sorry but this isn't my first time meeting a girlfriend or even a wife's family. Why do we have to go to Jerra though? I'd assume it was something to do with the whole ceremonial thing but couldn't we do it anywhere on Shili?"

"If Ahsoka is to do her rite of passage then she will need to obtain permission from her Clan mother," Shaak Ti said.

"My clan mother?" Ahsoka whispered.

"Yes," Shaak Ti said, an amused smile appearing on her stoic face.

"Will you be meeting your own clan mother?" Maris asked.

"I will," Shaak Ti said, though her smile seemed a little forced as she said that. "It would be rude of me not to announce myself in front of Clan mother Ti."

"Ti is your clan name?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Shaak Ti said bemusedly. "What did you think it was?"

"Part of your first name," Harry admitted sheepishly.

"I see," Shaak Ti said, her lips twitching slightly. "I am referred to as Jedi Master Ti, you know."

"Ehm," Harry said. "Sorry?"

"Don't worry about such an insignificant thing," Shaak Ti said. "There will be other things to worry about instead."

"Like what?" Harry asked.

"Ahsoka's parents and Clan mother," Shaak Ti said. "You are bedding their daughter and clan member respectively."

"Right," Harry said, a sense of unease filling him at the expression of mirth on her face. "Meeting the parents, that shouldn't be so hard. I can be charming. As I said I've done it before."

"They don't speak basic in Jerra," Shaak Ti said. "They only speak Togruti."

"They don't what now?" Harry asked.

"They don't speak Basic," Shaak Ti repeated herself, her amusement reaching new heights.

"I'm going to have to learn how to speak Togruti," Harry groaned. "Couldn't someone had told me that before we arrived on Shili?"

"How was I supposed to know?" Ahsoka asked. "I don't know how to speak Togruti either."

"You don't?" Harry asked.

"Taken by the Jedi Order when I was a little kid, remember?" Ahsoka replied. "When would I have learnt Togruti. It's only spoken on Shili and Kiros. It's not like Huttese or even Ryl."

"Yeah," Aayla said. "Most Twi'leks still teach their children Ryl even if they aren't born on Ryloth and with the way Twi'leks have been sold all over the Galaxy it's become a widely spoken language and Huttese is more or less the criminal language. The criminal underworld is pretty much cut up between the Black Sun, the Hutts and the Pyke Syndicate and only the Hutts have their own corner of space. The Pyke Syndicate are everywhere but they speak Basic as do the Black Sun. Death Watch speak Mandoa which is the language of Mandalore but they're more of a terrorist organisation."

"Huh, should I try to learn Huttese then?" Harry asked.

"It probably wouldn't hurt," Aayla shrugged. "Though it probably won't matter as long as I'm with you. Also, unless you've been speaking Huttese from a young age then your accent is going to be horrible, the same with Ryl. I know my Basic has an accent."

"Are we going to stay here forever?" Maris interrupted.

"Don't be rude," Harry chided her gently. "Though I suppose you're right."

"This way," Shaak Ti said, as she lowered the ramp.

A loud voice rang out over the spaceport, coming from a large pillar.

"The Empire is offering to trade your Republic credits for Imperial credits, free of charge, head to your nearest Imperial office to get a new chain code and exchange your credits for Imperial credits," a hologram of an imperial officer said.

"I guess the Empire has little to no presence," Maris snarked slightly.

"They shouldn't have," Shaak Ti pulled up a hoodie over her montrals. "I did not foresee the Empire's reach would extend to Shili. Our home planet has been mostly ignored for so long."

"Not any longer," Aayla spat. "Togruta are valuable."

"You don't think," Ahsoka said, disgust filling her voice.

"No," Aayla shook her head. "They would lose too much and gain too little. It's not like my people who can barely sustain themselves on Ryloth. Shili doesn't need the involvement of other planets."

"No it doesn't," Shaak Ti said. "Harry, I fear for our ship."

"No problem," Harry said as he traced a circle around the freighter.

A shimmering Force shield appeared for only a second before it disappeared into thin air. Maris kept trying to look at the ship but something was stopping her from looking directly at it.

"Sorry about that," Harry poked her gently in the forehead with a finger. "Your darker tendencies are triggering the obscuring charm."

"What?" Maris asked. "Urgh, I hate it when your abilities mess with my mind."

"Sorry," Harry grinned sheepishly. "It's just an obscuring charm. It'll do as it says on the tin. It'll obscure our ship from people who have bad intentions towards either us or the ship, or more generally people who have bad intentions."

"And how did I fall under that category?" Maris snarked.

"You my, dear pupil, have what most beings would describe as bad intentions," Harry chided her softly. "I'm not saying it won't come to that but we're not here to engage in a fight with the empire."

"How did you know?" Maris asked.

"You're broadcasting your thoughts so loudly I can't help but pick them up," Harry said. "Centre yourself and let go of your anger. Don't hold onto it."

"Easy for you to say," Maris said petulantly.

"Agreed," Harry said. "Don't worry. we'll have a lot of time to work on your emotional control when we get to where we're going. If I'm right then we'll have plenty of time while Ahsoka does her rite of passage, maybe I should bring R3."

"No," They all exclaimed in unison. "You're not getting away from socialising."

"What am I supposed to do instead?" Harry asked.

"What about my training?" Maris asked.

"Shaak Ti and Aayla can help you with that," Harry said. "And I wasn't going to spend all my time tinkering."

"You'll also be learning Togruti with me," Shaak Ti said. "Your vocal cords are able to speak the language. Ahsoka will be joining us."

"How much time will it take us to get to Jerra?" Harry asked. "I don't think I can learn a new language in less than six months."

"I'll translate for you when we arrive," Shaak Ti said. "Come, let's go meet my contact. They'll be able to book us passage to Jerra."

Leaving the spaceport took longer than any of them expected. They were almost hauled off for an interrogation by a whole squadron of clone troopers. It took a wide spread confundus charm from Harry to make them ignore their group. Both Aayla and Maris clung to Harry for different reasons. Aayla almost clung to Harry as images of her own troopers betrayal played across her mind while Maris needed Harry's calming touch to stop her from drawing her tonfas and cutting the clones down.

Shaak Ti quickly led them towards a less populated area. The streets grew dirtier, the stone buildings around them had cracks in their walls. They were clustered together letting only a small amount of sunlight through. Every major city had a slum district, the cracks in every society where the outcasts and the downtrodden gathered. Fewer and fewer Togruta could be spotted the longer they walked being replaced mostly by scantily clad Twi'leks and unsavoury looking humans. Interestingly no droids seemed to be around as Harry took in everything. Rwookrrorro didn't have a slum district as much as they had tree houses lower on the wroshyr trees. Here brothels and dive bars littered the narrow street on both sides.

"I don't see a lot of Togruta," Harry whispered, knowing that both Ahsoka and Shaak Ti would be able to hear him even with the distance between them.

"Togruta believe in the cycle of life," Shaak Ti explained. "Our people are connected to nature in a cultural way. Different from every sentient species I've encountered. The people of Shili do not indulge in this sort of… entertainment. Our traditions and cultural understanding places little value in money and capitalism. The different clans live in smaller villages where everyone out of childhood participates in the hunts and gathering. The bounty is then shared between everyone in the clan."

"Fascinating," Harry whispered eagerly. "Why are we here?"

"My contact isn't a Togruta," Shaak Ti said. "Few Togruta would own or care about technology. My contact is a Twi'lek, Isnaa'ondura. She owns one of the gathering spots further into the backside of Corvala."

"She owns a brothel doesn't she?" Aayla said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Yes," Shaak Ti admitted. "She's also the Queen of Corvala's underground, a big fish in a small pond as it were. She controls the darker elements of Shili, not that there are many criminals in Corvala. It's not an attractive location compared to Ryloth or Hutt Space. The Togruta are known for fighting back till the last man and woman if slavers arrive. It has become a haven for runaway slaves."

Nobody said anything else as they walked the last stretch of their journey. It only took a few minutes before they arrived in front of a building with a large glowing sign with an outline of a Twi'lek spinning around the bottom of a T on the name Twilight's Refuge.

"Charming," Harry said dryly. "It looks exactly the same as a strip club on my home planet."

"Prostitution is the oldest profession in the galaxy," Aayla said bitterly. "My people have been bought and sold into slavery for far too long. It… it saddens me everytime I see it. My people never got a chance to become something more, something better than being the playthings of the rich and the corrupt in the galaxy. I just wished we could do something about it."

"If that is what you want," Harry said.

"How?" Aayla asked, her voice bitter and despondent. "There are billions of Twi'lek slaves throughout the entire Galaxy. How could we even possibly begin to help them?"

"We'll make a new home for them," Ahsoka said, a bright fire burning in her eyes. "A series of planets far away from the Empire's reach. A haven for those who need another chance for a new life."

"You've seen something," Harry stated.

"I have," Ahsoka confessed. "I know where I'm supposed to go."

"Good," Harry smiled. "I'll follow you till the end."

"Thank you," Ahsoka said.

"What did you see?" Aayla asked.

"Home," Ahsoka said with a small smile on her face before she walked into the Twilight's Refuge.

The inside of the building looked just like Harry imagined an alien strip club would look like. On one side of the room, not far from the entrance, was a long counter with a line of lights hidden underneath what looked like a pane of hard opaque plastic. Behind the bar three Twi'leks of varying skin colour were serving drinks as beautiful Twi'leks and human women could be found dancing in cages around poles, various coloured lights illuminating their moving bodies.

"There's Isnaa," Shaak Ti gestured towards a middle aged green Twi'lek woman sitting in a secluded booth slightly elevated over the room giving her a birds eye view of everything that happened in her club.

"She looks…" Harry tried to think of a word that would describe the sheer presence the woman commanded. She wasn't intimidating as much as her presence demanded obedience and adherence to her rules.

"She is," Shaak Ti agreed.

Leading their way over, Shaak Ti stopped just before the stairs leading up to Isnaa's seat and lowered her hood.

"Shaak," Isnaa said, a strange expression on her face. It wasn't a warm welcome nor was it an instant dismissal. "How are you my friend?"

"I'm good, Isnaa," Shaak Ti said evenly.

"Dreadful business this Empire," Isnaa sneered. "I do not enjoy having clones around patrolling the backstreets. and now they want us to register. They're impounding unregistered ships and even registered ships if their owner aren't a licensed personage of the Empire. It's bad for business. I need open trade to provide for my girls."

"I understand," Shaak Ti said. "Hopefully the restrictions on spaceflight will be lifted soon."

"One can only hope," Isnaa said. "Introduce your companions."

"With me are Jedi Knight Aayla Secura, Jedi Padawan Maris Brood and former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano."

"Of the Tano clan?" Isnaa hissed. "Why have you brought a Tano into my establishment?"

"I'm sorry," Shaak Ti said. "I did not mean to offend. I did not know that you had an antagonistic relation with the Tanos."

"No," Isnaa said, calming down slightly. "You wouldn't be aware of the situation. What can I do for you?"

"We'll need a way of going to Jerra," Shaak Ti said calmly, though the tensening of her shoulders betrayed her nervousness.

"It'll cost ya," Isnaa said. "None of my people have made it back from going out there."

"We've got the credits," Harry said.

"And who are you?" Isnaa asked, her eyes travelling up and down his body.

"Harry Potter, at your service," Harry said, bowing elegantly towards the Twi'lek matron.

"Another Jedi?" Isnaa asked.

"No, no," Harry laughed. "I'm not a Jedi."

"You look capable," Isnaa said. "There's the air of a predator hanging about you."

"I'm flattered," Harry said, a little amused.

"How about you come work for me?" Isnaa suggested. "I'm sure you'll be popular with my girls."

Twin growls erupted lowly beside him, Aayla and Maris were both glaring at the Twi'lek matron, ready to pounce on her if she made any further suggestion.

"I'm afraid I wouldn't be good company for your girls," Harry said easily. "I also enjoy seeing new planets and people far too much. I could never tie myself down to one place at this time in my life. Shili is only the fourth planet I've visited so far."

"A man with a sense of adventure," Isnaa chuckled. "Why am I not surprised? If you ever feel like settling down into one place I'll be sure to have work around the place for you."

"Thank you, Madam," Harry bowed.

"Oh my, do call me Isnaa, like Shaak does," Isnaa continued to laugh merrily. "Don't be a stranger, Harry Potter. Now enough of the pleasantries, though you managed to bring someone especially pleasant this time. As I said it'll cost ya."

"How much for a planetary ship that'll take us over the savannahs?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Fifty thousand credits," Isnaa said coldly.

"That's!" Maris spluttered, only to be stopped by Harry's hand squeezing her shoulder.

"And upon the return of the vehicle?" Harry asked.

Isnaa almost glared at him for his audacity, nobody haggled with her. Nobody dared to haggle at all with her and here thus human male had the sheer brass balls to suggest that her initial price included a deposit. She stared incredulously at his face. That damned smile could make most of her girls weak in their needs and in need of either a cold shower or a fresh set of clothes or both. Maybe it was better that this one still had a bit of a wanderlust. If he spent too much time around her girls she was afraid he might manage to convince them to leave from her protection. He was enigmatic, charismatic and magnetic

Oh if only she was twenty five years younger. She might even have tried to pursue and tie him down herself. She wasn't oblivious to the obvious animosity she'd garnered with her suggestion. He was definitely sleeping with the Twi'lek and the Zabrak wanted him to bend her over a hard surface as well. He might be involved with the Tano girl and there was definitely some sort of history between this Harry and her friend Shaak. He was dangerous in an entirely different way than your average brute. Four Jedi willingly followed him around like puppies. Interesting.

"Fine," Isnaa said. "You'll get half of it back if you manage to bring back my carrier without any damages to it. I'm feeling generous."

"Thank you," Harry said, a small smirk playing on his lips.

Oh, she needed to get him out of there. That smirk would have her girls offering anything for just a chance to entice and keep him for themselves. If only she was still as young and nubile as her girls. She would have shown him what he missed out on. Nobody could rock your world like a lady of the night.

"Derek will bring you to your transport," Isnaa said. "Show me the creds."

Harry casually pulled out a bag from the inside of his coat, he slowly counted out an impossible amount of chips from it. There was no way the chips would be able to fit into that small a pouch but the cred counter one of her people brought detected no fakes in the pile of Cred chips Harry provided.

"Everything seems in order," Isnaa said. "Are you in need of anything else?"

"Are food and supplies included in the price you've liberated from my hand, Isnaa dear?" Harry asked.

"I was going to let you leave the door without it," Isnaa shrugged. "Oh very well. You'll get supplies for five people to last a month. I imagine Republic army rations will do?"

"How did you get those?" Aayla asked.

"My dear, everything can be bought for the right price," Isnaa said. "Republic army supplies being some of the cheapest of all."

"Why you?!" Aayla began only for Harry to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her against his chest.

"She's just trying to rile you up," Harry whispered close to her ear. "She's bitter and proud. Bitter about the life she's been forced to lead but proud of how she managed to become the one on top. To her you had everything she couldn't have, an education, food on the table, a safe place to grow up. You're whom she would despise because of jealousy. Relax."

"Are we done here?" Isnaa leaned back in her seat, staring idly at anything but them. It also a clear dismissal.

"Whom do we follow?" Harry asked.

"Manpo," Isnaa called signalling to one of her bodyguards. "Give them the RV and enough supplies for a month. They've already paid."

"Of course madam," the large male Twi'lek said. "This way."

"Thank you," Harry said, pulling out a single cred chip from his back and flicking it over.

The only noise he got in response for his tip was a grunt and a short nod of his head ad Manpo led them through the back corridors out into an open plaza with a gate presumably leading out of the city.

"It's this one," Manpo said, bringing the group over to a thirty metre long twelve wheeler of a truck. "It'll get you there and get you back. It has a fusion core reactor for an engine."

Without another word Manpo left back into the building.

"Well that is something," Maris snarked. "It barely looks like it'll make it past the gate."

"I guess we'll need to give it a onceover," Harry shrugged. "I'm sure there are more things we'll need to take care off before we go on a roadtrip. Leave the RV to me and Aayla we'll get it up to snuff in no time."

"Right, I need to find a way to preserve my green room," Ahsoka said. "I guess I'll have to buy a few droids to take care of them."

"Maris and I will look into getting fake identities for all of us," Shaak Ti said. "Hopefully they'll pass muster within the Empire's sphere of control. It might get violent."

"Alright," Maris cheered.

"So we'll be ready to leave in a week?" Harry asked.

"Maybe a little longer," Ahsoka said. "I'll need time to program the knowledge of herbology into the helper droids."

"Right. Talk to R3," Harry said. "We might have found a way to update the software. Should allow for better motor control and memory processing. See if it works out."

"Will do," Ahsoka said. "I just hope I can find three or four all purpose droids."

"We'll need to find a scrap yard," Aayla said after having taken a look around the vehicle. "It's in better shape than it looks but I'm not confident it'll last two months of running. We'll probably end up working on it day and night."

"Better get to it then," Harry said with false enthusiasm.

Ten days passed before all of their self assigned tasks had been completed. Surprisingly, Ahsoka's job of finding and programming three droids took barely three days. The designated H1 through H3 had been programmed with the ability to read and understand English and had in the past seven days alternated between getting taught the proper way of caring for Ahsoka's many Force Sensitive plants slowly sprouting in her green room. She'd even asked Harry to help expand the room slightly upwards so she could have two layers of planting space. The droids could share information between them in real time as well. A little brain child of Harry's. With the help of an R-series droid for processing power and memory storage the four droids had a permanent uplink between them making them able to process information much faster than they'd otherwise have been able to, though they were disconnected from any other network.

On Harry and Aayla's front they'd with the help of Isnaa been led to the only scrapyard on the planet. It didn't contain much of anything but with a Liberal application of magic they'd managed to completely repair the RV in the predicted seven days but seeing as Maris and Shaak Ti weren't quite ready to leave Harry had spent spent last three days turning the three metre high by thirty metre long by two metre wide metal box into an almost palatial living situation. The dining area in the expanded truck was almost bigger than the outside, not to mention the bathroom or sleeping quarters. They'd also picked up a lot of different ingredients and spices in addition to the rations Harry had haggled from Isnaa.

No, the reason their estimated timetable had been extended was the difficulty Maris and Shaak Ti had run into when they'd tried to slice in five series of chain codes as the Imperial troopers called them. It hadn't been hard to find a way inside the building, but actually making five sets of identities that wouldn't trigger any security flags in the Imperial databases was more difficult. It would have been easy enough to establish Maris's and Harry's identities even legally but the other three had become too famous during the Clone Wars and would without a doubt trigger several inbuilt systems if their profiles had the pre ordered frontal photo, side photo and close up. In the end it took giving Ahsoka, Aayla and Shaak Ti an identity as black spec ops of the former Republic Intelligence whose identities had been redacted and removed beyond their access to the underlying system that the Empire had cannibalised before hiding them again underneath several dead ends. When their identity cards were scanned their information would turn up as classified with Harry being their official handler. Any trooper wishing to see beyond the red tape would have to take it up with Harry. They had no idea how long it would last but at the moment it would let them leave wherever in the Empire without having to dodge out of a firefight or so they hoped.

It was either that or having Harry be the owner of four incredibly beautiful slaves. Something both Harry and Aayla were decidedly uncomfortable with especially after Maris had teasingly referred to Harry as Master in a throaty voice.

After putting the Marauder in a power saving state, trusting their Force defences to keep the Empire from impounding their ship, they met in the yard behind the Twilight's Refuge only to find Isnaa blocking the way leading towards the revamped RV.

"My lady," Harry bowed. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I suppose you're leaving now," Isnaa said coolly. "Your presence on Shili has been noticed."

"Our identities will hold up for now," Shaak Ti said. "We've released a virus in the Imperial database that should be working towards removing every image of a Jedi in their intelligence apparatus."

"Impressive," Isnaa said. "What did you do to my RV?"

"A few upgrades and repairs," Harry said easily.

"Where did you get the parts?" Isnaa asked greedily.

"Repurposed them from the scrapyard," Harry explained.

"None of the stuff in the scrapyard was of a good enough quality to repair the truck like that," Isnaa said suspicion tinting her voice. "Also my men couldn't even get near it."

"Of course not," Harry said with a shrug. "It's currently under my ownership."

"How did you do it?" Isnaa asked, her voice almost glacial as she tried to stare him down.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was magic?" Harry asked, a tiny smirk playing on his lips.

"No," Isnaa scoffed. "Argh. Why do you have to be so frustrating? Get out of my place before my girls start throwing themselves at you. It's like they haven't seen a pretty human before."

"Throwing themselves at me?" Harry asked.

"Some of my girls believe you're gathering a Harem," Isnaa scoffed. "As if these Jedi would ever be woman enough to actually live their lives."

"If that's what you believe," Harry said, holding up his hand to stop any angry exclamation from erupting behind him. "Come on Ahsoka, time to meet the in-laws."

The sound of Ahsoka spluttering behind them broke the last of the tension between their two groups.

"You're funny," Isnaa said with a laugh. "If I didn't know better I would have thought the rumours were true."

"Well, I guess you can't believe everything," Harry shrugged carelessly.

"Have a nice trip," Isnaa waved at them as she and her bodyguards walked past them into the Twilight's Refuge.

"What a sharp lady," Harry sighed. "She knows about our relationships, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Well now she knows that we know that she knows."

"She knows?" Shaak Ti asked, a hint of something in her voice.

"She does," Harry turned towards her. "She's the Matron of an establishment like this. She wouldn't have survived this long if she couldn't read people."

"What was all that before then?" Ahsoka asked.

"Posturing," Harry shrugged. "Fishing for information. She already knew most of the answers I gave her though she likely thought I was bullshitting her with the magic comment. I think she just decided I wouldn't tell her."

"Obscuring the truth by telling it," Aayla said. "And the Harem comment?" She finished with a little heat.

"I don't like the word myself," Harry said quickly as he backed away from her. "It puts me on a pedestal above any of you. I'm definitely not but…"

"But what?" Aayla asked, her lips twitching downwards.

"I can see how her employees would start a rumour like that," Harry shrugged. "One male in a group with four beautiful women? To those girls it would look like I was collecting. Rumours seem to sprout up over the slightest bit of knowledge. Also, it's likely that a few of them dream of marrying a rich man who can buy out their contract from Isnaa."

"Enough," Maris said. "Let's leave before I start breaking something."

It didn't take long before they all made their way into the RV. Shaak Ti and Ahsoka both looked around appreciatively at the accommodation though Ahsoka pouted just as much as Aayla had done when Harry had decided against separate bedrooms and instead installed a row of beds along the expanded roof of the vehicle. Five beds hung two and a half metres above the ground floor with another metre and a half on top of them. A small ladder on the end made for an easy way to get to the upper floor. In between the beds a lattice floor secured footing over their heads.

"Well this is comfy," Maris said. "Where are we going?"

"I have the coordinates for Jerra on this datapad," Shaak Ti said. "We'll rotate our time driving."

"Sounds good to me," Harry said excitedly. "It's been forever since I've taken a road trip."

"It's going to be a lot of the same," Aayla sighed. "Teru grass as far as the eye can see, maybe a mountain in the distance, predators attacking us whenever we stop."

"Now that sounds fun," Maris said.

"How many of the animals are edible?" Harry asked Shaak Ti.

"Most of them," Shaak Ti replied. "Except for a few snakes and bugs, most of the wildlife of Shili has been part of the diet of Togruta for the past ten thousand years. Togruta train their young to hunt by sending them to hunt thimiars. A small animal of little danger."

"How young?" Harry asked.

"When they're old enough to hunt," Shaak Ti said. "Most if not all clans on Shili adhere to the culture that only those who hunt get to share in the spoils of the hunt."

"Huh," Harry said. "Interesting. I suppose the old get left to die if they can't keep up."

"Indeed," Shaak Ti said neutrally.

"That's… that's barbaric!" Ahsoka exclaimed.

They'd just cleared the last of the city. Harry didn't know how to respond to Ahsoka's outburst. Aayla looked indignant at the thought as well. Maris was nodding along as if it made perfect sense. Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly Shaak Ti carefully masked her own thoughts though her arms were carefully cradling her stomach and waist. Something new that she hadn't done to show her unease at something before.

"It ties back into the philosophy of the circle of life," Harry explained. "Hunters and hunted living in harmony with nature, and I suppose to some degree the Force."

"That's…" Ahsoka deflated slightly.

"It's not the first species I've found that believe in that philosophy," Harry said. "I've found they're more spiritual than other races. Death is part of life. Returning to the spil, nourishing plants which become the feed of herbivores which are then hunted by carnivores which are then hunted by the sentient species until they die and return to the earth. It has a sort of beauty in its simplicity. Though I guess it does disregard the emotional connection family and friends have to each other."

"Like the Jedi," Ahsoka said.

"Well, yes and no," Harry said. "Though I think that is something Shaak would be better at debating with you."

"I trained my padawans on the plains of Shili," Shaak Ti said, a look of bitter reminiscence on her face though there were traces of fondness in har black eyes. "We lived on the plains, hunting and surviving while communicating with the Force away from Coruscant and the muddled masses. It was pure. They both passed their knight's trials younger than any other Masters. They were stronger than the others in the Force and for that they were hunted down shortly after they passed their trials. I was censured by the High Council. If it wasn't for Yoda I would never have attained the rank of Master."

"You were not wrong to train them away from Coruscant," Harry said softly. "Their deaths are not because of your training. I can feel the thrum of life, of the Force. It's untainted by the artificial darkness that has encompassed the Galaxy. Palpatine is stronger than anyone I've ever met in the Dark Side of the Force but his presence has been artificially strengthened beyond what his body will be able to handle."

"He's that strong?" Aayla asked.

"Oh yeah," Harry shuddered. "He's tied part of himself into whatever it is that's twisting the natural energy of everything. Dark is not evil nor is light good. It just is. The darkness of individuals can be evil when they pervert the cycle of the natural order. Dark is the destruction of everything while the light is the creation of everything too much of one will invite backlash from the higher powers that govern life and death. Palpatine will fall in time and from the ashes of his reign a new boom of creation will flourish."

"How can you be so certain?" Shaak Ti asked hesitantly.

"I'm not," Harry said easily, "but I'm pretty sure the higher powers will stop the total destruction of everything. They'll end up tweaking the conditions for a saviour to appear. It wouldn't surprise me if that saviour had already been born."

"Master Jinn believed Skywalker would be that saviour," Shaak Ti said. "He spoke of a chosen one by the Force prophesied to bring Balance to it."

"Huh," Harry said, a little surprised. "Well, looks like the higher powers are already tweaking fate then. Nothing to worry about then."

"Nothing to worry about?!" Ahsoka asked. "In case you've forgotten, my former master turned to the Dark Side."

"Yeah, so?" Harry asked. "Look I've dealt with a prophecy or two in my life. If it's the will of Fate then you can't force anything. It'll happen the way it's supposed to happen and nothing we do will change a thing. It's when people like us believe we can control or even shape a prophecy into something of our own image that badly. Who even said that Jinn was right about Skywalker?"

"He believed he was right," Shaak Ti said with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"He probably wasn't or maybe he is," Harry said. "What is the wording of this great prophecy?"

"A Jedi will come to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force," Shaak Ti repeated.

"You've got to be kidding me," Harry groaned. "That's it? Did you at least create a device which would divine whether the prophecy was completed?"

Silence reigned in the RV as Aayla focused on driving them towards Jerra. Harry looked between the four women for what felt like an eternity before he finally just slumped down into one of the couches running alongside the wall, his face hidden in his hands and a long-suffering groan escaping his lips. Nobody moved other than Aayla who kept glancing back at him when she didn't focus on the steppes they were traversing.

"You still dream of rebuilding the Jedi Order?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"Yes," Shaak Ti said.

"Fine," Harry sighed. "I'm only agreeing to help because I happen to like you because after that I'm really not sure it would be worth it for the galaxy to have Jedi running around. I'm going to go and have a long flight to clear my head. Please open a window."

Shaak Ti opened one of the windows near her, she heard him mutter something about stupid people and divination and interpretations that mattered less than goblin shit on a sunny day before Harry shrunk down into a small feathered animal that flicked its wings as it ascended out the window.

"So that happened," Maris ended the silence in the RV. "Did you know he could turn into a bird?"

"Ehm yeah," Aayla said, laughing nervously. "I first saw him like that before I was shot. Calls it an animagus form, and says most beings can learn it after a lot of training."

"I'm so learning that," Maris said with finality.

"I've never seen him so…" Shaak Ti began.

"I know," Ahsoka whispered. "For a moment there I thought…"

"I'm sorry," Shaak Ti said.

"Why are you apologising?" Ahsoka asked gently.

"I know my desire to keep my distance has put a… strain on the rest of you," Shaak Ti said. "Harry's… he's been behaving differently even with you."

"Don't worry about it," Ahsoka said.

"Speak for yourself," Aayla exclaimed from the driver's seat. "He's been distant since we left Kashyyyk. I'm not blaming you for not wanting that kind of relationship with him but he's been overly conscious about not even flirting with me and Ahsoka when you're any…."

"You're pregnant aren't you?" Ahsoka interrupted.

"Yes," Shaak Ti slumped into the seat Harry had just vacated. Her position almost identical to the one Harry had been in not five minutes ago. "How did you know?"

"The morning sickness," Ahsoka counted on her fingers. "Your abrupt decision to break things off with him." Another finger. "You've been covering your stomach a lot more whenever you've sparred with any of us and the books you've been reading have been the ones detailing healing and midwifery. You've also begun to hold your abdomen whenever you're feeling stressed."

"I guess it was pretty obvious in hindsight," Shaak Ti murmured.

"You're pregnant?!" Aayla and Maris exclaimed in unison.

"And what if I am?" Shaak Ti bit back.

"Woah," Aayla said, though Maris took a large step away from her. "I mean, I know that humans have been able to impregnate other species before, its just... You didn't really have another night together except on the Marauder back before we arrived on Kashyyyk. What's it been? Three months?"

"Yes," Shaak Ti said, running a hand over the slight protrusion on her stomach. "I didn't even realise something was happening."

"Are you happy?" Ahsoka asked gently as she sat down beside her.

"I don't know," Shaak Ti sighed again as she leant back in her seat, her eyes closed. "Yes, no, I'm terrified. I… how can I call myself a Jedi when I've so blatantly disregarded the Code? When I would care for my unborn child over my duty to the Jedi Order?"

"Is that why you pulled away from Harry and us?" Ahsoka asked.

"Maybe, no," Shaak Ti said softly. "I felt guilty."

"Guilty about what?" Ahsoka asked gently as she pulled the deflated Togruta Jedi Master against her side.

"About being first when I was third to join," Shaak Ti whispered so only Ahsoka would pick it up.

"Shaak," Ahsoka chided just as fondly. "We talked about it. I don't want to be a mother… yet. I'm happy for you."

"What do I tell him?" Shaak Ti asked nervously. "What if he leaves? What if I can't raise a child? My padawans…"

"They are not the same," Ahsoka said. "And do you honestly believe Harry would leave? The guy who despite his misgivings about about Jedi Order just promised to help you rebuild it? That man?"

"No," Shaak Ti exhaled, some of her unknown tension leaving her body. "I suppose he wouldn't."

Several hours later, Harry landed on the edge of the open window. He'd been following the RV at a leisurely pace gliding through the air. He cast a suspicious glance at the four women. Something had changed since he'd gone on his flight. Shaak Ti was standing behind the driver's seat teaching Maris how to drive the large truck while Aayla and Ahsoka were sitting by the table whispering in hushed tones about something his avian ears couldn't make out. Flexing his wings, Harry glided into the moving truck and changed in mid air. The subdued reaction from all of them including Maris who didn't so much slow down the vehicle as she slammed her foot on the brakes to the outcry of everybody.

"So…" Harry said. "Either you're all mad at me for having a flight to myself or something happened while I was gone."

The glances Ahsoka, Aayla and Maris sent Shaak Ti told him that whatever had been shared had come from her.

Shuffling nervously, Shaak Ti took a tentative step towards him. A sudden feeling of apprehension filled him. There were dozens of outcomes her behaviour could lead to and frighteningly few he would categorise as good news.

"What is it?" Harry gulped nervously. "I'm sorry if my reaction offended you."

"Shut up," Shaak Ti said, looking just as nervous as he felt. "This isn't easy for me."

"Okay, okay," Harry said. A single glare from her made him mime zipping his mouth shut.

"So the thing is," Shaak Ti said. "You remember that check up I had Toby give me?"

"Are you dying? Is it a disease? What are the symptoms? We got to turn around. I'm sure we'll be able to find a cure in the library," Harry floundered.

"Shut up!" The four women said in unison.

"Right!" Harry stiffened.

"He found out what was happening to me," Shaak Ti said quickly before she took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh," Harry said, freezing where he stood.

Seconds passed without anyone moving a muscle. Harry's eyes had turned almost vacant.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Shaak Ti asked nervously, poking him gently in the chest.

"Congratulations," Harry said, his eyes focusing on her again. "Sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a bit there."

"About what?" Shaak Ti asked.

"I just remembered the first time I heard those words." A nostalgic look reappeared on his face. "Are you happy about it?"

"I think so," she leaned her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in his presence and the way his arms held her gently against him. "Are you?"

She thought she felt him tense up against her, making her pull back to look at him.

"I am," he said with an easy smile on his face as she studied his expression.

"Is there anything that would complicate a pregnancy between a human and a Togruta?" Harry asked the room.

"I don't know," Shaak Ti said. "Nothing I could find on the Holonet seemed to give a definitive answer."

"So you should take it easy," Harry decided. "No more fighting for you until they're safely born."

"I'm sorry?" Shaak Ti pushed herself out of his arms. "Are you doubting my ability to protect myself?"

It took all of them beating Harry black and blue in a sparring match and several lectures before he finally stopped treating Shaak Ti differently. For a man who'd been a father before he was irritatingly hovering around Shaak Ti catering to her every need, pissing off all of them. To take his mind off the fact Shaak Ti was pregnant, she'd taken to forcing him to learn Togruti during all waking hours of the day. Ahsoka valiantly joined him in his lessons but even she couldn't keep up with the strenuous pace Shaak Ti set for him.

By the time they were halfway there, it had almost been a month. Shaak Ti's pregnancy had become obvious and she'd taken to rubbing her hand over the slightly bigger bulge on her stomach. Harry had a very basic understanding of Togruti.

Another month passed quickly as they hunted for food and gathered different vegetables. Ahsoka had even got a thimiar, a small rodent like animal which made Harry think of Scabbers sending a shudder running up his back. He wouldn't think of himself as picky but the thought of eating rodents still translated as sickness in his mind so he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Shaak Ti seemed to be about them calling them a delicacy.

The sun was just about to set when they ran into the first signs of sentient life. A group of orange Togruta were seen running towards a nearby gully in a small mountain. It didn't take long before the group began shouting and pointing at their vehicle prompting Harry to slow to a stop a far distance away from the group. They barely had time to leave the RV before they were faced with a group of hunters of all ages. The youngest barely looked ten while the oldest looked like they were approaching seventy.

Their spears made of bone and stone were lifted threateningly at their throat. Harry casually lifted his hands in what looked like surrender but instead were a guiding gesture for him to put up an invisible shield of contained energy between them and the group. Something which earned him reproachful looks from both Ahsoka and Shaak Ti. Maris just looked at him like he was an idiot for throwing up a barrier as if they were in any danger from these people while Aayla just shook her head in fond amusement. She was still convinced that Harry was being overprotective of Shaak Ti.

"Halt," the oldest Togruta said with such authority even Harry froze up. "Name yourself."

"Harry Potter, last of my planet," Harry said, remembering Shaak Ti's lectures on Togruta etiquette. "I've hunted King serpents and the Rancors of Felucia. I've hunted on Kashyyyk in their Shadow Lands and come out victorious against a beast of great flame."

A wave of agitated murmurs spread throughout the group while the elder Togruta looked appreciative at him, sizing him up. A few of the Togruta lowered their spears slightly but most kept a vigilant stance which could easily transfer the power of their legs back into the spear in their hands.

"Shaak of Clan Ti," Shaak Ti announced herself. "Defeater of the Akul in a solo hunt."

"We've heard of you," the elder togruta said. "A Jedi training other Jedi on the steppes of Shili many years ago. You still wear your teeth on your forehead."

"Aayla'secura of the planet Ryloth," Aayla introduced herself. "Jedi Knight. I've hunted nothing but battle droids and clones."

"One who doesn't provide but still tries to protect," the elder togruta nodded.

"Maris Brood of the planet Iridonia," Maris said in Togruti with a heavy accent. "I'll hunt anything in my path towards strength."

A few of the more scarred Togruta looked at her appreciatively. There was even one muscular middle aged Togruta who was looking at her with lustful eyes at her declaration.

"Ahsoka of Clan Tano," Ahsoka said as she stepped in front of Harry from her slightly obscured position behind him. "I've come to know my roots and make my way into adulthood."

Nobody said a thing as the group of Togruta bar the eldest looked at Ahsoka in open-mouthed shock. Several of the women sent her a calculating glare as if she was intruding in a place she didn't belong.

"You are Jedi?" The elder asked.

"Not any longer," Ahsoka shook her head. "I've been searching for my future…"

"By looking into your past," the elder finished. "Be welcomed daughter of Tano. Tonight we share the bounty, tomorrow you'll hunt with the clan."

With a sharp nod from the eldest of the group the rest of them relaxed their stances. That was not to say they weren't in a ready state where they could attack at only the slightest provocation.

"So uhm, should I bring the RV or just let it sit?" Harry asked in Basic.

"Bring it," the eldest togruta said easily. "Your metal monstrosity will attract too much attention from the predators of Shili's plains."

"You speak Basic?" Harry asked a little surprised.

"Of course, how else would we trade for our necessities in Corvala?" The elder replied amusedly.

"I… ehm…" Harry floundered slightly.

"You thought we didn't need modern amenities?" The elder asked.

"Well, yeah?" Harry admitted.

"Why wouldn't we?," the elder replied, "Though probably not as many as the capital or other worlds. The water purifying system needs replacement parts occasionally and so does our sewer system," the elder explained. "I will ride with you."

"Clan mother?!" A few of the Togruta exclaimed.

"Don't be such a bother," the clan mother said dismissively. "I want to get to know the lost one."

"The lost one?" Harry asked.

"Yes," the Clan mother said sadly as she looked at Ahsoka. "Your parents mourned your passing."

"I wasn't dead," Ahsoka said.

"To the clan you were," the clan mother patted her cheek. "It is good to see you alive and well my grandchild."

"Grandmother?" Ahsoka asked, almost afraid it was a lie.

"Indeed," the Clan mother said with a fond smile on her face. "You look so much like your mother. Your markings are almost identical."

"My mother?" Ahsoka had never felt so much like a small child needing comfort from her parents. She was a decorated Jedi commander during the Clone Wars. She'd led battles against impossible odds. She'd survived what could only be seen as certain death. However the thought of actually meeting her mother and maybe even her father brought out something she'd hidden deep inside of her all of her life. It was why she'd grown so attached to Master Plo Koon.

"Oh my," Clan mother Tano said as she stepped inside the vehicle. "By the Force."

"Precisely," Harry said a little smugly.

"How?" The Clan mother said. "I've heard about what the Jedi can do but not even in the wildest stories would this even be mentioned. It's bigger on the inside."

Having to suppress a large snort of laughter, Harry pointedly didn't look at any of them. Of course he'd been excited when he first saw expansion charms at work.

"You!" Clan mother Tano said, pointing at him.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You're the one the steppes have been whispering about," she said, her voice deadly serious. "A catalyst of change."

"Nope," Harry said easily. "That would be your granddaughter."

"Maybe," the clan mother agreed. "The leaves whisper about you like you're an unstoppable force of nature. Like a storm sweeping up the dust and decay of the plains."

"Maybe," Harry shrugged. "Right now I just follow Ahsoka's lead."

"And where are you leading him?" The Clan mother asked Ahsoka with an intensity that belied her age.

Gulping, Ahsoka took a step back from her grandmother. She knew the answer. It had only become clearer to her since she arrived on Shili.

"Home," Ahsoka whispered. "I'm leading him to Home."

"Yes," the clan mother breathed out deeply. "Come sit with us, Shaak of Clan Ti. You shouldn't be on your feet with a small one on the way."

"How?!" Shaak Ti asked, her face shocked.

"I've been a mother four times," the clan mother said gently. "First time?"

"Yes," Shaak Ti blushed the white marking on her face turning slightly pink.

"And he's the father," the clan mother stated more than asked.

"He is," Shaak Ti admitted.

"Good," the clan mother said with a certain finality. "You've done well for yourself."

"What?" Shaak Ti whispered in shock.

"You've chosen a strong male to carry on your bloodline with," Clan mother Tano explained. "His presence sings in the wind. He bends the world around him to his will but doesn't break it or dominate. It's like… the Force around him caters and cares for his wishes."

"How do you know so much?" Ahsoka asked as Harry began driving.

"I listen. I listen to what the steppes are whispering, what the wind is singing about, what the trees are telling me," the clan mother said.

"You're Force Sensitive," Shaak Ti said.

"Maybe," the Clan Mother shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Why didn't you get taken to the Jedi Order?" Ahsoka asked.

"How would they have found me?" The Clan Mother returned.

"But I was taken, Shaak was taken," Ahsoka said.

"You were found in Corvala when your mother and father took the yearly trip across the plains," the Clan Mother said sadly.

"Did they want to give me up?" Ahsoka asked tentatively.

"Of course not," the Clan Mother scoffed. "But how were they going to successfully argue with a Jedi Master?"

Shaak Ti grimaced. She'd brought other Force Sensitive children to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She'd even done it while she taught her own padawans on Shili. She'd never thought past the honour having a Jedi in their family would bring. It was sobering to hear someone speak so dismissively of her Order. Her hand trailed to her stomach. She would have fought fangs and nails to keep her child with her.

"Don't despair on what you've done in your past," the clan mother said knowingly. "What is done is done."

"I…" Shaak Ti said. "What should we have done? The potential of someone falling to the Dark Side would have been disastrous."

"I've never had training," Clan Mother Tano said. "I'm doing just fine."

"I think training is important," Harry interrupted from the driver's seat. "Being sensitive to the Force or being able to wield the Force can be dangerous if you aren't trained to control it. I was schooled for five years before I was declared competent enough to not need further education. You could then specialise beyond that at my first school for another two years. Seven years in all before you then got training for a profession. Well most did."

"And you?" The Clan Mother asked.

"I got the first six years of schooling," Harry said a little sheepishly. "I did finish my exams some years later, then I did a number of extra training for different jobs. I think I've forgotten more than I remember of the training. It was so long ago, or maybe I read the information again, I don't honestly know."

"How old are you?" The Clan Mother asked.

"Old," Harry said simply. "I look very good for my age."

"You've been taken outside of the circle of life," the Clan Mother hissed.

"Yes," Harry said. "I'll walk this galaxy for long after the planets have been ground to dust."

She stared at him open-mouthed, "You poor man," she whispered after a moment, in horror.

"It's alright," Harry said. "I've gotten good at saying goodbye."

"How many?" The Clan Mother asked.

"Too many," Harry shrugged. "I grew numb in the end."

"Until something changed," she said.

"Yeah, until Ahsoka fell from the sky in a burning box of metal," Harry said. "First Togruta I ever met. I thought for sure she was some kind of demon send to torture me," he quickly glanced over and added, "no offence. The tales of demons on my world said they had a skin colour in the red spectrum and horns on their head. What was I supposed to think?"

The Clan Mother laughed. She could imagine this man meeting Ahsoka for the first time. He'd probably been equally fascinated and hungering for company. There was a heavy past hanging around him, an ancient song that had once again begun to evolve. He was interesting, that was certain.

It didn't take long before the two groups arrived at Jerra. Aayla and Maris had joined the group running outside. Mostly because Maris had a lot of aggressive sitting-around-in-a-large-vehicle energy to run off and Aayla decided to stick around so nothing happened between Maris and the running group of Togruta, and it was a good thing she did. They'd barely run for five minutes, not really at a tempo that would be exhausting for a Jedi or even a Padawan before one of the younger male Togruta who looked around Maris's age stuck his long spear out to trip her.

It took all of Aayla's many lessons in conflict management and diplomacy to stop Maris from cutting the whole group down. She'd even gone with the full guilt trip whispering about jow they were Ahsoka's family and when that didn't work she had to pull the 'Harry will punish you'-card. Something that could have been misunderstood in a different context but in truth was a series of horrendously annoying and terrifying and utterly unpredictable in its application. Either way she managed to guide both groups to Jerra without anyone losing a limb which she personally counted as a success.

Jerra looked nothing like Harry had expected it to look. The houses were long and looked like halls made of a mixture of stone and timber. He'd almost half expected the Tano clan to live in large skin huts. A more nomadic existence where they moved from place to place across the steppes. It seemed almost too stationary. The city was hidden behind large gate made of metal and wood suspended between two walls of stone leading up to two steep cliffs. The city itself was build in a large basin of fertile soil. Several layers of city was build into the cliffs surrounding and shielding the city on all sides. On the sides of the mountains large reservoirs were cut into the stone leading down into a small river splitting the city in two. It was breathtaking the way the water reflected the many different colours around them. The basin was quite deep and in the distance where the river ran off a large farming area was seen.

"Wow," Harry said. "It's breathtaking."

"That it is," Clan mother Tano said. "Welcome to the hidden city of Jerra."

"Hidden?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yes," she replied. "Noone outside of the five clans steps into the city."

"How come we're allowed then?" Aayla asked.

"Because you're the family of my granddaughter," Clan mother Tano said. "Ahsoka has brought her mate and is going to represent him to her parents. We are not cruel enough to separate that mate's other mates from him, though from what I've seen a lot of the younger women around here might make a play for him."

"What am I?" Harry asked. "A prized piece of meat?"

"Yes," the clan mother said easily. "You radiate power."

"Let them try," Maris said with a grin on her lips.

"They will," the clan mother said, resigned to her near future of officiating duels between the women of Jerra and Ahsoka's sisters. "But first, I think it's time we visited my son and his mate."

"I-I… Right now?!" Ahsoka exclaimed.

"None of that," the Clan mother chided her in a way only a grandmother could. "You're my granddaughter, hold your head high and don't look so scared."

"Easy for you to say," Ahsoka mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Her grandmother asked.

"Nothing!"

Ahsoka's grandmother led them decisively through the different levels of the city until they stood at the foot of one of the cliffs. A large stone and wooden house spread out alongside the cliff face.

"Aaka!" Her grandmother called out to the house.

A muddle of young voices came shouting from beyond the side of the house. "Nana!"

Three young Togruta ran towards their group with another slightly older Togruta teen walked at a more measured power walk towards them.

The three youngest skidded to a Halt when they saw their Nana wasn't alone while the teen picked up the pace until she was half shielding the three young boys behind her.

"Nana," the teen said evenly, eying Harry's group with suspicion. "Have the Jedi come to take us away like they did our older sister?"

"Not a Jedi," Harry said in Basic.

"Not a Jedi?" The teen repeated though it didn't look like she understood more than the word "Jedi" of what he said.

"Araha," the clan mother chided, switching completely to Togruti."They've not come to take any of you away."

"They took away our sister," Araha said, still glaring at them.

"Are you my sister?" Ahsoka asked in heavily accented Togruti.

"My sister was taken a long time ago," Araha replied though the glare lessened slightly.

"I'm Ahsoka, Ahsoka Tano," Ahsoka said.

Nobody said anything as the two sisters sized each other up. Grandmother Tano just watched them with a hint of exasperation on her face. It wasn't until a tall Togruta with the same orange colouration as Ahsoka stepped out of the house.

"Mom, I thought I heard your voice," he said. "What's going on?" His gaze just as guarded and suspicious as his teenage daughter.

"Aaka!" Grandmother Tano said, her annoyance showing fully on her face. "This young lady returned home to complete her spirit quest." She shoved Ahsoka in front of the man. "Oh and report to her parents that she's chosen her mate." The last part was decidedly impish.

"Mate?" Aaka asked, looking less defensive and more confused. "Why would she report it here?"

"Dad?" Ahsoka asked nervously.

"Ahsoka?" Aaka whispered almost reverently until his brain reminded him why his long lost daughter was here. "A mate?!"

"That's what you're focusing on?!" Grandmother Tano whacked his shin with the butt of her spear. "Your daughter has returned from who knows where and you're focusing on the fact that she's found her mate?"

"Mom!" Aaka whined, looking around for support only to find his mate, a beautiful woman with skin the colour of a sunset just before it descended into the water and the exact same markings on her face and arms as Ahsoka, staring at her lost daughter with a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes.

"My precious baby," the woman whispered as she leapt towards Ahsoka and engulfed her in a hug. "I thought I'd lost you."

Even Araha looked teary as she watched her mum and older sister. Their younger brothers looked confused but even they were beginning to show signs of distress. Though it was likely because they just copied their surroundings.

Harry plopped himself down on the ground a little over a metre away from them and gave them his best grin before he began conjuring magical animals of light jumping out of his upturned hands. Unicorns in a soft white galloped around him as fiery dragons in all sorts of colours emerged flying up and down breathing light from their maws. Butterflies joined the many other creatures captivating the three boys and to a degree their older sister Araha. None of them paid any attention to the mesmerised crowd watching the show. Hesitantly one of the boys poked one of the colourful butterflies making it explode in a shower of lights, none of them so bright they would blind anyone.

"What are they?" Araha asked.

"Animals from my planet," Harry answered easily. "They were bigger than this but they were beautiful."

"I want to see them," Araha said.

"I'm sorry," Harry said regretfully, letting the lights fall away into glimmers until they disappeared. "My planet is no more. It's been burned to a husk, I'm the last survivor."

"Oh," Araha said sadly. "You're my sister's mate?"

"I'd like to think so," Harry smiled. "She's brilliant, you know."

"Of course," Araha puffed up her nonexistent chest proudly. "She's my sister."

"How silly of me to forget," Harry said.

"How did you do that?" Araha asked, her younger brothers leaning closer to hear the answer.

"Magic," Harry said mischievously.

"Ugh," Araha groaned while her brothers giggled. "You're stupid."

"What a performance," Ahsoka's mum said. "Thank you for bringing my daughter back."

"I didn't do anything," Harry shrugged. "She's the one bringing me around. Pleased to meet you, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

"Welcome to our home Harry Harry Potter," Ahsoka's mom said. "My name is Teruan Tano of the Clan of Mar and this is my mate Aaka Tano."

"Thank you," Harry said, wondering if he should correct her misunderstanding of his name. "These are our companions. Aayla Secura of Ryloth, Maris Brood of Iridonia and Shaak Ti of Clan Ti."

"You're a Zabrak right?" Teruan asked.

"Yes," Maris said. "Never seen one before?"

"No," Teruan shook her head. "Your horns and hair are beautiful."

"Uhm, thank you?" Maris said, self consciously running a finger over the largest of her horns on her forehead.

"You'll be the one to face the other challengers won't you?" Teruan asked shrewdly.

"How?" Maris asked, looking from Aayla to Shaak Ti as Ahsoka had been monopolised by her father and siblings.

"Oh, Aayla, that was your name right? She could but she doesn't need to bother and Shaak is pregnant," Teruan said. "My daughter takes after her father. She won't fight the challengers and she'll be gone on her spirit journey."

"How does everyone know I'm pregnant?" Shaak Ti said with a hint of exasperation.

"The life in your womb already sings a song in the world," Teruan said knowingly.

"You too?" Shaak Ti asked in wonder. "How many Force Sensitives are there in Jerra?"

"Me, my husband, both of my daughters and my three sons, Grandmother Tano and around a hundred others or so Sensitive enough to listen to the song of the world," Teruan replied honestly.

"That many?" Shaak Ti asked in shock. "How is that possible?"

"There used to be more but sometimes the songs call them elsewhere and they never return," Teruan said. "Sometimes we hear stories about them when my husband and I travel. The wanderers, they're called. They move around Shili and help people until their song finishes telling them to settle down somewhere. Some are returned to the great cycle."

"But how?" Shaak Ti asked.

"You already know the answer to that question," Teruan looked into her eyes directly. "You know why."

"Because they marry and have children," Shaak Ti sighed in defeat. "Harry's planet had enough Force Sensitives to make their own government. According to him there were millions of them on his planet alone, there were barely sixteen thousand Jedi throughout the Galaxy."

"Not all who can listen to the Great Song become Jedi," Teruan said. "Most likely don't, but those that do are strong. They have an ability to listen to the Greater Song of the Universe. I only have the ability to listen to Shili. I would never have become a Jedi."

"You would be more than strong enough to attend the school I went to," Harry said easily as if he'd been listening all along from where he was sitting entertaining the young boys who had gotten bored of Ahsoka already. "I guess my school's standards weren't as high as the Jedi's."

"School?" Teruan asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "It's gone now of course."

"Your planet," Teruan grimaced. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"It's alright," Harry said. "If it hadn't happened I would still have been on it and never met your daughter. I needed a change of scenery or else I would have gone mad. Who knows how long it would otherwise have taken before someone would have found my planet? Instead I'm here meeting new people flying to different planets. It's fascinating. I could spend millenia without getting bored. There are so many things I can see or read or learn. So many things have been forgotten by the people who are alive."

"Millenia?" Teruan asked.

"Figure of expression," Harry said with a small shrug. "I'm happy where I am right now."

"You're older than you appear," Teruan said.

"I'm part of the Greater Song, but also not," Harry replied, "and let's leave it at that."

"I see," Teruan said. "I'm glad to know that my daughter has found a home of her own. You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you wish."

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully. "We'd be delighted to stay with you and your family."

"Good," Teruan said, her smile turning almost predatory. "I'm looking forward to interrogating the mate my daughter brought home."

Harry glanced around at the others only to see them nodding along like they agreed with Ahsoka's mother. A sudden chill filled him as he looked pleadingly towards Aaka only to be rebuffed by the man who looked like he was the Galaxy's greatest villain. Even Grandmother Tano looked like she would be more than happy to switch out with her daughter-in-law so they could interrogate him at every hour of the day.

During dinner that evening, Harry found out that Ahsoka's younger brothers were called Aana, Aata and Aapa after their father. As soon as the initial barriers were broken the three young boys were more than fascinated by him. He was their first ever human, Aayla was also a point of interest and the oldest of them Aana couldn't stop blushing whenever Aayla looked his way. It was hard being eleven, almost twelve years old. Aapa and Aata had however taken to Maris and were often found touching her long black hair which almost reached her calves at this point whenever she let them that was.

It was odd for Ahsoka to be around her biological family. It was like nothing she'd ever experienced with the Jedi or even with the Clones of the 501st battalion during the war. There was a certain warmth to everything that she'd never been able to experience before. Eating with her clan in the Jedi Temple had come close but even then the sense of family had been missing. Rex had become closer to her as family than anyone else during the war but even he hadn't been able to give her the sense of belonging that she got in her family's home. Eating with the others came close but this was different. Gathering her thoughts, she looked up at everyone getting their attention silently before she opened her mouth.

"I will begin my rite of passage tomorrow," Ahsoka announced as they finished eating. "Though I don't know where to begin."

"You'll begin by walking to the peak of Jerraraddon, the tallest mountain overlooking the city," Grandmother Tano explained. "When you've reached the top you'll find a circle of stone pillars. Tanos have begun their spirit quest for generations by listening to the song of the Universe letting its music guide your step as you begin to truly walk out of the protection of your parents."

"And how long does a spirit quest usually take?" Harry asked.

"It depends," she answered. "Some hear a small song and some hear a great epic guiding their future path. Some are too stubborn to listen and some believe they hear things that aren't there. It is the will of the Greater Song that guides us in our steps and in finding who we are."

"And here I thought all she would have to do was face a great predator and bring back its hide," Harry sighed, frustrated at not knowing anything. "And I guess we'll have to wait while she's away."

"The quest has to be taken alone," Grandmother Tano whacked his shin with her spear. "Don't be so impatient."

"I'm not impatient," Harry denied. "I'm worried."

"She has to walk under her own strength," the Clan mother repeated. "Not all walk the path of a warrior, sometimes a warrior finds a path of a healer. Sometimes a healer walks the path of a teacher and a teacher in turn could become a scholar. No path is set. The spirit quest is there to help a young person to find their own path. Maybe it is the path that has been set for them by others knowing before they do what is best for them, other times the path is different but all must walk it under their own strength."

"Fine! Fine…" Harry said as he walked out of the room in a huff.

"Harry?" Ahsoka almost made her way after him but she was blocked by the butt of her grandmother's spear. "Why?"

"It might be your quest but he too needs to find out what path he wants to walk under his own strength," her grandmother said softly. "Too long he stood still and didn't walk at all, even though he possessed the strength, so long he forgot how to move. He's learning to walk again but he's unsure where the path will take him."

One by one they left dinner after that. A silent conversation between grandmother and daughter-in-law filled the heavy atmosphere. In the end Aaka took the three boys to their room, gesturing for Araha to leave as well. Maris and Aayla decided a work out before they went to bed would be good for both of them. Teruan was the next to leave as she stood and huffed slightly exasperated with her mother-in-law but willingly conceding the unspoken point, though neither Shaak Ti nor Ahsoka had a clue about what had passed between the two matriarchs.

"What can I bring?" Ahsoka asked.

"A knife, a leather sack of water, and the clothes you'll be wearing," Grandmother Tano informed her. "The Great Song will provide for you."

Standing up, Ahsoka removed everything bar a large durasteel dagger from her thigh and placed it in front of Shaak Ti on the table. Her fingers ran between her montrals where her Silka beads had once sat on her head when she'd been a padawan. She was certain she would have been knighted after her spirit quest was over, though where she'd once been anxious to be made a Knight she now only felt a sense of serenity. She was ready to leave.

"You won't even wait for Harry to return?" Shaak Ti asked.

Ahsoka shook her head as she glanced between her grandmother and Shaak Ti.

"It's time," Ahsoka said, "I'm ready."

Her grandmother stood up and walked to the kitchen bringing back a hide backpack and a leather skin filled with water.

"You knew?" Ahsoka asked.

"I had a hint," her grandmother replied easily. "Take care, and may the Great Song guide you to your path."

"I will, Clan Mother," Ahsoka said as she left the house into the dark night.

Shaak Ti found herself staring after Ahsoka for several minutes before her attention was caught by the elder Tano again. She didn't understand why she was still sitting here, at the dinner table. She didn't really have anything she would like to discuss with the Clan Mother of the Tanos.

"I don't know where the Clan of Ti are," she said. "They're nomadic as they've always chosen to be."

"I see," Shaak Ti said. "Will you at least announce to the Clan Mother the next time they're near Jerra that I am with child?"

"Your sister would be delighted to hear that," Tano said with a smile.

"She's taken up the leadership mantle?" Shaak Ti asked.

"For the nomads."

"They are still leaving," Shaak Ti said, "the clan of Ti will end up being swallowed by other clans. Maybe it is the will of the Force."

"The Empire has already allowed corporations to arrive and mine on Shili," Grandmother Tano said bitterly. "Cities will be built around the mining sites. Those cities will grow and slowly even the Togruta will forget to listen to the Great Song of the Universe. Your sister would say we've already forgotten what it is to be Togruta. We've been farming for generations and only the hunters live by the old ways. It's… different, but it is for the better. I didn't like it when we had to leave someone injured or old behind on a hunt. It seemed needlessly cruel. The injured and old never hunt again but they teach the young through stories and school. They're being taught to read and write and to listen to the Song. It is not much, but it is better than when we still wandered the plains in my youth."

"There are those who voices their desire to return to the old," Shaak Ti stated softly. "Glorifying the past as an ideal to uphold even going so far as to forget the faults and failures of the society before us."

"Your song," Grandmother Tano said. "It still sings of what you've once known."

Shaak had no answer.

Outside, Ahsoka had begun the trek to the tallest peak of Jerraraddon. The trail was lightly worn by others of her clan before her. Some of the path had crumbled in places, forcing her to jump over the gaps in the trail or even search for another path when jumping would have led to her demise. Throughout it all, she'd already begun to listen. Truly listen to the Greater Song of the Universe. Intellectually she knew the Greater Song and the Force were one and the same. In the same way that Harry's magic was one and the same with the Force. The same but different. Less rigid, less violent, less forceful in its beliefs and rightness. The Song spoke of both good and bad, of death and life, everything in the Universe had a place in the Greater Song. Every being, plant, mountain, and rock had a place in the Greater Song and, for the first time in her life, she actually listened. She let the Song guide her steps in a way she'd never been able to feel the Force do for her. The sensation was odd. It was like she'd rediscovered her ability to hear. An ability so heightened it was renowned throughout the entire Galaxy, one that she shared with every Togruta. One that was essential to her identity as a being and she'd stopped listening at some point. Maybe it had been during the war, or maybe it was even before then when she was just a young initiate, it didn't matter.

Her feet slowly became more secure even as the oxygen levels lowered. Her breath became laboured but also deeper as her body somehow knew how to compensate for the higher altitude. Slowing down, she opened herself to what her Montrals were telling her. A few sounds met her as she closed her eyes. The wind moved the dirt, the sounds of trees further down and most of all she heard the songs of the lives at the foot of Jerraraddon. With her eyes closed, she made it all the way to the peak without a single misstep.

Opening her eyes, Ahsoka spotted several weather worn pillars, seemingly eroded out of the peak of the mountain. Studying them, she moved in between the pillars. Her fingers found several marks in seemingly random patterns, some looked like the wind had chipped small furrows into the stone, other places looked like the stabbing or cutting of a knife. She didn't lift her head from the strange carvings when she spoke.

"You did not need to follow me," Ahsoka whispered.

"I didn't," Harry said sheepishly.

"No, I suppose you didn't," Ahsoka nodded. "You were here before me. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"No," Harry said with a shake of his head, "I didn't."

"You aren't part of the Great Song the same way I am," Ahsoka said, her voice taking an ethereal quality to it. "You're a composer while we are just an instrument or voice, part of a whole. The Song cannot be part of it when you are one who creates it."

"I'm just one man," Harry said defensively.

"No, you are not," Ahsoka's voice turned deeper, more primordial. "You, Harry Potter, have become more than a man. You will exist as long as we exist and you will in time join us, but until then you'll create what you want to create and we will create what we're meant to create."

"Who are you?" Harry asked dangerously, taking a step towards Ahsoka. Her eyes had lost their blue colour and turned almost silvery as the light of Shili's moons reflected upon her face.

"You know who we are," Ahsoka said. "Leave this little one to find her path. Your presence is muddling her ability to hear."

"I will be keeping an eye out for any sign of you," Harry promised. "If anything happens to her."

"We know," Ahsoka said as she moved to sit in the middle of the stone pillars. "We will not hurt her. She has a path that she can decide to follow or not, nothing is set in stone. We do not control free will. We just offer advice to those who seek us out."

"Fate," Harry sneered. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Because you already knew who we are," Ahsoka said. "Now leave us, Death."

"I hate that title," Harry said.

"Though it is the one you've become," Ahsoka said, her eyes closed as she crossed her legs into a lotus position. "Leave."

"Fine!" Harry raged as he turned into a falcon and flew away from the peak of the mountain.

Ahsoka's body deflated as soon as Harry was out of sight. Her breathing evened out and a sense of calm slowly began to fill her mind. Around her the moonlight seemed to reflect upon the carvings in the stone, lighting them up in a long forgotten ritual. The Greater Song of the Universe floated sedately through the many pillars, echoing between them and her montrals as she listened for her own path. Images and sounds of battle filled her senses but with a twitch of her head they faded away. Once upon a time, she would have been delighted to see a path that would have led her to greater glory and battles but now it felt hollow as she watched the images with a hint of detachment. Her path could have been one of rebellion and fighting. She would have done some good, saved some lives, but it would have left her alone and broken. Her death far in the future at the hands of her old master. It was a path without Harry, Aayla, Shaak, and Maris, and she rejected it.

A different tune played out to her and images followed. A quiet life in Jerra. Harry and Shaak Ti at her side. A few children were running around her legs as she taught them what she knew alongside Shaak Ti. She saw each and everyone of her children leave her as they grew older. Some came back, but most didn't. She grew older and the image of Harry at her side disappeared. Shaak Ti's death was beautiful if tragic as she drew her last breath. The planet of Shili having long since turned into another industrialised world as the Empire moved forward without any opposition. She would live a full life with her family and her mates by her side, but it was not her path.

Several dozen paths played in front of her as she rejected each one of them. None of them led to the brief glimpses of Home she'd seen before. Diving deeper, her mind almost fell into the Background of the Universe. In the murky darkness, deeply hidden under a deluge of sludge, Ahsoka gasped as she fell out of her trance. The sun had long since risen, bathing her sweating body in its warm rays. Looking around, she saw nothing amiss. She vaguely remembered speaking to Harry briefly during the night but she couldn't remember what they spoke about, nor could she remember when he'd left. She took a drink from the leather skin at her waist.

She'd found her path. It began on Shili but it would lead her and her friends to Home.