Hello everyone! Sorry for my absence. I've just been really busy with other stuff, not to mention my growing position in the AoS fandom.

Without further wait, here is the next chapter.

"May honor shine on the deceased Jedi who showed us this technique," Kit Fisto began as almost every single one of the Council members sat down in a meditation room in a circle. "Now let us begin."

Each of the masters bowed their heads and interlocked their hands with each other. The second that they entered the mediative state they could feel the familiar sensation of concentrated Force that was flowing between them. It was true, Ahsoka had been the one to show them this method. Nobody knew where she got it from, given that meditation was usually an activity done solely and was rarely practiced anyway else, but it sure did work.

For the first several minutes everything was dead silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the faint hums of engines or strong gusts of wind that managed to slip their way past all of the thick walls and barriers.

"I believe I might be seeing something," Mace remarked quietly as to not disturb everyone else. He furrowed his eyebrows and tried to narrow in on the brief flashes of imagery, but it seemed to be practically impossible.

"I see... oceans," Obi-Wan commented. "Tides and currents."

"Do I, as well," Yoda hummed.

"That's not what I'm seeing," Mace replied with a shake of his head. "I see tans."

"Gritty," Shaak added with a nod to Mace's answer. "I believe we're seeing sand."

"Anything else?"

The rest of the masters paused their meditation to quietly align their beliefs and visions with either Mace or Obi-Wan.

"So, oceans and beaches?" Obi-Wan summarized as the last Council member listed off what he had seen. "That doesn't seem too far-fetched."

"But it's common," Mace pointed out in distaste. "It hardly gets us anywhere."

"I'd argue that it breaks it down quite a bit," Plo Koon said with a shake of his head as he stood up. With slight curiosity in the features of their faces, they decided to follow Plo out of the room and into one of the planning and strategizing areas.

"Take a look," Plo instructed as he powered on a holographic map of their galaxy and began rifling through the planets and moons. "Coruscant, Dagobah, Mustafar, Lah'mu, none of those have oceans or sand.

"So which ones do?" Obi-Wan asked. Of course, he could name several off the top of his head, but he was trying to further the conversation.

"Tatooine, Jakku, Mon Cala, Kamino, Savareen, Quilla, Canto Bight..."

"Canto Bight," Mace interjected. "Would Cantonica be a good place to start? It has its artificial ocean and the rest of the planet is deserts."

"You might be on to something," Kit agreed with a nod as they watched Plo zoom in on the hologram of Canto Bight.

"I still feel like this isn't enough information to go off of," Obi-Wan sighed as he stroked his trimmed beard. "Oceans and sand? I mean, they're polar opposites. What part would we even look in?"

"It's not much," Mace agreed with a grunt, "but it's better than nothing, and we've got the entire safety of the Order resting on our shoulders. I'd rather chase half of a lead than sit on my butt all day."

"If Anakin was here right now," Obi-Wan began, pausing to scowl and shake his head at his former padawan, who also happened to conveniently be the only Council member that wasn't at the meeting. "He'd say that we're trying to figure this out the wrong way."

"Right way, what does he presume?" Yoda asked.

"He thinks that we need to go after the Gifter instead. She might have the answers we're looking for."

"But she might not," Mace argued. "We've got reliable information, while it may be scant, right in front of us, and I'm not going to waste it over some wild porg chase."

Obi-Wan was going to speak against this but eventually decided to bite his tongue. Mace was right. It was unlikely that the Gifter would know where these people were congregating because if she did, there was no doubt that she would have annihilated them by now.

"Speaking of the Gifter," Plo started as he switched off the hologram. "Has anyone gotten any leads yet?"

"Nothing," Obi-Wan sighed, then turned to the rest of the masters and gestured that the meeting was over. He and Plo walked out of the room side by side and continued their conversation. "Not even our best investigators have figured out the slightest clue. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this person was a ghost."

"Wouldn't be the craziest thing I've heard recently," Plo remarked with a shake of his head. "I can't help but feel like these have been the most exotic and eventful few years the Jedi have seen in a long time."

"And then you get the feeling that it might be our last," Obi-Wan added, turning and looking straight at Plo. "I mean really, you can't seriously tell me that you haven't felt a terrifying and disturbing shift in the Force. I think that something bad is going to go down."

Plo took in the Jedi Master's words and bowed his head in acknowledgment. "All we can do is be ready for when it hits."

±

"You know, just showing your face might've been nice," Obi-Wan noted in a slightly passive-aggressive tone as he walked up to Anakin. Hearing his former master's voice, Anakin waved for the Knights he was talking with to go on without him. He turned to Obi-Wan and cracked him a worn smile.

"Come on Obi-Wan, you can't seriously think I'd drop by investigation to sit around with some crazy people and hold hands."

"It was actually a very productive meditation. We found out that the base of whoever is plotting against us is somewhere where there is an ocean and a beach."

"Wow," Anakin deadpanned with a roll of his eyes, "we're going to go play in the sand. So informative."

"Oh yeah? And how far have you gotten?" Obi-Wan countered.

"No factual information yet," Anakin admitted, "But my theory..."

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Sorry I couldn't find a shorter one 😂

"Not again with your theory," Obi-Wan groaned, but it was useless.

"Everything points to it!" Anakin argued. "The Gifter is female, she popped up out of practically nowhere, she took down an entire Separatist facility like it was a house of cards, she was smart enough to figure out that there was going to be an attack on Utupau, and to top it all off, she's on our side."

"There's plenty of people that have enough morale to help the Jedi instead of the Dark Side," Obi-Wan replied with a shake of his head. "I still don't get why you're so set on it being a person that was blown to bits by a collapsing planet and then left in the middle of the Outer Rim with no forms of transportation to get to a breathable atmosphere."

"That's where we're all wrong," Anakin pointed out. "We're underestimating Ahsoka. How do you think that she got to Cato Neimoidia after blowing up the Separatist frigate? I know for a fact that she couldn't have escaped in spacecraft. It would've been destroyed in the process."

Realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing with Anakin, Obi-Wan reluctantly. "Alright, continue with your little search. When you get bored, you can always catch us on Canto Bight."

±

"I'm so close," Ahsoka whispered to nobody in particular. She too was trying meditative tactics to find out any information that she could get her hands on, however, you could say that her efforts were a little more fruitful.

Greens. Deep greens. Vibrant greens. And is that... browns?

Ahsoka narrowed her focus on the browns. At first, she had presumed that it was just trunks of the trees that she was seeing, but something wasn't right. The shape was... off?

"Hold on, I've almost got it," Ahsoka mumbled. After a couple of minutes of trying to clear her thoughts, the mental image in her head was finally starting to clear.

"It's... they're... Ewoks?" Ahsoka asked incredulously. "Wait a minute... Ewoks..."

Endor, Ahsoka thought to herself victoriously. The moon Endor is what she had been picturing this whole time. A half-smile cracked across her face as she stood up and started making her way over to some of her belongings. She had always wanted to go to the beautiful, lush place. It was one of the few areas that hadn't been tainted or destroyed over the years from wars.

"Looks like someone has to learn a new language," Aylile commented with a small chuckle as Ahsoka powered on a holopad.

"Only the basics of Ewokese," Ahsoka replied. "You never know when being able to speak the native tongue will come in handy. Barriss always taught me to be prepared."

"An admirable trait," Aylile noted. "This Barriss person, she might make a good member of the Council of Balance."

"Council of Balance?" Ahsoka asked, momentarily setting her holopad down.

"It was kind of our version of the Jedi's High Council," Aylile explained.

"Yeah, she might be good for that," Ahsoka said with a fond smile. Barriss was one in a very long list of people that she missed. The Togruta recalled the time that she had saved her from falling to the Dark Side. Barriss had started to share the same negative views that Ahsoka had on the Jedi and thought that her only other option was to switch to the opposing side. Now that the Togruta could show Barriss that she had a choice to follow her beliefs without corrupting herself, she was sure that the young woman could make an excellent leader and warrior.

"Alright, how's this?" Ahsoka asked as she tried mimicking some of the words on the screen. "Ee choya, meechoo Ahsoka Tano."

"It was a little choppy," Aylile laughed. "But to be honest, I have no clue what you said."

"I think I said 'Hey, I'm Ahsoka Tano'," Ahsoka said before giving Aylile a sheepish smile. "I think?"

"Keep at it," Aylile sarcastically instructed. "I don't think you want to accidentally insult someone's deceased grandmother."

±

"You know, sometimes I really wish that I still had R6 with me," Ahsoka mumbled under her breath as she hopped up from her pilot's seat to go flip a lever on the other side of the cockpit. While it wasn't impossible, flying a ship solo could sometimes prove to be rather difficult.

Ahsoka finally managed to finish the sequence and took a breath of relief, then looked up and out the windshield. Sure enough, right in front of her, was an almost picturesque view of Endor. Spending so many years on the planet of Coruscant definitely caused her to appreciate natural settings.

"Where to start," Ahsoka hummed to herself as she studied the surface of the planet. She made a quick orbit around the moon and found that there weren't any visible buildings. Whoever these people were, they sure knew how to hide.

Ahsoka eventually gave up and decided to land in a small clearing. Her cruiser had been cloaked during its orbit, but she wanted to play on the safe side and avoid being spotted at all costs.

A large gust of air blew from the landing of her ship. She watched in admiration as the trees swayed gently, occasionally dropping a pine needle or leaf.

"So beautiful," Ahsoka mumbled as she stood up from her chair and started heading out the cargo doors. If it was a few months ago, the breath of fresh, crisp air she took in as she stepped out would've been a treat. However, she was already used to it from being on Dantooine for the past couple of weeks, so instead, she decided to just marvel at the visual surroundings.

"Alright little guys," Ahsoka exclaimed softly to herself. "If I was an Ewok, where would I live?"