CHAPTER TWO.

The soft splash of the waterfall soothed Elly as she pushed her fingers through the soil, fixing the mess that the droids had made. The Meditation Gardens were supposed to be a place of perfection and serenity but Elly had spent the last three years shouting at gardening droids and complaining to the engineers about their programming. It was becoming exhausting.

The soil slipped through her fingers as she let out a soft huff. The Coruscant sun was high in the sky and midday was quickly disappearing but Elly hadn't left the Gardens since breakfast that morning. There had been so much to do and the droids had done none of it. She didn't mind. The Gardening soothed her.

The controlled and calculated movements were comfortable for her. They were predictable and unchanging, leaving her mind at ease. She grabbed the trowel from beside the hyacinths and dumped it into her bucket before she stood up. Her back ached and as she stretched her arms above her head, she felt it crack. A satisfied smile spread across her lips.

"Master Muloa," The familiar voice of Ahsoka made Elly pause. Her arms dropped and she turned around to the young Togruta. Her beautiful orange skin and soft smile always made Elly's heart warm. The youngling had always been a sweet friend and distraction from the Council's nagging. But she was a Padawan now, newly assigned to Anakin Skywalker and she had already seen battle on Christophsis.

"Yes?" Elly asked as she grabbed the bucket. Her right hand gestured for Ahsoka to follow as the two walked across the Gardens. Ahsoka stayed quiet for a moment and Elly glanced back, giving her an encouraging nod. All the Jedi were at lunch, they were alone and allowed to speak freely.

"I finished my classes for the day and considering that Skyg-Knight Skywalker is in a Council meeting, I was wondering if we could train together," Ahsoka asked, an almost anxious look on her face. Elly was stunned by the question but kept her composure. Ahsoka was merely a chick and Elly didn't even like the thought that she had flown the nest. Training her would only solidify that in her mind.

"No, Ahsoka. Not today," Elly decided simply as she slipped down the path. It was out of the way and led to a small supply closet where the droids and some gardening supplies were kept. Various trowels, forks, spades, rakes and an auto-composter lay stacked lazily in the corner. The droids were hidden away while Elly waited for the new software update.

"You never train with me. I'm old enough," Ahsoka disputed as she stood at the door. Her hip pressed against the metal frame. The automatic door sensed her and stayed open, letting the sunlight leak in.

"I will not train with you, Ahsoka. I'm sorry. Besides, I haven't eaten." The words escaped the blonde's lips but she knew there was a deeper issue. They both knew there was a deeper issue with this. Elly hadn't touched the lightsaber that hung around her waist for years and everybody knew it. Just nobody said it. Elly was glad. The shame it brought her was enough to suffocate her without the scrutiny of everyone else.

"But you're one of the greatest Jedis to ever live. Come on, you can teach me something," Ahsoka continued. Her persistence was something that had drawn Elly to the Togruta and now she wished she was anything but. Sometimes she didn't understand that no meant stop talking and Anakin would surely not help in that department. From the stories she had heard, he was as stubborn as his Padawan was.

"I can teach you many things but," Elly began as she turned around to face the Togruta girl. The blonde closed the gap between them before she spoke again, "I won't." Elly tapped Ahsoka's nose with a slightly condescending smile on her lips. Ahsoka scrunched up her nose, batting away the hand before she stepped back.

The two walked out of the room and they crossed back through the Gardens. Elly grabbed her cloak from where she had left it near the entrance of the Meditation Gardens and pulled it over her shoulders.

"You are so boring," Ahsoka mumbled as she watched Elly pull the cloak on. Her cloaks had always been oversized. Only by one or two sizes but it made her feel comfortable and happy. Ahsoka never understood that but she didn't often wear a cloak anyway.

"You are not my Padawan. You are Skywalker's and you should do well to respect that and him," Elly reprimanded. Ahsoka rolled her eyes and let her gaze wander around the walls of the Jedi Temple. It was the only walls that either of them had ever known as home. There was another one out there, far away in the galaxy but for now, it was here. Elly hated it. All the Temple had given her was tragedy but it was the only life she had. There was nothing else for her. Not anymore.

"Will you ever train with me?" Ahsoka questioned as she tilted her head up, meeting her gaze. Elly didn't meet her gaze. She stared off at the floor. Her heels clicked against the marbled floor of the Temple.

"One day, maybe," Elly brushed off the question. The non-committal nature of her response made her feel safe. She didn't like training. The person she became after all the fighting and loss it had caused her over the years was someone she had tried so hard to escape. To balance out. Fighting may have been in her nature but she refused to play into it.

"What if I asked Skyguy to fight you?" Ahsoka asked, not catching her slip-up. Elly didn't question it. It was good that they had nicknames already. They were bonding and one day, Ahsoka wouldn't need Elly because she had Anakin. A bond with your mentor was crucial to success and Elly couldn't hinder that.

"I won't fight Knight Skywalker. I do not like duelling." A soft huff escaped Ahsoka's lips at those words and Elly rolled her eyes. But when she noticed a few Jedi walking past, she gave them a curt nod and smile. She refused to ostracise herself even if she hoped to be anywhere but the Temple most days. She never wanted to be an outcast within the Order. She kept her connections even if she was nothing like she used to be.

"You love duelling. I heard Master Kenobi telling Skyguy," Ahsoka corrected. Elly's eyebrows pulled together as she turned to look down at the Togruta. Obi-Wan talking about her was not entirely unexpected but after so long, it felt wholly unnecessary to discuss her in any detail. She was irrelevant to the status quo.

"I used to, yes. But things have changed," Elly said as they came to a stop a few feet from the council chambers. Ahsoka hadn't even been paying attention to where they had been going so like a robin in a snowstorm, she had been led blindly, "And Knight Skywalker should be done in a few minutes so this is where I will leave you. Train with him." Ahsoka stared at the blonde with a scowl before she turned away.

Elly smiled and then walked off. Her shoes clicked against the marble floor as she walked down the corridor. Growing smaller as Ahsoka turned away. The Council chamber door opened and Anakin walked out. Obi-Wan was by his side and he looked up, knowing Ahsoka was there before he even saw her. Obi-Wan smiled at the younger girl and then his gaze travelled past her. Elly's silhouette was visible for a moment before she turned down another corridor.

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The Temple was quiet as Elly walked through the corridors. Most of the Jedis were awake, still dozing in their bed or halfway through their morning routine. However, Elly had been promised a software patch and it had yet to happen. She had tried to be calm and patient but doing all the work by hand was exhausting.

So, she decided to take a short trip to the engineers and mechanics' hut near the spaceport to try and find the root of the issue. She knew that there were some larger issues than her malfunctioning droids but it had been weeks and promises had been broken. Elly wasn't a youngling anymore and she needed answers so she was going to ask. Even if her impatience meant she had to fix the droids herself. She had some minor experience in software coding.

As she stepped onto the space-port, she was hit with a wave of hot air. It took her back and her skin instantly flushed bright red. Her eyes stinging from the heat and her head tilted away, attempting to escape it. Then there was the marching of clones and clanging of metal and the noises all hit her at once.

It mixed into one continuous drone of loud bangs that made her wince and flinch. Her head throbbed and her eyes blinked closed at every noise, as if something metal was about to smash her across the head. Her body wasn't used to the noise or the people or the ships. None of this was natural to her, not anymore.

But she braved it. Her head tilted down as she took the route across towards the mechanics' hut. It was a large place, out of the way of the departing ships but close enough that they could move around the port easily, fixing anything necessary.

The hut was messy and the various wires, circuits and metal sheets were spilling outside of the doors. It was messy and disorganised and it seemed like nothing had its own place. Elly felt even more out of place, uncomfortable and alone in the mess of scrap metals and wires. Her hand moved to the button beside the door and she pressed it. The door swung open with a soft swoosh and the even louder clangs hit her ears.

"No, that's not right! Give it here!" You heard an angry male voice hiss as he snatched some metal from a younger man. Elly stepped in and the various emotions from the people around her swamped her, suffocating her. Most of the emotions were varying degrees of frustration or anger but there seemed to be a younger girl hidden away in the corner that felt particularly victorious. Elly didn't bother to see what she was working on.

"Ah, Master Muloa," Gena said. It was the head mechanic who had originally promised her the software. The software that had yet to turn up, "I'm sorry we haven't finished fixing the bugs with the droids. Between the war and various ships and R2 units causing problems, we haven't had the chance to look," The woman continued to explain as she placed down whatever she had been working on. To Elly, it looked like a tangle of wires that seemed unlikely to have made much sense to anyone.

"I understand there is a lot of chaos, Gena, but you promised me that it would be fixed. I need that software patched," Elly responded as she stepped over an oil-stained R2 casing. It was disorganised and stuffy. Elly couldn't think of any other words to describe it. The mechanics and engineers were all stuffed into one room and given such little space. It was dim and nothing seemed to belong where it appeared to be.

"And the Council need me to patch software for the R2 units and they also need us to repair the laser scores and engine failures and damaged canons on the ships that they bring in every day. I know I made you a promise but it has gotten worse. I didn't realise how overloaded we would be with it," Gena explained as she reached over the table and picked up another wire. She attached it to the already packed circuit board and began connecting it to another metal piece. Elly was clueless as to what any of this would do. She felt out of her depth and unaware. Every part of her wanted to leave and quickly.

"Have you made any progress?" Elly asked as she moved to rest her hand on the grimy table. But when she spotted the oil patch, she decided against it. The engine oil would be impossible to get out of her cloak and she didn't feel like requesting more. She had been trying her best to stay out of the Council's radar. It was better to remain out of there while the world descended into chaos.

"I set Hel on that task," Gena said as she gestured vaguely towards the young girl who had the only happy emotion in the entire building. The exhaustion and impatience was radiating off of Gena so Elly decided to just take it. She nodded her head and walked over to Hel.

She was a young Torguta girl, much like Ahsoka, but her skin was blue and her eyes were a soft yellow colour. It was a jarring but warm appearance that made Elly feel at least a little better about disturbing her.

"Hel," She said. The girl's head shot up and she turned back to meet Elly's gaze. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly as she scrambled to close whatever she was looking at on her datapad.

"Master Muloa. Hello, is there... is everything okay?" Hel asked as she stood up. She nearly tripped over her own feet as she pushed the datapad behind her back. But Elly barely reacted. She simply stepped back and put a smile on her face. There was no point scaring the girl more.

"I was curious if you had made any progress on my gardening droids?" She asked curiously, arching an eyebrow. The Togruta girl's face fell and she shook her head. Elly held back her sigh but her disappointment was not so easily masked.

"I isolated the issues but with everything else, I haven't been able to find the solutions. Their software is old and clunky. I haven't worked out how to fix it yet," Hel explained. Her hands ran down her lekku before she sighed. The datapad behind her back dropped to the desk that she had been leaning against and working at. It seemed to be the most organised surface in the entire hut.

"Would I be able to have the software disc back?" Elly asked and Hel furrowed her eyebrows. She leant over and picked it up from where it had been left, abandoned. It looked like it hadn't been touched since Elly had brought it in. The muddy fingerprints had at least been cleaned off it. Hel handed it over and Elly smiled, "Thank you, Hel. Tell Gena that I took the disc and I will fix the issues if I can." Hel nodded at the blonde before Elly turned around.

She navigated through the piles of metal and reached the door, pressing the button. She walked into the wall of hot air again before she sped away from the spaceport. The disc slipped into the pocket of her cloak as she disappeared back into the Temple. The smoke and dirt from the spaceport seemed to cling to her throat as she swallowed. The metallic taste of the mechanics' hut clung to her.

The remnants of war stained her and she wanted nothing more than to escape them. She wanted to escape this war and the responsibilities that she knew would come knocking but they were there. On her doorstep. No matter how many times she tried to get away with the things that were better, it was impossible. She was locked in place just waiting to be drafted. The war was a storm and Elly was waiting for it to hit.

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