A ghastly silence. The familiar shots of the combat had fallen silent. She had fallen into this state. In the midst of the Force, yet far from what normally awaited the dead.

It was too late. And yet something told her that her journey was not over. Her life was not finally over.

Something white and luminous clasped her arm. Like a noose someone had thrown at her. Rays emerged from it, growing larger and larger, dazzling more glaringly and gaining strength, until finally her vision was completely taken over by the white glow.

But then it faded. Ahsoka opened her eyes, still levitating in the strange vortex of the Force.

Something lit up the space around her, which was apart from that only glittering blackness. Her body was surrounded by a glowing cloak. Someone was calling her back. Someone was calling her name!

Longingly, the girl followed the voice that sounded so familiar to her. She came closer to the sound, but her name echoed so far away and so softly through the Force.

"Anakin!", she cried out to the voice. But only the hint of a word came back. From another voice. She was speaking to him. "General..."

It was Rex!

"Rex! I'm here!" Her shouts echoed off the non-existent walls in desperation.

Then everything fell silent.

Tears came to her eyes and ran down her cheeks. What had she expected anyway?

She didn't understand anything right now. Since when had she been so frail? So vulnerable? So delicate and weak?

Exhausted, she let herself slide onto her back. Her fall proceeded at an infinitely slow speed and yet so quickly that she hardly noticed it.

She had the feeling of having lost herself. She was alone. Alone in the Force.

Without a material body, without anything familiar to her.

It didn't make any sense. According to the legends, after death, the spirit passed into the Force to all the others who had died.

Was she still alive?

Oh, what did it matter now, she didn't know how to get out of here. Tears streamed down her face and evaporated as they broke away from her skin.

The wound on her side didn't exist. Only in her memory.

'Remember!'

Anakin?

"What do you mean?", she sent her question through the darkness still slightly lit by her.

No answer. Just the instruction again, remember.

She was tired of having to solve more and more riddles, of having to keep fighting. Of being strong. What good did it do her?

'Remember'

"Just leave me alone"

But he didn't. Or rather his voice, sent through the Force around her.

'Remember who you are'

Ahsoka closed her eyes, her arms tucked under her head, her legs stretched forward.

And the memories flashed past her like a movie being shown to give her the strength to come back.

A young Togruta was literally racing through the corridors of the temple. For no particular reason, she was totally psyched about the upcoming training. It was nothing special, a simple hour of lightsaber practice with her master.

But this one thing was bothering her, and now she could finally ask Anakin. Why? Why were they fighting at all, and for what? For peace, sure, but what did peace get you exactly? What was the purpose of this war, what was the meaning of life?

Did he even know? She immediately wiped this ridiculous thought away. Of course Anakin knew the answer. Her Master knew the answer to everything!

What a simple idea, if only she had been true. But back then she didn't have to understand all the connections, and one let the younger ones live in their imaginations as long as it was good for them.

The girl almost tripped over her own feet as the flowing energy pulsed through her body. It brimmed with power and strength. Pure life filled her.

"Master!", she called from a distance, even before she could properly recognise her Master.

Anakin had already sensed the spritely presence behind him a few corridors away, yet the little one didn't care for modest demeanour or not rushing into action. It would take a while to learn these things and the like.

Shaking his head, he turned to the panting bundle of energy that came to a skidding halt in front of him. But she had quickly regained her breath and seemed as if she could run another five laps of the entire temple.

In fact, it would be good exercise to perhaps push her to the edge of her strength for once. Anakin had not yet succeeded. They only ever reached the limit of their concentration, but that wasn't too hard.

"Snips, what kept you?"

Ahsoka froze. She was probably way too late. Actually, she had just been totally lost in thought but hadn't thought about the time.

"I... Merely learned from you," she returned, first thinking and then grinning.

Anakin had to smile benignly. He put a hand on her shoulder and then said, "Well, next time you'd better take Obi-Wan as an example, understand?"

"A good one or a bad one?"

"A good one," her Master pointed out.

"Understood!" she ended their conversation for the time being.

The two made their way to the training rooms. Anakin was sure they would be alone today, as most had been sent on missions or had already trained in the morning and were now eating. He wanted to teach Ahsoka a special technique today, for that he needed quiet and not more distractions for her.

Besides, he sensed that something was bothering his student. And since Ahsoka probably didn't ask normal questions, but liked to question the unusual and things that others took for granted, it seemed wiser to him to answer them in private. If he had an answer ready, that is.

Ahsoka wasn't really into the training and it took her a while to get the first figures down. Anakin had his student repeat them over and over to internalise them.

After a little over an hour, he interrupted her.

"Okay, what's on your mind, Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka let her blade retract and looked up at her Master. She wondered how to phrase it. She realised anyone else probably wouldn't have understood why life should be questioned. But what was the big deal? She was a child seeking meaning in her existence. Anakin would understand.

The Togruta took a deep breath and asked, "What is this all about? So what for?"

Not the best choice of words in her opinion. But the first thing that had occurred to her and before she could think about it more carefully, she had already spoken it.

Anakin smiled. Possibly he would have expressed himself in the same way. Or at least very similar. Unformal and demanding. His expression turned serious again as he thought about it himself.

Ahsoka waited excitedly for the answer she had been seeking for days. At last, her Master seemed to have found the right words to explain what was going on in his mind.

"What do we fight for every day? For our freedom. No, there is no deeper meaning to life. Or at least we can't see one. But it is worth living alone to keep fighting, to be strong. Even for others who need you."

Ahsoka looked into her Master's deep blue eyes. A friendly blackness came over her and the memory vanished.

She was back on the glassy surface of the vortex in the Force. And all at once it was clear to her.

It would never be too late.