‘As the nurse walked out of the room, we found ourselves in sitting in awkward silence. To be more precise, I would say that it was not awkward for me; I like silence; if there wasn’t a good reason to talk, I rarely talk.’

‘Talking to myself when I am alone didn’t count, as it is basically one of the many newly gained habits of mine. I can’t really do anything against it, and I didn’t care enough to force myself to stop those activities. Well, the point was that I am just fine with sitting here and relaxing silently in the company of Tano.’

‘I decided to take off my boots and sit on the bed beside her in a crossed-legged position. I don’t want to steal her bed, after all, so I better take up as little space as possible. She was already flustered from the sudden silence, and I could see that she was not accustomed to it.’

‘She watched me curiously while I took off my boots and sat down next to her on the bed. I was still caressing my now bandaged right lekku, pulling it over my shoulder, in this way my lekku was resting on my chest; its tip was even reaching my lap.’

‘I did the same with the other uninjured one. This was about fifteen centimeters shorter than the right one. It was a natural thing in my race. Some twi’leks leks were simply not identical.’

‘By the way, ninety percent of a twi’lek lekku is basically fat storage. While the closest parts to the head are much more important; it contains some of the twi’lek brain, my brain. That is why some particularly rude individuals tend to call leks as brain tails.’

‘I didn’t hurt that part, mind you, so no worries. On a side note, twi’leks, if they get fast medical attention, can live through losing most of their leks. Sadly, a cut-off lekku will never grow back on its own, but the force can make it happen, and I know of a few rituals that can achieve that result.’

‘Tano was getting antsier with every passing second; she looked at my bandaged lekku one more time and began to speak in a solemn and dejected way.’

“Sorry for that one more time... I shouldn’t have forced you to duel with me in the first place.” — ‘She said to me in a guilty tone.’

“I could see that you didn’t want to, but I was too excited to fight with a trained force sensitive that is not a jedi. With the sith reappearing in the galaxy and all that, I wanted to know how well I would fare against an unknown opponent. I guess I was lucky that it was only you, otherwise I would either become captured or outright killed.” — ‘She stated with a small voice, clearly ashamed by the cold reality.’

‘I looked at her thoughtfully, surprised by such self awareness. Where was the bubbly girl that I met in the council room? Did she have a twin sister or something? No, the force presence is the same...’

‘Was she really that excited about the opportunity of fighting with me? I knew a few other covens of force sensitives like the Nightsisters and even a few orders of not-so-radical dark side users.’

‘They were using the force to see into the future and gain wealth and power through it. I mean, they are certainly dangerous. They wouldn’t have second thoughts about killing you on the first opportunity in case if you got in their way, but still far from the level of a true sith.’

‘If the real deal is back, then they are most likely controlling this war from the shadows. At least if they are worth their salt.’

‘Hmm... That is troublesome. If there is really a fully trained sith behind the war, it will not stop until the entire galaxy is under its control. I am absolutely certain about this, since Revan was a true Darth at one time, he was like that too.’

‘One thing is the same with every true sith and that is the never-ending greed and thirst for power. Only the jedi manipulation over his memories and mind could lift the veil of unending thirst from his eyes and it lead him to the path of creating our order, but that is a story for another time. Let’s ask a few questions about this supposed sith first.‘

“Is there really a true sith here? How do you know this?”

‘She blinked at me, surprised.’

“You didn’t know about this?” — ‘She asked.’

“Well, you see, being a member of a secretive, and therefore reclusive force sect, means that you don’t really have any connection with actual political and worldly affairs.”

“...I see... Anyway, my master told me that about ten years in the past, Master Obi-Wan and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, run into a sith on Naboo.”

“Interesting. I could imagine that didn’t go well.”

‘Tano nodded.’

“No, Master Qui-Gon Jinn, died in the battle, but in the end, master Obi-Wan was able to destroy the sith.”

“Hmmm... it must be true. Then, if he could kill a Jedi Master in a two against one battle, this is indeed very troublesome.” — ‘Jedi tend to have extremely good teamwork, especially between master and padawan. If you have to fight with them in groups, their threat level multiplies exponentially.’

“Why do I feel as if you are praising the skills of that sith?..” — ‘Ahsoka questioned.’

“Oh, in my understanding, skill is praiseworthy in itself. We must appreciate our enemies’ abilities to not fall into the mistake of underestimating them.” — ‘I lectured her, earning a small pout.’

‘Still, she seemed to understand and accept my point easily enough.’

“You sounded like master Yoda… for a second.”

‘Is that so?’ — “Uhm, thank you for the praise, I guess.”

“No biggie.” — ‘The girl patted my head, putting herself into a big sisterly position for a change.’

“Youngsters...” — ‘I said, amused by her actions…’

“Hey!” — ‘Came the annoyed shout following my unwise comment.’ — “You are even younger than me! Stop acting like an old lady...”

‘She’s still giggling in the background, though.’

‘Huh, she thinks that I am acting like this on purpose. Maybe that is the most logical assessment. Children of this age tend to act all grown up to showcase their reliability.’

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

‘Thankfully, the pain in my lekku is already numbed, so I am no longer that easily distracted. The sith is not that big of a problem for me right now. I am currently not in my best shape for battle, and fighting with a Darth is not something you do halfheartedly; I mean, you can do that, but you will die.’

‘Let the jedi deal with the sith. I can’t really see how they could lose with these numerical advantages and with the support of that clone army they always talk about.’

‘Droids are brutal killing machines, and they are not to be underestimated, yet they are only as good as their battle programs, which means they are predictable and they lack imagination and ingenuity, which is a crucial skill on the battlefield.’

‘This is why droids never win a battle against trained humanoids without a large technological and numerical advantage. There are special droids, like HK-47 though, droids that have enough experience and memories to become something more.’

‘They become individuals. Those kinds of droids are incredibly rare and generally frowned upon. People usually don’t want their droids to have personalities, because a droid with a personality is not really a droid anymore.’

‘Therefore, it loses its purpose; it will argue with you left and right, even calling you names, and that, in many owners’ case, is not acceptable. I wouldn’t want to be lectured by my rice cooker at every morning about my life choices either.’

“So, is your master famous or what?”

‘I asked on a whim to continue the conversation.’

‘She turned to me with the look that you give to a country bumpkin after asking a very stupid question. Then she shook her head with a helpless smile on her face.’

“My master, Anakin Skywalker, is a very skilled and accomplished Jedi Master. He is also kind, maybe not the best teacher, but at least has a good humour. He is regarded as the youngest knight appointed to the master’s rank in recent years. He is a well-experienced jedi guardian, with many successful and very dangerous missions behind his back. I think you can think of him as a kind of celebrity in the order, someone you generally look up to, as an example.”

‘I couldn’t suppress my sudden smirk as a sinful thought resurfaced in my mind. You didn’t mention one of his most important titles.’

‘Tano was looking at me somewhat haughtily as she obviously misunderstood my smirk. I should distract her before she becomes angry at me.’

“Oho, so that is why everyone was looking at us in the cantina and on the practice field, too.”

‘I was already suspecting this, but it is good to know with certainty. I thought about that, while telling a few carefully chosen words.’

“It seems that even I have to acknowledge this. Your master's intuitive fighting style is commendable. Still, I was able to land a few blows on him here and there and I didn’t even take it that seriously.” — ‘Otherwise he would have been electrocuted in the first three seconds.’

‘Another wave of uncontrolled fits of giggling later. Ahsoka suddenly stopped laughing and sobered up.’

“Wait, are you serious? How did you do it!? You MUST teach me! I want to make his infuriating grin disappear. That would be so fun!” — ‘The girl practically jumped into my neck. Screaming into my ear protrusions.’

‘In the meantime, she grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me. In the middle of this assault. I was wondering if I once again managed to step on a landmine.’

While Nizzal was giving a detailed report of her and Anakins duel to a certain togruta girl. On the other side of the temple, Anakin was just finishing his own version of both his and her padawans duel with the so-called exchange student.

He, of course, had no intention of sharing the genuine reasons behind their duel.

The council room was silent, especially after the long retelling of such an interesting event. Even Master Windu’s angry gaze became somewhat milder after hearing Anakins evaluation of this so-called Grey Lord apprentice.

Today’s meeting was substantially more important than the last one, and therefore more masters appeared, even if they were only present through holograms.

In today’s High Council meeting in a physical form were present Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Grandmaster of the Order, Master Yoda.

As holograms, there were also present Master Windu, Master Shaak Ti, a togruta woman currently residing in Kamino. She was the one who was assigned to monitor the clone’s development.

There was also Ki-Adi-Mundi, a cerean who was currently on a patrol mission with a small starfleet around the core worlds. The last one present was none other than Kit Fisto, a nautolan Jedi Master who was known for his outstanding battle focus.

The silence was eventually broken by Master Windu’s question.

“You said that she could fight with you as an equal in technique; may that be with the lightsaber, or in the case of force abilities? That she only lacked the raw strength and power, those that will come with age naturally. Do you understand the weight of those words?”

Anakin thought over the duel he experienced against that little gray devil.

He didn’t want to say this out loud, but in his heart he knew that this twi’lek girl was not just equal to him in technique, but most likely a few levels above him.

He never saw such a fine and fluid control over a thrown lightsaber in his life. That technique was very outlandish. The smallest mistake will lead to your imminent death. Throwing away your weapon was generally considered as the supreme level of confidence in your skill or the greatest level of stupidity.

Damn, he had confidence, but even he would never throw away his weapon in the middle of a battle or a duel. Now at least he knew that this skill was actually a real threat; he almost got hit by it two times in a few seconds.

“I am sure of this master, if I may suggest, watch the recordings of the duel from the security system. All of her techniques were smooth, perfected to the extreme, well-coordinated, some might say calculated, and her adaptability to new situations was at par with my own. However frustrating that is to admit.”

Then he continued.

“The only reason I won was my physical power advantage, my longer reach, and my much greater level of raw force ability. This way, I could eventually overpower and break through her shields. I do not believe that she has an outstanding amount of midi-chlorian count either. It’s just that she has an incredibly fine control over it. Something that a child of her age should not possess in any circumstances.”

There was a unique silence in the room of the High Council. The masters who only joined and were not present yesterday seemed even more confused than the others. Kit Fisto soon took the opportunity to ask the question, which almost everyone in the room was waiting for.

“Allow me to ask Master Yoda, but when did we discuss an exchange student program with a force-sensitive order called the Order of the Grey? I am afraid that I slept in on that particular day...”

As the witty nautolan master broke the heavy silence with his easy-going yet well-mannered style, a few hesitating smiles began to appear on some of the members of the Council.

On the other hand, Yoda and Obi-Wan, along with Windu, were unnaturally silent.

Shaak Ti, the highly accomplished togruta master, looked at Yoda and Kenobi just like the others did.

Her projection was next to Kenobi, so she turned towards him with a curious expression. To her utmost surprise, Kenobi, instead of looking at her with a half smile as he usually does, seemed to intentionally ignore her.

Well, he eventually nodded halfheartedly with a somewhat strained smile, but that was it. He was clearly avoiding eye contact. Was that embarrassment on his face? She wondered.

The strained silence was broken by Yoda’s next statement.

“The reason for that, Master Kit Fisto, is simple.”

The grandmaster’s eyelids were still closed. He looked and acted just as always, with the most natural and comfortable confidence. Shaak Ti couldn’t wait for the grandmaster’s antics and she silently asked.

“And that is?”

Yoda finally opened his eyes as he serenely looked around the masters in the council room. His eyes wandered to the still form of Master Windu. The moment their gazes met, the man’s holographic form sizzled out, and he disappeared uncharacteristically.

Yoda shook his head, slowly, then his gaze focused on the irritated form of Obi-Wan, who was sitting with an unnaturally straightened spine while constantly trying to escape the searching eyes of Shaak Ti. Yoda and Kenobi’s eyes met.

Then Yoda said with the same confidence he always used.

“In much trouble, we are.”

This single sentence was followed by an uncomfortably long silence, one that not even the masters were ready to handle. After a few minutes of this constant silence, everyone currently present silently agreed to never mention or bring up this situation again. From then onwards, the meeting continued with its normal schedule.