After taking Anakin to his room and making sure he had gone inside, Asoka went to her own room and prepared to face her teacher, whom she had not warned of her absence. However, there was no problem. Master Plo was already asleep in his half of the room, seemingly not at all surprised by his student's absence, thinking that Asoka was probably drinking her evening tea in the dining room, as usual. He slept on his side, his clawed hand hanging off the bed. The girl went into the shower, rinsed herself off, and lay down in bed. She was incredibly tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but after settling down comfortably and closing her eyes, Asoka suddenly realised that she would not be able to fall asleep right away. Too many thoughts were running through her head. And her frayed nerves did not help her calm down. She thought about tomorrow's test, about whether she would be able to pass it, about Anakin. Most of all, she thought about him. The moment in the dining room when she had hit him came vividly to mind. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she felt terribly bitter and ashamed of herself.
"How could I? I shouldn't have done that," she whispered, clutching the edges of the blanket. "He's my friend. I shouldn't hurt him. I should take care of him, protect him.
Of course, she understood that Anakin was also wrong to start accusing her without reason and making completely horrible and unsubstantiated assumptions about her and the chancellor. But that did not diminish her own guilt in the eyes of the Togruta. She didn't know exactly how she would do it, but she knew that she had to make peace with him at all costs and convince him that she would never allow herself to do anything like that again. It promised to be a difficult task, because Anakin, with his passionate, affectionate heart, took what happened to him and those close to him very personally. Their quarrel was clearly no exception; rather, it confirmed the rule that it would not be easy to regain his trust, but Ahsoka knew she would do it. She loved this strange but very kind and self-sacrificing teenager with all her heart, who was afraid of nothing and no one in his desire to show her his friendship. Asoka remembered how he had sat by her bed all night when she was injured in their fight with Ferrus, and then how he had beaten Ferrus for trying to molest her when she was off guard. But why was Anakin so opposed to her talking to the Chancellor? After all, as her dear father often said, when you make new friends, it doesn't mean you forget your old ones, it means that the circle of people you love is expanding. Love doesn't diminish, it just expands to include those who need it. After all, love is the only thing that doubles when you share it.
"Enakine just doesn't understand that yet. I'll explain everything to him tomorrow, and he'll understand. I know he's a good person, he's just very afraid that I'll stop being friends with him. But I don't even think about doing that. He's still my closest friend and always will be. I'll talk to him tomorrow and apologise, and everything will be as it was before," Togruta decided and finally fell asleep. Her sleep was heavy and uneven, Asoka woke up all the time, sometimes even in a cold sweat and trembling with sticky horror. What she saw before her closed eyes seemed so frightening and real to her. Asoka was transported back to her home planet, with its two suns and burning sands. She saw the little house where she had lived her entire conscious life, but why was it empty and looked as if it had been abandoned some time ago? Moreover, it had been abandoned hastily, with only the bare necessities taken with them. Asoka could clearly see every item, the layers of dust on them, the neatly locked door. And then... Togruta wanted to close her eyes so she wouldn't have to see, but she remembered that this was impossible in a vision and was forced to watch what happened next. And what she saw was truly horrific. No, at first everything was calm, just a small settlement on the outskirts, one of many, with low buildings made of clay and dead branches. It would have looked quite peaceful if it weren't for one thing, or rather, one person. The one whose face loomed over the village. The face of a cruel man with a wooden mask with slits for eyes that glowed with inhuman malice. It was not directed at anyone in particular, but existed in his soul, just as the need for sleep and food exists. Then, in the outermost house, which Asoka could see from the inside, she was struck to the very core of her being by a sharp sensation of pain and suffering, burning like fire and penetrating every cell of her body. This sensation made it difficult to breathe and impossible to move, as if there were sensitive electrodes under her skin, through which an electric current was being passed every second. Asoka froze and with her whole being rushed towards that little house, wanting to see who was calling her and whose voice, distorted beyond recognition by inhuman pain, was crying out:
"Asoka! Asoka! Help me! I'm dying! I'm sorry, I couldn't wait for you!
The Togrut's consciousness slowly moved inside the house, which had the standard furnishings of a farm worker's dwelling. It passed through the room and the small kitchen, and then reached the basement. At the sight of the cold darkness, Asoka's heart first contracted, then burst with explosive pain. For there, emerging from the darkness, was the silhouette of an unfortunate prisoner. It was a Togrut man, tied between two walls by his hands and feet, so that his back was bent downwards. His face was impossible to see, his head was bowed low, but through his torn overalls, numerous wounds and burns from the light whip were visible, as well as bruises and dried blood. He couldn't help but see and feel Asoka, but at some point, the girl had exactly that feeling, which intensified when the man struggled to raise his head and looked straight at Tano. Asoka shuddered and at first was almost blinded by horror — the unfortunate man had no face. It was one continuous wound, and it was not even immediately clear where the abrasions ended and the mouth, nose and eyes began, the entire skin was covered with a brown bloody crust. His nose and lips were swollen and blue, and his teeth were probably broken too. And then, when the man's blue, abrasion-covered eyelids flew open, Asoka was met by a pair of painfully familiar and beloved eyes, whose gaze brought on a new wave of tears and desperate grief:
"Dad!" she cried from the bottom of her heart. "Dad! My dearest! My beloved! What happened?"
Tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision and preventing her from thinking. Her body shuddered and began to fall, finally touching the cold surface of the floor. Asoka shuddered again and opened her eyes, realising that she was lying on the floor next to the bed, having fallen out of it in her sleep. In her heavy and bitter dream. Asoka got up, realising that she was unlikely to be able to sleep now, threw a dressing gown over her pyjamas and, careful not to wake her mentor, went to the small kitchen, where she poured a glass of water from a small jug and drank it in one gulp. The unpleasant shivering subsided a little, and reality gradually returned. Asoka sat down on a chair and clasped her hands together, trying to convince herself that this dream was nothing more than a nightmare caused by a stressful day. It didn't work very well, as what she had learned in Force Theory prevented her from doing so.
"Jedi do not have nightmares, they have visions of the future," Master Yoda's words flashed through her mind.
"Right, Asoka," she ordered herself as sternly as possible. "Stop worrying immediately. It's completely unfounded. Your father is sleeping peacefully right now, which is what you need to do. Think about your trials instead. Once you pass them, you'll become a Knight, and you'll fly to Tatooine. I'm sure the Council will allow it. Now go to sleep immediately, or you'll be like a piece of boiled meat tomorrow!
This rebuke to herself brought Asoka back to her senses, and she was able to return to her room, but she literally bumped into her teacher at the door. He had obviously been awakened by her voice and, not finding his student in bed, had gone to the kitchen.
"What's the matter, Asoka?" he asked anxiously. "Is something bothering you?"
His tone was so kind, and his gaze so attentive and gentle, that Asoka felt an overwhelming urge to tell him everything. All her fears and heavy thoughts inspired by her dream. But at the last moment, Togruta decided to remain silent; she did not want to disturb her elderly teacher when there was no particular reason to cause him concern. However, she couldn't say nothing at all, so she looked at Plow with serious eyes and said:
"I can't sleep, I'm very worried about tomorrow. If I fail the test, what will happen? Will they send me to the barracks? Will they expel me?
"What are you talking about, Asoka?" The Master even clapped his hands in indignation. "Nothing like that will happen. If you fail, although I'm sure you won't, you'll be allowed to retake the test after a while. And so it will be until the Council is satisfied with the results.
"But I'm still so scared," the girl said, her anxiety returning, her eyes filling with tears, her legs buckling, and she simply fell into the arms of her teacher, who caught her.
"It's okay, Asoka," he said to her as they sat down on her bed. "It's normal. I felt the same way when I was preparing for the tests, but in the end, I passed them on my first try. Believe me, it's not worth worrying about.
"But what if something I don't know about myself comes out during the tests, like some kind of inner fear or the manifestation of the Dark Side? What will I do then?" Asoka was completely distraught and gave in to her nerves.
"Darkness, in you? Asoka, that's ridiculous. What could you possibly be afraid of? You've never been afraid of anything. Remember how you won the races. And how you destroyed the droid station all by yourself? You were only ten years old," Plo reassured her, continuing to hold her shoulders.
"How will they go?" asked Ahsoka, calming down a little.
"I'll tell you now," said the teacher eagerly, glad that Ahsoka had calmed down a little. "So, there will be five of them: the Trial of Skill, the Trial of Conviction, the Trial of Spirit, the Trial of Flesh, and the Trial of Insight. The first is a test of combat skills. You will fight an enemy simulator and parry all of its attacks. The second and third will be more difficult. You will be shown visions depicting various situations, and your reaction to them will be evaluated. The fourth will test your patience with cold, pain, and unpleasant sensations. The fifth will determine the extent of your gift of foresight. You will be asked to guess what is hidden behind a locked door.
Asoka listened to him and gradually fell asleep, almost forgetting her nightmares, which now seemed almost unreal, impossible to come true. I wonder if old Sean knew about them when he was awake that night, albeit for a different reason.
***
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