By the time the Rebels were done cleaning up, Padmé had to leave so she could fly her passengers back to Yavin 4. Anakin and Leia would go back with Ahsoka, since Padmé's ship was too full.

Anakin didn't realize how deeply he was lost in his own thoughts, watching Padmé's ship ascend into the atmosphere, until Leia came up and tugged on his sleeve. "Daddy, are you going to stare at the sky all day or are we going to find 'Soka?"

He smiled at her blunt words. "You're right, we need to hurry up if we want to get to Yavin soon. Let's go find her."

Ahsoka was still with her ship, sitting cross-legged on top of it, and laughing and shaking her head. "Well, Skyguy, am I good or am I good?"

"You helped us find them! I don't know what we would do without you. Though... we almost didn't find them. We were just lucky that Padmé was among the few who returned to Dantooine."

"So?" Ahsoka climbed down from the top of her ship and looked at him pointedly. "Who cares if the other Rebels are all on Yavin 4? Padmé was here. She was the only one we needed to find."

As the entrance ramp was lowered and they boarded the ship, Leia trailed after Ahsoka and looked up at her with big, hopeful eyes. "'Soka, will you be going with us back to Yavin?"

Ahsoka sighed and sat down in the pilot's chair. "I'll be there just to drop you off, but then I have to go. The things I do for the Rebels, they're more useful when I stay on Shili."

"Why?"

"Maybe your mom can tell you more about what I do, once we get back to Yavin. Meanwhile... how would you like to help me lift the ship off?"

Leia's eyes widened. She stared open-mouthed at Ahsoka, and then glanced at Anakin as if she were asking for permission. "Can I?" she breathed.

"Of course you can!" Anakin said, smiling.

Ahsoka helped Leia strap herself into the copilot's chair. "Leia, when your dad was a kid he could fly a Naboo Starfighter all by himself. If you're anything like him, you'll do great. Just do exactly what I tell you."

Leia seemed perfectly at ease as she obeyed Ahsoka's instructions on which levers to pull and which buttons to press. The ship rose smoothly into the air, and she smiled proudly.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, raising a triumphant fist in the air. "That wasn't so hard."

"That's because the hard part is actually being the pilot," Ahsoka pointed out. "But you figured out the controls easily and that's great!"

Leia became bored after they made the jump to hyperspace, though, so she went to the back to play.

Anakin waited for the ship to go quiet before asking Ahsoka, "If you don't mind my asking, what exactly is it you do for the Rebel Alliance? Why must it be remote?"

She didn't respond at first. Her facial expression became suddenly neutral- somber, almost. "The nature of the work itself requires me to live remotely," she said slowly, "but... it's more than that. Honestly, I just have problems trusting any group of people that claims they're trying to do the right thing. You can guess why."

Anakin nodded. Sad memories came to mind of Ahsoka's final struggle with the Jedi, how she had finally decided she'd had enough and just left. He had felt like such a failure that day, when he realized that he wasn't enough to make her want to stay with the Jedi. He had not been able to shelter he from the hidden corruption of the Jedi Order.

"My work is fulfilling," Ahsoka went on. "I travel all over the galaxy, finding new Imperial bases and planting my own surveillance devices so we can understand what the Empire's strategy is. I join the masses of common people so we can find out how they're being oppressed. I actually get my hands dirty, experiencing the real world so the Rebels can better protect it. But... I'd rather not let them see my face. I want to be a mystery to them, so they can know me in a more objective way, and not accuse me of anything false just because of some personal reason."

"That makes sense," Anakin said quietly. He knew he couldn't change Ahsoka's mind, but he wished she wouldn't feel forced to live such a lonely life.

"Anakin, you're the only one I would ever say any of this to. No one else knows me like you do. No one else would understand."

He nodded slowly, once again trying to force back feelings of guilt for everything that had happened at the end of the Clone Wars.

"Well... I'm glad you told me these things. Otherwise I would have spent the rest of my life wondering, 'Why didn't Ahsoka ever join us at the Rebel Base?'"

"And now you know. Will you... promise me one thing?"

"Of course, what?"

"Bring Leia back to me sometime, or Luke! Sometimes I wish my career allowed me to have a family of my own. And being around Leia has filled up that hole in my heart."

(Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is two days later than I said it would be! I had to make some changes to my story outline before writing this because I deviated somewhat from my original plan. I took this as an opportunity to finish up my development of Ahsoka, since there wasn't enough room in Chapter 24! Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment!)