He made his way back to the section of the cavernous warehouse to where Dobby had placed the beds. He crossed his arms and leaned against one wall in the sectioned off room. He had nearly timed it perfectly; Ahsoka had just groaned and put a hand to her head.
She pushed herself up in bed and looked around blinking the remnants of exhausted slumber out of her eyes. "I wondered if you'd be up, sleepy head. I had Dobby set a glass of water on the stand next to you," Harry said in a quiet voice.
Hysterical breakdowns were dehydrating after all.
His tone was amused, and she stiffened up and shot a look his way. His brow furrowed slightly as he could feel embarrassment from the girl. It wasn't that the embarrassment bothered him.
It was that he could feel it so clearly.
Ahsoka had been making huge strides on her occlumency She was getting harder and harder to sense, where before her thoughts had practically shouted to him across a room. He hadn't wanted to tell her that her progress in that arena was nothing short of astonishing. On Earth it took even disciplined and experienced wizards years of practice to get to the point she got to in only a few days.
Well... years of practice, or months of being mind raped on a regular basis.
He was forced to concede that it was possible that the Jedi indoctrination… or training, was at least good for something. However, now he could read her as clear as day again with minimal concentration.
Of course it only took him a moment of closing his eyes to confirm that he wasn't sensing her through legilimency, even passively. He was sensitive enough to his own magic to know that whatever bond he had apparently enacted by acknowledging her as his apprentice was the cause.
His gaze met her blue eyes and he found her staring at him with a puzzled frown on her face.
The glass she had picked up and downed about half of was held up frozen at a slight tilt as she looked at him over its rim.
"You're… nervous. Why are you nervous?" she blurted out. Though it was a statement, her tone was full of questioning. She had no idea how she was sensing that. She couldn't help asking quietly, as much Harry as herself, "How… do I know that?"
She was not empathic. She only occasionally got senses from people, but that was far more Aayla's area. She was a known empath.
More, she had never sensed anything from Harry's emotions. Ever. She had never seen Harry so much as appear nervous. He was the exact opposite, confident, in control. The nervousness was more than a little disconcerting.
Harry's expression was thoughtful as he considered her statement. "Well, I wouldn't say nervous. More concerned really," he said. Harry saw no reason not to be honest with Ahsoka especially as he was relatively uncertain regarding this whole thing as well.
"Why?" Ahsoka repeated, gathering some measure of relief from Harry's calm and matter-of-fact tone. Harry tilted his head, "We'll come back to that in a minute."
When her expression turned suspicious he nodded reassuringly, "Promise."
She relaxed slightly though still looked at him curiously as she finished her drink.
"How're you feeling?" Harry asked pushing off the wall to stand straight and stepping into the room fully.
"I'm-" She started to reply and then stopped herself from her standard knee jerk reaction to the question of "fine."
Harry nodded slightly, he recognized yet another mannerism that he shared with the young woman. Even around people he trusted, for years he was always 'fine' even when he wasn't.
The fact that she stopped and considered what she was going to say spoke volumes about her maturity, self awareness and her trust of Harry.
"I'm … better … I think," Ahsoka ventured uncertainly, "But now I'm… worried."
Harry nodded slightly inviting her to go on as he moved to take a seat on the edge of the bed, with a few feet of distance between them.
"On one hand I feel like there's a weight that's been lifted off my chest," Ahsoka commented and then shot Harry a suspicious look, expecting him to make some sort of comment about her chest. But he didn't, he was just listening attentively to her.
She wasn't sure if she was more pleased or disappointed by the lack of comment. She was definitely pleased that he was taking her seriously and disappointed that he didn't see fit to even make a comment about her chest. She knew she wasn't as busty as the Zeltron or Aayla, but didn't think herself unattractive.
"On the other hand," she continued after a bit of a pause. "I really did destroy part of a room. I'm… really really sorry about that by the way," she added sheepishly.
"Don't be sorry. Dobby probably has it mostly sorted anyway. He is well used to things blowing up or getting destroyed around me," Harry replied with an easy shrug.
She looked up and met his eyes, he could see the blue eyes filled with concern, "I lashed out in anger and I think I nearly hurt Aayla and Master Ti."
Harry nodded slightly, "Not to go all stereotypical shrink on you, but how and what does that make you feel?
Once more Ahsoka chewed on her bottom lip as she considered the question, "Like I mentioned before. On one hand it sort of feels like a burden has been lifted. But I also feel guilty for my actions. I am… was… a Jedi. I should be better than that."
"Better than what?" Harry challenged, lifting one leg on the bed and bracing lacing his fingers together over his knee.
"Better than to… to lose control like that," Ahsoka responded gesturing vaguely in the direction of the room she had nearly decimated.
"And here's where we come back to some of my core issues with the Order," Harry replied. His tone was firm, though didn't seem to have accusation in it.
"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked with a confused frown on her face.
"I meant exactly what I said. The Jedi believe themselves better than everyone else," Harry stated plainly, his voice matter of fact so as not to be deliberately offense. He wasn't trying to irritate Ahsoka in the moment as he had been when he had usually been speaking to Jedi in the past two weeks.
Ahsoka opened her mouth to retort instantly, but stopped herself and looked at Harry and simply waited for an explanation.
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