closed starter for @fearlessenator -
ahsoka’s not even sure she should be here.
it’s not that she shouldn’t know. the announcement has been widely enough received that most people know of padmé’s rescue and recovery at the very least. and the work ahsoka does lends her to information well before it reaches the public. she knew where padmé was treated, where she was being kept safe, what her security looks like - force knows the togruta has poured over those facts for hours to ensure padmé is in fact being kept safe now.
but seeing her, coming to naboo under the best cover she could manage as so not to give away padme’s position.. this is something else. ahsoka failed. she’d worked so hard to keep padmé safe in the face of her newfound drive to work within the new republic, and she’d failed. and of course, logically, ahsoka knows the woman wouldn’t blame her for it, but that doesn’t chase away the twisting guilt she feels in her stomach as she goes through the relevant security checks and makes her way inside.
seeing her is entirely different to hearing the reports. again, logically, ahsoka would’ve known that coming in, but seeing her... ahsoka’s faced so much tragedy in her life, but nothing compares to seeing someone she cares for so much in pain like this, and as hard as she tries she can’t keep her expression from falling, crumping into a guilty frown as she lingers just in side the doorway. i’m sorry. that’s all she wants to say. apologise and flee, let padmé’s new team do the job she couldn’t, though it had never officially been her job to begin with. but she knows all that will do is have her reprimanded, knowing padmé. “your new team are doing their job.” she says, sounding surprisingly small. “how are you feeling?”
