Lost and Longing.

Chapter 4: CH 4



The bartender was making a gasping sound as she tried to bring air into lungs that were no longer whole. Ahsoka saw her try and speak several times, her mouth moving but no sounds emerged.

The bartender looked up at him with fear in her eyes but Harry's voice was calm and gentle as he placed his hands over the wound, "Shh. Just take a minute and catch your breath. You're going to be fine."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at his lie but chose to hold her tongue, starting an argument while the woman lay dying wouldn't be beneficial. Though she felt giving her false hope was just as bad.

However she was distracted by the feeling of the Force once more being used. Only this time the feeling was much stronger. She looked at Harry to see what he was doing, but he was ignoring her. His eyes were intent on the Zeltron female, as his hands pressed against her chest. And then without warning there was a tremendous surge in the Force. For just a moment Ahsoka felt like she was in the presence of pure Force as it moved around her and through her, but seemed to focus in the area in front of her.

It was both the strangest and most amazing feeling she could remember feeling in a long time. But then as quickly as it had arrived it tapered off and disappeared. Leaving Ahsoka breathing hard as she tried to put names to all the sensations she had just felt.

Her eyes regained focus by movement in front of her as a moment later Harry pulled his hands away from the bartender's chest area.

Ahsoka blinked as she saw pure unblemished skin where his hands had been. She quite literally had to do a double take to confirm that her eyes weren't deceiving her in some way. But the wound showed now clear, and seemingly completely unblemished skin, the only sign there had been a wound was the blaster hole that was burnt into her top.

The woman took a deep breath and arched slightly as her lungs filled up with air, a sound of almost desperate relief escaping her throat before she started to cough weakly between several breaths. Ahsoka found herself reaching forward hesitantly, wanting to touch the place the wound had been and confirm for herself, before she remembered exactly where the woman had gotten shot, and pulled back her hands, a blush marring her features.

Harry leaned back, and with a subtle movement of his fingers, Ahsoka felt a surge in the Force. She watched, without anything obstructing her vision as the fabric of her clothes seemed to stitch itself together to the point that it was nearly indistinguishable from the cloth that had been untouched by the weapon fire.

Harry looked at the woman once more and Ahsoka felt a small surge of the Force though she couldn't see any effects from it. The woman shook her head slowly as if shaking off a daze.

"Looks like you were nearly hit by a stray bolt and had the wind knocked out of you when you fell." Harry's voice was kind, but firm as he described a completely ridiculous situation to the shaken bartender.

The woman shook her head a little bit before she ran her hands over her chest slowly, almost fearfully and seemed to be surprised that she was in one piece. But Harry didn't give her time to dwell, hopping to his feet and offering her a hand to stand up.

She hesitated only a moment before she took the proffered hand, that pulled her to her feet with one smooth movement. She grinned up at the green-eyed human flirtatiously, "You know Harry, if you really wanted to grope me, you didn't need an excuse. No need to make a production out of me tripping and falling..."

Ahsoka was barely able to keep her jaw from dropping open, mind tricks usually just left the person a bit dazed and susceptible to suggestion. But the bartender had just taken Harry's suggestion at face value and seemed to completely believe it. "C'mon, the owner of this place is kind of a bitch, she wouldn't want you laying down on the job and flirting with the customers." Harry said with a smirk on his face. Then he paused and clarified slightly, "Or at least I think the objection would be that you're only flirting with one."

The bartender's eyes narrowed, "I'll remember that comment Harry, see if I keep accepting packages on your behalf."

Harry snorted at the empty threat. "You're paid for that." He reminded her with an amused smile.

She huffed a little bit, "Fine, then I'll stop slipping candid pictures in there to surprise you!" Ahsoka had watched the entire exchange in both confusion and incredulity. The man, Harry was amused and acting like nothing serious had happened and the woman was laughing, all while the young togrutan stared at the two of them, and neither paid her the least bit of attention. Though in a way that was a good thing since she was still processing events as they occurred in the past few minutes.

Ahsoka had never encountered this Jedi Master before, but in quick succession she had seen him using the Force to take out 6 armed assailants. And he hadn't used a weapon as far as she could tell.

Then he had healed a woman that Ahsoka would have sworn was beyond hope, even if they had a bacta tank nearby, the time it would have taken to get there would have killed her. But the way he healed with the Force was something else. Certainly that was a far better and faster healing job than any of the Master's in the order would have managed to the best of her knowledge. Jedi healing was very effective but was slower and much more gradual. That woman did not have long enough to live to benefit from any of the healing techniques she had seen.

She had just seen him use what she assumed was a Jedi mind trick on the woman to get her to believe she hadn't been shot, but it had seemed far more effective than the ones she was used to seeing. With little haziness or obvious signs on the recipient like the repetition of speech and such.

But she had also seen the impossible. She had never seen matter just change in the presence of the Force before, but that had just happened. She'd seen the Force bludgeon, push, pull, rotate, and lift things, and had certainly done all of those things herself. But she'd never witnessed anyone manipulate the Force so that state of matter itself seemed to modify and just… repair a damaged outfit like it was nothing.

Harry wasn't even paying her speculative gaze any attention as he walked around the bar and crossed his arms, looking at the pile of unconscious bodies. He looked over at the bartender, "You want anything to do with them?"

She rolled her eyes, "Want? Absolutely, but it's probably bad form if it got around that I had started offing or turning patrons over to the authorities. Even if they haven't settled up their tab yet."

Harry nodded and then grinned, letting out a theatrical mocking laugh. "That means they're mine to deal with right?"

The Zeltron shrugged, "One patron taking care of others who fired blasters in a bar? That's not something anyone can complain about."

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