It was certainly more protective than her previous outfit had been. But more than that she could feel the Force in the garment
The presence of the energy around her was soft and subtle, but it was a constant, like a light sheet of Force had been wrapped around her. She experimented a little bit, shifting and twisting at the waist and felt the outfit move with her as easily as her normal uniform. Moving with less doubt she slipped her feet into the boots and found them doing the same as the outfit.
She bent down to examine the other objects he had included, ones that had fallen when he handed it to her. One of them was a pair of fingerless gloves, ones that were stuck together until she tugged lightly at them, pulling them apart and then sliding her hands into. This time she reacted with less surprise as she felt them adjust subtly to her hands. The final piece he had handed her was an odd circular object that she turned over in her hands trying to figure out what it was. It was circular, a few inches around, and had slight bulges on it.
"It's a wand holster."
Ahsoka started violently, and then looked up to see both paintings looking down at her. She blushed, having forgotten about their presence there while she'd stripped herself naked in the room. There was currently a evaluative expression on the pink haired woman's face as she stared down from the portrait. She looked down squinting slightly at it trying to determine how it might go on her belt. The pink haired painting spoke up again, "It goes on your dominant arm and your wand goes into it for easy access and protection."
Ahsoka glanced up at the portrait in wordless thanks, and then held the holster up and pressed it against her arm, looking for the straps when she felt a slight surge of Force as it adhered there molding to the outfit, like everything else had done.
She reached down to her discarded clothes that contained her belt and the wand on top of it. She picked up her wand, one she had been holding in her hand or in a loop on her belt before she had changed. She held the wand up and tried to figure out how it attached to the holster and found it slid right into one of the small bulges that seemed to open as she put the wand close. An opening that enlarged to accommodate it and then closed after she slid it all the way in.
She frowned as she noticed that the holster had several little flaps that seemed to indicate more storage.
"Storage for other things you might need in a battle, potions, knives, and the like," the painting said in further clarification to her unasked question.
Ahsoka squeezed the holster in surprise, the wand she had slid in was far longer than the wrist holster. She tried experimentally to squeeze the wand back out, and panicked slightly when it seemed like it wouldn't be forced out easily. "How… how do I get it out?" She found herself asking.
"It's not hard, just jerk your hand slightly with the object you want in mind." Tonks instructed, showing the movement in the painting. A wand snapping into her hand much the same way.
Ahsoka jerked her hand as the painting demonstrated and her eyes widened as her wand slid right into her grasp.
"It was designed to snap out with easy use. Harry improved it so that other people weren't able to get it out without you being willing." Daphne explained with a genuine smile on her face. "It's also very protective. Harry put enough magic and enchantments into the few he made that they have withstood dragon fire."
"The easy way is to snap your wrist again, while thinking of returning it to send it back into the holster." Tonks explained without being prompted as she watched Ahsoka try and awkwardly slide it back in.
Ahsoka did as instructed and watched as the wand was sucked back into the pouch.
"Thank you." She looked up at the painting and then turned to rejoin Harry.
The other painting's voice stopped her.
"Wait…" Daphne's voice called out softly, in what was probably the kindest Ahsoka had heard the painting sound. "He called you his apprentice, is that true or was he making a joke?"
Ahsoka hesitated a moment. "I … uh… he was being serious." She answered, caught off guard by the sudden question and change of attitude from the normally aloof woman. Ahsoka was surprised when the portraits exchanged looks and then simultaneous expressions of relief flitted across the paintings.
"What?" She asked, feeling like she was missing something.
The portraits exchanged looks once more before Tonks nodded to Daphne, as if signaling that she was in agreement with the other woman to speak.
"In our culture, an apprentice is a close relationship," Daphne explained.
"That's what Harry told me last night, when he was explaining to me the apprentice bond thing and what it meant," Ahsoka replied.
"An… apprentice bond?" Daphne asked, her voice sharp. "You're sure he said 'Apprentice Bond'?"
Ahsoka frowned and nodded slowly, "Yeah, he did this thing where he made me see the F-, I mean magic. He showed me the bond. But said he had no idea what it did, except for letting me know what he's feeling, and vice versa. He said it wasn't intentional on his part."
"A true Apprentice Bond…" Daphne said, her voice soft, a hint of disbelief in it. She turned to look at the other painting.
Tonks on the other hand was nodding, looking unsurprised. She met Daphne's eyes.
"The Potter effect." The two voices said in unison.
"What?" asked a thoroughly confused Ahsoka.
"Just an old joke." Tonks replied, an amused laugh escaping her.
Daphne was faintly amused, though her expression turned serious once more. "It essentially means someone is declared as close as any family and usually includes adoption into the family, or as good as."
"So … Harry views me as a … what? An adopted daughter?" Ahsoka asked. There was a definite pang inside of her at that thought, a surge of emotion much like disappointment at hearing that.
"Not necessarily. Master-Apprentice relationships take on many forms, parent and child is one, but they can also be similar to best friends, lovers, spouses, siblings… the possibilities are varied, but it inevitably means a close relationship," Daphne explained. "It is ultimately, what the two of you make of it. When nurtured properly, it will last your whole lives."
Ahsoka blushed at some of the descriptions but then her brow furrowed looked back and forth between the two paintings obviously missing something.
"It's… been a very long time since Harry has had any sort of close relationships. At all. Unless you count Dobby and Hedwig. It hurts him, he's been so lonely whether or not he admits it." Tonks finally stated after an exchange of looks with Daphne.
"Harry has never enjoyed being alone. Like I told him earlier, he has a nature, I was talking about one thing. This is another. Being alone is definitely not in his nature." Daphne explained.
"But he has been for a very long time …" Tonks said, with a sad tone.