Star Wars work in progress You Became to Me

[polgarawolf]

Seventy-sixth part of WiP
Title: You Became to Me (as suggested by avari_maethor)
*Pairing: Mainly Anakin/Obi-Wan with some mention of Padmé
Rating: Uhm, probably a borderline PG-13/R-ish, maybe (?)
Disclaimer: I do not own the lovely boys from Star Wars, more's the pity! What I do have is an extremely contrary muse that refuses to shut up and leave me alone . . .
Summary: This is the one thing Darth Sidious never saw coming: a minor incident of collateral damage with repercussions that can potentially utterly undo all of his schemes
*Author’s Note: 1) Again, please see most of the previous notes!
2) The last scene is too long to post here completely (surprise, surprise) and so it'll continue immediately in the next posting for the WiP!


Luckily, the Grand Masters don’t comm back until after they’ve had a chance to visit the ’fresher and are quite decent again (if in the midst of pulling their boots back on). Dooku seems quite fascinated with their plan for gaining Chandrila as well as Alderaan for the New Jedi Bendu Order and asks them many probing, intelligent questions, while Qui-Gon stands off to the side and frowns, occasionally interjecting concerned remarks about family, Mon Mothma, and the danger of the corrupting influence of politics. It is not hard to see that Qui-Gon is more unsettled over the notion of Obi-Wan and Anakin adopting someone else into their family than he is about their actual plan for Chandrila. In an attempt to put Qui-Gon’s worries to rest, Obi-Wan begins to volunteer extra information about Mon Mothma, stressing the way she’d been working with Bail, during the war, in an attempt to counter Palpatine’s growing strength, and making an extra effort to describe her in glowing terms; yet, despite his efforts, Qui-Gon continues to frown anxiously, obviously still unhappy with the idea of having a not very Force-sensitive politician in the family. Stung for Mon Mothma’s sake, Anakin finds himself joining in the effort, arguing more and more vehemently in the Chandrilan’s favor (based mostly on the fact that he knows Padmé and Sabé and the other handmaids have always seemed to have a very high opinion of her), until finally Dooku places a hand on Qui-Gon’s shoulder and tells him, quietly but firmly, that his fear about Mon Mothma seems to be uncalled for, and that she sounds, to him, not only like a worthy addition to their little family, but also an extremely useful kind of person to have for an adoptive daughter. The conversation comes to an end fairly quickly after that, with Dooku requesting that they continue to keep them up to date, especially regarding the possibility that there might be some among the allies and potential allies that Mon Mothma and Bail have gathered up who could help the New Jedi Bendu Order win the loyalty of other worlds and systems.

Anakin’s stomach is growling by then, and so, even though they’ve remembered, by then, that Lady Alessya has left them a recording, they decide to head back down to the kitchens, to see what they can find for lunch, given that Bail’s second-mother hadn’t acted as if it were important for them to receive the message or respond to it immediately. Between one thing and another, by then enough time has passed that most of the newly arrived guests have already had or already put in orders for their lunches, and so more than enough food has been prepared by the diligent and talented staff that finding enough food to satisfy the two of them (even given the increase in appetite that they’ve begun to notice, since Coruscant) is easy enough to arrange. Anakin grins at the cooks, good-naturedly taking the teasing about the bottomless pits that pass themselves off for stomachs in young men and responding with a combination of quite genuine praise, disguised as flattery, and (mostly honest) observations to the effect that Jedi don’t get the opportunity to savor such marvelous culinary delights every day and he’s just taking advantage of their skills while he can. Everyone in the Palace, from the mostly human servants to the server droids, seem to have heard that Masters Kenobi and Skywalker have publically declared as a bonded couple, and more than one Alderaanian delicacy associated with nuptials, handfastings, and engagement parties ends up finding its way onto their table, to the point where Anakin finally begins to laugh and protest that even such a famously hollow stomach as his will have trouble finding a way to hold everything the staff seems determined to feed him, insisting that some of the undercooks and their assistants should sit down and join them for a while and tell them all the recent news. It’s a tactic they’ve often used to gather information and judge the mood of a place and people in uncertain times, and soon their ears are overflowing not only with local gossip but also hopeful and excited observations about the changes in galactic government and the Jedi Order, reassuring them both of Alderaan’s unwavering support for those changes and renewing their own hope for the future of both the New Jedi Bendu Order and the New Alliance of the Republic.

The twins have finished their afternoon bottles and are sleeping soundly again by the time the two leave the kitchens, so they head back to their suite to check for messages, listen to Lady Alessya’s recording, and wait for word from Mon Mothma. Except for a tired looking Shashai Antilles Metonae - who thanks them for helping Bail and quietly apologizes for disturbing Bail with her visit before (unsurprisingly) declaring her intent to join the local Jedi chapterhouse as soon as they begin taking in new recruits and asking them, in all seriousness, if there is anything that she or her husband (the elder half-brother of her youngest sister’s husband and a first cousin of Alessya Retrac Organa) can do to help spread awareness of the changes in the Jedi Order or to help organize the planet-wide and system-wide tests that should be offered to all Alderaanians - no one has commed since the Grand Masters. So they settle down on a couch in the sitting room attached to their suite, snuggling together comfortably, and call up Lady Alessya’s recording, to see what Bail’s second-mother has to say. That, as it turns out, happens to be a great deal - not only thanks for their help, with Bail, but a hopeful and detailed proposal for Alderaan that all but match their own plans for the world and its people, an even more detailed explanation of certain alterations to the Alderaanian Jedi chapterhouse (referred to so briefly, earlier that morning, by Celly), changes intended to support a worst-case scenario plan to transform Alderaan into a safe refuge for Force-sensitives. Not only has Obi-Wan’s discovery of a way to make midi-chlorians dormant been quietly passed along (and mastered) by the majority of Alderaan’s population, but apparently a centuries-long off and on attempt by Alderaanian Jedi researchers to perfect actual physical shield-generators - machines capable of erecting shields able to encompass certain areas and hide them, their contents, and (so long as a certain amount of Force-activity isn’t surpassed) any activities in the Force taking place within their sphere of influence from the notice of other Force-sensitives - has been revived and all but perfected given one constantly functional engine (roughly the size of a light corvette’s engines and, unfortunately, with roughly the same power requirements as the engines of an assault cruiser, given constant use at the highest speeds safely possible below the threshold of a hyperspace jump) for an area covered by roughly half the perimetric size of the sprawling Royal Alderaanian Palace, if with close to an extra hundred meters of clearance of height on the tallest of its spires stretched across that same ground.

The existence of such shield-generators makes a great many things about Obi-Wan’s earlier far-sight visions suddenly make a great deal more sense, and he and Anakin soon find themselves in the midst of a lively discussion regarding the usefulness of such machines as a defense mechanism against both Force-sensitive entities without the kind of power or knowledge of the Force to be able to see through or break through such shielding and non-sentient Force-sensitive creatures (such as the vornskrs of Myrkr) able to sense concentrations of Force-energy. Nearly an hour later (after deciding to comm the Grand Masters about the possibility of getting either more funding or more researchers on the shield-generator project after they’ve listened to the rest of Lady Alessya’s message, in case she has anything else to say that might be of interest to the Grand Masters), they finally get back to the rest of the recording, listening quietly while Alessya details an agreement with Chandrila, Grizmallt, Naboo, and, with varying degrees of tentativeness, Aleen, Ator, Axum and Anaxes, Belasco, Caamas, Champala, Cilpar, Corellia and the rest of the Five Brothers, Denon, Froswythe, Ithor, Shawken, Thisspias, Tynna, and Wroona, as well, to support and implement Ayesha Jamillia’s plans to expand the mandate of the Refugee Relief Movement and make it into a galactic-wide disaster relief organization. This recitation segues into what Alessya smilingly refers to as a list of Alderaan’s natural allies, including the thousand strongest, most morally upright and ethically balanced, democratically inclined or at least firmly egalitarian worlds of the former Galactic Republic (among the top ten of which are, unsurprisingly, Chandrila, Naboo, Caamas, and Ithor), after which Alessya declares that they might want to bring that list to the attention of the new Grand Masters of the New Jedi Bendu Order, as those worlds will likely look favorably on the Order and the new galactic government’s joint efforts to bring both relief and restoration and a viable Jedi Bendu presence to the worlds and systems most damaged by the Clone Wars and the neglect of the former galactic government.

In the end, Obi-Wan and Anakin decide to record an explanatory message to accompany Lady Alessya’s recording and send the whole thing on to the Temple so the Grand Masters will be able to get a better idea of just what Bail and his allies as well as his family and Alderaan as a whole has been up to for most of the past four years. They’ve just transmitted both recordings to the Temple and sat back down to have some tea when the local comm unit chirps, indicating an incoming message. A simple flick of a switch, and Mon Mothma’s respectful and yet patently excited voice fills the room, politely but eagerly asking if she might request a meeting with the Bendu Masters in half a standard hour. After looking to Anakin for consent (which he gives with an easy shrug and a careless nod), Obi-Wan agrees, telling Mon Mothma that they’ll be expecting her in their sitting room in thirty minutes. That gives them plenty of time to finish their tea and make another quick visit to the twins (who are, as it happens, sleeping peacefully, while Kimeila rocks quietly in a chair by their cradles, reading transcripts of the latest news reports from the HoloNet, and Threepio and Artoo stand silently off to the side, powered down to conserve energy while the children are asleep) before ordering some light refreshments sent up from the kitchens, so they’ll be able to unobtrusively augment what has likely been a scant working lunch, on Mon Mothma’s part. The refreshments arrive a few minutes before Mon Mothma, and soon afterwards they’re into politics up to their eyes, Mon Mothma having arrived with a much expanded version of Lady Alessya’s list of Alderaan’s (as well as Chandrila’s and, by extension, also the New Jedi Bendu Order’s and the new galactic government’s) natural allies and supporters, including both many of the worlds and systems formerly given representation on the Loyalist Committee and a huge swathe of worlds from the Expansion Region all the way out to the Outer Rim Territories, mostly comprised of worlds and systems that supported Palpatine’s rise to power as Supreme Chancellor but subsequently turned away from him, as it became more and more obvious that he wasn’t going to provide the solution to growing galactic tensions that they’d hoped he would.

Over the following three hours, Anakin, who has never particularly cared for politics or diplomacy, receives something of a crash course in both the current reality of galactic politics and the basic requirements of a working government - be it locally confined to one city or one planet or spread out, via trade agreements and mutual laws, among many systems or even whole sectors - while Obi-Wan, who has always excelled at diplomacy but never particularly cared for the reality of the corruption and graft so often at work in behind the scenes politicking, makes connections and intuitive leaps of judgment that at turn so baffle, delight, astound, and energize Mon Mothma that she forgets herself and her carefully put together calm persona and begins to expound and exclaim at length, occasionally leaping to her feet and making a prowling circuit of the room, hands circling and gesturing in time with her comments, as she argues and reasons her way through Obi-Wan’s leaps of genius to stitch them together with ideas of her own and arrive at new possibilities that make Anakin’s head ache and Obi-Wan’s eyes shine with excitement. Anakin has to concentrate mightily just to follow most of what they’re discussing, and he spends most of the time either silent or else making what he thinks of as obvious comments about the reality of life out in the fringe systems and on worlds where slavery is still practiced and asking innocuous questions about the culture and economic driving force of certain of the worlds and systems they’re discussing that end up sending one or the other or both of his companions’ minds haring off on wild tangential lines of thought that lead to more and ever more complex lists of reasons why and how it should it possible to bring so and so world and thus and such system into the fold of their proposed network of elaborately overlapping alliances either based on certain instabilities inherent in the realities of their ways of life (as pointed out, however accidentally, by Anakin) or else on specific similarities between their cultural philosophies or economies (again, as pointed out by Anakin) with other systems and worlds already firmly ensconced in their multi-layered weaving of associations.

Anakin is eventually reminded so much of the chains of interlocking webs forming the overall shape of his Padawan’s living mind that his head aches all the way down to his teeth.

Seven hours, two interruptions (one from Sheltay Retrac, who comms a little over five hours into the meeting to rather firmly inform the Jedi Bendu that she’s going to bring them up an evening meal from the kitchens and would the junior Consul or either of the Masters care to request any dishes in particular? On escorting the generously sized portions up to the suite, she promptly gets pulled headlong into the discussion, which she joins with unfeigned interest and energy, proving to have almost as much to add to the conversation as Mon Mothma herself, on account of the many years she’s spent as one of Bail’s most trusted aides. Less than an hour after that, the second interruption comes in the form of the Grand Masters, whose blue-washed hologrammic images join in the discussion for nearly half an hour before they’re finally called away to another meeting, at which point they firmly request a detailed report from Obi-Wan and Anakin after the discussion with Sheltay and Mon Mothma is over), a rather large amount of food, and a shocking number of pots of tea later, Alessya, Alaina, and Raymus come knocking at the door, bearing trays of soups and sandwiches, fresh fruit, and crackers and several varieties of sliced cheese, as well as huge containers filled to the brims with piping hot stimcaf, stim tea, wake-tea, caf, vine-coffee, and even hot chocolate. Anakin’s lone consolation (aside from the food and the container of blue milk he finds hiding behind the caf) is the frankly bewildered look that Raymus Antilles has on his face during most of the next three and a half hours.

When the suite’s comm unit buzzes and he looks up to discover that it’s over half past two in the morning (much closer to three), Anakin’s first instinct, quite frankly, is to track down whoever it is that’s comming so he can thank the person properly, with a kiss. The rather shy and nervous aide who stammers her way through a politely roundabout inquiry regarding whether the Bendu Master might possibly know the whereabouts of the junior Consul seems so timid, though, that he limits himself to an extra bright and friendly smile as he informs her that junior Consul Mothma is currently in an informal meeting, and would the aide like to speak with her? He then deliberately hands the comm over to Mon Mothma before the aide can answer and nearly groans with relief when the meeting immediately starts to wrap up. He does groan a little bit (if mostly under his breath) when the decision is made to reconvene in this sitting room at half past ten over a late, working brunch. Even his eyes hurt when everyone has said their goodnights and departed (including the hastily summoned half a dozen worker droids, who thankfully manage to swiftly and all but silently gather up all of the empty platters and dishes and cups and pots and containers to carry away, back to the kitchens) and he and Obi-Wan are finally able to make their report to the Grand Masters (who, being thankfully unavailable, receive only a rather brief summary of the rest of the meeting and word that the discussion will be resuming in the morning around half past ten, at the conclusion of which they will report in again). He feels muzzy-headed and overloaded with strange facts and figures and names and associations, and is pathetically grateful when Obi-Wan (who, disgustingly enough, frankly looks as bright-eyed and chipper as a youngling with a brand new toy) refrains from trying to ask him anything, instead simply smiling at him softly as he takes Anakin by the hand to lead him back to their bedroom. Anakin takes the soft smile as the invitation it is and groans, as pathetically as possible, “I know you’re the diplomat on the team, but great stars! How do you stand doing this? Or even keep all of that garbage straight? My head feels like it’s going to explode and I still don’t understand what the frack Alessya and Alaina think making every planet responsible enough for itself to have its own little space-born navy is going to do to help us stop the slave trade in Twi’leks!”

Obi-Wan responds to Anakin’s piteously forlorn expression and vain attempts to banish his referred to splitting headache by rubbing his own fingertips against his temples by shaking his head slightly, reaching up to slide Anakin’s hands away from his head, pressing soft kisses to those temples, and then opening his arms to let Anakin rest his aching head against his shoulder, threading his fingers delicately through Anakin’s hair and pressing his fingertips against certain pressure points along Anakin’s scalp and neck, skillfully massaging away the collected tension until Anakin all but sprawls against him, relaxed almost to the point of bonelessness after Obi-Wan has slid his hands further down, along tensed shoulders, kneading and caressing away the knots of stress and tension. Anakin has almost forgotten his questioning complaint when, what seems like a long time later, Obi-Wan replies by noting, “I’ve had quite a bit more practice at this than you have, Anakin. Master Qui-Gon has never had much use for politicians and he’s never been the most diplomatic of men. When they worked together, I imagine Master Dooku was the one who handled this type of situation, as he’s the more patient and diplomatic of the two. In any case, since Qui-Gon is, quite simply, generally too blunt for this kind of work, you could say that I received a sort of crash course in the importance of keeping my temper and paying attention to all of the little details early on in my apprenticeship. So I’m used to this kind of debate. Nearly ninety percent of diplomacy is simply being able to argue well enough or creatively enough to persuade someone else either to or close enough to your point of view to get that being to agree with you about something. Generally speaking, it’s nothing more than a contest of words. Most of your life, though, has been centered around one physical struggle after another, so you’ve had little experience with these contests of words and wrestling of ideas. You did very well in there today, for one so much more used to the kind of ‘aggressive negotiations’ that generally result only when this kind of negotiation fails. But you’re approaching some of these problems from the wrong angle, love. You think of slavery primarily as something morally repugnant, as a way of reducing thinking, feeling beings into things, into property. In other words, you see the results of slavery rather than the causes that support the institution. You need to be thinking more along the lines of the reasons why the practice exists in the first place. Think more about why Twi’leks are sold into slavery, not what the practice of selling them does to the individuals.”

“Why?” Anakin blinks, caught off guard by the question, frowning blankly as he rolls his head back on his neck and pulls away enough to let him look at Obi-Wan’s face again. “What do you mean, why? Twi’leks are widely seen as beautiful and graceful and some people are sick enough to think that it makes sense to make the ownership of someone lovely and graceful like that into a symbol of wealth and status.”

“That’s the excuse given by the owners and those who tolerate the practice of such chattel ownership, Anakin. But what about the Twi’leks themselves? Specifically, what about the male Twi’leks who generally provide their women to the slavers and slave markets that ultimately sell those so-called status symbols?” Obi-Wan gently but persistently asks. Then, helpfully, he adds, “It may help to think about Ryloth, the homeworld of the Twi’leks, before you try to answer.”

“Ryloth . . . ?” Anakin frowns a moment, even more confused, before the pieces begin to fall together. “Ryloth has an identical year and day. Half of the planet is perpetually in light while the rest is in darkness. It’s a harsh world with a thin atmosphere, little free surface water, and lots of deserts. It has heat storms and wind storms that make the smaller Tatooine sandstorms look like the result of a kid playing in a sandbox. The Twi’leks survive the heat storms by living deep underground along the equator, in the thin habitable twilight border between the dayside and nightside of the planet, in a series of caverns and underground cities blockaded with thick blast doors and portcullises to keep out the storms and predators from the Bright Lands. The planet’s not exactly mineral poor, but Twi’leks can’t really survive the extreme conditions of the Bright Lands or the nightside without a lot of protective gear and armoring to survive the heat storms and predators like the lyleks, and the habitable area is limited, so it’s not like they can just mine for the metal they’d need for alloys to make the sort of gear and armoring necessary to survive outside of the habitable area. Twi’leks never developed space travel on their own because that would require a lot of metal, too, so they’re kind of stuck there unless - oh. Oh. Oh, frell! Obi-Wan, why hasn’t somebody gotten those people off of that planet altogether and on to one of the more habitable worlds, like one of the planets that’s always being proposed for settlement as a new agriworld? The old Republic had enough resources for it! And it’s not like safely habitable worlds without any known sentient residents or with not enough of a known sentient population to qualify them as inhabited enough for inclusion in the Republic and representation in the Senate are rare or anything! There’s easily hundreds of worlds and moons and stable planetoids like that from the Expansion Region on out, just in the sections of the galaxy that we’ve bothered to map and explore! Before the war, the Exploration Corps used to find one or two more of them every month, out near the Mid Rim! For stars’ sake, there’s even some in the Colonies and Inner Rim, still! Force! Even the Alderaan system has a habitable planet that’s mostly unsettled, still! The blasted things aren’t rare! That’s part of what makes it so damned hard to keep track of criminals and the smaller smuggling operations if they decide to run - all they really have to do to get away is hop ship and vanish by setting down on one of the unclaimed worlds!”

“I know, Anakin,” Obi-Wan agrees quietly, sadly, his eyes darkened with regret. “Believe me, I know. The Republic, unfortunately, has never made protecting all of its nonhuman and/or otherwise vulnerable inhabitants against exploitation by the ruthless or the criminal or making the most efficient use of its own resources into high priorities. Thus, there’s long been a booming trade in Twi’lek slaves because no one has bothered to give the Twi’leks a viable alternative to slavery to escape from Ryloth and so-called contractual laws that technically make it appear that the individual Twi’leks have legally agreed to become indentured servants allows the slavers to get away with the pretense of legality. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of uncharted space still within the bounds of the old Republic and there are easily hundreds if not thousands of fallow, inhabitable moons, worlds, and planetoids that are perfectly safe and viable for settlement literally in our own backyards, lying about like the scattered, unused toys of a petulant, wealthy child.”

“Yes, but how is making it mandatory for worlds to have and to man their own naval defenses going to help the Twi’leks? Ryloth will never be able to build a navy of its own, not without outside help!” Anakin instantly protests.

Obi-Wan, though, only smiles. “Ah, but you see, that’s the beauty of the whole scheme, Anakin. Worlds that logistically are unable to support both the creation and manning of some kind of permanent line of defense against invaders will have to be reclassified as unviable for widespread, permanent, on-world settlement. Worlds reclassified as unviable for such settlement but which already have such a population in place will therefore have to be evacuated and their populations relocated to a more suitable world or worlds. You know how Ayesha Jamillia wishes to expand the mandate of the Refugee Relief Movement so that it’ll be a galactic-wide disaster relief organization?”

“I got to hear all about it a couple of times in there today, so yeah,” Anakin dryly replies, waving a hand out towards the sitting room. Then, frowning tiredly in obvious confusion, he insists, “But I don’t see what that has to do with what we’re talking about! The Refugee Relief Movement is mostly privately funded. Without the kind of resources a galactic government or a large coalition of truly wealthy worlds can marshal, the organization would go bankrupt in less than a month, trying to deal with something like that!”

“When, exactly, did you hear any one of us say that the process of making the Refugee Relief Movement into a galactic-wide disaster relief organization wouldn’t involve making it a part of the government of the New Alliance of the Republic?” Obi-Wan only asks back, cocking an inquisitive eyebrow at Anakin and smiling at him in self-satisfaction. “We’ve agreed that the survival of the New Alliance of the Republic is going to depend on the full, willing cooperation of all of its member states, remember? The democratically enabled establishment of stability and prosperity in and among the places and peoples most damaged by the war and the far too many years of corruption and neglect by the various previous incarnations of the government of the old Republic will be the NAR’s highest priority. Since protecting the NAR and enabling its survival will best help to promote life and growth and peace in the galaxy, it is the will of the Force that we do just that. Thus, it’s an extremely high priority for the New Jedi Bendu Order. Personally seeing to it that the government of the NAR is established and run as it should be will not only allow individual Jedi Bendu to fulfill a key part of the Order’s mandate, it will result in the kind of widespread cooperation and goodwill that will allow the Order to fulfill most of the rest of that mandate by allowing the Jedi Bendu to spread freely throughout the galaxy, gaining new recruits in numbers such as the galaxy has never seen before. That’s why the Order is working so closely with the fledgling government and why we’re being very careful to promote and secure feelings of goodwill and tolerance and, distaste though it may seem, even thankfulness and awe towards the Jedi Bendu. It’s why we’re allowing the HoloNet to report on the contents of Sidious’ various records and schemes and even letting some of the reporters have copies of things like the Jedi tutorial Cody put together with footage from so many of our war campaigns. We need the public to truly understand how close the galaxy has come to disaster and how much has been sacrificed in order to secure the chance we now have to essentially start over again with a clean slate and rebuild the Republic and the Jedi Order as they always should have been. They’ve been releasing unedited footage of the various battles and interviews of individual clone soldiers and non-clone armed forces personnel as well group interviews of working, mixed teams from units aboard ships in the Open Circle Armada to the HoloNet since the day before we left for Utapau. It’s one of the projects I had our Padawan coordinating. Bail’s been trying to get footage like that out on the HoloNet since nearly the beginning of the war, hoping to help personalize and humanize the clone soldiers and prove to the various sentient beings of the galaxy that the clone troopers are more than just meat droids. As embarrassing as I, personally, find it to be the subject of such hero worship, the simultaneous humanization and heroizing of the Jedi that’s happening alongside the personalization of the clone troopers serves a similar purpose. It makes the sentient beings of the galaxy more aware of the sacrifices that have been made in their name and it also makes them more aware of their vulnerability, which in turn makes them behave more sensibly, accept a greater amount of responsibility for themselves, and want to take a greater active role in both their defense and the process of governing, as a whole. As much as I hate to admit it, PR can be an even more powerful tool and a stronger, more reliable goad than the simple availability of raw data or knowledge alone. By presenting the facts in a certain way and using the public’s reaction to the presentation of those facts, we can guide the public towards a certain path, one that will lend itself to the formation of a shared vision and philosophy wherein the peoples of the galaxy will themselves insist on assuming greater personal responsibility for their own lives and well-beings as well as the well-being and safety of their fellow sentient beings. Outrage over what Sidious so nearly accomplished will, on the one hand, cause a backlash against crime in general and corruption in politics specifically that will lead the people to insist on such things as having a greater say in their protection and the entire process of lawmaking and governing - which will lead them to maintain a certain level of autonomy from the galactic government while at the same time cause them to claim more responsibility for and elect more reliable individuals at all levels of government, from the smallest, local level all the way up to the Consuls themselves - while, on the other hand, it will raise awareness of suffering in the galaxy and cause the various sentient species of the galaxy to come together and want to work together towards a future where someone like Sidious won’t ever be able to take advantage of something like a measurable bias among the wealthy and politically powerful towards a single species or seemingly related set of species and use that injustice as a way to cause enough foment and political discord to lead to outright war. When the press is finally done reporting about Sidious and this war, most of the sentient beings of the galaxy are going to genuinely want to band together and help each other and seek a greater understanding of and closer relations with one another, if only to make sure that there won’t be a weakness like that for someone like Sidious to exploit ever again. And the rest of them will go along, if only because it’s going to swiftly become the popularly accepted thing to do and the politically and culturally correct attitude to have. All we have to do is sustain and guide the reaction long enough for it to become not only a shared vision but a way of life that’s taught to subsequent generations. At that point, it will have become self-perpetuating and a general advance in the overall standards of galactic life as well as progress in galactic-wide ethics of responsibility and morality in general. Seeing to it that trustworthy individuals like Ayesha Jamillia and Mon Mothma - who are both moral enough and responsible enough to shape the initial reaction to the knowledge of who and what Palpatine truly was and the backlash against the kind of corruption that allowed a Sith Lord to gain power and be democratically elected as the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic in such a way that it will lead to just that kind of shared vision - are made aware of the best ways to take advantage of that response and given the chance to take the fullest possible advantage of it is the smartest thing the Order can do, right now. That’s why I spoke to Keiana Apailana as I did, about making Dala City a Jedi Bendu chapterhouse, why I was glad when Padmé’s former handmaids chose to approach us before we would’ve had to go seek them out, why I pushed Mon Mothma for a discussion like the one we just had, and why I would have invited Alessya and Alaina to the discussion if they hadn’t taken the initiative to invite themselves. If we’re going to push the New Alliance of the Republic to prioritize protecting and making the most efficient use of all its resources, then we have to prove ourselves willing to cultivate our own resources, even if it means calling on the working relationships and friendships we’ve formed with other people.”

The headache instantly returns in full force, but Anakin is too stunned to hear Obi-Wan admitting to supporting the notion of thinking out and advancing such an obviously manipulative set of plans to really notice. “Obi-Wan. Are you saying you think it’s alright to do that kind of thing to people, even if it is for their own good? How is this any less morally questionable than just using a mind trick on everybody?”

“Trying to justifying something by claiming it’s for the other person’s own good is never a good idea, Anakin. That’s a damned slippery slope - the ends justifying the means - and it’s an argument that I prefer not to embroil myself in, given the chance. However,” Obi-Wan sighs, a pained expression briefly flitting across his face, “the fact of the matter is that, unfortunately, most of the sentient beings of the galaxy seem to not only expect this kind of PR manipulation but to get the vast majority of their information solely from the HoloNet and the press without bothering to seek any further unless presented with facts so outrageous that they feel obligated to double-check on them - in which case, they generally seek no further than the next most widely available source of news. Though I rather dislike catering to such abysmally poor habits, I’m afraid there’s no other viable way to even get the information out to people. And while I dislike having to argue semantics this way, the truth is that I find this much less morally questionable than using the Force to influence someone’s mind. This is really no different that presenting an argument to someone in hopes of persuading that being towards a specific decision or reaction. It’s something that debaters and negotiators do all the time, love. There’s no force or pressure involved other than that which surrounds a logical or emotionally moving argument. People have a choice whether or not to listen and whether or not to allow themselves to be swayed by what they’re being presented with. There’s an art to successful arguing and a science to gathering together and assembling all the necessary parts of a persuasive, informative debate in the most effective way possible, but even the strictest adherence to both sets of rules doesn’t and can’t guarantee that everyone intended to hear a certain message will even listen or that all beings will respond in the way that the speaker might wish them to. With a sufficiently strong mind trick, though, there’s really no choice as to the being’s reaction, now is there?”

“Oh. Well. I suppose not,” Anakin has to agree, though the whole subject is frankly so disturbing that he hates to have to give in. Scowling irritably, he then adds, “But it doesn’t mean that I like this! It feels . . . wrong, somehow. I know we need to get more involved in the lives of ordinary beings, but I don’t like getting involved in politics like this.”

“Because it would be too easy to take advantage?”

“No, so you don’t have to raise that eyebrow and tilt your head like you always do when I say something amusingly naive. I understand that it would be just as easy to take advantage in just about any field a trained Jedi Bendu might go into. I just - it’s a slippery slope, like you said. How do we keep from sliding down it?” he asks plaintively, not bothering to hide his worry.

Obi-Wan, remembering a gesture he’s seen others make, slides the knuckles of his right hand comfortingly along Anakin’s cheekbone, unfolding the fingers only when Anakin relaxes enough to push against them, actively seeking a firmer touch, nuzzling up against the heel of his hand until Obi-Wan finally opens his palm and cups as much of Anakin’s face as he can wrap his hand around. Afterwards, holding Anakin’s gaze all the while, he tells him, in all seriousness, “Exactly like this. By talking to each other and asking hard questions of one another and never taking our motivations or our morality for granted. We have to remember to question ourselves and our motives, Anakin. The moment we stop doing that is the moment when we fall.”

Voice very small, as though half afraid of and already wincing away from the answer, Anakin asks, “So there’ll be no more certainties?”

“Not none. We are a team and the Force is still with us and we are still Jedi and, while there are always some who will desire advancement or satisfaction solely at the expense of others - those who will be born without consciences and others whose lives will destroy their ability to feel any compassion or true empathy with others - most sentient beings are basically good people who want little more out of their lives than safety, shelter, food and drink, some companionship, and enough leisure time to pursue at least a few frivolous hobbies, and who will at least mostly contentedly work for those things and follow the rules and beings who seem, to them, to be most able to guarantee a perpetual abundance of all of those things. Some things simply don’t change. Just not as many as we may have assumed, before,” Obi-Wan insists.

Anakin raises his hand to place it over the one Obi-Wan has cupped around his cheek, holding it in place so he can shrug without losing the touch. “That’s not much reassurance - not for beings who’ve been taught to believe and obey an absolutely unbending philosophy and set of rules for pretty much their entire lives. I think a lot of the old Jedi Order is going to have a much harder time adjusting to all of this than I’ve been assuming they will. I’m having a hard time, and I know what the alternative to all of this would’ve been.”

“That’s why we’ll be testing them, one by one, to gauge their reactions to the changes and hopefully get a feel for whether or not they’ll be able to adjust. The ones who obviously won’t be able to adjust will be given the option of either publically breaking all ties with the Order, taking an honorable retirement, or else accepting a task of some sort in a place out of the way enough - in one of our archives, say, or performing solitary research - so that their inability to adjust won’t harm either those who are willing to adapt, however much struggle that might take, or the task of rebuilding not only the Order but the galactic government and a sense of unity behind it, as well,” Obi-Wan quickly replies, reiterating plans that they haven’t really discussed since the day they confronted the High Council, cleansed the Force of the taint choking it, and declared the creation of the New Jedi Bendu Order. “This will work, Anakin. It won’t be easy, but we can and we will make this work. Everyone truly willing to rededicate themselves to the Force by taking vows to the New Jedi Bendu Order will be teamed up with at least one other Jedi at once, so that they’ll all have their own little support groups to lean on and learn from. Whether they realize it or not, most Jedi have already formed ties with at least one other person in the Order strong enough to serve as the foundation for individual family units, the way you and I and the Grand Masters and our Padawan are a family, now. Master T’ra Saa loves Master Tholme, who is like a father to Quinlan Vos, who not only has a family of his own but is also rather like a beloved older brother to Aayla Secura, who loves Master Fisto and will help to anchor him. Whether they’re supposed to have them or not, the attachments Jedi have already formed or begun forming will help center and anchor them, giving them the strength and support they need to weather the shocks until the changes cease to be quite so challenging. And it will. Things won’t always be this hard.”

“No. They’ll eventually be so dangerous that we won’t have time to worry about things like this,” Anakin notes, mouth twisting wryly. “Well. Except maybe for you, love. You always seem to find a way to make time to worry about everyone and everything,” he adds, smiling to balance out the exasperation creeping into his voice.

“Worry today so that problems can’t find you unprepared tomorrow,” Obi-Wan merely shrugs.

“No. They’ll eventually be so dangerous that we won’t have time to worry about things like this,” Anakin notes, mouth twisting wryly as his arms come up to circle around Obi-Wan’s waist and back. “Well. Except maybe for you, love. You always seem to find a way to make time to worry about everyone and everything,” he adds, tightening his arms and hugging Obi-Wan to him to balance out the exasperation creeping into his voice.

“Worry today so that problems can’t find you unprepared tomorrow,” Obi-Wan merely shrugs, nestling close. “That’s what Master Ali-Alann always used to tell us, in the crèche.”

“I remember. I always thought he was a pessimist and that he probably would’ve worried himself to death a long time ago if not for the kids in the crèche. Somehow, taking care of all the little ones, trying to keep ahead of them and all of their troubles, kept him from fretting himself to a frazzle about everything else,” Anakin admits with another wry little half smile. “It’s smart enough advice, as it goes, but I think you may’ve taken the injunction a little too closely to heart. Worry too much about what might be coming, and you miss what’s going on around you now. Isn’t that why Master Qui-Gon was always trying to tell you to live in the moment?”

A bit of amusement creeping into this voice, Obi-Wan half asks and half simply notes, “I thought you had decided that Master Jinn and his thoughts were no longer wholly reliable?”

Uncomfortably, Anakin fidgets, scowling, and finally admits, “I’m upset with him for not taking the initiative to at least try to clean up after himself. I know it’s silly, but you love the man like a father and there’s something like awe underneath all that loyal devotion you have for him, so I expect a lot more out of him than I would just any old other Jedi. I want him to be better than this, to behave better he is. Xanatos was his Padawan and his responsibility - and don’t you dare try to compare them to you and Vader, in those other timelines, because that particular fall wasn’t your fault and you always did everything in your power, considering the state of shock you were in and the damned compulsion that little green troll put on you, to try to give Vader a way out, a way back, to turn him around and to save him. Qui-Gon, on the other hand, practically drove his Padawan to turn, and he never even once bothered to seriously try to help or turn him back - so really, the legacy Xanatos left behind, through his actions and his son, is Qui-Gon’s mess. None of it would’ve happened if Qui-Gon hadn’t abandoned Xanatos first to Crion and then to Telos. So he should’ve been out there already trying to do something to set the things he already knew about right before we had all of this other crap even brought to our attention. I don’t like having to clean up other people’s messes. I’ve made too many mistakes of my own that I’m eventually going to have to try to clean up after to be out chasing after Xanatos’ ghost and worrying about having to track down his blasted grandchildren and save people from his son’s wife or paramour or whatever the frack Jenna Zan Arbor actually was to Granta Omega, blast it! And don’t try to tell me that it’s our duty to help him because he’s family, either! I wouldn’t begrudge helping him, whether he was family or not, if only he’d either had the decency to actually ask us for help or the conscientiousness to try to help one of us with something similar in return.”

Obi-Wan starts to reply, gets as far as Anakin’s name, stops, sighs explosively, obviously frustrated, holds himself very still and very quiet for what seems to be a slow count of ten, and then starts over again, asking, quite seriously, “Is it really Qui-Gon you’re unhappy with, though, or is it the addition of politics to everything else you’re being asked to shoulder - including the possibility that Sidious might have kept hostages - that’s bothering you so much? If you think we’re trying to do too much by ourselves - ”

“No. It’s not that.” Shaking his head, Anakin pulls away, only to drop gracefully to the floor and tap Obi-Wan’s booted foot in a clear signal that, though he doesn’t mind continuing the discussion, he also wants to actually get to bed sometime in the near future. Obi-Wan obliges by lifting the foot enough to let him ease the boot off, listening quietly while Anakin explains, “I know why we’re the ones doing all of this stuff, with Grievous and Naboo and now Alderaan and maybe Chandrila and as many other places as we can get Bail’s and Mon Mothma’s contacts to go to work for us. We’re the best ones for these particular jobs, whether we enjoy doing this kind of thing or even feel particularly comfortable with politics or not,” he shrugs, sets the other boot aside, and then pushes himself effortlessly back onto his feet. “It’s the people in charge of the other jobs I’m worried about, not us.”

“The Grand Masters?” Obi-Wan asks, raising a questioningly eyebrow as he sinks to his knees to help Anakin out of his boots.

Anakin shrugs elaborately, avoiding his gaze. “Yes. But not just them.”

Both eyebrows go up this time, as he reaches for the second boot. “The former members of the High Council?”

Anakin shrugs again, the gesture fairly straightforward, this time, and reaches for Obi-Wan’s belt. “Partially. Though with Yoda on Kashyyyk and most of the others off coordinating the end of various campaigns, I’m less worried about what they might do while we’re gone than what the orphaned Padawans and the older younglings might get it into their heads to try to do. I’m concerned about whoever’s in charge of the Senate and the government, while Bail and Mon Mothma aren’t there. Who are these other Consuls, anyway? Grebleips and the other Children of the Green Planet were more interested in experimental ships and exploring neighboring galaxies than local politics, the last I heard. The Mon Calamari are so busy trying to keep peace with the Quarrens and the other sentient species of Dac that they usually have little time for the rest of the galaxy. Fang Zar is a big supporter of sectorial autonomy and decentralized government, like that Senator from Corellia - Padmé talked about him and his people and how she wished that Garm Bel Iblis and others like him were a little less worried about the taxes their people were being asked to pay and more worried about the general safety and well-being of the sentient beings who live outside of their systems - and I can’t help but notice that their political beliefs and concerns don’t exactly seem to mach up very well with what we’re planning for the galactic government.” Anakin scowls slightly, brows knitting together in concern. “How do we know what these other Consuls are up to, when no one we know enough to really trust is there to supervise them? We need a better way to keep track of these people when we’re not on Coruscant. Maybe we should try to befriend or recruit some of their aides, or something.”

Obi-Wan tilts his head back slightly, clearly tickled by that reply, as he unwinds Anakin’s obi. “This, from the man who dislikes politics?”

“This, from the man who doesn’t really trust politicians. At least not the ones we aren’t close with,” Anakin instantly retorts. “And given how many times you’ve lectured me on the inherent untrustworthiness of politicians, you can stop giving me that amused look any time you want to. Talz. Wookiee. Furry. Remember?” he asks, punctuating each word by poking Obi-Wan lightly in the shoulder as he strips off his tabard and outer tunic.

Obi-Wan’s lips twitch uncontrollably towards a smile. “I thought we’d decided that this didn’t make such points any less valid.”

Anakin sniffs dismissively, though his mouth twitches rather as if he’s repressing a smile of his own. “That’s what you decided. I’m not entirely sure your judgment is trustworthy, though, given that you’ve also apparently decided that one politician plus our rather politically-minded semi-relatives on Naboo and now Alderaan don’t make our little family political enough.”

“Ah. And I suppose now you would prefer to try to handle the political arena without them to run interference for you?” Obi-Wan nearly laughs in return as he strips away Anakin’s last layers of clothing.

Anakin shivers theatrically. “Great stars, no! Whatever gave you that idea?”

Grinning outright now, Obi-Wan breezily waves his hand and replies, “Oh, I don’t know. Your anxiety about letting the Grand Masters work with the politicians on Coruscant without supervision. Your concern about the other Consuls and the Senate and what they might get up to, if left unsupervised. Your suggestions about suborning the aides of certain politicians. It makes you sound rather like either an eager, gung-ho student or an extremely hands-on teacher. Are you quite sure you haven’t been hiding a secret fascination with politics from me, all these years?”

“Ha! I could ask you the same question, Obi-Wan! How many other friendly allies have you got who’re politicians? I know the High Council had been pushing for better relations with the Senate, before all of this, but I’m surprised Master Windu let you get away with having so many obvious ‘attachments,’ given his suspicious nature,” Anakin instantly snipes back, pushing at Obi-Wan’s shoulder again and grinning. “I know Bail’s considered a special case, but what about Mon Mothma and Padmé and Sabé and all the other handmaidens?”

Obi-Wan shrugs, smiling disarmingly in return. “Oh, you know the High Council. I’m fairly sure most of the Council Masters considered all of those young ladies from Naboo, from Padmé and Sabé to Jamillia and Apailana, to essentially represent the same power. Since the High Council decided to support Naboo, in the wake of the Trade Federation’s invasion, the Order’s striven to keep good relations with most all of the Nabooian politicians since then. And I’m fairly certain they considered Mon Mothma little more than an extension of Bail, before.”

Anakin snorts, unable to help himself. “Well, I’m sure the other former Council Masters will figure out just how wrong they were to assume that, fairly soon, if they haven’t figured it out already. And Dormé will disabuse them of any such lingering assumptions, after she gets settled in as Senator, if the people running the Dala City chapterhouse don’t managed to do it, first.”

“Is that admiration I hear? And for politicians, too!”

Anakin cocks an eyebrow at him and then repeats, quite drily, “Talz. Wookiee. Furry. I can keep repeating it, if you like. Or I could come up with a few alternatives that mean basically the same thing. Like . . . a Sith Lord calling General Grievous ruthless. A comet calling a glacier cold. Yoda calling an Ewok short.”

Obi-Wan laughs delightedly, the sound almost startlingly carefree, and leans in for a kiss before Anakin can think of another comparison. The sun complaining that the moon’s too bright? he asks, smiling into the kiss.

Hmm. Speaking of suns and moons, Delaya’s probably long since set and the sun’s going to be up before we even lie down, if we don’t get to bed soon. As much as I appreciate your scintillating wit, love, I think the company we have coming will appreciate it more if you’re awake enough to function when they arrive.

I’m sure the Force will be glad to provide whatever rest and rejuvenation we may require that we lack enough time to gain by sleeping.

Oh, really? Well, in that case . . . Grinning evilly, Anakin lunges after Obi-Wan’s lips, arms snaking around him and pulling him in close, gathering him up until he’s essentially managed to place Obi-Wan astride his right thigh.

Obi-Wan makes a startled noise, gasping into the heat of Anakin’s open mouth, and for a moment all but hangs in his arms, all wide-eyed shock, when the kiss has finally ended. But then, matching Anakin’s grin, he slides his hands from the places they’ve automatically moved to (right shoulder, left hip), in his surprise at being bodily lifted, wrapping his arms across Anakin’s back and then pulling on him, lifting himself up until his body is aligned with Anakin’s just so, before pushing forward, against the solid bulk and heat of his body, until Anakin gasps, head falling back, hips bucking forward to meet Obi-Wan’s.

They make it to the bed but don’t quite manage to get the covers pulled down, tumbling instead into a nest of naked limbs, arms and legs and silken hair for blankets, lost in each other, needing nothing more, the universe reduced to two bodies and the give of the mattress beneath them, small and bright and very warm.

*********

The Force may indeed (at least temporarily) supply rejuvenation, but Anakin, blinking rather like a nocturnal predator disturbing at the hour of high noon, declares, quite grumpily, that he misses being able to actually occasionally sleep, now that they’ve got themselves a proper bed again after all of the months of sleeping rough and bundled up together in too small bunks or too narrow berths, during their time out in Outer Rim Sieges, and that he damned well intends to get to sleep some tonight, since Breha’s state funeral will finally be starting the next day. Obi-Wan sympathizes enough with the complaint that he doesn’t try to argue, instead persuading Anakin to get up, so they’ll be able to hit the ’fresher and get dressed in plenty of time to pay a quick visit both to Bail and to the twins before it gets close enough to the agreed upon time that they’ll need to be on hand in the sitting room, to welcome any early arrivals. Anakin insists on taking a water shower, though, instead of using the sonics, and that takes more time than either one of them might have expected (Anakin insists that Obi-Wan must be from a world where the people love water, because water and Obi-Wan easily equate with an act of worship), so they have to satisfy themselves with a quick peek in on Bail (who is, unsurprisingly, still fast asleep, and who also, thankfully, still has his shields intact) and a fairly short visit with the twins, who are awake and quite happily trying to catch or at least kick the brightly colored, shiny holograms being beamed down towards their cribs from the mobiles hanging over them. Kimeila, who’s apparently been talked into letting Bail’s half-sisters claim Threepio and Artoo for the day, smiles warmly and confidently insists that she’ll be fine, that she and Winter’s nanny are going to combine their watches in about half an hour, after Sheltay finishes visiting her daughter, and that they’ll all have loads of fun together. It sounds safe enough (Winter’s nanny is the older and unfortunately fairly recently widowed sister of the child’s father, Ob Khaddar, and Damelyn is, from what they remember, a kind and caring woman), so they take Kimeila’s word for it, leaving only when the time forces them back to their suite.

They just beat their first arrival, Mon Mothma, on the heels of whom Sheltay and a wave of servants from the kitchens arrive. The mostly human servers are still helping the droids to unload and set everything up to Sheltay’s satisfaction when their other guests arrive, and they’ve all managed to fill their plates and settle down to eat by the time the chrono chimes the half hour mark. After just over an hour of mostly informal chatting (mixed with some discussion of the upcoming funeral) while they eat, Anakin takes a deep breath and, seemingly against his own better judgment, turns to Mon Mothma and quietly reiterates part of the question he asked Obi-Wan the night before and never really received much of an answer to, regarding the other three Consuls and the reactions Mon Mothma thinks they’ll have to some of the more political aspects of the plans they’ve been working on, regarding the future of the New Jedi Bendu Order and of the government of the New Alliance of the Republic. Mon Mothma (being aware that Anakin is most likely the least politically-minded person present in their group) gives him a bit of an odd look, but she finishes the muffin she’s eating, washes it down with a generous drink of juice, and promptly launches into a thorough explanation of both the currently popular political schools of thought and the basic cultural philosophies of the homeworlds and systems of the three Consuls and the various reasons why those things in combination with knowledge of the three individuals and their particular ideologies and records in both the political field and the private sector (i.e., in their private lives) led her and Bail to ally with all three individuals several times on projects and proposals headed by or springing from within the Loyalist Committee, which in turn leads her to believe that they will offer their support to most of the items on their agenda - and that they have no need to know of certain other plans until well after they’ve already been initiated, when it will be too late to do anything to stop them and fruitless even to protest what’s been done without their knowledge or consultation of their opinions.

Anakin is so stunned by the sharpness of her teeth when she smiles that he doesn’t even think to protest before she moves on, using his question to segue back to an issue touched on the previous day but not really addressed, regarding the need to court Garm Bel Iblis and, thus, the Five Brothers of the Corellian system away from meditative solitude (or Contemplanys Hermi, as it’s legally named in a clause in the Galactic Constitution) and into a full-fledged, passionately whole-hearted embrace of both the philosophical and political ideology of the New Alliance of the Republic. Three hours later and the overlapping discussions sparked by Mon Mothma’s follow-up to Anakin’s question about the Consuls still raging like wildfire, Sheltay sends to the kitchen for tea and is sent a miniature feast that they nonetheless manage to devour down to the crumbs in just under an hour. Perhaps two-thirds of an hour later, they finally reach a plateau. Alessya and Mon Mothma and Sheltay all look stunned, Obi-Wan quietly satisfied, and Raymus quite simply unabashedly smug. Something Alaina and Anakin have been tossing about between themselves, only half seriously, while the ones with more political acumen and greater cultural knowledge of the peoples and systems being discussed are speaking on another topic amongst themselves, has led to a mostly offhand remark about how many droids the government will likely be inheriting from the armies of the CIS, which in turn has sparked a comment about how much cheaper, safer, and infinitely more humane it is to use programmably willing - and personality-free due to being mostly AI-free, not smart enough to have or to even approach true sentience - droid labor instead of unwilling slave labor, and the resulting explosion of thought from the others has been nothing if not spectacular. They’ve arrived at what Mon Mothma, looking poleaxed and blissful and strangely vague around the edges, as if melting from the heat of some internal conflagration (it will not occur to Anakin until much later that Mon Mothma, in that moment, reminds him of Padmé - and, more specifically, of the rarely seen unhinged and dissolving and radiantly beautiful look on her face, just after climax) declares to be an absolutely workable plan for uniting the majority of the known galaxy behind and within both the New Alliance of the Republic and the New Jedi Bendu Order.

Again, this scene picks up immediately in the next posting for the WiP!