The room of a thousand fountains was a place where Obi-Wan always felt at peace and that was exactly where he found himself only minutes after arriving back at the Temple. Senator Amidala had been escorted off to her temporary room by a young Padawan and Obi-Wan had been told that the Council would see him in two hours. He had went back to his own room, stopping for a moment at the door to Anakin's room but he hadn't entered. He couldn't. No doubt, the council would order him to search Anakin's room for an idea as to his whereabouts but he just couldn't do it then.

He sighed and leaned back against a large oriental tree and stretched the muscles in his neck and heard the bones click a few times. It felt good to be home and yet so entirely unsettling. His mind had been active for too many hours and he was beginning to feel a dull ache in his temples. He had been awake all the previous night, not wanting to fall asleep in case anything had happened to the Senator. He had filled her in on the details of their return to Coruscant before she had retired to bed. He had felt her presence awake for several hours before sleep finally claimed her. He then sent Artoo to recharge while he settled into the over stuffed sofa and tuned into the living world around him.

The night had been surprisingly uneventful though Obi-Wan was glad. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to fight if something had happened. The quietness of the night only heightened his thoughts that the Senator wasn't the main prize in these attempts on her life – it was Anakin, he was sure. And the attacks on the senator's life were the only way for whoever it was the get Anakin into the picture. He sighed and opened his eyes, wondering if it was only his imagination or if the Council were thinking the same things as him.

He knew the Dark Side – the Sith – had to be behind it: Anakin was of no real value to anyone else. Every rebel group knew that a Jedi was trained to sacrifice his life for others. However, in the past, the Jedi had blended into the background but with Anakin – Force, even with himself at times – the press and mass love for "the hero with no fear" had made him – and consequently the Jedi – a very prominent figure in the day to day lives of the mass public. Surely the Separatists, or similar groups, hadn't simply kidnapped Anakin so as to cause uproar – that would only lose them support. He groaned and looked about the room, seeing two young Padawans talking together at a tree further around the main pond and he smiled. Sometimes he missed being a Padawan.

He recognised the boy – Ferus Olin, Siri Tachi's Padawan – but he could not see the other properly, though he imagined it was Darra Thel-Tanis as the two were good friends. He would have gone over to speak to the pair but he didn't know quite what to say to them if they asked after Anakin – normally, as Ferus would tell anyone who would listen, Anakin would follow Obi-Wan around like a shadow. Obi-Wan was neither prepared for it emotionally or mentally. He didn't even know what to say, if the Council would let him tell the two that a Padawan had gone missing. A Padawan going missing was bad enough, without that Padawan being Anakin Skywalker.

So Obi-Wan stood and stretched a few times, returning the bow that Ferus sent him after finally noticing him before he made to leave the room. He saw Siri on the other side, sitting at a tree alone and he let his mind wander to find her signature, giving it a friendly brush before leaving the room completely. Outside in the corridor, he felt a slight chill run down his spine and he looked around but saw nothing.

He was probably just tired.

With that in mind, he headed towards his quarters for some much needed sleep.

--

Padmé opened her eyes and found herself looking at a dull grey ceiling. She sighed and pulled the blankets closer around her body. A chill had set into her bones early the previous night and she had yet to be rid of it. The cool interior of the Jedi Temple did not help matters, either.

The Jedi Temple… She could not quite believe that she was to stay in the Temple, the sacred heart of the Jedi Order. It was astounding and yet so surreal. As she had passed through many corridors, she was amazed by the over-whelming size of the building – the height of the ceilings, the width of the corridors… The temple always looked huge from outside but inside… it was immense. She had walked the corridors for ten minutes to get to her room and she had not passed a single person. It was disconcerting, to be sure but she simply could not feel nervous when calmness oozed from the walls.

Her escort had been the stereotypical stoic young Padawan – so different from Anakin. Anakin was nervous, timid but certainly never stoic. And the way he looked at her… She sighed and stood up, finally giving up on the idea of sleep. She looked about the dim quarters and wondered what she would do with herself to keep occupied. She wondered if Obi-Wan would visit, or anyone. She wished that Dormé could come but Padmé knew that no one could know of her whereabouts. She knew it was for the best but she also didn't want to stay idle. The vote on the Creation of an Army act was scheduled for the next day and she desperately wanted to be a part of it. She trusted Jar-Jar not to do anything against her wishes but sometimes the Gungan didn't know how to hold his tongue.

Not only that, she felt helpless sitting in a room in the heart of the Jedi Temple – she felt like a burden. She wanted to help keep the rapidly diminishing peace in the Republic, she wanted to wander freely but most of all, she wanted to help search for Anakin. She knew that she would be of no great value but she felt like she had to do something. But she also knew that the Jedi would prohibit it.

Padmé's stomach groaned and she looked down then looked around the room.

How was she going to get something to eat?

--

Chancellor Palpatine sat in his office facing Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan - a handsome young man -, Representative Binks and Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila. It was a rather distinctive group – with, perhaps, the exception of Jar-Jar – and the Chancellor listened to them diligently.

"It seems that the separatists have amassed an army of Clones from somewhere, your Supremacy," Organa stated and the Chancellor nodded grimly.

"Yes, I've heard of this atrocity too. I fear that it may sway the Senate to vote in favour of this most recent act. What do you think, Representative Binks? What do you think Senator Amidala would do in this situation?"

The Chancellor knew very well that the Gungan was weak minded but he also knew that, for the moment, he had to be Chancellor Palpatine and leave Darth Sidious behind the mundane mask. It had become more and more difficult for him the keep his balance right, what with the Dark Side being so strong recently. He had to meditate more often than he ever had and he was seeing things, visions, premonitions of his grand rise to power. He knew the Gungan would be vital in his manipulations.

The only missing piece of the puzzle was Padmé Amidala. She seemed to have disappeared from his senses and he did not like that one bit. The only people who could hide her from him would be the Jedi and he cackled internally at the thought. If only they knew that their actions were playing right into his hands. The downfall of the Jedi was finally coming, and they had no idea.

"Mesa thinks that Miss Padmé would still opposa da motion," Binks replied in his usual disgusting basic dialect.

Palpatine barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Yes, the Senator most definitely would still oppose the Creation of an Army act but her attempts to turn the Senate in her favour would be futile.

"It is no coincidence that this news of the Separatist Army has leaked out on the eve of the voting on our act. They must have planned this from the beginning," Mon Mothma continued and Organa nodded in agreement.

"It has certainly been a calculated move. One we should have expected, no doubt."

Palpatine was only half listening. There had been a flare in the Force and he concentrated on that. His mind searched out for the Jedi's precious 'Chosen One' but he did not sense him at all.

Curious…

His mind found Obi-Wan, far too close to be on Naboo. Had the young Knight returned to Coruscant and hidden his Padawan and the Senator? It seemed unlikely that the Jedi would leave Anakin alone – he knew they did not trust him. The under-estimated his value: a mistake Palpatine was not making.

"Chancellor Palpatine?" Palpatine looked up at Organa's concerned face and realised he had been immersed in the Force for too long. "Are you all right?"

Palpatine nodded slowly, in an attempt to look frail and condemned.

"It's just a small head ache, nothing to worry about. All of this pressure gets even to the best of us," Palpatine continued with a wary smile as he raised his hand up to his forehead.

"We will take our leave, then, your Excellency," Organa replied as he stood up, followed by the other two.

Once the door to his office closed, Palpatine drew the blinds over his window with the Force and settled himself on the floor in a meditative state. He had to find the Padawan and the Senator. He needed them for the next stage of his plan.

--

Anakin opened his eyes and awakened to the room. The first thing he felt was that he was no longer comfortable. He was on a hard bed of some kind, his feet and hands bound to the four corners. He glanced down to his body as he felt a chill run through him and he realised he was almost completely naked – only his under garments covering his body. There were no blankets, or windows and the room was cold. Too cold. He shivered again. He pulled against the restraints on his wrists and ankles but to no avail. He was stuck. He was blocked from the Force and he was stuck.

Great. Just what he needed.

His head pounded at his temples and he winced at the sudden sharp pain there. He didn't like headaches. He didn't like headaches just about as much as he didn't like Granta Omega. Granta…

He wanted to vomit at the thought of the name, of the man who had killed Master Yaddle, who had tried to kill so many innocent civilian lives. But then, hadn't he had the chance to stop Granta, to save Yaddle? He'd seen it happen, saw it the night before in a dream. But, of course, he'd thought it was just a dream and so didn't put much stock on his apparent vision. But only if he had, if only he'd listened to the Force instead of rationalising everything. He hadn't told Obi-Wan, how could he? The older man would have told him that dreams pass in time. It was his answer to everything nowadays.

He let out a frustrated squeal and jerked once more against the restraints. His stomach growled in hunger and he grunted at his body's ironic timing. He was hungry though. He felt weak from hunger and he hated it. He hated feeling weak, vulnerable with no way of escape.

"You're awake," a groggy voice said behind him and he tried to crane his neck to look at the woman but he couldn't move enough. "I didn't think you were going to wake up." Her voice was the velvety richness that he remembered from earlier and he only wished he could see her face, to know what his kidnapper looked like.

No doubt, she was the mastermind behind his capture – something of which he still wasn't sure – because there was no way Granta would have been able to catch him. How had she managed to get him from Naboo to… wherever they were without having been on the planet?

Or had she been? He didn't know, his memory of events after his meditation were hazy. When he thought back on it, it seemed as though he was in some sort of trance, as though the Force was urging him out onto the boat. Surely, the Force hadn't wanted him to be captured?

He heard a shuffling and he imagined her standing up, felt her presence move towards him. He flinched when he felt her cool hand on his cheek and he turned his eyes towards her. He tried to ignore the shivers that went through his body at her touch. His eyes met hers, dark and cold and lifeless. He might as well have been looking into the eyes of a dead beast. Her skin was ivory, her red lips full and smirking, her jaw line defined and her cheekbones prominent. The most startling of all was her hair: it was like shattered shards of white ice standing in different directions. He wanted to reach up and touch the long shards to see if they were as sharp as they looked. His eyes travelled down her body, noting she was dressed all in black – he rolled his eyes at the utter cliché – and her tight outfit was the same synth-leather as his tunic. There was a thin white belt around her hips and from it hung, much to Anakin's surprise, a lightsaber.

She studied him with her dead eyes and Anakin tried to catch a glimmer of white in them but there was none. He shuddered under her invasive gaze and he sneered at her. She smirked and ran her hand down his chest, over his muscles before spreading her fingers flat over his cheek, forcing his face in her direction.

"You're far more attractive than your holo-images give you credit for," she said smoothly and Anakin simply raised his eyebrow. "Tell me, do you enjoy being the poster-boy for the Jedi Order?"

Anakin shuddered again and jerked his head away from her touch. She was clearly well informed and her use of Obi-Wan's term for his popularity rattled him.

Where was Obi-Wan, anyway? Was he searching for him? Was he in this place? Wherever this place was. He hoped Obi-Wan was searching for him.

"You're on board Omega's ship," she said as she moved around the edge of his 'bed'. Her heels clicked on the floor and Anakin frowned at the thought of her wearing high-heeled shoes. He followed her with his eyes as she moved around him before coming to stop at the bottom of the stone table. She leaned her hands on the edges, dangerously close to Anakin's feet and leaned forward, so close the Anakin could her warm breath on the bottom of his stomach. "A pitiful excuse for a ship really. We had to gut one of the rooms to make way for this little cell." She pulled back and gestured around the barren room. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Anakin only smiled, refusing to use his voice. He looked away towards a point on the wall. He would not give into her. He wondered if she was searching his mind for information: he felt entirely disconnected from the world around him.

"Granta wanted to me to kill you straight away," she continued as she moved to his left hand side and perched on the stone edge, her back to his face. He felt her finger on his leg, tracing a small scar he had acquired on a particularly risqué mission when he was younger. "Gods, what a fine specimen of a man you are, Chosen One," she muttered and turned back to look at him. Anakin felt sick to his stomach at the lust he saw on her face, her eyes briefly flashing. He bit his lip to stop the retort that was on the tip of his tongue. "You're too stubborn, young one. Your mind is well shielded." She ran her hand through Anakin's hair and tugged on it gently, lowering her mouth so it was mere millimetres from his own. She smelled wonderful, Anakin mused, as his eyes fluttered between her scarlet lips and her pitch black eyes. Both such a beautiful contrast to her pale, pale skin. She locked her eyes on his and he could sense her smile. "But I will break you. By the time my Master gets you… You will be ready. You will be nothing."

Anakin laughed manically, before he pushed his face to hers.

"I don't think so."

She stood up abruptly and Anakin felt himself pushed back onto the cold stone slab with a Force push. She looked him over one last time before she disappeared out of the small room without so much as a backward glance.

So his captor was a Force user, he mused as his mind pondered over this. And she wielded a lightsaber. The only other person he could think of who was like her was Assaj Ventress, the Dark Jedi but this woman was clearly not her. He frowned and tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry and it felt like he was swallowing scrapings of metal.

Obi-Wan, he thought, please find me…

--

"Knight Kenobi, some information we have," Yoda announced as he entered his small meditating quarters with Master Windu in tow.

Obi-Wan perked up at that and sat down on one of the small cushions that smattered the floor.

"About Anakin?" He asked eventually when it seemed neither of the two would continue. He was frustrated with the Council's apparent lack of care that his apprentice was missing, quite possibly in the hands of the dark side.

"We're not sure," Windu muttered and Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows sceptically. "It's about Finis Valorum."

Obi-Wan was startled by that.

"Chancellor Valorum?"

"Former Chancellor Valorum, yes," Windu continued. "It seems he is rather against Chancellor Palpatine. He has joined with the Separatists but it is believed that he is trying to create a breakaway group and has caused some problems for a planet that we… can't quite find in the Archives."

This was a night full of surprises. The Jedi were looking for a planet that wasn't on any of the Jedi Archives – it seemed impossible, since the Jedi Archives were known for their vastness and for the mass of knowledge that was gathered over the past millennia. But Obi-Wan was weary – it seemed that the Council were going to send him to look for this errant planet when he should be out looking for his Padawan. His frustration grew.

"Calm yourself, you must, Obi-Wan," Yoda stated knowingly and Obi-Wan had to try not to roll his eyes or smile sarcastically at the Master.

"Surely if a planet isn't in the Archives, it doesn't exist?"

"Says Master Nu also," Yoda said with a pointed look at Windu that left Obi-Wan slightly confused, but even more frustrated. "Hear from this planet we did, from a void in space it seemed."

"It was the people on the planet who contacted you?" Obi-Wan asked. "Why would they give up their anonymity?"

"That we do not know. Go, you must, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Absolutely not. I want to look for Anakin. My Padawan, who has gone missing, who you all seem to have forgotten about on such short notice! I shave to find him and sending me to this unknown planet is preposterous!"

Obi-Wan had once known when to hold his tongue but it seems as though that knowledge had diminished with age. He once would have felt appalled by his behaviour but now he didn't care. He felt like the Council was giving up on Anakin when they had absolutely no right to.

"Go you must, Obi-Wan," Yoda repeated.

"The Council has sensed that there is more happening on this planet than we are aware and we need to know what it is."

Obi-Wan simply shook his head and stood up. He couldn't believe it.

"Send the information to my droid. I'm going to see the Senator."

Obi-Wan left the room and the two Jedi Master's looked at one another.

"A dark cloud surrounds young Kenobi," Yoda mused as he watched the young man's retreating form.

Windu nodded and made a contemplative sound.

"His attachment to the boy has grown far beyond that of a Master and Padawan. He sees Skywalker as his brother," Windu concluded and looked down to the diminutive Yoda.

"Dangerous, this can be when so close the Dark Side is."

The two fell into a contemplative silence as they immersed themselves in the Force.