Author's Note: I played around with the time period a bit in this chapter because I wrote it in school when we had a sub, and I forgot the exact order. Then, I was too lazy to change it. Still, it works my way, even if it isn't one hundred percent accurate. Me culpa.

Waiting

The next morning, after the healers in their infinite wisdom agreed to release me from the med center, I headed downstairs to the rectory to consume some breakfast before I hurried off to the briefing on the progress of the Outer Rim Sieges. I could have eaten my morning meal in the hospital ward, but I wasn't in the mood for mashed ration cubes, especially because the rectory normally did a decent job with breakfast. In fact, breakfast at the Temple was always the best meal of the day simply because it was the most basic one to make, and, therefore, required a genius to mess up.

Thus, as soon as I persuaded the medics to release me from the prison that was the sick ward, I rushed to the nearest bank of turbolifts that descended to the rectory, took them down to the level where the cafeteria was, and entered it, joining the end of the queue of Jedi of all ages and species assembled along the buffet table. As the line moved along, I wisely refrained from taking any watery bubo eggs or any gritty Ruutanian potatoes. Instead, I helped myself to a quintberry muffin and a container of jerba yogurt, and grabbed a carton of aruza juice before twisting my way out of the rectory and bustling off to the meeting on the Outer Rim Sieges, which was scheduled to commence in just seven minutes.

When I strode into the conference chamber where the report was to be held, I saw that the room was already filled, but not jammed, with Jedi. Older younglings who wanted to impress Jedi Knights with their commitment to the Order were present, clustered in the front row, staring at the front of the room, even though Mace Windu , who was presiding over the briefing was not here. All of them had purposeful, serious expressions etched on their faces, and none of them chatted amongst themselves.

Behind the initiates were the younger Padawans. Since they had been chosen, they felt no compunction about displaying the rambunctiousness of youth, and were gossiping and playing hand games among themselves.

After the young Padawans, came the older ones, easily distinguishable by the glowers on their faces. Obviously, this meeting was occurring way too early for their approval. Some rested their heads on their palms, attempting to get in a few more minutes of snoozing before Mace Windu arrived, and they had to sit up straight and feign interest in what the senior Council member was announcing. Others were tossing fruit idly between their hands, clearly harboring no desire to consume the food. All of them had an unmistakable body language about them that screamed to anyone who wasn't blind that they were out of their sleep couches and had donned their robes, so nobody in any fairness could expect any more of them before noon. For some reason, I couldn't contain a slight smile at the sight of the surly Padawans. Moody apprentices always reminded me of Anakin, although I really didn't miss the days when he had awoken every day more irascible than a ronko with a headache. Unlike Anakin, I certainly hadn't been that mercurial when I was an apprentice. It was one of the few advantages of Qui-Gon being dead that he couldn't contradict me in this conviction.

At the rear of their Padawans were the Jedi Knights, who were conversing quietly among themselves. Knowing instantly my place in the gathering, I slid into a vacant spot beside Bant. "So you're back from the med center already," she remarked, as I did so.

Since I was munching on my muffin, I merely nodded in response.

"Where's Anakin?" she asked, realizing that he had not entered with me, which was unusual since we tended to do most Temple activities together. "I didn't see him last night at supper, either."

"Last night, he was busy answering questions for senators and smiling at the holocameras for the Holonet," I replied between bites of muffin. "Where he is at the moment is the million credit question. Maybe he still has to figure out how to escape Senator Akio Akira of Hathrox III. After all, that can sometimes require days of effort."

At this, Bant grinned, as she helped herself to a nibble of my muffin without my permission. Senator Akio Akira was so linguistically challenged that he made Jar Jar resemble a grammar professor at Coruscant University by comparison, being a politician who had difficulty inserting both nouns and verbs into his sentences. Unfortunately, though, that by no means diminished his desire to chat for what felt like hours on end to anyone who would listen, or, more precisely, anyone who could not find a polite guise under which to flee from him. It was very aggravating, and just a few minutes' exchange with him was enough to cause me to yearn for some privacy so that I could throw my cloak over my head and wail without anyone discovering my breakdown.

Despite my words, I doubted that Anakin was entrapped in a conversation with Senator Akio. Rather, I suspected that he was with Senator Padme Amidala…but, I reminded myself, he didn't have to be there. There were many other locations where he could be at the present. For instance, he might be in the crèche reading with the toddlers there, since he had always been fond of the little younglings, as they were more tolerant of him than many of the older Jedi and were unabashed in their admiration of what he had achieved in the war.

Of course, he also might be in his quarters. Perhaps he was relishing the marvel of hot water by using up all the Temple's supply of it, or maybe he was still sleeping. Once you started dreaming, it was nearly impossible to stop.

He could also have been on his way here. After all, he could have taken a wrong turn as I had last evening, and, besides, he had always delighted in terrorizing me by cutting things a little too close for my comfort at least.

Yet, I couldn't convince myself of the veracity of any of these ideas. No, I still believed he was with Senator Amidala, and I wished fervently that for his own good he would end his reunion with her before more critical eyes than Bant and mine detected his absence. After all, he most certainly did not require the rest of the Council poking into his business when he had a secret of that magnitude.

"I thought he was coming," I sighed, shaking my head resignedly as I began to eat my jerba yogurt. Really, if he wasn't planning on attending, he could have informed me yesterday when I reminded him of the meeting. Then again, being as familiar with the psyche of Anakin as I was, I surmised that he had been intending to go to the briefing when I had spoken with him. He might have even awoken this morning with the sincere intention of attending the report, but had found his day inexorably dragging him in every direction but the one he had been planning to travel in, and, as Qui-Gon would have, he had heeded its beckon.

"He most likely just got delayed," murmured Bant. "Don't worry. I'll bet he'll be here soon."

"He'd better be," I grumbled. Yes, technically, this briefing was optional. However, in the Temple, as in just about every organization, there were different degrees of 'optional.' There was the optional like breakfast, which one was free to attend or not as the whim struck one without any fear of attracting the disapprobation of the Council, which did not care whether or not individual Jedi consumed a morning meal. On the other hand, there was the optional that translated into "while it isn't required that you come, if you are absent, it will be noted and frowned upon unless you have an excellent excuse." Unfortunately for my best friend, this meeting on the Outer Rim Sieges was a prime example of the latter rather than the formal.

Therefore, it would behoove any young Jedi who was deemed as too unstable to show up here to illustrate his commitment to our Order and how seriously he took his obligations to it, especially if that young Jedi was interested in being promoted to the Council, as Anakin was.

If he didn't arrive soon, though, it would be better if he didn't attend at all. In his case, it would be better to skip the briefing entirely rather than arrive tardy, since his fame among the Jedi as well as the charisma that enshrouded him in a manner it never could engulf me ensured that, even if he tip-toed in, his appearance would be registered. As such, his arrival would garner more notice that way than it would if he didn't bother to go at all. If he didn't come at all, probably only Bant and the Council would recognize this.

At any rate, I educated myself sternly, you have to cease fretting about Anakin. He'll do whatever he wants, and worrying about his whereabouts has never successfully caused him to arrive sooner, so why do you persist in doing so?

Before the other half of my brain could reply that it was the sheer force of habit that compelled me to do so just as abused children would eventually seek out abusive partners, Mace Windu entered the conference chamber. From the rapidity with which silence descended upon the room as every speaking Jedi broke off mid-sentence and riveted their attention on the senior Council member, it was apparent to anyone who was not as clueless as a deaf man at an opera how much esteem Mace enjoyed among us.

"Good morning. Thank you all for attending this meeting," Mace Windu declared crisply, opening the briefing with his typical brusqueness and solemnity. "Overall, the Outer Rim Sieges are not proceeding as awfully as they could be."

As he established as much, he switched on the holchart, and the room was suddenly flooded with stars and planets that comprised the Outer Rim. While he described the engagements in the Outer Rim Territories, he gestured at each of the planets he discussed. "In the Ywllandr System, Jedi Master Ploo Koon is leading the Republic Navy against that of the Confederacy. At this point, latest intelligence from his ship Courageous is that he is slightly ahead of the Separatists there."

At this juncture, there was a smattering of applause from some of the younger Padawans and the younglings, who had forgotten their adopted dignity now. Once the clapping had died, Mace Windu continued, "We will now progress to Bal'demnic.

"When Commerce Guild scouts discovered traces of cortosis in the cliffs of Bal'demnic, the Confederacy moved in. In the face of the Confederacy armed forces, the native Kon'me leaders were given little choice but to allow a major mining operation to proceed. Jedi intelligence managed to intercept leaked Confederacy communications, which alerted them to the situation on Bal'demnic. We dispatched Halagad Ventor and Sha Koon to lead a battalion of clone troopers with several other Jedi in an important mission to sabotage the mining operation. Although the native Kon'me leaders allowed the Confederacy mining operations to begin, the citizens were not so easy to persuade.

"An uprising ensued," he went on, and I could see the focus of some younglings and Padawans ebbing at this point, "and the Kon'me began attacking the Confederacy forces with powerful weapons provided by war profiteers. The Confederacy responded, unleashing their B1 battle droids upon the rebellious Kon'me. OG-9 homing spider droids scaled the planet's cliffs and destroyed many of the natives' weapon emplacements. Despite their heavy losses, the Kon'me were able to hold their own against the mechanical intruders, and a fully-fledged battle erupted. When Halagad Ventor's Republic task force arrived in the skies of Bal'demnic, his ARC-170 starfighters met immediate resistance in the form of Confederacy droid tri-fighters. When the air skirmish was over, Halagad and his troops landed with the intent to assist the natives. With all these foreign forces on their planet, the natives were further engraged to the point of total frenzy. In their final bid to drive the outlanders off their precious world, the Kon'me did not differentiate between Republic and Confederacy forces in their powerful counter-attack. With the Confederacy forces now under fire from two sides, and also being hindered by the planet's difficult terrain, they made a full retreat. Ventor and Koon, who had no desire to return fire on the hostile natives, also ordered a retreat of their forces. Halagad Ventor left part of his task force behind in Bal'demnic's orbit, establishing a planetary defense blockade to prevent any further Confederacy intrusions."

After that, Mace Windu updated us on the conditions of the Siege of Saleucami, the Battle of Murkhana, the Battle of Mygeeto, the Battle of Orto, and the Second Battle of Tythe before we were dismissed. Since I felt like I had not put much effort into this meeting, I volunteered to pick up the holcharts afterwards, and, as this was a task that nobody relished, no one objected to my doing so or offered to aid me. Instead, they all shoved their way out of the conference chamber.

"When you see Skywalker, tell him that Palpatine requested his presence in his office as soon as possible. A Padawan told me the Chancellor's shuttle is waiting to transport him there. I don't know why the Chancellor wants to meet with Skywalker, but just tell him to go when you see him," Master Windu requested of me as he departed. From the fact that he referred to Anakin by his surname, I knew that my former Padawan was not in Mace's good graces at the moment. When he was, he was called "Anakin." When he wasn't, he was dubbed "Skywalker."

"I'll do that," I answered, observing mentally that it would be more efficient if the Chancellor knocked on Padme's door asking to see Anakin rather than arranging a meeting through us, considering that we could not keep tabs on him.

All in all, though, it was lucky that I volunteered to collect the holocharts, because that meant that I was the only one who was present when Anakin finally deigned to arrive for the briefing on the Outer Rim Sieges. Better late than never, I noted wryly to myself, as he approached me.

"You missed the report on the Outer Rim Sieges," I remarked as he reached me.

"I was held up," returned Anakin snappishly, and I wondered if Padme had played a vicious prank on him by pouring hot sauce into his stimcaf. Then, he seemed to realize his own hostile tone and regret it, for he shook his head and amended with more civility and less volume, "I'm sorry. I have no excuse."

More like, he didn't have a decent excuse. There was always an excuse to offer, and he probably should devise a good one soon. Still, it was best not to dwell on a touchy subject. It was time to proceed to a less sensitive topic such as interstellar conflicts.

"In short, they are going very well," I updated him, congratulating myself at being able to sum up the Outer Rim Sieges faster than Masters Windu and Yoda could as I flicked off the last of the holograms. "Saleucami has fallen to us, and Master Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity."

"What's wrong, then?" Anakin pressed, his forehead furrowing in consternation.

Ah, so he could read me as easily as I could him, then. I was concerned, but it was him that I was fretting about, as usual. I was worried about how he would conduct himself when he unwittingly intruded upon the crossfire between the Council and the Chancellor. At the very least, he should be aware of the frayed relationship between the two before he met with Palpatine. He deserved to be more than a trump card in dejarick, and in this case, I would have to be the person who cautioned Anakin of the peril he was about to enter.

"The Senate is expected to vote more executive powers to the Chancellor today," I commented, hoping to ease into the discussion of politics. Maybe if I tip-toed into it, he wouldn't run away as he normally did when our conversations took on a political quality.

"That can only mean less deliberating and more action," he determined, sounding pleased, and I stifled a groan. Of course he would perceive the situation in such a manner. Nothing was more crucial to him than action. He had yet to figure out that deciding the right direction to proceed in was as important as the charge itself. After all, if you were going the wrong way, your rapidness was worse than useless― it was dangerous. Noting my exasperation, Anakin inquired more hesitantly, "Is that bad? It will make it easier for us to end this war."

That may be true, but there was no point in waging a war to preserve our Republic if we were going to step back and permit the Chancellor to dismantle it himself, and piece by piece, these new executive powers were chipping away at the initial republican government that the founders of the Galactic Republic had devised when they created it.

Of course, Anakin wouldn't realize the full implications of the new executive powers. On a whole, he saw the galaxy in simplistic and mainly personal terms, unlike me. I had always seen the universe as a complex place that didn't care about me and whether I lived or died.

Therefore, I couldn't explain to him my thoughts, and I could only warn him, "Anakin, be careful of your friend the Chancellor."

"Be careful of what?" Anakin's puzzled frown implied that I had begun conversing in nonsensical fragments and non-sequiturs like the illustrious Senator Akio Akira.

"He has requested your presence," I responded, wishing that I could be more specific, but all I comprehended was that he was a sly creature, and it was never prudent to trust someone whose every movement was designed to advance his own selfish interests any further than an infant could lug a superskytower. Such sentients would only be your buddy as long as it served them, and they would never be your true friend.

And who was I to condemn the Supreme Chancellor? Was I really such a swell friend to Anakin Skywalker? Wasn't I keeping secrets from him even now? Force, it was so much easier to be loyal to someone on the battlefield when you both were in peril of being blasted to all the diverse ends of the galaxy by enemy grenades or guns than it was in this political labyrinth where I didn't even know which way was left and which right, and which up and which down anymore. This was the deadlier combat and neither Anakin nor I were prepared to face it. It was a battle with the night elements of oneself, and we weren't ready for that. We had to get back into the field where we could just mow down the foe, instead of looking him in the eye everyday in the mirror.

"What for?" Anakin asked.

"He wouldn't say." I shrugged, but my tone conveyed my disapproval. Palpatine was pushing the bounds of his tenuous relationship between himself and the Council with this action. Since Anakin was a Jedi, it would have been proper to abide by the centuries' old tradition of requesting the Council's permission to meet with him beforehand. Not doing so was a calculated snub, and a shrewd political mind like Palpatine understood it, which made it all the more deliberate, and all the more anathema in the Council's eyes.

"The Chancellor didn't inform the Jedi Council?" he echoed incredulously. "That's unusual, isn't it?"

Unusual. That was the understatement of the millennium. It was akin to calling Anakin a "not bad" pilot. While it was accurate, it didn't go nearly far enough as far as an appropriate description was concerned.

"All of this is unusual," I agreed, because I couldn't invent a better adjective to describe the maze we were all blundering around in like blind womprats frantically searching for the exit while we wondering how exactly we had fallen into this mess. Then, because two of us could play the game of understatement, I added, "It's making me feel uneasy. Relations between the Chancellor and the Council are stressed."

Uneasy. I was uneasy the way Hoth was chilly, and the relations between the Chancellor and the Council were almost as strained as they were between Palpatine and the Separatists, and the Council and the Separatists.

"I know the Council has grown wary of the Chancellor's power." Anakin's scowl deepened, carving craters on his cheeks. Obviously, he loathed having to pick one side or the other in conversation, but he might as well get used to it now. He'd be doing it constantly until he could escape this horrible, bewildering, and exhausting planet, and he could zap that and send it to the bank for cash. "But aren't we all working together to save the Republic? Why all this distrust?"

Because beings can be performing more than one thing at a time― it's called multitasking, and Palpatine is a master at that, I thought. The Chancellor can work to rescue the Republic from the Separatist menace, while simultaneously striving to increase his own power. Worse still, if we don't pay attention, he'll have too much power by the time the war is over, and he'll be our new adversary, and he'll be a more lethal one than the Separatists under Dooku ever were.

Yet, I couldn't voice such sentiments aloud, even in the Jedi Temple. Who could be certain if this room hadn't been installed with mini holocameras to commit espionage on the Jedi by Palpatine? Maybe the Chancellor didn't even require the latest gadgets. Perhaps he could rely on the oldest method of spying: the double agent. Suddenly, my mind reeled as I had the epiphany that I no longer could be positive of where Anakin's ultimate allegiance lay. Perhaps he would slip to Palpatine if I expressed such notions aloud, and that would not be a good thing.

My sentiments leaped over seditious, and into treasonous, and that was one realm I did not want to visit, since the views weren't worth the capital punishment. Besides, surely if such a truth was as clear as transparisteel to me, Anakin would recognize it as well.

I wished I could believe that, but I couldn't, as I had faith in nothing and nobody anymore. This was how they― the Chancellor, the Council, and everybody else― ripped Anakin and me apart. They manipulated our minds and our hearts so that we could not trust each other anymore than we could ourselves. They made us feel so dreadfully alone in the galaxy that we forgot that we had each other. This was how they divided us so that they could conquer us. They twisted us until we forgot that we were everything together, and nothing apart.

Dimly, I saw this, but I could do nothing about it. I was already trapped in the glimmersilk spider's web, and I could not get out anymore than the spider's prey could. I was captured and just waiting to be eaten alive, so all I said to Anakin was, "The Force grows dark. We are all affected by it. Be wary of your feelings."

Anakin nodded as if he understood, and maybe he did. Maybe he, too, was being shoved ever deeper into the shadows. As we parted paths, and he headed off to catch the shuttle to the Chancellor's, I could only hope that he would take care. If he didn't, I knew the consequences would be enormous, and I could only wish that I had been better at warning him of the dangers he faced.

My ruminations were interrupted when my comlink buzzed. When I answered it, Yoda's gravelly voice reached my ears as if we were side by side, "Mace Windu and I a meeting with you would like to have in my quarters now about the Chancellor."

Ah, so we would already be discussing Palpatine's decision to avoid us in arranging his visit with Anakin.

"I'll head there now, then," I educated him and switched off the communication. My plans to mediate and perhaps find an answer to all the inquiries shooting around my head like blaster bolts would have to be tragically delayed. I owed it to the Jedi Order to meet with the two senior Council members whenever they requested it, even if I felt like my presence would provide no helpful insight.

As I walked toward Master Yoda's quarters, I reflected glumly on the fact that just a few years ago, I would have been excited by the honor of seeing the ancient Jedi Master in his private chambers. Now, while I still perceived it as an honor to be invited to meet with him there, it was a privilege, I would have been glad to do without. Unfortunately, you couldn't refuse the drawbacks of a responsibility once you had accepted a post. The Jedi relied on me, and I had to do my duty even if my heart wasn't in it, and even if I would have preferred to be meditating alone in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, striving desperately to uncover a strand of serenity in a soul that was swiftly surrendering to madness.