Obi-Wan felt better when he resurfaced from his shared meditation with Asajj. He was calm, centred, the desperation and guilt that had threatened his balance released into the Force.

He opened his eyes and watched as his companion did the same. They shared a slight smile and Asajj asked, "How are you?"

"Much better—and I have to thank you for your help. You kept me grounded when my emotions became too turbulent."

Asajj shook her shoulders, her eyes flashing. "You are welcome. However, I must admit I find it amusing that a notoriously short tempered and emotional woman like me managed to keep a Jedi master in check."

"I'm still human Asajj, and the news I got today was the worst I've ever received."

"I know, and I wasn't mocking you or your feelings. I was just thinking this was quite a role reversal."

"Qui-Gon used to say we never stop learning. I agree with him."

"Speaking of Qui-Gon, I gathered that it was the first time you heard your master speak to you from the other life."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes…it was quite a shock to hear his voice again after thirteen years."

"But this shock did you well," Asajj commented. "He made you realize you cannot take all the blame for your apprentice's fall."

Obi-Wan swallowed, the topic still very hard for him to discuss. "I still think I have failed Anakin in some way. It will take me time and a lot of meditation to come to terms with what happened and my role in it. However, both you and Qui-Gon made me realize Anakin made a choice – a wrong one – and that he is responsible for its consequences. I can blame myself for allowing him to spend time with Palpatine, but thinking better, how could I have prevented it? I could have ordered Anakin not to see the Chancellor, but what reasons could I have given to both my Padawan and Palpatine for my decision? By the time we began to sense there was something off with the Chancellor, Anakin was already a knight and free to visit whom he wanted." Obi-Wan explained, talking to Asajj but also putting in words the truths he had found in his meditation. "The same goes for Senator Amidala. I was aware of the closeness between she and Anakin and I was hurt when I realized none of them considered me enough of a friend to tell me about their feelings. Padmé was pregnant the last time I saw her, and I sensed her children were Anakin's, but even then they kept silent. They didn't trust me. The boy I raised since childhood and the woman I have called friend for years didn't trust me. Anakin preferred to confess his troubles to Palpatine. Why did he not trust me? Where I did wrong with him?"

Asajj sent a wave of mild exasperation along the bond. "Don't start it again. That's the past. Let it go. Live the moment."

Obi-Wan smiled at her comment, and this time it reached his eyes. "You sound like Qui-Gon! I lost count of all the times he told me to concentrate on the here and now."

Asajj smiled shyly back, "It's wise advice, I think."

"Yes, it is. I will now concentrate on the present—and my next move."

"That would be?"

"I need to talk with Padmé—and I must confront Anakin."

"You really want to try turning him back from the dark side, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. Qui-Gon said there is still hope for him, and I feel the same. You turned back to the light, Asajj…why should not Anakin do the same?"

Asajj looked at him seriously. "I wanted to return to the light, Obi-Wan. Darkness betrayed me and I wanted to be free of its prison. Will Skywalker want to do the same? Once again this will be his choice."

Obi-Wan nodded slowly, rubbing his chin, amazed by how perfectly Asajj had nailed the situation. "You are right. That's why I need to talk with Padmé. I cannot believe such a faithful servant of the Republic can approve the Empire her husband helped Palpatine to create. I sense she doesn't know what her husband has done, but she needs to be informed. She won't accept living with a man who killed children. Maybe, if we manage to convince her to side with us, she would help us to convince Anakin to turn back to the light."

"It's a good plan, worth trying," Asajj commented.

"Happy to hear you agree. Now come, let's go tell the others."

-----

When Obi-Wan and Asajj joined the others, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Yoda were still sitting around the table, which was covered by several blue-prints.

Yoda raised his head when Obi-Wan stepped into the room and his ears perked up as he sensed the younger Jedi serene and resolute presence.

"Relieved to see you well I am, Master Kenobi," Yoda greeted him with.

Obi-Wan bowed to the senators, then gave his whole attention to Master Yoda.

"Master Qui-Gon spoke to me and Asajj from the netherworld of the Force," he began. "Were you aware he had returned?"

"Spoken with him, I have in these past years. The only one able to commune with him, I was. Your distress called him to you, must have. However, surprised I am Commander Ventress heard him too. Very intriguing your bond is."

Obi-Wan and Asajj exchanged a glance, but did not comment on Yoda's words. To both of them the bond simply was. It had been established only a few days before and yet it was like it had always been part of Obi-Wan. As if it had filled a void he never knew he had. However that was not the moment to dwell on it. A more important matter needed to be discussed.

"Master Yoda, Qui-Gon told me there is still hope of saving An-Vader," Obi-Wan corrected quickly, unaware of how much the senators knew.

Yoda just shook his head and slid down the chair and hobbled toward a corner of the room. Obi-Wan followed him and knelt at his side.

"Harbour hope you must not, Obi-Wan. Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is . . . Consumed by Darth Vader. Turn back, he will not."

"Asajj did, Master Yoda."

"A Sith she never was."

Obi-Wan perceived a sense of defeat, of strange finality in the older master and realized there was something he had not been told.

"What happened, Master?"

"Confronted Sidious, I did. Failed to kill him, I did. In exile I will go, once my task here complete is."

Obi-Wan was appalled by the lack of hope in Yoda's voice.

"Master, we can face Sidious again, together. We will have more chances…and if we manage to convince Anakin to join us…"

Yoda shook his head and looked at the younger Jedi with sorrowful eyes. "Only pain and death you will find, if on this path you proceed. Once our task complete is, until the time is right, disappear we will."

It was the second time Yoda mentioned a 'task' and this time Obi-Wan asked, "What task, Master?"

"Free Senator Amidala we must. Prevent Sidious from putting his hands on her children, we must. Strong the Force runs, in the Skywalker line. Hope, we will have if the children trained as Jedi will be."

"Why is Sidious keeping Padmé prisoner?" Obi-Wan was puzzled. How could Anakin tolerate such a thing?

"Disapprove what her husband did, she does. Spoken against the Empire, she did."

"I can't believe Anakin let Sidious imprison his pregnant wife after everything he did for her!"

"Right you are. Vader doesn't know. Convinced he was Sidious' opponents kidnapped her. Searching for her Vader is. Bringing death to his master's enemies he is."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and released his anguish into the Force. This was getting worse by the moment—or perhaps not. He was sure Anakin would not like to know his new master was behind Padmé's disappearance.

"Do we know where Sidious is holding Padmé?" Obi-Wan asked aloud.

"We believe he is keeping her prisoner inside the Jedi Temple," Bail Organa answered from the other side of the room.

"What?" Obi-Wan commented, walking back to the table Asajj, at his side.

Organa invited them to sit at the table as he explained, "Since we learned of Padmé's disappearance, we – Mon Mothma and I—alerted our net of spies to discover what had happened to her. Master Yoda was sure Padmé was still alive, so we told our agents to keep a close eye on Palpatine's movements. The Emperor," Organa spat the word, making it sound like an insult, "doesn't leave his residence often, and the only time he did was to visit the Jedi Temple. He did it in the middle of the night, and it was recorded by a probe droid."

"Naturally," Mon Mothma picked up the story from where Organa had left it, "we started wondering what Palpatine was doing in the Temple. So we put it under surveillance. For many days we saw only clones coming and going…bringing out corpses." The Senator threw a sympathetic look to Obi-Wan. "However, three days ago we recorded this…" She switched on a screen and a shot of the Jedi Temple entry appeared.

Obi-Wan's body constricted at the sight of the Temple's blackened walls and destroyed pillars, but he forced himself to concentrate on the spot Mon Mothma was indicating with her finger.

"Do you see this clone, Master Kenobi? He is entering the Temple and carrying something in, not out as all the other are doing."

Obi-Wan nodded, his interest piqued. The Senator touched the screen and obtained a zoom of the box in the clone's hands.

"He is carrying a box of powdered milk for newborns!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

"Exactly. So why should clones bring baby food into the Jedi Temple, unless there is some child hidden inside the building?" commented Bail Organa.

"Padmé must have given birth," Obi-Wan mused, stroking his beard. "Her children are Force sensitive and what better place to hide them than in the Jedi Temple? We must take them and their mother away as soon as possible, before Sidious moves them."

Obi-Wan pulled close a blueprint and studied the Temple layout with intent eyes. The Force whirled around him when his gaze paused on the map of the basement floor.

"Here," he said tapping his fingers on the map. "I think Padmé and the children are kept in the underground levels—in the holding cells. They were built during the last Jedi-Sith war and they are Force shielded. It's the best place to hide Anakin's children—especially from their father.

"Uhm…" Yoda commented from his seat across the table. "Right you may be, Obi-Wan. What suggest you we do?"

"We must act quickly. Sidious is interested only in the children. Now that they are born he could decide to kill Padmé and make sure his opponents get the blame. That would make Anakin sink even more into the dark side. Our time could be even shorter because it looks like Padmé has no milk to nurse her children, they have no need of her– at least in Palpatine's eyes."

"Great traumas can influence the milk production in new mothers," Asajj commented. "It happened to my mother with my younger brother."

Obi-Wan felt her pain along the bond as the memory of her brother being killed when he was still a toddler crossed her mind. Without thinking, he reached out with his hand to squeeze hers, just as he sent soothing waves along the bond. Asajj relaxed and squeezed his hand back, before slowly letting go of it.

Obi-Wan sensed embarrassment coming from her, but Bail Organa started talking before he could wonder about it. "We were preparing a rescue squad, Master Kenobi. I planned to command it myself, but now that you are here I think you are the best qualified for this mission."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I will do it. You and Senator Mothma must not expose yourselves anymore than you have, which means that no Alderaanian soldiers can come. The same goes for you, Master Yoda. Asajj and I will rescue Padmé and the twins."

He turned to look at his bonded and she nodded, her eyes glinting with satisfaction at the certainness he had had about her presence at his side.

The two senators nodded in approval and Bail Organa said, "Tell me what you plan to do, what you need and how I can help you to get it…."