Sorry it's a lot of talking, but it's a lot of IMPORTANT talking.

Jeez I can't wait to get to later events.

Me: Are we there yet?
Brain: YES WE ARE!
Word Docs: Uuuhhhhhh, no, no we aren't, you just gave me chapter ten, there's soooooo much missing.
Brain: WE'RE THERE!
Word Docs: NO WE'RE NOT YOU STILL HAVE ALL THIS TO WRITE BEFORE YOU'RE THERE
Me: *Sobbing*

ANYWAY! Don't forget I now have a discord where you can talk with me or others about my fanfictions, ask questions, and get updates. It's a mobile app and a desktop application. Here's a link (Don't forget the H.T.T.P.S.:././.): discord. gg / zCf2xGx

PLEASE REVIEW!

AND AS ALWAYS!

Enjoy!

While her first thought was to head back to the Jedi Temple, she had the realization that she would not be able to vent her frustrations and emotions to the degree that she wanted to, nor in the way that she wanted to, if she were to head back to the Temple. So, halfway there, she took a detour, heading for the industrial sector, past the operational facilities, and finding her way towards an abandoned, spacious area that didn't even house a warehouse anymore. She had enough presence of mind to make sure there was no important machinery, piping, or anything of the sort before setting down her borrowed speeder somewhere it would be out of the way.

If there was one effective method of wearing oneself out and channeling a flurry of emotions like what Zelina felt now, it was through lightsaber combat and Force abilities. Her lightsaber combat would be rather one sided, but it would still serve it's purpose.

Master Windu had not gone into advanced techniques, or even applying Vaapad to a duel yet, but he had taught her katas, stances, forms to practice, and techniques. The techniques he'd taught her so far were important—how to channel her emotions, control them, make herself a conduit in order to redirect one's dark energy against them, barely maintained self-control while pushing oneself to the limit both physically and within the Force.

And right now, she needed that in order to get everything out of her system.

Unclipping her violet blade from her belt, Zelina activated her lightsaber, swinging it experimentally as if to see how her emotions were affecting her blade work before she settled back into the traditional Vaapad stance.

And then she started going through the forms with swift precision, letting her emotions guide the power of her swings while making a conscious effort to channel those emotions with precision and purpose, to control them rather than let them overwhelm her.

She should have done an exercise like this before barging into the Chancellor's office, though there wasn't much she could do about that now, was there?

Once she started to pick up speed in how quickly she ran through the forms, the Force swelling around her with the barely contained energy of her emotions, she broke from the form, gathering all of the energy to her center before she planted one foot forward on the ground and pushed, watching as a burst of energy ripped forward through the air at the action, tangible with a faint blue glow.

According to Satele, that glow would grow more prominent with the strength of the burst, though it would always remain semi-transparent.

The action had sapped some of her energy, so Zelina threw herself into building up another, running through the Vaapad forms again to once more gather the barely contained energy she had to keep constantly during Vaapad combat. Again, when she felt she'd built up enough energy, she broke from her form and sent a powerful burst soaring across the empty space she'd found to practice in. The burst wasn't as powerful this time, but she was still developing the talent for herself. At the same time, she was rather sure she saw a bowing of the wall that she'd now hit twice with her burst.

Hopefully that wasn't someone's property, somewhere on this planet, that would make her have to pay damages if anyone found out she'd been hitting it with bursts of raw Force energy to vent out her frustrations.

Zelina felt a familiar brush against her consciousness at that moment, and she heaved a world-weary sigh, deactivating her blade and dropping the ground. She simply sat and stared at nothing in particular, trying not to think of anything. She feared if she formed too much of active, conscious thought, she'd think of what she'd just witnessed—and she wasn't ready to face that.

The sound of a speeder reached her ears, the vehicle coming to a stop somewhere behind her. She didn't turn, already well aware of who it was, and knowing that she was probably about to get yelled at. He'd been given plenty of time to prepare his thorough chewing flying around Coruscant trying to find her, no doubt, a task made annoyingly easier with their bond.

She sighed again as he approached, his footsteps full of purpose. "Zelina."

She didn't react other than to pull her knees close to her chest, folding her arms atop them and then resting her chin on her folded arms, now deactivated lightsaber held loosely in one hand.

Anakin had yet to come even with where she sat, but he was already starting in on his heated scolding. "Zelina, what were you thinking? You can't just barge into the office of the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and verbally attack him like that! You'll be lucky if the Council doesn't hear about this! There's going to be repercussions, and it's bound to make everything that's going on already even worse!"

Still, Zelina said nothing, her gaze fixed and unseeing.

"Well, say something! I know you had enough presence of mind to know what you were doing, you had plenty of time to come to your senses when you were stuck in a speeder on your way there—why didn't you stop yourself? You know better!"

Again, nothing, not even a twitch.

"Zelina!"

Something lodged in her throat, and she felt Anakin's presence brush against her consciousness once more. His demeanor shifted, and he carefully kneeled down beside her. "Zelina…" he said again, voice softer, sympathetic, pained, as he sensed what was going on inside her.

Still, she fought back tears, as badly as her body seemed to want to let them spill over. She felt Anakin gently lay a hand on her back, which caused her to crack enough that a tear did spill over, though she wiped it away furiously, burying her face in her arms and tightening her hold on herself in case she was about to cry more, fighting for control once again. She could feel Anakin's silent offer as his presence brushed against hers, closer and closer every moment, trying to wrap her in his comfort.

"It's bad enough that they fight and die for us on the front lines, but they're supposed to be safe here," Zelina said softly, allowing her now-dry face to peek out from its temporary confines. "And look what happened? They're not supposed to die for us here, they're not supposed to be killed defending us from the very people we're fighting to protect. He was killed for what? Politics? To prove a point? A vendetta?"

"The Chancellor's not that kind of man," Anakin said almost on a reflex, but Zelina was prepared, her blade sharp.

"Did you think him the kind of man to sign an innocent man's execution?" she asked, a sentence that made Anakin fall silent. She didn't have the energy to argue about Palpatine, though, and she didn't want to think about the snake.

She wanted Gambit back. She wanted to be able to stop him from releasing that damn footage, she wanted to stop the troopers from firing, she wanted to stand between him and execution like she'd once done for Anakin's men, for Jesse and Fives.

But she hadn't been able to help Fives in the end. Now it seemed she couldn't help Gambit either. It was far too late for both of them.

At the sudden sharp dip in her mood which had already been dark and pained, Anakin shifted closer, putting his arm around her and simply holding her as she fought herself, trying not to break as she stewed in her own hellish thoughts and struggled for a semblance of self control.

Anakin was right. There were repercussions for Zelina's actions in the Chancellor's office, and it was something that the Council was quick to hear about. She doubted that Anakin had envisioned the scale of those repercussions, or what the Council would find itself faced with discussing.

It was possibly something out of one of Anakin's nightmares.

Apparently, Palpatine had not kept Zelina's actions quiet, but had freely spoken about them. He claimed he only did so with advisors, but considering how rapidly the news spread, she had the feeling he had shared the event with far more then just a few trusted advisors. Not that Anakin would believe her suspicions, though she still kept those suspicions within her own confidence. Perhaps later she'd share them with Obi-Wan—he'd listen to her with a reasonable ear. Anakin was too influenced by the man to immediately jump to the Chancellor's defense to really stop and listen with reason.

At this point, she was sure that Palpatine was out to get her, and it only made her hate the man all the more.

Whatever Palpatine had said about the incident, somewhere along the way—and Zelina didn't bother to stop herself from entertaining the thought that this had started with Palpatine himself—it was said that Zelina had threatened the Chancellor. The point had caused what Zelina could only describe as a wildfire. With the rumor that she'd burst into the Chancellor's office and threatened him, combined with the rumors that she was possibly a Separatist Spy or at the very least a Sympathizer…

Well, it made her look like a threat, and an immediate one at that.

And the Republic's Senate was not about to tolerate a Jedi threat so close to home.

The hologram of Mas Amedda was center stage in the Jedi Council room, Zelina standing uncomfortably by the door as he spoke with the Council, who listened with various forms of grimness in their expressions or, if you were Obi-Wan and Anakin, different forms of barely restrained, disbelieving outrage. Of course, Obi-Wan also had a better grip on his emotions than Anakin, which was almost a given, but Zelina knew Obi-Wan enough to recognize when he started having Anakin emotions.

"…Senate has expressed a deep concern over the matter. Whether it started with rumors or not, after this most recent incident, it seems those rumors could hold merit, and must be investigated in case she poses a threat to the Republic. Threatening the Chancellor cannot go ignored, especially considering the recent accusations regarding Du'ahn's loyalties. The Senate wants to put Du'ahn through a Republic Military Tribunal to settle this matter once and for all."

A stir went through the room, and Zelina, Obi-Wan, and Anakin all visibly bristled. The last time the Senate had asked for a Jedi to go through one of those, it had been Ahsoka, and doing so required Zelina to be expelled from the Order so the Republic could try Zelina instead of the Order. The flashbacks were instantaneous, and after what happened to Ahsoka, Zelina wasn't confident that this was going to go much different. The Order treasured its fragile ties to the Senate far too much to hurt those ties over one measly Jedi. They'd already made that abundantly clear.

At the statement, Anakin immediately jumped to Zelina's defense. "All due respect, Chairman, but all of this is outrageously unnecessary. I was in the room from the start of the argument, and she didn't threaten the Chancellor. There's nothing that happened in that room that would require a Military Tribunal. Even if there was something worth concern, a trial among the Order would be enough."

Amedda sent a disinterested glance Anakin's way. "That is for an unbiased jury to decide, Skywalker."

Anakin's expression darkened, as did Obi-Wan's, though neither said anything more to Amedda's holographic face.

Windu's gaze lingered on Anakin for a moment before his attention was turned back to Amedda. "The Council will act as we deem necessary, as always, Chairman. Thank you," Windu said seriously, officially dismissing the chairman, who disappeared in the next instant.

Release the hounds, Zelina couldn't help but think, now that the attention was fixated solely on her and the mess before her.

Surprisingly, it was not Anakin that spoke first—Obi-Wan beat him to it.

"We are not handing Zelina over to the Republic," he said in a tone of firm finality. "I said it with Ahsoka, and I'll say it again—we need to stand together with Zelina."

Anakin's gaze flickered towards Obi-Wan at the statement, and Zelina felt a spark of gratefulness swell towards the older Jedi at his firm support.

"Calm yourself, Obi-Wan—we have yet to hear Du'ahn's side of the story. We're not making that decision yet," Windu chastised him.

"Address the Council, you may, Knight Du'ahn. Explain what occurred in the Chancellor's office, and why, you will," Yoda announced, directing Zelina to stand in the center of the room where Mas Amedda's hologram had been moments before.

Zelina did as she was asked without complaint, trying her best to tune out Anakin's inward fuming and fear, and Obi-Wan's tense anticipation and concern so she could focus on controlling her own raging emotions. Hearing that she was about to become another Ahsoka case did nothing to calm her nerves or worries, and once again she found herself drawing up plans in the back of her mind on some survival instinct she hadn't known she'd possessed.

She'd always been one triggered into fighting, she'd begun to believe she didn't have the instinct to survive by flight.

"I'm not sure if the Council was aware, but one of the 105th was recently arrested for releasing sensitive footage of the battlefield at Ruusan," Zelina began. She had to explain what had been happening for the Council to truly understand what occurred in the Chancellor's office. "I managed to speak to him before he was arrested, to find out why and chastise him for doing something so reckless, and he confirmed he had been trying to defend my image by showing my compassion and commitment on the battlefield. There was no ill intent in the release of the footage, and it was footage of a campaign that had already been fought and won. But I digress, that's a different point," Zelina added hastily when she felt a flash of impatience or annoyance at the detour in her story ripple through a few of the Council Members.

"Before I went to the Chancellor's Office, I was told by members of the 501st that Gambit—the one who released the footage, was being executed, without a trial. I went to try and stop the execution, or at least see if there was anything I could do, but I arrived too late. While there, I heard that Chancellor Palpatine had been the one to give the order to skip the trial and go right to the execution without even informing me, Gambit's General, or even any of the other officers in the 105th or Senator Amidala or Duchess Satine, who were both helping build a case for a trial," Zelina explained. She could feel the flicker of surprise in Anakin and Obi-Wan that their respective significant others had been involved, but she pushed on with her story. "I went to the Senate Building to confront him on his unconstitutional actions that spat in the eye of basic sentient rights and Republic procedure and laws."

Zelina saw a few of the Masters give her a disapproving look at her slightly more impassioned statement, but no one moved to scold her for it.

"And what, specifically, did you say to the Chancellor?" Plo Koon asked.

Zelina had the decency to look abashed. While she firmly believed in everything she said, she also knew, in retrospect, it had not been the wisest thing to say to the face of the most powerful person in the Republic. She was also well aware that she was about to sense quite a bit of collective disapproval from the Council Members for her harsh words and bold accusations.

"It's no secret that the Chancellor and I don't like each other, and quite often aren't on the same page, but I've held my tongue most of the times I don't agree with him. When I went in there, I accused him of putting up a façade meant to trick people into thinking that he cares about the Republic and its principles when really all he cares about is furthering his own agenda. I made a veiled accusation that he had Gambit executed so promptly without a trial because he was one of the men under my control and it was to spite me, though I didn't commit to that accusation considering it is an assumption drawn from my past experience with Palpatine and I knew it didn't have any tangible evidence to back it up. I called him, in essence, corrupt and power hungry, a deceiver of the public who doesn't truly care about the people or the ideals of the Republic, and said that I saw through the façade that he consistently puts on to fool the people who keep him in charge. As for the threat, the only thing I can see that I said that could possibly be taken as a threat might be my closing point that I was done sitting complacently on the sidelines and playing nice, though when I said that, I meant that I wasn't going to be quiet in my observations of what he's done wrong or any corruption I might see any longer. It was in no way a threat to his physical person that someone's trumped it up to be with these new rumors."

Zelina folded her arms over her chest as she spoke, gazing at the Jedi Masters around her. She could see multiple disapproving looks, as she'd suspected, but what she'd said had been the truth, at least as she saw it, and she knew that she wasn't the only one who felt that way, especially among the people in this room.

Well, Anakin was an exception, but she wasn't too concerned about his approval of her harsh words about Palpatine right now. She liked her head where it was, and she wasn't too keen on becoming another Ahsoka case. She was going to defend herself, and that was going to include giving her true, honest opinion of Palpatine, even if Anakin didn't like it.

"You do realize the seriousness of some of your claims?" Ki-Adi Mundi asked her, leaning forward in his seat.

"I do. That doesn't make them any less true," Zelina pointed out, and she saw Windu recline thoughtfully in his seat. "I haven't forgotten what happened with the Zillow Beast, and he did blatantly ignore the laws and procedures of the Republic to execute Gambit, and he has been hoarding power rather than returning it to the Senate as he initially promised he would as this war came to an end. As soon as we find Grievous, which I have faith won't be long, the war will practically be over. Yet he continues to grab more power."

Zelina stopped herself there before what she was discussing on-record could take a treasonous turn. "All I'm saying is that Palpatine has done questionable things, but no one is saying anything about it. When I went into his office, I called him out on his actions, and promised to continue doing so, but I did not threaten him."

"Skywalker, you were there," Plo Koon remarked. "Can you confirm what Du'ahn is saying?"

Zelina turned enough to look at Anakin, who was predictably looking displeased by her harsh critique of Palpatine, but still nodded in confirmation, nonetheless. "I was there. Zelina made some harsh accusations about the Chancellor's legitimacy, but she didn't make any threat that should have resulted in an action like this. I thought there might be some kind of discipline with some of her accusations, but not calls for..." Anakin waved a hand in agitation in the direction of where Mas Amedda's hologram had been minutes ago.

"If there's no hold to the claims, then there's no harm in letting them have their trial, is there? There's no evidence to support that Knight Du'ahn is a threat to the Republic, it's just malicious hearsay—nothing would come from it," Saesee Tiin suggested.

"On the contrary," Obi-Wan immediately jumped in, and Zelina was mildly surprised by the older Jedi's fervor as he spoke. "I've spoken with Zelina and several politicians about the severity of the rumors surrounding her recently. They might not hold any solid evidence to convict her in a proper trial, but the majority of the public believes those rumors, including those in the Senate building. Handing her over to be tried in a Military Tribunal would only be throwing her in an acklay nest! They believe that she's a turncoat, proof or not, and they've been calling for blood ever since the rumors started. To give her to the Republic to be tried for crimes she has not committed would be sacrificing an innocent and upstanding member of this Order. We should take what this Council had to learn the hard way with what happened to Ahsoka, and apply it to this situation. The severity of the claims against Zelina is pure propaganda, and we need to stand with her against those who want to crucify an innocent person! Not to mention, she is a part of the Jedi Order, and should be tried by her peers in a fair trial if it is deemed that there is a need for one, which there is not."

Do they even realize that I'm still here, Zelina briefly wondered as Obi-Wan's well-controlled rant came to a brief halt. He'd managed to be judgmental and scathing without sounding angry and impassioned, and she had to give him credit for pulling such an accomplishment off. She noticed Anakin hadn't said anything, but they were also both well aware that he was only on the Council because the Chancellor had forced the issue, and everyone knew how close Zelina and Anakin were. There wasn't much he could say that the Council would take into serious consideration outside of his own witnessing of the incident.

Still, though he remained silent as the Masters went round and round in their arguments, Zelina could feel the brush of his presence, concern and comfort and support, as her fate was debated in front of her, Zelina a silent spectator in the middle of the room. She was grateful for his silent, Force support, and she let him know it, returning the sensation with her own gratitude, their interactions careful and cautious considering they were standing in a room full of Jedi Masters, one of which was Yoda, of course.

"You're too close to this matter, Master Kenobi. If we deny the Senate their trial when they believe that there is a significant Jedi threat towards the Chancellor—" Ki-Adi Mundi started to say.

"It will make it seem like we're in opposition to the Senate? That's the same argument that was presented when we had this conversation about Ahsoka," Obi-Wan interrupted. "There was evidence against Ahsoka, we turned her over to the Republic who was convinced of her guilt, they were going to condemn her, and it turned out she was innocent the entire time. Now there is no solid evidence against Zelina, yet the Republic, who is convinced of her guilt, wants us to turn her over so they can try her. Shouldn't the Council learn from its mistakes instead of repeating them? We should not abandon another one of our Order, especially when her case for innocence is even stronger. This is a Jedi matter, the accusations hold no ground and are complete rumor and hearsay, and it should be dealt with internally."

"A compelling point, Obi-Wan makes, whether close to the matter or not, he is," Yoda stated. "But trouble this would bring, for the Order to protect Knight Du'ahn."

"Our already strained ties with the Senate will be hurt," Windu added.

"But convinced of her innocence, I am. Though work to curb her temper, she must, lest make this mistake again, she does," Yoda chided.

Zelina gave a slight bow. "I know, Master Yoda. It's something that I work on regularly. I tend to become impassioned by causes I feel deeply about, including protecting those under my care."

Though I cannot find fault in speaking out against something that I know with such a surety to be wrong, Zelina added in her head. Though I can find fault in chewing out the most powerful man in the Republic who has a vendetta against you. Stupid, stupid thing to do, as good as it felt to finally say it to the serpent's face.

"So, we will stand together with Zelina on this? Do things differently this time?" Obi-Wan asked for clarification, looking around at his fellow Jedi Masters.

"I do not wish to see a repeat of what happened to Padawan Tano," Plo Koon rumbled.

"Knight Du'ahn is only the victim of vicious rumor and hearsay, with no actual proof of these accusations, accusations that are even refuted by a first-hand witness," Shaak Ti pointed out.

"Some may claim that Skywalker's refute of the claims are simply a friend protecting a friend," Saesee Tiin warned.

"And there will be much disapproval over our denying the Republic a trial when it is widely believed that the hearsay is actually fact," Ki-Adi Mundi also warned.

"It will damage our relationship with the Senate, and perhaps the Republic even more than it already is...but I see no reason to comply with these demands," Windu added. "We must adhere to the Senate and the wishes of the Republic in order to maintain a good relationship with them, especially since our relationship is already hurting, but from what I can see and what I know about Knight Du'ahn, the claims are false and blown out of proportion. Turning her over would be, as Obi-Wan pointed out, throwing her needlessly into the acklay nest."

"Dangerous, this will be, for the Order, but right, Obi-Wan is. Not repeat the mistakes of the past, we must, but rather learn from them. Protecting the innocent, is not one of our core values, hmm? And innocent of these accusations, Du'ahn is. Settled by the Order, this matter shall be, not by the Republic," Yoda said in a voice full of finality.

Zelina could feel the potent relief roll off Obi-Wan and Anakin at Master Yoda's decision, mixing in with her own relief that almost made her sag where she stood. She had been so sure that she would turn into another Ahsoka, that the Council would value their ties with the Senate more than their values and one small knight in their Order.

Perhaps it helped that she was close with Obi-Wan, that she was training with Windu, and frequently came to Yoda with guidance for her visions in the past. Many of the Jedi Masters here could personally give statements to her character, and while she was unorthodox, and she was a Grey Jedi (in secret) she had not given the Order any reason not to trust her or believe that she wasn't of a good and moral character.

Yoda pointed his gimmer stick at Zelina. "But careful, you must be, if protect you, the Order will. No more outbursts like this, or protect you, we cannot. Careful you must be when traveling outside of the Temple, and mindful at all times of yourself. The threat to yourself, this will not reduce. Invigorate the hostilities, it most likely will," Yoda warned.

Zelina nodded. "I'll be more careful, Master Yoda, I promise," Zelina said softly, giving a respectful and grateful bow, slightly dazed by the unexpected turn this Council Meeting had taken.

"Dismissed, you are. Skywalker too, if wish to speak with Du'ahn, you do. Discuss how to properly go about this, the Council will," Yoda announced, surprising Anakin slightly with his casual dismissal of just Anakin among the Council Members, not because it wasn't something for Anakin to hear, but because Yoda was well aware that Anakin and Zelina needed to talk.

A part of Zelina wished he would have kept Anakin back, considering she was certain Anakin would want to argue about Palpatine.

Giving one last smaller bow, Zelina took her leave, feeling Anakin follow close behind her as she made her way out of the Council Room and out into the halls of the Temple.

Anakin at least waited until they were a fair distance away from the Council Room to pull Zelina aside, bringing the two of them into a currently unused dojo to have the conversation—or rather, the fight—Zelina had felt brewing since she spoke out against Palpatine during the Council Meeting.

He'd let a serious conversation about the Chancellor's Office slide considering what had been happening and the state she'd been in afterwards, but this time, she could tell she was about to get an earful.

She was prepared, though. If Anakin was ready to defend that man after everything that had happened, then she was going to be fully committed to finally saying her complete peace about Palpatine, and hopefully this time he would listen.

"Zelina, I know you and the Chancellor practically hate each other, but this is getting out of hand. You can't make accusations like that, it's almost treasonous," Anakin opened, and the last part of his statement instantly struck a nerve.

"Treasonous?" Zelina said incredulously. "I didn't know it was treason to point out something fishy or flawed, in fact, I thought it was every individual's duty to speak up when they see something that they don't think is right. This is serious, Anakin, I could get tried as a traitor because I called Palpatine out—why are you still defending him?"

"Why are you so intent on painting him as a bad man, he's not, he's a good man, one of the best I know—" Anakin started to counter, but Zelina cut him off.

"Because he's not, Anakin, he's never been a good man, he just acts that way around you because he considers you an asset," Zelina said sharply. "When we were children I had a bad feeling about him, from the very start, his presence felt wrong to me. And every time he would separate you from anyone else he would start to make you doubt the people who cared about you, or he'd say something that riled your anger and bolstered your pride in an unhealthy way. I was wary every time you came out of a meeting with Palpatine because half the time you came out of those meetings with darkness around you. He has never been a good influence on you, and that's half the reason why I can't stand the man—because he brings out the worst in you. But I always held my peace because I hated fighting with you, and I value our friendship above everything else, I really do, and I didn't want to jeopardize it because you viewed him in this wonderful light while I just saw all these terrible things he was doing, and what he was doing to you, and how subtle he was about it all, but now, with this, Anakin, I won't stay quiet about it anymore, because I'm worried about you and I am tired of saying nothing and letting him get away with it."

"Then there's literally everything else! He pushed to invade the public's privacy, something I was surprised you never felt any concern over considering your relationship with Padme hinges on privacy. He wanted to slay the Zillow Beast and was going to do it behind everyone's backs. He tried to force his way onto Satine's homeplanet despite her protests, when she was right about the situation on Mandalore. He's pushed for all these different acts that stomps all over personal rights, he's taken powers that he doesn't need to further the war effort, he's manipulated you into doing something more than once, and now this? Anakin, I'm hurt that you're still defending him after this—this has been a personal attack on me since day one!"

"Now you're blaming all of this on Palpatine?" Anakin asked incredulously, the anger clear in his voice.

"I don't have proof, but I can feel it, Anakin, and even though there's no physical evidence, the proof is there! When I was trying to get an investigation started on the Ruusanians, I was blocked every corner I took by someone high up in the Senate, Padme and Satine confirmed as much. There was so much legal paperwork and procedure suddenly backing up the system Padme and Satine had a headache trying to wade through it all. And the only person who feels this much animosity towards me in the Senate that's high up is Palpatine. Then there's everything that's happening right now. He had Gambit executed, Anakin. No trial, no telling me or any other commanding officer in the 105th or the politicians that were going to represent him, he just had him killed. He didn't have any possible motivation to do so, either, other than Gambit was a 105th member, one of my men, and now, after what happened in the office, I'm being accused of threatening him, a claim that's being framed so that I seem like a threat to the security of the Republic, and he says nothing? If he was as good of a man as you keep claiming he is, he'd be setting this record straight, not letting these rumors and accusations spiral into something as life-threatening as it is for me now. Part of me even wants to say that he's the one who probably said that I threatened him when I came into his office. I'll never be able to prove it, and he'll deny it to your face till he's in the ground, but I've got this part of me that just knows that's where this started."

Zelina was breathing heavier by the time she was done with her rant, finally letting everything she'd been bottling up about Palpatine flow forth in one raging torrent for Anakin to hear. She'd taken it and taken it and taken it, but this was too much for her to continue to stay silent.

"He's playing you, Anakin. Even when we were younger, I remember hearing him put down everyone else around you, everyone who cares about and supports you, trying to drive a wedge between you and anyone but him, and I'll bet it hasn't stopped, I'll bet it's still going at it to this day. And I'm not going to be quiet about it anymore, whether you want to hear it or not."

Zelina paused, taking a long, careful breath. Anakin was understandably displeased, but he didn't quite have a counter-argument for her. She was going to let him off easy at the end, however, because her anger was at Palpatine, not Anakin.

Reaching out, she carefully took his hand, looking him in the eyes. "Ultimately, its not up to me. It's your choice, you're the one who decides who you're around, who you associate with and who you trust. You're the only one who can make the decisions for you." She squeezed his hand, willing him to feel the sincerity in her next words, opening herself up to him in the Force so he would know that what she said next was true. "I've never liked or trusted Palpatine. But I have always supported and cared for you, Anakin, deeply. That's never going to change. You will always have my support, and I will always be here for you if and when you need me. I will always be on your side, but I don't have to like Palpatine to do so. It's you I care about and support, Anakin, not him. And I know you hate this…division that's come out of Palpatine's and my hatred of each other, but it will never make me abandon you, okay? I need you to know that—I don't want you to ever feel like I'm not with you or won't be there for you because of Palpatine. You've always come first with me, and that's not going to change. You always have me, Anakin, you need to remember that."

"But do I really?" Anakin challenged in a quiet voice. He could feel her sincerity, no doubt, but Anakin was going to be Anakin. Doubt was one thing that tended to plague his mind, especially recently. "If you hate him so much, can I really come to you with support about anything if what I need support with is about Palpatine?"

He had a point, but she was prepared.

"I promise to give you my honest opinion. It's far better than lying to you—I refuse to be one of those people," Zelina told him. "I might not agree, but I will never hold a difference of opinion against you, it's only natural. We aren't going to agree on everything, Anakin, just like we can't win every battle. But I can still care about you and support you whenever and however I can despite those differences. I will always be in your corner. Okay?"

Anakin nodded slowly, looking up at the ceiling for a second as he gathered himself and tried to cool his temper and raging emotions. "Everything's such a mess now."

Zelina laughed softly. "I've been saying that forever now. Welcome to my universe."

"Will you be okay? For the rest of the day, I mean. Would you like some company, or...?"

"I think I'm just going to go home and rest, if you don't mind. It's been…trying, ever since we came back to Coruscant. I need to simply pause the galaxy for a moment. I suggest you go see your wife, in the meantime. It always does you some good to go see her, and I think you need the pick-me-up as well."

At the mention of Padme and Anakin's own recent troubles, he shifted uncomfortably.

"You're still having the nightmares, aren't you?"

"…Yes."

Zelina squeezed his hand tightly at his answer. "She'll be all right, Anakin. I promise. Now go spend some time with her, I'm sure you both need it."

They both made their way out of the dojo, Zelina starting to head in one direction for the apartments, and Anakin headed in the other for the speeder pool, before Zelina stopped, catching Anakin's attention before he could get too far as a thought occurred to her.

"Oh, and Anakin?" Anakin turned, expectant. "You'll have to tell me what Palpatine says—I'm curious to know how he's going to dig himself out of this one with you."