"I don't know if I should hit my head against a wall or just be glad she's gone," Revan announced.

"Wait, she really went back to the Council?" Malak couldn't believe it. Yes, she had made it very clear she had every intention of doing that once the war was over but it was one thing to say it and another to actually face the music alone.

"I mean, it's clear she's not thinking clearly," Revan said. "I don't think she even noticed that she's been literally ripped from the Force ever since Malachor and how do you just not notice something like that? Granted it's never happened to me and maybe a random civilian wouldn't notice, I don't know, but you'd think it'd be pretty obvious to a Jedi."

"Maybe she thinks that they can fix her," Malak offered.

Revan snorted. "Yeah, no one can fix that."

"You don't know that. The Jedi have all sorts of resources and history to draw on that we've never seen."

"Oh, well maybe they can fix her weird Force thing. Not really what I was talking about."

"We could go back, you know, after we figure out what's been going on with the Mandalorians and who prompted them to attack," Malak said thoughtfully. "It would be irresponsible of us to just leave the hidden threat the Council were running scared from out there and not investigate but afterwards…"

"Afterwards," Revan repeated. "It's too soon to think of an afterwards. But would you want to go back, if they let us and nothing changed?"

"I guess I never really thought about not going back," Malak admitted. "I am a Jedi no matter what the Council thinks of my actions."

"I'll probably do what you do," Revan decided. "If only because it really doesn't matter and if I don't I'll probably just spend the rest of my life sitting on a beach somewhere. Although, come to think of it, maybe I should just go do that."

"You'd hate it."

Revan shook his head sadly. "It's almost like we haven't been friends for literally decades at this point. Really Malak, does that sound like something I'd hate?"

"All I know is that for someone who just wants to do nothing, you kind of literally defeated Malachor in single combat and helped defeat an invading Force."

Revan groaned. "Don't remind me. And we can't even enjoy our victory because now we have to go chasing Sith."

"They're probably not Sith."

"Agree to disagree," Revan said. "Is it too late to go do what she did and go running to the Jedi Council? They probably wouldn't let me do anything strenuous after what happened."

"They'd probably try to get you to bring us back," Malak disagreed. "And either way, would it really be worth dealing with her on the way back? Plus you know the Jedi will never let you hear the end of it for leaving even if you ended up saving the day."

Revan sighed. "All I wanted was a lightsaber, the power to do whatever I wanted, and to not actually need to do anything. Why is that so hard for people to grasp?"

The Exile stepped off the ship and onto Coruscant for the first time in ten years feeling nervous and terrified and so happy she could burst.

It had been a difficult burden to bear when she had realized that she had gone off to war without the Jedi Council's permission (in fact, against their expressed orders) but she couldn't really blame Malak for that. Everyone else it seemed had known the truth so she really could have double-checked before leaving. And he believed so strongly is what they were doing. The sacrifice and the killing and Malachor…the war had ended and so of course she went back. Her reason for leaving had ceased to be. Losing the Force and being cast out had been harder and these ten years she had felt lost everywhere she went.

She had never expected that to change.

But Atris had contacted her with a message about how her exile was being undone and how her presence was requested at the temple on Coruscant. How could she do anything but drop everything and go?

A man came up to her. "You must be the Exile."

She laughed nervously. "Is it that obvious?"

"You just look like your pictures," he said. "Not that I've been staring at pictures of you or anything weird like that. I just happened to see one and it's been a few years but you look the same."

"Jedi usually age well," she said. "It's the connection with the Force, I think. Not that that has had much to do with me for a while and I'm not that old."

"No, of course not. I'm Atton, by the way, and I'm here to take you to see Revan and Alek before meeting with the Council. Well, mostly meeting with Alek but I'm sure Revan will be there," Atton said. He gestured for her to come with him and she fell into step beside him. She knew the temple very well, even after all this time, but without the Force she wouldn't be able to locate her old friends.

"Alek?" the Exile asked blankly. "Oh, did Malak change his name back?"

"He did, actually. Something to do with capture and possible brainwashing and they're really not all that forthcoming about what happened except Revan still holds a bit of a grudge against the Jedi."

The Exile frowned. "That's not very Jedi-like and so unlike him. Still, I suppose as a former Sith it makes sense that he'd still have some difficulties and he can't be perfect in every way! That's just too much pressure."

"Uh…yeah," Atton said, looking faintly bemused. "Something like that. Say, do you know why Alek changed it in the first place?"

The Exile nodded. "Oh, yes. He wanted to go out and help protect people the moment he heard of the Mandalorians attacking. His home world was attacked by Mandalorians a long time ago, you know, leading to his coming to the Republic in the first place. The Jedi Council wisely wanted more information before rushing into what could be a trap but Alek secretly began to fight them and used Malak as an alias."

"Some alias," Atton muttered. "And wait, they wisely wanted to wait? If you think it was so wise why did you go with them later?"

"Everything the Jedi Council does is wise," the Exile explained. "That's why they're the Jedi Council. And I, um, might have thought they changed their mind. But I was wrong." She cleared her throat. "Then when he openly defied the Council and the Jedi tried to have him arrested he started going by Malak all the time both to help him avoid capture and as a form of protest against the Jedi."

Atton shook his head. "Wow, that makes so much more sense and sounds infinitely less stupid than how Revan tells the story."

"Are you a Jedi?" the Exile asked him.

Atton blushed. "Uh, not exactly, no."

"What do you mean not exactly?" she asked. "Are you training to be one?"

Atton shook his head. "No but I have it on good authority I'm Force sensitive and I can't go more than two days without receiving an offer to get training."

"Oh?" the Exile asked, surprised. "Things must have changed a great deal over the years then. Back when I left, if you were six you were too old for training."

"Yeah, that kind of went out the window, especially when the Jedi finally realized all that policy did was send everyone they missed or wouldn't take over to the Sith and maybe they'd end up a Jedi anyway if they repented," Atton said. "But lots of things have changed. Ever since Revan and Bastila got together, for example, everyone has started openly dating and the Council finally decided to just go with it last week. So you could totally date people if you wanted to. Just throwing that out there. For reasons."

The Exile smiled at him. "It's so sweet of you to want me to be aware of my rights but I'm not a Jedi. I think you should consider being one, though. It's the greatest thing that ever happened to me."

"You got cut off from the Force and exiled for ten years."

"That was incidental," the Exile said. "And not because I was a Jedi but because of my choices. Had I been a Republic soldier and disobeyed them so severely my punishment would likely have been worse. Not that I'd have been punished for going off to war against the Mandalorians but you know what I mean."

"I'll, uh, definitely think about it," Atton told her, smiling back at her.

The Exile didn't even realize that she had reached Revan and Malak – no, Alek – until Alek cleared his throat. "It's good to see you again, Exile."

The Exile's eyes widened. "Alek! Your jaw!"

He smiled. "I've gotten that a lot over the years. Not lately, though."

"I'm so happy for you! I thought nothing could be done!"

"We still don't know what was done, exactly," Revan said. "Just more of the Jedi holding out on us. But I guess they usually pull through in a pinch and if they couldn't give him a jaw that whole 'he's definitely not Darth Malak' thing never would have gotten off the ground and poor Bastila might have snapped and fallen whether I was interested in helping that process along or not."

"Bastila fell?"

Alek shook his head. "No but she was captured for a while. She's fine, don't worry about it."

"Atton said you wanted to meet with me before I met with the Council," the Exile told them.

"Well, Alek did at any rate," Revan said.

The Exile focused her attention on him. "Why?"

"I just want to know what you understand about what's happening," Alek said.

"I know that Atris told me I was un-exiled and the Council wanted to see me," the Exile said.

"That's it?" Revan asked.

"Well they didn't explain their reasoning, no," the Exile admitted. "But I assumed they would – if they felt like it – at the meeting."

"Their reasoning was Atton saw your picture and he thought-" Revan started to say.

"That it was such a sad story and everyone else was forgiven for their part in defying the Jedi, even though all of them became Sith, so it was a shame if you weren't given that opportunity, too," Atton said quickly.

The Exile sent him a startled smile. "Oh did you? That is just remarkable. Thank you!"

Atton grinned back. "It was nothing, really."

"Has he already told you Jedi can date now?" Revan asked innocently.

The Exile nodded. "He did mention that, yes, though I don't know why that keeps coming up."

"If you don't figure it out eventually, I'm sure someone will tell you," Revan said.

"Now that you're being welcomed back into the fold, I assume you're going to want to be a Jedi again like we all became," Alek said.

The Exile shook her head. "Oh no, I couldn't."

"Why not?" Revan asked. "And don't give me any crap about not being worthy. You're fine."

"It's not that," the Exile said awkwardly. "It's just…the Jedi cut me off from the Force before they exiled me. I don't know if they have any plans of reversing that and until they do I literally can't be a Jedi again."

"I'm sure they wouldn't have called you back here if they weren't going to," Atton said encouragingly.

"I can't even," Revan said. "All this time and she still doesn't…You tell her, Alek."

"Tell me what?"

"The Jedi didn't cut you off from the Force," Alek said.

The Exile blinked. "But…they did. I know they did."

"You must have been in too much pain to realize it at the time," Alek said slowly. "But you haven't been connected to the Force since Malachor. I don't know if you did it yourself to survive what happened or if it was done to you through all the death or any of the details and I can't imagine the Jedi knew either. It's just unheard of. That may be part of why they exiled you. They couldn't afford to deal with whatever had happened to you while also dealing with Revan and I."

"I…they never said anything about that," the Exile said, shaking her head vaguely. "But then, I suppose they never said they were cutting me off, either. They must have thought I knew more about it than they did and I never said anything about believing they cut me off so they couldn't have known." She swallowed painfully.

"Hey, this is good news, isn't it?" Atton asked, moving quickly to her side. "If the Jedi didn't do this to you then they don't want this done and we can fix this."

"But I don't know how. If they didn't do it they might not be able to reverse it. If they were to offer me the chance to be a Jedi again, to have all I ever wanted again, and I can't because the Force is gone…what am I even if I don't have the Force? Even the most Force-deaf of all creatures are still connected. But not me. I'm like the walking dead or something." She could feel herself start to get hysterical.

Atton turned to Revan. "Do something!"

"Me?" Revan asked. "Like what?"

"I don't know, can't you restore her connection to the Force or something?"

Revan shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Then try!"

Revan hesitated. "But I don't really-"

"Revan?" Alek asked.

"Yeah?"

"Odds on her sticking around until the Jedi work this one out?"

"You make a compelling argument," Revan said. He stood in front of the Exile. "This should work; we have a Force bond and it may actually come in handy for once. Look at me. Open your mind. You've felt it all before, everywhere around you. Remember the currents, the eddies. Listen to the echo of your thoughts, of your heart - separated from war, separated from hate. Think of what you felt when you felt the need to protect the innocent people of the Republic. And at last, Exile...awaken."

"Um, I'm not really sure that's going to do much go-" Atton started to say.

"It's a miracle!" the Exile exclaimed. It was impossible to explain. She had thought she had remember what it was like but she hadn't, not really. How did one remember something such as this, even if they had felt it their whole life? Perhaps she had forgotten to protect herself. It was like being alive again after so long of only pretending. "I can feel the Force again! I can really truly feel it!"

"Seriously?" Atton couldn't believe it. "Ten years gone and that's all it takes?"

"Don't question these things," Alek advised. "It'll save you a lot of trouble."

"So now are you going to go off and be a Jedi?" Revan asked.

The Exile nodded resolutely. "If they will have me, certainly. And if not then I have the Force and I have the Republic and I will find a way to do good."

"I just bet you will," Revan said.

"You should train me," Atton blurted out.

Alek raised an eyebrow at him. "Really, Atton?"

Atton crossed his arms defiantly. "Yes, really. The Exile has inspired me to become a Jedi."

"The Exile being someone you have an inexplicable thing for and who has just shown you how easy it is to get in touch with the Force, though actual training is a bit of work, finally convinced you," Revan corrected.

"Oh, Atton, I'm sorry but I can't just yet!" the Exile exclaimed, feeling truly sorry. "I need to go and see if I'm even allowed to be a Jedi again. It all seems too much to hope for but, well, I'm here aren't I? Maybe today's a good day for hope."

"I think it is," Atton agreed, smiling again.

"When he's gone, he's gone," Alek marveled.

"I will never understand it."

"There's someone for everyone," Alek said.

"But they have nothing in common and they're so different," Revan protested.

"Want to do a comparison of you and Bastila?" Alek asked.

"That's nowhere near as weird," Revan said.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree with you there," Alek said.

"Revan, seriously, I have no idea how to thank you for this," the Exile said earnestly. "You can't possibly understand what this means to me. I mean, you use the Force all the time so maybe you could have some idea but living without the Force…it's just not living. And you gave it back to me so selflessly. You are a great man and I am forever in your debt."

Revan shifted uncomfortably. "Um, you're welcome."

"So now that you're not an exile anymore, regardless of whether you can be a Jedi or not, and you've regained your connection to the Force do you think you can tell me your name?" Atton asked eagerly.

The Exile paused. She had given up her name, had it taken really, such a long time ago and no matter how many odd looks she had gotten when she had introduced herself as the Exile she had never tried to escape the stigma of what she had done, what she was. But if she wasn't an exile anymore then did she really need to keep bearing that burden? Could she possibly go back?

Misunderstanding her silence, Atton said, "I mean, I've tried to find out on my own but nobody really wanted to talk about it. Everyone kept calling you the Exile and I think Revan and Alek found it funny not to tell me."

"Oh so very funny," Alek confirmed.

"Well, alright," the Exile said slowly. "I haven't said it, not once, or even heard it in ten years. There's been nobody there who knew my name and it's not as though I was making friends as I wandered eternally anyway."

"So overly dramatic…" Revan murmured.

"My name..." The Exile took a deep breath. This was it. There was no going back once the words passed her lips.

Atton smiled encouragingly at her.

"My name is Anika."