Somewhere in the same building another dimply lit room was located. Round, with pale blue bare walls; as the room's only decoration served a large vid-screen stretched on the wall. The room was occupied by a deep armchair with tall back, padded with midnight-blue velvet, and a single person sitting in it. The armchair was designed for rest yet the woman's figure in it was anything but relaxed. Body leaned forward, hands pressed in a tight lock, sable eyes watching the vid-screen where a young man sat on a bed.

The man looked confused, disoriented, and she knew exactly why. She had witnessed him being carried into the room and placed into bed. She had sat vigil through hours of his sleep. And she was now trying to fathom what he would do next for she found her ability to predict the Jedi's moves lacking.

However, before the Jedi could do anything more than stand up the events started to unfold. Something appeared in the room. Nais leaned forward even more, her back rigid. What materialized in that bedroom wasn't a hologram but it wasn't a solid form either. A figure draped in flowing folds of voluminous black cloak was barely visible against the dark background of the wall behind it.

Obi-Wan stared, his face showing a mixture of emotions, until a mask of calmness thrown over his face out of habit concealed them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked the Jedi with some strain in his voice.

The figure shifted a bit but didn't approach. Then it spoke.

"I am called Lord Sidious."

Kenobi visibly winced. Silence followed, giving Nais time to make some conclusions. What interested her most was the way Sidious chose to visit the captive knight. Why hadn't he come himself?

She examined his figure searching for answers. His face was barely visible under the heavy hood, but what Nais could see showed her a trace of emotion – concealed yet still present to her expert eye – a surprising emotion – fear.

The Dark Lord being afraid?!

She took a moment to double-check her inference, but everything – her eyes, her intuition – confirmed it. Darth Sidious was afraid of Obi-Wan Kenobi. And that was the reason why he hadn't come himself, choosing instead a weird, and probably very trying, sort of mental projection. She leaned back in surprise.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked softly. Nais knew he couldn't hear her, and it gave her a sort of confidence. Just as her sudden knowledge, knowledge he would most likely prefer to be left not revealed, gave her a feeling of power – power over him.

He shifted a bit more – a shade among shadows – and she leaned forward again eagerly, seeking to uncover the source of his fear.

"What do you want of me?" Kenobi demanded. He now stood facing Sidious in a posture both relaxed and alert.

"To open your eyes and make you see few things…"

"…And get me onto your side."

"That would be a desired ultimate goal."

"Never."

Sidious moved to a chair and lowered himself onto it, steepling his fingers. Obi-Wan observed him with wary gaze.

"Please, sit down," Sidious said in a sweet voice which, however, held a command.

Obi-Wan obeyed, sitting down onto the bed. But it wasn't he who Nais watched, unlike Sidious. She held her eyes fixed on the only part of the Sith's face visible to her – his lips. And she saw those lips mouth silently a word – a name.

The syllables merged into "Alionna".

The Jedi took a moment to straighten some creases on the bed covers, apparently feeling less than comfortable under the Sith's scrutinizing gaze.

"You are so much like her," Sidious said almost too softly for the hidden dynamics in the room to pick the sound. And there was a trace of fear again – almost superstitious fear. He feared his dead wife, and the mixture of them both in their son, Nais realized. Kenobi appeared not to hear.

"So what is it you wish to tell me?" A note of wariness slipped into the Jedi's voice through the sarcasm he had infused there.

"Several things about the Order you pledged yourself to." Obi-Wan snorted. Sidious gave a tight smile.

"Which would be?"

"I suppose you know that there are some… flaws in the Jedi Order."

"The Order is an organization and as such is not perfect. I fail to see a revelation here."

"And you are so devoted to this organization that you're ready to spring to its defence any moment?"

Obi-Wan said nothing.

"Very well then. Let's start from the very beginning – from how the children find themselves at the Temple."

Sidious looked at the Jedi opposite from him, clearly expecting him to say something, but Kenobi refused to carry on the dialog.

"Children – the future of the galaxy, I dare say – are being taken from their homes, from their families, who are told stories about the happy life their offspring would get among the Jedi…"

"Those children get another home at the Temple."

"They do – at the price of leaving everything they had before behind and forgetting their blood families."

"We are allowed to visit parents – sometimes."

"Yes, you are. But how often do you really visit them?"

The Jedi and the Sith were now staring at each other, face to face.

"We have much work to do."

"Indeed it takes much time and effort to make a perfectly drilled soldiers out of innocent children."

"Jedi are keepers of the peace, not soldiers."

"Is it truly so?" He made a pause, letting his words sink in. "But it is not all, far from that. The children are raised without parental love…"

"Temple crèche masters give them enough love."

"… and in constant competition. Tell me it isn't so," the Sith taunted. Obi-Wan gave him a withering look. "As for love… yes, the crechlings are given love – or some substitute of it. They are raised with it, don't imagine their lives without it. Until comes the day of their thirteenth birthday, and they realize that no one has picked them, that no one would care to love them anymore. That they would have to live the rest of their lives as outcasts."

"It is natural selection," Obi-Wan objected, but his voice was weak.

"Natural you say? Is it natural to give a child an utterly sheltered life, care for him, cherish him – only to leave him alone and defenceless to the vastness of the galaxy? Even I call that cruel. What do you call it? What does the Order call it?"

Obi-Wan stared at the far wall, as though struggling to see the barest of cracks on its surface. Sidious' voice softened.

"Your thoughts are what the Order has put into your head. I only want you to open your eyes and look for yourself at those you call brothers."

"No one of my friends has anything to do with this…"

"No, they don't. But the Council does."

Kenobi levelled at him eyes dark with emotions contained in their depth.

"It is widely known that the Padawans of the Jedi Order are forbidden to marry. And only Padawans. But how many Knights have you witnessed getting married? How many marriages have you heard of?"

"It is hard to find your loved one… Hard to know the person is right…"

"It is hard for everyone. And still people throughout the galaxy find each other, get married. Why not Jedi?"

"We put duty before our personal demands."

"You are truly blinded, my son." Kenobi flinched. "It is because the Council doesn't wish to lose all those excellent operatives do the Jedi not marry each other."

"You lie."

"I have proof. It is at your exposal any time you desire…"

"I do not."

"Well, well, I see I tire you. I will take my leave for the time being."

And Sidious was gone from the bedroom as a figment of a nightmare, leaving Kenobi pondering his words.

A minute later still wrapped in that black cloak Palpatine appeared in the monitoring room. Nais didn't have to turn round to know he had entered. The Sith was emanating almost tangible coldness – and satisfaction.

"You think your words meant anything to him? You think he even listened to them?"

"Listened or not, he heard them. And I dare say I sown the seeds of doubt."

"Doubt? You can't make him doubt enough..."

"No, I can't. Not now. But when he meets my little surprise..."

"You're going to hurt your own - and only - son." It wasn't a question and there was scarce incredulity.

"Who knows how many of them there really are," Palpatine stated casually, but she heard falseness behind the words. He leaned on the back of her armchair unceremoniously. "Anyway, I would not hesitate to kill him were it for the better."

"Better for who?"

"For the galaxy, of course." The mask of the Supreme Chancellor momentarily glanced in his tone.

"Like hell you care for the galaxy," Nais muttered.

"I do care for it, honey." He brushed her hair, and she shrank under his touch. "It would make a very nice sparkling diamond in my ring of power."

"Republic doesn't seem all that sparkling to me. Stinking more like it."

"Poor child, you confuse the transient outer sequins of state structure for the true essence of the galaxy. Republic..." he paused, as though weighting his words. "Republic will soon tear itself apart from the inside and die the honourless and piteous death."

"And you will ensure it happens for you liking."

He leaned so close to her that Nais could feel his breath on her cheek.

"You know things... You can deduce some more. Your mind is sharp, and I like it in you. But..." He brushed old crooked, covered in veins fingers through the golden cascade of her hair, and she shuddered. "one – unwise – word, and you know what I will do to you."

She straightened, driven by the brash feeling of contradiction, saying: 'look, I'm not afraid'. But his next words turned her innards ice-cold.

"Or to your precious auntie. I think you've got enough imagination..." he let the sentence hang.

"S-sick!" she hissed.

"Charming," he smiled. "Ah, I see my dear son has already found the door unlocked. I hate to depart on you, but business calls me elsewhere."

And he walked out, leaving Nais to stare at the vid-screen, frowning and biting her lips.