A/N: So... A certain smooth talking Jedi has been having fits because I wasn't going to include his point of view in this story, and so far I've made him out to be a bit of a jerk. Sigh. So now he gets his own chapters too wherever appropriate.

Jedi Master:

Obi-Wan left the communication center in a proud and mostly unhurried rush, desperate to get away from everything, but unwilling to look like it.

Away from Ahsoka, who reminded him of how he'd failed her when she needed his support and how he should have known better than to doubt her.

Away from Anakin, whose clinging attachment to his returned Padawan reminded the weary Jedi of how he'd epically failed his student in teaching him how to let go because he wasn't really all that good at it himself, even though he pretended to be like his life depended on it.

And most especially away from Lady Bo-Katan Kryze, who just had to go and remind him of Satine, his biggest failure of all.

Obi-Wan stalked across the bridge, Cody and the other officers wisely moving out of the way of the scowling Jedi in the billowing robe, and parked himself in front of the big window to stare out at space like it had all of the answers.

It didn't.

His life was a shitstorm and he didn't know how to fix it. Was afraid he'd never fix it. Because the one person who he would have been inspired to fix it for was gone and his will to really LIVE was most assuredly gone with her.

Satine had represented everything that was wrong with him as a Jedi Master and he still struggled with it, even after her death that he hadn't been able to prevent. She had been his temptation, his salvation, and his destruction.

She'd tempted him from the Jedi way. She'd rescued him from his own guilt. And she'd left him bereft and empty when she was gone, making him realize that his life could have, and should have, been entirely different. He should have had a life with her.

But he didn't, so he clung with everything he had to what he had left; the Jedi Order and Anakin, who still hadn't quite forgiven him for faking his own death or Ahsoka's brutal expulsion from the Order. The bond that had once been so strong between them was now strained and almost... fake. Like Anakin was going through the motions of their friendship but nothing more.

He hadn't realized quite how bad it had gotten until Anakin saw Ahsoka again in that initial holo transmission and for a few moments had let down his guard. What Obi-Wan had felt from his former Padawan was a love for the girl that he no longer felt towards himself. Anakin had been so happy to see her, like she was a lifeline that he'd been missing as he struggled through a riotous ocean, and it had made Obi-Wan hurt something awful to realize that Anakin didn't want him to be his lifeline anymore. Didn't TRUST him to be his lifeline anymore.

Not that a Jedi was supposed to need lifelines, but even Windu acknowledged that they had to support each other, especially in these particularly trying times.

With every passing day and not-so-secret illicit transmission to Padmè, Obi-Wan had realized that he was losing Anakin. May even be losing him for good by the end of all this.

Even with his revelations regarding Satine, Obi-Wan still couldn't decide if he should encourage Anakin to walk away from the Order as well or not. It went against everything he believed in, but at the same time, he wanted the young man who used to be his best friend to be happy above all else.

Padmè and Ahsoka made Anakin happy.

Happy in a way that Obi-Wan knew he would never feel again. He'd lost his chance to be happy with Satine. Probably wrecked his friendship with Anakin forever. And most definitely ruined his relationship with his Grandpadawan.

And frag, was Ahsoka ever cold to him. She treated him like a suspicious stranger; distant and only just polite enough to not be outright rude. He supposed he deserved it, but it still hurt. A lot. The little Togruta used to give him hugs filled with love. She used to tease him. She used to call him Master Redi-Wan, teasing him about both his hair colour and his willingness to spar anytime, any place, both verbally and with their sabres. She used to put her head on his lap and purr like a kitten as he stroked a lek with whisper soft fingers, putting her to sleep, whenever Anakin wasn't around (probably visiting Padmè) to do the nightly ritual for her.

Togrutans were highly sensual beings, which made it rare for them to have the right personality to be a Jedi. Ahsoka had somehow found the balance between that and the inner peace required to follow the Jedi Code. She was amazing. One of the most gifted Jedi that had ever been produced by the Order. And she'd walked away from it all because he and the Council had made a dreadful mistake. Were still making mistakes if the ever growing darkness in the Force was anything to go by.

Anakin wasn't the only one who'd missed her affectionate ways when she'd left.

And now she was back. But it wasn't the same. At least not for him. Behind him, he could feel Anakin and Ahsoka reaffirming their close bond, and, as usual, it was like a dance of pure energy in the Force. Nearly every Jedi that had ever encountered them together had pulled him to the side at some point and mentioned that they'd never felt such a strong Master/Padawan bond before, and that they either envied it or were very worried by it. Obi-Wan fell in the 'both' category.

Unfortunately, Ahsoka's return included that red haired female that had tried to use his... friendship... with Satine to manipulate him into fighting her war for her. Granted, it's a war involving Maul, so I was bound to say yes anyway, but... Force curse all manipulative Mandalorian females anyway.

Growling under his breath, Obi-Wan stalked back to the now empty communication room now that he could feel that the younger Jedi - well, Jedi and sort-of Jedi – had left, probably to go see Captain Rex's surprise. The Council isn't going to like the idea of getting involved with Mandalore. Not at all.

It took almost five minutes to raise someone at the Jedi Temple on the comm, which worried him to no end, and when he did, he got a harried looking Master Windu. "Obi-Wan, thank kriff. I was just about to comm you."

"What is it, Mace?"

Two minutes of quick explanation later, Obi-Wan was sticking his head out the door and yelling into the bridge to Cody to sound the alarm and prepare the fleet for an imminent jump into lightspeed with a destination of Coruscant. And then he ran to the hangar to go break the news to Ahsoka that they couldn't possibly go to Mandalore right now.

Because the bloody Chancellor needed them.

Again.