Note: Now begins a flashback which will explain, among other things, how Anakin and Obi-Wan can still be Jedi though openly married to Padme and Sabe.

It was a short war.

Without the Sith Witch, Lady Sinistra, to hold it together the Separatist coalition quickly fell apart, many of the member worlds suing for peace as soon as it had begun, shocked by events on Geonosis. The financial junta behind the movement held together - barely - but their droid armies proved no match for clones led by Jedi Knights. One by one their home worlds fell to Republic forces: Skako, Ando, Castell and finally Cato Neimoidia itself. Not quite two years after Geonosis the Chancellor stood up before the Senate and proudly declared victory.

It was over.

The war had been Anakin's trial, he like many other Padawans, had been pronounced a Knight on the strength of his service. He was free - free to leave the Order without shaming his Master. He broke the news to Mace Windu and Master Yoda privately, in Yoda's quarters.

"Suspected this I did." the little Master sighed. "Sorry to lose you we will be."

"Are you sure you're doing the right thing, Anakin?" Mace asked urgently. "It's very easy to confuse your own desires with the will of the Force."

"I know that, Master," he answered, "I have struggled with this, but I cannot shake the feeling - the certainty - that my place is with Padme."

"If so strong are your feelings follow them you must." Yoda said quietly.

Mace shifted on his seat, startling Anakin. It was rare for a Jedi to fidget, Master Windu must be deeply disturbed. "I am not happy about this 'victory' of ours. The Separatist leaders remain at large and many enemy ships are unaccounted for."

"Cut off from support there is little they can do." Anakin argued. "The Chancellor says -"

"I know what Palpatine believes." Mace interrupted grimly. "I only wish I could agree."

"The Sith Master still out there is." said Yoda.

"I may no longer be a Knight but I will always be a friend of the Order, and an enemy of the Sith." Anakin said earnestly. "I'm not trying to avoid my destiny but to fulfill it. If you ever need me, Masters, all you have to do is call."

Mace smiled faintly. "Thank you, Anakin."

"I agree with Master Windu," Obi-Wan said grimly, several minutes later as they strolled, side by side, down a long, windowed gallery high up in the Temple. "this war has been too short, too easy -"

"Easy!" Anakin sputtered. "You call Moonus Mandell easy? Not to mention Excarga! And what about Cato Neimoidia?"

"Now that was your fault." Obi-Wan answered. "You were late."

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"I saved your life - for the ninth time." Anakin reminded him.

"After endangering it in the first place." Obi-Wan fired back.

"Hey it's not my fault you got tired of waiting!"

"You were late." said Obi-Wan

"I was not!" Anakin practically shouted. Then stopped himself, catching the glint of humor in his brother's eye. Suckered again.

The war had had a strange effect on Obi-Wan, it mellowed him. The intensity that had been part of him for as long as Anakin could remember had vanished almost overnight leaving a more relaxed, easy going Obi-Wan, and one far better at handling people. Kenobi the Negotiator the holo-net called him. He'd single handedly charmed at least a score of worlds back into the Republic without shedding a drop of blood. But when force did become necessary there was no one better at apply just the right amount to get the job done with a minimum of collateral damage.

"You're one of the reasons the war was so short." Anakin told him. "You and Master Dooku."

"It would have been a lot longer and uglier without his strategic genius." Obi-Wan agreed. then smiled up at his brother. "But you did your part, Anakin, whenever we needed a hero to take on an insanely dangerous mission we knew who to get."

"Master Qui-Gon." Anakin said, and grinned.

"Him too." Obi-Wan conceded. "So, when do we leave for Naboo?"

"We don't, Padme's coming here for the victory celebrations -" then the plural pronoun registered. "We?"

"Yes we." Obi-Wan stopped walking to nail him with one of those straight, lucent looks. "We are bound one to the other, Anakin, where you go, I go. Surely you realize that?"

"But...but you can't leave the Jedi!" Anakin stuttered.

"Of course I can." Obi-Wan answered calmly. "Can and will." he shook his head, a little amused, a little reproachful. "Don't look so stricken, Ani. It's no more than an open acknowledgment of a truth I've known for a long time now."

"Truth?"

"I'm not a true Jedi Knight, Anakin, I was never meant to be one." Obi-Wan answered calmly, unbelievably. "I don't belong here. But I do belong with you, Chosen One, wherever you decide to go."

Shock rendered Anakin momentarily speechless. "I can't believe what I'm hearing!" he sputtered when his voice came back. "Obi-Wan you're a great Jedi! The ultimate! the model we all follow!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Anakin." the perfect Jedi answered calmly. "I'm touched by your faith in me, but don't let it blind you to reality."

Anakin hyperventilated, getting himself back in hand. It was no use arguing, it never was with Obi-Wan - at least not when you were his kid brother. Maybe Master could talk him out of this nonsense...or was it nonsense? He quieted his mind and opened himself to the voice of the Force. The answer was immediate and unequivocal

"You'll always be a great Jedi as far as I'm concerned." he told Obi-Wan quietly. "But you're right, you do belong with me and I belong with Padme - and if that means we both have to leave the Order then so be it." then he grimaced. "But I sure don't envy you having to break the news to the Council!"

"They accepted your going out didn't they? I'm sure they will be just as understanding of my case." Obi-Wan returned calmly.

"Master Windu should still be with Master Yoda in his quarters." said Anakin. "Why don't you go tell them now. I mean I've already made a good start on ruining their day you might as well finish the job."

Obi-Wan laughed, but he went. And Anakin headed determinedly in the other direction towards Qui-Gon Jinn's quarters.

He was not at all surprised to find Master Dooku taking tea with his former Apprentice nor did the old Master's presence keep him from pouring out his story. "I feel it's right for Obi-Wan to come with me," he finished, "but how can he believe something so stupid?"

The two Masters exchanged communicative glances. "Obi-Wan has a faulty idea of what it means to be Jedi." Dooku said finally in his dark, deep voice. "He clings to the belief it requires a rigid adherence to the code."

"And it doesn't?" Anakin asked puzzled.

Dooku raised the black eyebrows that contrasted so strikingly with his silver hair. "Does Qui-Gon follow the code?"

Anakin glanced sideways at his Master and grinned. "Only when he feels like it!"

"I do what I must - always." Qui-Gon said with a smile in his deep eyes as he poured a cup of tea for his Padawan.

"The code is - " Dooku broke off and looked thoughtful. "I was about to say unimportant but that's wrong. It is very important - in its place. But it is the spirit, not the letter of the code that should guide the Jedi on the Way."

"I understand that." Anakin said, then in bewilderment. "I thought Obi-Wan did too. He's been so much more - relaxed these last few years."

"Because he had accepted that the Jedi Order was not his future." Qui-Gon said quietly. "He realized long ago, back when you visited your family on Tatooine, that his path lay with you." the Master smiled faintly, a little ruefully. "He let go of a dream he'd cherished from childhood. He stopped trying to be the perfect Jedi Knight and - by ceasing to try finally became the great Jedi he was born to be."

"To try is to fail." Anakin said softly, quoting one of Yoda's most basic lessons. "We must do, not try." he nodded thoughtfully. "I understand. Obi-Wan stopped trying and started doing. But why can't he see that?"

"Because he is a singularly stubborn young man." Dooku said dryly. "Not unlike his Master."

"And his brother." Anakin admitted ruefully.

"Master...are you disappointed in me?" Anakin asked suddenly. Dooku had left and they were alone. The rays of the setting sun streamed through the half open blinds shading the windows casting bars of golden light over the Master as he rinsed and put away the tea things. And on Anakin as he sat watching him.

Qui-Gon glanced up, giving his former Padawan a look of mild reproach. "Anakin..."

"I know, I know. I should follow the will of the Force without remorse and without regret - but you risked so much to get me trained. And now I walk out on you -"

"Anakin," Qui-Gon interrupted, abandoning the teacups to put a firm hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I obeyed the will of the Force when I fought to get you trained. Now you are obeying It by leaving the Order for Padme. We have both done what we were called upon to do, no more and no less." then his broad, rugged face broke into a smile. "I am far from disappointed in you, my young Apprentice. You have become wise as well as powerful, Anakin. You are more than a great Jedi, you are a great man. And I am very proud of you."

Anakin covered the Master's big, gentle square hand with his own, half blinded by tears. "Whatever I am I owe to you and your teachings."

"Not entirely." Qui-Gon said calmly, extracting his hand and moving to sit opposite his Apprentice. "Others have contributed as much. Your mother, Obi-Wan, Chancellor Palpatine," his eyes creased in a smile. "And of course little Padme!"

Anakin grinned back. "Definitely Padme!"