Chapter 19

Anakin and Farra prepare to leave for the Jedi Temple but Anakin realizes they will be likely to be challenged.

"We need to be careful as the clones will certainly challenge us," Anakin said to Farra.

Farra and Anakin raised their hoods and left the Imperial Building. They kept to the shadows as they traveled their hoods and robes hiding their identities. Farra knew that the clones wouldn't challenge her as she was known as a Dark Jedi but Anakin would more than certainly be challenged. However they reached the temple without incident. Farra was saddened to see the smoke rising from it and the bodies on the path into the temple. She knew that what she was seeing was Ferus' handiwork and it made her feel worse than ever to think she had gone along with the dark side of the Force. As Farra walked along she began to cry again, tears of remorse for her actions. Anakin turned and took her hands in his.

"Don't cry love, you shouldn't blame yourself for what Ferus did to you" Anakin told Farra.

"I killed unarmed people" Farra sobbed, "I broke the Jedi code. I'll never be a Master now. In fact they'll probably cast me out of the Order"

"If they cast you out of the Order I will leave the Order myself in protest" Anakin declared.

Farra smiled at Anakin.

"Would you really?" she asked.

"Yes I would. You're more important to me than anything else in the world" Anakin declared.

He raised his mechanical right hand and wiped Farra's tears away. Then he met her lips with his in a soft tender kiss. When the two came up for air they resumed their walk to the temple, Anakin sneaking glances at Farra every now and again. He still couldn't get over how gorgeous she was in black robes. At the temple the two Jedi could see that Ferus had left clone troopers guarding the temple. As Farra was still in her Sith robes she decided to do the talking, as she was confident the troopers would let her through. She walked forward and greeted the troopers. They recognized her.

"Am I permitted to go through?"

"Of course. Go right ahead" the troopers told her.

Farra nodded and walked past the troopers. They relaxed, confident that no harm would come to them. Suddenly Farra whirled, a red bar of light sprouting from her hand. The troopers were dead before they knew what had hit them. Farra gestured and Anakin walked out of the shadows to join her. They could see more troopers up ahead so Anakin ignited his lightsaber and they walked along together one carrying a red lightsaber the other a blue. Never before had a red lightsaber been used to do anything but evil, nor had a red lightsaber been used alongside a blue lightsaber. Neither Jedi could remember a time when a Sith or a dark Jedi had been turned back from the dark side. As the Jedi encountered clones they made quick work of them. They split up once they were inside the temple and made their way through the temple destroying all the clones and droid forces they found inside the temple, cleansing it of the evil bought to it by Ferus. When that was done they turned their attention to the bodies scattered through out the temple. Most of the dead were familiar to them. Not just younglings had died but all of those in the temple save for Farra had been struck down by Ferus and the troopers with him.

Anakin and Farra slowly worked their way through the temple removing the bodies from where they'd fallen and cleansing the walls of the various rooms of blaster scorch marks. Soon the temple was restored to its normal self. The two Jedi had piled the bodies up in a courtyard and then burnt them in a huge funeral pyre, committing the spirits of the dead to the Force. When that was done Anakin went to the archives to check on the Holocrons. He was alarmed to find that they were all gone then realized they would probably be on Rattatak or in the Senate building. Returning to Farra, Anakin told her what he'd discovered and Farra told Anakin that she would go back to the Senate building. By then the clone troopers had been told that the Jedi were not a threat as Bail Organa had taken control of things in the Senate building. Farra entered the Senate building and made her way up to Palpatine's quarters. Once inside she began a search for the Jedi Holocrons and it didn't take her long to find them. She also found a Sith Holocron which she suspected was Palpatine's personal holocron. She took this along with the Jedi Holocrons back to the temple.

Back at the temple Anakin put the Holocrons back into the archives. Ferus had killed Jocasta Nu when he entered the archives and that was when Farra guessed he'd stolen the Holocrons. She surmised he had given them to Palpatine before taking her to Rattatak. Anakin and Farra then decided to meditate while they waited for the other Jedi to arrive. Farra had changed out of her black robes back into cream and brown Jedi robes. She felt considerably better when she had done this. The only problem she had was the color of her lightsaber. When the two Jedi meditated Farra was assailed with images of the Seperatist leaders whom she had killed. Anakin shared the images with her. He was shocked at the ferocity of Farra's attack. Then he saw images of Farra fighting Obi Wan and again was shocked by what he saw. He knew though that Farra had been manipulated. Then he saw images of the things Farra had learnt. When the two ended their meditation Anakin had a deeper understanding of what Farra had been through.

The two Jedi were at the Jedi hanger to welcome Obi Wan and the other Jedi refugees back from Naboo. Obi Wan was the first to leave the ship they had traveled on. He looked around and spotted the two Jedi waiting to greet the refugees. He stopped when he saw Farra, then reached for his belt and a blue bar of light sprouted from his hand.

"What the blazes are you doing here you Sithspawn" Obi Wan said.

"Its ok Master, Farra is one of us again"

"She can't be. She attacked me remember. Step away from her. I'm going to end this once and for all"

"No!" Anakin said, "Look at her, for pity's sake she's wearing Jedi robes again"

"A clever deception" Obi Wan said.

Anakin and Farra realized that Obi Wan didn't know what had gone on since Anakin had gone to search for Farra. Farra dropped to her knees and held out her lightsaber.

"I have renounced the dark side. If you don't want to believe me you can arrest me but the truth will be known" Farra said.

Tears were running down her cheeks as she said this. Obi Wan took Farra's lightsaber then put binders on her.

"I can vouch for Farra. I saw her kill Ferus with my own eyes" Anakin said.

Unfortunately Obi Wan thought that Anakin was just siding with Farra because he loved her.

"How do I know you're telling the truth, Anakin?" he asked.

Farra was sobbing freely by then.

"Oh Master, I am so, so sorry for what I did to you. You must believe me. Ferus had manipulated me into believing Anakin was dead. Words can't express the remorse I feel" Farra sobbed.

Farra was taken to the Senate building and put in the detention center. She realized she would have to face the consequences of her crimes. Anakin had told Obi Wan that if he was going to lock Farra up he'd have to lock him up as well as he'd been with Farra since rescuing her. So Anakin was in the cell with Farra. The two had cuddled up together and meditated trusting that everything that was happening was the will of the Force.

"Bail will resolve this" Anakin said confidently.

Bail had not been present when Palpatine was dead. No one had actually seen the battle so Bail only had Anakin and Farra's word that they had killed Palpatine until Anakin had had the bright idea of suggesting Bail look at the security footage. Sure enough the battle between the two Jedi and Palpatine was caught on the security footage.

Bail went to the Jedi temple and spoke to Obi Wan telling him he needed to come and view the video footage.

"Not now. I have many important things to do" Obi Wan said.

"But you must. It proves that Farra has renounced the dark side" Bail insisted.

"I will view the footage but not right now" Obi Wan said.

Bail sighed then headed back to the Senate building. He told Anakin and Farra the bad news and informed them that until Obi Wan came to look at the footage they'd be stuck where they were.

"Never mind love, at least we are together" Anakin said.

He held Farra tightly against him and Farra relaxed in the warmth of his arms. Obi Wan had taken Anakin's lightsaber before he was put in the cell so neither had their lightsabers. The two Jedi knew that they would have to be patient while they waited for justice to prevail.

"I'm just grateful that Ferus and I weren't asked to kill any Jedi" Farra said.

"Gosh yes" Anakin murmured.

"I couldn't live with myself if I'd willingly killed a Jedi" Farra said, "Its bad enough that I thought I'd killed Obi Wan. I can understand him being mad at me about that" Farra said.

"He isn't mad at you, my beautiful princess. He just hasn't realized that you aren't a dark side user anymore. I knew in my heart that you would turn on Ferus as soon as you saw me" Anakin said.

Farra was glad that Anakin at least believed her. She cuddled into Anakin and lifting her head brushed his lips with hers. The two kissed intently, Anakin tasting Farra's lips with his. His hands caressed her back as they kissed.

"At least now that the war is over we can finally get married" Anakin told Farra.

"I'd like Obi Wan to marry us" Farra told Anakin.

Anakin was glad that Farra wasn't holding Obi Wan's recent behavior towards her against him.

"I'd like that too my love" Anakin said.

"Did Ryal survive the attack on the temple?" Farra wanted to know"

"Actually he did. He was dying when I found him at the temple but we got him into a bacta tank on Naboo and he pulled through. I'm hoping he will be able to convince Obi Wan that you are not a dark Jedi still. He has told me that he believes that you are a Jedi again"

"I am very glad to hear that. Who is training him at the moment while we are stuck here?"

"Obi Wan is" Anakin said.

"That's good to know"

A few minutes later Bail came to the cell and told them that Obi Wan was viewing the security recordings. Suddenly a new worry assailed Farra.

"Ani, what if Obi Wan thinks I killed Palpatine to become the Sith Master"

"Lets hope that he doesn't" Anakin said, grimly.

Finally Obi Wan came to their cell. He smiled kindly at Farra.

"I am so sorry Farra. I've viewed the security recordings and it appears that Anakin was right. Can you forgive me for doubting you"

"Its ok Master, I did attack you on Mustafar so you were right to be alarmed" Farra said.

Master and former apprentice hugged and then the three Jedi returned to the temple. Back at the temple Ryal was waiting to greet his masters.

"Oh Master's I'm so glad you are ok" were his first words.

"Thank you in believing in me, my young apprentice" Farra replied.

Anakin and Farra learnt that half of the Jedi Council had survived Order 66. The surviving members were: Shaak Ti, Obi Wan, Stass Allie, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Coleman Kcaj and Plo Koon. The other 6 chairs would remain empty until the council chose new members to fill them. Anakin and Farra were keen to resume Ryal's training as soon as they could but before they could do that they were asked to attend a council meeting. There Farra related everything that had happened to her as well as her actions after Ferus had manipulated her. She then awaited the council's judgment. The words that were spoken next stunned both her and Anakin.

"You are forgiven of all wrong doing and we hold none of your actions against you. Furthermore, your killing of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and the ending of the Sith once and forever has earned both of you the right to be known as Jedi Masters. You have also earned the right to take a seat each on this council," Obi Wan said.

Farra turned to Anakin and smiled. He was smiling also as neither Jedi could believe it. This was what they had wanted for so long and finally they had achieved it. The two Jedi hugged, tears of joy running down their faces. They then collected themselves and took seats next to each other in two of the empty seats. The council then proceeded to knight a number of the older Padawans who had survived Order 66 or the attack on the temple and promote some of the surviving knights to Masters to fill the remaining 4 empty chairs on the council. Once the council was full, Obi Wan began a discussion on the Jedi code. He felt that attachments should be permitted for all Jedi as Anakin and Farra's actions of killing Sidious had proved that an attachment could be a good thing. Obi Wan admitted that he had an attachment himself that being that he considered Anakin and Farra to be like a brother and sister to him. The council then noticed that Anakin was seated next to Obi Wan with Farra on his other side.

Not surprisingly at the end of the meeting it had been decided that Jedi would be able to have attachments. It had also been decided that strong emotions would be permitted, as they were not intrinsically evil. It was the intentions of the Force User who mattered the most. This was something Anakin and Farra had realized early on in their relationship. Also the new council decided that Jedi could have personal possessions. Anakin determined to get Farra a ring to symbolize their marriage after he heard that. The final new change to the Jedi code was that the Jedi would remain aloof of its allegiance to the republic. They would help when called on as they did in the past and Jedi could discover their own paths. Some might be called to a contemplative life while others might decide to take a more active role in galactic affairs.

Anakin and Farra retired to Farra's room to talk about all this after the meeting.

"You were right Ani about everything. Remember you told me that relationships and emotions could be a good thing. You were right" Farra said.

"I'm going to get you a ring to symbolize our marriage" Anakin said.

He leant forward and kissed Farra, their kiss quickly deepening.

"Have you realized Ani, that any children we have will have the potential to become some of the most powerful Jedi the galaxy will have ever had?" Farra asked.

"Yes I had realized that, my love" Anakin said.

He kissed Farra again then smiled at her.

Chapter 20