"So, what caused your lightsaber to turn purple?" Asoka asked.
Asoka Tano, along with Obi-Wan and Anakin, was currently sat at Chae's dinner table in the kitchenette area of her apartment. The three of them had finally returned from their most recent mission. It wasn't uncommon for Chae to insist they join her for dinner whenever they did so, once they were done with filing their reports with the Jedi Council. With the type of war time assignments they were usually sent on, eating and sleeping properly weren't always top on the list of priorities. Evana was in her bedroom with their protocol droid, doing some school work.
Chae seemed to contemplate the Togruta's question for a moment as she returned to the table with a fresh jug of water. It wasn't an easy story for her to talk about; as it was the day her former Jedi Master, Plo Koon, had very nearly died. On top of that it was the day she had inadvertently called upon the Darkside. Obi-Wan took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Chae took comfort in this, sharing through the Force that she wanted him to keep up the physical contact. Chae recounted what had happened. Chae and Plo Koon had been requested to go to Ithor. The Ithorians were having issues with a fleet of space pirates, who were demanding spice from them in return for "protection". The Ithorians had asked the Jedi to help them find a peaceful solution. So, Chae and Plo Koon had gone to the planet, along with Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Asia and her Bothan Jedi Master, Cul-utaah Serth.
The situation had gotten out of hand very quickly. The pirates hadn't taken kindly to Jedi "interference" and had attacked Tafanda Bay with both their ships and people on foot in the city itself. During the battle, Plo Koon was seriously injured, and was in danger of dying as a result, if his injuries were left untreated. Left with very little choice, and struggling against her own anger and fear, Chae had channelled energy from the Darkside in order to give her side the upper hand. The sudden Darkside energy had damaged her lightsaber – cracking her crystal – but it had helped the Jedi and Ithorians enough to tip the balance of the battle in their favour, driving back the pirates. She had also used that energy to heal her master. Or at least heal him enough that he could safely travel back to Coruscant without issue.
During the journey back to Coruscant, despite still dealing with some very minor injuries, Plo Koon had insisted they stop on Dantooine. He wanted to take Chae to the caves there that contained lightsaber crystals. The visit to the caves brought Chae to one particular blue crystal, which had slowly changed to purple as Chae held it. She had never had a kyber crystal "call" to her so strongly.
He also used the visit as an opportunity to talk to his padawan about her apparent ability to use both sides of the Force without falling to the Darkside. It was an ability her own mother had been able to call upon, but she had rarely used it. They had gone to the old Jedi ruins to sit and contemplate the events that had transpired. The old ruins still radiated in lightside energy so it seemed like the perfect place for Chae to centre herself and think on what had happened.
The council had been concerned with Chae's ability; but they had been reassured by Plo Koon and Cul-utaah Serth that Chae wouldn't cause any issues. She was willing to learn how to control this new found ability. So, in the intervening days and weeks, Chae had repaired her lightsaber; and taking up extra training to keep herself firmly on the Lightside of the Force whilst learning to harness certain elements of the Darkside to use to her advantage.
Asoka was enthralled by Chae's story. Even Anakin had forgotten about his food to listen to the story. He had never considered to ask about why Chae was one of the few Jedi with a purple bladed lightsaber. It had just been a thing that existed as far as Anakin was concerned. But Anakin had also noticed that the situation had obviously had an impact on Chae. He could feel through the Force that she struggled with the story at times. Recounting the story had been difficult for her to remember, even after all these years; especially the part of recounting her former Jedi Master nearly losing his life. Even though Chae had become a knight many years before, she still shared a close bond with the Kel Dor.
Realising that she was allowing herself to get lost in her own head, Chae changed the subject and asked how Padme was doing. The senator was pregnant with Anakin's twins. Ever since Padme had found out about her pregnancy, Chae had kept in close touch with her to help guide her through the pregnancy. As far as the Temple was concerned, Padme had requested Chae's support on a professional level, as a Jedi healer, and having had a child herself. They didn't know that Padme had requested Chae specifically as she was one of only a small handful of people who knew about her relationship with Anakin; and that he was the father of her babies.
Once dinner was over, Anakin and Ahsoka said their goodbyes and returned to the Temple. Neither of them needed to ask where Obi-Wan would be staying that night. He practically lived with Chae now. For a few hours, he enjoyed the company of Chae and Evie. Like she always did, Evie excitedly told Obi-Wan about what had been happening at home – about school and her visits to Alderaan when it was safe for her to travel there. Seeing the two of them sat together, Evie enthusiastically talking and Obi-Wan being equally as happy, always brought Chae a lot of joy.
Eventually, her daughter took herself off to bed. V-55, as they weren't needed until the morning, went into standby mode. Obi-Wan and Chae finally had some time just for them. With her legs draped across his lap, Chae snuggled into Obi-Wan as he turned his body towards her a little and wrapped an arm around her. For a while, they were content just to be in each other's company, not at all minding the occasional lull in conversation.
Placing his free hand under Chae's chin to raise her face to him, Obi-Wan paused and cracked a smile. "I do believe I'm forgetting something." With that, he leaned in and gave her a kiss. It was a gentle kiss, one filled with love.
Chae hadn't needed to say anything for Obi-Wan to know that she was aching for his affection. He hadn't been there when she had come back from Dantooine, but he could be there for her now. Obi-Wan had felt equally as touch starved on his most recent mission. He'd had to deal with back to back assignments in recent months, with little to no time between them to see Chae. But it was during his latest mission, he had noticed it the most.
Those back to back missions had brought him back to Satine Kryse. Seeing Satine again after all these years had brought up a whole host of feelings that he hadn't been expecting – nor had he been ready to deal with them. His unexpected feelings, along with an encounter with the long thought dead Darth Maul and having to protect Satine from certain death at the hands of the Sith…. It was all something to process when he was in the right head space to do so.
They retired to their bedroom. The sex was slow and sensual that night; both of them needing the intimacy, the words and the gentle caresses. They fell asleep in each other's arms, feeling very much in love. Had they not had to go to the Temple the following morning, in order to carry out their duties, they would have happily stayed in bed for most of the day.
Chae went to the Jedi council to tell them what she had previously told Master Yoda. Due to the ongoing war, there were few Masters in the room. Yoda, Mace Windu and Obi-Wan were there in person, along with holograms with some of the other Masters, who were able to make themselves available for the meeting from the planets they were on. As she stood before them, she recounted her experiences and what she had been told by Count Dooku. Despite her efforts to ignore it, Chae could feel the silent judgement. They had their doubts about her claims.
Surprisingly, Mace Windu was the one to suggest that they attempt to find a way to find solid proof. For a moment, Chae doubted that she had heard correctly. The two of them usually butted heads due to their differing views; and Mace Windu's general disapproval of Chae's actions and attitude.
"We need to be careful on how we approach this," Mace Windu continued. "If we get this wrong, not only will we not get the proof we need, it will put a lot of people in danger."
Chae hesitated before she responded with, "if anyone needs to get close to the Supreme Chancellor, let me do it." Chae felt the jolt of concern from Obi-Wan through their Force bond.
"Are you sure?" Plo Koon's hologram asked.
Chae nodded. "It appears he wants to get to me anyway. He probably won't be expecting me to willingly show up at his door." She paused. "I'd rather confront him head on before he can do anything else – whether that be to me or someone I care about."
Chae had an idea bouncing around her head. She was sure she could come by a listening device that she could hide about her person. Then it would be a case of getting herself close enough to the Supreme Chancellor to get him to confess as to who he actually was. That would be the more difficult part. Chae knew that Palpatine would be on his guard with her. She would have to find a way to convince him that she wasn't out to kill him – at least, not for the moment anyway. Then she could work on getting him to confess.
The council agreed to give her time to get some things in place before the plan was fully implemented. As Chae left the council chamber, she knew that she would have some explaining to do. For the entire war, Chae had said she would never put herself in unnecessary danger. It had been a compromise she had made with the Supreme Chancellor and the Jedi council. Rather than invoke her "right of denial", she instead had agreed to work within the Temple, taking care of the incoming war casualties. Now, here she was, potentially handing heading towards her own death if this went wrong.
Obi-Wan – who had just witnessed her openly talk about her plan to the council – was going to have questions about this seemingly sudden decision. Her father, Qui-Gon. Asia. Anakin. Bail Organa. Ahsoka, Padme…. They would all want answers. Then there was her own child as well. Chae knew she would need to make plans to ensure that Evana would be looked after, should the worst happened. Chae would need to speak to Bail Organa to make sure Evana would at least have a permanent home on Alderaan.
It wasn't until she was on one of the contemplation balconies of the Temple spire that Chae finally realised where she was. It seemed appropriate, though, considering how much was on her mind. It was somewhere she often went to when she was in that particular part of the temple. Resting her hands on the stone railing, Chae looked out over the vast city planet. The planet teemed with life and the Temple's location amplified the vibrations. The Temple was built over a naturally formed spire that was strong in the Force. Closing her eyes, Chae allowed the sensation to flow through her. It was oddly comforting in a way.
Chae made a mental list of actions she needed to take. First of all she would need to get a listening device; or figure out how to bug Palpatine's private chambers. Or maybe both to cover all eventualities. Between Padme Amidala and Tom Antilles, Chae felt she would be able to pull that side of the plan together. Whilst Tom was open about the fact that he still had contacts in the criminal underworld, it was a lesser known fact that Padme had her own, somewhat shady, contacts.
Once that side of the plan was settled on, Chae decided she would pull together the necessary people to organise Evana's care, for if the worst case scenario happened. Her father should be back from his own mission by then.