Chapter 20: The Morning After

The Clone Wars had begun. The Battle of Geonosis ended in victory for the Republic, but there wasn't a single Jedi that considered the battle a victory. One hundred and seventy nine Jedi were dead, and a heap of broken droids and destroyed ships didn't even begin to measure up to the lives lost by the Jedi and the five thousand clones that died fighting beside them.

And then there was Obi-Wan.

The Jedi's legendary Sithkiller was alive and thriving in the embrace of the Dark Side, working in the shadows against the Republic as the Negotiator for years. The Jedi almost didn't believe Anakin when he was picked up, shouting and screaming and waiving his stub around and crying Sith Lord to all that would listen. He was frantic, panicked, in a state of shock, and all boys his age aspired to being like the legendary Kenobi. It was hardly surprising the dead man's name would be on his lips when Anakin had fought a Sith himself. Qui-Gon had said nothing about it at all; he didn't say anything. But Master Yoda, calm and wise and centered in all things, confirmed the ranting Skywalker's claims. Obi-Wan was alive, and he was Sith.

Anakin lay in the infirmary as medical droids tended to his arm. It was his good arm. He wasn't happy for several reasons, but the only one he could think about without having a complete breakdown was his arm. Barriss Offee sat at his side, his one hand clasped tightly in her own, her blue eyes distant and haunted. She had been on Geonosis, had seen the death, the pain, and the empathetic Mirialan was scarred by it. Her Master Luminara stood by the wall next to Quinlan Vos, the Kiffar tightly clutching his lightsaber in his hand and speaking in whispers to the woman beside him.

Qui-Gon was at the window, his dark blue eyes staring blankly out at nothing at all. He hadn't spoken since they returned. He didn't even acknowledge that anyone was speaking. Anakin couldn't look at him. The Negotiator killed nobody that day, but he may as well have killed Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Anakin," Barriss said softly, and the Padawan looked at the girl, smiling softly. "Do you think we'll be sent to war?"

He nodded. "They're going to need all the Jedi they can get."

"We aren't Jedi, we're just learners."

"Well, yeah...but we're damn good ones." The Mirialan's eyebrow arched, her blue eyes drifting to Anakin's missing arm, and he felt himself flush. "...w-well, you're good..."

"You're better than I am. That Sith Lord would have killed me."

"He would have killed me too. I'm not alive because I was good, I'm alive because Master Yoda came to save us."

"You're alive because your Sith was Obi-Wan," Quinlan snarled, gripping his lightsaber tighter.

"Quinlan..." Luminara cautioned, but the Kiffar waived her off.

"Obi-Wan was never about killing people if he could avoid it. If he wanted you dead, you would be, Skywalker. He was one of the best Jedi I've ever known."

"He's dead, Quinlan," Luminara hissed, and the man narrowed his brown eyes, the tattoo on his face twitching as he snarled.

"He's not dead, Luminara!"

"He is Sith! The man we knew is dead, that thing isn't our Obi-Wan!"

"Sith, yes, but Obi-Wan Kenobi is still in there!" He took a deep breath. "Everything we know about the Negotiator, everything about him screams Obi-Wan. All of it. I mean, he gave me back my lightsaber."

"With a threat."

"It was playful!"

"It wasn't playful, Quinlan, he wants to kill you!"

"He always wanted to kill me!"

Luminara glared at the obstinate Kiffar. "I let go of Obi-Wan a long time ago. You didn't, and now this is happening. You're allowing the Sith to manipulate you! He needs to die."

"Well, of course he needs to die, I know that! But we aren't going to be able to do that if we don't know our enemy! The fact that this is Kenobi is good for us!"

"Masters, please!" The arguing friends looked at Anakin's pleading face. "Don't...talk about that around Master Qui-Gon, please..."

The two flushed, Quinlan red and Luminara green, and they looked to the other Master in the room. "We're sorry, Qui-Gon," Master Vos said softly.

"It was insensitive."

Qui-Gon said nothing. He didn't even move.

Quinlan sighed. "When did this start? How could he fall right under our noses like that?"

"Maybe Dooku captured him on Serenno," Luminara said softly. "Even the most powerful Jedi could fall to the Dark Side with the right torture."

"No," Anakin said, shaking his head. "He said he chose it. He..." Skywalker stopped, biting his lip and looking away nervously, and the two Masters came closer, pulling chairs to sit close beside the teen. "He said he fell because of me and Master Qui-Gon."

"...he did learn the Sith language," Quinlan said softly. "I thought it was for the mission we were going on, but...maybe he was studying it for other reasons."

"He was always so calm and in control," Luminara whispered, "but once, I felt...rage from him, intense and sudden, and then there was nothing. Maybe that's how he always felt."

"When was this?" Quinlan asked, and Luminara closed her blue eyes.

"Just after our trip to Dathomir. He also requested access to the Forbidden Archive around then. Like you, I thought it was for his hunt, but-"

"But he may not have been looking for the Sith to kill them," Quinlan finished, crossing his arms over his chest, his entire body shivering as he exhaled. "He once entered my mind. He was telling me how he...altered the mind trick. At the time, he said the Council would disapprove, and...w-well, I encouraged it, I thought-"

Luminara held his hand. "It wasn't your fault, Quinlan."

"Of course it was my fault! I spent over a year with him in close quarters, how could I not sense this? How could I not see him change?!"

"...perhaps you are right. Perhaps...he is more of himself than I thought. Maybe we could not see his change because the change was small." She whimpered, put her face in her hands and silently cried, her Padawan coming next to her and holding her close. Quinlan looked to the Mirialans, and he sighed deeply, feeling the tug of pain in his own chest as well. The entire Order was feeling it. They were all in shock now, but the feeling would wear off soon enough to be replaced with...he didn't know what. Something else.

A droid rolled in, holding the mechanical arm that was to be fitted onto Qui-Gon's Padawan, and Anakin eyed it cautiously. "Skywalker." The blue eyes drifted to the Kiffar. "Do you remember anything else?"

Anakin bit his lip. "He...I can't explain what he did, Master Vos. He...was in my mind. I heard him speak, he gave me commands and...I-I had to obey. I didn't have a choice. He made me put his lightsaber at my neck, a-and I did it. I tried to resist, I did, but-"

"...he was in my mind too. Not when he was Sith, but..." The Kiffar sighed, closing his eyes and his jaw clenching. "He looked through my mind like it was a book. Obi-Wan was never one for fighting, he'd do just about anything to avoid conflict. That he developed the ability to control people is...expected, really."

"Though he is one of the most talented lightsaber duelists I've ever seen," Luminara said softly, her voice tight as she struggled to control her emotions. "We sparred often, up to the days before he di-...before he fell. Master Windu was better, but if he's now using the power of the Dark Side, his skills must be terrifying."

"We know they are, because we know what the Negotiator can do. He's reading minds, he's controlling people, and it's very Obi-Wan."

Luminara nodded. "You're right. It's...very like him. Things were...easier when he was dead."

"I wish he was." Quinlan shook his head. "This isn't an easy enemy to have. This is way worse than Dooku."

The Masters were silent for a long while, the quiet broken only by Anakin's gasps and hisses of pain as the mechanical arm was set. Skywalker reached out to his Master as the arm was tested, the connections made, the digits moving when he wiggled them, but Qui-Gon's Force presence was dead, still and unmoving like stagnant water. "...isn't it a good thing? I mean, we know him, right?" Anakin asked softly, and the Kiffar shook his head.

"It's never good to have an enemy like that, and there's no telling how much the Dark Side has changed him. Just because he's acting like Obi-Wan doesn't mean he's the same man."

"I'm worried about his ability to control people," Luminara said softly. "Those without the Force to protect them have no chance at all. We don't even know if it's safe to send Jedi against him. Early stages of his fall have shown him reading Quinlan's mind, and he could control you."

"How can we kill him if we can't fight him!" Anakin cried, his mechanical hand clenching, and in a moment, he forgot his anger and his exasperation and grinned, wiggling the fingers toward Barriss and the other Padawan laughed.

"We don't." Four pairs of eyes shot to the window. He hadn't moved, but Qui-Gon had definitely spoken. "We don't kill him. We save him."

"Qui-Gon," Luminara said softly, rising from her seat. "Our Obi-Wan is already dead. This Sith Lord-"

The older Master's fist slammed into the window, the thick glass shaking under the impact, and Luminara winced. "This Sith Lord is my student. My responsibility, he fell because of me! He's in there, Luminara, it's him, he-" His voice cracked, and the Master slid down the wall, clutching himself tightly and shaking as he sobbed. Anakin threw his legs over the side of the bed and rushed to his Master, wrapping his arms around him and stroking the long hair with his organic hand. This was a wound that could never be healed, and Anakin gripped his Master tighter, the man hopelessly and irrevocably broken.

"What if," Quinlan drawled, "he's more himself than we think? If he's still Obi-Wan, if we go to him to talk..."

"He's the Negotiator," Luminara said forcefully. "Talking is his business. It's far, far too dangerous. He can control people."

"We don't know the extent of his powers, do we?" Quinlan hit his saber against his open palm. "The Council thinks I'm...close to the Dark Side, but I've never felt like less of a Jedi for it. Obi-Wan has always been reasonable. And the Sith have changed..."

"Have they?" Luminara crossed her arms. "Everything we know about the Sith, we learned from him. We don't know when he fell. We don't know if he was giving us bad information." Her voice wavered as she said it, and Quinlan shook his head.

"We do know, Luminara. You can feel it. I can feel it. Obi-Wan may have been...darker, but he wasn't Sith until he was sent to apprehend Dooku."

"We are Jedi," Qui-Gon said softly, his voice almost a whisper and completely devoid of emotion. "We have to save him."

"We can't-"

"We have to try. If we go after him with the intent to kill him, we're no better than the Sith." The Master slowly nodded, his dark blue eyes focusing, and Anakin grinned broadly as he felt the faintest light of life spark in his Master. "We need to hang on to hope, or we are lost as well."

"Maybe," Barriss said quietly from her place by the bed, "it's...unwise to wildly speculate. We are just causing pain and distress. Master Yoda was there. He will have answers."

The Masters nodded. The Padawan was right. Anakin helped Qui-Gon to his feet, and the five Jedi left for the Council. They had much to discuss.

Like they had been so often recently, the Council was in chaos, but they settled down quickly, all of them rising when Qui-Gon entered with his Padawan. There were only eight Masters now. Four seats remained empty. Nobody in the Temple was unaffected by the Battle of Geonosis. There was silence, and it was uncomfortable.

"So, war is basically the worst," Quinlan drawled, his hand resting easily on his hip, and the tension was broken nearly instantly. "Do we know what's happening yet?"

"The Jedi will be serving as Generals in the army," Mace said quietly. Even the mighty Master Windu was subdued. "Many Masters have already been deployed. Geonosis didn't do any good for our numbers, and this war won't either. We need to start preparing younger Jedi for combat. Quinlan." The Kiffar stood up straight. "Aayla Secura is a testament to your excellent teaching, even if your methods are...unusual."

Quinlan clutched at his chest, his brown eyes in shock. "What? You're complimenting me? Are you feeling well?"

"You need to take another Padawan."

"...aw, shit." Quinlan sighed. "Like, now? I thought we were going to war."

"We are going to war, and you need a Padawan to train in the heat of combat so we can knight them and send them off to replace the Jedi we are going to lose."

"So...now."

"After the meeting, yes." The Kiffar began cursing under his breath, and Mace sighed. "I can assume why you've come here..."

"We need to talk about Obi-Wan," Luminara stated plainly, and the chamber was instantly uncomfortable again, but Yoda nodded.

"Agree, I do."

"We were trying to discuss it earlier, but we...don't have a good idea where to start. We all have very different opinions."

Yoda nodded. "The past matters not. Matters not, why Obi-Wan fell."

"Woah, wait a second!" Quinlan said swiftly. "Of course it matters, if we can understand why, we can-"

"Pain, there is, in the past," the Master rasped, and Quinlan bit his lip and looked away. "Doubt, there is, in why. Fear and anger, there is. Let go of why, you must."

Luminara looked down at the ground, her eyes closed. She felt foolish for not understanding this from the beginning. "Yes, Master. We shall try to let go of him-"

Yoda stopped her quickly with a quick laugh, and the Mirialan felt foolish, like she was a youngling once again. "Let go, you must not. Gone, Obi-Wan is not. Changed, yes. Gone?" The Master chuckled. "Fallen to the Dark Side, he has, but dead, he is not."

"Isn't it the same thing? He's just Sith now," Quinlan growled, and the little Master shook his head.

"A Jedi, are you, Quinlan?"

The Kiffar scoffed, crossing his arms. He had already had enough. The subject was almost too painful. "Of course."

"And you, Luminara? A Jedi as well?"

"Yes, Master."

"The same, are you?" Yoda asked, his small features smiling sagely when the Mirialan's nose wrinkled, her blue eyes drifting to the similar looking Kiffar.

"Force, I hope not," she said, eying the other Master warily, and Quinlan grinned, leaning in toward the small woman.

"Oh, you wish, Luminara. I could show you such things..."

"I'm not a lascivious degenerate."

"No, but you could be..." he purred, leaning in closer, and the Mirialan flushed, putting her hand on his tattooed face and pushing him away. "Ah, who needs you, you prude..."

Yoda chuckled at the Mirialan's discomfort, the Kiffar's rejection, and he pointed his stick at them. "Jedi, you are, yes. But the same, you are not. A Sith Lord, Obi-Wan is. Dangerous, it is, to make assumptions. Like Dooku, he is not. Like his Master, he is not. Remain mindful, we must, if the truth, we are to learn." He closed his eyes, his face serene, his ears lowering. "Know two things, we must. His powers and his character, we must learn."

"...we know he's smart," Quinlan said softly after a short period of silence. "The Dark Side wouldn't change that."

"And he's a skilled duelist," the Mirialan added. Discussing things in front of the Council really helped matters, made her more comfortable. Under Yoda's guidance, they would find the way. "When he left us, he was studying Soresu."

"He still uses it," Qui-Gon said softly, and all eyes turned to him. "When we fought, it's nearly all he used, he-" The Master stopped, choking on his words, and he looked down at the patterns on the floor, shoulders trembling with emotion. He could not go on. Anakin took his hand in his own.

"He can control people," Skywalker said, speaking for the desolate Qui-Gon. "He controlled me. He just...spoke and I had to listen, I didn't have a choice. And Quinlan said he could read minds, so...I'm guessing that's how he's so successful as the Negotiator." As second later, Yoda's stick hit the Padawan in the head, the ancient Master having thrown it at him, and Anakin grimaced as it struck him, glaring at Quinlan and Luminara as the two Masters tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle their laughter.

"Assumptions, you must not make. Intelligent, Obi-Wan is," Yoda rasped, a gentle pull of the Force bringing his stick back to his outstretched, three-fingered hand. "And patient, he has always been. Power, he has, to shape the will of others. But need it, he does not, to get what he wants."

"He could have killed us," Qui-Gon whispered, but everyone in the room heard him. "Many times over, he could have killed us, but he didn't."

"He was arrogant," Luminara said quickly. "He thought he had you beat, so he was toying with you. Given enough time, you would have been killed."

"I don't think so. He felt..." Qui-Gon took in a shuddering breath, closing his eyes as he collected himself. "I felt anger in him. Pain and betrayal and cruelty and so much power. But...I don't think he meant to kill us. There was something else, I-" He shook his head, his voice reduced to a low whimper. "I don't know what I saw..."

"The measure of the Negotiator, we have not," Yoda said, his brow wrinkling in concentration. "But an opportunity, we have." The little Master poked Mace with his stick, and Windu snapped to attention, nodding in acknowledgment.

"The Senate received a message from the Negotiator this morning." The five Jedi in the center of the room froze, holding their collective breaths. "A response to the petition to enter negotiations."

"We are at war!" Anakin said forcefully, his mechanical hand clutching tightly. "I think we're past that point now!"

"War can't end without eventually sitting down and talking, Anakin." Luminara crossed her arms. "At some point, peace must be made. The Republic won't just destroy the systems that have broken away."

"No, but the Separatists will. Isn't that what they want? They want to splinter the Republic!"

"You have so much to learn, Anakin," Luminara said softly, and the Padawan shut his mouth. "They want to be free of the Republic, and at some point, we're all going to end up at a table to sit down and discuss terms. How many lives must be lost before we get to that point?"

"What does the Negotiator want?" Quinlan asked, and Mace bowed his head.

"In light of the events of Geonosis, he agrees that negotiations should be arranged." He frowned. "I don't like it. It feels like a trap."

"But the Senate proposed it, didn't they?" Luminara felt her chest tighten. It did feel like a trap, but not one they were walking in to. They were already in it. "If they refuse, it makes the Republic look bad. We'll lose even more allies, and we certainly can't afford it."

"We thought that as well," Master Windu growled. "The Senate has asked for our opinion on the matter, but I can see no way where we can get out of this. It's become a matter of discussing how we will meet him, not if." Anakin wriggled uncomfortably at his Master's side, and his discomfort did not go unnoticed by the Council. "What is it, Skywalker?" Windu drawled, laying his cheek in his hands and preparing for the worst.

"This...may have been my idea? Maybe?"

There was silence, and then Master Yoda began laughing. Windu couldn't even be angry at this. "Are you completely stupid, Skywalker..."

"Yes, Master, absolutely..."

"We need to do it." Every eye in the room looked to Qui-Gon, the quiet, crestfallen Master looking up with fierce determination in his dark blue eyes.

"Of course we need to, we don't have a choice in-"

"Not for the Republic. For him." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "...of course for the Republic. If we take him from the Sith, if we bring him home..." Qui-Gon could feel in the Force the disapproval, the reluctance, the fear from the other Masters, but he would not be turned away from this course. He kept his eyes closed; it was easier if he couldn't see his colleagues. "I did this. This is my fault. If I was more attentive, more sensitive..."

"Your fault, this was not, Qui-Gon," Yoda whispered, but Master Jinn shook his head.

"I should have sensed this. He was my Padawan. I was closer to him than anyone." He drew up tall, looking directly at Yoda. "I must set this right. I must try. If he's coming to meet peacefully on behalf of the Confederacy, I don't think he will be hostile. This may be our only chance to bring Obi-Wan home to us. Before it's too late for him. Please."

They were silent for a long while, the Council like an immovable wall, bitter and sore by the loss of nearly two hundred Jedi. Looking to the suffering Qui-Gon, Luminara stepped forward, drawing to her full height. "If we can bring him away from the Separatists, it will be very good for the Republic."

"Hell, if we can bring him away from the Sith, it will be very bad for them," Quinlan drawled, standing akimbo and relaxed, a cocky smirk on his face. "I mean, this is insane, and it's not going to work, but...well, Anakin's alive, isn't he?"

"Reluctant to kill him, Obi-Wan seemed," Yoda said softly, nodding. "Agree with you, I do, Qui-Gon." He pointed his stick at the three Masters. "But strong, the Dark Side is. Firm in its grasp, Obi-Wan is. Prepared to fail, you must be."

Mace groaned. "At the very least, we can learn what sort of a man he's grown into." He rubbed his temples, eyes closed and sighing heavily. "We may not even get the opportunity. Negotiations may still fall through, we don't know how the Senate will respond."

"Have we advised them on the matter?" the Mirialan asked, and Windu shook his head.

"Not yet. The Council wanted your opinions first. You are the ones that knew him best."

"Well...what are the options?" the Kiffar asked, and Mace gave a nonchalant shrug.

"It would be easier if we just showed you the holovid he sent." The three Masters collectively sucked in a sharp breath and held it. "It may not be easy for you to see."

Qui-Gon glared. "Master Windu. Yesterday, I saw the boy I mourned for six years, alive and well and soaked in the Dark Side, and it made me wish he had died. I made me wish I died. It cannot be worse." Nodding, Windu activated the hologram in the center of the room, and they all drew back to the edges of the chamber to properly view it.

Qui-Gon could hear Luminara and Quinlan gasp next to him when Obi-Wan's image was projected, blond and well-groomed, his sharp features relaxed, the smirk on his face good-natured. His eyes were different, startlingly so, but they were bright, amused and intelligent, the Dark Side they expected to see there, the hate and pain and rage, was surprisingly absent. Qui-Gon could hear Luminara whimper next to him, and he slowly, gently took her hand, the Mirialan gripping it in a shockingly strong grasp.

The Sith Lord bowed respectfully, righting himself and smoothly purring, "Honored Senators of the Republic. In the wake of the atrocity of Geonosis, I feel the need for diplomacy is more urgent and necessary than ever before."

Anakin scoffed. "Is anyone falling for that?" Barriss elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. Anakin stopped talking.

"I'm pleased by your desire to negotiate, though I only wish we could have reached this point sooner, so that we may have spared the lives of so many Jedi. But moving forward, I hope that our talks may be successful." The golden eyes narrowed and the smirk widened, not in anger, but in interested amusement. "I must confess, I am...offended by the conditions you have insisted upon in order to even meet with me. It does not bode well for our talks if you cannot put aside your prejudice and trust me, as countless others have done."

The handsome face relaxed, the amused smirk melting into an easy smile. "But, if you are afraid, I will, of course, submit to your conditions for the sake of peace. If you would feel best with a Jedi guard, they would of course be welcome to attend. However, your insistence on a containment room is...redundant." He smirked, tilting his head slightly in amusement and interest. "If you fear my connection with the Force so much you must block it to feel safe, so be it. However, it renders your Jedi guard obsolete. After all, it would block their ability to connect with the Force as well, and I would never ask the Jedi to suffer in that manner. Removing the comfort of the Force is...distressing. However, I'm willing to endure it is a truce can be arranged."

"Oh, that son of a bitch!" Anakin snarled, and Qui-Gon silently put his hand over the Padawan's face.

"I accept your conditions, of course, but not both of them. The Jedi will be present in negotiations, or you will disturb my connection with the Force while I discuss terms alone with your representative. They both serve the same purpose, so there is no need to waste your valuable resources. I do, of course, have conditions of my own." The sly smirk returned, the golden eyes glinting. "We meet on neutral territory. Neither party would feel comfortable anywhere else, not with current hostilities, so we shall meet on Mandalore. I feel that can be easily agreed upon."

Anakin heard Qui-Gon gasp softly, the strong muscles of his back and shoulders tensing, and the Padawan lightly laid his hand on the Master's arm.

"And," Obi-Wan drawled, his voice smooth and clipped accent utterly compelling, "I will only meet with Senator Amidala." The Sith smiled easily. "I am given to understand that she is the one responsible for this proposal, and it pleases me to see that at least one in the Republic is committed to peace. I trust her and her commitment, and her reputation proceeds her. Her time in the Senate has been short, but it is not without merit. Allow her to forge the path to peace with me, and you will not regret it."

The golden eyes narrowed, his handsome face drawn in concern. "But we must be swift. Time is of the essence, now that we are at war. The longer we wait, the more damage is done, the more the innocent will suffer, and the less likely it will be that we find a way for peace. I call for the meeting to happen tomorrow. I cannot stand to wait longer. Extended deliberation on this simple matter is hardly worth the thousands of lives that will be lost while we wait for your decision." He bowed, the yellow eyes closed, his whole being respectful. "I eagerly await your response, honored Senators. May the Force be with you."

The hologram cut, and the three Masters stood in stunned, shocked silence.

"Well, damn," Quinlan said, whistling. "He looks good. Force, I missed that insufferable accent..."

Mace Windu grit his teeth. "Quinlan. This is serious!"

"I know! I'm seriously turned on right now!"

"You were right, Masters," Luminara said quietly. "This is a trap. He's not just forcing our hand to meet with him, he's making us do it quickly. There's no time to prepare, and we have to act." She paused, taking in a deep breath. "How many have seen this?"

"Ahsoka saw it playing over the holonet in the city today," Plo Koon said softly, and both Mirialan's groaned loudly.

"So, everyone has seen it. How could the Senate allow this?"

"They didn't," Mace growled. "The holonet was hacked. And every news station picked it up after that. It's been broadcasted at least once an hour."

"Obi-Wan was always so soft-spoken and quiet," she said softly, shaking her head. "The Sith made him into a gifted speaker."

"No, he was always good at that," Quinlan cut in. "He was always sharp and clever, and when he got going, he always got his way. I mean, he even won the Council over. He got everything he wanted." He crossed his arms, his swift mind racing as he searched his memories for his fallen friend. "How much do you think he uses the Dark Side as the Negotiator? How much of what he is doing is mind manipulation? Because he doesn't need it. I mean, look what he's making us do right now. The entire Republic is scrambling to get ready to meet with him. There's no Force manipulation there, that's just cleverness."

Luminara nodded. "I agree. Sending the Senator in alone with him is dangerous. We need Jedi present. At least then, we may be able to detect the Dark Side if he is using it."

"I agree," Mace said, his fingers pressing together. "Hopefully the Senate will concur with us. We can still send Jedi as guards when they leave for Mandalore. If they leave. We just can't be present in the negotiations if they decide that she will meet him without us. With any hope, they will see the wisdom of not letting the Senator deal with him alone."

"They can't let her be alone with him!" Anakin shouted, much louder than intended. "I won't stand for it!"

"Anakin, hush," Qui-Gon hissed, his hand resting on the Padawan's shoulder. "Mandalore is not neutral ground, Masters." Even Master Yoda's eyes narrowed, his ears drawing back as he looked at the Jedi. "Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine have a history, and Quinlan told me that he loved her until we thought he died." He took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts for a moment before he quietly said, "Obi-Wan is Sith, and they are ruled by their passions. The Jedi Code kept him from her before, but without duty to bind him, with his passions encouraged...I find it very unlikely that he wouldn't find his way to her."

"You think she's influenced by the Sith?"

"I don't know, but we have to consider it." Qui-Gon crossed his arms. "I know Satine. Please, let me go with the Senator to Mandalore, if she does go."

Yoda nodded. "With you, I will go. The Sith, we must face, and in pain, you are. Need me, you will."

Qui-Gon bowed deeply. "Thank you, Master..."

Yoda folded his little legs under him. "Now, much to discuss, we have."