Note: This chapter was quite the bear. Enjoy!

A somber, oppressive air blanketed the Jedi Temple. Adrina's heart thumped a nervous beat as she walked towards Anakin's room. Were it not for Obi-Wan stopping by the Infirmary to inquire after Anakin's recovery, she wouldn't have known of Anakin's return from Naboo – and that knowledge pained her. Without a doubt, Anakin knew of her conversation with Padmé. Still, Anakin allowed his sister entry after only a moment's pause.

Anakin stood with his back to the door by the window in his small chamber, feet apart and hands clasped behind his back.

"How is your arm?" Adrina asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence. She noticed him flexing the fingers of his mechanical hand.

"It's fine." His voice was as stiff as the metal in his prosthetic. Adrina winced.

Adrina rallied herself with a deep breath. She managed a smile. "Well, I'm glad you're back safely."

"Just what," Anakin growled, slowly turning, "Gives you the right to interfere in my relationship with Padmé?"

Adrina folded her arms and raised a challenging eyebrow. "What happened on Tatooine?" She intended to take the high road, but Anakin's surliness, expected though it was, touched an already frayed nerve and snapped her resolve.

Anakin's thunderous expression turned stony and he whirled away. Adrina steeled herself.

"What happened?" Adrina pressed slowly, quietly, when he remained silent.

"She's dead." The clipped response sent shock waves reeling through Adrina. "Mom is….dead. Sand People took her. T...tortured her. And killed her." Anakin turned back to his sister. His lips pressed into a firm line, but his eyes glistened with tears and his body trembled. He opened his mouth to say more, but clamped shut. He slammed his fist into the wall.

Sorrow and rage washed off Anakin in strong waves. Adrina exhaled slowly, numb, conflict whirling within her. Her mother – the kindest, most loving of women – was dead and Adrina would never again see her smiling face or wrap her arms around her in a fierce hug. She would never see her mother again. Despair filled Adrina. She thought of her mother, of the clones, of the Jedi who had perished and who had yet to give up their lives.

How much more sorrow must she endure before her own life ended?

After taking a deep, trembling breath, Adrina wordlessly stepped forward and laid a small hand on Anakin's shoulder. She knew her own sorrow would overtake her soon, but Anakin needed her first. He trembled and she knew he was crying, although his face remained hidden. Tears of her own slipped down her cheeks and soaked her white tunic. She pulled him in for a hug.

How could her strong, resilient mother be….dead?

"I answered your question," Anakin said abruptly, swiping at his tears as he jerked away. He turned challenging eyes to Adrina. "Now you answer mine."

Startled by the sudden change of topic, Adrina could only stare at him open-mouthed.

"My relationship with Padmé is none of your business."

Incredulous laughter tumbled from Adrina. "None of my business? You're my brother. It is very much my business. What are you thinking, Ani? You made a promise. You took a vow. If you are going to break that, at least be honest about it! We talked about this!"

"Hang the Code!" Anakin exclaimed. He began striding the length of the room. Adrina stood utterly still, watching his jerky movements. "Loving Padmé doesn't make me any less a Jedi. I'm every bit as powerful as I was before. Why can't I be married to Padmé and remain in the Order?" Anakin blanched, realizing his mistake, but he quickly recovered. He drew himself to his full height. "Besides, they need me. I'm the Chosen One."

Adrina's mouth hung open. "Married to Padmé?" Her eyes widened in horror. "Ani, tell me you didn't..."

Anakin lifted his chin. "I can't live without her. I won't live without her. She is like the very air I breathe."

Dread settled in the pit of Adrina's stomach. She stumbled back and collapsed on the edge of Anakin's bed. She could only stare, dumbstruck, at her brother. "You married Padmé," she breathed.

"Without her, I'm in agony. I cannot live like that. Could you?."

Shaking her head incredulously, Adrina pushed to her feet. "Anakin, this is madness and you know it. Listen to yourself! You don't even know her. You're in love with a fantasy! Have you even considered tha-"

"You're such a hypocrite!" Anakin snarled. "You always said growing up that attachments are natural, but now you condemn me for loving Padmé."

Adrina gaped. "I told you that the emotions are natural. Love is natural. But I also made it - I thought - perfectly clear that the vow we took is important, that if either of us wanted a romantic relationship that we would have to leave the Order. You made a promise, Anakin!"

"I knew you wouldn't understand." Anakin grabbed Adrina's arm and shoved her towards the door shouting, "Get out!" The metal slid closed behind her.

Incensed, Adrina banged her fists on the door, but all demands for entrance were met with silence. Huffing, Adrina rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to soothe away her throbbing headache and nausea.

She turned sharply on her heels and stormed down the hallway. "Obi-Wan," Adrina muttered. She needed to talk to Obi-Wan.

Anakin would, undoubtedly, be livid if he discovered she had divulged his secret to his master, but Adrina didn't care. Obi-Wan deserved to know and he would uncover the truth on his own soon enough regardless. Perhaps he could even help her sort through the jumbled mess in her head.

Adrina found him in a private meditation chamber. His faint smile vanished when he saw her expression. "What's happened?"

Adrina winced and gestured mutely. Obi-Wan immediately stepped aside to allow Adrina entrance and followed her back into the small chamber.

"Adrina?" Concern seeped into his voice.

She met his eyes with a pained half-smile. "It's Anakin. He..." Her voice broke and she looked away. Gathering her frayed nerves with a deep breath, she turned back to Obi-Wan. "He's done something…." she paused to shake her head incredulously, "Incredibly stupid."

Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow and folded his arms. He nodded. "That sounds like Anakin. What has he done this time?"

Adrina shook her head. "No, you don't understand. This is serious. Very serious. He and Padmé got married."

Obi-Wan blanched. His arms dropped to his sides and he took a step forward. "They what? What were they thinking?"

"I don't know," Adrina sighed. "They love each other, or so they say. He has no plans to leave the Order. They're going to keep it a secret. I only know because..." she winced. "Well, I made him quite angry and it slipped out."

Obi-Wan was silent for several moments. Adrina could feel his hurt and confusion and understood the sentiments well. "Why tell me?" He asked quietly.

"Because," she said simply, "You deserve to know the truth." A rueful smile twisted her lips before adding, "Besides, this is Anakin. Secrets aren't his strength."

"No," Obi-Wan agreed.

"And because I'm worried about them."

"As am I." Obi-Wan ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh and sank onto the meditation cushion. "I never thought he would go this far. Flirtation is one thing, but this…"

Adrina quietly folded herself onto the cushion opposite Obi-Wan. "It's not just his nonchalance about breaking the Code or even how obviously unready he is to have a romantic relationship. It's..." Adrina struggled for the words. "Maybe it is that. I'm not sure."

Obi-Wan tilted his head slightly and Adrina took the encouragement to elaborate.

Adrina sighed. She stared down at her knotted hands. She forced her story past the lump in her throat. "I was fifteen. Years ago now, on Tatooine, I made friends with a girl that lived next door. She was a slave, too, a year or two older than I was. She fell in love with another slave. I told her it was a bad idea. Relationships like that were forbidden and besides, there was something about that man that wasn't...wasn't...right. But Leara refused. She said she couldn't live without him. She said… how could I ask her to leave him? Didn't I know that it would kill him if she broke it off? She said he was in...agony without her. That the thought of being without her…." Adrina broke off with a shake of her head.

Obi-Wan frowned. "What happened?"

Adrina exhaled a deep breath. She spread her hands across her thighs. "Leara and I went to the market one day. She saw her brother there. They'd been separated when they were children and hadn't seen each other since. Of course, Leara ran to him – gave him the biggest hug and the brightest smile you'd ever seen." Adrina managed a small smile and looked down at her lap. "I might have shed a tear or two for them. It was such a joy...such a joyful moment." She cleared her throat. Adrina's smile vanished. "But Tiol was also in the market that day. Close enough and ignorant enough to see Leara leap into another man's arms and kiss his cheek. Before anyone could see, much less stop him, Tiol grabbed a knife from the meat vendor he was passing and...rammed it through their throats. Her brother died instantly, but Leara...he'd stabbed her ten times in the chest before others could pull him off her."

"How tragic," Obi-Wan murmured. "All over a misunderstanding."

"Yes, it was tragic," Adrina agreed. She opened her eyes. "And what worries me is that Anakin said the very same things as Tiol. Not just attachment or possession…. an utter obsession. And obsession…."

Obi-Wan frowned and leaned forward. "Adrina, surely you don't think Anakin would..."

"I don't know, Obi-Wan." Adrina sighed. She rubbed her face. "I feel him distancing himself from me, and it started before Padmé came back into his life. This will only drive us further apart. I don't know what to think anymore. You know he has always struggled to let go and live by the Code. Maybe I was wrong to voice my thoughts on the Code. He obviously didn't listen to my commitment to live by it. But I never encouraged his fixation on Padmé. I swear to you, I didn't."

Obi-Wan studied Adrina for a brief moment. "You do not seem to find the Code troublesome, not to the degree Anakin does. He has always sworn the hardest that he would always abide by the Code, while you expressed disagreement with it but abide by it without struggle?"

Adrina stilled. She gazed at him for a moment with an unreadable expression. "You think I have never struggled?" Adrina said quietly. "Believe me, I am no better than Anakin." She shook her head and looked away with unfocused eyes. "Anakin has always struggled with possessiveness and loss, determined to never lose anyone he cares about. Determined to be the very best Jedi that ever lived. So he overcompensates and compounds his struggles. But me… Where Anakin allows his emotions to run wild, I bottle them up and close myself off; I try to be a one-woman army, even when it is impossible. It is easy to not struggle with attachment if you refuse to let anyone close. And is that any better?"

Obi-Wan didn't have an answer.

Adrina shook her head again. "The difference is, my natural inclinations fall more in line with the Jedi Code. But believe me, I have struggled. Master Che could tell you many stories, I am sure." She gave him a small, rueful smile. "I think I am doing well in spite of myself not because of any particular skill. To this day, I struggle to trust and work as part of the collective. You know as well as I the importance of the collective."

"I stand corrected," Obi-Wan acknowledged.

Adrina straightened. "I believe you had started to ask me something in the Infirmary before I was called away."

"Ah, yes. Are you familiar with the bounty hunter Jango Fett?"

Adrina froze. She looked intently at Obi-Wan. "How do you know that name?"

"He was the bounty hunter after Padmé, the one I tracked to Kamino. He was also the template for the clone army." Obi-Wan frowned. "Are you alright?"

She drew away from Obi-Wan. "Why are you using the past tense?" Adrina whispered warily, afraid of the answer she knew she was going to receive.

Obi-Wan studied her for a moment before answering. "He was killed during the battle on Geonosis."

Shock paralyzed Adrina for a long moment. "No," Adrina shook her head. She tried to fight her rising panic. "No, you're wrong. He wasn't there. He's alive. No, you're wrong. You have to be mistaken. He's alive. He has to be alive."

"I saw his body, Adrina. Did you know him?" Obi-Wan's eyes probed her. I know you were young when you were in Jabba's Palace, but-"

Adrina looked up at him then, and the sorrow he saw and felt staggered him. "He….He is.." She swallowed hard, "was my father."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. Adrina darted forward, kneeling at his feet and clasping his hands. "Are you absolutely certain it was him? It couldn't have been my father. He retired. He stopped being a bounty hunter; he said he…" Adrina trailed off with a frown. She finished slowly, "Found honest work."

Obi-Wan placed a hand on hers and squeezed it gently. "I am so sorry, Adrina."

Adrina collapsed back onto the ground, head dropping into her hands. "He can't be dead," she whispered. "I didn't get to say goodbye."

She was well and truly an orphan. Her new reality punched the air from her lungs and seized her chest in a vice-grip.

Her tears came hard and fast, even as she gasped for breath, trying to collect herself.

Obi-Wan felt it best to say nothing. No words were needed. He settled himself on the ground next to her, wrapping his right arm around her shoulders as she had once done for him. Adrina pressed her head into his shoulder, drawing strength from his solid presence. He offered no platitudes, allowing her the silence she needed until her tears subsided.

"How did it happen?" Obi-Wan's hesitation answered Adrina's whispered question. "A Jedi."

"Adrina…"

She gave a small, bitter laugh. "He always did hate the Jedi."

Adrina ran a hand over her hair, desperately attempting to sort through and control her conflicting emotions. She wondered who had done it - she probably knew them, had probably served them in the Halls. Anger swelled. How could they have done it? How could her father have been on Geonosis? How could he have put the Jedi in that position? She struggled to control her fury.

And now he was dead.

"How long has it been since you saw your father?" Obi-Wan asked quietly, breaking her out of her jumbled thoughts.

"Six years," Adrina sighed. She clenched her hands in her lap. She grimaced slightly and glanced at Obi-Wan. "I...I didn't quite tell you or Anakin the whole story of how I escaped Mandalore."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Jango Fett?"

Adrina nodded. "Yes," she said. "They wanted to recruit him. He arrived as I was beginning my escape plan." Fresh tears stung her eyes; she wiped them away with a sigh. "He… He was not pleased to learn that I had become a Jedi."

"He disowned you."

Adrina nodded. "The Council knew, but the truth was too painful to admit to others."

"I understand." He exhaled and said, "I heard about your mother; I am so sorry for your losses." He touched the collar of his undertunic and gestured to her. "I couldn't help but notice that particular shade of blue."

Adrina blinked and looked down at her clothing. She shifted. "Yes."

"The same shade as your father's armor, as I recall."

Adrina hitched a shoulder.

"You still care for him, even after what he did."

Adrina kicked her lips. "He will always be my father," she whispered. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "It was my mother's favorite color. My birth mother, I mean."

Obi-Wan leaned back in his seat. "You've never mentioned her before."

"I hardly knew her. She died in a speeder accident when I was very little." Adrina glanced down at her knotted hands. If she closed her eyes, she thought she could just remember the holo of her that once sat proudly on her nightstand, sitting at just the right angle so that her mother watched over her as she fell asleep.

"You've lost much," Obi-Wan observed softly.

Pain sliced through her. She took a rallying breath and said, "But I still have Anakin, perhaps. And the Jedi are my family now."

Obi-Wan smiled.

"They're gone," she whispered. "They're gone and Anakin…" I am alone.

"He'll come around," Obi-Wan said confidently. "He loves you."

Adrina looked away. She wished she could believe him. "Please don't tell Anakin about my father. He resents me enough as it is right now. If he found out my father tried to assassinate Padmé…"

"I won't," Obi-Wan promised.

Obi-Wan was silent for a moment. He could feel her emotions – the hurt, despair, anger, sadness, apprehension. It was understandable, Obi-Wan knew, but he was unused to these feelings emanating from Adrina. It pained him.

"Anakin does not know much about your life prior to your adoption, does he?"

Adrina shook her head, giving a juicy sniffle. "He was so young when I was sold to Watto; Ani doesn't remember a life without me. There was no point in hashing out things that he would not understand. I did not want to talk about it, anyway," Adrina hitched a shoulder. Obi-Wan nodded. "And as Ani grew...it just seemed to become irrelevant. Well, you know." Adrina sighed. "Ani hates Tatooine. I don't blame him."

Obi-Wan was quiet for a moment and Adrina scrutinized him closely, still waiting for hatred and disgust to manifest. They never came.

They were both quiet for a moment.

"If I may ask," Obi-Wan said, "how did you come to be a slave in the first place? I've seen his clones in action; surely he was an even stronger warrior."

Adrina shifted. She shook her head.

"I understand," Obi-Wan offered a smile. He hesitated.

"What is it?"

"You have another brother. Jango asked for an unaltered clone. His name is Boba."

Adrina blinked. Fresh tears clouded her vision. "Boba," she murmured. "That…. That's the name…." Adrina swiped away the tears. "I picked the name. But Mom died before… Did you meet him? Did you meet Boba?"

"I did," he confirmed. "He seemed like a bright, if mistrustful, young man."

Adrina's smile turned rueful. "I would expect no less. Obi-Wan, we have to find him. He'll be all alone."

"That may be difficult," Obi-Wan said slowly. "He was on Geonosis."

Adrina gasped. "You don't think he was in the battle, do you?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the arena for my execution, but where he was during the battle, I couldn't say."

Adrina's shoulders slumped. "And we can hardly ask the Geonosians."

Obi-Wan touched her shoulder and smiled. "We'll be on the lookout. I promise."

Adrina reached up and squeezed his hand. "You are a good friend, Obi-Wan. Thank you."

Obi-Wan smiled a little. "Try not to worry about Boba, or about Anakin."

She bit her lip. "Would we be wrong to not report the marriage to the Council?"

"I very much doubt the Council isn't already aware." Obi-Wan sighed. "He may have broken his vow, but we do need him. He's right about that. I don't think they will do anything, so long as they keep their secret. I'll keep an eye on him."

"I don't want to lose him," Adrina whispered. She sounded so vulnerable; Obi-Wan felt his heart clench. He gently touched her shoulder and offered a smile.

"You won't."

"He hates me." Adrina wanted to believe Obi-Wan, but she just couldn't. "And he'll only hate me more when he thinks on everything."

"Anakin can be reasonable, with time" Obi-Wan said. "He'll come around in the end."

Adrina exhaled and held her chin up. "You're right, Obi-Wan. You're right." She wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "Thank you."

Anakin could come around, but she knew their relationship would ever be the same.