Anakin had taken to escorting Padme everywhere these days. When Sereine arrived for the emergency meeting that Padmé had called, Finis met her alone.

"It's certainly discomforting," Finis said, passing her a glass of water, "meeting you here at the door and offering you something to drink as if you were a total stranger. Palpatine fired you, and still you're staying in our apartment alone at night. Tell me," he folded his arms, "is this going to continue?"

Sereine could not meet his eyes. "Do you want to divorce me?"

"I thought you wanted to divorce me."

"Finis, I've tried to tell you over and over that all I want is for things to be the way they used to be. For me to feel the way I used to feel. If I knew how to do that, I'd do it!"

"Well. It appears that I may be free to leave here fairly soon, so if we want a divorce, the way may be clear. Although I can't imagine the love of your life ever taking you back again now." Finis Valorum scowled and turned away to stalk across the room, then suddenly turned around.

"Sereine. If we were to stay here, on Coruscant, to live, how would you feel?"

He saw her do a double-take. "What? Finis, you can't do that. You're miserable here."

"Bail has asked me to stay on as an advisor to him if he and Padmé win the election. If I were to join Bail's cabinet, obviously I would have to live here."

Sereine stared down at her hands. "Kinschem, so much has happened to you here that's been unpleasant. I think Bail was smart to ask, but I don't want you to do anything that's going to make you unhappy. I know how much you love home and the peace and quiet of all your flowers and rocks and gardens there."

Finis shrugged. "I can have a garden here. A small one."

"But that wasn't the main reason! All that negative coverage by the press! You hate that! They even tried to insinuate that your daughter-in-law was some extramarital girlfriend!"

"As you're fond of saying, my dear, it's the politician who's on stage, not his staff. Anyway, I'll admit that I was - very raw, and sensitive, when Palpatine took office, but that was thirteen years ago. I think most people have all but forgotten me, and as for those who haven't...Part of self-confidence lies in no longer believing your detractors. In these past few months, I've matched wits with a Sith lord the likes of which this galaxy has never seen, and helped to drive him from office...and I believe that has helped to restore some of mine."

Sereine stared at him doubtfully from wide blue eyes. "Finis, I just don't want you to be unhappy. I don't want you to do anything that's going to make you unhappy."

As he looked into her eyes, he comprehended what his wife was really saying. "Sereine," he said gently, "you do love me, you do."

Tears spilled down her cheeks. A moment later she was in his arms, and he pulled her close to his heart.

Valorum blinked tears from his own eyes. When he could speak again, he said, "Let's give it another year, Sereine. Live with me one more year, and this time we'll talk, really talk to each other, both of us. And if it's still no better than it's been, we'll know we really did all we could. Will you?"

She brushed tears from her face, sniffled, looked up at him, and nodded. "But, Finis, if ever this is going to work, you have to understand about Palpatine. You have to understand that I will not abandon him in darkness - and it doesn't have anything to do with you! You have to understand this, Finis. You have to accept it."

He took his wife's face in his hands. "And you must never keep anything from me again, Sereine. No matter how much you think it will hurt me. If it's important to you, don't think that it doesn't affect me, or that somehow we'll suffer less if you keep it from me. Yes? You have to agree to this."

She nodded.

"Sereine?"

"Yes."

"All right." He closed his eyes and folded her into his arms. "I'm not done with this," he said, but he heard the front door open and Threepio's cultured tenor announcing, "Mistress Padmé! Lady Valorum is already here."

"Thank you, Threepio," said Anakin's voice, and the two of them stepped into Padme's living room to find the older couple embracing and fighting back tears.

"What's this?" said Padmé as Sereine turned around.

"We'll speak more about this later," Finis murmured in Sereine's ear.

She patted him on the chest and announced, "Don't worry, it's okay. Finis and I have decided to give things another try."

A big grin split Anakin's face. "That's wonderful!" he said, but Padmé only frowned.

"It's not that I'm not glad to hear it," she said, "and I'd open some wine, but we're going to need clear heads to deal with what's just happened."

Padmé explained about Obi-Wan's visit.

Sereine lowered her head into her hands and whined. "That kriffing robe!"

"He might have put two and two together anyway," said Anakin. "Obi-Wan knew, more than anyone, how I loved Palpatine."

Sereine looked up. "Obi-Wan we might have been able to sweet-talk," she said. "But you know it was that robe that got Yoda involved, and there's no way we're stonewalling him."

"I don't think there's any way around it," said Padmé. "We're going to have to explain ourselves. Obi-Wan gave me the evening to tell Anakin. That's it. If we don't do something by tomorrow morning, we're going to have the entire Jedi Council in this living room, demanding an explanation."

Sereine rubbed her forehead.

"She's right, darling," said Valorum. "I knew Master Yoda for many years. He won't be put off."

Sereine sighed. "I think we should explain everything. Everything that's happened, every decision we made. Start to finish." She looked up. "It's going to take a while. Padmé, call Master Kenobi and invite him and Master Yoda here tomorrow morning for a very long, private talk."

"I should do that," Anakin said quickly.

"No," said Sereine. "Padmé's the one they approached, but you're the one they really want to talk to. They don't know about me and Finis yet. We'll dangle you like bait. Padmé will go and announce, 'Anakin will see you at - ' and then when they walk in here, there'll be all four of us waiting for them. They'll think they're closing in on a possible Sith apprentice, and they'll find a senator and a former Chancellor infiltrating Palpatine's office and working with you all along. That might convince them to sit down and listen."

Padmé returned from her study. "They're coming," she said. "The ninth hour. And I did specify, we're talking only to them."

Sereine sighed. "Thank all that is it's the weekend," she said. "Although with debates starting on the first day of the week, I can't think of a worse time to lose a day of preparation."

"I'm afraid," said Finis, "that when the Jedi Council hears the truth and tries to apprehend Palpatine, the very scenario we've avoided since the end of the war will be very much back on the table."

"Then you should say that when you talk to them," said Sereine. "We need to stress that as a main reason for what we've done. But there's a bigger decision that two of us have to make."

Everyone looked at her.

"This issue of saving Palpatine has been a bone of contention between us for some time. We need to decide what we're going to ask for tomorrow; and Finis, Padmé, I know the two of you have never supported this idea of 'turning' him. If Anakin and I are going to sit here tomorrow and ask for that, we can't have the two of you arguing against us. You two need to decide what side you're on, and you need to do it now."

The ninth hour.

Senator Amidala answered her door herself. A few murmured greetings; then she rustled into her living room leading two very disgruntled- and determined-looking Jedi masters.

Two Jedi masters who stopped short at the sight of the Valorums.

"My masters," Anakin stood up and gave them both a deep bow.

Former Chancellor Valorum and his wife stood up. "Master Yoda," said Valorum with a bow. "Master Kenobi." A second bow for Obi-Wan. "It's been a long time."

"Chancellor Valorum." Obi-Wan bowed perfunctorily. With the privilege of his age, only Yoda did not bow, but cast a weather eye at Padmé as if to say, "What is this?"

"Masters," said Padmé, "please, sit." She gestured to the waiting Threepio. "May we offer you something to drink?"

"Answers, we need," said Master Yoda. "Distraction, we do not."

"Then I suggest the two of you make yourselves comfortable," said Sereine Valorum, "because your answers are likely to take us all morning."

They had discussed withholding the information most likely to anger Master Yoda and Obi-Wan - such as the ceiling, the holocron, and the listening devices in Obi-Wan's bedchamber. But Finis had pointed out that any omission, should it be discovered later, would erode the Jedi masters' already shaky trust, and should that occur at a crucial moment, it could prove most unfortunate. So every detail of the last three months was faithfully recounted by the person most concerned with it, in a round-robin carefully discussed the night before.

"...and so, because we've settled on the campaign strategy we have, and it's going as well as it is - and because Palpatine's already tendered his resignation and can't rescind it, and that battlestation has to fall into other hands in two weeks' time - we thought the four of us working together had managed things rather well," Sereine said. "Until Master Kenobi spoke to Padme. Then we realized that there is still a chance for this to tip over into war and genocide. And that all depends on the two of you."

Anakin glared at her. A patronizing tone like that one was sure to do nothing but antagonize Master Yoda.

The two Jedi masters looked at one another, then Yoda looked around at the four of them. "Took the law into your own hands, the four of you did. Acceeded to the demands of a Sith lord - unheard of, this is, and consult with us, you did not. Dangerous, this was, and irresponsible."

"Do you think, Master Yoda, that out of all of us, I who once held that office would not realize that?" asked Finis. "If any possible plan of action was going to occur at someone else's expense, we didn't pursue it. Where we thought that we could act without hurting anyone, we did, with the understanding that if it failed or we knew it was about to, we would abandon it and come to the Council."

"Dangerous!" said Yoda. He turned to Anakin. "For you, a sworn knight of the Jedi Order, to swear allegiance to the Sith! A grave offense, that is. Disappointed in you, I am. Grave offense."

Anakin lost his voice. He stared miserably down at this hands, overcome with shame. Even after all that had happened, Master Yoda could still make him feel nine years old.

Sereine jumped up, her face hard, ready to do battle. She moved to Anakin's side and reached around him to place a protective hand on his shoulder. "I think that's a bit harsh," she said. "If you had any idea how I've seen Anakin grow in the time I've known him - "

"With respect, my lady," said Obi-Wan, "you are not a Jedi."

"Maybe not," said Sereine, "but I know difficult trials of character when I see them. Could either one of you deflect Sith lightning with no training?"

Silence.

"When I met this young man, I counseled someone so crippled by desperation he could barely do anything. And now I see someone strong enough, and wise enough, to take a hopeless situation in the heat of battle and find a third way through. Someone mature enough to choose love, in the face of so many reasons not to. Someone I'm proud to call my friend. There's always an appropriate reason to break the rules. If we hadn't done it, what might have become of Anakin? What might have become of all of us?"

"That is simply saying the end justifies the means," said Obi-Wan. "Which, of course, it never does."

"A disaster, this could have been," said Yoda, punctuating his words with a jab of his stick into Padmé's rose brown carpet. "A disaster still, this could be. Consulted with us, you should have!"

"But we tried to ask for your help!" Padmé broke in. "We tried twice - every way we could think of. It's too bad that Bail Organa went to Palpatine, but Anakin went to you and look at what you did. Look at what you said - you, yourself, personally!

"You know I've always advocated nonviolence," she continued. "If we had done that in the first place this Sith war would never have taken hold! That whole campaign on Geonosis was a diplomatic incident the Republic turned into a war!"

"Masters," said Anakin, " the Jedi Council is - is bent on starting another war against the Sith, at any cost. I heard you, I was there! I felt the darkness in the Council chamber that day. And you can't. Not with Palpatine in possession of that battlestation and the Republic Army and the Separatist Army!"

"Your Graces," Finis brought a note of gravity in, sounding every bit the Supreme Chancellor he once was. "Your only choice is not to fight him. We must not do anything that could be construed as an aggressive act against the Chancellor."

"Or even tricked out to look like one," said Anakin. "I should know, he's tricked me more times than anyone."

Sereine walked to the center of the room and turned to face the Jedi, hands clasped at her waist. "Masters," she said. "We ask that you join us in the approach that you can't deny we've used successfully up to now: Nonviolence. Minimal restraint. Only what is absolutely necessary to prevent him from causing harm, and no more."

Obi-Wan spread his hands. "And what?" he demanded. "You think that Palpatine should die the most revered Supreme Chancellor in history, after starting a Galactic war and killing millions?"

"We don't care about that," said Sereine. "We're trying to do something very special - something that's never been tried before, as far as we know."

The two Jedi masters waited, doubt and stony determination lining their faces.

Anakin found his tongue. "This - this is going to sound crazy," he stammered. "But - but Sereine and I know Palpatine. We know the potential that he has. We want - " He stopped and wet his lips. "We want to try to turn him to the good side."

Master Yoda's eyes narrowed, then widened into big green o's. "Trained as a Jedi, you wish for him?" His ancient voice cracked into the higher octaves.

Sereine smothered a laugh and shook her head. "No, no. He probably wouldn't live long enough, anyway." Quickly she detailed the full extent of the Sith master's problems.

"Anakin, how do you think you're going to do this?" asked Obi-Wan gently.

Anakin opened his mouth and looked at Sereine. The answer surely wasn't going to help their case any. Fortunately, Master Yoda didn't give them the opportunity to answer.

"Impossible, that is!" he said. "Consumed by the dark side, Sidious is. To do what you propose, his decision you must have. His choice. And that you never will."

"Well, we certainly won't if we punish him," said Sereine, "if we attack him and kill him, or humiliate him solely for revenge. You see, we've done something no one else has ever done before. We've actually had the opportunity - and we cared enough to use it - to sit this Sith lord down and say, 'Palpatine, tell us why you have done this.'

"And Palpatine answered us. He's given us a number of answers," she continued, "but they all boil down to the same answer. In so many ways, Palpatine keeps saying to us, 'Because love makes me unsafe. When I act morally, when I love, then I am in danger.'

"And we're answering. We answer Palpatine in everything that we do. And so far our answer has been, 'No, Palpatine. Because we love you, you are safe.'

"If we change that, he doesn't have any chance at all. And, I think, neither do we."

At that, the two Jedi paused, just for the blink of an eye, and Anakin saw his chance and jumped in. "My masters," he said, "this whole experience, with Palpatine, has shown me things I never learned in the Temple. When I was growing up, the Jedi Code was just words to me. Just rules we memorized in catechism and spat back like Tatooine sand adders with no real understanding. But I think back on those teachings, and now I see the hidden wisdom. Now I know why.

"'Use the Force only for knowledge and defense - never for attack.' 'Compassion is central to a Jedi's life.' Now I see the reasons, and it makes sense, instead of being just some ancient highminded rules about how we should live! And now - "

Anakin wet his lips again, almost afraid to say what had just sprung into his mind. "And now, I wonder..."

He forced it out. "If perhaps it isn't you who've forgotten."

He stared right at Yoda as he said it. The ancient green eyes narrowed in response - whether in concentration or in anger, Anakin couldn't tell.

"To foster harm by failing to strike out in defense when needed, the Code was never intended."

Unexpected help came from Finis Valorum, who broke in with gentle reasoning. "But in this instance, you don't have to." Yoda and Obi-Wan turned to look at him. "You have another choice. Just allow him to resign."

"Resign, and drift into obscurity to wreak more havoc," Obi-Wan said.

"A lie, that would be," said Yoda. "A lie, to the citizens of the Republic. Know, we do, what happened here. If advocating you are, that lie we should, protect a Sith lord who such terrible crimes has committed...a better reason, you need."

"Speaking of lying," Sereine walked toward them. "There's one concern we do need your help with." She looked at her husband.

Finis picked up where she left off. "Since Chancellor Palpatine was unable to break Anakin and unable to kill him, I've become concerned that he is going to try to replace him."

Yoda looked at Obi-Wan. "Another Jedi?" he said.

"It would be like when I killed the first one," said Master Kenobi. "He doesn't have time to start with an untrained Force-user."

"Masters," said Anakin. "Does either of you know of any Jedi who might be becoming friendly with Palpatine? The way I did...meeting him alone or even in secret."

"It would be his last avenue of escape," said Padmé. "We've cut off any other path to power Palpatine might have."

Master Yoda's eyes focused on the far wall; then his head sank despondently. At last he looked up at everyone.

"Know, I do, a Jedi master who has had regular contact with Palpatine as you say."

"Who?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Know, you may, that went to visit him, Master Windu and I did, when he was hospitalized. Most conciliatory, that meeting. Went back to see him alone, Master Windu has, many times, since that day."

Master Windu. The name hit Anakin like a punch in the gut. He groaned and put his head in his hands, and was surprised to hear the same groan from Padmé, Sereine, and Finis. He hadn't thought they'd grasp all the implications of this as easily as he had.

"Pleased, I was," said Master Yoda, "at the prospect of some rapproachment between them. Angry, has Master Windu been." He looked around at all of them. "Bordered on the dark side, it has."

"Well, then - " said Padmé, "then you can't tell the Council, if you think he might be suspect. Suppose he warns Palpatine?"

"Master," said Obi-Wan quickly, "you and I must speak with him - "

"No, you musn't!" Finis cut him off. "Forgive me for interrupting, but you have no way of knowing where he stands with Palpatine. If, Force forbid, he's already gone over -"

" - then warn him, Mace might. Help him escape, he will."

"And if he hasn't..." Finis half-rose to his feet, and sank back into his chair, going suddenly pale. "Your Graces, if he hasn't! If Mace Windu is as angry as you say, and he hears this about Palpatine - "

"He might attack him," Anakin finished for him. "Bringing about the very scenario Finis warned of in the first place! And I know, having been initiated into the Sith order myself - that first attack is crucial. That outpouring of hate - that's how they turn you! And that isn't all.

"As the failed apprentice," he went on, "and one who can defeat him, Palpatine's first objective will be to kill me. He has to. And I can hold my own with just Palaptine, but against him and a dark Master Windu - I don't stand a chance!"

A terse silence filled the room. Finally Master Yoda said, "Suggestions."

"Listen," said Sereine. "It seems to me, from Anakin's experience, anyway, that when Palpatine tries to turn an established Jedi knight, there's always a period of negotiation. A very sensitive period of...feeling the Jedi out, deciding how best to manipulate him. If that could be interrupted, derailed somehow, we only have to sustain it for two weeks! At the end of that time, our party takes office - we hope - assumes control of the armies, the battlestation, and all the weapons - and what's a sickly, dying Sith lord going to do with nothing but an apprentice? In two weeks, the chronometer stops. His window of opportunity is gone for good. All we have to do is find some way, until then, to keep Windu and Palpatine apart."

"We could do that..." Obi-Wan mused. "Without even revealing to the Council the true reason. A mission..."

Padmé slowly stood up. "Anakin," she breathed. "The hyperwave transceivers..."

Anakin got it immediately. A slow grin spread across his face.

Master Yoda lifted one ear and one eyebrow expectantly. "Transceivers," he said.

Quickly Anakin explained. "The day Palpatine attacked me, he sent me into the rigged elevator on the pretext of retrieving several hyperwave transceivers of the type he planted on Padmé," he said. "He gave me a location. He expected I'd be dead in an hour. But instead, he was in the hospital and Mas Amedda was occupied. I took the liberty of checking that location, and there were six more of those there."

"Which we now have," Padmé put in.

"If we were clever," Obi-Wan said suddenly, "we could pull the same ruse on the Council that Palpatine did, and we could send Master Windu anywhere for two weeks. Tracking the Sith lord was always his assignment."

"A falsehood, this is, to fellow members of the Council. Like this, I do not."

"One problem," said Anakin. "It only works if Palpatine is still trying to influence Windu. If he's already succeeded...Master Yoda, you see him every day. What do you think?"

"Believe Mace Windu has turned to the dark side, I do not," said Yoda. "However...turned both Dooku and Palpatine had, many years ago, and see it none of us did."

"Is there any other candidate for Palpatine to turn? Anyone else that you know of?" questioned Finis.

Master Yoda shook his head. "Know the locations of all Jedi, I do. None have seen Palpatine, except Master Windu and myself." He looked at Anakin. "And you."

Anakin felt cheered by that.

Yoda made a decision. "Until the election, this we will do. 'Distract' Master Windu, we will, and send him far from the Core. Reveal this to the Council, we will not. But, after the election is over, truthful we must be. Apologize for our deception, we will - and reveal the identity of Lord Sidious, to the Jedi Council. Decide what to do with this knowledge, the Council must as a whole. A chance, the four of you will have, to speak."

Anakin bowed from the shoulders. "Thank you, masters."

"But Senator, Lady Valorum. If in league with Palpatine these candidates are, as you say, then win this election, you must!"

"We're hoping for a landslide," Sereine said, "to offset the effects of any fraud that may occur. We're trying to influence those who influence the senators - the judicials, those with money and power. But it's going to be difficult. Don't take this the wrong way, but you've cost us a day of prep time, and debates start the day after tomorrow. I was going to work Bail today and Padmé tomorrow, and now I can work only one. Any other debate, perhaps we could recover, but if you make a poor showing on the first one, it works against you on all the other ones."

"I can help," said Padmé. "Let me be Mas Amedda tomorrow and help Bail rehearse, and I'll just rehearse a few bits of mine at the end. I'll be fine, you know I will."

"Hmm," said Master Yoda with a thoughtful look. "If any assistance I may be, my time, I wish to volunteer."

Sereine looked as if she were about to say no; then she brightened with inspiration. "It could work out," she said. "I can't think of any better way to get an entire office full of people excited and looking forward to a debate, than 'performing' for the Republic's highest Jedi master. And enthusiasm is contagious. If you'd be willing to come tomorrow afternoon and moderate for a couple of hours, I'd like to assign you some homework - if I may."

It was late afternoon when Padmé's guests finally left her apartment. Owing to his age and the length of time spent sitting, Master Yoda took a few moments to shuffle away, and Obi-Wan solicitously slowed his pace.

So when a raucous cheer broke out from behind the door, complete with, "We did it! I can't believe we did it!" they were close enough to hear.

The two Jedi masters turned and stared at one another.