"He could actually save people from death?" Anakin asked.

"The Dark Side is a path to many abilities some consider… unnatural," Palpatine said, slyly.

"I… see," Anakin frowned.

"Master Windu?" Anakin began.

"Skywalker," Windu replied, nodding to him. "You have business?"

"It's not Council business," Anakin answered. "It's more… I want to learn something from you. You're the only one I can think of who might know it."

Windu considered that.

"I have to confess, I'm… surprised," he said. "This is not what I'd expect from you, Skywalker."

"I'm full of surprises," Anakin replied, with a shrug. "Master Kenobi says so. Then he sighs, usually."

Windu chuckled.

"All right, Skywalker," he decided. "Can you give me more details?"

"I was talking to Chancellor Palpatine," Anakin explained. "And he said that… a Sith called Darth Plagueis was so powerful that he could keep the people he cared about from dying."

That made the Jedi Master frown.

"I've never heard of a Darth Plagueis," he said. "You're sure that's what he said?"

"Yes," Anakin confirmed. "He said it was a power related to the Dark Side of the Force. And I know the Dark Side is about… emotions, about doing things because you want them, so obviously it couldn't be something the Chancellor would know how to do because he's a politician. But if anyone knows how to use the Dark Side safely it's you, Master."

Windu turned that over in his head.

"I have to admit, I'm confused, now," he said. "I wonder where the Chancellor heard about this… Darth Plagueis. But about what you've said…"

He considered.

"Healing someone else is normally considered to be part of the Light side," he said. "Though I'm sure Master Yoda would know more than I would… but now I'm curious. Do you have some time, Skywalker?"

"The next Council meeting isn't for a couple of hours," Anakin said. "I'm free until then."

"Right," Windu decided. "Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this."

"Darth Plagueis…" repeated the spectral form of Master Valenthyne Farfalla. "No, no such Sith is known in the records of this Holocron."

"That doesn't make sense," Windu replied. "This is the Record of the Sith. It has information on all the Sith."

"All the Sith up to ten years after the Battle of Ruusaan," the Holocron interface stated. "After that point, no further information on Sith was recorded until the entry of information on Darth Maul nearly one thousand years later."

"So that's how it works," Anakin breathed, over on the other side of the room.

"Skywalker?" Windu asked. "Have you made any progress?"

"I found the Force healing technique," Anakin reported. "It's definitely not a Dark side technique… which must mean Chancellor Palpatine was mistaken."

"About some things," Windu replied, with determination. "But not about everything. We need to inform the Council about this."

"About what?" Anakin asked, confused. "That Chancellor Palpatine was mistaken?"

"No," Windu answered. "Not necessarily. But he's suspicious. He knows about Sith that nobody else has ever heard of."

"Maybe he's just really interested in them?" Anakin volunteered. "He's got statues of the Four Sages of Dwartii in his office, you know, the politicians who said the Dark Side was good and that you should lie to the public, and one of them has a lightsaber in it."

Windu blinked.

"You… didn't mention this before now?" he asked.

"Should I have?" Anakin asked. "I just thought it was a collectible."

Windu continued to look at him.

"Uh," Anakin went on. "Seriously, why are you looking at me like that? I didn't think anything about Palpatine was suspicious, but now you're acting like everything about him is suspicious."

"You didn't find him having a lightsaber in his office suspicious?" Windu asked.

"I assumed someone else would have checked for anything suspicious at some point!" Anakin defended himself. "Did nobody check? I at least have the excuse that I was eight years old when I met him and had no idea what was normal."

Windu couldn't actually come up with a good answer to that, and he leaned back.

"Fair point," he conceded.

"I was thinking about what you said," Anakin told Palpatine, that evening. "About… the power to stop someone dying."

He scowled. "Nobody I asked would tell me anything about Darth Plagueis. I think it's being kept from me."

"I wouldn't be surprised, Anakin," Palpatine smiled. "They have never had your best interests in mind."

"But then… how can I learn what I want to know?" Anakin asked. "Who would teach me?"

He scowled. "The thing I want to know is right there, I can see it, but nobody's willing to tell me."

"I could tell you," Palpatine said. "I could help you break through the fog of lies the Jedi have woven around you. I beg of you, Anakin, let me teach you."

"Teach me?" Anakin repeated. "You know the ways of the Force?"

He looked at Palpatine. "You know the Dark Side?"

"Yes," Palpatine told him, simply. "I could teach you how to save your wife from certain death. Achieve a power greater than any Jedi."

"You're a Sith Lord," Anakin said. "That's how you know, isn't it? Darth Plagueis… he was your mentor. He must have been. That's the only way you could know."

"The Jedi have told you that the Sith focus on the Dark Side, and that that is why they are wrong," Palpatine said. "But that is a narrow minded view. The mysteries of the Sith permit you to embrace a larger view of the Force."

"And you'll teach me those mysteries?" Anakin pressed.

Palpatine smiled. "In time, yes."

"Thank you, Chancellor," Anakin said. "I'm sure the Holonet will be all over that."

Palpatine blinked. "What?"

"Hidden camera," Anakin explained, then got launched across the room by a bolt of lightning.

Which was about when two thirds of the Jedi Council charged in.

"How did this happen?" a reporter asked, some minutes later. "How could the Jedi not protect us from a Dark Lord of the Sith?"

"Politics," Anakin replied, before Windu could answer.

"...what?" the reporter asked.

Obi-Wan looked like he wanted to ask the same question.

"He wasn't using the Dark Side," Anakin said. "He was using a long-term, subtle plan that involved patience and reason instead of giving in to his emotions. He wasn't using the Dark Side, which the Jedi could have sensed, he was using something even worse. Politics."

"...I can't actually dispute that, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, with a sigh. "Though I very much want to."

"Oh, also, I'm married to Padme Amidala," Anakin told the reporter. "Before you get around to asking."

AN:

It's as good an explanation as any.