Anakin had a lesson that morning, far enough away that he was a bit surprised when both men insisted on walking with him. It did make him feel more protected, and while he still usually felt safe within the Temple from anyone who actually wanted to hurt him, he thought it reduced the number of the side-eyes he'd been getting his entire time as Padawan, but much more in recent months. Recently Obi-Wan had scolded some of the offenders, which Anakin had thought had even stopped a few of the younger ones completely.
The two of them mostly talked to each other, and mostly about the nature of the Force and some research done thousands of years ago that they had found it interesting to read through lately. Anakin had never been very good at following that stuff, and he sure wasn't going to manage it that morning, so he mostly tuned it out-until Master Jinn suddenly remarked, "Since that day the Council first called the five of us together, I have often thought of something written by one of the more philosophical Jedi of the time."
"Oh dear," laughed Obi-Wan, but there was something off about it, like he didn't find it funny at all.
And Master Jinn looked more sad than anything else as he said, "I know, but it sticks with me more than ever, now. 'The truly terrible thing about this kind of rage and resentment is it does not settle for harming the causes or supposed causes of the grievance, or even them and the one wielding the rage and violence, but, most times, all those around them. Even if it does not seem to at the time, the fire and ash of the fallout will burn and scar all they touch in time.'"
"Darth Maul's rage would hit a lot of people, then," said Anakin. "I mean, he might be especially after us, but he's also after all of the Jedi, right?"
"The Sith certainly all are," Obi-Wan agreed. "And I do wish we had some idea of who the Master is."
"Do we really have none?" Anakin asked, as the thought occurred to him, not for the first time, that Master Dooku might be. Obi-Wan seemed to think he wouldn't be able to hide that in the Temple, but they still didn't know a lot about the Sith, and what they could do.
Still, Obi-Wan said very firmly, "None whatsoever, I fear. Unless the Council hasn't told me something."
"They haven't told me it, either," Master Jinn added. "But I suppose they wouldn't tell me, would they?"
"Regretting defying the Council so many times, Master?" Obi-Wan asked, though he was smiling slightly.
"Even if he has," said Anakin, "they should tell us something like that. What if that Master decided to specifically target us too for some reason? Unless they've just told Master Windu, but he should still tell us, then."
"Honestly, Padawan," Master Jinn replied, "I don't truly think-"
But he was cut off by a young voice yelling, "Master Jinn! Knight Kenobi! Padawan Skywalker!" Octus Kon, who had been Padawan to a certain Master Kolg for a couple years now, came running up to them. "There's been news...I don't know...you're needed in the Council chambers right now!"
"Well, hopefully they are telling us whatever they know now," said Master Jinn as they hurried after Octus towards the lift.
Octus himself was going to rejoin his Master, who was currently on one of the Temple's higher levels, which meant he accompanied them for most of the ride. That did away with any chance of them resuming their earlier conversation. Even after Octus wished them luck and got off, there wasn't enough time to say much, so they didn't try.
They got there to find the full Council assembled, including a holographic Master Windu. "What's going on, Master Windu?" Anakin asked immediately. "Where's Padme?"
"Still in Tanzer, which I have not yet reached," Master Windu, "Allow me to explain in a moment."
That didn't really tell him anything, Anakin thought, but there wasn't time to respond. They were now in the center of the chamber, and Master Yoda was saying, "News, he has, for the three of you. Quick, this must be. Paused, his transport is, but he cannot stay outside it long."
"I got word of what you found out, and then I started talking to a few of my fellow travelers. Turns out one of them might know who your Master Kolut's in contact with. Unfortunately, if he's right, it means that the Sith have connections not only to this planet's underbelly, but a bunch of their authorities as well. At least those of Colorpa and Tanzer, because their law enforcements seem to have an unofficial ban on investigating anything involving the Epostulates, which is not the kind of corruption you typically see in those kind of organizations. My new friend swears Tanzer's databanks has at least a couple weeks' worth of communications between him and someone called Tzatsar."
"And you trust this source enough to go breaking local laws?" inquired Master Gallia.
"Not quite," said Master Windu. "Although I do think it likely this man genuinely believes what he's told me at the very least. What concerns me more is what I then heard about this Tzatsar from a completely different source. He's apparently employed in the town security, and likely in position to be responsible for the gaps in the public entrance and exit record I was able to view after that conversation. The latest of which is from ten hours ago.
I was initially planning to get to Tanzer and discuss this with my Padawan before I brought it up with anyone else. But now that I'm getting close, I'm sensing a very powerful, very dark presence in the city. Powerful enought that I think it likely to be our Sith Lord."
"And Padme's there by herself, with two civilians to protect?" Anakin burst out.
"Calm, my Padawan," his Master urged, and his hand was gentle on Anakin's shoulder. Normally it would've worked perfectly. But it had been harder recently, as he'd gotten older and more aware, the past few months and past couple of days had taken their toll, and the thought of Padme in that kind of danger, and the Master who was supposed to protect her not there, would never be something he could just shrug off.
Still, he tried, if only because Master Jinn was right there, and he really wanted to be good for him, especially in front of the Council. He did manage to control himself enough to keep standing there without saying anything else, his limbs only twitching a little-though he supposed the Council noticed that anyway.
Master Windu hadn't reacted at all. He was as calm and as cold as ever. "...would likely enter the city by then, and if she's figured out an easy way to get in contact with Ruuger's City, she might even stay there. It may be our best chance to get the Sith to come to us away from all of his minions, if the three of you can get here fast enough."
If they could get there...that meant they were going there. That got rid of Anakin's anger right away. In fact, he didn't even feel any fear right away, so strong was his relief and joy at the thought they were finally getting out and doing something, that they were getting to Padme, and they were finally going to fight this menace they'd both been so scared of together.
"Calm," he heard Master Jinn whisper, though gently, before he said, "So if we are going, how fast are we going? Within the hour?"
"Manage that, can we?" asked Master Yoda, and the conversation was given over to the logistics of how quickly they could get the three of them on their way. That did make Anakin feel much calmer. It was always easier for him when the plans were being made, when he had the way forward to focus on.
He would've felt even better, of course, if they had been able to go within the hour, but between one thing and another, it ended up being two. Anakin even ended up attending most of his lesson, though he didn't think he'd remember all that much about it later. He headed directly for the shuttle bay after it, and had been there for a few minutes, doing random checks on their ship's engine, when he heard Master Jinn and Obi-Wan coming up the ramp, their voices oddly soft and warm as they spoke words Anakin didn't quite catch.
Anakin was furthered surprised when they came in, and he saw Master Jinn was carrying what looked like an official missive tablet from the Supreme Chancellor's office, the kind that could only be opened with the recipient's thumbrint or similar, and held it out with a, "For you, Anakin, from Chancellor Palpatine. I've been given the impression it's not too urgent a message, but, well, from the way the aide who delivered it the Temple spoke, it felt like they knew we were about to leave Coruscant, and he wanted you to have this before then."
"Do you think the Council decided to speed notify him?" Anakin asked. They might have, he supposed, if only because the Sith were a pretty big threat to the galaxy in general. But it really wasn't common for them to bother with it this quickly.
But Master Jinn and Obi-Wan exchanged a look, and they looked kind of doubtful, even as Obi-Wan said, "Maybe."
"In any case," said Master Jinn, "if you want to read the missive right now, you certainly can. We can wait to depart if it's a short one, or Obi-Wan can fly us out."
"You want me to pilot?" Anakin asked, all other thoughts flung aside in his excitement. It wasn't surprising, since in the missions just before they'd gone to ground in the Temple had at some point or other typically had Master Jinn drilling him through everything in the cockpit, which had felt like the last step before that. But still.
Both of them were hovering over Anakin as he got into the pilot's seat. But Master Jinn was smiling, and Obi-Wan looked encouraging as well, and the feelings Anakin could sense from both of them were nothing but encouraging.
He maybe couldn't help but remember for a moment, that first terrifying time in the co-pilot's chair besides Padme, on the night they'd all of them fled the Temple for their lives. He pushed that aside as he breathed in, put his mind on the here and now, just as Master Jinn had worked so hard to teach him. He didn't remember enough of the piloting itself from that night, really, for this not to count as his real first time doing this.
It maybe wasn't the hardest thing, taking off from a recently built shuttle bay where things had been built to make it easy; Master Jinn might have even arranged them to be in this one. Still Anakin had to weave the ship through the other ships in the bay, the handful of droids, a couple of them in the air, and even one worker of a particularly tall species who he needed to avoid getting too near to to avoid hurting his ears. He skirted the bay ceiling just before reached the entrance, dipping down just under the top of the door.
"Go over the traffic stream," Master Jinn instructed. That wouldn't have been Anakin's first choice, but at least he wasn't making him fly as part of it, which was really stupid for a spaceship, but some Masters insisted on it for the first time piloting. Going with the traffic, either in or just above it, until you reached a specific point to move up through the atmosphere, made one much less likely to collide with anything.
As their vessel coasted into position, Coruscant's intraplanetary vehicles swarming about fifty feet below, Anakin, seeing them there, found himself feeling how high up they were mix with a new sense of the power he knew to be contained within the ship he flew. Even at his speed this slow, he could feel the air, the very space around them, give way to its twist and turns, to every move he made with it, and he could almost feel the potential in it, as if it were another version of the Force.
He knew well that most Jedi would tell him the power of a spaceship was nothing compared to the Force. And he didn't even think that wasn't true. But this, a thing not just given, not just generated by life, but created by people's ingenuity, that was special all on its own.
And so was this feeling of rightness, one he was very sure he hadn't felt when he and Padmé had been fleeing, that Anakin felt now with his hands at the pilot's controls, one that had to come partly from the Force, but maybe not entirely.
All those feelings only increased when they reached the most ideal point, and even in the split second before Master Jinn gave the word Anakin was already moving to rise the ship up, and up, steadily increasing power and speed to reach escape velocity. By the time they reached the ionosphere, Anakin was soaring in almost every way, and he thought he could even hear space calling to him-a new, unexpected allure. Space had never appealed to him before then; it had always been so empty. But it was different when he was facing it at the controls, when it was something he was instead taking on with all the power of a ship beneath his hands.
He even felt it when the ship at last broke free of Coruscant's gravitational field and soared into open space. Moving between the craft in orbit-the ship could make lightspeed by itself, so they didn't need anything there, Anakin felt his excitement settle down a little, as he sank into needed concentration, but still his heart fluttered.
It wasn't surprising, and he only felt a little disappointed, when Master Jinn came up and gently moved him aside. "This won't be the easiest of hyperspace flights," he said to him, "and not one I would have you do as your first."
So Anakin gave way to him, and went into the corner of the cockpit, and opened the missive pad from the Chancellor. In it he read:
Padawan Skywalker:
You may be surprised that I am sending a message specifically to you, and not to your Master. But in fact, I have things to say for your eyes and ears only. I hope he will have enough respect for your basic privacy that he will not insist on reading it. Although I'm afraid if he asks you what this is about, I shall have to ask that you tell him only that I should like to see you again at some time in the future, for you made a very good impression on me. That is, of course, true.
However, I also feel the need to drop you a hint that I could not in your Master's presence. Though I have great respect for and no true ill to speak of Master Jinn, every being that has ever lived in this galaxy, even a Jedi, will have biases towards those dear to him, will find it difficult to believe wrong of them. I have met with just about every member of the Jedi Council at some point since I have become Chancellor, and they have all spoken of him at some point. Not always positively, perhaps; I have been given to understand he clashes with them a great deal. But he has known most of them since he was a Padawan, thanks to his old Master's acquaintances, and I have seen the friendships he shared with more than one of them. And that leaves out those of them he grew up with, including Master Windu.
So while I should not mind meeting with the both of you in general again, I should also like it if, perhaps, the two of us could also at some time meet informally. I am sure that once the danger that threatens you two in particular and your three friends has been dealt with, you will have some freedom of movement on Coruscant again. Master Jinn does not strike me as the type of Master who insists on knowing where their Padawan is and whom they meet with at all times.
I shall not ask for such a thing, of course, until it is relatively safe for you to go wandering around the planet. I greatly hope that it soon will be, for all of your sakes, and even, perhaps for the sake of the Jedi Order.
Your friend, hopefully,
Sheev Palpatine
Master Jinn wasn't going to ask any questions about anything right now, of course, because he was too busy flying the ship. Anakin turned the pad off, and tried to nonchalantly put it aside.
It all made sense, of course. The Chancellor wouldn't have any reason to suspect Master Dooku, so he would be more worried about the more obvious candidates. But either way, he was right. Anakin would have to figure out how to conceal this from his Master, because it was always harder to do that with important things, though maybe he could enlist Obi-Wan's help if he really had to. Or Padme's, maybe, but being Master Windu's Padawan meant she might have the same problem as Master Jinn in how well she probably knew the Council, and she'd never defied them.
Really, he thought, Master Windu was obviously a great and powerful Jedi, but his being Padme's Master had been the reason for a lot of problems lately. But he didn't know how she'd react to anyone saying that to her. Anakin was going to have to be careful about that. He felt torn about whether he should show her this message or not.
She should probably become a knight after all this, anyway. Anakin had heard a couple comments from both his Master and from Obi-Wan, suggesting that might actually happen if they faced the Sith, possibly with her not even having to take the trials. That wouldn't work for him because he wasn't old enough-that had been made very clear to him-but she might be, if only just. But that, too, was probably up to Master Windu.
Meanwhile, he'd already been planning to keep a closer eye on the Master, so he could keep on doing that. He definitely didn't think he had anything to do with the Sith, but it might even be a good idea to make absolutely sure of it.
Master Windu let her hug him when he entered the inn room where she'd holed up herself. In fact, she was pretty sure his own arms tightened around her, and she could tell from the sigh he let out that he was deeply relieved to have found her in one piece.
He even said to her, "Well done, my Padawan," before asking for the full account of everything that had happened since they'd split up. His critique of her was pretty much what she had expected. Most of his suggestions about her interactions with the various civilians she'd talked with were even helpful. He didn't even bother scolding her for her brief forays off the mission in Alopi; he knew by now he was never going to get her to not do such things. Besides, it had been significant to know there had been people in that city looking for him.
(It wasn't like on Falsine, where she'd blown the cover on a carefully orchestrated operation, and might have made the ongoing civil war worse if her Master's cleverness hadn't managed to instead turn it to their advantage. Or those times where she'd been more of a hindrance than a help; she would still feel embarrassed if she ever had to go back to Morgos Prime.)
When they were done with that discussion, they moved on to what to do next. Between one thing and another, they would likely have a couple of days before their three companions reached this area of the planet. What Padme would've most liked to do during those days was get Nyder and Clistara put somewhere else, where any fighting or other dangerous things were less likely to take place. Master Windu was very much in favor of that as well, but he wasn't sure how it could be done. Even if they just put them on a train to the planet's far side, there was no knowing how likely they were to be followed.
"And we can't devote all our energy to it, of course," said Master Windu, after they had gone through the options there and found major problems with all of them. "Once there are the five us here, the Sith will come for us immediately if we're lucky, and throw all his assets at us in a rapid rush before coming himself if he's smarter about it. We have to make sure we scout out as much as possible before the others arrive."
"I know," said Padme, because she did.
He also wanted to talk to both her companions before they made any decisions about them. Padme took him to Nyder first. When he first saw Master Windu, he very nearly backed into the far wall, heedless of her "It's okay, it's just my Master." But Master Windu was used to dealing with those that had merely turned skittish, and he soon got him telling his story.
He finished with a speech about how he'd wanted to help, but he was getting scared, and he thought maybe he'd like to go now, if they thought they might not need him. It was short enough for Master Windu to wait it out, before he said, "I can gain you entry into a refugee resettlement center elsewhere in the galaxy, and give you credits to get there. If you wish to go immediately I will chart a certain, more roundabout way for you, where there will be nooone to track you. But you will have to travel alone. We cannot accompany you right now. If you prefer our protection, you will have to wait at least a few days."
"Oh, I don't think I have to run that far," he told him. "Maybe just spend some time on this planet's other side for now. I don't need your help getting there." But his manner softened when he turned to Padme and said, "I know you've saved my life, though, and I really am grateful for that." It was a thanks she never would've demanded from him, but was deeply glad to get.
Their goodbyes were genuinely warm when they parted ways, probably for good, about an hour later, with his itinerary booked and the credits he'd ultimately accepted transferred. Padme felt the best she had in weeks, at least.
That lasted until about five minutes into their meeting with Clistara. Arguably, it could've gone much worse. She wasn't even openly hostile, or rude, to Master Windu. But Padme knew very quickly that he would never let her travel away from here unobserved, the way they'd let Nyder leave. And by the time he'd spent way too long trying to wrestle any information about how she'd been recruited by Maul's followers out of her, Padmé just wished the interview would end, because it had become painful for her to watch. When it finally did, the polite way Master Windu told Clistara they'd come back that evening made her want to outright slap him.
He knew she already knew what his decision was, so as soon as they were away from the building, he said, "We're going to need to move her to the far end of the city. We can't keep her in any one place for too long, especially with Nyder having also been here."
Padme wanted very badly to protest. But she didn't know what to do as an alternative that he would accept. Honestly, she didn't think any of the ideas she had were at all good ones anyway.
He at least let her pick where they put her, with only a reminder that the building's security had to be the priority. She settled on a place right by a transit station, with people flowing in and out so fast Clistara would just be one more of them. They did a quick scout of it, of course, and it looked all right. Though they had to spend most of their scouting time in the parts of the city their actual mission was likely to involve, so they didn't stay as long as she might have liked.
And the truth was, Padme found herself distracted and not at her best the entire evening. She wasn't even sure of the full reasons why. It was probably a combination of having to watch her Master barrage Clistara, thinking of her spending who knew how long trapped in another room, and also the current situation in general, and obviously the general feeling of darkness around didn't help. For much of it Master Windu didn't say anything, but ultimately, he had to give her, "Keep your focus, Padme. This may be the time in our lives where we can least afford to lose it."
So she tried to keep it, she really did. And she and Master Windu together did get the information they needed. But while he didn't make any further remarks about being disappointed with her performance that night, he didn't really need to.