My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 90

Truth, with enough digging, is inevitable.

The ride back to the Jedi Temple is eerily quiet. Or perhaps it just feels so. This feels like our last mission with the Jedi order. I cannot explain the feeling, the best way I can sum it up is this: My joints are relaxed and my head is heavy. I am ready to rest, and Coruscant does not feel like home anymore. I am fluid, ready to find my place in this galaxy. That place might be Alderaan. It might be elsewhere, I have yet to discover where I belong.

Anakin has not checked in with me yet. Not verbally. He has shot me enough concerned glances for a week. Every time I get one, I look away. I feel awful for him, but there is nothing I could have done to prevent those close calls. What can I do to help? I already told him it wasn't his fault. I won't repeat that forever. It will drive us insane.

He needs to figure that out on his own, and if he cannot, then he will never learn. But I know he will come to his senses. This is just an emotionally charged time.

The transport comes to a halt in front of the Senate building to drop off the Chancellor. Anakin follows him out of the transport, and I want to join Obi-Wan in the doorway to send him off, but I do not. I look at him through the window, unable to say anything. I know if I express my thoughts, it will end in an argument about Palpatine's role in my husband's life. I don't have the energy for that.

His mind is made up. He trusts the Chancellor; he has trusted him since childhood. That bothers me. Not his unchanging loyalty—but the Chancellor's influence on him. An elderly man should never have to befriend a child to keep him as an ally—especially a politician. I don't trust the Chancellor. Why would I? His decisions have forced me into more dangerous situations than the Separatists ever did.

"Why didn't you go?" Obi-Wan asks.

I look up, surprised by his intrusion. Although, from his point of view, I suppose he isn't intruding on anything. "Why didn't you?" I respond.

Anakin and Obi-Wan are a team—no less admired in the public eye than he and I. Unfortunately, the public's obsession with Anakin and me isn't based on our compiled ability, but on our chemistry, which is frustrating. For once, I wish my exploits could be acknowledged. Anakin seems to have no shortage of admirers in that regard, and that landing will only increase said admirers exponentially.

"Oh, I'm not brave enough for politics," Obi-Wan says. "What's your excuse?"

"Well," I begin, my voice strangely distant from my thoughts, "almost dying thrice is no easy task."

"Right," Obi-Wan affirms. He crosses his arms and takes a seat beside me.

I don't think anything of it, looking out the window as we depart for the Temple.

"You saw something."

My breath hitches, my stomach seizing in fear. Obi-Wan knows something. Perhaps he is the Sith Lord after all, and this is his way of intimidating me into keeping my mouth shut. Master Windu exited the transport in the Senate building, along with Anakin and Palpatine, leaving only Obi-Wan, me, and our droid driver in the vehicle. If something happens, he assumes no one will know. I know at least one person will, and that person will avenge me, whether I want that or not.

"Are you threatening me?" I ask bluntly.

"Of course not." Obi-Wan is in disbelief. He doesn't understand why I suspect him.

"How do you know I saw something?" I ask. "Do you know what I saw?"

"I know because I sense unease in you about this rescue. You're on edge about something, and usually, I know what that is, but until you came to rescue me and the Chancellor, I did not feel it." He lowers his voice so the droid cannot record our conversation. "Palpatine knows a great many things, and I think you know that. If he saw what I saw earlier, would he be surprised?"