There are few stories that are told among the Jedi Order long enough to become myth. Legend. It takes importance to stand the test of time that way. A lesson has to be learned.
Anakin and Circe's story is told for generations long after they are go...
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Anakin, I'm ready to take the bounty hunter into custody at the detention center. I've alerted the guards that you will be escorting her to us.
There was no way Anakin could have guessed that the Council would really have agreed to give the bounty hunter to a Republic prison. The comm came late the night before, just as he got the message from Nej that he was bringing Circe back to the Temple. He knew that she wanted him there while she pitched her idea to the Council, but he couldn't deny the Chancellor, especially not when the Jedi where also involved.
He thought it strange at first, that the Council would be so quick to approve the transfer without consulting him about it. After all, he was the one that had made the deal with Palpatine. He wants to question it. To ask Obi-Wan why they've given her custody up so quickly. But a nagging fear keeps him silent—an anxiety that if he doesn't stay in his place and do his job, the safety of the Chancellor's Clone Troopers will be taken back.
Guilt tugs his insides around as he leaves the Temple for the prison building. Circe's crestfallen face flashing in his mind. He shouldn't have let her down like that. She confided in him, she was excited, and she tied him to that excitement. He should know better than this. Know better than to encourage her to get her hopes up about something and then leave at the last minute.
Circe gets as excited about the process of things as she does the end result, and changing her plan, surprising her right before things get pushed into motion, it throws her off. He knows this.
But, once again, he must do it for a reason she'd never understand, and one he can never tell her. He hates that it has become so easy to talk himself into lying to her.
Two guards are stationed outside the entrance to the prison, and they nod at Anakin as he passes by. He and Obi-Wan frequent this place to bring criminals and people of interest in to be held.
The building is not cold, but he prefers the milky white of the stone in the Jedi Temple. The corridors are dark, lacking natural light to give it any life, and the staff look stern. At the front desk, a familiar guard stands to meet him.
"Anakin, what can I do for you?"
"I'm here to pick up the bounty hunter that we brought in last week. She's being transferred to the Republic prison."
The guard gives him a strange look. "Did this order come from the Council?"
"The Chancellor," Anakin answers, "He commed me last night."
"I'll need to see the message. It's customary when the Chancellor doesn't send a government official."
Anakin pulls his comm off his belt and flashes the screen at the guard, who squints at the Chancellor's signet in the corner, and then pulls his key card from his belt.
"Why does the Council want her moved?" He asks, rounding the desk to let Anakin in.
"Chancellor Palpatine offered his resources to get her processed more quickly. The Order is anxious to get give her a sentence."
