Anabeth: Darkness Rising

Chapter 27 - Moving Forward

"You wanted to see me?" Ana gained Windu's attention as she approached him. "Yes, I need to attend a Council meeting. Can you help Drallig and Ahsoka with keeping the clean up organized?" he requested. "Sure, no problem. I have to ask though, has Yoda reappeared yet?".

"Surprisingly, yes. He just came down here at some point like nothing happened. He didn't even ask what was going on or explained where he'd been. He just wanted to have a Council meeting" Windu replied, almost whispering so no one could overhear them. "That's strange" Ana replied. "I know, but I'm curious to see what he's up to, so I'm going to go and attend that Council meeting now" Windu agreed before leaving Ana with Drallig.

The next hour seemed to pass by agonizingly slow. The Temple guards kept curious eyes away from the scene and the clean up was well organized and fast. All Ana and Ahsoka were doing was overlooking the process, answering questions and helping out from time to time. Their lack of sleep started to make itself known though as their concentration started to slowly fade.

They were both sitting down, leaning against a wall and threatening to fall asleep when the beeping of Ana's comlink startled them awake again. "Velar" Ana quickly picked it up, trying not to sound sleepy. "We need you up here" Windu simply replied, not offering any explanation as to why.

"On my way" Ana acknowledged, ending the call and getting to her feet. "I'll be right back" she informed Ahsoka before heading towards the Council chambers, wondering what they might want.

When Ana arrived at the Council chambers Windu was standing outside of the closed doors, awaiting her arrival. "What's going on?" she asked, clearly confused by the strange behaviour her Master was displaying. "I wanted to talk to you before we go back in there" Windu replied, moving to walk down the corridor and motioning for Ana to join him.

She fell into step beside him, questions on her mind that she never got to ask as Windu began to speak. "I hope you know how dangerous leaving your hiding spot and fighting Palpatine was for both you and Anakin". "I know" Ana replied quietly, knowing they had both disregarded a direct order which easily could have lead to the downfall of the Jedi.

"To tell you the truth though, what the two of you did was very brave and as it turned out, very necessary" Windu continued. "Anakin told us what happened with Palpatine, and he insists that you deserve as much praise for his defeat as him. For what it's worth, I agree with him.

For the last few weeks, you've been working harder than most to help uncover Palpatine's plot and bring him down. When you first came to us two years ago, I never would have expected you to become one of us the way you did. But here we are today. You're a wonderful addition to the Jedi and I can't put into words how proud I am to be able to call you my Padawan.

I learned a lot from you during the last two years, even though I used to believe no Padawan would ever be able to teach me anything. One of those lessons was that we Jedi have a tendency to be colder than we need to be and make descisions for others when we shouldn't.

I know we forced you to become a Jedi when Obi-Wan brought you to us. We never gave you any information as to what it would mean for you and your life, and we never gave you a choice.

I know a lot has happened since then, but I don't want you to spend the rest of your life unhappy and blindly following an organisation that forced you to be a part of it. I want to give you the choice we should have given you back then now.

You can stay with us, be a Jedi and commit your life to serving the order and the greater good. Or, you can start over somewhere and build yourself a life of your own. It's your choice".

Ana stopped in her tracks and looked at her Master with a smile. "I'm staying" she proclaimed "This is my home, my family. I could never just walk away".