Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 3 - Talk With an Old Acquaintance

After a quick discussion with Satine and Obi-Wan, Windu gave the responsibility of the Mandalore mission to Ana. With Obi-Wan being father to Satine's daughter they thought it their politically best move to have Ana take charge instead.

While Ahsoka brought Padmè and the twins home, Windu, Fisto, Drallig, Allie and Anakin went to work on a statement for the Order concerning the change of code, and Satine, Grace and Obi-Wan weng to help Bo prepare a statement for the Mandalorian people, Ana had another task to attend to. Her weekly visit with Maul.

Only shortly after the events of Mustafar, Gunray and Mas Amedda had been moved to the Republic prison facility to await their trials, once again leaving Maul on his own. Ever since then, Ana had been keeping up her end of the bargain by showing up once a week despite her busy schedule.

The two of them had had a rocky start at first. Maul was showing little to no remorse about everything he had done ever since he had been sent to Naboo all those years ago, and Ana had little interest in listening to his illogical justifications. In general, she had thought herself better off without him and didn't have much interest in talking to him, but a deal was a deal after all.

When they eventually settled on more smalltalk, card games and holo chess with fewer conversations about their stances on past events, the time became somewhat pleasant though. And so, she now found herself once again sitting on the floor in Maul's cell, a dejarik board between them.

"Your move," Maul informed her. Ana looked at the positions of her pieces briefly before pressing a button to move one of them. Maul smiled, obviously having caught on to Ana's strategy. It was no surprise considering the amount of times they had played this game by now. She was just as predictable to him as he was to her.

"You seem distracted today," the Zabrak noted as he pressed a button to move his own piece.
Ana looked up from the board and towards him. "I'm leaving for Mandalore tomorrow. It might be a while until I'm back."

"Mandalore?" Maul was intrigued.
"Yes. Peace talks between the Republic and the Confederacy. The Jedi are supervising," Ana explained.
"How awfully boring," Maul rolled his eyes. "And it's got you this caught up?"

"I'm being put in charge."
"In charge? Windu must have really be out to overwork you. Why isn't Kenobi leading this mission though?" Maul asked.
"Potential conflict of interest," Ana replied carefully. Maul gave out a hearty laugh.

"What did he get himself into now? Is your Master still mad about our little incident there? Or is it about the Duchess?"
Ana sighed deeply. "You're enjoying this far too much."

"Come one, spill. What did Kenobi do wrong?" Maul pushed.
"I didn't say he did anything wrong, I just said there might be a conflict of interest," Ana reminded him.
Maul gave her a smirk. "So it's about the Duchess then."

Ana gave him a defeated look. A look that told Maul that he had hit the nail on the head. He grinned widely. "You're too easy to read these days."
"And you're still taking an unhealthy interest in Obi-Wan's life. You really need to stop that," Ana shot back.

Maul rolled his eyes at her. "Like it will do any harm while I'm locked up in here."
"It's weird though. Like, really weird," Ana pointed out to him. "What has he ever done to you to warrant this lust for revenge from you?"

"He took everything from me," Maul replied, anger rising in his voice.
"You did that yourself," Ana told him calmly. "You killed his Master and were trying to kill him. What was he supposed to do?"
"He left me to die!" Maul argued.

"You were falling down a reactor shaft with your legs separated from your body. Anyone would have considered you dead at that point, stop blaming Obi-Wan."
"Who else is there to blame?" Maul asked provokingly.

"Doesn't matter," Ana stated. "Sometimes, there isn't anyone to blame for the things that happen. Sometimes, we have to admit we did the best we could and move on, or we spend our lives fighting the same battles over and over."

Maul looked at her in contemplation, obviously trying hard to understand what Ana was saying, but still not quiet getting it.
Ana gave him a sympathetic smile. "Think about it while I'm gone. Then you can tell me how it went when I return."

With the press of a button, Ana deactivated the dejarik board before picking it up and getting back to her feet. She pressed the button on her commlink to signal the guards to come and deactivate ray shields of the cell while Maul too got back to his feet.

"I'll see you next time then," she bid him goodbye as the guards entered the room.
"Good luck on Mandalore," Maul replied, watching as the guards deactivated the ray shields for Ana to step out before activating them once more.

Ana quickly proceeded to take her lightsaber back from the guards that had watched over it while she was in the room with Maul and placed the dejarik board in a shelf in the room next door. She had barely done so, when her commlink started beeping.

"Velar here," she quickly picked it up.
"Ana, what in the galaxy is going on over a the Temple?" Bail Organa's voice sounded from the other end of the line. His tone indicated he was somewhat distressed about something. It took Ana a moment to realize what he was going on about.

"I come out of a meeting, only to find the faces of two of my Generals plastered all over the holonet, together with the Duchess of Mandalore and one of my most trusted colleagues. And then my staff informs me that the Mandalorian government has put out a statement on the matter and the Temple has made an internal announcement for a change of rules. Explain please."

"Long story actually. I'll come on over and explain in person if you have time," Ana offered.
"Great. You can find me in my office," Organa accepted her offer.
"I'll see you in a few minutes then," Ana ended the call, already heading from the landing bay to find a speeder.