I CHOOSE YOU: star wars¹

thirty-four

Rena strode down the staircase of the Jedi Temple with Obi-Wan and Anakin beside her. "What kind of nonsense is this?" Anakin huffed as Rena merely blinked at his statement. "Put me on the Council and not make me a Master? It's never been done in the history of the Jedi. It's insulting."

"Oh, calm down, Anakin. You have been given a great honor." Obi-Wan told his former apprentice as they came to a stop. "To be on the Council at your age- it's never happened before." Rena coughed with and annoyed expression on her face. "Well, hardly ever."

"The fact of the matter is you are too close to the Chancellor." Rena told the Skywalker. "I was rejected the first time I applied to be a Knight because of my relations with the Republic Assassins. I cut all ties with them. That's why I'm a Master. You should know by now that the Council doesn't like it when either parry interferes in Jedi affairs."

"I swear to you, I didn't ask to be put on the Council." Anakin told the two Masters.

"But it's what you wanted and you got it." Rena responded haughtily. "You should be grateful for what you have. Besides, your friendship with Chancellor Palpatine seems to have paid off." Rena smirked as she continued walking, the two men following behind her.

"That has nothing to do with this." Anakin insisted as Rena frowned.

"The only reason the Council has approved your appointment is because the Chancellor trusts you." Obi-Wan slowed by one of the numerous windows overlooking the city.

"And?" Anakin questioned him and the two Jedi Masters looked guiltily at each other.

"Anakin, we are on your side. We didn't want to put you in this situation." Obi-Wan told the Skywalker as he looked into the distance.

"What situation?" Anakin asked cluelessly a hint of urgency in his tone. Obi-Wan and Rena locked eyes befire turning to face him.

"The Council wants you to report on all the Chancellor's dealings. They want to know what he's up to." Rena walked towards the window.

"They want me to spy on the Chancellor?" Anakin asked incredulously. "But that's treason."

"We are at war, Anakin." Rena told the boy seriously as she leaned on the wall.

"Why didn't the Council give ne this assignment when we were in session?" Anakin snapped anger present in his tone.

"This assignment is not to be on record." Obi-Wan informed him.

"The Chancellor is not a bad man, Obi-Wan. Rena, you've met him before. He knows your mother. He knows my sister." Rena looked down at the mention of her mother. "He befriended me. He's watched out for me ever since my sister and I arrived here."

"And that is why you must help us." Rena looked up with a small forced smile. "You saw what he did to my mother. My aunts. What his war did to my father. Anakin, our allegiance is to the Senate, not to its leader."

"Who, might I add," Obi-Wan cut in with a frown. "Has managed to stay in office long after his term has expired."

"The Senate demanded that he stay longer." Anakin defended the older man.

"Yes, but use your feelings, Anakin." Obi-Wan told the boy as Rena remained silent.

"Something is out of place. Anyone could see that." Rena said forcefully as she moved away from the window as Anakin moved closer to it.

"You're asking me to do something against the Jedi Code," Anakin sighed as he crossed his arms. "Against the Republic, against a mentor and a friend. That's what out of place here. Why are you asking this of me?"

"The Council is asking you, not us." Rena huffed as she locked eyes with Anakin before walking away from them with anger in her step.
******

Zelena and Anakin sat together on a sofa as Anakin gently caressed her growing stomach. "Sometimes I wonder what's happening to the Jedi Order. I think this war is destroying the principles of the Republic."

Zelena blinked before speaking cautiously. "Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side?"

"What do you mean?" Anakin's gaze snapped to meet hers.

"What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists," Zelena thought back to her previous conversations with the Chancellor. "And the Republic has become the very evil we've been fighting to destroy?"

"I don't believe that. And you're sounding like a Separatist, just like your sisters and mother." Zelena narrowed her eyes.

"And your sister." She added shortly. "They were spies, for us, you know that." Zelena looked down and then back at her husband. "This war represents a failure to listen. Now you're closer to the Chancellor than anyone. Please, ask him to stop the fighting and let diplomacy resume."

"Don't ask me to do that." Anakin said angrily as he stood from the couch. "Make a motion in the Senate, where that kind of a request belongs."

"What is it?" Zelena asked him timidly.

"Nothing." Anakin told her quietly as he looked at the sunset.

"Do do this." Zelena stood to comfort him with a calm demeanor. "Don't shut me out. Let me help you." She took a hold of his arm and turned him to face her. "Hold me. Like you did by the lake on Naboo. So long ago, when there was nothing but our love." Anakin wrapped his arms around his wife. "No politics, no plotting, no war."
******

Zarina looked up from her desk at the sight of Amalia coming through the door. "Oh, Amalia, you're alright." She stood and embraced the woman quickly. "How was Utapau?"

"Too dry a climate for my tastes. Almost as tragic as Jakku or Tatooine. And General Grievous is not the most appealing individual to be around." Amalia joked and the two shared a laugh. "The Jedi Council will want to question us, I assume."

"On the contrary. They said our work was between us and the Chancellor exclusively. He pardoned us, you see." Zarina chuckled at Amalia's response. "Quite unlike the Jedi to not investigate those who had left the Order."

"None of us belonged there anyways." Amalia told her. "I heard that Rena is on the Council now."

"Astrid will not be pleased." Zarina mused as she tapped her nails on the table.

"You are quite right on the one, Zar. Quite right indeed."