Ani just leans against her Mistress, nodding.

Occlus takes Ani through and continues walking.

Elesse waits a moment before following.

And Naraka brings up the rear, closing the portal behind her.

She's - eyeing Elesse, seeming a bit concerned, actually.

"I would like to find a place to meditate for a few days. Somewhere quiet. Do you know where might be good?"

"Yeah. There's lots of places. If you don't mind a kind of omnipresent you hanging around there's some nice nature spots in this world - there's also some nice places in Glint's domain, but that has an omnipresent me... There's some really pretty, quiet places in Tamriel, though - that's a world kind of attached to Glint's domain. Doesn't have any of us right now."

"That sounds ideal, thank you."

"Okay. I'll bring you there - should I come find you in... Four days?"

"That ought to suffice."

She pauses, biting her lip, and - 

"Are you okay? You're - acting really weird."

"As far as I know, half an hour ago my Padawan, who I raised since she was ten years old, was thirty years younger and trying her very best to kill me. The last thing I remember was her succeeding. This came at the end of a war we had been fighting for almost half a decade and on the heels of the psychic reverberations of the deaths of almost every adult being I knew on a personal level. And then she tells me she is 'sorry' and that she has chained herself at the foot of a dark mirror of what I could have been, after spending twenty-three years in thrall to the man who plunged the galaxy into chaos and darkness."

"So no. I am not 'okay'. And because of this, because I am not the idealized image she has built in her mind over the years, she is further upset. Her teacher is mortal after all, imperfect. If I were the one in the mirror and I knew someone was hurting my Padawan, making her feel this way- well. I am sure you can extrapolate the vengeance that would be wrought from your own relationships. The only reason I am alive is because Anakin asked for it and that woman trusts her to make her own decisions. Therefore, I am waiting to deal with the emotions my resurrection has caused me until I can do so in private, and on my own terms."

"...Oh."

" - I think Ani's not - holding you up to some ideal. I - from my own history - I think she's actually just kind of background trying not to be suicidally regretful, and knows this is a really shitty situation but - she's going to calm down and she's going to be really worried about you."

"And I think she was mostly upset from remembering everything that happened. Not because you weren't - being perfect. Though she probably could've used a hug."

She opens the portal into Tamriel. "I - don't know if that was helpful. Sorry. I'll - leave you alone for a few days."

"Thank you."

She steps through the portal and settles down nearby.

And Naraka closes the portal, leaving her alone (in a rather pretty and comfortable glade by a pool, sheltered by willows and full of butterflies).

Naraka then sighs, goes to let Glint know the new them almost definitely needs therapy (Naraka's found it really helpful, at least), and then finds and flops on her girlfriend.

"Hey sweetheart." Pet pet.

Nuzzle.

"Hey darling."

"The new us have - a bit of drama."

Weirdly familiar drama. Naraka now has a couple more things to work out with Glint...

"Oh dear. And here I hoped to have my life together by the time I turned forty."

She laughs and kisses her girlfriend. "Eh, I think Occlus and Ani mostly do, modulo some therapy... Elesse - the person Ani wanted back, another you - needs some time."

Thoughtful snug.

Hug.

"Are you all right?"

Cuddle.

"I'm - thinking?"

"I'm kind of the me who - has her shit together the least. I think."

"...Kind of sometimes feel like a - bargain bin Hisame. And I think Elesse maybe feels a bit like that, maybe, with - Ani being Occlus's."

"...Also Ani's - trauma - was really similar to mine. Just... Longer. And the way she talks about - submitting - sounds nice - but I dunno I can. At least... Not while my shit's not together."

She pokes Naraka in the ribs. "You're not a bargain bin anyone." Poke. "You're a top shelf you." Poke. "That's the girl I love. The Hisame who's still standing after all the shit her life threw at her, who was given a chance to put herself back together and took it, who's still fighting."

Wiggle. (Her ribs are a bit ticklish.)

"I love you so much."

Kiss.

"Love you too."

Kisses!

(She'll let the others worry about their newcomers, she decides. For now: kisses!)

Elsewhere, the newcomers are doing their own worrying.

Occlus strokes Ani's hair.