Softly: "Of course."

"You've made a lot of progress today, but - healing's never a one day process. Sometimes not even a one decade process."

"But I'll get there, someday."

And - for the first time since she was a child -

She believes that.

"Yeah. You will."

She holds out her hand.

"Come on. Let's get you back to your Mistress."

She takes it.

And they're back in Ellayania's world, near Occlus.

With a small pile of books, including the one Ani'd been reading.

"You seem better."

"I feel better," she says, before giving her alt a quick hug. "Got some perspective on myself."

Laugh. "And poetry! Poetry's good for your soul, you know. Drives you a bit mad."

She grins, more softly, at them both, squeezing Ani's hand. "I can leave you two alone, though."

"I think that would be appreciated. Thank you."

She lets go of her alt and then vanishes.

"Come here, pet..."

Ani obeys, happy, eager - wanting Occlus, desperately.

Occlus is only too happy to oblige her.

"I am very proud of you," she whispers. "My pet is a good girl."

!!!!!

She squirms, delighted.

(She loves Occlus so so much - )

(And it's strange, because - she was only talking to her child self, not to the Anakin who had learned how amazing it was to not be trapped in her own head, but - )

(She can feel the Force so much more. Remember things she used to do with it.)

"Mistress - I want to give you - me, let you have my thoughts," she says. "I'm yours - everything I am is yours - "

"Of course you are. Show me."

She reaches out - easily, like she's been doing this her whole life - 

She loves Occlus, of course. That's the main thing on her mind right now. She really adores Occlus - 

- There's secondary stuff, too. Glint is nice, though Ani's really only interacted with her as Lord Sheogorath. Has good taste in poetry, or a good ability to predict Ani's taste in poetry - Ani used to love poems so much, she forgot about it until Sheogorath reminded her, she should find poems that make her think of Occlus - perhaps try to write some - 

- Sheogorath showed her a metaphorical shape of her mind. Allowed her to interact with herself, frozen in time from before she met Elesse, but - aware. (Memories of young Anakin bubble up.) Baby Anakin was cute and terrifying and lonely and - Ani appreciates, remembering her - she's so much happier with Occlus, though, and Ani's happy that she would've approved of Occlus, even as that vicious child - 

- Ani's worried about Elesse, still, but less than she was - she's reassured more, now, that things will get better - 

- She thinks that child she'd been had skills she lost in becoming a Jedi - and perhaps healing will involve remembering some of those, though hopefully they're not too attached to her old viciousness - she really loves being Occlus's, and doesn't want any of her old armor between them - 

- She wants to help Sheogorath develop a Madness Code, that sounds like a lot of fun, actually, and - 

- Ani loves fulfilling Occlus's desires, loves working towards her children's dreams, but it seems - nice - to have a few projects tied just to what she finds fun - to relearn how to do want things for herself - 

The only proper response is a thorough kissing.

Yes definitely she loves Occlus so much - it's very unfortunate constantly kissing Occlus would be inconvenient - 

(Occlus can, apparently, kiss her until she stops thinking.)

Which is an entirely delightful experience, at both ends.

Meanwhile:

It's quiet here. Unfamiliar, uninhabited. Just what she needed, in other words. Enough outside to ground her without distracting from the inside.

(Not that she would mind the distraction, especially. This task promises to be unpleasant. How much easier if she had an excuse to simply not-)

She takes note of this thought and tucks it away with the others of its kind. She will take things in turn. She schools her breath into a regular rhythm, the familiar habit coming easily.

Begin, then with the end. An argument. Tempers worn ragged by long years of war, of too much time spent moving without clearing her head. Her failure here, she acknowledges. There was always something else to do, but she should have made the time to recognize and address her emotions.

Then, in the midst of heated words, a hand twitched to a saber hilt. That single spark was enough, for two as sensitive they. There was anger, yes, and the shock of betrayal, the hint of fear. But also... Anakin was always beautiful when she fought. To see her at the other end of the blade, with that deadly intent was...

...Saddening.

And there is the key, the final piece of the puzzle that lets her take her feelings of the duel, accept them, and let them go. It is that swoop in her gut that places the others in their context. She loved her Padawan. She did not want to kill her.

She lets that fill her before breathing it out.

And then the resurrection. Anakin's grief, the memory made newly raw. Her own mindset, still trapped half in the fight. She was unnecessarily hostile, blindly lashing out, trading hurt for hurt. She understands now why, and does not approve. Anakin's perspective is easier for her to see now. She allows the full measure of sorrow, rage at the Sith, things she was too confused to grasp fully at the time. Allows it, and breathes it out.

Then... Occlus. She had sensed something of the woman, and shut her reaction down. (What she sensed was sent on purpose. That's what she would have done.) She has a measure of her: icy control of a pit of passion. Not festering, but seething. A different approach than her own, but the same in that no stagnation is permitted. Occlus's is perhaps better in that it does not require calm meditation to maintain. And maybe- better matched to Anakin, as well.

That hurts.

She breathes.

This is something she does not want to face. Anakin is- no longer her Padawan. No longer the same girl and young woman she knew, but more than that-

She failed her, when she let her face the war alone.

If Anakin has found someone new to support her, to lean on, that is her right. She should be happy for her, that she has found a way to keep living.

Breath.

She is happy for her.

Breath.

She lets herself sink into the pulse of the Force, mind traveling idly along its currents, exploring the strange whorls and eddies of this new world unburdened, until someone comes to disturb her.

Naraka does, eventually - she's still pretty concerned. She portals in at the edge of the glade, quietly watching Elesse.

Elesse opens her eyes calmly to look at Naraka. Her posture and general demeanor is much more relaxed. At peace.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, I do believe I am."