"Off with you, now."

Giggle. "Yes, ma'am." She heads out. 

And returns to the Temple. 

She doesn't track down her teacher right away - she has a few tasks to take care of, and spending some time in the Archives and gardens is pretty good for settling her nerves the rest of the way... But she's not exactly avoiding Lily.

Who finds her soon enough. "You seem to be feeling better," she says, giving Anakin a gentle hug around the shoulders. 

She leans into her teacher. "I am, yeah."

"Thanks for being patient with me."

Squeeze. "We could all use a little patience from time to time."

"Are you okay to talk about it?"

She hums, glances around the garden - currently empty, but... "Maybe back at our suite? It's more private."

There, then - Lily busies herself a little bit with getting a tea she knows helps Anakin relax prepared.

And Anakin gets her thoughts together. 

"...Elesse kissed me," she says, trying not to glance away from her teacher's expression but feeling like she should. 

"Ah." She says the tea down in front of her padawan, sitting on the couch beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. 

"How do you feel about that?"

She relaxes a little.

"Good," she says first, immediately. "She's - she's Elesse. I feel - silly and giddy and like I just had another growth spurt, but I'm tripping over my emotions instead of my limbs. I want - everything with her. I want the future I can see by her side, and I want to help her accomplish her goals, and I just want to be around her. And also kissing her, kissing is nice."

"And... I feel nervous. It could really damage her if a relationship with me got out. And - I am aware she's over forty years older than me, and that she's been a really regular fixture of my life since I was nine, and that she's in a position of power over me, and that she kissed me literally the same day a relationship with me became legal rather than just politically questionable, so she's - probably been interested for longer."

"But - I didn't feel pressured. She didn't do anything without asking or checking in with me, she understands that I might want to leave her someday and she doesn't want to hold me back - and I think she's being honest, there. She encouraged me not to leave the Jedi to join her own team, because - even if this isn't my long term path, it has been good for me, and I'm... Not ready to leave, just yet. And she said I could tell you about our relationship - she'd rather risk that fallout than drive a wedge between me and you."

(That last bit is... Possibly not true, given Elesse is going to kill Lily if Lily doesn't side with her, but it flows with the rest of everything enough that Anakin almost forgets what she's saying isn't the whole story.)

Lily hums, shifting to stroking Anakin's hair. "How much did she do with you?"

Awkward shift. " - I mean, I think emotional entanglements are more questionable than sex here, but, uh." Blush?

She snorts. "You don't strike me as the hook up type, Anakin."

Pout. "I could be."

Lily ruffles her hair. 

Sigh.

"Not, like, full sex, but - "

Very awkward shrug. Anakin does not actually know like... Good words for this. She got sex ed, and it covered the whole gamut of weird things people get up to, but none of it felt connected to her enough for her brain to go 'that is the thing I'm doing' in a way where she can use it to describe her feelings. 

Except the incredibly embarrassing discussion about total power exchange stuff and people doing slavery kink things, and Anakin does not want to bring that up at all ever. Especially not with her teacher when Anakin's baby crush (which lasted she's pretty sure an entire, like, week) is probably what caused that discussion in the first place. 

"I'm pretty masochistic and subby I guess? And was kind of being pushy on, like, biting..."

Hum and squeeze. "Okay. That's something to be careful with, but - if you're enjoying yourself, it's not bad."

Lean. "...You're not upset?"

"Oh, if she hurts you, I won't bother going to the Council or the press. They'll just need to hold emergency elections for a new Chancellor. If she isn't hurting you - Anakin, you're wiser than you think. You know yourself better than anyone, and if something is good for you, then I want you to have that."

"Also, if she starts hurting you, it'd be convenient for going to ground if me having a motive isn't widely known right off the bat."

"...Please don't murder my girlfriend."

"As long as she's meaningfully your girlfriend, I won't." Hair pat.

"Uh huh."

"Well, I'll let you know if I need help there?"

"Alright." One last squeeze, then - going about their days? 

Sure.