"...Yeah, I would, wouldn't I?"

"Probably the main drawback of that is if - the part of me that is Anakin gets too drawn away from your goals..."

"Indeed. Or if too great a change is noticed, based on what you seal away."

"Hm... I think if I don't put up a memory partition at first - there'd still be potential I as Anakin would act weird because of Sith stuff, but I could define the areas of myself differently enough to at least anchor hiding in the Force to only one... And I already have pretty big shifts in expressed personality in different circumstances..."

"I think I'd also be able to... Leave the older memories commonly held? I think they'd drift to associated anyways, there's - already strains of that? Some of my memories feel more - Sangua, some feel more Anakin? But I could access them regardless The main thing would be..."

"I think I'd do - most of existing me, leave with Anakin, split off - me as Sangua primarily from when I became yours? - That might then though risk leaving me with poor access to techniques I learned as a Jedi, on future missions... But if there's good movement between the parts, especially at first, and I have access to the memories, it might not be bad, and I think since my small self shards can do really simple Force techniques, I might be able to have two full cognition streams doing two complicated sets at once... I also think fully partitioning memories would be - bad, anyways, I as a person do very poorly when I don't have full information, and I think that is a bit more fundamental - one area of me might end up less inclined to that, but the way things are drifting is - "

"When I'm inhabiting - being Anakin? In the Temple, away from you, I'm anxious about all the things I don't know even the shape of, in a way I'm not when I'm around you, and I think increasing the - gap between Anakin and Sangua would worsen that?"

"Which - might add up to 'that is a bad idea and I should lean very away from it,' might add up to 'that has a lot of advantages and we should mitigate the bad idea parts, proceed slowly in case it breaks.'"

"I think there are enough advantages to this that we should proceed. Any complications will be manageable. And having more of you could never be a bad thing."

She giggles and kisses her Mistress. 

"Yes, ma'am."

"I think... I'm Sangua, other me should keep the Anakin name..." She pokes into her head, turns the existing divisions around. "I think try to get Anakin leaning into the part where if I'm anxious, I feel safest if you're taking care of and on top of things, rather than - feeling more anxious about not having control... Which can be more my trait, I think, it feels like it's leaning towards that..."

"Anakin should love you, and should be given reasons to love you more - maybe... If I'm the secret one, the one we're anchoring the hiding technique on, Anakin could be the one who meets you for public dates? Then you get to have her, too."

Poke poke.

"Think she'll want to know - at least enough of what's going on to feel secure? More than I already do, though. Or - at least enough to trust that anything she doesn't know is being handled in a non-horrible way..."

"That seems a fair distribution."

"What is going on has a great deal to do with the true nature of the Force and the effect that those who call themselves Jedi have upon it. It is not something they do intentionally, to the best of my knowledge, but neither is it a problem they would be consciously capable of fixing, were their attention directed to it."

"So the Jedi Order itself needs to stop existing?"

"And its doctrine broken, or very much marginalized."

"And killing them is the quickest, easiest way."

Honestly, that sounds pretty reasonable to her, the only problem her desire to get the people she cares about other than her Mistress out alive - and a background hovering anxiety...

Hm.

She pokes that, pokes what will I think when I'm away from here, when I'm back at the Temple, surrounded by the people I'm betraying -

It makes her feel vulnerable. Anxious. Young. Like a child she didn't even get to be, stretched towards adulthoood - 

She loves Elesse, and Elesse is smart and reasonable, but - killing everyone is the most efficient path, isn't it? 

She doesn't really like that thought. 

"...What if the Order broke apart?" she asks, feeling kind of like she did when wanting to contradict Elesse about tricking Lily. But - Elesse had said Anakin knows the Jedi better... And Anakin isn't as good at shatterpoints as her grandmaster, but - she can see them a bit, especially with systems and groups, leaning into the skills she'd originally developed as a saboteur...

"There's a lot of hidden fracture lines. The Council presents a face of consensus, but they argue a lot, and - they're Jedi Masters, they don't let their feelings cloud their judgement, but they're also people, and they don't all like each other."

"And the lines are deeper in the rest of the Temple, and the other Jedi aren't as good at - putting feelings aside in the face of open disagreement, especially when the Councilors aren't around to mediate. I - don't think a schism would be at all hard, and then the splinters wouldn't back each other up as much, so you could pick off the ones who're more stubborn about remaining as Jedi?"

"That would indeed help. But in matters as important and far-reaching as these, it is always better to be sure."

Small nod. "Could we try that first, though?"

"It'll make killing them easier, if nothing else, and - maybe we could get everyone I want to stay alive in the same sect? That'd also make it easier to split off and take away the kids who aren't really set in their ways yet, without - having a sudden massive amount of upset Force sensitive children to deal with... And it'd make it easier to cut them out of politics and to hinder their ability to recruit, even before the schism happens in full."

"We will do what we can, my dear." Hug.

Snuggle! "Thank you, ma'am." She buries her face in Elesse's shoulder. 

"Love you."

Gentle kiss to the top of Anakin's head.

"I love you too, dear."

She smiles and turns to look at Elesse. "Good."

"You're the best Mistress."

"Of course I am."

Kiss!!!

Kiss.

Soft kiss. " - Do you want me to try and be more Sangua again now, Mistress?"

"Do so."

She nods, nuzzling her Mistress, and - mentally casts herself back to the feeling of smug confidence, the dangerous edge to her joy, the thrill and excitement at the thought of being her Mistress's blade - different than the gentle satisfaction she feels now, a very different framing from the servant she currently wants to be -

And she kisses her Mistress again, more insistently. 

"Hello, apprentice."

Wiggle! "Hello, Mistress."