Uh.

She was not anticipating that, but, also, she can tell who Ani noticed immediately before freaking out, and Tobi is very good at sensing connections between people -

Apparently including alts of people.

"...We have interdimensional visitors, some people mirror across universes, and they're all sensors. So - uh, flashback?"

That makes her more watchful waiting, but - less worried.

She just sighs.

"Unexpected memories, yes. On... several counts." She nods at Chihiro. "I trained a girl with her face, once."

She shifts, slightly uneasy.

Something noticeably protective flares in her.

"Mirror isn't the same as copy," she says, eyes a bit narrow. 

"No," Occlus says. "It is not. The woman I knew is long dead. One of the unspoken perils of living to advanced age, I am afraid."

"...Oh."

Chihiro should never, ever be dead, a mirror of her or otherwise. 

"...I need a soul to - be relevantly in reach to resurrect them, so. It'd probably take a lot of work to figure out, but - I can try, for her."

"I thank you for the thought."

...There is a lot of conflicting information in her environment right now, and even if she knew how to process it - 

Her Mistress is going to make the decisions, here, and processing stuff necessary to major decisions is - hard, like this. But there's a weird noise in her head, different from how Ani usually feels when quasi-dissociated. 

Ani doesn't want things, but getting her somewhere calm might be helpful. 

She's shifting from wary to concerned.

(...That woman feels familiar.)

Occlus continues soothing Ani through the Force.

"But perhaps we can speak more later. At the moment... my wife needs some time alone."

"I can get everyone up to speed here, and if everyone's okay with it we can go ahead on into Kiri - and then you can let the gate guards know when you want an escort in?"

"I think that would be best."

She nods.

And - onward towards Kiri with everyone but Occlus and Ani.

And Occlus settles down gently, with Ani in her lap, stroking her hair.

"Ani. Breathe with me. You remember how to do this. Find what's wrong and show me. We will fix it together."

Her mind opens to her Mistress.

The strongest thing - the thing that shocked her into the worst episode Occlus has ever seen -

That girl had a near perfect echo of Palpatine's Force signature. Even her emotions, how they curled only subtly through the Force - her possesiveness of the other girl - 

Ani - 

Has no idea what to do with that information, and she isn't currently processing all the many conflicting things, there, her mind seizing only onto similarities -

She had a flashback, a vivid memory of Palpatine when he first started befriending her, when she first started liking him. She's still not well anchored in time. The Force seems to think she wants visions of Palpatine now, and Ani can't process anything enough to stop it.

(This is not something she thinks about, ever.)

Occlus has a different opinion than the Force about what visions her Ani wants, and the will to make it so. There are happier times on the way back to the present.

Aggressive cuddles. 

...She hasn't actually done much detangling of her relationship with Palpatine or her feelings about - everything, beyond 'it sucked.' She's encountered and dealt with plots of his, dug through his artifacts and records - but that's someone a stranger to him could do. 

...Ani had heard the girl's words. Seen her wariness but not aggression, her protectiveness of those around her, her immediate offer to throw significant effort at resurrecting a mirror of - someone close to her. 

She's getting to where she can process that, albeit sideways.

(Her thoughts are unfolding in real time in front of Occlus. She wants to be ashamed of these ones. She has an old fear attached firmly to them.)

The part of her mind entirely dissociated from this is certain she would have found the girl charming, would have liked her, if not for that - shock.

She'd liked Palpatine, once.

Ani has no need to be ashamed of her thoughts. They are simply what they are.

He hurt her.

She kept liking him, even - after. She couldn't not.

He was good at being liked. She's - disturbed, by that. Ashamed still.

And she's probably going to be leery of whether this - mirror of him - is the same way, once she processes that far.

She was young, then. Ani has more people now, better ones. Ones she can trust to keep her within herself.

Snuggle. 

No one else saw Palpatine for what he was, not until it was too late, but -

None of them were Occlus. 

Indeed not.

But she is here now and will guard her Ani jealously from those who would wrong her.

Smile and nuzzle. 

And...

This isn't Ani's world, and - there's two local alts of each of them. Maybe one would know more.