'Though I might only want you watching.'

'Hmm. That seems acceptable.'

'Unsurprisingly.'

'You know me so well, padawan.'

'I like to know my possessions.'

'I am overjoyed to be numbered among those.'

<3!

<3333!

Mmmmmm lying here drifting in a haze of how much she and Elesse love each other is very nice. Good thing they don't have anywhere to be just yet...

The perks of setting their own schedule.

And being their own first mate. 

Indeed.

Still, the galaxy waits for no being, and with or without them, it will spin on...

And in amongst that spinning is the war. Even as peripheral as Elesse and Anakin are, news of it is hard to escape. It grinds onwards, crushing fringe worlds to dust and sapping away the will of Republic citizens to resist the offers dangled in front of them to trade away their freedoms for the promise that the war will end sooner. Military checkpoints, blockades, tariffs, production quotas, centrally-appointed sector governors, bounties for informing on your neighbors... (And from an outsider perspective, stepping back and squinting- one might almost predict the paths the front lines take by how willing the various systems are to bow to the dictates of the Chancellor's office.)

Media coverage of the Jedi grows increasingly unfavorable. Starting as the opinions of marginal commentators and professional contrarians, the ever-growing cost and duration of the war is painted as the fault of its generals. Whether through indifference, incompetence, or (this whisper creeps slowly, insidiouly) malice, the Jedi will not bring an end to the war. They lack the will to fight the battles, to make the necessary sacrifices. They enjoy the power, the command, the ability to stomp on everything in their way and will not give it up. They just don't care about the common people, lost in meaningless religious dreams and irrational witch hunts for mythological enemies. All these theories and more are espoused. No matter who you are, there's some theory that will pander to your preconceptions to convince you the Jedi are in the wrong.

And then one night, several months later, the Force convulses in shock and sudden pain.

- What?!?!

She reaches out, half on instinct -

Death, betrayal, dispassion-

Good soldiers follow orders.

It echoes through her - 

- And she rises to meet it, furious - hurt - a gaping hole is being ripped in her, in the Force - 

She leaves Elesse behind, Elesse's body, except for a small tendril of her awareness - an overwhelming light - wrapped around her protectively, buffering her and at the same time very loosely anchoring Anakin to somewhere -

And she reaches for the painfully familiar minds of her girls, of every soldier who's ever served under her - most of them are even still alive -

But there's nothing in those familiar minds for her to grab. No watchfulness for her to nudge, no courage for her to flame.

Just the mission, and their orders, and the traitors before their weapons -

Anakin is bigger than herself. Bigger than anything. As big as every mind she steps into, spreading rapidly from the familiar ones to their sisters, rendered eerily similar -

There's nothing for her to grab in them. But she is them, anyways, she's every mind she touches, and she's every fragment of their thoughts that isn't swamped by that horrid echo, she's every burning ember in the Force - 

Once, she might've needed the Dark Side for this. Might've needed to abandon everything she's clung to. 

That was before she killed herself. Before she learned how to become someone else. Before she realized what another's true submission means. 

And it's not just her girls who trust her,  who she owns. It's Elesse's, because Elesse's hers and so too is everything Elesse owns - 

And Elesse commanded more people than her, even if at a remove. 

And Anakin, now - 

Anakin is not a good soldier, and she doesn't fucking care about orders. 

She lowers every weapon she holds in sync, a number of weapons that would be impossible to wrap her head around if she didn't have the same number of heads. And she looks at the Jedi she's followed, that she's fought alongside, trusted or resented or loved or hated - she looks at those who have already died of trusting her, and at those who yet live - 

And every mouth thunders, "Run."

(Because there are far more soldiers in the army than her. Because something is rotten here. Because she never would have done this without a command clawing at her soul.)

(Because she's not the only one fighting, here.)

There's a dark wellspring of power at the center of the Republic, its shadowy tendrils wrapped tightly around the Jedi Temple. Anakin has the most trouble existing there, despite owning a lot of the bodies stationed near or on Coruscant - 

A deep wellspring that has been doing this for far longer than her, which winds through backdoors in Anakin's self perception, makes her stumble, slow down - turns the bodies it controls against hers -

Fuck OFF.

The dark tendrils laugh. 

This is an impressive success. I see your death has done wonders for you.