Once she was no longer being called on by others, and she felt she'd made—almost—all the rounds to everyone she needed to see now that she was back, Zelina took a small moment to breathe. Even then, she wasn't really pausing in her duties, because she was still aiming to get something done in this small space of time she had to herself. After parting ways with Anakin, Zelina went into Coruscant's market district, managing to blend in so she could avoid any unwanted attention from citizens blaming the Jedi for the war. It was a quick trip, as she only left to get a plain Republic Soldier action figure and some purple paint before making her way back to the Jedi Temple. Once she was back among the safety of the Temple's walls, Zelina relaxed, heading straight for the Jedi Archives. She quietly asked Jocasta Nu for information on healing abilities with the Force, keeping her supplies hidden while she waited patiently for the woman to return with the basics.

Zelina didn't have much time to practice with Padme already in her second trimester, but she could at least gain the knowledge and practice while she could. She'd rather prepare herself as much as she could and fall short than come to Anakin empty handed.

When Jocasta returned with some material for Zelina to begin with, Zelina thanked her and retreated to a quiet, secluded part of the archives. There she settled down, reclining in her seat and starting the recording so she could listen while she worked. A Jedi Master long dead began to speak, going over the fundamental basics of healing with the Force while Zelina pulled out the soldier toy she'd gotten in the market and began to paint, taking great care to keep her lines steady and imitate the markings on her Commander's armor.

She'd do some research on pregnancies to help with this specific situation outside of the Temple—she didn't exactly want anyone to catch her researching that, especially if they jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought perhaps she was the one who was pregnant.

That would be quite the conundrum for her to talk herself out of without exposing Padme.

Not caring to even try to keep track of time, Zelina simply reclined in her seat, continuing with her careful paint job and listening to the holo, losing herself in her tasks and absorbing every word that came from the small recording. Eventually she finished her toy project, setting the small purple and white soldier that looked a lot like Cruiser on the table. She'd even taken the time to work on making the paint look scratched and weathered, like Cruiser's actual armor was, as she had plenty of time to pay attention to that kind of detail. After he was finished, she turned her attention to the holo, settling down in her chair and closing her eyes as she started to meditate, allowing her to focus more closely on the instructions she was hearing.

She'd have to see if she could work in some time in a medbay somewhere to help develop her abilities. For now, the lessons were basic enough she could probably just practice on herself.

After listening to several recordings that Jocasta had given her, Zelina started to feel a familiar presence headed in her direction, one she got the sense was probably looking for her. Pulling herself out of her meditative state, Zelina sat up so she could wait for their impending arrival.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Anakin appeared from one of the aisles, taking in Zelina sitting comfortably in her chair with a small holo of some past Jedi Master lecturing on healing techniques. Once she saw him she sat up, pausing the holo so that she wouldn't miss anything.

Anakin glanced at the holo in what seemed like surprise, gaze settling back on Zelina. "I wasn't expecting you to already be...thank you. You're one of the few people being honest with me right now, it would seem," Anakin said awkwardly, coming to a stop a few steps away.

"Of course, Ani—I said I'd do everything I could to help. But I doubt that's why you hunted me down to my quiet little corner," Zelina said with a slight smile.

Anakin's expression darkened, and he made his way to stand across from her. "I just left a meeting with the Council."

Zelina's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "From the look on your face, I'm guessing it was not a good meeting."

"When I went to meet with Palpatine, he told me he was appointing me as his personal representative on the Jedi Council."

Well...that was unexpected. And suspicious. She was pretty sure upon hearing his statement her eyes narrowed, if only slightly, but she kept her suspicions as to the why or possible motivations behind such a move to herself.

"The Council wasn't happy, I'll bet."

"More than that—they accepted the appointment, and while I'm on the Council, they didn't give me the rank of master. It's never happened before in the history of the Jedi, and it's insulting!" Anakin fumed.

Zelina leaned back, fingers idly playing with her hair as she carefully weighed her thoughts so she didn't say the wrong thing to Anakin.

"It...hasn't happened before, no," Zelina said, letting her surprise at the situation leaking into her tone for him to interpret however he wanted. "I mean...you're on the Council, and the youngest person ever to be on the Council...but not making you a Master..."

"Completely outweighs the rest," Anakin said bitterly.

"I think...I might be able to see why they didn't give you the Master title."

"Really? Oh, do explain," Anakin stated incredulously.

He'd tensed considerably. She had to be very careful.

"This appointment...didn't come from the Council, it was forced upon them. And I think...if you get really technical about it...it's a Senatorial appointment, it's a position in the Senate, really. You're a representative for the Senate appointed by the Chancellor. Not only that, but the Council doesn't give out Mastery because you're on the Council, they give Mastery because of accomplishments and experience. They've always picked Council Members from people with Mastery, they've never been put in a situation that forces them to take a member regardless of Mastery. Mastery has never come with a seat on the Council, it's just always been possessed by its members before being appointed to the Council. Being put on the Council...never meant you would automatically be made a Master. More so since its more of a Senatorial position than a Council position," Zelina finally finished in a slow, careful voice.

Anakin seemed to be flipping through several emotions, a finger raised as he seemed to be considering pointing at her accusingly. "So you're taking their side in this?"

Zelina shook her head. "I'm not taking a side, I'm trying to come up with a viable reason why you're on the Council without being given the rank of Master. Please don't bite my head off for it," Zelina said patiently.

Really, if you want to be mad at someone for being put on the Council without becoming a Master, be mad at Palpatine—he's the one who cornered a reluctant Council and forced your appointment before the Council was ready to make you a Master, she couldn't help but think.

Thankfully she knew better than to express that opinion out loud.

"It sounds a lot like you're picking their side," Anakin returned hotly.

"I'm not taking their side. Force knows I have plenty of issues with the Council myself, Anakin. I'm just analyzing the situation. I do that sometimes, you know," Zelina said with a sigh, standing up from her seat and choosing instead to lean against the table. She folded her arms across her chest as she fixed her gaze back on her friend. "But that's not the only thing that upsets you about all this...is it? I'd understand you getting upset about this, but...not this much, not without there being more to the story."

Anakin's jaw clenched, teeth grinding together as he looked away, a dark expression flickering across his face.

"Anakin, what else is there?" Zelina asked much more seriously after seeing his reaction.

"Obi-Wan asked me...after the meeting, on behalf of the Council...off-record...to spy on Palpatine," Anakin said, voice low and with strong notes of distaste.

Some poor, lost Padawan rounded the corner at that point, spotting the two serious and renowned Jedi Knights having a clearly private conversation. As both Anakin and Zelina's attention turned to the Padawan gripping a holodisk in a now slightly trembling hand, the Padawan made a small squeak and rushed away in the opposite direction. Zelina reached for the holo she'd been listening to and the toy she'd painted, straightening from her spot leaning against the table.

"This is probably a conversation for somewhere a little more private," she murmured, already walking away. She glanced over her shoulder once to make sure Anakin was following before she continued, leading the way back to her Temple Apartment.

Once they were both inside, Zelina put down her things and gestured for Anakin to sit next to her on the couch in the small living area. "You said the Council wants you to spy on Palpatine?" she asked carefully as Anakin lowered himself into the seat beside her.

Anakin nodded. "They only allowed my appointment because they want me to use my friendship with him to feed them information. They think he's up to something, you'd think with the way they're acting he was a Separatist!"

Zelina's fingers drummed against her thigh as she thought over what she wanted to say. Anakin was close to Palpatine, much to her chagrin. That was why she usually avoided talking to Anakin about Palpatine. Anakin was a stalwart defender of Palpatine, and she hated the man. Which also meant Anakin tended to turn a blind eye on some of the things Palpatine did wrong, while Zelina was painfully aware. Not to mention, she didn't like some of the ideas Palpatine put into his head...

"I don't like that look—what are you thinking?" Anakin asked, and Zelina was pulled from her thoughts with the realization she'd been sitting silently while he waited for a reply. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, knowing he wasn't going to like what she had to say. He never did when it came to Palpatine.

"Well...you know how I feel about Palpatine, so just...don't bite me before I finish talking, please?" she said warily. Anakin scowled slightly but held his tongue. That tended to be their policy when it came to Palpatine.

Zelina splayed her hand on the couch between them, staring down at her fingers and speaking slowly as she put her thoughts on Palpatine and the council in the most receivable form for Anakin that she could muster. "The Council's biggest issue right now...is politics. From what I've seen, every time the Council shows some form of corruption or an issue with its ideals and rules, its because they've been far more focused on bending to the will of politics or far too concerned with what the Republic will think about their actions. Or they're more concerned with making the Republic happy than with doing their job. The Jedi are supposed to focus on the people of the Galaxy as a whole, not just republic citizens—or sometimes politicians. How many times have we been stopped from doing what we felt was right because of politics—or at least someone tried to stop us."

"I appreciate knowing I'm not the only one questioning the Council, but I don't see what that has to do with the Chan—" Anakin started to say, but Zelina held up a hand to cut him off.

"Let me finish. Palpatine putting you on the Council as his representative makes me uneasy, to put it mildly. If politics are what's wrong with the Council, then there needs to be less political interference. Palpatine trying to put eyes and ears in the Council...to me, it sounds like he's trying to take control of the Council even more than it already is, and like I said, politics is what's wrong with the Council. The Jedi were never supposed to be a part of a governing body, they were supposed to be their own separate thing. This doesn't bode well."

Anakin sounded...well, exasperated was one word for it.

"He's not trying to take over anything, he's just trying to end this war as quickly and efficiently as possible without politics muddling the process. If everyone would stop looking for ulterior motives and constantly trying to undermine him—" Anakin started to rant, but Zelina cut him off.

"Anakin, Palpatine is the Chancellor. Him trying to get directly involved is almost the definition of politics muddling the process. And he's been doing that a lot lately."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just look at the Republic, Anakin! It's hardly a republic anymore—we're only a step or two away from having a dictatorship!" Zelina returned in exasperation, surprising herself by being the first one to be agitated enough to rise off the couch and start pacing. "The people aren't being heard in the senate anymore—its just one giant mess of personal agendas. Have you talked to Padme or Satine about what's going on in the Senate? Did you already forget what almost happened to Satine and Mandalore when she was trying to keep the Republic from interfering in an internal affair? How everyone ignored her, ruler of Mandalore, and were going to force their way into occupying the planet? Voices aren't forces of change, anymore, they're suggestions largely being ignored. Not only that, but Palpatine—I know you don't want to hear it, but all these emergency powers are far too much power to be placing with one person. And not all of them are even needed anymore. Now, the war is tipping largely in our favor, Dooku's been killed, Grievous is on the run, and instead of power starting to be given back, Palpatine's taking even more control. He should be starting to give power back and getting ready to step down as Chancellor, not taking more!"

Apparently in her ranting she'd struck a nerve, because Anakin rose from his seat and started to make his way briskly to the door. Zelina sighed, suddenly feeling bad for crossing the line to the point she was driving him out of her apartment.

"Anakin..."

"Usually I can talk to you, Zelina. But when it comes to the Chancellor..." Anakin words were biting as he shook his head. "You hate him too much to listen."

"Ani," she said in a much softer voice as the door slid open. It was a small comfort to see he at least paused to here whatever it was she wanted to say before he walked out. "I did listen...and I hate that they've put you in this position. It's not right, and I wish there was something I could do. But the Council aren't the only ones who put you in this situation."

Anakin held still for a moment, his back to Zelina so she couldn't see his face.

"The Council's going to be calling you in, soon. I just thought you should know," Anakin said steadily. With that, he left.

Zelina groaned in frustration once the door shut behind him, collapsing back onto her couch and staring up at the ceiling. As soon as Palpatine came into their conversation, things were bound to go south, and she hated it. She hated Palpatine more, but she hated the rift the topic of Palpatine tended to cause between her and Anakin as well.

And now, with Luke on the way and that darkness she'd been warned of repeatedly looming over them, was not the time for rifts between herself and Anakin.

********************************************

After Anakin stormed out of her apartment, Zelina took the rest of the day to calm down and get back on track with everything she needed to do. The Ruusan prisoners were still being transferred and needed her help, researching healing for Padme's sake was a constant goal, she still needed to talk to Obi-Wan, the Council would be calling for her any moment now, and now she was worried about Anakin even more than she had been before their argument.

The first thing on today's menu, however, was to see the Ruusan prisoners. She wasn't going to be able to see them before their transfer, so when she left for the visit, it was to head for Coruscant's maximum security prison.

The thought of Malachi and the others being locked up in the facility still made her disposition instantly sour, but if she was lucky, and Padme managed to work her magic despite Palpatine and his corrupt senate, she might at least get them put back in a regular prison, which would at least be a step back in the right direction.

Coruscant's traffic was terrible with the morning rush, including the route to the security prison, to Zelina's mild surprise. Military vehicles mingled with city and citizen vehicles on both sides, since this was the section of Coruscant that included the prisons and military bases. There was actually a prison transport a few speeders ahead of her, and she wondered briefly if that was just a regular prisoner transfer, or the vehicle holding the Ruusanians.

The maximum security prison was within view when the traffic thickened as they reached an intersection, with Zelina's lane currently possessing the right of way. Her speeder lurched forward from a temporary stop as they moved forward, and up ahead she saw a speeder dip low out of traffic, headed in the opposite direction under her lane. She straightened, trying to see what the speeder was doing as the vehicle came directly underneath the prison transport, jerked upwards—

BOOOOM!

Knowing she wasn't going to swerve or brake out of the way of the pile up or the explosion, Zelina dug herself into her seat as well as she could and barrel rolled diagonally, heading down in an attempt to avoid the worst of the plume of flames that ripped through the sky where the prisoner transport was. Once she had straightened her vehicle again and she judged she was a safe distance from the explosion and the speeders that had crashed around it, Zelina took in the sight of the flaming transport plunging towards Coruscant's surface. Battle instincts had Zelina headed towards danger instead of away, and she angled her speeder downwards to chase after the fiery mass.

There was another, slightly smaller explosion as the vehicle impacted with the ground—or what could be considered ground on Coruscant—and Zelina landed her speeder a little ways away, jumping out and shooing away any civilians who were nearby with shouted commands. Still-flaming debris littered the ground all around, debris Zelina sidestepped as she searched the wreckage for any sign of survivors.

She didn't feel anything within the ship—not even the slightest pulse of life. Anyone who had been inside the transport didn't make it. There were a few civilians she could sense pained signatures from in the surrounding area, but the ship itself contained no life.

"Can you stand?" she asked a young man with a soft voice, gently grasping his arm and pulling him to his feet. He was coated in soot with blood running down his head, but looked relatively fine as he gave her a slow nod in reply to her question. "There are other people injured from the crash, can you help me find them all, maybe get them away from the wreck."

The man mumbled something that sounded like agreement, making his way towards a woman lying motionless on the ground and kneeling to check on her. Zelina made her way to the other side of the wreckage, getting anyone who was well enough to help her round up those too injured to do much on their own, bringing them all a safe distance away from the smoking wreckage.

Once she was sure everyone was out of the way, she moved to investigate the destroyed transport. It took her a moment, but after she'd climbed atop the transport—which was lying on its side—she worked on prying open the door to see the death toll inside. It took her a few moments considering the door had been damaged—along with everything else—in the explosion.

With what she'd witnessed right before the explosion, Zelina was positive foul play was involved. Maybe if she knew how many had been killed in a foul play explosion, she could try and get an investigation into the incident bumped higher up on the priority list.

The door opened with a scream of metal that she ignored, bracing her hands on the door and the side of the ship as she stuck her head inside to take in the casualties.

There were a few Republic troops, of course, and the prisoners...were numerous.

And familiar.

Zelina's breath caught in her throat, especially when she saw the smallest burned form that had been thrown to the back of the transport in the crash.

Zelina recoiled as if she'd been stabbed, a hand flying to muffle the cry that tried to escape her as she rolled sharply away from the door, back flat against the still-burning transport. Her breath caught several times in her throat as she tried to fight the anguished reaction that was ripping through her chest, eyes burning.

This transport had been carrying her Ruusan prisoners.

Now they were all dead.

Malachi included.

Because of sabotage.

*******************************************

Several hours later, Zelina found herself waiting to see the Council, her expression blank, consciously numb, subconsciously furious and impatient to see justice dealt. The Council no doubt wanted to talk to her about something other than the bombing—she was going to go ahead and call it just that, after what she'd seen—since they'd wanted to talk to her before today. Zelina, on the other hand, now had her own agenda to address in this meeting.

Zelina's eyes gazed off at nothing in particular, her expression shifting to a cloudy, far-away look as she rested her chin in her hand, replaying the moments before the explosion in her head. It had been a civilian speeder that had triggered the explosion, and considering they'd purposely swerved out of their lane and collided with the transport, she knew it hadn't been an accident. It had been premeditated, intentional, and attack.

And she was determined to find whoever was responsible.

The doors to the Council Room opened, prompting Zelina to rise from where she'd been sitting, gradually coming back from her thoughts and into the present. Once she'd reoriented herself, she stepped inside.

It was strange seeing Anakin in a council seat, whether she'd already known he'd been placed there or not. She could feel the weight of the worry in his eyes fixed on her—Obi-Wan's as well—but she largely ignored it, instead keeping her attention on Yoda and Windu, since they were basically the heads of the Council.

"Knight Du'ahn," Windu acknowledged as she came to a standstill in the middle of the room. Zelina gave the customary bow, purposely avoiding addressing anyone by the title of Master, since Anakin was in the room and she didn't want to draw any attention to the very detail that irked Anakin the most.

They'd already hit a bit of a snag regarding their relationship she'd have to fix, she didn't want to add another one, no matter how slight.

As she straightened, she spoke up, seizing the brief silence where no one really had the reserved right to speak before her speaking up could be considered rude or they could speak first and she would be required to remain silent.

"If I may say something before we start...I'd like permission to investigate the explosion that occurred today," Zelina requested in an even voice, gaze carefully roaming across the faces of the Jedi Masters she knew fairly well. Windu, Yoda, and Obi-Wan, of course, as well as Plo Koon, Mundi, and Shaak Ti.

"Coruscant authorities determined the crash was an accident, Knight Du'ahn."

Zelina bit her tongue to hold back a snide remark about corruption in Coruscant at Master Kolar's comment, instead choosing to combat the official statement with her own. "With all due respect, Master, I was there—no matter what the Coruscant authorities say, that wasn't an accident. The speeder purposely connected with that transport and triggered an explosion. This was a targeted attack—someone wanted to destroy that transport and kill those prisoners."

"Even if that's the case, we can't grant you permission to investigate," Windu expanded. "This is a Republic matter, not a Jedi one. You will have to take your statement to the Coruscant authorities, so they can launch their own investigation."

"Master, they were my prisoners," Zelina returned in an even tone, trying to keep the displeasure at the turn the conversation was taking out of her voice.

"They were Republic prisoners, charged with treason," Master Mundi added.

"Wrongly accused of treason," Zelina answered almost immediately. She cast her gaze around the room, looking to Obi-Wan and Yoda for back up. From the looks on their faces, even if they believed her amiss, they weren't going to back her. "They were innocent of the severe crimes placed on them by people who wanted to make them a sacrifice to appease the public!"

"I'm afraid that doesn't matter, Du'ahn," Plo Koon said calmly. "It rests in Senatorial Jurisdiction. You can't investigate this unless you are extended an invitation to do so."

Damn politics, Zelina thought, though she took care not to let the thought slip out into the open in the spoken form. Clearly, the Council was rather set on an official decision of not our problem, and she wasn't going to be able to sway that decision. Glancing at Anakin as she hid her disdain and irritation at her request being snubbed, she was sure she saw sympathy and annoyance (aimed at the Counsel, not her) flicker across his face as well.

At least she wasn't the only one. Though Anakin was already upset with the Council, so he might have been annoyed simply on principle.

That's not giving Anakin nearly enough credit, Zelina. He trusts you, of course he believes you, of course he's taken your side in this.

Right?

He hadn't spoken up to back her. Then again...perhaps he was painfully aware of the fact the Council only let him join to appease Palpatine and get a plant on the Chancellor. Maybe he didn't think his opinion held any sway?

Even then, Anakin tended to speak his mind, and they had just had a falling out of sorts over Palpatine.

She was overthinking this. Anakin wasn't that petty when it came to Zelina—they'd always disagreed about Palpatine, and that had never hurt their relationship before.

Besides, whether the Council backed her or not, she was going to investigate this on her own. She'd just have to be a little more careful since she didn't have Council sanction to do so, and as the Council had said, this was Coruscant and Republic jurisdiction, not Jedi.

When Zelina didn't continue to argue and only shifted her stance, bowing her head to show she acknowledged the Council's decision, they moved on to the reason she had been called to see them in the first place.

"While you're on Coruscant, we'd like you to help train the younglings here at the Temple," Windu informed her. Zelina's eyebrows rose significantly at the statement.

"Am I not going back to the front-lines?" Zelina asked.

"You will, eventually," Obi-Wan reassured her, speaking for the first time since she'd stepped inside. "Your men are finishing up their business on Ruusan. Once they've returned, you'll have a brief reprieve before you're assigned to another campaign."

"Until then, assist teaching the younglings, you will," Yoda added with a hum.

"The war has us spread thin, which means we're short on free Jedi to teach the young ones. Those not fighting in the war, even temporarily, will be needed. Teaching the next generation is just as important as this war," Plo Koon explained.

That was understandable, but considering her record with the Council...

This isn't about helping to train the younglings, this is about getting me to take on a Padawan. They're so bent on me taking that next step as a Jedi, they're going to throw me in with the younglings in the hopes I'll pick one to train.

But with the way they'd presented the job to her, she couldn't turn it down—they'd asked her to do her part in taking care of the younger generation of Jedi, not to pick one to train.

Great, the political minefield has officially shifted into the realm of the Jedi.

"Of course," Zelina said with a small tilt of her head. "When do I start?"

Zelina felt a soft nudge from Anakin, a trickle of incredulity that she wasn't fighting back. She returned the bump with reassurance. She wasn't turning her back on training Luke, she was just going to satisfy the Council by making them believe she would actually consider picking a Padawan among the younglings they'd put her in charge of.

"In a few days—we'll give you time to learn where they are in their training and come up with lesson plans of your own," Windu told her.

Zelina bowed, and when none of the Masters expanded on her assignment or introduced something else, she took that to mean she was dismissed.

She could feel Anakin and Obi-Wan watching her leave, but she didn't react. If they wanted to talk to her, they'd find her.

Until then, she had things to do.

***********************************************

"I'm sad to say I'm not even surprised."

Padme, Satine, and Zelina were collectively gathered in Satine's living room, discussing Zelina's current suspicions about what had happened to the Ruusan civilians.

Hopefully they would even be able to talk about what they were going to do about it. Zelina wanted to recruit both women's help, especially since she knew she was going to be getting into some political entanglements if she was going to be investigating something that she had no right to be looking at.

Other than they were her responsibility first, and someone had murdered them in cold blood with the incident in the process of being swept under the rug.

It was Satine who had spoken after hearing Zelina's recounting of the accident, the authority's verdict, and how she'd been blocked from investigating herself. The woman was thoughtfully swirling the liquid in her drink after making her comment, allowing it to linger between the three of them again.

"Zelina...are you aware of what's going on in the senate right now?" Satine suddenly inquired, momentarily surprising Zelina with the switch in topic.

"I've been on the frontlines for a while now, so I don't know all the details..." Zelina said carefully. "But I know Palpatine's only been collecting more and more power, despite the recent turn in the war efforts. And Anakin was just appointed to the Jedi Council as Palpatine's personal representative. If you want me to go into the decline of the Senate since the beginning of this war, I'm afraid we're going to be here for a while."

"Mm, so you are paying attention. Good...I'm afraid not many are, these days," Satine appraised.

Zelina shrugged. "What's going on in the political landscape is just as important as the battles. Especially since the politics tend to influence where the next battle is."

"What was it you told me when you wanted to learn more about politics? 'I don't much care for them, but I should probably at least understand their basics,' was it?" Padme asked.

"Oh, come on, ladies, don't gang up on me now—that hardly seems fair," Zelina said with a faint smile. They ceded in their teasing—for the moment—as Zelina returned to seriousness.

"Someone's trying to cover up what happened to my prisoners. Or to at least bury the incident so there doesn't have to be justice given to them."

"Many people are tired of this war—and more and more lash out in anger every day," Padme said with a sigh. "The Ruusans were people the Republic could actually see punished, Separatist fighters that weren't droids—they were clearly meant to be thrown to the public to appease them a while longer. Justice was never meant to come into play with them...perhaps this was the plan all along. Make the Ruusans vulnerable to attack in public so someone frustrated with the war could act out?"

"And now they're being shielded. The officials won't even admit that it wasn't an accident! There was a child on that transport, and this bombing is being sanctioned!" Zelina fumed, struggling to keep her anger from boiling over into outrage. "I don't even recognize the Republic anymore."

Silence followed her announcement, Satine and Padme sharing a look while Zelina stewed in her thoughts.

"What are you going to do about it?" Satine asked. There was no question as to whether she would do something—just what that something was. Zelina wasn't one for inaction—not really. She could wait patiently to determine a better course of action, but inaction as a whole? Never.

"For now, I just want to try and get them a semblance of justice. Which means finding whoever's responsible for that bombing. Or at least understanding what happened in the first place," Zelina answered.

"That won't be easy," Padme remarked seriously. Zelina only returned her worry with a smirk.

"When is it ever?"

She rolled her eyes. "I can see Anakin's been such a positive influence on you."

"Who's to say I didn't influence him, hmm?"

"I hope you're not planning on looking into this alone," Satine stated, setting down her glass.

"What? No. I might be a tad reckless, but I'm not stupid...I was hoping you two would help me," Zelina said softly, looking between the two politicians.

"It won't be easy, but I'll see what I can dig up," Padme answered with a nod.

"My days in the Senate may be waning, but I can still make myself useful," Satine added. "You do your part, and we shall do ours."

Zelina smiled.

"It's a deal, then."