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ANAKIN

Yet wherefore did the Council not assign

This task to me whilst in our session now?

If they desire it, why hide mine employment?

OBI-WAN

This bold assignment hath no record, see?

’Tis not official, ’tis but for thine ears.

ANAKIN

The chancellor of evil is not made—

Can you not see his kindness, Obi-Wan?

He hath befriended me, and giv’n his aid

E’er since I did arrive on Coruscant.

OBI-WAN

Thou art assur’d of his good will, ’tis true,

And that is wherefore thou must help us, too.

Allegiance to the Senate we do owe,

Not to its leader, who hath office held

Far past the expiration of his term.

ANAKIN

The Senate hath commanded him to stay.

OBI-WAN

Aye, yet allow thy feelings to inform

Thy judgment here: there’s something out of place.

ANAKIN

You’d have me act against the Jedi code,

Against Republic, mentor, and my friend:

’Tis this is out of place. Why ask me this?

OBI-WAN

The Council asketh, Anakin. Not I.

Now, get thee hence, and we shall meet again.

[Exit Anakin.

How do you reach a friend whose spirit fails?

How sing of hope when hopelessness abounds?

How steer them from a course of recklessness?

How pull them back when they would fly the edge?

My friend, mine own young Anakin, is such:

The galaxy is at his fingertips,

Yet he doth brood with anger quick and sore

As I have never witness’d in a man.

I fear he doth begin to lost the spark

I first did see in him on Tatooine.

That light, as if illumin’d by the gods,

Did shine in him an ’twere a star entire

Did rest within the center of his heart.

Now, though, the man is chang’d, as ice to steam,

Full of that hot, intemp’rate blustering

Singeing all those who wander by too near.

So swiftly doth he fly into a rage,

So fierce his ev’ry mood, and quick to change,

Such anger, which I fear shall turn to hate

When ordinary disappointments come,

Which e’er befall a normal human life.

How can I veer him off this wayward path?

Whatever in my power I may do,

I shall: to keep this Anakin from darkness.

Enter
Y
ODA
and
M
ACE
W
INDU
.

YODA

Well met, Obi-Wan.

Have you unto Anakin

Our wishes relay’d?

OBI-WAN

Indeed, wise Master Yoda. I confess:

He did not take this new employment with

The graciousness of spirit I had hop’d.

Indeed, his quick reaction was what I

Did fear: too suddenly he took offense.

MACE

’Tis said that no good deed unpunish’d is:

We place him on the Council, and he groans.

’Tis dangerous to put the two of them

Together, Anakin and Palpatine.

Methinks the lad unready is for this.

I trust him not, though how I wish I did.

OBI-WAN

Respectfully, my Master Windu, is

He not the chosen one for whom we’ve search’d?

Shall he not bring a balance to the Force,

And peradventure all the Sith destroy?

MACE

The prophecy doth say so, by my soul:

Men have for ages wish’d it to be so.

YODA

Yet this prophecy

Misunderstood may have been.

Uncertain all is.

OBI-WAN

I’ll warrant Anakin shall serve us well—

He e’er hath done me right, and ever shall.

YODA

Mine hope with yours lies:

If but my wishes were true,

Thus I’d see him do.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 3.

On the planet Coruscant.

Enter
P
ADMÉ
.

PADMÉ

The babe within me must know better days

Than I have seen in our vast galaxy.

This life hath far too much of strife and war,

Of grief and sadness, woes and discontent.

The purpose of each generation new

Is to create a better world for those

Who shall come later and depend on us.

My parents strove to better mine own life;

My burthen is to give their gift again

Unto the child who grows within my womb.

But shall it be? I wonder, fear, and doubt:

Mine husband is unsettl’d and our love

Is something hidden and forbidden, too.

The galaxy is rife with violence,

Torn by corruption, fear, and base desires.

How shall we two bring forth a babe in this,

Raise up a newborn midst this sharp discord?

How may I work for peace when all is war,

When ev’ry herald of our troubl’d time

Screams out with voice of terror and dismay?

I’ve not the inner strength to overcome

A galaxy that swiftly falls apart;

Mayhap I have enow, though, to protect

My child from knowing all the pain I’ve known.

May it be so: mine orisons ascend.

Enter
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
.

ANAKIN

How now, my lady?

PADMÉ

—Anakin, my love.

ANAKIN

I have just from the Jedi Council come.

Methinks some trouble brews therein, my dove,

Our wars have struck the good Republic dumb,

Such that its principles have been destroy’d

And all is but a wreck within its wake.

PADMÉ

Belike these questions I too much avoid,

But have just had such thoughts I cannot shake:

Is’t possible we journey not the way

That shall most likely bring us lasting peace?

Is’t possible we two are led astray,

And on the wrong side labor sans surcease?

ANAKIN

What do these words, from thine own sweet lips, mean?

PADMÉ

What if the proud democracy we serve

Exists no longer, under Palpatine?

What if our fond Republic doth deserve

Our scorn, for it hath unto evil turn’d

And hath become an evil to be fought?

ANAKIN

Tut, chuck, thy deep suspicions are unearn’d,

I never could believe so grave a thought:

The good Republic sullied, evil, vile?

These words sound like unto the Sep’ratists.

Thou’d not join their ranks, thou sans fault or guile—

So wherefore ask’st thou whether good exists?

PADMÉ

This war is led by those who will not hear.

Thou art unto to the chancellor quite close—

Wilt thou not break with him thou holdest dear,

Ask him to use his power grandiose

To stop the fighting ere more systems burn,

And let our strong diplomacy resume?

ANAKIN

Pray, ask this not of me. Instead, return

Unto the Senate, let your ardor fume

Within their ranks, and seek thine answer there.

Belike a better answer you shall get

’Mongst all thy friends within the Senate fair.

Indeed, methinks thou fall’st into their net.

PADMÉ

What have I said that hath disturb’d thee so?

ANAKIN

’Tis not within thy power to make well.

PADMÉ

Nay, this I would avoid, it works me woe:

Turn not away from me, my love repel.

Instead, I prithee, let me give thee aid

And take thy burthens like as they were mine.

Sweet Anakin, come hold thy tender maid,

As I give love to thee, so give me thine.

’Twill be as by the shores of my Naboo,

When naught was real except our sighs of love.

No politics, no war, no plotting too.