A/N: Hola :) So...this is my first attempt at a Star Wars series and is the second story in the Jedi Codex series, the first being Tipping the Balance :) I've written some other stories for TV shows and movies, but this will be my attempt at completing a series for the Star Wars movies and trying to incorporate an original character, Amira-Tal, into it. I would recommend any new readers check out the first story before reading this, a lot has changed compared to how it is in the movies and it'll help clear up why this is an Anakin/OC. I love Padmé, she is a wonderful character, a strong woman, and a brilliant leader, but I was curious to try my hand at a Jedi/Jedi paring and see if it might be at all possible to make it even slightly realistic in the context of the Jedi Universe at this point in time.

This story will be about 10 chapters long, updated daily around 2ish pm (EST), with maybe a treat of an extra chapter here or there, and based largely on the movies. I have seen all six and am very excited for the new ones to come. I currently have plans to only do Episode II and III as how I plan this series to go might require it to end here, however if we get to the end of this story and I've done a decent job keeping true to the spirit of the Star Wars universe as I hope to do, I might consider continuing later into a potentially AUish the main trilogy. I may also consider doing the Clone Wars to fill in the events from between the last story and this one, but I need to see more of the show than I have to be sure.

I offer my sincerest apologies if I write anything that is OOC or out of place, please feel free to tell me so that I can work to fix it. I know that Star Wars has some of the most loyal, serious, and amazing followers and the last thing I want to do is insult anyone or ruin anything :) This is just my attempt to explore what might have happened had a Jedi become the object of Anakin's eye instead of Padmé.

Short description of Amira, she's about a half a head shorter than Anakin, blonde hair and gray eyes with freckles along her nose. For a reference, an actress I picture to look close to how I see Amira in my head is Jessica Brooks. Amira's Master, an OC, Neeva, is a little shorter than her, with short red hair and dark eyes, I picture her to look something like a younger/shorter Susan Sarandon ;)

I hope you enjoy :)

~8~ is a scene break

Disclaimer...I don't own Star Wars...or I'd have probably tried to pay someone to create an actual C-3PO :)

~8~

The Voice of Reason

Amira-Tal sat before a large waterfall in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, a peaceful place in the Jedi Temple, one meant to increase serenity for the various Jedi that came and went and trained within the building. Her back was straight, her legs crossed, hands resting on her lap, lightly held together as she breathed deep, allowing peace to wash over her.

She had improved greatly in the last three years in terms of her skills and abilities, due in large part to the efforts of Anakin Skywalker.

And she hated it.

She didn't hate that she improved. She didn't hate that she had actually been offered a Knighthood as a Jedi. She didn't even hate that her skills could still use some improving, having been overlooked for the Trials but instead had her merit based on her efforts and hand in the Battle of Geonosis, much like Anakin had been. Both of them had been lifted to the level of Knight through their part in the battle, through their Masters offering them support and assessment to the Council.

The Council had been hesitant at first, and she understood why. Anakin, at that point, had still been a bit reckless, rash, and prideful. But his Master had sensed a change in him, a calmness and a thoughtfulness that hadn't been present in the 10 years he'd spent training the boy. He had seen, in just the few weeks after the battle, the signs that it was a permanent change in his Padawan and had offered the Council those words of reassurance that Anakin would continue to progress in consideration and forethought to his actions. Three years later had proven his Master's assessment true.

She, on the other hand, had been harder for the Council to accept, it had taken them a few weeks longer than Anakin to be Knighted. There was more to debate with her, she knew that. Anakin was very skilled in many areas of his training, he should have taken the Trials ages before then had he been less overconfident, impatient, and dangerous in his actions. She was not. She'd been fair with a saber (though Anakin would scoff at her to hear her call her skills in the one area she actually put effort to as 'fair'), but she had lacked a lot of proficiency in the other areas. Her Master, however, had offered her own reassurances to the Council for that. Neeva had cited that she was resourceful, reminding them how she'd freed herself from her restraints during the Battle of Geonosis, had claimed that her wisdom and insight was greater even than herself. She'd also remarked to them a noted improvement in her abilities, much like Anakin had improved in his personality, her aim with a pistol was getting better, her ability to manipulate the Force was growing stronger, her meditation starting to settle once more. She had promised the Council that she had full faith that her Padawan would continue to improve in those areas even if she were made a Knight.

Master Yoda had seemed to agree with her Master, which had shocked her to be honest. But he had seen her with Dooku on Geonosis, had seen her defending Anakin and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan himself had vouched for her saber skills, had claimed he'd seen her throw Dooku into the wall with the Force so her ability to grasp it couldn't be quite as bad as was made out (it was truly horrendous how little control she'd had over the Force, Obi-Wan had no idea). Eventually the council had come to an agreement about it, about her, and she'd been bestowed the rank of Knight.

She had yet to take on a Padawan of her own though, something she was rather disappointed about, but she did understand. She had to be expected to teach her Padawan the skills he or she would need to be a Jedi, and if she couldn't utilize them herself well enough to teach them then her Padawan would suffer for it. She could protect them, yes, very well in fact, with a lightsaber, but she wouldn't have been able to teach them to Force Jump or to meditate or many other things that a Master was expected to do.

And that was why she slightly hated her situation as well. Because Anakin had helped her, for the last three years, he had been a constant presence in her life no matter how she tried to avoid him and she had, she'd gone to extremes to try and keep away from him. But he always sought her out, always. At first it had been platonic in appearance despite his confessions of love to her. He had sought her out as though it were just another normal day they'd spent without their Masters, where they'd meet up and practice different skills with each other, him with his forethought and her with connecting to the Force. He hadn't let that fall to the side just because he'd told her that he was in love with her and claimed that he knew she was in love with him as well.

He had kept to his promise not to give up on her and he hadn't.

She'd tried to tell him his promise was fulfilled after she became a Knight, that he didn't have to help her improve her skills. They'd originally promised to help each other to prepare for the Trials, but they both had been tested on different merits. But Anakin was anything if not persistent and he refused to stop their lessons until she was at his level of skill.

It was a trap, the underhanded little jerk.

No one would ever be at his level of skill and the smirk on his face when he'd told her that was the only time he'd actually stop trying to help her improve was enough for her to realize that. He had still been rather arrogant at that point. He was better now, more humble, if that was at all possible to believe, she had worked on him as much as he had on her.

She let out a breath, he HAD worked on helping her. Her Force Jumps were stronger than they had been, but she still hesitated jumping from extreme distances…unless Anakin was nearby. Her aim with a pistol had greatly improved, she could hit a target now from any distance…but she still needed to use both hands to do it, which didn't worry her badly. If she had a pistol in her hand it would be because she didn't have her lightsaber and would, therefore, have both her hands free. She had improved in her meditations as well. At first she hadn't been able to calm or relax or focus, to feel safe and secure as Master Yoda had remarked once, unless Anakin was meditating with her.

She had gotten a flash, a memory of a nightmare she still had, every time she would meditate with him. It would fill her with fear and horror, make her want to jump back…but Anakin's hands in her own, holding them, his voice speaking soothingly as she fought against the feeling had beaten that response back. It was like her mind was trying to warn her away from him, to tell her THIS was the man from her nightmare, from her vision of the Younglings dead around her and Anakin standing in the shadows with his lightsaber lit. But, in another sense, her heart was telling her that Anakin was NOT that man, that the boy across from her, speaking to her and helping her, was NOT the man from the vision and that it wouldn't happen, because she wouldn't let it and the fact that the man before her wasn't the same as in the nightmare was enough for her to feel safe and reassured that it wasn't going to happen.

She could meditate on her own now, had slowly worked on weaning herself off of needing Anakin's presence to help her. But she had to do it with her hands clasped before her, as though she were trying to convince herself it was Anakin's hands she was holding.

And she hated that. She hated how much of a role he'd played in her increased skills, and she hated how dependent she was on using him as a crutch to even be able to use her skills at all even now.

She was trying, so hard, to keep away from him. For three years, she'd tried. But he was everywhere. If she wasn't on a mission or working with her former-Master, she was at the Temple, working to improve her skill to a level that the Council would accept to assign her a Padawan. And if she as at the Temple, Anakin was as well, and he always sought her out. When she first started to know him, she could sense him, she could always sense when he was near…now it seemed like he'd picked up the same trait. Wherever she was in the Temple, moments later, if Anakin were in the Temple as well, he would find her. She had tried to request missions or request assisting her former-Master on her missions whenever she knew Anakin was returning from ones of his own so she could avoid him.

But it only worked so long, for either of them.

The more she avoided him, the more he sought her out.

The more she avoided him, the more she missed him.

She didn't want to miss him, she didn't want to feel her heart constricting each time she forced herself away from him. She didn't want to feel a pull every time she saw him to be closer to him than she was.

It was even worse to know he wanted to be with her the very same way.

He'd once said that he cared for her deeply, as deeply as she cared for him. She had denied it, and she had been lying. She did care for Anakin, in the three years since he had confessed his love for her she could admit that…she…loved him too. Every single thing he had used to describe how he knew that it was love he felt for her, his words having echoed in her mind near every day since he spoke them, were exactly what she felt for him.

But she couldn't let it happen.

She couldn't, she knew she couldn't, it was too dangerous, there was too much at stake, for both of them…more so for Anakin. She had seen firsthand what his attachments to people did to him when they were in danger or harmed when she had helped him to Tatooine to see his mother and later rescue her. It would be worse with her as Jedi, she was constantly in danger, constantly in threat of getting harmed, of being struck down in a duel against the enemy, even more now that the Dark Side of the Force seemed to be growing stronger, more enemies starting to rise to the surface. She felt she knew exactly how Anakin would react if she allowed this attachment and connection to grow and she was harmed.

It was a risk she couldn't take.

She could not allow Anakin to know how she truly felt for him. She knew that he believed he already understood what she felt for him. But she had never confirmed it, not out loud, and she would not ever speak those three words to him.

If she didn't say it to him, then it wasn't real and it couldn't hurt them.

She just…had to keep it inside, she had to block him out, she had to ignore everything her body and mind and heart told her whenever he was around. She had done it for three years now, she could…she could do it for more.

Couldn't she?

She swallowed hard, taking a shaking breath as she thought on that, as she felt the doubt creep into her mind. She genuinely wasn't sure. Anakin was…determined. He was determined to be a presence in her life even if she refused to allow it to be anything more than that, than a…friendship.

She'd tried to flat out refuse him, to keep him away, to drive him away at first. But he kept coming back with that infuriatingly calm smile, like he knew something about her she didn't and was just waiting for her to realize it, that smile that told her nothing she said would drive him away. And she knew that nothing she said would. She'd told him, flat out that she didn't feel a thing for him, and he'd known it was a lie the second she said it. SHE knew it was a lie as well. No matter what she said, he wouldn't believe her that she felt nothing for him so there was no point to deny it the way she had. So she had just taken to not saying anything about it.

He had pushed her, the first few months (or year), pushed her and pushed her, fought all her efforts to get them back to a friendship. He'd allowed her to treat their relationship as merely two Padawans assisting each other, even if they'd been Knights at that point. He'd let that go on for a year, exercising more patience than she thought him capable of. But his words had been true, he wasn't going to give up on her and that had given him all the patience he needed to do what he had to to try and 'win her back.' He'd managed to weasel his way back into her life as a constant by the end of that year. And for the next he'd worked on building up their friendship again.

He'd told her that if she did not wish him to be there for her as a…lover (she'd blushed heavily at that word), then he would still be there as a friend. No matter what she was not getting rid of him, and he cared for her too much to let her just cast him aside when he knew it would hurt her to do it. It hurt more to have him there, constantly beside her, and not be able to express her still-growing feelings for him, but she bore it. Because he was right, it would hurt terrible to cast him aside and never see him again. He'd worked to get himself back beside her as a 'friend.'

But it had shifted, again in the last year, it had changed. He had been encouraged by her subtle acceptance of his friendship, of that new yet old bond between them growing stronger. She hadn't been able to deny him a friendship, try as she might to keep it just a professional companionship, it had grown beyond her control to a deep friendship of respect and trust and care. She didn't even know how it had happened! She hadn't wanted it to, but Anakin could be a sneaky devil when he wanted.

She had taught him subtlety too well it seemed.

She could feel it though, the shift he was trying to guide their relationship towards now. He would do small things now, little moments that were too intimate for just friends to share, especially intimate for Jedi to share. He would touch her hand, hold it, sometimes use an excuse of needing to show her something just to take it. He would walk closer to her than normal, his arm brushing against her own, smirking as he seemed sure she was feeling tingling shooting up her arm much like it did to his (he'd actually commented on the tingles once). He did much the same when they sat, always so close to her that they were touching and if it was at meals, sometimes his hand would drift down to touch her knee for a moment, leaving him smirking when she would jump at the sensation. Now that her Padawan braid had been removed, he would touch her hair more during their small practices that still continued, their duels and meditations together. He would brush her hair away from her, or curl a strand around a finger here or there, always claiming it was because there was a strand out of place or that he saw a bit of fuzz on her hair. His gaze would drift to her lips more often when they spoke, his voice going deeper the longer they went. And he had more 'secrets' he had to share with her, things that weren't secret at all but that he would insist she lean in for him to tell her quietly, just so he could be closer to her, so she would lean nearer to him as though she couldn't help it…

And she couldn't, and that was frustrating her to no end. She should be better than this, better than to let him get under her skin (and into her heart) the way he had. But the more she pushed him away, the more something pulled her back to him and she couldn't explain it…just hope that she could be strong enough not to let Anakin's new course of action with their friendship work. She resisted all his attempts, pulled away, put distance between them, leaned back, even took to wearing her hair in a tight bun so he couldn't touch it and yet he still found ways to do so…but it was always a second too late, always with too much reluctance pulling at her mind. She needed to do something about it, to stop it, and that was why she was there, trying to meditate, trying to come up with some solution to this that would keep her and Anakin apart…

She bit her lip hard at that, her heart was shouting at her that she truly didn't want to be apart from him, but her mind was reminding her it had to be done, for both their sakes, for both their future and safety, it had to stop.

She took a deep breath, pushing those thoughts out of her mind, focusing on her breathing, on the sound of the waterfall behind her, not thinking at all about how this had been the place she and Anakin had truly started this entire mess by agreeing to help each other improve their skills. She shook her head, casting that thought aside as well, listening to her breathing, in and out, allowing her mind to blank, feeling the Force pulsing around her. She spread out her sense, smiling slightly at how she could do that now. Three years later and she could finally reach out and sense the Force, manipulate it more than she had been. Her meditations had helped her greatly with that, now that she could actually meditate instead of being thrown out of it by fear.

Her fear had no place in her meditations, not anymore, because the thing that had caused her fear was no more, it would NOT be, she was doing this meditation exactly for the reason of preventing that vision. So the fear would not exist, she would see to that. And it had allowed her a freedom, a connection to the Force she had been struggling to find years ago.

She let her mind and heart open to the Force, allowing the warm energy to fill her, to guide her…

And gasped as she saw a vague image form in her mind, Anakin and Count Dooku, locked in a duel. She could see them fighting in her mind, the Force allowing her this vision of her, allowing her to connect and see Anakin even now…and that worried her. The Force was meant to guide them, to show them what they needed to see and push them towards their destinies, for her to see Anakin fighting, she didn't know what that meant.

"Anakin," Amira breathed, her voice starting to shake as she watched on.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, Anakin got an advantage, swinging his lightsaber out and cutting off Dooku's hand, the very same hand that she herself had managed to cut three fingers off of on Geonosis. It was enough to send the man stumbling to the floor in pain and Anakin to summon the fallen lightsaber to his other hand, crossing them at Dooku's throat as the man knelt before him.

'Good, Anakin, good!'

She couldn't see who had shouted that, but she knew that voice, it was the Chancellor, Palpatine. The vision was dark, as though she were looking through a fuzzy tunnel and could only make out what was happening right in the center of it, Anakin with Dooku at his mercy.

'I knew you could do it. Kill him. Kill him now!'

"No," she whispered as she saw Anakin just standing there, looking at Dooku intently, "Anakin don't…"

'Do it!'

"Please," Amira begged into the vision despite knowing Anakin wouldn't be able to hear her, "Anakin, you are better than that…" she held her breath, using what little she had left of her focus as her fear and anxiety over the vision started to increase to cling to it, needing to see what happened, what he would do…when Anakin shook his head and took a single step back.

'It is not the Jedi way.'

She would have breathed out a sigh of relief at Anakin taking just a step back, not letting Dooku a means to escape, but clearly meaning that he was NOT going to execute the man as the Chancellor had been calling for him to do. She would have breathed out that sigh of relief at how he had stuck to the Code…had a sound of an explosion and the vision starting to shake not hit her, forcing her to open her eyes to find herself back in the Temple.

Her gray eyes snapped open, sucking in a deep breath and praying that the mere seconds' worth of image she had seen was not just a mere figment of her imagination or some twisted daydream that had hit her mid-meditation. For once she hoped it was an actual vision of what was to come or what was happening right now as she knew that Obi-Wan and Anakin had gone on a mission to rescue the Chancellor, who had been captured by Dooku. She hoped it was a vision, she hoped it had actually happened.

Because Anakin had spared the man's life, had stilled his hand and tempered his anger, had pulled himself back from the grasp of the Dark Side.

She stood, shaking her head, ignoring how her body seemed to be trembling from nerves or fear or shock, she wasn't sure. She turned and made her way out of the room, her thoughts on needing to get to the training rooms and work on her saber work, she was too full of nervous energy now, too worried about what would happen next as something had clearly exploded in her vision and she didn't know if Anakin or Obi-Wan were alright and it would consume her thoughts till she saw them next unless she did something to distract herself, and her saber always did the trick to clear her mind and make her forget what plagued her.

Well, almost always, try as she might she couldn't seem to practice or work herself enough with her lightsaber to erase the memory of the one single kiss she and Anakin had shared.

~8~

Anakin stood beside Obi-Wan and Amira's former-Master, Neeva, in the doorway of a Jedi shuttle just after it landed on Coruscant, just beside the Senate Building, watching as Chancellor Palpatine walked down the landing platform towards where a dozen or so other Senators were standing to welcome him back to safety.

Obi-Wan glanced over at Anakin, eyeing his former-Padawan a moment when the boy didn't even take a step to follow the Chancellor not that he was actually truly expecting the boy to. Anakin had…surprised him, over the last three years, ever since Geonosis he had seen a change coming from his young student, had seen him grow and mature in a way he had only hoped the boy would. Even before, when they had been working their way to the rescue of Palpatine, when they would bicker and argue about the best course of action, the tone from his former-pupil hadn't been as arrogant as it might have been had he been the same Padawan from three years ago. It was more joking, but also serious in a way where they were equals now and he was offering his opinion as a possible counter instead of a firm statement that he was right and his former-Master was wrong. He had taken to jokingly remarking that Anakin 'still had much to learn' whenever Anakin made a mistake, not to say that he thought his Padawan wasn't ready to be a Knight, but that even as a Knight there were still things to learn and mistakes happened.

But he was proud of the boy, proud of how wise he had become and how much like a true Jedi he was, "Are you not going to follow?" he asked the boy as he stood next to him, his hands clasped behind his back, just watching Palpatine greet the crowd.

"Are you?" Anakin gave him a small, knowing smirk.

"Oh no," Obi-Wan laughed, "I'm not brave enough for politics. Neeva and I have to report to the Council," he nodded over at the woman beside him. She had been tasked to guard the shuttle for their escape while he and Anakin had infiltrated the Federation Hanger to get the Chancellor out.

"But Master, this whole operation was your idea," Anakin frowned, sounding genuinely like he was trying to give his former-Master due credit, "You planned it. You led the rescue operation. You have to be the one to take the bows this time."

Obi-Wan smiled, "I may have led you into the rescue operation, Anakin, but Neeva was the one that planned the operation," he smiled at the woman.

"Then you both must take the bows," Anakin declared.

Neeva shook her head, "I'm not one for hand-shaking and posing for image captures," she waved it off, "A Jedi is to never seek praise…"

"But accept it graciously if it is given, which it is," Anakin finished for her.

"They give praise too easily," Neeva shrugged.

"Oh," Obi-Wan shook his head at that, "Some praise is deserved," he countered, "Your plan was flawless for getting us so close to the Chancellor, and you, Anakin," he turned to the young man, "You rescued me from the Buzz Droids, subdued Count Dooku, rescued the Chancellor while carrying me, unconscious, on your back, and you managed to land that bucket of bolts safely…"

Anakin shook his head, "I didn't successfully subdue Dooku," he sighed, "The explosion that shook the ship gave him enough time to escape," he reminded the man, not bothering to bring up that General Grievous, one of the Sith's greatest warriors, one with quite a few robotic parts as he'd lost many a limb in prior battles, had escaped as well.

He'd been about to knock the Count out when there had been an explosion in the ship, likely from the damage he and Obi-Wan had done trying to get through it to where the Chancellor was. Dooku had used it as the perfect opportunity to Force Throw him away, giving the man enough time to flee the room though he left the Chancellor behind. It had been a success in the sense that the Chancellor had been rescued, but a failure in that he'd let Dooku escape.

"And as for the others," Anakin continued, humble, "I only succeeded in them due to your training, Master. You deserve all those speeches of your greatness."

Obi-Wan reached out and put a hand on Anakin's shoulder, touched, "I don't believe I'm the only one responsible for your training though, am I?" he gave the boy a knowing look, his smile tightening when he saw a faint pink on Anakin's cheeks.

"My former-Padawan is exceptional with a saber," Neeva defended, "She surpassed me many years before she became a Knight," she added fondly, proudly, "It is no wonder he should seek her out for extra tips. I have at times," she laughed at that, making Obi-Wan smile.

Obi-Wan turned back to Anakin, "The point still stands, Anakin, that today you are the hero and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians," he gestured him towards the crowd.

Anakin, however, shook his head, "With all due respect, Master, I'd just like to return to the Temple," he turned to the two of them, "My duel with Dooku, I do not believe it will be my last and I should like to be better prepared next time. If that is agreeable," he added, before smiling a little, "We could count it one debt owed down after saving your skin for the tenth time…"

"Ninth time," Obi-Wan corrected with a roll of his eyes, though he was smiling, very much appreciating his former-Padawan's respect but also his teasing, "That business on Cato Nemoidia doesn't count," but he nodded, gesturing Anakin back into the shuttle.

Anakin gave his former-Master a nod of his head and turned to head inside, feeling like he could breathe again, a smile forming on his face as he realized he would be at the Temple very soon, he would be able to see Amira again once more. He couldn't help but wonder if she worried for him, if she had wondered how he was while he'd been on the mission, if she thought about him as much as he had her…

Obi-Wan shook his head as he watched Anakin walk away, "And by 'better preparing himself' for next time…"

"He means dueling with Amira," Neeva finished with a light nod, crossing her arms.

Obi-Wan let out a sigh and glanced at Neeva, catching sight of Master Windu out of the corner of his eye speaking to Palpatine before they were to depart, before he focused on the other Knight before him, "Should we worry for them?" he asked her bluntly.

"Amira and Anakin?" Neeva clarified, "How so?"

"Surely you've noticed how much time they spend together," he began.

"I recall another set of Padawans, and later Knights, that spent just about the same amount of time together," she gave him a teasing look, reminding him of their training and how they would often practice off each other as they grew, how they still turned to each other for advice and help when needed, how they still spoke often.

"Yes, but Anakin is not me," he explained, "I did not have the trouble transitioning to our ways as he has. As, I fear, he still does. They both claim it is mere training, mere assistance to help the other improve."

"I believe Amira when she says it."

"I don't believe Anakin," Obi-Wan admitted, "Not entirely," he glanced back in the direction his former-Padawan had gone, "I do not know what to do. We are no longer their Masters, we cannot forbid them to spend the time they do with each other, they ARE training, I do believe that. But…I fear there may be more to it, growing just under the surface," he looked at her, "Do you?"

"I…do sense a strong bond between them," she begrudgingly spoke, "But I have faith in our Padawans, that we taught them well, and that they would not do something that could jeopardize their future in the Order."

"Perhaps not your Padawan," Obi-Wan let out a long breath, "Anakin, he is less reckless than he was, but…he cares for your Padawan."

"Then we should hope his care proves true," Neeva remarked simply as Obi-Wan gave her a questioning look, "If he cares for her, genuinely, as genuinely as he would have to for you to fear it, then he would not do something that would truly harm her. My Padawan would not break her Oath to the Order and your Padawan would not break her if it would cause her pain."

Obi-Wan nodded slowly at that, it did make sense. The way he saw Anakin act around Amira, the boy did care for her. He tried to believe it was just fellowship between former-Padawans and now fellow-Knights and he could see it, he could see Anakin trying to make it seem like that while Amira appeared to be trying to force it to be like that. Whatever it was that had started to form between the two, it appeared it was not growing more than what it currently was, and what it was, at the moment, was mere friendship, Amira appeared to want it to be that and Anakin appeared to be respecting that.

"He would not harm her," he agreed.

A small, traitorous voice in his head spoke up at that, even though it should mean nothing at all, that no harm could possibly come to either Amira or Anakin as what he feared was forming would never be nor ever could be under the Code, while Anakin would not harm Amira…he could only hope that Amira would not, somehow, harm Anakin in the course of this either.

A/N: I hope you liked the first chapter :) A lot's happened in 3 years, Amira's held out against Anakin's pursuit and is still trying to keep from saying what she feels for him out loud and giving him more reason to pursue her, but it's been affecting her all that time just as much as it has Anakin...I wonder if they'll be able to hold out more or for how long }:)

But Dooku is alive! Anakin didn't kill him :) I can say we'll see exactly why he didn't, what was going through his mind at that moment in a later chapter ;)

Some notes on reviews...(from the end of Tipping the Balance)...

I mentioned that the next story would be up in a few hours in the last story ;) I try to answer any questions or comments from the last story at the start of the next ;)

I can't say which side Anakin or Amira might fall on }:) But their Masters will be keeping an eye on them yup ;) As for denying her feelings...three years and counting, but Anakin is very persistent...then again, Amira is very dedicated to the Order...hmm...we'll have to wait and see }:)

Yup, this story will focus on Revenge of the Sith :)

Thank you! I'll go back and fix it :)

We'll see more of the Masters thoughts on Anakin and Amira coming up ;)

I don't think it's strange :) I felt like it was a tiny little nod to Padme in a way. She seemed to have politics in her mind for most of her life, dedicated herself to doing what was best for her people over her, much like the Jedi dedicate themselves to the Code and helping others all their lives. It was one of the reasons Padme gave to Anakin that they couldn't be together, they both had their duties...and then, when faced with the Arena, it felt a bit forgotten, to me at least, that she accepted the relationship despite her reasons for not entering it still being there and being unchanged. Amira's the same, raised all her life and dedicating it to the Jedi, I couldn't quite see her giving it up as quickly, if at all. Which may or may not be good for Anakin given how he feels about her }:)