A/N: This story takes place in the same AU as my other story, "Bereaved." Check that out if you want to learn more about this AU!

Elevation.

Anakin Skywalker couldn't stand any more of it. He was climbing into skies of Coruscant, each passing floor of the Jedi Temple denoted by a gentle whoomp of air being displaced in the lift shaft. The endless city expanded before him, in all directions, yet all he could think of were mountains of Telredar. Those narrow, defined spires that protruded like spines on an armored rodents back, each one creating so many valleys and cliff sides and crevices-each one a potential bastion for the entrenched resistance to hide.

There were no bright blazes of warfare on Telredar. No singular engagements hot and sustained enough to truly be called battles. No grand deployments where troops could be counted in the thousands...where commands could be easily organized and circumscribed in battalions and troops and regiments. There was little machinery, crude equipment, ancient artillery. And even fewer droids.

It was the shape of things to come: an image of what happens when both sides of a conflict exhaust their resources but not their resolve. Battle and warfare degraded to attrition and horror.

Anakin and his Padawan had to stand before the Council, to answer their little questions about his experience in what could only be described as the newest chapter of this Clone War. What began as a civil war with clearly defined sides (the Clones and the Republic over here, the Droids and the Confederates over there) was becoming an all-out free-for-all. War had ravaged and destroyed so much of the Galaxy's basic infrastructure that chaos and anarchy were quickly becoming the new standard all over the rim worlds.

Ordinary citizens were beginning to take up arms and push out onto the streets. Civil unrest was spreading from planet to planet like a plague. The civilian populations of planets officially sworn to the Republic were taking up arms and screaming for the downfall of the Senate and its Supreme Chancellor. The only semblance of order that could still be pushed upon these crumbling worlds was by the might of the Grand Army of the Republic and its Jedi Commanders.

...but was crowd control even a Jedi's job?

Anakin gritted his teeth as he looked past his own reflection in the glass. How could he possibly know? He only took the orders and the mandates of the Supreme Chancellor and did his best to see them done. This inquiry by the Jedi Council was a waste of time. How could they drag him in here when hundreds of other worlds were still burning in revolt? This was the age of treason and anarchy. If they wanted there to be any shred of the Republic left by this time next year, they would have simply patted him and Ahsoka on the back for a job well done and sent them on to the next world that needed to be pacified.

Instead, they had called this official inquiry for the purpose of...what? Reviewing the rules of engagement? Telredar was an abattoir. It was horrible. Atrocities committed on both sides, by the Republicans loyal to Palpatine and the Senate and by the revolutionaries calling for independence. Lines were crossed-and they had to be! a war was being waged!-and yes, Anakin and Ahsoka were at the center of it but now was not the time to pontificate over how "necessary" it truly was. Results were produced. Shouldn't that have been enough?

The council was too fickle with their rules and codes. Sometimes he wondered if how they could have ever won battles with such a narrow outlook. Then he remembered: with Ahsoka at his side, he had posted more victories than any member of that blasted Jedi Council.

Anakin looked at his Padawan. Telredar had challenged her, more than any other deployment had in the past. He could still see it in her eyes, the burden carried upon her shoulders. Lines were blurred and crossed and redefined. Innocents were slaughtered-and not always by the Rebel bad guys, but sometimes by the Republican irregulars, the Telredari that were supposed to be their allies.

"Don't worry, Ahsoka," Anakin said, "it'll go fine."

She bit her lip. "What if they go through with it?"

"And break us up?"

Ahsoka nodded gravely and he recalled the last time the council had reprimanded them, for the incident on Ulhezar, and the way Mace Windu had threatened to take apart their two-man team.

"They won't, Ahsoka." He raked back several strands of his sandy blond hair. "They don't have the nerve. Besides, the only way it could come to that is if this inquiry goes bad. It won't."

"Telredar was pretty messed up." Her voice faltered, strained by a haze of fear and doubt. "Anakin, what we did. All those people-I still don't feel right about it."

His eyes narrowed. "We did what was necessary to fulfil the mandate," he said. "We saved Senator Amidala's life-"

"But that council always wants more than results." She closed her eyes and rubbed the heel of her palm against one of her montrals. "I don't want them to separate us."

He looked at her glumly, recognizing the tangle of confused, conflicting feelings that emanated from his Padawan learner. Their affection for each other ran deep, but she was attracted to him in a manner that he couldn't think of as entirely...appropriate.

But he couldn't hold that against her. Could he? After all, she was a teenager, with all the hormones...that wasn't unusual. But he had done nothing to discourage or even address those confused feelings. He pushed it to the back of his mind, somehow hoping that she would grow out of it eventually, or perhaps meet someone closer to her own age to direct those feelings towards. But somewhere in the process, he had all but forgotten that his "young" apprentice was six years his junior.

Anakin swallowed hard, biting his lip while trying to not let her see. He was only five years younger than Padmé. Was this how she felt when he first approached her, all those years ago?

"I don't either, snips," he said. "Hey," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he recognized her downtrodden expression. "They're not going to split us up, alright? We're just too damn effective together. We carry the whole army on our back, how can they disagree with that?"

She pursed her lips. "I think the clones would protest."

"Kriffin' right they would," Anakin said with a chuckle.

A silence feel upon them, punctured only by the gentle whoosh of passing floors.

"Even if they do," Anakin said, "it's not like it would be the end of us. We'll always be friends."

The shadow of a smile appeared on her face. "Yeah."

"No-more than friends." He clasped her hand, which was as calloused from the saber as his. "We're like family, Ahsoka. You're the sister I never had. You can count on me. I'll always be there for you."

That shadow became a full smile, though it only seemed like a facade, hiding from him the well of sadness and disappointment below. "And I will always be there for you, Master."

His brows shot up. "Always?"

"Always," she said. "I promise."

"As do I," he said, smiling as the lift came to a halt and the lift door slid open.

One person stood alone in the antechamber, her red catsuit glowed brightly in the waning Coruscant sun. As always, she stood out from the tan and brown robes all the other Jedi of the Order wore. Anakin recognized her, if not for her alternative dress, then for her cropped blond hair and her bright eyes, which middled between light green and vibrant blue.

"Master Siri?" He said, approaching her with a smile. "How are you? I haven't seen you since Ando Prime."

She looked up from her tablet and greeted him with an equally cordial smile. "I'm well, Anakin, how are you? I take it this is your Padawan?"

"Ahsoka Tano," she said with a curt bow. "Pleased to meet you, Master Siri..."

"Tachi," Siri completed.

"What are you reading, Master?" Anakin asked with a slight nod to her datapad.

Siri tilted the screen to allow the both a glance.

"Theories and Musings on the Nature of the Living Force" by Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Oh," Anakin said, muted expression on his face.

"You've read it?" Siri asked.

"I have!" Ahsoka volunteered, ever eager to show up her master, even before one of his elders. "It's one of his better, more complete works."

"I...well, not exactly." Anakin said, hints of embarrassment in his tone, "Obi-Wan's showed me a few excerpts, though."

"Well," Siri said, voice flush with mock indignance, "it's not exactly Popular Droid Mechanics, so I...understand."

"Or Podracing Weekly," Anakin replied pointedly. "There's more to me than you think, Master Siri."

"I'm sure there is," Siri said flatly. Ahsoka suppressed a laugh. "But you should probably get in there before Mace decides to punish you for your tardiness."

"What about you?" Anakin frowned. "I mean, you got here before us, but they've got you just waiting outside...?"

Siri shrugged. "The council's supposed to assign me a new Padawan, but they're not here yet, so I'm waiting."

"Yikes," Ahsoka said. "Negative points for punctuality, prospective student..."

Siri tilted her head. "I know, right? I don't even want a new apprentice. But Obi-Wan keeps prodding me, forcing the damn thing down my throat..."

Anakin had to stifle the urge to smirk. A swarm of rumors always seemed to surround Obi-Wan and Siri, and he had always wondered if there was any shred of truth to it, if it was at all possible. Did she have had an affair with Obi-Wan? Then he shook his head and consigned the silly rumor to the corner of his mind where it belonged.

"Anyways," Siri said, lifting up her tablet once more. "You should go on. See you around."

Anakin and Ahsoka both gave a curt bow as they walked to the door to the main chamber. The doors slid open, exposing the inner sanctum and a dozen Jedi Elders, none of whom appeared particularly pleased. Anakin shot his apprentice a re-affirming look then paced on, leading the way as he should.

"Greetings, Master Skywalker, Padawan Tano," Mace Windu said as the doors to the ante chamber slid closed behind them.

"I'm sure you know why you've been summoned?" Ki-Adi-Mundi said.

"Speak with you on the incident at Telredar, we must," Yoda said.

Anakin swallowed hard, mentally preparing himself for the barrage of questions they likely had. "The fighting on Telredar was the most difficult I've encountered in all the war. You can't blame us for the way things turned out-"

"You don't have to explain yourself," Obi-Wan said. "We have no questions."

Anakin frowned, then looked about the council chamber, searching for an answer in any of the councilors' stoic eyes.

"We've learned all we needed to know from the testimony of others there, from the battle reports filed." Mace Windu's voice could not have been sterner.

"Summoned you we have," Yoda began, hands folded over the gnarled head of his cane, "to pass the judgment of this council."

Anakin's posture straightened. Ahsoka huddled even closer to him, practically hiding behind his shoulder so as to use his body as a shield from Mace and Obi-Wan's piercing stares.

"Anakin Skywalker," Mace began, "it is the judgment of this council that you are unfit for the rank of Jedi Master."

The words sucked the air from his lungs, yet he still found the breath necessary to shriek out in shock. "What?"

Ki-Adi-Mundi continued where Mace left off: "Your flagrant disregard of our laws and codes, of the practices accepted as standard by the elders of this order since time immemorial have proven this much to us: while it is acceptable that you put yourself in danger for the sake of furthering goals and accomplishing your missions, so long as you hold that rank, you also endanger all the younger Jedi that seek to follow your example."

"No," Anakin whispered, shaking his head in fear of the judgment that would follow.

"As such," Mace said, "we have seen fit not only to strip you of your title-"

"No!" Ahsoka shrieked, stepping in front of her master before he could mouth his protestation. "You can't punish him! It's my fault."

Ki and Mace both paused, the latter leaning back in his chair as while steepling his fingertips.

"I..." Ahsoka sucked in a weary breath. "I tortured those men, and ordered the clones to pillage those towns-"

"Order this, only upon your master's advice, you did," Yoda said pointedly, a single green digit pointed at the young padawan. "Pernicious and crude, these methods are."

"But we got results!" Anakin hissed. He felt the veins in his neck bulging and pounding, racing with the rhythm of his staccato heartbeat. "We saved Senator Amidala's life!"

"Justify the ends the means do not!" Yoda snapped. "Know this well, you should, young Skywalker!"

Anakin shook his head, pure rage fomenting in his heart, so bright and fierce that it rivaled the blinding glare of Tatooine's twin suns. "We did what we had to."

Mace leaned forward again, his unwavering glare fixated on Anakin. "And it is precisely because of that mindset that we can no longer accept you as a teacher in our order."

His eyes widened, knowing the next words that were coming, feeling them like the headlights of a cargo lifter, about to broadside his speeder.

"It is our judgment that you are no longer fit to instruct a Padawan learner."

"No!" Ahsoka reacted as if struck, falling back into Anakin, who draped his arms over her shoulders protectively.

"You can't do this!" Anakin yelled, the full range of his anger booming through his powerful voice. "She is my apprentice! You can't take her."

"Calm down, Skywalker." Mace's tone and composure were the absolute antithesis to Anakin's shrieking agitation.

He shook his head, turning from Mace's disapproving glare to Obi-Wan's stolid, unreadable gaze. "You can't-"

"The council's decision is unanimous, Anakin," Obi-Wan said.

The sheer finality of the statement momentarily crushed his resolve, as did the betrayal, the underhanded stab from behind. Obi-Wan had voted against him, had put him down in front of the Council-

He looked up at Obi-Wan, wrath renewed by the familiarity of the man and memories of all his past grievances and disagreements. His hand-the real one, made of flesh, bone and blood-balled into a fist, the knuckles white with anger at his mentor.

"This is an outrage," Anakin bellowed. "It's unfair. I have done nothing but my duty, fulfilled mandate after mandate, won battle after battle and this is how you choose to reward me?"

"You are out of order." Obi-Wan's voice, calm and collected, could still project over Anakin's enraged tone.

"No, I'm not," he spat through clenched teeth. "Ahsoka Tano is my padawan learner. You cannot take her from me-"

"You will accept this Council's judgment or you will be expelled," Mace said.

"Master!" Ahsoka whispered before he could raise his voice to protest again. One of her orange hands wrapped around his balled fist, willing it to unfurl until she could interlace her fingers with his. Please, she mouthed, begging him to calm. And he did, knowing full well how much she hated it when he was taken by his anger.

"Dismissed you are, Knight Skywalker."

He turned from Ahsoka and looked up, giving his former master a final glance before untangling his hand from Ahsoka's and turning to leave the chamber.

"There'll be another time," he whispered to his apprentice on the way out.

The door to the antechamber opened then closed behind him. He was once again faced with Siri Tachi, whose reaction to his anger was intrigued but muted. He glared at her and wondered if she'd lied to him earlier, if she actually knew her role in this debacle. She quietly followed him with her eyes as he stomped off into the elevator.