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"It's not as simple as that," Obi-Wan was trying to explain. "The Order's refusal to discuss the Sith isn't some sort of…moral imperative. Anyone who lives in the Temple is allowed to study the pieces of Sith history and ideology with have on record."
"If they're old enough," Anakin grumbled.
"You've been old enough for five years," Obi-Wan retorted. “Just because you lost interest when Master Drallig refused to teach you how to use a double bladed lightsaber—”
"You refused to let me build one!"
"I said I didn't know how to use one and if you wanted to, you would need to find another teacher. Giving up after your first failure is hardly my fault."
Anakin's shoulders hunched as he grumbled, and Leia watched Padmé struggle to contain her snickers. The pouting was entertaining, but they were getting distracted from the point.
"But people outside the Order aren't allowed access?" Leia asked.
"Casually, no," Obi-Wan said. "We get formal requests from historians or similar from many systems. The Archives reviews the request, and shares the relevant information with those who pass a basic background check."
"Background check?" Padmé asked.
Obi-Wan sighed. "There are…numerous techniques rumored to be within the purview of a Sith that people take interest in. Raising the dead and immortality among them. Mind control techniques that go significantly further than the suggestions the Jedi sometimes use."
"Not that different," Anakin muttered. Leia mentally flagged that as something to poke him about later.
"The Order tries to make sure the information they're giving out isn't going to be used recklessly,” Obi-Wan said.
"If the requests were coming from people with enough power to use them, wouldn't they already be in the Order?" Leia asked.
He stared at her as he said, "Not everyone gets found by the Order. And," he sighed, "even without being sensitive to the Force, desperate people will try all sorts of things. There are also darksiders that want information the Order has on Sith techniques. Preying on vulnerable people, convincing them to submit requests, sometimes happens."
"All of this is interesting," Padmé said, "but it doesn't really get to the issue we're having. Why won't the Order acknowledge that Dooku is a Sith. Publicly."
"That was partly your idea," Obi-Wan reminded her. “The political optics—”
"It's risky without proof," Padmé agreed. "But you are proof. Aren't you?"
Obi-Wan winced and Leia was glad Anakin was there to put a hand on Obi-Wan’s shoulder. She'd warned Padmé to be careful, but apparently Leia hadn't been clear enough what to be careful of.
"I have a personal witness that Dooku has fallen and is a darksider. He's told me that he is a Sith, although that will unlikely be sufficient proof to the Separatists."
"Anakin and I both saw him use the lightning. That's pretty exclusively a Sith technique, isn't it?" Leia pointed out. "Artoo might even have a record of it."
"Why do you know that?" Anakin demanded as Obi-Wan reluctantly nodded. "You barely know anything about using the Force, but you know that."
Padmé and Eirtaé were staring at her now, which was inconvenient. Leia shrugged. "You pick up things. Here and there."
It was impossible to miss the gravity surrounding him as Obi-Wan said, "You've had first hand experience dealing with darksiders. Did they claim to be Sith?"
Lying would have been cruel. Obi-Wan knew she knew, because she'd told him she understood his suffering. And if he thought the information was safe…well, at the very least she could correct that.
"Not publicly," Leia said. "But their anti-Jedi stance was…more than just irritation at regulation. It was an ideology."
Anakin was staring at her now, tendrils of curiosity and vague horror poking at her. She batted them away and he pulled them in, but she could tell they were still lurking.
"Not publicly," Padmé repeated, making Leia wince. "So why did you know?"
The lie had to be careful. It had to be mostly truth. It couldn't misdirect them, make them start looking elsewhere when Palpatine was so close by. "My brother…it was known, that he was Force sensitive. And strong, I think," she added, knowing that first motivation wouldn't quite be enough.
"If he was comparable to you, then plenty strong," Obi-Wan said quietly.
"Probably stronger," Leia offered, because she did not need Padmé overthinking this. Luke protested, but Leia wasn't asking for his help on this one. "He was approached, multiple times, and offered…”
What exactly had he been offered? The galaxy, Luke shared, but that wasn't what Leia was looking for.
"He was offered an apprenticeship," she landed on, with Luke's prompting and few hazy memories thrown in. "A Sith wanted to destroy their master, and they offered to take Luke on to accomplish that. He refused," she added. "Multiple times. But I got a decent look at what someone who at least claimed to be a Sith was like in the meantime."
"Multiple times?" Anakin repeated.
"You got a good look," Padmé had to zero in on that fact. "If he was after your brother and not you, why would you even matter?"
"Collateral," Obi-Wan said, his hands clasped loosely together in front of him, the fingers still twitching. "If you can't lure them in with power, make them feel powerless. Make them need it. To save someone else, or to save themselves."
Leia nodded. "It didn't work," she added, just to make that clear. "Luke…he got angry and frustrated. He felt trapped. But he paved his own way, and didn't succumb to theirs."
"Even when you were threatened?" Obi-Wan checked.
She snorted. "Oh, him becoming a Sith for my sake wasn't an option. He knew I would've kicked his ass."
She was glad that amused Luke, and that he agreed with it. It had to have been hard on him, to have her and Han and Chewie used against him. But it had been easier too, sometimes, when people tried to use them against each other. All they had to do was look in each others’ eyes and know that giving in wasn't an option.
And they'd always made it out, together, in the end.
(She shouldn't have sent them alone—)
"What happened to the apprentice?" Anakin demanded. “Dooku's the apprentice now, so—”
"She didn't say he was the apprentice," Obi-Wan corrected.
"Yes she did. She said he wanted to kill his master."
Padmé asked, "How many Sith are out there without us knowing?”
"There should only be two," Obi-Wan said.
Leia snorted. "Do they all register on some sort of volcanic death planet? Do they put up a sign that says 'No Vacancies' when it's full?"
"What happened to him?" Anakin said, dragging the conversation back to where Leia preferred it wouldn't go. "He kept coming after your brother. Did you kill him?"
Something fierce and hot and horrible coursed through her. "No," she muttered. "I wanted to. But no. His master killed him, in the end."
She should say he also killed his master. But Palpatine was alive and thriving right now, and she needed them to focus on a present threat.
"And he killed your brother," Anakin whispered.
Leia started to shake her head, then sighed. “Not directly. But his…followers did. In the end. Look, the point is—”
"Wait," Anakin leaned forward, "does he still know you’re out here? Is he looking for you?"
"No," Leia made an effort not to grit her teeth through the words. “He has no idea—”
"I find that very improbable," Obi-Wan said, looking to Padmé. “If she's a target of the Sith, it may be wise to—”
"I never met him," Leia snapped. “I only met Va—his apprentice, and that was only for kidnapping purposes to get at my brother. They didn't know—”
"If they knew about your brother, they knew about you," Obi-Wan said flatly.
"No, they didn't," Leia stressed. "Because no one knew about me. I didn't know about me. My brother didn't know about me. No one did!"
There was a long silence. "Your brother didn't know?" Padmé asked, very softly.
Leia sighed. "Neither of us knew about each other. We were…friends. Comrades. We didn't find out until later that we were siblings."
Anakin's breaths were starting to come more sharply. "You didn't know," he croaked. "About your brother."
She could feel Luke pressing against her mind, shoving the significance of that at her. Bothering her enough that she crossed the room and took one of Anakin's hands, squeezing it until his breathing regulated as he looked at it, confused.
"My parents knew I was Force sensitive," she said quietly. "I was adopted, and they knew my biological parents. They didn't tell me, or anyone else, to prevent something like this from happening. I think. My brother was taken in by another family. To keep us safe. We assumed. By the time we knew enough to want the details, everyone who would have known was dead."
Taking deep, slow breaths, Anakin nodded. He pressed into the hand Obi-Wan had placed against his back. "Sorry," he muttered.
"It's not a nice story," Leia offered. "It's why I don't just go around sharing it."
Partly.
"So the Sith master of the apprentice that was pursuing your brother didn't know you were related, and couldn't know you were just as viable a target," Padmé said, pulling the conversation back around. "But you’re another witness that there are Sith at large in the galaxy. That there have been for years, even before we knew about Dooku."
She was very, very angry. Which was fair. "I don't have any proof," Leia said. "My testimony can't be substantiated in any way. Everyone who was involved is dead. Except me."
"And the master," Obi-Wan murmured.
"He only knew about my brother," Leia pressed. And added, hating the lie, "And it could be someone different than Dooku's master."
Luke was not happy with that lie. But she couldn't explain this.
Obi-Wan looked uncertain, but Anakin said, "It's a title." Glanced around the room blushing a little. "If there's no one to contest it, why wouldn't someone take it? Titles have power."
Padmé nodded. "Even if Dooku weren't a Sith by whatever standards historical Sith set, you're right. He, and his master, will get a lot of use out of the name."
"He is a Sith," Leia pressed. Took a deep breath. "If he's claiming the title, he has it, and we need to use that against him, as soon as possible. There's a lot that people can be convinced to do for 'the greater good.' But, even now, there's some visceral feeling about being ordered around by a Sith Lord. We can use that."
"Close enough is good enough will only take us so far, once we make the accusation," Obi-Wan pointed out. "I hate to say it, but whatever experience you have could be invaluable."
She shook her head. "I can't. I'm at best an unreliable witness, at worst an extremely compromised one."
"If being tortured by the Sith Lord is enough to make you 'compromised' on the subject, I'm not exactly in a better position than you are," Obi-Wan pointed out. He said it gently, but the bald truthfulness of it had Anakin's hand spasm in Leia's. Had Padmé blinking back tears, and Sabé looking away. "I know there's much you can't share, but it may be time to talk about this. At the very least, a witness to why your brother made an appealing apprentice target can be used. Anything in his situation that is similar to mine would work. And the Order does have historical records about this. If our experiences mirror what's on record…”
"I doubt it," Leia muttered. Vader might have wanted to kill his master for years, but he wanted Luke for a very different reason.
"Powerful, at least partially trained already, emotional, loyal," Obi-Wan offered. "I mean, I can't say that I know how strong your brother and I are in comparison. But it seems like he knew more about his Force sensitivity than you did."
"He did," she offered. "He had some…training. Practice. But it's not the same situation."
"What's the difference?" Anakin pressed.
Leia couldn't look at him. Couldn't see the intensity in his eyes. She couldn't let go of his hand, he was holding too tight now. But if she looked him in the eyes, she didn't know what would come out of her mouth. If it would be cruel or kind. Honesty or lies.
"Leia," Padmé pushed. Gently. But if even she wasn't going to be moved on this…
She should lie again. She needed to. But the only thing her mind would let her mouth say was, "Vader was his father. He wanted Luke because Luke was his son."
The silence this time was more complete. More devouring.
"His son," Padmé whispered, as Anakin croaked, "Your father."
She still couldn't look at him. Couldn't look at Padmé now either. She looked to Obi-Wan (her only hope). "I'm not a good witness," she said, her voice devoid of any emotion. "They won't want to hear me, once they know."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath, reached across Anakin to put his hand on top of theirs. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.
She knew exactly how completely he meant it.