[Had things been proper and true, it would have been that way from the start. She knows that love is nothing to reject, believing fully that the Order had been wrong. But she also knows that all that they had accomplished would have been moot in the wake of the scandal that their union would have created. It is as she had said that evening on Naboo many years ago, that they would have to live a lie to love.

Oh, but even with that thought, even with the knowledge that settles within her head, information that only she has, never once had she meant that negatively. They are different here, each changed by experiences that the other has not had. It doesn't diminish or change their love nor does it mean that they are each writing their own story in a different language. It is merely a diverging of paths that ultimately always come back together in the end, as it always has.]

Ani.

[There is that shake of her head, knowing how it must have sounded to him, and her hands are there again, cupping his face. Her heart beats for his, each breath he owns, and her voice softens, gentle and coaxing.]

That isn't what I meant, my love. I just- everything. Everything that has happened in such a short time. [Yet she pauses again, knowing that she isn't explaining herself very well at all. At home. Here. Him. There is a suddenness to it all, not that she is complaining, but some things do take time to adjust to. She might leap off the deep end at times, but other occasions see her waking in step by step.] If you ever leave, a part of me will die.

[Does die, but even stars fade out in the end...]