Anakin became utterly morose when he learned that Ocean had left, so everyone thought it was best to just leave him alone.
Felicity startled from crying in her room at the sound of a gentle knock.
"Felicity, it's Leia, may I come in?"
Felicity shuddered and didn't answer.
"Felicity?"
Still no response other than more muffled sobbing.
The door cracked open, and Leia stepped cautiously inside, trying not to worry the little girl. She slowly approached her on the bed and comforted her. "Shhh, it's going to be okay."
In the mean time, Ben, Yoda and Sheev were discussing what to do about the little girl. No one had any solutions, but agreed they would try to get her story the next day, if possible. Anakin's plan had backfired, and Sheev revealed that if Ocean was brought here by Anakin against her will a second time, she would give him the same treatment she had Sidious.
Late that night, Ben went to talk with Anakin, who was brooding, having learned Ocean had left.
"It was supposed to turn out so different." said Anakin.
"Ocean Elf does not think so." said Ben.
"She didn't even have the decency to say good bye to me. She never said one word to me after she destroyed Palpatine. Not one word!"
"Anakin," Ben said with a sigh, "Ocean was here for one purpose, to down Palpatine. If it weren't for being asked to the new emperor's ceremony, she would've been gone right after Sidious was destroyed. I was pretty sure of this from the start. The only reason she was here past that point was because Sheev invited her to his crowning ceremony, and Ocean had to stick around until we knew when that was going to be."
"I was sure when the child showed up, that would give Ocean the idea that she could mother her, and become closer to me, since Felicity already sees me as a sort of father figure."
"You fell in love with an idealized version of Ocean that you created in your head, Anakin. It never ends well when people project their own fantasies on others."
"But I thought Ocean would be my friend."
"When did you get the notion that it would eventually become you and her, with you being involved or married to the one who finally got rid of Sidious? Was it because she cried over your scrubbing, or because she apologized for her remarks turning you down on the first day?"
For several moments, Anakin said nothing, but shook his head. "The hero is supposed to win someone's hand."
"She never saw either of you as a hero. She kept trying to back down, telling us it was up to us to defeat Palpatine this time, right up until she finally was provoked into action when we told her you were being scrubbed again; and by us telling her to go ahead. Things don't end in real life the way they do in the movies or in fairy tales."
"It could have. If I could've made her like me, and I sure tried. The force failed me, that's all."
"No, Anakin," said Ben, you set yourself up to have failed expectations. You mistook sympathy for an opening for a relationship."
"But when you said her tears would fall for me...?"
"I never said she would fall in love with you or that you were meant for each other. I only meant that she would realize how badly off you were, and would become kind enough to complete the operation you brought her here to do in the first place. I tried to tell you so many times in various ways not to get your hopes up for anything more. Yes, she is kind, very passionate, extremely loyal to her friends, and if you have her respect, she can be very sweet, friendly, and funny. But Did I not also tell you she is bold, headstrong, driven, and would not adapt easily to a new environment? I told you she is proud, explosive, controlling, suspicious, single-minded, and contrary. I told you if you keep pushing at her, either directly or through any of us, it could backfire tremendously on you. She will not be coerced or placated, certainly not without making you pay the price for it later."
Anakin nodded. "But I was hoping..." he moped.
"You've heard the saying 'your enemy's enemy is not necessarily your friend'." said Ben.
Anakin turned away, not wanting to hear any more.
Ben continued. "Ocean Elf is not just someone who can be molded to fit neatly into another person's life, she's her own person with her own set of needs, passions, goals; and most importantly, a family on her own home world she is very close to."
"I know." said Anakin dejectedly.
"Do you? Anakin, there comes a time in all of our lives when we must stop feeling sorry for ourselves and accept things we cannot change."
"I'm not sorry for myself!" Anakin said indignantly.
"Aren't you?" Ben countered more firmly.
"I just thought things would turn out better. Is that so wrong?"
"It is when you try to fit another person neatly into your life like a puzzle piece, and try getting your friends around you to go along with that."
"How could you do this to me!?"
"That will be quite enough, Anakin," Ben said more firmly than usual, "now listen." He continued as Anakin seethed. "You thought Ocean Elf would become a great companion for you if you just told her enough about your pain, and we made sure she would just happen to be right there as you were being scrubbed so she would have to hear you scream. It was not a torturing droid doing mind control, but it was a form of manipulation none the less. If she didn't realize it then, I am sure she suspects now. I only agreed to this as a means of provoking her sympathy toward you and the kicking her wrath against Sidious into high gear. But now that the dark lord is vanquished and you are doing so much better on the physical front, you want to join the light. This means you have to stop thinking like a dark lord. You cannot make Ocean feel something for you that just isn't there."
"I'm not a dark lord!" Anakin protested indignantly.
"Sheev and Elf had a confrontation this afternoon over you. Even he tried to get her to see reason as we all thought we were doing. But during that argument, Ocean said some things that made us, me included, realize we had lost some perspective. We have been coddling you," Ben said, "putting you on a pedestal, because you can bore into our minds and stare through our chests. You even quelled any objections from coming to mind in us when you forced Ocean from her world to come here. She was critical of that judgment procedure on the little girl as well, and now I see why. We've all been succumbing to your mind-control lately. We just didn't realize that until Sheev's and Ocean's argument today."
"Ocean's just jealous." Anakin accused.
"No, she is resentful. Even after you finally got everything you wanted, Ocean saw a strange frightened little girl inexplicably yearning for you upon her arrival, and then even our new emperor playing second fiddle to you, and Ocean does not like it. Today was a big eye-opener, Anakin, and this stops now.
"Even you!" Anakin accused.
Ben continued. "And if you try to press Ocean any further, Sidious notwithstanding, everything we've all gone through for you this week will be for naught.
"But you're the one who told me that something worth having is hard-won."
"And it was, Anakin. You won your freedom from that suit. You are healed. You waited a long time for that to happen. And you got the best bonus out of the whole situation, your mother, whom you held on the brink of death. Ocean wanted that to happen, she said as much at that first dinner we had. But she had no idea that was possible."
"Oh, but she wasn't thinking of me." said Anakin.
Ben couldn't help but show disgust on his face at Anakin's self-absorption. "She wanted it for your mother." Ben confirmed. "But no matter. You have so much to be grateful for. Now, it's time to let Ocean go. Anakin, there are other women."
"Oh sure, those silly fangirls, teen-aged and middle-aged alike. None of them cared at all about destroying Sidious. They actually thought my suit made me sexy." He spat in disgust.
"Well, you don't need to worry about your suit any longer. It's history. If the right woman comes along one day, you will both realize it. I knew it was most likely impossible that Ocean would ever feel anything beyond pity for you, and it was hard enough getting her to manage that. She knows about the torture you committed, and the kidnappings."
"That was when I was still Palpatine's dark enforcer."
"That doesn't matter to Ocean. You are still the person who committed it, and if there is anything that elf can never forgive or get over, it's sadism."
"But I've changed!" he shouted in anguish.
"It's no use, Anakin. Let it go. Your own deceased wife Padme couldn't bear that you had become - "
"Don't bring her into this!" Anakin raged.
"Why Ocean, Anakin?" Ben insisted a little more firmly. "Does she remind you of Padme?"
"Shut up! Shut up!"
"Anakin!" Ben raised his voice, then continued. "There is a big difference, and you might as well be informed. You are not the only one who has felt desperation this week. Ocean has all but sworn to Sheev that she will kill you if you summon her to you again."
"I was the one desperate!" Anakin protested.
"Now, she is just as desperate to get - "
"Stop, stop, stop!" Anakin protested.
There was a tense silence.
"For everyone's sake, including your own, do not put her to the test." Let her go, Anakin." Ben said once more before leaving.
While Ocean Elf slept peacefully in her bed on earth, a wildly raging force storm, not of her own making, hit Tatooine.