"I'm glad to see you look well." Obi-Wan said, and smiled at her. "Do you feel better?"
"I'm fine, Obi." Satine replied. "Please, take a seat."
...
Obi-Wan relaxed into the chair that was offered, while Vai hovered nearby, not overtly threatening, but not part of the conversation either. She never positioned herself in a place where she couldn't immediately interpose herself between him and Satine.
"Would you like to sit with us?" He asked her.
"I'm fine, thank you." Was her only answer.
"I promise you, I'm not likely to hurt the Duchess."
Vai didn't answer, she just continued watching him carefully.
"I hope you don't think I'm behind the attack." Obi-Wan said, bemused.
"If we did, I wouldn't have invited you here." Satine answered. "And we already have a pretty good idea about who's responsible."
"Someone from your own security team." Obi-Wan suggested. "That bomb was planted while your vehicle was in the Senate Speeder Park." It was an automated system, where speeders were stored by a mechanical conveyor that was inaccessible to the public. "Whoever planted the bomb would have needed your particular code, and given that your appearance in the Senate was unscheduled, would have needed to be close enough to take advantage of the opportunity."
"Our thoughts exactly." The Duchess nodded. "Until the leak is identified, I will not be staying with the Mandalorian embassy, nor will I be in contact with anyone from my old security team."
Obi-Wan agreed. "Well, I'll need access to the embassy if I'm to perform my investigation."
Satine nodded, and handed him a code cylinder. As he looked at it, Obi-Wan became surprised as he realised this was her own personal device. This would give him access to her ships, her private computers, her messages, the embassy's network and probably a lot more besides. Looking at it in his hands, Obi-Wan felt a strange sense of relief at realizing she still trusted him so deeply.
He tucked the cylinder into his robe pocket. "In the hospital, you said you thought Grib Siv was behind this." Obi-Wan said. "Do you still think that's true?"
"Of course I do." Satine scoffed. "They've been attacking us via proxy for years."
"Why you, and not one of the other Alliance members?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Because I'm the obvious point of vulnerability!" Satine replied, scowling. "I have no successor, and Mandalore is hardly stable at the best of times, even if things weren't currently on the verge of disaster."
Obi-Wan's brow shot up, surprised. "What's made Mandalore so unstable? Is resistance to the New Mandalorians growing?"
"Hardly growing when it's the same as it was previously. We only ever 'won' the Mandalorian Civil War, in the sense that by the end none of the other clans felt they were strong enough to take power, and we were seen as non-threatening. They accepted our rule over the planet because they knew we wouldn't be able to force our will onto the rest of the Sector. We don't have a standing army, just a series of defence contracts with other clans, who after a few decades of peace, seem to be about ready to try another round of Civil War!" She sighed, glumly. "The government is wealthier than any of the Clans, but more unpopular than ever before, even among the New Mandalorians."
Now that was surprising news to Obi-Wan. "I thought your economy was booming. What's upsetting the New Mandalorians?"
"They want me to hold elections." Satine replied.
"Well, what's so wrong with that?"
"We can't hold an election because no one will accept the outcome." Satine answered. "Clan blood feuds are ancient, and feelings run deep. There's no way someone will accept a government headed by a rival clan, because they know that if they had the chance, they would use such powers to persecute their rivals."
"So what's your plan?" Obi-Wan asked. "Just wait, and hope things change?"
"At the moment, I don't see what else I can do." Satine answered, sounding almost defeated.
Obi-Wan could see it was a terrible situation to be in for anyone. Knowing that if you didn't do anything, everything you'd built would eventually burn down before you, but not seeing any way to save it. Any move she could make would only make the situation worse, so she was forced to sit still, watch, and wait, praying for someone or something else to save her.
"Have you considered creating an army for the New Mandalorians?"
Satine scowled at him, and he knew why. Pacifism was a principle that she strongly believed in, and she was ideologically opposed to standing armies. "The Hardliners will never accept it." Satine replied. To Obi-Wan it had the ring of an excuse, but he didn't say so aloud. "Perhaps if conflict does break out, I might be able to convince them to create a volunteer force."
Far too little, far too late by the sounds of things.
He knew any further advice he had to offer would be unwelcome. Kenobi glanced over to Vai, who had an uncomfortable look on her face. Her mind was shielded, but she was also from the Indinoor Temple. She probably wasn't happy with Satine spilling the ORRA's secrets to him so candidly.
"Thank you for talking to me." Obi-Wan said to her, standing up. "I'm going to head to the Mandalorian Embassy right away, and I'll contact you once the assassin is in custody."
"Please do, Obi." She smiled at him, sadly. "It's been good to see you again, despite the circumstances."
Obi-Wan was escorted out by Vai, who closed the door behind him and locked it. It wasn't quite his first interaction with someone from the Indinoor Temple, but he had the distinct impression that it didn't go very well. As he walked to the lift he took out his holocom and called Anakin.
"Master?"
"I've just finished up here. Satine has granted me access to their embassy and its security systems."
"Sounds promising." Anakin shifted, slightly awkward. "Not much luck on my end."
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Was the Senator uncooperative?"
"She answered all my questions." Anakin quickly replied.
"...But nothing else?"
"...Yeah. Nothing else." Anakin answered bitterly, looking down.
On the one hand, Obi-Wan could point out that the last time they spoke Anakin was nine and the princess was a fourteen year old in the middle of a war. On the other hand, Anakin was a young man coming to terms with the fact that his crush had almost no interest in him at all.
"I'm sorry, Anakin." Obi-Wan said. "Did you want me to come pick you up? Or did you want to meet me at the Mandalorian Embassy?"
"...I'll meet you there." Anakin decided after a long pause. "I think I'd like a moment to clear my head."
"I understand. Take all the time you need."
After hanging up, Obi-Wan walked to his speeder and jumped in to join the late morning traffic. He took a path straight to the embassy, and found his Padawan hadn't arrived yet. The security was incredibly tight, but between his Jedi credentials, and the code cylinder given to him by Satine, the New Mandalorian guards let him through, though he got more than a few stink eyes.
Things got tricky when Obi-Wan logged in and found himself looking at an unfamiliar operating system. He wasn't computer illiterate, but it was hardly his area of expertise either. It took him a bit of searching to find who had access to Satine's senatorial garage, then download the list.
Only Satine's personal aides and security would, and all of them had tags to show who entered and exited the Embassy. The only Mandalorians who had exited the embassy in the right time frame were travelling with Satine. Obi-Wan even reviewed the embassy's security footage to confirm that no one had left unrecorded, and confirmed that a bomb check was performed when her speeder left the garage.
Clearly the bomb was planted by someone in Satine's personal retinue. No wonder she was hiding in a hotel room with her Padawan bodyguard.
After copying all the files, Obi-Wan left the embassy to find his own Padawan waiting outside.