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Chapter 1

"You're doing great. Let's go through it again."

Padme shot her husband a look. "I thought you said I was doing great."

"You are," he replied with a grin. "Phenomenal, in fact. I'm not sure I learned this fast."

Padme raised her eyebrows. "And you would be the standard, wouldn't you, Ani?"

Humor sparking in his blue eyes, Anakin stepped forward and kissed her briefly; when he pulled back, he was grinning again. "Obviously."

"Hey, lovebirds." A dry voice sliced through the peace of the garden, and they turned around to see Anakin's sister, Acacia Lars.

"What do you want, Squirt?"

She scowled. "You know I hate that name."

Anakin smirked. "Well, why do you think I use it?"

"Wait," Padme said, "there's a story behind that name?"

Her husband opened his mouth, but Acacia cut him off. "No," she stated firmly, shooting her brother a venomous look. "Anyways, I came to tell you you're gonna need to cut your training time short. Luke is up, and Leia's stirring."

"Oh good." Padme said, sheathing her saber. "Again tomorrow, Ani?"

"One more time, Padme, come on. Acacia can watch them for a few minutes, can't you, Caish?"

She frowned. "One second I'm 'Squirt,' the next I'm 'Caish' when you need to beg me to do something."

"You catch on so quick."

"Whatever." Acacia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I can watch them. But only for a few minutes. I've got stuff to do, too, you know."

"Sure you do." His sister glared and opened her mouth to retort, but Anakin cut her off with, "Thanks." To which she rolled her eyes again, and stomped off towards the house.

"There's some bottles in the fridge, Acacia," Padme called after her. "Thanks for your help."

Acacia nodded, waving a hand over her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, sure."

Once the younger girl was gone, Padme turned back to her husband, one hand on her hip and a frown on her face. "You shouldn't tease her like that."

Anakin scoffed. "She's my sister, Padme. What else am I supposed to do to her? Now, come on, we should get through this exercise one more time."

Padme sighed. "Since when were you so studious?"

For a minute, Anakin stayed silent, flipping his lightsaber over in his hand and catching the hilt again. "You want the truth?"

"Obviously."

"I think," he said with a grimace, "after all these years, Obi-Wan has finally rubbed off on me."

Padme laughed. "He'd be glad to hear it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Now-"

"I know. I know. We get to do it again."

"Go watch the twins, Acacia. Could you feed them a bottle, Acacia? Hold one while I work on this, Acacia; I mean, you've got nothing better to do. Stars and galaxies, you'd think the little brats were mine."

The minute the words were out, though, Acacia felt awash with guilt. The truth was, she did love her niece and nephew. A lot. And she was happy to help her brother and Padme whenever she could.

But come on! She was a Jedi, for Force's sake! She wasn't supposed to sit around watching babies drool all day. She was made for action. She had to do something – anything really, as long as she felt like it furthered the Jedi cause.

And, sitting in a summer-house on Naboo, bottle-feeding her two-month-old nephew didn't cut it.

Acacia sighed, and with the sigh, an idea sparked in her head. Maybe there was something she could do now.

The bottle empty, she shifted Luke to her shoulder and gently burped the baby, mind a million miles from her task. Whenever Anakin wasn't training with Padme or playing with the twins, he'd spent most of his time searching for the "cloaked woman," the one Choler had mentioned. So far, Anakin hadn't found much.

But, since burping a baby didn't require much brainpower, Acacia figured she might as well do some thinking on it, go over the few clues they had found. Maybe she could pick up something Anakin had missed.

Ten minutes later, when he and Padme came in, smiling and laughing like they were the only two on Naboo, all Acacia had was a bantha-load of frustration for her efforts. Not wanting any questions, she quickly cloaked it, using a mental block Obi-Wan had taught her a few weeks before.

And just in time. A second later, their eyes fell on her, and Padme said, "Oh good, you're done. Is Leia up yet?"

Acacia shook her head. "She stopped stirring once I took Luke out. I think he was waking her up."

"Ah, well," Padme checked her wrist-chrono, "I should probably get her up now, anyway. Thanks again, Caish."

"No problem," she said – even though that wasn't strictly true.

Anakin turned to her, and Acacia wondered why her brother was snickering. "Hey, I'll take Luke for you now. You, uh," a chuckle escaped his lips. "You might want to go change your shirt."

Acacia frowned, confused, and glanced over her shoulder – only to find a steady stream of slimy, white spit-up trickling down her back. "Ew!" she screeched. "Take him!"

Anakin's self-restraint burst then and, laughing out loud, he took his son from his sister. She glared, and his laughter quieted back to snickers, but of course it didn't stop.

"The things I do for you," she muttered, twisting around to get a better look at the disgusting mess. "And that was my last clean shirt!"

"You can borrow one of mine," he offered, still sniggering. "Or Padme's might be better. But you should've put a cloth on your shoulder first," he reminded, and inwardly, Acacia admitted she should have, but she'd been too lost in thought to think of it.

Lost in thought? Her brother's voice popped into her head. About what?

None of your business. She quickly set up the shield again, hoping she'd done it right this time. The last thing she needed was her brother poking around in her head and seeing the prickle of resentment she'd indulged earlier; she knew there was no way he'd understand her feelings.

Since the twins' birth, Anakin had mellowed out so much, he was almost like a family man, and he didn't seem to crave the action at all. Shocking as it was, her brother couldn't identify with the restlessness stirring within her. Not anymore.

Plus he'd find out that, since her thoughts on the veiled woman had been fruitless, she'd gotten puked on for nothing.

Anakin opened his mouth like he was going to insist, but she ducked around him and strode down the hall to his bedroom, where she grabbed a smaller shirt of Padme's to replace the one Luke had ruined. Before Anakin could catch her again, she hurried to her own bedroom, and shut the door behind her.

After changing her clothes, Acacia shook out her long, dark hair, stared at herself in the mirror, and thought, Such is the life of a twelve-year-old Jedi Aunt.

Later that evening, Padme announced, "There's a senate meeting the day after tomorrow."

Anakin raised his eyebrows. "And?"

"And I need to be there," his wife replied, eyebrows raised as if daring him to challenge her. "I haven't since before the twins were born, and this one will be important. We're discussing that academy the Emperor wants to set up."

Acacia, who'd been lounging in a chair, staring absently at the HoloNet, sat straight up. "So you're going to Coruscant?"

Padme nodded. "You'll come with me, of course. As the new handmaiden."

"And I'll be going too," Anakin said, in a tone that left no room for argument.

Padme argued anyway. "Ani... it's been a while. People might think extra security is overkill."

"Let them think what they want, Padme. I can't let you go back there alone."

"Ahem," Acacia cleared her throat. "And what am I?"

"Don't get me wrong, Caish," Anakin looked to his sister, and for once, there was sincerity in his blue eyes, "you're good. I just..." He turned back to Padme. "I'd feel better if I was there."

"And you're not going to take no for an answer," Padme said dryly, though a twitch of a smile played at her lips.

"Definitely not."

"Fine." She shrugged. "I guess I'm taking you both then."

Anakin nodded, and Acacia settled back in her chair, but she wasn't watching the Net any more than she'd been before Padme came in. Finally, after two, long months, something was going to happen. Even if she'd only act as handmaiden and bodyguard, at least she'd be moving.

The girl grinned. She'd never been so excited for a Senate meeting.

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