Chapter 9
Padmé was looking up at the stars from her sister's backyard when Sola emerged from the house with two long-stemmed glasses and a bottle of her favorite wine. It was strange to not have Anakin's familiar presence somewhere close, she had grown so used to having him there over the last few weeks that it was like she was missing a part of herself now that he wasn't. She had been in need of company after Anakin left and instead of going to her parents' home she had gone to see Sola, certain that her sister's teasing would help take her mind off of her sudden loneliness. Darred had been able to sense that the sisters needed time to themselves and had insisted on taking the girls to see his parents, giving the two of them privacy.
"Looking at the stars isn't going to pass the time any quicker," Sola teased as she sat down next to her sister and poured them both a glass of wine.
Padmé smiled sadly and nodded her head in agreement. "I know that," she sighed, taking a sip of the wine offered to her. "Mmm, this is really good."
"Darred bought me a glass on our second date and ever since he's been buying it for me for every special occasion," Sola explained. "Sometimes men do something right."
"There is something to be said for their attempts to be romantic," Padmé agreed.
"Speaking of being romantic, you still haven't told me how Anakin proposed to you."
"The first time he asked me to marry him was only a few hours after Geonosis."
"The first time? Sweetie, did you make him propose to you more than once?"
"I wasn't sure if we could actually make it work," she admitted, risking a glance at her sister over the rim of her glass. "There's still so much at risk and it would cause quite the scandal for both of us when this is inevitably revealed."
"But it's worth it isn't it? The risk."
"Of course it is! If I didn't think it was do you think I would have said yes?"
"But you still don't know if you made the right choice."
"I know that I made the right choice for me but I don't know if I made the right choice for Anakin. He has so much potential that he's willing to throw away because he loves me, I can't let him do that."
"Why not? Isn't it his choice to make?"
"Anakin is a very powerful Jedi, he mentioned to me that the Council believes he might be what they call the 'Chosen One' and supposedly there is a prophecy that names him to bring balance to the Force."
"What does all that mean?"
"No idea," Padmé admitted with a shaky laugh. "But I guess he's had a great deal of responsibility placed on his shoulders since the Jedi accepted him into the order."
"Well, he's already defeated Count Dooku so I suppose he's proved that he has a vast amount of potential within him. What more do the Jedi expect from him if stopping a galactic civil war wasn't enough?"
"I'm not supposed to talk about this actually, I promised Master Yoda that I wouldn't," Padmé said, "But there is an ancient race of Force users, ones that draw on the 'dark side,' and they believe that there is at least one other out there that Anakin will eventually have to defeat."
"So the Jedi do have a natural enemy," Sola said. "They always seemed so invincible."
"That's why they don't want people knowing about these others. They call them the Sith, and the creature that killed Master Jinn during the blockade crisis was one."
"And they don't know where this other one is?"
"No."
"Then how do they expect Anakin to find him and kill him or whatever it is he has to do?"
"They think he'll reveal himself eventually. Anakin is too powerful for him to not want to at least try to get him."
"You don't think Anakin would ever turn to the dark side do you?"
"I don't know," she whispered, falling silent for a long moment. "Anakin has a great deal of power within him but he also has a hard time controlling it. He… he lost his temper, lost himself really, after his mother died."
"What does that mean?"
"He gave into the dark side to extract his revenge on the creatures that had killed his mother."
Sola looked at her sister, searching for answers in her pained expression. "He killed them didn't he?"
Padmé looked away, biting her lip anxiously as she stared out over the darkened garden. "He wasn't himself," she whispered. "I should have been there with him. I could have… I might have been able to stop him."
Sola leaned forward to gently grasp her sister's hand as she looked into her eyes. "Anakin made his own decision; you can't blame yourself for his mistakes."
"I think I might have played a role in it though," she said weakly. "The night before we left for Tatooine Anakin told me how he felt and I refused his advances. I think I hurt him that night, deeply. He would hardly look at me after that and he hardly spoke."
"What changed then? Because he couldn't keep his eyes off of you when he was with you last night?"
"I was there for him after what he did. I accepted that he had made a horrible mistake and I accepted him. I also realized that I loved him. I saw in that moment that I couldn't live without him, despite everything I had to him, but it took me until we were about to be executed to admit it out loud."
Sola sighed and sat back in her chair, letting everything her sister had told her sink in. "You really are one of the most stubborn beings in the galaxy," she finally said. "May the Force be with whoever tries to take Anakin away from you."
Padmé allowed herself to laugh at her sister's words, and then turned her gaze back up to the twinkling stars. "Gods, just think how stubborn our children will be."
Sola had a good laugh at that idea. "Well, if you have a daughter half as stubborn as you are I don't envy you," she teased.
"You have to add in Anakin's temper, then we'll be in trouble."
"Well, if he loves your child as much as he loves you, I think you'll be all right."
"He's very good at loving me," she said, and then seemed to realize the ways her sister could interpret her statement and blushed furiously. "I didn't mean it like that."
"Uh huh," Sola said sarcastically. "I'm sure you didn't."
"I'm not getting out of this that easily am I?" she asked before taking another long sip, watching her sister smirk out of the corner of her eye.
"You know me, baby sister, I love all the juicy details," Sola replied with a wicked grin.
Padmé felt herself blush even though she knew her sister could not see the pink that stained her cheeks. "There aren't many juicy details to share," she lied.
"You may be good at not always telling the entire truth as a politician but I know when you're lying. Do I have to pour you another glass of wine to get you to talk, because you know that I will?" Padmé rolled her eyes but offered her sister her glass to be refilled, which earned a triumphant laugh from Sola. "Now spill."
"What exactly are you trying to get out of me?"
"Oh I don't know, how about how good Anakin is in the bedroom?"
"Sola!"
"I know exactly what you two were up to last night so don't play the affronted damsel. You'd have to be blind to miss the way you were looking at each other."
"Were we that obvious?"
"Well, maybe not in front of Dad but I'm pretty sure Mom noticed it too."
"I guess I can't get anything passed either of you."
"Nope, now out with it."
"Fine. He's passionate, very passionate, and tender." She paused to take another sip of her wine, casting a sideways glance at her sister as she did so, noting the expectant look and the pleased smile.
"Go on," Sola prompted when her sister had been quiet too long.
"Honestly Sola, what more do you expect me to say?"
"You know plenty of the details about my love life."
"Too many details if you ask me. I love you Sola, but after some of the stories you told me I couldn't look Darred in the eyes for weeks."
"Now I know why he always thought he'd done something to annoy you."
"It's not funny."
"Oh yes it is. Darred was always getting the feeling that he'd gotten on your bad side, for whatever reason and now the truth has come out."
"Don't you dare tell him," she threatened, even as she found it impossible to not grin sheepishly. "I don't think that he would appreciate how much you've shared with me."
It was Sola's turn to look horrified and she had to nod her head in agreement at her sister's assessment of the situation. "No, you're probably right."
"I don't want you to have the same awkwardness around Anakin," Padmé said. "He had a hard enough time facing Dad after his little outburst that having you tease him about our love life would probably send him running."
"That boy is not going anywhere; he loves you too much to run away from you just because of your crazy older sister."
"At least you admit that you're crazy."
"Well, at the very least tell me this, does the size of a Jedi's lightsaber have anything to do with the size of his lightsaber?"
"Sola!"
"It was worth a shot," she said with an unrepentant grin.
"You truly are horrible."
"But you love me anyway."
"For some reason, I do."
Anakin was restless, anxious even, upon his return to the Jedi Temple. The quite reminded him of how alone he felt within the walls and it seemed to mock the hole in his heart that longed to be filled by Padmé's warm presence. Being apart from her was more painful than he had imagined it could be and it had barely been two days since he had seen her last. He avoided as many Jedi as he could, making his way through the hallways he knew so well, not wishing to stop and speak to anyone when his thoughts and emotions still dwelled on the beautiful Senator from Naboo. The late hour giving him more cover than he had hoped as many Jedi had already retired for the night.
"You're late," Obi-Wan said from where he sat at the small table in their shared quarters as soon as he heard the door his open.
"My transport was held up when we landed," Anakin said, not at all surprised that his Master was waiting up for him. "Something about security check points."
"They're taking more precautions now."
"As they should."
"Indeed."
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to retire for the night," he said as he headed towards the closed door of his sleep chamber.
"How was Naboo?" Obi-Wan asked, grinning to himself when his Padawan froze and huffed out a silent sigh before turning to face him again.
"As beautiful as ever."
"And the Senator?"
"She was happy to be home and more than happy to be able to recover with her family around."
"Good, that's good."
"I guess it is," Anakin said with a weak nod.
"I'm sorry we had to call you back so soon, I was hoping the Council would give you time to recover on Naboo. I know how difficult it can be, how draining it is, to face a Sith."
"I'm just glad we all made it out of that hangar in one piece."
"Yes, that is quite the miracle," Obi-Wan agreed. "Anakin, I'm sorry about your mother, I should have listened to you."
"What? How did you know?"
"The Senator told me why it was you two were on Tatooine."
"Oh."
"She told me that I would have to ask you personally to get more details about the incident and I'd like to know what happened, if you're willing to tell me."
Anakin swallowed hard and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it, to be honest," he answered. "I... It isn't easy to accept."
"No, I'm sure it isn't. But when you're ready to talk I'll be here for you."
"Thank you."
"Go get some rest; the Council is expecting us first thing in the morning."
"Yes Master," he said, keying the door open and entering. He looked around the cramped room, frowning at his now unfamiliar surroundings littered with droid parts and the engine he had been working on before their mission on Ansion. With a heavy sigh he tossed his travel bag on his bed and went back out to where his Master was waiting for him. "Can we talk?"
"Of course Anakin," he said warmly.
Anakin pulled out the chair opposite him and sank down into it, unable to meet his Master's eyes as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. "I… My mother died in my arms moments after I found her," he finally whispered. "She'd been beaten, brutalized, by a band of Tusken Raiders for over a month and it's amazing she survived that long." He looked down at his knotted hands on the table and drew a measure of strength from the mark that adorned his finger. "I gave in to the dark side, it whispered to me to give in to the anger I was feeling, and I did."
"What did you do Anakin?"
"I killed them. All of them," he whispered, his head bowed in shame. "And I liked the power I felt when I gave in."
"Oh Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed, reaching across the table to gently take his Padawan's hand in his. "You feel remorse for your actions, correct?"
"Of course I do!"
"And you will not give into the same temptation twice, I hope?"
"No."
"Then you have learned from your actions."
"But I…"
"There is no condoning what you did, even if it was done out of a sense of need to extract revenge for your mother's death."
"What I did goes against the most basic of tenants in the Jedi Code."
"But you learned from it. I'm not saying what you did was a good thing, what I'm saying is that for all the power you say you enjoyed you would not want to give into that again."
"Never."
"Then you truly have become the Jedi I always knew you could be."
"There's more I have to tell you."
"More?"
Anakin bit his bottom lip nervously and could not find the courage to meet his Master's eyes. "Padmé and I intend to get married."
"What?"
"We fell in love and she has agreed to become my wife."
"Anakin, you know the Council will never condone that course of action."
"Then I'll leave the Order."
"You would do that for her?"
"I'd do anything for her."
Obi-Wan fell silent for a long while, staring at his Padawan as he tried to come to terms with what he had said. He had always known that he had formed a deep attachment to the Senator and he was not terribly surprised that she did in fact return those feelings, what surprised him was the realization that he was willing to lie for Anakin if it meant he could fulfill his destiny.
"Master?" Anakin asked weakly.
"You are certain that this is the path you wish to take?"
"More certain than I've been about anything else in my life."
"And she'll have you?"
He held out his hand for his Master to see the mark on his finger. "She wears this mark as well," he said.
"Anakin, if this is the path you wish to walk then I will do what I can to make sure you remain a Jedi while doing so."
"What?"
"You have far too much potential to become a great Jedi to keep you from fulfilling that promise."
"You're willing to lie for me?"
"If it means helping you live up to that potential then I'm sure my own Master would have been all for it." Anakin's shocked expression made him laugh. "Did you think that I would throw you before the Council for this?"
"That and what happened with my mother."
"I've raised you since you were a boy and, Force help me, but I have formed an attachment of my own."
"Thank you Master."
Obi-Wan patted the boy's hand and nodded his acceptance. "Now go get some sleep."
Anakin got to his feet and started to walk away but turned around to embrace his Master now that he was on his feet as well. "I won't let you down, I promise," he said.
"I have faith in you."
