A/N: I remain neither George Lucas nor the owner of Star Wars. Consequently, I own the rights to nothing which my readers recognize from the galaxy far, far away ... No profit is being made, no infringement intended. Please enjoy this installment.
"Good morning, Mister Anakin, sir," said C-3PO, opening the door to the padawan. "Is your Master Kenobi coming here, also?"
"No, not now," said Anakin. "I would like to have a moment to let Padmé--er, Senator Amidala ... know something before we leave Alderaan."
"Of course, sir," replied C-3PO. "I will announce you."
Anakin stood awkwardly in the entry after C-3PO closed the intervening door.
"Thank you," he said to the closed door.
Several minutes passed, and C-3PO opened the door to announce, "Miss Padmé will see you now in the garden room."
"The garden room?" repeated Anakin.
"This way, sir," replied C-3PO.
The garden room proved to be quite aptly named; transparisteel walls allowed morning sunlight to stream into the room which had been filled with latticeworks holding a variety of climbing roses. Glancing about, Anakin saw a wrought iron table with matching chairs. Behind that, climbing roses had been trained to form the ropes which held a polished wooden seat and the woman he wanted to see. Padmé sat, wearing a high-necked dress of sea-green, her hair caught back by a broad headband of the same color.
"Dee--oh, I'm sorry, Anakin." Padmé came down from the swing. "I suppose, having met first when you were ..."
"It's ok," said Anakin. "I kind of like it. I'm glad you'd see me."
"Alderaan is a beautiful place," she said, gesturing to the broad expanse of water and sunlight outside the windows. "But sometimes, it feels so like a cage. Anakin, I heard about what happened in the Senate. There must be some way to find who's responsible and stop them!"
"That's partly what I wanted to talk to you about, Padmé," said Anakin, flushing. "Um, Senator Amidala."
"It's probably better that you call me Padmé," she replied. "Well on Coruscant, at least. If someone other than Threepio were to overhear you, when the whole galaxy believes that I'm back at work in the Senate..."
"I think you're right, though," said Anakin. "That it is Count Austerus behind these attempts to kill you. All of them."
"The Jedi Council did not agree." The remembered meeting in Palpatine's office brought a frown of disappointment to her face.
"I sense it," stated Anakin, wanting to wipe that frown from her face. "I am certain of it, as certain as I am that you're even more beautiful than the first time I saw you ..."
"Anakin!" said Padmé.
"It's true," protested Anakin. "From the first time I saw you, not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about you."
"Stop, Anakin!" Padmé shook her head. "That's a path we cannot tread. You have your oath to the Jedi order, I have my obligations--don't torture yourself with such thoughts."
"I can't help it," protested Anakin.
"No." Padmé held her hands in front of her. "Anakin, let's not talk of that. You came here to talk about the threats that I've been under. Do you think that box of the Senate was aiming for ... well, where I was supposed to be? Where Dormé was, since she was holding my place?"
Anakin looked as though he had been slapped at these words, and quietly said, "Yes, I do. And I promise you, we will find the people responsible so you don't have to keep hiding here on Alderaan. I'm sorry I bothered you."
With that, he stood up and started for the door.
"Sir," began C-3PO.
"I can find my own way out," replied Anakin, not breaking stride.
A moment later, the slam of the door reverberated through the cottage.
xXxXx
"Anakin!" admonished Obi-Wan, looking up as his padawan entered the quarters they had been sharing during their time on Alderaan. "Must we start at the beginning with your meditations again? You look more unsettled than you did when you left."
"I'm sorry, Master," replied Anakin. "It's just ... I can't help thinking about ... that Senate box, they were aiming for where they thought Padmé ..."
"Senator Amidala, Anakin," corrected Obi-Wan. "You cannot allow your personal feelings for one person to override concern for the larger picture."
"It's all the same," protested Anakin.
"Senator Amidala is a politician, and those who are attempting to kill her are doing so out of political motive, not personal grievance," said Obi-Wan. "Your thoughts regarding the Senator betray you, as well."
"What do you mean?" demanded Anakin.
"You swore an oath to the Jedi Order. Be mindful of that oath. Perhaps it will do you some good to not be so near her." Obi-Wan took two steps and turned to look out the window again. "I have just received a message from the Council. We are to return to Coruscant."
"Did they find something out?" asked Anakin.
"If they did, it is not something that can be transmitted where someone might intercept," replied Obi-Wan. "We are to return to Coruscant, and we will be told what the Council wishes us to do next at that time."
"Are they going to consider the fact that it could be Count Austerus who is pulling the strings on these attempts to kill Pad ... Senator Amidala?" asked Anakin.
"I do not know," said Obi-Wan. "I do not sense that is the case. Now, get your things together, and we will begin with the meditations again during our short jump to Coruscant."
"Yes, Master," replied Anakin. Always with the meditations! It's like trying to run a sprint with chains around my ankles. And weights.
Nonetheless, time had passed quickly in this journey. Expecting the ship to be reaching the point of leaving hyperspace, Obi-Wan frowned, and looked at Anakin.
"You reset the coordinates!" exclaimed Obi-Wan.
"Just to lengthen our time in hyperspace a bit. We'll come out closer," said Anakin. Maybe, I'll have an opportunity to talk to the Chancellor. There wasn't any time while he was on Alderaan. Maybe he knows how to make the Council see.
Obi-Wan heaved a sigh and sat down at the console, trying to determine where the new coordinates would put them.
"We can't leave hyperspace so close to Coruscant's approach lanes," began Obi-Wan. "There's too much congestion for a safe flight. I've explained this to you how many times!"
"But ..." protested Anakin.
"Anakin," said Obi-Wan, his eyes fixing his padawan like a butterfly on a pin.
"Yes, Master," said Anakin, looking down, unable to continue gamely on under that dread gaze which he had become accustomed to from Obi-Wan.
"Never do this again," said Obi-Wan. More gently, he continued, "I know that you're anxious to get there--we've been away too long as it is. But remember what I have told you--and never take a chance like that again."
"Yes, Master," replied Anakin, settling into his chair. It's only a few hours more, but ... if only I can talk with the Chancellor, I'm sure he'll see that it has to be what Padmé thinks. And maybe we can find a way to stop the people trying to kill her so she can be back on Coruscant again.
"You're looking tired, too, Anakin," observed Obi-Wan.
"I haven't been sleeping that well lately," confessed Anakin.
"Because of those dreams you've been having?" asked Obi-Wan. "About your mother?"
"How ..."
"You talk in your sleep," replied Obi-Wan.
"I don't know why I keep dreaming about her now," said Anakin. "And it's more than that--these dreams, or are they visions?"
"Or are they merely dreams?" said Obi-Wan. "Anakin, not every dream is a premonition or mystical connection. Sometimes a dream is just a dream, young Padawan."
Anakin shook his head in negation.
"Dreams pass in time," said Obi-Wan. "Do not dwell on them."
xXxXx
Together, Master and Padawan walked the corridors of the Jedi Temple. Though they walked together, their thoughts could not have been further apart, as Obi-Wan considered the message he had been sent while Anakin dwelled on thoughts of Padmé.
All too soon for Anakin, he found himself standing quietly in the Jedi Council chamber, encircled by the Masters of the Order. He stood uneasily just behind and to one side of his master, Obi-Wan. As he looked from face to face, Anakin could not forget how many of those on this council had opposed allowing him to train as a Jedi, and even now he could sense their grave reservations about his continued training.
But I am a Jedi, thought Anakin, his head lowering as he cleared his thoughts to listen to the ponderous council.
"This latest assassination seems to have been from the same source as the others," said Mace, "and so we ask you to continue in this assignment."
"Track down the source, you must, Obi-Wan," said Yoda.
"There has been, as you heard, the other assassination attempt in the Senate Chamber itself," said Mace. "They grow bolder, and those sending the assassins must be found before worse yet happens."
"And Senator Amidala?" asked Obi-Wan.
"She remains too close," said Mace. "We need her to travel away from Alderaan, away from the center of the assassins' activity. Her stay on Alderaan was never meant to be more than a temporary measure, and departure from there is more easily arranged."
"Handle that, your Padawan will," stated Yoda.
"Now as to your assignment, Obi-wan. This device," Mace held up the mangled material, "remained of the bomb that had been rigged in the Senate box. Follow the trail from this as it leads you."
Obi-Wan nodded acknowledgment of his task. Behind him, Anakin could feel his heart soar at the thought that not only had he been given a solo assignment, but that it was to take care of Padmé.
"Anakin, you are to travel with Senator Amidala under assumed names to the resort on B'reuse. You will be provided a ship to leave from Alderaan," said Mace. "Your passage there has already been arranged."
"Senator Amidala will be reluctant to go so far from the capital," said Anakin. "She wasn't happy about staying on Alderaan as it is."
"Until caught this killer is," said Yoda, "our judgment respect she must."
"If necessary," added Mace with finality in his tone, "ask the Chancellor if he will provide a message ordering her to go."
Anakin barely had time to react to this before he noticed that Obi-Wan was already leaving the chamber of the High Council, and he hastened to follow.
As they traversed the hall, Anakin said, "I was only trying to explain Padmé's passion for ..."
"You made Senator Amidala's concerns clear," interrupted Obi-Wan. "The Jedi Council understands."
"Yes, Master," replied Anakin.
Sensing the rebelliousness in his padawan's tone, Obi-Wan turned, and said, "You must trust in them, Anakin."
"Yes, Master," replied Anakin automatically. All I have to do is get Padmé to follow the orders, and I will be with her, guarding her. Just the two of us.
xXxXx
I have never seen Anakin so quick to embrace a new duty, thought Obi-Wan as he traversed the halls of the Jedi Temple. That alone concerns me. I told him to trust in the Council, but even now I am having trouble myself, trusting in the wisdom of the Council in sending him away alone with Senator Amidala. Those thoughts, however, were interrupted as he found an open cubicle with an SP-4 droid.
Sitting at the console, Obi-Wan was immediately greeted by the metallic voice of the droid. "Place the subject for analysis on the sensor tray, please."
Obi-Wan put the twisted piece of metal into the tray even as the last syllable faded away.
"The subject has been severely damaged," said the droid.
"It was part of a bomb," said Obi-Wan. "I need the composition, and its origins."
Images began scrolling across the screen as Obi-Wan watched, speculative analysis of the pre-explosion appearance of the device.
"Composition is phobium and crystal," announced the SP-4. "Likely origins Gargon."
"And assembly?"
"It does not match known assembly plants specifications," replied the droid.
"Speculate," instructed Obi-Wan, wishing that this droid had been given a sufficient enough capability to reason to see that such a step was the next logical progression.
"Aduba-3 is home to many factories which may not be using standard methods of production," replied the droid.
"Well, that's a starting point," said Obi-Wan, taking the twisted lump from the analysis tray. He stood up, leaving the cubicle. "Not an answer, but a starting point."
Obi-Wan continued his contemplations as his steps took him to the Archives. If someone meant to frame the separatists ... Certainly, using materials from worlds they now hold would point in that direction. But that hardly makes sense. Senator Amidala is right in her belief that the creation of an army might push the separatists into thinking they must go to war, and war would follow. A great, terrible war that would cost the lives of billions ... What would the separatists gain from that? It makes no sense.
Without conscious thought, Obi-Wan's steps had brought him to the bust of one Count Rex Austerus, former Jedi Knight.
"Whatever led you to such a course of action?" asked Obi-Wan, as though the inert material might answer him. He reminds me of Qui-Gon. The thought was immediately followed by a pang, as Obi-Wan once again considered his loss and the resulting burden thrust upon him.
"He has a powerful face, doesn't he?" said the woman behind him. "He was one of the most brilliant Jedi I ever had the privilege of knowing."
Obi-Wan turned to face the inimitable Jocasta Nu, and said, "I never understood why he left. Whatever problems he might have seen, couldn't they have been better faced within the Jedi family?"
"One of the Lost Twenty," said Jocasta, with a profound sigh. "And Count Austerus our most recent. No one likes to talk about it, Obi-Wan. His departure was a great loss to the Order."
"What happened?" asked Obi-Wan.
"One might say he was a bit ... out of step with the decisions of the Council," replied Jocasta. "Much as your old Master, Qui-Gon. Like Master, like padawan."
"Really?" prompted Obi-Wan, trying to remain non-committal while hoping for more information.
"Oh yes, they were alike in many ways," replied Jocasta. "Very individual thinkers. Idealists. He was always striving to become a more powerful Jedi. He wanted to be the best ... His knowledge of the Force was ... unique. And in the end, I think he lost faith in the Republic."
Obi-Wan and Jocasta shared a glance and then both gazed down at his bust once more.
Without looking at Obi-Wan, she continued, "He felt that the Jedi betrayed themselves by serving the politicians instead of the Republic."
Obi-Wan blinked as he absorbed these words.
"He disappeared for about nine or ten years, and now ... here he is, the head of the separatist movement."
"Interesting," replied Obi-Wan, "yet, I don't think I understand still."
"None of us does." Jocasta gave Austerus' stony cheek a near-affectionate caress. "Did you come here simply for a history lesson?"
"No," replied Obi-Wan. "I'm ... troubled by the information that I'm gathering. Everything seems to be pointing at the separatists, but such a conclusion makes little sense to me."
"What points to the separatists?" asked Jocasta.
"The bomb that was in the Senate," said Obi-Wan. "Using a box belonging to a senator whose sector has seceded and material coming from a world that has also seceded. Further information points to a plant at Aduba-3 being the point of manufacture."
"You won't find answers if you close your mind to what you find," said Jocasta. "Follow your trail, and you may find the truth."
"Or that I have been deliberately misled, and no closer than I started."
"And do you get closer by standing here, not starting the task you have been given?"
Obi-Wan gave her a rueful smile.
"I'm sure that you'll come to a decision on how to handle this best while you are traveling."
"Yes." Obi-Wan stared into the stone eyes of Count Austerus. "Yes, I'm sure I will. Thank you."