This chapter refused to end. I have no control over my characters. At all. Nope.

I'm not even trying at this point, to be perfectly honest with you… I sort of enjoy the mayhem!

And I use "my" in a very liberal sense here, as I do not in the least claim the characters to actually be mine. They belong to their owners, and definitely not to me. Glad we cleared that up.

TapTap

Padme kicked her shoes off and lifted her feet into Anakin's lap as she collapsed onto the sofa. Her husband was reading a report of some sort, having just come back from a quest alongside Qui-Gon. Neither he, nor any of his old apprentices had gotten any new Padawan-apprentices, and so they continued to work alongside one another as they did before.

In Qui-Gon´s case, he was simply getting too old for the commitment of a new Padawan, and having had several pupils before, the council had decided to leave it be this time. For Obi-Wan, his rising position on the council had meant he was rather too busy to take one on, and Carriel taught the younger classes, staying in the Jedi high quarters, which might not technically have made her unsuitable for an apprentice, but it was at least redundant for her to have one.

As for Anakin, Yoda had decided that his unusual duties - for a Jedi - as a prince consort and the father of a royal family was enough to deal with, and he sent him out on journeys and tasks, but left it at that. Anakin had seen the sensible in this and consented to an unusual life for a Jedi, without objections. Padme was glad for it. Jedi didn't normally have children, and she found it hard to reconcile the images of her family - and her duties, which Anakin had some share in - with the sort life-consuming obligations any normal Jedi lived with.

Not that her own duties as a queen always matched up completely with those of a mother, as it happened more than once that she struggled for time. Luckily, Anakin's work might take him away from them occasionally, but he was all theirs when he was there with them, and that helped considerably.

"Was it a difficult day?" Anakin had placed the folder down in favour of rubbing his wife's feet. "It is a tricky decision I have to make," Padme agreed, dropping her head back. She spent almost an hour detailing the problem to her husband, as they attempted to decide on a course of action together.

Work settled - at least for the night - they had other decisions to make. The twins - Luke and Leia - were fourteen years old now, and their little brother was nearly eight. Raising children that old might have been simpler in many practical ways, but it also presented plenty of new challenges.

"Will your fathers and Carriel come down for Quiwan's birthday party?" Padme asked, laughing as Anakin predictably rolled his eyes at her reference to his two fathers. He would never call his former master such, but Padme had simply decided that this fact only made it more entertaining. For all that she normally chose to be an adult, she knew how to tease, too. She hadn't practically grown up with Carriel for nothing. Never mind the rest of them. And Yoda.

"I expect they will. They usually make time for the kids if they possibly can," he noted, pulling his wife closer, "Lars and my mother will come to, I am sure. Along with most of the rest of the family." "That will be nice," Padme noted, getting a nod in reply.

"It is good for the children," Anakin took up the train of thought a few moments later. "And they like that side of the family. Maybe we should let them go to Tatooine to stay with them this summer?" "If you'd like," Padme agreed readily, smiling back at her concerned husband. Anakin had always had a tendency to overthink things, even if his inclination to overreact because of it had lessened significantly through the years.

Anakin looked back at his wife suspiciously. "You're just humouring me now, aren't you," he accused rather than asked; even though his voice was soft and almost amused, not actually carrying any of the accusation he tried to imply. Padme laughed. "Yes," she confessed readily, drawing a laughter from her other half.

"You want me to stop overthinking and join you in bed now, don't you," Anakin continued to be impressively - but not unusually - insightful. "Yes," Padme repeated, eyes sparkling with humour. Rolling his eyes with not in the least annoyed fondness, Anakin rose and without a sound, any effort nor movement, extinguished most of the lights.

Recognising victory - and surrender - when it was so readily - and willingly - presented to her, Padme rose and took the offered hand, leading the way while pondering for how long she might be able to keep her Jedi from his balcony. It turned out to work until approximately three am, when she finally found him out there; as predictable as the tide which was coming in down on the shore.

It was a brilliant day - the day when Leia's father was to return home to the palace - when the young princess was out on the beach, slightly further away from the palace than was usual for her. She had guards with her of course, trailing not too far back, but it was giving the fourteen-year-old girl - strolling around with a few of her friends - an illusion of unusually much freedom.

She was an intelligent young girl, who appreciated the safety provided by her escort rather than resented the men with the task of protecting her, but she was still a teenager, and a little bit of freedom was always better than the alternative.

As the young girls wandered, talking about anything and everything; and mostly gossiping about their school friends, they ended up near the beach area of a local bar. The guards would have intervened if the girls had attempted to stray too far in that direction, but they were clever, sensible girls - well, most of the time - and they did not try to do so.

Despite the distance, however, they did stumble upon a few of the establishment's guests; or rather, former guests who had clearly just been tossed out. Possibly literally. They were boys, more or less, not too much older than the girls themselves were, and the two groups merged slowly as they got chatting.

It was perhaps a politer conversation (on both sides) than it would have been without the guards - now lurking far closer to their charges than they had previously done - in attendance, but before it ended and the girls had to return the way that they had come, Leia reached out a hand and introduced herself to the boy next to her. He was a handsome young man; with laughing eyes and unruly hair, with a mischievous air about him, and possibly a bit tipsy at the moment.

But he accepted her courtly, perfect manners with some rougher - although correct - ones of his own and took the offered hand. Introducing himself in turn, he grinned and replied to her saying her name - the first one, only - with a simple statement. "Han Solo."