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Chapter 14

"So, you ready?"

Acacia looked over at her best friend and nodded. "As I'll ever be."

The two girls walked down the hallway and into the living room, where Stass was conducting the final meeting before the battle that day. Everyone else was already there - all of the Utapaun Resistance, as well as Ahsoka and her people.

"So," Stass was saying, "with the addition of Ahsoka and her corps warriors, we're having a very slight change to the plan. Lue-Ann, you're staying here. We need a person to watch the younglings, keep them safe just in case someone comes this way. Now, I understand it's not the most glorying job, but-"

The blond-haired girl shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'd actually prefer it to being in battle."

Chet scoffed, muttering something derogatory about his sister, and Ahsoka stamped on his foot without taking her eyes off the Jedi Master. Chet bit his lip, but he didn't make a sound. Instead, he picked up his foot and silently rubbed the injured toe.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, Lue-Ann," Stass said. "It'll definitely make things that much easier.

"It's not like it'll be much of a battle, anyway," Clayton complained. "We're just picking them off, like we're assassins ourselves."

"A pity it's not action-packed enough for your tastes," Kadalia replied, "but we'll try to accommodate you better the next time."

To Acacia's surprise, Clayton did nothing but smile and wink at Kadalia's snapping tone. "Don't worry about it," he said. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

Chet and a few of the others laughed, but Kadalia rolled her eyes in annoyance, and it didn't take long for Stass to become tired of the silliness, too. The Master cleared her throat once, and all attention was back where it was supposed to be. "Like Clayton said," she continued "we're mostly picking them off slowly and drawing any that remain to the open field here." She pointed at the map on the table. "Admittedly, they'll be able to see us better, but combat will also be easier. You all know your stations?"

Everyone nodded. For those who stayed at Poluna's home, they'd all been briefed on their stations the night before; and for the rest, they hadn't changed, remaining the same as Stass had announced them when they'd gone over the plan a few days before.

"All right then," Stass said, "get to your stations, everyone. We're moving out."

"So, what is it with you and Clayton?"

Kadalia gave her best friend a sideways glance. "You really think this is a good time for that, Caish?"

Acacia nodded. "Yeah. We're not at our stations yet, and it'll make us look like two normal kids just out and about for the day."

"We're human, Caish." Kadalia shook her head. "We stick out on this planet."

"Fine," Acacia said, throwing her hands in the air, "Be a Polly Party Pooper. See if I care."

The two girls walked in silence for a few seconds, but finally, they looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes, and burst out laughing, hiding the giggles behind their hands.

"This is insane!" Kadalia tittered.

"I know!" Acacia agreed, trying to control her sniggers. "We should be more serious today of all days."

"But what you said-"

"Don't repeat it!" Her friend interrupted. "It was silly, I know, but we'll start laughing again if you do."

Acacia's suggestion didn't help; they nearly doubled over in snickers again, anyway. "Good thing our Masters can't see us right now," Kadalia said, when she'd regained some control.

"Very, very good." Acacia nodded her agreement. "So, are you gonna answer my question?"

Her friend shrugged, sobering quickly. "There's nothing really to answer. We just rub each other the wrong way, is all. He's always so... I don't know. Annoying." She paused, then added in a mutter, "Plus, he's Force-Sensitive."

Immediately, Acacia saw the problem. "Stass is thinking about training him, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Kadalia admitted with a sigh. "I told her he was too old, but she says the Jedi can use everyone they can get."

"Well..., you know, Kady, she's kinda right."

Kadalia sighed again, kicking a stone in their path as she nodded. "I know. And so does she, and so does Clayton. But she's my Master. Mine." The other girl shook her head and shrugged. "I'll just have to get used to him, I guess."

I wonder if this is how Anakin felt about me, Acacia thought, and she felt a bit guilty. But then, she remembered all the good things that had come of being apprenticed with her brother and she knew that neither one of them could truly regret it.

Maybe it would be the same for Kadalia and Clayton.

And maybe not.

Acacia sat at her post, watching, waiting. The two bounty hunters she'd been assigned were supposed to come around in less than five minutes. And she was nervous. It had been some time since she'd fought anyone for real, and, even though she'd passed her test, this was... well, it was different. It wasn't a freaking test. This was the real deal.

She looked across, just a little ways away. Hiding behind another boulder was Kadalia to her left and, farther off, Ahsoka to her right. There would actually be six people on this round. Two for each of them.

The bounty hunters and mercenaries came into sight as Acacia turned back, and the girl's body tensed in anticipation.

It's go time.

Anakin looked out from underneath the cowl of his hood. His skin crawled, feeling the Dark Side near. Every Jedi instinct in him screamed that he should seek the source of it out. Seek it out and end it.

But there was another instinct, a far stronger one. The one that commanded him to protect the love of his life at all costs.

And that was the one he obeyed.

His eyes jumped back to Padme, who strode stately ahead of him and her two handmaidens, Dorme and Sabe, who also doubled as bodyguards. They had been with Padme while she was queen, and they were one of the few who had been chosen to remain in Padme's service after she'd stepped down from that position.

It had been difficult to convince Padme that he had to be there. Not that he was asking for her permission, perse, but if she was going to risk her life doing something so crazy, well then, by all means, why shouldn't he join her? Besides, as he'd explained to her, there was no way he'd be able to sit still back at her Coruscant house, going crazy with worry over her. He was likely to get himself into some other kind of trouble - arrested, put in jail, and possibly executed - if he didn't go to the Senate meeting to protect her!

At least, that's what Anakin had told Padme. She'd laughed and shook her head, but at least she'd stopped arguing.

And now, here he was, keeping an eye on everyone and everything, and making sure that no one got too close.

It had been a hard choice, deciding whether he ought to simply disguise his face, or go with a more mysterious approach. In the end, he'd gone for the latter, wearing light makeup just in case his hood slipped off, and trusting in the mystic aura surrounding his person to keep most anyone from approaching.

So far, it had worked quite well.

They entered the Senatorial - recently renamed Imperial - lobby a little late, exactly as Padme had planned. They were greeted by gasps and a few faints, as the senators, kings, queens, and other representatives laid eyes on his wife. He tensed, watching, waiting, feeling in the Force. But there was no malice towards her. Only shock that she was, in fact, alive.

"Padme," Bail Organa stepped forward and took her hands in his, smiling down at her, "It is so good to see you alive and well."

Anakin couldn't see his wife's face, but he could hear in her voice that she smiled back when she replied, "The same to you, Bail."

And then she was practically mobbed as people came forward and asked where she'd been and what had happened to her, and she gave the same vague answers they'd practiced over and over on the way from Naboo to Coruscant. "I had an unexpected decline in my health and had to return home to Naboo." "It happened too quickly to contact anyone." "I've only recently been well enough to come back." And on and on and on.

Of course, as they slowly made their way through the crowd, eyes eventually turned to Anakin. He could feel the gazes on him, but he stood as tall as if he couldn't, appearing to ignore their glances. Whispers began to travel. "Who is he?" "What is he doing here?" "He couldn't be her husband, could he?"

Anakin chuckled at just how right that one queen happened to be.

Padme's voice rose above the noise. "He is my bodyguard. An attack was made on my person not long ago, by whom we do not know. But it has become evident that extra security is required for me, and so I hired him." Then, she turned and headed for the Senate - now Imperial - podiums, an air about her that allowed no further questions.

Those who were not already headed in that direction followed her, and all the Senate - or now Imperial Council - members filed into the Imperial Building's main room.

Still, Anakin hung back and he sensed that someone else was doing the same. The loud huhhh... khhhh, alerted Anakin to the second reason that everyone had made such a hasty entrance into the main area of the Imperial Building.

He turned to face Vader, looking straight at the formidable foe to show he was not afraid. I killed you once. Don't think I can't do it again.

As if he'd heard his thoughts, Vader gave a small nod, turned and simply walked away. Anakin did the same, though headed in the opposite direction to join his wife and her colleagues.

Sidious still wanted him to join the Dark Side, Anakin knew that. It was why the Emperor would not publicly announce the presence of the Jedi, even when he had all the power to have Anakin thrown into prison or even executed. That sort of blatancy just wasn't Sidious' style.

Anakin had known that. It was how he knew that he could come to the Imperial meeting without fearing for his life.

All the same, he also knew that none of that meant he was safe.

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