Title: The Morning Light: Part 2/2
Author: al'Laine Aranielle id Larq
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money out of this so please don't sue me. Star Wars, its characters, and everything else in between, belong to George Lucas...I think.
Rating: G
Category: Romance
Feedback: Friends, enemies: Send your comments or constructive criticism to allaine003@hotmail.com. If you find anything remotely displeasing, do tell!
Summary: Amidala watches as a distressed Anakin comes to pay his respects. The last of two parts. Please read and review!!!
Spoilers: None that I know of...
Archiving: =) I'd be honored to have this posted wherever you fellow fans wish. Though, I'd appreciate it very much if you could drop me a line and tell me where it's at.
Dedication: To the Star Wars community and to my friends in school. Have a great summer! Trinnie, I just posted all of them again to add this itty bitty part to it ok? You don't have to read them all again.
Author's Note: I would be very grateful for any insights; if you see any grammatical or spelling errors, feel free to point them out. I'm new at this so I'd appreciate your generosity when it comes to tips and stuff like that.

***

If words were proper for the beauty, perhaps, of a sunset, then words were simply the ground one treads on when that ivory face turned from the sight of distant mountains covered in their quilts of snow. She might have reminded him of things past, of things present, of things come to be, but the air she breathed and the presence she endured, was the same perforating zephyr that blew from every measure of liquid falling from the great heights of waterfalls that never seemed to end. The view beyond her drapes of silk provided this endearing spectacle, never leaving its loft in the recesses of her mind.

She was, in every minute detail, the embodiment of all he ever wanted to be, of everything he had ever yearned for. And the intensity of that gaze, older perhaps that his, was filled with the wisdom of fortitude for nearly every possible pain. She radiated the command of a general who had, not once, been defeated in his cause but had felt the very thorns of a distant debacle that never seemed to pass. She was a Queen, not a child, and in her eyes, despite the many years that clothed whatever youth may have existed, the world had become far more cruel than that evil force who tempted the pride of man.

Anakin Skywalker, the watcher, the beholder, could not tear his gaze from the woman, for that was what she was, enveloped in disquiet and concern. He did not bother to knock, did not need to, and stepping against the cold marble that perhaps, had turned his heart to ice, he approached the foot of her bed. Her room was open in all sides and this space invited the breath of the angels, the breathe of the heavens, that gave life to the room and its inhabitants.

She had noticed his footfall not moments before and her face, which one would think was blanketed by a thick pallid night, summoned all the gods of the heavens to bedeck her with light. Her happiness was evident but the veil that Anakin had taken to wearing, prevented him from seeing the joy that lit every corner of her appearance.

He was punishing himself, Amidala knew.

"My lady," he greeted, his voice bejeweled with pain. Kneeling, as was proper for a subject to his queen, he had trouble looking her in the eye. It did not seem much that he could not face her, but indeed, the shame he felt was far more superior to the sorrow one could see in the way his brow furrowed, in the way those lips were set tightly against each other, in the way he trembled despite the rising heat.

"Stand, Anakin. You do not have to act so formally around me."

It pained her to see him in such a state. Although it was not his treatment of coldness towards her that nearly drove her mad, it was the very whips that he had taken to scourging himself with. The whips that were, in a sense, his guilt.

"My lady..." he began, almost choking, almost faltering with the anguish that seemed to overflow the dam of raw emotions.

Despite the burn that sizzled incessantly at her side, despite the sanguine blood that stained her head, she felt her heart become even more troubled than her body.

The tale had been simple. Anakin Skywalker, a friend to whom even her most innermost feelings were now hidden from because of her inability to express them in proper words, had abandoned every Jedi duty to accompany her to one of her councils. It had not been easy for both of them. Seeing a Padawan and the Queen together, both quite young and engaged in quiet conversation, was enough to turn the head of every able leader in Naboo. Not that his Master, Obi-wan, had not perceived this small...dilemma. In fact, the Jedi Knight had encouraged Anakin's participation. It seemed though, that certain parties were not pleased.

In the view of her very protector, an assassin had unraveled the rifle, shot her before his very eyes, and almost killed her with a blow to the head. Anakin was beyond rage. He convened all that he ever learned in a millisecond he thought never happened, and proceeded to cudgel the man who threatened the person thing that meant most to him.

She had seen the fury in his eyes, the blood that masked every sign of humanness. She had to touch his shoulder to prevent him from murdering her assassin in cold blood. She had fainted in his arms as she did so as blood cascaded from a gaping shoulder wound. He had shed tears despite himself and Obi-wan had been there to behold it.

How could one woman have such a profound effect on a man? Now, she watched the boy who had not only befriended her heart but her very soul, and rose from her bed despite the agony of wounds inflicted on her body not long before.

He gave a start at the pained look on her face, almost stood to reach out for her, to help her, but she raised a hand, offered a wan smile, and approached him. He swallowed and concern overshadowed his face in great waves of distress.

"Amidala, you shouldn't..."

"Shhh," she whispered, taking his chin and cradling his face with hands softer than the breezes that swept past the mountains of Naboo.

It was a moment shared in mutual silence and they stared into each other's eyes, savoring perhaps, a moment meant to end with the passage of the predator called Time.

From afar, one would think this a scene from a fairy tale come to life as Anakin knelt, his eyes doing a strange mellow caper in the sunlight and as Amidala's long, unbound hair fell forward to his face like an ebony waterfall rushing down the smoothness of rocks hewn by the passage of epochs upon epochs.

And the moment lasted for an eternity, until even the spokes of Time deadened and disappeared and each knew, that despite the flaws, the enmities, the very many jealousies, there were only two to the boat that rolled against the tide of time and space.

***

-The End-