Title: Labyrinth
Author: Jedi Rita
Rated: PG-13
It took several hours of searching before the three Jedi found Obi-Wan and Anakin's speeder. They flew above the layer of fog to report back their location to the Temple, then settled their skyhopper down on the ground and fanned out to inspect the carnage.
Adi Gallia indicated that her apprentice should investigate the Jedi speeder. Bo-Neda would have preferred to check out the other speeder, which would surely be more interesting, but she did not complain. A quick inspection told her all she needed to know. "It was shot up from the underside," she reported to her master. "It's pretty thoroughly destroyed, but the survival packs are missing, indicating that someone took them."
Adi nodded, then swept her gaze around the street. "What else can you tell me?"
Eagerly, Bo-Neda crouched over the one body evident in the carnage. "Lightsaber wound to the chest. I think we know who gave him that," she pronounced with a hint of glee that wasn't quite proper for a Jedi. She leaned closer, inspecting his weapons holsters and armor. "This guy was really equipped. He looks like a professional."
Bant joined the two of them, studying the man with her large, silver eyes. "But was he a professional terrorist, or something else?"
Adi looked questioningly at the Mon Calamari, but Bant was not forthcoming with any theories. She looked back at her padawan. "What else?"
Bo-Neda moved on to the other speeder, which was now nothing but burnt and twisted scrap metal. "Totaled," she remarked. "Not much here."
"You conclude your investigation rather quickly," Bant remarked with disapproval.
Chastened, Bo-Neda looked again at the speeder, not sure what she was supposed to be looking for. She couldn't find anything in the speeder, nor any sign of blood to indicate anyone had been injured when the speeder blew up.
"What can you tell about the speeder itself?" Adi prompted.
Bo-Neda circled the vehicle. "It's a two-passenger speeder, recent model, probably an ST-29. Front mounted turbocannon." She knelt and picked at a flake of paint. "It was tan at one time." She stopped and looked up at Adi, wondering what she had missed.
"Think about it," Adi said. "Do ST-29s come equipped with turbocannons?"
Bo-Neda's face lit up. "No. The turbocannon is pretty heavy artillery for such a small vehicle."
"And if it only seats two people...?" Bant continued.
Bo-Neda's brows knit in concentration. "If he'd found Organa, Binks, and the Queen, he couldn't have transported them back to the Hammer." She considered this for a moment. "Maybe there was another vehicle?"
"Possibly," Adi admitted, "but not likely. Obi-Wan and Anakin clearly won this battle, but we never heard back from them. If there had been another vehicle, they would have been able to fly up and contact us."
"Unless the other person got away," Bo-Neda suggested.
"Possibly," Adi repeated, but she did not sound convinced. She looked at Bant. "What did you find?"
She held out an ascension gun. "One of ours. It looks like it was damaged in a fall, and the thread's been cut by a saber. They tried to go up the building, but evidently did not succeed."
Puzzled, Bo-Neda asked, "Where's the other gun?"
Bant shook her head. "I couldn't find one."
"So what does that mean?"
"Any number of things," Adi said. "We can't possibly know what at this point."
"But there's more," Bant said, moving out into the center of the street. "Notice the blast marks on the buildings on both sides of the street. These blast marks were made dead on, not at an angle. There were at least two people who were trying to flank Obi-Wan and Anakin's speeder. But we have only one body here."
Bo-Neda perked up. "So their *was* another vehicle, and the other person got away!"
"No," Bant corrected. "Look at this." She moved to the side of street and knelt down, picking up a small piece of plastisteel, burnt and curled along one edge. "This is high impact plastisteel, like the kind used for blaster armor, but this piece is damaged by a lightsaber. There are pieces all around here, but no body."
Frowning, Bo-Neda guessed, "Someone survived and walked away?" But she knew how unlikely that was.
"Or someone came and took the body away."
"Then why didn't they take the other one?"
Adi considered. "If these two were with the Hammer, or with any other organization, then I'd think both bodies would be removed. But the fact that only one was indicates that these were independent operatives, and whoever came here only cared about the one person and not the other."
"The blaster shots over here indicate there was some some kind of scuffle," Bant continued. "But there is no sign of injury. My best hypothesis is that at least two mercenaries found Senator Organa and the others, but apparently didn't kill or capture them be-fore Obi-Wan and Anakin arrived. Obi-Wan and Anakin killed the mercenaries, all the vehicles were destroyed, anything useful was salvaged, and after trying unsuccessfully to go up the building with the ascension guns, they all headed off on foot."
"But where did they go? Can you sense anything from Obi-Wan?"
Bant shook her head. "No. I sense him, but it's very faint, too faint for me tell what direction he might have gone."
"All right. Let's report back to the Temple. They mentioned something about the Plaza in their last contact. Let's head in that direction."
*****
Anakin set the pace, feverish in his desire to move as quickly as he was capable. Despite their exhaustion, the others managed to keep up. If they could have run without stopping, they would have.
"The plaza was only about fifty kilometers away from where we started," Anakin told them. "If we've gone twenty kilometers, or even only ten, we can still get there tomorrow." They didn't even want to stop to eat, so eager were they to get out of the nightmare. But Padme, Jar Jar, and Bail were exhausted from their ordeal, and Bail and Jar Jar, weary from having carried Obi-Wan so long, kept lagging behind. Meanwhile, Anakin pressed on ahead, frustrated with the inability of the others to keep up.
During one of their brief breaks, Anakin suggested, "Maybe you all should wait here, and I should go on alone. I can go a lot faster, and I can probably get there by nightfall."
Jar Jar and Bail looked grateful, but Padme disagreed, "No. We stick together."
"You didn't feel that way when it came to leaving Obi-Wan behind," Anakin protested.
Tired of his hostility, Padme shot back, "He was injured. He couldn't move. We are all capable of walking."
"But it would be faster--"
"And what if more bounty hunters show up?" Padme challenged. "Could you take them on alone? Do you think we could?"
As much as Bail would have liked to rest while Anakin went on ahead, he conceded, "Padme's right. As long as we can all walk on our own, we need to stay together."
Anakin's eyes flashed darkly at the Prince. "Then you need to stop slowing us down and keep up."
Padme felt she ought to say something to stop Anakin from taking out his frustration on Bail, but she was afraid that anything she might say would only further antagonize him. He might be a Jedi apprentice, and he certainly had skills they needed, but he was not mature enough to lead the group. Petty remarks directed at Bail were not an appropriate way for Anakin to relieve his stress, but Bail was an adult. Padme figured he could handle it. So far he had not responded at all to Anakin's taunts, so she followed his example and remained silent as well.
They resumed their journey, sooner than Padme felt they should, but later than they all wanted to. Any fascination she may have once felt for the lower levels, imagining who had once lived there and what it had been like, had long ago vanished along with her fear. She had a feeling things would only get worse before they got better, but she couldn't deal with anything other than the present moment, with the act of will it took to keep placing one foot in front of the other.
As they progressed, the buildings began to show signs of alteration and more recent habitation. Walls had been knocked down, makeshift barricades erected, and even the trash looked like it had been thrown away in Padme's lifetime, rather than generations before. They passed through a corridor and entered a large chamber that had been created by knocking down walls and ceilings. The algae on which they had been relying for light was scarce in the chamber, as if it had only recently begun to grow back after having been disturbed. Anakin turned on their lamp and directed the beam over their heads into the darkness. Two floors had been knocked out, and the rubble had been piled up around the room's periphery, though whether to clear the main chamber or to serve as a barricade, it was impossible to tell.
"This didn't just fall apart," Anakin murmured to Padme. "Somebody altered this room on purpose."
"What do you think they used it for?"
Anakin shook his head. In his excursions, he had sometimes come across altered and abandoned parts of the lower levels like this, where he often found fascinating treasures of cobbled-together machinery. He would have liked to explore the room and try to unravel its mysteries, but now was not the time. He moved forward into the darkened room. Reluctantly, Padme followed him.
"Do you think they piled up those walls to keep something out?" she asked. "Maybe we should go a different way."
"We can't keep second-guessing everything. Going another way would take time. I don't sense any danger, so let's just maintain our course."
They crossed the chamber and began to climb the wall of debris, Anakin holding the light in front of them while he nimbly scrambled over the barrier. Padme kept up without assistance, Jar Jar not far behind, his padded feet tough enough to endure the sharp edges of the chunks of concrete. But Bail fell behind. His smooth-soled shoes were not made for this kind of rough activity, and he was not in as good physical shape as the others. The others reached the top and climbed over, taking the light with them and plunging Bail into total darkness. He muttered to himself in irritation, feeling his way cautiously up the pile. He stepped onto a loose rock and slipped, painfully bouncing back down toward the ground. Every hand hold he reached for to slow his descent came loose in his grasp, and he tumbled down amid a shower of debris. He hit the ground hard, shaken, but still in one piece.
From the other side of the pile, he heard Padme calling to him. "Are you all right?"
"Perfectly fine," he retorted hotly. "Climbing mountains in pitch-black darkness is my favorite pastime."
He heard someone climbing up the other side, and Padme appeared at the top, shining the lamp down at him. "Do you need any help?"
He didn't bother to answer, too disgusted with her for asking such a silly question, with Anakin for berating him, with Jar Jar for having such long legs, and most of all with himself for being so completely out of his element. He climbed to his feet, wincing when he put his weight on his right leg. Padme shined the lamp on him, and he saw that his pants leg was torn, his knee gashed and bleeding. He found other cuts and scrapes on his hands and arms, but they were superficial. Shakily he resumed the ascent, this time aided by the light. By the time he reached the top, his knee was throbbing painfully.
Padme inspected his injury. "It looks bad."
"Don't worry, it feels worse than it looks," he grumbled. "I know I'm just a helpless old man, and you youngsters are eager to rush on ahead, but did it ever occur to you that I might be able to move faster if I could actually see where I'm going?"
Chagrined, Padme offered, "Why don't you take the lamp, and we'll use Anakin's lightsaber to see by. We'll go slower, too."
/Sure you will,/ Bail thought, but he bit back any reply. He and Padme scrambled down to where Jar Jar and Anakin waited, Anakin pacing impatiently. Padme said, "We'd better bind up that knee or it will start swelling. Anakin, give me your outer tunic."
The boy stopped pacing. "Why me?"
"Because you're the only one with clothes to spare."
Indignant, Anakin protested, "He got himself injured, let him use his own shirt. At this rate I'll end up going naked to make bandages for him."
"Fine," Padme spat. "Jar Jar, give me your vibroblade." The Gungan handed it to her, and she started to untuck her tunic. When Anakin realized she was going to use her own shirt, he hastily pulled off his outer tunic and flung it at the Prince. Without a word, Padme cut it into strips and bound Bail's knee.
As she knotted the bandage, Anakin huffed, "Can we go now? We're wasting time."
In a tense silence they set off again, only now Padme hung back with Bail while Jar Jar went ahead with Anakin. The Prince said nothing, but Padme knew his knee was hurting him. He favored his right leg, and as they walked on, she and Bail fell farther and farther behind the others. They could see Anakin's pale blade shimmering ahead of them in the dark corridor, occasionally disappearing as Anakin and Jar Jar turned a corner. Padme and Bail would eventually catch up, but one time they turned a corner and Anakin's blade was nowhere in sight. "Anakin!" Padme called out. "Where are you?"
There was no answer, and for several long moments they waited with mounting apprehension. At last a faint light appeared ahead of them, and finally Anakin and Jar Jar returned.
"We really do need to try to stick together," Padme cautioned.
"Then he shouldn't dawdle," Anakin returned, gesturing at Bail. "You said as long as all of us can walk we should stay together. Well, now he can't walk. I think we should leave him behind."
"We're not leaving him behind."
"I can walk," Bail observed. "My knee is a little sore, but I've made it this far, and I can keep going. I just need us to slow down a little."
"We can't slow down!" Anakin protested. "Why don't you just admit you can't keep up, and stay behind? Do you want Obi-Wan to suffer more while we wait for you?"
"Anakin, that's enough," Bail snapped. He knew Anakin would not appreciate a rebuke from him, but the boy was losing focus, and Bail had to do what he could to help him regain control of himself. "You are behaving childishly, not like a Jedi. Is this what Obi-Wan taught you?"
Anakin seethed, "How dare you! You don't know anything about the Jedi!"
"I've known the Jedi longer than you have," Bail pointed out. "And I know Obi-Wan. He would have told you to watch out for all of us. Is this the way you keep your pledge to him?"
The Prince might as well have spat in his face. Black fire coursed through Anakin's veins as the dark beast inside him stirred, uncoiling itself from his spine where it had lain dormant, hungry to issue its venom on Bail. "You don't know Obi-Wan," he whispered, his face cold with hatred. "You are not a Jedi. You will never understand him."
Bail faltered beneath the force of Anakin's hatred. /Some people are skilled at reading our weaknesses,/ Padme had told him in the nightclub, when he had let himself by rankled by Senator Kleyvits' innuendo. He knew what Bail's weakness was, the crack in his self-assurance. He had always known it, and he used it now. "You are nothing to Obi-Wan. He keeps you around like an old habit because you amuse him, but he doesn't love you." His words plunged into Bail's soul as sharp as a vibroblade. Anakin could see it. This was a new power, the ability to destroy someone with their own doubt. And like all power, it came easily to Anakin. He pressed the attack. "How could he love you? You're a silly, shallow, ridiculous playboy. He only stays with you out of pity." The beast pulsed through Anakin. He could read Bail's hidden doubts as plainly as if they were written on a page in front of him. /The hardest part is not to let your own doubts rule you./ But Bail wouldn't stand a chance. With a wicked thrill, Anakin hammered away at him, exposing the Prince's deepest fear. "You're just a substitute for Qui-Gon. But you can never replace him because you're not a Jedi. You need Obi-Wan to give your life depth, but he could leave you tomorrow, and he would never miss you."
A hand flew out of nowhere and slapped him hard across his face. The beast snarled, and he turned in anger at his attacker. It was Padme, her expression stern. Her gaze never wavered, and she stood before him, self- possessed, determined. This was true power. "This will stop right now," she pronounced, and she would not be contradicted. "Never speak that way again, to Bail or anyone else." The beast shrank at her disapproval, and Anakin felt its power drain from him, leaving him shaken, horrified at what he had done. /Is this what Obi-Wan taught you? Is this how you keep your pledge to him?/ No, this wasn't what he'd been taught. How could he betray his master so deeply?
Taking a step backward, he faltered, "I-I'm sorry." He spoke to Padme, not Bail. He couldn't face Bail.
Padme's expression softened. "Why don't we take a break? We all need to calm down." He nodded, gulping for air. "Anakin, why don't you look for water? Jar Jar can scout for food."
Anakin turned and fled down the hall to escape his shame. Jar Jar, still distressed by what had happened, headed in the opposite direction. Now alone, Padme helped Bail settle onto the ground. When she took his arm, she could feel him trembling. "He didn't mean what he said," she offered.
"I think I know Anakin better than you do," he bitterly contradicted, "and I assure you, he meant every word."
Padme absorbed this in silence, chewing her lip. Bail and Anakin would have to mend this rift or they would never make it home. She tried again. "He's frightened for Obi-Wan. He didn't know what he was saying."
Bail sighed heavily. "I'll grant you he is frightened. Obi-Wan is all that boy has. And he is right. He shares a bond with Obi-Wan that I can never have."
"But you don't have to be a Jedi for Obi-Wan to love you."
Bail only turned his face away from her, and she could feel the doubt gnawing inside of him. For a long time he was silent, and Padme was at a loss as to how to comfort him. She didn't understand how he could believe what Anakin had spoken in anger, words that were so obviously meant to hurt him.
At last Bail turned back to her. "When I said good-bye to Obi-Wan back there, I found myself wanting to give him my ring to keep until we came back. Isn't that silly? As if it was a talisman or token that would mean anything to him."
"I don't think it sounds silly," Padme said.
Bail shrugged. "I'm always giving gifts to people. I like to give people something they will take pleasure in, something they will cherish because it came from me. But I've never been able to give Obi-Wan anything. Everything I ever thought of seemed useless and trite. It was years before I finally came up with something. Can you guess what it is?" Padme shook her head. With a rueful laugh, Bail supplied, "Every year on his birthday I give him a belt for his tunic. It's something completely practical, and yet I spend all year looking for the right one. It's always simple for his tastes, and elegant for mine. I give it to him be-cause I know he will use it. But what does it really mean to him? When he puts it on, does he think, 'What a lovely belt Bail gave me,' or does he just think, 'Ah, here's the hook for my lightsaber.' I always have to have those added, but does he even know? If I stopped giving them to him, would he notice, or would he just wait until the last one wore out and go buy himself a new one?"
Padme shook her head. "Of course he cares. Remember how he got jealous when you talked about that woman?"
"But was it really jealousy, or was he just annoyed by the antics of a 'silly playboy?' Anakin was right: I am just an old habit."
"That's ridiculous--"
Angry, Bail interrupted, "Stop trying to protect me! You know nothing about it. I was hand-picked by Qui-Gon for Obi-Wan. He met me and said, 'Here's a lively fellow Obi-Wan's bound to like.' He wanted Obi-Wan to have friends his own age, but the only reason why Obi-Wan ever gave me a chance is because Qui-Gon asked him to. I could never compete with Qui-Gon. The bond between a master and padawan is deeper than any love, any tie of friendship or family. Even after all these years, Obi-Wan mourns Qui-Gon as if he died yesterday. He could never mourn me like that."
He looked away, fists clenched tightly. "The truth is, I hate Qui-Gon Jinn," he hissed. "I hate him for introducing me to someone who will never love me as much as he loves his master." He paused, and the tension drained from him almost as quickly as it had arisen, as if it was too much to hold onto such an old, familiar resentment. "But it doesn't matter," he shrugged, his voice sad and weary. "I love Obi-Wan. I can't help it. As long as he will keep me, it's enough. But one day he will grow weary of me and leave, and then what shall I do?"
He had to be mistaken, but after all, how could Padme know? She certainly could not convince Bail, so she stopped trying. Instead, she lay her arm across his shoulders and pulled him into her embrace.
*****
Anakin did not return for a long time, and Padme began to fear that he may have abandoned them after all. If he had, maybe it was for the best. It was true he could travel faster, but she didn't like the idea that he might have gone off in such a disturbed state. Then again, he may have simply run into trouble while looking for water, whether bounty hunters or blood- sucking cockroaches. How would they know? Where would they look for him? What could they possibly do to help?
She didn't know if these same thoughts troubled Bail, or if he was still smarting from Anakin's attack. He remained silent until Jar Jar showed up with the usual menu. The Gungan crouched next to Padme, his eyes darting around for any sign of Anakin. "Where's Ani?" he asked.
"He's still gone."
Jar Jar absorbed this news with apprehension. "Hesa comen back, eh?"
"Yes," Padme answered, but she had hesitated, and Jar Jar noticed. He pursed his lips mournfully.
Bail spoke up. "He has to come back. He's the only one who can cook our food, and I swear I will not eat another raw rat."
Padme supposed he was trying to make light of their predicament, but he didn't sound very humorous, and it certainly didn't make her and Jar Jar feel better. On the contrary, the comment that Anakin was the only one who could cook their food reminded her that he also had the decontamination tablets. Without him, they had no water, and they had left all their ration bars with Obi-Wan. If Anakin had abandoned them, and Bail indeed refused to eat the rats, he was effectively committing suicide. Surely that's not what he meant, but Padme could not shake the thought from her mind. Bail had given up. Obi-Wan lay wounded alone. Anakin had abandoned them. And the bounty hunters were still out there. Each thought lay upon her heart like a heavy stone.
Padme had thought herself very brave during all their trials, but now she realized how much she had relied on the others. As long as they were all together, she had believed nothing could happen to them. But she had been wrong, and the knowledge quietly disintegrated her will power. Tears rose effortlessly in her eyes. It felt somehow good to give in to despair. It was so hard to hold onto hope, and now it slipped through her fingers like water. She leaned back against the wall and rested her head on Bail's shoulder, tears flowing freely, deliciously down the bridge of her nose. He put his arm around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head, and she was once more reminded of the way her mother used to hold her. Would her mother ever learn what had happened to her in Coruscant's belly?
They sat together in darkness, in silence, waiting for nothing at all. Then Jar Jar sat up, his long ears cocked. For several heartbeats he listened intently, then he smiled. "Ani's comen."
Bail squeezed her shoulder, and she choked back her grief, straining in the darkness, until at last she, too, could hear his footsteps. A dark shadow appeared against the darker walls, and Padme leaped to her feet, running to meet him, throwing her arms around his neck and holding him as tightly as to the return of hope itself.
Anakin passively received her embrace, wrapping his arms around her. He had not expected such a reception. For an hour he had struggled with his guilt and been unable to master it, but now Padme's welcome lifted some of it at last. In his mind she had no reason to be glad to see him, but here she was, and if she accepted him, maybe he could accept himself.
An eternity of grace went by. Then Padme's arms loosened and she stepped back. "We were waiting for you," she whispered.
"I'm sorry I took so long."
"It's all right." She took his hand and led him back to the others. He settled cross-legged onto the ground and handed the water bottle to Bail. The Prince recognized that in offering him the bottle first, Anakin was making a gesture of reconciliation. Bail took several long sips, then passed the bottle back to Anakin. As the boy drank, Bail remarked, "You're just the man we've been waiting for. No one can broil a rat like you can."
Normally Anakin would have suspected Bail of putting him down with such a remark, but he knew that was not the case. Bail's kindness made him feel even more guilty for what he'd said before. Anakin heartily wished Padme and Jar Jar weren't there to witness his apology (twice in two days!), but he could feel Padme radiating love and support, and it gave him strength. Anakin stared down at his hands folded in his lap. "I'm sorry for what I said."
Bail remained silent, pain rolling off him, and Anakin realized how completely effective he'd been in his attack. It amazed him that he could disturb Bail so deeply, and his shame increased. He forced himself to look up at Bail. A mere apology was not enough. "You need to know that none of it was true." He could tell that Bail still didn't believe him. "Everything I said, I got from you. It was just like Senator Kleyvits and what she did at the nightclub: I read your own doubts and fed them straight back to you. Obi-Wan does care about you, you know." Bail looked away, struggling to overcome his own misgivings. Anakin continued, "I'm really sorry for what I did. You're right, I have been acting like a child, not like the way Obi- Wan taught me. I'm sorry for all the times I got on your case and yelled at you and said we should leave you behind." He paused. "I'm sorry, and I ask your forgiveness." Then he waited, the way he never waited for anything in his life, humbly, contritely, like a true Jedi.
His total submission surprised Bail. He had never heard the boy apologize so sincerely to him before. He wouldn't have believed he was even capable of it. Whatever his own doubts about Obi-Wan, Bail knew this was a rare moment for him and Anakin. "I do forgive you," he said at last.
/I forgive you./ What magical, powerful words! Anakin swore he could hear his master's voice echo in Bail's. The beast within him loosened its grip on his heart, and he breathed freely, feeling light-headed. He would get them all out safely, and he would keep his pledge to Obi-Wan. "Everything will be all right," he predicted with new-found confidence. "You'll see. Tomorrow night you will all be sleeping in your own beds! So to celebrate, why don't we have one more round of rat parfait?"
"If it's our last rat meal, that is indeed cause for celebration," Bail smiled.
"But, Ani, mesa love your cooken. Disa food muy tasty!" Jar Jar enthused, happy that the conflict had been ironed out and Anakin seemed to be his old self again.
As Anakin ignited his blade, he felt compelled to clear up that particular misunderstanding. Now that he'd made one confession, he might as well keep them coming. "Actually, when Obi-Wan said that about me, he was just being nice. I'm really a terrible cook. The only reason why you all like these rats is because we have nothing else to eat."
"That's not entirely true," Padme offered. "Okay, granted that rats aren't exactly high on the list for any of us, but you have gotten good at not scorching them. They are edible, thanks to you, and that's no mean feat."
Anakin smiled broadly at her praise and wondered if it was possible to die of happiness. How ridiculous he'd been when he had tried so hard to impress Padme. His master was right: all he had to do was be himself. How he had tried Obi-Wan's patience that night! From now on he would be a model padawan. That is, if he still had a master. A dark ache momentarily overcame him as he thought of Obi-Wan, but he banished his doubts. Obi-Wan would be fine. He smiled to think of how pleased his master would be with Anakin's new-found obedience. As proof, he started to brag about his incomparable master. "Obi-Wan is a great cook," he offered to Padme and Jar Jar. "You'll have to try his cooking some time. He's like a gourmet chef. He can make anything."
"Really?" Padme asked, as pleased as Jar Jar to have the old Anakin back with his surplus of enthusiasm.
Bail, who had more than a passing familiarity with Obi-Wan's cooking, drawled, "I didn't realize he was that good."
"Of course, don't you remember? That time we came to Alderaan on vacation, and Obi-Wan made that steak with the berries and stuff in it, and I thought it sounded gross, but it was really good, and I ate four servings?"
"Ah, yes, I remember now." He remembered that he had done most of the cooking himself. Obi-Wan could read a recipe, but that was about it.
Anakin was feeling so generous, he decided he could even kiss up further to Bail. "There's something else you ought to know," he offered. "The Council almost didn't let us come look for you. They said we were too personally involved. But Obi-Wan would have come anyway. There was no way he wasn't going to come rescue you."
A lump rose in Bail's throat, and Anakin could feel how deeply his words moved the Prince. He hesitated, hoping to move Padme as well. Thoughtfully, he said, "I think the Council would have been wrong not to send us. I think that if you care for someone, you will do everything you can to help them. Nothing would have kept me from coming, either." He studiously avoided looking at Padme.
Bail caught the boy's hidden meaning and decided that since Anakin was making so many concessions to him, he ought to return the favor by goading the boy into being more explicit. "Why, Anakin, I didn't know you felt that way about me."
"Not you!" Anakin protested, then flamed red when he realized he had fallen into the Prince's trap. Trying to salvage the situation, he finished, "I mean, you're not always so bad."
Bail smiled, "I'm deeply moved. Truly."
Padme had also understood what Anakin was trying to say, and she wanted to send a message back to him. "I would also do anything to help people I care about, and I care about all of you."
"Me, too," Jar Jar offered. He still didn't understand all the romantic nuances of what had been taking place among the humans, but friendship was something he did understand. Anakin and the others might not be Gungans, but Jar Jar couldn't love them more if they were.
Bail laughed in delight. Not long ago they had all been on the verge of despair, and yet somehow not only had they mended the rift, but they had found hope again. He did not doubt it when Anakin said they would be home by tomorrow. He sent a loving wish to Obi-Wan, knowing that while he was not a Jedi, somehow Obi-Wan would hear his thoughts. Returning his attention to his present companions, he confessed, "I must say that if I have to slog through Coruscant's bowels with bounty hunters on my tail, I couldn't do it in finer company."
"Hear, hear!" Padme cheered. She held aloft one of the discarded rat tails. "I propose a toast. To the Rat Diners Society!"
The others chorused the toast in return, waving rat tails, and collapsing into relieved laughter.
Author: Jedi Rita
Rated: PG-13
It took several hours of searching before the three Jedi found Obi-Wan and Anakin's speeder. They flew above the layer of fog to report back their location to the Temple, then settled their skyhopper down on the ground and fanned out to inspect the carnage.
Adi Gallia indicated that her apprentice should investigate the Jedi speeder. Bo-Neda would have preferred to check out the other speeder, which would surely be more interesting, but she did not complain. A quick inspection told her all she needed to know. "It was shot up from the underside," she reported to her master. "It's pretty thoroughly destroyed, but the survival packs are missing, indicating that someone took them."
Adi nodded, then swept her gaze around the street. "What else can you tell me?"
Eagerly, Bo-Neda crouched over the one body evident in the carnage. "Lightsaber wound to the chest. I think we know who gave him that," she pronounced with a hint of glee that wasn't quite proper for a Jedi. She leaned closer, inspecting his weapons holsters and armor. "This guy was really equipped. He looks like a professional."
Bant joined the two of them, studying the man with her large, silver eyes. "But was he a professional terrorist, or something else?"
Adi looked questioningly at the Mon Calamari, but Bant was not forthcoming with any theories. She looked back at her padawan. "What else?"
Bo-Neda moved on to the other speeder, which was now nothing but burnt and twisted scrap metal. "Totaled," she remarked. "Not much here."
"You conclude your investigation rather quickly," Bant remarked with disapproval.
Chastened, Bo-Neda looked again at the speeder, not sure what she was supposed to be looking for. She couldn't find anything in the speeder, nor any sign of blood to indicate anyone had been injured when the speeder blew up.
"What can you tell about the speeder itself?" Adi prompted.
Bo-Neda circled the vehicle. "It's a two-passenger speeder, recent model, probably an ST-29. Front mounted turbocannon." She knelt and picked at a flake of paint. "It was tan at one time." She stopped and looked up at Adi, wondering what she had missed.
"Think about it," Adi said. "Do ST-29s come equipped with turbocannons?"
Bo-Neda's face lit up. "No. The turbocannon is pretty heavy artillery for such a small vehicle."
"And if it only seats two people...?" Bant continued.
Bo-Neda's brows knit in concentration. "If he'd found Organa, Binks, and the Queen, he couldn't have transported them back to the Hammer." She considered this for a moment. "Maybe there was another vehicle?"
"Possibly," Adi admitted, "but not likely. Obi-Wan and Anakin clearly won this battle, but we never heard back from them. If there had been another vehicle, they would have been able to fly up and contact us."
"Unless the other person got away," Bo-Neda suggested.
"Possibly," Adi repeated, but she did not sound convinced. She looked at Bant. "What did you find?"
She held out an ascension gun. "One of ours. It looks like it was damaged in a fall, and the thread's been cut by a saber. They tried to go up the building, but evidently did not succeed."
Puzzled, Bo-Neda asked, "Where's the other gun?"
Bant shook her head. "I couldn't find one."
"So what does that mean?"
"Any number of things," Adi said. "We can't possibly know what at this point."
"But there's more," Bant said, moving out into the center of the street. "Notice the blast marks on the buildings on both sides of the street. These blast marks were made dead on, not at an angle. There were at least two people who were trying to flank Obi-Wan and Anakin's speeder. But we have only one body here."
Bo-Neda perked up. "So their *was* another vehicle, and the other person got away!"
"No," Bant corrected. "Look at this." She moved to the side of street and knelt down, picking up a small piece of plastisteel, burnt and curled along one edge. "This is high impact plastisteel, like the kind used for blaster armor, but this piece is damaged by a lightsaber. There are pieces all around here, but no body."
Frowning, Bo-Neda guessed, "Someone survived and walked away?" But she knew how unlikely that was.
"Or someone came and took the body away."
"Then why didn't they take the other one?"
Adi considered. "If these two were with the Hammer, or with any other organization, then I'd think both bodies would be removed. But the fact that only one was indicates that these were independent operatives, and whoever came here only cared about the one person and not the other."
"The blaster shots over here indicate there was some some kind of scuffle," Bant continued. "But there is no sign of injury. My best hypothesis is that at least two mercenaries found Senator Organa and the others, but apparently didn't kill or capture them be-fore Obi-Wan and Anakin arrived. Obi-Wan and Anakin killed the mercenaries, all the vehicles were destroyed, anything useful was salvaged, and after trying unsuccessfully to go up the building with the ascension guns, they all headed off on foot."
"But where did they go? Can you sense anything from Obi-Wan?"
Bant shook her head. "No. I sense him, but it's very faint, too faint for me tell what direction he might have gone."
"All right. Let's report back to the Temple. They mentioned something about the Plaza in their last contact. Let's head in that direction."
*****
Anakin set the pace, feverish in his desire to move as quickly as he was capable. Despite their exhaustion, the others managed to keep up. If they could have run without stopping, they would have.
"The plaza was only about fifty kilometers away from where we started," Anakin told them. "If we've gone twenty kilometers, or even only ten, we can still get there tomorrow." They didn't even want to stop to eat, so eager were they to get out of the nightmare. But Padme, Jar Jar, and Bail were exhausted from their ordeal, and Bail and Jar Jar, weary from having carried Obi-Wan so long, kept lagging behind. Meanwhile, Anakin pressed on ahead, frustrated with the inability of the others to keep up.
During one of their brief breaks, Anakin suggested, "Maybe you all should wait here, and I should go on alone. I can go a lot faster, and I can probably get there by nightfall."
Jar Jar and Bail looked grateful, but Padme disagreed, "No. We stick together."
"You didn't feel that way when it came to leaving Obi-Wan behind," Anakin protested.
Tired of his hostility, Padme shot back, "He was injured. He couldn't move. We are all capable of walking."
"But it would be faster--"
"And what if more bounty hunters show up?" Padme challenged. "Could you take them on alone? Do you think we could?"
As much as Bail would have liked to rest while Anakin went on ahead, he conceded, "Padme's right. As long as we can all walk on our own, we need to stay together."
Anakin's eyes flashed darkly at the Prince. "Then you need to stop slowing us down and keep up."
Padme felt she ought to say something to stop Anakin from taking out his frustration on Bail, but she was afraid that anything she might say would only further antagonize him. He might be a Jedi apprentice, and he certainly had skills they needed, but he was not mature enough to lead the group. Petty remarks directed at Bail were not an appropriate way for Anakin to relieve his stress, but Bail was an adult. Padme figured he could handle it. So far he had not responded at all to Anakin's taunts, so she followed his example and remained silent as well.
They resumed their journey, sooner than Padme felt they should, but later than they all wanted to. Any fascination she may have once felt for the lower levels, imagining who had once lived there and what it had been like, had long ago vanished along with her fear. She had a feeling things would only get worse before they got better, but she couldn't deal with anything other than the present moment, with the act of will it took to keep placing one foot in front of the other.
As they progressed, the buildings began to show signs of alteration and more recent habitation. Walls had been knocked down, makeshift barricades erected, and even the trash looked like it had been thrown away in Padme's lifetime, rather than generations before. They passed through a corridor and entered a large chamber that had been created by knocking down walls and ceilings. The algae on which they had been relying for light was scarce in the chamber, as if it had only recently begun to grow back after having been disturbed. Anakin turned on their lamp and directed the beam over their heads into the darkness. Two floors had been knocked out, and the rubble had been piled up around the room's periphery, though whether to clear the main chamber or to serve as a barricade, it was impossible to tell.
"This didn't just fall apart," Anakin murmured to Padme. "Somebody altered this room on purpose."
"What do you think they used it for?"
Anakin shook his head. In his excursions, he had sometimes come across altered and abandoned parts of the lower levels like this, where he often found fascinating treasures of cobbled-together machinery. He would have liked to explore the room and try to unravel its mysteries, but now was not the time. He moved forward into the darkened room. Reluctantly, Padme followed him.
"Do you think they piled up those walls to keep something out?" she asked. "Maybe we should go a different way."
"We can't keep second-guessing everything. Going another way would take time. I don't sense any danger, so let's just maintain our course."
They crossed the chamber and began to climb the wall of debris, Anakin holding the light in front of them while he nimbly scrambled over the barrier. Padme kept up without assistance, Jar Jar not far behind, his padded feet tough enough to endure the sharp edges of the chunks of concrete. But Bail fell behind. His smooth-soled shoes were not made for this kind of rough activity, and he was not in as good physical shape as the others. The others reached the top and climbed over, taking the light with them and plunging Bail into total darkness. He muttered to himself in irritation, feeling his way cautiously up the pile. He stepped onto a loose rock and slipped, painfully bouncing back down toward the ground. Every hand hold he reached for to slow his descent came loose in his grasp, and he tumbled down amid a shower of debris. He hit the ground hard, shaken, but still in one piece.
From the other side of the pile, he heard Padme calling to him. "Are you all right?"
"Perfectly fine," he retorted hotly. "Climbing mountains in pitch-black darkness is my favorite pastime."
He heard someone climbing up the other side, and Padme appeared at the top, shining the lamp down at him. "Do you need any help?"
He didn't bother to answer, too disgusted with her for asking such a silly question, with Anakin for berating him, with Jar Jar for having such long legs, and most of all with himself for being so completely out of his element. He climbed to his feet, wincing when he put his weight on his right leg. Padme shined the lamp on him, and he saw that his pants leg was torn, his knee gashed and bleeding. He found other cuts and scrapes on his hands and arms, but they were superficial. Shakily he resumed the ascent, this time aided by the light. By the time he reached the top, his knee was throbbing painfully.
Padme inspected his injury. "It looks bad."
"Don't worry, it feels worse than it looks," he grumbled. "I know I'm just a helpless old man, and you youngsters are eager to rush on ahead, but did it ever occur to you that I might be able to move faster if I could actually see where I'm going?"
Chagrined, Padme offered, "Why don't you take the lamp, and we'll use Anakin's lightsaber to see by. We'll go slower, too."
/Sure you will,/ Bail thought, but he bit back any reply. He and Padme scrambled down to where Jar Jar and Anakin waited, Anakin pacing impatiently. Padme said, "We'd better bind up that knee or it will start swelling. Anakin, give me your outer tunic."
The boy stopped pacing. "Why me?"
"Because you're the only one with clothes to spare."
Indignant, Anakin protested, "He got himself injured, let him use his own shirt. At this rate I'll end up going naked to make bandages for him."
"Fine," Padme spat. "Jar Jar, give me your vibroblade." The Gungan handed it to her, and she started to untuck her tunic. When Anakin realized she was going to use her own shirt, he hastily pulled off his outer tunic and flung it at the Prince. Without a word, Padme cut it into strips and bound Bail's knee.
As she knotted the bandage, Anakin huffed, "Can we go now? We're wasting time."
In a tense silence they set off again, only now Padme hung back with Bail while Jar Jar went ahead with Anakin. The Prince said nothing, but Padme knew his knee was hurting him. He favored his right leg, and as they walked on, she and Bail fell farther and farther behind the others. They could see Anakin's pale blade shimmering ahead of them in the dark corridor, occasionally disappearing as Anakin and Jar Jar turned a corner. Padme and Bail would eventually catch up, but one time they turned a corner and Anakin's blade was nowhere in sight. "Anakin!" Padme called out. "Where are you?"
There was no answer, and for several long moments they waited with mounting apprehension. At last a faint light appeared ahead of them, and finally Anakin and Jar Jar returned.
"We really do need to try to stick together," Padme cautioned.
"Then he shouldn't dawdle," Anakin returned, gesturing at Bail. "You said as long as all of us can walk we should stay together. Well, now he can't walk. I think we should leave him behind."
"We're not leaving him behind."
"I can walk," Bail observed. "My knee is a little sore, but I've made it this far, and I can keep going. I just need us to slow down a little."
"We can't slow down!" Anakin protested. "Why don't you just admit you can't keep up, and stay behind? Do you want Obi-Wan to suffer more while we wait for you?"
"Anakin, that's enough," Bail snapped. He knew Anakin would not appreciate a rebuke from him, but the boy was losing focus, and Bail had to do what he could to help him regain control of himself. "You are behaving childishly, not like a Jedi. Is this what Obi-Wan taught you?"
Anakin seethed, "How dare you! You don't know anything about the Jedi!"
"I've known the Jedi longer than you have," Bail pointed out. "And I know Obi-Wan. He would have told you to watch out for all of us. Is this the way you keep your pledge to him?"
The Prince might as well have spat in his face. Black fire coursed through Anakin's veins as the dark beast inside him stirred, uncoiling itself from his spine where it had lain dormant, hungry to issue its venom on Bail. "You don't know Obi-Wan," he whispered, his face cold with hatred. "You are not a Jedi. You will never understand him."
Bail faltered beneath the force of Anakin's hatred. /Some people are skilled at reading our weaknesses,/ Padme had told him in the nightclub, when he had let himself by rankled by Senator Kleyvits' innuendo. He knew what Bail's weakness was, the crack in his self-assurance. He had always known it, and he used it now. "You are nothing to Obi-Wan. He keeps you around like an old habit because you amuse him, but he doesn't love you." His words plunged into Bail's soul as sharp as a vibroblade. Anakin could see it. This was a new power, the ability to destroy someone with their own doubt. And like all power, it came easily to Anakin. He pressed the attack. "How could he love you? You're a silly, shallow, ridiculous playboy. He only stays with you out of pity." The beast pulsed through Anakin. He could read Bail's hidden doubts as plainly as if they were written on a page in front of him. /The hardest part is not to let your own doubts rule you./ But Bail wouldn't stand a chance. With a wicked thrill, Anakin hammered away at him, exposing the Prince's deepest fear. "You're just a substitute for Qui-Gon. But you can never replace him because you're not a Jedi. You need Obi-Wan to give your life depth, but he could leave you tomorrow, and he would never miss you."
A hand flew out of nowhere and slapped him hard across his face. The beast snarled, and he turned in anger at his attacker. It was Padme, her expression stern. Her gaze never wavered, and she stood before him, self- possessed, determined. This was true power. "This will stop right now," she pronounced, and she would not be contradicted. "Never speak that way again, to Bail or anyone else." The beast shrank at her disapproval, and Anakin felt its power drain from him, leaving him shaken, horrified at what he had done. /Is this what Obi-Wan taught you? Is this how you keep your pledge to him?/ No, this wasn't what he'd been taught. How could he betray his master so deeply?
Taking a step backward, he faltered, "I-I'm sorry." He spoke to Padme, not Bail. He couldn't face Bail.
Padme's expression softened. "Why don't we take a break? We all need to calm down." He nodded, gulping for air. "Anakin, why don't you look for water? Jar Jar can scout for food."
Anakin turned and fled down the hall to escape his shame. Jar Jar, still distressed by what had happened, headed in the opposite direction. Now alone, Padme helped Bail settle onto the ground. When she took his arm, she could feel him trembling. "He didn't mean what he said," she offered.
"I think I know Anakin better than you do," he bitterly contradicted, "and I assure you, he meant every word."
Padme absorbed this in silence, chewing her lip. Bail and Anakin would have to mend this rift or they would never make it home. She tried again. "He's frightened for Obi-Wan. He didn't know what he was saying."
Bail sighed heavily. "I'll grant you he is frightened. Obi-Wan is all that boy has. And he is right. He shares a bond with Obi-Wan that I can never have."
"But you don't have to be a Jedi for Obi-Wan to love you."
Bail only turned his face away from her, and she could feel the doubt gnawing inside of him. For a long time he was silent, and Padme was at a loss as to how to comfort him. She didn't understand how he could believe what Anakin had spoken in anger, words that were so obviously meant to hurt him.
At last Bail turned back to her. "When I said good-bye to Obi-Wan back there, I found myself wanting to give him my ring to keep until we came back. Isn't that silly? As if it was a talisman or token that would mean anything to him."
"I don't think it sounds silly," Padme said.
Bail shrugged. "I'm always giving gifts to people. I like to give people something they will take pleasure in, something they will cherish because it came from me. But I've never been able to give Obi-Wan anything. Everything I ever thought of seemed useless and trite. It was years before I finally came up with something. Can you guess what it is?" Padme shook her head. With a rueful laugh, Bail supplied, "Every year on his birthday I give him a belt for his tunic. It's something completely practical, and yet I spend all year looking for the right one. It's always simple for his tastes, and elegant for mine. I give it to him be-cause I know he will use it. But what does it really mean to him? When he puts it on, does he think, 'What a lovely belt Bail gave me,' or does he just think, 'Ah, here's the hook for my lightsaber.' I always have to have those added, but does he even know? If I stopped giving them to him, would he notice, or would he just wait until the last one wore out and go buy himself a new one?"
Padme shook her head. "Of course he cares. Remember how he got jealous when you talked about that woman?"
"But was it really jealousy, or was he just annoyed by the antics of a 'silly playboy?' Anakin was right: I am just an old habit."
"That's ridiculous--"
Angry, Bail interrupted, "Stop trying to protect me! You know nothing about it. I was hand-picked by Qui-Gon for Obi-Wan. He met me and said, 'Here's a lively fellow Obi-Wan's bound to like.' He wanted Obi-Wan to have friends his own age, but the only reason why Obi-Wan ever gave me a chance is because Qui-Gon asked him to. I could never compete with Qui-Gon. The bond between a master and padawan is deeper than any love, any tie of friendship or family. Even after all these years, Obi-Wan mourns Qui-Gon as if he died yesterday. He could never mourn me like that."
He looked away, fists clenched tightly. "The truth is, I hate Qui-Gon Jinn," he hissed. "I hate him for introducing me to someone who will never love me as much as he loves his master." He paused, and the tension drained from him almost as quickly as it had arisen, as if it was too much to hold onto such an old, familiar resentment. "But it doesn't matter," he shrugged, his voice sad and weary. "I love Obi-Wan. I can't help it. As long as he will keep me, it's enough. But one day he will grow weary of me and leave, and then what shall I do?"
He had to be mistaken, but after all, how could Padme know? She certainly could not convince Bail, so she stopped trying. Instead, she lay her arm across his shoulders and pulled him into her embrace.
*****
Anakin did not return for a long time, and Padme began to fear that he may have abandoned them after all. If he had, maybe it was for the best. It was true he could travel faster, but she didn't like the idea that he might have gone off in such a disturbed state. Then again, he may have simply run into trouble while looking for water, whether bounty hunters or blood- sucking cockroaches. How would they know? Where would they look for him? What could they possibly do to help?
She didn't know if these same thoughts troubled Bail, or if he was still smarting from Anakin's attack. He remained silent until Jar Jar showed up with the usual menu. The Gungan crouched next to Padme, his eyes darting around for any sign of Anakin. "Where's Ani?" he asked.
"He's still gone."
Jar Jar absorbed this news with apprehension. "Hesa comen back, eh?"
"Yes," Padme answered, but she had hesitated, and Jar Jar noticed. He pursed his lips mournfully.
Bail spoke up. "He has to come back. He's the only one who can cook our food, and I swear I will not eat another raw rat."
Padme supposed he was trying to make light of their predicament, but he didn't sound very humorous, and it certainly didn't make her and Jar Jar feel better. On the contrary, the comment that Anakin was the only one who could cook their food reminded her that he also had the decontamination tablets. Without him, they had no water, and they had left all their ration bars with Obi-Wan. If Anakin had abandoned them, and Bail indeed refused to eat the rats, he was effectively committing suicide. Surely that's not what he meant, but Padme could not shake the thought from her mind. Bail had given up. Obi-Wan lay wounded alone. Anakin had abandoned them. And the bounty hunters were still out there. Each thought lay upon her heart like a heavy stone.
Padme had thought herself very brave during all their trials, but now she realized how much she had relied on the others. As long as they were all together, she had believed nothing could happen to them. But she had been wrong, and the knowledge quietly disintegrated her will power. Tears rose effortlessly in her eyes. It felt somehow good to give in to despair. It was so hard to hold onto hope, and now it slipped through her fingers like water. She leaned back against the wall and rested her head on Bail's shoulder, tears flowing freely, deliciously down the bridge of her nose. He put his arm around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head, and she was once more reminded of the way her mother used to hold her. Would her mother ever learn what had happened to her in Coruscant's belly?
They sat together in darkness, in silence, waiting for nothing at all. Then Jar Jar sat up, his long ears cocked. For several heartbeats he listened intently, then he smiled. "Ani's comen."
Bail squeezed her shoulder, and she choked back her grief, straining in the darkness, until at last she, too, could hear his footsteps. A dark shadow appeared against the darker walls, and Padme leaped to her feet, running to meet him, throwing her arms around his neck and holding him as tightly as to the return of hope itself.
Anakin passively received her embrace, wrapping his arms around her. He had not expected such a reception. For an hour he had struggled with his guilt and been unable to master it, but now Padme's welcome lifted some of it at last. In his mind she had no reason to be glad to see him, but here she was, and if she accepted him, maybe he could accept himself.
An eternity of grace went by. Then Padme's arms loosened and she stepped back. "We were waiting for you," she whispered.
"I'm sorry I took so long."
"It's all right." She took his hand and led him back to the others. He settled cross-legged onto the ground and handed the water bottle to Bail. The Prince recognized that in offering him the bottle first, Anakin was making a gesture of reconciliation. Bail took several long sips, then passed the bottle back to Anakin. As the boy drank, Bail remarked, "You're just the man we've been waiting for. No one can broil a rat like you can."
Normally Anakin would have suspected Bail of putting him down with such a remark, but he knew that was not the case. Bail's kindness made him feel even more guilty for what he'd said before. Anakin heartily wished Padme and Jar Jar weren't there to witness his apology (twice in two days!), but he could feel Padme radiating love and support, and it gave him strength. Anakin stared down at his hands folded in his lap. "I'm sorry for what I said."
Bail remained silent, pain rolling off him, and Anakin realized how completely effective he'd been in his attack. It amazed him that he could disturb Bail so deeply, and his shame increased. He forced himself to look up at Bail. A mere apology was not enough. "You need to know that none of it was true." He could tell that Bail still didn't believe him. "Everything I said, I got from you. It was just like Senator Kleyvits and what she did at the nightclub: I read your own doubts and fed them straight back to you. Obi-Wan does care about you, you know." Bail looked away, struggling to overcome his own misgivings. Anakin continued, "I'm really sorry for what I did. You're right, I have been acting like a child, not like the way Obi- Wan taught me. I'm sorry for all the times I got on your case and yelled at you and said we should leave you behind." He paused. "I'm sorry, and I ask your forgiveness." Then he waited, the way he never waited for anything in his life, humbly, contritely, like a true Jedi.
His total submission surprised Bail. He had never heard the boy apologize so sincerely to him before. He wouldn't have believed he was even capable of it. Whatever his own doubts about Obi-Wan, Bail knew this was a rare moment for him and Anakin. "I do forgive you," he said at last.
/I forgive you./ What magical, powerful words! Anakin swore he could hear his master's voice echo in Bail's. The beast within him loosened its grip on his heart, and he breathed freely, feeling light-headed. He would get them all out safely, and he would keep his pledge to Obi-Wan. "Everything will be all right," he predicted with new-found confidence. "You'll see. Tomorrow night you will all be sleeping in your own beds! So to celebrate, why don't we have one more round of rat parfait?"
"If it's our last rat meal, that is indeed cause for celebration," Bail smiled.
"But, Ani, mesa love your cooken. Disa food muy tasty!" Jar Jar enthused, happy that the conflict had been ironed out and Anakin seemed to be his old self again.
As Anakin ignited his blade, he felt compelled to clear up that particular misunderstanding. Now that he'd made one confession, he might as well keep them coming. "Actually, when Obi-Wan said that about me, he was just being nice. I'm really a terrible cook. The only reason why you all like these rats is because we have nothing else to eat."
"That's not entirely true," Padme offered. "Okay, granted that rats aren't exactly high on the list for any of us, but you have gotten good at not scorching them. They are edible, thanks to you, and that's no mean feat."
Anakin smiled broadly at her praise and wondered if it was possible to die of happiness. How ridiculous he'd been when he had tried so hard to impress Padme. His master was right: all he had to do was be himself. How he had tried Obi-Wan's patience that night! From now on he would be a model padawan. That is, if he still had a master. A dark ache momentarily overcame him as he thought of Obi-Wan, but he banished his doubts. Obi-Wan would be fine. He smiled to think of how pleased his master would be with Anakin's new-found obedience. As proof, he started to brag about his incomparable master. "Obi-Wan is a great cook," he offered to Padme and Jar Jar. "You'll have to try his cooking some time. He's like a gourmet chef. He can make anything."
"Really?" Padme asked, as pleased as Jar Jar to have the old Anakin back with his surplus of enthusiasm.
Bail, who had more than a passing familiarity with Obi-Wan's cooking, drawled, "I didn't realize he was that good."
"Of course, don't you remember? That time we came to Alderaan on vacation, and Obi-Wan made that steak with the berries and stuff in it, and I thought it sounded gross, but it was really good, and I ate four servings?"
"Ah, yes, I remember now." He remembered that he had done most of the cooking himself. Obi-Wan could read a recipe, but that was about it.
Anakin was feeling so generous, he decided he could even kiss up further to Bail. "There's something else you ought to know," he offered. "The Council almost didn't let us come look for you. They said we were too personally involved. But Obi-Wan would have come anyway. There was no way he wasn't going to come rescue you."
A lump rose in Bail's throat, and Anakin could feel how deeply his words moved the Prince. He hesitated, hoping to move Padme as well. Thoughtfully, he said, "I think the Council would have been wrong not to send us. I think that if you care for someone, you will do everything you can to help them. Nothing would have kept me from coming, either." He studiously avoided looking at Padme.
Bail caught the boy's hidden meaning and decided that since Anakin was making so many concessions to him, he ought to return the favor by goading the boy into being more explicit. "Why, Anakin, I didn't know you felt that way about me."
"Not you!" Anakin protested, then flamed red when he realized he had fallen into the Prince's trap. Trying to salvage the situation, he finished, "I mean, you're not always so bad."
Bail smiled, "I'm deeply moved. Truly."
Padme had also understood what Anakin was trying to say, and she wanted to send a message back to him. "I would also do anything to help people I care about, and I care about all of you."
"Me, too," Jar Jar offered. He still didn't understand all the romantic nuances of what had been taking place among the humans, but friendship was something he did understand. Anakin and the others might not be Gungans, but Jar Jar couldn't love them more if they were.
Bail laughed in delight. Not long ago they had all been on the verge of despair, and yet somehow not only had they mended the rift, but they had found hope again. He did not doubt it when Anakin said they would be home by tomorrow. He sent a loving wish to Obi-Wan, knowing that while he was not a Jedi, somehow Obi-Wan would hear his thoughts. Returning his attention to his present companions, he confessed, "I must say that if I have to slog through Coruscant's bowels with bounty hunters on my tail, I couldn't do it in finer company."
"Hear, hear!" Padme cheered. She held aloft one of the discarded rat tails. "I propose a toast. To the Rat Diners Society!"
The others chorused the toast in return, waving rat tails, and collapsing into relieved laughter.