The Knight
Part Four:
Padme and Obi-Wan tried to stay in the sun as they began into the woods again, drying their clothes. After a few hours, they came to a small glade of ferns. Padme sat down on a log.
"Let's make camp," she sighed.
Obi-Wan just nodded. Both were becoming exhausted from the day's ordeal. As he wandered off to find some wood to try and start a fire with, Padme began clearing away the ferns in front of the log.
Obi-Wan returned and they were able to light a small fire.
It was becoming dark as they sat on the log and sleepily gazed into the fire.
"I'm hungry," Padme poked the fire with a stick. Obi-Wan looked at her squarely.
"Really hungry?" he asked somewhat playfully.
Padme didn't know how to answer. "Yes."
"Allright," he sighed as he pulled something out of a compartment on his belt. He handed her a small package of something gooey. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Why? What is it?" She asked suspiciously.
He shrugged. "Food."
After glaring at him for a moment she ripped open the top of the package. She kept her eyes on the Jedi as she sniffed, then tentatively tasted the contents.
"Hm. It's not so bad."
Obi-Wan kept his eyes on her. She gave him a defiant look as she tilted her head back and squeezed the rest of the contents into her mouth.
"Uck!" She squeezed her eyes shut as the foul taste suddenly intensified. She forced herself to swallow the disgusting slop and tried not to gag.
Obi-Wan was clearly amused. "Ha hah," he snickered as he threw another stick into the fire. Padme coughed and wiped her mouth. Her eyes were watering as she turned to him.
"What was that?" she chocked out.
"Everything your body needs for a day," he shrugged.
"Ugh," she stared queasily into the fire, holding her stomach.
Obi-Wan smiled. "Try living off that stuff for a week."
She turned to him, amazed.
"I got lost in the Borillian Swamps once. Actually, after about three days I started eating bugs of my own free will."
"I believe it," her voice was clearly disgusted. After a moment of thought she asked, "You're not hungry?"
"Nope," he climbed off the log and stretched out on the ground. "I'm holding out until I start considering you a meal."
He was inexplicably hit by a pine cone.
Padme scooted off the log also. She rested her head back on it as they looked at the stars visible through the trees. After a peaceful silence she looked at her hands.
"So what's your story?"
He looked at her. "My story?"
"How does one become a Jedi?"
Obi-Wan looked into the fire.
"I was brought to the Jedi Temple when I was an infant. I became Master Qui-Gon's Padawan when I was 13."
"That's it?"
"What do you mean, 'that's it'?"
"Well... it just sounds so boring."
"Having Qui-Gon as your Master is anything BUT boring."
"How is that?" she giggled.
Obi-Wan shrugged. "I don't know. As soon as you think you know him there's a whole other story to be discovered."
Padme smiled. They gazed quietly into the fire for a moment.
"I wonder if they're allright," he wondered out loud.
Padme didn't want to think of what it would be like if they weren't allright. The thought of all those close to her, Sabe, Panaka, even Sio Bibble dying needlessly for what they thought was the queen. She didn't know if she'd be able to live with herself. How would her people view her then? As the cowardice Amidala who ran and hid when her people needed her most. 'That is what I'm doing' she thought.
For the first time she wanted to tell the Jedi sitting across the fire that she was the queen. But she knew it would be useless in the least.
"Where do you think they are?" she ventured.
"Coruscant, hopefully. With Qui-Gon and the security forces that were with the queen when we were separated they undoubtedly reached the hangar."
"There's a blockade surrounding the planet," she said grimly.
"They made it through."
His certainty caught her off guard.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I would have felt it if they died."
They both stared gloomily into the fire, lost in thought. 'Geeze,' Padme thought, 'what have I done?' Sabe had been with Amidala at every conference, she knew what Amidala's plan was if the situation called for it. If they made it to the senate, she'd just have to trust Sabe.
"So," the Jedi interrupted her thoughts, clearing his throat. "What's your story? How is the life of a handmaiden?"
"I come from the same village as the queen. When she was elected, she chose me personally as a handmaiden," she lied. "I am happy to serve the queen. I was ready when she choose me, for my parents had known for some time."
Obi-Wan was a little confused. "Didn't you have a choice?"
"My parents were farmers, it was a great honor," she intertwined some of her real past.
"Maybe we're not that different," he quietly said. Like the handmaiden, he never really had the choice to be a Jedi or not. After having been raised in the Temple he knew nothing different. He would be lost if he tried to make his way in the galaxy after having been trained so specifically for one purpose. Just as Jedi could leave the Order at their leisure, so could a handmaiden, but for both leaving would mean becoming an outcast. If not in the eyes society, in their own hearts.
Of course the choice had to be present at all times; things just weren't done in the old ways anymore. But in reality neither had a choice if they wanted self-respect.
Hearing Obi-Wan's honest words, Padme felt terrible. She was lying. She wasn't really like this Jedi at all. Yet she still felt some sort of bond between them, as mysterious as it felt.
Shyly Obi-Wan looked at Padme. "Do you ever get to see your parents?"
She looked at him, then slowly shook her head. After a few more seconds of silence she asked, "Do you?"
"No. I'm not even supposed to remember them." His voice was quiet. "But I do."
Padme gazed into the fire as another gloomy silence began. After several minutes she heard a crack in the nearby brush. She and Obi-Wan looked at each other.
As he slowly drew his lightsaber he whispered. "Are there any dangerous animals at night?"
Padme's mind raced, trying to remember the many lectures she had attended on Naboo's wildlife. There had been a segment on the forest wildlife of Theed.
"The tusk-cat. They feed at night," she could hear her voice quivering. She scooted over to Obi-Wan and they both peered over the log, intently searching the darkness. There was a slight rustling ahead to the right.
She grabbed his shoulder, careful of his injury. They crouched in the silence, their breath clouding in front of their faces. Obi-Wan's good arm held his lightsaber ready.
As the bushes rustled suddenly beside the log to the right Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber. The two jumped as the startled animal squealed and ran past. Padme saw what the creature was in the combined light of the fire and lightsaber. Her body relaxed and she closed her eyes and laughed as she sat back. Obi-Wan, however, was still tense, taking in short, quick breaths, body waiting to use the released adrenaline. He searched the darkness, keeping an eye on the direction the animal had disappeared in.
"Obi-Wan," her voice was colored with relief and amusement. "It was only a mott. They're harmless, they only eat plants."
He looked at her for a moment, his body calming down and his breathing slowing.
"Only plants," she repeated, smiling at the thought of the pig/cow-like creature they had just encountered.
"Only plants?" Obi-Wan smiled and sighed as he shook his head. He switched off his blade. "Let's get some rest."
Padme was still laughing inside as she pulled her hood up and lay down to sleep.
Obi-Wan lay down and closed his eyes, lightsaber gripped by his good hand.
TBC