The Knight
Part Five:
Padme awoke in the early grays of dawn. She sat up, feeling an ache in her neck from sleeping in an awkward position. The fire was now charred wood and ashes. She looked across to where Obi-Wan had slept.
He was gone.
She stood, looking about the woods and their camp. She could see no trace of him. She pulled back her hood to listen. Nothing, save the birds beginning to stir.
She decided it was best to wait before jumping to conclusions. She used a stick to turn over a log in the fire, exposing it's warm underbelly. She lay on top of it some dry leaves and blew lightly. After a few minutes of adding leaves and blowing she had a fire going.
She sighed as she poked at it and looked around. Not only was she hungry again, but her thirst was making her terribly uncomfortable, her Jedi was gone, and the fate of her planet was in the hands of her handmaiden.
She jumped as water from out of nowhere doused the fire. Obi-Wan walked by and threw her a pouch full of water, which she barely caught in her lap.
"We're being followed."
"What? How?"
"I was careless, we left a trail. Come on." He began to walk into the woods.
"Who could be following us? Droids wouldn't be able to make it this far into the woods-"
"It isn't droids. Probably hunters hired from among your queen's people. Or worse, bounty hunters from off-planet."
"Did you see them?"
"They're camped over that ridge," he gestured to the right. Padme looked in the direction he had pointed.
"Wha... you were there?"
"Last night."
"How'd you know?"
"I had a feeling."
"You 'had a feeling'? You mean you left me alone last night in the woods for gods know how long to go exploring all the way over there because you 'had a feeling'?!" She yelled as she angrily pointed in the direction of the ridge.
"Keep your voice down," he snapped. "Stay off the dirt where you can. Don't break any branches or ferns. Don't leave a trail of any kind."
Amidala did not like it when people ordered her around. But she was not Amidala, as she was constantly reminding herself. She was Padme. So she bit her tongue, but couldn't help being angry that a Jedi left a queen completely defenseless in the forest at night, even though he had no idea that she was the queen.
As if reading her thoughts the Jedi said, "All you were doing was sleeping. I considered leaving you with my lightsaber, but you seem to be able to handle yourself fairly well on your own."
She angrily matched his pace and fingered the leather pouch.
"Where did you get this?"
"There's a settlement a few miles ahead. Drink up, we're leaving it where I found it when we get there."
Padme was finding this Jedi to be exceedingly difficult.
After passing an hour in silence they reached a small, river front cabin.
"Stay out of the mud," Obi-Wan muttered as they approached. He climbed the stairs and swung open the door. Padme lingered on the porch for a moment.
It felt strange to be just walking into someone else's house so easily.
She slowly entered, feeling the eerie stillness that had settled on the homestead. Even the people who lived in the woods, who seemed so far away from politics, and the concerns of the galaxy, had been rounded up and taken to camps.
"Here," Obi-Wan reached out. Padme took off the now empty pouch from her shoulder and handed it to him. He took it in his left arm and hung it on it's peg by the door.
"You're using you arm," she observed with some surprise.
"All Jedi are schooled in Force healing. I've never been very good at it, but I did what I could."
She nodded slightly, her attention being drawn to the many things in the cabin that made it a "home." It was as if the people who had lived in it just disappeared in the middle of their lives.
She walked over to a cradle and looked at the small doll left in it.
"Why do we have to leave the water sacks?" she asked.
Obi-Wan was allready standing in the doorway. "If the trackers came here they'd notice they were gone. It would be a tell-tale sign of our passing."
She looked at the set places at the dinner table.
"Come on," Obi-Wan said softly. "Let's go."
TBC