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Here's the next chapter, hope you like it! Oh, and please read my other story. You can find it on my bio. Thanks!
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The two had been riding for another few hours, and Anakin was finally getting the hang of it. Padmé had gotten him to go faster, but he was still a bit nervous. This made Padmé laugh, to see the fearless Jedi Padawan afraid of a horse.
Anakin looked over to see why she was giggling. "What?" he asked, curious.
She just laughed more as a response.
"I don't like people to laugh at me," he said, grinning anyway. He meant what he said, but didn't mind if it was Padmé who was laughing. He loved the sound of her laughter.
After a few minutes, Padmé calmed down a bit and said, "Look!'
Anakin looked to where she was pointing. All he saw was a large tree by a stream.
"I haven't been out here for years, maybe even more," Padmé said as she jumped off Angel's back. Anakin dismounted Grace and followed as Padmé walked over to the tree. He didn't know what was so special about this place.
Padmé knelt beside the tree and pushed aside a large rock. Underneath, Anakin saw a hole filled with different things. An ancient book, a diary, a bracelet, an old looking picture. All sorts of things. Padmé picked up the diary.
"This," she said, holding it up to the light, "I've had forever. It ran out of pages a long time ago. I don't know why I didn't use a holorecorder like everyone else."
Anakin took the diary from her and turned it over in his hand. He fingered the clasp holding it closed and, when Padmé made no objection, he opened it. The pages were a creamy yellow color, filled with indecipherable handwriting.
"Where did you get this?" he asked. He had never seen a real book, with real paper inside to write on. It looked quite old.
"Umm....from an antique shop in Theed, I think." Padmé answered, "I was only eight, hence the terrible writing." She and Anakin laughed. "The pages ran out when I was fifteen or sixteen, can't remember which."
Anakin smiled as he read one of the few neatly written entries. 'Sola is so mean! She took my doll and won't give it back! Now I'm going to have to rescue poor Mary from certain doom.'
"What?" Padmé asked, curious to find out why Anakin was smiling.
"Oh, nothing," Anakin's smile widened; "I was just reading about a doll that you had to rescue from your sister."
"Oh! I remember that!" Padmé replied dreamily, "Sola made me so mad. And I never did get my doll back; although I did take her bracelet for ransom."
"That doesn't sound much like a diplomatic solution," Anakin laughed. Padmé smiled.
"She didn't even notice that the thing was gone. In fact, I still have it." Padmé reached back into the small hole and took out an old, tarnished silver bracelet. "See? It's nothing special. Just something an old boyfriend gave her. I don't think she liked him very much. Come to think of it, neither did I."
She and Anakin looked through the diary for a few more minutes, laughing every now and then. They were sitting quite close together (so they could both see the diary) and Padmé was a bit nervous, though she had no idea why. Anakin was a friend, a good friend. Not an enemy.
Finally, breaking the silence, Anakin asked, "Is this your secret spot?"
"No," Padmé answered; "We're not quite there yet, though we're fairly close." With her last words, Padmé rose and headed back to the horses, who were drinking some of the water from the stream. But she tripped on a root sticking out of the ground. With a cry of pure frustration, she fell into the stream.
Or would have if Anakin hadn't caught her, inches from the water's surface. "Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine," she answered, still in his arms; "How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Catch me like that! You were over there just a second ago!"
"Oh, it's just one of the things Jedi can do." he said with a smile as he set Padmé's feet on the ground, keeping a arm around her waist. "Let's get back to the horses and keep going. I'm quite anxious to see what you so badly want to show me."