Chapter 15. Surprises

Dormé slipped into Padmé's awareness with a look on her face that made the Senator completely forget the documents in front of her.

"What's wrong?"

"Someone is here to see you." Dormé hesitated. "It's Obi-Wan Kenobi. He just showed up."

"He is here?  Now?" Padmé's heart missed a beat. It was early evening. She was expecting Anakin to turn up any minute after having not seen him all day. There could only be one reason why the Jedi Master was here. Padmé began to feel a kind of fear that no enemy could have inspired. For a moment the work on her desk blurred.

I thought we would have more time. This is too soon. I need more time.

Fool. She knew this would happen. "Show him in," she said, with a little break in her voice.

Dormé squeezed her mistress' shoulder gently, as though she could pass along some reassurance with her touch, and went through to the sitting room. Padmé stood up reluctantly and followed her.

"Master Kenobi," she said graciously to the familiar figure. "This is an unexpected visit."

He smiled at her – warmly, she thought – and bowed.

"I am sorry to arrive unannounced and at this late hour," Senator Amidala, he said. "But I have come on a matter of considerable importance."

Oh, yes, agreed Padmé silently. It is very important. Aloud she continued with the formalities. Waving her hand toward a collection of sofas and chairs that were clustered at the far end of the spacious and lovely room she invited him to take a seat. On the opposite wall tall, intricately designed windows framed the rich red and purple tapestry of another glorious Naboo sunset. Dormé moved around the room putting on lights to counter the gathering gloom of dusk. Then she disappeared.

The Jedi Knight went unerringly to the window seat where she and Anakin had sat together only the night before talking and…and….Padmé forced herself to push the hot swell of memory aside. What if this Jedi could read her thoughts the way that Anakin could?

In the dying light Obi-Wan's expression was shadowed and hard to see. With some reluctance Padmé followed him to the window and sat down next to him so that she could meet him face to face. They regarded one another in silence.

His eyes are kind, Padmé thought, suddenly and somewhat randomly wondering how old he was. Not too many years older than I, she found herself thinking, and yet he carries such an air of authority. And something else – a kind of serenity. Solidity. Permanence. He was so different from Anakin.

Senator or no, Padmé felt like a child that was about to be chastised for doing something wrong.

I suppose I deserve it, she thought. I knew this would happen. We both did. But Gods, I don't want to let Anakin go.

Padmé found that she was not up to making polite conversation and simply sat quietly, waiting for Obi-Wan to speak.

* * * * *

Obi-Wan found the Senator changed. It wasn't only her outer appearance, although that was different, too. Instead of her usual elaborate garments she wore a simple, pale gown without ornamentation of any kind. Her hair was arranged with equal modesty. Somehow, he thought, that very simplicity made her being seem brighter. He noticed a different kind of Force presence – subtle, yet with a distinctive underlying character that was new.

Yes, he thought. Something has changed profoundly.

After an extended silence Obi-Wan realized that it was up to him to speak.

"I am here about my Padawan," he said.

Padmé's eyes did not leave his, but she did not say anything.

He went on carefully.

"Something has happened," he said. "Something that is very worrying."

Padmé nodded for him to continue but still did not speak. The guarded look in her eyes, though, told him a great deal. She felt exposed, vulnerable.

"I don't know how familiar you are with the relationship between Master and Padawan in the Jedi Order," he continued, "but it is an extremely close one." He tried to choose his words carefully. "A Jedi Master is both a teacher and a parent. For the whole of the Padawan's training we are almost inseparable. We live together. Eat together. Work, train and play together. We carry out missions together."

Obi-Wan struggled mightily to find the right way to explain the depth of the Master-Padawan relationship to an outsider. How could he make her understand? 

"To take on a Padawan is the highest calling in the Order, because it is a sacred trust to guide and guard another being's life until they reach maturity and independence," he said carefully. "Any Master would lay down his own life for his Padawan without hesitation. During the time of the Master-Padawan bond, the Padawan's needs are paramount and the Master devotes all those years exclusively to meeting them."

He paused again before dropping his next words into the profound stillness between them.

"In return, the Padawan is expected to give the Master complete respect and unquestioning obedience. Without these, the training bond cannot function because it is based on trust."

Padmé swallowed.

The Jedi Knight's voice remained warm and even. "These commitments are made gladly, and with love." His gaze seemed to turn inward as images of his years with his Padawan broke free and began to dance in his memory. "You remember the circumstances under which Anakin and I entered into this bond, Senator Amidala."

Padmé nodded.

"Anakin has been by my side for ten years. He was always there for me, and I for him. Even when we disagreed. I can't tell you how many times he has saved my life. More than I would ever admit to in his presence."

Padmé found her voice again. Obi-Wan perceived that she had been listening to his story with her whole being. She answered as though she had felt his warmth, his concern, and his need to explain. "I imagine you have saved his many times as well."

Obi-Wan was grateful for her attempt to meet him part of the way. "I have tried to care for him and protect him and teach him everything he will need to know once he leaves me." He hesitated, and then went on again. He had to make her understand. "But there is more. There is an even deeper bond between Master and Padawan. You might call it a telepathic bond."

There was a sudden flash of recognition in the Senator's eyes. "You can reach out to one another in your thoughts," she said. "You always know the other person is there."

Obi-Wan looked at her attentively. "Yes," he said. That's it exactly. "It's not an invasive connection – but it is a deep one."

"One that you would miss terribly if it were gone," Padmé said, seeming to understand perfectly.

The Jedi Knight and the Senator from Naboo had one another's undivided attention. As they sat facing each other on the window seat the room around them seemed to disappear – the only thing that remained was the two of them and their conversation. Unnoticed, the sky outside the tall windows had darkened completely and covered itself with stars.

"Anakin has broken that connection with me," Obi-Wan said gently.

Padmé's eyes suddenly filled with tears. "I am so sorry, Master Kenobi," she whispered with such sincerity that he knew without a doubt that remarkably enough, she did understand. "I had absolutely no idea."

Obi-Wan was certain that was true. He was also rapidly becoming certain of a number of other things. That the attachment between her and his Padawan was not a casual one. That she was honest and good and suffering terribly. And that Anakin had a great deal to account for. More, probably, than either of them knew.

"I am not here to blame you for anything, Senator," Obi-Wan said in that same gentle voice. "In fact, I am deeply concerned about you."

"About me?" Padmé was surprised. "Why?"

"I know Anakin better than anyone, I think. I know his power. I know his capacity for passion. And I know how he feels about you." He looked directly into her eyes. "He worships you. He has since the day I first met him as a dusty, frightened little boy."

Padmé's gaze turned inward, as if she were remembering. It was all so innocent then. How had their lives arrived at his point?  "Master Kenobi…" she began, then stopped. "I don't know what to do."

Obi-Wan reached out and covered her hand with his.

"Of course you don't," he said, softly. "There are overwhelming forces at work here." There was so much more to explain to her. He hardly knew where to begin.

Abruptly his attention snapped to the hallway outside. A few moments later voices could be heard, along with something that sounded suspiciously like shrieking.

"Anakin," said Obi-Wan.

"Balé," said Padmé at the same time.

They were both right.

There was a knock on the door. Before Padmé could gather herself enough to respond it opened and a tall young Jedi stepped inside and gently dumped a brightly colored, wiggling and shrieking bundle onto the soft carpet.

"Oh," said Balé, excited when she saw Padmé's visitor. "Another Jedi!  Can you make me fly, too?"

When Anakin looked up and saw his Master Obi-Wan knew from the look on his face that the broken bond had in fact been torn out by the root. Anakin had not had the slightest idea that he was here. Comprehending, Obi-Wan found himself marveling at the skill that was required to create a sense-block that effective and that specific.

In that first instant of recognition a stream of conflicting emotions played over Anakin's face for all to see. Then he visibly shut down and his face became an impenetrable mask, although his eyes never left his Master's.

Padmé evidently had seen the transformation as clearly as he had, and found it equally disturbing. Immediately she reached out in an attempt to make up for Anakin's cut by taking both of the Jedi Knight's hands in her own small soft ones and saying, firmly,  "Master Kenobi, please tell me that you can stay longer. I would very much like to continue our conversation."

Without taking his eyes off Anakin's now unexpressive ones, Obi-Wan thanked her and accepted her invitation. He had instantly decided to remain on Naboo as long as it took to reach his Padawan. He would deal with the Council later.

Anakin's face remained locked down. Unseeingly he bent down to pick up the clamoring child, who was beginning to be upset by the tension in the room.

"Anakin," Padmé said, with some desperation. At her call his eyes finally left his Master's and found hers instead. His transformation was immediate. Anakin softened. He opened. The Force surged between him and Padmé like an electrical spark and surrounded them both until it became a single field that stretched across the room.

Balé sulked on Anakin's shoulder, knowing instinctively that she no longer had her playmate's attention.

Obi-Wan saw everything. And what he saw was much, much worse than he had expected.

"I have been looking for you, Anakin," he said. Obi-Wan found the cozy familial scene of Anakin with the woman and the child deeply unsettling and downright inappropriate. But that was not what worried him most.

Anakin's expression hardened again when he looked at his Master.

"If you will excuse me," Anakin said coldly, "Balé needs to go to bed." And he turned on his heel and walked out of the room with the child, never once looking back.

For the first time in a very long time, the Jedi Master didn't know what to do.