Two

Padmé surveyed the tiny, wilting plot of land he had called a vegetable garden, and she picked up the shovel at her feet and drove the blade into the earth. The resistance of the yellowing dirt, which was as hard as rock, sent pain reverberating through her arms. She winced.

The Jedi had been taking down the strings of sun-dried jerky from the racks behind his hut; now he quickly threw the jerky aside and rushed to her. "What are you doing?" He snatched the shovel from her.

"You call this a garden?" she demanded. "This isn't--"

"Don't start. I know what you're going to say."

"Obi Wan, honestly, if you didn't know how to irrigate, you should have had the decency to ask me. Now give me the shovel and let me see what I can do." She made a grab for it; he jumped back with Jedi reflexes and trapped her hand between his rough, warm fingers.

"I invited you here as my guest, not as my worker," he said.

She shook her head, trying to fathom his serious blue-gray eyes. A feeling she could only define as bittersweetness for the Jedi Master overtook her. "Don't give me special treatment," she said softly. "I hate you when you do that."

He looked surprised. "I--" He released her hand. "I'm sorry."

"If you're really sorry, then you're going to buy a new irrigator, loosen all this land, and replant everything."

"You're awfully commanding for someone who doesn't want special treatment," Obi Wan quipped, humor in his tone.

"Blame the former Queen in me," she replied.

Obi Wan chuckled. "But must we stand out here in this forsaken heat, discussing irrigation systems?  Come inside. We'll eat some of the food you've prepared."

.*.*.*.*.

They sat at the table, facing each other, and Padmé watched as Obi Wan chewed thoughtfully on a butter roll. He ate politely and calmly, as though he were attending a formal banquet, and she remembered all of the banquets they did attend, so long ago they had almost faded into fantasy.

"Padmé, do you recall the feast on Naboo after the victory over the Trade Federation?" Obi Wan said after he swallowed. "It was the first time I tried these."

She grinned, amazed. "I was just thinking about that! You must have read my mind."

"Sometimes I wish I could read your mind," he said.

"Don't you? You're able to."

"Not in the way most people think. I can sense feelings, but I'm rarely able to read the exact thoughts of anyone. But don't worry; I don't do either on you. The Jedi order says that a Jedi can never use his powers for amusement."

"The Jedi order doesn't exist anymore."

"That's true. It's gone, as with everything else in this galaxy," he finished.

A humorless laugh escaped her. "I feel like we're the only ones alive in this place. Come, I give you the permission to read my mind."

"May I ask why?"

"I want to see if you can do it, Jedi Master," she teased.

Obi Wan folded his hands in front of him. "Challenge accepted," he said with a faint smile.

Padmé stared into his eyes. They were the color of the Nubian sky right before a sunrise, blue and calm and never piercing. She conjured up an image. "What am I thinking about?"

"I'm not quite sure. Something about… nature. An animal. No. Now you're thinking about something blue. The sky, perhaps? I sense a great aura of wonder and yearning. And affection."

"Yearning? Affection?"

"No, not exactly. It's deeper than that. Much deeper. Whatever you're thinking about, you must feel strongly for."

"Really." She felt faint.

"Yes. It's... I got it! It's love." He raised an eyebrow during the silence that followed. "You're thinking about something you love. Someone," he said, and when she couldn't answer him, he added, "Of course I may be wrong."

She broke free from his searching gaze and focused on the ceiling. "I shouldn't have ever brought this up."

"What were you thinking about?"

"An eopie!" she snapped, her eyes stinging with unwanted moisture.

"Oh. That was the animal."

"Yes, and you're right, this is a bad game to play. I shouldn't have asked you to." She blinked and glared back at him. "I don't know, Obi Wan. I don't know anything anymore. I'm just so -- so -- I don't know! Sometimes this planet is just so damned!" She took a shivering breath, calming herself. "I'm sorry, Obi Wan. I don't know what's come over me."

"If you want to," he said quietly, leaning in, "I can rent you a ship and take you to a planet on the Outer Rims. Chad. Maybe Hapes. You don't deserve to be on Tattooine."

"No."

"Why not? The people of Chad are hospitable and--"

She silenced him. "No," she said. "I stay here. No matter what."

The Jedi Master rubbed his face and heaved a sigh.

That was when the droids came.