Smoke. Caustic, black smoke clouded the air like a heavy fog. Screams. Pain-filled and fear laced, the screams echoed through the carnage of the blast. Obi-Wan's eyes flew open, immediately gushing with tears at the smoke surrounding him. A ragged cough escaped him, wrenching his lungs as they filled with the same corrosive air. He lay on his back in the midst of rubble that had recently been the restaurant, desperately trying to clear his mind. The ensuing panic and fear around him made it impossible. Their cries for help barraged his senses like a jackhammer. Coughing steadily, he managed to roll over onto his stomach and weakly push himself to a squatting position. Padme.

The thought hit him hard, nearly doubling him over. He had to find her. Desperately he jumped to his feet, ignoring the waves of dizziness that threatened to overtake him and clutching his ribs, he stumbled into the darkness. His Jedi senses stretched out among the chaos, trying to pinpoint where the senator could have landed. Guilt waged war inside his head as he berated himself for not sensing the danger. Had Padme clouded his senses so much that his natural alarm system had gone kaput? He hadn't wandered far when he felt her presence nearby, weak but alive.

"Padme," he coughed out, falling to his knees beside her. He repeated her name, scooping her head into his lap and cradling it there. A crimson slash jagged from her temple to the middle of her ashen forehead, seeping blood down her pretty face. Obi-Wan bent down and hissed an order at her peacefully closed eyes,

"Wake up, Padme! Do you hear me? I'm ordering you to wake up now! Damn it, wake up and argue with me! Tell me not to boss you around!"

In one of the few instances in Obi-Wan's life, he could feel the suffocating threat of fear hiss at the edges of his mind. He tried to slow his breathing and allow the Force to flow through him clearly. Fear is of the dark side. He could hear Qui-Gon's frequent warning resound through him. Why did it seem his old master's voice was haunting him of late?

"Obi-Wan."

The quiet, breathless call of his name shook him awake, his pounding head snapping up. Padme's eyes slid open, revealing a gaze hazy with pain. There was still no disguising the weak but present spark shining through the pain. She coughed gently and said in a creaky voice,

"Blaster bolts, don't order me around like a padawan, Kenobi."

"Padme," he gasped and nearly crushed her remaining breath away in a hardy hug. He grinned so hard he was sure his bruised face was about split. "Woman, you will give me gray hair before my time."

She teased as she tried valiantly to sit up with no avail.

"Who says you don't already have that?"

Without a word, too pleased to banter, he scooped her up gently, tucking her small body into the cradle of his arms. He silenced her protests with a quick, hard look and said, lowering his voice instinctively even though it couldn't have been heard over the chaotic cacophony.

"We must leave now. I fear there was a motive behind this and intended victims as well."

Padme caught his insinuated meaning immediately. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Me? You believe they were after me. But how could they have found me? Here on Alderaan?"

"I think I have underestimated our enemy, my dear," he said grimly, striding through the rubble as best he could. Flames were licking their way along the collapsed walls, scouring for a fuel source. Sparks were snapping dangerously from split wiring and the mossy ground that the tall restaurant had been standing on was beginning to blaze in devouring fire. It was a disaster area, littered with splintered wood, shattered transparisteel and worst of all, moaning bodies. Obi-Wan knew that the nearby emergency team would be overwhelmed in the mess. Alderaan was a peaceful, quiet planet; they wouldn't have the experience or even skills to deal with such a catastrophe. Obi-Wan squinted desperately, searching for a way to get the nodding senator to safety, and then he would return to aid in the mess caused by his negligence. Through the smoke, he spotted a familiar figure and quickly began leaping towards him, jostling Padme as little as he could.

"You, boy!" he called out, running up to the parked speeder and the cowering, red-faced boy behind it. Jekzan Terana looked up in disbelief, fear and worry flickering over his young face. His eyes shot towards the beautiful girl who was bleeding profusely from a gash in the head and was struggling to stay conscious. He stammered,

"Y-yes, sir. Can I help you, sir?"

"Yes, I need to return to the-" Obi-Wan stopped abruptly, mind racing in thought. No, they would expect him to return to the palace. They had probably known all along they were staying as royal guests and had just bided their time until Padme had left the secure palace grounds. He wanted to scream in exasperation. He growled,

"Tell me, boy. Where do you live?"

Jekzan grew even more startled than he had thought possible, looking like a field deer caught in the lights of a hover carriage. He sputtered,

"My home, sir? Well I live in the quarters of the palace's workers, sir. It's not much but-"

"No, no that won't do at all," Obi-Wan interrupted impatiently. "Where did you grow up? Is it some place safe?"

"Where I grew up? But-but sir, I'm just the son of a nerfherder. When we weren't on the continent Thonn raising them, we lived in a small cabin outside the Oro Woods in the plains of Telnit. No one lives there anymore; it's just become a dust haven. Only my grandmother putters around every now and then. It's isn't anything but basic, sir-no amenities or communication. It's-

"Perfect," Obi-Wan supplied. "Take us there immediately if you wish this young lady to live."

Jekzan stood up straight and bravery suddenly dawned upon him like sunshine in the dark place they hid away in. He nodded and revved up his speeder full power, the repulsorlifts whirring to life and lifting them above ground.

"Jump in, sir and lay the lady on the bench seat behind me. I'll get you there in no time, no worries."

But as they sped away, all that Obi-Wan could focus on the worry.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Obi-Wan hovered beside a modest cot, watching a knarled, elderly woman bustle around the sleeping girl. Her gash had been cleaned and bandaged, her bruised ribs bound together and her torn gown replaced with a simple white shift. The old woman, Jekzan's grandmother, tucked the coverlet up to Padme's shoulders and turned to Obi-Wan.

"You may go now, Mr. Kenobi. She will sleep well for the time being. When she awakes, I will give her an herbal cure we nerfherders use for aches and pains. She'll be fine…you may go without worries."

Obi-Wan sighed. Why did it seem like his whole world had become a sphere of worry and everyone else could see it? He bent down, propping his hands on his knees, to look into the face of the senator that caused him such turbulence. He wished he could sit by her bedside the rest of the night but he knew Aldera greatly needed his aid. Pressing a whisper-soft kiss in between her eyebrows, he ordered,

"Try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone, Padme."

With that, he stood and marched briskly towards the door and out of the small wooden cabin that was sheltered in the nook of the magnificent Oro woods on the expanse of the Telnit plains. Pretending he wasn't leaving a piece of his heart behind, he hopped into the speeder and said gruffly to the young man standing at attention,

"I'll be back as soon as the area's under control. I'm entrusting her safety to you until I return. Let no one approach-" he trailed off, taking in the miles and miles of unoccupied land. "I don't think that will be a problem but just in case," he tossed a blaster into Jekzan's arms. "Don't be afraid to use this."

Leaving the shaking but emboldened teenager gripping the gun and stalking in front of the cabin, Obi-Wan sped away, his spirit heavy, knowing the horror that lay before him was his entire fault.

~*~*~*~*~

There was something chasing her; something that lurked in the shadows and reached for her with monstrous, mechanical hands. Fire roared all around her, destroying everything in accordance to the black figure commanding it. He was closer to her, so close she could feel his labored breathing upon her neck. She suddenly knew with certainty he would kill her. He would stalk her, torment her until he had made her pay-pay for sins she hadn't known she'd committed. She felt her stomach grow swollen and his hands veered their course from her neck to her abdomen. Stark fear gripped her and she tried to dart away, falling to her face in the dark. The last thing she remembered was being swallowed by shadows.

Padme's eyes flew open and her body jerked to bolt up on first instinct. Gasping, she immediately felt pain and white streaks of color blur her vision. Blinking back stars, she fell back to her pillow, dilated pupils darting across her surroundings.

"Shh, child, you must lay still," a quiet, old voice spoke from her left and following the direction of it, she looked into the creased, kind face of an elderly woman. Padme began to relax but then as recent memories of the explosion flashed through her mind, she tensed again. She tried to call for Obi-Wan but her voice, it seemed, had dissolved into a cloud of coughs.

"It's quite alright," the woman soothed and held a wooden cup of water up to Padme's lips. "The young man named Ben has left you in my care. He will return shortly. Do not worry yourself so."

Instant relief flooding through her and the horror of her nightmares draining away, Padme sipped the cool water and let it quench her parched lungs. Laying her aching head back against the pillow, she raised trembling fingers up to her bandaged head. She concentrated on drawing a steady breath and asked,

"Where has Ben gone?"

"He rushed back to the explosion site. Seemed quite agitated and kept saying it was his fault." She clucked her tongue sympathetically. "Poor man. I think he bumped his head a bit harder than he thought."

"He what?" Padme exclaimed. "Why of all the hare-brained, foolish ideas! He could get injured again and all because he suffers from delusions of grandeur." She masked her worry with indignation.

"Now, now, I think he was genuinely concerned about the disaster and you, of course."

For an instant, Padme was startled but then she easily rationalized. Of course, he would be concerned-she was his charge and he had allowed her to be put into danger. He rightly would have been concerned on the professional level. Strangely, as if hearing her thoughts, the old woman chuckled and said as she prepared a bowl of food that resembled a form of soup.

"No, dearie. The man was quite worried about you-it's clear he dotes on you. Why affection like that cannot be hidden from a man's face."

Obi-Wan? Affection for her? Why, half the time Padme was certain he despised her political guts-at least as much as Jedi were allowed to despise. She asked,

"What's your name, madam?"

"Oh I suppose you can just call me Lirta, child. It's really not important. I'm just your caregiver until your young man arrives."

"My young man? Oh he's not my-" she stopped, remembering the ruse they had played at the restaurant. She switched topics. "Where are we?"

"You are inside a small cabin on the Telnit plains beside the glory of the Oro Woods. My family and I are nerfherders from the south and this is our home when it is time to sell our livestock to the people of the capital city."

Padme fought the cringe from being revealed in her expression. She knew little about Alderaanian culture but she knew that nerfherders were on the bottom of the food chain, from thus the insult of "nerfherder" or "nerf head" had been derived. Supposedly a scruffy, stupid people, they were destitute nomads. Padme scrutinized the small bedroom she lay in carefully. It lacked any décor, any comfort, any real amenities besides the bed she lay in and the rickety chair Lirta was perched upon. It reminded Padme of the housing typical on Tatooine-only this cabin had a warm, clean feel. Not at all like the grime and wear of the desert planet. She supposed that even the lowest form of society on Alderaan had something special about it.

Feeling her head began to ache, she worried distantly about Obi-Wan heading right back into the fray where their would-be assassins could still be waiting. He really had no sense of self-preservation, the foolish man. He was always rebuking Anakin for being careless and adventurous beyond the call of duty and yet she had seen the Jedi master jump into danger countless times. Oddly enough when Obi-Wan took his risks, Padme never doubted his decisions. Oh she fought and argued with him to save face; but she always felt safe with him. That was a feeling, out of the million conflicting ones, that Anakin never gave her. At first it had been thrill to be desperately in love with someone so dangerous and reckless. But over time, after episode after episode of worry and doubt, the flames had begun to wither. Through a slow, painful process, Anakin was snuffing the fire out completely.

Padme felt the residue of darkness left by her vivid nightmares practically swallow her heart. Glancing towards the nearby door, she longed to see Obi-Wan's rumpled, swaggering figure enter. To have him debate her to either death or giggles. Any feeling would have been better than the empty weight on her spirit.

"The nightmares have been getting worse, yes?" Padme looked at Lirta sharply, her bloodshot eyes narrowed in suspicion. Lirta went on without a pause, working intently on the concoction in her lap. "They will only get worse, my child. The dark will not stop chasing you until it has demolished you. It seeks to own you and will not tolerate any other adversaries for your affection."

Stricken, Padme bolted up in her bed, nearly swamped by the wave of nausea the movement caused her.

"Shut up!" she shouted, her injured lungs catching painfully. "Shut up! Shut up!"

Panic rising in her throat, she saw only red and couldn't stop repeating herself over and over, voice straining in a high-frenzied pitch. "Shut up!"

Suddenly there was a rush from the door and arms enveloped Padme, drawing her into a warm chest that smelled like smoke and blaster fire. Hands stroked her messy hair and Obi-Wan whispered to the top of her head, rocking her back and forth,

"Shhh, love, I'm here. It's alright now. I'm here."