Padmé blinked.  The sun was shining into her eyes.  She was still outside, just where she had been the night before and, had somehow fallen asleep underneath a tree.  She shook her head, patted Juliana, who stood nearby, and trotted up the stairs to her room, book in hand.  How in the world had she fallen asleep?  She touched her hair.  It had several twigs stuck in it.  Oh how she needed a bath after having done something so inconvenient.

"Ah, there you are.  We were wondering where you had gotten to." said Eritae.

"I fell asleep outside." she said, "And I was just wondering.  Is there any chance I might be able to take a bath?"

"Oh, of course," said Yane, "Its over that way." she gestured as best she could with now arms.

~*~

Half an hour later, Padmé dressed into a pair of worn pants, and a not- quite- as- worn shirt.

"Now, what will you be wearing today?" asked Eritae, throwing open her doors to reveal many elegant gowns.

"I'll just wear this, thanks." said Padmé, backing away from Eritae and Yane.

"Oh, come now.  There is no reason not to wear one of these gowns.  They've never been worn before which is a pity."  Eritae told her.

Padmé wrinkled up her nose.  They were so... elegant.  Like nothing she had ever planned to wear.  All the dresses she had ever worn were simple, with no added lace or frills, no gems or beads sewn on.  All of these gowns, the ones Eritae was trying to persuade her to wear, were so fancy, with lace, frills, gems, beads- everything you could possibly sew onto a gown was on all or one of these gowns.

"There to elegant for me.  I never wear anything elegant." Padmé told them.

"That's nonsense." Yane said, "They are not to elegant for you.  Pick one and put it on."

Padmé sighed.  "Fine, what's the plainest dress you have?" she asked, turning to Eritae.

~*~

"How long do you think it will be until the spell is broken?" Anakin asked Obi- Wan.

"Its hard to say.  She must fall in love with you, and you've given her little reason to do that so far."

"I know." Anakin replied, "We don't have much time though."

"Two and a half years is not going to be so much time.  You must try your hardest though."

~*~

"So what is there to do around here?" Padmé asked Yane and Eritae after she was dressed to their liking.

"Oh, there's a lot to do!  There's the gardens, the orchards, the lake, the library, the music hall, the ballroom!  There's much to many to name.  Today you ought to just look around to see what suits you!" Yane told her, enthusiastically.

"I'll go do that then," said Padmé, leaving her room and coming into the corridor outside.  She walked several feet, and then turned into a dimly lit, side corridor.  Within this corridor were many paintings.  Some of people, some of animals, a few of things she couldn't quite recognize.  She walked several more feet, exited that corridor, and turned to her left into another corridor. 

This corridor had many paintings in it as well, but had many doors up and down its sides.  Curiosity overtaking her, Padmé opened one and stepped inside the room.  Inside were several couches, a fireplace, and some large windows with draperies over them.  She walked over to the windows and began to pull back the draperies, filling the room with light.  Upon doing this, she could see that the room was decorated in several shades of blue.  It was a sitting room, and a very nice one at that.  She left the room, deciding that there was nothing to do within it.

Padmé walked the length of the corridor.  At the end of it were, great, oak, double doors.  She opened the doors and walked into the room.  It was virtually empty, but had tall ceilings, and a gorgeous wooden floor and lots of windows.  This must be the ballroom Padmé thought, turning around and closing the doors behind her.  There was nowhere to go from here, except where she had come from.  She began to walk back in the direction of her room, but had no intention of going in.  She found the door that would lead to her room easily enough, but then walked past it.

Unlike the corridors in the opposite direction, all of these corridors were full of statues and moldings instead of paintings.  There were several unimportant-looking doors up an down the first corridor.  Padmé decided not to bother with any of them.  She came to the end of the corridor quickly enough, and then went to the right.  There were the same, important looking, oak doors that she had seen before leading to the ballroom.  She opened them and found the ballroom again.  That's strange she thought, shutting the door and walking down another corridor.

At the end of this next corridor Padmé found double-doors slightly smaller than those leading to the ballroom, and made of cherry wood.  She opened them, and saw a room about half the size of the ballroom, filled with musical instruments.  This would be something that would entertain her for a while, once, her grandmother- who was 4 years deceased- had taught her to play a flute.  Perhaps she could learn again.  She looked around the room.  There were so many musical instruments.  A few she didn't even know the names of.  She smiled despite herself and left the room, closing the door behind her.  I'll see all of the castle before I do anything, she thought, going to the opposite end of the corridor and starting down another.

~*~

AN: Sorry that took me so long.  I had a really busy week last week and didn't have time to write (lots of homework and tests to study for).  I'll try to update again soon!  Tell me what you think of this! :)

- Sarah