Disclaimer and such in Part 1
Padme yawned as the night came to an end. Putting down the book she had found during a fit of boredom she experienced after Obi-wan had woken her up, she stretched and turned her gaze upon the Padawan sleeping on the couch next to her. She couldn't help but smile at the site of him. Some time during the night he had thrown the cloak completely off himself and had laid out flat on his belly, one arm and one leg dangling over the edge of the couch. Glancing at the clock structure on the wall, Padme noted that six time marks had gone by from the time she had started her vigil. It was almost time to wake Obi-wan, but she still had some time to finish the chapter she was on.
When daybreak finally rolled around, Padme stood up and arched her back. Stretching once again, she took one last yawn before making her way over to the couch that held her favorite Padawan. With a smile, she knelt down in front of his face so their eyes were on the same level. Taking the discarded cloak off of the floor next to her, she grabbed one of its sleeves and began to gently tickle it against his nose. As Obi-wan sleepily batted away the annoyance from his face, Padme bit down on her tongue to keep herself from laughing. When she was sure that he was fully asleep again, she brought the cloak sleeve back to his nose. This time, however, Obi-wan's Jedi senses kicked in. Opening his eyes in a flurry, he grabbed Padme's wrist and threw her to the ground. Padme frowned as she looked at her friend's hands pinning her own to the floor above her head.
"Good morning to you too, sleepy head." She grumbled.
Obi-wan quickly let go of Padme's wrists and helped her up from the floor.
"Sorry Padme," He said with a laugh, "but you deserved it after trying to wake me up in such a childish manner."
"Childish or not," She crossed her arms while trying to keep a serious look on her face but failed miserably, "I'll take any punishment in exchange for the pricelessly cute look you make in your sleep when you snore."
"Besides," She continued as she ducked a pillow that flew at her from across the room, "Can you think of any other way to wake you up that would have been just as fun for me?"
Obi-wan's gaze unconsciously flicked to Padme's smiling lips.
"Perhaps," He said while mentally shaking himself and forcing his eyes to meet hers, "However, I suggest that you keep a close watch while you sleep from now on."
Padme laughed at his half-hearted threat.
'Nothing like some good banter to wake one up in the morning.' She though absent-mindedly. Only then did it occur to her that it was morning and that they should've started their journey back to the tree house already. Her mood quickly sobered with the realization.
"The sun is almost completely up so we should probably start heading back." She said as she started to straighten up the room so as to not alert anyone of their presence ever being there.
"I agree." Obi-wan mirrored her actions and started to straighten up as well, putting their sleeping cloak back into the small armoire.
When they were finished they stood in front of the invisible door with some trepidation. Without the Force they couldn't tell what was lying on the other side of the exit. Working up her nerves, Padme took a deep breath and moved to step through the door.
Obi-wan was about to follow her but instead grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"Wait, Padme," She turned to face him with confusion in her eyes.
"Well," He continued with a bit of embarrassment," even though you might be able to climb down this rather tall tree easily without the aid of the Force, I'm not quite sure that I would fair so well."
"Oh..."Padme nodded with understanding and turned to look around the room and figure out a solution to their problem. Her eyes lit up with success when she spotted one of the sharp dinner knives they had used the previous night. She quickly rushed to the counter on the far wall and grabbed the large utensil.
Turning back to Obi-wan, she explained her idea.
"I can go down the trunk first, and on my way, carve hand and foot holdings for you." She seemed very proud of her innovation. Obi-wan, although still proud of Padme's ingenuity, was a bit apprehensive since it was his life at risk in the situation. After a few minutes of Padme coaxing him, though, he finally agreed.
Once again they found themselves standing in front of the indiscernible door, trying to work up their nerves to exit the small room. Being the smallest and most stealthy among the branches, Padme had decided it would be best for her to leave first since she had the least chance of being seen. Desperately trying to push back her nervousness, she let out a breath and walked through the unseen exit. To her relief there was no living creature in sight.
Taking one last good glance around the canopy to really make sure that there were no other living creatures in the immediate vicinity, Padme swiftly reached her hand back through the tree trunk to let Obi-wan know that the coast was clear. He emerged seconds later.
Moving as silently as they could without calling the Force to their aid, they quickly slipped behind a thick patch of vegetation to conceal their forms while they made their descent. Padme crouched down, finding a prime spot to start carving the grooves for the hand and foot holding, while Obi-wan kept a sharp watch on their surroundings. After she made a few good deep notches, she started to climb down and Obi-wan soon followed. Their progress down the trunk of the tree was slow, but they eventually got to the bottom of their three hundred meter drop after an hour and a half of the same tedious process.
When they reached the ground, both collapsed against the trunk in pure exhaustion. For Jedi with full access to the Force that would have a been a formidable task, but for two who had to only rely on the raw gifts they were born with, it was a completely brutal one. Padme and Obi-wan were in shock that they had even been able to pull it off without calling on the Force for help.
As Obi-wan caught his breath and swallowed his relief, for he knew that they weren't home yet, he turned to look at his panting best friend next to him.
"Well," He said with a smile to try and lighten the mood, "let's not do that again anytime soon."
Padme grinned between breaths and nodded, as she wasn't sure she could quite speak yet.
They rested against the trunk of the tree for a quarter of an hour until they were both well enough to make the journey back to the tree house.
"Ready?" Obi-wan said while standing up and extending his hand to help Padme do the same.
"Yes," She put her hand in his and let him help her up, "let's please get back to the house as soon as possible."
Looking around for a moment, Obi-wan discerned in which direction the tree house was.
"Ah," He said seeming to figure out from which area they came, "this way."
He headed off to their left, Padme close behind him.
It was another hour before Obi-wan and Padme finally reached the base of the tree that held their home. Their brows furrowed, though, at the thought of how long it had taken them to get there. They had not known they had traveled so far from the house during their sparing session and the chase they were given by the five attacking Iagonians.
They didn't have much time to think about it, though, as they looked up the length of the tall tree and realized that either they needed to repeat the same process they had used to descend the other tree or find a button down where they were to bring forth the wooden staircase, because they couldn't contact their masters through the Force.
Obi-wan placed a hand over his eyes and ran it through his hair with a groan.
"I don't know about you, but so far I am not too fond of not being able to use the Force." He grumbled.
Padme agreed with him whole-heartedly, but she was much more able to adapt to living without the Force due to the fact that she had done exactly that until she was ten years old. She wasn't about to let Obi-wan know that she was coping just fine, though. Instead, she went about helping him search for a button to release the wooden planks in the trunk of the tree to form the spiral staircase.
After a few minutes of searching, they still had no luck in finding any such button, but the familiar creaking sound went through the treetops and the stairs formed.
Padme and Obi-wan stopped dead in their tracks. Their Masters knew they had returned. This was the part they were not looking forward to in the least. Yes, they were finally home but they did not want to face either Master Qui-gon or Master Rohhe.
Padme looked to Obi-wan and bit her lip. There was evident anxiety her eyes. Although he too felt extreme anxiety to face his Master, whom he knew would be furious with him, Obi-wan extended his hand to grab Padme's in a reassuring gesture and exchanged a small smile with her.
They both looked to the barely visible lofty balcony and then back to the staircase.
"Here we go." Obi-wan gave Padme's hand a small squeeze and started to climb.
Just as they had expected, Qui-gon and Rohhe stood waiting for them at the top of the stairs, arms crossed and neither with a very pleasant look on his face.
The padawans quickly let go of eachother's hand and positioned themselves sheepishly in front of the two formidable Master Jedi.
"Alright Padawans," Rohhe started with a scowl, "this had better be good."
TBC...
THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP EITHER IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS OR TOMORROW, DEPENDS ON HOW MY WRITING GOES AFTER I POST THIS. I HOPE ALL OF YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER!!!
THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL READERS AND REVIEWERS!!! BIG SHOUT OUTS GO TO JEDI KELADRY, SASKIA, AND SASSY-SATINE. ALL OF YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS REALLY MAKE ME WANT TO CONTINUE TO WRITE. YOU GUYS ARE TRULY WHAT KEEPS MY STORY GOING, I MEAN IT.
AGAIN, THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!!!!