Disclaimer: all main characters (except Khalee) are owned by Lucasfilms. I just borrowed them for a bit.

AN: Here's the next installment. Hope it is enjoyable. And please R & R!

Chapter 5

Khalee reached her sister's apartment in record time, which had been difficult due to the amount of stairs she had to climb to get there. She stopped outside the door and leaned against the wall to slow the pounding in her head and calm her breathing. She had lit out of the courtyard as if death were at her heels. As she stood leaning against the cool wall, her mind slid back to the courtyard, taunting her with the memory of his closeness, the warmth of his strong arms encircling her. I need to stop! Khalee closed her eyes and remembered the number of times in the privacy of Maani's study that she had written what she had promised herself. Too many to count, she thought with a smile warming her lips. She had always kept that secret from Maani, although she was pretty sure she could tell. Khalee pushed herself away from the wall and approached the door. Just as she put her hand on the knob, she jerked it away as Padme opened it from the other side.

"Khalee……I've been so worried!" She wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her into the apartment, leaving a worried Sunya to close the door. "I'm so sorry….."

Khalee knew that her sister was about to dissolve into tears, but she also felt her parents in the other room. They had answered Padme's summons when Khalee had not returned after two hours. She was reluctant to let her guard down around her mother. "It's okay, Padme. I'm fine. There was no harm done, right?" She held her sister at arms length and smiled into the kind face of her little sister.

"Khalee, explain yourself!" Lady Ornlea had heard Khalee enter the apartment, but her husband had told her that if she barged into the hallway immediately that she would cause more trouble. They had argued about Khalee for most of the evening after the dinner fiasco, which had left her husband in a foul mood and to tempt that again was tantamount to suicide.

Khalee saw the look in her sister's eyes and knew that she was sorry for asking them to come. She knew she was sorry she asked that question, but it was over and done with now. Slowly Khalee turned and looked at her mother with a blank expressionless face yet eyes full of steely coldness.

"Mother, there is no need for me to explain myself to you, nor is there a need for you to raise your voice to me." Khalee almost lost her composure when she saw her mother's expression turn from angered to shocked and back to angered. "There is too a need young lady! I am your mother and I deserve to know why you did what you did tonight!"

Khalee looked past her mother and saw her father in the hallway, attempting to give encouragement and strength in his eyes. He had never approved of his wife sending away his eldest daughter. Lady Ornlea had taken that task upon herself. He could never understand what she had been so afraid of in Khalee. It was almost as if she was waiting for Khalee to start spitting fire and destroy everything.

Khalee looked back at her mother. "First of all, I am not able to explain what happened tonight. It just happened, and no amount of apologizing on your part to the Queen will change that. It is my problem to deal with on the morrow. Second of all," she paused to send an apologetic look at both her father and sister for what she was about to say, "you may have given birth to me, but you have no authority over me since you sent me away. My mother is the woman who comforted me when I was sent to a strange planet. She taught me how to be myself. She was there for me when I needed a mother most. You were here on Naboo celebrating the fact that I was gone and that Padme had made you proud. I have always just been someone you were stuck with."

Lady Ornlea just stared at her eldest daughter. As she heard the words that she had been dreading to hear for several years now, she realized that she had lost. She had lost another person she could control. What made it worse was that it was her own daughter. She had never really understood her and that's what had scared her the most.

Khalee watched her father guide her blank mother to the main room. She knew she had said some harsh things to her, but it had been the truth. And she had been waiting to tell her mother how she felt for quite some time now. Although she was glad she had said it, she now felt empty. She had been holding on to the anger for so long that she felt she had lost some purpose. Khalee felt someone watching her. She turned around and saw her sister watching her lost in her thoughts. Khalee looked in Padme's eyes and saw surprise, disappointment, yet pride at the same time. It was more than Khalee could take.

"Tell father goodnight for me. I need to be alone." Padme nodded her consent and continued looking at her sister. She was always surprised at her sister. She was proud that she had finally expressed herself. She watched Khalee walk into her room and shut the door. Padme took a deep breath and walked into the main room. She knew that several hours of debate with her parents were about to ensue.

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Khalee opened her eyes and realized that she had fallen asleep in the chair by her bed. She had remained awake most of the night thinking, wondering if she had done the right thing. It had also been hard to sleep with the sound of her parents arguing with her sister in the next room. Most of the argument had blended together in her sleepy mind, but one part stood out.

--"Padme, I still don't understand why you asked her back!" Her mother was still close to hysterics after an hour of talking and the quivering way she asked Padme told her that she was close to losing it completely.

--"I asked her back because I missed her. And I remember always feeling safe around her, like it was what she was supposed to do. And no matter how much the two of you want to deny it, I am in danger. Many in the Senate find my ideas subversive. I suspect many do not see the need for change."

--"My dear, that's no reason to bring her back here. You could have asked for bodyguards. I hear that the Jedi order has assigned them to you before."

--Padme looked at her mother with pity. "Mother, it was my decision. Khalee is my sister and I love her and want her in my life. She deserves that. You had no right to send her away. Your love of manipulating people's lives to fit your own ends now. I won't allow you to hurt her again, Mother. If you could only see how many amazing talents and character traits she has. I'm sorry, Mother, but no amount of pleading on anyone's part will get me to send her back to who knows where. I need her more than I need you."

Khalee pulled herself out of the memory and wiped the tears from her eyes. No amount of training to shut away her emotions could have prepared her for the ferocity in which her sister defended her last night. Khalee was deeply touched yet saddened at the same time. She knew that someday she would have to choose between defending her sister and defending her true self. No amount of guidance and orders could make that decision for her. And that decision was a matter of the heart.

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Khalee walked into Padme's empty apartment after spending several hours in a speeder surveying the countryside. She had needed to get out and be alone. Padme had arranged a speeder for her to borrow with no escourts, knowing that Khalee would want to be alone. It had been so beautiful. As a child, she couldn't remember every visiting it. On her flight through the terrain, she had seen everything Naboo had to offer and knew that she had truly missed it. At lunch she had stopped to eat and explore a little. The streams were crystal clear and the banks were lined with trees and bushes. The meadows were full of sweet grass and beautiful flowers that calmed every nerve in her body. She climbed a tree and watched the animals warily watch her speeder as it was a new object they weren't used to. Khalee had never felt so alive. She felt the Force speaking to her, telling her stories of the land and those that inhabited it.

After a bath in her room, Khalee dressed and went wandering around the complex. The architecture was amazing. She had studied different worlds with Maani and was always amazed at how different world arranged their natural materials into an esthetically pleasing display. She lost herself looking at the arches in the hallways and how the light refracted off of them into rainbows of color on the floor. It wasn't until she heard the whoosh of a lightsaber traveling through the air that she realized where her feet and legs had taken her.

The training room had been redesigned several times because of the varying needs of Naboo's government. At one point it had been a banquet hall. The elaborate chandeliers that still hung from the ceiling gave evidence of that. It had also been divided up into several offices used for the military and the various personnel. Now it was a storage room that doubled as an exercise room, usually used only by visiting dignitaries.

Khalee stood in the doorway and leaned against the frame. The Jedi knight and his apprentice were sparring with each other. Maybe they just needed to get some exercise, she thought with a slight smirk. Jedi never just needed to get exercise. There was always a greater purpose to what they were doing.

Obi-Wan and Anakin both stopped at the same time and turned off their lightsabers. They felt the eyes of an observer and wanted to see who it was. Anakin saw Khalee in the doorway and walked over to greet her.

"My lady," Anakin bowed with a smile at the lovely lady, "what brings you to this part of the complex this fine afternoon?"

Khalee smiled at the young man before her. He has a charm about him...no wonder Padme likes him. "I was just wandering the complex. I didn't realize where I was going until I got here. My feet just led me. But please, continue your sparring. Don't stop on my account."

The surprise in that simple statement registered in Anakin's eyes. "How did you know we were sparring?"

Obi-Wan had been watching the exchange with detached interest. He sauntered softly over to the two and caught the end of Khalee's comment. It even caught him off guard. He then realized who she had been with for 17 years and knew there was more to the story than she was letting on. "Good afternoon, my lady."

Khalee immediately straightened when she heard the deep voice speak softly behind her. The shivers he sent up her spine were hardly noticeable, but her reaction was. "I am fine, thank you Master Jedi."

"So you never answered my question. How did you know we were sparring?" Khalee looked at Anakin and saw the impatience in his eyes. Ahh, so he's got an untamed spirit still. No wonder his master looks a little horrified at his statement. Khalee just smiled.

Obi-Wan could see the impatience in Anakin and worried that it might lead to an outburst. "Anakin, Khalee was living with an old friend of the Jedi who is proficient in many Jedi techniques. I'm not surprised that she is familiar with sparring."

You don't know the half of it! Khalee looked at Obi-Wan and saw that he was teasing her as well as trying to get more information out of her as to how much she knew. "So, what all does this training room have in it?"

Anakin jumped forward and offered Khalee his arm to lead her around the room. He pointed out all the equipment, from wooden sticks for combat to weights, as well as asked her about her sister...several times. Obi-Wan followed the pair around the room, keeping his distance yet close enough to hear every word the woman said.

They made a complete circle of the room and were back at the door through which Khalee had entered. "Well, thank you gentlemen. I apologize for interrupting you. Have a good evening." Khalee bowed her head, turned, and walked through the door. When she was about halfway down the hallway, she heard footsteps behind her. She knew in an instant who it was by the frission that racked her gut.

"Khalee….." Obi-Wan reached her just as she turned the corner to another hallway. He had left his Padawan in the training room to clean up the mess they had made that day.

Khalee stopped and closed her eyes and the music running through her head at the sound of her name coming from his lips. Calm, calm, be calm....

"Yes, Obi-Wan?" Obi-Wan stepped in front of her and saw her clear brown eyes looking at him. He almost forgot himself and his composure that was already hanging on by a thread every time he was near her. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay after last night. I tried calling on you earlier today, but your handmaiden said that you had borrowed a speeder and were exploring the countryside."

"Yes I am fine. I just needed some air. Thank you." Khalee could not pull her gaze away from his sky blue eyes. She knew she needed to for she felt Anakin walking their way. "I must be going. Thank you again for your concern."

Obi-Wan wondered at her crisp reply to his inquiry. He leaned against the wall as he watched her walk away. "Master, I finished cleaning the training room." Anakin saw his Master lost in thought leaning against the wall.

"Thank you Anakin. I believe we should go get ready for dinner now." Obi-Wan continued to stare down the hallway even though he could no longer see Khalee.

The two men walked back to their quarters to prepare for dinner. They were silent as they walked through the hallways, both with separate thoughts on separate sisters running through their minds.

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Dinner that night was quite dull compared to the night before, mainly because no one was talking at all. The Queen had declined her invitation to the Ornlea household, and so had many of the other dignitaries. Lady Ornlea had retired soon after dinner was finished, which left Master Ornlea, Padme, Khalee, Anakin, and Obi-Wan to talk about whatever they wanted.

"Thank you for dinner, Papa." Khalee gave her father a hug, knowing that he was waging a private battle with himself over whether he should stay and socialize or go to bed. "You are very welcome butterbear. I've missed you." Giving in to the need to be near his daughter, Master Ornlea escourted his eldest daughter to the patio. The other three in the dinner party followed knowing that it would not disturb Lady Ornlea. "I've missed you too Papa."

Several hours later when Khalee and Padme returned to Padme's apartment, Khalee finally let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding all night. She gave Padme a goodnight hug for she knew they were both tired and went to bed. But sleep did not come easily. The entire night at dinner she caught glimpses of shining blue eyes on her. She still was unnerved every time she was near him but what unnerved her more was that she didn't know why he kept looking at her. She stayed awake as long as she could, trying to keep her mind off of the Jedi, but it didn't help. She knew before she fell asleep that she was failing in both her tasks- protecting her heart and protecting her sister. Tomorrow I start. And with that, Khalee drifted into a dreamless sleep.