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"Mom, we really don't need five different entrees and six different appetizers. We did eat on the transport." Padme looked at her mother exasperatedly.
Jobal returned her daughter's gaze lovingly. "Nonsense Padme. You are too thin, and I have heard that Jedi always eat a lot."
Sola grinned, "And exactly where did you hear that, Mom?"
Jobal looked at Sola mischievously, "Oh, I have my sources."
Sola turned to her sister. "So, Padme...Anakin, is that his name? He's cute."
"Sola! He's a Jedi!"
Sola's eyes were gleaming, "Yes...he is a Jedi. And a fine looking one at that."
Padme whacked her sister with the spoon she was holding, "Sola! Please."
"Oh Padme, lighten up! You're obviously still in Senate mode. But what about the other Jedi, Sarah? She's so serious."
Padme sighed as she stirred the sauce that Jobal had just put on the heating pad. "Tell me about it. But what can I do? She's a Jedi. She takes it seriously."
Sola gave her sister a look. "Maybe she's just jealous of you."
"What?" Padme asked, shocked. "Sola, please, don't be ridiculous."
"Padme, I'm just kidding around. You're always so serious. Almost as bad as our Jedi Sarah back there."
"Stop it Sola. I don't think it is possible for anyone to be as serious as she is."
Jobal finally interrupted the two sisters. "Now, now girls, please stop. Our meal is ready. Padme dear, why don't you go tell your friends to come sit down. Sola, please try and pull Ryoo and Pooja away from Artoo. I swear, they love that droid as though he is a person."
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Obi-Wan walked quickly out of the Temple. He needed to clear his head. His conversation with Mace Windu had only confused him. Am I really blinded by my Padawans? He shook his head and tried to put the thought from his mind. He needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
He thought for a moment as he gazed out at the giant buildings of Coruscant. He made his mind quickly and decided to head over to Dex's. Even if his friend could not help him, at least he could think over a nice cup of Jawa Juice and some Bantha Crisps.
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The entire family was seated around the table, Anakin and Sarah across from Padme, Sola, and her children. Padme looked at Anakin and Sarah, "I hope that you two are hungry. As always, mom made way to much food."
Anakin smiled gently at her, "We're starving!" he said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, because Sarah gave him a strange look.
They all began to eat Jobal's delicious cooking, and there was lively conversation that eventually turned to the Jedi Order. "I remember the two Jedi who came here all those years ago. I was so sorry to hear about the older Jedi's passing...Jinn, was that his name?" Jobal asked.
Sarah nodded, "Qui-Gon. He was our Master's Master."
"Oh, I do remember young Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was such a kind boy, but very solemn," Jobal said. "We talked with him shortly after the battle ended."
Anakin smiled, "Well, he's always been serious, but I'm not sure that he was ever young."
Ruwee turned to the Jedi, "I was glad when Padme mentioned that Obi-Wan Kenobi had become a Jedi Knight. How much more training do the two of you have?"
"There's really no way to know for sure," Sarah said. "We have to wait until the Council decides that we are ready to take the trials."
"But it should be soon," Anakin added. "We've been training for almost ten years."
Sola looked at Anakin and Sarah, "What happens when you become Jedi Knights?"
"We will go where we are needed," Sarah said. "Once you become a Knight you may take a Padawan, or you can choose to work alone."
"The two of you seem close," Sola said, looking at Padme significantly.
"We're best friends," Anakin said. "We've been Padawans together all of these years."
After that, the conversation drifted into silence. Finally, Ruwee spoke, "Well, I do not think that I can express enough gratitude that we have Jedi protecting our daughter."
"Where are you going to go?" Jobal asked.
"We're going to the Lake Country," Padme told her mother. "We'll be safe there."
Padme's family all looked at her sadly. She spoke again, "Please! I'll be fine, I promise. Besides, I have two Jedi to protect me now."
Sarah looked at the chrono on the wall, "We probably should be leaving. The longer the Senator stays out in the open, the greater danger she is in."
"Sarah's right," Anakin said. "We need to leave soon. Thank you so much for your hospitality and the delicious meal."
Padme looked at her family for a moment, and she rose silently to pack a few more possessions.
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Obi-Wan walked back to the Temple in a bit of a daze. Dex had not been able to tell Obi-Wan much, just that it looked as though it was from somewhere in the Outer Rim. Obi-Wan sighed as he made his way slowly back up the steps of the Temple.
He was at a stalemate. He had no idea where to go, and he just wanted to get done with it so that his Padawans could return. He found himself wandering through the Temple Archives, hoping that perhaps the Force would lead him to something...anything.
He found himself drifting along, looking at the bronze busts of the Lost Twenty that lined the Archives. He stopped in front of the bust of Count Dooku. Obi-Wan stared thoughtfully at the sculpture for a long time. He had often asked Qui-Gon what it had been like to train with Dooku, one of the best swordsman in the Order, but Qui-Gon had never been too keen to talk about him.
Obi-Wan knew that it had hurt Qui-Gon deeply when Dooku had left the Order, but it did not make sense to Obi-Wan why his Master would never talk about him. Obi-Wan sighed. Everything that had happened lately was only confusing him more and more, and the answers only seemed farther away from him.
Obi-Wan left the Archives without any answers. He found himself out by the Lake, at the spot where he had often gone as a Padawan. He stared at the dart, trying to find some kind of an answer. He turned it over and over, not knowing what he was searching for, when he saw it.
On the underside of the dart, almost too small to see, was the smallest of markings. It looked as though it was a unique seal of some sort. He rushed back to the archives and sat at a information station. He searched through numerous records, when he saw it. It was a small little file, but it felt right.
Obi-Wan eagerly opened it up, and he saw that the marking was unique to a planet called Kamino, far in the Outer Rim. Obi-Wan immediately looked up the planet, but he found nothing in the Archive memory. That's impossible. If the file mentions the planet, it must exist. But there, on the map of the galaxy, there lay no mention of any planet called Kamino.
Obi-Wan held the dart in his hand. He had once again reached a dead end.
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A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get up, and I'm sorry that it was a little bit slow, but I've got a little bit of writer's block. I originally thought that I knew how I wanted the story to end, but now I'm not sure...? The problem is that I'm getting to the point where I need to decide so that I can figure out where I need to take it from here. I don't know...I'm sorry for rambling, but I hate this feeling of not knowing...in any case, more to come soon!