Padmé stormed her way out of Mos Espa, her embarrassment and anger with herself clouding her common sense and good judgment. Mos Espa was a dangerous place during the daytime, but especially so at night. The gambling halls and bars were teeming with beings of a variety of species and questionable moralities.
But Padmé didn't care. She just simply had to get as far away from Qui-Gon as she could and get back to her ship to hopefully receive some sympathy and support from her friends.
Tears of frustration and shame clouded her vision as she stumbled behind a building and suddenly realized with a start that she was lost.
"Great. Just great!" She murmured, kicking her booted toe in the sand. "Could this night possibly get any worse?"
Just then, a figure moved in the shadows ahead and panic welled up inside her as she frantically looked about for an escape route. But the figure soon emerged into a beam of light cast from a tavern window, and Padmé immediately recognized the long braid, the spiked hair, and mischievous grin. Not really a grin at all, she decided. It was more like a smirk.
"Definitely worse." She muttered. Why hadn't Panaka come for her instead?
"Milady? Do you require some assistance?"
"No. I'm perfectly fine." Padmé stated coldly as she walked right past him, but then discovered she had no idea where she was going and reluctantly spun back around. "If you would be so kind as to point the way."
The young apprentice motioned in the direction he had come with another smirky grin, and Padmé followed his guidance at a fast pace. She glanced back at Obi-Wan occasionally just to ensure that he was following her, although he kept himself quite a distance behind. Following a quick glance, Padmé turned back around and ran directly into a very large and very angry-appearing human male, who reeked of smoke and whiskey.
"Well, well! What do we have here?" The man grabbed Padmé and roughly pushed her up against the tavern wall.
"Let go of me! You stink!" She screamed in disgust as she curled her nose against the offensive odor of his breath. She added to her insult with a swift knee aimed at the man's groin, and began worrying when he merely started chuckling in response.
"You're a feisty one. I'll soon take the fight out of you though." Padmé winced as the powerful grip tightened, bruising the tender flesh of her upper arm, her mind desperately attempting to figure out some type of defensive move she could make. She relaxed slightly when she heard a voice coming from behind the huge bulk of the man holding her.
"Let the lady go."
The drunken space pilot peered out of the corner of one eye, still keeping his tight grip on her arm, pressing himself firmly against her body.
"Beat it runt. I found her first." The man scowled.
"Well, perhaps when you're finished with her, I could have her. Or maybe, we could both have her at the same time." Obi-Wan suggested.
The gruff pilot quieted and then began chuckling once more. "Now that's not a bad idea, runt!"
The brute held onto Padmé's arm as he drug her into the dark alley beside the tavern, with Obi-Wan following closely behind.
"I'll hold her while you get ready." The young Jedi said, but the man chuckled again, gripping her arm even tighter, causing Padmé to hiss from the pain.
"I don't think you can handle her, runt. She's a wild little thing."
"Well, you can't take her like that, and I want her from the front. I want to look at that pretty face. You can have the back. That is – if you can even get it up. You're probably too drunk."
Insulted, the large man shoved Padmé into Obi-Wan's arms and began tugging at his pants. "I'll show you too drunk!" He yelled right before collapsing toward the ground; the result of a Force-induced coma inflicted upon him through Obi-Wan's grip on his shoulder.
"And don't call me runt." Obi-Wan whispered as he supported the man's swaying body and gently lay him on the ground against the wall of the tavern. He then turned to Padmé and grasped her hand.
"Come on." He said as he led her out of the alley and down the dimly lit street.
Padmé didn't speak until they were near the outskirts just outside of town. She could see the moonlight glint off of her ship just ahead.
"It figures." She murmured as they walked.
"Pardon me?"
"It figures that you wouldn't even put up a good fight. Why didn't you whip out that lightsaber of yours and chop his arm off or something?"
Obi-Wan shook his head as he listened to her, but kept walking.
"Or at least punch his lights out."
"The man was intoxicated." Obi-Wan replied.
"Well, it wasn't much of a rescue."
The Jedi apprentice stopped suddenly and whirled to face Padmé, his face pinched in frustration. "If you hadn't run off and gotten yourself lost, you wouldn't have needed rescuing in the first place! What were you thinking?"
"I…" Padmé stammered, reminded once more of the horror of her embarrassing evening. "I wasn't thinking! All right? I just had to get away from him."
"Who? Qui-Gon?"
Padmé began walking toward the ship at an increased pace, but Obi-Wan reached out and grabbed ahold of her arm, causing Padmé to wince once more in pain.
"I'm sorry." Obi-Wan immediately withdrew his hand and then gently pushed up the sleeve of the gray tunic she wore in order to examine the quickly-developing bruise, but the Tatooine moon did not offer adequate light.
"Let's get on board so I can help you with that."
Together, they entered the ship and immediately Obi-Wan contacted Captain Panaka and then his Master to ensure them both of their safe arrival. He then motioned for Padmé to sit.
"That's okay. I'd really rather just go to bed."
"I insist, Mi'lady."
Obi-Wan waited as Padmé hesitated and then sat down. He then gingerly moved the sleeve up again on her arm and applied his hands to the bruises. Padmé felt a slight tingling beneath her skin.
"I chose not to use violence against your attacker because for one, the Jedi believe that all conflicts should be resolved peacefully if at all possible, and also because we need to keep our Jedi identity secret while we're here. We don't want to draw any unnecessary attention."
Padmé sat still and listened to the young man's explanation and realized that he was right. And she had been so very wrong. She must seem like a total idiot to him. A stubborn, spoiled, complete idiot.
Once again she wished she could just disappear to her own quarters, but Obi-Wan's hands were soothing away her stresswith their gentle movements up and down her arm, and she noticed that the pain as well was nearly gone. He glanced up at her finally and for the first time, Padmé realized that his eyes were the most wonderful shade of blue. Actually more gray than blue, like a stormy sky over the Theed Falls. Her fascination of their color was broken as Obi-Wan began speaking once more.
"I'm sorry for losing my temper earlier. I don't know why you were wandering Mos Espa alone, but you must have had a good reason."
"Yes, I did." Padmé lamely replied, but was not willing or wanting to go into any details. She would prefer just to forget the whole thing.
She lowered her gaze and didn't see the look of disappointment on the young apprentice's face.
The sleeve of her tunic was slowly and carefully smoothed back down.
"There. It should be completely healed by morning." Obi-Wan stated quietly.
Padmé rose and took several steps toward her quarters, but stopped and turned slowly, meeting his intense blue-gray gaze.
"Thank you…for rescuing me."
She received a smile before turning again to move down the hall, now slightly confused over the events of the evening.
She was not aware of the set of eyes that followed her until she disappeared through the doorway.