Anakin secretly congratulated himself upon his prompt return to his quarters. He was home two hours before he had to be. After hanging up his cloak by the door and slipping off his boots, he walked slowly toward the common room, led by the glow of the datacom, in front of which sat his Master.
Obi-Wan was thoroughly engrossed in something he was reading and hadn't even noticed his arrival.
Quite unusual that. Usually his Master could tell as soon as Anakin stepped his toe through the door, especially if it was past curfew. He carefully tiptoed up behind his Master, a dubious grin spreading across his face. Rarely did he ever get this chance.
His hands came up in preparation to scare his Master and he was inches away from achieving his goal when Obi-Wan's voice filled the quiet room.
"Glad to see you made it home, Anakin. And you're early too."
Anakin stomped his socked foot. "I thought you didn't hear me. You seem so focused. What are you reading? Another one of your love letters from your Gamorrean girlfriend?"
Obi-Wan's eyebrow arched in his disapproval of the bad joke, choosing to ignore his padawan, until he realized that the young man was peering over his shoulder. His hands came defensively up to conceal the screen. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Just wondering what there is about this woman that you find so intriguing."
"Haven't you ever found a woman intriguing?" Obi-Wan asked, removing his hands as soon as his apprentice had moved away, seating himself upon the arm of the couch nearby.
"Nope. Not yet."
Obi-Wan shook his head ruefully. By the time he was Anakin's age, he had had at least two relationships, though they were mostly sexual. He went back to reading the letter on the screen.
"You should let me read one." His apprentice asked suddenly.
"Excuse me?"
"If I'm ever to understand the charmsof an intriguing woman such as the one you have obviously found, then you should let me read her letter. Then I'll know what to expect if I ever meet one myself."
The Jedi Master eyed his padawan skeptically and then glanced back to the letter. And then back to his apprentice.
"All right." He said, shocking his student, who smiled broadly and then bounded toward the datacom. Anakin began reading aloud while Obi-Wan sat back and listened.
"Even though we have both suffered in the past, you must remember that there is beauty in the broken."
Anakin paused, looking at his Master in confusion, and then read on.
"On a table in my home there are a collection of marble spheres. Each are unique in their own way with different color variations and patterns, but there is one whose beauty surpasses all the others. It is beautiful and it is broken."
Anakin noticeably gulped and read on, his eyes widening.
"On one side where the surface has a large piece missing, the color is more radiant and clear, its interior unmarred by time and harsh realities. Because it is broken, its inner beauty is exposed for all to see…"
To Obi-Wan's surprise, his apprentice stood up suddenly. "What's the matter, padawan?"
"I…uh….I left something in the training salle." Anakin stammered out, jogging across the room to put his boots back on. "I'll be right back."
Obi-Wan watched in confusion as his apprentice grabbed his cloak and left the room without any further explanation.
Anakin ran to his speeder and quickly headed for the senatorial apartment of Padmé Amidala. If his suspicions were correct, then things weren't so perfect after all.
In fact, things were bad. Very, very bad.