It was everything Obi-Wan could do to rise from bed the following morning. His knees ached from his extended meditation the night before, and frankly, all he wanted to do was sleep. He was too tired to even breathe, much less get ready for another Unity Day.
After a while, somehow, he was able to get out of bed, manage to dress himself and make his way to the parade platform. He trudged up the steps and stared blankly at Padmé and Boss Nass who were already waiting for him there.
"Good morning, Knight Kenobi. Or is it?" She noted with concern as she took in his weary appearance. "Did the celebration keep you up last night? I'm afraid you don't look well. I can send my personal physician to your quarters if you'd like."
Obi-Wan managed a slight smile at her polite offering. It was the most Padmé had spoken to him in days.
"I'm well enough. Thank you, your highness."
Such pleasantries. Such formalities. He was sick of them. He remembered a time when she had asked him to use her given name. A conversation that they had shared on the balcony outside of the main library. That seemed like a lifetime ago now, and he honestly couldn't remember how many days ago it was.
All he knew was that this constant daily struggle to win her affections was overwhelming and he didn't have the strength to fight any longer. He didn't even have the strength to feel any longer. Where there used to be heartache over the daily loss of any gain in his attempts to prove himself worthy of her friendship, he felt nothing. He was both physically and spiritually numb. Even the Force was muted and hesitant to his touch.
Obi-Wan robotically approached the platform and said something about being grateful for being there, but he had no idea of what he was saying, and he discovered he didn't really care. It didn't make a difference anyway.
Once again the treaty was signed and once again the young knight made his way back to the palace, under the watchful eyes of the queen and her handmaidens.
Sabé was the first to voice her opinion. "There's something wrong with that man."
"Maybe he's ill." Another handmaiden noted.
Padmé had to agree with Rabé. The young knight was ill, but she didn't believe it was a physical ailment that had stricken him. She recognized that haunted look in his eyes. Knight Kenobi was soul sick.
"Sabé, contact my personal physician and have him meet me in my chambers." She requested. Perhaps there was some way she could help him, but in the meantime she had the strongest urge to follow him. She suddenly had a bad feeling concerning the young man.
Captain Panaka escorted Padmé back into the palace, and after asking a few posted guards about the location of the Jedi Knight, they discovered him walking across the main hangar toward his ship.
"Hey!" The captain yelled out after the Jedi, who obviously either didn't hear him, or was choosing to ignore him. The knight immediately climbed aboard his Jedi fighter, proceeded to buckle himself in and begin the takeoff procedures.
Panaka rushed up to the fighter with Padmé following closely behind. "You can't leave, Knight Kenobi! There's a meteor shower entering our orbit."
"I know." Obi-Wan replied dejectedly as he continued to enter coordinates into the ship's nav computer.
"You'll never make it." Captain Panaka announced grimly, but Obi-Wan did not acknowledge the words as he checked the stability of his R4 droid and engaged the airlock seal of the cockpit, the overhead transparisteel door sliding to a close over his head.
"Obi-Wan." The queen declared boldly in desperation, noting the immediate halting of the cockpit enclosure and the blank expression on the young man's face as he turned to gaze at her. "Don't do this. Whatever's wrong can be fixed."
"No. It can't." A sad smile crossed the knight's face. "Just remember Padmé, that we were almost friends. Once."
The queen stared after the young man in confusion before thethrusters of the ship fired and she had no choice but to back away, pulled along by Captain Panaka until they were both out of danger. They were helpless to watch the young man maneuver the ship out of the hangar, and fly up into the atmosphere of Naboo.
Rushing into the flight control center, Panaka brought up the Naboo Monitoring System and watched as the tiny red blip that represented the knight's small fighter met with the large mass of green blips that indicated the meteor shower.
They both held their breath as they watched the ship progress into the most dense concentration of the storm, hoping that somehow the young man would make it through. But Padmé let out a gasp as the red blip suddenly disappeared and the monitor revealed nothing but shades of green.