Mel found the dinner itself rather unremarkable, but that had practically become the routine. The food itself was good, mostly unfamiliar fruits and fish, and the native officials were almost boringly polite. Later on she'd regret the thought, but for now it left her with a wandering mind.

Obi-wan did not seem any more amused than she did. He seemed vaguely tense, uncommonly serious and not particularly interested in anything that was going on. He didn't have a reason for it, he was just uncomfortable. It probably had something to with the disaster last time he'd been on an Alderraan, or perhaps it was only him. Either way, he was waiting for something to happen, and hoped he'd be disappointed. But he was trying to hide all this entirely pointless brooding, if only for his padawan's sake. She seemed fairly happy, and there was no need to drag her down.

The drinks were good enough, and he passed her another one as they stood off to the sidelines, wallflowers by choice. "What are we doing here, exactly?" Mel inquired, taking the glass, looking somewhat puzzled.

"Trying to impress them with how much we value their cooperation, as well as giving them a sense as to whom they'll be dealing with if they try to resist." He replied, watching the rather colorful floor as dresses whirled round and round like so many paper flowers. "All this 'gesture of goodwill' is bull."

"Ah." She understood, or at least she understood as much as she had been told. Obviously, she also understood that there was plenty she wasn't being told, and probably never would be. It would be difficult for anyone with a modicum of intelligence to realize this, she thought, though it could simply have been her being cynical. It was trait she'd been affecting more and more often lately, and probably a symptom of talking with Obi-wan for too-long periods of time.

They stood there in their customary, comradely silence, not needing anything to talk about. He broke the silence first, as his gaze caught on something like silk on a splinter. "Would you look at that." His tone was as impartial as he could muster, though there was a hint (apparent only to the skilled listener) of a sort of dark amusement.

"Oh!" Mel sounded more surprised than anything, and more than a little uncertain. "Should we do anything? Tell someone?" Not just any 'someone'…

"I think it might be wise to point that out. But its up to you." He replied evenly, leaving the burden to his student. "She'd never believe me anyway." It was sadly true.

Mel sighed heavily, biting her lower lip gently. Telling and being yelled at was better than being yelled at for not telling, she figured, and in the end, whatever happened really wasn't her fault…. Or so she liked to think.

"Hey, Katie," Mel commented lightly, wandering over to where her friend was leaning against a dessert table alone. Her tone was deceptively light, as they'd barely spoken to each other much over the last few days.

"Yes?" Katie asked, looking mildly interested. Whatever Mel had to say had to be more interesting than watching people she didn't know dance dances she didn't understand to music she didn't like. Unfortunately, she was right on this account, right in a big way.

"Where's… Vader? I mean, you two split off… Just…" Mel sighed in frustration. "You just might want to find him, all right?" Before Katie could ask any potentially awkward questions, Mel slunk off.

And Katie was mighty confused. She and Anakin had gone separate ways, yes, but that had been fine with her. Pretending impartial conversation was just too hard to really be worth it, in her opinion. But, for better or worse, she trusted Mel.

Looking around her, she found something to her far left that stuck her feet to the floor, much the how his kisses did, though in an entirely different way.

It was Anakin all right, but he was- was dancing the right word? It seemed much to close, too intimate, to be just dancing- with some Other Woman, this whore, who was in some dress slit up to the hipbone!

Katie saw red, understanding for the first time the meaning of this idiom as the scarlet-wearing trollop ground against her man, heedless of any shred of decency. And it wasn't like he was trying to push her away either! He was enjoying it all right, Katie knew that heated, wanting stare as it had often been turned upon her, but could barely recognize it as it blazed across the face and neck of someone else…

Standing there struck dumb and giving the back of his head her very best Death Glare, Katie realized that she could have cheerfully killed them both. How dare he? Its not like he'd even waited for her to be out of the room before finding another… what if she hadn't noticed by the end of the night? Would she have walked in on them? It was a thought not worth contemplating.

The worst part was knowing that if she concentrated hard enough was angry enough, she could have hurt him from where she stood… But he finally noticed the eyes boring holes into the back of his head, and turned to her, before she had to go there.

It would have been almost comical to see the look of absolute surprise upon his face, as though he'd entirely forgotten that Katie even existed and therefore would not pick up on the two-timing.

Letting him feel the brunt of her damning stare, she gave a small, half-sob half-moan, before turning and nearly running for the door. She couldn't stay with him tonight, oh no, and Mel would be even worse… as now she had reason to gloat, didn't she? So Katie would be sleeping outside. It was certainly warm enough…

Grabbing the first cloak her hands came too (Obi-wan's, though she neither noticed nor cared) she dashed outside, ignoring his calls to stop as he came after her.

The sun had set and the sand was cool, and the ocean a magnificent cobalt. It would have been nearly romantic…

He did not bother trying to convince her he could explain, as he could not, pleading instead for her to at least talk to him. But she ignored him entirely, making her way further down the beach. Frowning at her retreating back, nearly annoyed with her, he called out a last time. "Stop, will you?"

She would have ignored him, reaching a small raised roll of sand, when the muscles in the back of her legs spasmed and froze. For a split second her anger was driven through with fear, as she realized he'd gone and used The Force on her. It only hurt his cause further, even as the stiffness dissolved from her limbs, as he caught up with her.

Facing him, wind in her hair and fire in her eyes, she ignored wetness threatening to spill down her cheeks, "Get away from me," she snapped, words like a slap in the face.

"I love you!" He protested, looking wounded, as though she was the irrational one. "Won't you listen to me?" He was also unused to dissent, least of all from her, and he didn't like it.

"Why should I?" she countered, voice quavering disgustingly.

"Because I love you," he repeated, catching her eyes forcibly and holding them. "I'm sorry, and I'd like to make it up…"

For a single wild, delirious moment, she found herself about to laugh. He got caught, and was now trying to worm his way back into her good graces (and hopefully her pants) with empty 'sorrys'. Well, weak as she may have been for ever loving him (and still doing so) in the first place, she wasn't weak enough to give in now. "Anakin, no. Give me some time to think about this." It was funny how odd those two words sounded in a sentence together…'Anakin' and 'no'.

Impulsively he leaned in and dragged her into a kiss, holding her in place until he was satisfied that the 'heat of his passion' may have softened her mood, disregarding of course, that is was his passions that had gotten him into this trouble in the first place.

It was probably the worst kiss she'd ever had to endure, horrible precisely because she had to endure it. He had her too close and too hard for her to break free, and she was afraid…she knew he was perfectly capable of forcing her into something like this, but she'd never imagined he would. It was rather horrifying to have actual physical proof of how little power she actually had over him…

He let go after what seemed like ages, and she took two hurried and belated steps out of his reach. "Anakin," she began again, "Give me a night alone. I need to think." She finished as adamantly as she could, given the circumstances.

Eyes far more hurt than they had right to be, he nodded at her, stepping back and away. "I'll see you in the morning, then." It was curt, and to the point.

She stood there, watching him, until she realized something. "Wait a moment!" She called, trying to stiff up her resolve not to just ask him to hold her so she could forget all this damned conflicting emotion.

He turned, hopeful, wondering if this had been some sort of head game. "Yes?" It was difficult, but not impossible, to keep this from his voice… but not from his eyes.

She unclasped the chain of the diamond, dropping it into his outstretched hand. "I wouldn't want to lose it." It came out with more finality than she had planned, which was painful.

His eyes dropped from hers, and he walked off to the palace tinged shades of moonstone in the half-light, refusing to look over his shoulder at her.

She watched him go, waiting until he had disappeared inside, before collapsing to the sand. Burying her face in her hands she cried in small, gasping sobs, pent up emotions of all kinds escaping in one flood-like torrent.

That was how she slept as well, curled on her side in the cloak, cheeks still wet. The moon had slipped above the silky waves by now, to shine on her, but her eyes had closed unheeding.

- - -

As much as she may have suspected differently, Anakin slept alone that night as well. He'd not returned to the ballroom, preferring to keep his misery and failure to himself, knowing all too well that Obi-wan knew exactly what was going on.

As careless as he may have been that evening, too sure of himself, his padawan and having had too much to drink, he was not so careless as to not post a guard outside the doorway, watching as she slept there alone on the beach. The Resistance was too active here to get complacent.

He would get little sleep as it were, brooding, and he did not need to add further worry.

- - -

When Katie snapped awake sometime in the wee hours of the morning, it was not due to sunlight, birds or a desire to actually be awake, so much as that sixth sense The Force allowed her. She lay there, barley breathing and eyes closed, feeling the presence of some six people close in around her… Tensing and taking a deep breath, she waited for it.

She was not disappointed, as rough hands grabbed her and someone thrust a rag into her face. Knowing fully well what that, and the probability of chloroform, meant, she kept from any physical struggles, and instead used her energy to begin choking (or crushing, her aim was off) the nearest pair of abductors. She missed the rag-holder, and the others were obviously experienced, as the two that dropped did not make any difference.

Shit, she thought rather disjointedly, running out of air. Bet he'll be sorry now, being the last coherent thing on her mind as she lost the fight to hold her breath, breathed in, and fell into the storied blackness.