Chapter Eight
"Hey Skywhiner."
Anakin heard the insult right before his datareader was shoved onto the classroom floor.
"Oops. Sorry." The older padawan, Taldor, said with a cruel chuckle. "Didn't see ya' sittin' there runt."
Anakin glared at the older boy who sat on the row across from him.
"Say, waddya doin' in here anyway?" The other padawan continued. "Couldn't the Chosen One talk his Master into letting him skip out to spend time with his girlfriend?"
"Mind your own business, Nalta." Anakin murmured as he bent over and picked up his datapad.
"See?" Taldor elbowed another padawan seated next to him. "I told ya' she wasn't here to see him! She's a Queen. What would she want with a little slave runt like him?"
The air between the two rippled with Force energy as Anakin glared across at the older boy, causing all of the padawans in the room to turn their attention that direction.
Only when a small hand landed upon Anakin's arm did the Force tremors cease and everyone focused upon the Jedi Master teaching the course who had just entered the room.
The hand belonged to a female initiate a year younger than Anakin. Riven Suln. Her cropped black hair was a stark contrast to her pale skin, but the warmth of her brown eyes calmed the youth. "Don't listen to him, Anakin. He's only in here because he flunked this course last year. He's too stupid to know what he's talking about."
The boy grinned brightly at the girl's words, holding back a chuckle. He had never heard another female padawan say anything against Taldor. According to that particular padawan, they were all in love with him.
The halls of the Jedi Temple were brilliantly colored with rich golds and purples, but their beauty did not match the room Padmé now stood in. Even without a sensitivity to the Force, she knew this was a special place.
Everywhere she looked there was a fountain; each one a different size and creating a different sound: Gentle tinkling accompanied by larger ripples and splashes, along with a distant rumble of what she assumed was a much larger fountain further back, hidden behind shrubs and trees.
Between every one of the watery structures were plants of several varieties, all in full bloom. Meandering through the plants was a pebbled walkway and up ahead was even a bridge made of a dark wood. She would bet her throne that it creaked when walked upon.
The surroundings were perfectly serene and reminded her somewhat of her home. She was surprised that such a place existed within the Temple walls, especially a Temple on Coruscant. She started to ask Obi-Wan about the significance of the room when she spied a lone Jedi sitting in front of a particularly grand fountain, which seemed to be built into the stony wall. Its water dripped down over several mossy stones in its path before falling to a pool beneath filled with flat oval, multi-hued flowers. It was obvious he was in deep meditation and suddenly she understood. The Living Force must be strong here. It was where the Jedi, including Obi-Wan came to relax and commune with the Force.
She bit back her question to respect the silence and looked to Obi-Wan who smiled gently back in relief for her understanding as he held out his hand to her.
This was like a dream, Padmé thought and her fingers tingled as she clasped onto the warmth of his hand.
Together they walked amongst the musical aquatic displays and Padmé smiled broadly when she discovered the bridge indeed creaked.
Further back Obi-Wan led her until she realized the source of the rumbling sound. In front of her was a massive fountain, more like a waterfall actually. It was surrounded by trees and flowering vines, and displayed throughout it on several different levels were stone likenesses of fallen Jedi. On a plaque in front of the massive structure was inscribed: 'There is no death.'
Only then did Obi-Wan speak in hushed and reverent tones.
"I used to come here as an initiate with Bant."
"Bant?" Padmé asked out of curiosity. She had the sudden urge to know everything there was to know about this man.
"She's my best friend. Was my best friend." He corrected with a smile and a squeeze of her hand, which amazingly caused Padmé to blush like she was a teenager again and not the nearly twenty-year-old she actually was.
"We would come here together and swim in the base of this fountain. It's actually pretty deep. We'd dive to the bottom and try to see who could hold their breath the longest."
"Who won?"
"She did." Obi-Wan chuckled quietly at Padmé's disappointed countenance. "She's Mon Calamarian." He explained.
"Oh." Padmé joined his quiet laughter, now understanding the loss. The Mon Calamari were aquatic beings with the ability to stay submerged for extended periods of time.
The humorous moment, however, passed quickly as Padmé followed Obi-Wan's line of sight to the statue of Qui-Gon Jinn, shining bright and clean compared to the other replicas that had obviously been standing in the fountain for generations.
"Thank you." He said suddenly and quietly.
"I had to come." Padmé explained in a hushed voice, mistakenly misinterpreting his meaning.
"I'm glad you did, but that's not what I'm thanking you for."
Obi-Wan looked down from the monument and met her gaze. The sun shone through a skylight far above, filtering through the crossing vines and tree branches, reflecting off of the water and turning his eyes a most brilliant green. Padmé's breath caught in her throat, but when he took a step closer, she lost the ability to breathe entirely.
"Thank you for helping me through a most difficult time in my life. I don't think I could have made it through without you."
"You don't have to thank me, Obi-Wan." She responded after finding her voice. "That's what friends are for."
Immediately the young woman regretted her words, especially after noticing the crestfallen look upon his face.
"Is that what we are?" Obi-Wan asked, reaching out to grab a hold of Padmé's other hand and boldly stepped even closer to her.
"Of…of course." The young woman stammered, amazed at how parched her mouth suddenly was. "But," she hurried on, glancing up at soft lips just a hair's breadth away. "I was hoping we could be more. That's….that's why I came here."
Between the thundering of the fountain and the thundering of her heart in her ears, she wondered if he had heard her. But slowly from behind those soft lips was revealed a row of white teeth; a smile that not only caused Padmé's respirations to return, but to resume at quite a rapid pace.
"Good. That's what I wanted to hear." Obi-Wan responded with a grin that quickly turned mischievous. "Come on." He said, abruptly stepping away from her and pulling on her hand.
Stunned and slightly disappointed, Padmé followed. "Where are we going?"
"Swimming, of course."
"What?" She pulled against him as they neared the pebbled beach of the pristine green waters of the fountain pool.
"I want to see how long you can hold your breath."
"I don't think so." Padmé responded playfully twisting her arm out of his grasp, but Obi-Wan held firm, quickly grabbing onto both of her arms and pulling her up close.
"I forgot to mention," He said in a low voice against her ear. "That when Bant and I did this, we did it in the nude."
"Skinny dipping?" Padmé gulped, her mind filling with the erotic possibilities. "Well…on second thought," she teased. "No!"
Later, when she thought back on it, she couldn't quite remember what had happened, but somehow during their playful wrestling and laughter, they both ended up in the water. Fully dressed.
And neither could she remember the exact words that Master Yoda had said to them when he arrived to check on a complaint from a Jedi whose meditations had been disturbed by a 'frolicking knight and his giggling female guest.'
But she would never forget the laughter she had heard and the smile upon Obi-Wan's face. He had a beautiful smile, and she was determined to see it much more often from now on.