I started this last year and it's FINALLY done. It's actually weird to have this finished. But anyway, this is 10,000 words of sheer fluff and Christmas cheer. Just all the incredible family feels you've been dreaming of.

Padmé's apartment was usually spacious and tastefully, if sparsely, decorated. It had always felt a little standard. Ahsoka had been there a few times, one of them an incident she would never mention to her master, and it had always looked the same.

Padmé's house was a different story.

The Naberrie family home was welcoming and friendly as soon as she stepped out of the ship. The house had an enclosed landing bay, meaning none of them had to step out into the snowstorm outside.

Ahsoka ran to the window, pressing her nose up against it as she stared up, enchanted, at the sky. Barriss was right next to her.

"Wow," both of them whispered at the same time.

Behind them, Padmè laughed. "Have they never seen snow before?"

"Apparently not." Anakin chuckled. "Ahsoka, Barriss, unglue yourselves from the window. You'll have plenty of time to see snow while we're here."

Ahsoka grumbled, but she followed her master. Barriss looked disappointed, but she walked with them, loosely taking Ahsoka's hand.

"You good?"

"Yeah. Just a little nervous. New situation and all."

"Okay. Let me know if you need out."

Barriss gave her a small smile that turned immediately to wonder as she looked up. "Whoa."

They were now in the enclosed walkway between the landing pad and the main house. It was all glass, meaning they could see the snow piled up on top of it. Both girls slowed to a stop, staring with open mouth at the snow.

Padmé looked back and chuckled. "Aww."

The sound of a camera shutter clicking startled Ahsoka out of her reverie. "Did you just take a picture of us?"

Anakin shrugged. "Honestly, it was too cute not to."

Anakin pulled Ahsoka back from the door just as she was about to open it. "Snips, if you go outside like that, you're going to freeze."

"What are you talking about? I don't freeze."

"If you're going outside in the snow, you need to put a few more layers on."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do." He threw a coat at her.

Ahsoka fumbled to catch it. "Come on Barriss, back me up here."

Barriss smiled, tugging on a pair of gloves. "He's right. But if you want to go out into the thick of a Naboo snowstorm in a sleeveless, backless tunic, you are welcome to try."

Ahsoka grinned. "I think I will."

"Ah ah ah, no you won't." Padmé took the coat and wrapped it around Ahsoka's shoulders. "You are not going outside in anything less than a parka, scarf, gloves, and boots. Snow boots. You're welcome to try the whole 'Togruta-don't wear-shoes-or-socks' thing, but frostbite does not care about your cultural traditions."

Ahsoka stuck her tongue out, but she put the coat on.

"You'll want to change your pants. They're cute, but your legs will freeze." Barriss pointed to the cutouts on each side of her leggings.

Padmé frowned. "I think my parents still have Sola's and my old snowsuits. They should fit you guys." She leaned into the open closet of winter stuff and pulled out a snowsuit in a matched dark purple to the coat Ahsoka was wearing. "Oh hey, we had matching sets! I forgot about that. Here's Sola's, let's see if I can find mine." She handed it to Ahsoka and went back to digging. "Try it on and see if it fits."

Ahsoka held it up, confused, glancing at Anakin for help.

He chuckled. "Take your coat and boots off first. It's like a pair of overalls."

"Oh good. This thing is going to make me spontaneously combust." She unzipped the coat and pulled it off. "This had better be worth it."

Barriss sighed and pointed to the thermometer on the wall next to the door. "Ahsoka, it is 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside. You complain that you are cold at 68 degrees. If you don't bundle up, you won't last a second outside."

"Hey, we do still have it!" Padmé pulled a matching blue-green coat and snowsuit set out of the closet. "Honestly, assigning Ani a Togruta padawan was a minor stroke of genius. That way he can crank the heat up to 90-something in the middle of summer and she won't complain about it being too hot."

Ahsoka plopped down on the ground and pulled her boots off. "Sometimes we go up to 100. But that's mostly just to keep other people out. It doesn't work on Master Ti though. What we fight about is the humidity."

Barriss accepted the snowsuit and coat from Padmé. "How have you not died of heatstroke by now?"

"How have you not died of hypothermia? You guys keep your rooms at like 50 degrees, which is absolutely freezing." Ahsoka looked down and gave the snowsuit a halfhearted tug. "Okay, this does not fit me."

"What's wrong?" Padmé looked over.

"My butt's too big."

Barriss snorted, covering her mouth in a vain attempt to smother her snickering. Anakin laughed and Ahsoka gave him a displeased look.

Padmé chuckled. "Alright, take that one off. My old one should fit you then." She dug in the closet and handed Ahsoka a different snowsuit. "Anakin, stop laughing."

He didn't try to dodge the playful swat at his backside. "Not sorry."

Padmé rolled her eyes and handed the purple set to Barriss. "I think these should fit you. You can use the bathroom just down the hall to change if you want to."

Ahsoka plopped back down on the floor and wriggled into the other snowsuit. "Okay, this one's a lot better." She grabbed the snow boots and pulled them on. "What's this drawstring for?"

Anakin pulled on pair of snow pants. "Socks first, Ahsoka. That's to stop snow from getting in your boots. Honestly, snow might be worse than sand when it gets in your clothes. Especially boots."

She wrinkled her nose. "But I don't have socks, Skyguy."

Padmé smirked, tossing her a pair from the basket in the closet. "But I do. You're wearing socks, kiddo."

Ahsoka sighed, taking the boots off and pulling on the thick wool socks. She paused when she felt Barriss's Force signature lightly poke hers in a soft inquiry for help. "Be right back." Leaving the boots on the floor, she jumped up and hurried to the bathroom, her snowsuit rustling against itself. She wasn't really paying attention, so the suit's bulky awkwardness almost made her run into the wall.

Stumbling to a stop in front of the bathroom door, she knocked lightly. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah. Door's unlocked."

Ahsoka slipped in and closed the door behind her. "What's up?"

"It's my hair." Barriss had taken off the majority of her flowing robes, which meant her head covering that kept her thick, waist-length black curls in place. "I'm not sure what to do with it." She gestured to the hood of the coat. "It's not big enough for both my headdress and hair."

"You could braid it back and wrap it in a bun. That should keep it contained, and then you can put the first layer of your headdress over that. I think that'll work."

"That should be okay. As long as all of it is covered."

"Is it okay if I braid your hair for you?"

"Yeah, it's okay."

Ahsoka made quick work of two Dutch braids going to the back of Barriss' head and wrapping the rest of her hair into as firm a bun as she could manage. Barriss pinned it into place, securing every stray hair she could find. She picked up the black cap-like hair cover and pulled it over her hair, tucking in anything poking out.

"Is everything covered?"

"Yep, you're good."

"Thanks." Barriss picked up her neatly-folded robes and the coat. "I'm going to run up and put my stuff away. You finished getting ready and I'll be down in a minute."

"Okay." Ahsoka went back to the living room, this time avoiding any incident with the walls. She flopped down and started tugging on a pair of snow boots. They were heavier than she was used to.

As soon as she stood up, Anakin handed her a scarf.

"What do I do with this?"

"You put it around your neck." He demonstrated on himself, then held the scarf out to her again.

"Why?"

"So your neck is warm."

"But doesn't the coat have a hood?"

"It doesn't keep the front of your neck warm."

"But what if someone tries to strangle me?"

"Nobody's going to strangle you," Padmé said, somehow dismissive and soothing at the same time. "And it'll be under the coat." She took the scarf and wrapped it loosely around Ahsoka's neck and lekku. "There, is that okay?"

She grumbled, reaching up to fidget with it. "It's too hot."

"Okay, good, that's the point."

It took some effort to fit her lekku into the hood of her coat. She complained that it, too, was uncomfortable and made her neck and face too hot, but Padmé and Anakin assured her she would cool down outside.

Padmé looked around at Anakin, Barriss, and Ahsoka. "Okay, everybody ready?"

"Yep."

"Yes."

"Uh…" Ahsoka was fiddling with her usual gloves, trying to pull them on under her coat.

"No, you are not wearing those. Here." Padmé gave her a pair of winter gloves and took the other ones.

Ahsoka frowned at the gloves. "They're so…thick."

"Yes, but they'll keep your hands warm. Fingers included."

Ahsoka made a chirpy groan, tugging them on. Barriss smacked her on the shoulder, though it didn't really do much between the thick gloves and the thick parka. "Be nice, 'Soka."

Ahsoka smacked her back and it had about the same effect. They both grinned and Anakin had to step in and separate them before they started really hitting each other.

"No getting in fights. You guys know the rules."

"Fine." Ahsoka pouted. "Can we go outside now? I feel like I'm going to explode."

"I guarantee, all that built up body heat will dissipate quickly." Padmé zipped up her own coat. "Seventeen degrees is way colder than you'd think. Even if you're already cold-inclined."

"I thought Naboo was a warm planet."

"It is, in the summer." Anakin fastened up his boots. "In the winter it goes down below freezing mid-November and stays there for three months. Just like in the summer where it goes up about ninety and stays there for three months. I promise, if you went out there in your usual clothes, we'd have an Ahsoka statue in probably a few minutes. But you would be back inside faster than is humanly possible. If you just wait a few more seconds, we'll go outside."

Ahsoka bounced on her toes, flapping her sleeves rapidly. "Well right now you're going to have an Ahsoka puddle."

"Stop moving, then. Just wait a few more seconds."

Padmé looked herself up and down, making sure her coat and snow pants had everything well-insulated. "Alright, time to go outside."

"Finally!" Ahsoka rushed for the door again, though she had a hard time getting a grip on the handle through the gloves.

Barriss rolled her eyes. "Be patient, dear."

"But I've been patient!"

Barriss gave her a look and opened the door a few inches with little effort.

Ahsoka stuck her tongue out.

"Enough with this, let's go outside before Ahsoka explodes." Padmé opened the door all the way and shepherded them outside.

"FINALLY, we get to go play in the snow- oh dear GOD in heaven, that is FREEZING!" Ahsoka yelped as the biting wind blasted her in the face. "Okay I admit it you were right!"

Barriss laughed. "I told you so!"

"Laugh it up aaaaall you want." Ahsoka turned to look at Padmé as she struggled to pull the door closed against the wind. "What are we gonna do first?"

Anakin had to help her get it closed. "Well, first of all we'll need a path back to the house for when we're done and we don't want to tramp through all the snow to get back. So grab a snow shovel and we're just going to clear off the walkway."

Ahsoka grabbed one from where they sat against the railing and grinned. "Okay!"

Anakin raised an eyebrow at both girls' enthusiasm for a chore that no one with experience with snow would be excited for. "Are you taking advantage of them to do a chore you really don't want to do?"

"Hey, it's a negotiation skill. They will do it without complaining before the snow forms an icy layer on the concrete later tonight and my parents won't have to bug everyone else to get it done. Besides, both of us are going to help them. Because while I certainly trust them to get it done, I don't trust them to get it done peacefully."

He chuckled, picking up a snow shovel of his own. "You are right about that."

They were being fairly neutral as they started shoveling, concentrating on their tasks. That ended quickly when Barriss missed the side of the walk and Ahsoka got a faceful of snow. She yelped and Barriss cringed.

"Sorry!"

Ahsoka glared at her.

The returned snow dump on Barriss's back was definitely not on purpose.

Neither was the carefully-placed loosely-packed ball of snow that managed to get Ahsoka right in the lek, making her squeal and let loose a string of words in every non-Basic language she knew that had even Anakin raising his eyebrows.

They gave up the pretense after that. Padmé vetoed actual sparring with the shovels, but let them pelt each other with snow to their heart's content. Anakin was happy to watch while he and Padmé continued actually making progress, but he had to step in after the snow war escalated to throwing walls of snow at each other with the Force.

Both of them had flushed faces and were breathing hard by the time Padmé called a tie and led them to a small shed.

"What are we doing now?" Ahsoka tucked her scarf as tight as she could around her lekku, now very glad she had it.

"Well, the storm is letting up and we have a perfect sledding hill behind our house. Have you girls ever been sledding before?"

They shook their heads.

"Alright. We're going to go sledding. My nieces will be here soon and they'll want to build snowmen like they do every year. You guys can stay out and do that with them later or you're welcome to build snowmen now."

"What's a snowman?" Barriss's breath made little clouds in the freezing air.

Padmé gave them a look of exaggerated shock. "Well, this simply will not do. We're building snowmen and then we'll go sledding until you guys get cold and want to go inside."

Anakin picked up some snow and packed it into a ball. "Start with this."

Ahsoka and Barriss looked at him, then knelt down and made snowballs of their own.

"Okay, now you just kind of…" Anakin rolled his snowball around. It picked up snow pretty quickly, and soon it was almost a foot in diameter. "Make it…" he grunted, "a good size… for the base."

Ahsoka and Barriss were having a blast. Padmé had decided to go inside after she got snow inside her jacket. Right now she was sitting on the back porch with a homemade mocha, sipping the hot drink while she watched Ani, Ahsoka, and Barriss coast down the large sledding hill behind the mansion. Both were laughing and Ahsoka whooped as they picked up speed.

But unfortunately the sled caught on something under the snow and flipped, dumping both girls into a heap of powdery snow.

Ahsoka squealed, pulling herself out of the snow and quickly wiping it away from her face and lekku. She yanked the sopping wet scarf off, trying to rub heat back into the sensitive skin.

Barriss didn't fare much better. Her face was flushed dark green and she was starting to shiver, arms wrapped around herself to hold in what body heat she had left.

Anakin's sled slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill and he jumped off. "Alright, I think we're done for now. Let's get you guys inside and warmed up."

There was already a pot of hot cocoa waiting on the stove, keeping warm over low heat. Padmé whisked it off the burner and poured three cups, setting out marshmallows and peppermint candy spoons. Anakin hurried the girls upstairs, shivering himself.

Ahsoka was glad to be back inside the warm house, but she was still freezing cold. Her right lek was starting to go numb and the left wasn't much better. Anakin had to help her get out of her coat and snowpants, her stiff fingers unable to grasp the zipper pull. Out of the wet clothes was much better, but her lekku were still freezing.

A warm blanket wrapped around her head and neck from behind and a purr of delight rose in her throat. "Thank you so much."

"Of course dear."

She pulled the blanket tighter around her and turned to see Padmé's mother. "Oh hi, Mrs. Naberrie."

"Oh call me Jobal, dear." She wrapped another blanket around Barriss's shoulders, equally warm if the soft sigh was anything to go by. "Padmé has hot cocoa downstairs for all of you. Go curl up by the fireplace and get warmed up."

Ahsoka nodded, tucking the warm blanket under her lekku. Barriss pulled the blanket around her tightly, leaning her head on Ahsoka's shoulder as they walked downstairs.

Padmé was waiting on the couch, three cups of cocoa on the coffee table along with marshmallows and-"What are those?"

Padmé grinned. "You know candy canes, right?"

"Yeah." Ahsoka curled up on the couch. Barriss curled up next to her.

"It's the same stuff as candy canes are made of, but in the shape of a spoon. If you put it in your hot cocoa, it'll melt and make it taste like peppermint."

"Ooh, yum. I wish I could have it, but peppermint gives me hives." She gave Barriss a confused look. "You're really cuddly today, is something wrong?"

"No. I'm cold, you're hot."

"Well thanks for the compliment, but-"

"Ahsoka!"

"I'm sorry, that was a bad joke." She made a show of pouting and hanging her head.

Barriss rolled her eyes.

Ahsoka pushed the blanket above her shoulders and wrapped an arm around Barriss. She sighed in relief, snuggling closer.

Padmé handed each of them a mug. "Marshmallows?"

"Ooh, yes please." Barriss smiled, leaning forward to grab as many marshmallows as could fit in her hand and stuffing them in her cup.

Ahsoka shook her head. "They give me a stomachache. I can't have a lot of plant-based foods. I can do chocolate though."

Anakin sat down next to Padmé with his own cup, draping an arm over her shoulders. "What do you two want to do after you warm up?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "I dunno. I already did what I can think of."

"How about we make cookies?" Padmé smiled.

Padmé raised an eyebrow when she saw Barriss very carefully standing on her tiptoes holding a single chocolate chip. She went to ask what she was doing, but Barriss quickly held a finger to her lips and shook her head. Padmé wrinkled her nose in confusion, but went back to scooping cookies. When she turned around again to put the filled sheet in the oven, she saw two or three chocolate chips stuck to Ahsoka's lekku. As she watched, Barriss picked up another and pressed it against Ahsoka's right montral for a few seconds. When she let go, it stuck there.

Lifting a hot tray of cookies out of the oven, Padmé rolled her eyes. She'd known Togruta had a higher body temperature than most life-forms, but high enough to melt chocolate on contact was new. And of course Barriss would use this information to stick chocolate chips all over Ahsoka's head. Ahsoka did not appear to have noticed, completely caught up in making sure she got exactly the right measurements for the rollout sugar cookies she was making.

Barriss giggled, grabbing two white chocolate chips from the bag. When Ahsoka bent down to grab a mixing bowl from the cabinet, Barriss carefully pressed one to the tips of each of her montrals. She let go as Ahsoka stood up again and both stuck. Padmé sighed. She remembered her teenage years well and knew she had been just as ridiculous, but she still shook her head. It seemed even Jedi were not exempt from teenage silliness.

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow at her friend. "What's so funny?"

Barriss fought back a smile, unsuccessfully. "Nothing."

"Liar." Ahsoka bent over to study the recipe. "One cup of butter means two sticks, right?"

"Yes." Padmé pulled two sticks out of the fridge and set them down next to her. "It says softened butter, so just hold them for about fifteen seconds. With your high body temperature, that should soften them enough."

"Okay. Where's the one cup measurement thingy?"

Barriss dumped the chocolate chips out of it and handed it over. "I have it."

"Why did you put chocolate chips in it? You could've just left them in the bag."

Padmé smiled, listening to their nonsensical conversation as she transferred the batch of chocolate chip cookies to a cooling rack.

Ahsoka began to pick up on what Barriss was doing when she bent down to pull a sheet of cookies out of the oven and one of the chocolate chips melted too much in the heat from the oven and fell off, landing on her hand. She looked confused, nose wrinkling as she set the tray down on the stove. "Is it raining chocolate chips or something?"

"No…" Barriss looked at the ceiling, tugging at the edge of her headdress.

Padmé fought back a snort of laughter when she saw the back of Ahsoka's head. It was covered in chocolate chips, including some that spelled out 'Kick Me' in lopsided letters. She bit down hard on her lip, checking her cheat sheet for food colouring proportions.

"Then how did a chocolate chip get on my hand?"

"I don't know. And close the oven, you're letting the heat out." Barriss nudged her out of the way and closed the oven.

Ahsoka twitched at the odd sensation as a single chip melted too much and slid down her lek. She cringed away from it, making strange clicking sounds in the back of her throat. Barriss looked confused and also fighting laughter. Unable to stand it for any longer, Ahsoka slapped it away. She held her hand in front of her face, squinting in surprise, and touched the tip of her tongue to it.

"Barriss?"

Try as she might, she couldn't hold back a mischievous grin. "Yes?"

"Why is there chocolate on my head?"

Barriss pressed a hand over her mouth to try to muffle the giggles.

Calmly, Ahsoka wiped some more chocolate off her head and licked her finger. "You have five seconds."

Still giggling, Barriss spun and dashed out of the room.

There was a pause. Padmé bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

"Five!" Ahsoka yelled, bolting out after Barriss.

Anakin stepped into the kitchen several minutes later, looking confused. "Do you know why Ahsoka is chasing Barriss around the house? And why her head is covered in chocolate chips?"

Padmé sighed, smacking his hand away from the already-finished cookies. "Togruta's skin is hot enough to melt chocolate on contact. Barriss discovered this. Ahsoka is not happy."

"Well they'll be busy for a while." He reached for a cookie again, and Padmé smacked his hand again, this time with a wooden spoon. "Ow," he whined, even though they both knew the prosthetic didn't really hurt. "Can't I have one?"

"No."

"Not even one?"

"No. These cookies are for presents and for my sister and brother-in-law to give their friends. We can have the leftovers later."

"Could we…share one?" He raised an eyebrow, giving her a look she recognized. "Come on, 'Mei, just one?"

Padmé took a deep breath and steeled herself. "No. Honestly, you act more like a child than your padawan." She turned back around and went back to moving cookies onto the rack.

His hands settled on her hips, sliding down to cup her butt, tone singsong. "I'll make it worth your while."

"Alright, out of the kitchen!" She pulled his hands off her hips and walked to the other counter. "You know the rules, Anakin Skywalker, no seduction in the kitchen!"

He laughed. "Alright, alright. I'll go find the padawans and see if I can get them to resolve the issue or at least call a truce long enough to divert their attention to something else."

"I still need to go shopping, so maybe I can take them with me. Sola will be here soon, so she and my mom can finish up the cookies with her girls while we're out."

"And abandon me alone with your family?" He made a dramatic show of gasping and acting like the very idea was enough to make him swoon. "Whatever shall I do?"

"You're a Jedi Knight. I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, I still have to get your present and I can't do that with you hanging over my shoulder."

He pouted. "Fine. But how am I supposed to explain why there are three Jedi staying at your house for no reason?"

"I wouldn't be worried." Sola was already convinced Anakin was her boyfriend and no amount of argument would sway her. Padmé had insisted for years that she and Ani were just colleagues, but no one in her family believed her after a few months.

Honestly, she should have guessed that neither Ahsoka nor Barriss knew much about Christmas. Both of them were staring with wide eyes at everything around them, the lights, the wreaths, the garlands. Naboo's traditions for everything could be over-the-top and it was probably a little overwhelming for someone who's Christmas experience entailed one or two small gifts and maybe a day or two off if you were lucky.

Padmé steered them into the mall entrance, checking her list of people she still had to get gifts for. It was short, but annoying. She never knew what to get for Anakin or Obi-Wan. Ahsoka was usually pretty easy, just ask Anakin, but this year even he was stumped. And now that Barriss had joined their mismatched family, Padmé wanted to get something for her. But she knew nothing about the girl, besides the fact that she was studious, Ahsoka's best friend, and devastatingly witty when given the chance.

That…didn't narrow it down much.

Ahsoka was bouncing on her toes, constantly repeating "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy," under her breath, just loud enough for Barriss and Padmé to hear.

"Why do you feel the need to do that?" Barriss raised an eyebrow, brushing the snow off her headdress.

"Bouncy, bouncy. Do what? Bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy."

"Narrate everything you do?"

"I don't do that."

"You're doing it right now."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"That's a droid."

"Shut up."

"Girls." Padmé gave them both a look.

"Sorry." They said in unison.

"Alright. I still need a gift for Anakin. Do you ladies have any suggestions?"

They shared a look and Padmé immediately regretted that question. They grinned, pointing to a store, and she sighed.

"Do you have any suggestions that are not lingerie?"

They shook their heads.

"I mean yes, but no. Yes, it would be a good gift, but nooo."

The girls just giggled.

Padmé sighed, steering them in a different direction. She did remember what it was like being a teenager and not yet having filters. But it was still a little inappropriate. Even if she was probably going to take their suggestion and stop by when they were distracted.

"Alright, who do you guys need to get gifts for?"

Ahsoka frowned. "Ummm, Barriss, Skyguy, you, Master Obi-Wan, probably Rex, Echo, Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, which means I'd have to get something for all the clones, Carter definitely, Caleb, oh Korkie, Satine, Cody, Master Luminara…"

Barriss cut her off. "Slow down, Ahsoka. Let's just pick at most ten people that you can name. Okay?"

"Uh, you, Anakin, Padmé, Obi-Wan, Rex, Carter, Caleb…Echo and Fives, that's nine…I'm not thinking of anyone else I'm super close with at the moment."

"That's more manageable. Barriss, what about you?" Padmé gave her a warm smile, checking the price on a miniature snow-globe. Obi-Wan liked to collect one from every planet he went to and he didn't have a Naboo one yet.

"Ahsoka and Master Luminara are really the only people I know well. I don't want to spend too much on a lot of people."

"Honey, today I'm buying. I make more money than both of you combined. You're not going to bust the bank on a single shopping trip." Padmé patted her shoulder. "What do you think your master would like?"

Barriss frowned. "I'm not sure."

"Well, if you don't make up your mind, pick a few stores or restaurants and grab some gift cards. That always works and that way, she can just get what she wants and you don't have to worry about it. Does she have any hobbies?"

"Calligraphy, mostly."

Padmé grinned. "Ooh, there's a really nice shop just down the way, it's called Inkblot, we can stop there after we're done here. Ahsoka, any ideas for people?"

"Uhhhhhh…I have no idea."

"How about we start with someone easy, like Carter?"

Ahsoka blushed, lekku flushing almost black. "Ummm…maybe."

Barriss poked her in the ribs. "We both know you guys are a thing."

"How?"

Padmé sighed and leaned over to whisper into her montral, "You forgot to take off your engagement ring."

Ahsoka jumped and looked down at her left hand. "Oops." She yanked it off her hand and stuffed it into her pocket. "I usually wear it on a chain, but it was uncomfortable with all the layers so I just wore it on my hand under the gloves. I must have forgotten about it."

"It's okay. We're not going to tell. So, any ideas for anyone?"

"Yes, but…" She glanced at Barriss.

"Alright. I'll give you both some credits and you run around and get some gifts for people. Do both of you have a watch?"

They nodded.

"Okay. Let's meet at the food court at…"—she checked the time—"1600. That gives you a little less than an hour to shop. Is that good?"

"Yup!" Ahsoka grinned. Barriss looked more uncomfortable. "Could I stay with you for the time being?"

"Of course." Padmé dug around in her purse and handed Ahsoka about three hundred credits. "That should be plenty. Let me know if you need more."

Ahsoka's eye markings rose practically off her face. "This is more money than I've ever held at one time. Are you sure?"

"Spend as much as you want. That's pocket change to me, promise. You just get your friends some nice gifts. Just don't go too crazy, we have to carry this back to the speeder, remember? And that's all the way in the parking lot."

Ahsoka was gone before she had finished talking.

"Well, she's gone. Where do you want to go first, Barriss?"

She looked around, biting her lip. "The calligraphy store you mentioned?"

"Okay. Let's go."

Barriss stuck close to her as they walked, clearly nervous.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You look really nervous."

"I just…don't do crowds well."

Padmé squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry. I got you."

The store was mostly empty and Barriss relaxed a little. She looked around and started in the direction of the quills.

"These are nice."

"We're in a really high-income area. You're going to find nicer stuff here than what would probably be within your budget on Coruscant. What are you looking for?"

Barriss sighed, looking at the shelves. "I don't know. She's got everything she needs and some of it is pretty nice. I don't want to get something she won't use." She glanced over at something in a display on the wall and gasped. "Ooh."

Padmé followed her gaze to an elaborate calligraphy set. It was one of the more expensive ones, hand-carved supposedly out of rare tropical woods with gold nubs, with crystals forming spiral designs across the handles. Each crystal sparkled across the light spectrum. She glanced at the price tag and winced. She could still easily afford it, it wouldn't take anything substantial out of her Christmas gift fund, but it was significantly overpriced. "You like that?"

"It's beautiful."

"You think she'd like that?"

"Yeah." Then Barriss saw the price and her face fell. "Oh, never mind."

"No no no," Padmé took her shoulder gently and steered her back to it. "Do you want to get it for her?"

"It's 1500 credits!"

"I know. If you want it, you can get it for her. Don't worry about the price. I mean for what it is, it is overpriced, but trust me, it isn't a problem."

"Well…it is really nice, and she'd probably love it, but…"

"But what?"

"It's a bit…fancy for her. She'd prefer something sleek and graceful."

"Okay." Padmé led her toward the checkout and smiled at the cashier. "Do you carry any other sets like the one on the wall over there? We're looking for something a bit more simple. More tasteful and polished."

"Ah, yes of course!" The woman smiled back. "What were you thinking of?"

She glanced at Barriss. "You know what you're looking for?"

"Um, high quality, polished wood handles, gold accents maybe, if you have it. Simple, but elegant."

"Ah, I see. We do have a collection in that style, but it doesn't come in a set like the one on display. You can purchase the entire collection if you like. If you do, you can have it wrapped in a gift box."

"Barriss, how's that sound?"

She sighed, chewing on one fingernail. "It sounds nice. I don't know though. That sounds expensive."

"Seriously. Don't worry. Do you want it or not?"

"Let me take a look and we'll see."

The set they were shown was beautiful. Each handle was sleek, with gold bands around each end. Some of the pens had engraving on the handle. These seemed like they would suit Luminara much better, from what Padmé knew about her. She could tell Barriss was tempted.

"Go ahead. She'll love it."

"I don't know. She doesn't like people spending a lot of money on her."

"So we won't get the whole collection. We'll get a few pieces that you think she'd like and do that. These two pens here are pretty."

"She'd really like those. But also there's the nib set. Oh, I don't know."

"We'll get both of them then."

Barriss was able to relax as they shopped, finding gifts for most of her friends. Padmé managed to sneak away from her long enough to find a beautiful embossed notebook with gorgeous stained patterns on the cover for her. Ahsoka had mentioned her best friend's hobby of collecting pictures from every place they visited, and that she had nearly filled her current notebook. This one had beautiful blank parchment pages with decoratively torn edges and a gold ribbon marker. Hopefully, she'd love it.

She still had nothing for Ahsoka.

Padmé sighed, shaking her head. How were you supposed to find a gift for someone who wasn't supposed to have material possessions? She was running out of options. The one she was looking at now, but wasn't hopeful about, was jewellry. Something small and tasteful. But Ahsoka didn't really wear jewellry, being in the field constantly. She sighed again and Barriss raised an eyebrow.

"What are you looking for?"

"I'm running out of ideas for what to get Ahsoka. She doesn't really wear jewellry, but I'm really stumped."

"A small choker necklace would be nice. She has that new battledress that has that weird thing on the neck, like there's supposed to be something there but there isn't. It would look good. Actually, you see that diamond one over there? I think she'd like that."

Padmé looked where she pointed, walking slowly to stand in front of that section of the display case. "Oh, I like that. That's really pretty. Oh, that's pricey for a simple choker-oh I bet the gem's real. That would explain the price."

Barriss winced. "I would hope it's real for that price."

"I think it is."

"Real beskar steel, ladies! Are you looking to buy?" The salesman wandered over when he saw them looking. "I promise you, it's worth every penny!"

"Oh it's beskar. Wow, no wonder. It's been polished really well. Is just the gem beskar or the chain too?"

"The plates of the chain are silver. The diamond is beskar. Looking for yourself, sister, niece?"

"Christmas present for a friend. Barriss, what do you think?"

She studied it with a critical eye, muttering in what Padmé thought was Mirialan. "I think she would really like it. I don't know about the silver, but beskar is really durable. I think as long as she took care of it it'd be fine."

"Alright. We'll take it then."

The salesman grinned. "Just the choker or are you looking for more?"

"Frankly, I don't think Obi-Wan or Anakin would appreciate jewelry. So just the choker."

"Alright."

She added the small bag to the larger one on her arm as she walked away. "Do you have any suggestions for Obi-Wan? I'm stumped this year."

"Beard care products." When Padmé snorted, she rolled her eyes. "Really! He's proud of his beard and tries to take good care of it, but being on the front lines doesn't give him a good chance to."

"I have no idea where to start!"

"They make kits meant as gifts. Just get one of those."

"That's actually a good idea. And I know better now than to ask about Anakin."

Barriss laughed. "We were messing with you. Something to do with robotics. I don't know if you could find something advanced enough for him to really get into here, but if they've got a tool kit or something?"

"Oh I know exactly what to get. There's a store down the way that has a complete set of fine-tuning tools for astromechs. He's always wanted it and never been able to get it because he's never on Naboo and when he is he's always too busy. Oh he'll love it."

Anakin's eyes went wide when he saw all three women's arms full of bags. "Is some of that for me?"

Padmé pulled the bags away from him when he tried to rifle through them. "You can wait two weeks, Anakin, just like everyone else. We're going to go upstairs and wrap presents. Don't you dare peek."

"Aww, not even a little hint?"

"Not even a teensy one."

"Please?"

"No. Now we're going upstairs to wrap presents before the rest of my family gets here. Please behave with my relatives. You can find out what's in these bags on Christmas just like everybody else."

He pouted.

They dumped the bags on the bed in Padmé's room. Barriss set aside the gifts she'd picked out for Padmé and Ahsoka and laid out everything else.

"Okay, sort out first what you got for the people in this room and we'll wrap everything else. Ahsoka, how did shopping go for you?"

She grinned, moving a few tissue-wrapped packages to one bag and setting it aside. "Great. I decided to get one gift for the whole 501st. It was the reason I ran out of money. The toy store had an entire laser tag game set. With vests and laser guns for two teams of twenty. It was super expensive but also awesome and they're going to love it. And a megaphone for Rex. Because why not."

"Where is it? We do not have enough bags to hold that much stuff." Padmé raised a bemused eyebrow.

"I ordered it. It's been gift-wrapped and sent to their barracks. You could write a little card to send with it and I told them to have fun. The sales people also wrote 'Do Not Open Until Christmas' on it in big letters. They're gonna have so much fun with it."

"That's awesome. So what my family does is they pick one wrapping paper for each person. That way it's easy to distinguish who it's for. This pink one here is mine. This red and green striped one is Anakin's. You guys can pick whatever you want for gifts you're sending to other people. If it's not going under my family's tree, it doesn't matter."

"Barriss."

She groaned, rolling over.

"Barriss wake up."

"Go away."

"Bee. It's Christmas."

"Wanna sleep."

"Come on, don't you wanna sneak downstairs and see what's in our stockings?"

"We have stockings?" She lifted her head off the pillow, staring at Ahsoka with bleary eyes.

"Yeah. Padmé's parents got some for us."

"What time is it?" She looked over at the clock and groaned. "0615, Ahsoka? Really?"

"What? It's Christmas!"

"The best present you can give me is sleep."

Ahsoka grumbled and went back to bed. Anakin dragged them out again at 0700 on the dot, since that was apparently the very earliest the Naberrie family got up on Christmas and he wasn't allowed downstairs until then. Barriss slept with her hair tucked into a satin cap, so at least she was fine modesty wise. She still had to lean on Ahsoka so she wouldn't tumble headfirst down the stairs.

Most everyone was in pajamas. Padmé somehow looked pristine, even though her hair was a mess and she still had the remnants of a face mask under her chin where it hadn't been washed off. Anakin managed to trip on his slippers on the way down the stairs and almost fell. Ahsoka wasn't much better.

Padmé gave her a sympathetic look. "Not a morning person?"

Barriss grumbled incoherently and plopped onto the couch.

"I'm not either. Go ahead and go grab your stocking though. We usually do stockings, then breakfast, then presents. We've got a smaller bunch this year, since Sola's family are doing Christmas day with her husband's family this year. But I still see a lot of presents with your name on them."

Barriss blinked, rubbing her eyes. She was going to look at the colorful boxes, but Ahsoka shoved something red into her face. She flinched hard.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, shouldn't shove things in your face, right, you hate that. Anyway here's your stocking." Ahsoka dropped it in her lap and sat down on her other side with another bright red sock. "Ooh, yay, no candy cane, thanks for remembering!"

"Oh yeah. We take your allergies seriously. I'm deathly allergic to citrus fruits, so my family is good at working around them. No peppermint for you." Padmé smiled and gave Anakin a peck on the cheek as he sat down next to her and handed her her stocking. "Let's see what I've got."

Barriss peeked into hers, not willing to dump the whole thing into her lap like Anakin had done. The top was full of two or three handfuls of buttermints, one of her favourite candies. She dug those out and kept going. Underneath them was a box that had some sort of foil wrapped ball inside the packaging. "What's this?"

Ahsoka pulled out a matching box. "I have no idea."

Padmé gasped. "Have you guys never had chocolate balls before?"

Anakin shook his head. "Jedi don't really do sweets. We make our own stuff, but nothing like that."

"Okay. These things are the best. Here, take it out of the box and I'll show you what to do with it." Padmé pulled out another box and took out the ball. "Give it a good smack on the coffee table a few times." She whacked it on the wood until there was a flat spot on one side. "And then open it up."

"Oh, it's so cute!" Ahsoka had just pressed hers between her palms and pulled open the foil wrapping. "Barriss look, it's little slices!"

Barriss smacked hers on the table a few times and opened it up. "Is this chocolate?"

"Yup. Chocolate balls are the best. And this is good Chandrillan chocolate. It doesn't get much better than this." Padmé already had a piece in her mouth. "Go ahead, try it!"

"Oh my gosh it's filled!" Ahsoka was trying to contain the fruity filling threatening to drip out of the half a piece still in her hand. "I was not expecting this!"

Barriss bit into one of her slices, being more careful to stop the filling from getting all over her hand. It tasted like jogan fruit. A little sweet, a little sour, a little tangy. Truely ripe jogans were an adult flavour, often with herby undertones. Underripe ones were sweet and generally preferred by children. Regardless, she hadn't had anything that tasted this good in a very long time.

"Uh oh, I think Barriss is melting," Ahsoka giggled.

"It's just so good! You know I came straight from a campaign to here right? I've been living on ration packs for two months. Chocolate and jogan tastes like heaven after that. What flavour did you get?"

"I don't know, but it's amazing."

Padmé smiled. "It's a fruit native to Shili. I'd never heard of it before, so I was curious enough to grab one for myself to try. Frankly, I understand why I've never heard of it. I looked it up later, and most species don't have the taste receptors you need for it. It was kind of bland and pulpy to me. But apparently Togruta love it."

"It's so good! What is this? I love it!"

"I believe it's called shilpuy. They grow in spiky bunches on the hikaway tree. You really like hikaway tea, don't you?"

Ahsoka, mouth full, nodded.

"The tea is made from the leaves and blossoms. This is the fruit."

"It's really, really good. Skyguy, we need to get this stuff. It's amazing."

"Hey, hand me a piece, I wanna try." Anakin reached across and Ahsoka handed him a slice. He took a bite and his nose scrunched up. "Uh, I don't want to diss it because clearly you love it, but let's just say you don't have to worry about me stealing it."

"Okay now I'm curious." Barriss wrapped hers back up and dropped it into her lap with the buttermints. "Let me try."

Ahsoka shrugged and handed her a piece. As soon as she bit into it, she regretted it. It tasted pretty much like she imagined grey sludge to taste. Chalky, bland, and a bit pulpy. Not terribly appetizing and she probably wouldn't have a second bite. "Yep. Don't worry about me stealing it. I'm sure it tastes great to you, but I'm going to blame my lack of the proper chemical receptors to be able to appreciate it. That is not for Mirialans."

Breakfast was warm and hearty and the re was lots of it. Padmé's parents had done their best to work around Barriss's allergies, which she greatly appreciated. It was hard to work around both meat and dairy allergies, especially if you also had to feed a Togruta. But both of them were fed and happy. Ahsoka was delighted to have thin strips of steak that had been seared on both sides but were still raw in the middle, absolute perfection according to her. Barriss just rolled her eyes fondly and returned to her own food. Some of the best pancakes she'd ever had, which Ahsoka was eyeing with some envy.

"You can't have them Ahsoka. You know that."

"Yeah, I know, but they look so good. And I love raspberries."

"It's not worth the stomachache. And you're not the only one with restricting allergies. At least you can have cheesecake."

Ahsoka sighed, conceding that point. "Okay. Are you done yet? I want to go open presents."

"Be patient, 'Soka."

"I've been patient for like a week! I wanna know what you got me!"

"Careful, Anakin might make you run laps if you're being too impatient."

"He's not that much of a hypocrite," Padmé commented dryly. "He's over there sorting out his presents into a pile so he can rip into them as soon as possible. Ahsoka, hold out for a few more minutes. We're almost done. You can go put your dishes in the sink and brush your teeth if you want."

"I guess."

Barriss considered finishing her food as slowly as she could just to be irritating, but she was curious too. She wasn't going to stuff her face at the speed of light like Ahsoka, but she wouldn't be obnoxious.

"Oh my gosh you're finally done. Come on come on come on!" Ahsoka grabbed her arm to drag her toward the tree and its pile of presents. Barriss twitched a little, but smiled and let Ahsoka pull her over. "Okay, how do we do this?"

Padmé laughed. "In my family, we take turns opening presents. Let's sort them out by person first."

"Mine are all over here." Anakin pointed to a stack of gifts in blue and red striped paper. "Ahsoka, your presents are in the candy cane paper and Barriss, yours have the wreaths on it."

With six people it didn't take long to sort the gifts. Barriss had a respectable stack in front of her, about the same size as everyone else's except for Anakin, whose pile was boosted by a large box at the bottom. He was eying it with anticipation. "I want to go first."

"Anakin, let one of our guests go first. It's the girls' first proper Christmas." Padmé's mother smiled at them. "Go on ladies, pick something to open."

Ahsoka grinned. "Barriss, which one is from you?"

"It's that one." She pointed to the flat package.

"Okay. I'm opening this one first." Ahsoka ripped the paper open. "Hey, it's a box!"

Barriss rolled her eyes and Anakin laughed. "Open the box, Ahsoka."

"You need a knife?" Anakin pulled out his pocketknife.

"Nah, I got it." She wedged a fang into the slit and used it to cut the tape. "What treasures do you hold, mysterious box?" She pulled open the box and squealed. "It's an Enigma!"

"Like you needed more excuses not to get your homework done."

"Shut up Anakin. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Ahsoka tackled-hugged her.

"There's more." Barriss handed her a second box.

"There's more?" Ahsoka ripped into it and squealed in excitement. "Oh my gosh, this is how you hook it up to the holovision so you can play with other people! And it's got controllers! I can play games with the clones. This is gonna be amazing!"

"I thought you'd love it. Which one of mine is from you?"

"It's this big one right here."

"Ooh, it's heavy." Barriss lifted it onto her lap. "Ooh, it's a book? No, more than one…" She pulled the rest of the paper off and gasped. "You didn't."

"I did."

"Oh my word." She ran her fingers over the gold embossed spines and letters. This had to be the world's greatest book series. It was a medical drama. but written by a retired surgeon so it didn't want to make her throw it across the room when the pediatric specialist started performing neurosurgery. "You have no idea how much I wanted these books."

"I think I do. You spend hours rambling about them and you pouted for a week when Master Nu told you you couldn't renew them indefinitely."

"How much was this? A boxed set of my favourite books that looks like it should be on a Senator's bookshelf. It's beautiful!" She carefully pulled the first one out of the box and flipped it open.

"Well she's dead to the world for the next hour." Anakin slid off the couch to dig the big box out from his pile. "I wanna know what this is."

"Alright, Ani, you can go next. That one's from me." Padmé rolled her eyes fondly.

"Sweet." He ripped into the wrapping paper, grinning like he was six again. "Oh my gosh, is this what I think it is?" He gasped. "It is! Oh man, I saw this in the window of a store when I was nine and I wanted it so bad and I've never had a chance to get it and never saw it anywhere else but there are so many upgrades for Artoo I wanted to do but I didn't have the tools for it! Okay, nobody feel bad, but this is the best gift I've ever gotten."

"That's a bold stance, seeing as you don't know what I got you yet." Ahsoka grinned.

"Which one's from you? I'll open it next."

"It's the weirdly shaped box. I had trouble wrapping it."

"Awesome. Who's next?"

"I guess I'll go." Padmé picked a box from the top of her pile. "This one's from Mom." She opened it very carefully, not tearing the wrapping paper. "Oh, it's a necklace! It's gorgeous, Mom, I love it."

She held up for everyone to see. It was a choker, simple compared to what she usually wore, but elegant and tasteful. Each oval amethyst was set in gold and surrounded by clear stones with three teardrop pendants dangling from the front. "Ani, can you help me put it on?"

"Sure." He scooped her hair to the side and pulled it gently to her throat. "Not too tight?"

"No, that's fine."

"Okay."

"How do I look?"

Barriss absentmindedly gave a thumbs up without looking up from her book.

"Bee, you haven't actually looked at it yet."

"Looked at what?" She glanced at Ahsoka, confused.

"Exactly." Everyone laughed. "Padmé's necklace."

"Oh! It looks great."

"Thank you. Mom, Dad, your guys' turn."

"Alright. Let's see this little package here. It says it's from Barriss." She picked up a small box and opened it just as carefully as Padmé. "Oh, thank you dear, it's beautiful."

Barriss had already forgotten what she'd made for Jobal and glanced up. Oh, right, the set of embroidered pieces she'd made, one of each of Padmé's parents. She liked giving handmade gifts and with her sewing skills honed by stitching her men back together, she put it to good use creating two small images, one of their first pitiful snowman, and one of the Naberrie Christmas tree. It was hard transferring their poor snowman into cross-stitch form, but she was proud of the end product.

"Here, Ruwee, open yours. I think they're a pair."

Padmé's father found the matching package in his pile and worked it open. "I'll be. They're beautiful. We should put these on the mantle, they'll look gorgeous up there."

Jobal smiled. "We should. I have embroidery stands in this size somewhere. I'll have to find them later."

Barriss blushed, looking down at the book in her lap.

"Okay, my turn again, eeny meeny miny mo…this one." Ahsoka grabbed a box at random. "This one's from Skyguy. Ooh, why'd you write 'do not open with fangs' on it? You know what I'm going to do now."

"It's glass, Snips. You know how much it hurts when you hit your teeth on glass."

"And I'm not opening it with my teeth." She was more careful opening this one. "Cool, bubble wrap." She did use the occasional tooth to cut through the tape holding the bubble wrap in place, but she was careful. "Oh my word Anakin it's beautiful."

She carefully smoothing the wrapping aside and held up a beautiful blown glass statue. From the angle, Barriss wasn't quite sure what it was until Ahsoka turned it to face her. It was shaped like a delicate tree, branches forming small hooks and the ends and beads of coloured glass swirled throughout.

"It's a jewelry tree. You don't get to have a lot of nice stuff or a lot of jewelry and it might be a keep-in-the-Temple thing, but I just saw it and thought you'd like it."

"It's beautiful, Anakin, I love it. I don't have much to put on it, but I'll definitely use it. Okay Barriss, you're up next."

She picked a box at random, finding a seam and tearing it open. The wooden box underneath was ornate, almost too ornate for her Jedi sensibilities. "This is really pretty. It says it's from…Mrs. Naberrie. Thank you." Barriss found the small latch and opened the box. "Oh, is this perfume?"

"I hope you like it. I felt bad for you ladies, spending all your time in the grime and muck. I know Jedi don't do makeup or much of anything fancy. It's just a little something special for you."

Barriss smiled, spritzing a little into the air in front of her face and breathing it in. "Oh, I love that. What does it say it is? White tea, ginger, and pomegranate. I'll be using this. I spend a lot of time in medbays, which smell either like disinfectant or much less pleasant things. If I can keep the bottle intact, I will use it as much as I can. Thank you so much!"

Anakin was ripping into his next one as soon as she'd finished talking. "Alright Snips, how are you going to top Padmé's gift?" He didn't get very far before he burst out laughing. "Ahsoka, really?"

She cackled, carefully securing the tape after rewrapping the jewelry tree. "Yes!"

Padmé's brow furrowed. "Anakin, what is that?"

He pulled the rest of the wrapping paper off, revealing a foot-long, giant rubber duck, still laughing. "You remember, earlier this year, I had dental work done and I had the laughing gas because I hate the dentist and apparently I expressed an incredible need for a giant rubber duck. I think Ahsoka has the recording. She said I was waxing poetic about this stupid rubber duck and saying how much I needed it."

"Hey, I promised loopy-you that I would get you a giant rubber duck for Christmas. It was the only thing that would make you shut up about the duck."

"Of all the promises you had to keep, Ahsoka! The giant rubber duck! What am I going to do with this?"

"Well, it's your problem now!"

"And after I got you such a nice gift too."

"Flip it over and look on the bottom, Skyguy. There's more."

Anakin turned the duck over and grinned. "Oh my gosh is that the latest comic book in the Astrocat series?"

"It is. I found it for cheap."

"Okay I forgive you for the duck, this is awesome."

Most of the other presents were overshadowed by the giant duck sitting on top of the astromech toolkit. Barriss was happy with the notebook from Padmé, a set of fancy silk headscarves she couldn't used for everyday because warzones would shred them but she loved anyway from Anakin, and a simple but elegant engraved locket from Padmé's father. As soon as she could rope her master into it, she hated having her picture taken more than just about anything else, she would put a holo of the two of them in there.

Underneath the rest of the presents was a small box in different paper, addressed to her in Luminara's swirly handwriting. Inside it was a small wooden box, of Shilian design, with a velvet-lined interior and resting on a padded surface, two short, curved blades with silver detailing and set with round, smooth rubies. She recognized them as ceromonial knives, common in ritual use across Shili. Barriss had been collecting knives for a few years, and these were the pride of any collection, as they tended to be passed down in a family and Togruta were possessive of their things anyway, let alone of centuries-old family heirlooms.

Ahsoka received the beskar necklace from Padmé, and a set of lotions specifically for montrals and lekku which she squealed over from Padmé's mother, and a set of durasteel eating utensils in a cloth case from Padmé's father. ("Something practical, you never know where you'll end up or what you'll have.") She thanked him, but looked more excited about the lotion.

Anakin was happy with the hat she'd made him, styled after the coloured panels on R2-D2's head. He pulled it on despite the heat of the room, insisting he match his favourite droid. Padmé's parents gave him a watch with a high-quality leather band and a giant box of candy.

Barriss was nervous about the book she'd gotten for Padmé. She'd overheard her talking about it with Senator Chuci about how she'd have to wait forever to get a copy of the latest in the series since she was never on Naboo when it came out. But from her excited squeal, Barriss's judgement had been correct. She also received a beautiful set of lace dancing gloves from her father and a prank kit from Ahsoka. ("In case Senator Clovis tries to bother you again.") Whatever she got from Anakin went right back in the box as soon as she saw it and she gave him a fondly exasperated look.

"They're beautiful Ani, but really?"

"What?"

"You know what."

Barriss leaned over to mutter into Ahsoka's montral. "Did you see what it was?"

"No, but from the very pungent pheromone rush from both of them just now, I'd say lingerie or something in that ballpark."

"For once, I do not envy your sense of smell."

An Enigma is a gaming system similar to the Nintendo Switch. In case you were confused.