Chapter 3

Anakin was standing at the edge of the stream, one hand on the suubatar's foreleg as it bent to drink, when Padmé emerged from the tent. She stared at his profile, taking in the firm lines of his jaw and the way the constant breeze ruffled his hair. Hair that was as silken to touch as it looked. He didn't look her way, instead stared across the stream into distance where the sky was beginning to show the first hints of dawn.

Padmé took a careful look around, ignoring the inner voice that was telling her to let it drop, and moving towards him. She stopped near the suubatar's middle legs, her hand on the bandage underneath her coat. It ached, though the sharp stabbing pain had disappeared. Thanks to him. "Don't sweat it, Skywalker - it was just a kiss."

She saw his jaw tighten, but she didn't turn to look at her. "Are you happy now, Captain?"

"Happy?"

"You got what you wanted."

Padmé smiled crookedly, though she was certain he couldn't see it. "What I got was but a taste. It makes me wonder what the whole dish is like."

"And you will continue to wonder." Anakin finally turned towards her. His face was set in impassive lines. "If we're going to work together, we've got to have ground rules."

Padmé crossed her arms over her chest - and uncrossed them just as quickly, hissing as the bandage pulled painfully. Anakin's expression instantly changed to concern and he made a move towards her. She took a step back, cradling her side with one hand and holding the other up to stop him. "You're the one who wanted ground rules. Rule one; no touching."

Anakin stopped eyeing her critically. "You're injured and squeamish; how do you propose to change your dressing?"

Padmé tilted her chin stubbornly. "I'll find a way. I managed without you before, I'll manage again."

Anakin inclined his head. "As you wish, Captain. Will you be able to ride today?"

Padmé narrowed her eyes. He was taunting her, baiting her, and doing it deliberately. Her tone turned purring seductive. "I can always ride, Master Jedi. The real question is if you're up to the punishment."

"Can you keep your mind on our job, Captain?" His tone was filled with distain. "We've a lot of ground to cover over the next few days."

"I can ride if you can pack. Manual labor is beyond my current ability and inclination."

"And man handling is not?"

"We all have our fortés, Skywalker." Her smile turned charming. "Man handling is a specialty of mine."

He turned abruptly away. "I suggest you handle yourself for now, Captain. The ride isn't going to be easy on those wounds."

"Suubatars have a very easy gait, if you can follow it, Skywalker. I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby."

Or maybe scream like one. Padmé gritted her teeth against the motion her torso had to settled into for the suubatar's ride to be comfortable. They sped across the open plains several hours later, and several position experimentations later. Nothing had worked. The suubatar's gait was comfortable enough - except when it dipped unexpectedly to move over rough terrain. And rough terrain was all they'd seen for the last twenty minutes.

"Sleeping like a baby, Captain?"

She managed a smile through gritted teeth, certain he knew what she was really feeling. "Never better."

"What was that?" Anakin closed in so he was riding side by side with her.

She glared at him. "I said never better! Just find our next campsite, you pompous, arrogant, egotistical, smart-"

Anakin pulled ahead, out of earshot, and she cut off her line of insults, focusing instead on making the rise easier. It wasn't east. The terrain they'd climbed into was rocky, gusting disproportionately this way and that, and the suubatars slowed to navigate large boulders. Chasms opened up on their left and they urged their mounts to hug the cliff face.

Padmé hunched over her wound, feeling it pulse under her hand as she pressed her side, gamely straightening whenever she noticed he was looking in her direction. She'd be damned if she showed weakness towards him again. On the bright side, they'd only settled on one rule. No touching. That thought had kept her amused for their trip thus far. She'd rarely touched him anyway and, knowing the effect he had on her, was secretly glad of the rule. She was confident she could drive him to distraction without it. The pleasant thoughts were interrupted when Anakin's suubatar suddenly let out a hideous shriek.

Anakin jumped free as the beast went down, staggered under the weight of something that had struck it from the side.

Padmé reacted before she thought, the synth rope she kept coiled at the front of her saddle in her hand and flicking out towards Anakin as his suubatar's bulk slipped to the side. Jedi enhanced reflexes allowed him to catch the rope even as he went careening out over the chasm. Padmé looped the rope around one forearm and the front of her saddle, using her legs to brace herself. The tug of Anakin's weight as the rope picked up the slack and went taught almost dragged her from her saddle. She felt the wounds on her arms and hands split, the agony in her side almost causing her to black out as she took Anakin's full weight; he'd almost pulled her shoulders from their sockets!

Padmé bit the inside of her lip, tasting blood, using it to keep her focus as she forced herself to grip the rope tightly with both hands. "Lose some pounds, Skywalker!"

"Hang on."

She glanced down, her teeth grinding together against the stabbing pain in her side. It helped take her mind off the dead weight on her arms. "I think that's my line. Or maybe, hang around."

The smile he flashed her was positively boyish despite his precarious circumstance. He was hanging over a drop that would easily mean his death, Jedi Master or not. "Don't tell me you're not tempted to drop me even the tiniest bit."

Padmé blinked in surprise. The thought, despite his frustrating demeanor, hadn't even crossed her mind. "I don't know what you think of me Skywalker, but I'm no murderer. Not to put a damper on things, since you're so comfortable hanging around, but this isn't exactly good for my injury."

"A shame; I rather enjoy the view from down here."

"Would you like to stay there permanently?"

"That wasn't my idea, no. Coax your suubatar to back up. It'll save you from having to pull me up."

She did as he asked, coaxing the beast carefully backwards along the chasm ledge. "I hope you're worth it, Skywalker. That's two days in a row I've bled for you."

"And only once you've saved my hide doing it. Consider us even after this."

Padmé managed a weak laugh, feeling the adrenaline that was pumping through her system keeping her from unconsciousness. Only, it was starting to fade and her vision was going black. "Even? This isn't a two for one freebee gig. You still owe me one."

"Padmé?"

She struggled to keep her grip on the synth rope as it grew slick from perspiration and blood. "Yeah?"

"How are you holding up?"

"You're the one hanging over a cliff; you tell me." Anakin grew silent and the darkness began encroaching further. She shook her head, trying to stretch, to bring pain, anything to keep her awake.

"Anakin?

"Yeah?"

"I don't think you're going to make it out of this one."

"Why do you say that?"

"Things are all dark, hazy-like. I don't think I can keep my grip on the rope for too much longer."

"I'm almost there, Padmé, hang on just a little longer."

"I.. can't..."

"Padmé?"

Padmé couldn't answer as her world faded to black.

"Padmé!"

Her last recollection was of Anakin screaming her name as the synth rope slipped through her fingers.

----------

Water.

Running water.

Padmé groaned softly as she came to, her whole body throbbing as if it were on fire. The ache in her side was accompanied by a feel of wetness and she knew, without looking or feeling, that she's torn something bad. Her eyes were slow to open and her surroundings even slower to register.

Water.

She tilted her head, squinting against the pain throbbing in her temples and found she could make out the head of the suubatar she was still riding. Somehow she'd stayed in the saddle. She ached abysmally, her side throbbing with each breath and sending shards of pain lancing through her system. She ignored it, pressing her hand against her side as she fought through the fog that accompanied the agony and tried to figure out where she was.

The stream was new; there hadn't been a stream on the canyon wall.

Canyon wall.

Suubatar's scream

Anakin.

Padmé sat upright in her saddle and cursed as the move sent rivers of pain lancing through her body. "Anakin?"

She frowned. Her voice was faint, almost hoarse, and had no volume. She cleared her throat and tried again, looking around worriedly. "Anakin?"

There was no answer as her call echoed up and down the canyon. A very deep canyon. She frowned. The suubatar was standing next to the stream docilely, its head drifting down to lap up a drink as she searched. Was this the bottom of the canyon? She ignored the tearing feel in her side and twisted, looking up the canyon wall, shading her eyes with one hand. A faint trail leading down to the canyon floor, where she assumed herself to be, led back to the wall. The hulk of Anakin's dead suubatar was just barely visible. It looked like a boulder except for the green mass of clinging, moving vines that enveloped it.

Padmé sank back into the saddle, using both hands to press against her side in an attempt to dull the pain. She needed to think and she was light headed, the constant throbbing behind her temples an indication that she wasn't as capable as she thought she might be. She closed her eyes, relaxing into a semi-hunched position to ease the pain and focused her thoughts.

Stupid Jedi. She smiled faintly. Stupid, handsome, naive, gorgeously proportioned Jedi. Her thoughts became bolder, giving her confidence. The pain began to recede, giving her some breathing room. Her suubatar had brought her to the bottom of the ravine for a reason she didn't yet know. Could Anakin have survived the fall or had the young man fallen to his death? It would be an iniquitous death for such a well known figure.

Taking a deep, bracing breath against the pain she knew would come, Padmé tapped the shoulder of the suubatar and indicated it should kneel. It did and she swung her legs over its back. With a bracing breath, she dropped to the ground.

She collapsed as she landed, her knees buckling as fire raced through her system, going down on all fours. Blood had coated her hands, soaked through her shirt and was running down her wrists; her hands swam in her vision. She felt bile rise in her throat and closed her eyes, fighting down the panic. "Sissy," she told herself viciously. "You're injured; big deal! Blood is a natural part of life and you're just going to have to deal with it!"

She pushed back to her feet, clutching her side, ignoring the sand and dirt that now coated her hands as she looked around. The suubatar was watching her calmly. Padmé stumbled to its head, looking at her surroundings. The stream she'd heard was in fact a river that bubbled slowly along the canyon floor. Trembling, she bent and knelt next to the suubatar's head. She ripped off her over-shirt and dunked it, using it to wash the blood from her hands and, gritting her teeth, her eyes adverted, used it to swipe the stickiness from her side.

She didn't dare look, knowing that she'd reached her personal limit and did her best to clean her side. The water was cool, clear, and refreshing. She ditched her boots and blaster on the bank and waded in, washing the blood from her pants. Could Anakin have hit the water instead of the rocks and survived? "Skywalker!" She called his name, hoping he'd answer her.

The stream continued to bubble along, but her voice echoing back to her from down the canyon was all that she heard in response. Damn him. She sighed, sinking down and letting the water sooth the ravaged edges of her wound. The water was cool, almost cold, and she felt the skin numbing as she exposed it directly to the water. She looked around, trying to get some indication of where Skywalker could have landed.

Padmé shielded her eyes and looked again at the bulk of the downed, and now dead, suubatar on the high ledge above. It was over... she traced the line with her eyes, trying to judge where Anakin had been hanging. She let out a relieved breath. If she was right, Anakin would have been over the middle of the stream. But had he survived the fall?

Her suubatar shifted, drawing her gaze as it sniffed off towards her left. Padmé waded out of the river, the chill of the water making her shiver but had brought numbness to the fire in her side. She glanced down and found that the bleeding had all but stopped, the wound now let open as the bandage had been washed away. She turned to her suubatar first, retrieving the med-pack from the supplies and quickly, and awkwardly, slapped some bacta bandages with an analgesic onto her wound. It would keep it numb and allow her to work.

She scanned the area but the suubatar didn't look frightened, so she collected her boots and blaster before wringing out her clothes and stripping down to change. Padmé was slipping into a new shirt when movement to her left brought her around, her blaster jumping into her hand.

Her eyes narrowed in surprise as she took in the sight before her; some of the strangest looking Anosians she'd ever seen. They were about half her height - and she wasn't exactly tall for a human - and decked out in clan colors she'd never before seen. There were three of them, watching her suspiciously, jabbering in a form of broken Anosian so that she only caught every second or third word.

Padmé kept her blaster level, her eyes darting around to check for more of them.

"Who you?"

She continued to search as the middle of the Anosians addressed her. "I'm Captain Naberrie. Who are you?"

They jabbered back and forth for a minute before the same one answered again. "We Gwurran."

"Gwurran?" Padmé, satisfied they were alone, brought her full attention back to them. "I've never met one of your kind before."

The 'speaker' wrinkled his nose. "We hide. Good good at hiding."

"I see." Padmé placed her back against the suubatar, wondering if there were more of them she couldn't see. "What can I do for you?"

"You in home. Why you here?"

Ah. Padmé could understand that. "My suubatar brought me." She patted the beast with one hand, but never let the three Gwurran out of her blaster sights. "My companion and I were up there," she indicated the trail up the cliff, "and he fell. I've come to search for him."

"Dead, dead. No survive fall."

Padmé felt her stomach flop, sinking down into the tips of her boots. "You've seen him?"

"He stinking up water. Bad bad for taste."

"Can you take me to him?" She finally lowered the blaster. It was possible these Gwurran weren't familiar with human physiology. And couldn't just accept their word that he was dead; not when it appeared that he'd struck the water, as she'd hoped. Skywalker was likely alive through some Jedi trick..

"We bring to you? Take dead bye bye?"

Padmé shook her head, holstering her weapon. "No, if he's not dead, he might be injured. I need you to take me to him."

The Gwurran discussed it again and finally nodded. "Big beastie can't come. Leave here." The Gwurran motioned at the suubatar.

Padmé hesitated. All of their remaining supplies were on the suubatar. If Anakin couldn't be moved and he was a long way off, she wouldn't be able to help him without them. But then... She grabbed the smallest of the packs and opened it. Another med pack, rations, a bedroll and extra blankets. She checked her jacket pockets and found the two spare power clips for her blaster. Her synth rope had disappeared with Skywalker, but she'd seen something that resembled it blowing in the breeze about half-way up to where the other suubatar's remains lay.

She didn't think. The bag was light enough and she dared add the medpac she'd just opened, some changes of clothing and the outside cover of their tent. She didn't have the strength to carry the whole thing. She added more food rations and finally closed the bag. "Will my suubatar be alright here?"

The Gwurran motioned behind and slightly into the water. There, in the side of the cliff, was an indent that appeared to be a cave. She smiled. Placing the back on the ground she led the suubatar into the cave and placed some of the food they'd brought for the beasts on the ground. Water was plentiful so she had no fear of that. Finally she returned to the Gwurran, had to chase them out of the bag, and shouldered it.

"I'm ready; lead on."