Anakin could not hide his nervousness, not even from Padme.
"You're shaking," she commented, as she stepped out of the walk-in closet with some of his clean Jedi robes. "Why are you so nervous?"
"A Jedi is never nervous, worried, or anxious," he said matter-of-factly, trying to convince himself.
Padme laughed, her eyes sparkling. "Then you must not be a Jedi today, Ani."
He dressed in dark Jedi robes, pulling a glove over his new prosthetic at the last, making sure the glove fit over the new metal. He gave his wife a rueful smile.
"I only worry about you, Padme. My love for you overwhelms me sometimes."
She sat him on the bed with her and gazed into his blue eyes. "I have been excused from matters of State for a month since I am close to giving birth. I don't want you to worry about me. I have C-3PO and R2 here with me, and handmaids and anything I need in a moment, all waiting on the push of a button or a holocomm." She brushed his sandy blonde hair away from his eyes and kissed his forehead. "Please, go back to your Jedi duties. I will notify you immediately if I must go to a Medic Center, all right?"
Her eyes were pleading with him to agree with her and do what he needed to as a Jedi. He finally nodded and allowed himself to smile at her. Fear rose up in him like bile, but he calmed himself with the Force, feeling its energy boost his spirits.
"I like it when you do that," whispered Padme, leaning against him.
"When I do what?" he asked.
"Calm yourself with the Force. I can feel it. It feels—it feels like home, on the lake on Naboo." She buried her face in his robes and held tightly to him. Then she let go with a smile.
"Now off with you, handsome Jedi. Your duties await."
He nodded. Cupping her heart-shaped face in his hands, he kissed her lips gently. When they broke the kiss, he too felt peace strongly through the Force, and knew that he could leave her for another day.
"I will come back for you, milady," he said with a smile.
"Good!" she called as he strode to the door. He opened it and looked back at her. She smiled and waved, her brown ringleted hair, her fair skin, and her bright smile etched into his mind as he waved and left the apartment.
. . .
"I want to see him!" the young Jedi was almost shouting.
"Ahsoka, you must be patient. He's recovering from an injury—" Obi-Wan's voice was explaining.
Anakin came around the corner of a marble pillar to see his former padawan, Ahsoka Tano, angrily talking to his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"She never had a knack for being patient, Master," said Anakin with a smile. Then he pointed at Ahsoka, "And you, Snips, why are you so upset? Anger leads to hate, you know."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "You would know all about that wouldn't you?" she retorted.
Anakin decided to ignore the comment, clearly directed at misdemeanors in his past. Instead he walked up to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka very calmly.
"Master, have the rest of the Jedi Council arrived?" he asked. Ahsoka looked anxiously from one Jedi to the other.
"We're waiting on a few, Anakin. But with the Seperatist movement, there are still many planets that are in need of being rescued from droid armies," said Obi-Wan with a tone in his voice that sounded like worry. "In fact, after you take the Trials, it will probably be time for as many of us to leave Coruscant as possible, without abandoning younglings, of course."
"That stands to reason," said Anakin understandingly, nodding in agreement.
"Well I could have stayed—" began Ahsoka hotly, but Anakin silenced her.
"Yes? Where? In captivity on Mon Calamari?"
"You know very well that I came back with General Kit Fisto—" she began again.
"Well, he's dead." Anakin's soft interruption brought silence to the empty room. Obi-Wan stood a little awkwardly, watching Anakin talk in such a way to the younger Jedi.
Her expression went dark. "I know that."
"Do you?" asked Anakin accusingly. "Really? Because you act like his sacrifice, and the sacrifice of many other Jedi's are to be batted away, burned up, wiped clean."
Obi-Wan cleared his throat, and Anakin sighed, rubbing his face. "I'm sorry Ahsoka. I am just so—tired—of war. And the clean-up we have ahead is very . . ." he searched for a word.
"Overwhelming?" supplied Ahsoka, now calmer.
"Exceedingly," agreed Anakin with a small smile.
"I'm glad you're alive, Master. I look forward to seeing you around more," said Ahsoka, her headtails twitching. Her rust-colored face twisted into a wry smile. She walked away, her boots clicking on the marble flagstones as she left the room.
Anakin turned to Obi-Wan, who gave him a smile.
"I think she's ready for the Jedi Knight Trials, don't you?" said Obi-Wan brightly.
Anakin rolled his eyes. "Don't be getting any ideas, Master."
"Well, why not? She's been through the wars, she has probably passed at least three of the trials by doing so."
Anakin looked pained. "The last thing she needs is more pride, Master. Becoming a Jedi Knight would only fuel that pride."
"She was Commander Tano, Anakin. Just like you. I think that has some merit?"
"Well, especially if she's more like me . . ." said Anakin thoughtfully, watching the doorway where Ahsoka had exited. ". . . I don't know, Master."
Obi-Wan smiled kindly. "You will both do well. Very well."
. . .
Ahsoka entered the Jedi Council chambers and found Grand Master Yoda sitting alone in his chair, meditating quietly. He opened his eyes as he felt her through the force, and a small smile snuck its way over his wrinkly green features.
"Come closer, young padawan, come closer," he growled in his squeaky gravely voice. "Much grown over the course of the wars, you have. Much has happened, since becoming Skywalker's padawan."
Ahsoka allowed herself to smile. "Thank you, Master Yoda."
"Take the Trials to become a Jedi Knight, you must," he said.
"Do you really think I'm ready?" she asked. Her montrals quivered, a sure sign of her growing excitement.
"Ready as ever, you are," Yoda assured her. "The time is coming when prepared we must be to fight a growing threat. Many Jedi Knights we will need, when that time comes."
"I agree with Master Yoda," a confident voice said, echoing slightly in the empty chamber. Ahsoka turned, surprised, to see Anakin come striding into the room to stand beside her.
"There isn't really anything else you can learn from me, Snips," he said, shrugging.
"Not true, that statement is. But the fact remains, that Jedi Knight you must become," said Yoda wisely.
"Well, even if it isn't a totally true statement, it does reflect how I feel about your ability to take on the Trials," said Anakin. Ahsoka felt her cheeks take on a red glow, hard to see against the color of her skin, but her downcast blue eyes said enough about her embarrassment to be complimented by her master.
"In time, see you both become stronger, the Jedi Council will," said Yoda. "Anxious and happy for you, I am. Happy for each other, you both should be."
. . .