I only own the plots that make no sense. :)

It's been a long time since I've sat down and written a story. Too long. Yikes. Please bear with me as I find a groove again. I know I have much to improve upon. Please let me know what you think, though. What you like or hate.

Or any requests for those you might want to read a Coruscant Tale about.

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At first he chalked it up to mere fascination. And that made sense. Because she was everything he was not.

She was...softer. Softer in form, and in voice. Soothing in presence. Even the way she walked, sliding across the polished floors of the banquet hall, her dress trailing behind her with a muffled shussshhh.

She was so different than anything he'd known, and he'd never been so...fascinated.

He snapped to attention at her approach.

"Senator Amidala. This is Commander Thorn. He will be your escort for the upcoming conference."

"Commander." She smiled up at him kindly and he was taken aback at the directness of her gaze.

She looked at him, rather than through him or past him as he was accustomed to from other persons of importance. Her expression was open and warm.

It was a moment before he realized she was holding out a hand in greeting.

He responded clumsily, his fingers slipping across her palm in uncustomary nervousness. He completed the gesture and returned his hand to his side with haste. The Senator glanced at him curiously for a moment, and then with a small smile returned her attention to the Ambassador. Thorn felt the heat rising in his face, glad of his helmet. He followed them to a table where they sat and began discussing pressing issues while dining. He was grateful it was only necessary for him to stand to the side, and not partake of the refreshments. He didn't trust himself at the moment. His reaction was as puzzling to himself as it had been to the senator.

And that puzzlement only grew over the following days.

Each day he spent with her, the wonder and awkwardness that he expected to dissipate as familiarity and common sense kicked in, only seemed to grow.

But she was unchanging at least, and his first impression of her proved to be accurate.

She was kind. And lovely in a way he wasn't familiar with and couldn't put the right words to. He wasn't used to the prolonged presence of a human female, let alone one with such presence and authority yet gentleness and kindness, a mixture he had until that point associated so absolutely with the opposite in every aspect, he found himself paying as close attention as he could, not wanting to miss some vital clue that would render the whole situation sensical.

He sat across from her at a small table on the veranda for the third evening that week, watching the sunlight catch on the strands of her hair. The sky behind her was fiery with the setting of the sun and the breeze whisked the airy fabric of her dress between the rungs of the railing beside them. The wisps of clouds were reflected in her eyes as she regarded him.

"I think you're going to have to help me with this one." She said thoughtfully. She sat with one hand resting in her lap and the other poised above her plate, a small fork pinched gracefully between finger and thumb. With a sly smile, she shoved the plate piled high with cloud cakes towards him.

The plate screeched loudly against the surface of the table and a few fellow diners looked up from their own meals to regard the pair curiously. Amidala made a face that was halfway between a grimace and satisfaction. Then she shot the onlookers a beautiful smile, who promptly returned to their dining.

Thorn laughed. At her reaction and expression, and the whole scene that had just played out. At the fact that he as sitting there, watching it take place. He looked down at the food now resting in front of him.

"You cant be serious, Senator. You barely touched them."

"My eyes were bigger than my stomach. You go ahead. Please." She gestured for him to eat and took a sip from her glass as she gazed out over the railing. He picked up a cloud cake and put it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. The food was amazing, but eating it made him feel awkward. It was too fancy for the likes of him. Surely it suited those with refined tastes more appropriately. Not...someone who was raised on mess hall fare.

He had to admit that it was absolutely wonderful, though.

He looked at the Senator again as he ate another. He was pretty sure she'd ordered the dish knowing she'd be unable to eat it all. Knowing that he'd finish it.

Seemingly reading his thoughts she turned to him again with a smile to her eyes, chin in her hands.

"Thank you for joining me, Commander Thorn."

"My pleasure," he answered sincerely.

She looked about to speak again, when her gaze fell on something behind him and she stood up suddenly. Thorn jumped up and spun around quickly, his side pistol drawn and raised by the time he'd turned around.

"At ease," Anakin Skywalker chuckled as he approached. Thorn holstered his weapon immediately, raising his hand into a sharp salute before falling into parade rest beside the table. He watched with interest as the Senator and jedi greeted one another, although he was careful to keep his face blank. He'd never met Skywalker before, but had heard much about him, and in all respects admired him very much. He was aware that the jedi was frequently a bodyguard for the senator himself, and therefore was neither surprised nor alarmed by the sudden appearance.

Having a natural inclination towards observation, and recently dedicating that trait towards the Senator out of duty and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on, it wasn't lost on Thorn that she positively beamed in the jedi's presence. But it had shown to be such a part of her nature to be so pleasant and welcoming of others that he didn't put much thought into the reasoning behind it other than that.

Thorn followed the pair through the upper halls of the attatched building as they made their way back to the senator's reserved chambers there. He kept a discrete distance, maintaining a safety net if necessary, but not wanting to intrude on their conversation. The jedi walked directly beside the senator, discussing things Thorn had no knowledge of, and not very much interest in, to be honest. Jedi and senatorial campaigns. He envied the ease with which the jedi conversed with his companion, though.

They stopped before the door to her room, and Thorn nodded to them both before positioning himself just outside of it, resuming his post there.

"Commander, why don't you take a break for a bit?"

"Sir?" Thorn looked at the jedi in confusion.

"I've got it from here, for a while. Why don't you go rest?"

"I'm fine, General."

"That's an order, Commander." Although he didn't sound angry, not quite, there was a hint of annoyance in the jedi's tone, and his face had lost its previous joviality.

"Anakin!" The senator was looking at him reproachfully, and then his own gaze softened under hers. He let out a breath, then pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. When he opened them again, he looked at Thorn with an embarassed and apologetic expression.

"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by that. I just...I've got this covered. For now. For...a bit. The senator will let you know when she needs you, Ok?"

The senator smiled softly and placed an arm on the jedi's, and when he turned to look down at her, his mouth twitched into a small smile as well. A smile of familiarity and comraderie and mischief. Of friendship.

And...more than friendship.

The realization hit Thorn all at once, and he jerked back a little. Half from the recognition of something publibly known to be forbidden, and partly from a sudden , inexplicable clenching in his chest. Oh.

Battling the confusion and surprise and something else he darent put name to welling up inside him, he forced himself to attention and snapped the best salute he could muster under the circumstances.

'Yes Sir." He nodded to them both. "Senator." His chest clenched tighter at the open look of warmth and gratitude the Senator was giving him. He glanced cautiously at the jedi who had crossed his arms and was observing Thorn intently, curiosity and then something like...recognition passing over his features.

Anakin looked directly into Thorn's eyes through the visor, probing the trooper standing before him with the force curiously, but not necessarily unkindly. It was obvious that the commander had never been the receiver of such a thing before because the jedi could feel him mentally recoil at the brush of minds almost immediately.

But Thorn was by chance also painfully honest, and reopened his mind to the connection once he realized what it was, or perhaps remembering the authority that sought it. Anakin could feel him looking directly back at him from behind the visor, watching him as well. The jedi felt the tendrils of emotions dancing on the fringes of the connection between them. Apprehension , confusion, a slight tinge of jealousy, but also respect and loyalty and...love. Although that was so buried in the confusion, it would've been nearly impossible to decipher, if Anakin hadn't had the same feeling for the same person in himself to draw a parallel from. There was also a newly forming acceptance and trust. But overriding everything else was the immense feeling of being completely lost.

The jedi closed his eyes and let out a small breath, severing the connection. When he opened them, he looked up at Thorn with a small, slightly sad smile.

When Anakin reached out with a hand, Thorn had to stop himself from shrinking back, aware that the jedi knew exactly how he felt, and expecting a punishment or at the very least a reprimand of some sort. But the jedi simply placed a hand on the commander's shoulder, his thumb rubbing small absent circles against the pauldron there as he looked at the ceiling for a moment before he smiled into the visor in front of him with sincerity and kinship.

Thorn felt heat blossoming in his cheeks again as even more confusion coursed through him.

"You and me both, Commander," said the jedi "You and me both." And he gave Thorn one last pat on the shoulder before turning around and grabbing the senator's hand and leading her into the chamber. She glanced back and forth between them with eyebrows raised before letting herself be led away, but she shot Thorn one last brilliant and beautiful smile over her shoulder before the door closed and she was gone.

Commander Thorn left to take a long walk and puzzle things he didn't think he'd ever understand.