This chapter was such a joy to visit. There are Easter eggs in it for Anidala/AOTC fans who have done their research on the making of the movie. I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 19. The Meadow

And on her lover's arm she leant,
And 'round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went,
In that new world, which is the old.
And o'er the hills and far away
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
Beyond the night, across the day,
Through all the world she follow'd him

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

I have and will continue to speak on Anakin's youthfulness. Ironically, I believe it was that very innocence of spirit which made me reject him initially— only to later draw me in devotedly. I am not speaking of his age, though somewhere in my mental layers I certainly used it as an excuse in the beginning of our unconventional courtship. I'm talking about the endurance of his soul's purity, which somehow survived even slavery, the separation with his mother, and the emotional restrictions of the Jedi code.

By the time he and I reunited on Coruscant, as much as I held to my ideals, I was in very real danger of becoming jaded and drained by my experiences. I'd grown up with an unshakable belief in the governmental system, only to have that faith let down by too many disparaging disappointments to count. To be sure, there were the bright spots— the successes that replenished my emptied well of illusion— but by the time Anakin and I crossed paths again, his innocent spirit was the meter I subconsciously compared myself to. The discomfort stemming from this starkly contrasting mirror made me shun him, before I eventually recognized it as the medicine my tattered and worn-out soul needed. He was a sun with unlimited rays of warmth and zeal. Under his light, my enchantment with life and its possibilities blossomed once again, in the classic way the world is newly seen in vivid, optimistic colors through the eyes of those who find themselves rapturously in love.

When I watched him lose that signature characteristic— first in mass, then in steady morsels over wartime years— it became one of the fights of my life to restore his beautiful innocence. As if it was my own soul on the line, I labored to remove the bleak patches of disillusionment quilting themselves over Anakin's heart faster than I could unstitch them.

In this endeavor, like many others, I failed.

The faintest brush of fingertips caressed down my right cheek.

Safe and soothed, I sighed and nuzzled into this warm palm; there was something innately familiar about its calloused but tender touch.

The rousing sounds of birds whispered into my ears like a reverse lullaby, but I rejected their disrupting song from the castle of my sleep. Wanting to hold on to the fleeing moments of asylum, I idly lifted a hand to further encourage the one painting streaks of sanctuary down my skin.

But the pebble of wakefulness had been dropped, and the water ripples could not be stopped now. Emerging from sleep as if I'd been rehabilitating in its land for years, I slowly blinked my eyes open. When I gradually stirred to more acute awareness, I found it was my own hand lightly cupped around my right cheek.

So tangible had the other presence been that I looked around my bedroom for signs of life. I observed the closed door to the interior hallway on my left, and the wispy tails of billowing white curtains far on my right towards the semi-private terrace. The sunlight coming through both the window and the draped but open entryway was bright, yet I still should've been able to see the blue beams of Artoo's motion detector. Oddly— as I was relatively sure I'd instructed the droid to turn them on last night, as per our new routine— the detection waves were currently deactivated. Undoubtedly, though, I was alone.

I checked the clock near the bed. I had slept… for twelve hours.

The memory of the last time such a deep, uninterrupted slumber happened escaped me. Pleased with my body's efforts, I rewarded it with a luxurious stretch under my gray sheets. Next, it let me know it thirsted for the glass of water by my bed. I reached for it dutifully, chugging the contents in one fell swoop. So happily rested did I feel that I even stretched myself taunt yet again once I rose to a stand. As it was only attached by thin straps at my shoulders, my white nightdress barely moved against me as I extended my arms high above my head, as if lazily signaling to the galaxy that Padmé Naberrie was finally awake.

After using the fresher, I passed by the heavy blue robe slung over a chair and strolled towards the closet to find an outfit for the day. Just as my hand reached to touch a first potential option, I came to a short stop— an… unexpected idea entering my mind.

Last night, Anakin said to let him know when I'd woken up, and I'd pledged two days ago to take my bodyguard's requests more seriously.

So— in the name of adhering to security protocols— I pulled on the rich robe and made for the door leading to the hallway.

My abundantly wavy hair was down and full, but I admit I fluffed it a little with my hands as I walked, finishing with a mindful check of how it fell around my shoulders.

I found him in the library. He was standing by the unlit fireplace and looked up as I entered the room. The ready, welcoming smile on his lips sputtered as he took in the thin, silk nightdress and plush covering. He didn't speak. He just stared.

I had become so accustomed to suppressing tears that it felt completely foreign to squash the blush I felt staining my cheeks. I began to wonder if this spontaneous move I couldn't even explain to myself had been a bad idea. The logical side of my brain had an answer for that much too quickly, so I stopped wondering. Besides, the sleeves of my robe fell to my wrists and the nightdress itself was floor-length… even if it presented an ample and feminine display of my upper chest. "Good morning," I greeted.

Anakin's voice was hoarse. "Morning." He cleared his throat. "Did you," he cleared his throat again. "Did you sleep well?"

"Twelve hours," I replied, with buoyant satisfaction.

"Most impressive."

"Any word from Obi-Wan?"

A small but clear shake of his head. "It appears we're to have another day on Naboo."

I nodded, not as displeased to hear this on the third day of our stay as I would've previously expected to be. "Have you had lunch?"

"No, I wanted to wait for you." He looked at me slightly questioningly, as if worried I'd forgotten my promise.

I hadn't. "Good. I need to ask the ladies to pack us one for the picnic. Between that and dressing, I can meet you at the front gate in thirty minutes."

He broke out into a relieved grin. "I'll tell Nandi and Teckla about the food so you can return to your room and dress now." He gave me a jester's smile. "Should I bring an umbrella to shield us from the spray of all this water you've talked about?"

We would sit far enough away from the waterfalls to negate the need for any shelter. Not wanting to risk appearing insensitive, I hesitated for just a moment when a line of humor popped into my mind. Deciding Ani and I were comfortable enough with each other for me to make the joke, I answered him with a sly grin that outmatched his own. "Well, water is just like sand. It can be soft, fluid, and soothing— but it gets everywhere."

To find myself back in the same speeder we'd sailed in just last night was a strange thing. My moods could not have been more different. Where on the previous ride my melancholic thoughts had been of the guilt-laden past, this afternoon I was wholly living in the present basking of the sun. As if to drive the point home, we were coincidentally traveling in the opposite direction of where we'd ventured to yesterday. At our shoreline destination, a land speeder belonging to the villa was kept in a locked shed accessible by security code. It would ensure our travel to the waterfall fields further up the mountain.

Looking like a holomovie celebrity all the same, Anakin was clothed in the traditional brown tabbard and tunics of his Jedi uniform. Upon returning to my room, I chose a golden-colored offering from my selections, courtesy of one masterminding handmaiden, which looked innocent enough hanging in the closet. Its maturity was only truly revealed when donned, when the visible skin from the off-shoulder design and the tightness of its corset pushed the top of my breasts a little more ostentatiously up than usual. The dress went from baring to modest, though, with the aid of a matching delicate tulle shawl tucked under the corset. All of it was embroidered with pink hand-sewn flowers into the blithe material.

Lacking the capable talents of a handmaiden or sister, I pulled my loose curls up into a style I'd last done as a young girl. I had much more length and volume in my brown coils now than I did then; when I adjusted the sides into rounded, gold bowl-like crests, ample tresses cascaded down my back. To tidy them, I'd put more ribbons into my hair than I knew I owned.

Ribbons. When was the last time this Senator and former Queen put girlish ribbons into her hair?

Feeling so charmed by my youthful reflection in the mirror, I'd then gone a little crazy and wrapped the remaining pastel-hued ribbons around and above my wrists.

As we sliced across the glassy lake, I took advantage of the amiable silence to ponder my standing with Anakin. At the conclusion of the revelatory scene on the beach two days ago, he'd nobly offered space so that I may carry out the remainder of our stay in relative solitude. Hearing this, I'd come to the realization that I didn't want to keep my distance— even as I tepidly first admitted to myself that Anakin elicited reactions in me which blemished any vestal imagery of a clandestine senator and her bodyguard. Yes, there was an undeniable chemistry between us, but certainly not one that could ever escape the borders of our professional roles. I'd philosophized that there was a chance for unspoken, not acted upon, and only lightly invested enjoyment within those orderly lines, nothing more, and with that I had been mostly content.

Granted, this was all before he became an anchoring hand for me— in every meaning of the word— through my grief at Cordé's funeral.

But though my eyes could see my romantic dress, the charisma in his smile, and the exotic locale around us, invisible lines of propriety were just as resoundingly present as they had been on the first day. I thought of the Master Engineers Ani spoke of on the Jendirian Valley, the ones who could see in so many colors that they could detect subtle discrepancies in the blue exhaust of hyperspace engines. My human eyes were limited by what they could visually absorb, but that didn't mean the barriers and rules weren't there between us.

I felt the ancient mountains of the Lake Country watch me— the petite girl in her golden dress riding along in a sliver of a boat— as I pensively skimmed the thin fabric of my skirt between my thumb and fingers. I only faintly acknowledged that the sheerness of the material was an adequate representation of what had become of the solid wall which was supposed to be between Anakin and me. I peeked up at my audience as if the giants of rock and soil could read my unresolved thoughts. However, doing so only made me remember that these mountains were here many millennia before I had come along with my inconsequential human musings, just as they would be here for many to come after I was gone. The lives of the golden girl with the golden-haired boy didn't even amount to a blink in their scope of time.

I found this notion of trivial human existence held up against the landful lords of time strangely and exceedingly freeing.

When appropriate, I directed Ani to the inlet cove where we would dock our vessel. The pier sticking out from the roots of the trees along the water was nearly invisible to those who did not know it was there, as designed. He leaped out of the speeder and made to tie it first before offering his hand out to me. Instead of placing mine in it directly, I first handed him the large gray container filled with food from Varykino's kitchen.

Ani seemed happy to trade his legs and the boat for the control panel of a land speeder, however basic it was. But unlike Brother Luke's wagon cruiser, this vehicle had actually been manufactured in our lifetime. It sped across the hilly terrain with smooth ease as the driver continued to follow my directions.

As we left the shoreline, the trees thinned in tandem with our increasing elevation up the mountain. Brown soil of forest floor gradually gave way to barren clearings and grassy patches. The ride was pleasant and jovial, which is why I was all the more shocked when, out of nowhere, Anakin asked, "What does 'gudara' mean?"

I sat rigidly in my seat and stared at him. "Excuse me?"

To my surprise, he only grinned wilder at my reproachful reaction. "It's something bad? I assumed as much, but I wasn't sure."

"Ani," I hushed, as if anticipating him blurting out the vulgar expression again. "Where did you hear that? Who said that word in front of you?"

His eyes danced with unapologetic merriment. "You did."

"I would never," I replied, indignant. Crossing my arms in the seat next to him, I searched my memory banks for every moment since our reunion. I was absolutely sure on my life that I had not even thought the Nabooian curse word in his company, much less said it. "I don't swear."

Anakin shook his head, his smile only seeming to feed off my denial. "You did on Tatooine. It was right after I told you I'd never finished a race."

At this, my stable confidence in my memory faltered. "Be more specific."

"We'd were in the main hanger for racers at Boonta Eve. Kitster," he rolled his eyes, "most wonderfully informed you that I would probably finish a race for the first time."

A memory of a sandy waiting area, one filled with a variety of aliens, creatures, droids, and smells formed an erratic picture in my mind. "The eopies," I nodded, referencing the tall animals with long snouts, which we'd rode in on from the slave's quarters of Mos Espa.

Anakin smiled and dipped his chin in a nod. "You thought they were cute."

"I did," I frowned. "Why would I swear at one? I wouldn't."

"You didn't. You swore at me."

I gasped and flung out the nearest hand to hit his forearm. Pastel ribbons flew in the air with my offense. "I would never!"

Keeping one hand on the steering lever, he buckled over in a deep hunch and clutched the spot where I'd hit him with the palm of the opposite arm's hand, holding it like it was a fatal battle wound. "Right, because you're such a lady." Adding to his performance, he rubbed his arm gingerly.

The scowl on my face gave way to a smirk that matched the one on his. "I'm beginning to see why imaginary Padmé used the vulgar word in your story. Keep going— both around this hill and with your tale."

"Not imaginary," he laughed. "Kitster told you I'd never finished a race, you went sort of pale and asked if I'd ever won one— which, to be fair, you already had your answer— and when I promised that I would— a promise I kept— Master Qui-Gon came up and voiced his support for me."

The mention of Qui-Gon suddenly made the memory click into place. I could see the confident look the Jedi Master gave me as he put his hands on Ani's shoulders and vouched for the prodigal pilot— in who's hands we had placed our fate and the fate of my besieged planet. Qui-Gon's assuring smile hadn't had the effect he was going for, and I'd stared back at him in open judgment and incredulity.

Watching my face as I finally processed the memory, Anakin let out another laugh. "Qui-Gon walked away, you turned your back to Kitster and me—"

The full recollection dawned on me. "And I said," I paused, "what I said."

"You muttered it under your breath and probably thought me and Kitster didn't hear you. But I did. And I've been wanting to ask you for ten years what it meant."

If I'd rolled my eyes any higher, I would've seen my own brain. "Why didn't you just ask a translator droid?"

I didn't know Jedi giggled until I watched Anakin do it. "Because I wanted to see the look on your face when I asked you."

"That's the memory you've held on to for ten years?"

He smiled like a prince and lifted a shoulder. "One of many."

I shook my head again, but I was smiling. Then I noticed where we were. "Slow down here. We have to get out by that large boulder and walk up the final hill." As he navigated accordingly, I added, under my breath. "Just to be clear… There are two R's."

Genuinely confused, Anakin peeked over at me. "I'm sorry?"

"When you're saying," I suspended my speech and looked around, as if a journalist from the HoloNet was just waiting behind a boulder to spring out and record me. "'Gudarra'", I finally whispered, "there's an extra roll of the tongue because of the second 'R'. If you're ever going to use it, you might as well say it right."

"Guodarah," he pronounced with blunder. His eyes twinkled at me with blatant gaiety. Subtly never was one of Anakin's strengths.

I made a face at him but laughed. "Now you're just trying to get me to repeat it."

Anakin stopped us at the designated point and turned off the speeder. Apparently finding his door too much of an obstruction, he didn't even hesitate before he leaped out of the open-top vehicle, one arm supporting his weight on the rim as he jumped. In one quick semi-circle he swept the lunch container from the back seat and came round to gentlemanly open my door on the other side.

I cocked an eyebrow at him as I stepped out and rose to a stand. "If I wasn't wearing this dress, I could jump out of this speeder, too, you know."

The eternal show-off beamed at me. "Never doubted that you couldn't."

Anakin lightly swung the lunch box in one hand as we made our way towards the boulder. Though still unseen, the roar of the waterfalls was clear now, and we shared excited looks with each other. But we'd only gone a few steps up the path when realization struck me. The reality of my choice became disastrously apparent as I gazed ahead at the route before us. I knew then that I'd made a terrible lapse in judgment.

"Anakin," I let out, coming to an abrupt halt. He stopped to stare at me, confusion and concern evident on his face at my tone. "I'm sorry," I continued, apologetic. "I can't do this."

His eyebrows pinched in as he studied me. "Why not?"

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed at myself and my lack of foresight. "I should think the answer is obvious."

I dared a glance up to find his lips pursed. He wasn't angry, but he could've been the poster boy for impassioned disappointment. "Padmé, I've been trying to stay silent— as I know I should— but—"

I gestured at my covered toes despairingly. "My shoes."

Anakin blinked, all despondent argument disappearing into the oblivion. "Your what?"

"Well, look at the pathway up ahead." I pointed at the long, rocky slope we would have to traverse to reach the overlook above. Gone was the grass, replaced here by jagged natural gravel. Parenting boulders from eras long gone had been pulverized by the elements down into bits of unforgiving rock. "Your boots will be fine, but these slippers," I lifted my skirt to showcase the soft soles of my shoes, "will get torn up going the rest of the way. I'll never make it."

My chosen fashion lacked the function to get us where we wanted to go. But Anakin's expression had blossomed into relief at my words. "Is that all?" he asked, in a near laugh.

Catching on to what he must've thought I'd meant, I felt heat rise in my cheeks.

Anakin placed the lunch box down on the gravel. "Come here."

I stared back at him dumbly. "What?"

He turned his back to me, though he continued looking at me over his shoulder. "Come here. I'm going to give you a ride."

My jaw dropped. "On your back?"

He patted the rear side of his shoulders with both hands. "Well, I may not come with all the amenities of a royal cruiser, but I think I'll suffice."

Even as I shook my head 'no', I watched my own feet betray me as I took two steps closer to him. "You're ridiculous."

He smiled wider at my small advance. He knew he'd won, but he laid on the challenge for extra effect. "I'm also never going to let you live this down if we have to turn around and go back all because of your dainty shoes."

I peered up at the top of the rocky hill. The meadow was just on the other side. The glorious waterfalls were just on the other side. We'd come all this way…

Anakin watched my face from over his shoulder but kept his body mostly turned away. I swallowed as I scanned the lean frame offered out to me. Could I really press myself into his back, wrap my thighs around his waist, and hold on to him for dear life?

Did I have a choice?

Of course I did.

I absolutely had a choice. And without any more argument, I chose to walk forward.

Disbelieving what I was doing but too caught up in the fun of it to stop, I laughed as he squatted down for me. "You don't need to go that low to the ground," I chastised gamely. "I'm not that short."

He belly-laughed, a sound which only made the atmosphere more lively and invigorating. I hadn't ridden on anyone's back since I was a child, but I positioned my legs on either side of Anakin's lowered form and lightly put my hands on his shoulders. In one fell swoop, he grabbed the undersides of my thighs and came to a tall stand, a movement which made a girlish squeal erupt from behind my smile. My delicate hold hadn't been enough, and I suddenly pressed myself forward into him as my hands readjusted into a clasped grip in front of his collarbone.

"Careful there," Ani chuckled, for in my sudden repositioning I'd accidentally tugged on his Padawan braid and tilted his head a little forcibly to the right. "Ah, can't forget that," he announced, in all the warning he gave me before he abruptly bent over at the waist to retrieve the lunch box. I loudly shrieked again, gleefully, as my now horizontal bodyweight suddenly pressed me head-down with his lurch forward.

"Ani!"

From the context clues of his extended muscles, I felt more than saw the master of play stretch out a hand to grab the thin metal bar on the top of the container. "There we go!" Once he'd reacquired our food, the hand holding it went back to support my right leg. I registered the skinny bar of the box in between my thigh and Anakin's fingers, but only for a moment. Then I was sailing through the air as my starship stood vertical again.

"Warn me next time you do that," I gasped, but the happiness in my voice was plain.

"Of course, milady. Oh, just, one thing— be careful not to kick the comm on my left hip."

I reflexively extended my left leg out straight, well away from his hip. "Why's that?"

"Captain Ardimon and I exchanged location beacons. At the push of that top button, he will know we need assistance and he's instructed to hurry."

"In case we come under attack?"

He nodded, and I easily hid my small smile from him as his ponytail grazed my cheek with the up and down motion. "Essentially, I told him the guards are in charge of the villa and are to stay there unless called." His voice was so confident it bordered on arrogant. "I'm in charge of your minute-by-minute safety. If they don't receive a beacon hit, they're to stay on the property and makes sure no one sneaks on to it— or smuggles in any poisonous millipedes."

"A solid strategy," I approved, sincerely.

"I spoke with him about it this morning. I surmised that so long as you and I keep leaving the villa, we should have a way to alert the guards if anything comes along that my lightsaber can't handle."

"So, don't kick the button?"

"Not unless that container is full of enough 'I'm sorry' food to feed five guardsmen."

With that, Anakin began a measured stroll up the incline. Even with me on his back, he moved with unnatural agility. From my front row seat to his neck, I could take all the time I wanted to appreciate the small curls on his nape, which I'd only been able to see on rare occasions before. As the playfulness and business of the prior moments passed and my senses became aware of the feel and scent of Anakin's immediate presence, my verbal skills evaporated. Both of us went awkwardly silent. Nervously, I became conscious of how hard or not I was breathing now that my exhales left my body right next to Anakin's ear. I tried and failed not to think too much about the feel of his spread palms under my legs, how both thumbs were pressing into the sides for extra control— how the tips of his fingers faintly trespassed into the area of my inner thighs.

My heartbeat pummeled against my ribs so violently I was sure he must have felt it reverberate into his back.

Feeling the wind on my calves, I peered over his shoulder curiously. Although my dress had enough width in the skirt to allow for this ride, it had bunched itself up somewhere in the effort, and my bare lower legs bounced along beyond my bent knees.

The dark color of his synthetic leather tabbard had absorbed the rays of the sun, making him divinely warm. Counting on this fact, I prayed Anakin would not pick up on the rising temperature throughout my body.

"Teach me more Nabooian?" he asked, a little too casually. I got the innate feeling he nervously wanted to fill the empty air as well. "Things I can say without causing offense."

"Like what?"

He shrugged— a motion I'd seen a million times but had never felt the experience of before. "How do you say 'Yes'?"

"Essë."

""Essë.'"

"Very good."

"How do you say 'No?'"

"Vé."

"Vé."

This linguistic exercise continued throughout our hike for the next few minutes. Anakin had a natural knack for picking up languages, or at least, Nabooian. Once his purposeful, baiting gimmick of mispronouncing the swear word was done, he displayed a remarkable ability to soak up my native language with ease.

That didn't stop him, of course, from getting more teases in.

"So, what's it like seeing the world from such a higher view?"

I lifted a hand and pointedly swatted at the soft, curled hair of his ponytail as I said, "I would love to be able to tell you, if only I could see through all this hair."

"Oh, would you like to discuss who has the most hair?"

I'd never used my debate wit for flirting before, but life was full of surprises. I kept my tone suavely cool. "It's amazing you can keep so much humility in such a regular sized head, Anakin. Is that yet another skill the Jedi teach you?"

Using his hips and his hands, he bounced me once in his grip like a toddler. "I think the higher atmosphere is starting to affect your equilibrium, Padmé."

"The elevation isn't too drastic up here. We were on a higher mountain pass yesterday."

"I meant the difference from where you normally stand to right now."

I was caught between the urge to swat at him or laugh. I ultimately landing on pulling out my senatorial card. "You do realize I outrank you, don't you?"

"Not if we're deciding by measuring tape."

"Well, thank goodness leadership is not gauged by height, or the wise Master Yoda wouldn't have made it beyond his youngling classes."

"I've always wondered if he could fly when he was younger. With ears that size…" He chuckled at my feigned gasp. "Don't pretend you haven't wondered it, too. He's tiny enough to be aerodynamic, but Master Obi-Wan says I shouldn't talk about throwing a member of the Council through—"

"Anakin, have you ever been on the receiving end of a lecture on respecting your elders?"

"Never in my life."

"Allow me to be the first." I cleared my throat, and mock-gravely admonished, "Anakin Skywalker, one day, when you are a Master, you can rewrite the Jedi rules as you see fit. Until then, you shall treat every Senator of Naboo you come across with the highest level of respect and reverence—

"Actually, I think I've heard this lesson before."

I made a home for my chin on his left shoulder. "How did I do? Did it feel like one of Obi-Wan's lectures?"

From my vantage point, I could see the brilliance of his smile, even from the side. "Mmm, no. You're missing his look of exasperation."

"You couldn't see me. But can do it again with the look." Almost ruefully, I chimed, "It won't take much acting."

At my words, Anakin shocked me yet again by coming to a stop and sliding me from his grip as he crouched. My feet were barely on the rocky ground for a moment before he twisted at the waist, tucked his arms underneath me, and lifted me up. Never losing his grip on the lunch case, one of his arms held me at my back while the other balanced me in the crook behind my knees. Instinctively, my left arm grasped hold of his right shoulder as the other's hand braced itself against his broad chest. As if all of this had been premeditated, he strolled forward on the slope again like he hadn't just literally swept me off my feet.

Our faces were now inches apart, and we mutually studied each other's expressions even as Anakin continued to carefully advance up the hill. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a warning voice told me I should put my outranking clout to actual use and order him to put me down. Another voice shushed her with convenient practicalities. With these shoes, what would I do next?

Despite the brazenness of his action, Anakin had the reservedness to look a little shy, yet he didn't address our new intimate state. "It will be hard to sell it. Obi-Wan doesn't usually lecture me while wearing a dress."

This was the moment. If I didn't ask him to put me down now, I wasn't going to. It was another choice in the crossroads.

My lips curled up into a resigned, humoring smile. "Nor while you're carrying him, I'd imagine."

He crinkled his face into an odd, wry grin. "I carry the team more often than he will ever admit."

Because of the brightness of that sunny day, one would've had to look very closely to see the blip of an unnatural cloud that passed over Anakin's face.

Still willfully lost in the play, I put my face into a ridiculously exaggerated frown and spoke in Master Kenobi's deep, elegant accent. "Don't do anything without my approval. And you must respect your elders, my young apprentice Padawan learner."

Dark blond eyebrows rose appreciatively. "That was actually pretty—" Anakin's eyes went wide as he halted his step, and suddenly I was very grateful for my up close sight of his face.

We'd reached the top of the hill. I looked over my right shoulder and— for the billionth time in my life— I felt grateful to have been born and raised on Naboo.

Acres and acres of grassy meadow spread out around us. Beyond the opulent field, thundering walls of water emptied themselves into pools of glistening currents. Anakin and I stared at the violent, beautiful, humbling vista of the waterfalls, the both of us momentarily stunned into awed silence.

After a few seconds, I shifted my gaze to the man cradling me in his arms. "What do you think?"

His eyes were already on my face. His voice was low as he replied, "Do you remember when I said whenever I picture the Force, the rolling hills of Naboo are what I see?" I nodded, feeling more appreciation for the significance and honor of such a statement than I had at the initial declaration. His cheeks tugged up the corners of his lips. Eyes penetrated mine as he promised, "I will always, always remember this place, Padmé."

I smiled back, at a loss for words. His reaction was even better than I could have hoped for.

He resumed carrying me forward, and so caught up in the moment was I, it didn't even register that I could've begun walking on my own feet now. A grass carpet unveiled itself before us, but I was too interested in the quizzical look overtaking Anakin's face.

I turned over my shoulder again to follow his gaze. I smiled in understanding. "They're called shaaks."

A large herd of hefty creatures balanced on precariously skinny legs were scattered throughout the meadow. They seemed not to care that their peaceful oasis was now being shared by a pair of humans.

"Shaaks," Anakin repeated diligently, as if I'd just taught him another Nabooian phrase. "Funny looking, aren't they?"

"Crazy people actually ride them."

"They do?" I should have known better than to mention it. There was too much excitement in his voice and in the resulting look on his face.

Genuine caution seeped into my tone. "It's very reckless."

I couldn't have advertised it better if I'd tried, which—let the record state— I hadn't.

As we progressed further into the field, I selected a spot up ahead that would do nicely for our picnic. I pointed at it with all the confidence of a managerial queen. "There."

Anakin obediently carried me to my chosen haven. He set me down carefully, after which I straightened my dress as an unbidden flush rose in my cheeks. My corset had steeped low during the journey, and while too much flesh hadn't yet been revealed, it had gotten precariously close. I was quick to pull the stiff middle piece back up into place as discreetly as possible. Anakin politely averted his eyes as he placed the lunch container on the ground. Being the one most familiar with its contents, I stepped forward to unhinge the top hatch. From it I retrieved an expertly compacted, dark purple blanket. Our fateful picnic was about to begin.

"I've never seen waterfalls like this before," Anakin mused— for the tenth time. We were nearly finished with our selection of fruits, slices of meats, breads, and other treats, but his eyes had continuously darted to the breathtaking scene around us throughout our meal. "I don't know how I didn't hear about them before." He gave me a wide smile, but there was an unmasked intensity to his gaze. "Just when I think I can't admire Naboo any more than I already do, I fall more in love with it every day."

{Are you allowed to love?}

I pointed towards the large basin of water off in the distance. "Sola's husband proposed to her somewhere over there. It's one of the reasons they came back to Varykino on their honeymoon."

"Tell me more about Darred."

I hid a smile, impressed that he'd remembered the name of my brother-in-law. It had only been spoken a few times at my family's table back in Theed.

"He's a good man," I vouched, silently hopeful that whatever troubles my sister and her husband were facing, they would course through them in short time. "Very talented with his architectural designs. They met at Theed University. It seems they were quite taken with each other from the start." I smiled softly at the memory of when Sola commed me with the unabashed news that she'd met "the one". She'd come to this awareness after only their first meeting. "There wasn't a long courtship before they were married." My fingers trailed the tall grass on my left. Pink and purple flowers clung to the tops of the stalks like dewdrops of rain after a storm— delicately, vulnerably, as if the slightest wind or hunting hand may steal them away from their ledge. Wistful, I half-mumbled, "He was her ana ondóme."

"What does that mean?"

I looked up at his question as if startled he'd asked it. "Ana ondóme? It's a Nabooian phrase, a romantic notion…" I hesitated, nervous for bringing this topic up with Anakin of all people. "It's used to describe someone who gave another their most memorable… kiss."

"And… do you have an ana ondóme?"

For a moment, I thought about lying; unfortunately or no, I was aware of how poor I was at it. I pursed my lips and nodded.

Anakin picked at the turf by his feet. "Who has been your most memorable kiss?"

The answer was so readily available that my mouth almost opened to blurt it out. I managed to stop myself from saying 'Yours' just in time. Instead, I merely blushed and distracted myself with playing with the lofty grass at my side more intently. "Next question."

"Alright, who was your first kiss, then?"

I was as unrelentingly absorbed by my distraction as he was determined to steer me out of it. "I don't know…"

Anakin exhaled in something of a disapproving snort. "Sure you do, you just don't want to tell me."

"You going to use one of your Jedi mind tricks on me?" I gave him a challenging stare.

"They only work on the weak-minded." At his emphasis, I couldn't help remembering the speedy exit of Fregor Antilla.

I bit down on my lip as I quickly weighed the potential pros and cons of this conversation. "Alright," I acquiesced, diving into the unknown as bravely as if I were jumping into one of the cold pools of water behind us. "I was twelve." I looked over to see Anakin smiling in victory. Something about that successful grin prompted me to discover a new advantage in my answer. "His name was Palo. We were both in the Legislative Youth Program." My voice became more suggestive, and I purposefully drew out my description. "He was a little older than I. Very cute." Anakin's chin visibly clenched. "Dark, curly hair. Dreamy eyes—"

"Alright— I get the picture."

He shifted his gaze grumpily. I couldn't help it— I smiled.

Anakin still couldn't look at me. "So, what ever happened to him?"

He asked as if there were massive odds that anyone would still be with their very first kiss, twelve years after the fact. "I went into public service; he went on to become an artist."

"Maybe he was the smart one."

I knew Anakin's joking tone at this point. That wasn't it. "You really don't like politicians, do you?"

He visibly sized me up with a haughty raise of his chin. "I like two or three… but I'm not really sure about one of them." This was the jester I knew, and we chuckled lightly as his veneer broke. But I was surprised, although not unpleasantly, when he continued, solemnly saying, "I don't think the system works."

Anakin and I hadn't had a discussion yet about politics, amazingly. I was genuinely curious on his thoughts. As I leaned back on my elbow, I sincerely queried, "How would you have it work?"

He settled himself into position, as if he'd been waiting for me to ask such a question from day one and had finally found his moment. "We need a system where the politicians sit down and discuss the problem, agree what's in the best interests of all the people, and then do it."

I wasn't expecting such naivete from him. "That's exactly what we do. The- the trouble is that people don't always agree."

"Well then they should be made to."

This I openly balked at. "By whom? Who's going to make them?" He was mocking the idea of democracy to a woman who'd spent most of her life defending it.

"I don't know, someone."

"You?"

He judged me as if I was the ridiculous one. "Of course not me."

"But someone?"

He nodded. As if that cleared up everything. "Someone wise."

How could he not see where such a system would lead? "Sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me."

For the very first time, Anakin fixed me with a stare which— despite its familiar intensity— was neither charming nor alluring. "Well?" Cobalt eyes searched my face, tentatively seeking out a morsel of agreement from me. "If it works?"

He said it with the air of someone who knew exactly what kind of system he was talking about. Unexpectedly, especially given the warm sun, I felt cold shiver go down my spine.

He seemed confident in his question, which unnerved me to no end. However, the longer I looked at him, the more the gleam returned to his eyes, ultimately ending in a smirk. And he was caught.

The breadth of my relief stretched my cheeks back with my amazed smile. I owe an apology to a galaxy for my lack of foresight, and for what I said next. "You're making fun of me!"

He shook his head in a false show of defense, his foreboding look giving way to curved lips and white teeth. "Mmm, no! No, I'd be much too frightened to tease a Senator."

Anakin looked down at the blades of grass littering his lap, chuckling to himself still. The lightweight innocence returned to our picnic as if it had never left. My gaze lingered as I silently watched him, a soft smile adorning my lips as I reflected on how easy it was to feel this way around him. I drifted my focus back to the tall grass I danced with in my left hand, the tips brushing against the pads of my fingers.

"So, you think I should suggest my reformation idea to the Chancellor?"

Now I really knew he was teasing me. "Oh, you're so bad!" I reached behind his waist for the uneaten fruit in one of the drawers of our container. I threw it at him, but he caught it with a laugh.

"You're so serious all the time."

"Me? Serious?"

My intention inflamed, I reached behind him again and threw yet another ball of fruit, and another. Anakin reacted by juggling the weapons of assault with maddening ease. Determined, I grabbed the last two fruits Nandi had packed for our nourishment and tossed it at the jester. Finally overwhelmed, he let the balls fall around him in a rain of fruit. Two bounced off his shoulders and rolled into the grass, but I howled with laughter when one landed squarely on his head.

I listened to the sound of my glee as if the noise were coming from someone else. It had been an immeasurable amount of time since I'd heard myself laugh so freely.

Anakin rubbed the crown of his head, but he seemed to be enjoying the sound of my unrestrained merriment as much as I was amazed to hear it. After a moment, he asked, "Do you have anything planned for what we do after this?"

My laughs subsiding, I turned away in order to suppress yet another smile. He hadn't asked if I had anything scheduled for myself— the notion that whatever happened next, we would do it together was simply, naturally implied. Surprisingly, despite the fact that we'd spent almost every waking hour together for almost five full days, his presumption did not bother me. The only person I usually spent this much unbothered, consecutive time around was Dormé and— previously— Cordé, and despite the vast differences in their personalities, I still didn't find myself wanting a break from Anakin.

I finally met his gaze, and my smile grew again of its own doing. "No. Do you have something in mind?"

He nodded, confidently answering, "I want to swim to that island."

This caught me by surprise. "But, I thought…" My voice trailed off, and I let my conflicted expression do the explaining for me.

Anakin shook his head. "I'm over my fear of the water. Besides, like I said, lakes aren't so bad when they aren't filled with monsters."

I raised an eyebrow at this, but I directed my next question to the other problem— Anakin still wasn't a master at swimming itself. In fact, though the exploits had been fun, he still looked like an awkward Wookie in the water. "You're not worried you'll sink the moment we leave the beach?"

He laughed, throwing his head back as my charge ricocheted off of him without finding a mark. "I think I'll manage. I would like to see this island that was worth a daily trip from you on school retreat."

He remembered my story.

I had to be mindful to arrange my face so that it didn't give away my irrational surge of delight.

But of course he had.

Truthfully, I was excited at the prospect of returning to the island, not just to see how— if at all— it had changed over the years, but also to introduce Anakin to another special place for me. However, his inexperience and flailing in the water caused me to negotiate his suggestion. "We should take the water speeder."

"Nah, no deal," he countered, shaking his head. "I want the experience that child-Padmé had."

"The island looks close from the terrace, Ani, but the swim takes close to twenty minutes each way. The currents can be strong."

His chin was defiant. "I went down and practiced this morning. When you were asleep."

I studied his face, severely doubting if I could believe him. In the core of his character, Anakin valued honesty too much to ever be a truly good liar.

"Did you?" My dipped voice made it clear I saw through his claim.

The smirk only grew wider. "Mm-hmm. I'm getting good. I'll keep up."

I rolled my eyes, recognizing a stubborn wall when I saw one. "Fine. But don't expect me to resuscitate you in the middle of the lake if you drown."

His bit down on his bottom lip as he grinned wider. "Understood. I'll make sure to do it closer to the beach."

The image of my lips breathing life into Anakin's as I crouched over him in the island's surf flashed into my imagination, its haze more intimate than clinical, and I blushed and looked away. "Just don't try to do any showing off.'"

He didn't reply. When I looked back up at him, his eyes caught mine before they darted back and forth between me and the herd of shaaks nearby. "You want to see some showing off?"

I looked over at the bulbous animals, then back at him. "You can't be serious."

But he was already scrambling to his feet and rising to his full height. "I told you." He paused, towering above as he looked down on me on the blanket below. His chest swelled with bravado. "I'd never tease a Senator."

I rolled my eyes at his larger-than-life display but shot an expectant hand out towards him. He beamed brightly as he stepped forward and grabbed it, assisting my rise to my feet as he pulled me up. I dodged the abandoned treats on the linen as I followed him towards the unsuspecting herd. If I couldn't stop Ani, at least I could be there when he inevitably fell off so I could rightfully call him a lunatic. All the same, his energy was contagious, and I felt the youthful vigor ignite my own adrenaline as I hiked behind him across the field. Wearing a pretty dress for no other reason than for the sake of wearing it, ribbons in my hair, basking in the sun in a meadow of sweet-smelling grass, waterfalls cascading behind us, and Anakin's reckless daring thrilling me… the industrial halls of the Galactic Senate felt a lifetime away.

Shaaks were not creatures anyone would describe as beautiful. They were known for tipping over on their own accord, so massive was their blubbery form on their scrawny legs. Their skin was leathery and reflective, which only enhanced their peculiar appearance. They were gentle and non-threatening, but you'd never guess it from the natural redness of their beady eyes. Gungans and humans alike farmed them for their meat, and between that and their appearance, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the poor creatures. If you were to draw a lottery of which manner of body to spend an entire existence in, surely shaaks would be one of the worst options.

A few members of the herd skittered off as Anakin approached, and I dutifully hung back as he stealthily stepped towards his chosen martyr. It was a particularly large shaak, one that did not retreat as Anakin advanced. It was unclear whether this was due to uncharacteristic bravery or a lack of intelligence and self-preservation. Hard to tell with shaaks.

Anakin extended both arms straight in front of him, one palm parallel to the creature as if to soothe it. He took gradual, measured steps until he was a within a few meters of his ride of choice. He was still much too far away from it to grab hold and mount, but my confusion disappeared when he bent his legs and jumped— higher and farther than any regular man could— and landed, standing, on the beast. My hands lifted and I slowly clapped approvingly, expecting him to sit into a makeshift saddle on the shaak. But Anakin was nothing if not an overachiever when it came to showing off, especially to me.

Despite the steep curve of the back of the animal, Anakin remained balanced, his arms waving out at his sides to keep himself straight. As soon as he dared, he looked up at me to gauge my reaction. He would've seen me laughing in amusement, though truly impressed. "It's a different look for you from podracing, Ani!"

At my shout, the shaak took off, but Anakin was yelling and hollering with enjoyment as he continued his ride. I ran forward and to the left, wanting to stay as much out of their path as possible. Anakin had a marvelous handle on his balance, but that didn't mean he could steer the creature whichever way he liked. The run to keep clear of them took me to the crest of the hill, where the mountainous Lake Country spread out around me magnificently. Sunlight shimmered on the vast lakes below, and I felt once more like a child in the active creation of a to-be-treasured memory. A sense of levity and unadulterated fun prompted even more giggling, as Anakin and his shaak headed in the same direction as I, though roughly a safe thirty feet away from where I stood.

They continued past me down the hill, but the innocence of the moment came to a screeching halt as I watched— seemingly in slow motion— as the shaak decided it had had enough. It buckled wildly, tossing Anakin high into the air. He collided with the ground hard. Adding to my immediate alarm, the indignant beast landed a kick to his back before scurrying away.

All mirth fled my body. I no longer saw the waterfalls to my left, the lakes to my right, or even the expansive sky above me. My entire life's focus narrowed to the face-down figure.

He struggled to get up, his arms shaking with effort. Next, I watched in horror as those same arms collapsed underneath him as his body sank heavily into the grass with an audible groan. And then nothing. Stillness.

Everything in me went cold. I was running before I'd consciously told my legs to move.

"Ani?!" No answer. I cursed my heartless musings from just minutes ago when I'd pictured him falling off and me rushing to tell him 'I told you so'. Why had I thought so carelessly? "Ani?!"

No, no, no.

My skirt and corset kept me from breaking out into the full sprint I wanted as I ran as fast as I could to him. "Are you alright?!" I threw myself on the ground, coming to a landing the same time my outstretched hands anxiously grabbed at his shoulder and waist.

But he was already moving, turning himself over the second my knees made contact with the grass.

With a smile on his face that outdid the twin suns of Tatooine.

He cackled up at me shamelessly. "Oh!" Adrenaline still coursing through me, I swatted at him, throwing myself into his perfectly uninjured body. I felt the sun once more as we rolled as one. Anakin pulled me into him, and our momentum carried our trajectory into a full rotation, our ears filled with the sound of our laughter.

Purposely, I stopped our tumble with me on top of him. It felt bold and powerful to pin a Jedi down, even if just for fun. Especially if it was Anakin. Although the giggles still shook my rib cage as I peered down at him, I accused, "Did you fall off the shaak on purpose just to trick me?"

His grin was smugly unapologetic. "Maybe. But I hadn't anticipated it kicking me."

The comment almost made me stop to ask if he was alright again, but the way he was smiling so victoriously at his dastardly plan proved such concern would be in vain. "Serves you right. What was I supposed to tell Master Kenobi? That I'd let his Padawan get crushed by a shaak?"

After a beat, his eyes twinkled at me. "Right now, I think I'm being crushed by you."

I squealed at him in mock-indignation. As if my hands could never get enough contact and looked for any excuse to touch him, I beat his shoulder in playful reprimand once last time. Finally, I planted that same hand on the ground to begin to boost myself up to standing. I'd just barely applied pressure on the grass when I felt his hands, which had remained on my waist, securely hold me in place.

My smile and my laughter died on my lips as I met his stare. His eyes weren't so filled with mirth anymore; the blue pools had made room for something else.

"I didn't say it was a bad crush."

Something electrifying moved in the heat of my blood, and I swallowed nervously. I suddenly became aware that all I'd have to do was bend my elbows and my lips would line up perfectly with his. My position above him had become too advantageous.

I'm truly sorry, Master Yoda. Naboo's gravity is just too unpredictable. I didn't mean to fall onto Anakin's face and catch myself with my lips.

Madness and desire. Are they not one in the same?

I had more control over the situation than I wanted, yet simultaneously felt like I had none at all. Such was the nature of being caught in the bedlam with Anakin.

He saw an opportunity as I struggled with my apprehension, and his nimble hands snaked under the space in my dress where the corset met the attached skirt. Our eyes met as my breath audibly hitched. Even as Anakin met my stare unwaveringly, his fingers slowly slid and tightened themselves further around my waist.

Then my eyes flashed wide as I realized what he was about to do a split-second before he started. But by then I was laughing maniacally, wiggling above him as he tickled me. "Ani!" Gasping, frenetic, I bent and brought my arms into my sides in a failed effort to block his attack on my waist. Losing the position of my locked arms immediately made me fall against his chest, my chin narrowly missing his as my mouth laughed into his shoulder and neck. I hadn't been tickled since I was a very young child, and I'd never particularly liked it, but with Anakin my animosity towards the lack of control over my body was gone.

At the same moment the tickling abruptly stopped, and with a speed I wouldn't have thought capable, he pushed off the ground with his hips and heels to flip us one more time. Now I was pinned under him, my wrists pressed into the ground above my head by his gentle but imprisoning fingers. Both of us panted from the exertion of laughter and movement.

"Alright, milady." Anakin was grinning wickedly, a competitive air about him. "You're pinned. What are you going to do?"

He was playing a wrestling game, likely something he'd learned in his combat training. Captains Panaka and Typho had trained me well, too, over the years. I knew enough self-defense techniques to remove myself from under a larger opponent, though in none of my instructions did we ever factor in my challenger being a Jedi— with their faster reflexes and prophetic Force abilities. Still, if I managed to catch him off guard, I might be able to extract myself.

But as I gazed up at Anakin, my body went limp. The fight to get away didn't exist. Not anymore. Not with the truth literally staring me in the face, its cheeks flushed with youthful energy, its bright eyes conveying adoration even as they were increasingly mixed with inexperienced nervousness. I wasn't the only one aware that my competitor's body was pressed into mine along every inch in a very adult manner, and the excuse of sport was melting away.

As I felt Anakin's weight, it dawned on me how inevitable this moment was. We'd been steering ourselves towards this since that first night on Coruscant when I'd dimmed the lights and he'd looked at me the way a grown man looks at a grown woman. At the time, I'd fled to the familiar island of my solitude; at present, I couldn't recall why.

I knew why I'd felt safe enough for my walls to crumble at the funeral. I knew why I'd woken up feeling so renewed this morning. I knew why, with a galaxy's worth of problems stacked on my professional desk, I'd felt like a care-free girl giggling with him on the picnic blanket. I knew who the cause of all of it was.

Anakin.

He quieted as he hovered above me, his excited expression relaxing into a more sincere look that mirrored how I felt. The sun shone brightly behind his head, the rays coursing through his short blonde spikes so he yet again looked like a sun-god come down to join the mortals.

I'd been pushing down and denying my attraction to him from that first night in my apartment. I'd dismissed it as one-sided— an adolescent fiction solely on his end— even as my heartbeat quickened numerous times at the mere thought of him. I'd denied to myself how my eyes had begun to reflexively dart to him every time the opportunity presented itself, and I'd refused to admit how many times I'd replayed our kiss over and over in my head. In hindsight, it wasn't impossible to think I'd brought up Sola's ana ondóme just to veer the conversation towards my own.

I could no longer deny the obvious. I was viscerally attracted to Anakin— emotionally and physically.

Yet, as much as I now cupped a precious truth in my proverbial hands, a swarming vortex of questions threatened to suck it out between the cracks of my fingers. All of these overwhelming questions were simply variations on the only one that mattered. Ironically, it was the exact inquiry Anakin had just asked of me.

What am I going to do?

I didn't have an answer. His arms were locked the way mine had been, his palms applying just enough pressure on my wrists to keep up the faded pretense of his dare. If Anakin bent his elbows and crossed the sparse distance between us, he could easily kiss me. He'd done it before. Did I want him to do it again? It wasn't even a matter of knowing what I should want— for the very first time, I began considering cosmic rules that were outside the jurisdiction of propriety, professionalism, Jedi, Senator. Hesitantly, like a foreigner in unfamiliar lands, I allowed myself to crack open the door to another realm of possibilities, wherein shoulds not be dictated by the logical mind but by the instincts of the heart. That world had a very different set of decrees for what I should want to happen next. For a brief moment, their laws seemed more natural and right than any in the strict domain I'd ventured from.

A bold, dangerous, fateful question that threatened to shatter all the walls protecting us at last ventured into my mind. It crossed a benchmark I was never again able to truly honor.

What if...?

With that single, innocent prompt by an inconsequential golden girl in her meadow, a twenty-five-thousand-year-old republic became destined to fall.

What if... Anakin was a Jedi, and I was a Senator, and we didn't let those titles stop us anymore?

That answer would have to wait for another encounter to be explored. Anakin's eyes were searching mine as the sound of our mingled breaths caressed our ears. Gradually, a blush came across his already flushed cheeks. He became again a shy nineteen-year-old, and with one last look, he slowly crouched backwards and removed me from his full-body hold. My eyes squinted as the brightness of the sun took the place where his halo'd head had been. He came to a stand and walked several steps away from me. Watching this happen, I sat up at my waist, propping myself up on my palms behind me. His back was to me, hands curling and uncurling into fists at his sides. I wanted to go back to the innocent airiness of the picnic. To the blissful giggling. But though we hadn't kissed this time, a far more intimate line seemed to have been crossed here in the grass than the one on the terrace.

How many lines did we have left?

Anakin slowly turned and looked back, his expression serious as he approached and extended a hand out to me. I stared into his eyes, and though I had not the daring to speak or move, that transformative awareness that there were other laws of a different world, one which I could choose to submit to, did not abate. The door had been opened, and I felt myself caught in between two thresholds, not yet willing to make a decision to step in either direction. I was not sure I could ever close the door again and forget what potential awaited me on the other side.

He waited patiently as I peered up at him from the soft grass, his hand calm and steady. And then I held no self-consciousness as I took his palm. He pulled me up to him, our handhold staying just as firmly clasped as it lingered between our respective sides. We stood a foot apart, not breaking eye contact, two statues unknowingly practicing for an altar. A surge of breeze lightly wiped my golden dress around my ankles, and his Padawan braid lifted weightlessly off his shoulder. Mountains of water were crashing down just over the hill, and lakes of majestic beauty glittered to my right, but the only blue I saw were the twin oceans in his tanned face.

He moved first. He kept his grip on my hand as he led me over to the nearest shaak, the same one which had escaped from him in what felt like another lifetime. Our silent communication continued as he asked me with his eyes instead of with words. I nodded.

Anakin let go of my hand and cleanly mounted the shaak. Once he was settled, he leaned down and offered a hand to me again. I took it, full of trust as he swiftly pulled me up behind him. Wrapping my arms around Anakin fully, I pressed myself against his back tightly, going past the point of polite proximity needed in securing a stable hold. I couldn't get close enough. The inside of my thighs joined in my endeavor to be as near to him as possible, aligning themselves against the lean muscles in his legs. I didn't even wait for the shaak to move under Anakin's command before I rested my head on his shoulder blade, his short ponytail moving against the dial of my hair's side crown.

Questions returned to my thoughts, all of them more variations on the same, most important one. But though Anakin expertly ushered the shaak forward, he didn't do so with any haste, and I ignored my nagging internal inquires as I simply allowed myself— if only for this one ride— to just be. At one point, although there had been no trip or leap from the docile beast underneath us, Anakin lifted an embracing palm to cover my interlocked fingers on his abdomen. It was passable as a mere cautionary check, as if to make sure I had a secure grab on him. But the way every inch of my front— from my calves, my thighs, my stomach, my breasts, my neck, and the entirety of my arms— was wrapped around him, his safety gesture was logically excessive. A liberal voice in the back of my mind ventured to guess that even with all this contact, he'd wanted just a little more touch.

We rode in comfortable silence, our soundtrack the breathing of the complaisant animal, the low thumping as hooved pads met soil, and the roaring waterfalls growing ever more distant behind us.

"Oh!" Padmé cried, and she punched out at him. He caught her hand and pulled her in close, and she willingly crashed onto him, wrestling with fury. Anakin finally managed to roll her over and pin her, and Padmé stopped struggling, suddenly aware of the closeness. She looked into his eyes and felt the press of his body upon hers. Anakin blushed and let go, rolling away, but then he stood up and very seriously reached his hand out to her. All self-consciousness was gone now from Padmé. She looked hard into Anakin's blue eyes, finally and silently admitting the truth. She took his hand and followed him to the shaak, which was grazing contentedly once more. Anakin climbed onto its back and pulled Padmé up behind him, and they rode off across the meadow, with Padmé's arms about his waist, her body pressed up against his, a swirl of emotions and questions spinning about in her mind.

The afternoon at the meadow replayed in her thoughts, particularly the ride on the shaak. For the minutes of that ride, Padmé had not hidden behind a mask of denial, or behind anything else. Sitting behind Anakin, her arms about his waist, her head resting on the back of his shoulder, she had felt safe and secure, perfectly content.

- R. A. Salvatore, Attack of the Clones official novelization