VII. For Better or For Worse

I tilted my head back, gazing up at the thinning sky traffic, pinpricks of light in the settling gloom. Their combined whir of engines rumbled even from afar, dotted lines that bisected the glittering skyscrapers of the Senate District. Anakin and I sat beside one another on the temple steps, awkwardness congesting the silence between us.

"…Would you like to try some?"

Anakin appeared momentarily startled by my offer, before he scowled down at the blue shake in my hand. Still, he accepted it with a stiff nod and took a sip.

His shock rang vivid in the Force. "…Water-mango?"

"It's actually called Shian fruit. It's native only to Trandosha."

"That explains why the workers in the refectory had no idea what I was talking about…" he mumbled under his breath before taking a much longer sip.

I suppressed a smile. "That would be my error. I made the name up for lack of access to the HoloNet."

Unfortunately, my comment seemed to only further aggravate Anakin. He set the drink down between us with a thump, condensation gradually seeping into the stone below.

"Nova-Li, what did you think you were doing?" he suddenly demanded, voice razor-sharp, hands fisting at his sides. And for a grim moment, I thought he was referring to my interference with him and Palpatine, but he continued before I could formulate a response, "After what happened the last time, you thought it was a good idea to go back into the city on your own?"

"...You were worried about me," I realized, and something in my chest warmed at the thought. "Anakin, I wasn't breaking the rules this time," I added, hoping to reassure him. "Master Plo gave me permission to go out as long as I stayed topside and returned before dark. I was perfectly alright."

"Then why were you crying?" he demanded, casting me a pointed look.

I shot a hand up to my face, self-conscious. Was it really that obvious?

"No one bothered me, if that's what you're thinking," I said, trying to smother down the sudden bout of discomfort, feeling awfully exposed. "I was in my feelings, is all."

Anakin stared, nonplussed. "You were…in your feelings," he repeated, as though trying to decipher a foreign language.

I could feel my face growing hot and I rubbed needlessly at my eyes, undoubtedly rimmed red after my earlier crying jag. "Uh huh," I said unhelpfully, not willing to elaborate on my exact reason for crying. Instead, I turned to look back ahead towards the darkening horizon.

Even so, Anakin watched me warily, as though anticipating a new bout of waterworks. I caught a glimpse of his hand hovering in my direction, before jerking back, as though unsure of whether or not I would find his touch tolerable.

"I'm fresh out of tears," I assured him.

"…My point still stands," he said stiffly, still examining me closely. "You shouldn't go out there alone. It's dangerous."

"What? You want me to invite you next time?" Though I had meant it to tease him, the words came out more sincere than I'd intended them.

Anakin shifted, shooting me a look from the corner of his eyes. "If it'll keep you out of trouble."

And I smiled as I realized, "You spoke with my master." There was no other way he could have known where I'd gone. "Were you…looking for me?"

"I found this," he said, abruptly turning to dig something out of his utility belt and unceremoniously dumping it into my lap.

I gazed down at the familiar gadget with a pang in my chest. I had never actually gotten to use the holoray-emitting device, though I was sure Wolf Clan would have loved it.

"I forgot about this."

"I know," Anakin said, a hard edge to his voice. "You never came back."

The words were damning in their truth and I swallowed thickly around the sudden pressure in my throat. "…I didn't think you wanted me to."

"Well, you were wrong."

I fiddled with the edge of my robes, creasing the slate blue hem between my fingers, unable to meet his eyes. "You were so angry." And to an extent, I had understood. Palpatine had manipulated Anakin so thoroughly that from his perspective, I had ruined his friendship with a valued mentor. I did not regret it, but I didn't think Anakin could ever see it the same way.

"I was," he admitted. "And I'm sorry for that. I should've trusted you from the start. Palpatine is a liar."

A pleasant sort of shock rippled through me. "He is," I agreed softly, wishing I could articulate just how big of an understatement that was. "What happened?"

After I had gone to Obi-Wan, I had been asked to make a formal report to the High Council, wherein I had shared as much as I could feasibly know without even knowing if any of it would make a difference. And the only assurance I had received afterwards was that Anakin would remain safe. Even after I became apprenticed to a council member, I still hadn't been allowed to learn anything regarding their investigation.

Anakin shrugged, working his jaw. "The only proof they could find was the camera footage from the club, but Palpatine's hood concealed his face. It's my word against his, so they won't take it to court. For now, I'm not allowed anywhere near the Senate Dome without a Jedi Master present and they're reemploying full protocol for temple visits, so he can't just show up here unannounced."

"That's…something." It was no Sith takedown, but it was something; the bare minimum at any rate. "And you? Are you okay?"

Anakin sighed, lamenting, "I'm still being forced to attend sessions with Healer Stass."

I was unable to fully suppress a startled laugh. "That's…that's good."

None of it guaranteed that the ending would not remain the same, but it was a relief to know Palpatine's influence was being somewhat curbed. If only the truth of his nature could be revealed before it was too late.

"Thank you for coming to find me," I said, carefully tucking the holoray emitter into one of the pouches on my belt. "I missed you."

Anakin jolted in place, seemingly taken aback by my admission. "You did?"

"Of course. You're my best friend." Or, it would be more accurate to say, he was my only friend. But there was no need to make myself out to be an even bigger loser than I already was.

"I am?" His delight glistened like prisms in the Force. "Wizard. But, don't tell Obi-Wan or he might get all smug."

My brow furrowed in thought as I tried to decipher the non sequitur. "What does Obi-Wan have to do with our friendship?"

Anakin did not immediately reply, and in the resulting silence, a swell of embarrassment bloomed in my chest. "He asked you to be friends with me." Force, I didn't think I could become any more pathetic, and yet, here I was.

"No he didn't!" he hurriedly denied, turning to me with an earnest expression.

I stared back, hardly convinced.

"I mean," Anakin reluctantly backtracked, "he sorta encouraged me to be kind to you after…you know, after I found you crying that first time we met…"

I snorted a laugh and waved him off. It's not as though I was offended by it; just vaguely humiliated. "It's fine, Anakin."

My comlink pinged with an incoming transmission and I lifted my wrist to answer it, rushing to speak first, "Don't worry, Master Plo. I returned to the temple before dark, just as promised!"

"That is good to know," he said. "Can I expect you to join me for third meal?"

I met Anakin's eyes above my wrist comm. "Actually, Master, I was just catching up with Anakin."

Any residue of tension between us completely vanished at the sound of my words.

"Ah. I see. I am glad to hear of it, Nova-Li," Master Plo said, warm and genuine. "Then I will expect you back by your regular curfew."

"Understood," I said and ended the transmission.

Anakin grinned, reaching forward and tugging at the long braid trailing down the right side of my face. "I like your padawan braid."

"Thank you."

The majority of human and near-human girls that earned the rank of padawan rarely decided to cut their hair, simply twisting the section behind their right ear into a traditional braid, and styling the rest of their hair as they pleased. But because I typically plaited my hair to keep it out of the way, I'd decided it would look a bit silly in combination with a padawan braid.

Instead, I'd decided to get creative, taking the section along my hairline, starting above my right eyebrow where I parted my hair, and braiding it against my scalp down to the base behind my right ear in what I would have called a Dutch braid in my previous life. From there, it extended into a simple three-stranded braid that ended at my chest. I'd then had a service droid cut off the remaining weight of sleek black hair, until only feathery, chin-length layers remained.

"How'd you get it to do that?" he asked, curiously poking at the jutted braid framing my face, swiftly growing comfortable with invading my personal space as though we'd never stopped being friends.

I swatted his hand. "Careful, or you'll ruin it."

"It's just hair," he huffed.

"It's called a Sylph braid," I explained, something I had learned from the HoloNet, while I carefully patted the strands down to make sure he hadn't poked anything out of place. "I can show you how to braid it if you want."

"Let's see it then."

"Not now," I said, grabbing my melting shake and jumping to my feet. "I'm hungry."

"I could go for a Nerfburger," Anakin said, as always, ready for a good meal. "Dex makes the best ones, hands down."

I stared at him. "...I meant to go to the refectory."

"No way," Anakin scoffed, making a face. "Temple Nerfburgers are actually the worst."

"I am not sneaking out of the temple to eat a Nerfburger with you, Anakin," I said sternly, despite my immense temptation to do so. He wasn't wrong about the temple-made Nerfburgers. But I respected Master Plo too much to break my word to him.

Anakin smirked. "I see I have much to teach you, Padawan Deraan."

I arched an eyebrow, eyeing him skeptically, placing my free hand on my hip. "And just what are you suggesting, Padawan Skywalker?" I asked, addressing him with mock-seriousness.

Anakin held up his wrist, using his other hand to point to the strapped-on comm unit. "Ever heard of a delivery speeder?"

For a moment, all I could do was gape. Until words of outrage finally burst from my mouth, "Huh? You're only mentioning this now?!"

Anakin grinned. "Knew you'd see it my way."

"Gloat another time! I want a greasy, greasy Nerfburger!"

"Alright," he said with a laugh as he loaded Dex's comm frequency. "Two greasy Nerfburgers, coming right up."

I was making steady progress on updating the files for Kashir, a planet that had recently applied for membership of the Galactic Republic, when I felt Anakin's bright presence entering the Archives. When I looked up, it was to find him making a beeline for me from across the vast room.

I greeted him with a quick wave before turning back to the computer terminal, continuing to scroll through one of the articles on the HoloNet News. As soon as Anakin reached my side, he leaned over my shoulder, taking a close look at the screen. "Why in the stars are you reading about the monarchy rule on Kashir?"

"Hello, Anakin, I'm doing fine, thank you. How have you been?" I snipped while I continued typing up the necessary notes on my datapad. I didn't have to look up to know he was rolling his eyes.

"Doing alright, thanks," he deadpanned, pulling over a chair and plopping down next to me. "Are you almost done with whatever that is?"

"Not in the slightest." A lot of the mainstream news articles I had found tended to be heavily biased, so it was difficult to glean what was accurate and what was hearsay. Kashir's application for membership was straightforward enough, but it was the controversy behind it that was a little trickier to outline without incidentally including misinformation

"It can't be that important, can it?"

"My final reports will likely be used by Master Plo and the Jedi High Council, so it can," I explained patiently. Once I finished typing up my latest sentence, I finally turned to face him. "What did you need?"

Anakin heaved an explosive sigh and slouched further down in his chair. "I'm bored."

I grinned and said, "Perfect! I need all the help I can get with this. Load up the 'Net on the computer terminal and you can get started."

For a split second, I thought Anakin was going to bolt, horror disfiguring his face. But to my pleasant surprise, he sat up in his chair and scooted over to the neighboring terminal to boot it up, doing as I asked with only a few grumbled complaints.

We spent the remainder of our morning in this fashion, parsing through articles, videos, and forums, until we had proper insight into the political circumstances and inhabitants of Kashir. And with Anakin's help, I was able to complete my report sooner than anticipated.

"Can we go now?" he complained, while I typed up the final details.

"Sure. Did you want to grab some food?"

Anakin released a sigh of relief. "Finally. And we can eat later. I have a better idea."

"If you say so," I said, saving my document before powering off my datapad and tucking it into my belt. I would still have to go through and do one last revision before I sent the final report to Master Plo, but I would have plenty of time to do so later tonight. "I'm scheduled to meet with my master in the Meditation Gardens, but I have a few hours of free time until then."

Anakin waved me off as he lead me out of the Archives. "Trust me, this'll be way better than some lame meditation session."

"Meditating is not lame, Anakin. Reserving time to intentionally connect with the Force is a very important part of being a Jedi, if not the most important." As someone who knew life without the companionship of the Force, I refused to miss out on something that was practically magical.

Anakin shot me a disgusted look over his shoulder. "You sound like Obi-Wan."

I met his gaze with a baleful glare, unwilling to dignify that with a response.

With quick strides we made good time and soon reached the cavernous space of the Main Temple Hanger. Curiously enough, he lead me over to the docking queue of airspeeders lined up in one corner, just about hidden by the looming shadows of various transport ships and escort cruisers.

"What is it then? Don't keep me in suspense," I said when we paused beside one of the airspeeders.

Anakin smirked and held up his wrist, where his comm unit was snugly strapped on. With his other hand, he tapped one of the buttons and a hologram flickered to life.

I leaned close, eyes darting across the blue display of information, before my face broke out into a grin. "You got your pilot's license?! Congratulations!" I threw my arms around him in a congratulatory hug, awkwardly having to stretch up. Anakin was only fourteen, but he was already shooting up like a weed. He squeezed me back tightly, his presence in the Force just as warm as his embrace, before I pulled away to ask, "Why didn't you tell me you were taking the test?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Anakin said, his face practically glowing with joy. "And now, I can legally use this."

This time, he fished something out of one of the pouches of his utility belt, and proudly held up a key cylinder.

"Legally, huh?" I said with a snort. And then, I realized, "You don't mean…?"

"How would you like to go for a flight?"

"Is that even a question?!" I hurried past him and flung myself into the passenger seat. "Come on, we're wasting daylight!"

Anakin quickly followed and jumped into the pilot's seat at my side, securing the key cylinder into the ignition coder and firing up the engine, repulsors whirring to life. And for a moment, I was surprised by Anakin's caution as he carefully maneuvered the speeder out of the hangar and edged over the lip of the open hangar bay doors, until―

A shout of surprise tore from my lips as we careened down, sharp winds buffeting against us, padawan braids whipping back.

"Anakin!" I scolded as he evened out the speeder and abruptly shot off towards the nearest skyway.

Anakin laughed ecstatically and I was unable to remain annoyed for long. Instead, I leaned against the frame of the passenger door, forearms balanced along the top as I peeked over and stared down into the steep chasm of Coruscant's multilevel ecumenopolis. The colossal skyscrapers, towers, and various complexes of the Senate District stretched far below, until they were gradually swallowed into the shadows of the undercity. Hulking billboard screens and holoprojected adverts flashed colorfully around tiers of steady sky traffic. And above us, the midday sun shone brightly, its light reflected down via orbital mirrors to embrace us with its artificial warmth, refracting against the shining bodies of a million airspeeders and along the surface area of arching transparisteel spires.

Even after being raised here for over twelve standard cycles, I could hardly believe any of it was real.

"I never knew a place like this could actually exist."

In the Force, I felt a wave of Anakin's bewilderment. "Nova," he said with an edge incredulity, "you've never known a place other than Coruscant."

I turned, leaning back against my seat and brushing aside the hair strands flapping against my face, tucking them securely behind my left ear. "I've been to Trandosha's moon," I reminded him sardonically, "in case you forgot."

Anakin shot me a brief look of exasperation before returning his gaze to the skylanes ahead. "You know that's not what I meant."

I shrugged and watched the weaving transit of the skyways, simply enjoying the cool breeze and retaining all the awe of casually flying just below the planet's stratosphere, unbothered by the bustle and clamor that typically accompanied city traffic.

"You were brought to the Jedi Temple as a baby," Anakin continued, "I was brought here when I was nine standard. Unlike me, this is everything you've known. Why do you seem so shocked by it?"

Unfortunately, I could never answer that truthfully. "I was raised strictly within the temple grounds," I pointed out to him instead. "Coruscant is practically a foreign land in comparison."

"I guess that's true," he agreed reluctantly. "Still, it is dangerous."

I rolled my eyes. "This again?"

"The only reason you've been to Trandosha's moon is because you were kidnapped," he stressed.

I frowned. I thought it'd been sweet when Anakin had first been adamant that he accompany me on any city outings I planned to make. And though I hadn't gone on any since I'd visited Monument Plaza a few weeks ago, his continued insistence was getting a tad irritating. This was certainly the Anakin Skywalker I remembered from a previous lifetime―aggressively overprotective and relentlessly stubborn.

"Of course I'll invite you to tag along whenever I want to go into the city," I reminded him. "...Assuming you're planetside."

Vexation abruptly surged like a maelstrom around him. "Nova-Li―" he cut himself off with a curse as an airspeeder suddenly swerved around us. Not wasting a second, Anakin slammed the throttle forward and my spine slammed against the backrest of the seat as he jerked around the ceaseless traffic.

"Anakin, what in Sith's hell are you doing?!" I shouted above the grating winds as I held on for dear life.

But Anakin didn't bother answering, entirely focused on catching up with the other speeder. He lurched us to the side, avoiding a line of cargo transports lumbering ahead by a hair's breadth, a manic grin lighting up his face as he continued to weave in and out with reckless abandon. And within seconds, we pulled up beside the airspeeder that had cut us off.

As one, Anakin and I leaned over to stare at the neighboring pilot to our right.

"Anakin," I sighed, "it's just an old lady. Leave her alone."

"Well, that's no fun," he admitted with a grumble, easing off the accelerator.

"Actually," I said, turning around in my seat to watch the flash of red and blue lights approaching from the distance, "let's get out here before those police droids catch up with us."

"Aw, kriff," Anakin said, and with no warning, tipped the airspeeder down to drop us entirely out of our current skyway.

"Could you slow down?!" The wind practically stole my words away as we continued to drop with no sign of stopping, bypassing entire skyway levels below us.

"Just hold tight for a bit longer!" Anakin called back with a laugh, abruptly jerking the airspeeder to merge into one of the skyways closer to the undercity.

Down here it was both darker and brighter, sunrays lost to the millions of structures built above us, allowing the city's glittering hologram lights to shine all the more. We cruised along for a bit, following the flow of traffic, releasing our breath once we were sure the police droids hadn't followed our trail.

"See?" Anakin said triumphantly. "I told you this would be way better than meditating."

"With your piloting skills, I think I was safer with the Trandoshans," I quipped back, not necessarily disagreeing with him, because I wouldn't say it was better, but it was breathtaking.

Anakin side-eyed me, looking mildly offended. "So," he griped, "should I take you back to the temple?"

"What? No!" I twisted in my seat to face him and leaned over the center console. "Let's fly for a bit longer? Please?"

Anakin refused to meet my pleading gaze. "I don't know. You clearly feel unsafe with my piloting," he reminded me flatly, though his amusement shimmered in the Force.

"I was teasing, I swear!"

"So, what you're really saying is that you think I'm a great pilot?"

"Um…" At his warning look, I conceded defeat, "Yes, Anakin, you're great. Now, can you please fly down alongside those holoprojected sculpture replicas? I wanna get a closer look."

"Well, since you think I'm so great," he said smugly, doing as I asked.

"Thanks!" I settled back into my seat with delighted anticipation, eagerly reverting back to tourist-mode no matter how odd Anakin found it to be.

Our time was already so limited, but I intended to make the best of what we had.

A/N: As usual, all I'm capable of writing is slice-of-life. But I hope you enjoyed the update! Please review if you can :)