the path to unseen serenity

ii

Once Anakin gets the speeder in the air, the two sit in a comfortable silence, not saying anything for a while until a thought crosses Evelyn's mind.

"How long have you actually been on Coruscant throughout the war?" Evelyn asks with a little bit of reluctance, nervous to strike up a conversation.

Anakin shrugs, "Maybe five months? Well six now since we started working together," Anakin responds, eyes flickering over to her every so often, "I honestly have no idea. I know it hasn't been much though," he says as Evelyn breaks out in a somewhat adorable laugh, causing him to smile, "What?"

Through a fit of giggles, Evelyn tries to get out her words, "y-You don't even know?" Anakin laughs with her over something so simple, "Seems like The Hero with No Fear can't keep time correctly," Evelyn says sarcastically.

Anakin rolls his eyes as the speeder hits the ground, landing in the middle of the Republic shipyard, "Whatever happened to that nap you were going to take?" He asks with a smile.

Evelyn, suppressing a smirk, gave him a playful shove as she hopped out of the vehicle, "A certain someone wouldn't stop running his mouth," she quips back, knowing full well that they just sat in silence.

Anakin opens his mouth to retaliate before closing it into a smile, "Yeah right, Ev," he says with ease. Evelyn's heart soars at the nickname he's just given her, using her hand to fix her hair, desperately trying to hide her blush, "Alright, let's go. We've got work to do," he says, grabbing the bag he put in the back and walking towards his Venator.

Evelyn falls into stride beside him, "You never really told me where we were going," she points out, fiddling her hands together, not really knowing what to do with them.

Anakin turns to her, surprised that he didn't tell her, "We're going to Ilum," he says slowly, as the Venator comes into view to the two Jedi.

"Ilum?" Evelyn asks, shocked that they're going back to the planet, "Why Ilum?"

"We're gonna help Obi-Wan with the youngling's magical crystal hunt," Anakin responds with a chuckle; the mere thought of returning to the planet of Ilum, where Jedi Younglings journeyed to find their kyber crystals for lightsabers, brought a nostalgic smile to his face.

~~~

Anakin and Evelyn walk out of the ship after landing on Ilum, bundled up in their parkas, "Did we really beat Obi-Wan here?" Evelyn asks, surprised that they were earlier than the responsible Jedi Master.

Anakin furrows his eyebrows, "That my friend, is a very good question," he says, trailing off into his thoughts, "That I don't know the answer to."

Evelyn nodded, looking up to the sky, losing herself in her own thoughts before she's snapped out of them. She sees a trail of smoke flying by, "Anakin..."

Anakin looks at Evelyn, seeing her eyes locked on the sky. Following her path, he sees a crashing ship, maybe a T-16? He's not sure though. Until he feels a presence, "Time to save Obi-Wan again," he mutters under his breath.

"What're we gonna do?" Evelyn asks, prepared to help.

"We're gonna try something new," Anakin says hesitantly, not sure if Evelyn's ever done anything like this, "You're going to throw me up to that ship," Anakin says with an uneasy grin as Evelyn gets bug eyed.

"Wha- How?" She asked, still shocked that it was even possible while wiping the sweat off her hands on her bluish-grey Jedi robes.

Anakin stutters on his words, not really finding them, "You just force me up there," Anakin says with no hesitation, momentarily forgetting about her anxiety.