Accismus⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.• Anakin Skywalker⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.•

12.

'Well, us girl Jedi are the strongest of all,' Sol smiled at Pooja, making a grin begin to grow on her small, young face.

'Really?'

'Really,' Anakin's voice cut in. Sol craned her neck to look over her shoulder as the Pooja and Ryoo did the same. Padme had wandered into the house to greet her parents and sister, who was the mother to Pooja and Ryoo.

'And women Jedi use their powers to constantly get under other Jedi's skin.'

Sol should have known that Anakin would never agree with her without leaving a comment of his own. Her face dropped into a bothered one and the two girls she crouched in front of gave each other confused looks. Losing interest, as children do, Pooja and Ryoo ran back into house to find their Aunt Padme.

'That was gentlemanly of you,' Sol stood up to her full height with her hands on her hips. Anakin let out a laugh and walked past her, heading into the house with bags still in hand. Sol was left outside, both irritated by Anakin, and content with the location of where she would be staying for the rest of their stay on Naboo.

---

Sol excused herself from the meal that Padme's parents, Ruwee and Jobal, made for the family and Jedi. She needed to give the latest updates to the Jedi Council and was grateful that Padme's family understood. The senator vouched for her, saying that Anakin and Sol were under strict orders and surveillance of the council, as they were only learner Padawans. And as Sol was the one to have seen the surveillance droid among the hedges of the Naboo palace, she should be the one to give the update, not Anakin.

The room Sol attended her meeting with the council was the room she had been given by Padme's family. It held a bed with gold sheets and the floors were tiled with an old styling that was influenced by the Italian people of the old human regime. A large window overlooked the lake that Sol had been dying to swim in ever since she arrived at the estate, and the walls were thick and insulated.

With her hands by her sides, Sol stood three paces away from R2-D2. The droid's circuit held a red light, meaning that a hologram of herself was being broadcasted to the council back on Coruscant. She stood in the sunlight that was setting through the large window, hoping that she was clear, and the connection was stable enough to reach the temple.

'It was like a droid, only it had projectiles on the back that allowed it to levitate,' Sol explained to the holograms of Master Yoda, Master Windu and Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. 'I'm almost certain it was watching me in the gardens of the palace.'

'And there were no markings on this droid?' Master Windu questioned, his hologram wavering for a moment.

'None that I could see, Master.'

The hologram-Masters went quiet to deliberate in their own presences. Sol knew that other Masters were sat in the meeting room of the temple, but the hologram just didn't stretch that wide. In the silence, Sol fidgeted her fingers that were by her sides. She hoped that the council wouldn't be disappointed in her for not investigating the droid further or for not chasing after it from the palace.

'Continue your mission as you are, you will,' Master Yoda spoke and a relief washed over her. 'But be vigilant of this droid. Notify us, you will, if it turns up again. Do not engage. The senator is your priority. Investigating leads, Master Kenobi is.'

'Has Master Kenobi received any information that we should know about?'

'Looking for a lost planet, he was,' Master Yoda let out a small chuckle at the memory of Obi-wan's dilemma. 'Set out to find it, he has. He has not yet returned to the temple.'

'I see,' Sol bowed her head. 'I will resume the mission as normal. Thank you, Masters of the council.'

R2 closed the transmission and his head rotated back into operation. Sol let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the bed in the corner of the room. It had been a long journey, and she still hadn't had a moment to rest yet. With the metaphoric paperwork out of the way, she could use the rest of the afternoon to nap and regain her strength. Anakin was with Padme, and she would probably be taking the first watch for when Padme goes to bed, so now was a good opportunity to get some sleep.

'Artoo, can you wake me when the senator retires to her room?' Sol lifted her head to look at the droid, who let out a series of affirmative beeps and boops.

On top of the gold sheets, she closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

---

Padme dismissed Anakin from his duties to spend some time with her sister and nieces. She would only be in the living room, which was down the hall from where Anakin and Sol were stationed for rests and personal time. He would be able to sense if anything was out of place, so he ventured down the hall with a plate of food in hand.

When Sol excused herself from dinner to contact the council, Anakin thought that she would return for a bite to eat. But an hour passed after dinner was done and she hadn't come out of her temporary bedroom. So, he decided that he would grace her with some food and to allocate guarding hours throughout the night between them.

Stopping in front of her door, which was the traditional type that he would have to open with a handle, he sensed a calm aura inside. Sol's white presence in the Force was in a resting state and Anakin realised that she was asleep. This made sense as to why she didn't attend dinner after the meeting with the council.

With one hand holding the plate, Anakin opened the door with the other. The sky had darkened outside and was on the eve of being night. This made the room dim with the lights of R2's circuits visible against the wall. The droid made no noise as Anakin stepped in, not wanting to wake Sol before he had been told to.

'How long has she been asleep, Artoo?' Anakin whispered, putting the plate of food down on the bedside table. A series of hushed beeps gave Anakin his answer and he looked to see Sol's sleeping figure on the bed.

With her arm under head, Sol rested under Anakin's gaze. Her utility belt was still around her waist and her lightsaber hung limp across her in a dangerous fashion. Anakin had heard the stories of Jedi hurting themselves from carelessly sitting on their weapons or not putting them away when they retired from their duties. He told himself that what he was about to do was not out of kindness or concern for her welfare, but to avoid an unnecessary injury on such a delicate mission.

Anakin stepped to be beside Sol's bed and reached his arm around her to unclip her belt. He was careful to grab the belt before it sagged against the mattress and slid it carefully from underneath Sol's torso. Folding it once, he then put it on her nightstand next to the meal he had brought for her.

He gave in to the voice in his head that told him to sneak another look at the sleeping figure of his partner. He kept his body facing the nightstand, but turned his head back to Sol. She wasn't awake to catch him and R2 didn't possess the human ability of analysing Anakin's true feelings, so he let his thoughts fall through the cracks of what he knew wasn't right.