Anakin marvelled at the soft face that was peaceful in its sleep. Her eyelashes brushed against her cheeks and her pink lips were parted slightly to let out small breaths of air. He wanted so badly to reach out and trace the smooth skin of her shoulder or her neck, but he didn't want to wake her. She could already be awake, waiting for him to leave so that she could eat without his prying eyes, or to avoid a painful conversation with him. He would make fun of the fact that she couldn't be that attuned to the Force if he was able to walk into her bedroom and stand beside her without her even flinching. And then he would leave, satisfied that he had made her blood boil, and with a warm feeling in his stomach from her attention.
Sol tormented Anakin. He knew he shouldn't be feeling the way he did when he saw her, or experience the nervousness he did when he thought that she could hear his thoughts. It wasn't forbidden to love, as love was something the Force wanted Jedi to feel in order to protect the things that were good. But love for another person, especially another Jedi, could result in being discharged from the Order. It was not the way of the Jedi, but who was to say that the Jedi ways were right?
Anakin had always questioned the traditions that were so deeply rooted in the Order. It was old-fashioned to believe that only evil could come from indulging in the pleasures of life, like love and family. In Anakin's eyes, the dark side is what comes from restriction and prohibition. Defiance of these restrictions leads to anger, and anger leads to hate, and hate is what allows the dark side to flourish. But how could Anakin hate anything, when Sol was the brightest light he had ever saw in the Force?
But he remembered something. She could be the Chosen One. She could be the one who will achieve the greatest title of all, the one who defeated the Sith and bring eternal peace to the republic. Sol would be deemed the greatest Jedi there ever was and she would be a Jedi Master that was viewed as a Force send. She would be known as the Force baby who was brought to her mother with a destiny like no other.
Anakin wretched the hand away that was hovering over the skin of Sol's arm. He hadn't realised he had subconsciously reached out to touch what looked so soft and silky. The thoughts of Sol being his opponent returned and he turned away, leaving through the door with haste. R2-D2 let out a slow beep at what he had witnessed and heard Padme retire to her bedroom, initiating the process for the droid to wake Sol from her nap.
---
They spent two days at Padme's childhood home. No attempts were made on the senator's life, and they had no further information from the Jedi Council. This had made Sol and Anakin wilfully slack in their guardship, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Sol had looked out for the surveillance droid in the trees surrounding the house, and Anakin had swept the estate for any suspicious bugs or slugs that could attempt to poison the senator, but nothing. They mutually agreed that they had avoided detection by travelling to Naboo, and could relax, as Padme had insisted from the very beginning.
On the second day, Sol decided to indulge in the waters of the lake. It was from Padme's suggestion, as she had rambled about the memories of swimming to the other island with her friends in her younger days. Padme said she would lend Sol some swimming wear and they could spend the afternoon in the warm sun and the diamond-like water. Sol gave in, enjoying the feeling of relaxing for one of the first times in her life.
'You won't have to fret about any watery creatures, either,' Padme explained as they laid out some towels on the sand. 'There are nets about a hundred metres from the shoreline.'
Sol didn't even bring her lightsaber out of the house and she was yet to worry about the decision to not have it with her. All she worried about was the risk of a sunburn and if the swimsuit Padme leant her was too revealing.
'Have you swum before? I know there's barely any bodies of water on Coruscant. Does the Jedi Temple have a pool?' Padme said and Sol laughed at the unveiled personality of the senator.
'No, I've never swam before. But it's shallow, right?' Sol asked and Padme nodded, the wide-brimmed sun hat on her head flopping at her movements.
Laying on the sand, the two held light conversations that contained next to nothing about Jedi duties or bounty hunters. They laughed, the melodies of their voices carrying over the lake and bouncing off the mountains surrounding. Sol's bare legs felt hot in the sun and her light eyes were forced into a squint to be able to see the brunette senator next to her.
They mutually agreed to head into the water and dropped their coverups. Sol's swimsuit was dark blue and covered her torso, but left her shoulders, arms, and the tops of her legs bare. Padme's was similar but had dangling jewels and was a light orange colour. With their hair tied up in buns, the two stepped into the cool blue and sighed in relief.
Sol was in bliss as the water lapped at her chest, the sand beneath her feet shallow enough to only reach her waist. But she wanted to feel the cool sensation above her middle, and crouched down as the senator did some swimming techniques beside her.
'If you stretch your arms out in front of you and move them like this-' she showed her a breaststroke motion. '-it will propel you forward.'
'That's okay. I'll just float for now.'
While enjoying the lake, Sol looked up to the estate. There was a balcony that wrapped around the house that looked out onto the lake and its surrounding islands. It's where she had first been able to see the lake when they first arrived at Padme's family home. When Sol looked to the space in between some decorative flowerpots, she saw Anakin leaning on the stone barrier of the balcony. He watched the two women in the water with his wrists resting in front of him. It was too bright for Sol to see his expression or to identify where his eyes were focused, but it made her slightly nervous to know he had probably seen the tight swimsuit she wore and seen more of her skin than had ever been exposed.
'He's watching you.'
Sol whipped her gaze to Padme, who beamed at her while rotating her arms to keep her afloat.
'What?' Sol pretended to not know who she was referring to.
'Anakin,' Padme said with a quiet voice but with a giggle forming in her throat. 'He's been watching you ever since we got here.'
'I'm sure you're mistaken, Padme. He's probably looking into the Force for disruptions or threats on your life.'
'That's what a Jedi would say,' she rolled her eyes playfully. 'But a woman would say that he's admiring you.'
'Pfft, thinking of ways to catch me off guard, more like,' Sol scoffed and shook her head. 'Anakin's not a fool. He may be arrogant, but he knows that it's forbidden to have such feelings or think such thoughts. Perhaps he's ill.'
'Ill with love.'
Padme cooed and Sol let out a sigh. She glanced back up to the space where Anakin had stood and saw that he was absent. She didn't let the disappointment that tried to creep into her heart settle, but Padme could see the expression that was so well hidden on Sol's face. She treaded the water and stopped beside the Padawan, taking hold of her arm to let her know she was near.
'Let me know if I'm overstepping here, but I know about the Jedi's rules,' Padme started, and her voice was softer and no longer as teasing as before. 'It's ridiculous to me that they impose what they do. But I've known Anakin a long time, since he was a boy, and he's a very expressive person. Passionate about what he loves, even if he's not allowed to be. I won't tell anyone; you have my word.'
Sol didn't say anything. It didn't matter how Anakin felt or how Padme thought he felt, it was forbidden. She would never allow herself to be drawn in by how handsome Anakin was or how passionate he was. She would never admit how soothed she was by his orange glow in the Force, or how nervous she felt under his intense stare. If she looked inside herself without the pretence of what a Jedi should feel, she would say that she was infatuated with Anakin.
'Oh, he's coming over!'
Padme was swimming away in another breaststroke and Sol looked up from the sun's glare in the water in haste. Anakin walked under the tree that shaded part of the shore and stepped into the sun, his boots sinking annoyingly into the sand. He stood out in his black leather over the top of his dark brown robes, ridding any thought from Padme and Sol that he was here to swim with them.
'Solaris! I need to talk to you urgently!' he called, squinting from the water's shine from the sun above. Sol jumped to her feet that floated and went to rush out of the water, cursing herself for trying to relax while on a mission.
'Wait there, Sol!' Padme called out and Sol halted her splashing. The senator stood with her arm out and looked at Anakin on the shore.
'Whatever you need to tell Sol, can be said here! We're relaxing! Is it really that urgent?' Padme said and Sol raised her eyebrows, looking back to Anakin who paused for a moment.
'Urgent enough to beg her audience on the shore, Senator,' Anakin replied, and Padme rolled her eyes, falling back into the water with her eyes closed. Sol took that as her cue to continue her journey out of the water. Her feet met the shore, and she stopped in front of Anakin, who turned to look at her.
'Is there an attack? Did you see something?' Sol questioned in panic and with wide eyes. She stared up at Anakin in hopes of a quick answer so she could jump into action, but he struggled to speak at all. His Adam's apple moved at his hard swallow and his blue eyes, that appeared clearer than usual because of the water's reflection, quivered in attempts to stay on her face.
'No,' his voice was higher pitched than Sol had ever heard it.
'Then what is it?'
The droplets on her skin and swimsuit dribbled down her toned figure. Anakin used every midi-chlorian in his body to push away the thoughts he dared not think and forced his eyes to dare not travel lower. But the human boy side of him was itching to do so and he cursed Sol for not moving to grab her towel to cover her curved figure that was on display.
Were all female Jedi this toned and curved in the best places?
'I still want you to train me,' Anakin said after a deep sigh to gather his thoughts. Once the words left his lips, Sol let out a groan and squeezed her eyes shut. This didn't help Anakin's willpower in the slightest.