'Ani, I've told you this already. It's not something I can just outright teach you!' Sol reached down and grabbed her towel while defending her previous words. 'I'm only a Padawan, too, remember?'
'Most of the things you learn in training are from looking into the Force, right?' Anakin tried.
Sol ended Anakin's misery (or bliss) and pulled her towel over her shoulders. She held it around herself and left her legs bare. Anakin could handle this much and could now focus on persuading Sol to teach him how to use the Force like she does in battle.
'All I need is some guidance. Come on, it's not like we're busy with Jedi duties,' Anakin pleaded while also rolling his eyes. 'Do me this one favour.'
'Why should I do you any favours?' Sol said with her hands on her hips and with an inquisitive eyebrow raised. 'You make it your life's purpose to make fun of me. You should be doing me favours!'
'And I'll get you some new fingerless gloves or something,' Anakin shrugged and put on his most convincing smile. 'Come on, Solaris. I need to prove myself to Master Obi-wan and the Jedi Council. I want to be a Jedi Knight soon and this could be my big break. You're just so... talented with the Force.'
She huffed at the nickname. She knew that it was painful for him to compliment her, but it was what he needed to do in order to convince her further. She wasn't sure if it was even possible for her to teach Anakin in the way Master Yoda taught her in the ways of the Force, but at the mention of Master Kenobi, she thought about what the man had done for her. Obiwan had made it possible for her to finally have a ticket off Coruscant with this mission. It was something Master Yoda had never done for her, and if Anakin were to be promoted to a Jedi Knight, Master Kenobi would be extremely proud of his student. Perhaps this could be the favour she did for Obi-wan in return for his effort of granting her wishes.
'Fine, Ani. I'll teach you how to use the Force in this way.'
'Oh Force, you are... amazing,' Anakin clenched his teeth together but was able to let out the words Sol would never have thought she would hear from his mouth. She rolled her eyes and was already thinking of how she could possibly demonstrate how to use the Force like she did to Anakin.
'Oh, are you going to be doing some Jedi training?!' Padme called from the lake. The two Padawans had almost forgotten she was there (which the council would have keeled over at knowing). The senator rushed out the water with her face beaming, and grabbed her towel when she made it on to the shore.
'Can I watch? I know the perfect place!' she wiped at her skin with her towel and Anakin raised an eyebrow at her eagerness. Sol didn't see an issue with having Padme present but hoped that she was able to perform at her best with the watching eyes of a government official senator.
'I don't see why not,' Anakin said with light uncertainty. 'As long as you both get changed quickly.'
'You want to go now? Can't we just sunbathe for a little,' Sol whined. She had been enjoying the relaxation and found herself not wanting to jump back into Jedi training and duties.
'Yeah! Do you tan, Anakin?' Padme asked and Sol stifled a laugh. Anakin looked at the smaller woman with a blank face and turned away, which was a signal for the training to begin as soon as possible.
'No. I'm not a fan of sand,' he threw over his shoulder and Sol signed, following after him with Padme in tow.
---
Sol assumed that the place Padme had meant for their training was some sort of hall or courtyard in the town of Theed. But when the senator came out of her room in an orange dress that had a train behind her and drapes of fabric from her arms, Sol questioned her assumption. The senator led them out of the estate and a short distance away through some trees and forestland. Anakin dressed in his usual Jedi attire and Sol was the same, her hair in a braid down her back.
Padme led them to a meadow that was filled with flowers and tall grass. Sol was in awe at the number of butterflies that flew without a care at their entrance. She thought the few insects she saw in the gardens at the palace were magnificent, but these were so much more. They had an infinite number of flowers to nurture and rabbits shuffled through the grass in search of bugs to eat. Sol was pleased to see so much wildlife still flourishing in the galaxy that she thought had been wiped out. It was a stark difference to Coruscant and she hoped that these lands would be protected. Most planets in the core were concrete jungles with an overload of speeders and business buildings, and a lot of the galaxy's nature had been flattened to cater to the age of capitalism. But Naboo had kept it's waterfalls and forests, most likely from Padme's presence in the senate.
Settling herself down in the grass, Padme waited in anticipation for Anakin's training to begin. It would be a show for her to see how Jedi worked and meditated to the Force, and even more entertaining to see how Anakin would react to being told what to do by Sol. He barely listened to Master Obi-wan, so it would be interesting to see how he listened to Sol's direction.
'Okay, so as you know, the Force runs through everything. It's in the air, the oxygen, we breathe, the wind, and so forth,' Sol explained. She and Anakin were three paces from each other with Padme not far away, playing with the hem of her dress while listening.
'It can be easy to get distracted with the things that are more prominent that the Force runs through, like you or me. The Jedi teach you to focus on these things and use them to your advantage, but you need to focus on the way the Force moves around you. This is what will propel you.'
'Will I be subjected to a demonstration here?' Anakin said, amused.
'If you wish. Get out your saber.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
Sol's eyebrow twinged at the mockery in his voice, but let it go as he listened to her instructions. He took his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it, holding it with both hands up high. The sun was bright, like it was in every part of the planet, so it made the blue beam of his weapon blinding. But Sol didn't need to see it like an opponent would, she only needed to focus on the Force around her.
'Alright, Ani, come at me.'
'With pleasure.'
Padme let out a frightful gasp at which the speed Anakin made it over to Sol. The senator closed her eyes in fear of seeing Sol's head separate from her shoulders, peaking through a finger from the desire to still watch. But Anakin's blade never met Sol's skin as she ducked and leapt to the side when he tried to strike down at her. Padme pulled her hands away from her eyes to see that a spar had ensued, and the two Jedi moved at lightning speed. She was in awe at the way Sol danced around Anakin, her steps as light as air and her limbs seemingly weightless as they moved out of the line Anakin's attacks. She knew that the reflexes of a Jedi were quicker than the average person, but Sol's were something else.
'See how I'm everywhere you aren't?' Sol yelled while dodging Anakin's attacks. 'It's because you-' she dodges again. '-are where-' and again. '-the Force is!'
Anakin halted his advances and lowered his lightsaber, his shoulders heaving for a breath. He looked at Sol with confusion and she looked back at him, barely panting from her swift defences. The wind blew lightly in the meadow and the grass tickled at the Jedi's calves, but it went unnoticed, as Anakin was deep in thought at Sol's words.
'How can you be where the Force isn't if the Force is everywhere?' he questioned in disbelief.
'Um, that's a tough one,' Sol put her finger to her chin and raked her brain for an answer. 'It was what Master Yoda always said. I never quite... understood it myself.'
'Well, that's not very helpful,' Anakin deadpanned. He lowered his lightsaber and sheathed the blade, looking at Sol with a hint of annoyance.
'Hey, I said that it would be difficult for me to teach you this-'
'I know, I know, but I thought there would at least be some logic behind it all.'
Sol was beginning to feel defeated. She knew this would happen if she had tried to teach Anakin this particular way of using the Force. It was like learning how to ride a speeder; she was taught at one point but couldn't remember how she had learnt to be the driver she was today. It was second nature to her now, and if she was asked to teach someone else, she would have to take the time to think about it.
'Okay, how about this,' Sol started with her hands up to form a ball with her fingers. 'You feel the Force, right? You feel it at all times and when you close your eyes, you can see it, right?'
Anakin nodded.
'When you move, think that your jumping into the pockets of space that the Force hasn't reached yet-'
'But that's impossible. It's everywhere-'
'I know, but just think that it isn't. If you jump and aim for a place where the Force isn't flowing, it will make way for you, taking you in, making you one with it.'
Anakin looked to be as if he was listening and was attentive for once. From where Padme sat, she could see the way he looked at his shorter partner. She held back a grin at seeing how close they were to each other. The sun was lowering in the sky at the dawning of the evening and the Padawans were bathed in its light. Padme thought she saw a ring of white around them, and she didn't know the ways of the Force, but she was sure that it had a hand in the angel-like glow protruding off of Anakin and Sol.
'So, let's put this into practice,' Sol announced. She took her lightsaber from her belt and called Anakin's from his hand. His weapon floated through the air and into her grasp, before she clipped it to where her own had been on her belt. He looked nervous to be without it but squared his shoulders to stand tall and appear confident.
'I'll go slow at first,' Sol said, and her cyan saber lit up. 'Remember, go where the Force is not.'
'Alright,' Anakin blewout a shaky breath and forced a daring grin. 'Come at me, Solaris.'