My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 17

Recklessness is infectious.

We got back to the lake house once the sky got dark, just in time for dinner. I sat in between Padmé and Anakin, in the middle of the table.

I wasn't very hungry since the picnic in the meadow was quite sufficient, so I barely ate. But the company was nice.

I assumed that Senator Amidala caught on that I wasn't giving him the silent treatment anymore, though we didn't share the information of what happened last night.

Once we finished our meal, I retreated to my room, uninterrupted.

Since there wasn't much to do, I decided to finally explore this bedroom. There was a small dresser where I stored my robes earlier. It had a few antiques as decoration on it, they made the place feel more homely.

The opposite side of the room had a mirror. I never cared for mirrors, they got in the way for many things, and I had more important worries than my appearance. They were also easy to corrupt, possibly showing a false view of things and turning someone so close to the desire of that to be true, so they'd do terribly vile things to achieve it. Corrupted mirrors are a little like close attachments in that way.

I looked into this mirror, knowing there wasn't anything wrong with it. I never noticed how much—and how little—I had changed.

My face looked nearly the same as in my youth, though its structure strengthened and fine lines appeared around my eyes and mouth. My hair changed from the ponytail I wore almost every day to just leaving it down, I saw it a bit as an act of maturity, putting past the five years I had a small braid to show off.

My appearance has never mattered all that much to me. It is merely a vessel for my life force, my sentience, to thrive in. Thinking about this so was straining on my mind, and it was already pitch black outside, so I changed into my night clothing and went to bed.

***

My eyes shot open halfway through the night and I woke up in a cold sweat. There was no apparent reason for me to be awake, I didn't have any visions or dreams, and nothing was physically distressing me.

I rub my eyes and looked in the direction of the window, in front of my bed. Anakin appeared there, clearly tense. I think he was still in his room, since he couldn't tell I could see him.

"Couldn't sleep?" I ask, startling him.

"Yeah," he responds, a bit surprised to see me.

I sit up a bit to be more alert. "Do you want to come over here?"

Anakin nods, slowly walking towards the door. Our rooms mirrored each other perfectly, making it easier to determine that he was headed for my room. A few seconds after he came out of my line of sight, I heard three soft knocks at my door.

Come in, I think, trying to not wake the senator.

Anakin walks in and locks the door behind him, walking up to my bed. He starts to pace around the room anxiously. I've barely ever seen him like this. Anakin always seems cool and collected, if not a bit bold, but I don't think I've seen him quite this stressed.

Something serious was going on, more serious than our mission, or even the odd connection we seem to share. That could be the reason whatever was bothering him also happened to wake me up. I observe him carefully, still pacing around at the foot of my bed, as stressed as when he first appeared.

"Calm down, Anakin," I urge. "You can talk to me."

He looks in my direction and stops walking, waiting for me to do something. I move to one side of my bed and pat the spot beside me, encouraging him to sit down.