Star Wars: the Chosen One

Entry 13

I had some spare time so I left the Temple and went over to Padme's apartment. While I was outside I noticed the sun was setting. I walked inside and didn't see her. I sensed her on the verandah and, sure enough, she was watching the sunset from the balcony.

I came up behind her and grabbed her waist on either side. At the same time, I said, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

She squealed, pulled away from me and looked at me. "Oh, Annie it's you. You startled me," she said, coming back over to me. We hugged and she stroked my hair. We walked over to the bench, just inside the doors to the verandah.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, holding her hand. With her other, she held her belly gently.

"He keeps kicking," she said, smiling.

"He?" I asked. "Why do you think it's a boy?" I asked her teasingly.

"My motherly intuition," she answered, smirking at me. She took my hand and placed it on her stomach. I felt a kick and smiled, sensing the baby inside her womb.

"Whoa! With a kick that strong, it's got to be a girl!" I said. We both laughed and it felt good after all the tension of the day.

"I heard about your appointment, Annie. I'm so proud of you," she said at last, looking at me.

I looked down. "I may be on the Council, but...they refused to accept me as a Jedi Master," I admitted to her.

"Patience. In time, they will recognize your skills."

I continued speaking, pretending I didn't hear what she'd just said. "They still treat me as if I was a Padawan learner." After a thought, I added, "They fear my power, that's the problem."

"Annie," she said, firm, but gentle.

"Sometimes I wonder what's happening to the Jedi Order. I think this war is destroying the principles of the Republic," I admitted honestly. I still couldn't believe what they'd asked me to do. It angered me a little, almost as much as all the distrust that was going on. Why didn't anyone see this war is the problem? Not the Council and not the Chancellor.

"Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side?" Padme asked hesitantly as if she didn't want me to give an answer, but yet did at the same time. I felt something in the Force...There was something she was trying to hide...something she didn't want me to know.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists and the Republic has become the very evil we've been fighting to destroy?" she asked me. Her voice sounded almost desperate for an answer from me...She wanted my opinion.

"I don't believe that. And you're sounding like a Separatist," I told her. I couldn't believe her. Where was all this coming from?

"Annie, this war represents a failure to listen. Now you're closer to the Chancellor than anyone. Please, ask him to stop the fighting and let the diplomacy resume," she pleaded.

How could she have asked me that? What had gotten into her? I stood up off the bench and walked away, turning my back to her. Everything went through my head then, all at once...Dooku's death, the Council asking me to spy on the Chancellor, Palpatine's distrust of the Jedi and then Padme saying all that foolishness.

"Don't ask me to do that!" I yelled. I glanced back at her and saw the hurt on her face. I calmed my voice and tried calling to the Force to calm the anger that threatened to show, but it only helped a little. "Make a motion in the Senate where that kind of a request belongs," I said, tensely.

"What is it?" she asked me suddenly.

"Nothing," I told her, looking away. "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose," Yoda had said. His words rang in my ears.