¹Destiny | Padme Amidala

Meadow picnic

The meadows of the hills- and lakes-landscape were covered with flowers of all colors and shapes. Not far away, sparkling waterfalls spilled into the lake, and from this vantage point many other lakes could be seen among the hills, all the way to the horizon.

Seed pods on white umbrellas floated in the warm breeze, and white clouds hovered in the bright blue sky. It was a place full of life and full of love, warm and pleasant. For me it was a place that wonderfully suited Padme Amidala.

A herd of friendly Shaaks grazed contentedly nearby, not caring about us. Shaaks were strange-looking quadrupeds with huge,bloated-looking bodies. Insects buzzed, but they were too busy with the flowers to bother  Padme or me.

Padme sat in the grass and absentmindedly picked a flower here and there to lift it to her nose and breathe in the scent deeply. Every now and then she glanced at me. "Tell me, have you ever had a boyfriend?" I asked hesitantly, trying to provoke another conversation between the senator and myself to break the peaceful silence.

 She rolled her brown eyes and slapped my shoulder with one hand. "Shut up,Timothee." She reached for another flower and avoided eye contact with me to hide her red cheeks. "Honestly, I'm serious." My grin betrayed me. Padme shook her head as she finally looked up and met my green eyes. "Possibly." She replied, tilting her head and smiling mischievously. I let out a laugh. "Go on."

"I don't know." Padme looked down at the ground with a smile, where she was nervously plucking blades of grass from the earth. A few curls fell into her face. "Sure you do. You just do not to tell me." "You gonna use one of your Jedi mind tricks on me?" Padme looked up,only to see that I was already looking at her.

"They only work on the weak-minded. You are anything but weak-minded. In fact,you're the strongest woman I've ever met,Padme." Padme smiled at my words before brushing her curls out of her face. "All right."She finally relented.

 "I was twelve. His name was Palo. We were both in the Legislative Youth Program. He was a few years older than I ..." She narrowed her eyes, then gave in to the temptation to tease me. "Very cute." She said, a thousand hints resonating in her voice. "Dark, curly hair...dreamy eyes..." 

"He sounds like me!"I interjected with a laugh, and waved my hands excitedly. A moment later, though, I had calmed down. "Whatever happened to him? "I asked her then, a trace of curiosity coloring my words. "I went into public service and he went on to become an artist."

"Maybe he was the smart one." I turned my head toward her, seriousness on my face. Padme, however,found the humor in my eyes and started laughing indignantly. "You really do not like politicians, do you?" "I like two or three." I replied her, and then considered before I had to restrain myself from breaking out into a grin. "But I am not really sure about one of them."

Padme laughed at my words and decided enough was enough with the teasing. "I do not think the system works."I finally said matter-of-factly. "How would you like it work?"She asked me. "We need a system where politicians sit down and discuss a problem." I replied,as if that were simple and logical, and turned my gaze to her after focusing on on a beetle in the grass. "Agree on what is best for all the people and then do it."

Padme's eyebrows drew together. "That is exactly what they do. The trouble is that people don't always agree." "Well,then they should be made to." "By whom? Who's going to make them?" She asked me indignantly, drawing her eyebrows further together. "I don't know, someone." I said as calmly as if we were talking about the weather, and shrugging my shoulders.

"You?" Padme asked me suddenly and her eyebrows shot up. "Of course not me." I shook my head. "But someone?" Padme asked, tilting her head. "Someone wise and intelligent." I nodded while maintaining eye contact with her. "Much like yourself."

Ignoring my compliment,Padme lightly chuckled with a playful roll of her brown eyes ."Sound an awful lot like a dictatorship to me." She turned away for a moment, only to look me in the eye again. My lips curved into a mischievous little grin, and a playful spark ignited in my green eyes. "Well, If it works...." I said impassively. 

Padme stared at me sternly, and I returned her gaze,but then a slight grin formed on my lips as I shrugged. But Padme saw in my eyes the humor behind my words. She  tilted her head and drew her eyebrows together again as a smile formed on her mouth. "You're making fun of me!" "Oh no, I'd be much too frightened to tease a senator." I laughed, plucking blades of grass from the ground as I averted my eyes.

"You are so bad, young man." She grabbed a fruit and threw it at me, and when I caught it, she threw a second one and then another. "And you are always so serious, young lady. " I reprimanded her and started juggling the fruits. "I'm serious?" She grabbed another fruit and threw it at me. I fin it up and seamlessly wove it into my juggling. Padme threw another and another, until finally there were too many and I lost control and tried in vain to avoid the falling fruit.

I laughed. Padme laughed  as well at my juggling attempts and I wished moments like these would last forever. I wished I could lie in that meadow all day and listen to her beautiful laugh, listen to the waterfalls, and enjoy the warm sun.

Padme's laughter gradually died down to a grin before she jumped up with a laugh and before I could react, she was already running across the meadow. "Hey!" I called after her and jumped up as well. "Wait for me!" "Then run faster, Timothee!"  Padme laughed and looked over her shoulder at me.

 "I'm going to get you!" I laughed right behind her and got an eye roll, head shake and grin from her.  We both ran across the meadow.  It felt great - the wild flowers touching my hands, ankles and legs, and the wind whipped against my face. I was fast enough to constantly be right behind her.

"I got you." I laughed as I tried to cat her, but she managed to evade my tight grip. "You wish." Padme laughed back before she continued to run across the meadow, closely followed  by me.

It didn't take very long before we fell down next to each other on the grass . Padme's hair was spread out around and she wiped the sweat off of her face. I laid next to her and looked up at the sky and all of their weirdly shaped clouds.

Then an idea came to my mind. Bursting with excess energy, I jumped up and ran across the meadow again, getting in the way of a  Shaak and startling it with my exuberance. The normally passive grass-eater snorted, set to attack, and chased me fleeing first around in circles and then down the hill.

I eventually managed to swing myself onto the back of the Shaak before the animal began to run like mad. I rose to stand and balanced back and forth.

"Timothee!" Padme laughed and held her stomach. Suddenly the Shaak bucked and in the next moment I crashed into the grass with a rollover the Shaak's head and was run over by the animal.

Padme's laughter froze as she saw me get run over by the Shaak. She quickly jumped up and started to run after she watched me try to get up but fall back to the ground.

"Timmy!" She called out when she finally reached me. My heart warmed at my old nickname and I had to pull myself together not to jump up and fall into her arms at that moment.

 "Timmy, are you all right?" Padme dropped down next to me and turned me onto my back. My features were calm and relaxed, but then I contorted my face and started laughing heartily.  Immediately a grin spread on her lips.

"You idiot! You scared the shit out of me." She slapped me on the shoulder while my laughter bubbled out of me. Padme merely slapped me more, causing me to take her hands and turn her onto her back. However, she didn't let me dominate her and rolled me onto my back again as well. Soon we were both a laughing mess frolicking in the meadow.

When we stopped rolling and I was lying over Padme, she looked deep into my eyes. I blushed and rolled off her. Then I stood up and held out my hand to Padme. Padme looked questioningly into my green eyes and took my hand, giving me a tingling sensation.

Then she followed me to the Shaak, which had long since begun to graze peacefully again. I got on the animal's back and pulled Padme with me,and then we rode slowly across the meadow. Padme had her arms wrapped around my waist, her body nestled against mine.