[Dark Nest] - 3(28)

Anakin sat next to her, his face growing resolute. “I will not betray the Republic. My loyalties lie with the Chancellor and the Senate.”

“What about Obi-Wan?” Padme asked.

“I don’t know,” Anakin replied. “Many of the Jedi have been killed.”

“Is he part of the rebellion?” Padme pressed.

Anakin shrugged. “We may never know.”

They both stared at the floor for a moment, then Padme shook her head in despair.

“How could this have happened?”

“The Republic is unstable, Padme. The Jedi aren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the situation.” Anakin waited until Padme met his gaze, and his voice assumed a more ominous tone. “There are also traitors in the Senate.”

Padme stood, and her expression grew uneasy. “What are you saying?”

Anakin rose and turned her to face him. “You need to distance yourself from your friends in the Senate. The Chancellor said they will be dealt with when this conflict is oven”

“What if they start an inquisition?” Padme’s tone was more angry than frightened. “I’ve opposed this war. What will you do if I become suspect?”

“That won’t happen,” Anakin said. “I won’t let it.”

Padme turned away from him and was silent for a time, then she said, “I want to leave, go someplace far from here.”

“Why?” Anakin seemed hurt by her suggestion. “Things are different now! There’s a new order. “

Padme refused to yield. “I want to bring up our child someplace safe.”

“I want that, too!” Anakin said. “But that place is here. I’m gaining new knowledge of the Force. Soon I’ll be able to protect you from anything.”

Padme studied him for several moments, her expression changing from disbelieving to disheartened as she contemplated his battle-sullied clothes. Finally, she let her chin drop.

“Oh, Anakin … I’m afraid.”

“Have faith, my love.” Seeming to miss that it was him she feared, Anakin took her in his arms. “Have faith, my love. Everything will soon be set right. The Separatists have gathered in the Mustafar system. I’m going there to end this war. Wait until I return … things will be different, I promise.”

Anakin kissed her, but he must have sensed the misgivings that Luke could see even in the tiny holo-the fear of what he was becoming-because he stopped and waited until she looked into his eyes.

“Please …” His voice assumed just a hint of command. “Wait for me.”

Padme nodded, lowering her eyes in surrender. “I will.”

Anakin studied her for a moment; then, as he turned and approached R2-D2’s position, the file ended.

Luke and the others remained silent for a moment, he and Mara and Jacen pondering Padme’s final words, trying to match her expressions to her tone. When she told Anakin that she was afraid, had she been thinking of the anti-war inquisition she had mentioned? Or of what the future held for them?

Mara was the first to break the silence. “No offense, Luke, but your father gives me the shudders.”

“Why is that?” Jacen asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

Mara raised her brow in surprise. “You didn’t catch the subtext? That little threat when he told her to distance herself from her friends in the Senate?” She frowned. “I know you’re more sensitive than that.”

“What I saw was a man worried about his wife’s safety,” Jacen replied. “That’s all I saw.”

“You didn’t find him a little controlling?” Luke asked. He was really beginning to worry about his nephew’s emotional awareness; it was as though all of the tenderness had evaporated from his soul during his sojourn to explore the Force. “Even when he had completely dismissed her wish to go someplace safe?”

“He promised to keep her safe there.” Jacen gave them a lopsided smile. “From what I’ve heard about Anakin Skywalker and his abilities, he was probably telling the truth.”

“I guess that’s one way of looking at it.” Mara’s tone implied that she chose to look at the exchange another way.

“But maybe Luke and I are reading too much into it, as you suggest. There’s not much detail in a holo that size.”

“And maybe you have more context to place it in than I do,” Jacen allowed. “I’m not saying ‘it was the right thing-just that I understand what he was thinking.”

“Good point-sometimes we forget that Anakin Skywalker was only human.” Luke turned to R2-D2. “Artoo, show us the next-“