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WITH A LITTLE BUZZ FROM THE WINE, Anakin and Leora began to talk more freely. Not that the two had established many boundaries in their short time of knowing each other.
The sun had gone down after they finished their supper and everything in Gatalenta's capital city had slowed down. It wasn't like Coruscant—there wasn't a mess of speeders whizzing past or a swindler on every corner. When nighttime came in Gatalenta, one would be lucky to spot a couple, madly in love, taking a romantic stroll, or a few young people, all ready shrinking off the day's responsibilities, sipping sweet wine on their vine-covered balcony. Of course, they had the scattered celebration, and mounds of people who pour into the streets at dusk, merry and drunk. But for the most part, nighttime meant serenity.
"Is it always like this?" Anakin pondered quietly. She could see him scanning his surroundings, taking in the quiet.
Leora nodded. "Mostly. I'm sure you could find a packed saloon around some corner or a celebration in someone's suite... maybe a few adolescents sneaking their mother's blumfruit coolers in the gardens..."
"It's nice," he said, almost uncertain. She guessed it was something he was totally unfamiliar with: tranquility. Raised on a crime-ridden planet, came of age on another, and constantly fighting for the galaxy. "Odd... but, almost beautiful?"
"I do not know about odd," she mused. "But I agree, it's beautiful. It's home."
"Some people really grow up this way..." He took one more long look at their surroundings. "No slave masters, no gangsters... scavengers. Just this."
"People should not grow around those things, Anakin, people should grow like this..." Leora squeezed his hand. "But when people are divided, greed seeps in and people allow things they shouldn't do further their agendas. Even at the expense of others. Gatalenta stands firmly against all sentient suffering."
"It's wishful thinking to hope the whole galaxy could achieve this."
"I always keep hope. It's all we have," Leora shrugged. "Or else what is all this for?"
She gestured to his lightsaber and Jedi robes. Anakin nodded slowly, Leora couldn't tell if he was agreeing or lost in thought.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
Leora wasn't expecting such a response but gave him a nod in approval anyway.
"Michael Seastriker, your old boyfriend," Leora let out a heavy breath at the mention of the all too familiar name. "You did not seem comfortable around him. I think it was the only time I have seen your serene resolve... waver. Is that why you preached to me love is overrated?"
Leora laughed, not put off that he had asked her to dig deep for an answer, but amused he had felt comfortable to ask such a question. "You're quite perceptive, Anakin. I suppose you'd be right... I did once love Michael and I would have to say it was vastly overrated."
"Can I pry further?" He asked. Leora was of the belief he would leave it alone if she told him no with the way he delicately laid out the inquiry. "You do know all about my own heartache."
"Pry all you want."
Leora waited for whatever Anakin wanted to say. She was wondering what she could say about Michael that wouldn't strike a pang hurt or anger inside her. She wasn't meant to hold onto such feelings, she had always been taught to speak on them, let them flow into the universe, and grow in spite of them. But Leora had harboured her resentment for Michael for a long time, longer than she ever would have wanted. Most of this she kept all to herself.
"Why did it end?"
Leora knew exactly why it ended. There was no 'well, you see, I guess we grew apart...' or 'it simply was no longer working.' Leora had still been in school, studying politics, and Michael was studying trade affairs. But he became restless and bored by the subject.
"Michael thought the path he had planned for his life was too mundane, too unexciting," Leora explained, recalling the day he had left her. "He blindsided me after my studies one day, saying he was leaving for the Academy. He was going to be a pilot now. He didn't give me much time to think it all through, he was gone in days."
She remembered crying in the garden, her mother rubbing her back, cooing, advising her to let it all out and it would feel better. It didn't feel better for a long time.
"It was not my old boyfriend as he told you," Leora shook her head. Michael never wanted to admit any wrongdoing, always reducing all his mistakes to minor errors. "We were engaged. We were planning to marry after we both graduated. He called it off without a moments notice. He likes to forget that part."
"Oh, wow." He murmured softly.
"Yes, wow," Leora felt him wrap his hand around hers this time, squeezing tightly. "Now he's back. A Commander ready to protect Gatalenta if ever attacked. Humorous since he, before leaving, said he despised the drivel of this place."
"And he has the nerve!" Leora exclaimed with a little more passion than probably necessary but she was too riled to filter. "The nerve to act jealous at the sight of you, as if he has any ownership of what I do."
"I was mortified when he told you he was my boyfriend," she finished.
"If you helps you to feel better, I was quite amused by him."
"And why, may I ask, was that?"
"He was overcompensating," Anakin chuckled. "Immediately when he spotted me he stood taller, puffed his chest. He practically deflated when I introduced myself as General."
"You seemed fairly arrogant yourself," she teased, nudging him in the rib.
He shook off the taunt. "Hey, I know my worth. I'm a Jedi Knight and General of the Republic Army. I was not going to let some boy from Gatalenta show me up."
Leora shoved him for his cockiness but all in jest. Anakin's laughter tumbled through his chest, his face relaxing of all creases, and for a flashing moment he looked younger than before. He shoved her back, restrained and light, and Leora took a tiny step away from him, her body trembling at the contact, but in a warm, electric way.
