Anidala: Across the Stars

Chapter 18: Naboo

The slightly blurry eyed Ahsoka carried the twins out of the ship, and into the house on Naboo. She laid them down carefully on the bed in Anakin and Padmés room, the beds in their room hadn't been set up yet. Padmé joined her, wanting to rest while the other four started the fun of their small vacation.
Ahsoka ran down to the beach by the lake where Rex was looking questionably at the water.
"Come on Rex!" Ahsoka called, running past Obi Wan and Anakin. Obi Wan began to speak, to try to warn the padawan of what he knew could be waiting in Nubian waters, but Anakin stopped him.
"I already scanned it master. None of those Nubian sea monsters are waiting for them." Ahsoka threw her lightsabers back at Anakin, who caught them and attached them to his belt.
"Ahsoka!" Obi Wan yelled, about to scold her for losing her lightsaber, but it was too late. She had already leapt off the ground and was spiraling toward the water, Rex following after her.
Anakin barely had time to think before a funnel of water knocked him off his feet.
"Oh you are so dead snips!" He yelled stripping down to his rolled up cotton pants, throwing his sopping wet robes at Obi Wan, who just shook his head. Anakin vaulted over the sand and into the water, right next to where Ahsoka was getting ready to hit him with another blast of lake water. Rex quickly realized that he was about to be in the middle of a Jedi water fight and paddled away as quickly as he could. Ahsoka pushed a wall of water toward Anakin, but he quickly grabbed the escaped Rex and lifted his friend up in front of him.
"No no no no NO!" Rex yelled as the water came flushing down onto his head.
"That was low skyguy!" Ahsoka called. Rex turned around and glared at Anakin.
"What's wrong Rex? You look like a wet loth-cat." Obi Wan yelled from the shore. Anakin laughed. Anakin let go of Rex and he plunged back into the water. He aimed an attack at Ahsoka, but was quickly thwarted by the mini Tsunami coming down upon all three of them. Ahsoka, Rex, and Anakin were plunged beneath the surface. When the three sputtering friends came to the surface, they saw Obi Wan grinning wickedly at them.
"It's over Anakin! I have the high ground!" Obi Wan yelled. The captain, Jedi, and Padawan shared a look before swimming as hard as they could back toward shore.
"Ahsoka..."
"Way ahead of you skyguy." She said swimming straight toward Obi Wan.
"Rex.." he started,
"I know, sir." Rex said, paddling ahead to block Kenobi's escape. Anakin waited for Ahsoka to get out of the water before he started his attack. He pushed and pulled the water until it built a wave big enough to take down the Jedi master. Ahsoka and Rex leapt out of the way as soon as the wave hit land. It smacked straight into Obi Wan, knocking him down into the sand. When he came up. He was a soggy, muddy looking, angry looking man. Ahsoka, Rex, and Anakin laughed.
"Who's the wet loth-cat now? Respectfully sir." Rex added. Obi Wan shook his head and grinned. Anakin started swimming back toward the surface, but was suddenly aware of a lifting sensation as his bode was removed from the water, and catapulted into the sand of the beach. He yelled as he made contact with the fine sand, rolling to avoid hitting something, but in the process, he covered himself with his own sworn enemy. Obi Wan was the one laughing now as he watched Anakin angrily brushing sand off his body.
"I hate sand!" Anakin yelled as he dusted off his legs.
"What's going on here? Oh.." Padmé said as she walked out of the house, and immediately joined Obi Wan, Rex, and Ahsoka in their laughter.
"It's coarse! It's rough! It's irritating! And look at that, it gets everywhere!" He yelled kicking sand at Ahsoka, Rex, and Obi Wan, all with tears in their eyes, they dodged every grain.
"Stop laughing Padmé! It's not funny!" Anakin glared at her, still failing at his efforts to hit one of his friends with sand. Padmé laughed so hard at that that she collapsed into the grass outside the house.
"Daddy!" Luke called running around his mother and toward his father.
"Luke! No! Padmé catch him!" Anakin yelled, but it was too late. The boy was already tumbling head over heels through his father's sworn enemy.
"Padmé.." Anakin groaned, making her laugh even harder. Leia came next, carefully picking her way through the sand, toward her father. Anakin picked her up and held her away from the sand covered Rex, Ahsoka, and Obi Wan.
"Luke. Luke! Come here Luke!" Obi Wan called, beaconing the toddler. Anakin just glared as his son crawled through the sand toward the rest of the group.
"I hate sand. It's course, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere." Leia expertly imitated her father. He smiled proudly at his daughter.
"That's right Leia!" He said, kissing her non sandy cheek.
"Alright everybody. Clean up. It is my privilege to offer you all a tour of the city, before we have dinner with the queen, of course."
"Dinner with the queen?" Rex asked Anakin as they walked inside.
"As the Nubian Senator, Padmé has to have dinner with the queen every time she visits. All of her hand maidens are about Padmés age."
"Ah. I see sir." Rex responded. Anakin had been trying to set Rex up on dates since he had gotten released from the permanent service of the republic. None of them had gone very well. The phrase that Anakin always used when he was trying to get Rex on a date was "about Padmés age". Anakin handed Leia to Padmé, then went with Obi Wan and Rex to put on clean, and dry, clothes.

"Leia!" Anakin said as his daughter ran toward him with ribbons in her hand. He picked her up and sat her down on his lap. He divided her hair into two sides, then braided the ribbons into it. He wound the two braids into circlets on either side of her head, then tied them down with the remaining two ribbons.
"There we go little princess." He lifted her up and turned her around to face him.
"Thanks daddy." Leia wrapped her arms around her fathers neck. Luke walked out and Leia immediately ran to join her brother. Anakin tried not to laugh as his angry looking son glowered at everything in sight, itching all over the place. He was wearing a traditional Nubian suit, and Leia was in a matching dress. He got down on his knees in from of his children.
"Luke you're so handsome!" He straightened his sons collar.
"He takes after his father." Padmé said, entering the room after the twins.
"Not as much as Leia takes after her mother." Anakin stood up.
"Master Jedi." Padmé said as Anakin walked toward her.
"Supreme chancellor Amidala." Anakin pulled her into his arms and kissed her, careful not to disturb the elegant headdress resting on top of her head. Obi Wan came out next, also in his Jedi robes. Then Ahsoka wearing what she always did. And finally, Rex wearing a very dashing Nubian suit. The expression on his face matched Luke's perfectly. He saw the boy angrily scratching his neck and went to pick him up.
"Rex. You have a silly suit too?" He asked.
"I don't like it either kid." Rex glowered.
"Alright team Skywalker, to the city of Theed." Padmé called, "The transport is already waiting in the lake. I expect everyone to be on their best behavior." Everybody nodded, and then they were off.