Apprentice Legislator,' Padme explained.
Then, as if she was reading his mind, she added, 'See the difference?' Anakin studied the holograph a moment longer, then looked up and laughed, seeing Padme wearing that same long and stern expression. She laughed as well, then squeezed his shoulder and went back to her packing.
Anakin put the holographs down side by side and looked at them for a long, long time. Two sides of the woman he loved.
Chapter Fifteen
The water speeder zoomed above the lake, the downthrusters churning only a slight, almost indistinguishable, wake. Every so often, a wave clipped in, and a fine spray broke over the bow. Anakin and Padme reveled in the cool water and the wind, eyes half closed, Padme's rich brown hair flying out behind her.
Beside them at the wheel, Paddy Accu gave a laugh at every spray, his graying hair spreading out widely. 'Always better over the water!' he shouted in his gruff voice, against the wind and the noise of the speeder.
'Are you liking it?'
Padme turned a sincere smile upon him, and the grizzled man leaned in close and backed off the accelerator. 'She's even more fun if I put her down,' he explained. 'You think you'll like that, Senator?'
Both Padme and Anakin looked at him curiously, neither quite understanding. 'We were going out to the island,' Anakin remarked, a note of concern in his voice.
'Oh, I'll get you there!' Paddy Accu said with a wheezing laugh. He pushed forward a lever-and the speeder dropped into the water.
'Paddy? 'Padme asked.
The man laughed all the harder. 'Don't tell me you've forgotten!' he roared, kicking in the accelerator. The speeder jetted off across the water, no longer smooth in flight, but bouncing across the rippling surface.
'Oh, yes!' Padme said to him. 'I do remember!'
After a moment of initial shock, looking from Padme to Paddy, wondering if the man was up to some dark deception, Anakin caught on, and was also swept away by the bouncing ride.
The spray was nearly continuous, thrown up by the prow and washing over them.
'It's wonderful!' Padme exclaimed.
Anakin couldn't disagree. 'We spend so much time in control,' he replied. His mind went back to his younger days, on Tatooine, Podracing along wild courses, skirting disaster. This was somewhat like that, especially when Paddy, in no apparent hurry to reach the island dock, flipped the speeder up and down from one edge to the other, zigzagging his way. It amazed Anakin how this little adjustment, dropping into the water instead of smoothly skimming above it, had changed the perspective of this journey. It was true, he knew, that technology had tamed the galaxy, and while that seemed a good thing in terms of efficiency and comfort, he had to believe that something, too, had been lost: the excitement of living on the edge of disaster. Or the simple tactile feeling of a ride like this, bouncing across the waves, feeling the wind and the cold spray.
At one point, Paddy put the speeder so far up on edge that both Anakin and Padme thought they would tip over. Anakin almost reached into the Force to secure the craft, but stopped himself in order to enjoy the thrill. They didn't tip. Paddy was an expert driver who knew how to take his speeder to the very limits without crashing over. It was some time later that he slowed the craft and allowed it to drift in against the island dock.
Padme grabbed the older man's hand and leaned in to kiss his cheek. 'Thank you!'
Anakin was surprised that he could see Paddy's blush through the man's ruddy skin. 'It was… fun,' he admitted.
'If it isn't, then what's the point?' the gruff-looking man replied with a great belly laugh.
While Paddy secured the speeder, Anakin hopped onto the dock. He reached back to take Padme's hand, helping her stay balanced while she debarked with her suitcase in her other hand.
'I'll bring the bags up for you,' Paddy offered, and Padme looked back and smiled. 'You go and see what you can see- don't want to be wasting your time on the little chores!'
'Wasting time,' Padme echoed. There was an unmistakable wistfulness in her voice.
The young couple walked up a long flight of wooden stairs, past flower beds and hanging vines. They came onto a terrace overlooking a beautiful garden, and beyond that, the shimmering lake and the mountains rising behind it, all blue and purple.
Padme leaned her crossed forearms on the balustrade and stared out at the wondrous view.
'You can see the mountains in the water,' Anakin remarked, shaking his head and grinning. The water was still, the light just right, so that the mountains in the lake seemed almost perfect replicas. 'Of course,' she agreed without moving.
He gazed at her until she turned to look back at him.
'It seems an obvious thing to you,' he said, 'but where I grew up, there weren't any lakes. Whenever I see this much water, every detail of it…'
He ended by shaking his head, obviously overwhelmed.
'Amazes you?'
'And pleases me,' he said with a warm smile.
Padme turned back to the lake. 'I guess it's hard to hold on to appreciation for some things,' she admitted. 'But after all these years, I still see the beauty of the mountains reflected in the water. I could stare at them all day, every day.'
