é

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Luck

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Synopsis: A peak into the time that Anakin has on leave, spent after the winter has past on Naboo, with none other than Padmé.

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The small, Nubian town cheered from a distance, circling each other, joining in to a native traditional dance, probably inspired from the excessive use of joyous alcohol that seemed to be present at today's festival. The Nubian music of the light fiddle and loud plucking of the bass continued as the villagers danced happily, enriched in the celebration that only happened once a year. Everybody seemed to wear green: children in Nubian dresses or tunics, women in custom made dresses, usually with a brown or black sash, and men in green or black tunics (always with a hint of green, though.)

They always matched the nearby fields that had just been uncovered by the winter's snow, which would always melt this time of the year. Underneath the soft blanket of snow appeared a field of green, a meadow or a plain. Families often had a picnic in the late afternoon here, setting up their plaid blankets and filling them with young children and thoughtful parents and grandparents.

The sun would appear for this time, the late afternoon, and would send the people to remove their over-used winter coats and lay out and enjoy the newfound spring-time air. Eating handmade sandwiches and sipping Nubian wines and beers, the villagers across the planet would do enriched themselves to this one day of peace and family.

"Right here's good," she called to her husband, who was carrying a large picnic basket and a (green) plaid cloth, big enough for the two of them and their plates. She pointed to the ideal spot.

He nodded, sprawling the blanket and laying the basket in the corner of the blanket. "This is perfect," he told his wife.

They sat down together, the woman dipping her hand into the basket, handing the man a carefully wrapped sandwich. The man poured the traditional wine, stealing a kiss on the cheek from his wife as he finished pouring it into the glass.

"Anakin," the woman said, blushing and almost shoving him away. Anakin smiled, and gave her a playful push.

He said, "Oh, loosen up, Padmé. Have you seen how small this town is?" He looked around him, gesturing to the quaint little town.

"I guess you're right," Padmé said, sighing. "But I still think we should--"

"Okay," he said. "Don't ruin it."

She nodded, her free hand brushing the soft green beside the blanket. "Happy Gelukkig Dag, Ani."

His face was puzzled. "What does that mean?"

Padmé giggled. "Oh," she said, upon realization that she hadn't told him about the significance of the name. "Literally it means 'the day of luck', which is appropriate."

His puzzled expression didn't change. He swilled his glass of wine and said, "That doesn't fit this day well, not at all."

"What do you mean?" She whined, almost upset with herself that she hadn't made today... perfect.

"I mean," he struggled to find the right sentence, "...that today is hardly lucky. Tomorrow I leave from Naboo and head back to the Temple, and go back to the War."

There was a pause, and then Anakin continued:

"Hardly lucky."

Padmé frowned, putting her glass down and her free hand drifted away from the meadow and grabbed Anakin's wrist.

"I want to show you something."

She got up abruptly, ignoring Anakin's whines of 'what about the food?' and 'won't somebody take our blanket?' and led him just behind a big oak tree. Behind there was a long field of endless green, which stopped only at the skyline behind the rolling hills.

"Look, Ani," she plopped down in the middle of the green.

He was confused. The entire meadow was green, what was so special about this place?

Padmé was searching for something, but Anakin couldn't see what. What was so important in this small patch?

"Look!"

Anakin turned his nose up from staring into the green ground at looked at Padmé's hand, holding something underneath his nose, almost like a child showing a newly drawn art project.

The object was quite small, green, and have four... leaves?

"What's so special about that?" He asked, trying to examine it, thinking about reaching into the orbits of the force to look deeper into it. When Padmé cast him an evil look, he knew that was a bad idea.

She sighed, like he had never seen anything in his life before. "It's a four leaf clover, Ani," she smiled, putting the clover into the palm of her hand. "It's good luck, like today--but this is suppose to bring you an eternity of luck, because they're rare."

"But I see a four leaf clover right here!" He held up a clover, freshly picked.

Padmé began to count the sides. "One... two... Anakin, that's only three...!"

"Oh," he managed to say, letting the 'useless' clover fall to his feet. "So that ones not lucky?"

She shook her hand. "Ani, you're like a child," she grabbed his wrist again, but this time her hand drifted into his, and they walked back to their blanket, hopeful to enjoy a quiet day together, uninterrupted.

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Two standard days later...

He sighed, staring at Artoo from the cockpit of his fighter. Obi-Wan and him had blasted into hyperspace, and then wouldn't be arriving until later that night. Padmé had given him a small box that seemed like a jewelry box before he left, telling him to open it when he needed it.

He was bored.

He needed it.

Opening the box carefully, he saw the small, four leaf clover placed on a piece of foam. In her penmanship, it said, 'Good Luck.'