Accismus?????.? Anakin Skywalker?????.?

25.

'Yes... are you?'

'Hm.'

He nodded his head and his Padawan braid dangled near Sol's eyelashes. She wanted to reach out and stroke Anakin's cheekbones that were sharp in structure, but the soft skin over them was begging to be touched. The closeness of his chest allowed Sol to smell the musk that he always seemed to hold, but it wasn't one of sweat or dirt from the battlefield, but one of sweetened milk and caramel. She wanted to hold him after escaping the death they thought was definite, but she couldn't in front of Master Yoda and Master Yoda. From the way Anakin looked down at her and the way he leaned so close that his breath fanned her face, she knew that he wanted to do the same.

Count Dooku could be seen docking his speeder on a landing pad of a large tower. Stuck in the sand, the tower was made of dark metal panels and held an opening that resembled a mouth of sharp teeth. Through the ship's windshield, the Jedi saw Count Dooku rush into the tower.

Anakin pushed his leaning frame away from Sol as they landed and made sure to take a step back so they wouldn't appear suspiciously close even after landing. Sol watched him turn away and a disappointment grinded at her, but knew that they would be exiting to ship to go after Dooku. The clone pilots lowered the ship onto the landing pad and Master Kenobi leapt out with Anakin on his tail to go after the Count.

'Sol!'

The woman had gone to follow after the two but halted at her Master's call. She turned before she could leave the ship's hull and saw Master Yoda's usual unsmiling face. With a raise of her eyebrows, she glanced to where Anakin and Obi-wan entered the tower before looking back to her small Master. Clones stayed on the ship and held back the droids that attempted to overrun them, letting the Jedi do their business.

'Stay here, you will,' Master Yoda instructed. 'Help the clones, you will.'

'Master, I can help Master Kenobi take down Dooku,' Sol felt a familiar feeling that she used to feel back at the temple. 'It will be a challenging fight.'

'Indeed, but this is their fight. When they are in trouble, help, you will.'

Frustration ate at Sol's mind She was back where she started; stranded with the little jobs by her Master while everyone else took part in battles and meaningful causes. She had forgotten that she only made it off Coruscant to protect Senator Padme because of Master Kenobi's vouch. If it hadn't been for him, Master Yoda would have continued to keep Sol at the temple, and Sol may not have ever come across Anakin again. Everything that had happened on Naboo, Tatooine and here on Geonosis wouldn't have happened if Master Yoda didn't have Master Kenobi's input.

'Patience, my young Padawan,' Master Yoda saw Sol's tight lips and darkening eyes. 'The fight must happen as the Force wills it. Summoned when you are needed, you will be.'

'Yes, Master...'

---

The wait was agonising, yet it only stretched for ten minutes. Sol stood with the clones on the landing pad and deflected a few blasts towards droid speeders that tried to land at the tower. It was nothing compared to what Sol yearned to do, but she didn't mind helping the clones, as they seemed to treat her as a superior, and that was something she had never experienced.

'Commander Sol, we've secured the perimeter, and Senator Amidala is on her way with the ground division!' a clone to her right said, his voice sounding mechanical from his helmet's transmitter. Sol tried not to grin at the title of 'commander' and nodded in acknowledgement, relieved to hear that Padme was safe and unharmed.

Sol turned to inform Master Yoda back in the ship, but she saw the back of the small green Master growing smaller as he headed into the tower. With her lightsaber in hand, she sheathed its blade and broke into a run. She ran through the ship's hull and out the other side, seeing that Master Yoda had already disappeared around a corner.

Through the mouth of the ghastly building, Sol entered the tower and turned the corner to catch up to Master Yoda. His sudden entrance must have meant that Master Obi-wan and Anakin were in trouble with Count Dooku. She didn't want to wait for her Master's word to intervene and looked into the Force in hopes of finding where he had disappeared to.

She felt a great pain and she knew that she was right to enter the tower. It wasn't as intense of an ache as the previous waves Sol had felt before, but it was enough to worry her. It made her legs falter in their run, and she pushed them to regain their momentum despite their cry to halt. If she felt this pain, then someone could be hurt; Anakin could be hurt. This thought made Sol run faster.

With a skid of her boots, Sol stops in her pursuit as she entered a grand room. It was large with a panelled beam off to the side that reached the ceiling, and walls of rock that had been crafted to hold pipes and electrical transmitters. To her left, Sol saw a flurry of red and green lightsabers involved in a battle. Master Yoda and Count Dooku battled as ex-Master and ex-Padawan, their skills extensive, but one was weaker than the other.

Tearing her gaze from the battle, Sol turned to the right to see Master Kenobi and Anakin on the floor in a heap. While Master Kenobi was awake and looked to have been scorched on the leg and arm from Dooku's red weapon, Anakin laid unconscious with a large burn where his arm used to be.

Sol resisted the urge to cry out his name in shock and broke into a run across the room. Master Kenobi turned his attention to the woman who made her way towards them and went to call out for her to stop. But as Count Dooku threw Master Yoda off his shoulders, the man called for his lightsaber and threw it in Sol's direction. With a call to the dark side of the Force, Dooku's lightsaber cut through any forms of resistance and was on course to slice through Sol's neck.

At no loss of her momentum, Sol jumped and twisted over the red blade. While in the air, she altered the Force's path made it hit the rock wall behind where she had been. It sheathed at the contact and fell to the floor as Sol landed, her feet sounding a small tap as they supported her perfect landing.

'Impressive,' Count Dooku hummed from across the room, his gaze boring into Sol's soul. 'Yoda has earnt himself a skilled Padawan. Your information is still valuable, Solaris. Don't throw yourself away to these timewasters.'

Sol could see that Master Yoda was trying to get to his feet after being thrown into the corner of the room. He struggled without his walking stick, which was abandoned in the doorframe, but was out of Dooku's eyeline. Sol shifted her eyes back to the Count and decided that she would buy as much time as she could for her Master to regain himself. Perhaps in the meantime, she could finally prove that she is a valuable addition to the Order in front of Master Yoda.

'I don't know what you mean, Dooku. Anyone would be a better predecessor as a Padawan when they're following you,' Sol said, and the Count's expression twinged.

'Is this your attempt at insulting me?'

'Is it working?'

'Considerably.'