"Right now? You looking for me."

"All right. Off with you, then." She sits back down and closes her eyes.

She laughs and scampers off.

Now - 

The story helped, a lot.

The Sky-Walker...

Can be everywhere, everyone.

Can be multiple places and people at once.

Can she double layer Elesse's technique? (Because certainly her teacher will be expecting Anakin to try it - )

She passes by her and Elesse's rooms.

Vividly, she imagines turning, entering the rooms, going into her own room and doing her best to vanish the typical way - 

She's everyone and everywhere. One of her faces keeps walking past the room, winds to a nearby meditation room Anakin's familiar with - goes in, nervously, keeps focusing on maintaining the illusion of the her in the room while trying to make herself vanish - 

And Anakin keeps walking past the meditation room, thinking, Sky-Walker is a shapechanger - 

There's a garden, nearby.

Being a bird or a mouse would be too hard, she thinks, even as she tries her best to hide herself as she walks - 

But she's very, very familiar with how her mother feels, and Elesse only met Shmi the once.

Skywalker can be anyone, and the face she imagines herself wearing is Shmi's as she settles into a corner of a garden. Still trying to be invisible, of course. Still in the meditation room, too, projecting herself in a chain into her bedroom.

(She doesn't let herself think that this probably won't work, even if it's a clever idea. All tricks are confidence tricks, and Skywalker knows knows knows she can do this, the thought wrapping around her in tune with Shmi's face...)

Shortly, someone taps her on the shoulder.

She opens her eyes and drops the hiding. "Awwww. What'd I miss?"

"You forgot about sneaking. I asked a mouse droid which way you went."

She bursts out laughing.

"Whoops! Try again?"

"If you like."

"Yeah. I wanna keep practicing."

"Good. Remember to think about people watching with their eyes, this time."

She giggles and heads off to hide again. This time being physically sneaky, too - juggling hiding from someone who can sense her with telling everyone to not notice her (her usual tactic) is hard enough to drop one of those threads, apparently.

She uses the same double-layered misdirection she tried last time, more smoothly now, and wraps both don't notice me and my face is someone else's around her physical body even while she stays out of anyone's line of sight (which, of course, requires sensing where people are before she runs into them... Without stopping hiding in the Force. This is a kind of hard almost nothing's been since she freed herself and her people from slavery).

(It's fun.)

It's slightly longer this time before she's tapped on the shoulder.

She looks over and grins. "What gave me away this time?"

"Every effect has a cause, and there is always a trail, else the cause would... not. I will say that were I less familiar with you, I would have had some trouble puzzling things out. But I also caution that a simple defense played perfectly often serves better than a complex plan executed imprecisely."

"Complex plans are fun, but I see what you mean. I'll stick to what I'm best at when I'm not playing or practicing."

"My poor strained nerves will thank you, I'm sure."

Laugh. "Wouldn't want to give you anxiety."

"Very kind. Again, or do you wish to steal some sleep tonight?"

"Hm. This is fun... But I don't want to be tired tomorrow, and we can practice on the ship?"

Elesse smiles. "Sensible. Let's do that."

Heeee. "Okay!" And off to sleep (and meditate some; Anakin has nightmares that night, repeating loops of her visions, spiraling out into other shattered thoughts she can't remember - she wakes up frequently, and eventually gives up on sleeping in favor of just drifting in the Force. That still gets her the nightmares, but they're more controllable, something she can drift away from).

And in the morning, the group of Jedi is off to the starport.

The principle attribute of the Queen of Naboo's starship, from the outside, is that it is shiny. Long, sleek, and plated entirely in chrome that has been polished to a mirror finish. It is essentially dagger-shaped, with a high cockpit in the rear, flanked by a long-nacelled engine to either side. Clustered at the base of the ship is a collection of people that must be the Queen's party. The one in a silken black dress with a hood and feather on top is probably the Queen herself. Her face is painted entirely white, except for two black dots beneath either eye, and red across her upper lip and a single stripe in the middle of her lower. Around her are six handmaidens in russet robes and a scattering of security personnel, not in the Republic uniform.

The Queen is speaking to an older man in clothes almost as fine as her own. "...a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one," he is saying as the Jedi land.

Anakin's tired, enough to take the edge off her usual energy. Meditation isn't a very good substitute for sleep, after all. She stays by Elesse, looking around with interest.

     "Ah, the Jedi have arrived," the man says.

The Queen turns, and inclines her head toward them. "Master Jinn," she says. "It will be good to have you with us."

Elesse and Qui-Gon both bow briefly in return. "Queen Amidala," Elesse says. "I am Elesse Vendar, and this is my Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. We will be joining Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in accompanying you."

     "I did not realize the Jedi Council was sending four Jedi," the man says.

Elesse smiles pleasantly. "Senator Palpatine, is it not? The Council takes the peace of the Republic very seriously."

He laughs. "So I see. My Queen, I assure you I will continue doing everything I can to secure aid for our planet, and beg you once again to delay your departure until a proper task force can be marshaled. I'm sure it will not be much longer."

     "Our trust is with you, Senator, but my place is with our people. I cannot remain in comfort while they suffer. Captain Panaka, is the ship ready?" She turns to one of the security team, and he replies in the affirmative. "Then now that the Jedi are here, we shall depart."

She smiles, a little, especially at the Queen. 'Can't remain in comfort while they suffer' is a good way to be a queen, if you're gonna have queens at all.

She also entertains herself while the adults are talking by dipping in and out of a quasi-meditative mindset, practicing sensing.