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Anakin slept a lot. As far as Padmé could tell, this was a good thing. It hadn’t even been a full year since the Clone Wars started, but she could already see the toll it was taking on him. Aside from the usual mental and physical concerns regarding soldiers, there was one big important problem that nobody knew about besides her.
Anakin was a dragon. He and his mother both had been, as she learned during her time on Tatooine, and that it was a very hush-hush, so much so that their slave master, Watto, didn't know. Apparently , that secrecy also extended to Anakin's Jedi Master. She understood Anakin's paranoia; there was a great deal of stereotypes surrounding dragons, as they were so famous but so few had ever been seen, much less known personally. She had hoped, after all those years, that some trust could be extended to the Jedi. Evidently not. Which left her to deal with the situation.
After the debacle in the Senate when Anakin “lost” his lightsaber and was forced to take out the group of bounty hunters holding senators (including her) hostage, she had taken him up on his “meditational retreat” for a peaceful two-week break at Varykino. Though she’d done it more for his sake than hers. Being married to a dragon barely in his adolescence (Anakin had repeatedly assured her that his human form was an adult) had its challenges, but being with the love of her life was worth it. So, Padme had stepped up, done her research, and immediately started to rectify the problems with Anakin's current lifestyle.
The first problem was his diet. She learned through her research that young dragons like him should only be consuming soft meats and Flameweed to help their fire glands mature. Anything else they had trouble digesting. Secondly, his sleep schedule. She discovered that adolescent dragons needed more than the typical human 8 hours of sleep (and he usually only got half of that), closer to 10 to 12 hours. Thankfully, she found that periodic naps throughout the day could give him the extra sleep he needed.
Given that he preferred spending their nights together (and she could hardly deny him that when she wanted it just as much), his daytime naps were necessary in lieu of sleeping for 10 to 12 hours straight, which is what he was doing right now. Her husband lay on his side in a mound of pillows and blankets, carefully arranged to his liking, dozing peacefully on the sunny balcony, his body greedily sucking up the golden rays to stay warm (which also improved his scale’s strength and color, she learned).
Padme was grateful she'd had the foresight to send Teckla and her family away for their vacation. Though they were excellent caretakers of Varykino, she didn't want them to walk in on Anakin when he was like this . Huge, deep blue leathery wings splayed out, two pairs of ivory horns protruding from his head, long scaly beige tail that bled into dark brown with a neat row of ivory spines trailing down its length to end in a set of four long curved spikes, while a thin whorl of gray smoke wafted from his nostrils into the air.
Good, came the thought as she noticed the smoke, that means the Fireweed is working. Although this state was technically still in human form, she had no doubt the sudden appearance of her husband's extra appendages would have given poor Teckla quite a fright. She turned off the datapad she'd been working on and stretched as she stood out from the table. Anakin would be upset if he knew she'd been working while they were on vacation, but she'd resolved to get some work done. They were in the middle of a war, after all.
She made her way over to the mound of blankets and pillows, lying down beside her Ani. Though his eyes didn't open, he immediately shifted in his sleep, gently wrapping his arms around her sides, curling his tail around the length of her body, covering them with a wing, and nuzzling into her neck. The rumbling vibration at the back of his throat voiced his pleasure, and she stifled a giggle, remembering when she'd first heard him purring; she’d teased him relentlessly about it, much to his embarrassment.
She smiled as she ran her hands through his golden curls, causing him to purr louder. She recalled the other adjustment she'd made to Anakin's life, namely the social one. Dragons, especially young Dragons, were very tactile creatures and thrived on touch. Physical closeness was an important part of their development, and Padme had been saddened to learn her poor Ani was very touch starved. Honestly, she thought with a hint of irritation, it was a wonder the Jedi hadn't surmised Anakin's true identity by now and done something to help him. Then she mused it was more reasonable to think one had food allergies or attachment issues than: this person is a dragon.
She heard a different kind of rumbling emanating from Anakin's stomach and whispered softly. “Ani, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?”
She could think of several different Shaak dishes off the top of her head, but Anakin merely pulled her closer, and she felt him murmur against her neck, “mmmm, no...”
“Anakin, you know you need to eat,” Padme responded with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Stubborn man.
He paused, as if sensing her annoyance, then replied, “Later, after... I'm done.”
She let out a huff, but a smile found its way onto her face again. Looking past his pride, she knew that- later, after he was done- meant after he was done with his nap . She sighed fondly and kissed him on the forehead, which caused him to smile, eyes still closed. Trust me, my love, this is all for your own good.