Ahsoka watched the blue-green clouds roll by in front of her, seeming almost close enough to touch. She couldn't remember the name of the planet that they were on, only that the name included far less vowels than there should have been and that it was long. Too long for a tired Padawan to bother to memorize.

She had taken off her shoes and was wiggling her toes in the soft grass, ignoring the clones as they milled around behind her. She was seriously considering taking a nap when someone came and sat next to her. Squinting against the planet's sun, Ahsoka saw that it was Senator Amidala. The young senator had her face tilted up towards the sun, drinking it in just as Ahsoka was.

Ahsoka had been glad to have Amidala along for their latest mission, a complicated trade negotiation. The Senate had anticipated that it would be a difficult experience, and had sent along two Jedi, General Kenobi and Ahsoka's own Master, to make sure things went smoothly.

Surprisingly enough, they had. The people of the planet had been suitably impressed by the Senator's negotiation skills, and they had been able to hammer out an agreement within a week.

Although Ahsoka would have thought that her impatient Master would have been bored, Anakin seemed suspiciously happy to be there. Ahsoka suspected that he and the Senator had a thing. They seemed awfully close to her...

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Amidala asked, startling Ahsoka out of her thoughts. "The sky? They say it's chemical reactions in the air, and that's what makes it seem so colorful."

"That's cool."Ahsoka said, not actually caring that much. It was pretty, though.

Amidala grinned, as though she knew what Ahsoka was thinking. She plucked one of the small flowers that periodically pushed their way through the grass, twirling it in her fingers.

"You know," The Senator mused, "When I was a girl, I used to braid flowers into my friends' hair all the time. These would be perfect for that."

Ahsoka picked one of the flowers herself.

"Hey, you're right! At the temple, the Padawans would weave them into their braids all the time. The flowers in the garden looked just like these."

"Here." Amidala said suddenly. She unclipped her hair from its complicated bun, letting the brown locks fall loosely down her back. "Go wild."

"What, seriously?" Ahsoka asked incredulously.

The Senator grinned at the younger girl.

"Yeah. My hair could use a new style."

She handed back the flower she'd been holding, a bright pink one.

"Okay, give me a second." Ahsoka said, scrambling to her feet. She gathered as many of the tiny flowers as she could, then settled back down in the grass, the small stems gathered in her lap.

She then began the arduous process of braiding the flowers into the woman's long hair. For a senator, Amidala sure had a lot of hair.

Ahsoka focused on her task, tongue stuck slightly out in concentration. That's why she didn't notice that she had an audience until they spoke.

"What are you doing?"

Ahsoka startled, looking up. It was Rex, looking down at the pair with bemusement. He had his helmet off and tucked beneath his arm, apparently enjoying the break as well.

"Braiding." Amidala said, although she didn't look up at the clone, her hair trapped in Ahsoka's hands. "Want to join us?"

Carefully, Rex lowered himself down in the grass next the the two, looking between them.

"What are the flowers for?" He asked.

"Style, Rex." Ahsoka said. "Style."

He looked even more confused. Apparently, growing up with only your clone brothers as company could really stunt a man's understanding of the female mind.

"We'll teach you." Ahsoka offered.

Amidala nodded reservedly, careful not to jostle the Padawan from her work.

"Yeah. This is a skill everyone should learn. Here, I'll get you another subject so that we can show you how to start."

"I don't think I want to-" Rex tried, but was cut off by the Senator.

"Ani- General Skywalker!" She called out.

Startled, Anakin looked up from his conversation with Obi Wan, grinning when he caught sight of the former Naboo queen waving him towards the group. He said something quickly to Obi-Wan and jogged over, smiling down at Amidala.

"You rang, Senator?" He asked.

Amidala pointed to the ground. "Sit."

Obediently, he sat.

"What are we doing?"

"Teaching Rex a valuable lesson." Ahsoka said, peeking out from behind Padme.

"And what lesson is that?" The Jedi inquired, trying to twist his head around to see. Amidala firmly pushed it back into place where she had easy access to his dark hair.

"Braiding flowers into hair. Now shush."

Anakin sighed theatrically. "Fine. But you owe me one."

Amidala's mouth turned up at the corners. "I'll keep that in mind."

Rex, for his part, actually seemed interested in the process, watching closely as the Senator deftly weaved brightly colored flowers into the Jedi's hair, explaining the process as she did so. Ahsoka chimed in a couple of times as well, but mostly just concentrated on the hair she was braiding. There really was a lot of it. No wonder Amidala always seemed to have it up in some sort of headband or complicated contraption. It must have been hell to style.

Eventually, when Anakin's hair was about halfway done and Padme's about three fourths, they started to attract something of a crowd. There must have been four or five clones sitting cross-legged around them, helmets off and watching as though they were observing a particularly interesting holodrama.

Then Obi-Wan was there.

"Well, this is interesting." He commented, surveying the scene with amusement.

Anakin patted the grass in front of himself. "Sit down, Master. I'm in need of a little practice myself."

"My hair is barely long enough." Obi-Wan warned, but sat down anyways.

"I'll make do." Anakin grinned, picking up a blue flower.

"You know, you might as well teach them to make flower crowns instead. Most don't have enough hair for this." Said Obi-Wan as his former Padawan weaved flowers into his hair.

Ahsoka held up the mostly braided locks of Padme's hair.

"Our hands are full." She sounded entirely too innocent.

He twisted his head, sending her a suspicious look, then picked up a handful of flowers.

That was how they returned to base, with two Jedi and one Senator with flowers of every color weaved into their hair, one Padawan with a flower crown perched on top of her montrals at a jaunty angle, and with two squadrons of clone troopers with slightly lopsided flower crowns attached to the outsides of their helmets.

A passing 'trooper backtracked as he saw them.

"Interesting mission, sirs?"

Rex shrugged. "You could say that."

Behind them, Artoo beeped gleefully as he rolled past, a crown made up of blue and white flowers perched on top of his dome.

Ahsoka grinned.