A Queen Elected
By Shalla
Disclaimer: I own nothing, George Lucas owns everything, I'm just playing. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: There are two different official stories on what happened before Amidala took the throne and what happened to King Veruna. For the purposes of this story, I have chosen to use the version portrayed in the Insider's Guide to Episode I. The other is portrayed in Queen Amidala's Journal.
Prologue:
King Veruna had abdicated, to retain the throne only until a new sovereign could be elected. He had become too absorbed in outworld politics and the people had demanded his resignation. The Princess of Theed, Amidala, was nominated and no one opposed her election.
******
I am queen; I took a moment to absorb the thought and the weight of responsibility that had been laid on my fourteen year-old shoulders.
" Your Highness?" a young girl stood in the door.
" Yes, what is it?"
" Captain Panaka, the royal wardrobe designer, and members of the coronation committee would like an audience, my lady."
Wonderful, committees already. Sigh. " Send them in." I commanded.
The large group entered the reception room, bowed, and settled themselves into chairs. Captain Panaka has the most sense of them all; I will talk to him first.
" Captain, what is it that you wish to discuss?"
" Have you come to a decision on the selection of your handmaidens, Your Highness?" he asked of the list of suitable girls I had been given several weeks before the election. I had interviewed them all individually, a tedious process.
" I have, Sabé, Eirtaé, and Rabé." I handed him a data pad with their names highlighted, "Please have those girls brought to the palace after the meeting. There are several others I am considering to come at a later date." I liked Sabé's courage, intelligence, and bodyguard skills; Eirtaé's skills in protocol and etiquette; and Rabé's patience and skill with hair and gowns.
" Of course, my lady."
I looked around, committees were aggravating, wardrobe next.
"You have designs ready?" I asked the timid and extraordinarily gifted lady. She nodded nervously and handed me a stack of flimsi. I looked them over and pulled out two that I absolutely hated.
" I don't think these suit me, the rest are wonderful. Please have them ready by the coronation." The girl glowed at my approval of the majority of her designs. Girl? She's at least four years older than I am.
A member of the coronation committee handed me a data pad filled with ideas for the ceremony and asked if I would please look over them and meet with them later. The committee members and the consultant rose, bowed, and exited the room but Panaka lingered. Looking up from the pad I was studying, I questioned him.
" Captain, is there something else?"
"Queen Amidala, I would like to suggest an additional security measure."
I frowned ever so slightly, " Continue."
" One of the things used to narrow down the list of possible handmaidens was their resemblance to you. In case of extreme danger one of them could be a decoy."
" And where would I be? The sovereign is difficult to hide."
" A cover identity of a handmaiden would be created; you would simply exchange positions."
"No," I held up my hand to stem any protests, " I will not ask another to take the danger of the office I have taken," I softened my tone, " I knew the risks when I accepted the position."
" Yes, Your Highness."
I spent the next three hours being measured and having dresses pinned up or down while I stood still. Midway through the process Sabé and Rabé arrived to assist.
" Have you settled into your quarters?" I asked, anything to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn't fidget. Fidgeting is terribly undignified.
" Yes, Your Highness," they chorused softly. Rabé seemed to sense my agitated state and began talking about frivolous, distracting things while Sabé assisted the seamstress with her work, both handmaidens naturally falling into their roles.
What Rabé would never know is that when unoccupied, my mind would drift toward nightmares that occasionally haunted my sleep. Since the election they had returned in full force. A young man with deep blue eyes would stare at me from beneath sandy bangs as he slowly faded into a blackness deeper than the darkest night. A new dream had started when I ran for queen, a dark man mocks me, mocking my decisions.
" You are too young," he taunts. I wish the dreams would stop. I am nervous enough about being trusted with the fate of an entire world. I really shouldn't be, a younger sovereign than I had ruled for years with great wisdom. Abruptly I realized that Rabé was telling me about my schedule for the next week.
" I am sorry, could you repeat that please?"
Rabé nodded and said, " Senator Palpatine will be arriving just in time for the coronation and would like to meet with you afterward. Tomorrow is your first meeting with the council and Eirtaé is arriving tonight."
" Senator Palpatine is coming? He represents several other worlds who have had election recently and he has not visited them."
" This is his home world and he supported your election." Sabé replied.
That's exactly what bothers me,
I thought darkly. Perhaps he thinks I will be more easily influenced than Veruna was. Well he has another thing coming.******
Preparation for the coronation took the better part of the next week. As time progressed each of the handmaidens took on distinct roles. I had finally, after several days of thinking about the decoy idea and being politely pestered about it, agreed to it as a last resort. Sabé, because of her extensive knowledge of self-defense, was Panaka's first choose to play queen. We became best friends because of the large amount of time we spent working the kinks out of the decoy idea. I felt I could tell her anything. We spent quite a few free hours working on teaching her my mannerisms and finding a way to communicate indirectly. Eirtaé helped polish the other handmaidens' court etiquette and is a great help getting into and out of those contraptions some people call gowns. Rabé, though she is the youngest, is the wisest, calm and not quick to rush to a conclusion. She always seems to know what to say to keep me in a good frame of mind. She is also the best at doing my hair just right for those gowns; a process that often feels like it will take forever. She also helps me with my "mask", the elaborate makeup that somehow gives me an instant measure of respect from the people.
The coronation was a grand ceremony, seen all over the planet on the holochannels. It went off without a hitch, a small miracle considering the many preparations involved. Senator Palpatine was there to watch as King Veruna officially gave up the throne and I was crowned. Afterward we met for the first time.
" Your Highness, it is a pleasure to meet you," he said with a professional political smoothness.
" I am honored that you took the time to come," I replied as I thought, Why don't I trust him? He has done nothing but good for Naboo, yet there is something elusive about him. Rabé looked at me from her seat in the throne room, sensing that something wasn't quite right.
" What will happen to Veruna?"
" He will stay in a quiet place in the mountains. In thanks for his years of service he will want for nothing for the rest of his days." Why does Palpatine want to know?
" Excellent," the Senator said and went on to express his concern over the trade tax disagreements boiling in the Senate and its possible effects on Naboo. He urged me to sign an agreement with the powerful Trade Federation.
" I will look into the matter."
Palpatine seemed to frown slightly as they began to discuss other matters. Oddly, during the conversation that followed, my suspicions about the elusive Senator faded to virtually nothing.
******
" Your Highness, Your Highness!" A loud voice and pounding on the door brought me to wakefulness, jolting me from my nightmares. Sabé, sleeping in the next chamber, was already at the door.
" What is wrong?" she questioned cautiously in her best imitation of me without opening the door.
" King Veruna is dead, My Lady," came the dark tidings. Well, Sabé was obviously a convincing decoy.
" Tell him to call a emergency meeting of the council and get Captain Panaka," I whispered from the bedroom where the others had started to help me get ready for said meeting.
At the meeting Panaka gave a bare bones report of the circumstances of Veruna's death from the king's head of security.
" He apparently died of natural causes but there are some suspicious inconsistencies, Your Highness."
I frowned internally and told Panaka to thoroughly investigate. My conversation with Palpatine sprang to mind.
" What will happen to Veruna?"
The facts were slowly clicking into place. Veruna's fall and my election were both indirectly engineered by Palpatine, yet there was no proof.
Suddenly a guard burst into the room and handed Panaka a datapad.
" Captain?"
" Queen Amidala, there has been a threat on your life," he said solemnly.
" Is there a reason?"
" A small sect of Veruna's followers accuse you of causing his fall from the throne and his death," Panaka answered, his voice telling of his disbelief that anyone would even think to threaten the sovereign.
I frowned, " How would they know about his death? It is the middle of the night and I only got the news an hour ago."
" I don't know. Nothing has been released to the holo-reporters."
*****
Because of the threat, the decoy plan got its first workout. Two more handmaidens arrived at the palace so I could blend in more easily. I dislike being a handmaiden. I feel so helpless; unable to do so many things that had become part of my daily life. I feel guilty for putting Sabé's life in danger. The other handmaidens had trouble adjusting to the switch and treating me like a normal person. The "Queen" and I spent several more hours fine tuning her voice, speech patterns, and cryptic communication. I could almost feel Sabé's admiration and respect grow as she discovered what it meant to be Queen, even if just on the surface.
Now we are preparing to attend the funeral that we had spent the better part of the week planning. I was helping Rabé with the Queen's hair. As a handmaiden I have no skill what so ever and have picked up a lot in the past week. Yané, one of the new hand handmaidens, burst in suddenly and quite out of breath, "Senator Palpatine is coming to the funeral, he is in orbit!"
Saché, the other new handmaiden, and Eirtaé's heads came up with surprise from where they were fixing the train of the Queen's skirt.
Sabé, now fully in character, asked, " Why wasn't I informed he was coming?" She sounded so much like me when I was in "queen mode" that I jumped slightly.
" He didn't tell anyone, he just showed up," Yané replied with a slightly perplexed air. She was often perplexed by someone's behavior or attitude. To her anyone who didn't show proper respect for the Queen was strange. I personally liked this concept.
" We can find out why at the funeral," I said as I stepped back and examined the Queen's hairstyle with a critical eye. Eirtaé emphasized a few points of etiquette concerning royal funerals; then both Saché and Rabé declared her ready to go. The Queen and her entourage, herself in dark blue and the handmaidens in a darker shade of blue, left her apartments. We were escorted to the funeral by a large contingent of guards.
" Your Highness," Senator Palpatine greeted when she arrived " May I discuss something with you later?"
" Yes, you may."
My fears about Palpatine abated slightly as the funeral progressed. King Veruna was laid to rest in the proper Naboo tradition for royalty. After the funeral pier, his ashes would be entered with those of previous rulers in the royal tomb, a enclosed stone building in the middle of a beautiful public garden.
Suddenly, as the funeral was drawing to an end, Sabé shifted slightly and was barely missed by a blaster bolt coming from the top of a nearby building. The handmaidens surrounded Sabé with blasters drawn and did an admirable job of protecting me without looking like it was me they were protecting. Panaka's security forces sprang into action and in short order captured a slight Naboo man with a sniper blaster who seemed bewildered and asked what was going on. I frowned as I watched and my suspicions again took root.
******
"I am sure Your Highness will take care of every thing," Senator Palpatine oozed the next day as he concluded his meeting with me. I was relieved to finally be Queen again.
" I am glad you have such confidence in me, Senator."
Palpatine had not been informed of the decoy plan and as he bid me farewell, I could not remember why, or the reason for my suspicions. I had suspicions?
" Your Highness?"
" Enter Captain."
I rose from my throne and turned to look out the window. " I was wrong to reject your idea without due consideration to the dangers my new position will bring," I turned toward Panaka, " It will not happen again."
" I was mistaken in my first assessment of you, Your Highness. You are much wiser than your years," Panaka said.
I gave a small smile and inclined my head ever so slightly as Panaka bowed and left.
I have made a mistake, it can happen, but never when there is a threat to my people. I am strong, I will not fail. My people will never have cause to doubt my leadership, I will not give it to them.
THE END…