Summary: What if... a fan of the Star Wars movies (and a few of the games) found herself on Padme's ship while it's on its way to Tatooine? (Self-Insert with Mary Sue tendencies. You've been warned.)
Disclaimer: Not mine. At all. Honest!
Chapter 1: WHAT THE HECK?! I'M GONNA DIE!
Rae looked around the ship she suddenly and inexplicably found herself on. She blinked, saw the auburn haired man beside the near freakishly tall man that looked like some famous actor she couldn't remember the name of, blinked again, then started laughing hysterically. She knew it was hysterical because it changed every two seconds... give or take. "Oh man! What the heck?! This is awesome! What am I going to do?! Qui-Gon Jinn! He's alive! Oh man! This is awesome! I'm gonna die! This is the Naboo Crisis! I am so going to die!" she screamed, falling to the floor while wildly gesturing between Obi-Wan(who else could it be? He actually looked quite a bit like the actor who played him in 'The Phantom Menace.' Not to mention Qui-Gon!) and his master. Obi-Wan leaned over to the aforementioned master.
"Is she sane?" he asked in slightly accented English. Rae felt another mad chuckle worm it's way from her. Oh man, this could not be happening!
"I'm... not sure, Padawan. Perhaps we should take her to the med-bay?" Qui-Gon said quietly. Rae stopped laughing and gave them a considering look.
"Why aren't you communicating through your Force Bond? Or does it not work that way? In all the fanfiction I've read you can communicate telepathically through the Force. Or is that just a plot device? Can you feel each others' emotions? Oh! Can you sense my complete and total confusion and general 'what the heck?' through my Force presence? Or is that just a load of baloney as well? Are you headed to Tatooine? It's hot. Like, super hot. And dry. Really dry. With sand. Lots and lots of sand. One day there and you'll hate sand. Oh, and make sure you don't let the Gungun out of your sight. He's more of a trouble magnet than either of you... though I'm not sure about you Master Jinn. Not enough fanfiction... or screen time. I'm kinda surprised I recognized you on sight to be honest. Then again, it might have been the height. You really are tall you know that? And Obi-Wan! You're cute. I didn't quite know it was you at first but then I was like, 'lightsaber, really tall dude, trying to hide complete confusion while tall dude looks faintly resigned... yep. Obi-Wan.' Hey, can I get something to drink? It might help me calm down. I know you want me to stop and start making sense. Heck, I want me to stop and make sense. Oh man am I freaking out! Please, give me something else to focus on! This is madness! Pure madness!" she rambled. A thought sparked and she chuckled privately to herself and muttered, 'madness? This! Is! Sparta!' to herself, lingering hysteria making it even funnier than it otherwise would have been. She refocused on the tow Jedi and chuckled at their confused, and slightly fearful, expressions. She could almost hear them asking,
'How does she know about that?'
'Who is she?'
And, of course, 'What's fanfiction?'
"And no, you do not want to know about fanfiction. Some of that junk is more evil than the Sith. And yes, I know what a Sith is. And how evil they can be. It's enough to make even a slaver heave. I'm talking about some of the fanfiction that is no doubt out there on you... both of you. Though like I said, I haven't seen too much on Qui-Gon. Anyway, distraction?" Rae piped up, as if she had read their thoughts. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon shared a startled look.
"Are you Force Sensitive?" Obi-Wan asked. Rae laughed.
"Oh please, they're logical questions," she said, waving his concern aside, then froze, her eyes growing wide as a horrible thought occurred to her. "Please tell me logic hasn't vanished from the universe? Though I suppose Multi-Verse would fit as well, seeing as I am now in a fictional world that has so many AU stories written about it it makes one's head spin. Oh frack, I'm in a fanfiction! Well, I hope the writer does me justice and doesn't make me one of those horrible Mary Sues that are made of Win and Sickening Sweetness and Grammar so Horrible it can Make a Sith Cry. Blech! I think I'd throw myself in the way of a Lightsaber if that happened! And I'd be doing the Fandom a favor if I did, not to mention the galaxy I'm currently in. Now, for the... third time, distraction please? Before I start bashing my head on the wall in frustration?" Rae said again, attempting to glare at the Jedi. She never had mastered the Death Glare, even after nineteen years living with an older sister and grumpy female cats, who are undisputed Queens of the Death Glare.
/*/
Obi-Wan had to fight down an irrational stirring of amusement at the girl. She was a pretty thing, slender but healthy, with shoulder length straight brown hair that shimmered faintly in the not-quite-stark lighting of the Nubian star cruiser they were in. Her dark blue-green eyes were slightly panicked and her small, pale pink lips were pushed out in a minor pout as she attempted to glare. Her manner of dress was odd, but seemed to suit her quite well. Slightly washed out blue pants that had obviously been worn and washed many times, fake leather and mesh black and pink shoes, slightly baggy dark blue shirt, black and white jacket, and silvery ear rings that looked vaguely like leaves that jingled as she shook her head. "Right... well, I'll take you to the cafeteria, though I'm not sure they'll have anything you recognize there," he said, mildly worried about her reaction to the fare aboard the ship. She graced him with a small smile, though considering the size of her mouth, anything those lips did would be small. Obi-Wan forced his attention away from her lips, wondering what was coming over him. She gave him a worried look.
"You aren't thinking I'm cute are you? I'd hate for this to be one of those stories where one of the main characters falls in love with the randomly appearing OC like, immediately after they meet. Those are usually the Sickeningly Sweet Mary Sues with Grammar to Make a Sith Cry," she said softly, like one speaking of something best left unsaid. Obi-Wan was suitably appalled and Rae smiled softly at him, her eyes understanding. "Yeah, I know. Horrible right? I mean, we just met!" she said, a good bit happier now that Situation Mary Sue had been avoided. Though Obi-Wan could still feel a large amount of anxiety in the young woman.
"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you," Obi-Wan said, hoping to calm the obviously unsettled woman. She gave him a sad sort of smile, a trace of brokenness entering those pretty eyes of hers.
"It's not me I'm worried about, per say. It's my family and... you. Obi-Wan... I know things. Terrible things. And seeing you and Qui-Gon and knowing where you're headed in this Nubian that is plainly quite expensive, meaning it's the Queen's ship... it makes it all real. If you knew what I know... actually. That's the basis of a lot of fanfiction. Not all of it turns out well, and I can't know what, exactly, your personality is because every author is different and you didn't have much screen time or character development in any of the movies I watched... or remember watching. I think I blocked most of number two and number three. Clone Wars was... eh... and kinda... Sickeningly Sweet." Obi-Wan felt himself being to shiver with the beginnings of disgust and fear. The way this girl was speaking... he wasn't sure he wanted to know what she knew and yet... and yet he did. Just as he was about to ask, she sighed. "Please, don't ask me about your future. The knowledge I hold... it wasn't meant to be in this time. I wasn't meant to be here. Obi-Wan, I can't believe I'm saying this but... prove the fanfiction writers right and be mature and understanding. Don't push, not now. It will only hurt you. Everything I've read... they all agree you're slow to anger and can make rational decisions even when jaded and sad and ready to just breakdown in the wastelands and move on. You're one of my favorite characters, which is likely why you're acting out of character with your responses to me. I don't know why I keep making big, long, pretty much nonsensical speeches, I've been doing it for years, but I am. And I'd like to stop for today. So please, stop me and forget about... whatever it was that set me off, okay?" she said, face pleading and voice trembling at the end. Obi-Wan still had a part of him that wanted to ask, but her request... he sighed.
"I'm sorry for you're burden, miss. And it seems you have me at a great disadvantage. You know my name, and a good deal about me... or who I will be, but I know next to nothing about you except that you make rambling speeches and know far too much about the Galaxy, the Force, and what may be," he said. The young woman gave him a grateful smile and turned to face forward again.
"My name is Rae Donna Mayar, and I'm from Earth in the year 2014. I am twenty-two years old, have an older sister, a younger brother, three cats, a dog, and a nice house in the small town of Notasulga. I was born and raised in Alabama, a State in the United States of America. It can get up to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit on the hottest days of the summer and down to below forty degrees Fahrenheit in the dead of winter in Alabama, and it's one of the more temperate States. There is ocean, forest, desert and grassland on Earth, and I live in the more scrubby part of the planet, kind of a mix between grassland and forest. Lots of things grow in Alabama, though the even more temperate State of California grows grapes and fruit and nuts. My grandmother on my mom's side is from California, which is on the West Coast. The US makes up most of a continent you know. I'm telling you about my world because nowhere, anywhere, is any mention made of Earth in all of the Star Wars mythos. I've often wondered... what happened to the homeworld of the Humans?" Obi-Wan was a bit stunned. Rae was from the Home World? The Lost Planet of the Humans?
"Earth is... the Lost Planet," he said. Rae sighed.
"Well... that's one way of doing it. I guess this writer doesn't want to have it be blown up or something. Oh! Maybe it got sucked into a black hole and wound up in an alternate reality where it hadn't existed before and all the alien races were baffled by the new life forms they came across when examining the anomaly! Eh, it'd be kinda fun, don't you think? Then again, aliens might not exist in that universe, or just didn't bother with that part of the infinite universe and so Humans go about their business to this very day, uncaring that they are not longer in their original place in the multi-verse," she said. Obi-Wan couldn't help but think she was just a little bit endearing when she went off like that. It was odd and pretty much random, but kinda cute at the same time.
"Oh look, here we are," he said as the doors to the cafeteria swooshed open, a little glad for the interruption. He felt he was slipping into the 'falling in love with suddenly appearing OC' trap. But the worst thing was... he wasn't so sure he cared.
/*/
Rae couldn't quite believe she had been babbling like that to Obi-Wan. Though, when she thought about it, it was perfectly understandable. Especially considering her personality. She babbled when she was excited or nervous. And she was most definitely both right now. And Obi-Wan seemed to like her! Oh, why did she have to get dragged into this? It wasn't right! And what about her family? Rae sighed. Was she going to end up like Penny? Only... this wasn't the High Past filled with Elves and Rangers and Magic. No. This was the future, for all the movies say 'long long ago in a galaxy far far away,' filled with Jedi, space travel, laser weapons, too many alien languages to count, and a boatload of danger and mysticism that she knew too much of as a Non-Sensitive and yet, didn't know at all. The man beside her, Obi-Wan, took her arm and guided her to the bar... or what she was going to call a bar. "Could we have two jaffa juices please?" he asked, his smooth mellow voice with just a hint of a British accent washing over her. The server said nothing, though his eyes sparkled somewhat as he handed over the drinks. "My thanks," Obi-Wan said as he then lead the now-silent Rae over to a seat. "You're being rather quite. What happened to Madam Chatterbox?" he asked. Rae jerked slightly. Young Obi had a sense of humor? Why didn't they show that in the movie? Or had they? The prequel trilogy was more or less a total flop and she only remembered the action scenes from most of them. The first one was the one she remembered the most of though, and she still wasn't too sure they had shown Obi-Wan's sense of humor. All the same, a small smile tugged at her lips and she grasped the smooth cup in her small, cold hands.
"She... caught on to her situation," she said softly, then looked up at the Jedi across from her. "Look, I'm sorry for babbling like that at you. I was just..." she said, reaching out to him before trailing off, not knowing how to express what she was currently going through properly.
"In shock?" he suggested. Rae hadn't noticed she'd looked away until he spoke. She returned her gaze to him to see a faint glimmer of amusement in his green-blue eyes. She looked again away quickly. So what if he was cute? How old was he anyway? Sixteen? No, he was... twenty-five. Well, that was a bit better. Why did she think he was sixteen? Oh yeah! Because he was sixteen years older than Anakin! Oh wait, he had suggested something. What was it? Oh yeah!
"You could say that," she said, contemplating asking him about his life, but deciding her juice was more interesting. Sniffing, she decided it didn't smell bad, and took a cautious sip. Finding it tasted quite a bit like grape juice, she started drinking gladly. When she dared look back up, Obi-Wan had a faint smile playing about his stern lips. "You should smile more," she heard herself say. Obi-Wan stiffened and she sighed, feeling a blush coming on. She had really said that out loud! And then her traitorous mouth continued on, digging her hole that much deeper. "Showing emotion... feeling emotion... it's not wrong. It is human nature, Obi-Wan. And unless the time spent roaming the galaxy and settling worlds has somehow altered the genetic make-up of our race... you need emotions. They... guide you. Stoicism is all well and good in war time, but for children who are growing? Who are learning? Joy, peace, love, safety... they need that. Or Humans do at least. What I'm trying to say is; feel emotion, but do not let it rule you. Let it tell you what is wrong and what is good," she said, face still hot and flushed. Obi-Wan was stunned, or at least seemed stunned. She couldn't quite tell. She sighed and downed the last of her juice. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan. I didn't mean to... whatever. Gah! I'm no good with words when they aren't typed out where I can go back over them and fix stuff and things. I'm gonna go look around and pray I don't bump into anyone unpleasant. It wouldn't be good for either of us," she said.
"No, I don't suppose it would be," Obi-Wan agreed with a nod. Rae gave him a rather enigmatic smile before leaving the young Jedi to his thoughts, which were likely as muddled as her own. Oh why couldn't she keep her mouth shut?! Finally, she found her way to a view port and stared out at the blur of hyperspace. She sighed, watching the blur, and letting her mind go blank. She couldn't think anymore and could feel that she needed a sort of detox. So, finding that the view port has a recessed ledge, she hopped up on it and curled in on herself, staring and letting her mind wander along familiar paths of stories and fluff and nothingness, enjoying a moment of quite, if not peace. She didn't know how long she sat there before the darkness of sleep overcame her.
/*/
Qui-Gon wasn't sure what to make of the strange girl who appeared out of nowhere as soon as they made the jump to hyperspace. She seemed harmless enough, but the things she said... it was troubling. He reported her arrival to the Queen before heading down to the cafeteria where he could sense his Padawan... and the girl. Her Force presence was... disturbed. As if the Force itself was a bit curious about her... or was having a bit of fun and wanted to make the poor Jedi Master's life difficult... or didn't want him to know too much about his visitor without asking. Obi-Wan's was disturbed as well, but in a much more readable way. He was confused, unsettled, wary, amused, and a little stunned. Then the sense of 'oh Force, what?' grew stronger and the girl's presence rapidly moved away from his Padawan, a single clear feeling present. Leave me alone. Sighing, Qui-Gon decided that the only way he was going to get any idea about the girl, aside from her rambling, half-mad deluge of information that made no sense from her arrival, was to talk to Obi-Wan. He found the young man staring at the door, but not really seeing it. He sighed. Looked like he had his work cut out for him. "Obi-Wan?" he questioned gently. Nearly mechanically, Obi-Wan looked at his master.
"She is nothing like any girl I have ever met, Master," he said hoarsely. Qui-Gon frowned. He knew who his Padawan was speaking of, but what caused this?
"Care to elaborate?" Qui-Gon asked. Obi-Wan shook his head, eyes clearing a little.
"What if the Code were wrong, Master? What if emotion... was needed? If love, attachment, was needed?" he asked. Qui-Gon frowned more heavily.
"What brought this on?" he asked. Obi-Wan sighed, and summarized the conversation he had had with the girl, Rae, once they sat down. "You're right, Obi-Wan. She is unlike any girl we've ever met."
"And she's from Earth, master," Obi-Wan added. Now that was unexpected.
"Earth?" he asked. Obi-Wan nodded.
"And she had some rather interesting theories on what happened to Earth. You remember when she said she was in a fanfiction?" he said. Qui-Gon couldn't help the quirk of his lips at that.
"Yes. I believe the term she used was, 'Oh frack, I'm in a fanfiction,'" he said. Obi-Wan nodded and relied Rae's reaction to Earth being lost.
"It was... amusing," he finished with a faint smirk. Qui-Gon was rather amused himself.
"Yes, quite an interesting theory. As we have no real record of what happened, she might just be right. What did she tell you of our lost home world?" he asked, curious despite himself.
"There were multiple climates... on one continent," Obi-Wan said. Qui-Gon was a bit baffled by that. More than one climate? On just one continent? Qui-Gon listened eagerly to all his Padawan could relate of Earth, and the strange girl who had come from the mysterious planet. When they had shared all they could, they went off to find this baffling female. They found her curled up in a view port, asleep in a very uncomfortable position. Obi-Wan wasted no time scooping her up and carrying her to a sleep couch. Qui-Gon, had he been pretty much any other Jedi Master, would have been worried about the connection he could sense growing between the two, but he wasn't any old Jedi Master. He was Qui-Gon Jinn, and in this story, he was amazing and totally unconventional. Which really wasn't all that original, so the author didn't feel bad making him that way. So, he was cool with it. In fact, he almost wanted to encourage it. She was about three years younger than Obi-Wan, and she made him smile. Few people could do that anymore. He looked at his young Padawan as he arranged the girl on the couch, making sure the blanket was just so, and chuckled to himself. Obi-Wan could be such a mother hen. Rae shifted, a hand flopping off of the couch and brushing against Obi-Wan's. Qui-Gon wasn't even sure if his apprentice noticed he was holding it, rubbing his slightly calloused thumb across the back of her hand.
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope," the girl muttered, drawing the stricken Padawan closer without seeming to realize what she was doing. Qui-Gon chuckled.
"I don't think she's going to let you go for a while. May as well get comfortable, Hero," he said, voice light and teasing. Obi-Wan's face lit up like a bon-fire, but he slide under her head, replacing the pillow, and pulled her arm across her chest.
"She said something about a situation like this, Master," Obi-Wan said before Qui-Gon could slink off.
"Oh?" the elder Jedi prompted. He noticed the hazy, far off look in his Padawan's eyes, the lazy smirk on his lips, and felt happy for the young man.
"She gave me this worried look and said, 'You aren't thinking I'm cute are you? I'd hate for this to be one of those stories where one of the main characters falls in love with the randomly appearing OC like, immediately after they meet. Those are usually the Sickeningly Sweet Mary Sues with Grammar to Make a Sith Cry.' She said it so gravely, it sounded like she was telling me about the end of the world," Obi-Wan said. Qui-Gon chuckled.
"Well, the Force works in mysterious ways, Hero," he said. Obi-Wan shook his head.
"I'm no hero," he said softly. Rae shifted again, then her eyelashes fluttered slightly. The two Jedi turned their attention to her and slowly, she opened her eyes. She blinked. Closed her eyes and shook her head a little, then blinked again.
"Hello. Are we at Comic-con?" she asked. "Those are really cool costumes! They almost look real! And hey wait! What do you think you're doing, holding my head in your lap?! I could sue you for sexual harassment you know!" she said, quickly getting angry. Obi-Wan quickly got out from under her, shock clear in his features, for once.
"We are not at Comic-con, whatever that is, and these are not costumes. They are our Jedi robes. And Obi-Wan was following your wishes... sort of. You, er, you took his hand when you were asleep and didn't want to let go," Qui-Gon said gently. Obi-Wan now looked a bit offended.
"You also said something odd while you were asleep," he said. Rae's face grew panicked. "You said, 'Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.' Do you have any idea what you started with that? Master won't let me live it down for years! If he ever does!" he ranted. Rae blinked, looked between the two, blinked again, then bust out laughing.
"Oh man! Your face! It's just... HA!" she said, rolling back. Obi-Wan huffed, then stormed out of the room. Rae struggled to bring her laughter under control, then looked to Qui-Gon. "Go easy on him would ya? He's got a long hard road ahead of him... even if my presence changes things a fair bit," she said solemnly. Qui-Gon felt a shiver go down his back. Was this what Obi-Wan had meant, when he said she sounding like she was speaking of the end of the world? Only this... this wasn't even slightly amusing. This was terrifying. "Will you help him? Or will you fall? Will you guide him? Or will he find his own way? No-one can know the whole future, Qui-Gon, because the very knowledge of it, changes the path one walks and thus, changes the future," she said before getting up and vanishing down the corridor. She left a rather shaken Qui-Gon behind.
/*/
'Idiot! Why did you do that?! Stupid! Dumkoff! Baka! Idiota! Stupido! Stultus! Sot! Идиот! Hurtyn!' Rae ranted in her head, face hot and flushed as she stormed down the hall. She had no clue where she was going, but she knew she couldn't stay with the Jedi. Spotting a sitting area, she turned in and sat on the couch, staring at the coffee table. A moment later, she swung her legs up and propped her ankles on the arm rest before reaching around behind her and tucking a pillow under her head. Laying there, she sighed and stared at the ceiling. "I can't believe this is happening," she muttered. Another sigh and she looked around for writing implements. Spotting what looked like a PADD from Star Trek, she swiped it and opened it up. Grinning, she realized it was in English. "Lucky~!" she sang as she looked for a note app. Her grin widened slightly when she spotted it. Once the app was open, she eagerly began typing out her frustrations, worries, questions, and fangirling craziness.
/*/
Star Date... I haven't got a clue.
Quadrant... do they even have those?
Location... aboard a ship that, before lunch, I was sure was merely the product of a brilliantly creative mind.
Status... what do you think? I'm freaking out here!
Who I've met... well, I've met Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yeah. Luckily, I have yet to actually met Padme so, thank goodness for small mercies. Same goes for Jar-Jar. Crazy walking disaster. Ya know, there's a crazy fan-theory that Jar-Jar is the real Sith Lord and he's going to show up in some later movie as the supreme evil that the new Jedi Order must vanquish. HA! If he was a full grown Gungan when Anakin was a little boy, it's highly unlikely that he'd be alive when Luke could have grand-babies! But hey, it's a fan theory. And who knows, maybe Luke did fight Jar-Jar on some distant planet. Off screen. MAN! Now I wanna see that fight! Pou~! Anyway... yeah. I'm in the Star Wars universe about Queen Amidala's personal cruiser. I'm unsure if they're headed to Tattoine, Courosant, or Naboo, but wherever we're headed, it's gonna be a long day. I just hope they can drop me off somewhere civilized and clean so I can... do what? Live out my life here? Forget about my home, my family? Am I now a literal college dropout? I... I don't know if I have any marketable skills. Could I make a living here, in this universe? What would I do? Is James going to be okay without me? Will Grammy be able to handle his schooling or is he going back to public school? Will I ever see them again? Do they know what happened to me? GAH! So many questions and not enough answers!
Okay okay okay... what can I do? Well... I can write. I can read. I can lecture. I can carry plates and cups. I can give minute long back rubs. I can play with cats. I can play with dogs. I can use a search engine and a word processor and a keyboard. I can lift and carry and follow directions. I can clean. I can usually keep a child entertained. What does that get me?
Waitress.
Editor.
Dog walker.
House sitter?
Babysitter?
Farmhand?
… This is gonna suck, isn't it? Guh, why did this happen? Why me? Why now?! What am I doing here?! A~nd now my thoughts have come full circle. Ya know, in all the stories when a character says they have to 'go think,' I'm fairly sure half the time they're just sitting there, staring into nothing, with a faint buzzing in their mind as they try to keep their thoughts from running in circles like a dog chasing its tail. Because that's kinda how I feel right now. I've asked the questions, I've felt the existential dread and horror, I've pondered what I'm gonna do now and now I'm just... at a loss. I'm drawing a blank. Even my emotions are drawing a blank. How should I feel about all this? Should I be excited? I mean, I am living a Star Wars fan's dream... but on the other hand, I'm in very real danger here. This is Queen Amidala's personal cruiser! The Naboo Crisis! The very beginning of the Star Wars Saga! The Clone Wars are only ten years away! Okay, so it's ten years away, plenty of time to prepare, but what about the battle of Naboo? Am I going to find a place to stay in Courasant and just try to forget the Jedi and the Queen and then let things play out or am I going to stay in contact with them, involve myself in their lives? I'm no soldier! I've never purposely hurt anyone! It's been years since I've even sparred! And my little air pistol... well. Let's just say, I've never shot a gun, much less a blaster. And then there's the whole 'thou shalt not kill' commandment. Not to mention the fact that I have a minor case of hemophobia. So, soldier is out as as possible career.
Still, it's pretty cool that I'm in space with a royal and a pair of Jedi, not to mention droids.
But I'm pretty sure there's always going to be that nagging feeling in the back of my mind... What's going on at home?
And let's not forget the ache in my heart for what I've left behind.
Gee, I sure hope I don't turn Emo from all this. Brooding when left alone would be a horrible way to live. I'm looking at you, Sasuke, looking at you. And Kakashi. Poor saps. I will not fall prey to your traps! Heh heh, 'it's a trap.' Okay, I think I hear someone. Better delete this before they take the PADD away and read it. Yikes, wouldn't want that.
/*/
Rae swiftly deleted the 'journal entry' and tossed the PADD back onto the table, returning to her causal sprawl. Whoever she was expecting, it wasn't Padme Amidala herself. 'Me and my big mouth,' Rae thought, fighting not to grimace as the girl Queen sat across from her. In full regalia. "Your Majesty," Rae said, hastily swinging herself back into an upright position before standing for a bow. Part of her thought it was a whole lot of unnecessary up and down, but it was what she understood was expected when greeting royalty.
"You may be seated," Amidala said, motioning back to the couch. Rae eased herself back down, her eyes never leaving the floor. "Look at me, please," the Queen plead. Gladly, Rae raised her head.
"How might I help you today, Your Majesty?" she asked, truly curious.
"Master Jinn has told Us of your manner of arrival. We would hear it from you," the Queen answered. Rae shrugged.
"There... really isn't much to tell, Your Majesty," she said. "One moment I was in my house, back on Earth, walking into my kitchen for a glass of water, and then the next moment I was in front of Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"What was your life on Earth like?"
"Well, that's a long story... and an incredibly short one," Rae said, leaning back in the couch and glancing up at the roof of the cruiser. "Really, I had a boring life," she said, tilting her head back down to give the Queen a rather bland look. Amidala shook her head.
"Tell me anyway," she said. Rae smirked, hearing the girl behind the make up make an appearance.
"Well, I was born and raised in the state of Alabama, the South East portion of the state anyway. I had a loving mother and father, a sister, a brother, three cats and a very loyal dog. My sister had moved out and gotten married in her final year of college. She went on to work in her field of study, graphic design. I had moved out of my parents' house a year and a half ago, landing a part-time job at a small bookshop, working inventory in the afternoons. Of course, this left me as the perfect candidate to act as my brother's teacher during the day. I'll confess, I was only ever good at teaching him History. Though, he picked up on Science pretty well, English is a very tricky thing to teach when you get it on more of an instinctual level, and math is just plain hard to explain when you only half remember your own math classes. Anyway, I taught James in the morning, worked evenings, and took college courses online when I had the time in between."
"What were you studying?" Amidala asked, leaning forward slightly. Rae chuckled.
"Broadcasting. I wanted to learn how to run the equipment and mix the sound to produce the best quality," she admitted.
"How did you do?"
"Honestly? It wasn't all I thought it would be," Rae admitted, looking a little disappointed. And honestly, she was. All that time and effort and money put into something she wasn't likely to use.
"We thank you for telling Us," Amidala said, standing. Rae scrambled to her feet as well, knowing it was considered rude to sit while royalty stood.
"My pleasure, Your Majesty. I think talking about my past life has made it easier to move on and accept that I'm stuck here, at least for the foreseeable future," she told the girl Queen. 'Even if I can 'foresee' more than most Jedi,' she mused to herself. And that just brought a whole host of other questions she didn't have the answer to. A large yawn threatened to split her head in two and she gave Amidala a sheepish look. "Might I trouble you for a comfortable place to sleep? This has been a rather stressful day." Nodding, the Queen directed one of the ship's guard to take Rae to the barracks. Resigning herself to a restless night, Rae followed. The rest of the day was a hazy blur and if asked, she'd say she didn't remember anything more until breakfast the following morning.
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A/N: So there you have it, the first chapter. What do you think? Let me know in that box down below!