Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. All Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm / Disney.
A.N: This is a series of oneshots based on my AU fanfiction "The Nubian Noble and Pilotman".
Note: The Naberries are a Force-sensitive noble family who are part of an hidden Force-user society that acts as the guardians of Naboo. Some of the noble families had descendants accepted into the royal handmaiden ranks. This series will explore their everyday moments.
Changes:
Padmé becomes queen later than in Episode I due to her early Force training in her society. Also, six main handmaidens are required to stay as the Queen's escort, not five. In their ranks, Sabé and Saché are cousins.
Royal Palace, Theed, Naboo (~30 BBY)
Veruna had abdicated the throne only one month ago, yet traces of his oppressive aura still permeated the palace. The king had been known to enter fits of rage that sometimes destroyed priceless art pieces and vases. Apparently, the late king had neglected to separate his ambitions from doing the right actions for the common good for Naboo. Earlier, suspicions arose that he had betrayed Naboo through his illicit trade dealings with the Trade Federation. Even his withdrawal from the Trade Federation binding treaty failed to bolster his approval. After all, the Trade Federation had caused job losses on Naboo, and had controlled their plasma trade without permission. Padmé Amidala, the successor to Veruna, had not been fond of her predecessor.
Queen Amidala, formerly known as Princess Padmé Naberrie, sat on a chair while her handmaidens braided her curly hair. She often enjoyed the hair braiding and other cosmetic affairs, as she could allow her mind to relax from the stress of ruling an entire planet. Obviously, the monarch carried a great burden of governing and protecting a billion Nabooians at the age of sixteen: it was the age of a minor by law anywhere else in the Galactic Republic. The enthusiastic young monarch enjoyed being able to serve her people and help the unfortunate of Naboo society, but sometimes she wondered if it was right to impose the large responsibility of being queen of Naboo to teenagers.
"Who had the outlandish idea of permitting children to rule a planet populated by mostly adults?" asked Queen Padmé Amidala.
"Probably someone with shaak fur for brains," Sabé joked with a shrug, while braiding her left hair braid.
"Very funny, Sabé," Padmé said in a sarcastic tone, as Eirtaé, who stood by her right, finished twisting the second hair braid.
Dressed in purple cloaked dresses, the other handmaidens laughed. After a few weeks, Sabé had found her place in the group of highly-trained handmaidens as their unofficial comedian.
"But you have to admit that was genuinely funny," she spoke, which caused a slow nod from the queen.
"Any more funny lines within your mind, stand-up Sabé, or are you running empty?" Yané playfully teased.
"Well, I do have a kilogram of putty inside my skull, so does that count as not empty?" Sabé answered, as the rest of the handmaidens finished changing the cape of the queen.
Her fellow handmaiden scoffed, and said, "Guess that counts as an appropriate answer."
Padmé almost sighed in exasperation from the poor attempt at humor by her best friend and handmaiden. She instead exhaled through her nose, and glanced at her handmaiden Yané to her right side. Her handmaiden had once been a Rieren Society apprentice and noble guard, and Sir Rezzo Eccio, her father, had mentored her. During that time, Padmé had only interacted with Yané a handful of times, and had not become familiar with her. Now that Yané had been sworn in as one of her royal handmaidens, the young monarch desired to start a friendship with her since she often felt withdrawn from people after being coronated as queen of Naboo. She may have reached an impressive position in politics, but Padmé still needed someone to share her concerns with from her isolation. Oftentimes, her family was unreachable during her busy schedule as queen.
The holographic clock on the wall of the royal bedroom emitted an electronic chime, which signaled the arrival of the eleventh hour in the day.
"Hurry up, Eirtaé, the feast and meeting with the Parliament begins in less than an hour," Padmé said in an irritated tone as she tired of waiting on a seat for two standard hours in an increasingly stuffy room.
"It won't be long, Your Highness," Eirtaé spoke with her formal speech.
"Good, I'd hate to keep my fellow Nabooian politicians waiting over clothes," Padmé replied.
The handmaidens and queen Padmé knew that their time before a noontime lunch and briefing in the palace was brief. As servants of the queen, they realized with shame that they had taken over an hour to dress her. Ironically, they were Force-sensitive fighters and royal bodyguards, but they lacked experience for clothing their monarch. With a gentle and precise motion, Eirtaé placed the heavy hairpiece on top of the head of the queen. The large hairpiece felt hot and heavy upon the scalp of the young monarch, and she inwardly groaned when envisioning another few hours dressed in tight, hot robes. But suffocating in clothing was a small price to pay as queen, as she had expected a difficult life running an entire planet at the age of sixteen.
The door vibrated from the knocks of a visitor behind it just when queen Amidala had finished her dressing.
"Should I keep them waiting, Your Highness?" Eirtaé asked her friend and the Queen of Naboo.
"Let the visitor in," Padmé spoke in her formal tone. From this moment, Padmé would assume her politician self instead of the calm, kind Naberrie girl that her friends or handmaidens were familiar with. Eirtaé walked to the door and pressed the unlock button to open it. She saw Captain Panaka with his hands on his hips and an annoyed expression.
"Fortunately, the meeting is in thirty minutes, so there is plenty of time for the journey to the meeting room. However, all of you handmaidens are thirty minutes late for your sparring practices and drills! You must show the punctuality of a true Naboo Royal Handmaiden, not just some lazy schoolgirls!" Panaka sternly spoke.
"Yes, Captain Panaka, we will be punctual from this point on," Chief Handmaiden Sabé quietly spoke from besides the Queen of Naboo, who held her hand up to silence the disgruntled Security Captain.
"Captain, take my handmaidens Sabé, Eirtaé, and Saché to the training rooms. The other three will stay besides me for protection. Now is not the time for needless frustration," the Queen said to calm the agitated security captain.
"Thanks, Padmé," messaged Sabé and Eirtaé.
"Not a problem, friends," Padmé messaged to her friends as they exited from her bedroom.
"Of course, Your Highness, I shall see to that..." the captain said.
Then, Sabé, Eirtaé, and Saché followed him out of the bedroom of the Queen. The three handmaidens, dressed in their flame-orange robes, paced behind their superior down the silent stone halls of the palace. Panaka walked with a fast pace, and he turned a corner to face a door at the end of the hallway. He stopped at the door and gestured for the handmaidens to stop walking. After a few moments, he swiped his card to open the secured door, which beeped and unlocked. Panaka pressed the button to slide open the ornate durasteel door.
"Get dressed into your battle attire, handmaidens," Panaka ordered.
"Yes, sir," said all handmaidens in unison, and went inside the dressing room to change clothing.
A few minutes later, Panaka saw the three handmaidens exit the dressing room, wearing long boots and light armor on their limbs. Their dresses were a dark violet, with stripes of golden yellow running down their sides. Combat grade polymer gloves covered their hands, and in their grip were their Royal House lightsabers coated in brass.
"Are we doing armed or unarmed first, Captain Panaka?" Eirtaé asked.
"I would prefer that you three start the session with unarmed combat..." the royal security captain answered.
"Perhaps Sabé and Eirtaé can practice a spar first," he added, and her motioned for Saché to sit on the side bench.
"Looks like we're sparring again, friend," Eirtaé said.
"Yeah, no hard feelings, 'Tae. Just protocol," Sabé commented.
"Ready, set, fight!" Panaka enthusiastically spoke.
The two handmaidens and close friends lunged at each other from across the painted circle on the floor. Eirtaé threw a side punch to Sabé towards her head, which Sabé ducked and attempted to tackle Eirtaé. Yet, her friend twisted herself as she fell, and used her grip on Sabé to flip her below her, who landed with an "oof".
"Not this time, 'Abe," Eirtaé said with a grin, as she looked down on Sabé.
"Don't call me that," Sabé fiercely spoke, her determination blazing. She had always been competitive in her sparring matches yet always had trouble facing the stubbornness of her friend when paired with her in a match.
Eirtaé preferred to not lose again, and ensured that Sabé was pinned by her legs and arms. Sabé, thinking quickly, headbutted her friend in the forehead to distract her. In a daze, Eirtaé briefly released her grip on her friend, and faced a series of punches from Sabé toward the face. In an instant, Eirtaé held up her forearms to block the punches, as Sabé desperately attempted to wriggle free of the leg lock. She succeeded and attempted to kick Eirtaé over with a sweeping kick to the ribs. Yet Eirtaé effortlessly dodged the kick, stepped back, and then stood up with her fists readied. Her fellow handmaiden did the same, and readied her fists too.
"You've learned a lot, Eirtaé," Sabé commented, and moved a strand of hair off her eye.
"Looks like you've gotten more vigorous, friend," Eirtaé said with a raised eyebrow.
"Well let's continue," Sabé said.
Fifteen minutes later…
Eirtaé, who sat on a bench, held an ice pack on a large bruise on her forehead, blinking away the pain. Besides her, Sabé clutched her previously dislocated left arm and groaned from the ache of a bruise on her rib.
"Thanks, Saché… about the arm," Sabé said to her fellow handmaiden and friend sitting alongside her.
"Fantastic spar, Sabé and Eirtaé, didn't realize you two had such a strong determination in combat," Panaka observed.
"Well we just wanted to avoid losing... Ow, bantha crap," Eirtaé said, and tenderly rubbed her forehead bruise.
"Not lose? That kind of determination is just what a Royal Handmaiden should have. That could save the lives of not just yourselves, but the Naboo Queen during an attack," Panaka spoke with an expression of wonder.
"So your will to not lose is a good motivation, and to give up would be a great dishonor to your Queen, or your mistress," he added in satisfaction despite his earlier lecture to the handmaidens in the royal bedroom.
"We understand, Captain," Sabé and Eirtaé spoke.
"Good, now go wipe yourselves off. You will be practicing marksmanship in a few minutes," the captain said.
"Captain, I forgot to mention that I have not yet done a practice spar. I am confused," Saché said, as she looked towards Eirtaé and Sabé disappear into the dressing room.
"That will be the next match, handmaiden Saché. For your information, we rotate combinations of handmaidens for a diverse combat experience when doing training or drills," Panaka said.
After a few minutes, Saché changed her clothing to her flame-colored robe and exited the changing room with her peers wearing the same attire. Each of them held a blaster pistol in their hands, and Sabé picked up a spare blaster pistol and tossed it to her cousin Saché, who caught it with little difficulty.
"Thanks, cousin," Saché said to Sabé, who winked back.
"You're welcome, lil' Saché," Sabé playfully said.
"But I'm only a year younger," Saché replied.
"Can't you take a joke? We can at least converse like we're cousins, not strangers, since we hardly get to speak with each other," Sabé said in exasperation.
Saché answered, "I may be your cousin, but I'm not exactly a talkative person or someone who spray painted the professor's pants back in the academy."
Sabé sighed and said in annoyance, "Of all the things to speak, you just had to reveal that in front of the Naboo Royal Security Captain..."
Eirtaé did not speak, but smirked with Panaka, who despite his discipline, could not resist a smile. He peeked at Sabé, who had reddening cheeks and looked down toward the floor.
The three handmaidens exited the sparring room and went to another room in the hallway. They found a large rectangular room with moving target plates on the back wall, and shelves of spare blasters hung on the other walls. Panaka followed behind them as they found positions. A beep sounded, and the targets hovered up, down, left, and right. Soon, the three handmaidens were firing a hail of blaster bolts towards the targets, and each target was hit multiple times on the center. Panaka, who stood in the back of the room, nodded in approval as Sabé, Saché, and Eirtaé demonstrated their impressive marksmanship. After all, the three new handmaidens had Force-sensitivity that improved their reflexes beyond those of the normal human.
Sabé watched her cousin shoot the target with an accuracy beyond that of a bounty hunter, and smiled. Apparently her "little" cousin did not seem "little" anymore, as she now worked as an honored handmaiden of the Queen of Naboo. Saché glanced back and soon continued her fire at the target, until Panaka gave an order: "Cease the firing."
Panaka patted each of the handmaidens on the back, acknowledging their improvements since the last training drill. He said to the three young women, "Great job, handmaidens. I will now release you all to your casual duties with the Queen. But next time, you should all be on time for the sparring practices."
The three handmaidens nodded silently, then they strode out the door to meet with their fellow handmaidens and the Queen of Naboo for lunch. However, they kept their lightsabers and blasters hidden within their red cloth belts in case danger came to the Queen. A handmaiden never assumes for the best, but prepares for all situations for her mistress...
To be continued