Videtur: Thanks so much to everyone who has commented and fav/followed! We'd love to continue to hear what you think or suggestions you might have. DR told me about the private reply to reviews function, so I will try to answer each person who leaves a review! Enjoy the next chapter!
Chapter Two: Introductions
"Niki, give that back!" Namita hissed while reaching for the pale paint stick that her oldest nephew now waved back and forth, his small face glowing with smug satisfaction.
"Why?" he said. "Shouldn't you show him what he's getting? If it rains, your face will fall off." The seven year old took perverse pleasure in driving her to insanity, she would swear it before the city council.
"It's waterproof, you little goblin," she growled without anger, struggling to hold back her smile, "I don't have time for this."
Niki danced out of reach of her sudden lunge and laughed. "You don't have much time at all, Namita Palpatine."
"Not yet! And probably not ever if you insist I go out there half done," she sighed. "Niki, this is important. You know how much your grandfather wants this to go well."
He sobered immediately at the mention of Kwilaan Malik. Slowly he stretched out his hand and dropped the stick into her open palm. "I know, Nami. I was only joking."
She tugged him close for a tight hug and smiled. "I know you live for jokes, Niki, but this is one of those times that isn't for joking. We have to be…" she stared into the beautiful brown eyes, brushed his nose with one finger, and frowned. "…completely serious."
They lost it and laughed together. The knot of fear in her chest eased for a brief moment. She wrapped her arms around him, ignoring his small squawks of protest. "If only I could bring my brave little warrior along with me, then I wouldn't need to worry."
Niki grinned. "Well, if he gives you trouble, tell me and I'll send him down to Chaos."
"Don't say that!" she exclaimed, appalled, and poked him hard enough to evoke a squeal. "Where on Naboo did you hear that?"
"His father, probably."
The stiff formality of the voice that intruded into their interlude brought Namita's head up quickly. Her younger sister by four years stood in the room's doorframe, regal and tall. She resembled their mother perfectly, down to the coiffed hair and the sharp jawline set with a faint, imperturbable smirk. Marme, married since her early teen years, was the pride and joy of their parents, having settled down with a wealthy young nobleman closely connected to the plasma mining. Sometimes Namita felt lucky that Marme even spoke to her when she had so much else to consider.
"Sister," Namita inclined her head respectfully.
"Sister," Marme rejoined and held out her hand. Niki slipped away from her side and joined his mother. Already, he nearly reached her shoulder in height. Marme had always been petite and well-proportioned, unlike gangly and long Namita, whose sudden growth spurt in her late teens had bestowed a lack of grace that still peeked through the results of her finishing school education now and then.
She looked away from them both, doing her best to ignore the pang of jealously under her sternum. Marme and her husband Lodok Mereen were made for each other, both beautiful, both social and well connected to the noble families of Naboo. Unlike her. She reached for the pink blush, but another hand intercepted and picked it up. Namita glanced up at Marme, who finally cracked a faint smile and motioned to her to turn. Niki had disappeared from the room, and now Marme's formal exterior was beginning to melt.
"I think my hands are steadier right now," Marme said.
Namita looked down and saw that, yes, her hands shook with tiny tremors. She nodded and turned with a small, "Thank you, Marme."
Her sister leaned in, eyes fixing on her new task which she applied with streamlined efficiency. "You know, believe it or not, Nami, I have been praying that this day would come for you, and now that it's here, I can hardly believe it. The Senator of Naboo, that's quite a peko-peko feather in your hat."
Namita reached forward and seized her sister's left hand, stilling it. "Do you know anything about him?"
"Lodok spoke with him once before at the Royal Palace, several years ago," Marme smiled. "He got the impression that Senator Palpatine is a bit of a loner. He turned down a gathering that evening, and Lodok said he claimed he was still mourning the death of Vidar Kim and wouldn't be good company."
"Do you believe that?" Namita asked.
"Hard to say," Marme shrugged. "Hardly anyone actually knows him. He lost his whole family in some sort of accident when he was young."
"Oh."
Marme placed the finishing touches on her older sister's face. "It made him quite wealthy, evidently. He traveled across the galaxy as our Ambassador before replacing Senator Kim. Some people say he was trying to escape his tragic past." She sighed dramatically. "Dark and brooding, just like a fairy tale, hm?"
"I hope not," Namita whispered. "I don't need a fairy tale. I just need to know if he'll… if… I don't know what I want."
Marme swept to her feet, setting aside the applicator and extending her hands. "Well, while you are making up your mind, he's downstairs with our parents and Lodok."
"What!?" Namita leapt up, knocking her chair back with a loud clatter. She hurried to her far dresser and shakily attached the pearlstone necklace around her throat. "Why didn't you tell me as soon as you came in?"
Marme smirked. "I'm sure Father is keeping him well entertained, and besides, any woman worth her spices knows how to make a man wait."
Namita looked at herself in the mirror. Marme had done an excellent job, and she resembled the finest nobility of Naboo. Why, the intricacy of her pale face and red markings might even rival any Queen's, in perfection if not in significance. If her own face didn't lurk beneath. She forced a small smile to her lips as Marme joined her at the mirror. "I'm not sure I can do this, Sister."
"You can and you will. You know Father will have it no other way," Marme shrugged. "Best to make the most of it, Nami. Come on, I will take you down to them."
Namita did not remember leaving her bedroom or starting down the long staircase that curved down into the main entryway. She did not remember slipping through the long stone hallway to the main living quarters. She did remember the moment that Marme pulled her to a stop just before they entered.
"Look," Marme whispered, motioning around the doorframe.
She looked.
The Senator of Naboo stood in profile speaking with her father, who was laughing loudly at some comment. Her future husband was not conventionally handsome like the other young Naboo noblemen who had sought her hand before discovering that she could offer no dowry of worth. His height was average, or perhaps a little less, and his arms were long in proportion to his torso. His face was thin, overshadowed in its lesser features by a great beak of a nose that almost made her want to snicker. She ruthlessly shoved the urge down. He possessed no athletic build under the elaborate robes, but she was pleased to note that he was not fat, not at all. In fact, if she had to describe him, she might almost use the word 'fragile,' noting the slenderness of his wrists and fingers.
She sensed, though, that he was far from that. The way he held himself projected confidence, an easy assurance and entitlement like every noble on Naboo affected to carry, but his felt real to her awareness. Too real, and she worried, Will he be cruel?
She backed away from the door, leaned against it and smoothed the silky gown over her legs and hips and bit at her lip. "Stop fussing," Marme said. "You are far more beautiful than him."
"That's not saying much," Namita said and felt a twinge of regret. He couldn't help his looks any more than she could. She really ought to be kinder to her future husband.
Marme pressed her hand. "Are you ready to meet him?"
Gods, no. "Yes."
"Then let's go." Marme pushed her forward in the small of her back, and Namita stepped into the large room. Her father noticed her first, and he turned with a wide, artificial smile, the one he used on all politicians that he thought might be useful someday. "Ah, my daughters arrive at last. Come in, my dears."
Lodok Mereen stepped forward and took Marme's hand in his muscular grip, leading his wife several steps to the side and leaving Namita alone to continue towards the two waiting men. She forced her head high and made herself take smaller, stately steps. All she really wanted was to run from the stifling room, which seemed ten meters longer than ever before. On the small diva, her mother watched with sharp, approving eyes.
She realized with embarrassment that she stood a small amount taller than him, and she felt her shoulders slouching in a desperate attempt to compensate, sneaking a glance up. His reddish hair was long and pulled back in traditional fashion at the nape of his neck. His thin mouthed stayed perfectly straight, betraying nothing of his thoughts, whatever he thought of her. Probably not much. Is he upset at being kept waiting?
But her father was speaking. "Namita, may I present Senator Palpatine. Senator, my daughter Namita Malik."
He glanced into her eyes then, and she started at the intensity in their watery pale depths, then he was looking down in a deep and traditional bow, complete with the ancient flourish of the noble houses. "My lady Malik, it is my singular honor."
His voice! If his looks failed to impress, then his erudite tones compensated well. Namita drank in the sentence, noting that his accent was neither Naboo or Coruscanti in origin, but somewhere in between. A transitional, heady stage, and she remembered that he had been Senator for four years already. Such a worldly match for her, she who had never departed the safety of Theed and its outlying districts. How would this ever work?
The silence grew deafening, and she realized that she was openly staring. The Senator possessed a decidedly fixed smile at this point, still half-bowing and politely waiting for her to respond.
"Oh! No, please, it is mine." She wanted to kick herself, to disappear into the ground. That wasn't the right response, not at all. "I mean, I bid you welcome, Senator." At least her curtsy was well done, if a bit shaky.
Palpatine straightened.
x-x-x-x
An insipid pool of frightened timidity. He kept his expression perfectly neutral, but his thoughts refused to lie quietly. I am to marry this? He had watched as she entered the room, flighty as a spooked quadduck on a hunt. Even her billowing gown reminded him of the flapping wings. She drifted quickly across the room and came to stand before her father, though she did not meet his patriarchal gaze. Instead, she glanced at Palpatine under her dark lashes, her oval face unnaturally pale with the thick layers of traditional Naboo artifice.
Palpatine had never liked Naboo's fixation on all things traditional. Change was a concept that came slowly and with much difficulty to his people. With his help, they would soon see the errors of their ways, but now was not that time. He turned to Kwilaan Malik and smiled. "Your daughter exceeds your descriptions of her, Kwilaan." Exceeds in underwhelming me, that is. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her break into a small, nervous smile.
Kwilaan beamed. "Yes, she is quite beautiful, and I know she will be an excellent match to you, Senator. I am pleased that you are pleased."
Palpatine offered a stiff half bow from the waist to the older man, then turned more fully to face his intended bride. "I would be far more greatly pleased if I could have the pleasure of your attendance tomorrow, my lady. Upon my return from Coruscant, my colleagues pressed me into a twirrling. The outing would be far more agreeable in your delightful company." Away from the prying eyes of her father, he would be free to form his judgment, to look at her with the all-seeing eyes of darkness. To know just how long I might be able to endure her presence in this farce of a marriage.
He observed how her eyes instantly flitted to her father's face, asking permission or maybe asking for a sanctioned denial. At Kwilaan's slight nod, she turned back to him. "I, I would be very honored to accompany you, Senator." She sounded far from pleased. Apprehension soaked her entire presence in the Force, which was surprisingly bright.
There would be more time to peruse this observation tomorrow, he decided. He allowed his smile to grow. "Well, then, it is settled. We shall be departing for the western plains in the morning, my lady. We'll be here at dawn."
"I look forward to it," she said. She appeared so remote then, so rigid, that he was slightly impressed by her self-control. Perhaps there was a spine somewhere under all the fear, after all.
"I beg your pardon, my friend," he said at last to Kwilaan, "but my presence has been requested at the Palace today. I must now take my leave and attend our King."
"Of course," Kwilaan replied. "You are a busy and influential man, Senator. I look forward to meeting again and carrying forward our mutual arrangements."
"As do I," Palpatine nodded, ignoring the older man's blatant flattery and offering a polite bow to the rest of the family members. Lodok Mereen inclined his head. At Kwilaan's wave, a servant materialized from the shadows and motioned Palpatine to follow him. He did, casting no glance behind. He could feel her in the Force clearly enough, a timid quavering that annoyed his own balance. I'll be fortunate if I don't kill her tomorrow.
x-x-x-x
DarthRuinous: Palpatine, old boy, no killing the bride before you're married, you know that. He's marrying into a rather unique family. The reunions are going to be fun times… Apologies for any typos or mistakes found within. Read and review!
