A/N: Okay, I feel like this chapter is one of the better ones I've written so I hope you enjoy! And let me know if you think I'm progressing too fast or too slow or if you think the lengths of the chapters are long enough. Again, this is my first story and I basically have no idea what I'm doing. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, just each movie on DVD ;)


*Padme's POV*

I walked through the halls of the unfamiliar apartment with the girl in tow. She didn't say anything as I searched for the kitchen. Luckily, the apartment was small and the kitchen was relatively easy to find. Once in there, I went up to the island counter and pulled out one of the bar stools before guiding the girl into the seat. From there, I grabbed the kettle that was sitting on the stove and filled up.

It took me a while to get the stove on. The dials and buttons were different than what I was used to and I couldn't make out the letters on them. After some experimentation, the flame finally lit and smiled in satisfaction. As the water boiled, I went in search of the cups and tea.

I found the cups in the first cabinet I opened. I pulled out two and set them on the countertop, then, after a moment's consideration, pulled out three more. While everyone seemed to be dealing with the situation better than the girl, there was no doubt that everyone was shaken by the experience. I know I definitely was. Some tea would be good to calm the nerves. Now if I could just find some…

I must have gone through all the other cabinets before finding one that had tea bags. And… they were all written in a language I couldn't read… Of course. I let out a sigh before grabbing some boxes off of the shelf. Time to put my extensive tea knowledge to good use. I smelled the contents of each box, trying to see if I could guess the flavor. Some were pretty obvious, either from the smell or the pictures on the box. Others I had a hard time figuring out. In the end, I decided to put those back in the cabinet and choose from the ones I knew. After discarding some slightly sketchy flavors, I had narrowed it down to two boxes. One was some citrus fruit, orange I'm guessing, and I'm fairly sure the other was strawberry.

I put a bag of each in the tea pot I found during my earlier kitchen-rummaging escapade. The kettle whistled. Perfect timing, I thought. I poured the hot water into the pot and lifted the bags a few times to start the steeping process.

As I waited, I studied the girl sitting across from me. She was young. Maybe 18 or 19 if I had to guess. I'd seen pictures in the hallways of another older woman with her, I figured she was the girl's mother. Where was she? Was she still even alive, or had the war raging across the galaxy taken another mother from her child? I shook my head, banishing those thoughts. It wasn't right to be making assumptions. I knew next to nothing about this girl. Heck, I didn't even know her name! There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for where her parents were. And, if she was the age I thought, she could just be living on her own. However, I wouldn't get any answers unless the girl decided to speak.

I poured a cup of tea for her and wrapped her hands around the mug. They were ice cold. I hoped the tea would warm her up. She made no move to drink it, she didn't seem to even register that it was there. Shock had hit her hard. I left her side at the counter to walk across the hall to a living space, and I grabbed a blanket that was draped on one of the couches.

I took the blanket and wrapped it around the girl's shoulders, tucking it in so it wouldn't fall to the floor. She made no acknowledgement of the new weight on her shoulders. This was one of the worst cases of shock I'd seen. It was quite common to see it among the survivors of war-torn towns. I clenched my hands at my sides. This was why I fought so hard for peace in the Senate. I advocated peace so people could live their lives without having to worry about losing their homes, their families, their lives. I worked so there would be no more ravaged towns with people sitting scared in the cold. So there would be no more people with that far-off look in their eyes as they relieved some unknown horror.

The girl reminded me of that now. The way her gaze seemed to be focused on nothing and everything, her mind off somewhere far away from her body. A strong feeling built up in my chest. I hugged her. I don't know why I did, I just felt the need to. I just had to comfort the girl. I squeezed her gently, hoping that wherever she was inside her mind, she felt that I was there.

She tensed underneath me. I pulled away almost immediately. She stared at me now, fully aware and deep blue eyes boring into me.

"Hi." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hi."

Nothing else was said until I decided to speak up. "I made tea for you."

The girl looked down, finally noticing the cup in her hands. "Oh… Thank you," she said, her voice louder this time.

I smiled, "You're welcome. I'm Padme, by the way."

"Elytra."

She extended a hand out from the blanket for me to shake. I took the hand, now warmer than it was before. We fell into silence again. For all my political training, I suddenly couldn't figure out what to say or how to act around her. There was some different about her, something special.

"Do you normally hug people you just meet?" Elytra said, her voice cutting through the quiet. A small smile played on the corners of her lips.

"No, not typically," I laughed. "You're just a special case."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"You could take it as one."

"Somehow, that doesn't sound very reassuring," The smile on her face grew as I snorted and raised my own cup of tea to my lips. At the rate this conversation was going, I wouldn't be surprised if she could out-snark Anakin. Elytra took a sip of her own tea before her face creased into a slight frown.

"Who are those for?" she asked, referring to the three other steaming cups of tea still waiting on the counter. I pursed my lips. Did she not remember?

"Those are for the others… Do you remember?" She nodded once, then twice.

"I think I do, yeah," Elytra closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at me once again. "Should… should we go meet them?"

"If you want to," I said, not wanting to pressure her. "I'm sure they would understand if we waited a bit before talking to them. They need time to process everything as well."

"What about you?" she asked. "How… how are you dealing with… well, with everything, I guess?" Even though I didn't know her really well, it was easy to see the concern flitting across her features.

I smiled reassuringly, "I'm doing okay. But it's not me we should be worried about, it's you. You were in shock for a while there. Do you feel better now?"

She looked down at the tea in her hands before shifting her gaze back up to meet mine. "I do actually." The corners of her mouth drifted up again. "Thank you." Her eyes wandered back to the cups. "We should probably talk soon though," her gaze bored into me again. "The tea is getting cold," she said in complete seriousness. I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped me. It must have been the intended effect as Elytra beamed at me.

"Well then, we mustn't keep them waiting." I said in mock-seriousness. "Cold tea is a horrible travesty!"

Elytra let out a laugh as she raised a hand to her chest in feigned horror. "Oh my, I can hardly stand the thought!" I laughed along with her as we grabbed the tea and headed back down the hallway to the bedroom. I had a feeling Elytra and me were going to become good friends.


A/N: Thanks again to everyone who followed/favorited! Next chapter will be out tomorrow!