Unfortunately, Anakin awoke the next morning still in a suite in the imperial palace and was forced to acknowledge that this wasn't a dream. He stayed in bed for a long time, but eventually made himself get up and get dressed.

He walked out the door and jumped when he saw that there were two handmaidens stationed immediately outside, waiting to accost him. "Good morning, My Lord," Rabé said.

"Good morning," Anakin replied. "You're Rabé, right?"

She smiled. "Yes, My Lord."

"Okay, great," he said, feeling proud of himself. He turned to the other one. "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."

"Eirtaé, My Lord."

Rabé and Eirtaé. Two down, eight to go. "All of us are available to assist you at any time, but Lady Amidala has assigned the two of us to you specifically," Rabé told him. "We'll be with you most of the time, except when you want privacy, of course."

"Oh, um, that's really not necessary," Anakin said. "I'm used to doing things myself, I don't need people to help me, like, get dressed and stuff."

He'd meant that more as a dig at Amidala's lavish lifestyle than the handmaidens' careers, and to his relief they both chuckled and didn't seem to take offense. "Of course, My Lord, and we'll keep out of your way if you'd like, but Lady Amidala has assigned us to attend you just in case you ever need anything," Eirtaé said.

"And," Rabé added, "most people don't know this, but we're actually Lady Amidala's bodyguards in addition to her handmaidens. So now we're your bodyguards too, which is why we'll be accompanying you whenever you leave your apartments. To protect you."

"Oh," Anakin said, surprised; he'd assumed Amidala would have the same imperial guards that Palpatine had. "Okay, then. I guess that makes sense." Though he wondered how much of it was "protecting him" as opposed to "keeping an eye on him" or "preventing him from escaping."

"Do you need anything now or would you prefer us to leave you?" Eirtaé asked.

"Um…could you show me where I can find some breakfast?" Anakin said a little sheepishly.

They both smiled and beckoned him to follow. As they walked, Anakin realized that they were probably the two easiest handmaidens to recognize—while all the others looked eerily like Amidala, Rabé's complexion was darker and Eirtaé's hair was lighter. Perhaps Amidala had assigned them to him on purpose, knowing he'd have the easiest time telling them apart from all the others.

They soon arrived in the small dining room, which was deserted. "What would you like for breakfast, My Lord?" Eirtaé asked.

Anakin shrugged. "Whatever you have."

"We can make anything you'd like."

"Um…" Anakin racked his brains. At the Jedi Temple all they had for breakfast was plain porridge, and he'd always hated it. Then his eyes lit up as he remembered a meal he'd once had when Obi-Wan had taken him to Dex's Diner. "Can you make panna cakes?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course," said Rabé.

"And…you wouldn't happen to have carbosyrup, would you?"

"We do," Eirtaé confirmed, smiling. "Panna cakes with carbosyrup is Lady Amidala's favorite too. She's always had a sweet tooth."

Surprising. She seemed like the sort of person who'd actually enjoy porridge. Anakin waited patiently at the table while the handmaidens cooked, and he couldn't help but smile when they brought out a large stack of fluffy panna cakes drizzled with a generous dose of sugary syrup. He hadn't quite realized exactly how hungry he was until that very instant—the nutrient supplement he'd gotten from the medbay wasn't the same as a proper meal—and he wolfed down the whole stack as well as the fruit they'd brought him, thanking them profusely every other mouthful.

"Where is Lady Amidala?" Anakin said once he'd finished eating, only just now realizing that there had been no sign of her on their way over to breakfast.

"She left for the Senate several hours ago," Rabé told him. "It's rare you'll see her in the mornings unless you're a very early riser."

As a slave, then a Jedi, then a fugitive, Anakin had never before had the luxury of sleeping late, and he decided he might as well take advantage of it now that he did have it. Also, the less he had to see of Amidala, the better.

She was in meetings most of the day and Anakin didn't see her again until dinner, which he was forced to have with her. "How was your day?" she asked, taking a sip of wine.

"Fine," Anakin said shortly. In all honesty, aside from the fact that he was a captive of the Empire, he'd had a pretty good day; he'd spent the whole thing lounging around the empty apartment and watching holodramas. He was a couple seasons behind on all his favorite ones, having been unable to watch them while he was on the run, and Rabé and Eirtaé had kindly refrained from spoiling any of the twists for him as he'd been catching up. At one point he'd apologized for being such a boring person to attend, and they'd laughed and said that between the three of them, watching holodrama reruns was much more fun than sitting through Senate meetings.

"How are you getting along with Rabé and Eirtaé?" Amidala said next.

"Good," he said, truthfully. They were just about the only people in the palace that he liked, or could even stand. Maybe the other handmaidens too, but Anakin hadn't spent much time with the rest of them yet.

"I'm glad to hear that," Amidala replied. "I'm in meetings all day tomorrow too, but I was going to have the handmaidens work on wedding preparations, if you'd like to help them."

Anakin shrugged. That was really the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn't have much else to do so perhaps he'd consider it out of sheer boredom.

Seeming satisfied with his noncommittal response, she continued, "I also thought we should discuss honeymoon plans."

Anakin had just taken a sip of water and promptly choked on it. "Honeymoon?" he stuttered, coughing. "I figured it would be back to business as usual the next morning. Aren't you busy?"

"Well, yes, and personally I'd have no problem with that, but the public would be quite shocked if we went back to business as usual the morning after our wedding," Amidala pointed out. "We want them to believe we at least like each other, so…"

He'd have to do a lot of acting, then, Anakin thought, scrunching up his face in distaste. "Fine," he said. "How long does it have to be for?"

"Just a week, I'm sure that's long enough to convince the public we don't hate spending time with each other. And I'd prefer to be away from the Senate for as little time as possible," she said. "As for the destination, I was thinking Naboo."

"Naboo?"

"Yes. It's my home planet and I haven't been back in a long time, so I thought we could stop in to visit my sister's family for a day or two and then spend the rest of the week at a private retreat in the Lake Country."

Amidala looked expectantly at him, and it wasn't like Anakin had any better suggestions for honeymoon destinations or that she would listen to him if he did, so he agreed. Plus, he had always wanted to go to Naboo—during his free time he'd loved going into the Jedi Temple library and researching all the different planets, and Naboo was just about the top of his list of planets he wanted to visit someday. So, maybe the honeymoon wouldn't be so bad. Or at least, as un-bad as a honeymoon with Lady Amidala could be, which was probably still pretty bad.

The next day, Anakin felt guilty for lying on the couch watching holovision while the handmaidens were hard at work planning his wedding, so he went over to join them. "What have you got so far?" he asked.

"It's going to be held in the throne room," one of them said.

Anakin made a face. "Is that negotiable?"

"I'm afraid not," the same handmaiden said apologetically. "The Emperor specifically requested it."

"He also gave us a guest list," another one piped up, handing him a holopad.

Anakin skimmed it; he recognized the names of several high-ranking politicians, but the rest were unknown to him. "Is there anything I am allowed to have an opinion about?"

"Well, the Emperor might be willing to add a few names to the guest list if you have anyone else you're thinking of inviting," Eirtaé said uncertainly.

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were on the run, Anakin wasn't about to invite Owen and Beru even closer to the danger of the Empire, and everyone else he'd ever cared about was dead. "No, that list is fine," he said. "What else do we need to figure out?"

They proceeded to rattle off an extensive list including but not limited to attire, flowers, music, food, and seating arrangements, and by the time they were done Anakin sorely regretted asking. "Okay," he said. "Um, I'd love to help, but I think you all might be more qualified…"

The handmaidens laughed. "Don't worry about it, My Lord, we have everything under control," Rabé assured him. "You just go back to catching up on Zeltrons in Love. I can't wait to see what you think of the finale cliffhanger."

Grinning, Anakin returned to the sitting room and parked himself in front of the holovision for several more hours.

The next day, the tailor arrived to measure Anakin for his wedding clothes and also anything else he wanted, though the pre-provided clothes in the closet fit him well enough. Nevertheless, at the insistence of Rabé and Eirtaé (who had orders from Amidala), he was persuaded to order a large amount of imperial finery.

"My Lord, you're about to be married to the future empress," Rabé pointed out when he protested. "You'll have to dress the part."

I'm trying not to think about that, Anakin thought, but out loud he only conceded her point.

The clothes were delivered remarkably quickly, only a few days after the fitting. "This is what I have to wear to the wedding?" Anakin said in dismay when he opened the parcel containing that outfit. Apparently, he was supposed to wear a scarlet undershirt, a black tunic embroidered with silver, and black pants, boots, and cape. He might as well just put on a nametag saying Hi! I'm evil!

"Oh, it'll look wonderful with Lady Amidala's dress," Eirtaé promised him, as if he cared about that.

"What's she wearing?"

"We're not going to spoil the surprise," Rabé said sternly. "It's bad luck."

Anakin, frankly, didn't think his luck could get any worse, but he just shook his head and went along with it.

The rest of his clothes turned out to be made in the same vein as his wedding clothes, just not quite as fancy (though still so excessively fancy that he knew he was going to feel like a massive idiot in all of them). Anakin was just wishing he had his Jedi robes back when that evening, there was a knock on his bedroom door and Eirtaé came in carrying them. "I believe these are yours, My Lord?"

"Yes," Anakin said, jumping off the bed and hurrying over to take them from her. They were still pretty ratty, but they were clean now and seemed to have been mended in several places. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry they're not in very good shape, we did our best with them," she said. "We wanted to just throw them out, they're a mess and you have lots of better clothes now, but Lady Amidala insisted that we do everything we could to mend them."

"She insisted?" Anakin repeated, surprised. She had promised to return them to him, but he didn't see why she wouldn't have gone along with the handmaidens' professional opinion and allowed them to throw his robes out. It wasn't like he could've done anything about it other than sulk even more than he already had been.

"Yes, My Lord," Eirtaé said. "She was very adamant. Wouldn't hear of them being thrown out."

"Oh," said Anakin. He wasn't sure how to feel about this. "Well, thank you for doing all this. I appreciate it."

Eirtaé smiled and departed after checking that he didn't need anything else, and Anakin changed into his Jedi robes as soon as she was gone. He glanced in the mirror, pleased. At last he felt a little more like himself again.

Dinner was an hour later, and once again it was just him and Amidala. He hadn't been forced to go to any formal functions yet (or even to leave their rooms at all), thank the Force, but a dinner with only her was equally trying. A couple nights she'd been too tied up in meetings to make dinner and he'd eaten in blissful solitude.

"I see you got your robes back," Amidala said once they'd both sat down.

Anakin nodded. "Um…thank you," he said after a moment. "For giving them back to me."

She shrugged modestly. "I know they're important to you. And…I want you to be happy here. I know you don't believe me," she said, seeing his incredulous look, "but it's true. Though this marriage is purely for political reasons, it still wouldn't do me any favors to have a husband who's constantly miserable. I know it's a lot to ask for you to be happy, but I hope you'll at least grow to feel comfortable and at home here."

Normally Anakin would have greeted these words with a snort or a sarcastic comment—how dare she ask him to be happy when she'd kidnapped him?!—but she just seemed so sincere. And almost…kind. Almost as if she genuinely cared about his wellbeing. He knew that was an absurd thought, but still, it gave him enough pause that he remained silent.

"Anyway," Amidala said, now back to a businesslike tone, "you shouldn't ever wear those outside the privacy of our rooms. I doubt the Emperor would be pleased if he saw you walking around in Jedi robes."

"Understood," Anakin said. Part of him wanted to blatantly walk around in Jedi robes just to be defiant, but now that he was trapped in the imperial palace forever with no way out, there wasn't really a point in making his life more difficult than it already was. He was sure any other Jedi in his place would rebel against Palpatine and damn the consequences, but thanks to his slave background, Anakin had never been like them. If it came to a choice between survival and staying loyal to his ideals, he was going to choose survival. Ideals didn't do you much good when you'd been whipped so many times you could hardly stand up.

Besides, he realized as he lay in bed later that night, perhaps if he behaved well, he could get Amidala and Palpatine to trust him. And if they trusted him, maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to find out enough information to be able to overthrow them. Maybe he could even find some way to contact the Rebellion and leak imperial secrets to them. Anakin's spirits rose at the thought. He wasn't sure he'd be able to dupe Palpatine, but at least Amidala…she wasn't even Force sensitive, he thought dismissively. Surely it couldn't be too difficult to play her, fool her into thinking he was gradually having a change of heart and becoming genuinely loyal to the Empire.

But the thought of the Lars family stopped his plans in their tracks. If he betrayed Empire secrets to the Rebellion and the Empire found out, Anakin knew they'd kill Owen and Beru as revenge for his treachery. They'd probably kill him too, but he didn't really care about that. Still, if he did decide to do this, he'd have to tread very, very carefully. Otherwise their blood would be on his hands.

Anakin might not be able to get close enough to Amidala and Palpatine to find out anything of significance, anyway. But he might as well try, he decided, and if he found out anything good, he could then consider whether or not it would be too risky to contact the Rebellion. Do or do not, there is no try. Out of habit, Yoda's voice echoed in his head. But he was wrong. It was far better to try and fail than to never try at all. Perhaps if the Jedi had understood that, they'd still be around.


Idk how it's taken me until now to realize that Anakin/handmaidens friendship is everything