The end
Secrets
" What do you mean, she knows?" Mace asked slowly. Anakin gave an exasperated sigh, how many times was he going to have to tell these people before they understood.
" What I mean is she knows! She knows about Padme and me, she knows that she's our daughter!" he explained, forcing himself to keep calm.
" But are you absolutely sure?" Obi-wan asked. Anakin glared at him. " Well how did she find out?"
" I was upset, I know I shouldn't let my emotions get the better of me, but I was upset anyway. It made me easy to read, she realised right before she started fighting," Anakin said softly, feeling ashamed of himself for being so feeble when it came to his daughter. Mace exchanged an unreadable look with Obi-wan before finally Yoda spoke.
" Unfortunate this is," he said. " More difficult it will be to train, for both of you." Everyone stared at him in silence. " But lose either of you, we cannot."
" Agreed," Mace said nodding. He then looked at Anakin. " Just for now, try and keep away from her." Anakin was about to protest, but Mace carried on quickly. " Just until she's been given a chance to come to terms with this. It can't be easy!"
" Fine," Anakin finally said and he chewed on the inside of his cheek to restrain himself from saying half the things he wanted to.
" I shall go see Mayco," Mace said and he walked away. Anakin glared at the back of his head. He knew very well that Mayco didn't really like Mace, the only interaction that they ever had was her being brought before him for punishment.
" Anakin you must remain calm!" Obi-wan said firmly. " This is exactly why the council tried to dissuade you from contact with Mayco, you are far to easily affected by things involving her."
" But master I," Anakin began.
" No buts Anakin, your judgment can't be so clouded that you don't see what your relationship with your daughter does to you," Obi-wan countered. Anakin nodded grimly; he knew that Obi-wan was right, but that didn't mean that he liked what he had to say. " We should go and meditate, and you are to leave Mayco to Master Windu," Obi-wan ordered gently and he walked off in the opposite direction that Mace had gone. Anakin breathed in deeply and followed Obi-wan.
* * *
Tio's afternoon had been miserable. Usually during her classes she would sit with her close friends Kara and Breiyden, but ever since Anis had moved in it was like the pair were inseparable, much to Tio's disgust. She had only just managed to get away from the awful girl because she was off briefing Master Uvek on the day's events.
Tio stormed into their room and dumped her bag before she realised Mayco was in the room.
" Hey," Tio grumbled. Mayco ignored her. " I said hey," Tio repeated loudly, getting angry that even Mayco was being strange with her - Kara and Breiyden had deserted her because of Anis.
" What's wrong?" Mayco asked calmly.
" Anis is what's wrong, I swear that I might just start sleep walking and strangle that girl in her sleep," Tio hissed and she jumped up on the windowsill and faced Mayco.
" Might stop the snoring," Mayco suggested softly.
" Oh don't get me started on the snoring! But um, what's up with you?" Tio asked sounding concerned. Mayco shrugged her shoulders weakly.
" I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tell," she said uneasily. Tio scrunched up her face in confusion.
" Tell me what? What's with you? You look like you've seen a ghost! Is it something to do with the Senator watching you today?" Mayco turned away from the window and looked Tio in the eye and then she realised with anger that just because the people she loved could keep horrible big nasty secrets from her, that didn't mean that she was going to do the same thing.
" I found out today that Anakin is my father," she said simply. Tio gasped and tumbled off the windowsill in shock. Within seconds she was back, her jaw hanging open. " And also, that the senator, well yeah, she's my mom!" A silence followed, in which Tio opened and closed her mouth soundlessly. Mayco told her everything, from her strange capture back on Naboo to what had happened in the training garden.
By the end of her story Mayco felt a bit better and Tio had recovered from her shock.
" That's like so, wow! How do you feel?"
" Angry, confused, happy.I don't know, I don't like feeling so many emotions at one time, it makes it really hard to control them! But Tio how could they lie to me? How could Anakin lie to me? All that time and nothing!" Mayco burst out.
" Yeah but you always said you felt strange around him didn't you May? I mean you always knew there was something about him," Tio countered bluntly.
" Yeah I know, but this is so unexpected! I always thought it was something like he was my father's best friend or something relatively normal like that! This is just so.huge!" Mayco complained. " And I don't know how to feel. I don't know what to do!" Tio furrowed her brow in thought.
" Well what about the senator, she's actually your mom!" Tio said in wonderment. Mayco nodded.
" I haven't even thought about her yet," she said softly. Then she jumped off the windowsill quickly. " Hey you think she's still around?" Tio shrugged.
" Yeah why not?"
" Okay cover for me," Mayco said quickly and she ran out of the room leaving Tio sat alone on the windowsill frowning in confusion.
" Cover for you how?" she mumbled, but at this moment the door opened and Anis marched in, her head held up proudly. " Oh it's you!"
" Tio be on your best behaviour, we have company," Anis announced. Tio narrowed her eyes at the girl so much, that she could barely see.
" Who do you think you are my mother?" she demanded angrily and she jumped off the windowsill to face Anis.
" Calm down Tio, I said to be good, we have company!" Anis repeated in a sickeningly sweet tone. Tio was about to yell, but then Master Windu stepped into the room. He was looking at Anis with a look of slight amusement, but also disbelief. This angered Tio more.
'Yeah, see even you people don't know how awful she is, you mighty "we can sense everything" morons' Tio thought angrily. To her surprise Mace smiled and her and she had the horrible feeling that he had heard what she thought. If he had however, he didn't say anything.
" Miss Al'lin good evening," he said cheerfully.
" Good evening sir," Tio replied sheepishly.
" Could you tell me where Miss Naberrie is?" he asked. Tio shook her head, in truth she probably knew where Mayco was, but she wasn't going to land her friend in trouble.
" She wasn't here when I got back, I don't know where she is," Tio said calmly, and she managed to make her voice sound normal at least. Mace lost his smile slightly; he of course knew she was lying.
" Are you sure?" he asked sounding firm. Tio nodded coldly. Mace shook his head and nodded. " Okay, well if you see her, please could you ask her to come see me?" Tio nodded and with this he left.
" You told a lie! It was clear as day!" Anis hissed gleefully. " Oh you told a lie to one of the council, you are going to be in so much trouble!" With this she ran out of the room leaving Tio alone again, yelling furiously into her pillow.
* * *
Mayco's only guess as to where the senator.her mother.would be was her guest quarters. She reached them within ten minutes of leaving her room and sensed something very strange behind the door. There were two strong presences behind that door. Was the senator alone?
Mayco swallowed hard, this was her only chance, if Anakin and Obi-wan were in there, then so be it. She didn't care anymore. So she straightened her shirt and signalled the doorbell.
Moments later the door opened and the senator was standing in the doorway. She looked slightly surprised to see Mayco, but stood aside so Mayco could enter anyway.
The room was empty.
" Hey where did they go?" Mayco asked sounding surprised. Padme moved to the sofa and sat down.
" Where did who go?" she asked nervously, unsure of how the child was going to react to what she had found out.
" Well I felt force sensitive people, strong ones.they were in here, but." Mayco suddenly stopped and stared at the senator. " But.it's all coming from you." She frowned in confusion, what could this mean.
" Would you like to sit down?" Padme asked, her voice shaking with her nervousness. Then it hit Mayco.
" You're pregnant," she gasped. " You're pregnant, and it's twins, and they're Anakin's because they are so strong!" Her tone was almost accusing, why was she getting angry?
'Because I just found out they're mine, and now they're not mine anymore!' a small, but very angry, voice said in the back of her mind. Mayco shook her head, that wasn't true.or was it?
She turned her attention back on Padme, who was hanging her head sadly. Mayco felt her heart go out to her, her mother looked so distressed.
" What's wrong?" Mayco asked sounding concerned and she approached Padme tentatively. Padme shook her head and tears started trickling from her face onto her beautiful dress. " Senator Amidala?" As she said this Padme looked up, tears positively streaming down her face.
" Don't call me that, not now," she said quickly. Mayco gulped and nodded. " Call me Padme."
" Okay.Padme, but, why are you crying?" Mayco asked, finally reaching her mother and sitting down next to her. Padme shook her head.
" It's just been an emotional day, that's all," she said quickly.
" That's not it," Mayco said simply. " You're pregnant, I don't understand! You have two very strong babies inside of you and.and Anakin doesn't know does he?" Padme shook her head in a defeated way making Mayco frown more. " But if I can sense them, then why can't he?" Padme sighed and looked up into Mayco's concerned face. The sight nearly made her cry more.
" I put all my energy into hiding it from him.I don't know how, but he doesn't sense them," she said.
" But why don't you want him to know?" Mayco asked. Padme's face contorted in pain and she shook her head.
" I don't know how much you know about Anakin," Padme said softly. Mayco's jaw fell open.
" Hello? I've seen the guy practically every day of my life; I'd say I know him pretty much completely!" she said angrily. Padme uttered a little sound of surprise at Mayco's sudden anger.
" That's not what I meant," she said quickly. " I didn't say that right. What I meant was, I don't think you know about how.different he can be when he gets emotional." Padme paused. " Have you ever seen his fury?" Mayco gulped and turned away from Padme quickly. She had once seen his fury, only once.
She had been three years old, and she had been kidnapped by an opportunist who saw that he could probably get some money out of the Jedi toddler. After two whole weeks of suffering Anakin and Obi-wan had tracked them down. Then after finding Mayco in the battered state she was Anakin seemed to lose control and he viciously killed the man.
Mayco nodded.
" So have I," Padme said softly. " He has a lot of anger in him, ever since he was a little boy. The first time I saw it was when his mother died, he massacred a whole camp of Sandpeople, he was in such a mess." Mayco nodded, she had heard versions of this story before, never quite this graphic though. " He's very, unstable, emotional! And over the last eight years he's been getting worse," Padme continued in an even softer tone. Mayco snapped her eyes on the senator.
" Because of me," she stated clearly. Padme shook her head sadly.
" Not because of you, we love you.he loves you, that's what makes him so emotional. Jedi aren't supposed to love, it makes them too emotional, too unstable," Padme said firmly.
" So, because of me," Mayco repeated.
" No! Because of both of us, and the way he loves us!" Padme said loudly silencing Mayco.
" But that doesn't explain why you're not telling him about the twins," Mayco said after a while. Padme shook her head.
" The council have requested that I don't," Padme said bitterly, indicating to Mayco straight away that this request was probably an order. " I think, from what I can gather, and from what Obi-wan's told me."
" Obi-wan gets to know, but not Anakin?" Mayco asked getting agitated. Padme ignored this and carried on.
" From what Obi-wan's told me," she repeated. " Yoda had a vision, a dark vision, he won't tell anyone what happened, but it's absolutely crucial that I keep the twins a secret from Anakin for now," Padme said. Mayco narrowed her eyes at the senator.
" Just for now?" she asked cautiously.
" Yes probably, just for a little while," Padme said. Mayco nodded in a resigned way and then gave out a deep sigh, thinking all the while about what Dooku had said about their plans for her father and her own vision's implications dawning on her; her resolve strengthened, whatever it took, she would protect her father.
" You have a lot of your father in you," Padme suddenly said, causing Mayco to snap out of her unhappy reverie. Missing the hidden meaning in Padme's words Mayco simply nodded. She couldn't know how scared Padme felt when she saw the same anger that Anakin had in her young daughter. Two of the most powerful Jedi ever, yet so very emotional; a very dangerous combination.
" I don't know why I came here," Mayco then said and she got to her feet to leave. " I should go!" she added and started heading to the door. Padme jumped to her feet too.
" Please don't, stay a little while," she called after her daughter.
" No really I should go, I can't." But Mayco stopped and she turned around slowly. That feeling she had just had. What was that? " What was." she mumbled, but then she felt it again, it was coming from the senator.no it was coming from the twins. She approached the senator slowly, focusing all her energy on communicating with those two powerful little beings inside of her. She was detecting emotions and meanings, no words, but definitely meanings. They were warning her about something, they were trying to tell her to take caution.
" I don't understand," Mayco murmured to herself. " I don't understand how this is even possible!"
" What is it?" Padme asked frowning.
" It's those babies, they're.well they're warning me about something. I can read their emotions, they are somehow telling me their emotions. They feel safe, they feel protected, but they know that's going to change, and they love.they love you and they love me," she explained frowning so much her eyebrows practically met in the middle. " And yeah, they're warning me, they're very afraid about something that's going to happen to me." She trailed off and stared up into Padme's eyes and for the first time, she felt what it was like to have a mother. Those eyes gave her instant comfort. With everything that had been going on, and with everything that was going to happen, she needed something, and those eyes somehow gave it to her.
" Don't be scared," Padme said softly and she reached out her hand to Mayco. After a moment's hesitation she rushed to her arms and the two embraced. All of her fears and the pure emotion she had felt over the last few hours washed away, and all that she was left with was a feeling of complete contentment and safety.
She had a mother. She loved her mother.
* * *
Tracking down Mayco when she chose to elude you was never an easy task. Mace spent several hours hunting for her, until the girl finally realised that he wasn't going to give up, so she let herself be found. As she sat in the grass of the large open garden (yet another one of the temple's indoor botanical wonders) she felt him drawing nearer and wondered what he would tell her and.what she would tell him.
Somehow it was impossible to feel afraid in this beautiful haven, with no one else around you and just the noises of the animals and the plants to worry about. Padme had stilled a lot of troubles in the young girl and she finally felt the most peace she had in a long time.
" Beautiful up here isn't it?" a voice asked from behind her. Mayco smiled; that was quick even for Master Windu.
" Very," Mayco replied and he stepped into her eye line. Contrary to popular belief, she didn't dislike Master Windu, she had just never had any normal interaction with him, he always either punished her, or was teaching her. She just didn't know what to make of this man.
He sat down in the grass opposite her and started fiddling with a blade of grass, pulling at hi absent-mindedly.
" I don't know what I am going to say to you," he told her eventually. Mayco frowned at him; that was very uncouncil-like of him; they always knew how they were going to lecture you. " Yes I know, usually I do, but this is so very different," he said and Mayco rolled her eyes.
" Firstly can you please stop with the mind reading thing?" she asked in what she hoped was a kind tone. Taking a moment to picture Anis' reaction to such plain rudeness with a council member.
To Mayco's surprise Master Windu smiled broadly and he nodded.
" Fair enough," he said cheerfully. " The truth is I just came to talk to you. Everyone is very worried about you." Mayco nodded and smiled as a butterfly landed on her knee and fluttered its wings. " But you don't seem concerned at all," Master Windu said loudly.
" No not really," she said simply. " I spoke to my mother," she added. " She cleared things up for me!" Master Windu nodded, he had been expecting this. " I know about your little secret, the one that everyone is hiding from Anakin."
" Mayco it is very important that Anakin doesn't find out about this yet!" he said firmly. Mayco shrugged.
" I know. Don't worry I won't tell him," she said casually. Mace nodded, sensing her sincerity, knowing she was being honest.
" I'm happy you understand," he said and then he frowned slightly. He was hiding something else. Mayco snapped her gaze onto him and raised her eyebrows in a questioning way.
" Don't tell me there's more!" she exclaimed in a bemused tone. Master Windu inhaled deeply and nodded.
" Just one thing," he said softly. " When you were two years old Yoda had a revelation and it was about you. I supposed you know about the prophecy surrounding Anakin?" Mayco nodded. " He is the one who will bring balance to the force." Mayco nodded again, why did these council-types always have to drag stuff out? " Well many years ago as I said, Yoda was having difficulty meditating, his thoughts were all on you. Then all of a sudden in a vision of thoughts and sounds and images it came to him, his revelation. You are the balance that Anakin must bring to the force Mayco." Mayco's jaw dropped open. This was new.
" Excuse me? I'm the balance? How can I be balance? I'm not balanced! I'm like.not balanced.imbalanced!" she cried indignantly.
" That is why you are balance," Master Windu said simply. " You are powerful no one will deny that, yet you have to very different sides to you. You are compassionate and kind and good, but you also like to bend rules, you crave success and you can be heartless. You are a fine balance between all those things, so many opposites all in one person, you are the perfect image of balance," he explained. Mayco frowned, but she could see what he meant, even though she wanted to give him a good kick for calling her heartless.
" So if I'm balance and I've been." she began softly, but then she stopped. They didn't know about her own visions, they didn't know what she had seen and what she knew in herself, something that was horrible and inevitable, but nonetheless something that was going to happen: her death.
'So if I'm balance and I'm going to die, then there won't be any more balance.the Sith they'll...' she thought to herself.
" Mayco, there is something you are hiding from me also," Mace said suddenly. Mayco grimaced.
" With all due respect sir, I would like to keep this hidden," she said cautiously. Master Windu stared her in the eye.
" You must do what you feel is right, you must do what you feel is best for the greater good and not let your emotions, or your affections get in the way of your decisions," he said after a while and he got to his feet. " For someone so young, you hold a lot of responsibility in your hands. We have tried to support you and bare the weight along the way, but you have to complete your fate alone, with no one to help you. We hoped that you wouldn't be so young when you had to face these facts, but we can't control that. Just remember Mayco, emotions and feelings lead to the dark side; you must think of the Jedi, you must think beyond yourself! May the Force be with you young Skywalker." With this he left and Mayco watched him leave.
So he knew, what was the purpose of that speech if he didn't know? Something big was going to happen, something only she had the power to stop, but what did this have to do with her death?
She felt new hope, she felt a new breathe of life, maybe this wasn't her time. Maybe her death was not as inevitable as she had supposed. Confidence filled the young girl and as she sat staring at the retreating Jedi Master.
" I will not die," she said out loud, full of confidence that she felt deep inside of her. " I will not die. I am balance. I will not die!"
* * *
To be continued soon
Secrets
" What do you mean, she knows?" Mace asked slowly. Anakin gave an exasperated sigh, how many times was he going to have to tell these people before they understood.
" What I mean is she knows! She knows about Padme and me, she knows that she's our daughter!" he explained, forcing himself to keep calm.
" But are you absolutely sure?" Obi-wan asked. Anakin glared at him. " Well how did she find out?"
" I was upset, I know I shouldn't let my emotions get the better of me, but I was upset anyway. It made me easy to read, she realised right before she started fighting," Anakin said softly, feeling ashamed of himself for being so feeble when it came to his daughter. Mace exchanged an unreadable look with Obi-wan before finally Yoda spoke.
" Unfortunate this is," he said. " More difficult it will be to train, for both of you." Everyone stared at him in silence. " But lose either of you, we cannot."
" Agreed," Mace said nodding. He then looked at Anakin. " Just for now, try and keep away from her." Anakin was about to protest, but Mace carried on quickly. " Just until she's been given a chance to come to terms with this. It can't be easy!"
" Fine," Anakin finally said and he chewed on the inside of his cheek to restrain himself from saying half the things he wanted to.
" I shall go see Mayco," Mace said and he walked away. Anakin glared at the back of his head. He knew very well that Mayco didn't really like Mace, the only interaction that they ever had was her being brought before him for punishment.
" Anakin you must remain calm!" Obi-wan said firmly. " This is exactly why the council tried to dissuade you from contact with Mayco, you are far to easily affected by things involving her."
" But master I," Anakin began.
" No buts Anakin, your judgment can't be so clouded that you don't see what your relationship with your daughter does to you," Obi-wan countered. Anakin nodded grimly; he knew that Obi-wan was right, but that didn't mean that he liked what he had to say. " We should go and meditate, and you are to leave Mayco to Master Windu," Obi-wan ordered gently and he walked off in the opposite direction that Mace had gone. Anakin breathed in deeply and followed Obi-wan.
* * *
Tio's afternoon had been miserable. Usually during her classes she would sit with her close friends Kara and Breiyden, but ever since Anis had moved in it was like the pair were inseparable, much to Tio's disgust. She had only just managed to get away from the awful girl because she was off briefing Master Uvek on the day's events.
Tio stormed into their room and dumped her bag before she realised Mayco was in the room.
" Hey," Tio grumbled. Mayco ignored her. " I said hey," Tio repeated loudly, getting angry that even Mayco was being strange with her - Kara and Breiyden had deserted her because of Anis.
" What's wrong?" Mayco asked calmly.
" Anis is what's wrong, I swear that I might just start sleep walking and strangle that girl in her sleep," Tio hissed and she jumped up on the windowsill and faced Mayco.
" Might stop the snoring," Mayco suggested softly.
" Oh don't get me started on the snoring! But um, what's up with you?" Tio asked sounding concerned. Mayco shrugged her shoulders weakly.
" I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tell," she said uneasily. Tio scrunched up her face in confusion.
" Tell me what? What's with you? You look like you've seen a ghost! Is it something to do with the Senator watching you today?" Mayco turned away from the window and looked Tio in the eye and then she realised with anger that just because the people she loved could keep horrible big nasty secrets from her, that didn't mean that she was going to do the same thing.
" I found out today that Anakin is my father," she said simply. Tio gasped and tumbled off the windowsill in shock. Within seconds she was back, her jaw hanging open. " And also, that the senator, well yeah, she's my mom!" A silence followed, in which Tio opened and closed her mouth soundlessly. Mayco told her everything, from her strange capture back on Naboo to what had happened in the training garden.
By the end of her story Mayco felt a bit better and Tio had recovered from her shock.
" That's like so, wow! How do you feel?"
" Angry, confused, happy.I don't know, I don't like feeling so many emotions at one time, it makes it really hard to control them! But Tio how could they lie to me? How could Anakin lie to me? All that time and nothing!" Mayco burst out.
" Yeah but you always said you felt strange around him didn't you May? I mean you always knew there was something about him," Tio countered bluntly.
" Yeah I know, but this is so unexpected! I always thought it was something like he was my father's best friend or something relatively normal like that! This is just so.huge!" Mayco complained. " And I don't know how to feel. I don't know what to do!" Tio furrowed her brow in thought.
" Well what about the senator, she's actually your mom!" Tio said in wonderment. Mayco nodded.
" I haven't even thought about her yet," she said softly. Then she jumped off the windowsill quickly. " Hey you think she's still around?" Tio shrugged.
" Yeah why not?"
" Okay cover for me," Mayco said quickly and she ran out of the room leaving Tio sat alone on the windowsill frowning in confusion.
" Cover for you how?" she mumbled, but at this moment the door opened and Anis marched in, her head held up proudly. " Oh it's you!"
" Tio be on your best behaviour, we have company," Anis announced. Tio narrowed her eyes at the girl so much, that she could barely see.
" Who do you think you are my mother?" she demanded angrily and she jumped off the windowsill to face Anis.
" Calm down Tio, I said to be good, we have company!" Anis repeated in a sickeningly sweet tone. Tio was about to yell, but then Master Windu stepped into the room. He was looking at Anis with a look of slight amusement, but also disbelief. This angered Tio more.
'Yeah, see even you people don't know how awful she is, you mighty "we can sense everything" morons' Tio thought angrily. To her surprise Mace smiled and her and she had the horrible feeling that he had heard what she thought. If he had however, he didn't say anything.
" Miss Al'lin good evening," he said cheerfully.
" Good evening sir," Tio replied sheepishly.
" Could you tell me where Miss Naberrie is?" he asked. Tio shook her head, in truth she probably knew where Mayco was, but she wasn't going to land her friend in trouble.
" She wasn't here when I got back, I don't know where she is," Tio said calmly, and she managed to make her voice sound normal at least. Mace lost his smile slightly; he of course knew she was lying.
" Are you sure?" he asked sounding firm. Tio nodded coldly. Mace shook his head and nodded. " Okay, well if you see her, please could you ask her to come see me?" Tio nodded and with this he left.
" You told a lie! It was clear as day!" Anis hissed gleefully. " Oh you told a lie to one of the council, you are going to be in so much trouble!" With this she ran out of the room leaving Tio alone again, yelling furiously into her pillow.
* * *
Mayco's only guess as to where the senator.her mother.would be was her guest quarters. She reached them within ten minutes of leaving her room and sensed something very strange behind the door. There were two strong presences behind that door. Was the senator alone?
Mayco swallowed hard, this was her only chance, if Anakin and Obi-wan were in there, then so be it. She didn't care anymore. So she straightened her shirt and signalled the doorbell.
Moments later the door opened and the senator was standing in the doorway. She looked slightly surprised to see Mayco, but stood aside so Mayco could enter anyway.
The room was empty.
" Hey where did they go?" Mayco asked sounding surprised. Padme moved to the sofa and sat down.
" Where did who go?" she asked nervously, unsure of how the child was going to react to what she had found out.
" Well I felt force sensitive people, strong ones.they were in here, but." Mayco suddenly stopped and stared at the senator. " But.it's all coming from you." She frowned in confusion, what could this mean.
" Would you like to sit down?" Padme asked, her voice shaking with her nervousness. Then it hit Mayco.
" You're pregnant," she gasped. " You're pregnant, and it's twins, and they're Anakin's because they are so strong!" Her tone was almost accusing, why was she getting angry?
'Because I just found out they're mine, and now they're not mine anymore!' a small, but very angry, voice said in the back of her mind. Mayco shook her head, that wasn't true.or was it?
She turned her attention back on Padme, who was hanging her head sadly. Mayco felt her heart go out to her, her mother looked so distressed.
" What's wrong?" Mayco asked sounding concerned and she approached Padme tentatively. Padme shook her head and tears started trickling from her face onto her beautiful dress. " Senator Amidala?" As she said this Padme looked up, tears positively streaming down her face.
" Don't call me that, not now," she said quickly. Mayco gulped and nodded. " Call me Padme."
" Okay.Padme, but, why are you crying?" Mayco asked, finally reaching her mother and sitting down next to her. Padme shook her head.
" It's just been an emotional day, that's all," she said quickly.
" That's not it," Mayco said simply. " You're pregnant, I don't understand! You have two very strong babies inside of you and.and Anakin doesn't know does he?" Padme shook her head in a defeated way making Mayco frown more. " But if I can sense them, then why can't he?" Padme sighed and looked up into Mayco's concerned face. The sight nearly made her cry more.
" I put all my energy into hiding it from him.I don't know how, but he doesn't sense them," she said.
" But why don't you want him to know?" Mayco asked. Padme's face contorted in pain and she shook her head.
" I don't know how much you know about Anakin," Padme said softly. Mayco's jaw fell open.
" Hello? I've seen the guy practically every day of my life; I'd say I know him pretty much completely!" she said angrily. Padme uttered a little sound of surprise at Mayco's sudden anger.
" That's not what I meant," she said quickly. " I didn't say that right. What I meant was, I don't think you know about how.different he can be when he gets emotional." Padme paused. " Have you ever seen his fury?" Mayco gulped and turned away from Padme quickly. She had once seen his fury, only once.
She had been three years old, and she had been kidnapped by an opportunist who saw that he could probably get some money out of the Jedi toddler. After two whole weeks of suffering Anakin and Obi-wan had tracked them down. Then after finding Mayco in the battered state she was Anakin seemed to lose control and he viciously killed the man.
Mayco nodded.
" So have I," Padme said softly. " He has a lot of anger in him, ever since he was a little boy. The first time I saw it was when his mother died, he massacred a whole camp of Sandpeople, he was in such a mess." Mayco nodded, she had heard versions of this story before, never quite this graphic though. " He's very, unstable, emotional! And over the last eight years he's been getting worse," Padme continued in an even softer tone. Mayco snapped her eyes on the senator.
" Because of me," she stated clearly. Padme shook her head sadly.
" Not because of you, we love you.he loves you, that's what makes him so emotional. Jedi aren't supposed to love, it makes them too emotional, too unstable," Padme said firmly.
" So, because of me," Mayco repeated.
" No! Because of both of us, and the way he loves us!" Padme said loudly silencing Mayco.
" But that doesn't explain why you're not telling him about the twins," Mayco said after a while. Padme shook her head.
" The council have requested that I don't," Padme said bitterly, indicating to Mayco straight away that this request was probably an order. " I think, from what I can gather, and from what Obi-wan's told me."
" Obi-wan gets to know, but not Anakin?" Mayco asked getting agitated. Padme ignored this and carried on.
" From what Obi-wan's told me," she repeated. " Yoda had a vision, a dark vision, he won't tell anyone what happened, but it's absolutely crucial that I keep the twins a secret from Anakin for now," Padme said. Mayco narrowed her eyes at the senator.
" Just for now?" she asked cautiously.
" Yes probably, just for a little while," Padme said. Mayco nodded in a resigned way and then gave out a deep sigh, thinking all the while about what Dooku had said about their plans for her father and her own vision's implications dawning on her; her resolve strengthened, whatever it took, she would protect her father.
" You have a lot of your father in you," Padme suddenly said, causing Mayco to snap out of her unhappy reverie. Missing the hidden meaning in Padme's words Mayco simply nodded. She couldn't know how scared Padme felt when she saw the same anger that Anakin had in her young daughter. Two of the most powerful Jedi ever, yet so very emotional; a very dangerous combination.
" I don't know why I came here," Mayco then said and she got to her feet to leave. " I should go!" she added and started heading to the door. Padme jumped to her feet too.
" Please don't, stay a little while," she called after her daughter.
" No really I should go, I can't." But Mayco stopped and she turned around slowly. That feeling she had just had. What was that? " What was." she mumbled, but then she felt it again, it was coming from the senator.no it was coming from the twins. She approached the senator slowly, focusing all her energy on communicating with those two powerful little beings inside of her. She was detecting emotions and meanings, no words, but definitely meanings. They were warning her about something, they were trying to tell her to take caution.
" I don't understand," Mayco murmured to herself. " I don't understand how this is even possible!"
" What is it?" Padme asked frowning.
" It's those babies, they're.well they're warning me about something. I can read their emotions, they are somehow telling me their emotions. They feel safe, they feel protected, but they know that's going to change, and they love.they love you and they love me," she explained frowning so much her eyebrows practically met in the middle. " And yeah, they're warning me, they're very afraid about something that's going to happen to me." She trailed off and stared up into Padme's eyes and for the first time, she felt what it was like to have a mother. Those eyes gave her instant comfort. With everything that had been going on, and with everything that was going to happen, she needed something, and those eyes somehow gave it to her.
" Don't be scared," Padme said softly and she reached out her hand to Mayco. After a moment's hesitation she rushed to her arms and the two embraced. All of her fears and the pure emotion she had felt over the last few hours washed away, and all that she was left with was a feeling of complete contentment and safety.
She had a mother. She loved her mother.
* * *
Tracking down Mayco when she chose to elude you was never an easy task. Mace spent several hours hunting for her, until the girl finally realised that he wasn't going to give up, so she let herself be found. As she sat in the grass of the large open garden (yet another one of the temple's indoor botanical wonders) she felt him drawing nearer and wondered what he would tell her and.what she would tell him.
Somehow it was impossible to feel afraid in this beautiful haven, with no one else around you and just the noises of the animals and the plants to worry about. Padme had stilled a lot of troubles in the young girl and she finally felt the most peace she had in a long time.
" Beautiful up here isn't it?" a voice asked from behind her. Mayco smiled; that was quick even for Master Windu.
" Very," Mayco replied and he stepped into her eye line. Contrary to popular belief, she didn't dislike Master Windu, she had just never had any normal interaction with him, he always either punished her, or was teaching her. She just didn't know what to make of this man.
He sat down in the grass opposite her and started fiddling with a blade of grass, pulling at hi absent-mindedly.
" I don't know what I am going to say to you," he told her eventually. Mayco frowned at him; that was very uncouncil-like of him; they always knew how they were going to lecture you. " Yes I know, usually I do, but this is so very different," he said and Mayco rolled her eyes.
" Firstly can you please stop with the mind reading thing?" she asked in what she hoped was a kind tone. Taking a moment to picture Anis' reaction to such plain rudeness with a council member.
To Mayco's surprise Master Windu smiled broadly and he nodded.
" Fair enough," he said cheerfully. " The truth is I just came to talk to you. Everyone is very worried about you." Mayco nodded and smiled as a butterfly landed on her knee and fluttered its wings. " But you don't seem concerned at all," Master Windu said loudly.
" No not really," she said simply. " I spoke to my mother," she added. " She cleared things up for me!" Master Windu nodded, he had been expecting this. " I know about your little secret, the one that everyone is hiding from Anakin."
" Mayco it is very important that Anakin doesn't find out about this yet!" he said firmly. Mayco shrugged.
" I know. Don't worry I won't tell him," she said casually. Mace nodded, sensing her sincerity, knowing she was being honest.
" I'm happy you understand," he said and then he frowned slightly. He was hiding something else. Mayco snapped her gaze onto him and raised her eyebrows in a questioning way.
" Don't tell me there's more!" she exclaimed in a bemused tone. Master Windu inhaled deeply and nodded.
" Just one thing," he said softly. " When you were two years old Yoda had a revelation and it was about you. I supposed you know about the prophecy surrounding Anakin?" Mayco nodded. " He is the one who will bring balance to the force." Mayco nodded again, why did these council-types always have to drag stuff out? " Well many years ago as I said, Yoda was having difficulty meditating, his thoughts were all on you. Then all of a sudden in a vision of thoughts and sounds and images it came to him, his revelation. You are the balance that Anakin must bring to the force Mayco." Mayco's jaw dropped open. This was new.
" Excuse me? I'm the balance? How can I be balance? I'm not balanced! I'm like.not balanced.imbalanced!" she cried indignantly.
" That is why you are balance," Master Windu said simply. " You are powerful no one will deny that, yet you have to very different sides to you. You are compassionate and kind and good, but you also like to bend rules, you crave success and you can be heartless. You are a fine balance between all those things, so many opposites all in one person, you are the perfect image of balance," he explained. Mayco frowned, but she could see what he meant, even though she wanted to give him a good kick for calling her heartless.
" So if I'm balance and I've been." she began softly, but then she stopped. They didn't know about her own visions, they didn't know what she had seen and what she knew in herself, something that was horrible and inevitable, but nonetheless something that was going to happen: her death.
'So if I'm balance and I'm going to die, then there won't be any more balance.the Sith they'll...' she thought to herself.
" Mayco, there is something you are hiding from me also," Mace said suddenly. Mayco grimaced.
" With all due respect sir, I would like to keep this hidden," she said cautiously. Master Windu stared her in the eye.
" You must do what you feel is right, you must do what you feel is best for the greater good and not let your emotions, or your affections get in the way of your decisions," he said after a while and he got to his feet. " For someone so young, you hold a lot of responsibility in your hands. We have tried to support you and bare the weight along the way, but you have to complete your fate alone, with no one to help you. We hoped that you wouldn't be so young when you had to face these facts, but we can't control that. Just remember Mayco, emotions and feelings lead to the dark side; you must think of the Jedi, you must think beyond yourself! May the Force be with you young Skywalker." With this he left and Mayco watched him leave.
So he knew, what was the purpose of that speech if he didn't know? Something big was going to happen, something only she had the power to stop, but what did this have to do with her death?
She felt new hope, she felt a new breathe of life, maybe this wasn't her time. Maybe her death was not as inevitable as she had supposed. Confidence filled the young girl and as she sat staring at the retreating Jedi Master.
" I will not die," she said out loud, full of confidence that she felt deep inside of her. " I will not die. I am balance. I will not die!"
* * *
To be continued soon