Notes
Thank you Fey for your help.
Beyond this, the usual: not mine, no money derived from it.
The Count led Padmé and R2 down several corridors to reach what looked like to be a wing reserved to guest quarters. When she stepped inside, she was greeted by the welcome though surprising sight of Obi-Wan, looking unharmed and dressed in freshly pressed tunics. He appeared to be cleaning his lightsaber which was lying in pieces on the table he was seated at.
She stopped in the doorway for half a second before forcing her feet to carry her in the room. He didn't look like a prisoner, quite the opposite in fact.
She didn't understand. He had left the Order, taken arms against them. Was it some sort of undercover mission? Had he become the Separatists' leader just so he could better control them? If so, she hadn't thought the Jedi could play that dirty. But no, this couldn't be right. If Dooku was on a Senate sanctioned mission, he wouldn't have let the CIS go that far, he would have attempted to smooth things over with the Republic or advocate for a peaceful separation from it instead of being so vocal about his desire to leave it no matter the cost and creating a secret droid army.
Obi-Wan exchanged a glance with Dooku that was loaded with a meaning she didn't understand, and she resolved to ask Obi-Wan about his relationship with the Count as soon as she could get him alone for a few minutes. During the time they had spent together, Anakin had hinted at no friendship between the two, even though he had pretty much recited to her his entire life during the time they had spent together.
The contentment and hope she had been able to briefly discern on the Count's face disappeared until the man was all business again.
"Grandpadawan. I will let you and the Senator become reacquainted while I secure your safe departure from this planet."
With a nod at Obi-Wan and a shallow bow in her direction, the man was out. While R2 settled in a corner of the room in a position best suited for surveillance, Padmé sat down at the table across from Obi-Wan and took the time to inspect her surroundings. She reevaluated her previous assessment of the place she was in: she wasn't just in some guest quarters, these rooms could only be Dooku's personal guest suite here, on Geonosis.
She opened her mouth to ask Obi-Wan about this when the words got stuck in her throat. The Jedi had closed his eyes, a small, bright blue kyber crystal in his hands. After a few seconds, the crystal seemed to start to glow, or at least catch the light more and high clear notes started emanating from it.
Padmé, just like all Nubian children, had been tested for her Midichlorian count at birth. While her result hadn't been enough to interest the Temple, it had been close enough to the threshold that a Creche Master had been dispatched to teach her and a few other Nubian children sharing her situation about the basics of how the Force worked. When the crystal left Obi-Wan hands to hover a few inches above them, Padmé stared at it, transfixed, before she closed her eyes to settle into a light meditative trance.
Slowing her mind didn't come to her as easily as it did when she was a child, but though she had had little time to practice of late, she hadn't let those skills fade from her memory either. After some efforts, and with the help of the soothing crystal song, she managed. She acknowledged distantly that the crystal was still in the same position, and she wondered if Obi-Wan had waited for her to be ready to finish rebuilding his weapon.
The song of the crystal filled her mind, gaining in strength and depth, and she felt her lips lift up in a smile. It was a beautiful melody without sounds, rich and warm, yet it had a strong and disciplined quality. Scales and arpeggios rose and fell in a major key, the same pattern of notes repeating itself with slight variations, without any wrong note. She focused on it more until she could hear more layers into it, as though the tune was playing in canon.
When the pieces of the lightsaber started levitating to encase the crystal, the soothing melody took a steely turn, percussions beginning to echo in the background like war drums. She kept her eyes closed until the song faded, and sighed. Anakin had taken great pleasure in dismantling and re-assembling his lightsaber often, probably enjoying the way she kept staring star struck at the way the parts levitated and rotated around each other, until the lightsaber was complete again.
His crystal had never sung this sort of song. It had certainly been far louder than Obi-Wan's, nearly deafening in its intensity, but it lacked the gentleness of the woodwinds and the melancholy of the cello she was currently hearing. Anakin's had been a more exuberant and wilder melody, like a victorious battle chant where brass and percussions dominated everything. She remembered her disorientation the first time she had been assaulted by those tidal waves of sounds, and the headaches that had followed. In the end, she had opted not to try and feel his building of his weapon, and she had settled for simply watching him do it with her eyes.
Padmé's eyelashes fluttered open and she stretched, her arms rising high above her head. She felt better, calmer than she had been when she had entered the room. She hadn't been as calm for the past few months. When she focused on him, Obi-Wan was looking at her with a gentle smile that she couldn't help but return in kind, grateful for the moment of peace he had given her.
The moment faded. Obi-Wan folded his hands over his lightsaber and leaned towards her.
"While I am certain the story of your coming here without my Padawan from Tatooine of all places is bound to be a fascinating one, I have some news to share with you that I believe take precedence and will require your absolute discretion."
Padmé knew she had stiffened when Anakin had been mentioned and she was also well aware this hadn't gone unnoticed by Obi-Wan, yet he didn't press the matter. He was right, whatever had happened with him had to be of the greatest import if he thought it was necessary to share it with her. He could start by explaining this strange relationship he had with the Count. She had been persuaded he had been in mortal danger earlier but her previous certitudes had been crumbling. And if there was anything she didn't like, it was being left in the dark.
"I take it you are no stranger to my being allowed to land on this planet without any harm befalling me?"
A strained smile appeared on his lips before disappearing as though it had never been here.
"I do believe I took a part in it. Padmé, you are one of the few politicians I trust and respect. What I have discovered here goes beyond the message I relayed to the Council that I am sure you have watched and I am going to need your help because this situation goes beyond the Jedi's sphere of influence. I am aware I am asking a lot of you, but I need you to swear to me no word of this meeting will ever reach any other ear than ours."
Padmé narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't used to making promises without knowing their ins and outs and working out loopholes should the need arise for her to break her vow.
"You said what you learnt could have repercussions in the political sphere." Could Obi-Wan have been convinced to join the Separatists? No, he wouldn't have done that.
"Yes."
"I will hear you out. If I believe it will do more harm than good to keep this information secret, then I will investigate it and decide if I bring it out into the open, without necessarily citing you as my source. I can promise you this, but no more."
Obi-Wan pressed his lips together in a grimace but nodded and Padmé steeled herself. With such a conversation opener, things had to be quite dire. She put Anakin out of her mind for now. There would be time to talk to Obi-Wan about him.
.
On second thoughts, 'dire' hadn't quite been the right word to use. Was 'hopeless' a better term? Though going by the way Obi-Wan was looking at her with beseeching eyes, 'desperate' was also fitting the bill quite nicely.
"I put a Sith Lord at the head of the Republic," she said for what had to be the twelfth time in as many minutes.
Obi-Wan shook his head as he had the past times she had said this and said, "you couldn't have know. We never noticed him either. The Count only became aware of this because the Sith himself sought him out."
Intellectually, Padmé knew Obi-Wan was right. It still didn't prevent her from looking back and regretting. She had been so young back then, too young, and thrust in a situation far beyond her abilities of the time. As a result, the man she had thought her friend and a good advisor had manipulated her into pushing Valorum out of the office at a time when the public's sympathy was sure to get him elected in his place. Worse, he had engineered her planet's invasion for this exact purpose.
She groaned. Perhaps the reservations some other systems had about Naboo electing a fourteen years old at the head of their planet hadn't been so unfounded in the end.
Her record as Queen and Senator wasn't bright: she had put a Sith at the head or the Republic, she had picked the person who had given said Sith the power to create an army and lead the Republic in a war against the Separatists, and finally her actions had granted said Sith emergency powers over the Republic.
Her throat tightened and her eyes prickled. She had thought she was doing something good, that she was one of the good politicians, one of the uncorrupted few. But she had done worse than any of those she looked down upon. So much worse.
A light hand landed on one of her clenched fists to pry her fingers loose.
"None of that now, Padmé. There is no use in beating yourself up over past events when you did the best you could with the informations at your disposal. What matters now is getting him out of this office and arrested."
Padmé nodded, though her heart wasn't in it.
"We cannot beat him at the moment. He is too strong. But he isn't the only one who can plan in the shadows. You will do what you need to to fulfill your obligations to your people and protect your planet from the war, and then we will see what can be done to discover and thwart all of Sidious' plans."
A part of Padmé was grateful to Obi-Wan for not speaking the name of this person she had once trusted so much. He was right. With Obi-Wan with the Jedi, Dooku as a Separatist leader, and herself as a prominent member of the Senate, they should be able to cover enough areas to fight the Sith on all grounds.
"I do not like this game the Count is playing."
"You do not have to like it to agree that right now, it is the best solution we have." Obi-Wan leaned closer to her, "I do not like nor approve of it either Padmé, nor do I like the compromises he is asking us to make. But this conflict will ask us to twist and bend our morals, if only so we can save many others from doing it. Let us not let the sacrifices he has already made go to waste."
Padmé scrunched her eyes closed and took a deep inspiration through her nose.
She didn't like this. She really, really didn't like this. But right now, she didn't have another choice but to go with this plan. She didn't agree with it, would continue looking for alternatives, but she was aware that she couldn't confront a Sith Lord posing as the Chancellor of the Republic head on, especially since according to Obi-Wan, he had been planning this for years. Decades perhaps. While she was now aware she knew very little of Palpatine, she still knew that he was highly intelligent. And an extremely good actor. No, caution and deception would have to do, unfortunately.
"It is best to limit the amount of persons this will change, I agree. But we will need to be careful and not let ourselves lose sight of our goal: we are doing this for the people, so they can be free of the Sith's influence. The moment it is over, no matter what we have done in the pursuit of this goal, we will accept the consequences, the Count included. Are we clear?
"We are."
"Then I will do my research. And look for allies in other Senators."
A loud beep sounded from a corner of the room and both of their eyes turned to settle on R2.
"And of course, R2 will help us too," Padmé finished.
Some of the tightness at the corners of Obi-Wan's eyes disappeared and he sagged back in his seat, his hand coming to rub his eyes.
"Good. We'll have to devise a system to communicate. My Grandmaster and I will likely be able to meet on the battlefields. I will try to see if I can obtain some duties linking me with the Senate."
"And I intend to get Naboo in a neutral enough space that will allow me to both treat with the Federation and keep my place in the Galactic Senate. As for communications, my handmaidens will help. Knowing what I do now, I can promise you that I shall keep silent tro anyone except them. But I will not be able to work alone."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened in alarm, "all of them?"
"Yes," her tone was resolute. "I will not do anything without them. They know me better than anyone, they will know something is wrong and will pry until they get the truth. Beyond this, I trust them more than I trust you or even myself. None of them will fail me. They are to know the full truth and this is non-negotiable."
She made to continue speaking when the deafening sound of an alarm started resonating through the room they were in, making it impossible to speak over it even by yelling.
After a few minutes of waiting, the alarm decreased in volume and the entrance door swung open to let Dooku hurry back into his quarters, his cape flowing behind him ominously. Padmé and Obi-Wan both stood up to go to him and R2 came up to her other side.
"Your Padawan broke in through the foundries and has been mowing down Geonosians left and right. Obi-Wan, I need your lightsaber back. Senator, hood up, I will escort you and your droid back to one of my ships." He turned sharply to Obi-Wan, "You need to go back to your cell. Do not escape. If it comes down to it, I will break you out myself."
"One of your ships?" Padmé asked. "What is wrong with mine?"
"Skywalker affirmed he had put a tracker inside it in case you were kidnapped and he had to track you down or some other nonsense."
"A what now?" she growled over Obi-Wan's soft gasp of surprise. That was pushing things too far. Objectively, she could understand the use of such a tracker. But Anakin should have told her about this.
The Count gave a voice to her thoughts, "I admit it wasn't too bad of an idea, but it was in poor taste to not warn you about it." He looked at Padmé, and the weight of his full focus turned on her made her breath hitch in her throat. "You should discard any electronic appliance he could have come into contact with during your stay together. We cannot afford any loose end Miss Naberrie. I shall see to their immediate destruction."
Padmé found herself nodding empathetically and searched the lining of her dress for the commlink she had stored there. She fully agreed to this. Especially in light of her most recent discoveries. She froze. Palpa- no, Sidious. He was Anakin's closest confident whom he spoke about with barely concealed reverence. No, he really couldn't be allowed any insight in her privacy anymore until she thought she could trust him. She put the comm on the table behind her.
A loud trill sounded to her right.
"Wait, slow down, R2, I'm not as fluent in binary as Anakin. Could you repeat what you've just said please?"
The astromech moved to stop in front of Obi-Wan and emitted another trill, though this one was slower and she could hear more modulations in it than the first time.
"Open it then, I'll remove it for you," Obi-Wan knelt down in front of R2, put his hand before the compartment the droid had opened for him and closed his eyes.
"What is it?" Padmé asked imperiously. What was wrong with R2?
"Anakin apparently spent a lot of time tinkering with R2 when you were alone. R2 allowed it because you trusted Anakin and most of the changes were positive. But during an internal scan, R2 discovered Anakin downloaded a tracking software on R2 soon after ordering it to always stay close to you. Except R2 doesn't like anyone tinkering with its software so it got rid of it during your trip to Geonosis but - aha!" he interrupted with a victorious exclamation and withdrew his hand to reveal… a very small shard of kyber crystal? It was the same light blue as Anakin's. It also gave away the slightest hint of percussions if she focused on it hard enough. Obi-Wan tucked it in one of his utility belt's pockets.
Beside her, the Count emitted a low whistle. "Your Padawan was certainly thorough. He must really not have wanted to not lose her to go as far as to plant a shard of his own lightsaber as close to her as he could."
He turned to R2 "You're all clean then?"
The astromech emitted an affirmative sounding beep.
"Good. We have lost enough time already."
He looked at Padmé and once again, the weight of his focus made her pause, as though she were a cornered animal before a predator. She did not like the feeling one bit.
"Your ship is out and mine have a blanket permission to enter and leave the atmosphere without any border control," the Count pursued. "You shall leave for Naboo to finalize your part of our deal while I uphold mine."
A snap of his fingers and a group of four Magnaguard droids came in the room and settled themselves around Obi-Wan.
"Lightsaber, Grandpadawan. Now." the Count ordered.
Padmé locked eyes with Obi-Wan. In his eyes, she saw the same incertitude that was certainly reflected in hers. But eventually, he changed his grip around his lightsaber and handed it over to the Count before allowing the Magnaguards to surround him and lead him out.
Padmé watched him leave until she couldn't see him anymore. Then, she put her hood back up under the Count's impatient glare.
She still didn't fully trust the man and doubted she ever would. But right now, she had no other choice but to put her faith in him. And if the story he had spun to Obi-Wan was correct, as she was convinced it was, she needed to take a leaf out of Obi-Wan's book and take a leap of faith. She would follow the Counts' plan for now, no matter how she hated being ordered around this way. But he better not believe this dynamic would stay the same in the long run. If they were going to take down a Sith Lord together, they would do it as equals.
End notes
Thank you for reading, if you have the time, I would love reading your thoughts about this chapter.