Hey guys! I know that it has been a while, but I had some problems with my account and had to work them out. But, now I'm back on track! Here is a well-deserved update! :p
They bounded over the bubbling brook and ran over to the rest of the group. They were panting heavily as Dormé asked, "What's going on?" in a worried voice.
"They're... Coming..." Saché managed to get out between gasps. Everyone whipped out their pistols as the Jedi drew their lightsabers. They waited in complete silence for a moment, before chaos broke from its iron chains.
At least twenty-five super-battledroids broke through the tree line along with two tanks. They openly fired as soon as the group of Jedi, royals, and senators came into view. The Jedi were quick to jump into action, but not quick enough. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion to Eve as she watched a blaster bolt hit Dormé square in the stomach. Dormé wasn't quick enough to react, and she went down.
The Queen gasped and quickly knelt down next to her handmaiden. She placed Dormé's head in her lap and made sure Ahsoka was covering them from blaster fire before turning her attention to a dying Dormé.
"Please," she pleaded in her broken and raspy voice, "Don't leave me."
"I'm not leaving you." Dormé replied weakly, "I'm returning to the stars." Eve shook her head and yet again pleaded,
"Please, Dormé, I can't live without you- Oh I'm so selfish! I'm complaining while you're dying." Dormé's head brow creased as she quietly stated,
"No Eve. You're not selfish. You are the most giving person I know. Stop focusing on your faults." The young queen wondered what she could do to repay Dormé for all she had done for her. Then, a memory flooded back to her...
~Flashback~
The young queen Evelyn Amidala had just been elected a few months ago. She sat on a wooden, three-legged, stool that was on a small, marble balcony. It was amazing! She had lived a peasant life in poverty along with her cousin, Sara, a large decade older than her who died before she was brought into politics a short while before her election for Queen.
She sang a Nabooian lullaby that her cousin sang to her all the time before she went to bed in her rags and thin blanket on those cold, frosty nights in their lonely cottage by Lake Organa, named after the famous Alderaanian senator. Once she was finished with the song, she sensed a presence behind her.
She turned to find one of her favorite principle handmaidens standing in the beautifully simple, archway leading out onto the tiny terrace, holding a blanket. Evelyn shivered as she realized she was only wearing her thin, cotton, nightgown and had forgotten to bring a blanket out with her. Dormé knelt down beside her and wrapped the blanket around her fragile frame.
The Handmaidens had taken it upon themselves to take care of the young queen since she was just a child and be like the parents she never knew.
"You have a beautiful voice, Eve." she spoke softly, using her newfound nickname as she gently braided the queen's thick, chocolate, locks. Eve smiled and replied,
"Thank you Dormé."
Dormé finished her braid and ended it in an elegant knot. She then spoke in all truthfulness to her daughter figure, saying, "Your voice would relax me even unto death." She wrapped her warm arms around Eve as Eve rested her head on Dormé's chest, and sighed in her warm embrace.
"I love you, Dormé." Eve stated.
"As do I, Eve, as do I." They then got up and walked quietly back inside. Eve let Dormé pass before looking apron the many stars in the beautiful, Nabooian, sky. She spotted her mother's and father's stars right next to each other along with her two older brother's and sister's stars gleaming a little South of them. Then, looked a little bit East to her deceased cousin's, Sara's star. Pretty much her entire family was gone. They all lay among the stars.
She'd be up there too someday. Right next to her cousin. A little bit away from Dormé's family. They were second cousins after all. She wished nothing could happen to destroy her happiness at this moment. She didn't want to dwell on the horrid fright of death. She didn't want change to occur in order to take throne thing she treasured more than anything. They could take away all the fortune she had, all food and drink, all comfortable and elegant garments, everything she possessed, but not Dormé. Her friend and guardian.
She sighed as she walked back into her small bedroom, where Dormé had turned down the comforter in order for her to climb into bed. As she was tucked into bed and given kiss on the forehead by Dormé she thought about how ignorant and foolish she was. Change was a natural and everyday occurrence. There was nothing she could do to stop it.
~End Flashback~
Eve figured It was as good a time as any to let her voice ease Dormé to a peaceful death as she transferred into a picture among the stars, so she sang:
"Deep in the meadow,
Under the willow,
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow,
Lay down your head and close your sleepy eyes,
And when again they open, the sun will rise.
Here it's safe, here it's warm, here the flowers guard you from every harm,
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true,
Here is the place where I love you."
Eve paused a moment before continuing,
"Deep in the meadow,
Far, far, away,
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray,
Forget all your woes, and let your troubles lay,
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away,
Here it's safe, here it's warm, here the flowers guard you from every harm,
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true,
Here is the place where I love you."
Eve was on the verge of tears when she completed the second verse of the Nabooian lullaby, and it was then when spoke her last words to the person that she thought as a daughter, saying, " I want to ask you to do something for me. I want you to take Naboo back with your small head held high, and never, ever, look back. I love you Eve, now and forever more. I'll see you among the stars, when your time comes."
As she took her final breathes, Eve replied, "I will, I love you too, Mother." Dormé smiled warmly, took her final breath, and Eve felt something leave her handmaiden and flow into the world around her. She knew it was the force. It was life.
Eve found it hard to breathe, much less sing, yet she managed to whisper the rest of the beautiful song into her faithful handmaiden's ear, repeating the chorus once more:
"Here it's safe, here it's warm, here the flowers guard you from every harm,
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true,
Here is the place where I love you."
And with that, a single lone tear fell from Dormé's cheek from Eve's eye. This was the first time Eve had ever truly cried. She kissed her dead handmaiden's forehead and watched as a new, bright, star shone upon the now black sky, a little North of Sara's star.
Eve sighed and silently stood. The fight was long over, and everyone's attention was directed toward the the Queen and her dead handmaiden. The other handmaidens, along with Padmé, who knew about the Nabooian culture, were searching the skies for Dormé's star, before returning their attention back to the matters at hand. Obi Wan was the first to speak.
"My Queen, we must keep moving." Evelyn nodded her head solemnly and followed Obi Wan through the forest, leaving Dormé behind by the bubbling brook. For it was her destiny to die by the riverside. There was nothing Evelyn could do to change it.
With thing knowledge, she obeyed Dormé's final command and didn't look back.
*sniffle* I was crying when I wrote this in my notebook in math class, and people were staring at me like I was a wackado! I was kind of funny now that I think about it! I hope I followed the plot line of Nabooian culture well enough! Let me know of my flaws! I wish to improve upon them!
I hope you don't think that the flashback was a little too off-topic, but I really wanted to give you a little bit of Evelyn's past along with a reason for the Nabooian lullaby! Oh, just so you guys know, I got the song from The Hunger Games when Ro dies. I wanted to bring some of that feeling to Dormé's death.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please Review!
-braveryx11 :)