"Very pleased to see you I am, Senator…" Yoda's wrinkled green face offered up a warm smile, but it could not hide the pain behind the eyes.
When she thought she couldn't possibly feel anymore, she was washed over with fear to be on this ship with someone who was called a traitor of the Republic. But that was indoctrinated reflex. What she truly felt in the presence of Master Yoda was peace and safety. Somehow in this one room, his very presence seemed to color the walls with calm. The rest of the world was terror and tension, but in here it was relief.
"Please. Sit." He said gently, a small three-fingered hand gesturing to a chair beside him.
Dazedly she sat down, and Bail sat across from her, with Yoda between them at the head of the table.
"Master Yoda…" she finally found her voice. "Why have you brought me here?"
"You're help, I need…" he spoke slowly, pointedly. "Betrayed, the Jedi were, by the Clone Army. Killed, they have been, by their own soldiers. If survived any have, heard from them we have not…"
"I took in Master Yoda when he returned from Kashyyyk…" Bail explained.
Yoda may not have shown his grief, but she could not stop the quiver in her lip. "What about the Jedi at the temple?"
"No one survived…" Bail's voice shook. "It was overtaken by clones…"
"Spared, none. Not even younglings," Yoda said quietly, his eyes and ears dipping as the sorrow overwhelmed his ageless calm. "Returned to the temple, I have, to deactivate a beacon calling all off-planet Jedi home. Clinging to the halls of the temple, a dark presence, I felt. Killed by lightsaber, many of the Jedi and younglings were… The killer is Lord Vader."
Bail looked to Yoda in shock. "We've already heard all kinds of things about this Lord Vader… But who is he, Master?"
Whatever grief had softened Yoda's face was chased away by a stern resolve. "A Sith, he is… The apprentice to the Dark Lord that the council has searched for. Controlling the Senate, Darth Sidious has been… and Emperor he now is."
"That can't be true," Padme felt like a fool for how many times she had voiced disbelief. "Palpatine couldn't possibly be a Sith…" She was still not even clear on what a Sith was, but she could not see him as anything worse than yet another politician corrupted by power.
"Blinded, we were… Fooled by the wiles of the Dark Side…" Yoda's eyes closed under a frown. "The penalty we have paid, for our arrogance…"
"Lord Vader is the Sith apprentice?" Padme said suddenly. "He's being sent to Naboo soon… How can we protect ourselves?"
Yoda's eyes opened, bright with interest. "Going to Naboo, you say? Hm. To destroy the Sith is the destiny of the Jedi…"
"Master Yoda…" Bail implored. "Surely you are not planning to take them on alone?"
To this, Yoda smiled. "Alone? Impossible, that would be. Two there are of the Sith… Two there are of the Jedi."
He reached into his robe, and as if by magic produced a lightsaber. It could not have been his personal weapon, it was far too large. He held it out to Padme.
She couldn't help the laugh that burst out of her. "I am not a Jedi."
"No… But where a Jedi is, you know… You know…"
"Obi-Wan?"
"Left the order he may have, but stopped being a Jedi?" Yoda let out a closed-mouth chuckle. "A Jedi always, he will be. His lightsaber, bring to him. Fight Darth Vader, he will."
"I do not mean to doubt Obi-Wan's capability…" Bail glanced apologetically to Padme. "But will he be up to the challenge? From what I've heard, this Vader is a monster. Obi-Wan hasn't held a lightsaber in two years. To say nothing of his injuries…"
Yoda listened patiently. "If trust in the Force Obi-Wan does, then that is all he will need. Few superior swordsmen have the Jedi seen, than Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Master Yoda had such faith in Obi-Wan, this centuries-old being. It was more than the fact that they could have been the last of the Jedi. She could feel the respect he had for Obi-Wan—but she could not easily send him into such a dangerous fight. Besides, he wasn't the only lightsaber wielder.
"But Anakin…" she implored. "He's the Chosen One, isn't he? He's here, now, on Coruscant. Surely he would be willing to fight the Sith… If we talked to him, he would reconsider his loyalty to the Chance— The Emperor…"
To this, Yoda sadly shook his head. "Lost to the Jedi, Young Skywalker is. Misread, the prophecy was…"
"Misread?" she scoffed. "That prophecy… it controlled his whole life! The burden it placed on him, everything he ever did was to live up to what he believed the Chosen One should be…" she trailed off as she realized she was speaking out passionately at a Jedi Master. And one who had lost everything.
Though his green face was stoic, she could see in his deep eyes that he knew every agonizing truth of it. She was not telling him anything he did not already know.
"Forgive me…" she said quietly, her eyes dipping to her hands with shame.
"Nothing, there is, to forgive…" his gravelly voice said kindly. "The loss of Anakin Skywalker, a scar, forever will be…"
He held the lightsaber out to her again.
"Fight Darth Sidious, I will, when Obi-Wan faces Darth Vader. Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi must. Our only hope, he is."
Padme's mirror-hulled skiff flew down over the gleaming waters of Varykino Lake, the water and the ship reflecting off one another in the gloomy, clouded winter sky. The Lake House in the winter, when it became cold enough to snow, was beautiful in a crystalline way. But as the ship approached, the gleaming domes and the majestic pillars were not there to greet her.
All that could be seen on the hillside was a mass of rubble, a few standing, jagged walls, and white shapes of Clone Troopers loitering on the mountain of debris. Whatever transport they came in was nowhere in sight, these soldiers had been left and posted here.
Typho was in the pilot's seat, Padme standing over him and holding onto the back of his seat as they looked out the window. Her chest hurt, her eyes burning. She couldn't cry though. Nothing made sense enough for her to cry, even as she told herself that she was looking at the charred remains of her childhood, a secret marriage with Anakin that was like a blissful dream, and the place where she had expected to join Obi-Wan, to be with him, happy and at peace. And now Obi-Wan, one of the remaining joys she had left, was somewhere in the woods. Cold, alone, in pain.
"What a tragedy…" C-3PO lamented from his seat behind Captain Typho. "It was such a beautiful place, too…"
"Oh, milady…" Elle's small voice said behind her.
Her handmaidens were standing behind her. They too had spent considerable time there with her, and the sorrow on Elle and Mottee's faces matched what she felt inside. Padme didn't say anything, she simply turned to her handmaidens and pulled them both in tight. They formed a small, tight circle, and Padme finally felt the beginnings of tears. She sniffed and held on to her friends tighter.
"Don't worry, my lady…" Mottee said as bravely as she could. "I'm sure Master Kenobi is alright…"
The handmaiden could read her mind, after all their time together.
"Senator…" Typho gently interrupted. "We need a plan to find Master Kenobi. His beacon is on, but he is not answering his calls…"
Padme pulled away from her handmaidens and looked out the window once more, steeling herself and finding her resolve. This was a mission, like any other. Typho flew the skiff in a wide circle over the ruins. There was no place to land, a deliberate design of the place.
"We will have to land ashore and come in the gondolas… These soldiers can't keep me away from my own property." She spoke defiantly, as if speaking to the soldiers themselves.
Typho complied and the skiff was landed across the lake in town. Padme was wearing a field outfit, pants and boots, a long cloak with a bunched collar to protect her from the chill and a hood if she needed it. Hidden beneath the coat, she concealed a blaster. Her hair pulled back tight, the long tail of it braided along the length of her back.
Typho watched her arm herself and he sighed. "I hope that won't be necessary…"
"So do I…" They were all looking to her for orders. "Captain… You can hire an air speeder in town, something small, inconspicuous, anything that will make it easier to access the hill where Obi-Wan's beacon is coming from… Take Mottee and Jar Jar with you… Elle and I will go to the house. That is… what's left of it… I want to get those soldiers off my property, and perhaps distract them from your search."
Typho nodded. "The signal from his beacon is more than strong enough for us to pinpoint exactly where he is."
"Meesa berry good at climbin' mountains," Jar Jar said proudly, patting his skinny chest. "Won't take longo time for weesa find Obi!"
She trusted they would, but it was torture not to go herself.
"Threepio… You an Artoo stay with the ship."
"You can rely on us, my lady!" C-3PO said cheerfully.
They went their separate ways. Padme and Elle went together in a gondola for the lake house remains. The closer they came to the small dock, which was still intact and unscathed, the deeper her heart dropped into her stomach.
Two clones came to meet her, their helmets off. They were indeed identical, though one looked to be a generation older, his hair colored on one side, the other younger and with a short buzz. They both carried their blaster rifles, their armor painted with yellow highlights.
"Stop right there…" the older clone, a sergeant said. "This area is off limits to civilians."
"My name is Senator Padme Amidala," she said sternly. They showed no reaction, so she elaborated. "This is my home."
They looked suddenly to each other, the younger clone's eyes opening wide. They didn't even know what this place was when they had destroyed it. The anger was beginning to fester inside of her.
"I… I'm sorry, my lady, but this area is still off limits."
"You have no authority to keep me from my own property. Step aside." She moved forward, they blocked her path with their armored bodies.
"What's going on?" Another clone voice broke in, one with tighter words and more authority. He carried under his arm a helmet with a yellow visor, the markings of a commander on his uniform.
"She says she's a Senator, Commander," said the sergeant.
"Padme Amidala. This is… was my home."
"I'm Commander Cody." The leader said simply.
The same commander who once served under Obi-Wan. She had never met him till now, and she had to clutch her collar tighter at her throat to pretend to ward off the cold, and hide the shaking in her hands.
"Why have you destroyed my home?" She couldn't stop the tremble in her voice though. "Under whose authority?"
"Under the authority of the Emperor, my lady," Cody said without a beat. "A fugitive and traitor to the Empire was being kept here, and as such he and the property have been destroyed."
"That's ridiculous! What traitor? If you have them, then where are they? Where are the others who lived here?"
"There was collateral damage. Four bodies have been recovered, we are still searching for the rest."
"And one of the bodies… was the traitor?"
"The traitor hasn't been identified yet. Senator, I think you should leave now. This property is now under investigation by the Imperial Army. We have specific orders not to arrest you, but if you interfere, it may force our hands."
Emperor. Imperial Army. It came off his tongue so naturally, as if he had said it his whole life.
"Let me see the bodies you recovered…" she managed to say, though her throat was unbearably tight. "I can identify them, at least. Please… They were my friends…"
Cody huffed, his stern face glancing to the identical faces of his subordinates. "Very well…. Sergeant, escort the Senator to the recovered bodies."