Hand of Fate
Chapter 3 / Interlude
Obi-Wan clambered down the embankment with a hammering heart, sending little rocks skittering down as he rushed to the fallen queen. The blast had knocked her onto her back and he couldn't immediately see with his eyes or feel through the Force if she'd been hurt… or worse. All he could feel was his sense of instinctive panic muddled with warped Force energy that tended to follow scenes of chaos. If the monarch died under his watch, he couldn't even begin to imagine the ramifications or the guilt he would have—feelings he judged immediately as selfish within the span of a microsecond. He cursed himself for leaving her side and for not being more aware of their surroundings.
"Queen Amidala! Queen Amidala!" he called as he got close, dropping down beside her and grabbing onto her arms lightly, scanning for injuries. Even as he did that, he saw and felt that she was stirring and didn't appear to have any life threatening wounds—palpable relief flooded him, easing his anxiety but only slightly. He let go, mildly out of breath from the rush of adrenaline he'd experienced. "Are you all right Milady?"
She groaned and squinted against the sun in her eyes, sitting up stiffly and looking down at her right upper arm. Something had cut her there relatively deeply just above the elbow crease, probably a piece of flying debris. Blood blossomed out onto the white sleeve that was now slashed open against the wound. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, sounding more irritated and perhaps embarrassed than anything else. "This is just great," she muttered, sitting up fully and wincing while touching the back of her head and avoiding his eyes. Obi-Wan quickly assessed her with both his gaze and by focusing in with his senses. She'd hit the ground hard but her only visible wounds were the smallest bloodred scrape on her cheek and the painful looking cut on her arm.
"Blazes' sake," she muttered, trying to pull her poncho away from the blood that was seeping out onto her white sleeve, then giving up and pressing the fabric straight on instead. She simultaneously tore a long strip from the bottom of it off and shoved her arm at Obi-Wan. "Help me wrap this."
As he complied, he noticed that Queen Amidala was extremely, unexpectedly toned—she had strong, defined shoulders and very well developed triceps and biceps—the definition of which told him she was no stranger to a gymnasium or very intense training. How odd that Naboo had this apparent warrior queen yet was a staunchly pacifist nation. Something was beginning to strike him as odd, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He glanced up at her face, and saw her watching him. She looked away.
"Is that all right?" he asked, tying up the strip as neatly as possible. It was enough to stop the bleeding, and it would have to do for now.
She shifted the poncho around and then took it off, turned it inside out, and thanks to thick fabric, no blood showed through. She put it back on inside out. "Good as new," she said, although Obi-Wan doubted it. That type of injury would make using her arm painful, and could heal wrong if not tended to correctly. She seemed to be thinking about something else entirely: "Swear you won't tell Panaka. He'll never let me hear the end of it."
He studied Amidala mildly, again feeling that sense that something was a bit off here. Why would she worry about her captain or any comments he would make? Nevertheless, he nodded once. "You have my word, Milady," Obi-Wan fixed his eyes on the little slash across her cheek. "You do have a visible cut on your face though."
"What? Where?" She began to touch her own face with her fingers then looking at them to try and locate it. Somehow she missed each time.
"Here." Without much thought he placed two fingers to the soft skin just underneath the cut. Their gazes met. And Obi-Wan felt an unexpected flare in the Force. A feeling of peace, intensity, strength, and a sense of reaching. In a brief trance, their gazes held. Her eyes were molten amber brown, and this close, he could see the little zigzags of darker, reddish brown in their depths. Those eyes searched his with something like surprise—curiosity—apprehension. Did she feel something too? Obi-Wan pulled his fingers away, disconcerted.
There was a short pause in which the queen cleared her throat and self-consciously touched fingers to the cut that she now knew the location of. "How bad is it?" she asked, pulling fingers back and looking at them to see how much blood came away. Not much, but it was still noticeable against her fair skin.
Obi-Wan stood and offered her his hand, wanting to get away from the strange moment that had just transpired between them. "If you walk by him fast enough, perhaps he won't take notice," he suggested, using humor to make the moment feel more comfortable.
She was looking up at him as if she was trying to figure him out. "Excellent plan," she replied neutrally and grabbed his wrist, hauling herself up and dusting herself off. Immediately back to business even though a couple of hooded glances came his way, she carefully skirted the speederbike ruins. They were a charred mess still burning in a couple of places. A stray blasterbolt must have hit the fuel chamber and caused the explosion. "Reservoir's all right," she said, observing that it had miraculously only been blown away a few yards from the speederbike without toppling over thanks to still being mounted on the towing hover attachment. She squinted back at him with a vexed expression. "How do we get this blasted thing back to the ship now though?"
Obi-Wan was squinting too. The suns were very bright here, especially having risen higher now. "A very present problem indeed."
He watched her go over to the still-gushing water outlet at the vaporator and then quickly cut the water flow off using a series of quick dial and lever operations. "Your lesson will have to wait for another day," she muttered, throwing around mistrustful glances as if she expected to see more assailants appear at any moment.
Obi-Wan gestured to her to come with him. "Let's see if our friends left anything useful."
She followed, on her guard. "You and I have a different definition of friends."
They climbed up a craggy incline to the top of the canyon. There they saw more rocky and boulder-covered terrain as far as the eye could see, as well as two of the slain bodies of whatever creatures had attacked them.
The queen crouched down beside one and looked at it closely, a hard frown on her face. They were humanoid in build but every inch of them was concealed by clothing, gloves, headwraps, and strange metal goggles and breathing tubes over their eyes and mouths—giving them an eerie appearance. Metal spikes came out atop their heads like thorns. "What are these creatures?" she asked, seeming equal parts transfixed and wary. "Are they human?"
A few feet off, Obi-Wan contemplated the energy of the Force. It was uncertain and foreboding. Whispers of something malicing coming curled around his mind like fog. He glanced around, seeing nothing, but feeling something else nearby too… "I don't know, but my feelings tell me we should leave, and quickly." Obi-Wan focused harder. Something large and gentle was close, despite of the other feelings. He wandered a few steps forward and peered around a larger boulder formation, his eyebrows raising. "We do seem to have acquired a transportation method, though."
It was a very large furry land animal that perhaps five people could have ridden at once. It had two curling horns on either side of its massive head, and made a soft sound through a wide, flat mouth when it saw Obi-Wan. It was outfitted with a saddle and harness lead. Domesticated then.
Amidala came to stand beside him and when she saw the large land animal, she gave a surprised, "Oh!"
Going closer slowly, Obi-Wan tested the proverbial waters by reaching out toward the animal, using the Force to send calming waves of peaceful intention out. "Hello there, my very large friend," he said, and laid a hand against the animal's face, communicating without words, just with senses and feelings.
"Is he friendly?" Amidala asked, sounding doubtful.
As if to answer the question, the beast gave a loud huff through its nose and nibbled at Obi-Wan's robe gently. "Too friendly," Obi-Wan said with a helpless little smile, then took its harness lead in his hand and craned his neck around, looking for a way to get down to the canyon floor.
Two small figures led a slow, lumbering bantha and the water reservoir that he towed behind him across the sea of sand. It was late morning now, and the sand made it blindingly bright. The heat was unlike anything Sabé had ever experienced, not to mention the dryness. Her skin felt thirsty and tight. Her whole body was uncomfortabe.
They had successfully attached the reservoir to the animal using the hovering tow attachment, but it would probably take the better part of an hour to get back to the ship without the speed of the destroyed bike. Her arm hurt pretty badly, and Sabé knew she just had to accept it for now and get through the discomfort until later. If nothing else, she felt more like herself being off that blasted ship and doing something meaningful. Even if it was a thousand kriffing degrees on this planet.
"I'm curious about something," Obi-Wan said presently, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Do all the people of Naboo know how to wield a weapon as well as you do?"
Sabé felt a nervous twitch in her stomach as she regarded him across the face of the animal—they were on either side, with the Jedi holding the lead. Some of his questions felt decidedly probing, like he was onto her or testing her. "No," she answered carefully. "Very few, in fact." She paused. "My planet is a pacifist world. But… in my mind, peace doesn't mean sell your swords. Only lay them down until they're needed." Obi-Wan listened and nodded thoughtfully, seeming to accept the answer which was true enough. It was actually how she felt, and was believable too. Sabé thought a couple beats more then looked at him again. "I'm curious about something too, Jedi Kenobi."
His reply surprised her. "Call me Obi-Wan—Jedi Kenobi sounds like an old man."
An invitation to a more personal and less formal dynamic. For whatever reason, it made Sabé a degree more apprehensive. "Obi-Wan," she said, telling herself she was overthinking it. She thought of his eyes looking into hers when he'd touched her face with two gentle fingers. She stole another sidelong glance at him. He was handsome, and of course she'd noticed it immediately just as she would notice anyone else's physical appearance when seeing them the first time. But there was something about him beyond his face that made her linger and feel intrigued. Not knowing what that draw was left her frustrated and annoyed. Sabé realized she hadn't asked him her question when he looked at her expectantly with the tiniest amused smile, as if he found her silence to be entertaining. "How exactly did you and your master come to be associated with the Gungan?" she asked, pretending nothing was amiss.
Obi-Wan almost looked disappointed, like he had anticipated a better question and he sighed in such a way that betrayed a certain frustration. "Ah. Jar-Jar. Qui-Gon has a penchant for… collecting." A delicately chosen word that revealed Obi-Wan's feelings on the matter: he didn't like it. "We came across him when we fled the initial invasion wave. He offered help and took us to an underwater Gungan city t—"
"You went to a Gungan city?!" Her jaw essentially dropped and eyes were wide. At his questioning eyebrow raise, she grasped for a way to say it succinctly: "…Humans don't go there."
Obi-Wan nodded knowingly. "I gathered there is no love lost between the Naboo and the Gungans."
"You gathered correctly," Sabé said, trying to wrap her mind around this amazing, unheard of information, her mind jumping around from possibility to possibility. "Wait. How did you get from that city to Theed?"
Another shocking bombshell came, delivered in that pleasantly mild, accented tone. "We went through the planet core."
Her eyes bulged again in shock. "You went through the planet core?!" Again, Obi-Wan looked at her in slight amusement, and it was as if he didn't understand. The monsters down there, not to mention the dangers of the cave and pressure systems were dark, foreboding legend on Naboo. "No one does that," she said, then corrected herself. "Well, no one does that then lives to tell about it." Sabé narrowed her eyes at him. "Who was navigating?"
"Me."
Sabé took this information in stride for a few seconds, trying to comprehend it, trying to imagine. "You must be an incredible pilot then," she said, and it was hard to hide the admiring lean in her tone.
This earned her quite the self-humored smirk and an almost playful look. "Well, Your Highness… you said it, not me."
His sense of humor was difficult to dislike, catching her off guard in an enjoyable way. "And humble too," Sabé replied, chuckling despite herself. She was beginning to feel like they would be friends in another reality. Or maybe even this one. His personality, what little of it she'd seen so far, was the type she enjoyed. Focused, serious, resourceful, but also with a cynical and humorous side.
A moment of quiet passed, then he ventured a new turn in conversation. "You never did say how you came to know how to operate a vaporator…" he looked across the animal's profile at her and Sabé kept her face neutral despite the immediate worry at his curious tone. Why was he so stuck on that? He said he hadn't read Amidala's file, but was that true? Was he testing her? Did he suspect something? Sabé had to quickly try to decide how the real queen would know how to use a vaporator. She thought she'd read that some Jedi could read minds, but maybe that was just gossip. Either way, she forged ahead with the best lie she could think of.
"A… school trip to a farm," she said calmly despite her pulse picking up. "A crop farmer showed us how they worked."
Obi-Wan was subtly dubious, using her previous comment from earlier against her: "In a day?"
Sabé's mouth felt dry but she gave a sly smile and pretended to be confident, using the same comment he was springboarding off of earlier to bring it full circle. "I'm a quick study." She tried to switch subjects casually, hoping she didn't overcompensate with the offhand tone she used. "But enough about that, I have more questions about the Gungan city."
If he was suspicious, she couldn't tell. "Anything you wish to know, Milady."
Sabé didn't have to think too hard about what to ask since she was genuinely curious. "How did they react to seeing humans there?" From what she knew, no one had been to a Gungan city in hundreds of years.
He thought about it for a second. "Well, they seemed more upset about seeing Jar-Jar there than anything else," Obi-Wan said with a darkly humorous attitude. "He was banished, you see."
Sabé frowned, looking at the Jedi closely. Was he joking? This kept getting more interesting. "Banished? Is he a criminal?"
"Something about being clumsy," Obi-Wan said, and he looked a little confused by his own statement.
"…He was banished because he was clumsy?" Sabé repeated, mulling it over. She'd met a Gungan once as a little girl and remembered being afraid, hiding behind her papa as she stared at the creature she'd only seen in storybooks prior. "They certainly do things differently," she said, not sure what else to say about it. "Do you think they've been affected by the invasion too?"
Obi-Wan nodded, grim. "More than likely. We saw some underwater transports when we were aboard the Federation flagship." Her heart and mood fell. For the span of a couple hours, Sabé had mercifully forgotten the bigger picture, or at least turned her attention elsewhere. Now she was thinking about it all again and wondering torturously if they would even make it back to her homeworld. And if they did, what state would they find it in? In her mind she could see Theed burning and crumbled, the magnificent gilded teal rooftops and sandstone walls ruined and forlorn. She could imagine people dead and starving in the streets, families torn apart. She could picture Zana crying and needing protection but left all alone, scared and defenseless. "You cannot do anything about any of it right now, Your Highness," came a gentle admonishment from Obi-Wan, who must have seen her expression. "Don't blame yourself."
She knew he was right, but none of that really did anything to ease the internal conflict or pain or fear. "That's… difficult." She studied the distance. More bleak sand that made her squint as her heart beat painfully in her chest. "There are millions of people on Naboo and Gungans too. All suffering." She wondered if this was somehow her fault. Padmé hadn't given an executive order to come flee Naboo, Sabé had merely thought it's what the queen wanted… and Padmé had left so suddenly that they hadn't had a chance to talk about it further. Falling into a more negative mental space, Sabé felt like her entire demeanor darkened. "Perhaps we shouldn't have left." Being on her planet seemed much more superior to this cursed, bitter fate. Trapped. Lost. Caged. Wounded and bleeding.
Obi-Wan was thoughtful and gentle. "Dwelling in the possibilities is a certain path to anguish, Milady."
She glanced over at him again, drawn out of her spiraling thoughts. He was studying her, and he was empathetic. "You're right," she acknowledged, but it was weary and reluctant. Realizing that she was becoming too unguarded, too comfortable, too in touch with feelings that would only harm her, Sabé drew a deep breath and pulled the veil of performance around herself while pushing personal thoughts away. She needed to be the queen, not herself. "Thank you, Obi-Wan. You are wise."
He injected wry humor again, thankfully. "Tell Qui-Gon that, will you?"
Hmm. She studied him briefly. This young Jedi who she didn't know, but felt some kindred spirit to in ways. "I take it there's some tension between you two." She said it for a couple of reasons: to find out more about them, and because she was personally curious about who they both were.
"We… do not always see eye to eye," he answered carefully. She'd already observed that much to be sure.
"And how often does he leave you behind to babysit?" she asked in purposeful, put-on lightheartedness, watching him carefully for his reaction.
Another indirect, joking answer. "I think he enjoys making me suffer." Her eyebrows raised as a smile grew on her face. Obi-Wan visibly realized that could come off as an insult to her. It actually amused her of all things as he attempted to smooth over verbally. "Please don't misunderstand, Queen Amidala. I am not complaining about your company." She didn't say anything, just shamelessly enjoyed his slight squirming. "It's… not every day that one is graced with the companionship of a Queen."
"You flatter me, sir," she said, distinctly jokingly. For another moment as they walked, she considered what to ask that wouldn't be too invasive that would tell her more about him. She finally settled on something factual. "Jedi apprentices become masters around your age, don't they? When will you face the trials?" He looked to be in his mid-twenties, which she thought she remembered being the approximate time a Jedi learner became a master. But, she was no expert.
Obi-Wan's expression was difficult to read. Perhaps conflicted. "That remains to be seen. I became a padawan later than most, perhaps I'll become a master later than most too." He threw her an expression that seemed worn down, but in a good-natured way. "I'm told often that I'm still too impatient, too reckless."
Sabé felt another twinge of connection and understanding. She had heard the same many times too. She attempted a humorous response. "I prefer to view impatience as ambition and accelerated time management, myself."
A pleasantly occupied, challenging glance came her way. "And recklessness?"
She thought a moment before confidently landing on: "Fearless decision making."
From his smile, Obi-Wan liked that. He had dimples that cut into his cheeks, and it was hard not to notice how much they enhanced his already handsome appearance. "I see now why you're in politics, Milady," he said. If only he knew how much she detested the game of politics.
She managed an acknowledging little smile then fell silent for a moment, idly thinking about how hot she was and feeling the dull aching throb of the cut on her arm. Reality currently didn't feel real. To be so far from home, stranded on this alien planet and to not know how or when they would escape it was difficult to shoulder. The queen's absence and lack of communication was stressful. The longing to be home with her sister was so strong that it felt like her heart could pull right out of her chest. But despite all of it, she wasn't hopeless yet. Stay in the moment, she told herself. They had made it this far. Maybe when they got back to the ship there would be word from Qui-Gon about a new hyperdrive. She needed to stop thinking about it though, and once again forcibly moved her thoughts elsewhere. She peered around, trying to find something positive about this Tatooine planet, but all she could come up with was that she found it abysmal. Her skin was beginning to feel burnt too. In the distance, a massive skeleton laid out on the sand alone. There was little life here, and an incredible sense of danger. "Can you imagine living in a place like this?" she asked in a soft, contemplative voice. "Obviously people are born here but… would anyone willfully choose this?"
Obi-Wan seemed to share her sentiments. "Only someone desperate to hide or perhaps endeared to desolation as far as the eye can see, I'm sure."
At that moment, the animal they led gave a tremendous sneeze—a sound that was like a great yell and Sabé jumped even while she stifled a yelp, a hand across her chest in surprise. "Lands alive," she exclaimed, her heartrate having doubled. She then realized Obi-Wan was outright chuckling. Half serious but moreso joking, Sabé made a face. "Stop laughing at me! I command it immediately."
"As the queen says," Obi-Wan replied slyly, and it was clear he was still laughing inside. Sabé bowed her head into her hand, flustered but also hiding her laughter too.
Author's Notes: A shorter one for today :) next one coming soon, wherein Qui-Gon's insane gamble-the-queen's-ship debacle shall come up…
