Hand of Fate
Chapter 5 / City of a Thousand Lights
The Next Day
The faint light just before sunrise woke Sabé, who for a moment was unsure of where she was thanks to deep and dreamless sleep. The royal starship was still quiet—no footsteps or conversations muffled from behind walls could be heard. The queen's decoy sat slowly, propping herself onto an elbow as she gathered her bearings and remembered herself. The restful feeling from good sleep didn't last long. Today was three days since they'd left Naboo. Three days far too long. Anxiety and dread began to return, and Sabé shivered, but not from cold. A keen, strange sense of something being off vaguely settled over her. Her first thought was her sister. The second was the race scheduled for mid morning. Dismissing the sinister glimmer as anxiety, Sabé moved the covers aside and rose, gently waking Rabé and Eirtaé. Movement and action was the only thing keeping her sane right now… that, and her role. Removing herself from herself was a comfort right now.
That was part of the reason that she decided to wear the royal makeup and the black feathered gown again. To hide.
Blinking back the heaviness of sleep-deprived eyelids, Obi-Wan crossed a wire over and touched it against another one. In the middle of the currently empty throne room, the entire console that he'd hauled up out of the floor looked ripped apart to shreds, but he knew exactly what he was doing here. Mostly. With any luck, he'd have broken into the local HoloNet within a few more minutes. He'd been at it since the crack of dawn now. The race was set to start within the hour, and the Queen, handmaidens, and captain would view it in private here.
Obi-Wan was still worrying about Qui-Gon's decision although he wouldn't admit to it aloud. His master's penchant for defying the council, breaking rules, and testing the resolves and patience of those around him was often maddening for someone more comfortable with by-the-book methods such as Obi-Wan.
The blank display before him suddenly came to life with what appeared to be a local cooking show, and Obi-Wan's spirits lifted as a small victorious expression brightened his face. He was in, now to find out how to switch channels and find a live broadcast of the race—plus get the volume to work. He returned his focus to the console grid, trying different commands and searches. This type of thing soothed him: figuring things out, seeing how they worked.
Despite the momentary fascination with the console, Obi-Wan's uneasy sensation persisted, the same one he'd felt last night. It wasn't so much a worry that they wouldn't find a way off the planet, but there was something about this Anakin boy that left an unexplained feeling in the deepest parts of Obi-Wan. That and last night the energy of the Force had felt so ominous and clouded, like walls closing in. It had him on edge and ready to leave this place. Something wasn't right.
A soft noise behind him abruptly brought him out of his thoughts. Obi-Wan turned his head to see an increasingly familiar young Queen—she was in her black feathered gown again with the royal, mask-like makeup on. A vote of confidence in the race and its outcome, perhaps? She embodied a totally different demeanor and person presenting herself like that—her energy was much more controlled and neutral than yesterday and last night. Her two handmaidens were silent behind her in their orange-to-yellow gowns. Obi-Wan noticed then that Amidala was looking at him as if he had two heads, and then at the Holo display, her handmaidens doing the same. Obi-Wan followed her gaze to the display, and aghast, saw a sensually dancing alien girl in barely any clothes on the screen that, a moment ago, had displayed the cooking special.
An immediate reaction of heat and embarrassment swallowed him, taking him back to a very preteen type of feeling as he scrambled to change the display. "I'm—hacking channels, I—didn't... this wasn't..." he fumbled with the console grid and the channel changed to what appeared to be a love drama.
Amidala gave him a hidden smile as she floated by, apparently amused. Whether it was at his gaffe or his verbal stumbles, he wasn't sure. "Good day for a race, isn't it?"
Flabbergasted and feeling quite undignified but fully aware he would find it funny later, Obi-Wan watched the display more carefully after that as he entered code.
Obi-Wan found the live feed of the race—called the Boonta Eve Classic—and the small group settled in with nervous anticipation to watch. None of them had ever seen podracing before. A deadly, high-speed, and terrifying event unfolded before the viewers in which racers careened at breakneck speeds through the wild and dangerous Tatooine terrain. Many of the podracers crashed into each other or into natural obstacles, their pods going up in fiery explosions. Dirty cheats and tricks seemed normal and acceptable. Anakin was the only human racer among seventeen other competitors. His piloting abilities were incredible. Almost superhuman.
While Sabé and the other handmaidens were dressed more formally than yesterday, the anxiety of the race soon had Sabé on the edge of her seat on the throne without a thought to what her face was doing while Eirtaé and Rabé both sat on one of the side benches opposite of Obi-Wan with drawn, nervous expressions instead of carefully masked ones. Pretense was forgotten for the time. Panaka paced back and forth, unable to hold still as the tension rose and race grew closer and closer. Even Obi-Wan visibly was working hard to keep his expression acceptably neutral.
It was the longest fifteen minutes conceivable, leaving everyone's hearts pounding and emotions tense as the stakes grew higher and higher. When Anakin shot over the finish line, not only winning the race but in record time too, Sabé stood up fast and let out a huge, gaunt breath that she'd been holding, so relieved and also shocked. Qui-Gon had somehow been right about this. Even Panaka was grinning, a fist clenched in victory. Rabé and Eirtaé were breathlessly grinning. Obi-Wan smiled too. He'd clearly been just as worried as the rest of them even if his expression had remained more guarded.
Qui-Gon, Padmé, and Jar Jar returned not long after with the new hyperdrive in tow. The handmaidens and their queen were reunited privately in the royal quarters and there were fierce hugs and declarations of how worried they'd all been about the other. Padmé was more tan and seemed more at ease than when they'd seen her last. She gushed over Anakin and his mother Shmi, recounting everything she'd been through and seen in this strange new place during in the past few days, then reported how resistant she'd been to Qui-Gon's plan. Sabé then told her of what had happened on the ship the past few days, including the transmission from Naboo. Padmé received word of Sio Bibble's message and sobered a great deal, then changed out of her plainer clothes to the flame gown once more, her energy shifting into a more somber place. Just before she was about to go out into the tech station to view Bibble's message, the ship took off without any notice from anyone, roughly too, and the women all jolted, nearly falling from the sudden movement. A moment later, Panaka comm'ed and said to meet him in the throne room. He gave no other explanation.
Sabé took her seat on the throne and with her handmaiden entourage watched as a very unexpected site greeted them. Still in his plain clothes, Qui-Gon's came in followed closely by… a sandy haired child. Obi-Wan and Panaka trailed. Panaka seemed as perplexed by the child as Sabé was. Obi-Wan appeared mildly disgruntled.
"Your Highness, we're on our way," Panaka announced. Immediately, Sabé noticed he seemed slightly off. "About eight standard hours and we'll be on Coruscant."
Trying to read him but not succeeding, she played along. "A relief to be sure." Sabé said slowly, then let her eyes go to Anakin, whose face she already recognized from seeing him on the HoloNet earlier. He looked flustered, sweaty, and overwhelmed. "Is this who I think it is?" she asked, remaining purposefully vague and careful.
"Your Highness, it's a pleasure to see you again," Qui-Gon said, drawing her attention. He also looked a little flushed and sweaty, like he'd just run a distance. "May I introduce Anakin Skywalker. He is coming to Coruscant with us to become a Jedi." She hid her surprise at this unexpected announcement. Where was his mother? Padmé didn't seem to know either—at her post at the entrance of the room, her face registered surprise too. Sabé looked at the boy again, studying him curiously as Qui-Gon made introductions. "Anakin, this is Queen Amidala of Naboo."
He was small compared to everyone else in the room, and seemed shellshocked by everything—his eyes had been widely going from everything from the matte metal paneling to the handmaidens gowns to the tech port on the far wall to Sabé's royal appearance. He swallowed, staring at her nervously. "Wow, umm… lovely to meet your acquaintance, Miss Queen Amidala," he said in a voice that was still young and sweet. He sounded unsure of himself and intimidated. He reminded her of someone else she knew very much in that moment.
"Hello Anakin," Sabé greeted, smiling softly and feeling a lot of empathy for him. She didn't have to think too hard on what to say to him. "We want to thank you very much for what you did for us and everything you risked. You are very brave indeed."
"Y-you're very welcome," he replied, but he looked like he was becoming upset. Possibly near tears. Suddenly aware of how different a place he was in. With strangers, or near strangers anyway.
Sabé followed her gut instinct and stood up, going to him. "What's wrong?" she asked as she knelt to be eye to eye with him. He met her eyeline hesitantly, seeming deeply afraid. Sabé was gentle and understanding, resonating with his fear and pain. "A lot's happened today, hasn't it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he all but whispered back.
Sabé nodded, speaking to him as if they were the only two people in the room. "I understand. This must be very overwhelming for you." She turned slightly. "Padmé, will you take Anakin and get him settled in? Maybe show him how to play Dejarik?"
That sparked a positive reaction from Anakin. "Hey, I've heard of that game!"
Sabé's smile increased a bit. "Well now you can play it, too." She lowered her voice conspiratorially, bringing a touch of playfulness. "Padmé's not too good at it either, so maybe you'll win."
Anakin nodded and a little hopeful smile showed. Then he seemed to decide he needed to keep things formal when he made himself be more serious and gave a little bow. "Thank you, Queen Amidala." Sabé bowed her head a bit, parroting him, then stood up.
"This way, Ani," Padmé said, and he took her waiting hand as they went to the lift.
Turning her attention to the watchful Jedi and grim captain, Sabé didn't bother retaking the throne. Someone wasn't telling her something. "What's happened? Why the sudden takeoff?"
Panaka seemed to have been sitting on questions of his own. "What was that thing that attacked you?" he asked Qui-Gon sharply. "It looked like you almost lost the fight."
Her pulse picked up. "Fight? What fight?" Sabé asked, eyes narrowing deeply. She automatically looked to Obi-Wan to see if his expression would tell her anything. It only seemed to indicate that he was grave.
"Just as we took off," Panaka said. "An adversary in the desert." Panaka looked at Qui-Gon with a slightly challenging, mistrustful glint in his eyes. "He wielded a lightsaber."
Her stomach clenched and flipped—she again looked at Obi-Wan briefly. She saw a telltale swallow and a brief flicker of apprehension.
Qui-Gon appeared bothered and closed off. Perhaps shaken up. "Whatever it was, we need to watch ourselves more closely. Something isn't right here." His body language indicated he was about to walk away, and he threw a meaningful, serious look to Panaka. "Tighten your security, especially when we land. The Queen's life may depend on it." His words left an ominous effect. And with nothing more, he turned and left. Obi-Wan met Sabé's gaze for a brief moment, then he dutifully left without a word. Somehow, his silence left her feeling stung. Sabé told herself she was being foolish, and lifted her chin while setting her jaw as she watched him leave.
Nearby, Panaka watched her shrewdly.
Eight Hours Later
Coruscant: a planet that was more city than planet. Sabé had little idea of what to expect when they touched down onto the initial landing platform. The first thing she experienced as the gangplank let down was the smell that hit her nostrils. It was a very metallic, fuel-adjascent type of smell, accompanied by air that felt distinctly dingy and unpleasantly warm. There was no possible comparison to the cool, purely fragrant and earthy Naboo air. They began to make their way out, with the two Jedi leading the way. Qui-Gon's earlier words about security made Sabé's pulse increase. The noise pollution was what her senses picked up on next. A steady stream of starships, aircraft, generators, and speeders made for quite the racket. The only thing to be seen in all directions were skyscrapers of various heights and criss-crossing lines of traffic threading throughout them.
The next thing Sabé noticed was a familiar face: Sheev Palpatine, their senate representative. Beside him was Supreme Chancellor Valorum. While Palpatine's face held a carefully pleasant smile, Valorum looked serious and unapproachable. A sense of distaste filled her mouth.
As Sabé approached, the Jedi were bowing in greeting, then making room for her to approach the awaiting dignitaries. Obi-Wan caught her eyes and his expression made her feel odd, a surge of what compared to adrenaline kicking in. She broke the gaze and focused on her job, but the slightly unnerved feeling remained.
Soft silk, crushed velvet, hand-dipped lace—Sabé carefully sifted through the Queen's wardrobe containers, organizing pieces for later and taking inventory of what had been brought over from the royal ship.
It was a couple hours after they had made their landing and arrived safely via air taxi to Senator Palpatine's quarters. He had a massive two-level complex at his disposal, and Amidala and her entourage had been given his guest quarters to stay in.
Alone with the silence of the suite, Sabé did feel relieved to be off the ship but was still antsy to be doing something more meaningful than sort through gowns and slips. Padmé had taken Eirtaé and Rabé with her to the Senate Tower to bring their emergency before the government, which sounded more important—but Sabé needed to stay out of sight in such a public arena. A quiet live feed of the current senate proceedings was playing behind her, but so far Amidala's time hadn't come.
As soon as they had arrived here and been given some privacy, Sabé tried using her comm on a main channel. She tried contacting Zana and Gregar, as well as a few other people who were still behind on Naboo. No messages or hails went through. None awaited her either. Resigned to continue the maddening wait was all she could do. The same feeling she'd felt on the ship stranded on Tatooine haunted her. Stuck, trapped, waiting.
Pausing for a moment, Sabé's gaze was drawn to the large window across the room where the Coruscant afternoon traffic passed by. She could see the Jedi Temple in the distance. Setting the garment in her hands down for a moment, she drifted toward the window and took it all in. Coruscant was beautiful in its own way, she could admit that. At night it probably looked like a starscape with all the lights in the endless buildings. Her gaze wandered the skyscrapers and finally rested on the temple.
It was a famous building that came up both in reference and image throughout educational materials over the years. While the Jedi were common knowledge throughout the galaxy, they were mysterious too. Almost like living legends. Meeting them was a more rare occurrence for the majority of galactic citizens. Sabé included.
She began thinking about Obi-Wan without fully realizing when her brain shifted from Jedi as a whole to specifically him. Her mind replayed the sight of his profile as the Tatooine sun went down, leaving his features golden orange. She could hear the sound of his voice, so pleasantly accented and smooth, a pleasing tenor. She thought back vaguely to their conversations, both serious and meaningless, how easy it was to trade verbal spars. Then she was thinking of the moment he'd touched her face. The brilliant crystal blue trance of his eyes studying hers so deeply and surprisingly. Even his presence had a certain… feeling to it.
Sabé caught herself and was immediately disappointed and mildly embarrassed. You silly girl. Thinking about an unavailable man while her planet was in crisis. Like a damsel in a distress. Like a romantically notioned schoolgirl. Almost angrily, Sabé turned away from the window and returned to her job, glancing sharply at the distance silhouette of the Jedi temple as if she were unhappy with it. She blamed the stress of the current situation and how likable she found Obi-Wan. She would probably never see him again after this, and she reminded herself of that firmly.
"The Chair recognizes the Senator from the sovereign system of Naboo." The Chancellor on the Holo broadcast said, and Sabé quickly turned up the volume and forgot everything else. The rest of her life hung in the balance of what happened there today.
Not so far away at the same moment, Obi-Wan took his gaze away from where it had been resting for a few previous moments: the distant senate quarters building where Amidala would now be staying. Of course, she wasn't there right now so he wasn't sure why he'd been called like that, urged to look across the distance at the far off structure.
By himself in a meditation and tech room (it functioned as whichever one the user preferred), Obi-Wan was seated cross-legged facing a floor-to-ceiling window. Nearby, a Holo screen played the Senate live feed. "The Chair recognizes the Senator from the sovereign system of Naboo," Valorum was saying.
Being lost in his own worries and problems, Obi-Wan didn't really pay his full attention. Back at the Jedi Temple was similar to being home for him but the strange and restless feeling remained. He stewed over Qui-Gon's mysterious attacker on Tatooine. Obi-Wan had caught a brief glimpse of the adversary in the sand kicked up from the intensity of the fight. Flashes of red lighsaber against black clothing. It was deeply troubling and left a bitter, dark feeling deep inside. Sith weren't supposed to exist anymore. Could it be true?
"I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. The Naboo system has been invaded by force. Against all the laws of the Republic—"
Obi-Wan's attention was broken at the deep, put-on woman's voice. He frowned shrewdly at the woman displayed on screen, his attention stolen out of his thoughts. The woman on the screen appeared to be Queen Amidala, wearing the makeup and a spectacularly elaborate gown and hairstyle, but… he knew it right away, the second he set eyes on her. Whoever that was… was not the queen he'd been with on Tatooine.
Late That Night
After Padmé returned to Palpatine's residence from the senate, she was in a deep state of sadness. She had called for a vote of no confidence in Valorum after he did nothing to aid their crisis, but a new nomination would take time. Time they did not have. After about thirty quiet and contemplative minutes back in the senate quarters, Padmé abruptly announced that they were leaving for Naboo immediately. She did not divulge her reasoning to even the captain or handmaidens. She also declined for Sabé to play her part, even when the captain said it was a security risk due to the Tatooine attack. Padmé insisted on traveling as queen.
When they boarded the starship, Anakin and Qui-Gon awaited them, but no Obi-Wan. For a few moments, Sabé wondered in quiet disappointment if he had stayed behind.
As the Queen's entourage settled into the throne room, Obi-Wan came in. He was decidedly sour, like something had upset him. But of all things, he didn't look at Amidala like Sabé had expected. His eyes went straight to her. Startled, Sabé tried not to react at all, tried to look away in time. Her hood in the yellow-to-orange ombré gown obscured her features well, or she thought so anyway. She made a point to not look at him at all after that, but it felt too late. Did he know? Sabé's worry briefly caused her to lack ability to focus in and listen on the conversation happening. When she refocused herself, Panaka was speaking.
"The moment we land the Federation will arrest you, and force you to sign the treaty," he argued.
"I agree… I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish by this," Qui-Gon said.
Behind the mask, Padmé was deadly serious. "I'm going to take back what's ours," she said in the deep monotone voice. More confused than before, Sabé waited silently. How could they do that against the hundreds of thousands of droids?
"There are only a few of us, Your Highness, we have no army," Panaka replied, his tone hard. It seemed like he thought Padmé was stupid from the way he spoke.
Qui-Gon was a little less abrasive than the captain. "I cannot fight a war for you, Your Highness, only protect you."
And then, the most unexpected sentence the queen might ever utter: "Jar Jar Binks."
Lurking behind the Jedi with a mindless and distracted look on his gangly features, the Gungan startled. "…Mesa, Your Highness?"
Everyone in the throne room seemed to share the same sentiment of surprise and confusion. "Yes," Padmé replied without missing a beat. "I need your help."
Jar Jar scratched his head, his bulbous eyes swiveling around expressively as he tried to make sense of it. "Err… hozwa dat?"
"Our two people need to band together now to defeat the common evil that has come against us," Padmé said. "Do you think you can facilitate a meeting between us?"
The Gungan visibly worked very hard to try to understand her question and words, but could only come up with a confused look. "Uhh… whet?"
"Can you help us find the Gungans so we can speak to them?" Obi-Wan asked, an edge of impatience sharpening his tone. Sabé dared look at him again. As if he felt it, his eyes met hers.
Jar Jar lit up, nodding enthusiastically. "Ohh, yah! I tink yes, whya dint say so in da firsty place?!"
Sabé dropped her eyes down. Obi-Wan knew. She could just tell. He knew.
The Queen's appeal to the Gungan was perhaps one of the strangest scenes Obi-Wan had ever witnessed. It wasn't something he would forget soon, either. After the meeting in the throne room adjourned, Obi-Wan went to the tech station by himself and sat with his feelings of rejection and replacement. Qui-Gon had stood in front of the council and readily dropped Obi-Wan as his apprentice, trying to train Anakin instead. He had it in his mind that Anakin was the chosen one. The council said no—Anakin was too old, too fearful. Qui-Gon had accepted that… for now. But that didn't lessen the sting that Obi-Wan had unexpectedly felt in that moment, or even now. He shouldn't feel that way at all according to the Code. And yet he did.
Presently, one of the queen's handmaidens passed by in a whisper of expensive sounding fabric, and Obi-Wan's attention immediately followed her. She went to the small ship canteen and set to work making a hot drink of some kind. It was her. The so-called queen he'd spent time with on Tatooine. After realizing there was a decoy gambit while watching the senate hearing, Obi-Wan had read Queen Amidala's full file in an attempt to determine which one was the true queen. Her file was full of a more privileged upbringing and time spent in politics. Not time spent on farms or in weapons training. Whoever the young woman he'd met on Tatooine was, she was the decoy. He was sure of it. She was older than Amidala was by a few years he'd wager, and from a different background. Watching her now, he hesitated. He could say nothing and let the situation play out. But there was an urge to speak to her. To find out who she really was. So after some deliberation, he got up and approached her.
She was stirring a mug of hot, amber liquid as he approached, even even though her hood was hiding her face from him presently, he noticed that she tensed a bit nervously and stopped stirring. "Hello there," he greeted.
She knew that he knew, and her slow turn of the head and reluctant gaze gave it away. "Hello." She sighed and looked at the mug she was preparing, keeping her voice low when she finally spoke again. "I suppose it might have been too much to hope a Jedi knight wouldn't figure it out." She looked back at him again, and even though the hood did so much to obscure her features, it couldn't hide her molten eyes or the conflicted emotion there.
"In all fairness, you almost did fool me," he admitted, studying her countenance. Her resemblance to the real queen, who he now seen makeup-less photos of, was astonishing.
She was studying him back. "What gave it away?" she asked after a few measures of silence. She seemed more tentatively curious than anything else.
"I saw the Queen's senate session." He paused. The next three words felt more personal than he realized they would. "She wasn't you." He forged ahead to attempt to escape the more vulnerable feeling he'd suddenly found himself in. "It does explain quite a few things," he said, bringing a more playful smile to his face. "And you are a very close match to the real Amidala. It's quite remarkable, actually."
It was hard to tell what she felt about his words, because she carefully kept her face neutral. "Thank you," she said. "I trust you'll remain quiet about your findings?"
"Of course." He waited, thinking perhaps she would introduce herself to him. This mysterious woman who looked so much like the queen but fought like a trained soldier and knew how to operate farming equipment and spoke her strong opinions readily. But all she did was pick up the mug as if she were about to leave. "…Are you not going to tell me your name?" he asked, then jokingly added, "After all we've been through together?" It felt safer somehow to default to humor.
It did earn him a veiled smile and eye contact that was as fascinating as before. She opened her mouth as if to speak.
Then a short, soft whistle startled them both. Captain Panaka, looking as dour as ever, was giving the handmaiden a commanding look from across the hold, then a jerk of his head as if to indicate she should walk away. Without another word, she gave Obi-Wan a brief and apologetic look, then left with the drink she'd made. The captain stayed right where he was, a distrustful expression on his face as he stared Obi-Wan down. Not one to take a stand on petty things, Obi-Wan took the hint and left that part of the ship. He continued to wonder about her for some time after that.
Author's Notes: I am really stoked to write the next couple chapters because we'll be returning to Naboo and there's going to be some really lengthy Sobiwan interactions. Maybe she'll even tell OW her name… lol. Plus, after TPM wraps, original adventures and storylines commence! Thanks for your continued readership, reviews, and support :)
