All Along ~ Chapter Six


The steak tips were a little dry and the tubers a bit mushy, but overall, not bad cooking for droids. Padme never complained, as was her nature. She actually seemed to enjoy the meal while I found more enjoyment in the conversation.

Her topic of choice this evening was the division of the Senate when it came to what to do with the army the Kimonoans had cloned; the one that had been ordered by a Jedi, nonetheless. Now that the Sith Lord was eliminated, the rest of his followers seemed to have vanished. Some were taken into custody, while others were hiding. A few Jedi Master/Padawan pairs had been assigned to pursue the more notorious ones, but without their leader, they weren't considered all that dangerous.

Padme was doing her best to pull an opinion out of me, but I always avoided arguments such as this. I was a protector, not a politician.

"Come on. You must have some thoughts on the matter," she insisted.

"Not really." I used the silence following my answer to take a bite of spongy vegetables, although there wasn't much left, so I wasn't going to be able to put her off for much longer.

"There are those such as myself who oppose funding a military."

"Why?" I asked simply. Not that I had any thoughts on the matter. I simply wanted to hear what she had to say about it.

"Because there are so many more things worth providing for! Youngling protection, job expansion, new planet system support, as well as city traffic control! The sky lanes here are out of control!"

"Okay," I chuckled. If she was one thing, it was passionate. "I get your point. Honestly, I have no desire to promote either side, just in case anyone asks. I'm a Jedi. We tend to stay neutral."

"Huh," she said thoughtfully, picking up her glass of water to stare at me over its edge. "You're nothing like Anakin. That man has tons of opinions."

"And they're usually wrong."

She smiled graciously at my comment. I wasn't sure anyone else could get away with saying something like that about her husband, but she knew. She knew if there was anyone else in this galaxy who knew him better than she did, it was me.

"You said it, I didn't," she told after putting down her water. "He definitely has some ideas that are not very Jedi-like."

"For example?" I'd heard many of his dreams and desires and had always tended to believe they were delusions of a teenage imagination. Now that he was on his own, I didn't hear from him so often. I was hoping he'd finally grown up and gotten wiser.

"For one, he thinks fixing politics is easy: That everyone should answer to one person. Like a monarchy. He thinks everyone would be better off."

"Especially the King," I noted. During a few early missions, I had seen people in powerful positions such as that take advantage of their subjects to the point they suffered for it.

"Exactly. I've never known a monarch who put their people before themselves or their own desires. More often than not, they abuse their kingdom's wealth and talents to make themselves wealthy."

My thoughts exactly. "Except for this young Queen I once knew," I pointed out.

She caught my meaning and smirked sweetly. "It was a nominated position and I had a royal council to advise me."

"But you had the final say," I argued.

"I still listened," she shot back. "I always took their advice and weighed it against my own ideas. Only then did I make a decision, and only one that was best for my people."

"And that's why you were nominated for another term," I reminded her proudly. Even though she had been very young, I was amazed at her ability to act in a rational manner even during the most stressful situation. She'd even had the courage to stand up to my Master, and not everyone was willing to do that. I certainly hadn't at the ripe age of fourteen.

"What's with the flattery all of a sudden?"

Her question caught me off guard as did the way her dark eyes were twinkling. "No flattery intended," I quickly defended. "I'm just speaking the truth."

"Which is something you always do, I've noticed. You know, you're probably the most honest and trustworthy Jedi there is. I'm glad to know you."

"The same," I echoed her thought with a raised glass, which she tapped with her own. I watched her expression closely after making such a remark. Did she truly respect me more than she did her own husband? Was that why she called on me so often? Was she just needing some company? Or was it something else?

"Let me help you clean up. You don't have a house droid, I've noticed."

"No need for one," I replied while gathering the dishes. "There wouldn't be much for it to do. I think this is the first meal I've eaten in here in six months.

We took all of the dirty utensils and glasses to the sink and tossed the rest into the recycler.

"You wash and I'll dry," I suggested.

She agreed without a word and we fell into an easy transition as well as communication.

"Since you're on the council, isn't there anything you can do to talk some sense into them about Anakin being the new face of the Jedi?"

I did want to make assumptions, but I knew many politicians who tried to gain information or favors in return for something of value. Surely, Padme wasn't one of those! The only thing she could possibly offer me I was interested in was her ongoing friendship. "Trust me," I explained carefully. "I made my feelings on the matter known and I was easily outnumbered."

"I know the feeling," she answered and I was relieved she'd believed me. After all, I had spoken the truth, from any point of view. "Sometimes, I could pull my hair out over the near-sightedness of some Senators. They can't see the big picture! If we took this army and put them to good use - say, assign them to protect hyperspace lanes, to aid impoverished systems or help those that have suffered natural disasters. They could be of much better use. By the way, I'm advocating for a bill that will give them personhood. If I can get any of the other Senators to listen to me, that is."

That was good to hear. Even though the clone troopers were created from a single host, during the war, I had gotten to personally know several of them and they each had their own identities and personalities. "I'm sure you'll succeed. You usually do," I assured her. She had me convinced!

"I don't want you to do me any favors, Obi-Wan, I just wish Master Windu hadn't given Anakin this ongoing assignment. If he hadn't maybe things would be different."

Padme was ten years younger than me, though nearly just as wise. I had learned one thing in my life that maybe she hadn't. At least not yet. "Sometimes, things happen for a reason. Something you're not yet able to see."

She appeared to not like my advice and silently scrubbed away at the pan I had burned the steak in.

"Don't worry," I encouraged in order to break the silence. "Everything will turn out all right and probably for the better. You'll see."