THALIA

"Excuse me, Your Majesty." Senator Organa called, immediately capturing Thalia's attention. It had been hours since Obi-Wan had snuck aboard Padme's ship in search of Anakin, but those hours had felt like weeks. She was worried. All she wanted, more than anything in the galaxy was for her friends to be safe.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi has made contact." Bail said, the relief clear on his face. However, it only lasted a moment before his features took on a more solemn appearance. "Padme is not well. Master Kenobi has requested your presence and a medical frigate."

"Let's go." Thalia replied without a second thought. As they made their way to a Troskan cruiser, she sent orders through to the captain of her guard, requesting they send a medical ship to Obi-Wan's location immediately.

Thalia didn't waste time in putting together a crew. She set the engines alight and took the familiar controls in her hands, steering them up and out of Troska's air space. She plugged Obi-Wan's coordinated into the navigation and set the cruiser into lightspeed.

As the blue lights flashed past, the questions that flew around her head matched their speed. What had happened? Did Obi-Wan have Anakin with him? What had happened to Padme? Was Obi-Wan hurt too?

She felt her heart racing and had to force herself to shut her eyes and focus on her breaths instead of the streams of light. She felt the force around her shift in calming waves. Whatever she was about to face, she needed to do so calmly and with a clear head.

Thalia only opened her eyes when they dropped out of hyperspace. The medical frigate was already there and Padme's Naboo Cruiser was locked on to one of it's ports. The Troskan ship glided effortlessly into place and Thalia was already striding through the passageways before it had even locking process had even finished.

"Where are they?" Thalia demanded as she burst into the medical station. Two droids looked up from their desk. They looked once at Thalia, once at each other and then then both pointed down the hall to their left.

She marched down the corridor, Senator Organa close on her heels. Up ahead, one wall was made completely of glass, a viewing area for the operating room beyond. There was a door at the opposite end of the hall and someone came walking through it. Though he looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a Bantha, Obi-Wan was in one piece. His robes were covered in ash, and they'd been burnt in several places.

When his eyes locked on to hers, he stopped suddenly, and she watched his shoulders sag from exhaustion and relief. Thalia's feet were running towards him without her even telling them to and he managed to stumble forwards a few steps before their arms were around each other.

"Thank goodness." Thalia sighed into his shoulder. She wasn't going to ask him if he was alright. She already knew the answer.

A soft click came from behind Obi-Wan and Thalia forced her eyes open to see Master Yoda tap his walking stick on the ground, with an expression on his face that Thalia didn't want to read too much into. She slowly let go of Obi-Wan and rested her hand on his shoulder, hoping it was reassuring.

He smiled weakly before gesturing back to the glass wall. They joined Senator Organa who was looking into the operation room. Padme was being floated in on a hoverbed, her white gown a stark contrast against her ash covered face. Her eyes were closed, but Thalia could see she was still breathing.

A medical droid opened one of the panels on the glass wall and floated out to greet them.

"Medically, she's completely healthy." The droid said. "For reasons we can't explain, we are losing her."

"What?" Thalia squeaked.

"She's dying?" Obi-Wan asked in shock.

"We don't know why. She has lost the will to live." The droid replied.

"Anakin?" Thalia whispered, but Obi-Wan shook his head.

Thalia knew it, Padme's heart was broken.

"We need to operate quickly if we are to save the babies." The droid continued.

"Babies?" Thalia asked.

"She's carrying twins." Answered the droid.

Thalia managed to keep her composure long enough to ask the droid if she could go into the operating room. She took a steadying breath, squeezing the tears from her eyes before dropping down beside Padme, her back to the watching Jedi and Senator.

Padme's eyes fluttered open, and she let her head fall to the side to look at her. Thalia smiled and rested one of her hands atop Padme's and used the other to smooth the hair back from Padme's face.

"Anakin." She sighed weakly.

"I know." Thalia nodded, trying to keep her voice steady for her friend.

"I can't have the baby now." She whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek. Thalia agreed, it wasn't fair to Padme after everything she'd been through in the last couple of days, but she didn't have a choice.

"You can do it. I won't leave you." Thalia promised her. Padme said no more, but turned her hand over to meet Thalia's palm and she grasped it tightly as the droids began to work.

Thalia knew she had to keep her emotions in check, so she busied herself with soothing Padme. She wished she could stop the pain, but Thalia knew the force wouldn't work this way. Instead, she tried channelling the force through her hand with every pass through Padme's hair. It seemed to calm her a little, at least enough so she could tune out the bright lights and audience in the passageway beyond.

Suddenly, a high-pitched cry broke through the rhythm Thalia had created with the force.

"Ee-see-tah oy-doh." One of the droids said, lifting a tiny, wriggling baby. The droid handed the child to Thalia who took it carefully in her arms, determined not to let go of Padme's hand.

"A boy." Padme sighed as Thalia held the newborn up to her. She ran her free hand over it's face and Thalia was relieved to see her smile. "Luke." Padme decided and broke into the most radiant beam Thalia had ever seen.

But her brows quickly knitted together in pain once more and she cried out in anguish. Thalia returned to soothing Padme and the steady flow of the force seemed to calm the wriggling Luke too. The second child came faster than the first. And the operating room was once again filled with the cries of an infant.

"Ee-see-tah oy-dah." The droid said.

"A girl." She said to Padme whose eyes tried to focus on her daughter.

"Leia." She breathed, smiling gently as the little girl caught the tip of her finger in a mighty grip.

"Thalia." Padme sighed, her eyes floating up hers. "There's good in him. Tell Obi-Wan." She breathed deeply but her words came in short puffs. "I know…I know there's…still-"

"Padme." Thalia whispered as she watched her friend's head slowly roll to the side. "Please." She choked as a silent sob shook her body. But Padme was still.

Out in the passageway, Obi-Wan watched as Thalia dropped her head to rest against Padme's shoulder as quiet sobs shook her shoulders. Senator Organa sat beside him, his head in his hands while even Master Yoda pressed a hand against the glass, his eyes closed.

Obi-Wan swallowed thickly, turning his face to the ceiling to try and blink back the tears. His heart broke with Thalia's. Padme had always been someone who could survive anything, the one that would always been there, no matter what. He couldn't fathom that she was gone. The war was over and yet the best of them could still die.

He'd done the right thing, following Padme to Anakin, for a multitude of reasons, but sensing the relief Padme had felt when she'd had Thalia by her side had reassured him in ways he didn't know where possible. To have one's best friend by your side was something Obi-Wan would never again take for granted. Both he and Thalia had lost their closest friends that day, and he was not prepared to lose another.

. . .

It was a wretched flight to Naboo for Thalia. It was a horrible feeling, knowing that, while she was alive and well, her best friend was being kept in a cryochamber at the end of the hall. Everything about the situation felt incredibly insensitive. She glared at the guards who spoke in hushed tones in the common area, shook her head as people walked past the door as if the former Queen's body wasn't lying on the other side of it.

Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. Thalia made her way to Padme's private quarters on the Naboo Cruiser and ensured the door was locked behind her. She looked about the space, taking in the rack of gowns, the discarded book on the sofa, a tea set that had been carefully arranged on the side table.

Thalia set about packing away the room. She took Padme's gowns from their hangers and methodically folded them into neat piles on the sofa. As she moved about the room, she let the tears fall freely from her eyes. She talked to Padme; told her how much she missed her, how beautiful her children were and all the things she'd tell them about their mother and father.

By the time the Cruiser landed on Naboo, the room was arranged so carefully that it was as if Padme had done it herself. Thalia knew she hated it when her sets of china were damaged in transit, especially when she'd gone to such lengths to protect them during hyperspace travel.

The final thing to do was to arrange Padme's paperwork. Something Thalia knew would be the most difficult. The Senator had devoted her life to the Republic, to bring justice and peace to the galaxy. She had been the voice of reason in the Senate, the true leader to those who believed that the right thing should always be done. And it had been the Chancellor, the one who she had worked so closely with, opposed so many times and in doing so gained a multitude of respect from both Republicans and Separatists alike, who had torn her world apart.

The Republic had died when Padme had taken her last breath. But Thalia would be damned if she didn't tell the galaxy just how much Padme Amidala had fought for each and every person, no matter who, no matter what.

As Thalia began flipping through her paperwork, a certificate of some kind caught her eye. It was emblazoned with the Naboo government's seal and what Thalia read had her grasping for the nearest seat.

This is to certify that

Thalia Kurala

has been selected as Godparent for the firstborn child of

Padme Amidala Naberrie

That by their prayers and witness, they will keep and protect their Godchild all the days of their lives.

This document has been signed by Queen Apailana of the Naboo.