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We are now on Coruscant. I have been here only once before, a few months ago, when Padmé came to have an interview with Senator Palpatine and attend a Senate session with him.
We were met at the landing platform by Chancellor Valorum himself, as well as Senator Palpatine and their guards. Sabé was still dressed as the Queen. Ironic that the first time Chancellor Valorum and Queen Amidala had the opportunity to meet, the Queen was actually Sabé is disguise. I wonder what the Chancellor would think if he knew. It's a shame, too. The first time we came here, Padmé was very excited about the prospect of meeting the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, but she never got the chance. Now he actually shows up personally to greet us at the landing pad, and she has to hang back as one of the all-but-invisible handmaidens. Oh, well. (Since I'm also one of the handmaidens, and one of the more invisible ones at that, I'm not all that sympathetic.) Back to the events of earlier today:
The two Jedi went off to report to their superiors at the Jedi Temple while the rest of us, aside from the Chancellor, went to the Senator's quarters. Watching Anakin's face from the corner of my eye I remembered the first time I saw Coruscant. It is absolutely overwhelming. And it doesn't really stop being overwhelming, but you learn how to make yourself ignore it. (Handmaiden training comes in handy with that.)
It's so big and there are buildings literally everywhere. When you first see it from space, you almost wonder if it's a space station because it's this iron-grey color with lights spread all across it's surface. No green, no blue. The only clouds are all tinged with grey pollution. When you actually get down to the landing platforms, it's not much better. The surface is miles down, far out of sight, so all there is to see are buildings of permacrete and transparisteel with huge chasms between them, and ships and transports everywhere.
"Overwhelming" doesn't half describe it.
The Senator's chambers are very rich and grand, and no doubt that was overwhelming for Anakin and Jar-Jar, too. I'm used to it by now though. The first time I saw the quarters that belong to Padmé and the five of us handmaidens, I nearly fainted. I'm used to the opulence and wealth now, sort of. I can't help adding up the values of things (at least those ones whose values I"m capable of imagining) and thinking about all the things the money could have been used for. That is my father's training coming through, I guess. Course, I don't have any trouble sleeping between satin sheets, either. Or eating delicacies imported from halfway across the galaxy. Or...
Okay, I just went off on one of what Yané calls my "philosophical tangents" again. Sorry.
Actually, we were escorted to the guest room of the Senator's apartment and Sabé, Eirtaé, and I had quite a job getting Sabé out of all those clothes and all that makeup and Padmé into makeup and a different outfit. (It happens to be one of my favorites, by the way, with this really cool fan-shaped Shiraya headdress that has cool beadwork and glass filaments. Padmé says it's almost impossible to balance it on her head, but it's really cool to look at. The dress that goes with it is really pretty, too, in soft purple shades that are kind of restful after the red Padmé often wears. Sorry–another sidetrack.) In any case, we finally got Sabé and Padmé changed, then the Eirtaé and I had to change, and then one of us had to stay in the quarters as Padmé, since it would be pretty obvious something strange was going on if there were three handmaidens, but none of them was Padmé. I was a little surprised when Padmé told Sabé to stay behind, although it made sense, since acting as Queen was wearing Sabé out pretty well. We're all really nervous that the deception will be found out here on Coruscant.
So it was that Eirtaé and I were to accompany Padmé while she spoke with the Senator. As we left the rooms that have been set aside for us while we're here, though, Padmé quietly whispered to me to find what had been done with Anakin and Jar-Jar and bring them along.
I found an aide, who explained that they had been given a place to clean up and rest, and I had him take me there. I beckoned them to follow me and then returned to the Senator's office with the two of them in tow. It was clear that the meeting had already begun without me (no big surprise), and since I didn't think it would be appropriate for Anakin and Jar-Jar to hear what was being said I told them to wait in the anteroom before entering the office and taking my place behind Padmé.
The Senator seems to take the view that the Senate isn't going to be much help to us and he even suggested that Padmé call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum! He has been, as Padmé pointed out to the Senator, our strongest supporter, and I wondered for a moment what the Senator could possibly be up to before I remembered that I am not the political specialist of our group. And Padmé knows what she's doing, anyway.
The funny thing was that I could just see around Panaka into the anteroom out of the corner of my eye, and I could see Anakin was listening at the door. For a moment I thought about excusing myself and going to put an end to that, but then I thought, Why bother? I doubted he or Jar-Jar would hear anything that could be too damaging, and even then they probably wouldn't really understand the significance–even I don't get half the things that are said in these meetings. And I can't blame them for being curious, especially Anakin. He is, after all, a ten-year-old boy, and he hasn't had much of a chance to really explore Coruscant. This political stuff must be really boring to him.
Anyways, when we left for the Senate building, I whispered an invitation for them to come with us. They won't be able to sit in the box for Naboo, but they can watch events on a viewscreen and Anakin will at least get to see the arena, which is very impressive, even for Coruscant.
Well, it looks like we're all ready to go. I took a moment to write this while Eirtaé coached Padmé in some last-minute details of Senate protocol. At least for this change of clothes, we only had to put Padmé into a new outfit with a new hairdo and touch up her makeup a bit. Her Senate outfit is also impressive, and if the headdress on the outfit I mentioned earlier is bad, the one for the Senate outfit must be killer, but she hasn't complained. I think she's too nervous. Yikes! Gotta' go!
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