It was three days before Sabé woke up; three days filled with worry for the Padmé and the handmaidens. Sabé's injuries, although many of them minor, piled up on one another to make her condition worse. In addition to the stitches she'd pulled and her broken ribs, she'd twisted her ankle slightly and had broken one of her fingers. Her face was a mess, covered with purple and yellow bruises and small cuts. She'd hit her head, and had a slight concussion.
The medics said they'd never seen anyone sustain injuries like that and yet still be able to walk.
When Sabé finally did open her eyes, the afternoon sun was streaming into the room through a large window. She turned her head , wincing at the pain of her stiff neck and the gradually-healing injuries on her face, and frowned slightly as she realised she was in her own room, not the med. centre.
"Yané said you hate doctors," Rabé's voice came from the other side. Sabé managed to turn her head to see the handmaiden, sitting by the bed with some embroidery. "So Padmé had you brought here."
Sabé nodded, moistening her lips before trying to speak. "How did I get here?" she croaked. Rabe's eyes met hers. "Saché and I followed you," she said softly. Sabé closed her eyes again, hearing again the crack of her mother's neck as it twisted and broke.
"Did you see any of…" she trailed off. "No," Rabé said, rising. She placed a cool hand on Sabé's forehead. "Rest," she said quietly. "I'll tell Padmé you're awake."
She disappeared through the door, and Sabé took a deep breath, wincing as pain shot through her chest. She realised she'd broken at least one rib, and she groaned slightly.
She looked up again as Padmé came in softly, dressed in a simple robe instead of her heavy official gowns. None of the other handmaidens followed her, and Sabé was relieved. She didn't think she could manage all of them at once right now.
"Hey," Padmé said softly, sitting herself where Rabé had been only a few moments before. "Hi," Sabé greeted, her voice cracking a little. "How bad am I?"
"Bad enough," Padmé replied after a moment. Sabé nodded, and pain shot through her body. "I guess I'm not going anywhere for a while then," she managed. Padmé shook her head.
"I won't ask what happened, Sabé," Padmé started after a moment. Sabé closed her eyes to stare straight into Mara's betrayed ones. "You're still in a bad condition. But I want you to tell me, if you can, once you're better."
Sabé opened her eyes again to stare out of the window at Theed. Padmé was distressed to see that the brown eyes were dull, devoid of emotion. "Nothing happened," Sabé said softly. "Absolutely nothing."
Padmé watched her for a moment, then rose. "I'll send Yané in to keep an eye on you," she told the girl. "Rest, Sabé, and get better." Then she was gone.
Sabé drifted in and out of sleep for at least a day after that. She refused food, and she kept on seeing Mara's face whenever she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she heard the sound of Mara's neck snapping.
She hardly noticed when the handmaidens keeping watch over her changed; she ignored all attempts at conversation with her, and when Saché, who watched over her during the night, fell asleep, Sabé lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
Finally, several days later, the doctors allowed her to get up. She wasn't allowed to do anything active, so she mainly sat in the shared main room and stared out of the window. Padmé still left a handmaiden to watch over her, and in the evenings, when everyone was in the main room, Sabé could hear their muted whispers about her, could almost feel their concern about her.
She sat as if in a trance, still not eating. The doctors grew more worried about her, and turned to Padmé in despair. But the young Queen could offer them nothing to help Sabé with, and Sabé grew thinner and thinner.
Until one day Captain Panaka brought her a visitor. The man was handcuffed, and when Yané let him in, she was bemused to look into brown eyes that were almost identical to Sabé's. Then it hit her. She turned to look at Sabé, who still stared out of the window.
"Sabé," Panaka said softly. Dazed, Sabé turned her head to look up at the captain, and Panaka was aghast to see how pale and drawn Sabé had become. When Sabé saw her visitor, she grew even paler.
"Dad," she murmured. She looked down for a moment, then looked up again, her shock gone, replaced by her passive look once more. "Why?" she asked simply.
"Because you can't keep going on like this, Sabé," Panaka said quietly. "You're wasting away. Now, I don't know what happened that day, but I know I want to. I know Yané wants to, and Rabé, and Saché, and Eirtaé, they all want to know. Her highness wants to know. And I'm pretty sure Randy would like to know too."
Sabé's eyes regained a little of their emotion, and Panaka allowed Randy to move to sit opposite his daughter. Brown eyes met brown eyes, and Sabé's face tightened.
Yané and Panaka took up positions near the door, and Yané took the opportunity to tell Panaka exactly what she thought of his plan. "You do know he abused her?" she hissed to him. He nodded. "This might be just what she needs," he murmured in reply. Then he nodded towards the two, and Yané watched them.
"What happened, Sabé?" Randy asked her tightly. Sabé wrenched her eyes from his, and stared again out of the window. "She challenged me," she said dully. She glanced back at him. "She shot at the Queen, only I was the queen, not Amidala. We'd switched places, you see. So her warning to me actually injured me. I took up the challenge. I went there, however many days ago it was, and I fought her."
"To the death?" Randy queried, although he already knew the answer. Sabé nodded, barely hearing Yané's sharp intake of breath.
"I killed her," she said softly after a very long moment of silence. She raised her eyes to meet Randy's. "I killed my mother," she repeated. A tear fell from her eye, then another and another. She wept, but she made no sound.
Panaka, seeing the danger, moved to take Randy out, but Randy stopped for a moment, staring down at his daughter. "Sabé," he said in a commanding voice. Sabe looked up automatically. "It was a fair fight," he told her. "She challenged you, she knew the risks. You aren't to blame." Then Panaka took him out, and Yané rushed to her friend.
Tears came fast and thick then, and Yané held Sabé to her. Sabé's face crumbled, and she sobbed, letting all her pain out. The two sat there for what seemed like hours, until Sabé managed to stop crying and pulled back from Yané.
"I killed her, Yané," Sabé said softly. "I killed my own mother. And none of them tried to stop us, because she'd challenged me."
Yané hesitated before answering Sabé's unspoken plea. "I can't pretend to understand the life you've led, Sabé," she said soothingly. "But I've found out enough to realise that you and your family live by a very strict honour system. If she challenged you, I'm guessing you were bound by the rules to answer that challenge." Sabe nodded, drying her face with her sleeve as she did so. "So you weren't to blame, Sabé. It wasn't your fault."
After a moment, Sabé opened her mouth and spoke again. "We fought hand to hand," she told the younger girl. "A fight to the death, according to the rules. I snapped her neck, Yané. I can't stop hearing that sound. Her eyes…" She trailed off, seeing them again. Yané put aside her horror and lifted Sabé's chin so that their eyes met. "It wasn't your fault," she said firmly. "You keep on blaming yourself and you'll end up wasting away, Sabé."
Sabé nodded slightly. She glanced down at her hands, and then looked up at Yané. "I don't suppose the palace kitchen has ice cream?" she asked in a small voice. Yané's face split into a grin. "Only one way to find out," she replied, shrugging and moving to the comm. unit.
Within three minutes two huge bowls of ice cream had been delivered, and Sabé was eating like she'd never eat again. In the midst of their feeding frenzy, Yané made jokes and told funny anecdotes from the days Sabé had missed whilst under medical care. When Padmé entered the rooms with Rabe, Saché and Eirtaé, she was extremely taken aback to hear Sabé laugh; it was a sound she hadn't heard before, and she immediately wished Sabé would laugh more.
When Sabé looked up and saw Padmé, her face grew grave again, and she glanced at Yané for reassurance. Yané nodded and smiled, her eyes shining gently at the older girl. Sabé placed her empty bowl on the table next to her, and rose to greet the queen.
The looked at each other for a moment, whilst Sabé decided what to say, then she spoke. "I killed her," she said softly. "I took up her challenge and I won."
No more tears fell, but she closed her eyes briefly. Padmé's arms enveloped her, and Sabé opened her eyes again to smile sadly at her queen.
"I can't stay, Padmé," she said softly. "I need to live in the real world for a bit." Padmé nodded. "I thought you'd say that," she replied quietly. "As did Captain Panaka. He's managed to get you a full pardon." Sabé's face was a picture, and Rabé had to smile. "There'll always be a place here for you, Sabé, whenever you want to come back," Padmé told her.
Sabé nodded. "I can't leave for a few days," she said, taking a breath and wincing from the pain in her still-healing ribs. "But when my ankle's better, and my ribs, I'll find somewhere to stay and I'll go." She hesitated, and looked around at all the handmaidens – at all her friends, she corrected herself. "I'll come back," she said firmly. "In a couple of months, I'll be back."
Padmé nodded, and she and Rabé moved to take her headdress off. Sabé stood for a moment, then went to help.
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Six months later
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Sabé looked up from the holonet anxiously. Her friend and flatmate, Tica, met her gaze. "What do you think will happen with the Trade Federation?" she asked Sabé.
Sabé shrugged and stood, stretching. "I'm not sure," she replied. "Her highness won't back down, that's for sure." Tica nodded, accepting her friend's judgement of the queen. She didn't know why, but Sabé always seemed to be right when it came to Amidala of Naboo.
Sabé looked back at Tica. "I have to start my shift in twenty minutes," she said reluctantly, "Or I'd stay and help you with your assignments." Tica nodded acceptance; although she liked Sabé helping her with the work she was assigned by her college, she knew Sabé had other commitments as well.
"When will you be back later?" she called as Sabé moved to retrieve her cloak and shoes from the hall. Sabé's head reappeared around the doorframe. "I'm not sure," she replied. "Shift ends at, uh, sixteen-hundred, so I guess about sixteen-hundred thirty." Tica nodded, and Sabé sailed out of the door.
As she walked swiftly through the streets, Sabé's thoughts again turned to Padmé Amidala. The young queen had made no attempt to contact her, as Sabé had requested, and the handmaidens had respected Sabé's wishes in that department as well. But now Sabé was worried. The Trade Federation was growing more and more restless, and with new taxation enforced by the Senate, all of Naboo was becoming more and more unsettled.
In fact, Sabé thought to herself, now would be as good a time as any to go look up Captain Panaka again. But before that, she had to get through her shift at the large clothes chain-store.
Several hours later, Sabé pulled off her uniform and changed back into the comfort of her simple tunic and leggings. She glanced at the chronometer to find that she didn't have time to call in at the Royal Security Office after all. As she pulled her hair out of its ties, and slid on her cloak and hurried out of the shop.
As she walked through the streets, she could hear the rumours and concerns that flew about from person to person, and they worried her even more that she already had been. But she sighed, and moved on.
Tica wasn't in when she reached the apartment, and Sabé read a hurriedly-written note saying that the girl had gone out with her boyfriend. Moving through to the kitchen, she grabbed a snack and then settled on the couch with a book.
For the next few days, the worry that had been building up in Theed stayed just that – unexpressed worry. Citizens went about their business, and apart from the holonets, Sabé was almost convinced that nothing was going to come out of the Trade Federation's threats.
Until one day, about a week after that, the Trade Federation boycotted Naboo. Sabé was at work when it happened, and so didn't find out about it until she was leaving, when her duty manager stopped her to tell her about it.
Blood rushed from Sabé's face, and she absently thanked the manager before leaving. Her thoughts returned once again to Padmé, so before returning home she hurried to the gym, the place she always went to when she was overly worried.
As she went through her exercises and picked up her staff to do her practice with that, Sabé's mind calmed and she reminded herself sternly that Padmé wouldn't give in to any demands of the cowardly Neimoidians.
"Sabé!" came a voice. Sabé pulled back from her thrust to turn and see one of her friends, Jon, walking up to her, shrugging his shirt off. "You want a spar?"
Sabé grinned. Her friend knew her too well, she thought to herself amusedly. He'd picked up on her worry instantly. "Sure, Jon," she smiled back. "Staffs though, I need more practice."
Jon scoffed at her, his blue eyes twinkling. "You, more practice? Sabé, you're pretty much the best in all Naboo – you ready to tell me where you learnt it all yet?"
It was a long-standing joke between them, but Sabé was already too focused on the fight to reply with more than a secretive smile. She saluted Jon with the staff, and he did the same. And then they fought.
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