A/N- Thank you so much for
the wonderful reviews! Sorry but this
chapter's a little short, but I wanted to post something before I started
school. It might be awhile until I
write the next chapter, but until next time enjoy!
Chancellor Palpatine sat in
his office doing his usual work. There
were reports to look over, meetings to attend to, and of course negotiations to
be compromised. Negotiations, were all
the Senate managed to get done. The
Chancellor had felt his power being slipped away, losing control over his
world. When he came into power everything
was perfect. The Senate was functioning
again, problems were reduced to a minimum. The Republic was stronger than ever. Now ten years later the Senate was suffering. Holding on to the only thing they had left…a dream. A dream that the Republic was founded on,
justice, freedom and peace to guide the galaxy. It worked in the beginning, but those ideals were for
dreamers. Palpatine thought himself the
last of the very few supporters of freedom and peace. The loyalists. Now time
was running out…things needed to be done.
Attacks still raged his
homeworld. The peaceful world of
Naboo. Fear, fear for his people, fear
for the Senate, fear that everything will be lost, fear that controlled his home. What did they do to deserve this? Queen Amidala for example, nearly escaped
alive. She doesn't deserve to be left
in hiding, that is not what rulers do. It kills her, as it does him, to feel helpless. Chancellor Palpatine cursed every day he did
not do something to help. Anger flooded
in his body. He let all this
happen. Now the 'loyalists' stay hidden
and secretly fighting against corruption. He will not be helpless, but what could he do? Agression, war, what would they solve? Nothing. But it would
count as doing something.
The Chancellor skimmed over
the many reports on his desk. Attacks
were sprouting everywhere. Spreading
from one planet to five. Death tolls
zoomed higher with each passing day. Plus the elections were coming up. Things were becoming more complicated, more complex. Queen Amidala wanted to return home. She could not go unproteted and Captain
Panaka could not keep her alive with the Naboo army, it was barely an
army. She needed someone to be with her
always, someone who was always ready for anything. A Jedi. The guardians of
peace and justice. They would be able
to help, whenever needed. For
Chancellor Palpatine knew who the enemies were. He knew who was behind the mysterious attacks, and in the shadws
lurking…waiting…for the right opportunity.
Anakin walked out of the
infirmary doors at lunch time. By the
time his room was cleaned it was already late morning. When he had arrived, no one was there except
some healers. They did a full
inspection, and like Obi-Wan said, he'd live. When he walked back into the waiting room, it was packed. Mostly with sick padawans and injured Jedi
masters.
Anakin walked down to the
main floor and looked for an empty conference room. He found one at the end of the hallway. The walls were painted a deep orange, with an orange/yellow
carpet to match. In the middle of a
room was a small table with five chairs. Unfortunately this room didn't have a holo screen, instead it had a
large speaker. Next to it was a very
large, fat book of listings. Anakin
opened it and found the Senate Building. He punched in the code and waited for someone to answer.
"Welcome. Please say your name and who you would like
contact with," came a mechanical voice. It was either a droid or an operator who had said this phrase one to
many times.
"Anakin Skywalker and I'd
like to contact Queen Amidala of the Naboo."
"One moment," the mechanical
voice replied. After a few moments
someone answered the constant beeping.
"Hello. The queen will be with you shortly," the
voice said, with a thick Naboo accent. It was one of Padme's handmaidens. Anakin fidgeted in his seat. Why
should he be nervous? After all it was
only Padme. But what if she answered as
Queen Amidala, and her handmaidens were listening?! No she wouldn't do that to him. Why didn't I find a room with a holo screen? he asked himself.
"Hi Ani," Padme's voice
filled the room. His fears melted
away.
"Hi Padme," he answered
back.
"Why didn't you come up on
the holo screen?"
"Oh because I found a room
with just a speaker," Anakin explained.
"Oh."
"Umm…do you still want to
meet…today?"
"Yes, of course. Do you?"
"Yeah! I mean…uh…just name the time and the place."
"How about here in an hour
and a half? I want you to come sooner
but I have a meeting to go to."
"No, that's fine. So I'll see you later then?"
"So you later Ani," Anakin
could sense her smiling at the speaker. Smiling at him. Then she was
gone. Anakin walked out of the conference
room and closed the door behind him. He
immediately ran up the stairs up to the quarters he shared with Obi-wan. He had to hurry and get ready.
"Why did you say you had a
meeting?" Sabe asked coming in the room.
"You were listening?!"
Amidala said furious.
"Well, I…um…uh," Sabe said
shyly. "Why did you lie to him?"
"It was just a little white
lie, I wanted to get ready," Amidala replied walking over to her closet.
"Ready? Ready fo what? It's just Anakin, what's wrong with what you're wearing?"
"It's too royal, I need
something simple. Something that's not
so…so…well, you know! Please help me,
he'll be here soon!"
"So, you do like
him!"
"No!"
"Then why are acting like
this?"
"Stop asking questions! I like him as I friend, for the thousandth
time," Amidala said, starting to turn a faint pink under her white face.
"All right," Sabe
surrendered. She walked next to Amidala
and helped her lay gown after gown on the large bed.
The first two gowns were the
most elegant and ornate which Amidala thought were too much. As the gowns were taken out Amidala couldn't
decide. She always like plain and simple,
with not too much elaborate designs. Being queen meant the opposite. The dresses were all beautiful, but Amidala still preferred something
simple. Finally, the perfect dress was
spotted. Amidala disagreed as usual.
"I don't know about this
one," Amidala slightly shook her head.
"We've gone through
everything, just try it on and see if you like it," Sabe persuaded.
It was a beautiful
dress. It was black, and made of
smooth, soft fabric made inside the deep Naboo forests. It had long, flowing sleeves made of black
lace. The low neck was encrusted with
shiny black gemstones, while the rest of the gown was plain black, gracefully
flowing down to the floor. Amidala's
long chesnut hair was tied loosley with a silk black ribbon.
"It's perfect," Amidala said
as the looked in the full length mirror.
"You look beautiful Pad. but
we forgot the make-up," Sabe said from behind.
"No, I didn't want it on,
not today."
Back at the Jedi Temple
Anakin was checking himself. He put on
his cleanest tunic, tied his boots nicely, and checked his belt to be sure it
was hooked right. His lightsaber hung
on his left side. Should I take it
off? Anakin wondered. Maybe he
should, but he was a Jedi and you never could be too sure. I'm just going to see Pad-Queen Amidala, he
corrected himself. He left it on, to
look official. He did one more check
and put on his long brown cloak. He
scribbled a note to his master on a datapad and left the quarters.
The temple's hallways were
occupied by Jedi. Knights and Masters
passed by the apprentice, busy with they're work. Out the windows Anakin could see the classes of children
practicing, teen padawans dueling with pracitce lightsabers, and Master Yoda
walking from class to class, offering his words of wisdom to them all. Anakin remembered all his classes, and every
other day seeing Yoda. He always said
hello to Anakin. He was always around,
always watching. It didn't bother
Anakin, he was honored the wisest Jedi Master took the time, but it was
strange. None of the apprentices or
padawans were ever watched as closely as he was. They acted like they were afraid or worried something would
happen. Something they should be swift
to catch.
Anakin walked out of the
Jedi Temple. He pushed all other
thoughts out of his mind. He walked
into the busy Coruscant streets. Day or
night, the streets never changed; always dangerous and busy. Anakin saw, out of the corner of his eye, a
small flower shop. He stopped and
peered in the windows. He decided to
take a look. The strong aroma of
flowers filled the air around the shop, as the walls were covered with flowers
from all over the galaxy. They were all
different sizes, shapes, and colors. Each bearing a different but beautiful scent.
"Hello can I help you?" said
a squeaky from behind two large bushels of flowers. She was at least three heads shorter then Anakin, sort of stocky,
had tan colored skin, gray hair, and had large green eyes.
"Do you have any flowers
from Naboo?" Anakin said looking down at the tiny shop-keeper.
"Naboo? Ah yes. Just got a shipment this morning, very beautiful," the shop-keeper
replied. She waddled across to the back
of the shop and disappeared behind a green curtain. She reappeared moments later holding a small bouquet of white
flowers.
"These are called white
fairies, if you move them in the light they turn from white to yellow to a
light pink," she explained moving them in different directions. They truly were beautiful.
"I'll take them," Anakin
said.
The woman tied them together
with a white tie as Anakin laid the credits on the glass counter. He walked out with the flowers and continued
walking to the Senate Building.