Thanks, everyone, so much for your very kind words. I got another part done
a lot faster than I had expected, so here it is. :)
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Stars in the Darkness - Part Sixteen
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Padmé smiled at Onara. The Ahjane Senator was literally dancing on her toes as she waited for the passengers to disembark from the starliner. After their workout at the gym, Padmé had timidly asked Onara if she'd like some company when she went to meet her family at the starport. Padmé had not wanted to intrude, but she was very eager to meet Onara's son. Therefore, she was pleasantly surprised when Onara grabbed her hands and squeezed them, begging her to come.
Now the two women were waiting for the huge doors of the starliner to open. Keria was back at Padmé's apartment with her handmaidens. Onara had thought it best not to have too many people at the starport so as not to overwhelm Ben. They were standing amid a large crowd of people who were also waiting for the passengers to disembark. Included among the crowd were two Senate guards, standing nearby, resplendent in their shiny blue helmets and dark blue robes, both carrying stun rifles.
When the Chancellor had offered Onara protection for Ben's arrival on Coruscant, Padmé had been afraid he was going to provide Onara with some of his mysterious Red Guard. But they, she reminded herself, were the Chancellor's personal guard, and she was very glad they were not present. Not much was known about the Red Guard, for Palpatine kept the details of their training secret, citing security concerns, but they made Padmé nervous. Unlike the Senatorial Blue Guards, the Chancellor's Red Guard carried force pikes instead of stun rifles. In addition to their rich red cloaks, they wore red metal face shields, which hid their identities and only added to the unease Padmé felt around them.
Shaking her head to rid her thoughts of the Red Guard, Padmé noted a number of people glancing curiously at the Blue Guards, who only stood stoically, but alertly near Onara who, although grateful for their presence, ignored them as she gazed hungrily at the starliner.
Finally the passenger doors opened. Onara moved further along the wide ramp that extended from the starport terminal to the starliner, Padmé next to her, the Blue Guards slightly behind them. As the passengers emerged from the starliner door, knots of people disengaged from the crowd surrounding Padmé and Onara and ran to greet a loved one.
Padmé smiled widely as a group of portly, blue-skinned Ortolans greeted another Ortolan. Touching each other with their trunklike noses, they appeared to be speaking to each other silently, but Padmé knew their sensitive ears picked up sound waves from the subsonic to the ultrasonic, and their language was usually carried out at these extreme frequencies.
"Mama!"
A young, joyous voice cried out from within the crowd of people coming off the starliner. Then Padmé saw a blur of movement rush into Onara's arms.
"Mama! Mama!"
"Ben, darling! Ben!"
Onara had her arms around a dark-haired boy of about three who clung tightly to her. She lifted him up and spun him around as tears spilled down her face.
"Oh, Ben, my darling. I've missed you so very, very much."
"I missed you too, Mama," Padmé heard Ben say, his voice muffled for his face was nestled deep in Onara's neck.
Padmé felt tears welling in her own eyes as she watched the longed-for reunion of Onara and her son. The two continued to cling to each other as if their very lives depended on it. Then, finally, Ben pulled away. He gently touched his mother's face with the tips of his fingers, noting the tears on them.
"Don't cry, Mama. Please, don't cry."
"I'm sorry, Ben," Onara sniffed. "But they're not tears of sadness, they're tears of happiness."
"People cry when they're happy?"
"Oh, yes, darling, they do."
"But, Mama, I'm happy and I'm not crying. Am I doing something wrong?"
Onara smiled and kissed Ben on his cheek. "Of course not, dear. People don't cry all the times they're happy. Just sometimes."
Ben nodded, then looked over at Padmé, and it was at that moment Padmé saw what she had only vaguely perceived when she saw Ben's portrait that day in Onara's apartment. Now that he was here in the flesh, however, the realization hit her so hard she felt as if she were being knocked over by it.
Except for his rich, black hair, Ben was almost the spitting image of Master Kenobi. He had Obi-Wan's same alluring blue-gray eyes and, now that he was older, it was all the more evident how much he resembled the Jedi Knight. He even had a small cleft in his chin.
"Hi," he said smiling as gazed at her, and even his smile, Padmé noted, resembled that of the Jedi's. "My name is Ben."
Padmé walked over, returning his smile. "It's nice to meet you Ben. I'm Padmé."
Ben cocked his head at her. "You look like my Mama."
"Do I? Then I'm very flattered," she replied warmly. "Your mother is very beautiful."
Ben nodded as he looked over at Onara. "She's the most beautiful Mama in the galaxy."
"Oh, Ben," Onara said laughing as she kissed him again on his cheek.
Then Padmé saw Onara's smile fade away as a tall, handsome, dark-haired man with deep blue eyes approached her. Glancing between her and Padmé the man said nothing as he stopped before them. Onara, who continued to hold Ben in her arms, only gazed silently at him. Padmé felt a definite tension between the two, but it was broken when Ben looked over at the man.
"Papa, look. It's Mama!"
The man smiled at Ben, but his smile left his face when his eyes returned to Onara.
"Onara," he said in a formal voice.
"Dalan," Onara replied just as formally.
For an awkward moment neither said nothing more, and only Ben seemed oblivious to what was going on. Then two other people approached the group. One was an older, silver-haired woman with startling blue-green eyes. A few steps behind her walked a man, dark of hair, dressed in elegant, but understated clothes. His storm-gray eyes raked across the group.
"Bau-Bau," Ben cried to the silver-haired woman. "It's Mama. She's here."
"I see her, Ben," the woman said warmly as she went over and kissed Onara on the cheek. "It's so good to see you, Onara. You look so lovely."
"Thank you, Sinja-Bau. And I'm glad to see you, too."
Then Onara looked over to where Padmé was standing nearby.
"Padmé, please, let me introduce you. This is my husband, Dalan."
Dalan took Padmé's hand and bowed over it. "A pleasure to meet you, Senator Amidala."
"Thank you."
"And this is Sinja-Bau, Ben's tutor."
Padmé took the hand Sinja-Bau offered and shook it. Onara had told her about the ex-Jedi, about how she had once gone mad and, consequently, been cast out of the Jedi Order, her Force abilities stripped from her. But Obi- Wan had found her and brought her back to cure Onara. As a result, her sanity and her Force powers had been restored to her.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sinja-Bau."
"And you also, Senator," Sinja-Bau said warmly, although Padmé noted a strange expression on the Jedi woman's face as she gazed at her.
Releasing Sinja-Bau's hand, Padmé looked over at Onara who was staring at the dark-haired man next to Sinja-Bau, a frown creasing her smooth brow. Dalan, noting where she was looking, gestured towards the man.
"This is Lursan, a business associate of mine."
Onara nodded curtly, but said nothing. Her coolness towards him did not appear to faze Lursan, however. He went over and smoothly took Onara's hand, although she seemed reluctant for him to have it. He bowed over it and, rising, gave her a wide smile.
"A pleasure to finally meet you, Senator. I do hope we can find some time to meet and talk," he said, his slick manner and speech reminding Padmé of some of the more conniving of her senatorial colleagues. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with you regarding Ahjane."
Onara drew her hand away from Lursan's. "You'll have to contact my office and set up an appointment," she replied in an impersonal voice.
Lursan's gray eyes sharpened, his face tightening, as if he took great offense at Onara treating him like one of her constituents instead of someone special, but he quickly smoothed his face out.
"Of course, Senator. I understand how busy you are."
He stepped back and moved next to Dalan who, Padmé saw, was staring at Onara with an irritated look. Onara glanced at her husband, saw his stern expression and frowned at him, her dark eyes burning. Ben, now aware of the tension between his parents, glanced worriedly between them.
Sinja-Bau moved over to Onara, her hand inside a pocket of her dress. She took out of it a furry ball, which extended eight spindly legs as she placed it on Ben's palm. Padmé saw with delight it was a voorpak.
"Obi-Wan!" Ben cried. "That's where you've been hiding!"
Onara set Ben on the ground as he held the voorpak in his hands, beaming down at it. Then he raised the voorpak up and turned around.
"Look, Obi-Wan, we're on Coruscant."
The voorpak, its bright eyes blinking as it stood on Ben's hands, appeared to be looking around. Satisfied his pet had gotten a good look at the planet-wide city, Ben lowered his arms. Then he noticed the two Blue Guards standing nearby.
"Mama," he cried, pulling on Onara's arm as he pointed at the Senate Guards. "Are they Jedi?"
"No, darling. They're guards from the Senate."
"Oh," Ben said in a disappointed voice. Then his face brightened. "Can we go to the Jedi Temple today? I want to see Obi-Wan. The real Obi-Wan."
Onara smiled and stroked his face. "Not today, I'm afraid."
Ben's face fell again. Onara knelt down and took his arms, squeezing them gently.
"But, we've been invited to the Temple the day after tomorrow."
Ben's face lit up, his blue-gray eyes shining. "Really, Mama? Will Obi-Wan be there?"
A soft shadow fell across Onara's face. "I don't know, darling. Obi-Wan's been away for a long time."
"Oh, he has? Has he been fighting space dragons?" Ben asked, both disappointment and hope in his voice.
"I'm afraid I don't know, dear. But there are lots of other Jedi at the Temple. You'll get to meet them."
Ben looked down at the ground for a moment, then raised his head.
"All right, Mama," he said in a soft voice. "But maybe Obi-Wan will come back soon, and then I'll get to see him."
Onara glanced up to where Dalan was staring at her and Ben. Her husband's eyes were even colder than before. She rose and took Ben's hand.
"Come, darling. Don't you want to see where Mama lives on Coruscant?"
Ben nodded eagerly. With his pet voorpak now riding on his shoulder, he reached over and, to Padmé's surprise and delight, took her hand. Padmé glanced over at Onara, who gave her warm smile. As the two women, with Ben between them, along with Sinja-Bau, made their way to the starport's terminal exit, the two Blue Guard silently following, Padmé heard Lursan telling Dalan he had made his own arrangements for lodgings on Coruscant and would see him later.
As they exited the starport terminal and made their way to where an air-van waited to take them to Onara's apartment, Padmé was glad Lursan wasn't coming with them. There was something about him she did not like, although she was unable to put her finger on exactly what it was. Then, as Dalan caught up with them and she looked over at his handsome, but aloof profile, she sensed there was something about Onara's husband that didn't feel right either.
To be continued....
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Stars in the Darkness - Part Sixteen
-------------
Padmé smiled at Onara. The Ahjane Senator was literally dancing on her toes as she waited for the passengers to disembark from the starliner. After their workout at the gym, Padmé had timidly asked Onara if she'd like some company when she went to meet her family at the starport. Padmé had not wanted to intrude, but she was very eager to meet Onara's son. Therefore, she was pleasantly surprised when Onara grabbed her hands and squeezed them, begging her to come.
Now the two women were waiting for the huge doors of the starliner to open. Keria was back at Padmé's apartment with her handmaidens. Onara had thought it best not to have too many people at the starport so as not to overwhelm Ben. They were standing amid a large crowd of people who were also waiting for the passengers to disembark. Included among the crowd were two Senate guards, standing nearby, resplendent in their shiny blue helmets and dark blue robes, both carrying stun rifles.
When the Chancellor had offered Onara protection for Ben's arrival on Coruscant, Padmé had been afraid he was going to provide Onara with some of his mysterious Red Guard. But they, she reminded herself, were the Chancellor's personal guard, and she was very glad they were not present. Not much was known about the Red Guard, for Palpatine kept the details of their training secret, citing security concerns, but they made Padmé nervous. Unlike the Senatorial Blue Guards, the Chancellor's Red Guard carried force pikes instead of stun rifles. In addition to their rich red cloaks, they wore red metal face shields, which hid their identities and only added to the unease Padmé felt around them.
Shaking her head to rid her thoughts of the Red Guard, Padmé noted a number of people glancing curiously at the Blue Guards, who only stood stoically, but alertly near Onara who, although grateful for their presence, ignored them as she gazed hungrily at the starliner.
Finally the passenger doors opened. Onara moved further along the wide ramp that extended from the starport terminal to the starliner, Padmé next to her, the Blue Guards slightly behind them. As the passengers emerged from the starliner door, knots of people disengaged from the crowd surrounding Padmé and Onara and ran to greet a loved one.
Padmé smiled widely as a group of portly, blue-skinned Ortolans greeted another Ortolan. Touching each other with their trunklike noses, they appeared to be speaking to each other silently, but Padmé knew their sensitive ears picked up sound waves from the subsonic to the ultrasonic, and their language was usually carried out at these extreme frequencies.
"Mama!"
A young, joyous voice cried out from within the crowd of people coming off the starliner. Then Padmé saw a blur of movement rush into Onara's arms.
"Mama! Mama!"
"Ben, darling! Ben!"
Onara had her arms around a dark-haired boy of about three who clung tightly to her. She lifted him up and spun him around as tears spilled down her face.
"Oh, Ben, my darling. I've missed you so very, very much."
"I missed you too, Mama," Padmé heard Ben say, his voice muffled for his face was nestled deep in Onara's neck.
Padmé felt tears welling in her own eyes as she watched the longed-for reunion of Onara and her son. The two continued to cling to each other as if their very lives depended on it. Then, finally, Ben pulled away. He gently touched his mother's face with the tips of his fingers, noting the tears on them.
"Don't cry, Mama. Please, don't cry."
"I'm sorry, Ben," Onara sniffed. "But they're not tears of sadness, they're tears of happiness."
"People cry when they're happy?"
"Oh, yes, darling, they do."
"But, Mama, I'm happy and I'm not crying. Am I doing something wrong?"
Onara smiled and kissed Ben on his cheek. "Of course not, dear. People don't cry all the times they're happy. Just sometimes."
Ben nodded, then looked over at Padmé, and it was at that moment Padmé saw what she had only vaguely perceived when she saw Ben's portrait that day in Onara's apartment. Now that he was here in the flesh, however, the realization hit her so hard she felt as if she were being knocked over by it.
Except for his rich, black hair, Ben was almost the spitting image of Master Kenobi. He had Obi-Wan's same alluring blue-gray eyes and, now that he was older, it was all the more evident how much he resembled the Jedi Knight. He even had a small cleft in his chin.
"Hi," he said smiling as gazed at her, and even his smile, Padmé noted, resembled that of the Jedi's. "My name is Ben."
Padmé walked over, returning his smile. "It's nice to meet you Ben. I'm Padmé."
Ben cocked his head at her. "You look like my Mama."
"Do I? Then I'm very flattered," she replied warmly. "Your mother is very beautiful."
Ben nodded as he looked over at Onara. "She's the most beautiful Mama in the galaxy."
"Oh, Ben," Onara said laughing as she kissed him again on his cheek.
Then Padmé saw Onara's smile fade away as a tall, handsome, dark-haired man with deep blue eyes approached her. Glancing between her and Padmé the man said nothing as he stopped before them. Onara, who continued to hold Ben in her arms, only gazed silently at him. Padmé felt a definite tension between the two, but it was broken when Ben looked over at the man.
"Papa, look. It's Mama!"
The man smiled at Ben, but his smile left his face when his eyes returned to Onara.
"Onara," he said in a formal voice.
"Dalan," Onara replied just as formally.
For an awkward moment neither said nothing more, and only Ben seemed oblivious to what was going on. Then two other people approached the group. One was an older, silver-haired woman with startling blue-green eyes. A few steps behind her walked a man, dark of hair, dressed in elegant, but understated clothes. His storm-gray eyes raked across the group.
"Bau-Bau," Ben cried to the silver-haired woman. "It's Mama. She's here."
"I see her, Ben," the woman said warmly as she went over and kissed Onara on the cheek. "It's so good to see you, Onara. You look so lovely."
"Thank you, Sinja-Bau. And I'm glad to see you, too."
Then Onara looked over to where Padmé was standing nearby.
"Padmé, please, let me introduce you. This is my husband, Dalan."
Dalan took Padmé's hand and bowed over it. "A pleasure to meet you, Senator Amidala."
"Thank you."
"And this is Sinja-Bau, Ben's tutor."
Padmé took the hand Sinja-Bau offered and shook it. Onara had told her about the ex-Jedi, about how she had once gone mad and, consequently, been cast out of the Jedi Order, her Force abilities stripped from her. But Obi- Wan had found her and brought her back to cure Onara. As a result, her sanity and her Force powers had been restored to her.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sinja-Bau."
"And you also, Senator," Sinja-Bau said warmly, although Padmé noted a strange expression on the Jedi woman's face as she gazed at her.
Releasing Sinja-Bau's hand, Padmé looked over at Onara who was staring at the dark-haired man next to Sinja-Bau, a frown creasing her smooth brow. Dalan, noting where she was looking, gestured towards the man.
"This is Lursan, a business associate of mine."
Onara nodded curtly, but said nothing. Her coolness towards him did not appear to faze Lursan, however. He went over and smoothly took Onara's hand, although she seemed reluctant for him to have it. He bowed over it and, rising, gave her a wide smile.
"A pleasure to finally meet you, Senator. I do hope we can find some time to meet and talk," he said, his slick manner and speech reminding Padmé of some of the more conniving of her senatorial colleagues. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with you regarding Ahjane."
Onara drew her hand away from Lursan's. "You'll have to contact my office and set up an appointment," she replied in an impersonal voice.
Lursan's gray eyes sharpened, his face tightening, as if he took great offense at Onara treating him like one of her constituents instead of someone special, but he quickly smoothed his face out.
"Of course, Senator. I understand how busy you are."
He stepped back and moved next to Dalan who, Padmé saw, was staring at Onara with an irritated look. Onara glanced at her husband, saw his stern expression and frowned at him, her dark eyes burning. Ben, now aware of the tension between his parents, glanced worriedly between them.
Sinja-Bau moved over to Onara, her hand inside a pocket of her dress. She took out of it a furry ball, which extended eight spindly legs as she placed it on Ben's palm. Padmé saw with delight it was a voorpak.
"Obi-Wan!" Ben cried. "That's where you've been hiding!"
Onara set Ben on the ground as he held the voorpak in his hands, beaming down at it. Then he raised the voorpak up and turned around.
"Look, Obi-Wan, we're on Coruscant."
The voorpak, its bright eyes blinking as it stood on Ben's hands, appeared to be looking around. Satisfied his pet had gotten a good look at the planet-wide city, Ben lowered his arms. Then he noticed the two Blue Guards standing nearby.
"Mama," he cried, pulling on Onara's arm as he pointed at the Senate Guards. "Are they Jedi?"
"No, darling. They're guards from the Senate."
"Oh," Ben said in a disappointed voice. Then his face brightened. "Can we go to the Jedi Temple today? I want to see Obi-Wan. The real Obi-Wan."
Onara smiled and stroked his face. "Not today, I'm afraid."
Ben's face fell again. Onara knelt down and took his arms, squeezing them gently.
"But, we've been invited to the Temple the day after tomorrow."
Ben's face lit up, his blue-gray eyes shining. "Really, Mama? Will Obi-Wan be there?"
A soft shadow fell across Onara's face. "I don't know, darling. Obi-Wan's been away for a long time."
"Oh, he has? Has he been fighting space dragons?" Ben asked, both disappointment and hope in his voice.
"I'm afraid I don't know, dear. But there are lots of other Jedi at the Temple. You'll get to meet them."
Ben looked down at the ground for a moment, then raised his head.
"All right, Mama," he said in a soft voice. "But maybe Obi-Wan will come back soon, and then I'll get to see him."
Onara glanced up to where Dalan was staring at her and Ben. Her husband's eyes were even colder than before. She rose and took Ben's hand.
"Come, darling. Don't you want to see where Mama lives on Coruscant?"
Ben nodded eagerly. With his pet voorpak now riding on his shoulder, he reached over and, to Padmé's surprise and delight, took her hand. Padmé glanced over at Onara, who gave her warm smile. As the two women, with Ben between them, along with Sinja-Bau, made their way to the starport's terminal exit, the two Blue Guard silently following, Padmé heard Lursan telling Dalan he had made his own arrangements for lodgings on Coruscant and would see him later.
As they exited the starport terminal and made their way to where an air-van waited to take them to Onara's apartment, Padmé was glad Lursan wasn't coming with them. There was something about him she did not like, although she was unable to put her finger on exactly what it was. Then, as Dalan caught up with them and she looked over at his handsome, but aloof profile, she sensed there was something about Onara's husband that didn't feel right either.
To be continued....