I'M HOOMMEEE! I yelled to Natan, wherever he might be.
I'M IN THE STUDDDYYYYY! He yelled back. I dropped my exercise bag in the main hall and walked down the hall, through the main living room, and down another hall, to the two floor study. Natan sat at father's desk, looking at a sheet of numbers. I collapsed into a chair in front of the desk, and he looked up.
How was it? He asked.
Pretty good. I think. I'm not supposed to discuss it.
You look tired and hot. Do you want some iced tea?
Yeah, that sounds nice. Natan sent for it. A servant quickly came back with a picture of iced tea and two frosted cups.
Anybody there you know?
Yeah, Sabé Hirota.
Ah. Riv called while you were gone.
When? I asked, slightly urgent.
About an hour ago. Said something about doing something tonight. He wants you to call him back.
Okay. Thanks Natan.
No prob.
What are you working on?
Some crap that I don't fully understand. The person who's supposed to help me with it is fifteen minutes late.
Ah. I'm going to go upstairs and call Riv.
Okay. Oh. Your dance instructor called and she wants you back tomorrow. She was angry at first, but I told her that you were at the Palace by orders of Lt. Panaka of the Security Officers and that she could take any complaints to him.
Ha! That'd be funny to see. Lt. Panaka vs. Madame Joualier! I got up and grabbed my iced tea. Thanks Natan. When's dinner?
When I'm hungry.
Pig!
Of course. He said, and I went upstairs. I called Riv then, he was still living in the Palace, for the rest of the month, until Queen Amidala coronation.
"Hey Riv. You wanted to talk to me?" I said, half nervously, but hoping my voice didn't give me away.
"Um. Yeah. But not over holonet. How about if you met me at the Patona Café?" he asked as he fiddled with his fingers.
"Sounds good. Seven?"
"Yeah."
"See you then."
"Bye."
"Bye." I hung up. Gods that was awkward. Dek must have talked to him too. Good old Dek. He can't stand it when we fight. I changed into a white skirt and went downstairs. Natan was in conference with some scrawny, stuttering, financing man. I could hear their muffled voices through the doors. I went into the kitchen to consult with the cook about dinner. I wanted a noodle dish, but knowing Natan, he wouldn't be happy if it didn't have meat. Our cook is a relatively nice and laid-back guy, so he doesn't mind making two different meals for us.
Dinner was pretty much a one-sided conversation where Natan complained about a lot of things. He has had a lot of work to do ever since father died, and has small amounts of time to do them all while studying architecture at the same time. I feel kind of guilty about not helping, but I would probably cause more problems trying to help. I left the house ten minutes before I was to meet Riv. I was kind of nervous, but I told myself to stop it. There was nothing to be nervous about; it was only Riv, for Forces sake. When I got there, he was already sitting at a table, waiting for me. I checked my chrono. I was only five minutes late.
"Hey Riv." I said as I sat down opposite him.
"Hey." He said, looking up at me from his drink. He was slouched over and looking slightly depressed.
"What's a matter?"
"Nothing. Look, I'm sorry I got angry at you last night. It was stupid, I-" he stopped, then, "I'm just sorry, okay?"
I was slightly taken aback by his direct approach to the subject; Riv usually makes small talk for a little while. "It's okay." I said. "I'm sorry if I made you angry. I didn't know it would, ah, offend you so much."
"It didn't." He said quickly. "I was just being stupid." He looked down at his cup. It was silent for a moment. "So, want something to drink?"
"Yeah, sure, that would be nice." So, he called the waiter over and I ordered.
"So, how was the Handmaiden thingy?"
"Pretty good, I think. I guess. I'm not supposed to talk about it."
"That's strange."
"Yeah, I suppose. They probably don't want the other candidates to know what's in store for them."
"Yeah. That makes sense."
An idea came to me that had been stewing in my head for a little while now. "What are you doing next week?" I asked Riv.
"Nothing, why?"
"Well, my dance teacher is going to Coruscant for some convention, and all my classes have been called off, and Lt. Panaka canceled all the Self-defense classes because of the Handmaiden testing, so I have a week off, and maybe," I said, leaning foreword towards him as he leaned unconsciously towards me, "we could get Dek and Yané and go camping."
"Camping? That's a great idea!" He said enthusiastically. "That would be so much fun!"
"I know! And I know this perfect place, actually, Yané knows it, but still-" we sat there for a long time, discussing the camping trip. I knew Natan would say yes, and probably King Veruna and Riv's mother too, Yané's sister, Leaté already said yes, and now we only needed to ask Dek. His parents gave us a reluctant yes.
We were gone for five of the most interesting days of my life. We camped on the edge of a lake about 200km north of Theed, in the Natal Highlands, with no chaperone. Riv and Dek shared a tent, and Yané and I shared a tent. We enjoyed waking up early the first morning and scaring the living daylights out of Riv and Dek by playing a recording of the growls of some Tusk-Cats. Yané and I, together, are probably the most mischievous pair of girls on Naboo.
We also poured a bunch of water in front of their tent the second night, so in the morning, there was a giant mud puddle in front of their door. They walked right into it, and got stuck and very muddy. Yané and I laughed our heads off as they tried to free themselves. We went swimming a lot, although the water was freezing and I refused to get in all the way. I guess you could say that I am a water snob. Growing up on Ma'lacia, I swam a lot, but the water was always warm and crystal clear. Where we were camping, the water was chilly and kind of mucky.
I was sitting on one of the large, sun baked rocks on the third day in my two-piece swim outfit, watching Yané and Dek idiotically jump in and out of the freezing water when I felt a cold pair of wet hands on my back. I shrieked and turned around to see Riv. He grinned evilly and pushed.
My eyes widened and I managed to grab his right leg before we both fell, yelling and shrieking, three meters into deep, cold water. We landed in the lake with a splash and the chilly water rushed around me and I flailed to the surface, gasping for air and wiping away streaks of hair that were glued to my face. Riv's head broke through the water, his curls plastered to his forehead, and he grinned at me as we treaded the water next to each other.
"Not so bad, is it?" He asked playfully, spurting water out of his mouth at my head.
"Oh, you're gonna get it!" I growled, ducking the water stream he spit at me, and lunged at him; grabbing his head and half unsuccessfully trying to push him under the water and half successfully getting my body out of the icy-cold water even more. He gave a shout and tickled my sides, so I let him go, shrieking against the tickling and falling back into the water. I tried to swim away to the shore, to safety, but Yané and Dek trapped me in the water as Riv grabbed me around the waist from the back, lifted me up and dragged me back into the water.
"No! Stop! Riv, please!!! Eeee!!!!" I yelped desperately, between giggles and shrieks as Riv growled and fell backwards in the water, his arms still around my waist, dragging me with him. I was laughing too hard to protest much. I tried a few martial arts moves on him, but I was laughing to hard to put any kind of force into it. Yané and Dek gave a shout, jumped in after us, and we had a long water fight. We were all very cold and very exhausted that night.
The next day, Dek tried to cook dinner, but he ended up burning the food so bad it stuck to the bottom of the pan like cement. I took over cooking duties then. Needless to say, we were all in better moods by the time we had to go back home. Riv wasn't so stressed about everything, and Dek was more relaxed too. Yané and I stopped acting so mature and started our practical joking again.
When we got back, we were in such high spirits that I didn't think that anything could top that feeling, but I was wrong. When I got home, there was a message from Lt. Panaka. He formally invited me to be a handmaiden for the Queen-Elect. I ran around the house, screaming, trying to find Natan. He was nearly as excited as I was. I called Lt. Panaka back, and said yes immediately. This was such an honor. I was more than delighted to be chosen. When I got off the holonet with him, Natan and I had a toast to my new job, and I got my first taste of Alderaanian wine. Yuck. I spit it out immediately while Natan laughed at me. I then proceeded to beat him up.
I was to report to the Palace in three days to meet Amidala with the other two handmaidens, I felt fairly sure one of the others was Sabé, but I wasn't sure who the second one was. I called my grandparents and grandmother was thrilled that I was working for the Queen. Papi told me later that Handmaidens are often trained as bodyguards and that got me even more excited. I called Yané next, and she was happy for me, and so was Dek. I called Riv last, and he seemed genuinely excited for me. That surprised me somewhat. I didn't dwell on it however. I was too excited.
~~~