Three days later, Veruna died under mysterious circumstances. He was found in the garden behind his house with his sister, who was also dead, no kind of revealing mark or blaster bolt or anything upon their bodies, they were just dead. They had no health problems before, and now they were dead. Poor Riv was beside himself. Both mother and uncle dead, most likely within minutes of each other. Panaka found some excuse to allow me to come with him to the house to question the staff and Riv. I ran up to him as soon as we got there. His face was tear streaked, but he wasn't crying at the present moment. Magneta was also there to greet us. He was shocked and looking worn down, old, and tired.
"Come this way, please." Magneta said to Panaka, who looked at me, I looked quickly at Riv, and then back at Panaka, and Panaka nodded. I could stay with Riv for the time being. Panaka and Magneta left, and I turned to Riv and took his hands in mine.
"How are you?"
"Terrible." He said, choking on the word slightly. "What would you expect me to be? Ecstatic?" He turned away from me.
"Riv-please, you can talk to me." I said in a begging tone.
"No. I can't. I can't talk to anyone." He sighed, and his shoulders shuddered slightly. His hand fell from mine and he quickly walked into his house. I followed.
"Riv please, you can talk to me!" I said in a slightly raised voice as he walked up the staircase. "I know how you feel." He froze where he was on the steps, and I went on. "You feel it's your fault, that if you had been there, or done something, they would be alive, you feel frustrated, angry, sad, lost, depressed, worn out and confused-"
"I AM NOT CONFUSED!" He shouted, anger in his voice that frightened me slightly as I shrank back against the railing. He turned furious eyes on me as his voice echoed in the hall. "I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED! SOMEONE KILLED THEM, I KNOW IT! THEY ABANDONED ME! THEY DIED!" He stopped yelling, but the fury in his voice was still there. "They are dead, I am alive! They are together, I am alone!"
"No." I said, stepping up to him, taking his hand, and looking up at his face, which was staring dejectedly at the floor and refused to look at me. "You are not alone. No more alone than I was, a year ago." I said pointedly. He looked up at me, startled, then abruptly turned around and ran to his room. Again, I followed. The key to this, I told myself, is to be persistent. I went into his bedroom, where he stood, leaning against his forehead against a window facing the gardens. I went over to him, and saw the Security Guards, Captain Magneta and Lt. Panaka outside, in the gardens, taking holopics and marking things.
"Why?" He finally asked, his voice rusty and strained. "Why me? Why them? Why anything?"
"The same reason it happened to my family." I said, running my hand up and down his back, he slowly looked over to me. "One that they will never discover." Riv slowly turned his head back to the window.
"That's real encouraging." He said after a second, awful sarcasm in his voice. "Thanks for giving me such hope." It was silent for a moment, then he slammed his fist on the window, rattling it and making me jump backwards from him. "Gods Damn It!" He burst out. Then turned away from the window in such a fury, like I had never seen before, and started kicking things and throwing things, and pounding on walls and anything else that happened to be in his way, shouting curses the whole time.
"Riv-stop-Riv-" I said trying to get him to stop before he hurt himself.
"NO!" He shouted. I stepped in his way, and tried to pin his hands, even with all my training, they somehow evaded my grasp. "GET OUT OF MY WAY, DAMN IT!" And before I knew what had happened, he slapped me across my face. My head jerked to the right. The room was unnaturally quiet. I could hear the guards outside, talking. My hand slowly went to my lower cheek, where he had hit me. I was in shock. That was possibly the last thing I expected him to do. My hand felt warm, and I pulled it away from my cheek. A bit of blood was on it. I straightened my head, and felt around my mouth, a slow trickle came from the corner of my mouth. I looked at Riv, who had frozen, and looked almost as surprised as I did.
The door slid open, and Dek came in behind us. He paused in the doorway, then came over to us.
"What are you guys-" He started, then saw my hand. "What happened?!" He exclaimed as he took my hand from me looking at it for a second, then up at me.
"I-" I started to say. "He-" Dek's eyes flickered from me to Riv, who was still standing stock still, frozen in shock.
"He hit me." I said in a nearly inaudible whisper, shocked. Dek looked sharply to Riv.
"He what!?" Dek exclaimed.
"He hit me." I said again, slightly louder, still shocked.
"Come on." Dek said, slipping his arm around my shoulders and leading me to the door. "I'll take you back to the Palace."
"I'm sorry." Riv cried as we walked away, his voice growing louder and more frantic as we walked away. "Rabé, please, I'm sorry!" Dek lead me out the door and down the hall. "Rabé!" I turned to look at Riv, who stood in the doorway of his room, a desperate look on his face, as Dek led me down the stairs, out the door, and to his speeder. He opened the door on my side and sat me down on the seat, and closed the door. He then went to his side of the speeder and got in, handed me a handkerchief for my lip, and drove me to the Palace. We were both silent during the ride. I was in shock, and he looked really angry.
How could Riv do this to me? I never saw him so angry in his life. I didn't understand his way of releasing his anguish over losing his family, the only time I had been angry was when Zak told me that they were dead, I had given him a black eye then, and scraped up my knuckles pretty bad, but I never. . .I never did anything like that.
We got to the Palace, and Dek helped me out of the speeder.
"C'mon. We need to get you some ice and a quiet place to sit." I nodded stupidly. I wanted to go back to Riv's house. I knew he didn't mean it, I knew he was sorry, I knew he needed me right now. I knew all these things, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was,
"It doesn't hurt so much anymore." Dek snorted and walked me to the Handmaiden Suite, we walked in the door, and Sabé looked up from the datapad she was working on.
"What happened!?" She exclaimed.
"He hit me." I mumbled slightly incoherent as Dek used the comm system to call down to the kitchens to request some ice be brought up, and quickly.
"What happened?" She asked Dek.
"Riv Jakeen hit her, she's in shock." He replied angrily. "Look after her; I'm gonna go give him a piece of my mind."
"No!" I said standing up and running over to him, as the words registered in my mind. "He didn't mean it! He's just upset! His uncle and mother are dead! He didn't know what he was doing!" I said desperately. The look in Dek's eyes softened ever so slightly.
"Well, maybe I won't kill him, but I am going to go talk to him." Then Dek spun on his heel and stalked out of the Suite.
"Here Rabé, sit over here, it's more comfortable." Sabé said. I numbly moved to the couch that she guided me to. The door opened and a person came in with ice. Sabé took it from him and pressed it against my cheek.
"Panaka doesn't know I'm here." I mumbled to her. "Better call him and let him know." She looked at me strangely and told me she'd take care of it. I leaned my head on a pillow, emotionally drained and devoid of all feeling except shock and sadness. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
I woke up late in the afternoon. I was slightly sore from sleeping strangely on the couch, and my lip was barley puffed up, so I stretched and went to Amidala's room, this was usually the time she changed before dinner and evening activities. Sure enough, Sabé, Eirtaé and Amidala were in there, getting her ready for the night's activities.
They all regarded me with a wary eye. I went over to Amidala's vanity, called up the hologram from the corresponding hairstyle for her dress, and quietly started getting my things out. In the reflection of the mirror, I saw Amidala, Sabé and Eirtaé exchange glances. However, much to my relief, they did not say anything, or ask me anything. I did not feel like talking.
The next day, Danellé and Veruna's funeral was held. I wanted to go as a private citizen, and be there for Riv, but I couldn't. This was terribly disappointing to me, but I could not go against the Queen's command. She dressed in a black dress, and I did her hair. Us handmaidens wore deep red dresses, and dark blue capes with large hoods over that. His funeral was held in the Funeral Temple on the outskirts of Theed, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. We burned Veruna and Danellé at the same time.
Veruna's ashes where to be put in the Royal Temple of the Dead, and Danellé was to be put in the Jakeen Family Tomb, next to her husband. Riv stood in the front, Dek on one side, Yané on the other.
Where I should be. I thought to myself angrily, jealously. Stupid Handmaiden job. Lord and Lady Jakeen, Riv's uncle and aunt, were there, as were some people I didn't know. When the funeral finally ended, and Amidala was talking to people that had been at the funeral, I saw Riv coming from the side, Dek and Yané watching his back worriedly. The people bowed and took leave of the Queen, and Riv came up and gave a short bow to the Queen. She nodded her head in return.
"Please accept my condolences on the loss of your family." She said to Riv. The words echoed in my mind. They sounded exactly like the words Veruna had told Natan a year ago, after we had returned to Naboo.
"Thank you, your highness. With your permission, I would like to have a word with one of your handmaidens."
She nodded. "Of course." She turned her head slightly. "Rabé?" I nodded and came out from behind her. She gave me the ever-so-slightest of nods, which I'm sure Riv missed completely, and walked towards another nobleman.
"How are you?" I asked immediately after she left, before Riv could say a word.
"How are you?" Riv asked pointedly, in response to the question. "Good Gods, I'm sorry Rabé. I didn't mean it, honestly. It-it-it wasn't me. It was some angry person who had control of my body."
"I know you didn't mean it, it's okay Riv, really."
"No. It's not okay. I should have never presumed to get so angry or so violent."
"That is your way of dealing with this whole mess, you had no control, it's not your fault." I gave him a slight smile. "That's what me and Dek and Yané are all here for. To help you get through this." I paused. "Whether that means you cry on our shoulders, ignore us, or beat us up."
He gave me a sad attempt at a smile. "You know, it's awful hard to talk to someone, when you can't see their eyes."
"Sorry. Can't take the hood off."
"Why?"
"Sorry." I said with a sad smile. "Can't tell you that either." I looked over to where Amidala was talking to someone. Sabé placed her hands in front of her, then put them back down at her sides. That meant that it was time to go. "I have to go." I said to Riv, taking his hands in my own. "Be well Riv, if you ever need to talk to me, call me." I paused. "I can't guarantee that I'll be there thought."
He nodded reluctantly. "I will. Call me when you get a day off, I'm in sore need of some time with you."
I gave him a half smile, hugged him, and did something I had never done before, kissed him on his cheek. I then turned and went back over to Amidala, slipping unnoticed in between Sabé and Eirtaé. We left shortly thereafter, and during the speeder ride back to the palace, Eirtaé and Sabé gave me a horrible teasing about Riv, while Amidala laughed. Good thing it was dark in the speeder, so they couldn't see the deep red that stained my cheeks.
~~~