Chapter One: The beginning
Queen Amidala, the newly elected monarch by two days, surveyed the line of twenty young women standing before her.
"Good morning. Thank you to all of you for coming and training for the possibility to become my handmaidens."
She paused for a moment then glanced, a little nervously at Captain Panaka. Then continuing said,
"I hope that you have learnt new skills during your time with us and enjoyed it. When I call your name please step forward and so, I am pleased to announce that Sabe, Eirtae, Rabe, Sache and Yane are to be my handmaidens."
Each of them stepped forward when their name was called, all blushing furiously except for Eirtae who maintained a relatively cool composure.
"Thank you again to the rest of you. You are dismissed," she finished, smiling and began to walk away. Panaka signaled for the handmaidens to follow and they did so slowly.
"Wow,"
Rabe gasped as they stepped into the handmaidens' communal bedroom, it was a large circular room with windows covering half of the walls to the floor. Each bed had four posts and golden drapes for privacy.
"It's beautiful!"
Each handmaiden then chose a bed, found the wardrobe with her name on and changed into her golden throne room gown. Then they went to the throne room the meet with the Queen and Panaka. Eirtae was seated next to Amidala on the left then Yane on the left of her. Rabe on the Queen's right and Sache on her right then Sabe to the right of her.
The weeks went by in a blur and before they knew it the handmaidens had been at their positions for two months. Each had learnt many new skills and each girl had her own role. Rabe was the Queen's hairdresser and the only one that could successfully calm her. Eirtae was the one to go to about court life and protocol. Sabe was the decoy queen and she and Amidala had come up with many secret signals, Sabe was also now able to walk and talk almost exactly Amidala. Sache was renowned as the funny one, she knew how to make the girls laugh so hard they had tears rolling down their faces and stitches in their sides. Yane had proved herself to be very good with technology. And more importantly they had all become good friends with each other and the Queen. Sabe and Amidala were best friends and they were very like each other. Rabe and Eirtae were close along with Sache and Yane who got on well as they were both the youngest.
Eirtae was the eldest of the handmaidens at nineteen then Rabe and Sabe and eight-teen then Sache and fourteen and a half then Yane at sixteen.