Chapter 20

It was an unpleasant street in an unpleasant district. Only the very desperate or the very foolish dared walk in its slimy muck. It was a place where the forbidden was allowed and the illegal was encouraged. Even the local la enforcement steered clear of Loto Row. Yet as dangerous as it was, the Row was always teeming with living creatures. Some came to experience hidden sins, others came simply to hide.

Of the latter sort was Padmé Amidala as she wove her way through the crowded street. Various life forms pressed about her on all sides, but she seemed not to notice them. Her movements were erratic. She walked slowly, then turning to look back she stopped. An alien in a blue robe stopped also. It looked at a peddler as if the assortment of street scraps were fascinating. Padmé started moving again. So did the alien in blue. She picked up her pace a little and the blue one did, too. The alien nearly tripped and looked down at the ground to right itself. When it looked back Padmé was gone. It ran forward to find her but ran into a couple of ruffians instead. By the time it had freed itself Padmé was long gone.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Padmé barely dared to breathe as she hid in the small alley. She had picked up the tail somewhere between the Senate building and Loto Row and had frantically been trying to evade it. She didn't know who was following her, but she was sure that if they had been friendly they would have made their presence known. She hadn't seen the blue-robed alien pass, but it had been several minutes since she had gone into the alley. Surely if it had seen her it would have caught her by now. Should she peep out? Padmé crouched on the ground and shifted her weight from foot to foot. If the tail was waiting just outside the alley she would pounce on it. It was a risky move, but she didn't feel like waiting around to be caught. She took a readying breath and poked her head around the wall in one smooth moment. Clear. She didn't stop to consider what that meant. Instead she bounded from her crouching position to her feet and sped down the street at her fastest run. She made the mistake once of glancing back and thought she saw a flash of blue. She muttered to herself as she sped up and dodged people who stood in her path. Her side ached a bit. Senatorial duties may stretch and strengthen the mind, but they do not stretch or strengthen the muscles. For security reasons Padmé stayed in good shape, but she still did not feel up to this kind of race through the streets.

The housing complex was in sight now, and she breathed a sigh of relief and slowed a bit. Bad move Padmé. A long arm grabbed her and wrapped around her waist. Her first reflex was to deliver a powerful kick, but she was tiring and the attacker moved easily out of the way. As she struggled another arm wrapped securely around her. She glanced up into the face of a grimy beggar man. He seemed to be barely alive, but for one seemingly so weak he had a strong grip. She hissed and tried ducking from his grasp. The blue-robed follower might catch her at any time. The beggar laughed.

"Here pretty lady, I just want to sell you something."

Padmé grunted as she struggled. She couldn't help but marvel at the strength of this emaciated-looking man. She managed to dislodge her red hood as she tried to squirm out of his grasp. "I don't want to buy anything," She gasped. "I just want to go home."

"Oh… she doesn't want to buy anything. That's too bad for pretty lady. I want to sell her something and she won't even look. Isn't that sad? How unkind of her." The man clucked his tongue and shook his head. "I went to a lot of trouble to bring her here and now she won't even look. And after I serve tea." He shook his head again.

Padmé's earlier frustration was rapidly growing into fear. The man was clearly deranged, and with his superhuman strength he could easily kill her. Padmé tried another way. She stopped struggling and smiled what she hoped was a disarming smile. "Sir, I would love to look at your merchandise, but you are holding me so tightly I can barely breathe. Wouldn't it be better if – "

He had been tilting his head to one side listening up till now, but his eyes suddenly opened wide and he gasped, "She's trying to trick me? I wouldn't think it of the pretty lady. She isn't nice then is she, Unice?" He looked at some point above his head as if conversing with a friend.

Padmé's panic was rising, and she now feared that this strange man would drag her away somewhere. Time for another tactic. She knew that some mental doctors were in favor of humoring a sick patient's fancies. She forced her voice to be calm. "Unice? Would you please tell the nice gentleman that I will look at his merchandise if he lets me go?" The man shook his head emphatically and pressed his lips together as if to say there would be no negotiating. Well diplomacy wasn't going to work. Padmé remembered a phrase of Anakin's and smiled slightly. She suddenly went limp in the beggar's arms, and when he shifted his weight to keep from dropping her she ducked quickly and forcefully. Now that she was out of the circle of his arms the beggar grimaced angrily and ran toward her. Padmé gathered herself up and prepared to move. He was in her range now and reached out his arm to grab her. Padmé suddenly sprang, lifting her right leg and spinning it with all her momentum. The impact of her foot hitting the beggar's face sent him sprawling several feet away, and Padmé heard the sickening sound of crunching bones. She didn't stop to see if the man rose again but sprinted to her door. As she punched in her security code she shook her head. "Now that's what I call aggressive negotiation.

She stepped through the door and tried to ignore the smells that greeted her. Whoever had rented the small apartment before she did had kept some type of pet. Padmé sank gratefully to the floor beside the door and put her head between her knees as she took deep breaths. She decided to put herself on a strict exercise regimen. If today was a sampling of what her life would be from now on she would need to be in shape. She began to must on her future life and wondered what steps she could take now. She was positive that Chancellor Palpatine was going to set himself up as some sort of permanent dictator, and she was determined to foil his plans. She couldn't help the tears that fell from her eyes. She was an idealist, and seeing her pretty imaginations crumpled around her ears was most unpleasant.

Padmé stiffened as a low buzz alerted her to a presence at her door. She stood slowly. No one knew she was here, and she did not want any visitors. The only person who could possibly be at her door was the old beggar man and she did not intend to invite him in for tea. She purposefully turned her back to the door and walked down the hall intending to fix herself a drink. The door slid open. Padmé panicked and ran toward the small living area at the end of the hall. She was vaguely aware of someone calling her name, but it did not register that the beggar did not know who she was. She heard footsteps drawing near to her and she instinctively tucked and rolled. When she bounced up she was grabbed from behind. Padmé screamed and kicked expecting to hear the voice of the old man. The attacker said nothing, just held her until she calmed down, then turned her toward him. Padmé gave a joyous cry and flung her arms around the familiar figure. "You scared me. I thought you were someone else."

Anakin smiled and tightened his grip on his wife. "It's nice to see you, too, Mrs. Skywalker."