*
Chapter Two - A New Assignment
The morning after his meeting with Senator Amidala, Obi-Wan blasted off the surface of Naboo. He had first requested leave from Queen Jamilla, who readily gave it, then sent a message to Padmé through one of her handmaidens:
Senator:
I must return to Coruscant to personally report to the Jedi Council about Anakin. I will consult with Master Yoda about the other matter; you will hear from me soon. Until then, please remember my advice, my Lady.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Padmé read the message and sighed. She hadn't known he would be leaving so soon; she wanted to meet with Obi-Wan again before he left. The Jedi had been her husband's friend, and Padmé had no idea whether the Council would send him back or not. Probably not; Kenobi had been busy in the Alderaanian military before that. Viceroy Organa had just made him a general.
Thank goodness I resigned as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I need to figure out how to handle all this. Laying a hand on her no-longer-quite-flat belly, she thought about the beings within her.
Padmé had decided to resign soon after the pregnancy test came back positive. She loathed the idea of giving up her life's work, but it was for the best. Her marriage was a secret...acknowledgement that she really was married would immediately lead to queries of her husband's identity...revealing that information was impossible because of Ani's vocation. So that was out. And an unmarried but pregnant Republic Senator would ruffle more than a few feathers on Naboo and in the Senate. Padmé's opponents would bury her causes and dishonor her with duplicitous, irrelevant finger-pointing.
How would Ani react if he knew he was going to be a father? she wondered. First my parents, then Ani. These children and Sola and the girls are all I have left. Tears spilled down Senator Amidala's face as she rummaged through the papers on her desk, looking for work to distract her.
*
Obi-Wan, having just finished telling the Jedi Council about Anakin's betrayal and death, waited for comments or questions. He stood in the center of the room, not sure if it was the morning sun or the nervousness that he felt that was causing the sweat to trickle between his shoulder blades. The Jedi Knight refused to fidget, however. He would take responsibility for Anakin's actions, because he had trained Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi.
Nobody said a word. The Jedi Knight stood in the center of the room, enduring stares that ranged from sympathetic to accusing. After a moment of heavy silence, Obi-Wan bowed and departed.
He didn't want to speak of Senator Amidala's pregnancy to the entire Council. Every Jedi Master in that room was respected and worthy, but Obi-Wan wanted to keep the information as private as possible until he'd had feedback from the Master he looked up to the most. Kenobi waited in an adjoining room.
All...Sithing...day.
The sun had just set and the antechamber was mostly dark when members of the Council began to leave in pairs or by themselves. Obi-Wan stepped out of the shadows as Yoda's hoverseat passed him. "More to say, have you, Obi-Wan?"
Master Kenobi nodded. "I would speak with you, Master Yoda."
*
The diminutive Master and the tall Knight moved into a meditation chamber together. As Yoda clambered out of his chair onto a cushion, Obi-Wan settled himself cross-legged on the floor. "What have you to say, Master Obi-Wan, that could not be said in front of the Council?" Yoda asked.
The younger Jedi looked up. Yoda's face was usually unreadable, but Obi-Wan could tell that Yoda had deliberately assumed an expression of polite interest. He's showing me that he's keeping an open mind, Obi-Wan thought. Thank the Force that there's at least one person who is.
"Master, Padmé Amidala is pregnant with Anakin's children." Yoda's ears perked up and his brow wrinkled in surprise. Obi-Wan then launched into a description of his visions. Yoda asked him questions, helping Obi-Wan remember more details. Then they discussed the Knight's conversation with the Senator in her office.
When Kenobi had finished, Yoda said, "It was good advice you gave to the Senator, Obi-Wan. The Council believes you trained Skywalker well, and agree with them, I do. Always, there can be, times when you turn right when left you should go, or when a better job someone else could do on an assigned task. Or when undertaken at all, the task should not have been.
"With young Skywalker, so it was. The Council determined the boy should be trained. But made him your Padawan we should not have done." Obi-Wan hung his head in guilt and shame. Yoda gestured, forcing the younger Jedi to look at him. "Did the best you could, you did. I know." The Master's eyes were wide with sincerity.
"Taken this boy as a Padawan, I should have, though the end may have been the same. With him always were fear and anger. The path of the Dark Side was broad at his feet. But, unless he had completely turned, expelled him from the Jedi Order we would not have done. A Padawan he would never have, but turn the Chosen One away we also would never do, even if he did choose to marry."
The Knight's heart froze. Oh, Gods, he didn't have to die, it was for nothing! Aloud, Obi-Wan only muttered, "The prophecy. Did the Council ever come to a consensus about whether Anakin was the Chosen One, or what Balance to the Force meant?"
Yoda's ears drooped. "Ideas, questions were spoken, but agree, we never did. Now that he has died, unsure of his identity as the Chosen One, we again are.
"Sorry for your loss I am, Master Obi-Wan. Though mourn young Skywalker's death we must, it is the future with which we must now concern ourselves. To Naboo you will again go, and there will you stay. Represented the Dark Side, Anakin did in your visions. Let Senator Amidala finish her duties in the Galactic Senate, then into isolation she should retire for the next several months. Go with her, you will, and protect her. If as strong in the Force as I believe them to be, the children are, watch over their mother you must.
"Report back to the Council when born, the Skywalker younglings are." Yoda nodded to emphasize the instruction.
Of all the Jedi that are able to protect her, why me? I'm going to be the last person she'll want around, reminding her of Anakin all the time, Obi-Wan thought. He remembered her thought on the balcony, just before they danced. She hates me. I know it, and she knows I know it.
Kenobi searched his mind for a logical reason to protest. "Master Yoda, I was working with Senator Organa on Alderaan before all this started. We're finally making progress. He still needs an experienced Jedi to work with the military, and he wants me because I was born to Alderaanian nobility." I've just been promoted, I'd like to actually do some general-ing.
Master Yoda seemed to consider, but then he replied, "Another Jedi Knight there is, who is qualified. Handle that situation, she can. A responsibility to the Skywalker family, you have."
Obi-Wan nodded, all objections silenced by that last statement. Yoda had a point.
"Remember who and what you are, Master Kenobi. May the Force be with you." The ancient Master, little in stature and a giant among Jedi, stepped into his hoverseat.
Obi-Wan got to his feet, and the door opened. "Thank you, Master Yoda. May the Force be with you."
Obi-Wan left Coruscant the next day. He liked and respected Senator Amidala, but there were other things he wished he could be doing with the next several months.
*
Senator Amidala had just slumped into a chair in her suite when the buzzer sounded. As Threepio identified the visitor, she got to her feet, noting the unfamiliar stiffness in her body. The door slid open. "Master Kenobi, welcome." He looked nervous, as though he felt he belonged anywhere but here. Padmé put a reassuring smile on her face.
"Master Yoda has sent me back, M'Lady." He moved just inside the door and fidgeted slightly, as though wondering what to do with himself. Padmé gestured to a chair; he moved over to it but remained standing. She flicked a hand; Anakin's protocol droid recognized the signal and shuffled from the chamber.
"May I offer you something to eat? I haven't dined yet." Padmé walked to the small kitchen area and picked up a bowl of fruit. She placed it on a low table in between a sofa and two chairs, then moved to sit, but Obi-Wan still stood. The Senator tried a different tactic. "Master Kenobi, you are my guest. If you don't sit, I can't."
He dropped into his chair like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Though amused, Padmé thought, How are we going to handle this? He can't even look at me. "Are you all right?"
He glanced at her, his eyebrows knitted, than back at the floor. "I didn't ask for this assignment. I didn't mean I don't want it," he amended quickly, when the Senator looked vexed. "Master Yoda believes that I am the best person to watch over you and the children, but if there is another Jedi you would prefer to have with you, I'll understand."
White in his hair and beard caught her attention as she sat down. This is weighing very heavily on him, but he really does want to help, she decided. Besides, we both miss Anakin. I don't have to bend the truth to be diplomatic. Padmé answered, "Master Obi-Wan, I'm glad you're here." That odd crinkle between his eyebrows disappeared for the first time, and their gazes met. "You are a friend, and I can use your help." The Jedi's eyes seemed to change color as she watched, softening from grey to light blue. Did he – No, I must have been imagining it.
Something else came to mind, an obstacle that she needed to get out of the way. "Master Kenobi, I'm sorry I said I hate you. Most of the time I don't." That was not one of your more brilliant utterances, Padmé.
"You didn't actually say it, M'Lady," Obi-Wan said reasonably.
Padmé sighed. "But you heard it anyway. I don't know what to feel most of the time, when I'm not working. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this pretense up."
Obi-Wan's eyes were compassionate. "Sharing a burden makes it easier to bear, M'Lady. I have a responsibility to you and your children."
"Of course you do, it's your assignment," the Senator said quietly.
The Jedi stood and knelt by Padmé's chair. "That isn't it. I said I didn't ask for this assignment because I believed you wouldn't want me here. I do owe you, I'm at least partly to blame for your loss.
"Padmé, please know that this is where I want to be."
Padmé's sorrows washed over her, and she buried her face in her hands. Obi-Wan's eyes prickled, and he reached out. Jedi and Senator wrapped their arms around each other and wept together for their beloved dead.
The grief began to ebb after a few minutes. They began to discuss meetings, existing security, and her upcoming trip to Coruscant, which would be her final mission there as a Galactic Senator.
*
Obi-Wan awoke the next morning not knowing where he was. He heard an odd sound coming from a nearby chamber. Something unpleasant was happening to Senator Amidala. If he had been more awake, he probably would have figured it out and saved himself further mortification.
He rushed to what turned out to be the refresher, lightsaber handle in hand. The last vestiges of lethargy evaporated when he found Padmé in her nightgown, alone on the floor near the toilet. She looked almost chartreuse.
Padmé's eyes widened at the sight of the Jedi in the doorway, his hair still wild from sleeping. She gasped, clutching her stomach, then shouted, "Out!"
Obi-Wan didn't need to be told twice; he fled. She continued to sit on the floor, shaking her head. I've got to remember to lock the door. Padmé winced as another wave of nausea threatened to engulf her.
When Padmé emerged into their suite's common room twenty minutes later, Obi-Wan was nowhere to be seen. But he had left some crackers and fruit juice on the table for her. I didn't know he was sweet, she reflected. Then she shook her head fiercely, eyes squashed shut, as though the thought was shameful.
*
