'Chrysalis' (Chapter Three)
By Ennon
After an exhaustive labor having endured the last six standard months of her pregnancy simultaneously trying to hide it while pretending her benefactress was the impending mother of her offspring, Padmé was quite wiped out and would have easily been tempted to escape to the sanctuary of sleep but she had just had her newborn son Luke taken away from her by Yoda and the newborn Leia was being held and cuddled by her new 'mother' Yuermina for all the dignitaries (and Alderaan viso-holograph viewers) to see. Padmé couldn't rest until Leia at least was back in her arms for her to nurse- yet even then she knew she'd never have a fulfilling sleep until she could make things right for Luke,too.
Less than an hour after they had been parted, Leia was returned to her awaiting arms and Padmé held onto the last member of her family for dear life while laughing and sobbing simultaneously until Leia was fed and ready for sleep.
"How would such a precious being ever understand her brother being torn away from us? How would she ever understand that the Emperor would take her for his evil uses or kill her? How would she ever understand that so shortly after her own conception, her father allied himself with the Emperor- and it would cost him his life and our freedom?" Padmé quietly asked herself as she let herself go to sleep.
She'd dream the same dreams of being reunited with Anakin and feeling his form once again- but then seeing his enticing eyes being turned into that unnatural yellow color and feeling his hands trying to crush the very life from her throat as she tried to save him!
Luckily, Leia would awaken several times during the night to be fed and changed so Padmé wouldn't have to dwell very long on these thoughts. Padmé had read all she could about caring for babies during her pregnany and put her knowledge to good use while she tended to the newborn Leia. As long as they were together, Padmé had some solace and comfort. In another week, with a large bandage on Padmé's right ankle to dupe Crown Prince Osric of it having been broken, Padmé and Leia returned to the Royal Nursery to join him. Even though she no longer was encumbered by being pregnant with full-term twins and she'd recovered her strength somewhat during the week she'd stayed in bed after the birth, Padmé found it was somewhat difficult to tend to her now three-year-old charge while feeding, bathing and changing her newborn daughter- his 'sister'! So many otherwise quiet moments she would have relished the solitude of being with her new daughter were shattered by his noisy, boisterous chatter and boundless energy. Padmé knew Osric wasn't deliberately trying to make things more difficult for her and Leia but this was happening nonetheless. The moments with Leia alone were very precious to Padmé but quite fleeting and in another eleven months would be even more so with Bail and Yuermina's 2nd son being born- Prince Crolock Organa so she'd have one toddler and two babies to care for. Padmé would be somewhat sad when Yuermina and Bail would take Leia and her 'brothers' to public events and Padmé was unable to accompany them as she was restricted to Palace Grounds. And, the first time Leia hugged Yuermina on her own nearly broke Padmé's heart- despite intellectually knowing that Leia had to consider Yuermina and Bail to be her actual parents if Leia was to survive. Still, nothing could take away the pleasure Padmé derived when celebrated to herself the milestones when Leia would roll over on her own, then sleep through an entire night without needing feeding, then started to crawl and make babbling noises, then walk and actually learn to speak. But even those weren't enough to compensate Padmé. She kept trying to tell herself that accepting the status quo with being her own daughter's nursemaid was for the best but she knew something wasn't quite right. Something was missing in the equation. It was Luke. She couldn't shake the sadness of his loss any more than she could cease mourning the Anakin she had loved- before the Dark Side. But maybe one day, she could just learn to be a nursemaid who'd be content with fleeting moments with her last family member that she could never reveal the truth to. And Leia would be too satisfied being a member of the Organa Family with two brothers to ever consider the possibility of her having a twin brother out there somewhere, Padmé tried to tell herself.
One day when Leia was almost three standard years, her 'brother' nearly six-year-old Crown Prince Osric bounded in from his tutorial lesson and insisted on watching a viso-hologram program.
"Mamie, I want to watch 'Knuckles Nebula Bounty Hunter'" Osric demanded.
"He's boring! I wanna 'Galaxy Girls'?" Leia asked.
"Children, your baby brother Crolock needs his nap!" Padmé sighed.
"Can we watch a show about butterflies they're quiet!" Leia asked while Padmé gave her a hug.
"You children watch too many viso-hologram shows as it is but, five minutes then we let Crolock take his nap in peace," Padmé sighed- as she touched the keypad by the viso-hologram to choose from one of over 10 million galactic viso-hologram channels ( 9 million from Coruscant alone, 300 from Alderaan).
"The Brochus butterfly on Hoth emerges from its chrysalis to mate and reproduce during the 3 week long spring thaw every 400 standard years and. .." the narration started to say when.
"We override all Imperial Galactic Channels to beam an important message from His Imperial Majesty, " the announcer droned.
"Eww! Someone needs to put a leash on him!" Leia piped up when she saw a black masked announcer become visible.
"Hundreds of mineral and scrapmetal space freighter vessels bound for Coruscant have been commandeered by unknown parties in the last standard month. All Imperial Subjects are to help apprehend and capture the responsible parties and seek out the stolen goods- or the Empire will wipe out your settlements from the Galaxy," a second announcer droned while mechanically breathing.
"Boo! Bang! Bang!" Crown Prince Osric shouted at the viso-holograph form while pretending to shoot at it.
Padmé practically fainted when she saw and heard the announcer as she could feel her blood run cold.
"This has been Lord Darth Vader speaking on behalf of His Imperial Majesty, Palpatine, Emperor of the Galactic Empire," the second announcer concluded- as the viso-hologram program returned to the regularly scheduled program.
"What is it?" Leia asked.
"Nothing. It doesn't concern us. That's enough viso-hologram shows for now. Let's go outside to the Palace Lake Courtyard and play some games. We could use the fresh air," Padmé pleaded while leading the three youngsters out of the nursery.
"But I want to watch. ." Crown Prince Osric pleaded.
"Her Majesty would prefer you play," Padmé sighed.
Padmé knew she had to talk to Bail and Yuermina at once.
That night after she'd put her three charges to bed (including Leia), she went to their sitting room (having received permission)
""What is it, Mamie? Is something wrong with any of the children?" Yuermina asked.
"They seemed perfectly healthy when they kissed us goodnight!" Bail added.
"So right, Darling! They take after your healthy stock!" Yuermina beamed-without a trace of irony over Leia revealed.
"No, Your Majesty. Osric, Leia and Crolock are perfectly healthy. What do you and His Highness know about . . Darth Vader?" Padmé gulped.
Bail and Yuermina looked at each other quickly then cut off each other's look before(they thought) Padmé had noticed.
"Oh, he's an Imperial strongarm bully who likes to make a show of anger every so often," Bail tried to shrug off.
"Where did you hear about . ..?" Yuermina asked.
"He interrupted the children's viso-hologram program with a threatening announcement about capturing stolen Imperial freighters or getting destroyed by the Empire," Padmé gulped.
"Yes, we heard about the freighters being stolen but that doesn't concern us. Coruscant's 5000 light years away and Alderaan has abundant resources. None of our subjects would. .. " Yuermina sniffed.
"I know that but do you think this Lord Vader could make trouble?" Padmé asked.
"He's subject to the Imperial Senate and Regional Governors. He can't bother us," Bail half-laughed.
"There's no need to be concerned. He's. . ." Yuermina added.
"Anakin Skywalker!" Padmé shouted then looked around and covered her mouth.
"Anakin Skywalker! That's ridiculous! Everyone knows that Anakin Skywalker died in Mustafar after that lava fight with Obi-Wan . ."Bail tried to laugh.
"And he speaks with a much deeper voice than Anakin ever did," Yuermina added.
"How could you think. ..?" Bail asked.
"I know in my heart," Padmé whispered low enough for only the two to hear.
"The heart has no brains!" Bail sniffed.
"If anyone could have survived it, it's Anakin Skywalker," Padmé pleaded.
"Ridiculous! Darth Vader has nothing to do with Anakin Skywalker," Yuermina sniffed.
"What about Luke?" Padmé asked.
"Um, Luke . .who?" Yuermina coolly asked while giving Padmé a daggered look.
"You know who! Have you heard anything about how Luke is or what steps are being taken to protect-" Padmé pleaded.
"That's not your concern any more," Yuermina coolly sighed.
"Now, you just be the best nursemaid possible to my children and all will be fine!" Bail insisted.
"Very well, Your Highness," Padmé sighed.
Padmé walked away as loudly as she could in her slippers then tiptoed quietly back and heard them talking in Royal Alderaan to each other. What they hadn't known was that while they would take the children on royal ceremony duties outside the palace, this left Padmé with ample time to herself which put to use. Making use of one of Yuermina's fingerprints (Padmé had lifted from a nursery )to unlock the Royal Alderaan Language Tutorial Hologram, Padmé had learned the almost-dead language to uncover what Bail and Yuermina were talking about. Mostly, it was very intimate, sensual and lustful talk to each other that would have been unbecoming for the children, servants or any of their subjects to have understood the meaning of, but once in a while it was about larger issues.
This time it was about Padmé's discovery of Darth Vader being Anakin Skywalker!
"Now what?" Yuermina asked(in Royal Alderaan)
" I don't know. As long as she doesn't tell Leia. .." Bail pondered(in Royal Alderaan).
"We can't chance that! I thought we'd never have to contend with her finding out," Yuermina groaned (in Royal Alderaan).
"I know but we can't let her do anything stupid that could destroy ALL of us," Bail sighed (in Royal Alderaan).
"As long as she knows we're protecting Leia, she won't do anything to put us in danger," Yuermina sighed (in Royal Alderaan).
"I know but how will she live with the knowledge that her husband survived AND is willing to destroy any sentient being or planet-regardless of age and gender for the Emperor's bidding?"Bail groaned (in Royal Alderaan).
"I'm not sure how it will manifest but we must keep a close eye on her from this point on- for ALL our sakes," Yuermina sighed(in Royal Alderaan).
"I know- and we must get Leia and the boys to become independent of her soon," Bail added (in Royal Alderaan).
"But Padmé won't rest as long as she doesn't know what's become of Luke," Yuermina sighed(in Royal Alderaan).
" I know but can you really blame her?" Bail asked (in Royal Alderaan).
"No, Darling, I can't . However; Yoda snuck here from his exile at great risk to his own safety to take Luke and hasn't given us any further word, "Yuermina groaned (in Royal Alderaan).
Padmé tiptoed away having heard enough. She HAD to find Luke to make sure he was safe! Padmé wasn't sure how or when but she couldn't live without knowing both Luke and Leia were safe from the Emperor nd the man who their father had become-Darth Vader!
A/N- McAries- Glad you understand about motives. More to come and thanks for writing!