A year after Padmé's introduction to the Nubian court, tragedy befell the royal family when her father died mysteriously. Grief stricken, Queen Amidala resigned her position in order to focus on raising her infant daughter. However, Jobal and Padmé were not alone for long. Six months after the death of Ruwee, Jobal married Chancellor Palpatine, who had recently been elected to head the Galactic Republic as Chancellor.
For three years, the family was happy. They moved away from Naboo to Coruscant where they lived in a lavish apartment, but Jobal took Padmé to visit Naboo and her father's gravesite often. Unfortunately, the visits abruptly ended when Padmé's mother grew terribly ill and died suddenly. This left the young girl in the care of her stepfather.
Over the years, the Chancellor ignored his stepdaughter. She was not directly mistreated, but she was not shown the love she deserved either. She was left to her own devices, and often strolled the streets of Coruscant. Her favorite destination was the Jedi Temple, for she had a reoccurring dream that a tall, dark, and handsome knight would cross her path one day. However, as she grew, she brushed this thought off as silly nonsense, and resigned herself to her current fate.
As years progressed, Padmé's beauty grew. Dark curls of long brown hair framed her face as enchanting chocolate orbs captured the attention of all around her. Additionally, her slim figure moved with a grace unrivaled by any creature in the galaxy. Even Palpatine could not deny her presence because if he was talking to anyone when she walked by, heads turned in her direction. Padmé's beauty seemed to radiate from her and bring happiness to those she passed. Palpatine could not have this, because she was becoming a uniting point for his enemies as people gravitated toward her. His charming stepdaughter did not realize she was threatening his power that he so desperately clung to.
As a result, on her fourteenth birthday, Palpatine locked her away under his watchful eyes. He would have killed her, but he sensed that she could still be useful. Therefore, he gave her a job as an aide in his office. He gave her a back room that he constantly filled with paperwork for her to file so that no one would catch a glimpse of the young maiden. In addition, Palpatine banned her from stepping out in public from that day forward. Padmé had become a prisoner, sequestered in her stepfather's office by day, and his apartment by night. The young woman had no social contact, except for the brief glimpses of people coming in and out of her stepfather's office. This state of affairs continued for ten long years.
It was late one evening, and Padmé had just finished sorting through a large stack of datapads for her stepfather. She was exhausted and longed to get out of the stuffy office and return home. Normally, Padmé would have to wait another hour before leaving her office to file away her datapads, but she knew her stepfather did not have any more appointments scheduled for the day. Taking her chance that she might be able to leave early, Padmé quickly gathered her datapads and silently crept towards her door.
She pushed the door open a crack and peered outside to see if she spotted anyone. She knew that she would be in trouble if her stepfather found out that she had emerged from her office early. Seeing no one in the office, Padmé pushed her door open all the way and quickly moved across the room, her eyes focused on the filing cabinets she needed to reach before she could go home.
Padmé was almost to her destination, but she suddenly ran into something solid and she tripped and fell to the floor. Her datapads fell from her hands and scattered across the floor. She did not look back to see what she had run into, but set to work collecting her datapads. She was reaching out to collect her last datapad when another hand beat her to it.
"I'm sorry milady. I had a meeting with the Chancellor and was not watching where I was going." A young male voice said as he placed the datapad in her arms. The young man had kneeled down in front of her.
Padmé gasped in surprise and looked up into the azure eyes of this stranger. The stranger was dressed in dark Jedi robes. His clothes hid his body from view, but Padmé could tell that he had a strong, muscular, athletic build. His handsome chiseled facial features were framed by sandy blonde hair and his cerulean eyes seemed to penetrate through to her soul.
Padmé realized she was staring at the young man who was now smiling warmly at her.
She turned her gaze toward her feet and slowly stood up. The young man also stood up in front of her. "Thank you for your help sir." Padmé stated meekly as she turned back towards the filing cabinets. However, a hand on her elbow stopped her.
The young man lifted a hand to her chin and gently lifted it so that her eyes locked with his again. She had to look up because he was taller than her. "No thanks are needed milady." He then brushed away a strand of her brown hair that had fallen into her face.
Silence fell between the two of them as they stared into each other's eyes. Padmé's heart raced as the young man captivated her attention. "I am Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, may I know the name of the lovely young woman whose presence I am in." Anakin stated as he brought one of her hands to his lips and lightly kissed it.
Padmé blushed as she softly replied, "Padmé."
"Pleasure to meet you, Padmé." Anakin said with a smile.
Padmé was smiling back at him, her heart continued to beat rapidly as she lost herself in the eyes of the Jedi. She half noticed that he was leaning into her, but that halted when she jumped at the sound of a sharp voice.
"Daughter! What are you doing? File those datapads and go home. You should not be wasting the Jedi's time." Palpatine sharply ordered and then softened his tone as he spoke to Anakin who had turned toward him. "I apologize for this Anakin. She will not bother you again."
Anakin hid his annoyance as he calmly replied, "She was no bother. On the contrary, I should be apologizing. I accidentally ran into your charming daughter after I left your office."
Palpatine grew angry with this statement and worked hard to reign in his disgust, "Perhaps you are right, but she should not have been out here. She knows better." Then he turned his attention to Padmé who had finished putting away the datapads. "Go home, we will discuss this later."
Padmé turned to leave, but was stopped when a hand grabbed hers. Her heart raced at the Jedi Knight's touch as she turned back towards him. Once again he brought her hand to his mouth, and Padmé held her breath as she watched him press his lips to it. "It was a pleasure to meet you, milady." He then released her hand and bowed to her as he added, "Until we meet again." As he straightened back up, he locked his eyes with hers once more before turning towards the Chancellor and said farewell before leaving.
Padmé just stood there in a daze. It was not until her stepfather had cleared his throat that she shook herself from her reverie and glanced back at him. He glowered at her, and she thought she saw his eyes flash yellow. She could tell that he was angry and quickly retreated out of his office before an argument could ensue.