As soon as the parade had ended and the treaty was signed, Queen Amidala was escorted back into the palace by a quartet of handmaidens. As a general rule, they would stay and watch the street performances and converse with their honored guests, but the young woman was genuinely worried about one particular honored guest; the one who said he would be waiting for her inside the palace library.
The group of ladies stopped abruptly outside of the library door and Padmé turned toward her chief bodyguard "I'll go in by myself."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I don't think the man's entirely stable."
"Sabé, he's a Jedi Knight!"
"That's what I mean!" The young woman leaned conspiratorially toward the queen and whispered. "I've been told they hear voices in their heads."
Padmé fought back a chuckle at the skeptical expression on her friend's face. "I'll be careful." She replied with a grin and then moved forward and palmed open the door.
"If you don't come out of there in ten clicks…I'm coming in after you."
Padmé did not respond to the girl's ridiculous warning. Sabé had been guilty of being overprotective in the past, but most of the time had been correct in her premonitions. Padmé couldn't count the number of times the young woman had spouted 'I told you so', but this was different. She wasn't afraid of the young man, she was concerned about him. And besides, she had studied about the Force and the Jedi her first year as the ruling queen, when she was informed of the Jedi's annual visit during the Unity Day celebration. The Jedi were peacekeepers, but there was nothing peaceful about the demeanor of the man she now beheld.
He was on the opposite side of the large open room, pacing back and forth in front of the expansive marble fireplace, throwing his hands out in aggravated animation.
Padmé's steps stuttered slightly as her confidence suddenly dwindled. Perhaps Sabé had been correct. The young Jedi appeared to be having a conversation with somebody, and he was the only one in the room besides her.
"You wanted to see me?" She asked him from a safe distance and was surprised at his startlement and even more surprised at his somewhat anxious approach.
"What day is this?" He asked, eyeing her rather suspiciously.
The young queen tried to mask her confusion, but knew she had failed miserably when she stammered, "Uh. Unity Day."
"Are you sure?" The young man asked in such a way that Padmé's heart went out to him, much like the Gungan youngling she had found wandering the Theed streets that morning before the parade.
Jedi Kenobi looked lost.
"What's wrong?" She asked, laying a hand on his robed arm, not missing the visible shiver running through his body in response to her touch.
The knight took several breaths and then backed away to begin his pacing once again.
"I'm…" he began with a swipe of a hand across his stubbled face. "Stuck!"
"Stuck?"
"Yes! I'm stuck here!" His arms once more flung out in an aggravated and hopeless gesture.
"Knight Kenobi." The queen gently consoled. "It is obvious you don't want to be here. I could tell that during our first meeting in the hallway after your arrival. I don't know what it is about Naboo that you don't like…"
"It's not that." He had finally ceased his pacing and stood facing her, his arms doubled across his chest.
"Then what is it?" Padmé aborted another attempt to reach out and comfort the irritated young man. His head began shaking and it was obvious he was having trouble coming up with the words. "You can tell me." She added imploringly.
"This day -- Unity Day," he began slowly, "keeps repeating."
"Yes it does. Every year." Padmé winced at the slight sarcastic tone in her voice "I'm sorry, Please continue."
"Every morning I wake up and it's Unity Day…again. Every day, for the last three days in a row."
The young queen's face revealed a blend of confusion, reasoning, and finally sympathy at the Jedi's plight. Perhaps the strain and stress of his recent knighthood had been too much for him. She had heard that the trials a Jedi endures prior to his knighting could be highly stressful. Maybe this particular young Jedi couldn't handle the pressure, and he basically just cracked. He needed help, she just wasn't sure how to offer it to him.
"Perhaps," she began slowly, carefully choosing her words. Now what was it she had learned in negotiation class about dealing with people of questionable sanity? Ah, yes. Play along. Keep your voice low. Don't intimidate or frighten them.
She smiled gently at him, noting his piercing eyes and look of concern.
"Perhaps you should speak to someone who could be of some assistance to you. I'm afraid that I cannot help you. I don't know how to help you, but I know someone who can. Are you familiar with the term therapist? I believe at the Jedi Temple, you call them soul healers." Padmé's advice faded off as the knight's eyes took on a distant gaze, as if he were caught up in a thought, and he wasn't listening to a word she was saying. "Knight Kenobi?"
"Speak to someone." He murmured. "Why didn't I think of that before? Can I use your comm system? I need to contact the Temple immediately."
"Sure." The young queen answered, feeling a little bit more hopeful. Knight Kenobi had immediately brightened in countenance at the idea, and he had lost some of his dejected appearance. She wasn't sure who he was planning on contacting on Coruscant, but it didn't matter anyway. After she showed him to the comm center, she was heading into town to visit with the city's leading authority on psychiatric disorders to see if he had any experience with Jedi Knights suffering from possible post traumatic stress disorder. Then she would talk with Knight Kenobi again and convince him to see the doctor for himself.