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A Shift in the Force: Chapter Eight: Stronger in Ways That Matter

AN: Sorry it's been awhile since I updated, but I've been busy with class and finishing Daughter of Rome (which was months ago now), and working on Looking Beyond and Sting of the Blade and Akai Senkou, and getting out my new fic Through Fire and Wind. And I kind temporarily lost my inspiration for this fanfic. I re-wrote the beginning of this chapter so many times before I settled with what it is now. So please enjoy!


It wasn't often that Sabé had a difficult time sleeping, that was something that was a rarity for her, forgoing that when she was younger her dreams had been quite turbulent. Still, Sabé didn't often find herself unable to close her eyes. She rested the tips of her cool fingers against her forehead, feeling the thrum of the throbbing at her temple. It wasn't as bad as it had been before, for which Sabé was quite grateful; that had been excruciating and she would have never wished it upon anyone.

She palmed her forehead and sighed, almost running headlong into a wall for her troubles. She grumbled to herself, her annoyance no doubt a shining beacon with her shields in the state that they were. Sabé frowned. That wasn't to say that they were as flimsy as the shields that Initiates bore, only that she wasn't used to anything less than the extreme fortification that she employed.

She wandered the silent halls, ready to be accosted by a member of the Healers and dragged back to the medical ward in Force-cuffs, if there was such a thing. But no one came, for which she was beyond grateful. The tips of her metallic hand trailed over the carved rail of the staircase as she descended it.

As a child, the one thing that fascinated her the most was the interior of the Jedi Temple, and rightly so. She had often said to her master that it the numerous pillars and the statues just beyond the entrance reminded her of a palace or a temple of worship. Master Yoda hadn't wanted her to see the temple in that kind of view, though, it would make one entirely big headed.

"A place of learning, it is," he had insisted, "no more, no less."

And he wasn't wrong. The Archives were a wealth of information, and the training room was always open to those who wished to work harder on their lightsaber forms.

A smile lit her lips. She had lost count of how many days and nights she had spent working on her own form; there were too many to count.

There were only seven forms of lightsaber combat, but Sabé leaned mostly on Jar'Kai, the only form which was developed for the use of two blades. It was a kind of style that allowed the wielder to face multiple enemies at the same time, but it was also quite difficult to master, and Sabé had not quite achieved that to the date.

Soresu was a far more common style used throughout the temple, one that Aayla and Kit preferred to any other style. It dealt more with defense and so an ideal style for those who wished to prolong battle in order to fatigue their opponent.

But Obi-Wan used Ataru, a far more aggressive form which required the practitioner to be fast, agile, and strong. It wasn't too surprising, considering how many problems Obi-Wan had had with his anger in his youth. Sabé could remember those times quite clearly in her mind.

Aayla had been disappointed when Obi-Wan had chosen to study that style, citing that he was clearly made for the tight movements of Soresu. Sabé didn't see it, but then she wasn't used to looking for things like best saber style based on physique.

The hum of a lightsaber drew her from her thoughts and she looked down over the balcony, an amused tilt occurring upon her lips at the sight.

Obi-Wan seemed to have engaged in a battle against one of the machines that Jedi often used to teach younglings to dodge blaster bolts, only he had turned it up all the way and was having a few problems.

Sabé couldn't help the smirk that occurred at the sight of the burns his clothes were sporting.

"I'm pretty sure that's not the way you should be going for intense training," she called over to him, making him start and lose his concentration, a blaster bolt hitting him in the chest and knocking him down before Sabé had the time to shut it off with a wave of her hand, moving quickly to his side in concern before fading to be replaced with amusement once more.

"Don't be such a baby," she said with a light laugh, "I'm sure you've been through worse than blaster fire from a droid."

Obi-Wan groaned, furrowing his eyebrows together. "Way to hit me in the ego, Sabé."

"That's what I'm here for," Sabé promised, "don't worry, we're all so much better without your ego."

"Thanks," he drawled out, "you make me feel so confident in my abilities."

"Good…I'd offer to partner with you," Sabé said in amusement, "but I'd find myself far outmatched against you."

Obi-Wan spared her a laugh. "I'm not sure whether I should be flattered, but you surpass me in utilization of the Force."

Sabé smiled kindly as she sat down beside him. "We all have our weaknesses. Believe me, you far surpass I in saber battle; it is something I need to work on."

"You sound sure of that," Obi-Wan said with a grin, "care to try against me?"

Laughter bubbled from her lips before she could hide it. "Oh, I dare not," she said, "I don't think it would end well for me."

"Come on," Obi-Wan coaxed, "just one spar."

She looked into his bright hazel eyes, glinting in humor, but she only grinned. "I'll have to say no this time, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan frowned slightly, eyeing her curiously. "You're up to something," he decided.

Sabé couldn't help but laugh at that. "I thought I was always up to something…remember how many times I got you into trouble?"

"Because who would believe that Sabé Amidala was a secret troublemaker?" Obi-Wan asked in a despairing voice.

"It's not my fault that I have an innocent face," Sabé said in a mock-hurt voice that earned her a look from her friend that told her that he didn't believe her for a second. "You don't know how many times it's saved my butt."

"I'm not sure I even want to know," Obi-Wan said, shooting her a grin that earned him an eye roll. "You live a highly dangerous lifestyle, Sabé."

"Don't we all?" she mused, closing her eyes for a brief time. "I should get back," she said, "or the Healers won't release me tomorrow."

Her smile was more of a grimace as Obi-Wan laughed.


"I do not approve of this plan," Sabé said in a voice that was as chill as an iceberg. She was sitting in her sitting room directly across from Masters Yoda and Windu, her back straight and stiff and her stare resolute. "They will not believe it."

"The likeness is uncanny, you cannot deny it," Master Windu refuted.

"She is fourteen, I am twenty-four," Sabé said coolly. "I am a decade her senior and taller and more agile, just to name a few differences."

"Better to have a Jedi for a queen, it is," Yoda said sagely, "and a queen for a handmaiden."

"They will not be fooled," Sabé said with surety.

"Queen Amidala modeled her accent after your own," Windu commented, "And the differences would not be quite so noticeable if her handmaiden's wore heeled boots while you wore flats."

She bent her head forward slightly, expelling a long sigh. "Padmé will never agree to the switch. It will put me at greater risk, and she will not wish it."

"Insist I must, change her mind you must."

So, Sabé found herself with a private audience with her sister very late that evening. Padmé's makeup was gone, leaving her face bare and very similar. Grudgingly, she had to admit it was a sound plan, even if she didn't approve of it.

Padmé's face was tense as Sabé told her the plan.

"I don't like it," she said, just as Sabé had predicted. "It is dangerous to be my decoy."

Sabé resisted rolling her eyes. "It is dangerous to be a Jedi as well, is it not?" She quirked an eyebrow to her younger sister who heaved a sigh.

"Sabé…what do you think?"

"It doesn't matter what I think," Sabé said dryly, "it is the Council's decision, not mine."

"But what is your opinion," Padmé insisted, "please." Her eyes were imploring.

Sabé's eyes fell upon her own…a perfect reflection, she admitted grudgingly.

"You already have a decoy who bears a remarkable resemblance to you," Sabé said slowly, "however I doubt you will find two people who look more like each other than we do." She sighed. "It is a rather sound plan."

"And you would prefer it if they came to you instead of me," Padmé guessed. "Who would guess a Jedi for the queen?"

"Apparently not many people," Sabé said with annoyance that she couldn't bother to veil. "Talik will be joining Obi-Wan and Master Jinn. She will not be aware of the deception."

"You don't approve," Padmé noticed.

Sabé's lips drew downwards slightly, a frown marring her delicate features. "The Master-Apprentice bond we share was created out of mutual trust and the Force. I do not like lying to the one child I view more highly above anyone."

Padmé's eyes widened slightly. "I thought Jedi…" She cut herself off looking a little awkward.

Sabé smiled. "It's alright," she assured her. "It's not really the Jedi way." She leaned forward to cup Padmé's cheek. "I suppose it's an Amidala thing, hm?"

Padmé's smile was sweeter than hers as Sabé removed her hand. "It must be…do you remember those years ago, when you came to protect Father?"

Sabé's eyes grew distant for a brief moment. "Yes," she murmured, "you were adorable."

A dark pink flush lit Padmé's cheeks. "I was not," she disagreed hotly, before asking, "did you ever regret becoming a Jedi?"

"No," Sabé said with utter surety. "I couldn't imagine what I would be if I wasn't a Jedi…being a Jedi is all I've ever known."

"Even if it cost you your arm?" Padmé inquired, nodding towards her eldest sister's metallic limb.

"We all lose many things on the journey to discovering who we are," Sabé said simply.

Padmé gave her an amused smile. "I really have to wonder if anything really fazes you."

"Many things," Sabé laughed, "I just don't show it as much. That's why I am so good at…you know." Stealth missions were her forte; Sabé didn't really have a suspecting or suspicious face. "It annoys my friends, they always claimed trouble just skated by me." A smile lit her lips; or at least Sabé was better at pulling wool over others' eyes. She lifted a finger to tangle it in the ends of one of her braids that swung hypnotically around her when she moved.

Padmé's eyes shifted to the metallic limb for not the first time since she had seen it. She remembered the first time she had laid eyes on it and her when she was a child, a naïve child. She had wondered if the gods had given her a new arm for her services to them (as those on Naboo were polytheistic, and had many tales of how the gods favored the mortals that worshipped them).

Sabé had simply laughed, bending down so that she was level with the child and said simply: "It was a gift, one that I will cherish always."

Padmé hadn't questioned it until she was old enough to understand what a prosthetic arm was, and then she had been horrified.

"I will be by in the morning," Sabé said, pulling herself upright and giving her younger sister a small bow. "Sleep well, little sister."

But Padmé did not.


"I…look…ridiculous."

"Don't be foolish," Yané admonished as she settled a queenly headdress on Sabé's stiff hair which had been removed from her multitude of braids (a requirement for her acting as decoy that vexed her more than anything she was currently wearing, though that was quite aggravating as well). "You look perfect."

"So you say," Sabé said blandly, picking at one of the sleeves in disdain as she turned towards her sister with an expression that said she was clearly regretting taking on this assignment. "How on earth do you move around in these things?"

"With practice ease," Padmé said with a grin. "I'm sure you'd rather be back in that leather jerkin of yours."

"Yes, I would," Sabé said, an expression of longing morphing its way onto her face. "It least I didn't have to worry about upending anything when I was wearing that."

"And it is easier to see your figure in it, is it not?" Saché, the oldest of the handmaidens, asked in a voice that rang with amusement, sending off the other girls that were attending to Sabé in the stead of Padmé into titters of laughter.

"Easy to move and figure flattering sometimes go hand-in-hand," Sabé said, unconcerned and unaffected the words as she looked at her face in the mirror.

She didn't even recognize herself. The pure white face paint was thick, hiding all her flesh from view that even the slight differences –Sabé's slightly longer face due to being nearly a decade older, and slightly more slanted almond shaped eyes– were hardly noticeable and could easily be dismissed. A single crimson dot had been painted to either cheek, and her upper lip had been painted the same color with a vertical line through her lower lip. This was known as the Scar of Remembrance that was a symbol of the toils that Naboo that endured before the Great Time of Peace.

The dress and headdress weren't so bad considering some of the outfits that Sabé had seen her sister wear. Her hair was stiff under the deep purple cloth that hung in front of her shoulders, two large buns mounted high on her head under the material that was held in place by a golden headpiece with a dress of dark violet and purple fabric that rippled when she moved.

"You would make a great decoy, you know, if you weren't a Jedi," Yané, Padmé's decoy, had to concede.

"I will take that as a compliment," Sabé said, "but it wouldn't be the lifestyle choice for me, not enough excitement."

"There is excitement enough," Rabé disagreed, "but I suppose calming disputes on far off planets is more appealing."

Sabé barely resisted shrugging, an action that would undoubtedly have causing the golden headpiece to tumble off her head. "Better to have peace than war."

The girls all made noises of agreement on the matter.

"Alright, you're done…Your Majesty," the girl who had been straightening the last of her many articles of clothing, Eirtaé grinned at her before stepping back and shaking her orange hood over her eyes, a movement that the other girls replicated, Padmé being the last to do so.

"Jedi have an ability that allows them to communicate through a connection of minds," Sabé told Padmé. "I need you to guide me, so all you need to do is think the words, and I will hear them."

Padmé gave one single nod of understanding as Captain Panaka entered to escort them to an air taxi that would in turn take them to the landing platform that held the Naboo spacecraft.

The whole time on the taxi Sabé did not speak. She stared forward resolutely with an expression of conviction that was so clearly replicated from her sister. And when they landed, Sabé very nearly didn't take the hand Captain Panaka had offered her, before taking it at the last second; she was so used to not depending on others, but she was Queen Amidala, and queens were waited on.

And then she strode forward with the same confidence that Padmé emulated. She could see Anakin with Qui-Gon just outside the spacecraft as the group moved closer and Sabé felt a flicker of regret. The boy had a gift, there was no doubting that, however, the Council had deemed that he was too old to be trained. Personally, Sabé thought that was a bit of a waste. It was one of the many things that Sabé and the Council disagreed on; its rules were far too rigid and restraining, teaching should never have an age limit.

Qui-Gon bowed politely as she and her (Padmé's) handmaidens approached.

"Your Majesty," he said, "it is our pleasure to continue to protect and serve you." He raised a hand slightly from his side to direct her towards the ship.

"I welcome your help," Sabé said diplomatically, repeating the words Padmé was thinking. "Senator Palpatine fears the Federation means to destroy me."

Sabé felt so unbelievably bare without her lightsabers at her side, the only consolation being that they were hidden among the folds of Padmé's cloak.

"I assure you, I will not allow that to happen," Qui-Gon assured her, no doubt sensing Sabé's anxiety and mistaking it for fear for herself rather than fear of being unable to protect herself.

Sabé couldn't help the slight scowl that marred her lips as she climbed the ramp, the frown quickly smoothing over into a neutral expression before anyone could take notice of it.

She settled herself into the Queen's Chambers, waiting for the ship to take off, which it did at a surprisingly fast speed, but that suited her fine. The sooner they returned to Naboo, the better, and that was both Padmé and Sabé's thoughts.

She allowed herself a brief moment of silence as they flew away from Coruscant, but then her eyes flickered towards Captain Panaka as he spoke, just barely brushing over Talik who stood to the side of a slightly vexed Obi-Wan (Sabé guessed that it might have had something to do with Qui-Gon, as his master was standing at a distance from his padawan).

"As soon as we land the Federation will arrest you and force you to sign the treaty," Captain Panaka said, trying to reason with her one last time. Though the captain was often aware of when a decoy was in use, this time was not one of those occasions, for all intents and purposes, Sabé was Padmé Amidala.

"I agree," Qui-Gon said in that calm voice of his that Sabé knew from experience that many Jedi had, including her. "I'm not sure what you wish to accomplish by this."

Sabé added a small bit of heat to her words, as if to say "I wouldn't expect you to understand, you are not from Naboo," without speaking those words exactly. "I'm going to take back what is ours."

"There are too few of us, Your Highness," Captain Panaka said, his tone nearly exasperated as her eyes shifted towards him once more and away from Qui-Gon. "We have no army."

"And I can only protect you, I can't fight a war for you," Qui-Gon added and Sabé had to resist narrowing her eyes.

Jedi often spoke as a unit of sorts, master and padawan were one in a sense. "We are honored to serve you." "We are grateful of your cooperation." "We welcome your counsel." For a master to separate himself from his padawan was worrisome. A barest glance towards Obi-Wan told her just how insulted he was by the singular form. Sabé forced back a sigh, recalling a time when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were so close that you could tell they were having half a conversation in their heads.

She suspected Anakin might have been the cause of the rift. Kit had informed her that when the Council had refused to allow the boy to be trained as a Jedi Qui-Gon had offered to take him on as his apprentice. Since he already had an apprentice, it was a bit like a smack to the face, even if Obi-Wan had been ready for the Trials for nearly three months now.

"Jar Jar Binks," she said, her eyes shifting beyond Obi-Wan and over Talik, causing her very young padawan to eye the Gungan with a slightly incredulous expression, wondering what on earth she could possibly want with him.

Jar Jar pointed to himself, looking as stunned as Talik was, his eyes goggling slightly. "Mesa, Your Highness?" he asked in that higher pitched voice of his.

"Yes," Sabé said simply, "I need your help."

This plan was poorly conceived if you asked Sabé, but she couldn't really argue with Padmé, seeing as that was who she was playing, however, she felt that Padmé was putting too much faith in the Gungans.

Captain Panaka was right, Naboo had no army, but the Gungans of Otoh Gunga did, so Sabé could understand the appeal there. But convincing the Boss Nass was another matter, one Sabé was not sure she was capable of doing.

She was very convincing on her own, but here she was just playing a part, Sabé Amidala had no voice in the matter.

So she opened her mouth and recited the words just as Padmé thought them, and she was unsurprised by the vehemence from Captain Panaka and the surprise from the three Jedi.

"Enough!" she demanded, speaking over him, her eyes narrowing just slightly. "There will be no debate of the matter. I have made my choice."

But it was very clear to Sabé that several of the people in her (Padmé's) chambers were of the mind that it wasn't a very smart decision in the first place, but there was no point in arguing with a headstrong monarch such as Padmé, she was much too clever for her own good.

"Leave me," she added with a clear dismissal and several bows were made in her direction as the captain and the Jedi left her with the handmaidens.

"That was very convincing," Yané complimented her once they were certain that none could hear them speak.

"If you say so," Sabé said, rolling her shoulders, but not by much. The headdress was weighing down on her and all she wanted to do was rip it off and massage her temple, where she was sure there would be deep indentations from the gold. What she wouldn't give to be in her Jedi garb once more with just her dark hood resting over her forehead.

"You did perfectly," Padmé assured her, her brown eyes glinting under her own hood as she smiled at her elder sister. "You'll make a fine queen, yet."

Sabé actually rolled her eyes at that, the idea being quite ludicrous to her. She'd had enough of royalty for awhile, that much she knew.

AN: Haha…so I finally updated, whoop-de-doo, that doesn't mean I'm re-obsessed with this fic as of now, just that I wanted to get it off my computer…I'm sure I'll get back into it eventually… but as of now, don't expect too much… and if you guys are Naruto fans, check out Akai Senkou and Through Fire and Wind!

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