Chapter 15

"I swear my mom is a witch," Anakin groaned as he spoke with Padme late at night. They had been talking almost every day for the past two weeks. It was nothing compared to actually seeing him, but for the moment this was the best they could do.

"What did you tell her?" She asked.

"Nothing! I show up for dinner with her and her… boyfriend, and she just asks 'who is she?'" Padme shook her head as she twirled a pen in her fingers and glanced back down at the remarks she was going to give at an art exhibition later in the week. She should be working on it… but this was much more interesting.

"Well, you had to have done something to give it away."

"I swear I didn't," He said. "I am very careful."

She rolled her eyes. Where he thought he was a master of keeping secrets, he really wasn't. She'd known from the moment she met him that he wore his heart on his sleeve. "And after that, did you say anything?"

He sighed, "Well… I can't really keep too much from her. She's my mom," He said. "I didn't tell her who you were though. Just… that you're the most amazing woman I've ever met."

She laughed, "You didn't say that."

"Well, maybe not in those words exactly but… that's basically it."

Padme shook her head, "You're sweet."

"And you're stunning," He said, his voice low and filled with so much certainty that it made her blush.

There was a light knock on her door and she turned to see her mother just as she stepped through the threshold, her hands were folded in front of her as she gave her a small smile, patiently waiting for her to end her call.

"Um, hey, I'll call you back in a bit, okay?" Padme said, whispering a quick "I love you," Before hanging up.

Her mother slowly approached and took a seat on the end of her bed. "How is he?" She asked.

Padme gave a shrug, "He's fine. He visited his mother today."

Her mother nodded slowly, "That's nice." She smiled for a moment before growing dower as she looked at her. Her eyes were focused and scrutinizing as they sought the words for why she was here. "Padme, dear." She started, "I know you've been looking for… permanent options regarding your relationship," She said. "And while as your mother, I only want your happiness, as a queen, I must question if you are moving too fast."

Padme frowned as she glanced away from her and turned back to her desk. In the back corner sat a short stack of books with scraps of paper sticking out from between the pages. The books of law she had borrowed from the family library that were in regards to royal protocol and marriages. There were not many cases that had any similarity to the modern concept of dating. The closest she could find was way back in the 16th century when the younger prince was betrothed to a young noble but broke the engagement once his elder brother became king so that he could marry his favorite mistress. The similarity was… barely there, but it was the closest she could find to her current situation. As the second born, the stakes regarding her relationships and future marriage were so small that they really didn't matter in the grander scheme of the family. If perhaps she could convince even a single member of parliament, then maybe her relationship with Anakin could be public. Whether it would last or not, was another thing all together.

"Padme…" Her mother continued, "I know this boy means a lot to you. I only caution you to take your time with it, and not to become obsessed with making it work when there are bigger things to worry about."

"What do you mean?" She asked, turning back to meet her gaze. It was then that she noticed the slight worrying of her hands, a small tell that something was wrong.

Her mother gave a sad smile, "Your sister thinks she is good at keeping secrets. But secrets in this family seldom stay secrets," She said. "Sola is trying to step up to the role that she must fill. And while I believe she will do well, I don't want to embarrass her or make her feel like she can't do the job. But it is clear to me that she does need help. She needs your help." Padme was silent for a moment as she took in what she was being told. While she was unsure what the problem was exactly, the tone of her mother's voice and the severity laced in her words, told her it was something big. Her mother smiled as if having read her thoughts and rose from her seat on the bed. "Your sister is in her study." She said before leaving without another word.


Bad news, more bad news, and even more bad news seemed to be a daily occurrence for Sola these days. While the rumors were mostly contained in the tabloid articles and not yet in the major news networks, the fact that there were even stories about it were concerning and they were not going away. Stories about toxic sewage leaking into the children's home, or the lair of some child sex criminal were spread sporadically in the tabloids and while most of them were far from the truth, the attention on the home was not ideal as she worked to repair the situation. Thus far, the repairs were quite minimal compared with what she was hoping for. A blacktop play area was constructed in order to serve as a guise for implementing a way to strengthen the building's foundation with cement. She had also rolled out a clean energy initiative so that she could have some one go in and fix the electrical problems. But all that was only the surface of all the problems that were reported and her solutions were no where near sufficient to trust it will be okay.

Sola bowed her head in her hands as she looked at the documents in front of her. Mixed into the files on the children's home were other files that were a part of her normal day-to-day responsibilities. It was overwhelming. She spent so much time worrying about her project that the only time she really had a chance to look at anything else was right before she crashed from exhaustion. From sunrise to well after sunset, she was working. She barely paid much mind to anything else and could not even remember what or when she last ate. She knew she was eating, her handmaidens made sure of it. She just… couldn't remember any of it with her mind so focused on everything else.

The door to her office clicked open but Sola didn't bother to look up, "I said not to bother me unless it's important," She said.

"It is important," Padme said. As she glanced up at her younger sister, she picked up on the worried look in her eye as she took in the state of the room. She knew the desk was a mess, and she knew that there were open books throughout the room as well as a now cold pot of tea with the remains of lunch on the tray. It wasn't like her to have things like this. While she freely admitted she wasn't a very organized person, she never let things get this bad. Padme brought her eyes to her sister's. "What is going on?" She asked.

Sola gave a small shrug, "Nothing much. Just… daily paperwork," She lied, forcing a smile to her lips. She didn't want to worry her sister. She didn't need Padme getting involved when she had her own responsibilities to focus on.

Padme shook her head, "This… isn't just your normal workload," She said, not falling for her lie for even a second as she walked behind the desk towards her. Sola hunched forward, leaning down over the main file in front of her so that she couldn't see it. But Padme was fast, and saw it. Lunging for it, Sola tried to push it out of her reach, but was not quick enough as her sister grabbed it and pulled it out of her reach.

"Hey! That's classified!" She argued, rising and quickly following her sister around the room as Padme glanced over it. "Give it back!"

Her younger sister abruptly stopped and Sola ran into her back just as her sister turned to look at her, her brown eyes wide in shock. Sola took the chance and grabbed the file back. "The children's home is condemned?"

"No!"

"Well why isn't it?"

"I'm working on it!" Sola argued, taking a seat behind the desk once more as she slammed the file back on top of the pile of paper and books that littered her desk.

Padme took the seat opposite her and leaned forward. "There are children inside," she said. "Children. How can you let them stay there—"

"I'm doing everything I can," Sola said. "Do you think I want them in danger? I don't. But I also want them to be able to trust me. How can they trust me if I can't give them a place that is safe?" She took a breath as she leaned back in her chair and rested her head in her hand. "I am making it safe. To the best of my ability." Padme shook her head. Sola knew her sister didn't agree with her. She knew that she would rather they move everyone out and take the blows that come. But all that was easy to say for the person without a spotted history with the news.

"If it isn't safe, you have to get them out of there. If you wait any longer—"

"I am aware of the danger," Sola said. "I am also aware of how long we potentially have before things fall apart." She took a slow breath and shook her head. "I am working as hard as I can to fix this before that happens. But if time runs out, then I will take the hit." Her sister didn't seem to agree, but she decided against arguing as she had already made her position clear.

Padme looked across the papers on the desk and picked up a small pile of them. She sifted through them, her eyes scanning them quickly before setting them back down on the desk and looking up to meet hers. "What do you need me to do?" She asked.