My story file has reached 50,000 words and yet a good 10,000 of them are for chapters waaaay down the line... I'm hoping the next chapter won't take too long to finish since I have maybe 2 of the 3 major events already partially written.
Happy Reading!
Chapter 16
The palace had a total of 670 rooms. Of those rooms, there were roughly 98 offices, of which there were 27 that were available for use by the royal family for whatever they wanted. Padme made the arrangements and Sola had absolutely no complaints as the office was arranged so that both sisters could work in the same office. Day by day, Sola felt more relaxed as she was able to push some of her duties onto her younger sister so as to allow herself to focus more on the repairs. The office was set up with both desks pressed directly across from one another, allowing Padme a clear view of her sister as she worked. As her mind would start to spin through option after option to solve one particular problem, the unobscured view allowed Padme to see immediately when her older sister was becoming overwhelmed. In response, she would prompt Sola to talk her through it, and working together, she would help by providing an un-muddled perspective and alternate solutions where she could.
Padme was an absolute blessing for Sola. Her willingness to help, and her unwavering support was exactly what she needed to get through this. As the days went by, more and more it felt as though this crisis would be at an end soon. So grateful was Sola, that she wanted to repay her sister's kindness. And so, on the day that more repairs to the roof of the home were underway, she spent part of her lunch glancing through the old law books in search of a way to repeal the Marriage Laws. She already knew that her sister was looking for options as well, but her position as a princess, meant that there wasn't much that she could do. But Sola was the Queen. While Parliament may have the final say in matters, she could make a motion to exempt her sister from the law as she was not going to hold any sort of political office. Sola smiled as she pulled out a piece of stationary with her seal and letterhead and began writing her official motion request to the Prime Minister.
The clock on the fireplace mantel let out a soft series of chimes as the hour struck. Sola didn't look up from her work while Padme glanced at her phone sitting on her desk. Barely a second had passed since the chiming stopped, then the soft tone of a text message came through to Padme's phone. Sola glanced up and watched as her sister's face lit up as she read the text and began a quick reply."Plans tonight?" Sola asked. She already knew about her sister's nightly calls with her boyfriend. Every day at around 5:00, she would get a text from him. And every day after 9:00, either she would call him, or he would call her. There were of course a few days where none of that happens, mostly the nights when Padme has official engagements that she has to attend. But for the most part, this routine happened every day.
Padme gave a small nod and put her phone away as she began organizing the papers on her desk. "We're… having dinner." She said with a giddy smile. "It took forever to convince Panaka to allow him onto our private communication server so that we could video chat. I was so close to thinking that it wasn't going to happen, that I was tempted to just make a normal Skype account," She laughed.
"I'd bet that's what made Panaka concede," Sola said as she finished up her note and blew air over the ink to make sure it dried before folding the paper in thirds and placing it in a regal red envelope embossed with her coat of arms.
"Probably," Padme agreed as she stood and stretched. "He sent me what he was going to make yesterday so we'd be having the same thing. He wanted it to be like a date."
Sola cocked an eyebrow as she glanced at her sister, "So, you're going to cook it?"
She shook her head, "No, but I passed it along to the chefs so it should come out pretty close to what he's making." She took a look at the clock and smiled before turning back to the desk and taking one of the neat piles of paperwork and carrying it over to the side table on Sola's side. "I finished all the logistical work and made notes on the motions currently in Parliament," She started, splitting the pile into two. "This last pile just requires your signature and then it can be sent back to the Prime Minister."
Sola nodded and pushed her letter to the side as she lifted the corner of the pile up and flipped through the pages. Her sister was as efficient as ever, marking the pages that needed her signature with bright red post-it notes and clipped to the front of each document was her assessment of the pieces with a list of recommendations for her to consider before signing.
Her sister had already moved back to her side of the desk and grabbed her sweater and slipped her heels back on. "I should go now. I still have to get ready for… my date." She said, the words coming out with a bit of excitement.
Sola give a mocking whistle as she waved her sister off before looking back down at the letter she had written and carefully sealed it with a wax seal before placing it in the box that would make its way to the Prime Minister first thing in the morning.
By the time she reached her room, Padme came to find that her room was an absolute mess. Her handmaidens were gathered around in a circle, each one holding an array of clothes from her wardrobe, as they talked amongst themselves. Padme stood in the doorway watching her closest friends as they debated on what she was going to wear on her date. Sabe had picked out a light blue outfit with long flowing sleeves and a v-neck collar. The top ended a few inches below her bust and had a floor-length skirt with embroidery along the waistline. Eirtae had picked out a yellow floral dress with embroidered roses. A corset lay over the pain dress with the same embroidery but featured a yellow lace fabric that lay over it and flowed down the length of her arms. Dorme had picked out the most risqué dress of the bunch with a tight black dress and leather corset and gloves.
Padme shook her head as she watched them and made her way towards the wardrobe. She had already picked out what she was going to wear earlier in the day. If she had known they would make this much of a fuss, she might not have asked them to help in the first place… not that it would have stopped them. Her handmaidens were nothing if not persistent. There were only a few of her clothes left undisturbed, one of which just happened to be the outfit she wanted. The three-piece outfit was much less elaborate than the dresses that her handmaidens were arguing over. She didn't need to wear one of her more fancy outfits. She wanted to look nice, attractive even; but… in a more casual sense and the clothes she had selected were probably one of the best options to achieve that. The three-quarter sleeved deep blue turtle neck had a light purple pattern on it that was barely noticeable and had a second layer in a lighter blue color over top that served as the closure of the top and featured a silver ring closer that clasped the two sides of it together. The top itself was short enough to expose her abdomen and cut up towards the closer at the center of her chest. The bottom half was a pair of simple blue pants with a heavily decorated belt.
A single glance back at the arguing women, left Padme shaking her head as she retreated into her ensuite bathroom to change. She took her time taking down her long brown hair from the loose bun she had worn all day to keep her hair out of her face while she worked and took care to remove the light coating of makeup off her face before stripping out of her simple blouse and skirt. Her fingers traced over the soft light fabric of the turtle neck she was going to put on and smiled as she let her thoughts drift ahead to dinner. She wished he was really here. She wanted so badly for him to visit her or for her to visit him… maybe she could sneak one of the Royal planes to Coruscant next month.
"Hey!"
Padme jumped as the sound of five fists banging on the bathroom door shook her from her thoughts. With a sigh, she began to dress as the muffled voice of Dorme came through the door.
"You alright in there?" Dorme asked as she banged on the door again. "When you're done, we need you to make a final choice on which dress you're wearing. Now, we all know you want to impress the boy, we just need to know how much of a 'come hither' look you want. No, I have the perfect outfit that is ideal for both a romantic dinner, and has a special surprise for dessert."
She heard a squeak from Dorme as was apparently shoved aside by Eirtae who took over speaking. "We also want to do a quick camera check in the dining room before we do your makeup. I arranged the room and lighting fixtures so that they should have a nice balance of light and shadow to emphasize the romance, Yane just needs to see how you look in it so that we can get the right color palettes for the camera."
"I've also made a list a possible excuses to cut things short if you need them," Sabe spoke up.
Padme shook her head as she made the final adjustments the the clasp on her top before she brushed out any lingering knots from her hair. The amount of effort they put into everything they did for her still found ways to surprise her even after all these years. With a shake of her head, she opened the door and came face to face with her four closest friends. Dorme let out a small groan as she waved at her outfit. "Oh, P! I thought you'd want something sexy for your date!" She lamented.
Sabe rolled her eyes, "Your idea of sexy would have her in nothing at all."
Eirtae sighed and shook her head at the others before looking at Padme, "You look great," She said before waving her over to the vanity so that they could do her hair.
After a brief disagreement over doing her hair up, or down, she managed to get her input heard and the women quickly went to work. Sabe and Rabe carefully got to work curling her hair and arranging most of it so that it hung down her back with a few separate locks that fell over her shoulders. Eirtae worked on her makeup, keeping it natural like she preferred, but emphasizing a small wing in her eyeliner and a few smaller details in the rest of her makeup. Dorme assisted with her accessories seeing to picking out a simple silver bracelet and a matching necklace, the latter of which she declined in favor of the small wooden charm that Anakin had carved for her. Padme smiled as she ran the tips of her fingers over the deep etched symbols in the charm. She didn't wear it as often as she would like. Most of her public appearances had hand-picked outfits and accessories and while she did have the option to add or omit the pieces she liked, but knowing the press' obsession with who was wearing what, the last thing she wanted was people trying to copy this very special and personal piece.
Once she was ready, the girls stepped back, allowing Padme to stand and look at herself in the mirror to make the final assessment. She smiled at her reflection as she turned her head from left to right and adjusted one of her curls. Despite how she and her handmaidens might disagree from time to time, never once have they not done as she asked and they have always taken great care to give her the image that she wanted to project to perfection. She gave a final nod of approval before checking the time once again.
"He should call in about fifteen minutes, and then dinner should be up about five minutes after that," Eirtae said as she looked through her timetable on her phone.
Padme nodded in acknowledgement before grabbing her phone and grinning widely as she saw he had texted her the spaghetti and heart emojis. Fifteen minutes. It really wasn't that much longer she'd have to wait.
I was originally going to put the date in this chapter. Buuut I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer for this chapter. Plus I'm on the fence about maybe squeezing some smut into the next chapter. Not exactly sure how to fit that in... but we'll see.
