AN: Thank you to everyone still reviewing!

Chapter 33 - The Queen and the High Ground

It wasn't as if this was the first time that Obi-Wan had thought of his life opening up now that the Order's rule of attachment had lifted.

Siri and he had been discussing it for months as they rekindled their teenage romance, months before her death. Before Bant had been made into a weapon and wielded against them.

Geran still hadn't recovered fully. Adjusting to blindness was difficult enough as it was, losing almost all of his friends and his first Padawan in less than a day of being together was… unspeakably worse.

Obi-Wan had tried to do his best for Garen, but Garen seemed to blame Obi-Wan for saving his own Padawan and for killing Bant.

Hard to argue with him when Obi-Wan felt the same way even if he knew logically that it wasn't his fault.

Standing in the founten square of Naboo surrounded by happy wedding goers, he was finding it hard to chase away the could and would have beens.

Could he and Siri have made it work?

Rey elbowed him, and whispered, "We are at a wedding, not a funeral."

He sighed, and gave her as best a smile as he could muster.

She scowled at him.

His smile must have failed.

Ahsoka grinned up at them both, "He's just jealous it's Palo and not him standing at the altar."

Despite himself, Obi-Wan felt his ears heat and Rey grinned at him wickedly.

Ahsoka spoke with a bit too much insight, "You've missed her since returning to regular assignments."

Rey's laugh was musical, mingling with the happy crowd as they waited for the bride beautifully, waking Obi-Wan up to the sunshine and blue skies about him.

"That is not what I was thinking," he protested.

Rey lowered her voice so only he and Ahsoka could hear, "You realize all you have to do to end this wedding is run to Padme and confess your feelings for her?"

He shook his head, "I do not have feelings for Padme." Though even as he said it, he knew that wasn't the full truth. He didn't feel the same thing for Padme as he did Siri, but he did admire the bright politician that had taken the galaxy by storm.

Yet he had been very careful not to let his feelings go beyond that as he had been acting as her bodyguard for years.

Years in which he began to date Siri.

Rey touched his arm, "Obi-Wan?"

He shook his head, diverting the conversation, he shot back, "You're one to talk about feelings, Rey. Do you think I've not noticed, that Qui-Gon hasn't noticed, that you have not been returning to the Temple most nights?"

Qui-Gon wasn't here today because he was caught up with the Council, acting as Dooku's representative in the Senate as Dooku himself travelled back to Serreno to finalize plans for the construction of a new temple.

The good thing about Serreno was that Dooku was much beloved by his people, and his people had shown every welcome of the promise of a new influx of population. Although it was still being debated how much of the Jedi population was willing to move.

The Jedi Order was not confined to the Knights, though it was the public face of them, the branches of the Jedi Corps were scattered throughout the galaxy.

How deep the break between the Republic and the Jedi would likely be the deciding factor.

Rey raised her chin, "I have nothing to hide."

Ahsoka giggled.

Rey smiled at his Padawan, giving her a wink, "Unlike Padme, I'm already happily mated."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, "Maul suits you, I don't think you could be in a normal relationship."

"I am in a normal relationship," she countered, completely unaware that he was teasing her. "I respect him, he respects me."

Ahsoka was grinning, "Is all of him tattooed?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, "Rey, please don't answer that, I don't want to know."

Rey opened her mouth, her hazel eyes sparkling with mischief but he was spared her answer as the music started up and the crowd was hushed into awed silence as Padme walked down a path in an ornate dress of fluttering white.

She was beautiful, the dress was beautiful, and she was almost lost to the scenery, as if she were the walking, breathing heart of Naboo rather than a mortal woman.

She was in that breath a captured star brought down to sparkle on the surface.

As she walked down the path strewn with flowers, Obi-Wan lost focus of everyone and everything around him.

And for a brief moment, her honeyed eyes caught his blue ones, and in that moment, the Force showed him what might have been, what could have been between them.

What made Padme Amidala beautiful was not her personage, but who she was, the ruthless compassion that drove her.

She was the type of person to sacrifice every personal happiness to serve her people.

They were kindred spirits, and finally seeing that, seeing what Rey, Qui-Gon, Ahsoka, and even Dooku had been pushing him to see for years, that he and Padme were good for each other.

That the type of life and love that could have existed between them was rare and remarkable.

Or it could have been.

Obi-Wan smiled at Padme, his heart aching even as he bowed his head to her and silently wished her every happiness in the galaxy.

The moment between them passed, and Padme's gaze focused on her groom, the excitement of any new bride lighting her face.

Everyone stood for a Nubian wedding, once the vows were exchanged and the new couple formally united, the crowd would break into dancing. The groom and bride would be spun away into the chaos of loved ones until they found each other again in the music.

Obi-Wan couldn't stop smiling as Padme went first.

All Nubians were trained in some form of art, Padme had been a poet before becoming Queen.

Poetry was not as cherished on Naboo as painting was, but as Padme spoke words of love and elegance, she held the entire party riveted.

She was a wordsmith of the highest order.

Palo wasn't as elegant, but perhaps his fumbling words were more sincere, his adoration of Padme was painfully clear on his fair face.

But Palo never got to finish his stumbling ballade, because a lightsaber wielding cyborg popped out of a giant flower pot with a coughing cackle.

Along with another few hundred droids that had been hidden in tables and fountains.

Pandemonium broke out through the crowd as the finely dressed party goers were shot down, people tripping over long hems as they attempted to scatter.

An ambush.

Obi-Wan, Rey, and Ahsoka ran toward the danger.

Palo had thrown himself on Padme.

Padme herself had somehow managed to wrestle one of the blasters from the nearest droids and was shooting prone on the ground even as Palo covered her vitals.

Obi-Wan caught the self proclaimed General Grievous's sabers with his own before he could kill the bride who had yet to finish her vows.

"Hello there," Obi-Wan greeted with a smile despite his inner fury.

Grievous snarled at him, "Jedi scum."

Ahsoka got Padme and Palo to their feet and Rey told Ahsoka to get them to safety.

Grievous tried to pursue them, but Obi-Wan got in the way.

This foul thing that had killed not one but three Council members.

Rey began running around the park, cutting through droids as if they were grass. She was moving at top speeds, but even she had to work around and over the crowds. The droids were shooting people down like fish in a bucket and the ceremonial guard were doing their best to get people up and away.

But the droids were sorely outmatched.

Just because Padme's bodyguards had been disbanded since she had stepped down as Queen, did not mean they had let their training go.

Between Rey and Padme's handmaidens, the droid attack was half destroyed as Obi-Wan engaged Grievous in a duel.

"What do you want with Senator Padme Amidala?" Obi-Wan asked.

Four sabers pressed down on him, and he recognized three as the ones that hadn't been recovered from the fallen Council members.

Obi-Wan had to work to channel his emotions into the Force.

"Her death," the cyborg growled.

"Why?" he asked, realizing how the cyborg had managed to kill three Council members.

Obi-Wan would have sworn this thing wasn't a Force sensitive, and yet he seemed to have mastered almost all the forms of lightsaber duelling.

Well, all the forms except Form VIII and Vapaad.

And even as they clashed blades, this thing was trying to mimic Obi-Wan's Form, unfortunately for the Separatist General, Shono-Mii wasn't a Form one could master without being able to access the Force.

It was Grievous's trying that lost him two limbs trying to follow Obi-Wan's style.

"Who are you?" the thing growled, its yellow slitted eyes narrowing.

"Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," Rey called from a few yards away as she sliced through more droids.

Obi-Wan caught another one of the cyborg's limbs and he screamed, "Kenobi!"

Obi-Wan had to flit backwards as Grievous attacked him full tilt with Form VII.

Aside from the dead, the plaza was empty, Rey and the handmaidens having won against the droids in record time.

Obi-Wan wasn't losing but even with one limb, this creature fought differently than anything else he had ever faced before. He was almost spider like, yet he switched between being bipedal and crawling. It made it hard to anticipate what he would do even if he was missing three hand appendages now.

"Rey, a little help?" he called.

He caught a glimpse of her settling on the rim of a fountain, "I think you got it."

"Brat!" he called back to her as he danced out of the way of Grievous's strikes.

Obi-Wan probably did have this but the problem with both Shono-Mii and Soresu was them being primarily defensive forms which meant it could take a while to wait your opponent out, and this hacking creature showed no signs of slowing.

Obi-Wan managed to catch one of his back plates, revealing the thing's fleshy insides.

Grievous snarled, before his eyes went wide as blaster fire caught him. He looked down at his middle that was glowing and expanding. His organic innards were turning orange with redistributed energy under the metal casing seconds before-

Rey was at Obi-Wan's side, pulling him with her as they threw themselves on the ground and the cyborg exploded.

Looking over their shoulders, they saw the carnage that Grievous had become a part of. Obi-Wan's gaze went further up to where the shot had come from.

Even from a distance, he could perceive Padme's face hard with anger, her blaster still pointed.

Obi-Wan almost smiled, Padme Amidala was like that, always saving her bodyguards where the opportunity presented itself.

And where the opportunity didn't present itself, she still found a way.

Like being rescued from her own wedding only to find a balcony to snipe her enemies from at a nice defendable position.

She was always taking the high ground.

Rey and Ahsoka were with Padme in her dressing room, along with her handmaidens, as they all helped her out of the monstrosity that was her gown.

"This is what you were wearing for your wedding night?" Rey grossed, thinking that Maul would have shredded it with his lightsaber.

Sache sniggered, "No, we were going to help her change into something meant only for a private audience before going to their villa. This was just for the party."

Ahsoka shook her head, her Padawan beads swishing with the movement, "I don't know how you move in this thing."

Padme was silent as she stared blankly into the mirror.

Ahsoka laid a hand on her shoulder, "Padme?"

Padme blinked fast, looking up at Ahsoka in the mirror, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Are you okay?" Sabe asked.

Padme shook her head, "Palo's mother is dead and my sister is being seen in medical."

"It was just a graze on Sola's arm," Dorme consoled, "She will be right as rain in no time at all."

"But my mother-in-law is dead, this was supposed to be a joyous day."

All the handmaidens exchanged looks.

Sabe began unbraiding Padme's hair in the silence.

Padme glared at them all, "This is a tragedy."

"What happened to Palo's mother, of course," Sache agreed. "But you didn't give us the opportunity to speak to you about this wedding before you rushed into it. What happened today is a tragedy, but it also gives you the opportunity to reconsider this union before you tie your life to his forever."

A few others had passed, but luckily no one else close to Padme.

Padme turned to glare at Sache, "And these people's deaths and injuries happened because of me. General Grievous wanted me dead and it's my fault the wedding was destroyed."

"Why didn't they try sniping you like you killed Grievous?" Ahsoka asked.

"Padme is a political figure," Rey explained, "There was enough security at this wedding that they would have been cut down long before they got to the plaza. Attacking in the middle of the crowd like that prevented the guard from acting swiftly without firing on the party goers as well. Essentially, they used the crowd as cover."

Sabe nodded, "They must have been hiding for a day or two for no one to have noticed them in the decorations."

Rey agreed, "And their make was different from the standard droids, or at least the ones I fought when I first came here with Obi-Wan and Master Jinn. These were smaller and they were jointed differently."

Sache sighed, "If it had been a smaller wedding like you had wanted, Padme, then it wouldn't have been possible. Honestly, that flower pot was as large as a pool."

Sabe almost growled, "But no, you let Palo have his public spectacle, like marrying the finest Queen and Senator of Naboo wouldn't have been enough public attention, he had to invite it into the ceremony."

Padme was still glaring at her handmaidens, "Why are you lot happy my wedding turned into a battle ground? People died today."

"We are not happy you were attacked or that people died today," Dorme said gently.

"But we are glad you aren't marrying Palo," Sabe said without remorse.

Padme looked taken aback, "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"He isn't Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," Sache said kindly.

Rey had to bite back a laugh, so it wasn't just Obi-Wan's nearest and dearest that had noticed.

Padme looked enraged, but Dorme said softly, "When you walked into the plaza today, your eyes searched and found Obi-Wan's before Palo."

"You speak of Palo like he's a trophy husband only if people ask you about him, but you speak about Obi-Wan all the time," Sache said.

"And Obi-Wan can actually keep up with you," Sabe said.

Padme shook her head and she turned to Rey, "Do you hate Palo too?"

Rey shook her head, "I don't hate Palo, I don't know him."

Padme scowled at her, "But what do you think of all this?"

Ahsoka crossed her arms, "Obi-Wan is the better man and person."

Sabe grinned, "See?"

Padme was unmoved, "Rey, what do you think?"

Rey sighed, and sat down across from the woman who had yet to complete her vows, and took her hand. "I've known you for a long time, and I know you're ready to be married, Padme. I know that you envy your sister, Sola for being able to start a family while you've set aside your life to help your people. But do you love Palo?"

"I can see building a life with him," Padme said firmly.

Sabe sat down beside Rey, taking Padme's other hand, "But do you love him?"

"I'm going to marry him," Padme snapped, "Isn't the answer obvious?"

Sabe tightened her grip, "The only thing obvious is that you are ready for a life change. Palo is the easy choice, he loves you."

Padme smiled, "Then why are you telling me not to marry him?"

"Because," Sabe said, "Just because he loves you doesn't mean he understands you. And maybe you do need a life change, but are you really ready to settle down to a mundane life?"

"Of course I am."

"Then why did you double back in a heavy wedding dress to snipe a terrorist from the balcony when we had it covered?" Ahsoka asked.

"Was it because you couldn't not fight, or because Obi-Wan was in danger?" Rey asked.

Padme looked down at their hands, "Both."

With her free hand, Sabe gently lifted Padme's face with touch beneath her chin, "You want a family of your own, but are you really ready to retire as Senator, from all the boards?"

"I want to return to Naboo," she said firmly.

Sabe smiled, "And leave the political arena behind you?"

Padme nodded.

"Liar," Sabe said with a smile, "It isn't even fully your choice to retire. Naboo voted to leave the Republic, our planet will be completely independent and with it our entire government structure is changing."

"I will not go through the queen elections again. Popular rule is not democracy, it gives people what they want not what they need."

"But we are starting over and we will no longer have a Senator position, which isn't exactly an elected position either. We will be more like Mandalore with the royal family, or at least a strongly liked nobility that will have laws in place to remove them if necessary while having an elected Prime Minister. You could run for either position."

"Oh, please run for queen again, though," Sache said, "I thought I would enjoy a life not being your bodyguard but I've been… incomplete."

"You didn't want to leave Naboo," Padme said.

"I will not have to if you run for Queen again."

"And give up my freedom again?" she countered.

Sabe shook her head, "You will be older, we all will be, and the office is changing, the rules will have to be different and you can set your own boundaries this time. You never stopped working with Panaka."

Padme bit her lip, "Palo wouldn't be comfortable being Prince Consort and he isn't politically minded enough to run for Prime Minister like the situation Senator Bail and Queen Breha Organa have."

"Obi-Wan wouldn't mind being Prince Consort to your Queen," Ahsoka said in a sing-song voice.

Padme gave her a half smile, "But I've already made my choices. I'm stepping down as Senator. I'm going to start a family."

"With the wrong man," Sabe stated.

"Palo-"

"Palo will make you choose between family and your life."

"Obi-Wan is a Jedi, even if we did get together, he wouldn't be around most of the time."

They all looked at her.

"What?" she asked, affronted.

Dorme spoke, "Padme, you don't want a man around all the time."

"You kind of hate people sometimes," Ahsoka noted.

"No, I don't," Padme snapped.

"It's alright to want your personal space sometimes," Rey said, "I know I do."

Padme shook her head pulling her hands free, "Palo was my choice."

Sabe looked at her, "But is he who you really want, who you burn for? Is he the man you love?"

To this, Padme would not answer them.

AN: Please, reactions, ideas, or thoughts?