"aaaa" - talking through a holocomunicator or comlink. aaaa - inner thoughts and Force Visions. 'aaaa' - talking through a bond.
AN: Thank you princesselsaamidala22 for your review of the last chapter.
To answer your question, yes, Rosella is Qui-Gon's granddaughter. If you go back to Chapter 3 of A New Padawan's Journey and read the AN that I have before the chapter begins, you will see that I have said that even though Shmi is still alive, the form that she signed basically gave Qui-Gon her permission to formally become Anakin's legal guardian. Anakin knows this and has been treating him like family ever since the beginning of my version of Attack of the Clones. (Even though I've never shown it)
Also, the teaser trailer for the Kenobi series has just dropped on Youtube and I am so hyped for the series! Not only did we get to see some live-action versions of the Inquisitors who have appeared in Rebels, but we also got a glimpse of Ewan McGregor as an older-looking Obi-Wan and Joel Edgerton as Uncle Owen.
I got the inspiration for this chapter from a tumblr prompt by the user dettiot. The prompt doesn't have a title, so if you want to find it, go on google and search for Ahsoka, Padmè, interview, senate and tumblr. It should be the first link that pops up.
While Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are off on another mission, Rosella has an interview assignment to complete, one that Senator Padmè Amidala is more than happy to help her with.
I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 14: Interviewing a Senator
As the speeder that she was riding in pulled up in front of the Senate Executive Building, Rosella turned and looked at Qui-Gon, who had volunteered to drop her off since Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had been tasked with figuring out what had happened to one of their missing medical stations that had been orbiting the planet of Felucia.
"Thanks for bringing me here, Master Jinn," she said as she got out and closed the passenger side door, knowing that she couldn't call him her grandfather in public. That was reserved for moments that she spent with Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padmè and Qui-Gon. "I'll call you when I'm finished with my assignment."
Qui-Gon, who didn't have anything to do until that afternoon, nodded and then pulled away, turning the speeder around as he headed in the direction of the Jedi Temple.
The teenager watched the sky until she couldn't see the speeder, then turned around and got her first glance at the place. The first thing that she noticed as she entered was that it was big. Really, really big. She grew a little nervous as she saw all the people who were walking around and tightly clutched her datapad, the one with the worksheet loaded on it, in her hands so she wouldn't lose it. She felt the hard plastic dig into her palms as she tried to remember where to go.
Even though she knew that her mother had given her directions to get to her office, she forgot all about them the moment she stepped foot in the building. Taking a deep breath, Rosella chased away her nervous feelings and calmed down. Since she had been needed on the front lines after Bane's break-in at the Temple, the young padawan had missed a few of her Political Studies classes. But she had been able to catch up quickly since Tabitha, who was one of her former roommates, was in the class as well and she had been able to borrow her notes and use them to help with her homework.
As she began to make her way through the long winding corridors to the floor where Padmè's office was located, she knew that everything would be fine and that her meeting would be fine. It was just a simple little interview, one that would take up fifteen minutes of the Senator's time. Then she would head back to the Temple and sit down to write her notes into something that was more appropriate for her teacher to read.
When she finally reached the Senator's office, Rosella saw a small panel on the left side of the door. She reached out and pressed one of the buttons, letting Padmè know that she had a visitor. She heard the chime sound through the room and not a moment later, a voice told her to come in. She took a step towards the door, allowing it to open. Once she stepped through it and let it close behind her, the young padawan took a moment to look around the room.
To her right, she saw a small sitting area that contained two chairs and a table in front of them. Across from them was an overstuffed sofa. On her left was a small, but long table that contained a plant, a small bowl, a statue that looked like a leaf, a vase and a pitcher. Above the table was a framed photo of Varykino, which was to be their home when the war was over. Beside the table, she saw a door. While she didn't know what was on the other side, she assumed it was either a small refresher or a closet.
Glancing in front of her, the teenager smiled as she saw the person whom she had come to see. Padmè Amidala, who was the Senator of Naboo, was sitting at her desk. She was busy typing away on the keyboard that was positioned below her desk, which meant that she was working on something important for an upcoming Senate meeting. "Senator?" She asked, walking towards her desk. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important that you're working on."
Padmè looked away from her screen. "Padawan Ngaire," she said in a pleasant tone as she saved her work, then stood up and walked around her desk. "No, you aren't interrupting anything." Then she gestured to the seats that were on her left. "Please, have a seat so you can tell me more about your assignment."
Rosella took a seat on the sofa, watching as her mother sat down beside her, with her back straight and her elaborate dress perfectly arranged around her on the couch. Once the teenager was ready, she switched her datapad on and brought up the worksheet that she was going to use to take notes. "Well, my teacher wants our class to learn more about how the Senate works," she said. "The topic for my assignment is what a Senator's role is in the Galactic Senate."
Padmè nodded. "I could probably go on for hours on that topic alone," she replied. "But we don't have a lot of time for our meeting, so I would like to know what you are most interested in learning about."
"I guess what I'm most interested to learn about is how you form a consensus with so many different Senators who have their own opinions and are here from all over the galaxy," Rosella said.
"That perhaps is the most difficult part," she replied. "There are over two-thousand people here, some of whom are elected to the position of Senator. Others are appointed by their planet's ruler. Then you have the federations and guilds who have their own representatives in the Senate. There are also those who aren't Senators but representatives for their homeworlds. Each of us has our own cultures, opinions, customs and more. Most of the Senators and Representatives who are here are representing sectors, systems or even individual planets. Once you add in the history of disputes and conflicts between the various factions and representatives, then you begin to see why it takes so long for us to find common ground and get any action done."
"So, how do you manage to do it?" Rosella asked as she finished writing her notes on what Padmè had told her. "Find that common ground?"
Padmè opened her mouth to answer, then closed it, having to think about what she was going to say in response to Rosella's question. "In my personal opinion, I think it's a matter of remembering our common values as members of the Republic. Why we came together in the first place. Peace, freedom, justice – they're the bedrock of our government and way of life. Once we lose sight of those three things, then the Republic will truly be lost," she responded.
There was something in her words that made a chill run down Rosella's spine as she took in what the Senator told her. As she continued to write her notes, she reached out with the Force and got the sense that her mother was wondering if the Senate had forgotten those ideals.
"That must make it really hard to find consensus," Rosella quietly said.
The woman nodded and then softly sighed. "You know that I am against this current war", she said. "I have not hidden that from you. But what I am a little proud of is the fact that it has forced the Senate to come together and stand with each other. I can only hope that our unity can be turned towards diplomacy, to ending this war quickly and allowing us to welcome back those systems to fell away from the Republic and joined the Separatists."
The young teenager nodded and jotted down some more notes. Once she was finished, she glanced up at the Senator. "I hope that comes to fruition soon," she said.
"Have I given you enough information to work with?" Padmè asked. "If it would help, I would be happy to give you some information on the Senate's workflow - like some schedules of our sessions and what the various senatorial committees do."
"I think so," Rosella said, a small smile appearing on her face. "That would be very helpful. I'm glad that you were able to help me with my assignment, Senator."
"It's my pleasure Rosella," Padmè told her as she got up off the couch. She walked over to her desk and picked up one of her datapads.
Within a few moments, the datapad that Rosella held in her hands beeped to signal that the files had arrived. The teenager tapped her screen, making sure to save her notes. Then she checked her messages. Once she saw the message from Padmè, she smiled, tapped her screen, switched off the datapad and stood up. "Thank you for taking time out of your day to meet with me," she said.
Padmè turned around and smiled. "You're welcome," she said. "Are you heading back to the Temple?"
Rosella nodded and took out a comlink from her belt. "Yup. I need to get started on this since it's due tomorrow, plus I need to call Grandpa since he's the one who dropped me off this morning."
"I don't mind if you wait here until Qui-Gon comes to get you," Padmè told her as she placed the datapad down and walked around her desk.
"Really?" Rosella asked.
Padmè nodded as she got back to work.
The teenager smiled, activated the device and put in Qui-Gon's frequency, waiting until he picked up. Once she told him that she would be waiting in the Senator's office, he agreed to meet her there and hung up. Rosella put away the device and came over to Padmè's desk. Sitting in one of the chairs in front, she switched her datapad back on and reviewed her notes until Qui-Gon arrived and they left to head back to the Temple.
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After they arrived in one of the smaller hanger bays and got out of the speeder, Rosella headed back to her shared apartment while Qui-Gon headed off to the Council chambers since he had a meeting with the other members.
Once she had a snack and was seated at the dining table with her datapad in front of her, she switched it on and got to work, making sure to translate the notes that she had taken while talking to Padmè into a well-written report that her teacher would love. By the time she had finished writing everything down, she saved a copy of the work that she had done and sent the finished paper off to her teacher. Then she got up, returned her datapad to her room and came back into the living room. Heading over to the couch, she flopped onto the couch and turned on the holonet, flipping through the channels until she found a show that she liked.
