Title: Interesting History Lesson
Characters/Pairing: Bail, Sabé, Leia
A/N: This is in the same universe as my oneshot Too Late to Say Goodbye.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.
"You know, in the old days a Nabooan handmaiden was to commit ritual suicide if her mistress was murdered and she failed to protect her."
This comes cleanly out of the blue and thus it takes a moment for Bail to register. Frankly, Sabé doesn't start random conversations all that often and she doesn't start off on tangents. Especially not within earshot of young Leia, who is currently playing in the garden.
When Bail does register what she just said, a cold weight settles in his stomach and he looks at the woman who sits beside him on the bench. "That's… interesting."
"Yes." Sabé's tone is unbearably nonchalant. She shields her eyes against the blazing afternoon sun; a thin sheen of perspiration forms on her high forehead. "They would usually gather their clothes away from their belly and disembowel themselves with a short sword. If they didn't want to do that, there was an herb they could take that would cause heart failure in five minutes… after they spent those five minutes in convulsions, of course."
"Of course," Bail echoes. Considering what happened to Padmé five years ago, he really doesn't like where this is going.
The silence is overwhelming for a moment and the heat angrily buzzes in Bail's ears. After a while, he looks at Sabé and, decidedly apprehensive, says, "And you…"
A sharp, bitter laugh cuts the air in two. "No need to fret, Senator. The practice fell out of common use three hundred years ago—then again, I think it may have been four hundred; I'm not quite sure. Something about it being inhumane and that a handmaiden still had a use as a bodyguard even after her mistress was dead." Her eyes cloud over. "I have no use for suicide, Senator; I have a charge to look after.
"In the old days, a handmaiden was bonded to her mistress for life. She never married, never had children and never left her mistress's service. When her mistress died, whatever the cause, she was expected to die with her, if not by suicide—" Sabé smoothes down her skirt "—then by being sealed up in her tomb with her. From there, it was either starvation or suicide."
"Oh." Bail isn't entirely sure what to say to this; he knew Sabé was a morbid woman, but really, and where Leia could possibly hear her too. "What an interesting history lesson," he finally manages, not looking at Sabé.
Sabé stands and smirks slightly. "Yes, I suppose it was." Then, at Leia's insistent urging, she steps out into the sun to join her, her black skirt billowing in the breeze.