The Imperial senate was much the same as the Old Republic's senate. Despite the events surrounding the Emperor's rise to power some ten years before, there had been no real change in the senate's power-or pitfalls-from over a decade before. As their speeders began to taxi for a landing on the High Chancellor's private landing pad, Leia shifted out of her lap belt to peer out the window.
"Leia, sit down please." Sabe prompted. Luke was trying to do the same, and she touched his knee gently. "You too."
"I cannot imagine that you would be that excited to see the outside of the senate building." Amidala teased, and Leia giggled. Luke looked stoic.
"I can't wait to see the inside!" Leia bubbled.
"I can." Luke muttered.
"How are you feeling, milady?" Sabe asked, and Amidala smiled.
"Well enough. I feel stronger every moment." She said softly.
The speeders touched down, and somewhere outside, the security forces moved to secure the site. When Typho was certain that all was well, he opened the door to their speeder himself and helped first Luke, then Leia out. The children stood quietly side by side, smiling at the Holonet news cameras. Countless throngs of reporters and cameras were lining the far side of the platform in the press section. They shouted to the children, and Leia mugged it up, curtseying angelically and waving to the media. Luke rolled his eyes.
"I don't know how you can stand that." Luke told her through gritted teeth.
"Oh, I don't know." Leia said airily. "I kind of like it."
"You would." Luke shifted to cross his arms.
"What's the matter with you?" Leia asked quietly.
"Nothing."
"All right, you two." Sabe cautioned. "We're coming out. Big smiles, please."
Sabe stepped from the speeder, and offered Amidala her hand. Typho, too, offered the High Chancellor his hand and they helped her down the steps.
"Are you all right?" Sabe asked quietly.
"Yes," Amidala sounded breathless but looked game, "let's go."
Luke stepped forward and offered his elbow to his mother. Amidala smiled, and slowly shifted away from Typho to take her son's arm. "Thank you, Luke."
"You're welcome, mama."
Luke held his head up proudly as he helped his mother toward the entrance of the senate rotunda. Sabe took Leia's hand and squeezed it gently. The reporters were shouting at them, asking the High Chancellor's health; about the children's presence, and the ever increasing acts of violence perpetuated by the rebellion. Luke ignored them all as he guided his mother into the relative silence of the senate hall.
Luke had been within the halls of the senate but twice in his life. He clung to his mother's hand as she subtly guided him to the left, then the right, and the left again as she made her way to the center of the hall. Their small party of Imperial troops and security forces funneled them through the crowds of senators and foreign dignitaries that stood, watching them wordlessly.
"Mama?" Leia asked from somewhere in the throng.
"Yes, Leia?" she asked absently. Lifting a small hand, she pointed quietly to the service lift that would take them to the platform. Luke nodded, and helped her along.
"Can Luke and I come sit with you?" she asked.
"I don't see why not." Amidala paused for a moment to smile at her children. "But you must remain quiet at all times."
"Yes, mama." Both children chorused. As they made their way up to the service platform, Luke came to a standstill. He craned his head back, closing his eyes. Sabe touched the back of his head gently, and knelt before him. His eyes opened, unseeing for a moment, and then the boy seemed to come back to himself.
"Luke? Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine." He whispered mutely. "I.." he blinked rapidly, his mouth worked reflexively. "The Emperor is here."
"How do you know—" Sabe started to ask, but the boy was quickly moving beyond her grasp.
"I can feel his presence. I can't explain it." Luke mumbled. His pace quickened, his legs carrying him up the steps and out of sight. Leia stared after her brother in shock before silently taking Sabe's hand and joining her mother as the lift made its way to the senate floor.
"Mama?" Leia asked softly. "Are you scared to be in front of so many people?"
"No, sweetheart."Amidala was preoccupied. She, too, had seen Luke's hurried ascent to the senate floor and she seemed as bewildered as the rest of them. As they reached the surface, she could see Luke bowing low before the Emperor. Mimicking him, Amidala curtseyed before him.
"Rise, my dear friend." The Emperor ordered. He offered his hand to the High Chancellor, who kissed it fondly. "I am glad to see you are well."
"I owe my health to you, your majesty." She told him warmly.
"My lord?" Luke asked quietly. "May I ask a question?"
"Of course, boy."
Amidala was eyeing her son firmly. She had cautioned him repeatedly that the Emperor was a very busy man, and had no time for children. Sabe felt her heart leap into her throat. Luke had been acting very strangely where the Emperor was concerned. Between Luke's inexplicable behavior and the gifting of a lightsaber, Sabe feared what might come next.
"May I sit with you, if I am silent? I wish to learn more of the Empire's politics."
"Of course, boy." The Emperor made to take a seat with the members of his Imperial guard and he allowed the boy to sit beside him. Sabe kept a firm hold on Leia's hand as she guided them both to sit along an adjacent row of benches. Amidala's gaze lingered on Luke for a long moment before she turned to face the ever-present cameras of the Holonet.
"Good morning to you all." Amidala gripped the edges of her podium as she spoke. "I have come before you to decide on a course that will destroy the rebels once and for all."
The Holonet was as much of a mill for political propaganda as it had ever been. At least some things never changed, Obi-Wan mused. He half-watched the panels that ran the length of the spaceport boarding area as he slowly walked along. The High Chancellor herself was present for the re-opening of the Imperial Senate, as was the Emperor. The Holonet commentator was droning on in the background on how auspicious it was that the Emperor himself would grace the senate with his presence.
The High Chancellor was gripping the podium with both small hands. She was speaking in the formal, stilted tones that Obi-Wan knew so well. She was requesting the support of the senate in sanctioning Imperial forces to roust the rebels from all corners of the galaxy. You cannot repress the desire to be free, my lady, Obi-Wan thought darkly. You of all people should remember that. Frowning, he shook his head slightly as he shifted the handle of his bag from one hand to the other, taking care to flex and shake out his fingers as though he had a cramp. It paid to be cautious. One never knew who might be watching.
There was a reason Obi-Wan Kenobi had never taken to politics. As a younger man, he'd harbored a strong dislike for all politicians. Were it not for his own situation as an outlawed and vaunted Jedi, he might have found some perverse humor in Palpatine's deception and his rise to power some ten years earlier. The man had played the entire galaxy and maneuvered himself into position as Emperor. He had systemically plotted against the peoples of the Old Republic, manipulating countless leaders and star systems into aiding his rise to power. He had ordered the invasion of his own homeworld, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Gungans and sacrificed his own people to gain the chair of the Supreme Chancellor. He had orchestrated the cloning of troops on Kamino, moved his troops throughout the galaxy to put down the rebelling Separatists—who had been in reality the only systems who might have been able to stop his bid for power. He had orchestrated his own kidnapping to gain sympathy, sacrificed his own apprentice in his bid for another--.
Obi-Wan sighed softly as he neared a series of padded benches along the wall. Selecting a seat with some distance from the door, he sank gratefully into the plush and let his bags fall to the floor. He turned back to the monitor just as the Holonet feed seemed to shift from the High Chancellor's passionate speech about putting a stop to the rebels' to that of her children. Inexplicably, both children were present. Obi-Wan studied them thoughtfully, they were alike, and not. Their gifts were uniquely suited to each of them. Leia Amidala seemed very much like her mother. She was watching the proceedings with a sharp eye, seeming to miss nothing that went on. Luke, on the other hand, was leaning back against his seat. His eyes were hooded. The boy seemed as though he wanted to fidget, although he kept his hands clasped together. Obi-Wan recognized his expression. It was the same look Obi-Wan had so often seen in his father as a boy, when he had been bored with ongoing council meetings. He craved adventure and excitement. Not a tedious senate meeting. Obi-Wan watched closely as the camera panned up to show the Emperor whispering something into Luke's ear. He shuddered in revulsion, unable to stop himself no matter who might have been watching. The boy nodded at whatever the Emperor said, and reached up with a small hand to push aside the black tunic and reveal a slender, silvery handle. Rising to his feet suddenly, Obi-Wan tripped over his bags on the floor as he threw himself at the closest monitor to stare at it closely. Peering intently at the screen, Obi-Wan could plainly make it out as a lightsaber handle. But where had the boy gotten it from? And more importantly, why did he have need of one? Was it a trophy, a gift from an indulgent, kindly old man trying to impress the boy? Or did the Emperor intend for the child to do something with it?
The Emperor smiled broadly, and the boy slid his tunic over the handle, obscuring it once more. With difficulty, Obi-Wan tore himself from the screen and stumbled back to his seat. The camera panned around again to the High Chancellor, who was still giving a resounding speech about the nature of the rebellion. Obi-Wan studied her for a few minutes, listening to the way she spoke, and watching the occasional looks she spared for her children. There was warmth in her eyes that contradicted the words she was speaking. The children, too, seemed to relax when they sensed she was looking at them. Not for the first time since their birth into a galaxy rife with death, Obi-Wan knew he needed to get the children away from the Emperor.
But for the first time, he actually had an idea on how to go about it.