Author's Note: Thanks, everyone, for the kind reviews! Feedback really makes my day and I am very happy to know that you are enjoying the story. :)
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Some Other Future's Past
Chapter Four
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The Hall of the Queens in the Great Palace was considered informal and simple by the standards of Naboo. By the standards of the off-worlders in the assemblage, it was nothing short of breathtaking.
Composed entirely of carved alabaster, the hall glowed in a soft radiance enhanced by the use of wafer-thin panes of alabaster for the windows. The floor was composed of the same delicate stone protected by a tough resin and the statues of Naboo's queens formed the pillars that supported the vaulted ceiling. At the head of the hall, the queen's dais stood tall enough to let even the most petite of rulers look out over the hall. The throne was carved of the same alabaster as the hall and meant to emphasis rather than overwhelm the figure resting upon it.
Captain Panaka in midnight blue and burgundy stood at the foot of the dais, facing the crowd with his shoulders back and chin out. To one side stood a tall, auburn-haired figure in the robes of a Jedi and a small, blond boy in an intricately wrapped blue tunic, sash and trousers. The Queen's handmaidens were arrayed about her, dressed in pale, shimmering blue.
Even the colorful garb of the courtiers paled beside that of Amidala on this morning. The young queen wore intricate multi-layered robes in shades of blue ranging from the pale aquamarine to deepest midnight. The outermost robe was embroidered with representations of colorfully plumed Uroi birds from the equatorial regions. The symbol of Naboo's queens, the birds were beautiful in both aspect and voice, but they were also fierce defenders of their nesting grounds. Pearls braided through her dark hair supported a heavy gold medallion in the shape of an inverted fan, decorated with blue stones and strands of seed pearls.
The Scar of Remembrance was marked in vivid red on her lower lip, matching the Marks of Conscience on her cheeks, directly below her eyes. Once disdained as archaic tradition, Amidala had revived them in answer to her predecessor's excesses. Now, as the young ruler looked out over her Court, even the most jaded felt the effect. They were looking into the eyes of history, some of it noble, some quite notably not, but a long and grand sweep of it.
"We of Naboo came here from many places." The hall was constructed to naturally magnify the voice of the speaker on the dais without resort to artificial amplification. "We were refugees from war seeking peace. We were outlaws seeking a hiding place. We were outcasts seeking acceptance. We were slaves seeking to be free. Now that we are sovereign, we open out world to those who are as we were - afraid, alone, scorned."
Many around the Hall nodded, eyes gleaming with pride. Naboo was prosperous, and yielded up plenty to share. It was a mark of honor to take in the stranger, to feed the hungry.
"Even marked so by war, we are generous. We can be, for we are strong, and we know that our enemies would delight to see us so diminished that we turned away the bereft, the injured and those who come to us with nothing more than spirit and will. Those who have harmed us would have us complete their work by hardening our hearts and turning away."
"We won't do it!" Someone called from the back of the hall, and many heads bobbed in emphatic agreement.
Amidala smiled, radiant with pride. "It is in this spirit that I come before you today. On this day, I revive another tradition, one that saddens me even as it gives me hope. In times past, young ones with no parents, and no relative available to take guardianship became pages. Wards of the Royal Court, they became part of a greater family – the heart-children of all Naboo. "
The hall was somber. The crèches were full to bursting with bereft younglings, though many could eventually be reunited with some family member somewhere, there were many who had none.
"One child gave up everything, risked everything, in order to travel into the stars. In doing so, he lost much. His guardian is injured and unable to care for him, his mother far away on a dangerous world." She looked around the room, her gaze sobering even the most ebullient courtier. "He flew into danger, guided by the Force, and saved us all, Naboo and Gungan."
Only a few people heard the child whisper, "Qui-Gon told me to stay in that cockpit"
Amidala spoke solemnly, "Anakin Skywalker, come forward."
The child seemed to count his steps, lips moving as he reminded himself of what he was supposed to do. Bowing in form, he dropped to one knee in front of Amidala, head bowed.
"You have served us at danger to your life, you and those you love have sacrificed so that Naboo might live free." Amidala's voice was rich with emotion. "I name you Ward of the Royal Court, page in service of the Court. Be welcome and at peace in the house of Naboo, child of Naboo."
"All honor to Naboo." Anakin responded, standing as Sabé came forward.
Taking the silver and sky-blue tabard from her handmaiden, Queen Amidala unfolded it and pulled it over the boy's head. Settling it on his shoulders, the boy bowed deeply, then walked stiffly to his place behind and to the left of the throne.
"He is the first of many younglings who will serve in the palaces, learning and growing as a family. As their families sacrificed for our freedom, so we take up their care with honor."
There were some rustlings in the crowd as ministers and governors prepared to come forward and present their business, but the young Queen was not done yet.
Her voice cut clearly through the murmuring, "Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, come forward."
The young man looked startled, but did as he was bid, dropping to one knee with his brown robe pooled behind him.
"In times past, the Queen sometimes needed counsel from someone whom she could trust to be impartial. You and Master Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn saved the Naboo from a threat even greater than the Trade Federation, and in doing so Master Jinn nearly lost his life."
Another handmaiden came forward carrying a box of golden waru wood and lifted the lid. Amidala reached in and removed a medal composed of a palm-sized blue opal on a chain of platinum.
Carefully slipping it over his head, she intoned. "I name you Councilor to the Court of Naboo, entitled to the all privileges thereof, and transport according to your needs."
The court was so quiet that it seemed time had stopped.
The Queen reached into the box again, bringing out a packet wrapped in blue silk and pearls, and pressed it into Obi-Wan's hands.
"Though Master Jedi Qui-Gon Jin cannot be with us today," she continued. "We ask of you that you convey this and our wishes to him. Please let him know of the honors we bestow upon both of you, who have done so much for this world. Wherever you go, please know that Naboo will welcome you, always."
The Jedi bowed his head, casting a surreptitious glance to one side of the dais where the visiting Jedi Council stood. Then, regaining his feet, moved resumed his place beside the throne. The Queen looked out at her Court and smiled before resuming her seat and asking for the first petition to be presented.
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"Watto?" The voice came from the brightness of a Tattooine winter morning. "Watto?
Watto grunted as he looked up from the third or maybe fourth-hand holonet unit. "Yeah, Shmi? Wadda you want? You heard from the peedunkel?"
The downward scale of Shmi's response countered the rising notes of hope in his last sentence. "No, Watto. I've heard nothing from Ani."
"It's only been a couple weeks." The Toyardian looked up at the woman as she came to stand over him. "Hey! Lookit this! Gotta real holonet unit. You can call him!"
"Really?" Shmi's careworn face lit up. This climate was not kind to humans – wet, thin-skinned creatures that they were, it dried them up and made them old before their time.
"Once I fix it"
The light dimmed, though she tried to hide it. "I had a call from Bello, over at Mos Eisley. It seems his last batch of 'droids got a bad wipe and nearly dismantled the mech-market before he shut them down."
"Usual rate?" Watto tried to sound surly.
"I told him thirty percent up, and he has to cover my transport." The trip was hazardous if no accommodating shuttle captain could be found to make the atmospheric hop between Mos Espa and the larger spaceport. Travel on the Dune Sea was time-consuming and hazardous at any time of year, but during the winter, the sandstorms were more frequent.
"Good girl." Maybe he'd just close early and go do something. "Look for some deals while you're there. Mebby pick up some of those new manuals you're always honkin' at me about."
Shmi regarded him curiously and he waved her off. "You wanna stand here an' stare at me all day? Go getcher stuff, I'll drive you to the port. Business is slow anyways and that Kit don' work like Ani did. Dis place is fallin' apart widdout da boy."
The woman paused in the doorway and looked back at her owner. "We'll see him again, Watto. I know it. I feel it."
In a moment, a chill passed through the junk dealer. Shmi sometimes knew things. She was no dummy, not by a long shot, but this way of knowing unnerved him when it made its appearance.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll take you to the track and let you place the bets. Ha!" Shmi was no Jedi, what was he thinking? "Now get movin'! I ain't got all day to be waitin' while you jabber."
Shmi went to get her gear and Watto went out back to start the speeder. It was getting old; maybe he could have Shmi look for a newer one in Mos Eisley. As he stuffed his pudgy self behind the controls, he saw a figure on the roof of Foont's cantina. Silhouetted against the bright sky, it seemed that the person who was watching him and wasn't shy about being seen, either.
The figure moved, flipping itself off the roof and dropping into the alley just as Watto decided that he'd intercept Shmi on her way to the Slave Quarters and give her a ride. After all, time was money.
~
When faced with strong emotions that might cloud judgement, Jedi consciously released that emotion into the Force, where it would dissipate like a cup of dye in a river.
So Qui-Gon Jinn had explained to Padmé and so she was doing her best to emulate.
Not that it was easy with her private audience chamber stuffed with the twelve Jedi Council members, one shiny-new Jedi night, one little boy, seven angry young women, the Chancellor of the Republic, and a nervous Captain of the Guard.
But she was trying.
First, the objections had been over Obi-Wan's appointment as Councilor. Amidala pointed out that throughout the history of Naboo, there had been many Jedi advisers to the Court. In no record in the Crown Archives did she find any indication of the Jedi Council objecting to, or otherwise interfering with those appointments.
"Jedi are free from ambition and bias, Master Windu. They see and speak the truth, not what they would like to see as the truth." She had to concentrate to keep her hands from clenching to fists. "In this matter I have nothing but the most profound trust and respect for Jedi Kenobi and Jedi Jinn."
Obi-Wan, flanked by a pair of handmaidens, started to open his mouth.
Amidala made a small, inconspicuous gesture with her fingers and Rabé's arm, concealed in the long bell-shaped sleeve of her dress, moved.
Obi-Wan's eyes went as wide as teacups - but he remained silent and very, very still.
"Be that as it may." The Cerean master Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke with some irritation. "You presume too much, young queen, in placing your judgement ahead of the Council. The boy was to have been returned to his homeworld at our order. Orders that you have seen fit to countermand."
The river and the dye Amaidala now, Padmé later the river and the dye Amidala now, Padmé later.
"When Master Jinn was incapacitated, by the laws of Naboo, he became a Protected Innocent, Master Jedi. Since I was informed by my physicians – prior to Master Jinn's removal from their care," Amidala's voice sharpened with displeasure. "That even with a Jedi Healer to care for him, it would be many weeks, if not months before Master Jinn would be able to care for himself, much less Anakin."
"The boy is the responsibility of the Jedi." Mace Windu's voice was a prime example of flat.
A gargle of pure outrage came from behind the queen and young Yané stormed past the throne, right up to the imposing Jedi master.
"A responsibility that the Jedi seem to have abdicated with a will, Master Windu!" she barked up at him. "Or does the Jedi Council think that responsibility can be defined as returning Anakin Skywalker to a world controlled by a crime syndicate, where his mother remains enslaved, and bounty hunters are as common as ducks?"
Erinaé Merron, dressed in cool hauteur along with her robes of office, moved to stand beside the outraged handmaiden.
"Given the publicity surrounding Anakin's destruction of the Trade Federation control ship, it is the belief of myself and the concerned authorities that Anakin's life would be in danger if he should be returned to a world where the only law is who gets paid." The reed-thin woman spoke as if to someone slow of faculty. "In this, we feel that the Jedi Council does not have the best interests of the child in mind."
Padmé swallowed a smirk of satisfaction. It appeared that the Jedi master was having a bit of trouble with the river and the dye concept, as well.
"The boy" Master Yoda began.
"Anakin." Padmé interrupted.
"Clouded his future is"
"Sweetly Singing Saints, Master Jedi! He's nine years old!" River be blasted, Padmé now. "Unlike the guided-from-birth Jedi, we simple beings have to make our way in the Universe one day at a time. Nothing is done until it is done, is that not so? Then tell me how in the names of all that is holy, you can sit there and act as if Anakin is a Sith!"
"It is possible"
"It's possible that I will tear off this dress, paint myself blue and ride a shaak into the sunset, but it's not very likely." A little too much Padmé got through and she took a few moments to breathe deeply.
"My Queen, good Masters, please!" Chancellor Palpatine came forward, patting the air with his hands, his voice soothing. "The procedures laid out in the laws of Naboo are clear and have been followed – albeit at a somewhat expedited pace. Anakin Skywalker is a Ward of the Court of the sovereign system of Naboo. That status can only be revoked in one of four ways – by Master Qui-Gon Jinn, by Shmi Skywalker, by the Protectorate of Innocents, or by the High Court of the Republic. If you contest this matter, Masters, it must be in front of the High Court. Master Jinn – I am given to understand – is not lucid enough that his decision would be valid."
The silence was as solid as the serpentine marble of the room. Such a motion before the Republic's highest court would essentially be a question of Naboo's sovereignity. The very rumor of such action would most likely turn Naboo wholesale against the Jedi and make other sovereign systems wonder if they were next. Padmé felt the muscles along her spine tense hard enough to kindle a headache at the base of her skull.
A soft chime broke the silence and Rabé fished a round silver pendant out of her neckline. The small ball chimed persistently until she squeezed her hand around it.
"By your leave, my Queen?"
Padmé inclined her head in permission and her handmaiden dropped into a curtsey. Obi-Wan, who had been very still, relaxed.
"Anakin, we have that appointment in the University District. If you'll change and meet me by the Courtyard of the Fishes, we can go."
Anakin stepped forward and bowed, looking at Padmé. The skin around his eyes was tight and his shoulders stiff. Padmé was concerned that all the animosity in the room was too much for him. How hard must it be to be in a room full of people who persisted in talking about you as if you weren't really there?
"By your leave, my Queen?"
"Yes, Anakin, keep your appointment and I'll see you this evening." She tried to the affection she felt for him into her 'court voice' and the small smile.
Bowing once more, Anakin smiled. "Thank you, Highness."
Watching the two leave the room, Padmé smiled. He would be happy here.
As the door shut behind the pair, she turned to her newest advisor. "Councilor Jedi Kenobi, I have need of your good advice"
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