Aayla only recognises some of the people in the ballroom, which is decorated in the Coruscanti style and has a band in the corner playing smooth jizz. As Lyn, that doesn't matter, since she's never met any of them, but as Aayla, it makes her nervous; for all that this has been picnics and coffee dates so far, she's been tasked with keeping Padmé alive and well. Their first hurdle, of course, spots them immediately.
"Padmé," Clovis says, kissing her on both cheeks and ignoring her personal space entirely. "It's so lovely to see you—it's funny that we've served on so many committees together but see each other so rarely. We really must catch up more." Even though he's not done anything wrong yet, the smile he gives her feels predatory to Aayla. She knows she's bringing her preconceptions into this, but she's not here to give Clovis a character reference; in this kind of thing, it's better to be oversuspicious than undersuspicious.
Padmé gives him a tight smile in return and moves backwards slightly in an attempt to put more space between them. "Senator Clovis, thank you for inviting me. This is my girlfriend, Lyn. Lyn, Senator Rush Clovis."
Aayla shakes his hand to try to prevent him going in for any kissing. He looks a little bemused at her presence but doesn't try to invade her space at all. The noise of guests arriving behind them forces Clovis to look away from them both and promise to catch up with them later.
"See anyone of note?" Aayla murmurs. There are a handful Padmé had had dossiers about—Toonbuck Toora, now representing the wealthy world of Sy Myrth in the Separatist Senate; Aks Moe, Senator for Malastare; Clu Lesser, one of the Core Five who lead the Banking Clan. There are a few that Aayla knows she's seen before but can't recall the names of. None of them seem overly interested in them for the moment, thankfully.
"The IBC must be trying to win Moe over, tempt him away from the Trade Federation. I only included him in my rundown because he's such a prominent militarist; I didn't expect Clovis to actually invite him," Padmé replies, still scanning the room. "Senator Toora is prickly when she's in a good mood, so be prepared for that. The Sluissi next to her is Senator Ludar—he's needlessly obstructionist, but I suppose he's now needlessly obstructionist in the Separatist Senate instead of ours. And see the human woman in green on the other side of the room? That's Senator Paige-Tarkin. I think she's the only person we can definitely call a friend out of the people I can see so far."
Hoping Clovis stays occupied for a long time yet, Aayla follows Padmé as she makes her way around the room, half her mind on the conversations (her role is largely to smile and occasionally to answer polite questions about the RRM while Padmé talks about the MCA or some other legislative business) and half on who is around them. Clovis begins to head their way at one point but is waylaid by someone Aayla thinks is on the Loyalist Committee.
While this is hardly Aayla's idea of a nice evening, she has to admit the food is good—the waiter droids are excellent at being close exactly when she wants another tiny piece of burra with redmoss mousse on a cracker. Most of the politicians are… tolerable is perhaps a strong word, but none of them try to hurt Padmé or her physically, so Aayla is willing to chalk that up as a win. A few do insult them, but Padmé puts a hand on hers when Aayla draws herself up to defend Padmé's leadership. Padmé's ability with words that ends up turning it around and making them look foolish is so elegant—it elicits something between adoration and pride from Aayla, both of which are entirely inappropriate.
As they both already knew, it's impossible to avoid Clovis forever. He ends up finding them as they take a moment between politicians to have a drink and eat one of the little cups of tart and refreshing sorbet.
"Padmé, my dear," he says as he joins them on the edge of the room, shattering their moment of respite. "I'm so sorry I haven't been able to speak to you earlier—people keep wanting my attention, even though I could hardly keep my eyes off you. You're absolutely gorgeous." He smiles as he gives her a very obvious once-over. Aayla knows full well that she's judging him based on her assumptions again, but something about him makes her skin crawl, and the way Padmé's smile has become brittle only cements her opinion that he's awful. He nods briefly to acknowledge Aayla's existence but refocuses his attention immediately.
"Thank you for inviting me, Clovis," Padmé says. "My congratulations to the Banking Clan on their success."
"I only play one small part, of course," Clovis says, but his expression doesn't match the humility of his words. "Congratulations to you on becoming such a major player—I always knew you'd shine. It's been too long since we've caught up, really. The Separatists take up so much of your time." He makes them sound like a minor inconvenience, on the same level as traffic or a software update that took his NON droid out of service for a day.
"I do what I must," Padmé says, "for my people and the Republic." Her smile remains brittle, but Aayla can hear how firmly she believes in what she's saying.
"Of course, of course," Clovis replies. "Though, surely you could get someone else to do it occasionally and carve out some time to enjoy yourself, couldn't you? I fear you work too hard."
At this, Padmé smiles much more warmly. "Don't be concerned, I've found time enough. It's good to get out into the sunshine and spend time with people who aren't constantly tangled up in Senate business." Aayla knows that this real smile is for her, and slips her arm around Padmé's waist. She feels a distinctly un-Jedi-like sense of satisfaction that Clovis can't elicit the same genuine emotion.
Clovis laughs and Padmé's face returns to her previous slightly forced expression. Turning to Aayla, he says, "Ah, Lyn, was it? Could I borrow Padmé alone?" It's not a request; he says it as if it's already a sure thing, and this is merely the rote theatre being observed, with Padmé's assent a given.
"I don't know, Padmé, can he?" she says, turning to her. She knows full well what Padmé's answer will be—it's literally one half of her mission mandate, after preventing assassination attempts—but she wants to give Padmé some power in this exchange.
"No, I'd rather he didn't," she says, looking at Aayla and speaking as if Clovis weren't next to them, just as he had done to her.
Aayla nods and turns back to Clovis. "If it's some sort of confidential Senate business, I'm sure you can do it over comm or back on Coruscant."
Clovis looks taken aback for a moment before his expression turns angry. This would usually be the point in the conversation where Aayla would very pointedly show off her blaster and/or lightsaber, but as she's not supposed to be armed, she just smiles wider.
"I don't think you understand," Clovis says. "We're old friends—we were elected to the Senate in the same year and were very close, though our busy lives have kept us apart. I was hoping to rekindle our relationship." This last sentence he says while looking down into Padmé's eyes. He leans further into Padmé's space and she takes a small step backwards.
"No, thank you, Clovis," Padmé says, placing her empty glass on the platter of a passing droid. "I'd like to stay with Lyn."
Clovis looks between them, confused. "Padmé, perhaps you don't understand me. If you feel obligated to stay with Lyn now, you could always stay here overnight and I can fly you back tomorrow." Aayla is almost impressed at how brazenly he ignores the fact that she's standing right next to them. It's happened to her before, but usually only on planets that have slaves, and Aayla's not dressed anything like a slave or a servant.
"I understand you perfectly," Padmé says frostily. "I'd prefer to return to Coruscant with my girlfriend, however." Even though she's been introduced as Padmé's girlfriend multiple times tonight, a little thrill goes through her at the words.
"I can have a room provided for her," he says. Is he dense or just stubborn? She suspects it's the latter; Clovis wouldn't have got where he is without proving his worth.
"We'd be sharing," Padmé says. "As girlfriends often do." Aayla tucks that away as a fantasy she can construct later in the privacy of her own bunk.
Perhaps Clovis is that dense, because there's another flicker of confusion before he says, "I'm really not sure you do, understand, actually." He takes Padmé's hand in his and holds it roughly at the height of his heart. Padmé stiffens, freezing like an initiate caught out after curfew. "We were good together, Padmé. We can be good together again—whatever foolishness—" She tries to pull her hand away but he tightens his grip and carries on, "—pushed us—"
Aayla feels the brief spike of fear from Padmé, loud even though she's not listening for it in the Force. It's tangled with regret and anger and something uncomfortably close to despair.
"Let go of her," Aayla says, stepping towards him, "before I make you let go."
Clovis's hand tightens slightly, his knuckles white, and he scoffs. "Excuse m—"
She punches him in the stomach and he lets go reflexively to double over. She didn't punch him as hard as she wanted to—the situation only called for enough force to make him release Padmé's hand, and however much she's failing to keep her feelings separate from the mission, she hasn't lost sight of that.
They retreat several metres before Padmé says, "Thank you," quietly, turning towards her, and it feels instinctive to put her arms around her and kiss her on the head, feeling the strange texture hairspray had given her hair. "I would have—I'm capable of dealing with him."
"I know," Aayla says, "but I had both hands free and no reason to hesitate." She could see it as Clovis kept getting closer—Padmé had so clearly wanted him to be reasonable, to be the presumably decent person she'd once dated.
Padmé opens her mouth to respond just as Clovis catches back up with them, still mildly winded. "What was that? I'll have you removed from the premises for attacking me." His expression is thunderous.
Aayla makes sure she's standing between Padmé and Clovis as she says, "I don't think we want to stay much longer, do we, babe?" She hopes Padmé's done at least enough politicking that she feels this has been worth it. The night is still relatively young, but she doesn't want to find out what Clovis would do if they went back to making the rounds of the room.
"An early night sounds good to me," Padmé says, nodding in Aayla's peripheral vision.
Clovis looks like he's seriously considering hitting Aayla back, and part of her hopes he tries so she can teach him a lesson—but instead he straightens his shoulders and says, "Get out."
They do.