There's an icy wind coming in through the mouth of the hangar as they enter from the main building, and even though she's warm enough with her cape, Padmé leans into Aayla as they walk. Aayla's arm is around Padmé's waist, her hand curled around Padmé's hipbone, and Padmé doesn't want her to move it. This will end once they get to the ship. She doesn't want it to, but for all that she's newly informed about how celibacy for the Jedi is very much optional, Aayla had been clear that it's the sort of thing best done between friends, without romantic feelings entering into it.
That ship has very much flown.
Aayla doesn't say anything or remove her arm, but halfway to the ship she does stop dead, bringing Padmé up short. Before Padmé can ask what's happening, Aayla holds up a hand to indicate she should wait and there's a tense moment before Aayla says, "Duck!" and takes out her lightsaber, a blaster bolt flying over their heads.
Padmé can't see the attacker, but they're somewhere in front of them in the row of ships to their right. Aayla has put herself between Padmé and the rest of the hangar but they're still too exposed—they need to get to the cover of the pillars along the individual bays. The attacker hasn't shot again, and the silence is worse than getting shot at, because they have no idea where they are or how they've moved.
There's no indication that anyone inside heard the shot. She can still hear the faint sounds of smooth jizz from the ballroom.
"Let's get to the ship—get behind the closest pillar to our left and I'll follow you," Aayla says, still scanning the hangar. Every shadow could be concealing their assailant.
Just as Padmé starts running there's another shot but she doesn't look behind her—either Aayla will cover her or she won't. There are three more shots before she gets to the safety of the pillar, but none of them hit her. She doesn't dare poke her head out to see where Aayla is, and it's an agonising two shots before she joins her behind the pillar.
"They're human, but I don't recognise them," Aayla says, peering around just as a bolt scorches the ground near them. "Go behind the landing gear of this next ship and I'll go in front."
"Stay safe," Padmé says, even though that makes no sense. She wants to tell Aayla that they should both go behind the landing gear, but this is Aayla's job. Padmé's job is to follow instructions, run fast and stay low.
Instead of giving her a weird look, Aayla smiles. "I'll try." And then she's darting out of cover and meeting each shot with her lightsaber, making it look like the easiest thing in the world. Padmé runs. They only have two more ships to pass, then an empty bay, and then they can get to safety.
When Aayla joins her at the next pillar, there's a scorch mark on her skirt. At Padmé's look of alarm, Aayla waves her hand and says, "It's fine, it didn't get me. My compliments to your tailor; perhaps I can convince the Council to invest in some blaster-resistant material for tunics."
The thought of Aayla going into fights without any protective clothing makes Padmé's stomach swoop. She pushes the concern away. "Next one?"
Aayla nods and Padmé starts running a beat after Aayla leaves cover. By the time they reach the empty bay that is all that lies between them and getting out of this alive, it feels like they've got this down to an art.
"Stay behind me, alright? I'm not going to go at a full run—I want you to be able to keep up. Just go as fast as you can and I can match you."
Padmé nods. The distance feels impossibly long, especially when Aayla gasps as a shot grazes her arm, but finally, finally they're almost to their goal. As they catch their breath, Padmé lowers the ramp, and Aayla nods at her when it reaches the ground.
As she reaches the top of the ramp, Padmé hears a cry and her blood freezes for a moment before she realises it's not Aayla's voice. And then Aayla is barrelling into her from behind, slamming the button to raise the ramp.
"Sorry," Aayla says as Padmé stumbles, catching her by the arm. "Were you hit at all?" Padmé's heart is beating faster than it had been when she was getting shot at—but it wasn't Aayla's voice crying out. Aayla's alive and running towards the turbolift, which is what Padmé should be doing instead of freezing like this is her first time in danger.
"No," Padmé says, shaking her head as she catches up with her. "How bad's yours?"
"I'll live," Aayla says. Padmé sees it as they leave the lift—it's an angry, red weal but if they get bacta on it soon, it shouldn't even scar.
First they need to get out and into the safety of hyperspace. "Calculate the earliest jump we can make? We can go towards Mygeeto and I think there's a long way round we can take." Getting away from the bounty hunter now but then dropping out of hyperspace exactly where they're expected to change hyperlanes would be absolutely useless.
"I hit the assassin, but I don't know if they're dead, so best assume they'll try to follow," Aayla says as she types into the nav computer while Padmé does the quickest, sloppiest pre-flight checks she's ever done. Finally she powers up the engines and they make it out of the hangar without anything from the bounty hunter—hopefully Aayla stopped them from pursuing them.
"It's a pretty small jump but it's the best I can do, I think—if we're taking the long way, I'm not sure we can afford to do many jumps outside of runs," Aayla says. "We're ready as soon as we get clear, though."
Aayla certainly wasn't exaggerating when she said it's a small jump—they're only in hyperspace for around twenty seconds before they drop out about halfway between Scipio and Mygeeto. Hopefully it's enough.
"We can change at Aris for the Relgim Run and refuel on Bandomeer if we need to," Aayla says. Padmé's unfamiliar with this part of space, but the Relgim Run sounds vaguely familiar.
"Sounds good to me," Padmé says, sighing and trying to relax enough that her shoulders aren't up around her ears. "Typho is never going to let me leave Coruscant again."
"Maybe he'll just demand you bring me with you," Aayla says. Padmé can see her grinning out of the corner of her eye but then Aayla's face falls. She had said she mostly worked off-world and rarely went on missions with politicians, back at the beginning of this.
"Aayla—" Padmé begins, but Aayla stands up quickly, not looking at her.
"Anyway, I'll go get the medkit—the Mygeeto jump's ready to go once we get there." Her cheery tone rings false and she speedwalks to the lift even though there's no real urgency.
"Let me do it?" Padmé asks when Aayla returns. Aayla could definitely reach the burn just fine, but Padmé wants… well, Padmé wants Aayla, but she's not sure Aayla will have her. Until they get back home, they're in a liminal space that Padmé wants to explore. It's the kind of exploring she doesn't want to do until they're safely on a hyperlane, though, so for now she wants to reassure herself that Aayla hasn't come to any real harm from what happened in the hangar. After all, Aayla's only here at her request—she's responsible for her getting hurt.
Aayla searches Padmé's face for something, frowning slightly, before she agrees and puts the medkit on the divider between their seats. Padmé retrieves a wipe and a bacta patch before coming to stand next to Aayla, who puts out her arm. She's back to looking at Padmé, though Padmé doesn't know what she's looking for. Her initial assessment was right—the wound isn't too bad, though Aayla tenses up as she cleans it, breathing carefully through her nose. Even as she knows it's ridiculous, it's a balm to feel the warmth of Aayla's skin under her fingertips and to know as she places the bacta patch and gently smooths it over that she's helping.
She lingers for long enough that she thinks Aayla might say something, but all that happens is a sharp intake of breath as she runs her fingertip lightly across her skin. The moment is finally broken by a beep that indicates it's time to jump to hyperspace, and Padmé waits until they're both seated with Aayla holding the medkit on her lap before she makes the jump.
"I'll calculate the Aris jump. Do you want to record something for Typho and Sabé that we can send when we drop out?" Aayla summons up something that Padmé thinks is supposed to be a smile but doesn't quite make it.
She needs to say something, but either way this goes, she doesn't particularly want to have to compose a message for Coruscant afterwards.
"Hi, just checking in—we're both fine, but there was an incident just before we left Scipio. Someone tried to shoot us, but they only grazed Aayla's arm, so please don't concern yourself. We don't know who did it, just that they were human. We're taking the long way home via Bandomeer, so we'll be late. Aayla, do you know by how much?"
As Aayla types, Padmé continues, "The party itself was uneventful. I'm not sure I changed any minds, but I might have given some people reason to reconsider. And yes, Sabé, I owe you twenty credits."
"We'll be eight hours late," Aayla says, which Padmé dutifully repeats before saying goodbye. "What's this about credits?" Aayla asks after a few moments of silence broken only by the steady hum of the engines.
"Sabé said you'd have to physically intervene with Clovis. I disagreed."
Aayla winces. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Padmé insists. "I can't say it'll make him think twice, because at this point I'm not sure he's capable of that, but I'm glad you were there."
Aayla nods mutely, her gaze firmly fixed on the nav computer in front of her.
Padmé takes a deep breath and stands up. "Come on, I want to make some tea," she says, reaching over and putting her hand on Aayla's shoulder.
Padmé's been trying to think of what to say but she hasn't had any success. It's not like she can start with logic or lay out a carefully ordered set of reasons—there is no logic. She just wants, and she's chosen Naboo over herself so many times that she needs to be selfish, just this once.
She doesn't bother going all the way to the galley; once they're out of the cockpit, she stops and puts her hand on Aayla's arm. "Could I kiss you?"
Aayla looks halfway between alarm and confusion. "Why?" she asks in an inscrutable tone.
"Because I want to," Padmé admits.
A whole host of emotions cross Aayla's face. Padmé can't identify all of them, but she thinks between disbelief and hesitation there's something that looks like hope.
"We shouldn't," she says in an uncertain tone.
The only reason that doesn't crush Padmé's spirit is that she'd expected it; Aayla, she's sure, is just as aware that neither of them are capable of pretending this is fooling around between friends.
"That's not a no. Do you want to?" On this ship, they're not a Jedi and a senator—here, in this small pocket of space hurtling through the void, they can free-float without context. Just for a little while.
Instead of answering her, Aayla cups Padmé's face with one hand and Padmé tips her head back obligingly. They stand like that for a long moment, neither breathing, before Aayla leans down and kisses her.
While it should feel different, it doesn't; Aayla's lips are just as soft as before, the kiss just as gentle, the thrill just as electric. Perhaps it speaks to how bad they've both been at approaching this as only a ruse.
Their height difference means this isn't the most comfortable experience, however—she's standing on her tiptoes so she can wind her arms around Aayla's neck, and the intriguing noise Aayla makes when she brushes one of her lekku is very good motivation to move somewhere she can do that again more easily.
When she pulls back, Aayla looks like she couldn't stop smiling if she tried, and Padmé suspects she looks the same. "We've got two hours until Aris—do you want to move somewhere better suited?"
Unfortunately, Aayla can stop smiling, and Padmé curses herself when her smile fades, replaced by regret. "We shouldn't," she says. "I'm a Jedi." The way her gaze keeps flicking back to Padmé's lips demonstrates just as much as her reluctant tone that it's not about a lack of desire.
"You said the problem was attachment," Padmé says slowly, and Aayla nods. "What's attachment, then?" When Aayla had mentioned it during the film, Padmé hadn't asked for clarification—she'd been too surprised that Jedi apparently had sex (and, admittedly, distracted by the thought of Aayla having it specifically).
"It's… it's holding onto something too tightly and putting your personal desires before what's right. Letting your fear of losing something or someone motivate you, or when you do lose them, seeking revenge. Attachment is refusing to accept and embrace the fact that things change, and that there comes a time when you have to let go. Putting your selfishness above your duty." The last part sounds like she's quoting something, but the answer as a whole hadn't been rote; Padmé can hear in her voice how much she believes in this.
"And this is a problem specifically with romantic relationships?" Padmé knows all too well the urge to protect the people she loves instead of doing what's for the best; it certainly hadn't been restricted to her romantic relationships.
"No," Aayla says, shaking her head. "It can happen with any kind of relationship; it just happens… more easily, I think, in romantic relationships. They can become so important to the structure of your life that the urge to protect that person, or people, can feel as instinctual as the drive to protect yourself, which can make us act selfishly. That's why we're discouraged from forming romantic bonds. If we lose sight of doing good, then it can be dangerous—not just for ourselves, but for everyone we've sworn to protect."
"That's not a problem unique to Jedi," Padmé points out. "As a senator, I can see how a law might have negative consequences for someone I care about but on a wider scale do something good for everyone else, and then I have to choose whether I try to put the needs of my loved ones before the rest of the galaxy. Sometimes I have to do it for my whole planet; I'm working on a refugee resettlement arrangement with the Queen that will cut into Naboo's profits and put added strain on some of our infrastructure, but it's the right thing to do. And when I pitch it to the people of Naboo, I'll say that in the long-term, it will grow our economy because it will create jobs, but that's not what I'm doing it for." She knows, too, that whatever long-term benefits come won't be the same as the short-term sacrifices; there will be people who only lose. But there will also be people who will be given a chance to live.
"I'd never considered that," Aayla says quietly, and the cautious hope on her face speaks of new possibilities.
"I wouldn't ask you to put me above your duty, just like I can't put you before mine. But even if it's only in the spaces between, I think we can have something. I think it would be worth trying." She aims for the same persuasiveness that she uses in meetings and on the floor of the Senate, but if there's an edge of desperation—well, she's never claimed to be perfect.
"We can't be like we have been for the past month," Aayla says, and Padmé can feel the smile steal onto her face unbidden. You only negotiate how if you plan to do it in the first place. "It would have to be a secret."
"It's a good thing I've trained for that," Padmé says lightly. "I can write Captain Panaka a note—'Hope you're enjoying your retirement, you'll be glad to know I'm using the skills you taught me to have a secret Jedi girlfriend.'"
"I have another six months of teaching initiates, but after that I'll be back to off-world missions. Sometimes I'm away for months, and some of them require a total communications blackout."
Padmé isn't discouraged by what Aayla's saying—if anything, she's glad that Aayla's thinking this through carefully. "I can do that," she says.
Aayla studies her once again, and Padmé wonders whether she's using the Force and what she can see. Padmé's heartbeat thumps in her ears as she waits for assent.
"Alright," Aayla says, and now she's grinning too. "Let's do it."
When Aayla kisses her at last, it tastes like the future, and Padmé pulls her into the turbolift so they can get lost in that future together.