Chapter Four - A New Name
Naboo
The funeral procession was long and solemn. Naboo's one-time queen, one-time senator laid prostrate, hair woven with flowers, eyes closed and hands crossed over her stomach, still apparently swollen with child. Her hand clasped a small carved japor snippet.
The doctors had reported that she never delivered the child; it had been simple enough to convince them with the use of the Force. Her grandmother had not required persuasion. She knew Padmé had secrets; out of loyalty toward her deceased granddaughter and the Jedi whom she had trusted, Ryoo would remain silent.
On the far edge of the crowd, blending in with the quiet grief everyone about exuded, a former Jedi watched and waited, ensuring no harm came to her.
It is quiet and peaceful, empty and free of fire and rage. For the first time in a long while she feels safe, protected. She is tempted to sink deeper into it...
"Padmé."
For a moment she hesitates (Anakin! No, he's turned, there's no reason... no reason...), and she finds herself slipping again, feeling drowsy, when there is a sharp tug.
"Padmé, wake up."
Padmé slowly opened her eyes, staring unseeingly for a moment before a high marble ceiling came into focus. Marble...The palace mausoleum?!
She sat up abruptly and the room swirled around her. Suddenly a pair of hands gripped her shoulders.
"Careful, Padmé."
The room stopped swirling and she found herself staring at a concerned face – she must have closed her eyes for a moment. Everything came back into focus as she recognized him.
"Obi-wan?" she asked in confusion. "Why... where...?"
"The palace mausoleum."
"I'm not dead?" Padmé realized her voice sounded confused and quickly rephrased, "I'm not dead, so what am I doing here?"
"They just had your funeral, Padmé. You were in a healing trance, so no one realized..." his voice trailed off. "Padmé?"
Padmé had been losing focus again, but snapped back when she heard her name. The Jedi Master's clear blue eyes stared at her in concern, his bearded face creasing into a frown. "I'm sorry, Padmé. I've never had much experience with the effects of a healing trance on non-sensitives... Are you all right?"
"The twins?" she asked in alarm.
Obi-wan relaxed slightly, apparently relieved that she remembered. "The twins are alive and well – Senator Organa has them on his ship, waiting for my return."
"Yours? What about me?"
Obi-wan took a deep breath and seated himself on the marble slab beside Padmé. Some submerged part of herself noted the irony of having a conversation in such a place as Obi-wan stroked his beard and looked at her. "Bail Organa, myself and Master Yoda spoke while it was uncertain whether or not you would live. Bail offered to take the girl, and I was to take Luke to Tatooine."
For a moment alarm arose in her at the thought that her children could already be gone, but she quelled it and nodded for him to continue.
"Master Yoda doesn't know I'm asking this, but I think it needs to be your decision."
"My decision?" she repeated. Clarity was coming back to her in leaps and bounds, and she asked, "But... I'm supposed to be dead?"
Obi-wan closed his eyes for a moment. "You could remain here, reveal yourself as having miraculously survived despite being pronounced dead, and return to your family. Your place in the Senate would remain – they haven't found a replacement for you yet – and you could continue as you did, or..."
"Anakin would be after me," Padmé interrupted, "wouldn't he?"
"Yes."
Her mind was moving faster. "And if I were alive, the twins..." She looked at him in alarm. "Palpatine, he's the Emperor – He could take the twins, turn them too!"
Obi-wan nodded.
"I will not," Padmé decided, feeling relief at once. "But where will I go?"
Obi-wan let out a breath, gratitude again glowing in his eyes, though grief remained their prevalent emotion. "Senator Organa has offered to take you to Alderaan with him. You would be near your daughter, and remain hidden from Vader and the Emperor. You'll need another name."
"Sabé – She was my cousin, and my decoy handmaiden during the Naboo Crisis. She disappeared during the Wars."
Obi-wan stood, reaching out a hand to her. She took it and stood, carefully waiting until her balance was restored. "That's settled, then. We'd better get going."
Padmé walked to the other end of the room under her own power, then stopped as she realized that Obi-wan had not followed. Her brown eyes narrowed slightly in puzzlement as she watched him face the slab where she had lain and raise his hands. Slowly, a carved marble top rose into the air and closed over it, sealing Padmé's grave.
Obi-wan closed his cerulean eyes for a moment, and Padmé bowed her head. Her friend had already buried a brother – now he had buried her, as well.
A moment later Obi-wan joined her, and they slipped through the narrow entrance and toward where Obi-wan had hidden their transport.