Chapter 3
The Queen had barely spoken before about a dozen servants entered the dining room, each carrying plates of extravagant food. These dishes were set down on the table gently, before the servants disappeared. Riksha stood beside the Queen the entire time, as she had earlier been instructed.
"So, rumor has it that you have a very... Unique servant," one of the guests said to the Queen.
"Indeed I do, Liam," the Queen responded, a proud and perhaps arrogant smile crossing her face.
Riksha knew that both the guest and Queen were referring to her, and so she was not at all surprised by what was requested.
"Riley, pour the wine," the Queen instructed.
Riksha looked to the bottle of wine that sat elegantly towards the center of the table. She drew a breath, then lifted her hand. The wine bottle rose off the table, and floated towards the first guest. It tilted, filling exactly 7/8 of the glass with wine. Then the bottle lifted again, moving to the next glass and the next, all the while the guests murmured in awe. At the third guest (Anakin) Riksha hesitated momentarily. She could sense that he was... Different than the other traders that had come to dinner. Recovering quickly from this moment of thought (and disregarding it as nothing, deciding she was imagining things or a bit out of practice), Riksha filled his glass and moved on to the next, hoping that she had not hesitated long enough for anyone to notice. Soon, all the glasses were full, and the bottle went back to its original place. The Queen basked joyously in the awe and envy of her guests, absorbing their praises as they talked about what a special servant the Queen had.
"You are dismissed, Riley. Be back down here in exactly two hours."
Giving a quick bow, Riksha left the dining hall and headed up to her room. She planned to meditate, knowing that for two hours she would have no one to disturb her. A perfect escape.
Anakin had no such escape.
He had always hated sitting around, listening to lectures or briefings or whatever. Now he sat at the table of the Queen of a slaving planet, and he had no choice but to listen to the conversation happening around him. Unlike at a normal dinner where many conversations are happening at once, it seemed that the Queen was at the center of only a single conversation that everyone seemed to be participating in. Except himself, of course.
When the Queen called upon her slave to pour the wine, Anakin had more or less expected her to walk around the table filling glasses. He certainly had not expected her to fill the glasses without even moving from where she stood. A Force sensitive slave? Where in the galaxy did the Queen manage to get a Force sensitive slave? How was that even possible? A million questions raced through his mind, and a whisper of caution. If the Queen had managed to keep a Force sensitive being as a slave, what else might she be capable of? He made a mental note to be extra careful.
Anakin noticed when the wine bottle stopped for a brief second in front of him, as the person who controlled its movements hesitated momentarily. He tensed, wondering if the servant girl knew he was not who he said he was... But how could she know this? He had made sure to put careful walls around his mind and hide his Force signature. He was on a Separatist controlled planet, after all, he couldn't risk detection. His glass was filled hurriedly and the wine bottle moved on to fill the next, and Anakin decided that he had been worried for nothing.
After the topic of chatter strayed from servants, it seemed to simply change to something else that revolved around the greatness of the Queen. Wealth, power, accomplishments. influence, etc. Anakin mentally scoffed at all these praises, he himself viewing the Queen and everyone at this table as despicable life forms. Finally, the topic of conversation turned to something worth paying attention to: politics.
"Your growing influence among your neighbors has not gone unnoticed by the Republic," commented one of the traders, "They are beginning to... Worry."
"Is that so?" Asked the Queen.
"Indeed. They feel that your power is threatening to them."
"Well of course it is threatening. They know that there is absolutely nothing they can do to stop me."
We'll see about that, Anakin thought to himself.
"Your Majesty, are you the least bit concerned that the Republic might stage another attack?" Liam questioned.
The Queen burst out laughing, much to Anakin's surprise. "Concerned? Hardly!"
The guests looked at her, waiting curiously for her to elaborate.
"Liam, you of all people should know how terribly the Republic has failed in their past attempts to 'liberate' my planet, and how easily I've won."
"You are practically famous for beating the Republic," one of the guests (who turned out to be named Luis) chimed in.
"What if they send Jedi? Clones are easy to defeat, but what about Jedi?"
Everybody turned to stare incredulously at the guest who has asked this.
"You idiot, every Jedi to set foot on this planet has died," Luis stated, his tone indicating how stupid he thought the other trader was.
"Not every. One Jedi got away," pointed out the guest, who did not appreciate being called an idiot.
Qyu-Lyen, Anakin thought. The man was famous for being the only Jedi to leave the planet alive.
"That was a special case," the Queen interjected, intent on ending this squabble that had erupted.
Anakin was quite interested in what this supposed "special case" might be, but it seemed the Queen did not plan to tell.
"The Jedi are barely a challenge to defeat," the Queen stated, taking a quick sip of her wine, "Honestly, they are so dumb and predictable. They walk right into the traps set for them, like puny mice."
Suddenly, her wine glass burst, much to everyone's surprise and the Queen's dismay. The glass showered down on the table, the wine splashing onto the expensive dress the Queen wore. She gave a little shriek, before ordering a servant to clean up the mess and excusing herself to presumably change her dress. Anakin looked down at his hand, which he had subconsciously clenched into a fist while the Queen had been bad-mouthing the Jedi.
Whoops. Guess I did that. I'll have to try to be more aware of my emotions, like Obi-Wan is constantly telling me. Anakin could not honestly say that he was sorry for breaking the glass and spilling wine. In fact, he was almost glad that he had. Serves her right. She's a horrible being ruling a horrible planet. But he knew that something like that was bound to get him in trouble at some point if it happened again.
Riksha was once again up on the roof, meditating, when she felt a slight tremor in the Force. It wasn't anything major, just the kind of thing that can be felt when somebody nearby uses the Force to do something. Nonetheless, it startled her out of her meditation. Someone within the palace was Force sensitive? How was that even possible?
She dove back into meditation, searching the Force for answers. She could not sense any Force sensitives anywhere, which either meant that they didn't exist or that they had put up a wall to hide themselves from other Force sensitives. Neither of these options made much sense in her opinion. The third option was that she was simply out of practice when it came to sensing things, which Riksha supposed was possible despite the fact that she meditated nearly daily when she was able.
Before she knew it, two hours had passed. Riksha could sense the people down in the dining room moving to the living room type area, which was her cue to head downstairs to entertain the guests. I wonder what sort of Force tricks the Queen will request tonight. Riksha leapt down from the roof, landing nearly silently on her personal balcony, before heading swiftly through the hall and down the stairs.
The Queen had returned to the dining hall more quickly than Anakin had expected, in an entirely new outfit. The guests started up a new conversation, which he chose to completely ignore. Instead, he casually explored the Force to see if he could find anything that might help with his mission. He wasn't sure really what he was looking for, rather he was like a person who wanders into a shop without having anything specific they are looking to buy. Just exploring for no particular reason except to have something to do.
A slight something caught his attention, though Anakin did not know exactly what it was. Cautiously, he mentally moved towards it, only for it to suddenly and abruptly disappear. How odd. As much as he disliked meditating, perhaps it would be wise to meditate on this later and try to find whatever that thing was.
After a few more minutes the Queen stood up, ordered several slaves to clear the table, and lead her guests to the living room. Once everyone was seated on one of the many fancy couches and chairs, she tuned expectantly towards the door. Right on cue, Riksha entered the room.
"Tonight, you all have the special treat of watching Riley here perform entertaining tricks using what her kind call the Force," the Queen announced, taking a seat in one of the chairs to watch.
This definitely peeked Anakin's interest. Perhaps if he watched this person use the Force more, he could figure out where she came from and how the Queen managed to get her hands on a Force sensitive slave.
Riksha performed a number of tricks, all of them boring in her opinion but seemingly fascinating to the audience. She stacked cards into a house, juggled plates, levitated things, etc. I feel like a circus act she thought to herself. What a waste of my talent. Once the Queen determined she was finished, Riksha was once again sent away. This time though, she was permitted to retire for the night.
Anakin was not at all impressed by the simple routine, contrary to the other guests who punctuated the performance with oohs and awws. A Jedi youngling could do such a thing with his eyes closed and an arm tied behind his back. Anakin felt bad for this Force-user, whom he could tell was bored with the show she had to put on.
Nearly an hour later, the guests began to leave one by one, until Anakin was the only one left. To be honest, he had not thought through his plan very well, and he realized that he didn't have anywhere to go.
"So, Arwyn Ghinkt, where did you say you were from?" The Queen asked him out of the blue, now that the other guests had left.
"Tatooine," Anakin answered. He couldn't very well say Coruscant, so he might as well tell where he lived as a child. Lucky for this particular conversation, people on Tatooine owned slaves, so this was the perfect place for a slaver to be from. "Though I travel around a lot."
"Ah, Tatooine. My brother used to live there. What brings you to my planet?"
What should he say? Rummaging through his mind for a good answer, Anakin remembered the man with the Twi'Lek slave mentioning some sort of slave auction. "You know, the same thing as everyone else. The slave auction tomorrow. That, and I thought you would be interested in knowing Suyolx wants to open trade with you."
"Oh yes, the auction," the Queen said brightly. "Many foreign traders come to the auctions, they are the busiest times of the month for my planet. They happen once a every two months, and last about a week. Of course, I'm sure you knew that."
"Indeed, I did. Your auctions are famous," Anakin replied. He actually had not known this vital piece of info, and was glad to have been told about it. It seemed the Queen would just give him information with barely any prompting... This could prove beneficial.
"Do you have any sort of slave in mind you are looking to purchase?"
"Not particularly, though I have always been interested in finding a Force sensitive slave," Anakin responded. Hopefully, he might find out where the Queen had bought hers.
The Queen chuckled, surprising Anakin yet again. "You won't find one of those here."
"Certainly you bought your fine servant at the auction at some point?"
"Riley? Ha, I didn't buy her," the Queen chuckled again at the notion of buying her most prized slave.
That was rather alarming in Anakin's mind. Didn't buy her? How else did the Queen manage to get a Force sensitive slave? Unless Riley was a gift, or the Queen personally enslaved her...
Seemingly realizing she had said too much, the Queen changed the subject. "Where are you staying this week?"
"I actually haven't found a place yet."
"Oh," said the Queen. "Well, I have a few extra rooms. You are welcome to stay here for the week. A sort of payment for brining me the news of Suyolx."
"I would appreciate that greatly," Anakin couldn't believe his outstanding luck.
"I will call one of my servants to escort you to the guest suite."
In a moment, a young Twi'Lek girl of about 12 years appeared, and lead Anakin up several levels and through a hallway that joined two towers. The middle tower was the one that housed the dining and living room, as well as the Queen's room and dozens of other rooms. Apparently, the second tallest tower on the left was the one with the guest suites.
Upon reaching the guest suite, Anakin thanked the Twi'Lek girl. She froze, apparently not used to receiving thanks, before leaving. Shaking his head sadly, Anakin entered his room. It was his turn to freeze, more in awe than shock. The room was HUGE. It had large windows, a long couch, a high ceiling, fancy tile flooring, tall glass doors which opened onto a wide balcony, an elegant dresser, and a giant bed. He walked around the room, staring at everything. It was all so fancy, quite different from what he was used to at the Jedi Temple. His room there was small, and littered with droid parts and other such things that he would build with.
After marveling at the room for a good five minutes, Anakin finally retired to bed. It had been a rather long day for him, and he was tired. Tomorrow would no doubt be just as if not more eventful. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, a brief thought ran through his mind. What did the Queen mean when she had said "what her kind call the Force?" What did the Queen mean by "her kind?"