Chapter 6– The School
I step off the speeder on my way to the first school I was assigned to today, and it happened to be the school I went to when I was younger. I have three schools to visit today– including my current school– and two tomorrow.
I had prepared all day yesterday with the council about what I was going to say to the children. Even though this is only my third day of being Duchess– I am already exhausted. I miss father. I remember him dropping me off at these very doors all those years ago. My mind wanders back to a specific memory…
"Do you think mommy will come back today?" I asked daddy.
"I don't think so sweetie." Daddy sounded sad. But I wanted to be happy for him and strong while he dropped me off on the first day of school.
"You don't have to worry about me daddy, I will be ok on my first day of school."
"I know you will Sati. Be safe and I will see you later."
"Bye daddy." He walked away. Now I was scared. The doors looked really big. But I needed to be strong for daddy. I walked up the stairs to the big doors and went inside.
Two guards open the door for me and I am rushed back to reality. The headmaster came to greet me at the door. He bowed.
"It is a pleasure for you to join us today Duchess Satine. The children are waiting for you in the auditorium."
"Thank you Headmaster. The pleasure is mine."
Eight guards are surrounding me again as I walk into the bright auditorium where I could hear the murmurs of children. I told the council I didn't need this kind of protection, but they insisted. As soon as I walked into the room, a quiet fell– a quiet that had an anticipation to it. I felt all the little impressionable eyes on me waiting to see what I would say or do. I had so much power but I was faking my confidence. The headmaster introduced me.
"Good afternoon students. Here to speak with us today is Duchess Satine of Mandalore. She is here to speak with us today about growing up and becoming a part of leadership." I stare into the audience, and I realize how young these students are. I remember back again to when I was their age and wonder if they are going through the same stuff I had to go through. I hope not.
"Hello students. Thank you for letting me come and speak with you all today. As your kind headmaster said, I am the Duchess of Mandalore which means I try to take care of where you live the best I can. But… I can't do it by myself. I have people who help me.
For example, these are my trusted guards," I gesture to the nearest one to me, "They protect me in case someone tries to hurt me. But the hope is that we won't need these guards, even though they are very helpful. Does anyone know a way where we wouldn't need guards anymore?"
Silence
"It's ok, you can use your loud voice," I smiled. Then one student said,
"If no one tries to hurt you, then you wouldn't need guards!"
"You are exactly right!" I was beginning to feel better about this. So what would that mean people would need to do?"
"Not fight!" another student shouted out.
"Yes my friend. Just like you get in trouble at school if you fight, you will get in trouble if you decide to fight in the real world. Therefore, I am encouraging you all now not to choose to fight one another but choose to protect one another. Even though you are little, you can still use kind words and talk your feelings out to one another. You know… even some grown-ups have a hard time talking their feelings out sometimes." I smiled and several of the students giggled. Then, I decided to try and reach the older students in the audience.
"And it's ok if you don't like the things a person in your class likes or if you don't agree with each other all the time. If everyone was the same, life would be boring. Also, it's even ok to get angry. But when we act on that anger, that's when it doesn't go well." Some of the older students nodded, and I felt reassured. But then my eye caught one students' face, and it did not look happy. In fact, the more I looked, the more it seemed this student was staring me down with anger behind his eyes. I pulled my eyes away.
"So… these guards help me and make sure people don't hurt one another. When you get older and become a grown-up, you can decide to become one of these guards if you want to." I saw a few students' eyes get bigger– some with fear– but some with excitement.
"But you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up, and you can also be kind to people now and to people when you get older." I looked around and saw some of the students not paying attention anymore, so I decided to wrap it up.
"Thank you all for listening. I hope to see you again soon."
The auditorium clapped for me and I smiled. This went better than I thought it would. The headmaster came over and started giving final words and instructions to the children, and the guards started leading me out. Several of the teachers thanked me for coming as I made my way back to the outside doors. I still had two more schools to go to. As the doors were opened I was met with the brightness of our city, and I was blinded for a split second.
Then, all of the sudden I heard an ear-piercing sound. It was a sound I had wished to never hear again. It was a sound that I felt in my whole body. This time I knew what it was.
"Duchess get down!" one of my guards shouted at me. I froze. Then I felt a strong hand pull me down as I hear two more shots being fired in the air. I was pulled away from the scene so fast it hurt. I heard other shots being fired, which must've been my guards shooting back. Someone was trying to kill me. I heard a scream.
Before I knew what was happening, I was being dragged and thrown into a speeder and we were driving away. Shots could still be heard. I only had four guards with me, which means the other four stayed behind.
"What is going on?!" I shouted.
"Stay quiet and stay down," one of the guards said firmly to me. I did as I was told.
Someone was trying to kill me like they did my father. And someone tried to do it at a school. I hope the students stay safe. I would never want to be the cause of violence even if it wasn't directly me. And right after I talked with them too– right after I talked with those students about peace, someone tried to assassinate me right outside. My mind went back to the student who was looking at me with such fierce anger. Maybe he was happy this was happening.
As we neared the palace, the guard who spoke to me before spoke up again.
"Duchess, listen very carefully to me. We are going to the backside of the palace to the back entrance your father used at times. When we land, you will stay in between us four at all times. We have already called for backup and they are on their way to meet us. When we get inside, you will stay between us until we get you to a safe location. Understand?"
"Yes sir, thank you." It just hit me that these men were risking their lives for me. And suddenly I got very scared.
"Where is Bo?" The guard hesitated.
"We don't know. We are trying to track her down." My heart skipped a beat.
"Are the kids at the school ok?"
"Duchess, we are doing everything we can to keep everyone and you safe. Follow us." We had landed. I felt tears coming to my eyes but I pushed them back as best I coud. I couldn't hardly see what was around me, because the guards were standing so close to me and hiding me in between them. I did recognize the back of the palace, but what I didn't recognize was the space we were going into.
It was a small opening in between the structures of the palace, and I felt a shift in weight as one of the guards moved his hand to push the side to make a small opening. I was pushed inside and I wanted to scream because of the size of where we were. The walls were too close and with the guards around me it made it worse. It was dark but not dark enough to not see how close the walls and ceilings were to one another.
I started thinking about the person who tried to kill me and then a terrible thought came into my mind. What if this was the plan? What if the person wanted the guards to take me into this hole and then they were going to shoot the walls and ceiling down so the rocks would come on top of us and suffocate us. I started getting dizzy.
"Breathe Duchess– you have to breathe." My mind started getting cloudy and soon I just heard mumbles. I wanted to close my eyes, but there was a guard there pushing me along and not letting me.
"You have to stay awake Duchess."
"Pick her up!" someone else shouted. I felt myself being lifted off my feet. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see how close the walls were and I didn't want to think about my killer closing in.
Finally, in what seemed like forever, light finally hit my eyes long enough for me to open them and close them again. We were in a palace room I had never been in before. The walls were dark but at least they were further apart, and there were dim candles all over the room. It had a dingy but comforting look to it.
The guard who was carrying me slowly put me down in a chair and started talking to me.
"Duchess Satine, are you alright? Can you hear me?" I didn't say anything. I tried but I couldn't. Trying to keep me awake he said, "We found Bo. She is safe. Actually as soon as she heard about the attack, she was at the scene ready to take down the person who attempted to hurt you."
"You can say kill it's ok," I said with a smile. The guard chuckled.
"Where is she now? Did she hurt anyone? Or herself?"
"She tried. But we took her away to another safe room like this. We had to lock her in. She really wanted to protect you." I smiled; Bo was such an idiot but I had to thank her for what she did.
"Are the children ok?"
"Duchess, why don't you take care of yourself for right now. I promise I will let you know any news about the school or about the assassin as soon as I find out." I liked this guard.
"What is your name?"
"Shada Rakali, ma'am."
"Thank you Shada Rakali." I started opening my eyes more so I could see who I was talking to. I felt air coming into my lungs again. The guard had his helmet on, so I didn't see his face, but I recognized which guard it was, because he was one of the regular ones on shift.
A loud knock came to the door and I jumped out of fright. Shada Rakali got up and looked out the small window and when he saw who it was he opened it. I strained my ears to try and hear what they were saying.
"The perimeter is secure," the guard at the door said.
"Yes sir," Shada Rakali said, "This way Duchess." I followed them both out the door and they took me straight to my room and didn't utter a word.
When we arrived at my room, Shada Rakali said, "Duchess, you will be moving rooms. We don't want the assassin to have any idea where you or Bo are in the palace."
"Am I going to my father's old room?" I said with some hesitation. I did not want to stay in the room where I saw my father lying on the floor covered in blood.
"Duchess, your new room will be anywhere you like in the palace, you just need to say the word. So, pack what you can and me and a couple more of my men will move your things."
"Can I see Bo?"
"Yes, Duchess. I will do what I can to bring her to you." I keep forgetting that I am in charge of these people and will need to stop asking questions and start giving orders. Shada Rakali left the room, and as soon as he did, I collapsed onto the floor. I started sobbing. I figured the entire palace could hear me but I couldn't stop. I couldn't get up either. I know Shada Rakali told me to pack but even though I tried to get up off the floor, I couldn't. I heard voices outside, and then all of the sudden, Bo came crashing in.
"Sati! Are you alright? I was freaking out when I heard about what happened. I went straight to where you were to try and find the son of a bitch who tried to shoot you but then right when I got there, those dumbass guards dragged me off. Damn they were strong; I tried to pull away but I couldn't and I couldn't even catch a glimpse of the…"
"Bo, can you stop with those words please. I don't like hearing them and I definitely don't like hearing you say them. Also where the hell were you?
"That's what you're worried about right now? Also you better watch your language if you're gonna tell me to watch mine."
"I am Duchess, I can do what I want," I smiled but still didn't look up. Bo joined me on the floor.
"Yeah and apparently some people don't like that right now." I finally saw Bo's face, and as usual, it was a mess.
"But why though? I am only trying to instill the values of our people into the young minds of the children."
"Why'd you have to go and do that? What if those kids want to stand up and fight for what they believe in?"
"Bo I cannot do this right now. I almost got shot. Is that what standing up and fighting for what you believe in looks like? If it is, I don't want any part of it." Bo sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
"We are moving rooms," I said.
"I heard," said Bo.
"Do you think we should get up off the floor?" I said with reluctance.
"No, not yet," Bo said with a smile. So we stayed there until someone knocked on our door and helped us up.
The rest of the day was filled with moving all of Bo's and my belongings to separate rooms. I got to direct where I wanted my bed and furniture to go, and I enjoyed it, because it got my mind off of the events that happened today. Then, as I was in the middle of talking with one of the maids, Tal came up to me and pulled me aside. Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into a tight hug. I realized I hadn't seen him since I became Duchess.
"Sati, you scared me. I heard you were coming to the schools, and then I heard about the shooting…"
"I'm ok Tal," I pulled away.
"May I talk with you?" I nodded and followed him into the hallway, and when I saw his face, I got worried.
"What has happened?" I asked. I prayed it had nothing to do with the children. Tal hesitated.
"The man who tried to kill you is in custody now and they are sending him to Coruscant to stay in their facilities for life."
"How did you find out about this? And why do you look so grave?"
"I have been listening to the guards talk," he paused, "One of the guards died as well as Ms. Taline Rana." I brought my hand to my mouth.
"Ms. Taline Rana?! She doesn't even teach at that school!"
"But she does teach right next door, and her students were outside when it happened. She was trying to get everyone to safety."
"This is all my fault," I started to cry. If I hadn't gone to those schools, none of this would've happened.
"Sati, this is not your fault…" but before he could finish I shouted,
"Yes it is! I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to become Duchess when my father was killed and I was only trying to help but I… I…" I stopped. I couldn't go on. I wanted to go lay on the floor of my old bedroom again, and I wanted to stop being Duchess. Tal just stood there as if he didn't know what to do, which made the situation even worse. I was so angry I stormed off, and Tal did not follow me. He was so stupid and I hated him sometimes. I hated myself sometimes too. As soon as I tried to help I made things worse, and if I hadn't done anything, my favorite teacher wouldn't've been dead. But does that mean I need to stop trying to help? I want to eradicate the violence in our city so badly that it hurts. I just didn't know how.
But after what happened today, I am determined to make sure it never happened again. The war had arrived.