Sereine took her specially reserved seat in the third row, having spent the previous half hour in the Tonight Show green room with Sheev.
Sectorial Senator, although appointed by the King in an off-year, was still a popular election. Tonight needed to go well. She had impressed upon him the need for a gentle, slightly abashed demeanor.
He seemed to have it by the time the staff threw her out.
Gael announced him, and as Sheev walked out onto the stage—she had decided on full Naboo blue dress clothes tonight—a recording of him reading the Inferno played over the audience's applause.
Sereine was unaware anyone had recorded that. She blinked in surprise, and Sheev did, too.
Sheev ambled to the desk, made a gracious bow, and shook Gael's hand.
"Senator Palpatine, welcome back!"
"I'm so pleased to be back, and … where did that come from?"
"That's you, isn't it?" said Gael as they settled into their seats.
Palpatine gave him a comical, quizzical look. Charming. "Yes, that is me, but I had no idea anyone recorded it."
"What is it? It's a famous poem, isn't it?"
Palpatine gave him a smile and a nod. "A famous Naboo poet, yes. That is Berenko's Inferno. Lived where I'm from, actually, the Lake Country, on Naboo."
"Beautiful area, beautiful country, there," said Gael.
"Yes, it is," said Palpatine, leaning back, warming to the task. "A lovely place to grow up."
"You've spent most of your life there," said Gael.
"Yes, I have, before I was appointed to come here," said Palpatine.
Enough banter; now Gael would hit him with something. Sereine suspected the soft approach she had prepared him for.
"So, Senator, are you married? Do you have a wife back in the Lake Country, on Naboo?"
"I am widowed, Gael, actually." Palpatine sobered suddenly, as he always did, even when Sereine mentioned it.
"You were married very young, weren't you?" Gael prompted. Sereine relaxed into her seat. She had predicted this and rehearsed Sheev for it exactly.
"We met in political science classes," said Sheev. Very pleasant tone. Sereine nodded. "We married right after we graduated."
Gael followed up with, "How long were you married?"
Well, this would wring hearts. Sheev always had that look on his face every time it came up, even when they were alone. The high forehead furrowed; the pain around the eyes.
Sheev said, "Cyrah died when she was twenty-five. Ovarian cancer."
A little Aww! rose around and behind Sereine. Eating out of his hand. If Gael intended to embarrass Sheev with the latest headlines, he was going to have a difficult time.
"That must have been horrific," said Gael.
Palpatine handled it perfectly. The expression, the pensive tone in his sonorous voice. "One certainly doesn't expect … Suddenly one learns at a very young age that things are finite, that nothing is guaranteed, that one isn't master of things one believes one should be."
Perfect, Sereine thought. And then Sheev said, "Yet."
Odd thing to say, Sereine thought. Why did he say that? Glancing at the faces around her, it seemed that most had ignored the remark.
Palpatine finished, "A very sobering experience at that age."
The large screens in the studio changed to the offending Confidential cover starring Palpatine. Gael held it up on his datapad. "So … Senator Sheev," he said. "What is this about?"
Sereine smiled. Yup.
She had drilled him for exactly this. Now we'll see how well he's mastered everything I've been trying to teach him these three-and-a-half years.
"Ah, yes," said Palpatine, in a very smooth segue. "I'm afraid I wasn't much with women for many years after Cyrah's death. I didn't see anyone at all for five years, and when I did, I was … very much a rake, I'm afraid."
"A real love 'em and leave 'em type," said Gael.
Palpatine shook his head. "Terrible," he said. "Anyone who's dated me in the succeeding years, I send you an apology. I simply wasn't datable material, not at all."
"Broken hearts all over the place," said Gael.
"It wasn't a good period for me at all," said Palpatine, a rueful look on his face. Poking some gentle fun at himself.
Gael folded his hands on his desk. "So, is there anyone special now?"
They had discussed what to say about this. He was not to look at Sereine in the audience. They were not to be seen together. Yet, a half-truth could cover a multitude of issues, and obviate any need for Senator Palpatine to be seen in romantic company, at all. No speculation about his sexual orientation. No untidy stories about whom he was or wasn't seeing. He had a very private lady, and that was that.
Palpatine drew a deep breath, changing gears. "Yes, there is, these days," he said. "But she's a very private person and doesn't want to participate in any sort of public life. Very difficult to take out to the opera, that sort of thing." Very Sheev. He did ask her, from time to time.
"Is it a good relationship? Are you happy?" said Gael, and Sereine smirked a bit. This should be interesting.
Palpatine leaned back in his seat, interlacing his fingers. "Yes, it is, she's very supportive. She's a very sensual and beautiful person." Sereine smirked again. Not the greatest remark for the Tonight Show, but, this was Sheev and he couldn't help himself. Palpatine mitigated this subtle overshare by finishing with, "She's a good friend."
Then Gael said, "But, if she doesn't want any sort of public life, I guess then marrying her is going to be out of the question."
Palpatine blinked, and Sereine would have sworn the dismay stamped suddenly on his features was genuine. It was a line of questioning they hadn't anticipated.
Palpatine stumbled. "Well, I guess so … not. Whatever." He took a breath and clarified. "No, I suppose you're right."
Sereine would have given him a subtle nod of approval and cut her eyes across—Say no more!—if he had looked at her. But he avoided both her and the audience, looking down at his clasped hands.
It made for a touching moment. And it threw Sereine into disarray for a bit. Is he acting?
If he was, he was doing a stellar job, surpassing anything she had expected from him.
Gael milked the moment, letting silence reign for a beat. A good move for him; Sereine visualized the headlines tomorrow about how Senator Palpatine revealed his private heartbreaks on the show. It played directly into their hands. All these sappy personal headlines would dominate, and what Palpatine said next would make no headlines at all.
"So, on to why you're actually here tonight." Sereine detected the falseness of the discomfort in Gael's voice, playing up the moment for the clips of this that would be replayed and for the headlines she knew would follow. "Shipping lane grants are always on the agenda in the Senate. In fact, you're right in the middle of a dispute with the Trade Federation over one now. Why does this issue keep coming up over and over, and what do we all need to know about it?"
The Teem caucus would hate Palpatine over this. They would growl and squawk, demanding equal time, furious that the Valorum caucus, through Senator Palpatine on the Tonight Show, could put that caucus's spin on anything it cared to.
But Senator Sheev Palpatine, with his captivating voice and his light blue eyes and his distinctive aquiline nose, his rich robes, his audacious stands for justice, his Peace Prize nomination, and now his sad personal life, was the only Senator who could command that stage.
It was just what Sereine had been grooming him for, yet more than she ever could have dreamed.
And it would make him the darling of the Valorum caucus. Already he was being chosen as its spokesman, more than Bel Ilbis, more than Bail.
In six years, when Valorum stepped down from the Box, Palpatine would be the shining center of his caucus's primary.
All she had to do was steady his rising star … and make sure he made no mistakes.