It was bright and beautiful morning. Padme was up reading some news that was concerning the Emperor. Yesterday morning, at her meeting with the reining Queen, news came to them that Emperor Palpatine was here and he was up at his retreat. Her only thought was, now was he here too?
" Good morning, Padme. You are up early today." Sabe` said, as she came into the kitchen.
" Morning, Sabe`. I just can't sleep, not with the Emperor being so very close to us." Padme said, taking a sip of her tea.
" I see. You have a every reason to be frightened. Do you think that he is here too?" Sabe` asked, as she poured herself some tea too.
" I don't know if he is here or not. I didn't get any word, if he is here, but I guess,I will just have to wait and see." Padme said, as she took another sip of her tea.
Sabe` just sat there and watched her Mistress. Her heart just breaks, as she sits here and sees the empty shell of what was a very strong and powerful woman. She really has no spirit left in her. If it wasn't for the twins, she believes that Padme would die. As long as the twins were alive and near her, then she has something to fight for.
" I'll give you the list of things that we need from the market. Are you sure that you don't need any help?" Sabe` said, as she sat down across from Padme.
" Ok. No, I'll be ok. It's easy for me to slip in and out of the city, without anyone seeing me. Besides, you need to say here with the twins." Padme said, giving her best friend a small smile.
The only thing that makes her happy these days are her two children, Luke and Leia. Her little angels, but also her heart break. Leia looks so much like her, when she was her age. Luke, well, he looks more like his father; the same person who turned on her and tried to kill her, all because he believed she betrayed him, when Obi-Wan showed up without her knowledge.
Her once loving husband had been brainwashed by the Emperor, but at the time, he was the Supreme Chancellor. Not only was he controlling the Senate, but he was also controlling the Jedi Council. He brainwashed everyone who wasn't strong of will.
" Ok. You know that I'm always here for you, no matter what, Padme. You are like a baby sister to me. Oh, are we going to see your parents this weekend?" Sabe` asked, as she got up and began to make her something to eat.
" Thanks. I know I can always trust you and you are like my other older sister. From what I understand, we are still seeing them." Padme said, as she got up and went over to Sabe` and giving her a sisterly hug, before grabbing herself something to eat also.
" You might want to wear something a little warm this morning, because it's a little windy outside. I had my bedroom window open and I could feel the cool wind coming through the window. I was thinking, while you are at the market, that I would take the twins to the park ,for about thirty minutes to an hour." Sabe` said ,sitting down at the table with her breakfast.
" Sure. that sounds like a great idea. Keep an eye open for trouble." Padme smiled and wished that she could be carefree and could go anywhere, without worrying about being found out, who she was.
They were silent while they ate their breakfast. Just as they finished up, the quietness was interrupted by the sound of crying baby.
" Well, duty of a mother calls." Padme said, getting up from the table putting her small plate into the sink, before walking out of the kitchen.
Padme walked down the small hallway, to the last door on the left side of the hallway. Opening the door, she went inside and went up to the crib.
" Hey, sweetie. Mommy is here." Padme said, picking up her daughter, going over to the changing table and began changing Leia's diaper.
Once Leia's diaper was changed, she stopped crying, as Padme went over to the gliding chair and sat down. Padme lifted up her top and put Leia to her breast. She began rocking and watched her soon to be month old daughter nurse. As she rocked, she began singing the lullaby that her mother used to sing to her, when she was little, and it would put her to sleep.
" Hey, you need any help?" Sabe`stuck her head into the nursery.
" Not at the moment. Luke is still asleep, and Leia is almost done here." Padme said, looking back at Leia and saw that she had fallen back to sleep.
" Ok. Here, let me take Leia, while you get Luke, because he is waking up now." Sabe` said, as she looked into the crib and saw the face the baby was making, to let her know that he was about to cry.
Padme handed Leia over to Sabe`, before getting up, walking over to the crib and looking down at her son.
" Good morning, little man. Did you sleep good?" Padme said, with a smile, as she leaned over, picked up her son, and carried him over to the changing table.
" I'm going to jump into the shower, while you are feeding Luke. I'll come back and help you get them dressed and ready for the day." Sabe` said ,as she laid Leia back down in the crib.
" Ok, that sounds good. Well, lets eat my little man." Padme said, as she took Luke to the chair and like before ,she sat down and put Luke to her other breast and began singing to him too.
Thirty minutes later, both Padme and Sabe` had the twins dressed and ready to head out to the park for a little while, while Padme was at the market getting the stuff that she needed to get.
" Ok. Here is the list of the stuff that we need and we will see back at the house?" Sabe` said, as she handed the data pad over to Padme.
Padme looked over the data pad to see if she needed to add stuff to that list too. Seeing that everything was in order, she bent down, over the hovering pram and kissed each twin on the forehead, before standing back up and pulling the hood further over her head.
" See you in hour an half, then." Padme` said, before heading off into the small wooded area, so that way, she could enter the city from the back side and make sure that no one sees her.
Twenty minutes later, Padme was walking the streets of the small town. She was trying to blend into the crowd, as she made her way over to the outdoor market, where she was going to get most of her stuff at this morning.
" Good morning, Paddy. What can I get for you today?" the older lady said, as Padme stopped at one of the tables that had fruit laid out on it.
" Morning, Lusinda. I think I'll have twelve of these, six of these and four of these." Padme said, as she began pointing out the fruits that she needed for the week or so.
" That is very good choice. They are very fresh today. They were picked yesterday. Anything else?" Lusinda asked, as she put the fruit into the bag that Padme handed her.
" That's great to hear. You always have the freshest fruit in town." Padme said, as she stood there and watched the lady bag up her items.
" Thanks. Great, what are they doing here?" Lusinda said, as she watched two Stormtroopers walk past her table.
" Great. Um ... I better go and get the rest of my items before lunch. See you next week." Padme said, handing the lady her money, before taking the bag from her.
Padme headed further down small isles of the market, picking up the things that she needed, all while keeping her eyes on the two Stormtroopers that she had seen. She had just finished picking up the last item on her list, when she saw off in the distance, the two troopers heading over to the tall dark figure. That's when she felt the cold shiver run down her spine. She had to get home as fast as she could to the twins, to make sure that she wasn't being followed by the troopers.
Now, she knows her nightmares are about to begin, because he is now here on Naboo. The terror of the galaxy ... Darth Vader.
Slipping in and out of the alleyways, Padme slipped out of the small town and wood, that lead up to her house on the hill.
" You look like you have seen a ghost, Padme" Sabe` said, as Padme came into the house.
" He is here, Sabe`." was all Padme could say.
" Oh ... gods. What are we going to do?" Sabe` asked.
" At the moment, nothing ... That means I will have to be careful now, knowing that both of them are here." Padme said, putting the bags down on the counter and began putting the items up.
" I just hope that they don't sense the twins and come after them. After all, their father was a very powerful Jedi." Sabe` said, as she saw a sad look come across Padme's face.
" Thanks, Sabe`. I too wish I had something of him to put in the mausoleum." Padme said ,pulling away from her friend and drying her tears.
" Well, if I remember correctly, you do. It's in your small box that is in your closet." Sabe` said, giving her friend a small smile, because she knew of her secret.
" What? How do you know?...Never mind... His Padawan braid. I remember the day he gave it to me. He was so excited, because he would be away from Obi-Wan, but of course, that didn't happen. Every time they need a Jedi to fight in a battle, they always sent both Anakin and Obi-Wan together, to fight some battle." Padme said, with a little anger in her tone, because of the way the Jedi treated him and Obi-Wan never stood up for him either.
" Yes, I thought you had that pendent that he made for you" Sabe` asked, because the last time she saw the pendent, it was supposedly buried with her.
" I know what you are thinking, but no, it's not in the sarcophagus. It's in the box too. Well, mother duty is calling out." Padme smiled, as she heard Luke waking up from his nap and was ready to eat.
" I see. If you need anything, just give me a call. I'll be fixing us something to eat for lunch." Sabe` said, as she watched her friend go to her children.
She will have to be on her toes, now that Darth Vader was here on Naboo. Just like the old days, when she was Padme's bodyguard and decoy ,when she was a Senator. It's hard to believe that was only month ago, but now she had to come up with a sure way, to protect Padme and the twins from the Emperor and his hunch man, Darth Vader.