My dreams were sweet, and we would have stayed like it for as long as we could if not for the commotion telling us we're about to reach Coruscant.

We look at each other in a mutual state of awe, no words needing to be spoken as he helps me to my feet and guides me out to where Padme is getting ready since she will be addressing the senate herself in due time.

She wears a brave face but even so I squeeze her hand and promise her "It will be alright."

She nods weakly and I hold her tight as we near the planet, my eyes meeting Obi-Wans as the discomfort begins to set in. The knowing I've not returned here since I left five years ago.

Anakin lingers near Padme as we prepare for what's to come, it's clear he's taken a liking to her, it's sweet.

"He made this for me," she tells me, showing me the charm he carved. "He said it will bring me good fortune."

"What a sweet boy," I smile but she still looks concerned.

"He misses his mother."

I nod knowing what she is asking me and I take Anakin aside, bending down to talk to him.

"I know this is hard, leaving home for a place you don't know, with people who are strangers," I tell him and reveal "I was like you once. Some people came and told me I was special like you are, they took me away from Padme and my parents, it hurts and there's no other way of going about it."

"When will it stop hurting?" he asks me and I feel Obi-Wan and Padme both watching.

"You'll miss her," I say to him, knowing they're simple words that could never begin to prepare him for the truth of it. "But that's okay, because it means you still love your mom and nothing is wrong with that, no matter what anyone tells you." I hold the little boys hand tight. "But Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan will take good care of you now, like they've taken care of me."

Qui-Gon comes to stand beside me. "She's right, challenging times are ahead but you will overcome them all. Rhea, a word?"

I nod, immediately assuming it's about Obi-Wan but instead he says "When we arrive your sister will be greeted by Senator Palpatine and the Chancellor, however Obi-Wan and I will be meeting with the Jedi Council and I ask you come with us."

I look to Obi-Wan in panic who assures me "It will be alright, your sister will be occupied but to ensure her safety we need you on board with what we bring to the council."

"Which is?"

Qui-Gon tells me with no sugarcoating "That what can only be a Sith lord is after your sister."

My heart stops but when it beats again it's with purpose. "How do we stop him?"

"I don't know yet," Qui-Gon admits. "But we will."

I look at Obi-Wan again who nods in agreement. "All will be well Rhea." Qui-Gon leaves us and Obi-Wan reaches for my hand as I clam up. "You may have left the order, but you still have every right to stand before the council as we do. Master Dooku left and he still visits the temple often, it's nothing unheard of." I nod anxiously, still struggling for words at the thought of once again being put on trial. "Rhea?"

"I just want to stand there and represent my planet, I don't want an interrogation," I tell him and warn. "If they attack me I will defend myself."

"I don't doubt that," he says and jokes "I certainly won't make the mistake of arguing ideology with you again."

We both laugh but it's overshadowed by Qui-Gons theory. "A sith- why would a sith be after us?"

He's at a loss. "I don't know, but I promise you we will find out." 

He looks around at the crowded room with Qui-Gon speaking to Captain Panaka and Anakin and Padme talking before discreetly guiding us to somewhere more private where it's just the two of us.

"If we are facing a sith, we will need as many Jedi as we can get," he begins and takes my hand. "I have no doubt the council will allow us to continue our assignment and stay with you and your sister until this mess is dealt with, but even then I-" he struggles with his words. "I don't want this mission to end."

Those words alone confess something forbidden for him and so I assure him "Neither do I."

He treads carefully "I know how you feel about the order but if there was a way you could continue on this assignment with us after it's done, cleaning up the collateral and finding the sith, would you?"

"I would," I answer in a heartbeat. "But I don't think the council would allow me, how I left- it was not pretty or graceful. The rage you've seen, it was far worse when I was fourteen."

"I don't doubt that," he says, thumb running over the back of my hand and I feel his nervousness. "But that rage pales in comparison to the rest of you."

Softly I ask "And what is that?"

"Good," he answers without hesitation. "Someone who cares very much for her family and her own people and strangers alike, and I would call the highest form of compassion. A quality it seems the councils overlooked."

I know I'm blushing as I struggle with the flustered smile those words bring to my face. "Compassionate, I don't think I've ever heard that word used to describe me in the slightest."

"Then how about some others," he says and I look up from our hands to meet his eye. "Discerning, passionate, enlightening." I feel our bodies being drawn together as I'm drawn into his blue eyes. "Loyal, captivating, opinionated." I feel my breath hitch in my throat as he continues "Alluring."

"Alluring?" I breathe, knowing allure is something a Jedi should certainly not feel and turn the tables. "And what of you Obi-Wan? Understanding, bright, quick-witted." I feel his free hand trailing along the bare skin of my arm, goosebumps rising. "Perceptive, hopeful, devoted." My own hand comes up to touch his face, fingers tracing his jaw. "I don't think I've ever met someone who has as much faith as you do."

"And it isn't misplaced," he promises me and I find myself lost in his eyes, feeling something that I try to fight and yet my chin tilts up towards his as I feel his fingertips on the small of my back and I only look away from his eyes to see our fingers lacing together and when I look back up I'm breathless at the closeness of him.

He tilts his head down and the tension between us is unbearable as his lips hover over mine, but even I know this is wrong, that this will only cause us pain and whisper "We shouldn't."

"I know," he says, but it's as if trying to resist the pull of the force. "Trust me, I know. I swore I wouldn't..." 

He trails off in pain, and I turn my head away and step out of his embrace, sensing something deeper behind it and now I'm the one in pain as I breathe "Obi-Wan, whoever you loved...you won't find her in me."

He looks up and quickly insists "No- that's not-" with the step he takes forward I take one back and he tells me "Rhea that's not what I'm saying and that has nothing to do with the way I feel about you."

"Feel?" I repeat, the madness of this finally dawning on us both. "We hardly even know each other." 

And yet somehow he knows me better than anyone ever has.

"You know that's not true," he says, clearly believing what we feel isn't by chance. "Search your feelings and you'll know that this-"

"Is something that is forbidden," I say, shaking my head knowing just what will happen to him if he breaks the code. "I was expelled, I suffered the shame of being a failure so listen to me when I tell you that it is not a fate you want to face."

At the mention of being forced out of the order his face hardens and he agrees "No it's not, but it isn't that simple."

"Isn't it?" I ask him, defending myself from the pain I know this will cause, knowing someone couldn't love me unless they saw someone else in my eyes. "You loved someone, and that someone is not me and it can't be me."

"Your right, it can't be," he says, but even as he looks at me now I swear I can see him looking at someone else. "Maybe when we first met I saw her in you, combative, opinionated to the point of extremism, willing to do anything to defend your people." He treads forth towards me with extreme caution. "Had she said the word I would have left the Jedi Order, but I always knew it was meant to end, it had to."

"And for that you have my condolences," I say stiffly, only feeling pain at his words as I go to leave. "But I am not her."

He grabs my wrist, pulling me back. "I don't want you to be." I still don't look at him as he says "There is love, and then there is this." I want to pull my hand free, I want to curse him and pretend all that has passed these past days never happened, but I can't. "I know you can feel it."

I do, when we laid together under the stars it's all I could feel, a pull to each other that was as strong as the force itself, and standing here now I hate it. "I don't want to feel it."

"And you think I do?" he exclaims and with that I look back at him, eyes burning into him and yet he doesn't let go. "I swore to myself I'd never let myself fall in love again and that I have succeeded in, but this- I've never been faced with anything like this. With someone who makes me forget everything I've ever been taught, who makes me feel things I don't want to feel, makes me question everything I've ever believed in-"

"And you think you don't do the same to me?" I half yell and laugh sadly, him not knowing the half of it. "You don't think that what I feel makes me question everything I fought against, that the people who turned their backs on me can't be as rotten as I believe if they somehow made someone like you." I'm cursing his name as much as putting him on a pedestal. "I was doing just fine until I met you, I never had anyone look at me the way you do, see through me how you do. I was fine being the failure everyone hated until you made me feel like more than that."

"Because you are," he says, now taking both my hands in his. "Just because you turned your back on the order doesn't mean you aren't a Jedi."

"They turned their back on me," I say hoarsely. "Not the other way around, and I won't let them do the same to you because the force is playing some sick joke on us-"

"I thought you would know better than to think the force would do such a thing," a voice interrupts and we jump apart at the sight of Master Qui-Gon who looks upon us with a heavy heart. "The council will not turn their backs on any of us, not if I have something to say for it." He looks between us and lowers his eyes. "Now come, we have business to attend to."

He leaves us and we're silent, the space between us agony as he reaches again for my hand and says "What I feel for you has nothing to do with anyone else." As much as I don't want believe him I know his words are true. "When we took this mission I- I could never have expected you." His voice is resolute as his eyes meet mine. "I believe that us meeting was not a mistake."

"How is this not a mistake?" I ask him, my voice filled with pain as reality dawns on us. "How can this possibly end in anything but pain?"

He's vulnerable as he says "Do you think I don't know how this ends? I do, I've spent years training myself to force those feelings aside until you came and taught me it doesn't have to be that way. That you don't have to be emotionless to feel the force. I don't know what this is Rhea, but I know that this pull to each other is something greater than feelings."

"Which is why we cannot act on them," I say, finally stepping away from him as I hear the rest of the crew departing. "Even if we wanted to."

With those words I walk towards the exit of the ship and step out onto the ramp, needing the fresh air to breathe, watching as my sister is greeted by Palpatine and the Chancellor and is guided away by these powerful men, both of whom I can't bring myself to trust. Especially Palpatine. He reeks of what ambitious men reek of. His eyes catch mine as they leave and he offers me a nod with a smile I trust even less. Senator's have their terms, now I wait for him to finish his and ice him out.

"Come," Qui-Gon says to me as Obi-Wan comes to my side, keeping a distance between us. "We must convene with the council."

I nod, not having any more words left in me and Obi-Wan and I share a sad glance as we follow behind Qui-Gon, our blissful moment of peace on Tatooine finally over.

We arrive at the Jedi Temple, Qui-Gon having not spoken another word about how he found Obi-Wan and I, but there is no mistaking what he saw. He knows his padawan and sees through me almost as easily, perhaps it would be easier if he were to scold us, to tell us it is forbidden, to do for us what we struggle to. 

And yet he only seems saddened.

When we come to the temple I feel myself freeze up, and despite it all Obi-Wan comes to my side.

"You can face them," he tells me and and puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'll be right there with you."

Those words shouldn't ease me as much as they do and looking up at those temple steps I know I have to do this. I'm not doing this for myself, but for Padme.

Which is what gives me the strength to take that first step, then the second, and the rest until I come to walk through the halls I grew up in once again. Remembering who I was when I last did.

Rhea Naberrie. Just fourteen, a Jedi padawan. 

I have every right to be here, the council does not change that.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon who stay by my side as my former peers gaping at the sight of me all grown up now. 

Rhea Amidala. Nineteen. Protector of the Queen.

And as Obi-Wan reminded me despite how much I have fought against it, still a Jedi at heart.

My steps pick up pace as we approach the lift to the council chambers and I don't dare look back as I step inside and look at Obi-Wan, his eyes telling me all I need to hear. That this is right.

My dark hair is bound in a braid arranged atop my head, and so I pull the pin holding it togetther to let it fall out in a single braid down my back, how I wore it the last time I stood before the council, prosecuted.

Fourteen and afraid of the old men I stood before. Now I watch my sister doing the same without a glimpse of fear. I must have at least a fraction of the courage I taught her to have.

And so I step from the lift, proud as I enter the council chamber and feel a dozen heads turn my way, horrified and bewildered all while I wear the same face I taught my sister to have.

"I present Lady Rhea Amidala to the Council on the matter of Queen Amidala," Qui-Gon says as they take me in and I meet my old masters eye.

"Rhea needs no introduction," she says sadly and shifts uncomfortably in her seat. "Although I would ask why you have brought her before us and how she is of relevance to the matter at hand."

"I am sister to Queen Amidala," I answer proudly and watch her eyes fall. "During our escape from Naboo we were forced to make an emergency landing on Tatooine for repairs. During which we came under attack by an individual who wielded a lightsaber."

It's then Qui-Gon steps forward. "He was trained in the Jedi arts. My only conclusion can be that it was a Sith lord."

"Impossible," Master Mundi exclaims while I raise an eyebrow at my least favourite council member. "The Sith have been extinct for a millenium."

"I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing," Master Windu says and I can't help but scoff. "What was that padawan?"

Yoda corrects "A padawan no longer, expelled she was."

Obi-Wan's head turns to me and he mouths "Expelled?"

My story has always been that I left willingly, only the masters would know the truth.

"She was on mission with Master Billaba and I when she betrayed orders and was expelled for intervening in Jedi business and endangering a child," Master Windu says and that is one accusation I will not take.

"You took a three year old girl from her mother, both of them screaming and fighting tooth and nail-"

"Their owner permitted it-"

"Exactly, they were slaves!" I yell and try to reign myself in. "You paid the slave owner for the girl while her mother screamed and was almost killed trying to get her back."

"And so you returned the girl into slavery to her mother," he says and my stomach churns. "Only to strike down the slave master, causing a diplomatic crisis with the Republic."

I feel Obi-Wans eyes on me, no doubt shocked considering the current situation with Anakin. Except his mother agreed to it, and Anakin is old enough to be willing.

"You should be grateful I did not do it on Tatooine," I spit out, perhaps I would have if it was I who went with Padme and not Qui-Gon. "If killing slave masters and freeing children goes against the Jedi code then so be it."

"You broke intergalactic laws-"

"And I'd do it again," is all I say of it, without allowing for a shred of remorse. "But I did not come here to be interrogated on matters of the past. My duty is to my sister, which is the reason I stand here as an official representative of Naboo as she was attacked by a Sith Lord."

"Break laws young Naberrie did," Yoda says ignoring me. "Much anger in you there is, much recklessness, judgement clouded by feelings they are."

"It was my mistake in teaching her the seventh form," Master Windu says, the master who oversaw my training almost as much as Master Billaba. "I had faith that she could handle it, my faith was misplaced."

I keep my face from showing the hurt those words bring and can feel Obi-Wan's silent comfort, almost as if he's in my head telling me it's not true.

"Master Windu, that is hardly appropriate," Qui-Gon scolds. "The girl has come here as a representative of her planet under my invitation, not a rogue padawan, and I will not have her treated as such."

"Master Qui-Gon, you would do well to remember the troubles she caused for our order as a whole," Windu argues. "She is reckless and spiteful and bringing her here before us for whatever reason only reflects poorly on yourself."

"Then so be it," Qui-Gon says, and never before has anyone defended me so shamelessly. "If I remember correctly you took the girl under your wing when she was only a young padawan, before you even assigned her to your own apprentice Master Billaba. Your faith in her was not misplaced and the only person to blame for her spitefulness is the council for giving it reason."

I feel Obi-Wan's immediate fear at his masters defiance as I stand there wide eyed, but the council do not seem phased and I realise this must be a frequent enough occurrence.

"Standing here now she displays exceptional courage, only to be attacked for coming before you and demanding action after her sisters life was endangered by what we must suspect is a sith."

Finally I clear my throat and step forward.  "Master Windu, Master Yoda, my feelings do not cloud my judgement," I say, declaring what I was too afraid to at fourteen, but I know my heart well enough now. "They make me see clearer, they make me stronger not weaker. That is your Jedi orders greatest mistake, equating feelings with darkness when all they bring me is closer to the light." It takes all the strength in me not to look at Obi-Wan. "I know my own heart and mind, and those worthy of seeing it too know my truth, and right now my priority is to assist the Jedi Order in bringing down this Sith Lord to ensure my sister's safety."

"But you are no longer a Jedi," Master Windu says, Billaba my former master quiet. "You surrendered that privilege when your emotions caused you to go against the order and almost started a war between Slave Owners and the Republic."

"I am a Jedi," I declare, and Qui-Gon gives me an encouraging nod. "Whether or not I am a member of this order the force is with me, and it's will is greater than your authority. The code is flawed, I know many Jedi believe it to be so even if they are afraid to speak it." I can feel Qui-Gon's pride in me at those words. "The force is what makes a Jedi, not the code. How can any Jedi can have control over their feelings if they refuse to feel them? How can you tell someone that love leads to darkness when it brings them closer to the force?"

"Master if I may speak." I look back at Obi-Wan stunned as he steps forward in my defence. "While we all live by the code there must be allowance to the interpretation of the code, as Master Qui-Gon has taught me," Obi-Wan carefully treads, neither Qui-Gon or I sure where he is going with this, but Qui-Gon looks upon his padawan with nothing but pride. "While it is true she is an individual who does harbour great emotion, she is able to wield it well, with there never being a moment of darkness attached to it. Perhaps a slight of anger or fear, but the same as we all are susceptible to despite our training. Her circumstances are not black and white." 

"No, but they are her undoing," Master Windu says whilst my eyes linger on Obi-Wan, trying to hide that very emotion right now in this moment. "She went rogue and almost caused a diplomatic disaster for the order. That is a type of recklessness that does not simply disappear, but is only emboldened."

"Then perhaps it was your own mistake Master Windu," I accuse. "For bringing me to the order at an age where I could not be indoctrinated like the rest."

"You're right," he says coldly. "I should have left you and saved myself a headache."

"Enough!" Qui-Gon intervenes. "I will remind you again that she is not here for interrogation. She is here on business on behalf of the Queen of Naboo. Now, can we get to that business."

Finally they allow it and give me a nod to speak.

"My sister narrowly escaped this attack as Master Qui-Gon fought off the attacker until we could escape," I say, knowing I will not leaving until they act. "I stand here on behalf of Naboo demanding action. Our planet has been invaded and our people rounded up and put into camps. The senate has yet to act in our favour and as my sister's military advisor I will act to save my people no matter the result of the senate." That is a fact no one in this room doubts. "But I myself cannot stop a sith, and so I request Master Qui-Gon and his padawan be allowed to continue with this mission to stop this attacker with the councils support in launching a full investigation and providing extra security to the queen."

The council is quiet in contemplation, Yoda especially.

"We will use all our resources to unravel this mystery, we will discover the identity of your attacker," Master Windu finally says but does not give a when or how. "The council will convene on this matter, you are dismissed."

Qui-Gon bows and goes to leave but I stop him.

"Wait- is that all?" I look to the council. "So you wait until it attacks us again and then decide to determine a further course of action?" I quickly realise that is exactly what they intend to do. "No, that's not good enough."

"Rhea, please," Master Billaba pleads with me. "We will do all we can for your sister."

"It's still not good enough, I was sent here on her behalf and with her authority I demand further action be taken," I insist and find Temple guards beginning to escort me out. "Don't touch me!"

They grab me as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both try to intervene but not before I end up in a physical altercation with the guards whilst Master Billaba orders the guards to let me go but it falls on deaf ears.

"The Sith are back!" I yell as the guards attempt to pull me from the room but I am long past the point of grace. "Has the order become so blind you could not see it? And what? What do you do now you have this information? Nothing! You send two Jedi on a suicide mission hoping it will be discreetly dealt with?" I break free from the guards and hold my ground. "A Sith roams free yet you are more concerned by what my presence could bring upon your precious order? Are you all blind!" I feel Obi-Wans hand on my arm but shake it off, it's my anger they say that clouds my judgement but in it I see clearly. "I remember now why I left, why I pushed and pushed against the order until you rid of me. It's because of this right here. So preoccupied with order it borders on madness while the Sith have risen up and what do you do? Sit here in your chairs judging me when my failures are only representative of your own!"

They're all silent as I look around the room and my eyes fall on Qui-Gon "Am I wrong?" I look back to the council. "Are any of you so brave to agree with me, or do you disregard me for the sake of order and conformity? Because I have spent the last years in the political sphere, and you are becoming far less of whatever the Jedi should stand for and more of an oligarchy of righteousness!"

From their silence I know my words cut deep, and I pray I do not leave them with a peaceful mind as I finish "And you shall lose more Jedi until you overcome it."

I leave the room before I can be escorted out heading straight for the lift and pushing past a man I vaguely recognise as Master Dooku as Obi-Wan chases after me.

"Rhea!"

"You heard what I said and if you want me to apologise I'll say it all again!" I yell back and curse under my breath as I walk into the lift "Pretentious bastards."

Before the door can slide closed he pushes in, still trying to reason with me. "Rhea-"

"I am not going back in there."

"I'm not asking you to," he says, his voice breathless. "I'm coming with you so they don't pull you out of here and drag you out."

"That's why I'm leaving willingly," I retort but he has questions of his own.

"Why didn't you say you were expelled?"

"Because of the shame," I tell him, still remembering my mothers face. "I was expelled from the order for refusing to sit back and watch innocents suffer. They said I was turning sith by killing a slave master when it was justice," I insist, begging him to believe me without even realising it. "All I could hear was my baby sister screaming and my older one fighting for me when Mace Windu took that girl away, all I could remember was once being that little girl and after repeatedly being chastised and ripped apart by the council I snapped!"

He grabs me by the arms to keep me still as he tells me "I'm not fighting with you Rhea."

"Do you understand now?" I ask him and watch something in his eyes change. "Do you understand now why I hate everything the order stands for as much as I do?"

His hands are still holding my arms when the lift opens and he quickly withdraws them, instead grabbing my wrist and pulling me with him. 

"Come with me," he says as he leads me through the Jedi Temple and I follow him, half expecting to be brought to a confinement room but I'm surprised when he brings me to the living quarters, and finally to what must be his room. 

He pulls me behind the corner and checks to make sure no one's seen us before pulling me inside and making sure the door closes behind us.

"Obi-Wan?"

His hands are on my face, his voice desperate. "I understand and I know what they say about you isn't true, I know because I've seen it, and I meant every word I said in there." Tears wet my cheeks and he wipes them away as he did before. "What you said about your heart, I know it's true."

"I know," I breathe unevenly. "Because it took every bit of discipline in me not to look straight at you, otherwise they would have known."

"Known what?" he asks as if we're both fools.

I smile shakily as I look him in his blue eyes. "You know what."

And he does know. He knows the attachment he and I both harbour, something the code forbids. Yet we've both fallen pray to it.

"I've had blind faith for so long," he tells me, thumb stroking my cheek. "But you and Master Qui-Gon, you're right about the council, about the code." His body is close to mine, his breath warm in the dark room. "Especially you. I- I don't know what I have faith in now. But I know I have it in you."

My breath is only a whisper "No one's ever truly had faith in me before."

All my life I've only heard how reckless I am, how ashamed they are of me, how any faith was misplaced. Until now.

This isn't love. Not yet. But it could be. 

I know it because all I feel when he touches me is hope.

"I do."

And perhaps hope is the most dangerous thing of all as our lips meet and just like that there is no going back. Where he was restrained he's now free, and where I was lost I'm now found.

He pulls back, checking that I'm alright and I answer by bringing his lips back to mine, at first rough but then gentle, juxtaposed, the gentle and the rough, meeting for something beautiful. 

My hands reach for his face while his fingers through my hair, my braid falling apart as he comes to hold me in an embrace unlike anything I've ever felt before, both of us giving into something we were always warned against, and finding nothing but light.

"Is this as terrible as they tell us?" I ask him and he breathlessly shakes his head, kissing me again longingly before answering me.

"No, this is-" I can see the conflict in his eyes as he gives in to me "This is anything but that."

We dare explore that forbidden thing with every touch of our lips, wrapping ourselves deeper in one another, and I don't think I've ever felt the force as strongly as I do now in his arms, and I know he feels it too. 

My hand runs down his chest, until I can feel his heartbeat beneath my palm and smile as it pounds beneath his chest, bringing his own hand to feel mine and feel him smile as well. He takes my hand, fingers lacing together palm to palm, eyes fluttering shut as our bodies meet as if they were forged to do so, a oneness I've never felt before with anyone as our lips touch now so gently that anything more feels as if it would overwhelm every sense I have.

"Obi-Wan," I breathe, feeling the sensation even his name brings.

"Rhea," he whispers back, his blue eyes meeting mine, and that's how Qui-Gon finds us when the door is slid open, our bodies together and lips barely apart.

He does not jump away as I'd expect, but merely stares frozen at his master who looks to the floor and sighs, all of us knowing there is no explaining this. Before we could have feigned innocence, one friend helping another, but not now, not like this. 

"Well then," he says, unsurprised but not disappointed, and eyes us with contemplation. "We best find a way out of this predicament and then we will deal with this." 

By deal with he doesn't mean fix, but rather find a way to help us.

"Master," Obi-Wan begins and Qui-Gon just raises a hand to quiet him.

"Rhea, Padme is leaving for the senate, her ship waits for you outside."

I nod, slowly pulling myself away from Obi-Wan, neither of us able to form any words.

"Here, let us escort you out," Qui-Gon says and we're silent as we leave the temple. 

Obi-Wan and I keep our distance and I look behind me when I feel someone watching only to meet the eyes of Master Dooku who's looking straight at me, as if through me. 

His stare haunts me long after I've left the temple and indeed we find a ship waiting for us, along with Anakin.

"The boy has come to be tested by the council," Qui-Gon tells me. "I suspect you'll have words for him."

I nod knowing what he's asking of me, and walk forward towards the boy. The slave boy who left his mother for a chance at a better life and yet has no idea what's ahead.

"Now Anakin," I say, bending down to his height. "Are you sure you want this, that you don't want to return to your mother?"

"I'll miss her, but one day when I'm a Jedi I'll go home to free her," he tells me, and I know the council may be rid of me, but they'll have their hands full with him.

"I hope so Anakin," I say and look behind me to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. "Now I don't know if you'll see Padme or I again, but I do hope our paths cross. These two Jedi will be here for you, they'll be your new family. Now, you may not like everything the council says, they can be very tough and often wrong, but you are an exceptional boy and they are the ones lucky to have you, never forget that."

"Really?" he asks, and I can only assume he's never been told that, just as I never was.

"Yes, now go on," I tell him, watching as he goes to Qui-Gon who promises me.

"We'll look after him."

"If anything doesn't go to plan," I say, meaning he doesn't pass their tests. "We will care for him."

"I know you will," he assures me, and it's only as he goes to leave a panic fills me, Obi-Wan and I looking at each other in alarm and I call out.

"Wait!"

Qui-Gon looks back but my eyes are on Obi-Wan, a realisation that has only just hit me. That they may not be leaving Coruscant with Padme and I if the council refuses to take action. "Are you coming with us?"

Obi-Wan looks to his master for answer as well, and he assures us "We will complete our mission, patience young padawans."

Obi-Wan and I stand there as Padme calls me to get onboard, I want to run forward towards him but out here in public I know I cannot, so I give an emotional nod and jump inside the speeder as they return inside the temple.

Oh what a beautiful tragic mess we have gotten ourselves into.

"What was that?" Padme asks me as we take off.

"What was what?"

She gives me a look but does not press. "The verdict?"

"Regardless of the council's decision, Master Qui-Gon won't abandon us," I say, realising the reason he was prepared to leave the council session so easily was because he's already made up his mind and that they will not sway it. "We will kill the attacker, and we will free our people."

She looks forward towards the senate and says "We will, and I will not accept no."

~

I am beside Padme in the senate, an illegal blaster beneath the royal robe I wear. While they make their points to the Chancellor I'm scouring the room for any sign of the sith lord, reaching out through the force in a way I have not done in a long time but there is a freedom in being the exiled. A freedom to use the force as it feels fit, the natural way instead of the order. 

But even then I find nothing but a general unsettlement.

"Honorable Represenatives of the Republic, I come to you under the gravest of circumstances," Padme begins when it is her turn. "The Naboo system has been invaded by the droid armies of the Trade-"

"I object! There is no proof!"

Padme is past the point of anger, she is already grieving and underneath her tough face she is afraid for her people, for all of us. But if I can do what I've done today, she can do this also.

"We recommend a commission be sent to Naboo to ascertain the truth."

They all argue amongst themselves and I listen to Palpatine in Padme's ear.

"Enter the bureaucrats, the true rulers of the Republic," he tells her and I listen carefully to just what he is feeding her. "And on the payroll of the Trade Federation I may add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear."

I cannot argue against him despite my dislike for the man, the Republic is corrupt and there is no doubt the Federation has allies here.

"The point is conceded," Valorum declares. "Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your concerns?"

We don't have time, the very suggestion of it is an offence of the worst kind and in that very moment the flaws of the senate are laid out for me plainly.

"I will not defer," she declares, remaining firm. "I've come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now! I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee!" She decides and I'm glad if there is one thing I've taught her, it's strength in the face of adversity, to not be afraid to raise her voice to a room of people who refuse to listen. "If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed." I nod proudly as she proposes. "I move for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

There is outrage, but she is just what I've taught her to be, unapologetic and controversial.

I only wish I could see myself as I see her.

~

As we wait for the voting I look out the window of Padme's apartments towards the Jedi Temple, wondering how Anakin is going, how Obi-Wan is feeling.

"What occured during the meeting?" Padme asks me knowingly. "Was there an argument?"

"They attempted to escort me out after I had some choice words for the council," I say, but don't want to put anymore worries on her and so I leave out the altercation. "It was all alright though in the end, I remembered just why I left but Obi-Wan took care of me."

"Yes, you two seem close," she comments, but does not insinuate anything. "Do you think he'll take care of Ani?"

"Of course," I assure her, squeezing her hand. "He is in the best hands he can possibly be in. Now, no more worrying about everyone else."

"That's easier said than done."

"I know," I say quietly and wrap an arm around her as we look out at the city together. "If we do not get action from the council I will find another way."

"How?" she asks, but I know she would not like it.

"We'll do whatever it takes," I say, knowing how far I'd go even if she would never approve of my methods. "Your hands will be bloodless, I promise."

"If only it worked that way," she says and the door opens with Panaka escorting Palpatine in.

"Your highness, Senator Palpatine has been nominated to succeed Valorum as Supreme Chancellor!"

My stomach sinks with those words and my eyes shift to him, realising what power play he's enacting using Naboo as his gambling peace, his ulterior motives. Darker doubts fill my mind now surrounding him, if this was his plan all along in eliciting Padme to move for a vote of no confidence...

"A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one." Padme lets no emotion pass her face, she does not care who is chancellor but only for Naboo. "Your majesty, if I am elected I promise to put an end to corruption."

"Those are big promises," I say from the background, stepping forward. "What we need is action now, not wasting time campaigning on empty promises."

He tilts his head at me, finding my distrust curious.

"Who else has been nominated?" Padme asks.

"Bail Antilles of Alderaan and Anle Teem of Malastare."

"Bail Antilles is a good kind of man," I tell Padme, avoiding Palpatine's glare. "He would most certainly help us."

"I feel confident our situation will create a strong sympathy vote for us," Palpatine says ignoring me and boldly declares. "I will be Chancellor."

There is a glimmer in his eyes I don't like and pray Bail will be elected, the dislike I have for Palpatine is enough that it makes me want to campaign against him, regardless Padme is not in the mood for entertaining this. 

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats there'll be nothing left of our people or our way of life."

"I understand your concern your majesty." I sense his frustration as he sees me by Padme's side, between him and her ear. "Unfortunately the Federation has possession of our planet-"

"And who has been the senator charged with handling such issues?" I accuse, daring to wonder if he let this happen. "It is such a convenience for you I'm sure that this tragedy has led to your nomination for chancellor."

The accusation I make is clear to all ears in the room, even Panaka who I always stand at odds with is partial to it, but it is Padme whose eyes are cold as she looks upon him.

"Your highness, perhaps your sister ought to be removed from the situation at hand, her emotions seem to have overcome her."

"Senator, you almost sound like a Jedi," I say and laugh, leaving him almost disturbed. "And just as I told them earlier, now is not the time for further complacency."

"Senator, this is your arena," Padme says, having had enough with politics and sitting in a senate that will not hear her, but then says "I feel I must return to mine."

"What?" I stammer, sharing an alarmed look with Panaka.

"I've decided to go back to Naboo," she says, and while I may argue with her over such matters, the look in her eyes tells me there is no arguing with her on this. 

We will not achieve anything further here. It is time to take things into our own hands.

"Your majesty be realistic," Palpatine panics. "They'll force you to sign the treaty."

He goes to follow her but I step between them, forcing him to stand in place. 

"I will sign no treaty senator," Padme says with a bite in her voice. "My fate will be no different to that of our people. Captain, ready my ship."

She leaves with Panaka, leaving me alone with Palpatine.

"You best please my sister or the chancellor won't be the only one facing a vote of no confidence," I warn him, and he knows I mean my words. "Do not return to Naboo unless you are successful in prosecuting the Trade Federation, and if you do find yourself chancellor you best remember it was our peoples blood that got you there." 

He eyes me carefully, where he's seen me only as an inconvenience he sees me for what I truly am, a threat.

"I will be keeping a close eye on you, Lady Amidala," he says slowly and I turn my back on him without another word to go to Padme who stands with her handmaidens, prepared for whatever may come. 

"We will go home," I promise her. "And we will all do whatever we must to free our people, damn the senate."

There's a shadow of a smile on her face. "I've been waiting for you to say that."