she’s surprised that the other would describe herself as anything less than calm. as Queen, Amidala had been virtually unshakable - a trait that had gone beyond the façade of their many ruses & the personality of Queen, & had defined the very core of Padmé Naberrie herself. something cracking that resolve & getting under her skin was not to be ignored in the slightest. still, Sabé does little to react other than tap long, tanned fingers over her knee as she listens further. Anakin’s seeming devotion to the other is less surprising - Padmé had always inspired deep loyalty in all of her alliances & connections. Sabé herself had seen it in how the other had won over Mon Mothma & Bail Organa, & even how she had continued her service for Naboo here in the Senate while somehow balancing her connections back in Theed, as well as many other far flung places. no, a deep loyalty to the other would never surprise her, but that loyalty being held by a boy who had been all but nine years old & come from nothing... it was easy, how quick fixation could be construed as loyalty.
‘ perhaps I could reach out to Kenobi, ’ Sabé proposes after a long, silent moment. ‘ I’ve only just returned to the city, but he was present when we change faces for our ruse on Coruscant before. it won’t surprise him to think we’ve continued the tradition - especially not in the wake of an attempt that claimed Cordé. ’ she would also very much like an excuse to walk the city & re-orient herself properly, but that was hardly worth mentioning. if there was any justice in the world, she’d never have to tell Padmé the details of the disappointment & frustration she’d felt on Tatooine, & how returning her felt like starting over in a way that was manageable. seeing Kenobi would also be the closest she could come to paying her respects to Qui-Gon for the time being. he might have a memorial on Naboo, but if she was to resume her duties as the former Queen’s shadow, her capacity to travel back & forth was about to be limited to what she could manage in secret or at the side of her friend.
‘ my independence is mine to give up to you if I choose, ’ Sabé points out, finally shifting her legs a bit & pressing them down into the floor as she stretches. ‘ besides, I managed to find many, many moments for my own independence in your service, ’ the former handmaiden reminds her with a wink. ‘ no, I want to meet with Kenobi, and I belong at your side. there’s whispers of other things happening out there in the galaxy, and something is coming. Qui Gon would have said my being here is the will of the Force. I’m inclined to agree. ’ he had been with them for such a short time but the Jedi had left quite the impression on her. she found herself reaching for his serenity often - increasingly so, of late. to bring him up like this felt fitting. perhaps if he had survived, many, many things would be different. ‘ besides, a Jedi is hardly going to know how to conceal a dagger inside of an intricate Alderaanian braid, or that the same components used for blasting powder can be concealed in a makeup compact. I would argue that makes me more useful to you, ’ she winks.
‘ if it’s nothing more than childish dreams, Obi-Wan will know that distinction better than anyone, ’ Sabé offers after a long moment, finally pulling her legs up & getting to her feet in a fluid motion. ‘ conversations veiled in hypotheticals can be powerful. I think it’s best to get ahead of these concerns rather than letting them fester - especially when we have the Separatists, and other threats looming imminently. ’ a war with clones versus droids felt unusual even to her with all the things she had seen but she had heard whispers of what had happened in the time she’d been away from Padmé’s side. it seemed like anything could happen. ‘ why don’t you stay here tonight? some sleep would do you good, and tomorrow I’ll seek out a way to manage a chance encounter somewhere where Skywalker need not overhear. we’ll get to the bottom of this. ’
there had been a reason that the person Padmé needed in these stressful moments was her longest, dearest friend. it was also times such as this that she missed the close companionship that she and her troupe of handmaidens had shared in the palace and politics of her home planet. even then Tsabin had been her closest confidante, but she had been surrounded by a group of young women who had understood and loved her. she had been able to speak to them as her friends as well as her handmaidens, and it was that closeness that she missed when times were troubling. despite Sabé's thoughts of her unshakability, the senator was frightened at what all of this strangeness might entail. while her fingers pressed against the glass window that looked out over the place they called home, she pondered the words that Anakin had spoken. she herself had been overwhelmed by feelings of love and want at times, had felt herself in danger of allowing those same wants to explode out of her and ruin the world if she allowed them, but she had never dared defy the vows she'd made for those feelings. Padmé's sense of duty remained firm no matter what, and she would not allow Anakin's foolish childhood infatuation to have him thrown out of the Jedi and her to lose the respect she'd worked so hard for in the galactic senate.
the suggestion that Sabé be the one to approach Obi-wan was enough to pull a deep sigh of relief from the senator and she glanced back over her shoulder at the other woman, affection and appreciation warming her expression as she nodded her thanks. ❝ i'm sure he'd be glad to see you again too, our roles were so entangled back on Naboo, you and he had as much time in conversation as he and i. ❞ a sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips and she turned fully, now pressing her back against the cool glass and enjoying the sensation on her skin, still heated with her fluster. ❝ if the Jedi council has seen fit to raise him to the title of Master, i'm sure that he will be able to offer some perspective on Anakin that we can't quite get a handle on. you're right that he is the best person to tell whether this is just a childish flight of fancy gone too far and that just needs a firm nip in the bud or if it needs more dire consequences for the possibility of overthrowing one's vows so completely. ❞ worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, Padmé crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned, thinking deeply.
❝ in case it wasn't clear, Sabé, i would be more than honoured to have you at my side again. i've missed you terribly, and i always feel better knowing that you're close by. we really do belong together, you and i. whether it's the Force that wills it or chance, i'm glad you're here, and not just because of your usefulness. the fact that you're my favourite person in the galaxy is not the least of my reasons. ❞ warmth filled her tone, affection clear in Padmé's voice as she regarded her friend and allowed the knowledge of her returned presence to really sink in. she had never felt safer or more comforted than when her shadow was in step with her, not even with a Jedi posted at her door. no guard would ever replace the Queen's Shadow.
❝ i think i'd appreciate the place to stay for the night, ❞ she agreed finally. her apartment was safe enough, and her guard posts weren't going to allow her to be assassinated overnight (well, she hoped, at the very least) but there was something to be said for sharing a space with the other woman and how they could duck in and out of each other's personas at the blink of an eye. ❝ this is why i came to you, you know. you've managed to snap me out of the fluster and back into reason. i'm so used to matters of politics lately that the intimacy of his proposal threw me. we have to look at this like any sort of problem like the many we faced, and one of those ways is by letting you do what you do best, i'm sure. ❞