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Summary: Dorme remembers Padme.
Nobody must have known she was married to a Jedi, or that she was expecting.
Me, Dorme, her faithful friend, confidant and handmaiden since she was the Queen of Naboo, shared happy and sad moments in her short life. That apartment in Coruscant hid many secrets because that relationship was not allowed and they accepted it in the name of their love, knowing that if they were discovered their lives would be destroyed. He had reminded her of it shortly before their failed execution in that kind of amphitheatre in Geonosis, when she gave in to her feelings and confessed her true and deep love for him.
So small and fragile, but with a strong will and optimistic by nature, she put up with being apart from Anakin for a long time. Five years married, few moments together. His absence pressed upon her heart. She attended the Senate Counsels worried that the war wouldn't finish. That cursed war that kept her husband far from home! Lost in her thoughts, she pulled a face remembering one of Anakin's favourite phrases: "lightsaber negotiations."
One morning I heard her retching and moaning inside the bathroom. I saw her coming out of it pale and wiping her lips with a handkerchief. Surely some food didn�t agree with her, but she denied it. Then she told me she had long been vomiting and feeling sickness and that these symptoms would confirm she was pregnant. She smiled sadly because she couldn't share this wonderful piece of news with her Jedi, nor could she run the risk of being examined by a doctor for fear of being discovered in such state, because of him, because of her. She knew the Queen wouldn't allow her to exert her duties as a Senator, and being the great fighter that she was, she wouldn�t give up on her diplomatic work to stop the war. She knew the Jedi Council would expel Anakin if it knew he had broken his vows and she didn�t want to be the cause of the end of an outstanding career. So much did she love him.
"How am I going to hide my pregnancy, Dorme? Do you think he will be happy knowing he is going to be a father?"
She was always able to hide her private feelings after years of experience as a Queen. So it was not hard for her. She started to wear loose dresses and her unhealthy look of the first weeks of pregnancy was concealed with some make-up. But then, there was no necessity for her to do it because, as months went by, colour came back to her cheeks and her face oozed health. She knew how to get over her sadness and appear more beautiful before others.
She told me that some times dealing with the Queen or at some meeting at the Senate her baby, when moving inside her, would give her a start and make her smile.
"Is something wrong with you Padme? Why are you smiling?"
"Excuse me, Your Highness. I was just remembering the few times I made my sister Sola angry with me. I usually pulled at her braids to call her attention and that would bother her."
How many times I saw her looking out the window of her bedroom, her gaze lost in the far distance and caressing tenderly her swollen abdomen. She considered some names for her baby and the ones she liked most were Luke if the baby was a boy or Leia for a girl. At that time, she didn't know she was carrying twins. She talked about her intention to go to the House of the Lake to prepare the baby's room. She would spend the last moments of her pregnancy near her mother because she was reluctant to be alone in such circumstances. She believed it was a miracle to be pregnant given the few moments of intimacy with her husband. But Heaven wanted to bless them with a special treasure.
"Where are you my young bodyguard?"
That morning, learning that the Jedi had rescued the Chancellor, she took her coat and ran hastily with anguish. The rumours that young Skywalker was dead spread. At first she thought she was going to die, but something inside her whispered that he was alive.
Padme waits hidden in the shadow of a column, in the colonnade of the Senate building. There are many people present. She sees a ship arriving. Her heart beats strongly. The doors open. There is a stir. The Chancellor gets off. People come close to welcome him. Padme stands on tiptoes; she wants to see. The tension almost makes her faint. She wrings her hands anxiously. Nobody else gets off.
"Where are you dearest.....where?"
After a moment, which seems an eternity for her, Anakin comes down the steps and stays beside Obi-Wan, talking and laughing.
When she sees him, giving a deep sigh, she totters and has to lean on a column in order not to fall to the ground.
"There he is at last. Thank God for bringing him back to me safe and sound!"
Her fragile figure recoils even more in the shadow. Her eyes are filled with tears. The Committee comes closer. It passes by in front of her eyes. At the rear come Senator Organa and Ani.
"Oh my love. How much I missed you!"
Then Anakin, sweating and weary, notices the small figure wearing a funny hairstyle.
"Heaven, it's she, my angel. The angel of my dreams!"
"Excuse me, Senator. I'm going to greet a friend."
"Of course. Go ahead!"
Beaming, Skywalker runs to meet her. Padme opens her arms craving to give him shelter. He holds her tightly against his chest, swinging her with unspeakable happiness. In that moment Springtime comes back to her heart and the sun starts to shine brightly in her soul.
"Now, we will think about how to face this new wonderful situation. I trust you Ani," she thinks to herself.
How ironic it is that Padme should die because of the man who precisely loved her so much and took care of her safety, up to the point of selling his soul to the Dark Side in order to cheat a death which he believed threatened her.
Lie in peace, my Lady, my friend.