REFLECTIONS

(part one of three)

By Ruby-Flame Jedi Queen

The morning brought an eerie chill in with it, making Padme Amidala pull her hands in close and shiver. It seemed every day was like the next, except for this morning, somehow. She gazed out and up towards the gray sky, which held more thickness today then it had at any other point she had been held here. But she had her window and her thoughts, and those were enough to keep her sane. When they weren't busy driving her insane, that is. But today, something in her mind was whispering madly about the meaning of the gray. What was so special about it now that hadn't been before? Somehow today seemed like a day of remembrance, so she sighed and leaned back. Back, into a time when her image of future had not been this tiny cell...

He seemed calmer than she had remembered him somehow. Maybe his first three years of training had started to serve a purpose. Amidala grinned. He walked towards her and she noticed the slight bounce in his walk start to return as he approached.

"Hello Padme, Your Highness." He smiled and his blue eyes twinkled. "You want to see what I've learned?" The impatience was still there. Good, she thought. He WAS still himself.

"Anakin, don't you think we ought to get settled before we start holding demonstrations?" Obi-Wan came up from behind Anakin. "Good day, Your Highness."

"It's been too long, Obi-Wan Kenobi. How are things going at the jedi temple?"

"Well, I have to say they are quite exciting with this energy mass running around."

Amidala smiled and Ani gave his master a reproachful glance. "I'm sure they are. Although he did seem calmer when he walked off the ship..."

"Oh, that won't last long," Obi-Wan assured her.

"We'll see," Amidala answered, seeing a smug look replace Anakin's playful shock. "Welcome back to Naboo, come, I'll show you where you'll be staying these next few days."

And so the three of them made their way down the corridors while one of them was busy telling all about the jedi temple...

"How could I have known?" Amidala wondered aloud as she returned to the chilling cell. "How could I have known." She whispered this time, feeling the sting of tears threatening to fall.

"No," She said to herself. "This is no place for regrets."

"Are you all right?" Amidala heard Quivera whisper from the neighboring cell.

Amidala sighed.

"No," was her reply and it hung there, biting away at the atmosphere. Silence returned and Amidala fell back into the memory as she brought her gaze back towards the sky...

In the training room, Anakin preformed everything he learned for Amidala, and she watched fascinated. Here was a boy who had known nothing but slavery all his life, and had left his mother to become a jedi. She knew his mother was still a tender spot, but she was amazed that he could make it this far and still be ready to go further.

"I could not have done it," she thought- or rather, she realized she SAID, and saw Ani's head go up.

"Done what?" He inquired.

"All that you have done..." she answered and he nodded.

"Being a jedi is hard work."

Amidala nodded and somehow got lost in her thoughts. When she snapped out of it, she found Ani staring at her.

"You're beautiful, you know." he stated.

For a second Amidala didn't know what to say. A bit more than three years had passed since the Trade Federation's invasion, yet he still held on to that silly little crush...

"Thank you." she replied at last, not knowing what else to say. "That's very sweet of you to say-"

"And I'm going to marry you some day," he insisted.

At that point, Amidala had smiled, and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Ani, you're just a boy," she commented, in an almost chiding tone.

His face became dead serious. "I won't always be..."

Click. Cat chick.

Amidala realized she had fallen asleep and was being awakened by the sound of her lock being opened.

Two storm troopers entered and she stood up fully retaining her regal posture even though she was well aware it was pointless. But still, somewhere behind those masks, they were at least a bit scared of her.

"We have been ordered to take you with us, Lady Vader." All three of the people in the cell cringed at the sound of that name.

For a moment, Amidala didn't believe it. She had been here for so many months now, she thought she was hallucinating, and with a shudder, wished she was hallucinating...

With a last sigh, Amidala nodded, feeling she was beyond words now. They led her to a ship, and she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach because she knew exactly where her destination was. She patted the vile in her pocket that would be her escape... She wasn't strong enough to face him. When it would happen she might let her guard down, and then he would know about Leia. And he would find Luke. She was locked into a room, with a bed this time, and left to herself. As the ship took off her head fell onto her knees and her shoulders began to heave with violent sobs. The whole time she cried she wonder why on the sunny day in Tatooine she had ever thought it silly being called an angel.