Part 24 (1/2)
”Oh no, not at all. You're quite right. But I have a feel for how he fights now-and for how he runs away. I am certain I can catch him.”
”Master-”
”And you, my young friend, have duties here on Coruscant. Extremely important duties, that require your full attention,” Obi-Wan reminded him. ”Am I being clear?”
Anakin didn't answer. He sank back into his chair and turned away.
”Obi-Wan, my choice is,” Yoda said.
Ki-Adi-Mundi's image nodded. ”I concur. Let's put it to a vote.”
Mace Windu counted nods. ”Six in favor.”
He waited, looking at Anakin. ”Further comment?”
Anakin only stared at the wall.
After a moment, Mace shrugged.
”It is unanimous.”
Senator Chi Eekway accepted a tube of Aqualish hoi-broth from C-3PO's refeshment tray. ”I am very grateful to be included here,” she said, her dewlaps jiggling as she tilted her blue head in a gesture around Padme's living room at the gathering of Senators. ”I speak directly only for my own sector, of course, but I can tell you that many Senators are becoming very nervous indeed. You may not know that the new governors are arriving with full regiments of clone troops-what they call security forces. We all have begun to wonder if these regiments are intended to protect us from the Separatists ... or to protect the governors from us.”
Padme looked up from the doc.u.ment reader in her hand ”I have . . . reliable information . . . that General Grievous has bee located, and that the Jedi are already moving against his position The war may be over in a matter of days.”
”But what then?” Bail Organa leaned forward, elbows to knees, fingers laced together. ”How to we make Palpatine withdraw his governors? How do we stop him from garrisoning troops in all our systems?”
”We don't have to make him do anything,” Padme said reasonably. ”The Senate granted him executive powers only for the duration of the emergency-”
”Yet it is only Palpatine himself who has the authority to declare when the emergency is over,” Bail countered. ”How do we make him surrender power back to the Senate?”
Chi Eekway s.h.i.+fted backward. ”There are many who are willing to do just that,” she said. ”Not just my own people. Many Senators. We are ready to make him surrender power.”
Padme snapped the doc.u.ment reader closed. She looked from Senator to Senator expressionlessly. ”Would anyone care for further refreshment?”
”Senator Amidala,” Eekway said, ”I fear you don't understand-”
”Senator Eekway. Another hoi-broth?”
”No, that's-”
”Very well, then.” She looked up at C-3PO. ”Threepio, that will be all. Please tell Motee and Elle that they are dismissed for the day, then you are free to power down for a while.”
”Thank you, Mistress,” Threepio replied. ”Though I must say, this discussion has been most stimu-”
”Threepio.” Padme's tone went a trace extra firm. ”That will be all.”
”Yes, Mistress. Of course. I quite understand.” The droid turned stiffly and shuffled out of the room.
As soon as 3PO was safely out of earshot, Padme brandished the doc.u.ment reader as though it were a weapon. ”This is a very dangerous step. We cannot let this turn into another war.”
”That's the last thing any of us wants,” Bail said with a disapproving look at Senator Eekway. ”Alderaan has no armed forces; we don't even have a planetary defense system. A political solution is our only option.”
”Which is the purpose of this pet.i.tion,” Mon Mothma said, laving her soft hand over Padme's. ”We're hoping that a show of solidarity within the Senate might stop Palpatine from further subverting the Const.i.tution, that's all. With the signatures of a full two thousand Senators-”
”-we still have less than we need to stop his supermajority from amending the Const.i.tution any way he happens to want,” Padme finished for her. She weighed the reader in her hand. ”I am willing to present this to Palpatine, but I am losing faith in the Senate's readiness, or even ability, to rein him in. I think we should consult the Jedi.”
Because I really think they can help, or because I just can't stand to lie to my husband? She couldn't say. She hoped that both were true, though she was sure only of the second.
Bana Breemu examined her long, elegantly manicured fingertips. ”That,” she said remotely, ”would be dangerous.”
Mon Mothma nodded. ”We don't know where the Jedi stand in all this.”
Padme sat forward. ”The Jedi aren't any happier with the situation than we are.”
Senator Breemu's high-arched cheekbones made the look he gave Padme appear even more distant and skeptical. ”You seem . . . remarkably well informed about Jedi business, Senator Amidala.” Padme felt herself flush, and she didn't trust herself to answer.
Giddean Danu shook his head, doubt plainly written across his dark face. ”If we are to openly oppose the Chancellor, we need the support of the Jedi. We need their moral authority Otherwise, what do we have?”
”The moral authority of the Jedi, such as it is,” Bana Breemu said, ”has been spent lavishly upon war; 1 fear they have none left for politics.”
”One Jedi, then,” Padme offered to the others. At least let me speak the truth to my love. At least. Please, she pleaded with them silently. ”There is one Jedi-one whom I truly know all of us can trust absolutely . . .”
Her voice trailed off into appalled silence when she realized that she wasn't talking about Anakin.
This had been all about him when she'd started-all about her love, her need to be open with him, the pain that keeping this secret stabbed her heart at each and every beat-but when the thought had turned to trust, when it became a question of someone she knew, truly and absolutely knew, she could trust-She discovered that she was talking about Obi-Wan.
Anakin . . . Something was breaking inside her. Oh, my love, what are they doing to us?
Chi Eekway shook her head. ”Patience, Senator.”
Fang Zar unknotted his fingers from his raggedly bushy beard and shrugged. ”Yes, we cannot block the Chancellor's supermajority-but we can show him that opposition to his methods is growing. Perhaps that alone might persuade him to moderate his tactics.”
Bana Breemu went back to examining her fingertips. ”When you present the Pet.i.tion of the Two Thousand, many things may change.”
”But,” Giddean Danu said, ”will they change for the better?”
Bail Organa and Mon Mothma exchanged glances that whispered of some shared secret. Bail said slowly, ”Let us see what we can accomplish in the Senate before we involve the Jedi.”
And as one after another of the Senators agreed, Padme could only sit in silence. In mourning.
Grieving for the sudden death of an illusion.
Anakin-Anakin, I love you. If only-But that if only would take her to a place she could not bear to go. In the end, she could only return to the thought she feared would echo within her for the rest of her life.
Anakin, I'm sorry.