Chapter Text
"The young Jedi looks adorable to me," Fé said as she joined Padmé and Rabé in the small bunker under the palace they were using for target practice.
"She's a kid, Fé, she's gotta be cute," Padmé chuckled before focusing on her target, winning a little contest with Rabé was hard, she was a really good shot.
"Yes, and wait a few more years and she'll be as stiff and stern as Padawan Kenobi," Rabé growled as she lashed out at the centre of his target.
"Knight Kenobi," Padmé corrected absentmindedly before admitting defeat with a disappointed groan. "One can only hope that age will soothe him like Master Jinn."
"Master Jinn was at least fifty," Saché remarked, closing the door behind her. "I'd really prefer it if they just looked after their children well instead of putting bland, neutral faces on each of them, professional seriousness shouldn't prevent joy."
The three young women turned to their new comrade, who was right, even though Padmé was still trying to be understanding and compassionate.
"Master Koon looks kind," she remarked.
"Then again, he's at least fifty, so that doesn't mean anything."
Rabé chuckled, she and Saché were the most critical of what they would readily describe as Jedi indoctrination, of course they would agree.
"But the little Togruta is adorable," Fé insisted as she settled down next to Rabé to start shooting.
"It's true," admitted Saché, "I saw her climbing a tree on the way here, it was very amusing to see, especially with the surprise of the palace guards who didn't know if they were supposed to stop her."
"Your Majesty, Sabe is taking care of everything but she wants to know if you want to replace her for the next meeting?" Rabé asked, com in hand as she put away her blaster to get dressed and equipped.
"No, I'll do it for the third one and the others from then on," Padmé announced as she stood up, mimicking Rabé in her packing before grabbing a lady's companion dress and putting it on. "I will go for a walk first, I will keep you informed."
"Yes, my Queen."
Padmé quietly slipped away and kept her head down the corridors, nodding to those she passed before stopping in front of a very distinctive figure walking up the corridor in her direction, looking around carefully before focusing on her and bowing.
"Oh, Your Majesty."
"Master Koon. Are you fine?"
"Yes, everything is fine, I'm just looking for Ahsoka, she wanted to explore while I meditated."
Padmé smiled gently:
"She seems like a lively child."
"And very sweet, but also mischievous," the Jedi added.
"Would you like some help looking for her?"
"I don't want to bother you, I'll do it myself."
"I wouldn't be offering if I couldn't follow up with my proposal," Padmé remarked, holding back a roll of her eyes.
"Then I gladly accept, Your Majesty."
"One of my ladies-in-waiting saw her a while ago in..."
Padmé paused for a few seconds before turning to the Jedi. Did he recognize her? She was dressed as a lady-in-waiting and yet he had called her 'Majesty'.
"Your Majesty? Is everything alright?" Kel Dor asked softly, tilting his head to the side - the right side, he did that mostly on the right side.
"You recognised me," she observed.
"Yes, of course?"
"This is not a publicly known practice," she announced gravely. "I'd be grateful if you didn't tell anyone."
"No one will hear of it from me, I promise you."
"If you don't mind my asking, how did you find out?" the young Queen finally asked, motioning for the Jedi Master to follow her. "Sabe looks particularly like me, and the makeup works well on our own people."
The Jedi hummed and remained silent for a few seconds before speaking, still as calm as ever:
"An ordinary Jedi would probably not pay attention and confuse you, my situation is however a bit peculiar, not that I am a miraculous exception, but because I am a Kel Dor. My eyes are adapted to the atmosphere and landscape of Dorin, as well as its brightness. My eyes are sensitive to the light of oxygen-rich atmospheres, like here. I keep in mind the auras of people in the Force the way you remember faces, which is why no attempt at visual manipulation will work on me, details are hard for me to see, I focus on the Force."
"So if yesterday Sabe had presented herself as the Queen, you would have identified Sabe as Queen, even if she was to appear as a lady-in-waiting afterwards?"
"Not quite, because I was there for Qui-Gon's funeral, that's when I recorded you as the Queen. But if I hadn't seen you then, yes, that's how it would have worked."
It was very interesting, though she felt sorry for Master Koon for not being able to see the world as she did. So many wonders must have seemed blurry to him, poor man. She guided him silently to the first inner garden of the Royal Palace and was about to enter it when the Jedi stopped her with a hand - huge, orange, strangely textured, and with four fingers ending in claws - on her shoulder.
"She's not here."
"Are you sure?" she asked doubtfully.
He chuckled and pointed to his dark glasses:
"The auras, not the sight, remember? I sense that she's not here, but my range isn't so great that I could sense her all over the palace. Others have a much greater range, some can even sense things from planets away, I don't, I'm not naturally connected to the Living Force."
"The Living Force?"
Padmé led him to a large greenhouse, intrigued and curious by what she was hearing. The connection between all beings, the energy running through the world, nature and its manipulation - trying never to fall into its perversion - or even remote sensing. It was all very exciting.
They tried three more gardens before they found the little Togruta in the water garden, the child lying at the water's edge, trying to caress the fish that curiously surrounded her amazing orange hand for them.
"Soka, dear, I've been looking for you almost everywhere!"
She answered him in a shy whisper and clutched at his robes when he tried to put her down, and the Jedi Master quietly agreed to hold her.
Padmé smiled quietly as the little Togruta looked at her intently.
"You're glowing!" she announced seriously.
Thank you? Was that positive or negative? Anything too bright could hurt the eyes.
"It's a compliment," said Master Koon. You have a beautiful aura, very soft and generous.
"Thank you," Padmé thanked, and then smiled more frankly when the child wanted to be carried by her, which worried the Jedi, who finally agreed to let her carry the child with confidence, her little arms around her neck.
She finally contacted Sabe to let her have her seat for one more meeting, she was having too good a time talking about calm things with Master Koon to want to go back to her papers. She would just have to work harder to make up for her absence of a few hours.