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It was the little things.
It had been ten years since the fall of the Republic and six since she had left Naboo to pledge her loyalty and service to House Organa. Her home planet was too firmly under the Emperor’s thumb –Palpatine. How could one of their own have done this?- and she had no desire to be in service to Kylantha. Padmé had always insisted that Bail Organa could be trusted and so Alderaan become home to Sabé, former chief handmaiden to the Queen and Senator Amidala.
The Queen and Viceroy had welcomed her readily enough. She was known to Bail from the Senate and Breha was thrilled to meet her once she revealed her previous employer. (It’s been three years, Bail. You’re in desperate need of a new senatorial aide so don’t be stubborn.) And so the subject of employment was settled. No one spoke of rebellion or revolution that day. No one needed to. Not even a year later, she found her time split between her official role and her unofficial one as Bail began to send her as a liaison to other rebellious groups and organizations. After all, what could be more natural than one Senator’s aide visiting another Senator? It was another year after that when she found her time split even further when Breha asked her to tutor the young Princess Leia in matters of etiquette, diplomacy, and the likes.
Despite her multitude of duties for the Viceroy, she still spent plenty of time instructing both the princess and her constant companion Winter, a young girl of similar age who’d been adopted into the Organa household after her parents’ tragic deaths. (Someone had told her that Winter’s mother had been an aide to the Senator as way of explanation.) The lessons had stayed strictly academic for the first three years until Sabé accidentally let slip precisely what the more dangerous parts of her first job had been. The girls promptly proceeded to beg her to teach them how to fight hand to hand. They’d asked persistently for weeks before she’d finally (with the Queen’s permission) given in and taken them both outside where they’d have an adequate amount of space to practice. She wasn’t Captain Panaka but she thought she did a decent enough job of teaching them how to flip an attacker to the ground and how to break out of a chokehold. Strangely enough, it brought a smile to her face as she watched how seriously her young pupils took learning how to throw a proper punch. Soon, those lessons became just as regularly scheduled as those about the proper way to greet visiting dignitaries.
Over the years, Sabé noticed small things about Leia that first made her smile and then made her frown as all those small things began to feel far too familiar. It was the way she frowned when she was concentrating and that small, satisfied smile when she succeeded. It was the look in her eyes of fierce determination paired with how quickly her sharp young mind could grasp the intricacies of trade agreements at the tender age of ten. And it was the way that Leia would link her arm with Winter’s as they bent their heads together in conspiracy.
All of these together made her heart ache and her intellect vastly suspicious.
She requested a private meeting with the Viceroy or at least she’d meant to. Instead, she found herself the last person left working with him on a trade proposal one evening and all of her intentions went out the window as an opportunity presented itself.
Bail sighed as he glanced at the time. “I don’t know what I did to deserve such a patient and understanding wife.”
“How many nights in a row have you missed dinner now?” Sabé asked, not looking up from the final editing pass she was finishing up.
“Four,” he admitted sheepishly. “Even Leia’s been teasing me every chance she gets.”
She smiled. “That does sound quite like our precocious little princess.”
“She’ll understand one day once she replaces me in the Senate. Which will be far more than four years from now.”
There was no stopping the smiles on either of their faces at the reference to their departed friend. “Padmé wasn’t a Senator until she was twenty-two,” she corrected him. ‘She was queen at fourteen.”
Bail shook his head. “I never understood why you Naboo elect your monarchs.”
“Because we value democracy,” Sabé replied delicately, reaching the end of the trade agreement and slid the datapad across the table towards him. “Here, this is ready for your review, Viceroy.”
Stopping the device’s progress with one hand, he merely nodded in acknowledgement and didn’t look down at it. “May I ask you something personal?” She nodded. “Do you miss Naboo?” Before she could open her mouth to reply, he was already waving off the question. “Apologies, of course you do. I should’ve asked if you regret leaving Naboo.”
“At times,” she replied, tilting her head ever so slowly to the right. “I spent twenty years in service to my planet. There are still days when I wake up and think that I’m there until I remember that the Republic fell and my planet’s no longer led by a woman who will stand up for what’s right.”
He nodded in understanding. “Padmé was an exceptional woman who did your planet proud. I wish she had survived the war; her advice and her leadership would have been most welcome.”
“She was more to me than a good leader.” The words began to tumble out of her mouth before she could stop them and yet, there was sincerity to them and she didn’t regret a word. “She was my friend. I was willing to give my life for Padmé Naberrie when they appointed me first her handmaiden and then her decoy once they saw the resemblance and I would have given anything to protect her until the very end.” She lowered her chin ever so slightly, staring him straight in the eye. “And I would give my life for her child.”
Bail didn’t reply for a long minute before he locked eyes with her and asked quietly, “How long have you known?”
“I’ve had my suspicions for over a year now but I wasn’t sure until just now,” Sabé admitted.
“Breha said you’d figure it out one day. I told her she was wrong once years went by and you showed no sign of recognition.” He leaned back in his seat and spread his hands. “What do you want to know?”
“How?” she asked bluntly. “I was at her funeral. She was still pregnant when she died.”
“It was faked,” Bail answered. “She gave birth right before she died.”
“Why wasn’t she given to the Naberries?”
He hesitated. “We couldn’t. If Palpatine knew that Leia even existed, he would stop at nothing to get her.”
Her brown eyes widened with realization. “Because she’s Anakin’s daughter too.” Bail nodded. A hand came up to cover her mouth in shock. “Shiraya save us all.” The invocation of the Naboo deity didn’t seem to phase him in the least. She took a few moments to collect herself before asking her next question. “Who else knows? Master Kenobi, I presume?”
It was Bail’s turn to be surprised. “How did you know that?”
“An educated assumption. He visited Padmé after the massacre at the Jedi Temple and I couldn’t imagine that he didn’t survive long enough to go into hiding.”
“I see.” He raised his chin ever so slightly. “That would be the extent of the conspiracy. Myself, Master Kenobi, Breha of course, and now you.”
“So few…” she said contemplatively. “As it should be though.”
“Indeed,” Bail agreed. “What else do you want to know?”
Sabé shook her head. “All I need to know is what I can do to protect her.”
“Tell no one what you know.” Bail’s answer came fast. “It is… fortunate that you came to us when you did. Years sooner or years later would have aroused suspicion from the wrong people.”
“Fortunate indeed,” she murmured demurely, gaze dropping to her hands for the briefest of moments. “Do you want my oath, Viceroy?”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t dare offer offense by questioning your loyalty here. Instead, I…” He hesitated. “I ask for your word that you won’t reveal Leia’s parentage to her until I deem that the time is right.”
“Will you ever tell her?”
“One day, yes. When the Emperor is defeated and the Republic restored. Do I have your word?”
Rising to her feet, Sabé stepped around the table and gracefully knelt before him, sweeping her skirts out the way. She extended both hands towards him palms down and he was quick to mirror the gesture beneath them. “I swear by the Force and the ancient goddess Shiraya my continued and never faltering loyalty to Padmé Amidala Naberrie and now to her daughter Leia Organa. I give my solemn word that I shall speak of her birth parentage to none and I swear to protect her by whatever means necessary even if it means my life. May Shiraya take my life as forfeit if I break this oath.”
Alderaanian deities clearly differed from the Nubian but Bail was still struck by the sincerity of her oath, which was far more than the simple promise he’d asked for but did not voice this observation. Instead, he replied with equal sincerity, “On behalf of my daughter Leia, I accept your oath most gratefully, Lady Sabé, and I thank you for it.”
There was barely time for a moment of silence before he pushed his chair back to stand, shifting his hands on hers to help her stand. “I don’t suspect we’ll get any more work done on these trade agreements tonight.”
“No, I don’t think we will,” Sabé replied, matching his amused smile with one of her own.
“In which case, I have a queen to find and apologize to,” he said, switching the datapad off and then striding towards the door. As he reached it, Bail paused and looked back. “Thank you for telling me that you knew.”
“Of course,” she replied sincerely. He nodded and then was gone. She didn’t linger in the study any longer. Her feet took her swiftly towards her living quarters without any thought. Having her suspicions confirmed left her with much to think about, all thoughts she wanted to deal with before tutoring the young princess in the morning.
But most of all, she needed time to process an emotion she hadn’t felt in a decade: hope.