Work Text:
Sabé pressed her fingertips to her lips, lost still in the memory of their final night. Padmé had asked if she had fully considered this, if it was truly what she wanted, and if she was certain she could cope.
She had, it was, and she surely hoped so. To Padmé’s face, she’d only affirmed her decision to leave for Tatooine. The senate needed Padmé, and still, Tatooine needed her all to itself. Sabé wasn’t a perfect replacement, but she’d grown to be the closest thing possible.
They’d stood in the silence, neither of them truly wanting to address the inevitable goodbye. Yet there was little time remaining for final thoughts to be spoken.
“Take care of yourself, Sabé,” Padmé had said, with a gentle hand cupping her cheek.
“I will not fail you.”
“You could never fail me. So long as you come back.”
Promise—promise me that you will come back, too. The words died on her lips but lived in her heart as something she would not ask for and could never expect in return.
She nodded.
Padmé smiled sweetly, stepped forward into Sabé’s embrace, and placed a hesitant, yet tender, kiss to her lips. It meant nothing, and everything, and was as suggestive as it were innocuous. Padmé made no effort to influence her decision despite knowing the power she wielded. If she wanted Sabé to make a different choice, there would be no question. But Padmé respected her agency, and it was one of the reasons Sabé loved her so.
She reached to thread her fingers through Padmé’s and drew her along to the edge of the balcony. There, her arm slid around her companion’s thin frame, a hand settling on her hip. For one final moment, they belonged to Naboo, and to each other.