DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
'There are as many feelings of hate as there are stars in the sky. All at once, one feels overwhelmed and alone. And yet, as the rising of a sun will dim those stars, so the triumph of hope over helplessness will be.'
"Master Qui-Gon?"
Qui-Gon squinted his eyes as the light of the Naboodian morning fell on his face. His back was against the hard stone floor, and yet his head was resting upon a soft, cushioned on rough material. He recognized the voice speaking to him as his Padawan, Obi-Wan, but the placement of his voice and the cushion on which he lay were entirely in the wrong place. "Obi-Wan?"
The younger Jedi smiled faintly and nodded as Qui-Gon’s eyes finally opened and peered at his apprentice. He nodded gently and turned to a rapidly approaching figure, running with a metallic box. "He is awake, young queen."
"That much is obvious, young Jedi." Padme dropped to her knees next to the fallen Jedi Master, the emphasis that she placed on the word young was not missed by the older man and he smiled.
"May that be your lesson for the day, Padawan." He joked with a weakened voice. "Do not presume to be above those that you are with, we are all one in the Force."
Padme sighed as she pulled on the older man’s cloak. "Lesson giving, Jedi, should wait until you have regained your strength, I think." She clucked her tongue as both Jedi stared at her. Her annoyance was clear in her brown eyes. "Sir Jedi, I need to remove your outer garments. Wounds of Jedi masters bleed just as red as those of other men, and yours is flowing freely." Obi-Wan moved to unclasp his master’s tunic and remove the shirt underneath. Qui-Gon struggled to remove his arms from the rough material, only to have the queen place her hands on his arms. "Let your apprentice do this, sir, the more that you move, the wider the wound will be."
"Ah," Qui-Gon nodded, "the voice of wisdom."
Padme smiled gently and nodded to Obi-Wan to pull the shirt as far down as it could on his arm. Revealed underneath the material was a jagged wound semi-cauterized by the hear of the blaster beam, its frayed flesh seeped blood. She grimaced and opened her accompanying metallic case. She removed a shiny pair of cutters and a container of syntha-flesh .
Obi-Wan flinched at the sight of the cutters. In all of his twenty-seven seasons, the young man had never seen flesh cut from another man. His upbringing, what he could remember, had been mainly in the halls of the Jedi Council building on Corsucant, and on various missions of a diplomatic nature with Qui-Gon. Until recently, the existence of the Republic had been peaceful and he had not needed to witness such an occurrence. It was not something that he wished to know of intimately, but Qui-Gon was the only father figure that he had known in his life, and he wanted to support the man. Padme whispered that she wished Qui-Gon no pain, but that the removal of his torn flesh was necessary to allow proper adherence of the syntha-flesh. The Jedi master nodded and set his jaw.
Qui-Gon could feel his student’s apprehension to what was occurring. He, on the other hand, had been in positions such as this before and knew the need for proper care to battle wounds. The Jedi sat through most of the procedure quietly, until the girl’s hand wavered and the cutter pierced his flesh in his shoulder. However, it was Obi-Wan that made the first response. "By the Gods, girl...."
Padme pulled the cutter back as she finished the last removal of skin from the cut. She ignored the younger man, and eyed the elder. "Sir..."
"My name is Qui-Gon, Queen Amidala. Titles are not necessary." Qui-Gon nodded toward Obi-Wan. "A small slip, that, Obi-Wan. Nothing of consequence."
"Incompetence..." Obi-Wan was stopped with a sharp nod from his mentor.
"A kindness of heart and as sure of a hand as she could give." He nodded towards the queen as she readied the can of syntha-flesh. "Besides, truly that was nothing, compared to the next step."
Obi-Wan grabbed the older man’s arms and grimaced. Syntha-flesh was painful to apply. Amidala grimaced and pointed the can towards the wound. "I am sorry, Qui-Gon, but..."
"Just spray it. " Qui-Gon cut the girl off with a curt reply.
Padme pressed the button and sprayed the wound. The wounded Jedi’s eyes fluttered shut and his strong neck was interrupted with his short swallows. Within five parsecs, though, the pain was gone and the shoulder was rebuilt.
Padme picked up her case and retreated away from the pair as she moved to others to lend a hand in care. It was Sio, her dear friend, which stopped her movement. "Padme, my queen."
Amidala turned her gaze back towards the Jedi, before continuing onto the others with her friend in tow. "Not yet, Sio, let him recover first before we bother them with our customs. How is my sister? Panaka? What of our numbers? The rest of the city?"
"Intact, your Highness, and the droids are being removed from the city as we speak. The Neimoidian council has sent word and severe apologies for the rouge Viceroy. They say that they are not responsible for this occurrence. Sade and the remaining handmaidens have removed to the royal chambers with guard. Panaka is with the front lines, taking count of damages." Sio nodded toward the Jedi. "You know what his actions mean for you personally. And you know what his actions mean to the sovereignty of Naboo."
"I know." Padme sighed and bent over a fallen guardsman. "I know, Sio."
The throne room of the Grand House was restored to its previous beauty, only the burns from the blaster fire remained. The color of the sky outside of the window showed the typical purple of the Naboo sunset. Within the room, twelve chairs lined a circle that was drawn into the stone of the floor. Seated in the chairs were the council of Naboo: elders respected for their knowledge and their actions. Raised on a slight stage were two thrones of ornate stone. On these thrones sat the rulers of Naboo, Sade and her sister, Padme Amidala. Their roughed clothes were replaced with the typical robes of the Naboo ruling house: flowing, enchanting gowns of white, rimmed with blue.
In front of the room, standing next to the Captain of the guard, stood the pair of Jedi, their dark brown cloaks fitting in surprisingly well with the surroundings of the room. It was they standing as such that Padme finally took time to observe them.
Obi-Wan Kenobi stood a good head shorter than his mentor did. His short brown hair was cut in the typical manner befitting a Jedi apprentice: short cropped on top, long and braided in the back. Padme smiled as she noted that he was of strong build, similar, she thought, to his strong willed nature that was obvious in his stance. His legs, torso and arms were shrouded in a light tan tunic; his feet were encased in knee-high boots of soft brown material. Hazel eyes flashed as the man turned his head to take in the surroundings with an air of suspicion and superiority.
His mentor stood next him, standing out in the room as the tallest man. Padme guessed that the man was nearing his fortieth season. His long brown hair was freely flowing down his back, and his close cropped beard was slightly graying. In direct contrast to his younger partner, Qui-Gon Jinn stood with an air of calm readiness. His eyes were closed in a sign of meditation, but Padme knew that they would flash quickly with the first sign of danger. He, like his Padawan, was dressed in the robes of a Jedi, brown over tan. The only difference was that his pants were dark brown, showing his superior rank to that of his apprentice. As though he knew that she was gazing at him, his eyes slowly opened to look at her and his head nodded imperceptibly.
Padme broke eye contact and turned to watch Sio address the council. "...and it was by the actions of not only our esteemed guard, but also that of the Jedi Masters, that the plan was thwarted. Bravery such as this should not go unmentioned."
A slight dusting of applause followed the ending of the speech. Padme released a breath that she was holding and sighed, as she knew what the next course of business would be. The head of the council, Mak Entrice stood to address the council. He was a proud man of dark skin that had served the council for many years and was deemed one of the most educated and able men within the government of Naboo. "It is our intention, Jedi, that your council will be informed of your actions and responses to our crisis. There remains, sirs, only one thing that must be accomplished before we can speed you on your way."
"And this would be?" Qui-Gon braced his shoulders as he faced the man in front of him. He could feel no anger or malice from the Mak; all he felt was confusion. And confusion was, in his experience, as hard to fight as anger, and infinitely harder to handle.
"The matter of your rescue of the Queen, Her Royal Highness, Padme Amidala." Mak nodded and bowed in the direction of Padme, who sat straighter in her chair.
Qui-Gon nodded, but his stance became more rigid. His skills were honed to detect feelings and powerful thoughts from those around him, exacting it was not, but the main theory usually presented itself. Mak, however, was closed off to him. "It is part of our creed, sir, to be responsible for those that we serve."
Mak waved a finger at the Jedi. "I know of your code, Jedi Master. I have studied its wording. It states that you are responsible to your cause and its rightful justification. Help of those that you serve is a secondary occurrence that presents itself on a situation by situation basis, and under your own decision making processes. What you did to save Queen Padme was above your purpose."
Obi-Wan leaned toward his mentor, "He is correct, Qui-Gon."
The elder Jedi waved an impatient hand. "The wording of our code is neither important, nor relevant in this instance, sir."
"Ah, but it is, sir Jedi. As is part of culture, when one life is saved through the selflessness of another, a life-debt is owed. It matters neither the stature nor the rank of the individuals involved. So long as the situation happens outside of a stated job instance, this is owed. Had it been anyone else in this room, sire, a life-debt would not be owed. But is neither your responsibility nor your position to guard the queen with your life, unless the Jedi council stated it. Mace Windu has assured me that this was not the case in this instance. Your actions towards Padme were of your own and a life-debt is owed."
Padme dropped her head part of the way through the speech, to stare at the stones surrounding her dais. Her hair flowed from its handle in the back of her head to cover her face. She knew of the pride in which Jedi’s took their creed and their purpose. To be owed a life-debt was unheard of for a Jedi knight; a situation that was not expected nor accepted easily. The mention of Mace Windu caused the elder Jedi to draw a quicken breath and at that noise, Padme raised her gaze to settle on the Jedi.
Obi-Wan stood tall next to Qui-Gon; "A life-debt is not acceptable for a Jedi, honorable council."
"It is owed, and it will be given."
"He refuses." Obi-Wan raised his voice only a fraction.
"Quiet, Padawan." Qui-Gon lifted his hand to lay on his apprentice’s sleeve. His gaze turned to the young queen mournfully seated on the throne. "If I do refuse this life-debt, Mak Entrice, what will become of the queen?"
Mak turned to look at Padme. His gaze passed to Sio, as he began his answer. "Our culture is quite adamant about what becomes of those unable to fulfill their life-debt...."
Padme stood abruptly on the dais. Sade reached out to stop her but had her hand removed from her sister’s dress by Padme. "Quiet! What is your decision, Jedi?"
Qui-Gon moved forward to gain direct eye contact with the queen. "I cannot make decisions of this caliber without the full weight of facts, your Majesty. I must know the full information."
Mak moved to finish his speech, as Sio neared the queen to sit her back upon her throne. "We do not condone death here, Jedi, as you are aware. But we do institute actions that will sever those unworthy of movement in society from involvement in the society. She will be ostracized and removed from the city. Forty lashes will be applied to her back in the ancient tradition predating our institution of non-violence and she will be exiled."
Sio noticed as very slight tremor move through the queen as he held her arm. He knew that she had not wanted the Jedi to be told of this outcome, so as that no extra weight would be applied to the decision. The apprentice cut off any comment by the Jedi that the speech was directed to by asking: "To your queen, you would do this?"
Silence reigned as Padme lifted her eyes to Obi-Wan. Her words were quiet but concise. "I am their queen, but I am also subject to the laws as they are. No one is above the law." She lowered her head and raised it to gaze at Qui-Gon, still standing tall. "I hoped that you would be spared that information, Jedi. I did not want to have your decision clouded by humanitarian thoughts. Please inform us of your decision."
Qui-Gon nodded solemnly to the queen and turned to Obi-Wan who was shaking his head. "Padawan, your council here would be appreciated."
Obi-Wan sighed. "We cannot accept a life-debt, Master, our code forbids it"
"Ah, yes, Obi-Wan, but I cannot leave her willingly to that outcome. The code forbids us to knowingly cause harm. I must accept her life-debt."
"Qui-...."
"I accept her life, then." He stated firmly to the room, turning his head to make contact with each of the members of the council. When his gaze fell to Mak, he raised his voice to continue. "But I will take this to the Council of Jedi on Corsucant for their final decision on this matter. If they dissolve this life-debt, there will be none owed."
Mak bowed slightly in deference to the Jedi Council. "As you say, Jedi Master, so shall it be. If the Council will nullify the life-debt, then none is owed. But that will be of their decision. And until that occurs..." he waved his arms and two handmaidens emerged from behind the queen to stand beside the throne. " She must have her rank removed as is befitted of an indebted." The maidens removed the outer robe of white from the queen and laid it behind the throne.
Padme stood on barely shaky legs to move off of the dais. Sio moved along side of her, lending, but not outwardly giving support. The young girl raised her eyes to the Jedi Master and nodded. Slowly, she approached the man and stopped within two meters of his foreboding presence. As the sun finally set on the at last peaceful city of Theeds, Padme Amidala, formerly queen of Naboo lowered herself to a position of supplication in front of Qui-Gon Jinn.