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.
Outside, Sabé and Obi-Wan moved to a corner of the balcony that contained floral decorations which offered some concealment.
"We can't stay gone too long, you know," Sabé whispered. "I've at least got you out of Lirae's clutches." She giggled softly. "I think that's the first time the Queen's acted as a decoy for me."
"Is that girl always like that?" Obi-Wan asked. He was chuckling as quietly as he could.
"No," Sabé answered. "In fact she's not. She's fairly new at the job, but I've heard that she's usually very serious and dedicated to her duties. I believe Sache's rather put out that her position as Palace Flirt was just threatened."
"Please be careful," Obi-Wan's tone turned serious. "My feelings tell me she bears watching. Not that I should worry. You've handled two situations already tonight. Should I tell you that you've impressed me?"
Sabé smiled at the compliment, and felt her cheeks burn and her pulse quicken, but tried to play it off with a shrug. "Jaquill was drunk, that's not exactly a challenge. I overdid it, breaking his arm and leg. It's just that when he grabbed me, I knew I wouldn't take it." She shook her head. "Now that you mention what you sense about Lirae, I can't quite remember how she got here. I didn't recruit her, Panaka brought her to me. I must dig and find out more..."
"But not tonight," Obi-Wan said. "We're safe for now." He took her hand. "Let's go for a walk before we return to the party. I want to hear more about Meira."
At his touch, Sabé looked into Obi-Wan's eyes. She saw that he hadn't lowered all his resistance to accepting Meira and the path that Sabé had set her on, but he was willing to work at it. She wondered just how much to tell him about the girl. She centered, and decided to let instinct guide her.
"What would you like to know?" Sabé asked.
"Why did you go to all the trouble to hide her from me and the Temple? Even if the tests and her paternity brought her to our attention, you could have always refused. We don't take babies by force." Obi-Wan's expression saddened for a moment. "I'd at least known of her and not missed this part of her life."
"So you heard the cover story?"
"Yes. A war widow, Sabé? That took me by surprise," he said.
She looked away for a moment. "A necessary deception under the circumstances. I'm sorry it turned out this way. My family and my position are prominent enough to make it important to avoid even a hint of impropriety. As soon as I found out about the pregnancy, I was going to resign, but Panaka and the Queen asked me to take on the new job of junior minister. Amidala wanted me to stay, both as a friend and as a member of her team, even when I could no longer serve her as a handmaiden."
Obi-Wan sighed. "I can understand. I wouldn't want you or the baby put in a bad light. If that is what your society demands, then you took the right course of action. But you still could have told me. I did behave badly before I left, but I would have helped you in any way possible. Perhaps we gave up on each other too soon."
Sabé looked up. "Perhaps. But we did have many other things distracting us at that time. You had ascended into Knighthood with a new Padawan. I had to help my mother and our world recover." She shook her head. "It just wasn't in the cards for us then, Obi-Wan. Now that you know, will you please stay in touch?"
"I will. She's my child after all. I'll see you both tommorrow before I leave for my meditations. I'm going camping for a while, I need to find some answers," he said.
Sabé studied his eyes and saw the uncertainty reflected there. "If that's what Master Qui-Gon suggested to you, that's what you should do," she reassured.
Obi-Wan bit his lip. "I haven't heard from or seen my Master since his departure. I've come close to feeling his presence, but no more."
Sabé realized what a difficult admission that was to make for the Jedi. It also signaled to her just what sort of state he was in before he arrived at Naboo. "You haven't?" she asked with concern. She broke away from Obi-Wan and started pacing. "That could be a good sign, maybe it means that he thinks you don't need his guidance. Or it could be...," She stopped, and gave him a serious look. "You should go, as soon as possible. The Force will draw you to the right spot."
Obi-Wan was puzzled. "How do you know that?"
Sabé shot him a look of sympathy. "Just trust me, I do. Center and see what your feelings tell you."
The Jedi closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He let the image come to him. Slowly he recognized it as where he and Sabé had been together those two years ago, the place where Meira was conceived.
"It's strong in the Force, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered. "Especially with the Living Force. That's what facilitated the conception. It would have also enhanced the child that was created there. Have you noticed her gifts?"
"I have seen her remarkable insight. But you shouldn't worry about that right now. We'll be here when you return from your meditations, that will be the time to talk." Sabé glanced back at the ballroom. "We'd better get back before Panaka sends someone out after me. He's worse than my father sometimes." She took Obi-Wan's hand again. "Come, I know a back way."
They took a side hall through a dark corridor and came to a curtain. "On the other side is the ballroom. Just stay by the Queen if you don't want to dance anymore. You're a guest of honor, but you're also a protector, so you're allowed to be there. I'll stand by Sache on the end."
They emerged, and each took their place. Obi-Wan planted himself firmly by the Queen, who acknowledged him with a nod. Sabé glided smoothly to the right and assumed her position on the end. They both noticed Lirae's baleful glare towards them from the far side of the room. Obi-Wan ignored it, but Sabé permitted herself to return it with a slight smile.
Raisa came from nowhere to stand next to her daughter. Sabé felt a question on the way before it was ever voiced.
"Has the Jedi come for you and Meira?" the older woman inquired politely.
Sabé turned to face her mother. "What do you mean?"
Raisa responded with a stern look. "I know I've had my problems, and that you and I are not close, but I didn't get my position by being a fool. Even if the baby didn't have any of the Jedi's features, it's apparent that there's some relationship between the two of you, just from the glances that you steal at one another."
"He was looking at me today." It was a statement of affirmation and hope for Sabé.
The older woman heard her question answered in that sentence and its delivery. "He didn't come for the two of you. He didn't even know about her. My girl, you've gotten into a mess."
Sabé reverted back to a controlled manner. "It's all right, Mother. Everything will happen as it should."
Raisa made a noise expressing her doubt, and moved back to the floor to join her husband.
The end of the festivities was near and as they drew to a close, Obi-Wan and Sabé bid each other a covert goodnight.
//Tomorrow, before I leave, then?//
//Yes, in the Palace gardens, in the morning//
Obi-Wan had breakfasted with the Queen and some of her advisors at an early meeting. He thanked Amidala for her hospitality, and praised the graciousness of the Naboo. That met with the approval of the Ministers present, and they invited him to join them again, once he had finished his business out of town.
He packed and had his belongings left with the Majordomo. He then sought out Sabé and Meira.
He found them in the Palace gardens. The scene he came upon almost made him question Sabé's good sense. In a small clear patch of grass, a wading pool was set up. Jar-Jar was lying down in the water, and a small stream was shot up from his mouth. Meira was laughing hysterically at this antic, and jumped from the edge of the pool to land on the Gungan's belly. Sabé was nowhere in sight.
Jar-Jar sat up abruptly. "Ohhh, big gooberfish! Huge Opee!" The child laughed even more.
Obi-Wan was annoyed that the girl got on so well with the silly Gungan. The playmates finally noticed him.
"Hi-di-ho, Jedi," Jar-Jar called out, waving. Meira waved and ooohed as well.
//Sabé!// Obi-Wan called.
"I'm here, Obi-Wan," she said, rising from behind a bush that had blocked his view of her. She had been in the water too, she was wearing a bathing suit and her hair was still drying. She smiled at him.
//You thought I'd just leave him alone with her? You should know better,// she teased.
Embarrassed at having his assumption discovered, Obi-Wan just shook his head. He approached the group, and Jar-Jar carefully picked up Meira and held her out to him.
The Gungan smiled his huge teeth showing. As Obi-Wan took the child, he spoke. "The bosses are supposed to take care of the little ones." At the Jedi's withering glance, he moaned and slunk away.
"Great," Obi-Wan muttered. "The pathetic lifeforms are giving me parenting advice."
Meira did not notice Obi-Wan's fuming. As he held her at arm's length, she was still excited from play, dripping and wiggling in his hands. Sabé grabbed a towel, and joined the two of them, to dry off her daughter.
"Jeddi," Meira shouted with glee.
"Yes, my girl. The Jedi stopped by to see us," Sabé confirmed.
"Hug," she demanded. The child surprised both of the adults as she pushed against Sabé with her feet to launch herself at Obi-Wan and clasp him around the neck.
Obi-Wan stood and looked very undignified with the wet girl hanging onto him and giggling.
Sabé could hardly stifle her laughter, but she did, and grasped the child firmly, pulling her away to finish drying her. "I'm sorry Obi-Wan, she moves fast."
"Jedi reflexes," he remarked as he stood there with large water patches all over his fresh robes.
"Looks like there's going to be a slight delay in your plans. Here, give me the robes, we can put them on the bushes to dry. It's a sunny day, that won't take too long," Sabé offered.
Obi-Wan looked around, saw there was no one else in sight to witness the event, and removed the cloak and his tunics. The pants and boots stayed on, they were not damp at all. Sabé brought out another towel and put it on the ground next to hers for Obi-Wan to rest on. She took some toys from a bag and gave them to Meira to occupy her while the two of them relaxed.
"It's a lovely day. The warmth is soothing, it reminds me of that back rub your master gave me while we were returning to Naboo," Sabé said.
"What back rub?" Obi-Wan asked. Suddenly, he felt this was important.
"Oh, that's right, you were in another part of the ship. I had strained myself with practice, and Master Qui-Gon noticed my discomfort. He applied a healing technique to my back and in no time the pain was gone. It felt very good, are you trained in that?"
Casually, Obi-Wan replied,"I don't have his experience, of course, but I'll try. Tell me where he applied the pressure and how it felt."
"All right," Sabé said, turning over on her belly, back up to Obi-Wan. She was thrilled to feel his touch again, and hoped it would be as good as it was before. "He started between the shoulder blades, and moved down, one hand on either side."
Obi-Wan began following the path she described, growing more dismayed with each step.
"Let me think, then he went back up, circled with fingertips only, down and around the small of the back, then to the side, just above my hips. He went no farther around the front than right about here," she indicated a midway point," then I felt a concentration of warmth in my midsection. Does it sound familiar?"
"It does, but I've never done the technique before. I'm not well trained in it, so I'll give you something different," he said cheerfully. There was a false sound to his levity, but Sabé was enjoying being the center of his attention so she did not catch it. Even though it was a much more mundane backrub, she reveled in every moment of it.
When he finished, she was so relaxed, she had almost dozed off. He got up to check the robes and found they were dry enough to put back on. Sabé turned back over to see him dressing again. Hiding her disappointment, she stretched and sat up. "I know, you have to go. Thanks for the therapy. I owe you one."
"No, you don't," he said. "If you must, consider it a return of the favor you did me last night. I'm still grateful for the escape." There was something about him now that was subdued, Sabé could tell he was upset.
Meira looked up from her toys. "Jeddi go bye?" Her voice was sad.
"Yes, I'm going for a while. I'll see you again, very soon, I promise."
"Come here, I'll hold you and we'll tell him good-bye together," Sabé instructed the girl.
He gazed at them long enough to burn the images of the two of them into his memory before he waved and turned to go.