On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter LI

"Enter," Mon Mothma called in response to the buzzer at the door of her office as she finished up the last piece of datawork for the evening. She heard it slide open but didn't look up until after she had completed the document. Mon turned away from the file, with a welcoming smile, only for it to fade when she saw the features of her old friend. "I take it the meeting with Valkyrie led to a dead end?"

"More or less," Padmé responded, sounding more tired than she looked.

"Sit down, would you like anything to drink?"

"No, thank you. I actually have something to talk to you about."

"Oh, I see. What do you wish to discuss?"

Padmé was silent for several seconds. Anyone else would believe she was simply measuring her next words. Mon, however, knew her friend well enough to see that she was bracing herself. "You knew about us, didn't you?" the once Queen finally asked.

"I am afraid I don't follow."

"An—" Padmé cut herself off and took a deep breath. "Anakin and I. You knew."

Mon let out a surprised breath, but her face remained unmoved. The two old friends in the room had melted away, being replaced by carefully tailored strangers—a remnant from their days in the Republic Senate. "I suspected, but since he was a Jedi, I believed it didn't go far."

"And how long did you believe that?"

"....Until Bail introduced me to your daughter."

"I see."

"When Commander Skywalker appeared at her side, I must admit I was surprised. Twins?"

"Indeed."

"Mind me asking who is the eldest?"

"That would be Luke."

"I see," Mon muttered as the room lapsed into silence, already realizing what had brought this on—she hadn't seen Padmé so uptight and defensive in years. "Valkyrie told you of my suspicions."

"They sounded like a lot more than simple suspicions, Mon."

"And so they are."

"And dare I ask what you are planning to do about them?" Padmé asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That depends on how....compromising their father is in regards to the grander scheme of things."

"My husband is dead."

Mon choked back her surprise at the new information (her long time friend and political ally had married a Jedi?!) and continued on in a measured tone. "All the same, they seem to be in some form of contact and Skywalker did mention something in regards to possibly allying. I would be a fool not to consider it, especially with what the Emperor has been up to lately."

"While I do not deny that may be helpful for the cause, I don't want them anywhere near one another. They haven't been in any form of frequent contact for months, and I would like to keep it that way."

"Well, someone has been beaming out frequent encrypted messages through the fleet's network to somewhere in deep space."

"....I am afraid that would be my doing," Padmé muttered, a small measure of hidden shame in her voice. "We are....collaborating a search."

"The same search you wanted to get information out of Valkyrie about?" Mon asked, a frown creasing her brow. Perhaps Eclipse hadn't been lying when she said she had not been getting along with her Master as of late.

But if she had information on the mystery person that Padmé had been looking for....well, Force only knew how many years now, wouldn't Mon's old friend have already received that information from Vader? They couldn't have had that big of a fall out, right? Or were they being careful and having information to be delivered in person instead of risking the information being compromised?