Rules are meant to be broken

Movement

Melanie sat on her sofa as the middle of the day passed by her. She stared out the window and watched the sunrise and fall. Her heart still ached but tears no longer fell down her face. Her endless crying had caused her to have an immense headache and now it seems she had run out of tears

Around the middle of the afternoon, Melanie came to the realisation that this is not what Mina would have wanted. Mina would have wanted her to carry on her life and remember her for who she was, not reflect on the past. If she was here right now, she would smack the back of Melanie's head and tell her to get to the Senate building to finish what she started. 

Melanie smiled at the thought and lifted herself up from the seat. She slowly moved her aching body up the stairs to the bathroom. The power had fully been restored in her building, so she turned on her shower. The hot water soothed her, flowing down her body. 

When she got out, she avoided her perfume, opting for her scented body lotion instead. The perfume was a gift from Mina before Melanie had left her service. Now Melanie could barely look at it. She didn't want to think about not seeing Mina again. Putting on a midi-length black dress with long sleeves and her normal heels, she packed a small bag with her datapad and waited for the elevator. 

The journey to the senate was a sensory overload for Melanie's grieving mind. People everywhere were talking of the bombing, the power outage, or anything exciting that had happened lately. Some even mentioned the Raxus Senators death, which Melanie flinched away from. She ended up taking a private taxi to escape the voices for a moment.

By the time she arrived at the Senate building, darkness had fallen. Melanie quickly made her way to Padme office. She avoided all the hallways that she knew would be swarming with senators.

A majority of those who knew that I was close with Mina would only say that they were sorry for her loss as an act of sincerity, Melanie thought bitterly. 

Finally, she made it to Padmes office. She could hear raised voices inside and had second thoughts about actually entering. However, she heard Mina's voice in the back of her mind, urging her to enter, so she did.

"25% interest? That's a lot of credits." Bail Organa's voice said incredulously as she entered. 

In the room was Padme and Senator Organa, who turned to face her as the doors slide open.

"Hi." She said shyly. 

"Melanie..." Padme said as she moved across the room to draw her friend into a hug. "I'm so so sorry..." 

"Please," Melanie whispered weakly. "Don't speak about it... but it's good to see you're safe."

"Okay... Just know I am here if you need to talk."

"Thank you, Padme." Melanie smiled at her friend. "Senator Organa, it's good to see you. Now, who is charging 25% interest?"

For the next few moments, Padme and Bail caught Melanie up on everything that she missed throughout the day. Apparently, the bombing had caused the Senate to turn in favour of deregulating the banks in favour of funding more clone troopers.

"That's terrible... and the Banking clan is saying that they will charge 25% interest?! That's unworldly! That interest alone could completely bankrupt the Republic!"

"As it is, social services have suffered because of this war - education, infrastructure, health care." Padme continued thinking.

"If we go deeper into debt, the basic needs of our people will evaporate."  

"This is good." Bail said.

"It is?" Melanie and Padme said together. Melanie felt a stab in her heart as she remembered how Mina and her used to say things in synchronisation, but quickly shook the thought out her head.