The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight

Chapter Thirty-Two: Politics And Parenting

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

After allowing them to scamper around amongst the partygoers for a while, Anakin had kept Leia and Winter occupied with old war stories. He was proving to be surprisingly good with them. Whenever one of them had asked where their governess was, he had been able to quiet them down with the promise of another story of danger and heroics from the Clone Wars. He had a wealth of these tales buried deep down in his mind, all of which he remembered with crystal clarity. 

But, over three hours later, he could see their eyes beginning to shut. They were only six years old, after all, and it was probably well past their bedtimes. And so, donning his mask again, he picked up one girl in each arm and brought them back to where Padme had told him their room was. 

"Even young ladies of the court such as yourselves need your beauty rest," he said, hushing a sleepy complaint from Leia about having to leave when the party was still in full throttle. 

When they reached the girls' room, Anakin helped Leia and Winter get out of their party outfits, leaving them in their underclothes for bed. Then he brushed their teeth and combed out their hair as gently as he could, pulling it again into two braids for each girl. He was thankful for a moment that Padme had taught him how, back a little while after they had gotten married. 

Then he tucked them into their fluffy beds with their feather pillows, giving them each a kiss on the forehead. He was especially gentle with Leia. Somehow, he was glad that Padme had been gone for practically the entire evening. It had given him the chance to get to know his little daughter, and to pass on his knowledge as a pilot, a Jedi, and even just a person, in the form of stories, to the two young minds who would certainly be able to use it against the Empire one day. 

"Goodbye, Leia..." he said to the sleeping girl in the bed. "You won't know it yet, but you will later – your mother, your real mother, and I love you. We'll always be watching out for you, even though you don't know it. And somehow, I know that in the Senate, you'll do the names Skywalker and Amidala proud." 

He got up, and was about to leave the room. He looked over at Winter, and was just in time to see her blue eyes close, as if hoping to avoid detection. She was awake, and had undoubtedly heard everything that he had just said. Something resonated in his mind, something that the girl had told him over pastries at the beginning of the party. It had been, "I forget nothing." 

Suppressing a shiver, Anakin left the room. Padme was certainly done with her meeting by now, and somehow, there was something about Winter that he didn't like. It was as if she knew something he didn't. And he didn't like it.  

She would forever remember what she had just seen.

  

"Well?" Anakin asked, as he spotted Padme walking down the hall. 

"Well, what?" she returned. 

"Is the meeting done?" 

"Anakin, it finished half an hour ago!" She smiled. "I wanted to see how you would do with Leia and Winter. I thought you would take good care of them, and I was right. You would have made such a good father to Leia..." 

"And you're already making a great mother," he said, taking Padme's small and still made-up form into his arms. "Do you want to go back to the party?" 

"You know I do, Ani." She settled back into her Senator Amidala mode as they began walking back. "The meeting went well. I talked to the other Representatives, and I learned something interesting. There's a new rule in the Imperial system. When a Senator dies quite suddenly, and no successor is named immediately, their entourage and close allies split sixty percent of the deceased's wealth and assets. The other forty goes to the Emperor." 

"And why is this helpful, exactly?" Sometimes, he wished that he had even a fraction of Padme's eye for politics. Then he might have understood what she was getting at. 

"It's helpful because they've all agreed to give what they have back to me. All the people that Bail summoned were the remaining leaders of the old Delegation of 2000. The others... Well, they were good people until the Empire got to them." A hint of bitterness crept into her voice, one that even Anakin couldn't have missed. 

"So that means... That with all that money combined, we would have enough to fund our army!" 

"Yes," Padme said. "And there's also the matter of Lux's bank account." 

"But... I..." Anakin started, mildly surprised. "I thought that his account was shut down when he left the Imperial Senate." 

"No. Bail has contacts in Onderonian society, and he told ma that someone bribed the Banking Clan to keep it active, and probably with quite a hefty sum to keep them as quiet as they've been. There's probably somewhere near two or three billion that has been lying there unspoken for these last six years." 

He smiled. "That's good news, though, isn't it? But do you know who did?" 

"I don't, Anakin. But I would very much like to find out."

*Padme and Anakin have made some interesting discoveries... For the Senator, that Lux's account in the Banks is still open, and for the Jedi, the joys of fatherhood. But what could Padme's new information mean? How will our heroes be able to use the money that has suddenly fallen into their laps? Will they recreate the Army, as they foresaw, or will it go to something else as well? You'll find out in the next epic chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

Whoa... I felt like a New York Times Bestselling Author slash political genius while I was writing this, and then I read something else... And in my brain I'm back to amateur status now. Shmeh. It was fun to be on top of the world for a little while.

I have another chapter almost ready for posting, and I'll get it up as soon as I can. But now, I must go...

Fall in love with a Senator while studying to become a Jedi and may the Force be with you,

Sharron