𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐒 [ 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 ] ✘

Anakin x Padme [AU] [6] [Pt. 3]

It was nightfall in Alderaan by the time Padme arrived. She had left the twins in the care of Obi-Wan before she left. It was much safer meeting here on Bail's home planet than on Coruscant. The planet had been crawling with Palpatine's spies for months now, always lurking in the shadows to report on anyone seen as friendly to the Jedi.

Led inside by his personal servants and guards, Padme trailed behind them through the ornate labyrinthine halls. The palace was truly lovely. She had been just once before many years ago when Bail and Breha married. It had been a beautiful wedding with all of their family attending. Padme remembered at the time feeling a twinge of jealousy that she had never gotten the chance to have her own family attend her and Anakin's wedding all those years ago. But it was all in the past now...

Sweeping into an anteroom off to the side, Bail greeted Padme warmly within the safe confines of the soundproof walls. Elaborate decorations and beautiful figurines lined the shelves between the many books. This study had been a meeting room for much of the Senate who supported the growing rebellion in the Empire.

"I'm so glad you came. I was hoping you could manage to slip away from the bustling politician life for a moment," he said with a small smile, ushering her to sit down across from him on the opposite couch.

Letting her skirts fall around her ankles, she lifted her gaze to meet Bail's welcoming one and got down to business.

"What did you find, Bail?

"Through my various connections, I've uncovered a device that could prove useful to you. I can't say for certain it will work but I think it's worth trying,"

Padme was skeptical but plunged ahead, "Well, how does this device work then? What is it exactly?"

Bail was quite, contemplating a moment before he fished the handheld device out of his coat pocket. It was small, round, navy blue in color and looked eerily like a holoprojector complete with buttons lining each side. Clearly, it had been refurbished somehow, the inner workings converted into something entirely new. It was a shame that Anakin had been the only one familiar with technology engineering - it would be interesting to Padme to know exactly how it had been done.

"This gadget here has been converted from familiar and everyday to something unique...and hard to find. There are only two others like it in the Galaxy. It lets you travel through time and space - both into the future and the past. Using this device, it is very possible you could find Anakin's location the moment he vanished and see exactly what transpired,"

Padme sat there in shock, her heart nearly beating out of her chest. This was it, what she'd been waiting for all along. She could barely believe the moment was here - the moment in which she could be reunited with Anakin. But this sounded too good to be true...

"What's the catch? I wasn't elected Queen all those years ago due to lack of negotiation skills," Padme pointed out to her friend.

Bail briefly shot her a wry smile before responding, "I'm not sure. No one is. You see, those who have used the device never returned. Whether that was due to their own choice, an accident that befell them, or simply not being able to return - no one can say. It would be a risk, Padme. And I understand you have the children to think of now, not only yourself. If you don't want to do this, I'll understand. All the same, I thought you should be told,"

Silence reigned supreme in the small study as she mulled over this predicament. She would never want to leave her children without a parent but at the same time, if there was a chance she could find their father... They could be a real family again, a whole family. Yet if something had happened to him...she could possibly be stuck in the past with no way of coming back to her babies...