Her Secret

-Ten-

Iris woke up in her old bedroom, the tall blue walls were filled with her own paintings and photos of her last summer in Naboo. She had had so much fun there,she was remembering all the exciting adventures she had with the sisters, their friends and Theo. And she completely forgot she was to train after returning home

When she got up, she dressed in her apprentice dark robes, grabbed her red lightsaber, and sprinted out of the room. Maybe her father could train her. The house was silent, only the maids were cleaning around, and when she entered the huge dining room, hoping to see her father, she saw no one. She loved her father, after all, he was the only parent in the family, but he was never home, always in those important meetings.

The maids told Iris to sit and eat the food that was already on the table, so quietly, like every day, she ate her breakfast in complete silence. Then, knowing her way, she walked along the corridors of the lonely mansion. The door at the end of the west wing of the house led to a big training room, filled with obstacles and droids, everything Iris could use to learn the ways of the force and the greatness of the dark side.

Iris was only fourteen, she wanted to return to the Amidala sisters, back to having fun and memorable activities, but she was stuck here again. Her father told her not to worry, as she would find comfort again inside the empty house.

Some days ago, Iris overheard her father talking about Darth Maul, a new Sith that would cause great trouble for the Jedi. She didn't know much about him, but pushing her thoughts away, she started her basic training exercises, the same ones she did every day.

The day went by, and around noon she heard two people coming, she turned off the projectile robot which shoots little lasers at her, and then the door opened. Her father entered alongside a young man with red and black skin, yellow eyes and little horns.

"Good afternoon, Iris. The person I'm here with will be your new trainer, his name is Maul, but you must only refer to him as Darth Maul" - said Palpatine, embracing his daughter.- "Sadly, I can't be with both of you now, I have some business to attend to so I'll leave you with him."

Iris looked as the young man nodded, even though he looked quite terrifying, he seemed to agree with Palpatine's words. When the doors of the training room closed, leaving the fourteen-year-old Iris and Darth Maul, he said, "So you're Iris, right?"

Iris only said a quiet "yes". She was a bit scared, she didn't know the true intentions of her new master.

" Don't worry, Iris; I don't mean to harm you, your father is a great man and I know that training alone is excruciatingly boring." Darth Maul joked, making Iris giggle.

After that day, Darth Maul and Iris would see each other quite frequently doing the training, and he turned out to be an excellent Sith warrior, teaching her new and original moves. Iris considered him a friend more than a master, he made her laugh and comforted her when she would fail in their training. But that friendship only lasted for no more than 2 years. When he was killed by the Jedi Padawan named Obi-Wan Kenobi, Iris cried, she had lost a friend, and she would be alone again, trapped in the walls of the Palpatine house.

What she didn't know was that the killer of her friend would turn out to be her protector years later, and maybe now not only a protector but a friend, only a friend...

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Iris quickly sat up from the bed and looked at her surroundings, she wasn't in her room, nor was she fourteen again. "It must have been a dream" she thought, or a memory that was hidden in the corners of her mind. She was sweating, mainly because Scarif's temperature and humidity were quite high, making her sweat even in the early hours of the morning.