Lady Amalia: The Almost Queen [Star Wars | Obi Wan Kenobi]

Chapter 8

Grief coursed through Neva as the Tantive IV hurtled through hyperspace toward Naboo. No, not just grief; anger. She was angry, though she supposed that was only natural.

Padmé, her friend, had just given up. She had delivered two healthy children, a little boy and girl, and she wasn't even going to fight to stay with them. Even knowing that the Senator had been betrayed by the man she loved and had watched as everything she had believed in and devoted her life to crumble around her, Neva just couldn't understand it. She knew Padmé, and Padmé was a fighter. Even after the Clone Wars started and the democracy she loved got pushed further and further aside, Padmé Amidala never gave up, always pushing, always fighting for what she believed in. After all, she was the definitive Naboo citizen and there were two things that the Naboo as a people held up above all else; democracy and family. There was little—no—there was nothing more important than family, and Neva knew Padmé believed that with every fibre of her being just as almost every other citizen of Naboo did. She couldn't believe Padmé would just abandon her children like that, no matter the heartbreak she had suffered at the hands of her soulmate.

But Neva had been there when Padmé delivered her children. She had sat with her friend and begged her not to give up while Obi-wan did the same. The former Princess had been holding her hand when the Senator looked into the faces of her babies and named them. There was no doubting the love that was in the Former Queen's eyes as she saw her son and daughter for the first time. And then she had just faded. It was as if she had been fighting to hold on only long enough to deliver them safely.

"Obi-Wan," she had barely been able to speak she had gotten so weak, "there is good in him. I know... I know there is... still..." she had barely been able to keep her eyes open, but she had fixed Obi-wan with a powerful gaze nonetheless.

It was then that Neva had started to get mad. It was an anger born of grief, and Neva couldn't quite hold it in, not when she was holding Padmé's tiny daughter in her arms. She needed to at least try to make Padmé understand. She had all but bolted around the table, practically pushing her way into Padmé's line of sight. The former Princess could see her friend's eyes beginning to dim, but that only made her more desperate.

"Don't do this," she had pleaded, "Don't leave your babies alone. You can't let go, Padmé, please. Listen to me." There was a flicker in those brown eyes, and Neva latched onto it. She had reached out, then, grabbing the Senator's cold hand. "They need you. Please, don't give up like this." she had choked on the last words, barely able to hold back her grief as her anger bled into her voice. But, with a soft, sad sigh, Padmé had closed her eyes, her body going limp. Neva had choked back a sob, looking down to the tiny baby she held in her arms. Leia, Padmé had named her. It was a beautiful name.

It was then that one of the medical droids had approached, monitoring the faint readout that lingered.

She was still alive. Barely. Padmé had slipped into a coma. A faint flutter of hope had surfaced in Neva then. Perhaps they could keep her alive long enough for the woman she knew to surface from the despair and fight back. It was a faint hope; a small persistent one that the former Princess was desperate to cling to. Neva and Obi-wan had been led from the room by the midwife droid to a different chamber where the twins could be better cared for. Not long after, Obi-wan had been asked to join Yoda and Organa to discuss something. Neva had offered to stay behind with the babies, watching over them and helping the midwife droid care for them. It hadn't been long before Obi-wan returned with news that as soon as the babies were permitted to leave, they would be departing Polis Massa.

"To where?" Neva had asked, suddenly unsure if she wanted to know the answer. Obi-wan hesitated himself, obviously weighing how to tell her. He eventually opted to be direct.