From The Ashes//anidala

30

FROM THE ASHES

Chapter 30

THE CONCLUSION

Padme returned to her sister's house. After much thought, she made her decision. "I can't do it, Sola, I'm sorry. I have decided I can't live in that house."

Sola was disappointed. "Are you sure, even in time?"

"I went in there, but I couldn't live there. Please, try to understand."

"I tell you what, Padme. I'll live there. How about you take this house, and I'll move in there?"

Just then, her two little daughters, Ryoo and Pooja, who had been listening, ran down the hall and faced her. "No, Momma, please, don't make us live there." Ryoo cried.

"Grandaddy..Grandaddy.." Pooja cried, her whole body shaking. "Grandaddy, didn't have a face no more." They both cried uncontrollably at the memory, and so did Padme.

Padme hugged her nieces to her tightly, and they cried it out together."I know, honey, I know, I know how you feel..."

Seeing this, Sola realized she had not been compassionate enough toward their feelings. It was bad enough having to know what happened, but they had seen it, experienced it. Sola gently pulled her girls from Padme, and hugged them herself. "It's okay, girls, you won't have to live there, I won't make you. We will keep this house. We can find other ways to remember Grandaddy and Grandma in nice ways." They nodded sadly at her.Finally, they calmed down, stopped crying, and went back down the hallway to their room. Padme glanced up at Sola. "Does that go double for me?"

Sola rolled her eyes. "Oh, okay, of course it does. I will contact my agent immediately."

The real estate agent was impressed with the property, despite its history, and gave a generous price for it. Standing outside the doorway for the last time, the sisters reflected on all the memories the family had shared there. "I am so sorry everything turned out this way. I can't believe we're never going to go back in there again." Sola said as she handed Padme the money. "Here, you take this and go buy yourself something you can live with."

Padme didn't take it. She looked up at Sola. "I will not accept it all, they were your parents too." Padme told her "You must take half."

.Sola turned her face to the ground. "Padme, you put me to shame."

"What?"

"You are too good. I feel so guilty now."

"About what? What have you done?"

"Padme, I recieved a rather large inheritance from father's estate. He was much wealthier than he let on. He always played the tightwad, I had no idea." Padme didn't comment, she only stared. Sola continued. "Padme, that husband of mine, he told me not to tell you. He said we should keep it all, we were the ones who were here with them while you were off galivanting all over the galaxy." She faced her sister and continued to explain about the money. "But now I see this is wrong, we should split it, even and fair. This is what Father and Mother would want." After a few anxious moments, they hugged.

The sisters did split the house money, and the inheritance. and the life insurance policies. Managed properly, it would be enough to keep them and their husbands and children for the rest of their lives, even if no one was actively employed. The news got even better when the Queen contacted Padme about being a historian for Naboo, and researching and writing its official history! She had lived so much of it herself, and would be a good one to explain the part about Palpatine and his invented war. Then when she was finished, with Anakin's help, she could write a series of Jedi and Clone Wars adventure novels, and maybe even some childrens' stories! As a writer, she could work at home, and not have to leave the children very often. Things were finally looking up.