How to Take an Empire

Chapter Forty-Four: Sabé's Interlude

"Can I give you a piece of unsolicited advice, Lord Vader?" Sabé asked as she watched Darth Vader, sans suit, take an extra steroid shot in between his regularly scheduled shots. A necessity after an unexpected encounter with his co-conspirator on Geonosis.

"Not now, Sabé," Vader growled.

Sabé decided to give it to him anyway.

"You and Ahsoka need to figure out a way to communicate better with each other," she said.

"I'd say we communicate very efficiently," Vader replied evenly.

The fact that he even answered told Sabé he was more irritated than usual and looking for a fight. Sabé wasn't going to fall for the bait and give him one. She wasn't Ahsoka, who seemed to live for conflict with Vader as much as Vader seemed to live for it with Ahsoka.

"I'd say you don't. The fact that every time you all meet on opposite ends of the battlefield, you come back with a bad injury is enough evidence of that."

"It's not personal. What do you expect when officially, we're on opposite sides."

"But unofficially, you're working together. And you'd think knowing that, you would both be much more considerate of each other's wellbeing. You all are using your conspiracy as an excuse to take out your anger with each other for issues that are personal," Sabé said. "And every time you do, you come back with some injury courtesy of Ahsoka Tano."

"I thought you liked Ahsoka."

"I do. I just think you two are incredibly toxic for each other."

She'd given Padmé this same talking to some eight years ago. Back then, Vader was Anakin Skywalker, and he'd been a Jedi married to Padmé. For all that Sabé was sure the pair had loved each other, their relationship was a disaster. They were seldom home together, extremely reckless, protective of each other, and spent too much time not talking through their disagreements—of which there had been many. The one thing Sabé knew they did agree on was public service to the rest of the broader galaxy, though, they wildly different ideas on how to best implement that service. Padmé dismissed Sabé's concerns. The star crossed couple never got to see each other as it was. Why waste time on disagreements? But Sabé had also seen the petty and spiteful ways the two got back at each other. Using their duties to the Republic as an excuse rather than taking the time to sit an understand each other's points of view. Unfortunately, that was time they hadn't had. What little time they did spend together was more focused on physical passion because it was easy to release frustration with sex.

Sabé was watching the exact same situation play out now with Vader and Ahsoka. Even though she'd only seen the two together on two or three occasions, the two clearly cared about each other a lot more than they let on. But unlike Anakin and Padmé, Vader and Ahsoka were more prone to verbally fight out their disagreements. She knew it was the norm because she'd once walked right in on disagreement between the two with Luke and Leia sitting in the room next door playing a board game like they always listened to fights between their parents. Then the two would go their separate ways after not coming to an agreement and repeat until someone, usually Ahsoka, went halfway, and they grudgingly settled on a solution. In rare instances, disagreements ended in physical fights on opposite ends of the battlefield to take out their personal frustration. Then they'd have another verbal fighting match, and they'd either come to an understanding or a temporary truce.

Sabé wasn't sure which relationship was worse. At the very least, though, Ahsoka and Vader weren't afraid to verbally hash through their disagreements and could come to some sort of understanding in the end. Sabé couldn't say that for Anakin and Padmé. Typically, they had resorted to silence, which maybe was why their relationship had ended so explosively.