* ✩ ▲ act one, chapter seven▲ ✩ * In the Clutches of Invisible Panic
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Obi-Wan was right. A week after Padme's return, Nell is given the all clear by the Council and the Chancellor. She's now free to roam the streets and do so without supervision. She can begin attending Senate meetings in person again, continue her work on the Military Creation Act alongside Padme and start travelling again as part of her Ministerial duties for the Queen. In fact, an upcoming deal with the Mandalorians that Nell has to construct alongside the Duchess Satine and her Prime Minister gives her the perfect opportunity to exercise her new freedoms. Thankfully, Nell and Satine get on quite well, so the trip shouldn't be painful in any way.
Busy is how she would describe Senate life on Coruscant, but busy is how Nell likes to be (its an unhealthy coping mechanism that she picked up early on and never quite learnt to let go of). Although her parents show no sign of getting the divorce that Padme had spoken of, there is clearly still tension between the two of them. Every time she calls, which admittedly is not often, they're borderline argument with everything they say. But still she keeps busy and doesn't let her mind wander too much.
The current meeting she's in with Bail Organa is going just as well as she assumed (not very) but she still holds out some hope. Dinner and politics is usual for the Senate and Nell can't lie, she loves it.
"The fact of the matter is, Nell, we need to defend ourselves. At the end of it all, the people should be protected above everything else," he explains over the empty dinner plates and glasses.
"Yes, but we're not at war yet. Hardly even close. Wouldn't the best protection for the people be to reduce tensions rather than exacerbate them? Our stance on the Act is potentially flexible as the situation changes, but as it stands we believe that forming an army will only harm our attempts to reconcile with the Separatists and bring them back into the Republic."
"So what do you believe is at the root of our problems with the Separatists?"
"The Separatists didn't feel as though they were mutually benefitting from the Republic in the way that they believe they should have been. They believed that the system was not working. Constitutionally, the legality of separating from the Republic is ambiguous. There's no precedent to this, but many are arguing that because there's no precedent, we shouldn't allow it," she replies. "We're unwilling to admit that we, as a unit, could have been doing better to maintain our values of fairness, equality and mutual benefit."
"So pride?" he inquires.
"It's more complex than pride," she disagrees. "It's a form of patriotism that only truly finds root in times of criticism or in times of war. It's unyielding and defensive and it's not the attitude we should be holding when it comes to the Separatists. I have to ask you, Bail. Do you believe that there is room for negotiation with the Separatists or do you believe that diplomacy will fail here?"
