FORBIDDEN ATTACHMENTS ─ star wars

XIX. My Heart, My World

Chapter Nineteen
Genevieve

I let out a sigh of relief, nodding to Aiden's hologram. "So Dooku doesn't know where I am?"

He shakes his head. "He called me this morning with an update on Fett's progress. He said that finding you is proving to be more difficult. But I wonder why he found you so easily before and can't find you now."

"The senate knew where we were taking her," Obi Wan tells him. "I think there might be separatist spies that told him she was on Mandalore."

"Did he say anything else?" I ask him.

He shakes his head. "No. We're not due for another shipment for a few weeks so I doubt he'll contact me again until then."

"How are the people?"

"Everyone spirit's are up when we get new supplies, but that doesn't last forever. They don't have any hope, my queen. Their lives are about survival now, nothing more. I doubt that will change if we're going to go to war."

"I wish I was there. I should be there." I say quietly.

Aiden shakes his head. "We need you safe, your majesty. The little hope our people have would surely die out completely if anything were to happen to you."

I smile at him, trying to hide my feelings of guilt and anger. He shouldn't see me in such a way, he should see a concerned but put together monarch, not a girl crying for her people. "Let us know if anything else happens."

He nods, placing his hand over his heart. "We are one, my queen."

I do the same. "We are one."

His hologram fades out, leaving me silently mulling over my thoughts.

"Do you really think there are spies in the senate?" I ask Obi Wan.

He nods. "In times of war there usually are spies lurking around. But don't worry, I'm sure we will root out who has betrayed the republic and stop them. That's the only explanation I can think of as to why Fett found us so quickly and hasn't found us here yet."

"How will I know who to trust? As queen I will need the senate's help, but how can I rely on them if I can't trust them?"

"You'll rely on them because you have to. You'll just have to go with your instincts on who to trust within the senate or not. As queen you'll appoint a new senator for Taris, yes?"

I nod.

He places a hand on my back, giving me a reassuring look. "You know the people you can trust, so make it so those people are put in the positions to help Taris and keep it out of corruption."

"How do you do it? How do you stay so calm and level headed? You always seem to have an answer for everything, Obi Wan."

He shakes his head, his usual mask slipping. "I don't have all the answers. I say what I think is right and hope that everything will work out."

"You make it seem so easy."

"Because I've been trained to hide how hard it is."

I am taken aback by his honesty, feeling the true weight behind his words. I turn myself to face him more, bringing my hand up to touch his arm gently. "You should let someone bare the weight with you."

"I could say the same of you," He says, his eyes focusing on my hand. "But it's not the Jedi way. We are the keepers of the peace, we bear the weight of the galaxy so others don't have to."

"That sounds lonely. Do you ever wish you could get out of it? Leave the order?"

Obi Wan's eyes flicker up to me, a vulnerability there that I haven't seen before. "Once, a really long time ago."