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When the explosion went off, Uké tackled Padmé. She hoped her body would guard her from any shrapnel that flies near them. The sound of the starship cracking is accompanied by the blaring heat like that of the sun on her back.
When the worst of it stops Uké slide off of Padmé. Her ears still felt like someone stuffed cotton into them, everything was so silent. The fog of Coruscant is the only thing she can focus on. She should've worn the helmet that Naboo guards wear, the helmet Padmé is wearing.
"....Ke? Uké?" Padmé's voice began to filter in. Uké blinked before nodding her head. After making sure the handmaiden was fine, Padmé pulled herself up and sprints.
Uké staggered behind her, she knew Padmé was going to Cordé, so Uké runs to Versé who was accompanying the decoy from the ship. Panaka had trained them to cover a situation like this, you need to assess who's still alive.
"Versé?" The handmaiden is on her stomach, clad in dark charred blue grey robes. Her name comes out Uké's lips garbled.
Uké griped her shoulders and turned her. A small scream built up in her throat. Versé's nose is a bloody mess, it had hit the duracrete before the rest of her body had. The smell of burnt hair filled Uké's nose and stings her eyes. Versé's eyes are still wide open. Her chest does rise with air.
It's a stark change from Uké's memories of Versé trying to teach her how to cheat at Sabacc.
So this is death. So, so, close.
"Uké." It's Typho's voice, pulling her attention. "We need to go." His voice was grave and commanding. Uké nodded and stood as steadily as possible. Trying to regain her composure for Padmé.
When she almost falls again Typho catches her by the arm and helps her. They make their way to Padmé, who was hunched over Cordé.
Typho crouched down near her, his eyepatch glinting from a fire nearby. "Milady, you're still in danger here."
"Med kit!" Uké called out, her vocal chords strained. "Someone get me—"
"No." Padmé said. "She—Cordé—Cordé's dead... I shouldn't have come back." Her voice was brutally soft and solemn as she stood.
The three of them walk away from the destroyed ship, avoiding the burnt and broken fragments left in the wake of the explosion.
. . .
Uké works with quick hands as she pulls metal hairpieces from Padmé's hair. The senator had already been anointed by a perfume that had been a gift from the Queen of Alderaan. Starblossom, was a fresh and calming smell and just sweet enough to make Uké like it. If she could correlate it to anything, it would be the wind, in a grassy field only decorated by Alderaanian conifers. It smelled nothing like charred clothing, hair, and ski—
