Bail Organa had not ever seen the Senate this abuzz with raw emotion, though he wondered how it compared to the stir Amidala had caused upon her first arrival in Coruscant nine years ago, when in the middle of the Trade Federation crisis the Queen's shuttle had tragically crushed both Chancellor Valorum and her own senator Palpatine, an event that spiraled the whole chamber into chaos. It seemed the storm accompanied Amidala wherever she went, though today's fury was unlike any other.

"She has set the precedent that the Republic can interfere and overthrow sovereign planetary governments," former Chancellor Ainlee Teem, who had succeeded Valorum for his own short two year term before losing a vote of no confidence, thundered from his pod. "This can not stand!"

"She exposed the treachery of Ryloth's ruling clans and the complicity of our own colleagues in the vile slave exchange," Mon Mothma countered. "Aren't all of us beholden to follow in her footsteps? Shouldn't learning from our mistakes and improving upon them be the only way forward for the Republic?"

"Not by destroying it from the inside out. Senator Amidala must be punished for her crimes," Lott Dod proclaimed. "I move for a motion of censure and removal of the Senator from Naboo, whose sovereignty itself the Trade Federation's protests notwithstanding, from the senate."

"Order," Bail Antilles called out. "I must remind the Senator from the Trade Federation that only the offended system can call for a movement of censure." The Supreme Chancellor turned to the upper levels of the chamber, where the new senator from Ryloth was seated. "Senator Wipper'lom, do you support a call of censure?"

Swallowing nervously, Kara pushed her pod forward. "Censure? Senator Amidala is to be applauded for the assistance she lent us on Ryloth. She helped us discover the truth nature of the last regime, and opened our eyes to how the evils of slavery corrupted the soul of our planet at every level. Today, Ryloth stands united before the Republic for the cause of freedom. Chancellor Antilles, we are the future, and Senator Amidala leads us."

"Collusion!"

"This is all part of her conspiracy..."

"She is a puppet!"

The ensuing voices drowned each other out, and Bail's mind wandered to the new curtains his wife wanted him to secure while he was on the capitol world. With no further chance of censure or impeachment, what remained of the debate was nothing more than mere pontification and showmanship. Hours later, he went to visit the office of the senator at the epicenter of all the controversy. As expected, Skywalker was there with her, along with the new senator from Ryloth.

"Senator Amidala," he bowed, "may I extend my congratulations to you on the passage of what may well be the most controversial bill in over a hundred years."

"Thank you Bail," she rose to greet the Alderaanian senator. "I only regret that basic decency and doing the right thing is still so controversial in this day and age."

"Who better to change the tide then." He regarded the twi'lek, who still looked uneasy in her new senatorial robes, though her brief address to the Senate today had been made with confidence and courage. Her eyes were so young, and yet so sad already, reminding Bail that however rash her actions were, Amidala stood on the right side of things. "Senator Wipper'lom, I am honored to finally meet you. Yours is truly a story of wonder and inspiration."

"Senator Organa, the honor is mine." Kara bowed, looking briefly at Amidala as if she were still unsure of all the arcane guidelines of etiquette that governed the Senate. "My story is ordinary. The tales of all who I represent are not."

"I heard of your friend, the sacrifice he made. I'm sure he is so proud of you right now." Instantly, Bail regretted his words, wondering if he delved too soon into a sensitive subject after seeing the way Kara's eyes immediately redden at the mention of her deceased friend. The young senator made a quick recovery though, and soon met his eyes with a solemn, steely resolve.

"We slaves have nothing for ourselves. No family names, most of us. Wipper...in the end...there was nothing left of him. Not even a body to bury."

Bail watched as both Padmé and Anakin walked up on either side of the woman, putting their arms around her in support.

"You will carry his legacy well," Padmé said. Kara had chosen her own family name in honor of her fallen friend. Directly translated, Wipper'lom meant in their native tongue 'friend of Wipper', but the true meaning, Kara had told her, was something Basic had no words for, something in between best friend and soul's companion. "The Senate voted to pass the anti-slavery bill because of your story and your pleas. No longer can they hide their shame behind the shield of professed ignorance. Not when the evidence of their negligence stands bravely before them, looking them in the eyes."

"I hope with this bill comes action."

Bail laughed uncomfortably. Being a politician he was used to evasiveness, non-answers, and the usual methods to avoid committing anything concrete in word to his fellow politicians, but it felt dirty to have to talk in such a manner to an ex-slave who had been through so much. He had been mildly shocked when evidence of Orn Free Taa's corruption surfaced in the aftermath of the coup on Ryloth, and the new governor Thothlis had immediately recalled the older Senator once his ownership stakes in the clans' slave holdings became clear, replacing him with someone who couldn't have been more unlike her predecessor in every way. Apparently the ex-senator had more connections than they knew about, having been freed by bounty hunters in a daring escape while being transferred back to his home planet. Orn Free Taa may be free for now, but Bail had a feeling that the pampered ex-senator would not much enjoy life as a fugitive.

"As you've already seen, Senator Wipper'lom, action and the senate are far from synonymous. But with more senators like you who truly understand the failings of the Republic, I pray that things will change for the better."

"Believe, you do, that Ventress was not associated with the Sith?"

"I don't think so," Obi-Wan answered. "Her skills were rudimentary...clumsy. Even the dark side she wielded more like a padawan. And she used the lightsaber she had with Master Narec, not a sith weapon."

"It makes no sense," Mace Windu said, his eyebrows frowned in confusion. "She could have been a powerful tool for the Sith. For them to let her wander the galaxy freely as a glorified bounty hunter just doesn't add up...unless the sith are extinct once more."

"Or the sith master found a new apprentice," Adi Gallia suggested, "and has no use for her. It's a shame Padawan Asajj couldn't be taken alive. The Council would have had many questions to ask her."

"The senator assures me the explosion was an accident...but I sense a deep loathing in her. She takes her cause quite personally."

"Because of the boy," Ki-Adi-Mundi said, bringing up for the first time in the meeting the person whose brilliant presence in the Force cast a shadow upon the minds of everyone seated in the council room. "Because Skywalker himself was a slave. Do you think he's dangerous?"

"He could be," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully, "but so can we all. His attachment to the senator is...quite remarkable, actually, their bond strongly resembling a master-padawan bond. Stronger, even. And not at all that healthy. It's a bit manipulative, actually, if you think about. More than a bit manipulative, seeing how the boy has had a fixation on the her for years and at some point, way too early in my opinion, she decided to indulge it...which I really don't...but never mind all that. What matters is that, for now, he is as dangerous as she chooses him to be."

"It was a mistake to let have let the boy go," Kit Fisto stated. "Senator Amidala has already shown that there is more to her than meets the eye."

And what would you have done, Obi-Wan wondered. Hold the boy as an unwilling prisoner in the temple under the guise of training?

"Transparent her motives are," Yoda interrupted from his dais, "even if questionable, her methods can be."

"Yet she flaunts the boy openly in the Senate," Fisto countered. "The more prominent she becomes, the more attention they will both receive. One cannot hide the boy's presence in the Force from the sith forever."

"Then it would be wise for the Council to keep a close eye on both of them," Dooku said, "if only to protect the senator as well as young Skywalker from the sith."

Obi-Wan chuckled. Vanity was not befitting of a Jedi, but he could have sworn that his amount of gray hairs had doubled since they had taken off for Ryloth. "I don't envy the poor soul who gets signed up for that duty."

Knowing his luck, his hair was going to get a lot grayer in the coming years.

Red on red. Blue on green. They dueled through the night, arms and legs flipping callously through the air, vibrant with the ever present pulse of their twin lightsabers. He was strong, but he made her better, with each duel forcing, compelling the elder Sith to come up with new ways to fend off her student. This was how it was supposed to be, Padmé thought. Arrogance was a trait of the Sith, but in their pride, no master had come to the realization that they had anything more to learn after slaughtering their own master, and certainly not from their own apprentices. But then, no sith before had taken on practically the Force itself as a student.

They fought until they teetered at the edge of the precipice, where one false step would plunge them deep into the abyss, far below the Works level of Coruscant they trained on. This had once been Sidious's lair, and though Padmé did not like to revisit the footsteps of her old master, it was a practical location, far away from prying eyes, for their spar sessions when on Coruscant. A light rain fell through the mist onto her brow as Anakin's blows pushed her torso out into the open, but with one kick she grazed him on his stomach, throwing him off balance enough for her to leap over him back to the relative safety of the warehouse interior. He followed her, somersaulting a jump three times in the air.

"Show off," she snarled, and rather than rest and give him a chance to resume the offensive, Padmé dodged to her left and slash viciously at Anakin, who landed awkwardly and was kept off balance by her attacks. He was stronger, but she was quicker, and the more ferocious his attacks became, the more Padmé drew from the Force, more than she ever thought possible. Suddenly, she felt a foot kick her right hip, pushing her sideways as she brought both lightsabers parallel to fend off a strike. Immediately she cursed her mistake as Anakin's free saber came to her neck.

"Yield." His eyes were whimsical, barely a glint of sweat on his head, and for a moment Padmé resented how easy dueling came to Anakin. She still won her share of their rights, but his improvements were obvious as more and more he used his wiles rather than relying on brute strength, though the latter didn't hurt either.

"Fuck you," she spat, deactivating her blades. As soon as he deactivated his, she slapped him in the face.

"What was that for," he asked, half hurt, half amused.

"For being so good. And hot." She reached in to kiss him, standing on her toes to reach his lips. "And so kriffen tall...fuck, I liked it when you were closer to my height." A memory came to her of one of the first times they made love. Force, were his shoulders so thin at the time? The thought made her feel dirty now, even as with that thought came her own memories of pleasure at that time.

"When being with me would have sent you to jail," Anakin asked after another desperate kiss.

"Darth Jailbait had a good ring to it. Shame the Force forced Vader on you."

"Some things were meant to be." They sat at the edge of the platform, feet dangling above thousands of feet of empty darkness, listening to the clangs of heavy machinery and industry in the distance. "Not quite Naboo, huh?"

"Not quite." Padmé gripped the hands of her husband, resting her head onto his shoulder. This felt natural, and at this moment she thanked the gods for his height, their bodies fitting perfectly as man and wife. "You did good, Ani. On Ryloth."

"Thanks love." He caressed her small, delicate hand, studying every faint line along her fingers, thinking about how no one would ever suspect that they would be capable of some of the fiercest sith lightning this side of the Kessel Run. "We did good things, but I still have a ways to go."

"I think we should reconsider our training regimen," Padmé said after a few blissful moments of silence. Their attachment, their need for each other was so complete, so undeniable that many would call it unhealthy. The Jedi would consider it a threat, while her old sith master would see it as weakness, but she liked the feeling of so fervently needing someone, and being needed back with such intensity. As for Anakin, she realized he could not imagine a different existence at this point, as they had been together in one form or another for a little more than half of his short lifespan.

"How so," he asked anxiously.

"There's really no need to be so formal with things. We're not Jedi. And certainly not Siths like Bane either. Who cares about master, or student, or what silly title some maniacs decided upon thousands of years ago? We have no rules, besides what we choose impose upon ourselves. So kriff that. If you consider yourself a master, so be it. If you think you still have more to learn, then learn. Force knows I'm learning from you every day...so just talk to me. Tell me where you are inside, what you want, and we'll grow and become more powerful...together."

"I like that."

"I like you," Padmé said, pointing her finger on his lips.

"I love that you like me."

"I love that you love that you like me."

"I love you," Anakin said dreamily, lost in his wife's eyes again.

"I love you more."

As they kissed, a deranged voice screeched from the back of the warehouse, rudely interrupting their romantic reverie.

"Monsters! You're both monsters, twisted...atrocities! The both of you are insane!"

They turned their attention to a cage in the corner of the warehouse. Inside, covered in and reeking of his own waste and shaking uncontrollably, was Orn Free Taa, former senator of Ryloth. Immediately, he regretted catching the attention of the two siths.

"I'm so sorry...please forgive me! I didn't mean what I said...it's just the hunger...and the pain..., oh I can't stand the hunger..."

Padmé laughed. "Ani, it's your turn to feed him."

"Sorry angel. I forgot about it when I lost myself in your eyes."

"Please," the twi'lek begged, crying, "please just let me go. I swear I won't breathe a word of this to anyone...I'll disappear, no one will ever find me, just please...anything but this...cage."

They walked back indoors together, holding hands until they reached a small locker. Summoning the door open with the Force, Anakin took out a small, rancid bowl. Inside was a pile of ground up feadle bugs from the planet of Felucia. They smelled awful, tasted worse, but the true hell was the poison that ran through one's body once they were consumed, resulting in the most vile pain and aches to those unfortunate enough to swallow one. Fortunately for most, the poison was never fatal, but Padmé guessed that Free Taa wished now that it was.

Anakin knelt and gently set the bowl into the cage, and Free Taa's eyes opened wide in fear.

"No! No! Not those! Please..."

He received no mercy from the two siths, who just stared at him until his will wore down, and his primal hunger won over his rationality. Grabbing the bowl greedily, he shoved the bugs into his mouth, wincing visibly with every bite.

"Should we cut off his other lekku tonight," Anakin asked.

"I was thinking sith lightning," Padmé mused in the sweetest voice. She raised one palm, but the old politician was so busy eating he didn't even notice it.

"How about we practice some good old fashioned Force chokes? He's got so many chins...I still can't get a good grasp on his throat."

Watching the former senator pour the last of his foul dinner down his throat, Padmé ran her hand down her husband's back approvingly. "Lead the way, Lord Vader."

And that's it for this story. Thanks all for reading and reviewing. There will be at least one sequel, Darth Padmé and that Business on Cato Neimoidia. It will likely be rated M, so set your filters accordingly.

Nightshade's sydneylover150: She's trying to temper his anger...she wants to train him to use the dark side but not be consumed by it.

Paul Lenzen: Thanks...we're at the end of this story now but there will be more!