Naboo Review Chapter 4, a star wars fanfic

NABOO REVIEW

by ardavenport

- - - Part 4

They were going to be late to the ceremony.

Luke had been ready at the appointed time to leave, but it took a surprising amount of time to get that many Naberries into the great boat of a transport they were using. They were all bringing the small children, more distant cousins and family friends who had been absent at the evening dinner. Palace guards, sent to collect them, nervously reminded the adults of the time and spoke urgently into their coms.

Luke calmly stood by his borrowed speeder bike from the palace and watched the frenzy of loading and then someone popping out with something forgotten and then re-loading, while others yelled for the one or two cousins still inside. The ceremony really could not begin without him, so he expected that the people at the palace would improvise until they arrived. One guard had politely suggested that Luke go ahead with a small escort. Luke had equally politely had declined to leave his family behind.

"Sola!" Darred Janren yelled for his wife. She and Ryoo appeared, the last two. They hurried toward the transport, but Sola suddenly stopped by Luke. She dropped the hem of her long blue dress and brushed a stray strand of brown hair from her face.

"Luke. I didn't mean to avoid you . . . "

He was sure that she had. He had shared breakfast with only Tresin and Megos, who seemed to have warmed to him, while the rest of the household was conspicuously busy getting ready for the day. The two men wore matching, simple gray suits and complained about all the extra frills that had come into style lately and concluded that the only good thing about the Empire had been the simplicity of its fashions.

". . . I know you're supposed to leave after the dedication today," Sola stepped close to him, while worried palace guards looked her way, "but I was hoping you would stay an extra day. I don't think we've properly welcomed you to the family."

"I'd be happy to," he agreed immediately. He was expected back on Coruscant, but the people back at the Temple could improvise until he returned.

"Thank-you."

She lunged forward in a clumsy forward hug, her body still held away from him. He only touched her arms in return.

"You're more like Padme than you know," she said in his ear. Then she broke away and hurried to the transport, the guards helping her inside.

Luke climbed onto his speeder bike, started the engine and followed the slow moving transport out toward the gate. Two palace guards on their own speeder bikes flanked him, while two led the transport out.

As soon as they were out of the village their procession sped down to the plains, Theed in the distance. They zoomed over the tall grasses, riding over the gentle rises and falls of the terrain until only flat land lay before them and the city. Luke could see the movement of colorful crowds and transports. Blue and red flags waved from the towers.

City guards cleared their way into the paved streets through cleared back ways. Commander Senchu and two guards waited for him at the back entrance to the Palace that they finally arrived at.

"I do not wish to rush you, Master Jedi - - " Senchu said, completely contradicting his body language.

"Its OK," Luke reassured him. They were up the stairs into the palace before the Naberrries had unpacked themselves from their transport.

They double-timed through the halls, up to the balcony where they viewed the statue the day before. They had reviewed his part in the ceremony before he had gone to the Naberries village.

He had no speaking part. He simply had to walk by the Queen's side, visible to the crowd while a token of unity was exchanged between the Gungans and the Naboo and the statue was unveiled. That was it. There would not even be any speeches. The Naboo preferred to keep their ceremonies simple. There would be a mass celebration in the plaza afterward.

They arrived at the balcony and stepped into the sunlight. A solid crowd of brightly dressed people filled the long palace plaza below. The line of blue and green draped handmaidens looked his way. And then the Queen. Face white, lips and cheeks dabbed with bright red, her gown and headdress plumed and sparkling in the daylight. She quirked a smile at him as he took his place on her left. An enormous rotund Gungan in lavish gold and blue robes on his left leered in his direction before turning back to the crowd. A line of skinny Gungans in ceremonial body armor stood to the right of the Gungan Boss-man. A mix of well-dressed Naboo and Gungans filled the rest of the balcony.

On a high pedestal between the Queen and the Boss-man a globe of unity sat glowing brightly. The exchange of friendship had already taken place and they were simply waiting for him for the final dedication. Below, the statue was covered with a long blue covering that rippled in the light breeze, a mixed group standing in a circle around it with a ring of formal palace and Gungan guards around them.

The music started. Drums and melodious percussions.

A Gungan chorus began softly singing to the rising sound.

- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza

The crowd cheered, responding to the singing.

A clear male Naboo voice started.

Night

And the spirit of life

Calling

The chorus of Gungans continued, complimenting the singer.

- - - blow low, hullo

Hear it call

- - - blow low, hullo

And a voice

That you hear in the wind

Answers

- - - blow low, hullo

Oh, when it calls

- - blow low, hullo

- - hearza mui biggo hero

- - Weza be heeza voice we be

Below two Gungnas and two Naboo grasped cords hanging from the blue fabric covering the statue. Luke saw the transparent image of Qui-Gon Jinn fade into view near them and, smiling, look up at him.

Stay

You can hear what it says

Hear the spirit in you

- - blow low, hullo

Ooo-ooooo-ooooh

- - blow low, hullo

In you.

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

The song rose into a higher, enthusiastic melody, the Naboo singer and the chorus's words crossing, complimenting each other. The four at the base of the statue pulled on their cables, revealing the statue of the Jedi Knight who had passed on to the Force. The blue cloth billowed away. The crowd cheered louder.

He lives in you

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in me

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He watches over

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Everything we see

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the water

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the truth

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

In your reflection

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in you.

Luke felt the more familiar presence of Ben Kenobi joining his old Master at the base of the statue below. But the image he saw was different. Not an old man, but a young Jedi apprentice, beardless with short hair and a long thin braid behind one ear.

- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza

Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to realize that Qui-Gon Jinn's presence influenced how Luke now saw him and he looked embarrassed, then annoyed at the source of this change.

The guards around the statue raised their arms and shouted with abandon with the crowd.

He lives in you

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in me

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He watches over

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Everything we see

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the water

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the truth

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

In your reflection

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in you.

- - Weeza hear you, hearza you

He lives in you.

- - Hearza you, hearza, hearza, hearza you, hearz you

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooooh

- - blow low, hullo

Ooo-ooooo-ooooh

- - blow low, hullo

Now Luke felt the presence of his father, with him on the balcony.

// Did you know that calling me back from the dark side would break the Sith? That I could - - even after all I had done, what I had become - - that I could still destroy the Emperor? //

Luke looked up at the clear blue sky above.

"No. I just did what I felt I must."

We stay

We can hear what it says

- - blow low, hullo

Hear the spirit in you

- - In you.

Luke turned to look on the image of his father next to him, but found a blond-haired boy in Tatooine peasant clothes, small next to the shouting Gungan he stood behind. The young face scrunched up in annoyance, the expression aimed toward the statue of Qui-Gon Jinn. Luke smiled and laughed.

The people in the plaza danced, waved flags and threw colored confetti. Another chorus joined the first Naboo singer.

He lives in you

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in me

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He watches over

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Everything we see

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the water

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the truth

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

In your reflection

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in you.

The Queen, her gown now speckled with confetti, streamers caught in her headdress, grinned and winked at Luke before turning back to her jubilant constituents below.

Luke laughed aloud when he saw that the two bluish, transparent images had been joined by Yoda. And Qui-Gon Jinn was now transformed from the calm, wise Jedi Master to a startled skinny, leggy apprentice with messy hair. And younger than Obi-Wan who grinned.

Master Yoda looked quite smug.

He lives in you

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He lives in me

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

He watches over

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Everything we see

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the water

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

Into the truth

- - Huzzah, weza hearza

In your reflection

He lives in you

- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza

He lives in you.

%%%X%%% END %%%X%%%

(This story was first posted on tf.n: 25-Sep-2008)

Disclaimer: All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.