Steps to Power

A/N: I Do appreciate comments and feedback.

***

Padme’s meditation was erratic. Her mother’s methods were more of the brooding variety, the brunette chose a more natural approach. Deep breathing, clearing the mind of thoughts, eliminating distractions, even a few secrets she gleaned from Annie. After several moments she slammed her fist down and stood up. “This isn’t working.”

“Can I help you Mistress?” Letya sat across from Padme in a submissive pose. Was she also meditating? Padme didn’t know.

“I’m looking for a way to increase my power in the ****.” Padme admitted. “Meditation and study is only part of it. I need something more direct.”

“To rival your mother?” Letya asked.

“To rival all of them.” Padme admitted. “Including the jedi.”

Letya continued her submissive posture. “My people have a legend of the jedi. Long ago, a great battle took place that consumed hundred of Jedi and Sith. An entire planet was cleansed of life.”

“I know of that battle too.” Padme added, “Mother never spoke of the location or the name.”

Was it her own dominance that prevented Palpatine from coughing up the name? Or did she simply not know? Padme hoped it was the latter. Still, there was something about the Cathar that eluded Padme. While they had **** users, their entire race seemed to have a sense for the ****. Letya didn’t hesitate in responding. “The planet was called Ruusan.”

“You know of it?!”

“Only the name mistress.” Letya still did not look up. “I do not know where it is, but I know that after the battle the jedi constructed a giant temple there. They called it, The Valley of the Jedi.”

That’s it! Padme stood abruptly and advanced to her maiden, sweeping of the feline in her arms. “Letya you’re wonderful! Set a course and then come back to my room. I have a reward for you.”

***

Jedha. The holy city on the planet of same name. Padme pulled her hood closer, trying best to conceal her features. While the **** gave her a cloak of unimportance, there was nothing stopping an individual from looking at her.

She pushed through the throng of aliens and humans heading to the holy temple at the city's heart. It was a long shot but if her maiden was correct, she’d find an answer here.

No one guarded the door nor barred her entry. Her footfalls kicked up dust as she stepped towards the dais.

“Sit Jedi.”

Padme paused, fear welling up inside of her. I didn’t sense anyone. “I’m not a Jedi.”

“Are you now?” She turned and a humanoid alien woman sat off to one side. Her eyes were closed but she seemed well aware of her surroundings. The woman seemed to mock her. “The scent of the **** is all around you.”

Anger replaced fear and the sith’s hand drifted down to her waist. All the components for her lightsaber were disassembled in various pouches around her waist. It would only take a few seconds to snap them together and…

“Sit.” Again she commanded. This time Padme complied; taking a large pillow before the prone woman. For several moments she said nothing allowing Padme to study her. She was pretty, with white, almost porcelain skin with grey blue lips and a full mouth. Blue tattoos or markings crossed her cheek. Her hair was nearly white and as she opened her eyes, Padme noted the silvery blue irises, and was more than a little unnerved how they seemed to pierce her. “Are you Rakakttai?”

“No. I do not belong to that unrefined species.” The way she spoke there was a degree of arrogance. Or was that pride? “You seek information.”

“I do.”

“Something you couldn’t get in your senate office?”

Padme stilled herself. “Yes. I seek the Valley of the Jedi.”

“Interesting.” She withdrew a slender hand from her robe and tapped her chin. “A senator which such powerful allies in the order seeking a Tomb world that even the Jedi refuse to acknowledge. Did you try the Jedi archives?”

“I did not.”

“Did you try asking?”

“No.” Padme bristled at the rebuke. She had already thought of that but dismissed it all the same. It required, accessing the temple: Possible. Padme was not as strong in the **** as her mother, to her annoyance, so she could more readily enter the temple. Entering the archives: Unlikely. Searching the archives for the information: Even more unlikely. Covering her tracks: Impossible. Even with permission, all searches were monitored. Another gif bit from her lover. A non-Jedi asking to search about the site of a massacre may raise a flag or two.

“Then ask.”

“It’s not possible!” Padme snapped, immediately regretting the shrill response. Her opponent didn’t react or even flinch to her outburst.

“I see.” She closed her eyes for a long time. “Your destination lies in the Teraab sector, in a system with 3 planets.”

“Thank you,” Padme stood and started to leave.

“Know this..” She came to a halt as the woman spoke again. “The Valley of the Jedi is not for the faint of heart. The echoes of the past still remain. It would be foolish for a Jedi to go. Or a Sith.”

Padme snapped her belt and her lightsaber assembled in her hand. The crimson blade illuminated the room with its red glow. The brunette sith turned to face a woman that clearly knew too much but to her shock, and horror, she had vanished.