Take A Closer Look

It was the same face, but not the same man. A clone lay there deceased. The Republic had sent the assassin...

The realization left her head spinning, 'They ordered the Queen's execution? Did they not know that would have lead to her, Anakin's and Obi-Wan's deaths? **** was not the Jedi way! How could they have approved this? Were they assumed to be dead or had they been left to die?' Questions flooded her head with no good answers coming to save her, but one summed every thought up in one.

"How could they do this?" she whispered to the dust, tears streaming from her eyes. Everything she had stood for, fought for, bled for had been for nothing. 'If the Republic and the Jedi could so easily compomise their ideals then...' She didn't want to finish that thought. 'But if this had been done without the Jedi's knowledge, then maybe the Republic was just as corrupt as the Separatists claimed.' In one action, Ahsoka had lost everything.

She walked slowly back to the palace after landing on the city wall. She needed time to think but those same thought kept playing on a loop. She felt she would be driven mad by them. She didn't know how much time had passed but when she reached the Queen's room, the sun was fully eclipsed by the horizon and light was quickly fading from the sky. the only light left being a hazy red blur silhouetting the distant mesas. The guard outside the door stopped her and said, "The Queen is being kept in there until the situation is secured. Stay on alert, bodyguard." The information was useful but the tone in his voice made it clear his opinion on her position. 'Possibly jealousy' she thought.

Entering the room, Ahsoka found the queen pacing impatiently in front of the bed. She spotted her as she entered through the door. "My guards checked the site after you left. A clone... I did not expect this from the likes of the Jedi," she remarked, scratching her chin with long perfectly trimmed nails. "It seems your former comrades care not if you live or die." That comment carried no hint of mockery or spite, to her and Ahsoka it was merely stating a fact, and she couldn't help but agree.

"They will not risk another attempt," Ahsoka said calmly, "Our security is hightened. This was their only chance, there's nothing more they can do without risking open war with two enemies." The Queen noticed her use of 'our'. Whether **** or not, or maybe because of the events of the day, she was slipping from her old life. With that analysis the Queen seemed to relax slightly and stopped her frantic pacing.

"Thank you, Ahsoka." That was the first time Miraj had spoken to her kindly. Ahsoka was taken aback, but nodded in recognition in return. Still, the Queens nerves were shot from the days events having come mere moments from ****. No matter how powerful you are, **** will always scare you. "Will you stay with me tonight?" she whispered. It wasn't a command, but a sincere and fearful request.

'Maybe by getting in her good graces, I can do more to help my friends' Ahsoka reasoned, though deep down she knew she longed for the pleasure of the night before. She nodded slowly, removed her gloves and boots and climbed into bed with Miraj. In that moment, Ahsoka didn't see the tyrannical leader of a **** empire, only a woman, scared and alone. They crawled together underneath the thin linen sheets and rested with Miraj's head on the Jedi's shoulder.

Dozing off slowly, the queen fell fitfully into a restless sleep leaving Ahsoka awake, lost in her thoughts as she stared blankly at the ceiling. A few times, the queen snapped awake from her sleep at the slightest noise echoing from the corridors. Ahsoka could feel the pounding of her bedmate's heart never calming.