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The moment the doors to the throne room closed behind them and they were alone in the hallway, Aayla laughed, pulling Padme into a hug. "You really think you're fooling anyone?" she asked, chuckling while Dooku rolled his eyes at the display, and Harry and the others laughed.
Padme chuckled too, putting her arms around the other girl for a brief but heartfelt hug, shaking her head at the same time. "No, not really, but you were right the last time we talked. I need to delegate more of my workload. The others all agreed, but Sabe was rather appalled when I simply decided to foist off all of the ceremonial stuff onto her shoulders."
At that Padme let out a wicked little chortle, but it could not hide the fact that she was still exhausted. A normal monarch's day was a busy one. A monarch cleaning up after an occupation, even setting aside Padme's concern for those among her people who had been taken away to be slaves, was far worse. There were just far too many demands on Padme's time to fit into a single day.
"And has that allowed you to actually get some sleep?" Harry said intently, while Master Dooku and Master Fay looked on.
"Sleep, what is this foreign concept?" Padme quipped, but she wilted under Master Fay's suddenly narrow-eyed stare. "I'll get some sleep eventually, I suppose. But come, we can't simply linger here in the hallway."
Padme led them all into a small, well-appointed sitting room, not the normal one where she met with other delegates or government officials, but a more personal one, and then began to bustle about the room preparing some tea. By the time she had set the tea down onto the small table set between the chairs in the middle of the room, Harry had brought out a small plate of pastries. She snagged one quickly, chomping down on it happily as she sat down, facing them, somehow still managing to speak intelligibly with a full mouth. "Now, is there anything about that operation you can tell me? I presume you were being light on details in there because of operational security."
Dooku up put yet another tally behind Padme's name as an actually decent leader for all she was only fourteen. The very concept of a fourteen-year-old head of state should have been bizarre, but in this case it seemed to be working. "I take it you were watching?"
"Security cameras with scattered microphones all around the throne room," Padme said quickly. "So was that a yes on the operational security question?"
"Unfortunately yes," Dooku replied. "What I can tell you, however, is that your people performed quite admirably, and we only lost three starfighters in total during the space battle. Two of their pilots were recovered, but I'm afraid Lieutenant Parker lost his life in the final stages of the initial engagement."
Padme nodded. She had known the lieutenant, of course. Not personally, but all the pilots had been volunteers, and she said so. "Indeed, I think Lieutenant Parker had a few cousins among those who had been stolen away. I have no doubt if asked he would gladly have given his life to free them."
The door behind them opened at that point, and Obi-Wan stepped in. He looked much better than the last time everyone had seen him and crossed the room quickly to sit down in another chair, bowing his head to the two masters. "Master Fay, Master Dooku. Have I missed anything?"
Fay shook her head, smiling lightly. "You're looking much better, young Kenobi. Are you going to be heading back to Coruscant soon?"
"That is the plan. Queen Amidala has most everything here under control, even if she is slowly driving herself to madness due to lack of sleep," he teased gently.
"Oh, ha, ha, ha," Padme drawled, shaking your head. "As if you were getting much more sleep than I was until last night. Don't let him fool you, he's been working as hard as anyone, and I swear he's gotten less sleep than I have."
"The Jedi teach ways to control the body and its desires for sleep and food, Padme," Harry riposted with a shake of the head. "I suppose we could try to teach them to you, but I don't know how much you'd get out of it with not being a Force user yourself. Sorry."
"Don't be. It isn't as if I would be able to devote the time necessary to learn them anyway." Padme waved her hand airily, her every move showing she was living as much on caffeine as food. "When can we expect the two squadrons we sent with you back?"
"We left them to aid the cleanup under chief Cuornivaccca. They'll be gathering physical evidence and piling up the prisoners. I've already told the Wookies that because they supplied the majority of the ground troops, despite that planet technically falling in the Chommel sector's jurisdiction, they will be extradited to Kashyyyk for trial."
Padme winced, shaking her head. "And eventual execution, then. I might not know much about Wookies, but I do know that they are death on slavers. Not that I can find it in me any longer to say that they're wrong about that. Still, I presume you're going to need the Lucrehulk back for that?"
"No, we left the majority of the Wookie transports there, so they'll simply head back to Kashyyyk on their own. The prisoners won't matter much to their ships' air circulation systems." Dooku replied.
"Why do the Lucrehulks bother you?" Harry asked, cocking his head quizzically.
"The Chancellor has passed on a request from the Senate to hand them over as soon as possible, and now that my people have been returned I have scant reason not to accede to that request. They have a point, of course. Combined those ships represent a dangerous force for any one planet to own," Padme replied, then went on to describe her conversations with the Chancellor and what he wanted to do with them.
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