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Annè looks at the tomb for a long while. Queen Amidala is in there. She has been for centuries and centuries and centuries.
She shouldn’t do this. Disturbing the tomb of the most beloved Queen is heresy of the highest order. But the legends are clear. In a time of crisis, the sleeping Queen will wake.
And it is a time of crisis. For Naboo and for the entire galaxy.
She closes her eyes and feels the tingling sensation she knows well. The secret she’s kept hidden forever. Like her father kept before. Before he was dragged off and killed. She follows the sensation now, and finds the opening. Then slowly, with all her practice, slides the lock undo.
It is old and rusted shut. It makes a terrible sound, like a scream, as she forces it open.
She wonders if it's a warning to leave well enough alone. But she can hear the mechanism click, and the entire thing is open.
She inches the door open with a wave of her hand, just enough for her to slip through, and then closes it behind her.
In the tomb it's dark and has the dank smells of old water and the organic material that rots in it. She could hear the trickling of a stream.
She fiddled with her lamp, and then the dull orange light filled the space.
It’s a mostly smooth stone, perfectly square room. The walls were the same color as the beaches of lake district. It was likely beautiful once. Now it has started to grow mold. On one wall, cut deep, are the words I’m sorry.
What a strange epitaph..
But that is not the focal point of the tomb.
That was the little river that bisected it.
Once this had been the norm, they told her back in school. The Queen’s body was laid to rest in a rushing river, to slowly return to the great water.
So many years on, nothing of Queen Amidala’s casket remained. Let alone the organic matter of her body.
But then, the legend would have suggested the same thing. The sleeping Queen. Not resting in her tomb, but waiting in the ocean beyond it.
She’s been having the dream for weeks. Of the girl Queen who has saved her people, and who would again. Surely. She had seen the Ocean of Theed and the Amidala tomb so clearly. And her dreams are always right.
But there is nothing here. No bones to put the legend to rest, and no clue as to how to wake the sleeping monarch otherwise.
She turns again, slowly, examining every wall.
Why I’m sorry, she wonders.
She checks every crevice and corner. It had been built to last, obviously. Shields in place to protect against water damage and corrosion, small grills at the end of each river to keep it rushing.
Outside it was grand. With turrets and a stained glass mural depicting the beloved woman.
But inside it was empty.
Except.
In one corner, as though tossed aside, lay a little piece of...stone?
Annè picks it up and examines it, she isn’t sure she’s ever seen anything quite like it. A small square, off white, and smooth like a water washed stone or maybe petrified wood. It had an intricate carving on it.
A token buried with the queen. But why did it sit in the corner.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Annè screams. It rings hollow in the tomb.
“I thought you came here looking for someone.” And slowly, grasping her lamp in one hand and the charm in the other, she turns to face her companion in the tomb.
A young woman stands before her, not solid flesh. She’s dressed in a white gown, and her dark hair hangs freely down her shoulders and back. Her brown eyes are soft.
The blue glow clashes with Annè’s orange lamp. But she is lovely just the same.
She is a ghost.
“Your Highness,” Annè whispers to Queen Amidala, before quickly forcing herself into a bow. Annè has never met royalty, but she knew they required respect, and none deserved it half so much as this woman.
But the Queen only frowned. “I haven’t been called that in a very long time.” She says.
“I...you’ve been gone for a long time.”
Her brow furrows, taking in her surroundings “I suppose, yes.”
“But you’re here, now.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe the legends are true.” is all Annè can think to say.
“I don’t know about that. But there are some things -Some legends, some destinies- that simply must be.”
“Like you?”
“Like Naboo.” she corrects. “It always starts on Naboo.”
“What?” She considers the recent trends, “Danger? War? Rebellion?”
“Change,” then a grin, almost playful, “Balance, even.”
“What kind of change?”
“Change for the better, I think, but you never really know until you get there. History is full of people who try to change things for the cause of good, and just make it worse.”
“Then what’s the point?
“Knowing that this is unacceptable. Knowing that it is better to take chances and risk suffering, then to do nothing and ensure suffering.”
“You saved Naboo.”
She frowns,”I helped. Once.”
“Then you can save it again, make sure that we change for good.”
“That’s not within my power. I can’t guarantee that. I can only be a cog in the machine.”
“But you’re Queen Amidala.”
“I’m not,” she corrects, gently, then cocks her head to the side slightly, as though hearing something Annè can’t. “Or, not exactly.”
“Then...who are you? Why are you here.”
“I’m Leia,” she says, “And I am here, because you are here.”
Annè just stares. She is talking to a ghost. In Queen Amidala’s Tomb, who admits to once saving the planet, but is somehow not Queen Amidala.
“That’s...not an answer.”
Leia laughs. It does not echo in the room. “No, I suppose not. Its an unfortunate habit we pick up, I think. You will too, I suspect, in time.”
“I don’t want to learn to talk in vague non-answers. I want your help...or Queen Amidala’s help.”
“She can’t come here.” She looked a bit wistful, “And even if she could, she’s not what you need, Annè.”
“She saved Naboo.”
“She did, on a prayer and trust and nerve.” Leia agrees, “But you, you need to understand if you are going to save the Galaxy.”
“I’m not going to...”
“Of course you are. Why else would the Force have brought you here?”
“The Force. That’s a legend.”
“I think we’ve established that some legends must be.” Leia says, “And the Force. Well, it surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together. And every now and again, someone is born with the ability to touch it.”
“No, they wiped them out, made all of those...people extinct.”
“No, not quite.” Leia say, “True, they aren’t like they use to be. But once, a very long time ago, The Force had a son. A boy who was half midichlorian. His descendants still scatter the galaxy. And they are not so easily put down.”
“But what does that have to do with me, or you, or the Queen, or Naboo.”
Leia nods her head at the small stone still clasped in Annè hand. She turns her hand over in response. So the carvings are clear in the orange/blue light.
“Because the boy was half midichlorian but also human. And he went and fell in love.”
“With a stone?”
“With a Queen. As I said, he had descendents, And certainly couldn’t do that himself.”
“Queen Amidala didn’t have children.” Every school child knows that.
“My existance begs to differ,” Leia corrects. “As does yours.”
“What?” Annè eyes widened, “No, of course I’m not...”
“Her great granddaughter, a few hundred times over? No I think you certainly are.”
“I’m descended from Queen Amidala, and the Force...And you?”
Leia gives her a long look.
“Not me, no, I don’t think so. My brother is my guess. You have his optimism.” she glances to the river, where her mother’s body had long been washed away.
“I...what do I do.”
“Lots of things. Listen to the Force. Stay strong. Find a teacher if you can...that one might take some work...and go to Tatooine.”
“Tatooine? Why Tatooine.”
“Because it starts on Naboo, but the Force loves the desert, something always waits there. You could send a droid. And a message,” another grin, as though to a private joke, “But appearing in person is better for you, I think, Annè.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“That’s destany too.”
“Will you save Naboo? Even if you aren’t Queen Amidala. You said you did, before.”
“I helped before. I’ll do what I can again. Your future is one of a bigger fight. One bigger than a single planet. That’s why I’m here, Annè. I lost the planet, but I won the war.”
“I can’t lose Naboo. I won’t.”
Leia nods solemnly, “Exactly, because I won’t let you.” She looked around. “We have much to do and even more to discuss. But we can’t do it here. Find a transport to Tatooine...private if you can swing it. Hyper-space will be a good place for a chat.”
“But…”
“Soon,” She reaches out, and despite her ghostly appearance, she was solid as she closes Annè had around the stone. “You should keep that. I’m told my father gave it to my mother when they met, A token of his love. It shouldn’t stay locked up in here.”
“I have so many questions.”
“And there will be time for some of them later. But for now, may the Force be with you.”
And then the blue light was gone. And Annè was along in the tomb.
On Tatooine, another girl enters a temple. It's said, that long ago, in this very spot, the desert mother got fed up with the Sand People taking her children. It's said she formed a Son from the Sand, with all the rage of a desert storm. It's said she gave him a sword made of the suns, bright and burning and unforgiving. It's said he took a life for every wound on the last victim.
He was rage and vengeance, and you return to him if that is what you seek.
Her dreams had been clear. That is what she sought. That is what they all need.
The girl enters the temple, falls to her knees, and prays.