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Thee when we have our parley with the Council.

[Exit Obi-Wan.

MACE

Goodfellows all, ’tis well to see ye here.

Brave Chancellor, how doth it go with you?

PALPATINE

With gratitude unto your Jedi Knights,

I may report that I am safe and well.

Count Dooku hath been slain, although I fear

That Gen’ral Grievous hath escap’d again.

MACE

Aye, Grievous shall fly hence and run away:

He never is so steady as when he

Doth turn his craven droidly tail and flee—

’Tis e’er his course direct, sans changing lanes.

PALPATINE

Yet with Count Dooku dead, he also is

The leader of the army of the droids.

Alas, the Senate shall be certain to

Vote to continue this foul war as long

As Grievous is alive and freely roams.

MACE

Then shall the Jedi Council’s fervent aim

Be to discover Grievous, whether ’tis

Within the city vast of Coruscant,

Upon the cool white sands of Tatooine,

Aboard a ship that soars through hyperspace,

Or anyplace within the galaxy.

[Exeunt Mace Windu and Chancellor Palpatine.

C-3PO

Come with me, small R2—thy tale I’d hear.

R2-D2

Beep, meep, squeak, whistle, beep!

C-3PO

—O, say not so,

’Twas not as horrible as thou dost say.

R2-D2

Meep, beep.

C-3PO

—On that point strongly I agree;

I’ faith, a tune-up would suit me as well.

Mayhap we two together should retire,

Enjoy an oil bath and a wire massage.

[Exeunt C-3PO and R2-D2.

BAIL

[
to Anakin:
] The good Republic e’er doth sing your praise.

ANAKIN

My thanks to you, kind Senator Organa.

BAIL

The end of Dooku’s faction we’ll soon see.

ANAKIN

Yet, marry, I believe the fighting shall

Continue till that Grievous is mere parts:

Our peace, it seems, waits on a pile of scrap.

BAIL

I shall do all within my power in

The chambers of the Senate to end this

Most bitter conflict.

Enter
P
ADMÉ
,
aside.

ANAKIN

—Pray, excuse me, sir.

Mayhap we two shall speak another time.

BAIL

May it be so: I’d talk with you again.

[Exeunt all but Anakin and Padmé. They approach each other and kiss.

PADMÉ

My love!—to see thee safely homeward sent

Doth all mine awful fears at once destroy.

ANAKIN

It gives me wonder great as my content

To see you here before me. O, my joy!

If after ev’ry battle come such calms,

May these wars wage till they have waken’d death!

PADMÉ

If thou wert poor, my tears would be the alms

Wherewith I’d give thee wealth. Thou tak’st my breath,

For seeing thee doth make me rich again,

Yet leaves me empty of all else, save thee.

Full many rumors flew o’er dale and glen

That thou wert dead and maim’d most grievously.

ANAKIN

Behold: here I do stand, my life intact.

It seems as if I’ve not thy visage seen

For one whole lifetime, by my count exact.

Indeed, if our most noble Palpatine

Had not been kidnapp’d, longer may our wait

Have been, for Obi-Wan and I, we two,

Would still be on the Outer Rim. Yet Fate,

The blessèd weaver, knit our hearts anew.

And now I am with thee, and thou art mine:

Let no one put asunder our two hearts.

[He kisses her.

PADMÉ

Pray, patience, love: my soul for thee doth pine,

Yet here we should not play our lovers’ parts.

The sun doth shine, with light of brightest noon:

In such a glow our love will others mark.

ANAKIN

’Tis not the sun, nay, ’tis the secret moon,

Which hides what lovers do ’neath cloak of dark.

No longer worry who our love shall know—

The place for us is found where’er we roam.

I have more care to stay than will to go,

For here, within thy presence, is mine home.

PADMÉ

Nay, say not so, mine own sweet Anakin,

The moon is too inconstant for our love.

For if the Senate or the Council ’gin

To know our hearts, they shall, from up above,

Deliver us brave punishments, I fear:

My title stripp’d, thy Jedi rights remov’d.

ANAKIN

As I did say, my dear, the sun is here:

It is the day, thy judgment hath been prov’d.

Yet what is this: thou tremblest terribly:

What is it ails thee, Padmé? Speak it plain.

PADMÉ

I have such news as I would share with thee,

Intelligence both sacred and profane:

Thy child doth move within me, in my womb.

As lovers, ’tis a blessing for us two,

Yet in our roles, this happiness is doom.

In all thy wisdom, speak: what shall we do?

ANAKIN

Thy bold report doth overwhelm me so:

Mine ears do haply thy sweet words receive,

And joy within mine heart begins to flow.

Such wondrous tidings ne’er could make me grieve,

For this new life shall bring us closer yet.

We shall discover how we may let this—

The strange, astounding miracle now met—

Be joy, not worry: not concern, but bliss.

For now we’ll take our leave, then, by and by,

Safe hid in thine apartment we shall meet.

Thereon we shall consider, you and I,

How we two should this happy topic greet.

[Exit Anakin.

PADMÉ

O, noble man, and master of my soul,

Yet I do sense the doubt thou wilt not speak.

Thine eyes are like a testament unto

A vague uncertainty thou surely feel’st.

My puzzling news, which caught thee unawares,

Hath struck a chord into thy very core

And shakes thee there, an ’twere the ground that shook.

How it doth frighten me to see thee daz’d,

Though I do love thee that thou didst respond

With words of reassurance, hope, and care.

O, when I think upon our future life,

I quake at what I see in my mind’s eye.

No vision there of pleasure or delight,

Such comforts do escape my prophet’s view.

Instead, I sense but pain, confusion, dread—

But wherefore should this be when we have love?

Cannot love conquer any foe to come,

Or circumstance that ever we should face?

Do one and one not form a stronger two

Than either by itself alone could be?

Is love not, like the omnipresent Force,

That which surrounds us and doth bind us, too?

Why, then, am I afeard of what may come?

Remember, heart, what leisure we enjoy’d

When on Naboo our hearts were first entwin’d.