borntorebel | [IC] Appointments

[Leia can only imagine what it must be like.Perhaps if she'd been confronted with her own future children without the benefit of both Han and Luke's talks, she'd be just as confused.

In fact, she's sure she'd be livid, but for other reasons.

However, she also has the benefit of knowing her mother already and how to ease her into this a little.]

I'll tell you about myself first. That way you have a starting point.

I was born with the name Leia Amidala Skywalker. Luke is my older brother by a few minutes, though Luceti has altered that greatly. He and I are sadly the only children Anakin will have.

I was elected senator of my home world at eighteen and have had the benefit of being Mon Mothma's protege since that time.

[There are so many big things and little things... Her favourite food, her favourite colour, her favourite memories growing up... The little things are easy. The bigger things? Every moment ever missed, although they will only be missed so long as she is here.

She nods, adding a bit of sugar and cream to her coffee.] Thank you. I- I would enjoy that.

[She listens, quiet and still, although clearly focused and interested. Although, she does not that turn of phrase. Only children Anakin will have... Not that they would have. Is she thinking too much about that though? Is it simply how Leia wishes to phrase things?

But Luke is the older than, something she hadn't asked of Luke, although she did learn he is older than she is. There is a spark of interest there, a smile on her lips, and she doesn't have a reason to think of where Leia would be senator of...] Mon Mothma. She is a good choice.

[But, turning back to that random thought.]

You said- I don't have more children then, do I?

No, you don't. Luke and I are your only children, but your legacy is greater than us.

[Leia shakes her head in apology.] Forgive me for my phrasing. I didn't mean to imply something sordid between you and my...father. [The word is harder to come out in regards to the man who she understands better but has trouble communicating with.]

And I greatly admire Mon Mothma. I have learned much at her side and she has been a very great friend and mentor to me.

[A part of her is curious about that, about knowing just what that legacy is. She does try her hardest, working for the betterment of the Republic and its people. Ever since she was a child, it is something she has aimed for.

Yet, somehow, knowing that answer seems to diminish what will be...

She gives a smile, accepting her words for the truth that they were. It is noticed though. Father. Not dad. Is it their ages that make it awkward, or something more? But it does give her pause again.

It is a bit odd, as Padmé could say she hadn't even thought about having children yet, but here sits her daughter. Politics though is an easier topic for her. It is like breathing for her, something that comes so easily.]

I'm glad to hear that. The Republic can always use more Senators like her. I've no doubt you can go far... [Offering a soft smile.]

[The fact that she can even call Anakin her father is a step up from the time she'd told him he was a monster to his face. No, her dad is Bail Organa, as much as she wishes to have a better relationship with Anakin.

She's come to terms with things. How can she not with both Han and Luke there to show her that the future turns out alright.]

The Republic...yes, she is an asset to our galaxy. Between her and Senator Organa, I have had a great example set for me. I hope that I can live up to their expectations.

[How do you avoid telling your mother that you really do consider a man not her husband your father?]

[Her face does brighten at the mention of Bail. He has always been someone that Padmé herself has admired, and it is good to hear that he is still active. Not that she would expect otherwise, lest something happened to him.]

Both of them are to be greatly admired, and I have a feeling you will.

[They aren’t someone to just take on her daughter by name alone. No, she must be quite apt with politics. And, if that is the case, then she has no doubt that she will meet those expectations, and likely more.]

[If there is a topic that Leia could wax poetic on, it is on her adopted father. With Han and Luke being very close seconds and freedom a dear third. There is no one like him and she's sure there won't be again.]

I am lucky to have known both of them.

[Something she freely admits every day.]

However, I don't think you wanted to talk about mutual acquaintances. Is there anything you'd like to ask that I haven't already told you about?

Ah, but this is where I want to say everything and anything.

[But she offers a smile, because she knows not only is that vague, but that it accompanies a great number of things. Shared memories aren't shared right now. Padmé knows nothing about her other than her name and age and that she is her daughter.]

I suppose... [But so much. So very much. Her favorite colour, food, drink, place to be, book, song... The list could go on and on. Her eyes flicker as she draws in a soft breath.] The beginning. How was your childhood? What kind of a child were you like? It's- it probably seems mundane and silly... [Although she does want to know her daughter better.]

[It takes everything she has not to walk away from the table right then and there. She's shared some of her memories with Padmé before, but it was a Padmé who understood that her children were raised by other people. While Leia understands her mother's awkwardness adjusting to the idea of children she hasn't planned for, she cannot foist upon her the news of her future.

It's bleak and horrible. And not Leia's place.

After a few heavy, silent moments of intense thought, she resigns herself to having to skirt even more of the truth than she has been before now. She might have to outright lie, but she'd like to avoid that if she can.]

I was...wild. I ran around as much as I could, getting into trouble and scaring the adults around me a lot. At the time, I thought they were just trying to keep me in a cage because of who I was, but I see that there was a legitimate reason for their worry now that I am older and understand things more.

[She tries to smile, but it's so strained and falls flat.]

I once staged a protest at my school over being served vile, nasty juice. I believe I was seven at the time. And when that didn't work, I broke into the Headmistress's office and blasted forbidden music through the school's system and programmed some videos to say bad things when it focused on propaganda.

[There. No mention of the Empire or her adopted family outright. And the truth.]

Needless to say, I was expelled.

[She is a politician, one who has been said to be quite good. While she won't claim to know everything and understands that there is still much to learn, there are some things that Padmé has picked up. She likes to believe she is good at reading people, even if it is just based on her understanding and nothing beyond that. The pause is pregnant, enough to have something start to nibble at Padmé's mind, wondering if she somehow stepped in to something.

She listens though, the slightest hint of a smile at that first statement. Luke has left an interesting impression on her already, and somehow she can imagine that. No child of theirs would be meek or silent, at least she wouldn't think so. Then again, Padmé had been vocal without being disruptive. It seemed... more an Anakin trait than her own, to tell the truth. They both had strong personalities, just in different ways.

Still, there is something there again, and she notes that the smile isn't genuine. She doesn't know why though, as her eyes shift across her daughter's face, wondering if this was a mistake. Yet, how could it be? It was her daughter, and even if she didn't know her yet, she wanted to know her, to be more fully at ease.

Padmé hesitates though, picking up on that undercurrent, but not understanding the reasoning for it.]

It sounds, if that is only a sample, like you had quite an active childhood. Although that is, no doubt, an understatement.

[Her own tentative smile, although something is still working over her own face, trying to put together a puzzle for which she has no pieces to.]

It...wasn't easy, no. I got lectured—a lot—about proper decorum and how I shouldn't run around.

[She's not sure what to think right now. How to avoid telling Padmé the awful truth.]

I was much too much like Anakin, I think. Luke and I have joked that I got your looks but our father's attitude and disdain for things.

[It doesn't even hurt, now that she understands the man who sired her more. Anakin was human, and she'd been unable to see it before coming to Luceti and giving him a chance.]

Sabé used to tell me that I could have what I wanted if I didn't yell. That great people and rulers earned respect through compassion and good works and not letting evil win. I think she helped to shape me as much as anyone else growing up.

[That really did sound more like an Anakin trait, as much as it was anyone’s. Padmé had been a fairly well behaved child, kept busy and occupied by her parents. It didn’t mean she didn’t have fun and enjoy herself, as summer was a prime example of that, but she had never really received a real lecture.

Anakin though... Even if he was a Jedi, he always seemed to have boundless energy that seemed to buzz around him. Padmé found her features softening at that, a smile creeping up.]

No, that certainly wasn’t from me. We are both strong willed people in our own regards. We just show it and act on it in different means.

[Sabé... It was good to hear that she was still around. She had been a close friend, dearly loved by Padmé, a good influence to have. A fact driven home by what Leia said.]

Sabé was always quick- sharp and calculating. I think I learned as much from her as she did from me.

[Bail and Breha and their sisters had tried to raise Leia to the best of their ability to be more like her birth mother and not like her birth father, but she'd been precocious and active fore as long as she could remember. She'd run around the royal palace for as long as anyone would let her, playing with Winter and Neena or breezing through all of her studies that everyone set before her. She was the best and worst mixture of Padmé and Anakin as a child—but then, so was Luke from his own stories. She can see that now, with the benefit of being older and knowing both of them better.]

I'm sure that my tutors would have preferred if I'd behaved more like you. But I bored easily once all my studies were taken care of. And...well, I hated to see the mistreatment of others for merely being different. I was in a position to do something about, or so I thought at he time, so I did.

[Hearing Padmé talk about Sabé so kindly makes her feel at ease. She'd loved the Naboo woman almost as another aunt, though she tolerated a lot more of Leia's wilder behaviors than Bail's sisters.]

Well, she used to tell me stories about her former mistress and how headstrong she was. I'm guessing she meant you.

Perhaps, but you aren't me and are your own person.

[Which would have been something Padmé understood. She would have let her children take whatever path they wanted to take, to be whatever they wanted to be. She would have tried to teach them right and wrong, and to always help others, but she knew that they were there own individuals and wouldn't have held them by her standards.

She did pause though, before giving a laugh, shaking her head.]

I would deny that, but there is little point. [Offering a smile.] People underestimated me in the beginning, although they learned soon enough that I wasn't someone to be pushed or led around.

Well, yes, I am now, but as a child, I was sure that I had to be a clone of my elders to be a good girl. Or at least that was the feeling I got a lot growing up. Until I turned thirteen.

[Until Bail took her and began grooming her to take his place in politics and the fledgling rebellion he and Mon Mothma had started.]

It wasn't all bad. I had a very good friend who was my foster sister as well, Winter Rentac. We were inseparable.

I was mocked by those in the capital after I was elected, but my detractors quickly changed their minds when they saw that I wasn't afraid of them or their archaic ways of thinking.

[A soft noise at that, as that was something that Padmé could understand. Her path had always seemed to clear to her, although like any growing child, she had had her moments of self doubt. It was all a part of growing up, although she hoped that she wasn't one who put such pressures on to her.]

And what was it in particular about thirteen?

[Some event, no doubt, although what... Every one grew and learned at their own pace. She had said at eighteen she was elected senator, so it couldn't have been that.

She nodded though, thinking about her own handmaidens and how they had helped her.]

It is helpful to have those you can trust and rely on, who can give you aid when it is required, and vice versa. It isn't always the easiest profession on the world to take on. [Although she no doubt knew that, given the words she spoke next. The way her lips formed in to a light smile seemed to say Padmé could understand that as well.] No doubt they learned quick enough, or so I would hope.

[And there it was, the rancor in the room. What happened at the age of thirteen was hard to explain without mentioning who she'd actually been raised by.

She couldn't change the subject. It was something Padmé deserved to have answered, no matter how painful for Leia it was. Approaching the topic, however, would have to be handled delicately.]

Before I answer your question, Mother, I have to ask you a few things. If you don't mind answering them.

[She took a deep breath and plunged forward.]

When you arrived and spoke with my father, what exactly did he tell you about Luke and myself?

[She gave a little shake of her head. It wasn't as if Padmé had anything to hide, although there might be some stories she wouldn't wish to share. Yet, she wouldn't lie, either.]

No. Ask away.

[Although there was that curious expression in her eyes as she waited for Leia to speak. Padmé gave a small shrug of her shoulders, sitting back.] Truthfully, not much. He said you were both wonderful, and that you favored politics while Luke favored mechanics. ... that you look like me.

[Not much at all. Anakin still hadn't told Padmé about the future then. Which made telling her the story of her first run in with Tarkin something dangerous and forbidden.]

I don't know about wonderful, but the rest is true. And I think Luke favors him greatly.

[There was a slight pause, before a short laugh, if only because Leia was going about denying it. It was a slightly perplexed look, although she didn't know Leia well enough to know if it was out of humbleness, or that she generally believed that, or something else.]

It is what Anakin said, and while Luke... I suppose you could say he made an impression when I first met him. But it does seem like you are both two that I can be proud of.

[Leia has no desire to be haughty or proud when it comes to who and what she is. She does what she must, when she must, because duty comes first. It is duty and love of her galaxy and family that keeps her moving forward through everything. Dedication to those things she loves that forces her to remain as vigilant as she is.]

Luke does love to make an impression where he can. His sense of humor is...an acquired taste sometimes. But, he is as impressive as he seems.

[Because without Luke, and Han as well, she's not sure how much could have been accomplished against two Sith Lords.]

As for myself...I just wish to make things a little more balanced back home.

I suppose like father, like son. [It is mused though, as Padmé is inward at that, thinking. She knows Anakin is strong in the force, for plenty have said so. She knows it is one of the reasons why Qui-Gon had taken such an interest, why Anakin had won his freedom...

But her focus shifts back, a light smile.]

Although I do agree. It is acquired.

[There is a look of interest at that though.] It is a good wish.

Hm, I wonder. My brother...he takes after both you and our father equally. [She can't help the wry smile that escapes.] As am I, I suppose.

After so long, you do get used to his sense of humor. And if one is lucky, you can even appreciate it.

[Because he's hardly ever malicious with his words or actions.]

It is a wish that has been instilled me since I was old enough to think for myself. And one that I think I will hold dear until the day that I die. Whenever that is.

Perhaps had it not been on my arrival, it might have been more appreciated.

[There was a certain light dryness to her voice, but she had not sensed any harm from him. Although, she would say that there had been a moment where she had not known what to make of him. After all, her marriage to Anakin was still fresh in her mind, while he had made reference to it as if it were common knowledge.]

Not for many years, I hope. [After all, a child should live longer than their parent.]

Yes, well, I suppose that being exposed to it right off the bat would be a bit much upon one's arrival here in Luceti. I was at least spared that much the first time I arrived. The presence of yourself and Anakin were a much larger shock, honestly.

[Like a fist to the gut or being shot by a Stormtrooper. Temporarily shocking but not lethal.]

Well, according to Han, I at least live to see our older children reach the age of six. [Among other things.] Did my brother or father also mention our relation to Han Solo?

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Sorry, that was really supposed to include Padme too, but phone tags, man.

<3!

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