[Thread] Oddest family reunion ever.

[noconfidence]

Characters: Padmé Amidala [AU] & Jaina Solo [OU]
Where: Loh-Deka
When: afternoon-ish
Summary: Jaina wants to meet the grandmother she never knew.
Warnings: possible angst?

Comments

[noconfidence]

Sensing things through the Force was still something Padmé was getting used to. She realized now that she'd always felt these things, but she'd never attributed them in any way towards the Jedi arts, though now she realized that she she should have. What startled her more than feeling that obvious, familial connection that seemed to scream that the approaching form was blood, was how much the presence felt like Anakin when she'd started to notice him slipping; when the stress began to sit more heavily upon his shoulders and instead of lounging or terrorizing Threepio or even indulging in her company, he'd sit on one of the couches in the sitting room of her penthouse and work. What exactly he'd been working on, she didn't know. That's when he started to snap at her when she asked questions and raise questions himself that we so out of character for him to even contemplate to ask.

Jaina was hurting and she didn't know why, but she intended to find out. At some point during this meeting, she'd ask. Padmé never got to be a mother to Leia and never would be in a sense other than giving birth to her. One could not fault her for wanting to maternal and carrying towards her daughter's daughter, even if she was only a little over ten years older than the girl.

Standing, she moved away from the chair and to the door, where she pulled it open and offered a kind smile. She imagined she looked nothing like a galactic senator or former queen at that moment, wearing jeans and a black shirt, the chain to the necklace Anakin gave her visible, but the japor pendant itself hidden beneath the dark fabric.

"Please," she said in a gentle ton, stepping aside and holding the door open, "come in."

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Padmé didn't carry herself with a air of regality on purpose. It was merely force of habit after nearly two decades of holding political offices and sitting upon thrones. It was something that was bred into her, a part of her that she couldn't change and probably wouldn't if someone pointed it out to her. While she'd given up her identity, positions, and everything about the life she once led, she was still Padmé, despite what some may claim.

"Please, have a seat, dear," she said, gesturing to the couch. Terms of endearment were also things that came naturally to her, as she was used to using them when relaxed and acting like herself around those she felt comfortable around (and strangely, even though she didn't really know Jaina, she did feel comfortable in her presence) and not wearing one of her many political masks or a fake smile, throwing around compliments and titles and talking about laws and reforms and war-time matters.

Watching the girl, she could see it. The resemblance. She resembled herself, in some ways, and it made her smile. Perhaps Leia had been her spitting image, just as Luke appeared to be a reflection of his father.

"Can I get you anything?"

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"Of course."

Padmé wandered into the kitchen for a moment, opening a cabinet and pulling out a plain, ceramic mug. She could've easily used the Force to do all that, but felt it unnecessary to show off or do something that strayed from what she would do normally--and doing things without the Force had been the norm for her for twenty-seven years. Three years of being aware of her Force-sensitivity paled in comparison.

Filling the cup with water, she returned to the sitting room and handed it to Jaina, taking a seat across from her. She tucked one leg under the other to the side of her and folded her hands together neatly in her lap, yet another set of habits she couldn't break herself of.

"What would you like to know?" She asked, in more of a friendly and open tone than a blunt and demanding one.

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Padmé regarded her granddaughter with a quiet sort of pensiveness, silently studying the girl. She could see traces of herself in her appearance, as well as traces of Anakin, as well, but the similarities between grandchild and grandfather were subtle and she doubted they would've been noticeable to someone who didn't have every inch of the man memorized down to the tiniest, insignificant detail. And, while she could have voiced as much, said something along the lines of, you resemble him, she held back. Instead, finding her words, she said, "I suppose you'd like to know about him. How we met."

She paused, breathing in, then out.

"And how he became Darth Vader."

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"Anakin's not bad," she said, those words coming out of her mouth with a surprising amount of confidence to back them up. While she had her moments where she'd claim that Anakin had been a horrible person from the start, she knew it wasn't true, and those outbursts were merely the result of someone who'd been deeply hurt by the monster he'd become. But, he wasn't always that way. "But, Vader was."

Padmé was well aware of the fact that she was the only person who knew what had really caused Anakin to turn to the Dark Side and what she was about to tell Jaina were things that History had not recorded and had no way of knowing. It came as no surprise to her that Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail hadn't said anything to anyone that would have relayed what those three men knew to anyone Jaina may have spoken to. She highly doubted they'd shared such knowledge with anyone. What she knew was family history and would, hopefully, clear up any confusion and misconceptions regarding the transition between Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, as well as explain her involvement in that change and the reason for her absence in her children's lives.

"You have a right to know. What he did, what happened to him, changed the course of history. The galaxy was forever changed because of choices he made. If he'd chosen differently, you would probably know me in the way you're supposed to and not meeting me for the first time in a world that is not our own. It's somewhat of a long story, but I suppose the best way to summarize what happened is to say..."

Could she really sum up those events into one description? So much had happened all at once, but she supposed, when it came down to it, the answer was really as simple as saying--

"He went crazy. Lost his mind. Slipped and drowned in the insanity that would become Vader."

[noconfidence]

Despite the topic of conversation, Padmé smiled warmly at her granddaughter's acknowledgment of one of the few things she would consider to be a blessing in this place: the chance to get to know the grandchild she would have otherwise never known. She was a realistic thinker and knew that her living long enough to actually meet Jaina outside of Econtra was highly unlikely. For this chance, she could be grateful. To an extent.

The question about Palpatine made her expression falter, the corners of her mouth pointing somewhat downward and a sigh escaping her lips. "I'm afraid that is partially my fault," she admitted. "Palpatine is from my home planet, Naboo. He served as senator when I was queen, when I first met your grandfather. I was fourteen at the time, he was ten. We were just kids back then."

She waved a hand dismissively, as if the motion helped to send away the tangent she was about to go off on.

"He took an interest in Anakin and befriended him. He looked up to Palpatine, respected and admired him, something that Palpatine used to his advantage. Anakin was very...impressionable when he was younger. I wouldn't doubt if it was Palpatine's plan all along to manipulate him and destroy his mind. How he ended up doing so was probably more convenient than something set in stone from the start."

[noconfidence]

"In a way," Padmé confirmed, nodding somewhat. "But in the end, the choice to turn was entirely his own. I'm not sure what the point of no return was for him, exactly, but there was one. There is for everyone who is faced with such a choice: to fall or not to fall. He made the choice to fall and in the end, it is no fault but his own. By the time I reached him, he was already too far gone. He wasn't Anakin. That man I last saw on Mustafar was not the man I married."

The former queen remained silent for a moment, processing her own memories, what she sensed from her granddaughter, and what the younger girl was saying. She frowned at the comparison between grandfather and grandson, sensing that the two had more in common than anyone realized, but unable to confirm such a suspicion. If there was anything she knew about history it was that it was a constant cycle on repeat. No matter how much people learned from history, they were doomed to repeat it in some way. She just hoped Jacen didn't go to the extremes when it came to being like his grandfather. Anakin's mistakes were ones that didn't need repeating.

"He had the highest midi-chlorian count on record," she told Jaina. "Higher than that of Master Yoda. Over twenty five thousand. It was why the Jedi Master who found him brought him to Coruscant in the first place. Not to speak ill of Master Jinn, but I highly doubt he would have put fourth the effort if Anakin's power hadn't been worth the trouble."

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Padmé nodded solemnly in agreement. "It's harsh, but it's true. They tried their best with Anakin, but I think their fear for his potential put a damper on their ability to raise him in the right way. His mother did well with him while she had him." At this, she couldn't help but smile. "Shmi was a wonderful woman. Kind, yet firm. Anakin had a lot of respect and love for her."

Her mind wandered back in time to Tatooine, sitting at a table next to a ten-year-old Anakin smiling brightly and talking energetically about pod racing, the joy the sport brought to him evident on his face despite the worrisome look from his mother, seated across from him.

"I don't think Obi-Wan was ready to train him," Padmé said after a moment. "He'd barely been knighted and taking on a padawan Anakin's age was something he wasn't prepared for. Anakin denied this, I think, but everyone knew that Obi-Wan only trained him at first because Qui-Gon couldn't."

(( ooc: feel free to see that memory, if you like ^^ ))