[Star Wars fic] Thorns About Them

[themacunleashed]

Title: Thorns About Them
Summary: Shortly after the Battle for Naboo, Palpatine and Padmé talk about war and peace. Gen.
Disclaimer: Don't own Star Wars; title is from Thoreau: "“Truths and roses have thorns about them.”
Notes: This is a very belated fic written for angel_in_tears, who bought my writing services at qldfloodauction. The prompt I based this on is listed at the

Comments

[angel_in_tears]

[themacunleashed]

It's great to hear that you liked this! Palpatine in particular has always been really difficult for me to write -I think it's because he had two distinct personalities as Chancellor and Sith Lord, but at the same time, they definitely intersect. It's hard to balance them out.

Seriously, thank you -I'm flattered that you bid on my fic, the money went to a great cause, and this was a fun challenge to write.

*adds to memories*

[ansketil_rose]

Oh, wonderful! This is so good.

He pulls a second petal off of the rose as he speaks, and then a third, and Padmé feels a rush of guilt. Though she can't name every variety of rose, she knows how hard the gardeners have worked to cultivate that particular kind. Still, the Chancellor is probably the one man to who she absolutely cannot ask to stop doing such a relatively harmless action that he probably is only half-conscious of.

This rings so true to their characters. You are an excellent author.

Re: *adds to memories*

[themacunleashed]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words.

[zigsternenstaub]

I very much enjoyed the story, and the kind of fraught calm that you have crafted in this scene certainly reflects the nature of the dilemma Palpatine describes. I wonder, too, how much of a metaphor the plucking of the rose petals might be? Certainly Palpatine made his career, and his coup, on the kind of actions that always seem so 'relatively harmless' at the time that people hesitate to object!

Lovely work, and it is so nice to see someone who is not one of the 'usual suspects' writing Palpatine, and writing him so well!

[themacunleashed]

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed this!

The plucking of the rose petals does stem in part from the metaphor that you described -Palpatine's actions, in hindsight, seem so obviously damaging, but of course, it's only after he became Emperor that it was clear their effects. I do think that it was a test too, though, of Padme's reaction: Palpatine was a shrewd man, and he would have known the value of the flower that he chose to destroy. I expect he was pleased with what he found.

[zigsternenstaub]

*nods* I thought it might be a test as well--a subtle inquiry as to how much/long Amidala would be willing to overlook or explain away less overtly maliciously behaviour.

[gwinna487]

It's really interesting that Padme has this small darkness in her character, that the eventful beginning of her reign might have had this effect on her. And of course Palpatine picks up on it. I wonder why he brought it up, whether it was useful to him somehow or whether it was just revenge? Anyway, good story; I've always been interested in Padme & Palpatine's relationship and you do a great job with it.

[themacunleashed]

Thanks for commenting! I think that Palpatine's questioning was useful to him -it helped him examine to Padme, to see how she handled facing a potential hard truth. I expect that he already knew the answer.

They definitely did have an interesting relationship, and I'm glad that you liked how I portrayed it!