Saga A Time to Heal (a Padmé vignette)

I wrote at another site this last month in response to a writing exercise whose purpose was to explore a culture within the GFFA. With Obischick's permission, I wrote about the Naboo celebration of Mai Alai. I was rather pleased with the result, so I thought I'd post it here. Given that this is a time when many celebrate new life, I thought it was an appropriate time to do so as well.

This is approximately three years after TPM, and involves Queen Amidala and her handmaidens. Enjoy.

*~*~*~*

To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

*~*~*~*

"Sabé! Sabé!"

As usual, the voice of my roommate, Eirtaé Bakuro, roused me from sleep, but there was something frantic in her voice as I heard her run across the room. I sat up, a bit groggily after a long night in meetings, and tried to figure out what the pattering noise I heard was. The room was still very dark, though that was no surprise - the chronometer by my bed said that sunrise was still hours away. It was then that Eirtaé, her voice filled with dismay, announced, "Oh no, it's raining . . . "

I stared at the window in horror, realizing that it wasn't just raining - there was a full-fledged storm outside, the kind that only happens during the height of the rainy season here on Naboo, and the rainy season was over. Eirtaé jumped at a particularly loud crack of thunder, and I got out of bed. "Taé, don't worry about it," I said. "When was the last time it rained on Mai Alai?"

"Eight hundred years ago!" She was already running away from the window to the closet and hastily getting dressed. "Eight hundred years ago!" she repeated before devolving into babbling. "That was the last time it rained on Mai Alai - the temple wasn't even built then! Oh, the holy men aren't going to have a clue . . . "

I shook my head as Eirtaé rushed from the room, still talking to herself as her blonde hair flew loose behind her. She was good at advising the Queen on cultural and etiquette matters, but at thirteen she'd been a little flighty. Over the last three years we'd served together as Amidala's handmaidens, not much had changed.

I followed her from the room several minutes later, heading to the Queen's chambers, where Rabé, Saché, and Yané were already dressing her and putting on the copious layers of makeup. I smiled at her in sympathy, knowing the incredible patience it took to sit through the long dressing sessions, having done it myself while posing as her decoy. To my surprise, she winked back at me.

"Your Highness!" Saché exclaimed. "If you want this finished any time this week, you have to stay still!"

Mirth and exasperation danced together in the Queen's eyes. The makeup would be washed off as soon as we got to the temple grounds for the Mai Alai ceremony, and it all seemed a little silly to me to have her in the makeup just for the exit from Theed Palace and the entrance to the holy site. From the look on Padmé's face, she agreed with me.

A few minutes later, she was done, and as Rabé began her daily task of setting the Queen's hair, she turned to Yané. "Are the gowns ready?"

"Yes, milady," the youngest of the handmaidens replied. "Panaka sent two of the guards in early this morning to take the case that Eirtaé put them in. They're already in the speeder."

Padmé turned her attention to me once more. "You're thinking that this is silly, Sabé."

I smiled at her ability to read me. As a daughter of actors, I had been taught all the ways to keep my composure at all times, which had been the reason for me being Amidala's handmaiden. We had fairly similar personalities, though I had had to learn to rein in my temper as quickly as she could. I still didn't and probably never would have her finesse in the political arena. For the most part, I stuck to the script.

"It is silly, Your Highness," I replied. "It's a ridiculous tradition anyway - do you even believe it?"

She stood and examined her appearance in a lon

 

Hmm, not often I wait this long before getting replies.

Mel

 

And it's not often I'm the first to reply, either.

You don't often see (well, I haven't, at least) stories that handle cultural aspects of the GFFA such as a religious holiday - so in addition to being unique, it was well-done. The history and background of the holiday were interesting and fit in the narrative flow without being too-heavy handed (whenever I write I sometimes find difficulty integrating backstory like that), and Sabé and Padmé were kept three-dimensional throughout as well.

In short, very good viggie.

 

What a lovely, sad vignette. It was very beautifully done, Melyanna. I really liked the way you tried to show the personalities of all the handmaidens to make them really stand out.

Very enjoyable.

 

Hmm, not often I wait this long to do replies. Bad Mely.

Alderaan21:

You don't often see (well, I haven't, at least) stories that handle cultural aspects of the GFFA such as a religious holiday - so in addition to being unique, it was well-done. The history and background of the holiday were interesting and fit in the narrative flow without being too-heavy handed (whenever I write I sometimes find difficulty integrating backstory like that), and Sabé and Padmé were kept three-dimensional throughout as well.

Thanks! Like I said in the first post, this was a piece I wrote for a challenge specifically about cultures within the GFFA. I love writing about Naboo (I've even come up with some other aspects of their culture - art, music, family life, all kinds of stuff), so this was a fun piece to write. But you're right about this - it's hard to write about culture without coming off like an anthropology professor.

LadyPadme:

What a lovely, sad vignette. It was very beautifully done, Melyanna. I really liked the way you tried to show the personalities of all the handmaidens to make them really stand out.

Very enjoyable.

Thanks! I love the group dynamics of the handmaidens - as professional as we see them in the films, they really are just young girls in TPM. It's fun to show them behind the scenes, when they can let their hair down (though ironically, in this piece they were having their hair put up... ).

As for the ending... I'm still not sure where that came from. I was just writing along trying to wrap it up somehow, and that was the ending that happened. It was sadder than I had intended, but it did give me the title.

Mel