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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Saga What Tomorrow Brings; TPM; G

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by LadyElaine, May 2, 2003.

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  1. LadyElaine

    LadyElaine Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 25, 2002
    Title: What Tomorrow Brings
    Author: LadyElaine
    Rating: G
    Summary: Queen Amidala's thoughts at Qui-Gon's funeral and the parade the next day. Based on a Taoist parable about a farmer's runaway horse.
    Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Star Wars belong to George Lucas and Lucasfilm, Ltd.
    Feedback: Comments are appreciated. Constructive criticism is adored.
    Notes: If you know anything about my "Star Wars Fables," this is the sixth in the series, and it's fresh off the keyboard. Though I've combed through it several times, I expect it to be full of mistakes anyway. It could use some more meat to it, too. Also, I'm not sure I want to keep the title; if anyone has any other ideas for a title for this, I wouldn't mind hearing them.


    What Tomorrow Brings


    The flames have caught hold of his robes now; I begin to smell the odor of burning flesh. The smoke brings stinging tears to my eyes, and I want to cough. But tradition calls for respectful quietude.

    Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn gave his life for a planet that was not even his own homeworld. And this is his reward: to be cremated, watched over by those who will benefit from his sacrifice--and by those his death has left adrift.

    How could anyone be expected to make such a sacrifice?

    Up until today, I never had a sense of my own mortality. I am Queen, after all. Not even when I received word of Qui-Gon?s death did I believe it. I know I am young. Perhaps too young to be Queen. Only now, as I watch a body once consumed with life be consumed by fire, can I see my own ending.

    With me are Senator Palpatine, my friend and advisor; the Gungan Jar Jar Binks; and several other Jedi, including Qui-Gon?s apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. And then there is the boy.

    Qui-Gon had taken Anakin away from his mother, away from the only home he?d ever known. The Jedi Master had taken the boy under his wing, had promised him a new home--a future apart from slavery. And what a dizzying set of events the meeting of Anakin set in motion. The gamble of my ship, the terrifying podrace, the boy winning his freedom--though he?d raced not for himself, but for the Jedi he revered. Another sacrifice.

    Qui-Gon had planned to train Anakin, with or without his Council?s consent. But now Anakin is twice orphaned. Twice homeless. When--and where--will this troubling time end?

    ?What will happen to me now?? Anakin?s voice echoes my thoughts, but I cannot hear Obi-Wan?s response for the murmur of the flames.

    The light of the pyre becomes the soothing flicker of a hearth, and I am back on my parents? farm, asking a similar question of my grandfather. In all my memories, Grandfather had never seemed to be angry or afraid--even after his only shaak, a prize bull, had gotten loose and run away. The loss of such a valuable animal was a terrible blow to the family.

    ?What will we do now?? I asked Grandfather.

    ?Just wait, Padme. We?ll see what tomorrow brings.?

    The very next day, Grandfather?s shaak returned--with a small herd of wild shaaks it had somehow gathered. How proud that bull was of his new harem! I remember throwing myself into Grandfather?s arms, laughing in delight.

    But again, all Grandfather said was, ?Just wait, Padme. We?ll see what tomorrow brings.?

    At dawn the following morning, Grandfather went out to look over the new herd. He?d taken a milking pail with him, and a stool. He must have expected to find the cows milk-rich--but despite being easily tamed beasts, they were still wild enough to be skittish. Even now, I can hear my mother?s sobs as she ran across the field, calling for my father?s help. One of the shaaks had kicked Grandfather in the head.

    For the rest of that day, my grandfather?s words would not leave my mind. All I could hear was his voice saying, ?Just wait, Padme. We?ll see what tomorrow brings.?

    But Grandfather never woke up after his injury, and ?tomorrow? only brought his death.

    Grandfather?s will provided me as much sch
     
  2. bobilll

    bobilll Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 8, 2002
    Wow, cool viggy! I liked the story of the grandfather... so ominous! now I think I'll be scared whenever something good happens to me...
     
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