Saga - PT Before the Saga All Things Nice (Padme and Naberrie Family Oneshot for the Mini-Games)

Title: All Things Nice

Author: devilinthedetails

Characters: Padme Amidala; Ruwee Naberrie; Sola Naberrie; Jobal Naberrie; Anakin Skywalker.

Genre: General; Family; Drama.

Timeline: Before the Saga and Saga-PT.

Summary: The Naberrie family, sugar, spice, and all things nice.

Author's Note: Written for the Nursery Rhyme Challenge from @Kit'. My nursery rhyme was "What Little Boys are Made of." Lines appearing in italics and parenthesis are taken from that nursery rhyme. Thanks for @Kit' for inspiration that would never have come to me without this challenge!

All Things Nice

(What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?)

Ruwee welcomed his daughter home for her first summer break since joining the Legislative Youth Program—where she boarded away from her family for so much of the year—with a bear hug, a peck on the cheek, and a walk around the garden. The sun lingered in the sky late into the evening, creating one of those glorious early summer days that seemed to stretch long and hopeful as the horizon, as they strolled beside the flowering green shrubs.

“My teachers told me that there are many different cultures in the galaxy.” Padme paused to stroke the rich red petal of a carefully cultivated Malreaux rose.

“That’s a good thing.” Ruwee smiled at the sight of his daughter admiring the flower he had planted and watered diligently. “It’d be a boring galaxy indeed if we didn’t have different cultures.”

“In some cultures, sons are more highly valued than daughters.” Padme’s lips pursed into a rosebud, and, for the first time, Ruwee noticed with a start that she had reddened her mouth with lipstick. She must have learned how to wear makeup while she was at the Legislative Youth Program. No doubt it was part of the instruction in developing a polished political face—hiding youth behind a coat of cosmetics so that a girl became a woman. “Fathers long to have sons to carry on their family name and lineage. Sons are the pride and joy of a family in those cultures, but daughters will only continue the line of some other family when they are married.”

“My daughters are my pride and joy.” Ruwee reached out to squeeze her shoulder in reassurance that she and Sola were all any man could have ever wanted in children. “They’re the light of my life along with my beautiful wife, of course, and they’ll leave behind a legacy that will make my heart sing.”

“You aren’t disappointed not to have a boy then?” Padme’s finger had drifted down the rose to rest on its stem not far from a thorn, and Ruwee worried she’d prick herself. He never wanted to see crimson blood blossom from her skin.

“Of course not.” Ruwee waved a dismissive hand. “What are little boys made of, my dear? Snips, snails, and Carosi pup tails, that’s what.”

“And what are little girls made of?” Padme asked, giggling.

“Sugar.” Ruwee tilted the rose toward his daughter so she could inhale its sweet scent. “Spice. And all things nice.”

(Snips and snails
and puppy dogs’ tails,
that’s what little boys are made of.)

Sola savored the sight of the Queen of Naboo bending over the kitchen counter helping her prepare the light-filled jars that would serve as centerpieces at the garden tables where she would host her baby shower.

“You aren’t doing a gender reveal?” Padme referred to the most current trend in Naboo baby showers where the expectant mother would find a creative way to announce the gender of the expected child as she twined a stream of lights around the inside walls of a jar. “No cake with a blue or pink interior when you carve into it? No blue or pink fireworks will be set off?”

“No.” Sola pressed her hand across where the mystery child inside her had suddenly started kicking at her womb as if longing to escape the tight confines. “I asked the medics not to tell me whether I’ll have a boy or a girl. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Do you have a secret wish for boy or a girl?” Padme was shooting Sola the conspiratorial grin Sola remembered so well from their childhood that now seemed to have disappeared in an eyeblink.

“I know that as a future mother I’m supposed to say that I’d love a boy or a girl equally.” Sola couldn’t resist a mischievous smile of her own. “Deep inside, I do want a girl, though.”

“Why?” Padme arched an eyebrow as the sweet and spicy aroma of the cinnamon cookies their mother was baking for the baby shower in the oven wafted over them, making Sola’s mouth water.

“You know what Dad says.” Sola’s lips formed the words of an old family expression that had become worn and comfortable with love. “Little boys are made of snips, snails, and Carosi pup tails, while little girls are made of sugar, spice, and all things nice.”

Sugar, spice, and all things nice. That was what Sola smelled in the air and hoped for in the future as she sat with her sister making light-filled jars to celebrate the promise of new life entering the galaxy from her body, an idea that still seemed an impossible miracle to Sola.

(What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?)

“I don’t know whether it’ll be a boy or a girl,” Padme whispered into the shell of Anakin’s ear as they lay together in a tangle of sheets the night she told him that she was pregnant with his child. “I requested the med droids not inform me whether I’m carrying a boy or girl. I want it to be a surprise.”

Speculating about whether a baby girl or boy was growing inside her had been one of her few secret pleasures in these difficult months of hiding her pregnancy, and now she couldn’t wait to share this secret pleasure—this forbidden joy—with Anakin as she had so many others.

“I’ll be happy with either.” Anakin kissed her forehead.

“It could be a son.” Padme’s hand curled on his chest. “A boy you could repair droids with and teach to fly. A boy who could be a hero and a light in a dark universe like you.”

“Or it could be a daughter.” Anakin’s kisses traveled from her forehead to her hair, and as he went on, Padme was reminded of her father’s words about little girls being made of sugar, spice, and all things nice, “A girl who could be as beautiful as you. A girl who could fight for peace in a war-torn galaxy. A girl who could speak for those whose voices so often go unheard.”

(Sugar and spice
and all things nice,
that’s what little girls are made of.)

“That little girl looks a lot like Padme.” Jobal’s spoon, which she had been using to stir sugar into her cup of spiced herbal tea as she watched the daily propaganda that passed for the holonews under the Empire, dropped from her abruptly limp fingers. She often saw brown-eyed and brown-haired girls who reminded her of the daughter who had died too young—she had come to regard that as the painful snap of sanity that came with having to commit the ultimate unnatural act of motherhood, burying a child that should have outlived her—but the girl on the holoscreen had more than just Padme’s hair and eyes.

She had Padme’s regal bearing and the same sense of expectation emanating from her—the burden of being forced to represent all things pure and noble to her people at a young age along with the grace and the poise that came not crumbling under that responsibility.

“That girl is the Princess of Alderaan.” Ruwee winced at the sound of Padme’s name as if salt had been poured into the wound of her loss that would never heal.

“The adoptive daughter of Queen Breha and her consort, isn’t she?” Jobal’s eyes narrowed as she studied the holoscreen. Her eyes weren’t as keen as they had been in her youth—diminished by age and dimmed by sorrow as they had been—but she was certain that she’d be able to recognize any grandchildren she had even from a galaxy apart just as she would have always known her own daughters. Blood cried out to blood, she believed that in her creaking bones. Gesturing at the pulmonodes that had replaced the queen’s heart and lungs, she added, “Queen Breha can’t bear a child of her own.”

“The girl was the orphan of a war hero killed at the end of the Clone Wars.” Ruwee stared without seeming to see the grand Imperial ceremony being broadcast on the holoscreen.

“She would’ve been adopted around the time that Padme died.” Jobal was anything but blind as she continued to gaze at the holoscreen. “Bail Organa was always very close to Padme.”

Padme, Jobal remembered with an agonizing tightening of her chest, had always spoken glowingly of how articulate and uncorrupted by the politics of the Senate the erstwhile Bail Organa was, but she had never mentioned how handsome and well-built he was. Jobal could imagine her daughter falling in love with this man who was married—this man who could never marry her and whose good name she’d never want to taint. Everything—her daughter’s secret pregnancy and why Padme had never told her whose child she carried—clicked in her mind. Padme must have been pregnant with Bail Organa’s child, and when she died in childbirth, Bail had publicly pretended that the baby hadn’t survived either while adopting the child as his own because she was his own.

“Padme always said he was an honorable man.” Ruwee shook his head as though emerging from a daze of grief. “I don’t think he’d do what you’re implying, my love.”

“Yes, he’s an honorable man, and our daughter is dead.” Tears blurred Jobal’s vision at last, and her heart was cut with the sharp realization that if Padme had been so determined to take the secret of whom the father of her child was to her grave, Jobal couldn’t betray her by ever seeking out this granddaughter. This granddaughter’s existence would be bittersweet to Jobal. Bitter because she could never meet her granddaughter and share stories of Padme with her. Sweet because she would know that a breathing legacy of Padme had a heartbeat somewhere in the galaxy.

This granddaughter would be sugar, spice, and all things nice just like Padme had been, Jobal tried to assure herself as she scooped up her spoon and began to stir her tea again.

 

Beautiful job with this prompt—and such a great match for the Naberrie-Skywalker lineage that you’re such an ace at writing! Love how you did the progression of both generations and emotions here, from the happy excitement of Sola’s new baby, to a glimpse of that happier time of Padmé and Anakin’s marriage (little do they know both their guesses are right!)—all the way down to the sadness, losses, and uncertainties of the remaining Naberries as they watch the events of the early OT era unfold. That bittersweet final scene with Ruwee and Jobal really does take the cake—oh, those speculations! What would they say if they knew the truth about the paternity of that beautiful brown-haired granddaughter! ( ! ! )

(Incidentally, Sola’s and Ani/Padmé’s speculation about baby genders brought to mind my own experience. There was a time early on in my pregnancy when I, like Sola, was secretly hoping for a girl just because I figured I’d know better how to raise one, being one myself. When I found out I was having a boy, I was worried at first, fearing I wouldn’t be able to love a boy as much as a girl. And then he was born, and I loved him more than anything and still do, ten years later. I would say he has a lot of “all things nice” in him, too. )

Lovely work, and thank you for sharing yet another amazing challenge contribution! Always love seeing what you come up with.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for your sweet comments I'm so happy to hear that you found these scenes so lovely and poignant since I wanted to capture some of that beauty of Naboo and the love in the Naberrie family. Writing the father-daughter conversation in the garden and the discussion between the two sisters as they prepare for Sola's baby shower made me smile, and I'm so glad that the light-hearted element I was going for in those scenes showed through. The last scene between Ruwee and Jobal was definitely a hard, heart-tugging one for me to write, especially because writing this story really made me think about the emotions Padme's family must have went through when she died so tragically young But at least there is still the hope that Leia, who is so much like her mother, embodies to them and to us...

@Kit' Thank you so much for commenting, and once again for the prompt that inspired this story that never would've gotten written otherwise I'm so flattered that you thought this was a lovely story that made great use of the nursery rhyme. The ending was definitely a heartbreaker for me to write, so it is nice to know that you found it so poignant. Thank you again for your kind words!

@Findswoman Thank you so much for your kind and detailed comment I'm really flattered that you thought I did a beautiful job with this prompt since I really wanted to capture some of that beautiful Naboo landscape and culture along with the beauty of a loving Naberrie family. It was very fascinating for me to write about that progression of generations and emotions in this story. In a way, the story went from the innocence of Padme in the garden with her father to the optimism of her sister's excitement about her pregnancy to the sort of stolen, secret pleasure of one of those last happy moments of Anakin and Padme's marriage to the grief and loss that Padme's parents are left with in the wake of Padme's tragically young death and the rise of the Empire.

In many ways, I must admit that I did find the final scene to be the most powerful one to write because there was such a range of emotions that I wanted to convey with their grief and their speculations about Leia, and you're right that they'd probably be absolutely astonished if they knew the true parentage of that brown-haired granddaughter glimpsed on the holoscreen.

And it's so nice to hear that Padme and Sola's conversation and Anakin and Padme's discussion about wished for baby genders reminded you of your own experiences since I was hoping that I could capture some of those thoughts and emotions in a realistic way. I can imagine that it'd be a natural feeling for an expectant mother to feel that she might be able to relate better to a daughter only to discover that if she has a son, she absolutely can understand him and love him and find "all things nice" in him! I certainly think that if Padme had lived to see Luke grow up, she'd found plenty of all things nice in him, but, alas, that was not in the cards for her...

Thank you again for a lovely comment, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy my writings in the future

 

@amidalachick Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed commentI'm super flattered that you find it so difficult to put into words how much you love this story (what an amazing compliment!) and I agree with you that Padme is a wonderful character so it was a great treat for me to be able to explore not only her character but also her loving and supportive family in this piece.

I really wanted this piece to be both beautiful and touching since I wanted it to show the beauty of Naboo and the touching love in Padme's family so it makes me so happy that you felt I achieved that. I also really wanted to weave the rhyme through the story to form the basic structure for the story and to have one thread sort of linking together all the different spots on the timeline that this story would touch, and I'm so glad that you found that made the fic so poetic.

We are starting to have some of those really long, endless-feeling summer days where I live, so I just couldn't resist trying to capture that sense in the first scene with Padme and her father. And it warmed my heart to give them a scene together and let them have a heart-to-heart about daughters and sons that was so sweet to me.

I love the idea of Padme still being just Sola's sister in a way despite being queen, so I'm so pleased that the idea delighted you as well, and that you felt I really showed that sisterly bond between Padme and Sola. And I have to admit that writing about the aroma of Jobal's baking cinnamon cookies made me very hungry, ha ha.

It was nice to be able to write a sweet, wistful moment between Padme and Anakin before all the tragedy of ROTS can really set in and ruin their romance as it were. I also love the idea of both Padme and Anakin being right in their dreams for their son and daughter. Leia and Luke have a future that would make any parent glow with pride for sure.

The last part with Ruwee and Jobal did break my heart to write, but I'm so glad that you found Jobal's theory that Bail and Padme were Leia's parents to make sense.

It took awhile for me to find what I hoped would be the perfect closing lines since I really wanted to do justice to that idea of Padme's legacy still being alive in the galaxy and to have that little bit of hope that still hasn't been extinguished from the galaxy despite the rise of the Empire so it makes me so happy that you felt those last lines achieved all that.

Thank you again for your very kind and detailed comment. It made my day!

 

@AzureAngel2 Thank you so much for commenting, and, no worries, there's no such thing as arriving too late to the party as far as I'm concerned. The party is always happening here

I'm so flattered that you felt I was able to write about this subject in both a sweet and bittersweet way depending on the circumstances in which the characters were speaking since I definitely envisioned this story as progressing from being very sweet in tone in the beginning to much more bittersweet by the end.

Thank you again for reading and offering your kind words!

 

Oh what a gorgeous response to the challenge!

Aw! Ruwee's introspection was just beautiful. Of course his girls are his light and joy, even when they're growing up so fast!

A gorgeous moment between sisters. I loved this look at the entire Naberrie clan - you can easily see where Padmé gets her warmth and her heart from. It all started here.

&

This was heartbreaking but lovely. How right they both are!

Oh this just hurt. But I appreciate that they saw Leia and somehow had a feeling and just knew. I can't fault them their bitterness and grief. They were kept from so much in Padmé's life, and now Leia's too for her safety. But she is indeed sugar, spice, and everything nice. Just like her mother.


Fantastic work with this! Thank you so much for sharing!

 

@Mira_Jade As always, thank you so much for your kind and detailed comments! I'm so glad that you found this to be a gorgeous response to the challenge because I wanted to convey some of Naboo's beauty and the sweetness of Padme's family in this piece, so it's nice to think that shone through in this story.

Ruwee's perspective on his daughters warmed my heart to write, and based on what we saw of him in AOTC, I totally imagined him as the sort of father who sees his girls as the lights and joys of his life. He just seemed like such a wholesome dad.

I really enjoyed being able to capture and explore that sense of sisterhood between Padme and Sola, so I'm so glad that stood out to you as a highlight, and I like to imagine that Padme did indeed develop her warmth and heart in this loving, nurturing home environment that taught her how to be both compassionate and strong.

It makes me so happy that you found the "predictions" Padme and Anakin make about their future son and daughter so heartbreaking but lovely. I did want them to both be right in a sort of heartbreaking way as neither will really ever get to watch their children grow into those people they are envisioning, but still what wonderful offspring to produce and what a legacy to leave the galaxy.

The final scene between Ruwee and Jobal did rip my heart into a thousand pieces, but I did want to show that sort of grandparent instinct of being able to identify that Leia was Padme's daughter on sight and then of course have them be totally right about Leia being sugar, spice, and all things nice like her mother before her.

Thank you again for commenting, and I'm so flattered you found this fantastic!