voidtreckerexpress | (no subject)

Who: Padmé Amidala and Luke Skywalker
Where: The Garden Car
When: D 15
What: With the mission over, Padmé decides to work on one question that needs answering. Luke's last name.
Warnings: I don't think so, other than maybe some angst?

She hadn't noticed it before, or their first interaction might have gone a little differently. Not horribly, but different questions might have been asked. It wasn't until Padmé had gone back over the information given, that she had spotted that last name tucked further down the paragraph, and there, upon the roster, as she had explored that. It wasn't as if only one individual had the right to it, but it was enough of a coincidence that she felt it warranted further investigation.

A few other events had come up, including the mission and her team's trek through the maze. Now, back aboard the train, she had mulled it over, but she had had enough time to gather her thoughts. He knew of her, that much had been shown with their first interaction, but now there was so much more to it that she wanted to know. The car was only so big, and she had kept an eye out for him as she had made her way through the day, until, at least, she had found him in the garden.

It wasn't like those on Naboo, with flowing waters and lush pastoral grasses. Yet, it was something living in it's own way, and drawing a breath in, she sought to release those nerves that trickled across her skin, to gather a more calm aura, as she angled herself towards him, coming to a pause a short distance away. "Hello, Luke. I hope I'm not interrupting?"

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Luke grimaced at the mention of the Emperor's name, before he nodded, confirming all the more what Misa had told her before.

"The Emperor is a Sith Lord," he stated bluntly. "He was hiding in plane sight, while the Jedi were preoccupied with the Separatist leader."

He pursed his lips together, before a small smile came to his face. Finally peering over at her.

"I know," he said softly. "I... he doesn't talk about you often, but I know how much he cared for you. How much he cares for you still."

Luke hesitated a moment, before sitting down beside her again. He needed to just... get this out there. Stars knew his father wasn't going to tell her, and with his old name on everything involving the train, she was going to need someone to tell her.

"There's more; it's not going to be easy to hear, though."

... a Sith Lord? Misa had spoken of a Darth Vader, but she hadn't mentioned that the Emperor was this Sith Lord, although Padmé also hadn't asked. She had been too confused about the title of Emperor to follow through with other questioning. There was that tightness in her chest, deeper still at this new knowledge, for how- how- could Palpatine.

Yet Luke's soft voice brought Padmé's attention back up, seeing that hint of a smile, and had she not been so well trained in her own facial expressions, she might have let more slip. Well, Anakin was never the most subtle, and if he was no longer a Jedi, she supposed he could well speak more easily about such things. It's far too easy to remember how he had looked at her when Obi-Wan and he had been assigned to keep her safe, of how he had looked at her for who she was, and not what she represented or could offer, but as she had said to him, it couldn't be.

"That is kind of you to say. He is a very dear friend." As that much she could say without betraying too much. The loss of the Japor Snippet here was felt, as it was something that Padmé had rarely taken off. She nodded though, shifting her body to give her full focus to him, although Palpatine and Sith Lord drummed through her body with each beat of her heart. "It's okay. Continue."

Luke took a deep breath, counting off in his head, before letting it out slow. This was not going to be easy to talk about, but he knew he had to.

"Again, I don't know much about what happened during the war," he admitted. "I only have a vague idea of what happens toward it's end, and much of what I 'know' is based off of Imperial education."

He made a face at that, which probably said a lot of what he thought about the current state of things than he would have been able to vocalize.

"My sister and I were born not long after the Republic was declared the Empire," he continued. "It was a chaotic time; my sister and I were separated, and sent to different planets. I didn't even meet up with my father until I was eleven, but I didn't know it at the time..."

He hesitated again, peering up at her and trying very, very hard not to fidget.

"I've... never seen my father's face," he said softly. "During that chaos, my father was severely injured, to the point where he needs a complicated life support system and breath mask to stay alive."

It was that reserved quiet that she gave to him, letting him go at his own pace. It was not as if there was any rush or threat that meant that she needed to pressure or push for information. It weights on him, that much seemed to be clear to her, and she kept that calm polished finish, attention gentle on him in that silent encouragement for strength.

She gave a small nod at that statement, knowing that history did tend to be written by the survivors. While Padmé would prefer an impartial take, arguably that was impossible, as each side had their own narrative, and war did tend to scatter information to the wind. Few, if any, ever saw every piece of knowledge and only knew what they were privy to, or what had been passed on, whether true or false.

A family ripped apart... Not the first, and no doubt not the last, but such things were events that Padmé would have done away with, had she the power. She was not foolish enough to believe that she ever would, but war could be devastating on so many levels and alter so many lives. Just on Naboo alone... Yet one across the galaxy? Planet sized was bad enough, but to try to fathom different systems...

Her stillness did alter ever so, sharper, with his last sentence, thinking back to the being that has been elusive, but that did sleep in the designated bunk whose name she knew, and yet did not understand why he appeared in it. A being or a droid... But it was the breathing that had caught her attention, as the almost mechanical laboured sound of it was hard not to notice. "I am sorry to hear that, although there is likely some comfort in finding him after all those years."