Summary: Padmé Amidala, on naming and favoritism.
Pairings: None
Author's Note: I'm being speculative here; hear me out.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.
She and Anakin had never spoken about what they would name their child. It had never come up in their quiet, desperate days while the Republic crumbled all around them. Padmé had had ideas, though.
No one but another native Nabooan could understand what she was doing when she, breathing her last breaths, gave her children their names.
The first, she named Luke.
Luke, my little candle, the one who will bring light. You will be a light to your people, a beacon of hope in dark places. You must be, for my sake.
It was always said on Naboo that the first child must be given up for the sake of the people, but that the second a mother could keep for herself.
The girl came in a wash of black blood that swept everything away from her mother, as though she had stolen away Padmé's life herself and used it to sustain her.
Leia… I am so weary, so you will be the child of my weariness. You will be the receptacle of my suffering, to wash it away from me. You will be my shadow, stronger than I ever was, proud, defiant, but weary of the life that cost you your mother.
But you will find the light in all darkness, and be a worthy companion to your brother. You will defend him at all times, and take away his weariness with a strong and gentle hand.
Padmé closed her eyes. She was so tired. She couldn't bring herself to lift her lids and give herself one last chance to look at her children, drink in their faces, before she would never see them again.
Anakin…
Oh, Anakin.
Truth be told, she hadn't loved him. She might have said she did, but she didn't, and Padmé wondered if that wasn't why he called her liar on Mustafar, because he had finally seen what was right in front of him.
She hadn't loved him, but after being married to him for three years, having sex with the man for three years and having children by him, she couldn't help but feel something for Anakin. It wasn't love, but in time, it could have been.
It never would be now.
Children… Never do what I did. Never twist yourself for the sake of others; if you are never true to anyone else in your lives, be true to your own consciences, your own inclinations, your own hearts.
Never marry someone who scares you. Never marry someone you don't love.
She was tired, and wanted to sleep now. Leia had given her the gift of weariness, while Luke would bring light to others.
And Padmé Amidala's last thought was that, barely seconds into the life of her children, she was already playing favorites.
The thought almost made her smile.
Because while she was willing to give Luke to her people, she wanted to keep Leia for herself.
But as it turned out, she couldn't have either of them.