Shaak is a woman

When Shmi was young and dreamed of her future, it almost always included a husband. The appeal was always there-Shmi likes both men and women-but when you grow up a slave on Tatooine, practicality has to be foremost-and while even the Hutts have regulations forbidding separation of slave families, that only applies to "actual" parents and children, not adoptees. If Shmi married a man and then died, the children they had together would stay with the father. If she married a woman, Watto could sell her child to anyone he pleased, and her widow would have no say whatsoever.

The romantic variety of Coruscant, like the rest of it, nearly overwhelms her. There are communities bigger than the entire population of Tatooine almost entirely of one sex. There are places with an elaborate legal structure designed to accommodate triads rather than couples as a basis for a family unit. And recently, with the Kamino Conspiracy being blown open, and the technology becoming more widely available, occasions sprung up when people opted to have "children" by cloning themselves. There's at least a decade of work for the Republic courts on this front ahead.

Curiously, it is the Jedi with their strict self-discipline that offer Shmi an anchor in this new world. Attachment is a path to the dark side-and many forego romance on that ground. At times in the history of the Order, that has been an enforced rule, she learns, and those caught were expelled. But even those who want families bring in their training into relationships. Above all, the Jedi aren't careless. Well, neither is Shmi.

And no matter what, being a Jedi is a large duty. It takes only a few experiments for Shmi to know that group marriages, triads, communal childrearing isn't for her. She wants a permanent, exclusive life partner. And most Jedi agree with her.

Shaak explains on their third (or fourth?) date. "Going to the dark side from grief is one thing-and grief is something we all must deal with. But doing it from jealousy? That's insulting. Plus, simple math. Two people is one relationship. Three people is three relationships. Four people is six, five, ten... So no matter what anyone says, it is more work. When you couple that with how we feel each other in the Force... casual is difficult to do-at least, for me. And serious means time. I make the time for my girlfriend, I make the time for Jedi work. If that means there's no time for a second girlfriend, so be it."

"It would be a second girlfriend?"

"For me-yeah. Always was. Just how the Force made me. You-?"

"Both," Shmi admits. "Not at the same time." Blush. "Well, I don't want to do both at the same time-I learned that by trying."

Shaak laughs. "So you have an answer if anyone tells says you don't know what it's like."

"People say that to you?"

"Sometimes. Usually when they can't see the lightsaber."

"What do you do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Shaak nods. "I am a Jedi."

"But this is unrelated!"

Shaak considers. "Maybe, maybe not. Just the way I was raised-which was by the Jedi, so it's related in that sense. Most things are on a spectrum, but this is binary. There are people whose opinion I respect, and whose I don't. The latter can'tharm me emotionally."

"Really?"

"It's a mental discipline, and it's not easy-but it's doable. We all know that people close to us can hurt us a lot more than strangers-so it's just an elevation of the principle to an absolute."

"What happened to balance?"

"This is how I deal with an aspect of life, not a universal decree. And it shouldn't matter to you. You are already one of the people who can hurt me. I'm willing to risk that you won't."

"I can't-"

Shaak raises her hand. "It's not an obligation-at least, not an external one."

"You mean, I'm a considerate person who will place it upon herself."

"Exactly. But you knew that already. I just put in words."

"Got me there."

"And neither of us will ever be perfect. I'm not a perfect Jedi, I'm not a perfect girlfriend. I won't hold anyone to that standard, either."

"Then I very much hope I won't hurt you with this-but I need to know. It's a rather nasty rumor I've heard."

"Oh? You know, Jedi debated whether curiosity was of the dark side for a long time. If it was, I'd have fallen long ago. Do tell."

"Well... you know about the Chosen One prophecy?"

"What of it?"

"I really don't know how Anakin came to be. We've both gotten tested in a biolab, and no one there really knows either. Other than the Midichlorian level, Anakin is quite ordinary, biologically speaking. But... people are now talking about something that makes me special. And now that we're dating... they bring you in."

"Saying what?"

"That you want me because you think-because of Anakin-that it's possible for the two us to have children."

Shaak snorts. "Assuming I wanted children-and assuming I cared that they were genetically mine-and also genetically my partner's-assuming all that, mostly incorrectly-getting that can be done by a geneslicing procedure. No need to involve Force miracles, no need for a mother of the Chosen One."

Shmi stares. "It keeps hitting me how backwards Tatooine is when you say that."

"Not backwards. Lacking. For many reasons, only some of which are addressable."

Shmi frowns. "If the slaves were freed and the Hutts kicked out..."

"Tatooine would still have less than fifty million people-settlers, Jawas, and Tuskens together. Coruscant has trillions. That won't change anytime soon."

"I don't think I'd want the galaxy to become all like Coruscant."

"Me neither. And it won't. If anything, the reverse is happening. The population here is going down."

"Hard to believe."

"Anyway, if that's how the 'born of no father' part of the prophecy gets resolved, there are many, many people who could be the Chosen One right now. Anakin is special-but just what means..."

"... is up to Anakin himself."

"See? Again, something you already knew, for which I just found the words."

Shmi smiles. "Do you believe the prophecy?"

"No."

"That's it?"

"How do you even define 'ultimate balance' and how do you know it has been achieved, and the extend to which the supposed Chosen One is supposed to participate? It's too vague to know even after the fact. Perhaps it happened centuries ago already."

"But... aren't you supposed to take things on faith?"

"Not everything. There's no evidence the prophecies are wrong, either. So it's faith either way. When we get genuine premonitions from the Force, they come in visions, voices and feelings, not crafted verse. The Force is beyond language, beyond wordplay."

"Master Qui-Gon thought it was important."

"I know. And he knew I disagree."

"But... one of you has to be wrong."

"That, we'd both disagree on."

"I don't understand."

"If the prophecies are blurry viewports-ones impossible to make out any useful details but still giving us a glimpse of what's to come-who's right? Qui-Gon thought they could be acted upon, brought about or averted. I think anything done along these lines is more about the actor than the prophecy. We could both be right-and wrong."

"I don't know if that's reassuring."

"Ahh. You worry about Anakin."

"Of course I do!"

Shaak chuckles. "You think you have more to worry about than other parents. Even than other Jedi-because of this."

"Well... yes."

"Do you worry less now than you did back on Tatooine?"

Shmi thinks about it. "I should. Even with what the Jedi do, he will be prepared to face it."

"None of us are ever really prepared. But yes, from what I heard-by all accounts, you should worry less. Do you, though?"

"Not really," Shmi admits. Shaak's implication sinks in. "Right. I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"You didn't pick it up-?"

"I can feel you're experiencing slight embarrassment-but that comes with neither the target nor the reason."

"I assumed you wouldn't understand. Since you don't have children yourself."

"I don't fully understand. But Jedi are trained to face the unknown-something all of us, Jedi or not, have to do every day. Motherhood is an unknown."

"Well... it'll always be, even many years after you're in it."

"I hope so. Everything worth it is."