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“Justé Talant, Second Handmaiden in the Second Class for Padmé Amidala”
0 reviewsThis is fifteen random but chronological moments from the life of Justé Talant, who is, quite literally, the second handmaiden in the second training class of potential handmaidens chosen from amo...
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“Justé Talant, Second Handmaiden in the Second Class for Padmé Amidala”
01.) Ward: A speeder crash caused by a drunken driver made her an orphan at age three, if not exactly a ward of the state (since she had been only a little reluctantly taken in by a frazzled and overworked cousin of her mother, even as her elder sister and baby brother were separately taken in by cousins of their father), and her prospects are somewhat limited in life, given her old-fashioned preoccupation with the Great Lady and her indifference to men in general, and so it is regarded by everyone in her adoptive family as an unexpected but exceptional blessing, when it becomes clear that the new Queen is reinstating the old tradition of handmaidens/chosen companions and that Justé is almost certain to be accepted as a potential handmaiden trainee.
02.) Sensitivity: She has a higher sensitivity to the Force than almost everyone she knows, and she’s dreamed of herself wearing the robes of a handmaiden, so she’s entirely unsurprised when the comm call comes, informing her that she’s been accepted into the program and offering her a position among the second class of handmaiden trainees.
03.) Quickly: The call for the old King’s resignation and an election for a new monarch, the subsequent nomination and election of the Princess of Theed as the new Queen of Naboo, and the decision to revive the old chosen companion/handmaiden tradition all happened a little too quickly for there to be much of any kind of formalized ritual or ceremony put into place for the incoming handmaidens, but she knows that there will come a time when becoming a handmaiden will be not only a job but a vocation and alternative lifestyle and way of being and believing and observing faith with the Great Lady, and she frankly sees no reason to behave as if it were anything else, now, for her.
04.) Forward: The Trade Federation is a collection of greedy, selfish, thoughtless fools, but they are not usually this forward, this violently insistent, about trying to make a profit, and it bothers her, for she cannot help but feel as if there’s more to the Trade Federation’s sudden hostility and apparently violently forceful nature than meets the eye, some dark force with an insatiable hunger for the pain of her people at work guiding and goading them on.
05.) Shine: Amidala shocks her by having literally no Force shine to her at all, but Sabé and the other four principal handmaidens who cluster about her like worshipers around the skirts of their Lady Goddess more than make up for that lack, blazing with strength and with light in just such a way that she imagines a Jedi might shine with the reflected glow and glory of the Force.
06.) Self-centered: Something about the Queen’s sister makes her skin crawl, and only telling herself that it’s probably just the young woman’s intensely self-centered focus and worry for herself and her first confirmed pregnancy soothes her mind enough to keep from trying to ask Sabé about this Sola Naberrie, before they send her whole training class (herself included) off to Varykino to truly begin their instruction.
07.) Holy: There are three young ladies in her class who burn bright and white-edged and cleanly pure in her perception, if not strong int eh Force than clearly holy with its approval, and, of the three, only one has the power to make her forget all else and simply long to sit and bask in her presence, in the reflected warmth and glow and glory fo the Great Lady, and so Aimeé is the one she decides to pursue an alliance (and perhaps even more) with.
08.) Accept: Justé has known irrefutably that she is a lover of women since around the age of seven or eight, and she delights in the treasures and secrets and life-giving warmth and curves of a woman’s body, so she is thrilled when Aimeé smiles, after several long moments of silence, puts out her hand to accept Justé’s offer of help with her hair, and draws her into an embrace that makes it clear that she, too, wishes for an alliance of trust . . . and of the hearts, as well.
09.) Flesh: Justé is surprised to find herself more learned in the arts and joys of the flesh than Aimeé (for she considers herself quite plain and ordinary, especially next to Aimeé’s lushly soft loveliness), and she revels in teaching her new lover to delight in intimacy, making each kiss and caress a blatant act of sensual worship.
10.) Wrong: There’s a girl among them who is /wrong/, ill, unnatural, the Force writhing sickly around her, like maggots in a putridly infected wound, and her gut twists up and her mind blanks with a combination of fearful loathing and righteous fury whenever she’s called upon to be in close quarters with this girl, Essé Seltrin, for any significant period of time, and there are days when she seriously contemplates taking up the nearest weapon and just cutting her down (doing the Goddess and their sworn lady and them all, not to mention the various peoples of Naboo, a huge favor, in the process), but something holds her back, and she’s beginning to fear that she might be too squeamish to do some of the things that may be necessary, to be a truly good handmaiden.
11.) Grateful: Aimeé doesn’t try to downplay her unease with Essé, for which she is wholly grateful (if even more uneasy, to discover that her beloved essentially shares her opinion of the girl), but she’s not sure that merely watching her closely and being careful to warn the others to be wary around her, too, is enough, even if Sabé does seem suspicious of her and to know that something about her isn’t right.
12.) Natural: It isn’t natural for the Neimoidians heading the Trade Federation to be so boldly insistent in their attempts to claim control over the Nabooian plasma mining operations: Justé senses a dark presence – something not only unnatural but truly evil – at work behind them, driving them forward, and is about to start suggesting that they and their families need to plan for the worst when Aimeé reminds her why she loves her by quietly beating her to it.
13.) Bad: Everyone seems to know that something bad is coming, and many of them have quietly been placing caches of creds and food and weapons and clothing and medical supplies in various of the hidden tunnels and underground wings of the Palace complex, dodging people like Essé (or, worse yet, Lietté and Roché) to try to prepare in case they need to go to ground as a unit of those truly dedicated to the Queen, in response to some disaster.
14.) Glory: She can feel it, when the Jedi come to Naboo – one of them is like a storm of /Light/, so bright and pure that she feels blinded just by the mere fact of her proximity to such glory – and so knows when Amidala has safely gotten away from the planet (blockade or not), because that blaze joins and eclipses Sabé’s light and then recedes rapidly into the distance, and she allows herself only one small regret, amongst her joy and relief at her Queen’s escape, for being unable to join them.
15.) End: She’s known for a while that this is how it will end, for her and Aimeé, valiantly and faithfully providing cover for the young Princess Ellie of Theed, her closest handmaidens, and what amounts to just over a full class (drawn from among the second and third classes) of Amidala’s handmaidens to escape, so they can go on to rally the people and give them hope until their Queen can return and the planet can be freed of the Trade Federation’s occupying forces, and all she wishes, in the end, is to make a good showing of herself, and so she gathers up all of her strength and her weapons, kisses Aimeé one more time, and leaps smiling into the fray that will be the death of her, determinedly not looking back or flinching when her brave beloved joins her so they can make their last stand together.
01.) Ward: A speeder crash caused by a drunken driver made her an orphan at age three, if not exactly a ward of the state (since she had been only a little reluctantly taken in by a frazzled and overworked cousin of her mother, even as her elder sister and baby brother were separately taken in by cousins of their father), and her prospects are somewhat limited in life, given her old-fashioned preoccupation with the Great Lady and her indifference to men in general, and so it is regarded by everyone in her adoptive family as an unexpected but exceptional blessing, when it becomes clear that the new Queen is reinstating the old tradition of handmaidens/chosen companions and that Justé is almost certain to be accepted as a potential handmaiden trainee.
02.) Sensitivity: She has a higher sensitivity to the Force than almost everyone she knows, and she’s dreamed of herself wearing the robes of a handmaiden, so she’s entirely unsurprised when the comm call comes, informing her that she’s been accepted into the program and offering her a position among the second class of handmaiden trainees.
03.) Quickly: The call for the old King’s resignation and an election for a new monarch, the subsequent nomination and election of the Princess of Theed as the new Queen of Naboo, and the decision to revive the old chosen companion/handmaiden tradition all happened a little too quickly for there to be much of any kind of formalized ritual or ceremony put into place for the incoming handmaidens, but she knows that there will come a time when becoming a handmaiden will be not only a job but a vocation and alternative lifestyle and way of being and believing and observing faith with the Great Lady, and she frankly sees no reason to behave as if it were anything else, now, for her.
04.) Forward: The Trade Federation is a collection of greedy, selfish, thoughtless fools, but they are not usually this forward, this violently insistent, about trying to make a profit, and it bothers her, for she cannot help but feel as if there’s more to the Trade Federation’s sudden hostility and apparently violently forceful nature than meets the eye, some dark force with an insatiable hunger for the pain of her people at work guiding and goading them on.
05.) Shine: Amidala shocks her by having literally no Force shine to her at all, but Sabé and the other four principal handmaidens who cluster about her like worshipers around the skirts of their Lady Goddess more than make up for that lack, blazing with strength and with light in just such a way that she imagines a Jedi might shine with the reflected glow and glory of the Force.
06.) Self-centered: Something about the Queen’s sister makes her skin crawl, and only telling herself that it’s probably just the young woman’s intensely self-centered focus and worry for herself and her first confirmed pregnancy soothes her mind enough to keep from trying to ask Sabé about this Sola Naberrie, before they send her whole training class (herself included) off to Varykino to truly begin their instruction.
07.) Holy: There are three young ladies in her class who burn bright and white-edged and cleanly pure in her perception, if not strong int eh Force than clearly holy with its approval, and, of the three, only one has the power to make her forget all else and simply long to sit and bask in her presence, in the reflected warmth and glow and glory fo the Great Lady, and so Aimeé is the one she decides to pursue an alliance (and perhaps even more) with.
08.) Accept: Justé has known irrefutably that she is a lover of women since around the age of seven or eight, and she delights in the treasures and secrets and life-giving warmth and curves of a woman’s body, so she is thrilled when Aimeé smiles, after several long moments of silence, puts out her hand to accept Justé’s offer of help with her hair, and draws her into an embrace that makes it clear that she, too, wishes for an alliance of trust . . . and of the hearts, as well.
09.) Flesh: Justé is surprised to find herself more learned in the arts and joys of the flesh than Aimeé (for she considers herself quite plain and ordinary, especially next to Aimeé’s lushly soft loveliness), and she revels in teaching her new lover to delight in intimacy, making each kiss and caress a blatant act of sensual worship.
10.) Wrong: There’s a girl among them who is /wrong/, ill, unnatural, the Force writhing sickly around her, like maggots in a putridly infected wound, and her gut twists up and her mind blanks with a combination of fearful loathing and righteous fury whenever she’s called upon to be in close quarters with this girl, Essé Seltrin, for any significant period of time, and there are days when she seriously contemplates taking up the nearest weapon and just cutting her down (doing the Goddess and their sworn lady and them all, not to mention the various peoples of Naboo, a huge favor, in the process), but something holds her back, and she’s beginning to fear that she might be too squeamish to do some of the things that may be necessary, to be a truly good handmaiden.
11.) Grateful: Aimeé doesn’t try to downplay her unease with Essé, for which she is wholly grateful (if even more uneasy, to discover that her beloved essentially shares her opinion of the girl), but she’s not sure that merely watching her closely and being careful to warn the others to be wary around her, too, is enough, even if Sabé does seem suspicious of her and to know that something about her isn’t right.
12.) Natural: It isn’t natural for the Neimoidians heading the Trade Federation to be so boldly insistent in their attempts to claim control over the Nabooian plasma mining operations: Justé senses a dark presence – something not only unnatural but truly evil – at work behind them, driving them forward, and is about to start suggesting that they and their families need to plan for the worst when Aimeé reminds her why she loves her by quietly beating her to it.
13.) Bad: Everyone seems to know that something bad is coming, and many of them have quietly been placing caches of creds and food and weapons and clothing and medical supplies in various of the hidden tunnels and underground wings of the Palace complex, dodging people like Essé (or, worse yet, Lietté and Roché) to try to prepare in case they need to go to ground as a unit of those truly dedicated to the Queen, in response to some disaster.
14.) Glory: She can feel it, when the Jedi come to Naboo – one of them is like a storm of /Light/, so bright and pure that she feels blinded just by the mere fact of her proximity to such glory – and so knows when Amidala has safely gotten away from the planet (blockade or not), because that blaze joins and eclipses Sabé’s light and then recedes rapidly into the distance, and she allows herself only one small regret, amongst her joy and relief at her Queen’s escape, for being unable to join them.
15.) End: She’s known for a while that this is how it will end, for her and Aimeé, valiantly and faithfully providing cover for the young Princess Ellie of Theed, her closest handmaidens, and what amounts to just over a full class (drawn from among the second and third classes) of Amidala’s handmaidens to escape, so they can go on to rally the people and give them hope until their Queen can return and the planet can be freed of the Trade Federation’s occupying forces, and all she wishes, in the end, is to make a good showing of herself, and so she gathers up all of her strength and her weapons, kisses Aimeé one more time, and leaps smiling into the fray that will be the death of her, determinedly not looking back or flinching when her brave beloved joins her so they can make their last stand together.
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