A soft smile had been offered to the man who stood before her, though a look of worry hinted in her gaze. This wasn’t just any random man, no, it appeared shortly after the Republic had fallen and Padme had passed after childbirth, the few she called friends refused to let her go. They kept her safe, preserved even in hopes that her broken spirit, heart… whatever it may have been that caused her to die, would be fixed and that the once strong, independent ex-senator would return and attempt to bring peace to the galaxy and possibly bring the Republic back… if attainable. It had taken over a decade, time enough for her children to grow, and for one to even have a child of her own. A child who had grown by the time the device that kept her in her previous state of livelihood to bring life back to her. This man, was Ben Solo, her grandson.
She recalled Leia reaching out a few times with her concern regarding who his grandfather was, and what he had become up until the very end. Though it crushed her to know Anakin was dead… it brought her some solace when Luke contacted and told her that he had in the very end, returned to the light. Her heart ached, but the time to sorrow had long passed, she found herself more attentive to matters at hand, as well as turning her attention to family as much as she could. It was that pang of remorse that she had missed out on the youth of her children, and she refused to do such with her grandchild.
Her fingers delicately moved a warm cloth, patting gently at the bits and pieces that remained needing to be cleaned. She wasn’t force-sensitive, but she could sense the emotions rolling off of him in waves, it was unmistakable by his actions as well as his expressions. It pained her to see him in such a condition, even worse to know she was certain of some of the reasoning behind it. For a moment, her patting had ceased, the cracking within his voice had caused her to look away from what she was doing and rather bring her fixation to him and him alone. The woman’s gaze settled to look at his eyes, her lips pressed together for a moment as she thought of something to say. Times weren’t what they were before she had died.
“Home?” Padme’s voice was soft when she questioned him, “I know that feeling all too well.” She looked down to the floor for a moment, thoughts of Naboo her true home, and Coruscant, positively from how much time she spent there. Even within the time she had been back, she hadn’t gone back, not yet at least. Those she once knew were long gone, and those she should have known were in front of her now. “Tell me, what precisely is going on? Your thoughts, what you’re feeling. I’m here, for you.” Her hand extended, gently finding itself on Ben’s shoulder.
