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nabooro · 2 years

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Nâdune: The Handmaidens

The word for handmaiden in Nabooro is nâdune, and is rooted in the same word as “warrior” (tonde), as handmaidens are meant to not only accompany queens (or princesses, when Naboo was not yet an elected monarchy) and offer them companionship, but also guard and protect them when necessary.

Traditionally, handmaidens were older than the princess, but as the tradition of enshué ‘n canâk (masks and disguises), developed out of the older traditions of facepaint and veiling, handmaidens slowly became the same age as the princess or royal they were protecting in order to disguise themselves as her better.

The handmaid who closest resembles the one they protect (or, if several of them look similar, the title is afforded to a handmaid who has been injured in her duty towards her princess) is known as the shâm nâdun, and is the highest ranking of the nâdune, though that rank is more a formality than anything else in the present day.

The parallel figure to this for young princes is a cânsag. Cânsag have similar functions to nâdune, in that they are usually of an age with the prince or young royal or noble they protect so they can disguise themselves as each other in situations where it is necessary, though the forms their enshué take are different.

Regarding Padmé’s nâdune:

Sabé / Tsabin means “herald of new life/growth”, translating literally as “mouth of the seed.”

Eirtaé / Eirtama means “poetic.”

Ballory (Balori) is a vocational family name for those who were once royal or religious warriors, translating literally to “warriors of the Six.” (More on “the Six” soon!)

Rabé / Rabene means “daughter of spring”.

Tonsort is also a once-vocational name for religious warriors, translating to “blessed warrior.”

Saché / Sashah is a name with many meanings, generally understood as meaning “deeper than meets the eye”, though can also be understood as ‘mysterious,’ or ‘one who is less than trustworthy’ - translating literally as “to question what you see.”

Adova is a regional name for those from the Western continent.

While Sabé and Cordé are the nâdune who most resemble Padmé, Saché was given the title of shâm nâdun after the Invasion of Naboo.

Yané / Suyan means “diamond, gem,” though Yané specifically is also a name in itself that means “life, greenery.”

Higin is a historical vocational name for higher ranking tailors on Naboo, i.e. tailor.

Cordé / Cordyn is a traditional name meaning “protector of the past.”

Dormé / Dorra means “cold,” and is one of several traditional winter names for children.

Versé / Versaat means “blessed,” or, more literally, “daughter of the Six.”

Moteé is more of a metaphoric name/phrase that is best translated as “to bloom,” though it translates literally as “to grow wings,” kind of in the sense of... to come into your own?

As Moteé doesn’t have a canon ‘original’ name i.e. before-she-was-a-handmaiden name, I came up with my own: Motil.

Most of these handmaiden names are actual names, though not all of them are particularly common ones (Yané is the one that is most commonly in use in the present day). The -é form is a presently somewhat old-fashioned way of constructing names used in previous centuries by royalty—so, these names do mostly maintain their actual meaning, because the root for most of their names is the same.

* I do eventually intend to come up with more last names and assign them some, but that’s... not a priority for me right now.

#nabooro #naboo culture #star wars #naboo handmaidens #sabe #eirtae #rabe #sache #yane #corde #verse #dorme #motee #.names #.phrases

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pykestowatchoutfor · 1 year

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One or Several Amidalas

While visiting my family for the holidays I decided to take another crack at E.K. Johnston’s young adult Padme novels. I’d briefly dipped into the third book a little while ago, curious about the trans clone trooper, with the vague intention of reading the first two at some indeterminate point in the future. Well, this was the week, and I knocked out Queen’s Shadow and Queen’s Peril in short order.

These were quick reads-- they have the cushy line-spacing of a lot of YA and are not terribly long to begin with, and have a nice brisk pace. What struck me the most how comfortable they were with being a bit uneventful. I loved this. Even Queen’s Peril, which takes place in the stray interstices of The Phantom Menace and is, ostensibly, a thrilling story of wartime resistance and espionage, seems most at home when puzzling over issues of quotidian personal exigency-- the fit of a gown, the dull pain of a tightly pulled-back braid, the myriad questions of decorum and interpersonal empathy that crop up between Padme and her responsibilities and the young women imbricated in that labor.

This gives the frankly somewhat deranged customs of Naboo as seen in the movies-- elected child monarchs! with body doubles! who all have names riffing on their ruler!-- a sense of ingrained habit and custom, which modern women like Padme and Sabe and the rest can rankle at or push back against while still being part of the rhythms of those customs. Much like Charles Soule’s and Claudia Gray’s wonderful work with Leia, this all makes a character left somewhat thin in the movies (Padme much moreso than Leia, to be fair) pop as a complicated and conflicted person hurled into a rapidly escalating and chaotic situation.

A few things I like:

-Panaka is a huge weirdo, and somewhat ominous-- Johnston seems to be working backwards from the reveal that he eventually became moff of the sector.

-Padme comes off as shrewd and intelligent but a little too eager to see the best in people. There’s a fascinating runner in Queen’s Shadow where almost every time she interacts with Palpatine she gets the clear sense that he’s lying, but she keeps rationalizing benign reasons why that might be the case.

-Sabe is fantastic, and Johnston sells the peculiar psychosexual dynamic between her and Padme with a beautiful candor and prickliness. There are moments of real discomfort and poetry surrounding Sabe’s desire to be, you know, a sexual human being, and her sense of obligation to Padme, which often takes on a heavily eroticized sense of awe and fealty. Padme herself comes off as repressed, eager to deny herself a love life, but still kind of inchoately jealous of Sabe’s freedom to flirt and mingle and fuck Richard Armitage. It makes her eventual romance with Anakin feel a bit more plausible-- they’re both deeply repressed people, unable to grapple openly with their sexuality (albeit in different ways), and so when they come together there are lines of communication that just aren’t available to them. Two profoundly weird kids locked in a depressing and tragic mess of a marriage. C’est la (star) guerre I guess!

-Sabe-- bi queen, love her, and this makes Pak’s strong work with her in Darth Vader even more compelling. The rest of the handmaidens are a bit sketchily drawn in Queen’s Shadow, but Peril does a nice job of delineating each of them more clearly. Sache in particular is another stand-out, and Rabe the little rat-fink criminal.

-For all of the verisimilitude and crunchy textural stuff Johnston gives to Naboo and life in the Coruscant political milieu, the nitty gritty of the Trade Federation still feels floaty to me. Palpatine’s stakes in the scheme and his pirouetting from position to position is super lucid and crisp in these books-- Johnston does a splendid job with an elusive character-- but the Neimodians themselves still feel a little rote. I think a lot of writers struggle with this-- it’s not like the movies give a ton to work with.

-Every time Johnston dropped a nugget about the gungans I had to go double check it because it felt so wild. For what it’s worth she gives Jar Jar a peculiar sense of quiet dignity, and a weirdly pointed emphasis on his aesthetic sensibilities. I’m more than happy with this! It’s high time the dude caught a break and got his moment of sober poise.

Anyway! My wife went whole hog this Christmas since we’ve both been having fun talkin’ Star Wars together, along with our sister-in-law and her best friend’s husband, and so I have on my docket: the first two books of Phase II of the High Republic, the High Republic short story collection, Dooku: Jedi Lost, and the little omnibus of novels about Hera & Kanan and Tarkin. She also had on the audiobook of Thrawn on the drive down to my mom’s house, but frankly I spent much of that trip napping and could not tell you much about the travails of Thrawn and his twink.

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chaoticchickadee · 3 years

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Good Things Happen, Week 1

Hello there! Since I’ve been writing (mostly) consistently recently I thought it would be fun to do a little challenge. Every Friday, I’ll be posting a one-shot prompt fill from this bingo card. I’m going to try to do this until I fill the card, provided it gets good reception/I continue to enjoy doing it. You’re welcome to send in specific prompts, I will write for any Star Wars fandom you see on my blog and most characters. I’m more comfortable with gen at the moment, but I can try ships as well!

Starting out for week one is “good hair day” with Padmé and the handmaidens, circa Queen’s Peril novel.

Show your support-- reblog!

Read it here on AO3

Padmé hadn’t expected how exhausting wearing the Queen’s headdresses all day could be. Sure, she’d known during her candidacy that they were heavy and hard to balance, but knowing and experiencing were two different things. Rabé did her best to make them as comfortable as possible, but even with the braids and the styling gel her hair was a mess by evening. It was unimportant, really, but Padmé missed the feeling of her long, tightly-curled locks flowing freely all day, not just in the evenings before bed. Still, Padmé would gladly suffer frizzy and unkempt hair for the rest of her life if it meant she could make a difference as Naboo’s Queen.

Sabé had noticed Padmé staring at her, and it hadn’t taken long to figure out why. It wasn’t her that Padmé was staring at, but her hair. Padmé had lamented what the royal headdresses had done to her beautiful hair many times, and while it was said in a light-hearted, joking manner, there was a little bit of truth to it. Padmé had gotten very good at hiding her tells and insecurities, but Sabé would always be able to read her. She shared her observations with the other handmaidens, and they decided they would try to ease Padmé’s discomfort, at least as much as they could. Eager to find a solution, they put their heads together and did what they do best-- scheme.

It was a long day in the court, and all Padmé wanted to do was flop onto her bed and not move for at least three days. Her handmaidens were suspiciously quiet on the walk from the throne room to the royal apartments, but Padmé was secretly grateful for it. She didn’t think she had enough energy to walk in the elaborate wardrobe of the Queen and hold a conversation at the same time. Soon, they arrived at the apartments, and Eirtaé quietly opened the door. Once inside, the handmaidens quickly stripped her of the gown. As soon as it was off, Padmé sat on the stool in the center of the common room, and they began working on her paint while Rabé took her place behind her to work on her hair. Padmé sighed when she felt the headdress being lifted off of her, relaxing further when Rabé’s gentle fingers began undoing her braids. Instead of putting her hair into a loose braid for the night, Rabé accepted a bowl from Saché and began working some sort of goop into her hair. Padmé sent a questioning glance towards Saché but didn’t press any further when she didn’t get an answer. She closed her eyes as Rabé massaged her scalp, relishing in the simple pleasure of being cared for by her friends.

When she was done, Rabé twisted Padmé’s hair up and secured it with a clip. After quietly instructing Padmé to rinse it out after ten minutes, the girls settled down to read and unwind, as was their nightly routine. They talked about a variety of subjects, from the latest palace gossip to speculating how many heart attacks they’d given Captain Panaka that day. It was Padmé’s favorite part of her day, relaxing with her friends and chatting about nothing and everything, enjoying being in each other's company. Padmé dutifully excused herself after ten minutes to rinse her hair and clean up. She lingered a little longer than strictly necessary, tension bleeding from her body under the warm spray.

Shutting off the water, Padmé stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She ran a brush through her hair once more, surprised by the lack of any difficult tangles. Her hair felt uncharacteristically smooth and soft when she went to braid it. Whatever Rabé had put into her hair, it had worked wonders. Padmé spent a minute staring at herself in the mirror, petting her hair in awe. She shook her head and started to braid, but she was still unable to wipe the goofy grin off of her face.

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As much as she loved her work as Queen, Padmé was grateful for the quiet day. For once, there were no meetings she needed to attend or appearances Amidala needed to make, so she didn’t bother to put on the Queen’s regalia. Officially, Queen Amidala would be spending the day in her quarters reviewing documents while her handmaidens were out running errands in the city. If, perhaps, there was so much that needed to be done that it required all of the girls, including the young page Padmé, well, who were they to shirk their duties? Surprisingly, it hadn’t taken much to convince Captain Panaka to allow the excursion. He seemed a little more at ease with their adventures now that they kept him in the loop for some of their schemes.

They’d opted against hoods for the day, as they were less likely to be recognized when they weren’t near the Queen. The central market of Theed was already bustling by the time the girls arrived at about noon. They’d meant to get there earlier, but decided to indulge themselves in their morning routine, taking time to do their hair in fun, elaborate hairstyles and go a little crazy with their makeup. Their morning was full of giggles and goofing off. It was a rare opportunity for them to be just teenage girls, not a head of state and her terrifyingly competent handmaidens. For the first time since her election, Padmé was out in public without the royal wardrobe. She hadn’t realized she missed the common, everyday activities of normal life until now. Being able to effortlessly move through the crowd without so much as a second glance was now foreign, but Padmé was grateful for it.

The girls wandered from stall to stall, eyeing the merchandise and occasionally making a purchase. Yané snagged a beautiful pair of night pearl earrings from an up and coming artisan, using most of her allowance for the day. They all teased her about using her money on one thing, but they really were a beautiful pair of earrings, well worth the price. None of the items for sale had really interested Padmé, so she used her share to buy them all a modest but tasty lunch after a few hours of meandering around the market.

Almost every time the girls approached a stall, patrons and vendors complimented Padmé’s hair, peppering her with questions about her hair care routine or tricks for styling it. Padmé deferred most of the questions to Rabé, reeling at the attention she drew. She’d gotten used to being in the public’s eye when she began her candidacy, but that had been as Amidala. It was new to draw the attention of passersby as just Padmé, but she enjoyed it much more. It felt more authentic, which in turn made her feel even more connected to the public and her people, even if they weren’t aware they were speaking to the Queen.

Once the entire market had been combed through, the girls headed back to the palace. The sun had started to set, and the girls could feel the excitement of the day catching up to them. When they’d gotten far enough away from the market that the streets were practically deserted, Padmé finally asked the question that had been on her mind all day. “So, how long were you planning my unusually good hair day?” The handmaidens stopped and looked at each other, silently discussing the best way to answer. When an explanation and a speaker was chosen, they turned back to Padmé with easy grins on their faces. “Not long. A few weeks ago I noticed you staring wistfully at me.” A couple of giggles interrupted, but quickly settled. “Once I realized you were staring at my hair, I told the others and we concocted a plan. Once we had the supplies, we just had to wait for a time we could get you out without being Amidala,” Sabé finished. Her rundown was clinical and professional, but Padmé could hear the affection in her voice. Saché piped up next, “You have a lot on your plate, we just wanted to do something nice for you.” Padmé’s heart melted at their words and the care in their eyes. She drew them into a hug, not caring how sappy and public it was. “I didn’t expect to get close to you all, but I’m so glad I did. You’re the best friends I could ever ask for, thank you.” She said. Though her words were a bit muffled, they all heard her loud and clear. “We’re glad to have you too,” Eirtaé responded. “Even if it means I won’t be the youngest accomplished engineer of Naboo.” She added. They laughed at her quip as they broke away from the hug. “It’s getting late, we should get back to the palace soon or Panaka will send out a search patrol,” Yané sighed. They all hummed their agreement and turned to start walking again. Padmé cautiously linked her arm with Rabé, and the rest of the group enthusiastically followed suit. With their arms linked and smiles on their faces, they continued their trek back to the palace.

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