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Life Day was coming up. It had always been Satine Kryze’s favorite holiday. She remembered staying up late trying to wait for the presents to be delivered by Father Mando. She never could keep her eyes open long enough and she would drift into sleep and when she woke up, they would be there. She would jump up and down and run to her parents, or at least her mother since her father was so often away due to business and war, and give them kisses and hugs.
Every year before Life Day people would ask Satine what she wanted. Satine always had the same answer.
“What do you want, Satine?” she would be asked.
Satine would smile, but she never had to think about it.
“I want a baby brother or sister,” Satine said, her eyes lighting up bright. She always imagined her little brother or sister. She didn’t care what gender the baby was. She just wanted to have a little sibling. She wanted to have a friend who she could be there for. A sibling was the gift. The greatest gift a parent could give their child.
Or at least Satine thought that.
But every year, her parents didn’t give her one.
Eventually Satine started to give up. Maybe a sibling wasn’t necessary, and yet she could never help but long for one when she saw her friends with theirs, even when they fought with them. That was just something she wanted.
But Satine still worked hard to make her parents proud.
And she thought she did well. She was making waves as a young teen in the political field. Her father and mother were constantly telling her how proud they were.
“Adonai,” Satine’s mother said when she thought Satine was sleeping. “Our daughter is a genius. She’s special. She’s going to change Mandalore.”
Satine had only been about to get water, but when she heard that, she rushed back to her room. Change Mandalore? That was… Yes, it was Satine’s dream to do so. She wanted to change the Galaxy for the best, but hearing her parents say that…. It was great that they believed in her…
But it also scared her.
And even though Satine was smart, she wasn’t a genius.
But Satine kept working. So, so hard. Her father might have been a Duke and he ruled some things. More than most, but Satine… Satine wanted to help Mandalore on her own talents. She had to do the best for herself.
And her parents worked too, especially her mother. Her mother would go on and on about how Mandalore needed a new ruler.
“They can’t just have a new ruler, Mother,” Satine said one day as she studied. “A new ruler doesn’t necessarily make a difference. The ruler needs to have different views. They can’t believe in all this unnecessary war.”
Satine’s father was a warrior and a soldier. And so Satine knew all about the pain that war could cause.
“You should rule, ad’ika,” her mother said. Her eyes lit up so passionately. It almost scared Satine. “You should be the queen of Mandalore.”
The queen of Mandalore.
“Buir is a duke and I’d be a duchess… maybe… I don’t know,” Satine said, looking at the floor in their living room.
“No, you could be a queen,” Mother said. “My daughter, the queen of Mandalore.”
Satine could only stare at her. She would never take the title of queen even if she ruled. It… there was just too much on it. She wouldn’t take the title of Mand’alor either. She had no interest in the Darksaber. The Darksaber represented the violent side of Mandalore. The side that Satine wished didn’t exist.
But it did, but maybe it could just be history. History that Satine studied so hard. Mandalore could change.
Right?
“I will never be queen,” Satine muttered. “I will never have that title.”
Things changed. Satine got even more involved with politics. Her mother seemed more excited about it than Satine did. Satine saw how her mother would light up when she would tell people about how her daughter was moving up so fast. How her daughter was special, unique. Exceptional.
Satine didn’t feel that way so often.
She felt normal. She was just trying to make her way in this Galaxy which was so hard. And she was just trying to help Mandalore.
Which was so much harder than she thought.
Especially when people did start saying that she should rule. That her whole family should rule. And it wasn’t just her mother who was excited about that. It was her father too. Oh, how his eyes had lit up. When he had looked at her mother… Satine had never seen them look so passionately at each other.
Especially when apparently, he would rule for awhile before Satine.
Satine was too young apparently. And he was a good Mandalorian. A solider. The ideal Mandalorian. And he had done so much for Mandalore.
And Satine was happy with her dad ruling.
Her mother was more than happy about it, but Satine knew at the same time, if her buir died, they would want advisors to rule in her place for awhile until she was an adult. Satine didn’t like that. Her buir refused to give up on being a soldier, even now. Satine didn’t understand it. It wasn’t good for the people.
War wasn’t good for the people.
How could he not listen to her? Satine told her dad all the time about how war was hurting Mandalore. Their planet was already so hurt and damaged from the wars they had with each other. Mandalore wouldn’t even be livable if not for the domes. Yes, some of the other planets in their sector were fine, but Mandalore was the center, where the capital was.
Satine herself was from Kalevala and had only recently moved to Mandalore near Sundari, but she cared about Sundari and Mandalore. And all of the Mandalorian sector would be like Mandalore if they didn’t change their lifestyle.
Most people wanted to hear what Satine had to say and her father… well…
“Oh, Satine, you have such good ideas, but you don’t know how the Galaxy works, ad’ika,” he would say and then he would ruffle her blond hair. Satine really didn’t resemble her father much at all. He was a red head and her mother was more strawberry blond, maybe blond. Satine was also strawberry blond, but really much closer to blond. Only in certain light could you see the red.
Satine would argue with her buir, but it never made a difference and he did try to change things. He didn’t want all this war. He didn’t want Mandalore to continue how it was going, but he didn’t agree that complete pacifism was possible.
Satine knew that it could be. She just knew it.
It didn’t matter what her father said.
He didn’t believe entirely in her policies and yet she was his heir.
Years went by. Satine was a teen, getting closer to being an adult every day. Eventually Life Day Morning came again. Like always, Satine woke up early, wearing her special Life Day pajamas that her parents bought her. She didn’t expect her parents would wake up as early as she did. She loved making them breakfast on Life Day.
But this Life Day, her father was waiting for her. He grinned when he saw her.
“Buir!” Satine said. She hurried over and hugged him. He kissed the top of her head. A week ago, her buir had given her bad news. He was going to go fight in the Clan Wars soon. Satine didn’t understand why. He was ruler. He shouldn’t and couldn’t do that now.
But he had said if a ruler sent his people to war, then he or she should be willing to fight. They shouldn’t expect others to fight for them. That made sense to Satine, but she didn’t want any war.
“Ad’ika, happy Life Day morning,” he said. His eyes… they were so bright and happy. Happier than… she had ever seen them. And it was just because it was Life Day… there was something else.
“Happy Life Day,” Satine said. “I was just about to make break—”
“I want to give you your present, ad’ika,” her buir said. “I just can’t wait any longer.”
“But Mama is sleeping,” Satine said, resorting to the name she had called her mother when she was little.
“Your mother said it’s fine if I tell you earlier. Stars, I’m so excited. So ecstatic. I’ve wanted this for so long. It’s a blessing. It’s such a gift. Your mother and I had given up.”
“What’s going on?” Satine was honestly confused. None of this made any sense to her. Her buir was so happy. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen him this ecstatic.
“Your mother is going to have a baby!” Buir said, her grinned so wide. “You’re going to be a big sister.”
Satine couldn’t even breathe. Big sister…It was what she had wanted for so long, but she had given up on it. Her parents had her fairly young. At 21 and 24, and yet now she didn’t think they would have another one and yet here her father was telling her exactly that.
“Ad’ika, we wanted one for awhile,” her buir said. “Your mother said you needed an heir until you had children of your own and I always wanted another baby, but it didn’t happen until recently. And now… Stars, he or she is so strong. Such a fighter.”
“He’s such a Mandalorian,” her mother said as she came into the room. She was clutching her stomach. Now that Satine thought about it, her mother had been doing that more recently.
“Cyar’ika,” Buir said as he went over to his wife. He put his hand on her stomach and rubbed it. “It could be a girl.”
“I’d prefer a son. We have a perfect girl and we don’t need another one. She wouldn’t be able to measure up to Satine.”
Her father actually laughed about this but it rubbed Satine the wrong way. Satine was far from perfect also. She made mistakes constantly. Her mother knew that.
Her mother wouldn’t let her forget it.
“She would be her own person. She wouldn’t have to be like me,” Satine said. She imagined it would be hard for a child no matter what the gender if they were always being compared to her, especially since the child would be so much younger than Satine.
“A boy would be better,” her mother said. “A perfect little boy.”
Dad smiled. “What do you want, ad’ika?”
Satine paused. Maybe she should say what her mother wanted and claim to want a brother. Then again when she was little, she would probably have preferred a sister. But even then, she would have been happy with either and she went back and forth.
And now… well… she was just happy she would have a sibling to love and she did already love him or her, even though they were so tiny inside her mother.
Not ready to come out into the Galaxy.
“I’m happy either way,” Satine said, meaning every word. “I just want them to be healthy.”
Her mother sighed and rolled her eyes. “Of course, they’ll be healthy, Satine. Don’t be such a—“
“Either is fine,” Buir said. “I need you to make me a promise, Satine.”
“Okay, Buir,” Satine said.
“You need to promise you’ll watch out for this little boy or girl,” her dad said. He smiled and then kissed Satine’s forehead. “We’re Mandalorians and we take care of family.”
“I pro—“
“There are a lot of people out there who might hurt a Mandalorian child, especially one related to the Duchess of Mandalore. People might want to take advantage of him or her. They might try and hurt them.”
Satine frowned. She wasn’t the duchess of Mandalore yet.
“Especially people like those kriffing Vizslas,” Mother said.
“I’ll protect the baby,” Satine said. She would especially if it was a girl. The Galaxy was harder on women.
“That’s my girl,” Dad said.
“Back on the subject of the Vizslas,” Mom said. “I don’t trust them. Is there no way that we can get rid of them?”
Buir sighed. “Not without cause, cyar’ika.”
“I have cause. It’s because I hate them,” she sighed and touched her stomach again. “And I don’t trust them around my baby.”
With this wonderful news, Satine believed that the next few months would be great even with a war going on. After all her baby sibling was growing inside her mother. She would be happy about that even as she worked to bring peace.
But then her father left to fight and it… he didn’t make it… He died. He always said rulers should fight in wars and not just expect their subjects to do so.
And with that… Satine felt as if the Galaxy came crashing down. She had loved her father so much. She still did even if he was gone. He had been so amazing and compassionate to her. How could she go on without him?
But she had to. And now she was ruling Mandalore with advisors but still. And the war was getting worse all the time. Satine wouldn’t give up though.
A couple months went by and her mother went into labor even though it was too early. The baby wasn’t supposed to come yet. He or she would be too little. They might not survive.
But even when the doctors tried to keep them from being born, it didn’t work. And the baby came into the world. Satine was with her mother when it happened.
When the baby came out, Satine expected they would cry. They didn’t and the baby was so still. The doctors started talking fast and they took her to the side.
Satine couldn’t breathe. All she could do was stare at the baby and the doctors. What was wrong with the baby?
“Why isn’t he crying?” Mother asked. “Why isn’t my son crying?!”
This couldn’t be happening. The baby had to be okay.
And then finally the baby let out a cry. It was weak but they let out a cry. Satine breathed a sigh of relief as did her mother.
“It’s a girl,” the doctor said and she passed her to her mother after wrapping the tiny baby in a blanket. “She’s going to need to stay here for awhile since she is early, but she’s a perfect little girl.”
Mother stared at her. “I was supposed to have a boy. They told me I was having a boy.” And they had. Her mother had been ecstatic about that.
But this baby was not a boy.
“You never truly know what the baby is until they’re born and this one is all girl,” the doctor said. “She’s small right now but we’re going to take good care of her. You did a good job.” She smiled at Mother.
Her mother kept staring at the baby. “My baby is supposed to be a boy.”
The baby stared at her and let out a small wail.
“Can I hold her?” Satine asked.
The doctor looked at Mother and Mother just nodded and basically shoved the baby at Satine.
Satine was speechless. The baby… she was tiny… much too tiny but stars, she was perfect. Her face was so cute. Unlike Satine, she didn’t have blond hair and instead it was pure red like their father’s and she had a lot of it. Her eyes were big and bright and she looked right into Satine’s.
Satine had never been so much in love.
“I promise, little one. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you ever,” Satine said. She touched the baby’s red hair. “I promise.”
And Satine meant it. She really did. She did want to protect the baby.
But in the end, the Galaxy had other plans. Horrible plans.
But at that moment, Satine would have done anything for her baby sister.
Sweet little Bo-Katan.