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“She did what? Your majesty, I am so sorry.”
Breha didn’t reply immediately. She pressed her fingers to her temples and smoothed her perfect skin back from her face. She sighed. “Well, it can’t be helped. I suppose she was always going to hear the story sooner or later. And it’s not your fault she takes after her mother.”
Sabé laid a hand over the Queen’s. “She takes after both her mothers,” she said gently. Breha made these kind of references from time to time, and Sabé’s heart ached for her every time she did.
Bail had always seemed entirely secure in his identity as Leia’s father, right from the day he first brought her home, but Breha seemed occasionally to question whether she truly could call herself her mother. Maybe it was because she hadn’t carried her in her body, hadn’t given birth to her or nursed her.
Or perhaps it was easier to assume the title of father when the other man with a claim to it was Anakin Skywalker.
Breha smiled and squeezed Sabé’s hand. The moment passed, and Sabé remembered she was in the middle of an apology.
“I should have seen this coming. She’d learnt about the invasion of Naboo from her tutor, so she was asking about it.” Leia knew very little about Sabé’s past, but she did know she was from Naboo.
“She was asking about Amidala, and how she persuaded the Gungans to help her. So I told her the Queen earned their trust through revealing that she and her handmaiden had swapped places, to protect her.”
Sabé shook her head. “She went quiet, Breha, and that’s when I should have known. She started saying she didn’t believe me, that two people who weren’t related couldn’t look so much alike. So I told her about how the royal outfits and make up were designed to conceal, the effect body language and confidence can have, how people usually see what they expect to see. And now - this.”
“Well, we found her in time, and there’s no harm done. And I don’t think you should blame yourself for not seeing what she was up to. But, Sabé?”
“Yes Breha?”
“I think you may need to be a little more cautious in future when regaling my daughter with tales of your handmaiden exploits.”
Sabé nodded. “Of course. But truly, I have no worries that she would use whatever she might learn for anything other than good.” She smiled at her friend.
“After all, she is her mothers’ daughter.”