Star Wars : Chapter 25: Life Day Preparations I

( 34 BBY )

Athemeene was now the mother of three beautiful children. Her eldest, Tan'ya, was brilliant, her boy, Kenth, had the energy of a half a dozen kids his own age, and her youngest, Madale was quiet.

Blessedly quiet.

The newest born of Athemeene's three children and also the easiest to give birth to, which was to be expected given how early Madale was induced. Particularly compared to Kenth, who was just an absolute storm of a child, Madale slept like a stone and was incredibly well behaved, even more than Tan'ya was. She ate full meals, pooped on time, and giggled when played with.

"Keep this up and you're going to be my favorite." Athemeene murmured in a saccharine tone, before booping her daughter on the nose. "Oh, yes you are. You're the bestest little girl, aren't you?"

"Wife, you can't pick a favorite child."

"Why not?" Athemeene asked, standing up straight. "Madale is so much easier than the others. All the perks, none of the dangerous force powers. Or the screaming. Or the dirty clothes everywhere. Or the mysterious breakdowns of the house cleaning droids."

"It's not fair to hold them accountable for things they're not responsible for." Dooku put his arm around his wife and rubbed her shoulder as she pressed close to him.

She hummed in agreement. The two of them were standing above their daughter's cradle, watching their new daughter blink up at them with unfocused blue eyes. It'd take a while for her vision to develop properly, with about two to three hands being about the max distance she could see at for six weeks. Eventually her eyes would darken from blue to brown, more like her parents and siblings.

Madale's hover cradle was something Athemeene had picked up in the city, an old fashioned thing made out of simple components and rich hardwood. The Serenno family was rich enough that they could easily afford a sturdier one of durasteel or even splurge on a gold inlay, but wood was just warmer and more homely. Over time, Athemeene had come to prefer locally made furniture compared to something more expensive that could be imported from off-world, maybe a holdover from her days of hobby chasing in her lonely first year of marriage.

A few weeks of whittling courses had only taught her just how much pride a true master had in their craft, and it was astounding to see how beautiful and detailed a man with just a hammer and chisel could make a pattern.

This cradle was adorned with countless coiling Tirra'Taka, dragons of local legend that supposedly had been ridden into battle against foreign oppressors by the Serenno family in ancient times. She wasn't sure if she believed that story, but Athemeene was astounded at the many hours of work they represented.

The carver even claimed that her husband had ridden such a beast into battle against Ramil in the civil war. The awestruck tone in his voice when he spoke of Athemeene's often silly, sweet and awkward husband was hard to fathom. When he learned the cradle was for the Count's child, the carver insisted it was a gift. No matter how hard Athemeene insisted on paying, the old man had only just gotten even more stubborn until he finally lost his temper and yelled that she would make him ashamed.

It may be a bit hard to believe, but her husband really was a hero to the people of Serenno. After restoring law and bringing peace back to the planet, the love and loyalty the population held towards him was almost frightening to see sometimes.

There were times when she was worried about what they'd let him get away with if he tried to do something ridiculous.

Athemeene and her husband were not in lockstep on every issue. They both agreed the Senate was awful, but Athemeene grew up on Raxus. Even if the Republic was deeply, deeply flawed in its implementation, belief in democracy and the rule of law was incredibly common on her homeworld. She merely wished that the Republic wasn't broken and corrupt, where Dooku simply loathed it with every fiber of his being.

She understood his view, he was simply trying to fix things right here, right now, in reality. Why prattle about high unreachable ideals and whine about empty abstract principles when he could just do whatever was needed without the Senate? Certainly for a world gripped by civil war, decisive leadership and a firm hand was welcomed by the public.

But still, to Athemeene it was definitely a very… autocratic viewpoint.

When she'd mentioned as much to her husband, his response was curt and dismissive. 'If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then if such power is given to the masses, how can they not also be corrupted?' He'd shaken his dismissively. 'Only men of great character can be trusted with such responsibility.'

Once again, Athemeene could see his point, but at the same time she was left feeling very uncomfortable.

Thinking of discomfort, in the present there was a topic they needed to discuss. "Husband, we need to hire help."

She could feel him sighing through his nose. "Wife, we've discussed this."

"I understand, I do. You don't trust people easily, and you want to keep us safe, but I'm only one woman." She looked over at him. "This is our third child, and this palace is enormous. You're always traveling for work, and now Tan'ya's taking Jedi lessons. Please, I need help, and droids just aren't good enough. Kenth needs someone to play with and watch over him, and M8 can barely even run!"

She could see the reluctance and hesitation in his eyes. He absolutely did not want to bring someone into his home that he did not trust.

"Dooku, if you're worried we can recruit exclusively from here on Serenno. The commoners practically worship you, and your sister can easily run a background check. We could even invite your sister to live here, to keep the family together."

He hadn't said no yet, Athemeene could almost see his will giving in. "Athemeene-"

"Please, I need this. Your children need this."

He breathed out through his nose and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Eventually he said, softly, "How many were you thinking?"

"Just five." She answered with a smile, knowing that she'd won now they were negotiating numbers.

"Five?" He repeated in disbelief. "That many?"

"My father had fourty or so to maintain his palace."

"Could he not afford droids?" Dooku huffed.

"Husband, droids are much cheaper than paid servants."

Shaking his head in despair, Dooku turned towards the doorway. "Just… don't hire anyone without at least letting me perform a background check, first."

"Of course, of course." Almost giddy with victory, Athemeene turned back around to face her daughter. "Did you hear that, baby girl? You're gonna get a wet nurse, which means that mommy is always going to get a full night's sleep from now on!"

Apparently Madale was a fan of the idea, squirming in delight.

...

Working with Master Dyas on his book was helping Tan'ya develop a pretty good understanding of galactic history, particularly the murky origins of the Republic having completed volume 1 in the series.

It seemed having an assistant to explain things helped Sifo organize his thoughts, so that when they got to writing the words practically flowed from him. Because Tan'ya was an able typist both from using keyboards in her first life and typewriters in her second, it only took a small adjustment and soon she was writing as fast as Syfo was talking.

He was able to dictate the early history of the Republic in a very conversational tone, often moving about the room and glancing over sources he was already very familiar with to remind himself of their content.

The end result was a book that was written in just six months, and despite being a very dense subject matter, was a lot easier to understand than expected and offered a detailed account of the events, players, and motivations in the earliest days of the Republic. For his sources, Dyas usually preferred primary accounts, almost all of which were recorded on holocrons from the vaults of the Coruscant Temple, but also drew from the verbal traditions of early worlds in the Republic and their neighbors, like Corellia.

Apparently the Jedi Temple had been sacked during the Great Galactic War three and a half thousand years ago, and much had been lost. Many of Sifo's sources were only references to earlier works that no longer existed, mere second hand accounts of books that long dead authors had once read.

Sifo also had an impressive array of contacts at the University of Empress Teta who were up to date on the latest archaeological work. Despite being utterly dwarfed by the nearby University of Coruscant, the University of Teta actually had a history department which was just as if not slightly better regarded.

Apparently there was major debate on whether the figure the planet was named after, Empress Teta herself, was a real historical character or a mythological deity. The issue was further complicated by religious debates, with many of the planet's inhabitants worshiping Teta as a goddess who came to bring civilization to the Deep Core Worlds, and were offended at the idea of her ever being mortal.

On the subject, Sifo merely demurred. "I would say that there's clear evidence she was a real woman, but that will never change some people's minds. Besides, that's a debate for twenty thousand years in the future, we've still got a while to go before we get there."

Because of the heat of that debate, and the religious fervor of the world's archeological community, historians from Empress Teta were well regarded the galaxy over, regardless of if they were secular or worshippers of the Matriarch.

Tan'ya could remember at least one occasion where Sifo was drawn into an hour long argument with a university professor on whether or not to call the planet Empress Teta, its current name, or Koros Major, its name at the founding a the Republic.

...

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