Pretty When You Cry by Meredith Bronwen Mallory (K/G)

[chibisophia.livejournal.com]

Hi there! I’m chibisophia and I’ll be a driver for the Star Wars fandom this month. This is my first time behind the wheel, but I’m a pretty fast learner so hopefully there won’t be any accidents. I'm going to try to offer up a little bit of everything this month, so hopefully there will be something for everybody.

Fandom: Star Wars (Prequel Trilogy)
Pairing: Gen-ish, with a hint of Anakin/Padme
Author on LJ: garnettrees
Author Website: http://www.demando.net/
Why this must be read:

It's hard to find good fanfiction that focuses on Anakin and Padme in The Phantom Menace, especially good fanfiction that realistically deals with Anakin and Padme age and inexperience in The Phantom Menace. This fic, taking place just before they return to Theed - deals not only with Anakin and Padme's friendship, but also the thoughts going through their head as both prepare to go to Theed. Meredith Bronwen Mallory skillfully writes Anakin and Padme as the youths that they are, and there are several beautiful moments in the fic that remind the reader of this. Padme, in particular, is outstandingly written. There's a real sense of innocence and childhood exploration in this fic, but cut through with just enough tension and foreshadowing that it isn't syrupy sweet.

Excerpt:

"I've never seen so much water!" he exclaimed, letting go of her hand to run towards the impossibility. His palms hit the stone rim as he leaned over to watch the fabled liquid lap against the barrier.

"It's a nice sound, isn't it?" Padme came up beside him, resting her slim hand on her shoulder and smiling briefly at their reflections. "At home I hear it all the time. Theed was built on a waterfall."

"Theed?" he repeated, thrusting his hands into the water. The ripples erased Padme's mirror; as it faded back in, he thought he saw her matured and crying and beautiful beyond belief, with a crimson butterfly spreading on her chest, but he thought it must have been a trick of the light.

"That's where the Queen lives," Padme explained, "It's the capital of Naboo-- I fall asleep listening to the waterfall. You can hear it all through the city, it's like Theed's heart beat." Her tone dropped towards the end, sliding into longing Anakin now understood all to well. Mother, Mos Espa and everything he'd known were far away from him now, but at least he still knew they were there. Padme held onto her memories because maybe there might not be a Theed anymore. She took his wet hand and they continued on towards where the smell of candy and food under hot light mixed with the faintest strains of an instrument they were both unfamiliar with.

Pretty When You Cry

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the rec. I didn't realize Meredith Bronwen Mallory wrote outside the Sailor Moon fandom. But then again, it's been a long time, and people tend to move on to other things.

[chibisophia.livejournal.com]

She seems to write in a lot of fandoms; I know I've seen her pop up in Mash and Sailor Moon, as well. ^^;