▸ Column · Late Republic Coruscant — a senatorial society wedding, holo-recordings and Outer Rim courthouses
EMPEROR PALPATINE replies.
Replied to by Emperor Palpatine, with a rebuttal from Yoda.
The letter
I am to be married on Coruscant before the year turns. Last week my betrothed's mother — a senator of no small standing — sent word (sent word, mind you, not asked) that if my oldest friend Daneel stands beside me, she and her husband will not attend their only son's wedding. Her grievance? A single barbed remark Daneel made at a Senate gala three years ago, which the good senator captured on a holo-recording and has kept tucked away ever since, waiting. Daneel has been my dearest friend for eleven years, is to be my maid of honor, and twice crossed half the galaxy to help me plan this day. My betrothed murmurs about "finding a compromise" — which I am certain means quietly removing Daneel so his parents will appear, though he hasn't the spine to say it to my face. Do I hold firm and let his parents boycott their own son's wedding, or surrender and let his mother veto my friendships for the rest of my life? Both roads make me want to slip away to some quiet Outer Rim courthouse and be done with it.
Emperor Palpatine replies
My dear, how wearying — to be told, never asked. The senator did not request your obedience. She announced it, the way one announces weather. And your betrothed? He has a wish he cannot say aloud, so he dresses it up as "compromise" and waits for you to do the cutting for him. That is not a man seeking peace. That is a man who chose his mother long ago and hasn't the courage to tell you.
Now — that small voice urging you to bend, to be reasonable, to keep the peace. Ask yourself, candidly, who taught you that bending is grace. The people it serves, of course. A bride who keeps the peace is a bride who can be managed for forty years.
I sat in a Senate for decades, my friend, listening to reasonable people beg me to compromise — and every compromise was their surrender wearing a softer name. I kept no family to gentle me, and not once have I missed the leash. Daneel crossed a galaxy for you. The senator saved a recording for three years to use as a blade. You already know which of them loves you. I ask nothing. The list is yours. I only wonder why their two seats should cost your oldest friend hers.
— Emperor Palpatine
Yoda weighs in
Heard this voice before, I have — patient, reasonable, in a Senate too. Missed it I did, until too late. Hmm.
Fear, the senator acts from — losing her son, she dreads, and so the cage she builds. And you, to a courthouse you wish to run, in haste. The same fear, different faces both wear.
A coward, Sidious names your betrothed. A frightened man, I see instead — heal that fear you might, or wed it unhealed and learn nothing. Cut your friend, do not. Run in haste, do not. But meet his mother's fear with a war of your own — crush the marriage in your fist, that will. Name the fear first. Then, calm, speak. Patience, my friend.
— Yoda
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