(Video; UN: amidala)

[politicallyinclined]

(This month has been difficult for Padmé. Learning about Valentines Day...well. It was a gut punch. She is touching the necklace Anakin gave her so long ago and...

She has come to a decision.)

I wish to become a knight. I am aware I need to accomplish certain tasks, but what else is required?

(Being a noble occurred to her, but she has done that. It's time for her to protect others.)

Comments

[politicallyinclined]

I want to protect others. I spent time as a queen of my planet and then a senator. I have always had others to protect me and... I feel like it's my turn.

Politics are important, but Camelot needs those that are willing to fight - and I am.

[resistetmords]

That's nice, but there are always other ways to help and protect others. Some of them would be far better and more helpful. And I'm not talking about politics alone...

Sooo... why else? Remember, it's also a duty you're giving yourself up for and trusted to hold. I'm not questioning you're willingness to fight, most of us are.

[politicallyinclined]

Tell me more about other ways to help others? (She is always open to ideas of that nature.) My family could arrive at any moment - I expect them to - and I want to protect them. My husband was...like a knight. He saved my life numerous times. When I think of being a true defender, I imagine what he did.

[resistetmords]

Most of what comes to my mind is volunteer work. Like helping to keep the community clean, helping out an animal, women, or homeless shelter. Reading to children, helping to pass out food and medicine, and the like. Things like that are way too often overlooked in their overall impact on the larger scale of things.

A knight can help with all of that, but that's not really the purpose of a knight. All it really takes is a regular person wanting to help. And they can do all of the above and do a better job of it.

As for your husband... I think I understand why you're interested in it now.

[politicallyinclined]

I did volunteer work when I was a child. As fulfilling as it felt at the time, I wasn't able to do anything when the people I aided perished. Why can't I be a knight who does volunteer work? Then I can defend those I aid as well as make sure they have food and healing.

[She...is a mother. A new mother who wants to make this world safe for her children if...they come.]

He's very powerful. I will never match his skill, but I know I can help.

[resistetmords]

You can, but you can also do all of it without being one. Often times you can do a better job as you're not weighted down by the expectations that the title wants from you. In addition to whatever else you have going on off on the side.

Usually the best way to defend somebody isn't through force, but through building roads and maintaining them. Making certain they're given clean water, food, and clothes. A sword can't do that.

[Another smile here.]

I know you can too. You seem really dead set on it!

[politicallyinclined]

Titles don't frighten me. I have always done what I thought right regardless of what others told me or expected of me. Believe me, I caused my bodyguards a lot of stress, though they were kind enough to understand why I did what I did.

(But swords can protect lives in ways water, food and clothes can't.)

My children are in danger. My husband is in danger. Giving them water, food and clothes won't save them. I need to be strong enough to face the one who threatens them.

[resistetmords]

Ah- there it is. The actual reason why you're interested.

It's not meant to frighten you, but it is meant to hold you up to a higher standard and expect you to not only live up to it. But to also perform what is asked of you without question, first and foremost.

You have to still remember; danger comes in all forms to everyone. Not all of them can be handled through military means. Or should be. Giving water, food, clean clothes and shelter is what ultimately saves lives. And exist solely to do just that, while a weapon is meant to take lives and only that. It's up to the person that's using it to decide what to harm.

I'm not telling you to not do it. The reason you want to is quite nice and sound and your heart's in the right place. But maybe think about it a bit more.