I feel as though I'm reading from an old, well-loved storybook when I read your stories. They're so beautifully written, and so...gentle? I suppose that's the best word I can think of at the moment. You have a wonderful talent.

You write so elegantly, everything flows naturally. I'm in love with it all, frankly.

I like this. It's interesting that the first thing Beru would notice are Padme's hands, and that because of her own experiences on a dry planet the first thing she would think of is, these are "hands that know water." I think starting with that "foreignness" that Beru notices effectively highlights that Padme feels out of place here. And since she doesn't know the root either, that adds to it. But even though she seems kind of out of place, she is very polite and nice.

I also liked how at the end, you mentioned that Beru had a story to tell Luke of his mother.

This is an absolutely beautiful little piece, and this from someone who usually doesn't seek out Star Wars fics. The continuing motif of Padme's hands is very well done, but especially the implication of how her hands came to be so soft... she comes from a world with "enough water" not an arid desert like Tatooine.

Excellent job, too, establishing that Padme is out of her depth here, and that this is something she isn't used to - despite her elevated position she is humble and graceful.

The contrast between two very different types of womanhood is masterful.

The real drawcard for this, though, is the strong imagery you've incorporated in such a short piece. The peeling of the "foreign root" and the silver ship. Beautiful work x

I found this to be a very charming little piece. You capture a simple, homey moment and turn it into something very sweet. I love the repetition and focus upon Padme's hands. It might seem unusual, focusing upon something so trivial, but I think it is perfect. Padme's hands tell a story like Beru's hands. Her hands say she's a woman who has a different story to tell. Padme's hands have touched different things, and done different things. She's an exact opposite of Beru, who has lived a harder life, and has a different tale to tell. Yet those differences matter not when the two women stand there preparing dinner together. There they are nothing more but two women working at a similar task.

This line here: ((...slow and deep, angled away from the body, the peels curling in long, stringy wires on the countertop beside her.)) is quite elegant. I can so perfectly imagine the peels as they are shaved away from the root. Very nice.

Again, this line here: ((the ansar peel curling in elegant strands at the end of the knife.)) so perfectly works to bring the answer root to life in my mind.

Really, really loved this work of imagery here in this line: ((...and the silver ship blazes up like a sun and is gone.)). It’s very simple, and yet it makes me think of the ship glinting like sunlight in the blaze of the two suns, like a streak of white hot fire (which burns the hottest). It is a fabulous piece of imagery. There’s also a lingering sadness in the rest of the lines because even though she will never see Padme (or Anakin) again, she does raise her son, Luke to manhood.

I really just loved this ending. It’s so simple, just a statement how ((…what she remembers are Padmé's hands.)). It really makes Padme’s hands have a special influence and emphasis.
Fabulous little story! Great job at taking something so unusual and turning into something so beautiful!

Oh, my goodness. This is so beautiful. The simple descriptions, the way she notices Padmé's hands are used to water, are perfectly in character for Beru. I love the "almost shy" awkwardness at first, the way the kitchen is a "neutral ground," and then the conversation. It's so real, so much like how people in a such a situation would speak and react to each other.

Beru teaching Padmé to peel vegetables made me smile. Padmé has likely grown up with servants and never had to work in a kitchen before, but she knows how to deal with people and she doesn’t have the arrogance associated with such an upbringing. I love that “Beru thinks she deserves credit for trying.”

And then, the ending sent shivers running up and down my spine and tears starting to my eyes. Shmi’s death, and then Luke. What a perfect way to end this, with the new hope that is Luke looking back to the past, and remembering.

Simply wonderful. I love it.

This is a gorgeous little vignette. I don't read a lot of Star Wars fic, probably because there aren't enough like this one-ones that take the time to fill out the edges of a world that Lucas didn't have time to explore fully in six movies. You make this fic feel intensely personal, and add an astounding amount of gravity to a seemingly unimportant event, and, in doing so, give Beru, a character who barely gets any screen-time, a distinctive, strong voice. Excellent.

Short and sweet (not spicy like the cuisine) and a lovely way to characterize Padme. Thank you!

You have so many great one-liners in this. I loved 'She wonders about the world this woman must come from, a world with enough water to produce such smooth hands' - You clearly mean this literally in context of the previous paragraph; even so, there's a great double meaning here where 'world' could represent a culture or even more specifically the background experiences that have shaped Padme into who she is, soft like her hands, although I'm fandom-blind and I might be doing some English major analytical overkill in thinking that! Either way, the line had a great sense of atmosphere to it and already set off the mood of the piece to be warm, sort of soft around the edges.

'There's water boiling in a pot. It's as close to neutral ground as anything on Tatooine can be.' - Understated and gorgeous because of it.

'the peels curling in long, stringy wires on the countertop beside her' - I actually wasn't a huge fan of this descriptor: the word choice didn't really fit with the mood of the rest of the sentence, which to me made it come off a bit clumsy.

Really great closing line, too, to wrap together the ideas in the piece and connect them back to the later plot events you reference.

I'm not familiar with the fandom, but I really enjoyed how you were able to say so much about the dynamic between the two women (and between their cultures) by contrasting allusions to those differences with soft descriptions of the scene in the kitchen. 'They're two women alone, each in her own way, and they both need the distraction' - perfect example of this.

So poignant!

The simple words and clear, short sentences were at times jarring (as in "She is a natural"), but for the most part they added a casual, immediate feel to events, as though someone were just describing them as they happened. The images you created were very strong, particularly that of Padmé's hands. It reminded me of the attitude towards water on Arrakis (in Dune).

Very nice. Great characterization of Padme's clear life of luxury and Beru's perceptiveness.

Good interaction! The moment you created is very poignant.
But I've always thought that Padmé would have callouses on her hands. Soft and unscarred, perhaps, but calloused.

Oh my gosh! I mean, this was lovely from the beginning, but the end made me tear up and wow. That ending was so powerful.

I love this little glimpse into the too brief friendship between Beru and Padmé. That Padmé is completely unused to preparing food, but that she's willing to help. And that Beru is kind and not judgemental. They both seem so in character, and it's sad that they didn't get to know each other better. But, as is so brilliantly underscored in the final lines, it is good that they did have this time, because Beru has something to tell Luke about his mother.

Wow. I wish I had more to say about this beautiful fic, but I can't think of anything more other than just gushing even more about how beautiful it is and how it made me cry at the end.

I like this. It's simple with a theme: the hands. She's learning something new, as well as showing at the same time how observant Beru can be. Characterisation backed up with another. Nice work! Cheers!

Tune

“Everything that happens after that is a blur of movement, like the dark smudge of sand against the horizon that heralds a storm.”
Awesome line.
“the peels curling in long, stringy wires on the countertop beside her.”
Great visual information. It gives the reader a strong mental image of the roots being peeled.

This whole piece was very well written.

One small inconsistency that I happened to notice:
“Padme takes a stack of the roots and grasps the peeler Beru hands her gingerly,” and then later, “Her hands move steadily, the ansar peel curling in elegant strands at the end of the knife.”
Is it a peeler or a knife? I understand the desire to avoid too much much use of the same words over and over, but the knife/peeler inconsistency does stand out a bit. If it were mine, I’d change peeler to blade.