After the pair had finished cleaning the racks, they wasted no time in leaving Watto's Shop and hitting the streets of town, eager to head back home. But as they made their way, Ryha noticed the same funny creature from earlier at one of the vendors.
"Isn't that...?" she asked, drawing Anakin's attention to the oafish thing.
"Yeah," Anakin trailed off, trying to get a better look. "He's talking to Sebulba."
"Talking? It looks like he's about to get killed."
"Come on."
Anakin wasted no time in heading over to where the odd creature and Sebulba were, dragging Ryha along with him. As they approached, they saw Sebulba raise his fist to hit the poor thing on the ground, and that's when Anakin decided to make his presence known.
"Careful, Sebulba," he taunted, "He's a big-time outlander. I'd hate to see you get diced before we race again."
"Next time we race, boy, it will be the end of you." Sebulba hissed. "If you weren't a slave, I'd squash you both right now."
"Yeah, it'd be a pity if you had to pay for us." Ryha muttered just loud enough for both of them to hear.
Sebulba glared at the two children before skulking off back where he came from, leaving them alone with the creature on the floor. Anakin sighed, and helped the large thing up from the floor, shaking his head at Ryha as he did so.
"Hi," a new voice spoke, garnering all of their attention.
Ryha took a step behind Anakin at the sight of the man from earlier on, but Anakin didn't seem phased in the slightest. In fact, he almost looked happy to see the man.
"Hi there," he smiled. "Your buddy here was about to be turned into orange goo. He picked a fight with a Dug — an especially dangerous Dug — called Sebulba."
"Mesa haten crunchen. Das da las ting mesa want." the creature spoke, making Ryha cringe at the sound of his shrill voice.
"Nevertheless, the boy is right. You were heading into trouble." the man spoke, looking to Anakin and Ryha. "Thank you, my young friends."
As the three outlanders began to make their way away from the scene, Anakin began to follow them. Confused, Ryha pulled his hand back, creating somewhat of a distance between them before speaking.
"What are you doing, Ani?" she asked. "We have to get home soon before your mother starts to worry."
"Look at them. They'll die out here without our help!" Anakin explained, gesturing to the three strangers. "Don't worry about mom, we'll be home in time for dinner."
Sighing, Ryha allowed Anakin to start walking again, dragging behind him slightly as he enthusiastically caught up with them.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." she murmured to herself.
The five of them walked for a bit, making light conversation here and there before Anakin stopped at another vendor's tent.
"Here," Ani spoke up, handing the tall man some food. "You'll like these pallies."
"Thank you," the man spoke, taking the food and tucking it beneath his tunic, giving Ryha and Anakin a glimpse of what was attached to his hip holster.
Ryha was encaptured by the sight, never having seen anything like it before, and curious as to what it was exactly. But she was quickly pulled out of her intrigue by the friendly old woman's warnings.
"Oh, my bones are aching," she spoke with a worried tone. "A storm's coming up, Ani. You'd better get yourself and little Ryha home quick."
"I'm not little," Ryha pouted. "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"
But Ryha's silly question was blown away with the increasing winds as Anakin turned to the outlanders and began questioning them.
"Do you have shelter?" he prodded.
"We'll head back to our ship."
"Is it far?"
"It's on the outskirts." the young woman from before spoke up, surprising even Ryha with the location.
"You'll never reach the outskirts in time," Ryha spoke quietly. "You'll get swept up in the sandstorm."
"And sandstorms are very, very, dangerous." Anakin added on. "Come on, I'll take you to my place!"
At this, Ryha's eyes widened, astounded that he'd offer his home to three strangers and their droid that he'd only met this morning, and had only seemed to be cause trouble since then. But, knowing Anakin, no matter what she said, he wouldn't listen. He was headstrong and stubborn, and not always in an admirable way. But, nevertheless, Ryha held onto his hand just a little tighter as her best friend led the way back to his modest home. As they approached his home, Ryha smiled a little bit at the familiarity of it, and practically made a mad dash with Anakin inside.
"Mom!" he called out, "Mom, I'm home!"
"Ani, Ryha!" Shmi smiled, only for it to falter when she saw the others that her son had brought with him. "Who's this?"
"These are my friends, mom." Anakin spoke, letting go of Ryha's hand as she ran to hug his mother.
Taking a step forward, the tall man with the long hair stepped forward, making Ryha cower a little bit into Shmi's dress.
"I'm Qui-Gon Jin," he introduced himself. "The young woman is Padmé, the other is Jar Jar Binks, and our droid, R2-D2. Your son and daughter were kind enough to offer us shelter."
"Oh, she's not my daughter," Shmi laughed softly, playing with Ryha's hair. "She's a friend of Ani's."
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize. They seemed so close, I just assumed—"
"It's quite alright, Sir Qui-Gon. A common error, indeed. They're attached at the hip, aren't they?"
"Yes, it appears as though they are," Qui-Gon smiled, bending down so that he was at Ryha's height. "And you, little one? Your name is Ryha, is it not?"
"I'm not little," she pouted yet again, speaking into the fabric of Shmi's dress. "But yes. My name is Ryha."
"My apologies, Miss Ryha." he spoke with a smile. "My name is Qui-Gon Jin. It's a pleasure to finally be formally acquainted."
"What do we say, Ryha?" Shmi asked quietly, guiding the blushing girl's face from the protection of her skirt.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sir Qui-Gon."
"Alright, Ryha, why don't you go find Anakin for me, yeah?" Shmi asked, turning to Qui-Gon. "I'm sure he's torturing that poor girl with his droids and things."
Ryha nodded and took off in the direction of Anakin's room, knowing exactly what his mother was referring to. He loved expressing his talents and showcasing them to anyone with eyes to see and ears to listen, and Ryha loved that about him. The only thing she didn't love about it now was that he was showing someone else, and that person being the pretty young lady from the shop.
"When the storm is over, I'll show you my racer. I'm building a podracer—"
"Uh, Ani," Ryha interrupted, standing in the doorway timidly. "Your mother wants you."
"Oh. Must be time for dinner then," Anakin shrugged, turning off the droid that he'd been showing off. "I'll show you the rest, later. Come on, my mom's a great cook."
The trio walked into the living room of the tiny Skywalker home, and reconvened with the rest of the party. Shmi invited them all to sit anywhere they liked for dinner, and as always, Ryha and Anakin were side by side, as close as could be to each other. Qui-Gon watched the children closely as Shmi went around serving the guests, pondering the children's friendship. There was something about this young boy, but what, he did not know. As for the girl, she was normal in all regards, but their bond was something unique. Something that he, himself, could feel. There was a sense of peace that washed over both of them as soon as the other stepped into the room, and the shift was unlike anything else he'd felt before.
"So," Qui-Gon began, finally tearing his gaze away from the children and onto Shmi. "It's been brought to my attention that you and the children are slaves?"
Shmi sighed, yet nodded, looking more worn out at the very thought of her status.
"Unfortunately so," she spoke, pouring water for all of the guests. "The slave trade on Tatooine is very common."
"Why yousa no leave?" Jar Jar asked, making Ryha cringe again.
She was growing less and less fond of this creature by the minute.
"All slaves have a transmitter placed inside their bodies somewhere." Shmi answered.
"I'm working on a scanner to try and locate ours." Anakin informed.
"Any attempt at escape—"
"And they blow you up!"
Ryha cringed at the thought of that fate happening to her, but she had faith in her Anakin. If anyone could find the transmitter, it would be him. And once he found his, he could find hers, too. And then they could leave Tatooine and never come back!
"I can't believe there's still slavery in the galaxy," Padmé spoke softly, appalled by the news she was hearing. "The Republic's antislavery laws—"
"The Republic doesn't exist out here," Shmi interrupted gently, sitting down next to the girl. "We must survive on our own."
"Has anybody ever seen a podrace?" Anakin asked, changing the subject.
"They have podracing on Malastare." Qui-Gon spoke. "Very fast, very dangerous."
"Ani's the only human that can do it..." Ryha spoke up, looking at her best friend and then back down at her plate. "He's the best there is."
"He must have Jedi reflexes if he podraces."
Anakin looked up at the long haired man before him inquisitively before asking the question that'd been weighing heavily on him the whole night.
"You're a Jedi knight, aren't you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I saw your laser sword. Only Jedis use that kind of weapon."
At this, Ryha's ears perked up. So that's what the thing on his belt was. Suddenly, everything about the man was starting to make sense. She'd only heard of Jedis from the stories that Anakin would hear at the shop and relay onto her, but if everything they were saying was true, Qui-Gon Jin was most definitely a Jedi.
"Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him." Qui-Gon countered.
"I don't think so." Anakin replied.
"No one can kill a Jedi." Ryha spoke up.
Turning his attention to the little girl across the table, Qui-Gon sent her a soft smile.
"I wish that were so, Miss Ryha."
Ryha blushed at the attention that she was receiving and quickly looked away, making the Jedi chuckle a little to himself before returning his focus to Anakin.
"I had a dream I was a Jedi," Ani began again, much to Ryha's appreciation. "I came back here and freed all the slaves — Ryha and mom first, of course... Have you come to free us?"
"I'm afraid not."
"I think you have. Why else would you be here?"
Qui-Gon Jin leaned forward onto the table as Anakin looked from the Jedi to Padmé, trying to figure out just exactly what their deal was.
"I can see there's no fooling you, Anakin," he began. "We're on our way to Coruscant, the central system of the Republic, on a very important mission."
"How did you end up here on the outer rim?"
"Our ship was damaged and now we're stranded here until we repair it." Padmé sighed.
"I can help!" Anakin volunteered. "I can fix anything!"
"I believe you can. But first, we must acquire the parts we need." Qui-Gon spoke.
"Wit no-nuttin mula to trade." Jar Jar spoke sadly.
"These junk dealers must have a weakness of some kind."
"Gambling," Shmi rolled her eyes. "Everything here revolves around betting on those awful races."
"Podracing. Greed can be a powerful ally."
"Anakin has a racer," Ryha muttered. "It's the fastest ever."
"Yeah! There's a big race tomorrow at Boonta Eve!" Anakin enthused. "You could enter my pod!"
"Anakin!" Shmi chided. "Watto won't let you."
"Watto doesn't know I've built it! Qui-Gon could make him think it's his and get him to let me pilot it for you."
"Anakin, I don't want you to race. It's awful! I die every time Watto makes you do it."
"But mom, I love it! And besides, the prize money would be more than enough to pay for the parts they need."
"Anakin..."
"Your mother's right." Qui-Gon stated. "Is there anyone friendly to the Republic that could help us?"
At this question, all three of the Tatooines shook their heads, knowing that the Republic was all but a myth where they lived. Sighing, Anakin looked to his mother with pleading eyes, knowing that he was going to have to go down with a fight to win the debate.
"Mom, you always say that the biggest problem in the universe is that no one helps each other."
"I'm sure Qui-Gon doesn't want to put your son in danger," Padmé spoke up. "We'll find some other way."
Shmi let out a sigh, knowing that her son was right.
"No. There is no other way. I may not like it, but he can help you. He was meant to help you."
At this, Ryha was conflicted. On one hand, she was happy that Anakin was going to be able to do what he loves, and help others through it. But on the other hand, she knew and had seen the dangers of racing first hand. She didn't want anything to happen to Anakin — especially with so much on the line. With the prize money, not only could he help the Jedi and his friends, but he could also help him and his mother. Either way, she knew that Anakin was always going to do the right thing, and that she would just have to support him through it no matter what.