❝𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚... 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠.❞ -- 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙔𝙤𝙙𝙖
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Astrid had only meant to rest her eyes, not necessarily fall asleep. But she must've dozed off on Anakin's shoulder because when she was gently shaken awake, she found the sun was already halfway below the horizon, and the stars were beginning to glimmer in the sky.
"Astrid, it's time to go," Anakin told her gently from beside her.
She lifted her head from his warm, comfortable shoulder, and she realized how chilly it had gotten with the setting sun. She rubbed tiredly at her eyes, feeling perhaps more tired than she had been when she had first fallen asleep.
Anakin spoke quietly, "It's dark enough that I think we can get out of here without being spot by any lingering droids." He paused before saying, "I need to go to my mother before we go back to Obi Wan. She needs me."
Astrid nodded in understanding and said without pause, "I'll go with you."
He hesitated a moment before dipping his head. "We will have to visit Watto, my old master. My mother should still be working for him." His voice was tinged with bitterness. Anger flashed like blue fire in his eyes as he added, "Perhaps Watto is the danger."
Astrid rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder and suggested placatingly, "Let's just go see your mother, okay? Then, we'll see what the problem is."
Anakin nodded begrudgingly, and Astrid moved into a crouch, pebbles rolling underneath her boots. She peeked through the two boulders and looked up and down the mountain. There was no sign of movement, so it must be safe enough for them to move without getting caught again.
Anakin moved into a crouch as well, and the two of them slipped between the two boulders and back onto the mountain trail. This time Astrid led the way, and she was careful to keep her footsteps quiet as she hurried down the mountain.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a starship taking off, and they ducked low to the ground and pressed themselves against the rock wall as they looked up at the sky. On top of the mountain, a Separatist ship rose into the air before it shot into the sky and disappeared within moments.
"Maul," Astrid whispered, her heart racing even though she knew Maul probably couldn't see them. Anakin nodded.
"He must be leaving because he knows his droid factory ruse is over."
They stood back up, and Astrid crouched to the ground as she gripped a corner of a boulder with a hand and swung herself down. Anakin landed beside her a moment later. It took them fifteen minutes to get down the mountain, and several times they had to stop when they came across another cave opening.
Even though Maul had left, Astrid was surprised they didn't run into any droids on the way down. She thought Maul would have ordered the droids to remain and scour the mountain for the two of them. But maybe the droids had been doing that all day, and Astrid just didn't known because she had fallen asleep.
Since Anakin and Astrid had been taken to the caves, leaving their skipper behind in Mos Eisley, they had to trek across the desert on foot. Astrid's feet sunk into the sand as she walked beside Anakin, and she wrapped her arms around her body to tug her cloak tighter around her as the temperature plummeted with the suns.
At this point, it was pitch black outside. They had only the stars for light.
Astrid's calves began to ache, but she plowed forward relentlessly, determined to reach Mos Espa and Watto to save Anakin's mother. They traveled in silence, not daring to speak for fear that there might be other predators in the area who would be drawn to their voices.
Not to mention Maul could have ordered the droids to scout the area around the mountain, too, not just the mountain, itself.
They must've walked for hours because when they finally reached Mos Espa. The sky was beginning to lighten to a dark blue instead of jet black. At this point, Astrid was worn out with exhaustion, and her entire legs and feet hurt. Nevertheless, she didn't stop.
The streets were just beginning to stir with blurry eyed inhabitants as Anakin led her down the sand-packed street, his stride confident as he navigated the town. They reached Watto's shop and found the plump Toydarian junk dealer sitting in the shade outside his shop.
"Excuse me," Anakin spoke as they stopped before Watto, and the Toydarian eyed them warily before glancing down at the metal in his hands.
"What?" he demanded, his attention fixated on the piece of junk-- a droid of some sort-- in his grimy hands. He appeared to be trying to fix the small droid, but he was obviously failed at it because he let out a grumble of complaint.
When Anakin didn't immediately reply, Watto looked up at them with narrowed eyes. "What can I do for ya?" he asked. The small droid in his hand gave a quiet sputter, and a small plume of smoke rose up from its metal body.
"Here, let me help you with that," Anakin said, an edge of impatience in his voice, and he took the droid from Watto's hands.
As he tinkered with the droid, Watto's gaze switched between Astrid and Anakin before settling on Anakin again. His brow furrowed as he said cautiously in his craggily voice, "You look like Jedi. Whatever it is your here for... I didn't do it."
Anakin fiddled with the droid a while longer before handing it back to Watto, and the droid gave a loud beep as it came to life. Watto regarded the droid thoughtfully before glancing up at Anakin.
"I'm looking for Shmi Skywalker," Anakin told him firmly.
Suddenly, a spark of recognition lit up in Watto's black, bulbous eyes, and he exclaimed incredulously with a bark of laughter, "Ani? Little Ani? Is that you?"
When Anakin didn't respond, Watto shouted exuberantly with a laugh, "You are Ani! Ya sure sprouted! A Jedi! Waddya know? Hey, maybe you couldda help wit some deadbeats who owe me a lot of money--"
"My mother," Anakin reminded him curtly, interrupting Watto.
A wary look entered Watto's eyes, and Astrid could feel the sudden tension in the air. Watto replied cagily, "Oh, yeah. Shmi... she's not mine no more. I sold her."
"Sold her?" Anakin repeated heatedly, his hands curling into fists at his sides.
Watto swallowed, and his gaze dipped briefly to the lightsaber hanging at Anakin's hip before he explained with a nervous laugh, "Years ago. Sorry, Ani, but you know, business is business. Sold her to a moisture farmer named Lars. Least I think it was Lars." He paused before adding more optimistically, "Believe it or not, I heard he freed her and married her. Can ya beat that?"
Anakin's voice was cold as he asked, "Do you know where they are?"
Watto rubbed at his head with a hand as he replied vaguely, "Long way from here... someplace over on the other side of Mos Eisley, I think."
Knowing Watto, he was probably trying to lead up to some sort of trade; his knowledge of Lars's location for something of the Jedi's.
Anakin took a threatening step forward. "I'd like to know."
Watto gave a nervous glance towards Astrid as if to see if she would step in to help him in case Anakin decided to get physical, but when he found her face just as unforgiving, he replied, "Yeah, sure... absolutely. Let's go look in my records."
They found that the Lars moisture farm was just outside Mos Eisley to the east, and the pair of them soon departed Watto in search of their abandoned skipper.
"I think we left our skipper on the east side of town," Anakin told her quietly, and they began making their way around the outskirts of the town to the east side.
They eventually found the exact street they had been ambushed, and unsurprisingly, their skipper had already been taken, stolen. Astrid's shoulders slumped as they stared at the empty alleyway.
Perfect.
It took another hour for them to haggle with a ship dealer for a single skipper, which proved difficult when Anakin and Astrid found they had little money on them. But eventually, they came to a tense agreement with a ship dealer, and soon, Anakin and Astrid were zipping through the desert towards the Lars moisture farm.
Astrid baked underneath the hot suns as the heated sunlight bore down on them relentlessly and without mercy. She was covered in a light sheen of sweat as their skipper came to a stop beside a small domed building in the shape of an igloo, the walls of it composed not of ice, but of hard, baked sand.
"So, this is a moisture farm," Astrid said in the ensuing silence as neither she nor Anakin made a move to get off of the skipper. She was unimpressed as her eyes roamed the surrounding area. A few metal equipment about ten feet tall stuck out into the air a few yards away, most likely used to collect the little moisture in the dry, desert air.
But other than the metal equipment and the sand domed igloo, there was nothing but sandy horizon. Astrid eyed the igloo skeptically. There was no way a family of at least two could be living inside that tiny igloo. Astrid didn't even think there was enough space for a dining room table to fit inside it.
"Yeah," Anakin finally replied as he swung himself down from the skipper. Astrid swung herself off of the skipper after him. Something gleaming in the corner of her left eye caught her and Anakin's attention.
They both turned to see a dulled, grey droid-- a protocol droid by the looks of it-- hobbling towards them. "Master Ani?" the droid cried out, both of his stiff, metal arms held up at his sides. "Is that you, Master Ani? Have you come to save me from this dreadful place?"
Anakin's face broke out into a grin. "See-Threepio!"
The grey droid came to a stop before them, and he responded brightly, "Oh thank goodness! Who is your friend here?"
Astrid offered the droid a smile and replied, "I'm Astrid Katarn. I'm a Jedi like--" She resisted a teasing smile at the droid's nickname for Anakin"--Ani."
Anakin quickly added, "We're here to see my mother."
Threepio grew quiet, his earlier cheerful demeanor shifting into something grave and solemn. "I'm so sorry, Master Ani. You best speak to Master Lars. I'll take you to him."
See-Threepio began hobbling towards the small igloo, and Anakin and Astrid followed after him wordlessly.
Astrid ducked into the igloo's small, circular entrance after Anakin, and her eyes widened as she caught sight of the stairs leading down into a small, sandy courtyard open to the outside elements. Branching off from this circular courtyard were rooms and hallways sculpted into the hard sand.
That's why Astrid hadn't been able to see the house. It was underground.
A man and a woman ten years her and Anakin's senior suddenly emerge from one of the rooms embedded in the sand, and Threepio exclaimed, "Master Owen! May I present two most important visitors?"
The three of them stopped before the two people. The man-- Master Owen, she supposed-- had brown hair with a small scruff of hair on his face, and the woman beside him had dark hair and brown eyes. They both wore scratchy, beige commoner clothes.
"I'm Anakin Skywalker," Anakin introduced himself before waving a hand to Astrid and saying, "This is my friend, Astrid." Astrid smiled at the pair in response.
A look of intrigue passed over Owen's face, and he replied warily, "I'm Owen Lars. This is my girlfriend, Beru."
"Hello," Beru greeted with a warm smile.
Owen offered Anakin a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head with a hand as he remarked, "Well, I guess I'm your stepbrother, Anakin. I had a feeling you might show up someday."
Anakin frowned, and Astrid could sense the turmoil of powerful emotions rolling off of him, most of which were confusion and worry. "Is my mother here?"
Astrid caught movement behind the couple, and she spotted a bandaged, one-legged man rolling towards them in a wheelchair. He had greying hair and a dark purple bruise dotted the side of his face.
"No, she's not," the man replied gruffly as he came to a stop beside Owen and Beru. He nodded his head at Anakin. "Cliegg Lars," he introduced himself. "Shmi is my wife. Come inside, we've got a lot to talk about."
Within a minute, they were all seated around a dining room table, with Anakin and Astrid on one side, Beru and Owen on the other side, and Cliegg Lars at the head of the table.
Cliegg Lars began solemnly, "It was just before dawn. They came out of nowhere. A hunting party of Tusken Raiders. Your mother had gone out early, like she always did, to pick mushrooms that grow on the vaporators. From the tracks, she was about halfway home when they took her. Those Tuskens walk like men, but they're vicious, mindless monsters."
Astrid suppressed a shiver at her own recount of her experience with those Tusken Raiders.
From beside her, Anakin's mood was growing darker and darker, but he kept silent as Cliegg Lars continued, "Thirty of us went out after her. Four of us came back. I'd be with them, only... after I lost my leg I just couldn't ride any more. Not until I heal."
He gave a heaving sigh as he said, "I don't want to give up on her, but she's been gone a month. There's little hope she's lasted this long."
Suddenly, Anakin shot to his feet, rattling the table slightly, and everyone looked up at him in bewilderment, Astrid included.
"Where are you going?" Cliegg Lars demanded gruffly, his brow furrowing.
"To find my mother," Anakin answered shortly, his voice filled with silent rage. Through the Force, Anakin's presence was nothing but a slash of darkness, a black blob of rage and despair.
"Your mother's dead, son," Cliegg Lars told him sharply. "Accept it."
Anakin merely shook his head. "No, no she's not dead. She's alive," he insisted pressingly. "She's in pain. I can feel it!"
He turned abruptly on his heel and strode out of the room and into the sandy clearing. Astrid and Owen jumped to their feet and hurried after him. By the time Astrid reached the clearing, Anakin had already exited from the igloo, and Astrid scrambled up the stairs.
When she emerged from the igloo onto the desert's flat plane aboveground, she found Anakin standing stiffly a few feet away, his gaze on the horizon. "Anakin--" she began, striding towards him.
"I will find her," Anakin spoke in a low voice, face set with determination.
Astrid came up in front of him, and she peered up at his face as she squinted her eyes against the glaring suns. "I know you will, Anakin." She paused, hesitating before asking, "Anakin, please allow me to come with you. I worry--"
"No," Anakin interrupted with a shake of his head. "I need to do this alone." Anakin turned to where Owen stood behind him, waiting. "I trust you will be able to watch over Astrid, Owen?"
Astrid's hands balled into fists at his words, and she fought the urge to snap that she could take care of herself. But Anakin's emotions were already in a tumult of fear and anxiety, and the least she wanted to do was contribute to that.
So, she kept quiet as Owen replied solemnly, "Of course. Don't worry."
"Be careful, Anakin," Astrid whispered as Anakin turned back towards her.
Anakin quirked a small smile as he replied, "I'm a Jedi, aren't I?" And then he was wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into his warm embrace. Astrid closed her eyes as she held him tightly, a dark premonition building inside her.
Anakin drew back, and without a second glance, began striding towards their speeder. He slung himself onto the back of the speeder, and with frightening speed, shot off into the desert towards the burning, setting suns.
Astrid watched his receding figure, her stomach twisting into a knot with worry. A breeze ruffled her hair, and within the wind, she thought she heard the Force warning her, something terrible is about to happen.
Before long, Anakin was nothing but a dot on the horizon, and then he disappeared entirely.
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