Author's Note:
Jocasta: I'm still working on "My Version of Sunrise". But I can't get this idea out of my mind, so I'm writing it down. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. I do own Cora and Tanya Braveheart, which is kind of cool.
Prologue
"Please Mom! I want to see a Pod-race!" the girl begged, her violet eyes pleading. Her coal-black hair was pulled into a long braid. The girl was not more than eight standard years.
Tanya Braveheart sighed. Her daughter was feisty and impulsive. "Just like her father."
Just days before her daughter's birth, the girl's father had led an attack on a group of Tusken Raiders who had kidnapped several youths. The youths had been rescued, but at a cost. Her husband and two others lost their lives.
It had been in that time of sorrow, that Tanya had given birth. It was because of her daughter and her daughter alone, that she kept on living. She sold the moisture farm, and moved in with her parents. The past eight years had been hard, she had managed. Still, she feared that she would lose her daughter.
One part of her wanted to say "no". "I can't lose my daughter," she thought despairingly. "Not after all I've been through."
Then she recalled something her friend Rita Curran had told her. "You can't keep her sheltered forever Tanya. She has to grow up sometime."
"She is right," Tanya thought. "I can't keep my daughter sheltered forever. Watching a pod-race wouldn't hurt her."
"All right Cora," she finally spoke. "You may go to the pod-race."
"Yeah!" Cora cheered. "Thank you Mom!"
Tanya wanted to say more, but she knew that her words would fall on deaf ears. "I just hope she'll learn humility in time," she thought. "Or she'll pay a high price for her arrogance."
….
Cora Braveheart scanned the crowds. In her eight years she had never seen so many people. "And they're all here to see a pod-race," she thought.
Of course, this wasn't just any pod-race. This was the Boonta Eve classic, the biggest free-for-all pod-race there was. Cora knew her heart would be pounding with anticipation even if the pod-race had been insignificant. This was what she had heard about.
She took her seat beside her mother. She watched in anticipation, as the contestants moved out to the starting line. As she glanced at the contestants, she noticed something that shocked her.
A boy who could not be more than a couple years older than Cora herself stood next to a small blue-and-white pod-racer. His blond hair shone in the sunlight.
"Who is he?" she thought. "He can't possibly be a contestant." As her mother constantly reminded her, pod-racing was far too dangerous for humans to compete in.
"Who is that boy Mom?" she turned to her mother.
"That's Anakin Skywalker," a burly man sitting on her other side commented. "He's the only human who can fly pod-racers."
"I'm surprised his mother lets him," Tanya commented, while giving Cora her "don't even think about it" look.
"Their owner, Watto doesn't give her much of a choice in the matter," the man replied.
Though she knew that slavery existed, looking at the boy, and knowing he was "owned" by someone, made Cora's stomach churn.
"He's good," the man continued. "But Sebulba's going to win."
"And why do you say that?" Cora challenged.
"He always wins," the man replied as if that answered everything.
"Well I think Anakin will win." Cora turned her attention away from the adults. Some gut instinct told her that the victor of the pod-race was the young boy in the silver-and-blue pod-racer. And something told her that this wouldn't be the last time she would hear of Anakin Skywalker.
Author's Note: Please don't dismiss Cora as a Mary-Sue. She has flaws. She is arrogant and impulsive. These flaws will cause her alot of trouble later on in the story.