Title: Child of
the Suns
Author: Bale
Genre: Vignette
Characters: Owen
Lars, Beru Lars, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Summary: A
reluctant Owen contemplates the daunting task before him.
Timeframe:
End of ROTS
Child of the Suns
We wept the day we found out she was pregnant, cried harder the day she miscarried and the doctors told us she could not bear children.
The life of a moisture farmer is not an easy one. Subsistence comes begrudgingly, luxury not at all. I knew it; Beru knew it; her father knew it. So it was reluctantly that her father agreed to let her marry me, and it was reluctantly that I succumbed to Beru's wishes after we received Obi-Wan's transmission last night. I saw the rekindled hope that burned in her eyes. I swallowed my fear and pride; I could not deny her that which her body has.
The twin suns were setting when Beru's Angel of Mercy appeared over the ridge, not on mighty noble steed, but astride an eopie. He came not as a Jedi Knight, but as the shadow of a broken man. In his arms he carried his swaddled gift, a child, Luke, conceived in forbidden love and born of bitter agony. He handed the baby to Beru, then disappeared like the suns we watch descend below the horizon. He has shed his burden, now I will bear mine.
It will be no easy task to raise another man's child, a man whose name will not be spoken in this house, a man claimed by darkness and hatred. Already, there is much to be done. Somewhere in this harsh world a soft place must be made where a baby can sleep. Cloth needs to be cut for diapers; milk from the livestock will be needed to feed him. Tomorrow, I will go into town and spread the story we've contrived to explain his sudden appearance.
Beru holds him, looks at him, already loves him as if he were her own. She ignores the danger he holds. An Empire, even worlds away, has a long reach. I fear its wrath will soon creep even into our humble lives; perhaps today it has. What if his father learns he is here? Soon this baby will become a toddler who will someday be a little boy. That boy will become a man. Then what? Is he preordained to the fate of his father?
There are more questions than answers. I fear to know the truth.
Beru rocks the tiny newborn to sleep as I shut the power down.
These are dark times.