"Be back before sunset, Luke."
The wise words of Aunt Beru rattled around inside his head as he dashed around sand and dirt, carefully combing the earth with his boots to avoid gravel and rock, sprinting with as much enthusiasm a fifteen year-old could muster on a desert planet. The teenager had to be quick; after all, even though the older Biggs Darklighter appreciated his companionship and idealism, there was always the constant worry that his friend would someday move on to grander and better days outside of Tatooine.
After all, he was much older at nineteen. If it weren't for him, Biggs probably would have already signed up for the Imperial Academy and would have passed with flying colors. Luke knew how good of a pilot he was – slightly better than himself, he acknowledged, though he presumed with time he could surpass him. The teenager sprinted out into vast wastes as quickly as he could, just outside of the settlement that danger posed a risk but close enough that their cries could still be heard. Luke Skywalker stopped in his tracks as he finally made it to the site that they both promised to meet at.
"You always gotta make this so hard, Biggs," complained Luke as he stared up at the vast rock before him; more mountain than boulder, with impossible curves and bumps. The young man looked to the lack of muscles in his arms and sighed, hiking himself up and beginning his climb. "Of all the possible places," Luke hissed, carefully watching his footing as he hopped from step to step, his arms holding onto whatever rock he could grab as he continued to hoist himself upward.
The final ascent proved to be the most difficult. There was barely half a meter left between him and the top of the massive boulder, but his arms began to ache, his legs grown weary from fatigue. "Blast it, Biggs," yelled out Luke, as he struggled to climb up. Not only were his muscles betraying him but his body was plagued by an obscene amount of sweat, ruining his grip. "Help me," he said, sighing at his own failure.
"Loud as ever, Skywalker," Biggs said as he inched out from the curve of the cliff, inching himself downward as he looked to his stuck friend. He smiled at the teenager and lowered his hand, offering him some much needed help. The boy outstretched his arm with all his weight and reached out to him. Biggs was able to lift Luke up quickly to the top of the cliff with great ease. "You made it, Luke. You sure took your time getting here. I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't show – it isn't that far from sunset now. If you were another minute late, I probably would have hopped on down and made it back home."
"You know I wouldn't miss one of your amazing stories," Luke wheezed and huffed, recollecting himself as he plopped down against the side of the rock. It was slightly embarrassing (not to mention frustrating) at how exerted he was from the climb, in comparison to the relaxed ease his friend showed, while thousands of beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. He combed back his hair with his left hand, mixing the wetness with his bangs.
"They're hardly stories," Biggs laughed before sitting down next to Luke. The two men sat there, totally still under the mixture of stars and suns, in wonder of the galaxy before them. "Stories are what you tell around the campfire with all your friends, family, and acquaintances, with a good snack nearby; what I tell you every night is top secret, dangerous and incriminating information, stuff that would send an entire base of Star Destroyers and Imperial Stormtroopers down on your neck."
"Well, with the two of us, I bet we could take on anything," Luke cockily stated, rocking his neck back and combing his fingers through his scalp one last time. "You really don't have to be so secretive. I doubt we really know something that would make the Empire that upset. I'm all for these hiding spots but I think you might be asking for too much of me with this thing."
"Well, it is no wonder why you got drained so easily," wrapping his arm around Luke's neck and using his free hand to tussle with Luke's soaked hair, mucking it around violently. The fifteen year-old resisted the attack, struggling underneath the weight of Biggs's arm, feet kicking in the air as he attempted to shrug out from his grasp. "I don't know why you don't let anyone cut that mop of a head of yours, Skywalker, it is gonna wear you down under the heat of these blasted suns."
"Maybe it is all the more reason for me to get out of this rock," Luke squeaked back as he slung himself out from his friend, his tender voice cracking from the brashness of his tone. He blushed as he looked down, suddenly painfully aware of how young he still was, as well the embarrassment of his own late change. Biggs looked at him, there, not as a friend to a friend; instead, he had the concerned gaze of a man looking down on a problematic child. "You know I don't belong here, Biggs."
"Maybe not – but what about your aunt and uncle? You're not just going to leave them, are you?"
"Of course not," he hushed back instantly, his foot kicking the dust of the rock. "I'd never leave them – at least, not without their approval. They need me; but once they have everything taken care of with the farm, once they have the help they need, we are gonna get off this planet, together. Whether that means we smuggle ourselves off onto some freighter, or joining the Imperial Academy, or even finding ourselves at the hands of Rebel sympathizers."
"Quiet, Luke!"
The hand of friend now covered Luke's mouth, his friend looking around carefully to make sure there wasn't anyone eavesdropping below or around them. "You speak too damn loud," Biggs said sternly, uncupping Luke's lips and staring back at him unamused, his arms crossed. "We aren't going to go anywhere if you don't learn to be quiet. I know this hunk of rock doesn't seem that important to Imperials but they have spies everywhere. Everywhere, Luke, from what I've been told."
"I can be quiet," Luke urged, kneeling down and grinning up at Biggs. "Trust me."
A small window of silence fell between the two young men, before Biggs finally broke his stern older brother-like routine and cracked a smile back to young Skywalker. "You know I trust you," Biggs said with gleaming pride, walking over to the edge of the large rock, looking out to the sky ahead. "There probably isn't anyone I trust more on this planet than you. You're like a younger brother to me, kid. That is part of the reason we have to be careful – I don't want anything to happen to you or our families. We have a lot of options to get off this place; the Imperial Academy looks like the best bet right now. "
"Yeah, but I'm still not old enough," pouted Luke, dejectedly walking towards his friend before sitting down on the edge of the cliff, his legs hanging over the distance.
"I'll wait for you," Biggs said, sitting down next to him, his arm slapping his back tenderly. "I know that is a hard promise for you but I'll wait until you're of age too, Luke. That way you won't have to suffer through Tatooine all by yourself. But I mean it when I say you're of age – if your Uncle is still telling you what to do by then, when I'll nearly be in my mid-twenties, then you're going to have to go into the Academy on your own and find me later."
Skywalker smiled at the promise but also lightly gulped – he knew Uncle Owen was going to hold onto him for as long as he could. Though Luke couldn't blame him for that – he was practically his son and the overprotectiveness made sense, no matter how unfortunate it was. Hopefully, by then, he would relent. "Then I'll hold you to that promise," he nodded, the bright light of the suns ahead of him were slowly being adorned by grey clouds and dark colored skies.
"It is almost sunset."
"Yeah," Luke said. "And I'm quiet, right? So tell me what you heard before I have to go home."
Biggs laughed and nodded, winking at his friend as the rays slowly began to disappear before them, slipping back into the sky for the night. The younger boy felt guilty knowing that he was likely going to be out well-past the time his Aunt Beru asked – but the stories that his friend told, they were well worth the consequences, as the thirst and his promise for adventure began to be filled.