Anakin arrived at the Lars homestead a little later that morning with Shmi's body and the young boy he had found. Anakin got off the speeder bike with the boy in his arms. Seeing Owen, Anakin gestured to Shmi's body, silently asking Owen to take her.

Owen nodded and solemnly went to recover Shmi's body and bring it into the homestead.

Padme approached Anakin, briefly glancing at the boy Anakin held in his arms. "Who is he?"

Finding his voice, Anakin replied. "I don't know. Glancing at the sleeping boy's face Anakin continued. "He was just standing outside the sandpeoples camp." Without another word Anakin carried the boy inside, and Padme had him put the boy in the room she had slept in that night.

Padme watched as Anakin pulled a chair to the side of the bed and sat down, keeping silent vigil over the boy. Curious, but feeling that Anakin wanted to be alone, Padme left the room.

Anakin brushed the boy's red bangs away from his face, thinking. The boy shifted on the bed but did not wake up. Anakin watched as the boy's peaceful face contorted, as if he were in pain, and then relax a few seconds later.

iWhat have you done?/i

The boy's words haunted him, bringing tears to his eyes as he relived the memory of what happened in the Tuskin camp. Burying his face in his hands, Anakin quietly cried.

"It hurts doesn't it….when we can't save….the people we love."

Anakin wiped his face with his hand and looked at the boy who was looking at him with haunted eyes. "Who are you?"

The boy took a deep breath and responded. "My name…is not important."

Anakin placed his hand on the boy's forehead and found it burning with the heat of fever. "You're not well."

Giving a weak smile, the boy responded. "There are….worse things."

Standing up, Anakin headed for the door. "I'm going to get some medicine for you. I'll be right back."

A few minutes later Anakin returned with a bowl of water, a cloth, a glass of water and two pills on a tray. Helping the boy sit up, Anakin handed him the pills and the water. "Swallow this," he instructed.

The boy complied and swallowed the pills and drank the water. After the water was finished, the boy laid back down and Anakin laid the cool, wet, cloth on the boy's forehead.

"Will it be alright if I put you in a Jedi healing trance?" Anakin asked.

The boy shook his head furiously. "No! I won't have….anything to do with…the Force."

Shocked by the boy's vehemence against the Force, Anakin carefully responded. "So you know about the Force?"

The boy turned his head away from Anakin and then answered. "Yes."

"Why do you hate it?" Anakin asked prodding as carefully as he could.

"It hurts." The boy whispered.

Puzzled, Anakin ventured another question. "Why does it hurt?"

The boy slowly answered. "So much death." Closing his eyes, the child drifted off to sleep.

Slowly the minutes drifted by and before long Anakin was fiddling with the cooler in the room that had ceased to work. Just as Anakin got it to work again, Padme entered the room with a tray of food.

"Are you hungry Anakin? I brought some food." Padme asked, keeping her voice low so that she wouldn't wake the child up.

Anakin closed the opening of the cooler and wiped his hands on his pants. "I'm good at fixing things, I always was until now." Anakin turned to look at Padme, tears in his eyes. "Why couldn't I save her?"

Padme knelt down beside Anakin as he bent his head down. "Things change Anakin, life changes."

"You can't stop change any more than you can stop the suns from setting." Anakin added, remembering something his mother had told him long ago. "My mom told me that before I left with Qui-Gon." Wiping his eyes with his hand, Anakin looked up at Padme. "I miss her."

"What happened when you got to the Tuskin camp Anakin?" Padme asked.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Anakin told Padme what happened. "I snuck into the camp, and found the hut my mom was being kept in. I found her on a wooden frame and cut her free. She was badly beatened up. I call out to her and she woke up. I told her that I'll get her out of their and to hang on. She…" Anakin swallowed hard. "She told me that she is proud of me and that she missed me. She told me that she was complete. I begged for her to stay, to hang on, but she died in my arms as she was telling me that she loved me." Anakin looked away from Padme, tears steaming down his cheeks, his breathing ragged. "As the sun rose in the sky I…I."

Padme wrapped his arms around him, whispering words of encouragement to continue.

"I killed them. The men, the women, even the children. I killed them all. I hate them. They're like animals." Sobbing loudly now, Anakin managed to continue. "I shouldn't hate them…I don't want to hate them…its just I can't forgive them."

Padme gently rocked Anakin as he wept and they stayed this way for the next hour.