Hello guys, I'm back! Here's the next chapter of my ongoing fic. Next update will be soon :D

The hot desert sun had long since faded, leaving temperatures cooler and comfortable for those long accustomed to the stifling climate that is Tatooine. On this cloudless evening, Shmi Skywalker felt at ease with the world, despite the heavy chains of slavery I was burdened to carry. The night felt so peaceful and the sky alight with the millions of stars that encompassed it, I decided to sit out and enjoy the evening.

As I stepped outside and sat down on a bench, I took care to keep an ear open for any noise that may stir from inside my small home. My two year old son Anakin would no doubt be fast asleep, and I do not wish to wake him.

Breathing in a deep breathe, I gazed out around at the surroundings, taking in the sloping hills of sand and the faint howling of the Desert Wampas. Above me the stars shone down, acting as portals to different worlds that could take me millions of miles away from here. I held no false illusions that my son Anakin would have a better life than me, despite how much I wanted that. Watto, my owner, had already made it clear that Anakin was to be his property and would be put to work when he came of age.

Oh Anakin, how I long for you to be free.

I sighed and stood up, preparing to go back inside. Despite the solitude of the desert, one couldn't be too careful. With Tatooine being an outer-rim planet, it attracted plentiful amounts of the sort I desperately wanted to protect my son from, especially with vast majorities of the planet being under the control of the Hutt Clan.

Pushing open the door, I paused. A warm breeze swept around me and filled me with a sense of anticipation, of what I did not know, yet something compelled me to stay outside. I knew that this was no coincidence or fluke of nature. I was filled with the same feeling as before, two years ago, when I felt compelled to wander off into the desert, and later became blessed with a son. My little miracle.

Turning around slowly, I once again gazed out into the distance, moving step by careful step, away from the house. As I drew further away, I thought that I could pick up a faint noise on the edge of my hearing. It sounded, almost, like a child crying.

My heart panned with pity. It was not uncommon for children, particularly young ones, to get lost in the desert. Many were abandoned out here, left to die. The extreme poverty of the planet created hard lives, and fates so cruel as to befall children so young. Walking further out, following the screaming, I saw in the distance what looked to be a bundle of rags laying on the sand.

Increasing my pace, I walked steadily towards the bundle, looking around me all the time in case this was a trap. However, no one was around. Bending down, I picked up the cloth to find, to no surprise a baby. A girl not much younger than Anakin by the look of it.

She was a pitiful looking thing I thought, both dirty and malnourished with large brown eyes glistening with tears and short dark brown hair. Her skin deathly pale. She looked up at me and immediately stopped crying. Our eyes connected and she smiled with all the warmth of the sun, giggling. I felt my heart melt at the sight and cuddled her closer to me. She closed her eyes and fell asleep against my chest as I cradled her and stroked her back. I could never just leave her there, and I wondered briefly if she belonged to one of the other slaves in the district. Regardless I couldn't go around knocking on doors and ask or take her somewhere else. In just a matter of minutes she had wormed her way into my heart, and I felt duty bound to care for her. After having walked back home, I made the split second decision to place her in Anakin's crib. Setting her down they both fidgeted, but later quieted, falling into a deep slumber. Kneeling down next to the crib, I took a damp cloth and gently began wiping her face to remove the dirt. She never so much as twitched. Gazing down at her now, I noticed something odd which caught my eye. The cloth in which the child was wrapped in was not rags as I previously thought, but silk. Of a high quality as well. The sea green material glowed in the dim light and was lined with a gold threaded trim. Upon closer examination, I saw two words in the same gold thread stitched into the fabric in a cursive script. They could only spell out her name - Kiara Frost.

How strange, I thought. How could a child of such an obviously wealthy background be abandoned on Tatooine, in Mos Espa of all places? Perhaps some pirates had kidnapped her off-world for ransom or to be sold. But then why just leave her here? It didn't make any sense!

Regardless, I would raise her along with Anakin, and care for her as if she were my own. Seeing them sleeping together peacefully, heads turned towards each other, I couldn't help but feel that this was fate at work. Whatever brought Anakin to me brought Kiara as well. For whatever reason, that was beyond my comprehension. All I could do at that moment was pray, and hope for the best.

Time skip - 7 Years

"Anakin! ANAKIN! Are you insane! Do you have any idea how incredibly stupid that was? That Weequay would have squashed you like a bug!" I yelled at the back of my best friend. Currently, we were walking through Mos Espa's market, while I was trying valiantly to knock some sense into my Bantha brained friend.

"Oh relax Kiara, I knew what I was doing! And that sleemo shouldn't have pushed you over like that!" he yelled back.

"I can fight my own battles thank you!" I shouted. "By the stars Anakin, do you ever think before you rush into something," I sighed, thoroughly exasperated.

"Of course I do! I counted on that guy falling into that fruit stand," he said triumphantly, turning around to face me. "Did you see the look on the owners face! I though he was gonna blow a fuse!"

I huffed and crossed my arms, giving my fiercest look of disapproval I picked up from Shmi.

"Aww come on Kia, you gotta admit it was pretty wizard".

"It was luck and you know it that he tripped and we escaped," I muttered. "But I guess it was kinda funny," I admitted grudgingly, a smile breaking out.

Seeing the look, Anakin grinned back, and we couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was some minutes later before we controlled ourselves and wiped the tears from our eyes. When we did, I realised just how dark it was getting, the sun was beginning to dip down past the hills and the night air was seeping in.

"Come on Ani, we gotta get back, it's getting late," I said urgently, hurrying off back to the slave district.

"Sithspit! Mom's gonna be so mad," he said worriedly, running after me.

Despite myself, I felt nerves get the best of me. Being outside while it was approaching nightfall was a dangerous place to be, especially with all the pirates that were about. I felt half afraid that the Weequay would come after us.

I was running so hard that I didn't see the hooded figure round the corner. I crashed into him with a force that made me stumble backwards and fall to the ground, the breathe knocked out of me.

"KIA!" Anakin cried, running back to me.

Gazing upward at the tall, imposing figure, I felt the air hitch in my throat and my heart beat faster. There was something terribly off about this - this creature. His pitch black cloak covered his entire being, making him look like the very shadows that he stepped out of. The air around him felt cold and dank, as though it were sucking the life and happiness from around me. It was his face however that sent shivers down my spine. The hood enveloped his head, but not to the point that I couldn't make out a blood-red head covered in black tattoos, a few small, pointed horns and the glowing yellow eyes rimmed with red. Eyes filled with malice and contempt, a darkness that drew in the light around him.

I watched with dread in my stomach, as his gloved hand drew back a fold of his cloak to reveal what could only have been a lightsaber hilt. He made a move to grab it when he paused, all the while staring intently at myself, and Anakin, who as I glanced out the corner of my eye, was standing by my side defensively. A bravery that I had never seen before on his face. Despite the slight tremor of his hand on my shoulder, he showed no fear. Looking back at the monstrous figure, I watched as he withdrew his hand from the cloak, lightsaber still attached to the belt, and stand to his full height. He looked down at us imperiously, a menacing smirk distorting his features, as he turned his back to us and began walking away.

He paused to turn around, and said in a low, deep voice seemingly devoid of warmth, "I would be careful if I were you younglings, unknown terrors lurk in the darkness, ones who will not be so merciful next time." With that said, he disappeared round a corner an vanished from sight. As he left, I felt the air around us instantly warm, and I breathed a shaky sigh of relief. Turning to Anakin, I mouthed,

"What was that thing?

Anakin stared after it, while helping me to my feet. Only once he was sure it was gone, did he turn to me and whisper,

"I dunno Kia. Whatever it was, let's hope it doesn't come back".

When we reached home, the moon was fully up and stars littered the sky. We were greeted with an irate Shmi, who thoroughly scolded us and demanded where we had been. We told her Watto kept us later than planned, and she sent us to bed, all the while cursing him for not caring about the dangers of making us walk home so late.

We moved to our seperate beds silently, a silent look passed between us and we both nodded in each others understanding. Never were we to speak about this again. To anyone.

After a whispered goodnight, we both laid down, left to our thoughts. The one thought that went through our minds before we drifted off to sleep was the same.

Why did he have a lightsaber, when he clearly wasn't a Jedi?