"What's wrong?"
Luke rolled his eyes at his sister and continued to work on the vaporator. "Go away."
As usual, Leia ignored her brother's command, "You stormed off after lunch; Aunt Beru is worried about you."
"I'm fine."
This time it was his twin's turn to roll her eyes. "Luke, you are not the most difficult person to figure out. When you're upset, everyone knows it. You get all quiet and weird."
Luke stopped working and looked over to Leia, "At least I don't slam doors and throw things when I'm mad."
"I haven't done that in a long time!"
"A half of a season is not a long time."
Leia frowned, "Stop changing the subject. Why are you so mad?"
"I'm twelve; I don't have to tell everything."
She reached over and laid her hand on his arm, "It's about what Uncle Owen said during breakfast, isn't it?"
Knowing that she was not going to give up, Luke sighed and nodded, "Yes, I don't understand why he has to be that way."
"I don't understand why you keep asking him about our father; you know how it makes him."
Luke picked up the tool and began working on the vaporator again, "He talks about him like he was stupid for wanting to leave Tatooine."
"He just wants to protect us from something bad happening to us."
In a rare show of anger, Luke stood and threw the tool he was using down hard on the desert floor. "Why do you do that? Why do you always defend him?"
One thing that could always be said about Leia Skywalker was that she never backed down from an argument. Standing up to face her brother, she pointed in his face, "Someone has to! He's doing his best to keep food on the table while his ungrateful nephew's mind is light years away."
"Of course you would say that, he's always treated you like a princess."
Luke sighed when it was obvious that she would not back down. In twelve years, he had never won an argument with his sister; it was pointless to try now. "Don't you wish for something more than Tatooine?"
"I don't know, maybe someday; but this is our life, Luke."
"It wasn't our father's life, he left." Luke reminded his sister gently.
"He was a navigator on a spice freighter, that not hardly the good life."
"He was free and he was away from this blasted sand." To emphasize his point, Luke kicked his foot releasing millions of the tiny grains into the unrelenting desert wind.
Seeing her brother's distress, Leia softened, "Uncle Owen just doesn't want us to end up like he did."
Luke's response was cut off by the sound of heavy footfalls approaching them. The twins did not need to turn around to know who it was.
Leia smiled, "Hello Uncle Owen."
"Are you keeping your brother from doing his work?" Owen's voice was as gruff as usual.
"No, I was just on my way back."
"Good, your aunt needs you to help you start dinner."
"Yes Sir." Giving her brother one last look, Leia started toward the house.
Owen watched Leia until she was inside the family's hovel. He then began inspecting Luke's repair.
"It looks like you're nearly finished; very good work."
Luke nodded, "Thanks."
Praise from Owen was rare. The two rarely saw eye to eye on anything. Luke believed that his uncle was too focused on his vaporators to see that there might be anything other than this dreary planet, and Owen saw his nephew as nothing but a dreamer who spent more time wishing of the stars than keeping his mind on what he should be doing.
"I know you're upset at me."
Luke was surprised by the change of subject and more than a little uncomfortable. "I just wish you wouldn't say those things about my father."
"They need to be said; I don't want you running off and following in his footsteps."
"Uncle Owen, it's not like I want to go work for Jabba the Hutt when I get older and go in the spice smuggling business; but I want to leave this place like he did."
In Hutt territory, spice freighters were common. It was not exactly the most honorable work, but Luke believed that his father was so desperate to get off of Tatooine that he took the first job that could get him off-world.
"Anakin never should have left!"
Luke wanted to walk away from his uncle; he hated it the most when he was like this. "Why?"
"Things would be much better for a whole lot of people if he didn't."
"What do you mean by that?"
Owen shook his head, "Just trust me Luke, you don't want anything to do with your father's business."
"I could go to the Imperial Academy and learn to be a pilot." In his last visit to Mos Eisley, Luke had seen Imperial recruiters talking to the local boys. Owen would not let him get anywhere near them.
"Absolutely not!"
He did not understand this at all. He wondered if Owen expected him to stay on the homestead for the rest of his life. "Why not? It's not like it's anything my father did. He wasn't in the military."
For a moment, even in the bright desert sunshine, Luke swore that he saw his uncle's deeply tanned face go completely white.
When Owen spoke again, it was in a much more subdued tone. "When you're finished here, there's some work I need you to do in the shed."
Luke was not surprised by the sudden change in subject, it was normal when dealing with Owen. When a topic of conversation became too difficult to deal with, he would either yell and storm off or change the subject.
He nodded, "Yes Uncle."
"Good, I'll check on you later."
With that, Luke was left alone with nothing but a partially fixed piece of equipment and his thoughts.
I will get off this planet, one way or the other. I have to get away from here.