Sorry for the delay, but I'm doing my exams, and haven't had much time. Anyway, here's the next part…

Chapter Ten

Owen was fetching more medical supplies from the Jedi's ship when he heard it. A faint banging noise and what sounded like rasping breath.

He froze mid-step, and cast an anxious glance around. He didn't have a clue what to do. Should he maybe run off the ship and tell someone, or should he look around himself? The first option sounded cowardly, but he wasn't sure if he was brave enough to do the second. He tried to think what Anakin would do. Ah. Well, maybe he wouldn't. After all, Anakin was much braver than him, that much was clear from the few holo-reports he had seen about his step-brother. Since the Republic had formed a treaty with the Hutts, Tantooine had been getting the Holo-Net, but Owen didn't often get the chance to just sit down and watch the news, simply because they owned nothing to watch it on. Incidentally, he had a funny feeling that it had been Anakin and Ahsoka who had rescued Rotta the Hutt and returned him safely to his father, Jabba. He was sure he'd heard that somewhere.

Yes, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to try and be like Anakin: he'd never manage, he simply didn't have the guts to do half the things that his step-brother had done.

The banging noise came again, louder this time. Owen whipped around, his eyes wide and his fingers clutching that bag of bacta-strips as though it was a life-line. He swallowed. The noise seemed to be coming from somewhere behind him, low down.

Moving extremely carefully and quietly, with his heart hammering somewhere in the vicinity of his throat, he lowered himself down onto his hands and knees, listening intently while still trying not to make a sound.

As the banging started up again, louder than ever, Owen inched along slowly, listening intently as it turned to what sounded like frantic scrabbling and a faint, slightly panicked whimpering.

He froze in front of a metal panel. The sound seemed to be coming from directly behind it!

Shifting into a crouch, Owen examined the panel. Was that a…switch?

Very slowly – and very carefully – he reached out his hand and pushed the button. \the sliding door began to open, slowly…slowly…

…and out stumbled a small human girl with vibrant red curls, coughing and spluttering violently on all fours as she gasped in lungfuls of air.

Owen, who had leapt back out of the way after pushing the switch, moved forward cautiously once more.

"H-hello?" He stammered, slightly thrown by this sudden turn of events.

The little girl jumped, and scrambled away. "Who are you?" She squeaked, She looked terrified, her face ashen.

Owens' heart was slowing back to its normal rate as he studied the little girl in front of him.

"I might ask you the same question." He said, fixing her with a stern gaze which only seemed to terrify her even more.

"Wh-Where am I?"

Owen looked at her, wondering what was going on. "You're on a ship."

She gave him a scathing look as she began to regain control of herself once more. "I know that." She told him, still with the scathing expression and tone to match. "I meant, where is the ship?"

"Tantooine. Now will you please answer my question?" Owen was beginning to wonder whether this young girl was an enemy spy. Even in his head that sounded silly, but he still couldn't help but wonder.

The little girl sighed, and her vivid red curls bounced around her small shoulders as she sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly.

"I'm Leianna Brindishi. Now will you tell me who you are?"

He studied her for a moment longer before answering curtly. "Owen Lars. And now you need to tell me what you're doing here."

A pretty blush flushed her cheeks, and she ducked her head down, looking embarrassed. She couldn't be more than four years old, five at the most, but even that was pushing it.

"No reason," She muttered, obviously lying, and Owen raised an eyebrow.

"Really," He said coldly. "Well, I think we'll just have to go inside and see." He stood up, and gestured for her to follow him.

She looked terrified again. "Where's inside?" She asked, looking up at him with big, anxious brown eyes.

"Inside is my house. But that's not why we're going there. We're going there to talk to the owners of this ship. I think they ought to know they've got a stow-a-way."

"Do we have to? They might be angry if they knew I hid."

Owen gave her another stern look. "Yes, we do have to. Now, come on: get up and come with me."

With a sigh, the little girl got to her feet and shuffled after him, back out the ship. She froze outside, and stared at the open-yet-under-the-sand house. Barely managing to conceal a pleased smirk, Owen led her down the steps and into the living room where everyone but Sara and Clovis were. Even Seek, Melee and Wald were there, having come over to see how Amee was.

They all looked round as Owen entered, the little girl darted behind his legs in one last ditch attempt not to be seen.

But no such luck.

"Leianna!" Anakin said, his voice sharper than intended as he stood up, facing the little girl. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, h-hey, M-Master Skywalker." She said, trying to sound casual but failing miserably as her voice shook slightly in fear.

Owen glanced between them, frowning slightly. "You know each other?"

Anakin nodded. "She's a Youngling at the Temple. Which brings me back to my question, Leianna. What are you doing here?"

Leianna looked down at the floor, shuffling her feet in a guilty yet slightly scared manner.

"I wanted to come with you," She mumbled, barely audibly.

Anakin, however, heard her, and he sighed. "Lei," His voice was softer now, gentler, and she could tell that he wasn't murderously angry at her. She peeked out from behind her curtain of hair as he crouched down in front of her.

"Why did you want to come, Kid?" He asked quietly, and she blushed once more.

"Because I wanted to come on one of your adventures." She mumbled, feeling mortified with all their eyes on her.

She heard Anakin sigh quietly once more, then gratefully fell into his strong, comforting arms as hr pulled her into a hug, lifting her easily as he stood up and moved back to where he had been sitting on the Lars's couch between Obi-Wan and Beru.

She curled up on his knee, half hiding her face in his shoulder and giving Obi-Wan a childish wave of her small hand.

"Hey, Master Kenobi." She said quietly, sounding worried that he too would be mad at her.

But he just smiled kindly down at her. "Hello, little one."

She gave him a big, relieved smile before settling back more comfortably against Anakin.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, then?" Beru asked, smiling warmly at Leianna over Anakin's shoulder.

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Beru; Leianna. Leianna; Beru. Happy?"

Beru laughed slightly and Leianna joined in.

"Would you like something to drink?" She asked the little girl.

Leianna brightened up at once. "Yes, please! I'm really thirsty."

"And hungry?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "I expect you would be after hiding on our ship for the past few days?"

She blushed. "A little." She admitted, sliding off his knee and taking Beru's proffered hand. "But I stole – um, borrowed" Anakin's lips twitched. "Some food from the ship when you went out."

It was Dan's turn to roll his eyes. "So it's you who's been stealing my food then, is it?" He demanded in mock outrage, and the little girl giggled, hiding her face in Beru's skirts. She seemed to have taken an instant liking to her, and Beru the same.

Smiling, Beru led her by the hand through to the kitchen where she quickly made her a sandwich and poured her a glass of juice.

When they returned, Beru raised her eyebrows at Owen. "Did you give the bacta strips to Sara, yet?" She asked, and Owen jumped.

"oops," He muttered, before rushing out the door, heading to one of the slightly cooler back rooms where Sara was tending to Amee.

Her condition was improving steadily, and Sara was sure she should make a full recovery now that her wound was clean and she was changing the bandages regularly. It had to be done more frequently then with usual wounds of this nature because of how hot the climate was here.

Amee was awake when Owen entered, and he was pleased to see that some of her colour was returning as she smiled at him.

"Hey, Owen," She said, her voice hoarser than normal, but that was to be expected. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

Owen smiled back, handing over the bag of bacta strips to Sara, who proceeded to rip it open and set them to the side as she moved towards Amee once more. "No problem. You know you're always welcome here, any time."

She smiled at him once more, but her attention was drawn to Sara as she knelt by her side.

Sara smiled reassuringly at her. "I just need to change these bandages and then you should probably get something to eat."

Amee nodded and leaned her head back against the thin pillow; clenching her fists and closing her eyes as Sara gently peeled back the old bandages.

Five minutes later Sara helped a slightly staggering Amee through to the front room, where everyone cheered and Melee rushed forward to hug her – but gently – mindful of her friends' injured side.

Ever the gentleman, Obi-Wan leapt up to give Amee his seat, but she wasn't looking at him.

Beside him, Anakin stood too and returned the smile that Amee sent his way.

She made to rush forward and hug him, but tripped and staggered.

Anakin caught her before she could injure herself further, winding his arms round her and leaning his chin on the top of her head as she twisted her arms round his torso, leaning into him and smiling at the fact that he was here after almost eleven years without hearing a word from him. But she wasn't angry. She knew that the Jedi weren't allowed to keep in contact with old friends once they came to the Temple.

"Thank you," She murmured into his obviously muscled chest.

"What for?"

She shrugged, and winced slightly as pain shot up her side. "Helping me back in the hut…catching me just now…being here." Her voice got quieter and quieter as she finished.

She felt his arms tighten infinitesimally around her before he let her go, finding herself instantly ensnared in his dazzling blue eyes and gorgeous smile, suddenly remembering the times they'd had as kids and sure he was too.

She pulled herself back to the present when she heard a voice ask; "Has anyone seen Clovis?"

Amee looked round to see who had spoken and saw that everyone's attention was now on a young, beautiful woman with long, rich chestnut coloured hair that was currently pulled back in a tight plait that reached almost to her waist and stunning, gentle brown eyes that seemed bottomless – which Amee found odd, because the people she knew with brown eyes usually looked kind of flat and empty, shallow. She seemed familiar, but Amee couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Anakin looked round. "No," He frowned slightly. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since we were in Mos Espa."

"Same here," A man who Amee didn't yet know yet thought looked rather attractive in a muscular, exotic good looks kind of way, added. Looking at him, Amee noticed that he held a stunning resemblance to Sara, who had been nursing her back to health and who Amee really liked.

"You know, I think we left him there." Sara mused, and a grin suddenly lit up her face. "Excellent."

Anakin frowned at her. "It is not excellent, Sara. He's a Senator."

She gave him a look. "You cannot honestly tell me that some part of you doesn't want to leave him wandering the streets until he rots away." She said scathingly, and Anakin chuckled, helping Amee ease down into the seat that the older, coppery-haired man had vacated.

"alright, I'll give you that." He said with an easy grin. "But he is still a senator, and we don't need anymore trouble than there already is. You know what he's like; he'll go mad if he even rips his clothes" Amee got the impression that this Clovis, whoever he was, wasn't well liked in this room.

"Um…" She said quietly. "No offense, but…who are you all?" She looked around the room at the faces she didn't know.

Across the room from her, she saw Kitster grin. "They're Jedi. They came to help stop the contests if they can."

Amee's eyes widened, and a spark of hope lit up her face. "Really?"

The man who had given up his seat for her laughed. "Really," He assured her. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin I'm guessing you already know," His eyes twinkled down at her as she smiled slightly and nodded. "Then that's Sara Nabrynski – who you've also already met – and her twin brother, Dan."

The good looking man who she had noticed earlier grinned and winked at her. She blushed, getting the distinct impression that he was good with women. He only looked a few years older than she herself was at seventeen.

Obi-Wan was still talking to her. "But don't fall for his good looks; he can be crafty and devious when he wants to be. A bit like Anakin, I suppose," He said, shooting Anakin a teasing look. Anakin just rolled his eyes. "And then that's Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's Padawan Learner."

A young Togrutan girl smiled and waved from where she was perched on the arm of Wald's side of the chair.

"And then we have Captain Rex, who serves alongside Anakin on the front-lines." A tough looking man in armour and a buzz cut nodded at her, and she gulped. She had forgotten that her old childhood friends now served as a soldier of the Republic, and quickly realised that this must be one of the famous clone troopers. It was hard to imagine the sweet young boy who she had known as a soldier, fighting against enemy forces as they tried to invade planet after planet, never stopping. Yet she could see that Anakin had changed since she had last seen him; could see that he was more than capable of fighting for his life and for the lives of others.

"And finally we have Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo." Obi-Wan finished, and, with a jolt of recognition, Amee suddenly realised who the woman was. She had come to Mos Espa with the Jedi Knight and the strange amphibious creature who had freed Anakin from slavery so many years ago.

Padmé smiled at her, and Amee couldn't help but smile back. She had a nice smile: it wasn't forced like so many others, but it was as if she really meant it and wasn't just smiling because she had to.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Obi-Wan said. "This is our stow-away, Leianna Brindishi." Amee was slightly surprised when he gestured towards a little girl with vivid red curls who was currently curled up on Beru's knee munching on a sandwich.

"Stow-away?" She asked, surprised, and Anakin hid a grin.

"Yep. Owen just found her a few minutes ago."

Amee turned back to gaze at the little girl, who was watching her with big, beautiful brown eyes framed with long lashes.

"Why did you stow-away?" She asked curiously, and the little girl shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I wanted to come on one of Anakin's adventures, so I snuck out when Master Neera wasn't looking and hid on the big ship before sneaking on the small one when there was no-one around."

"And…how old are you?"

"Four." She said, cheerfully taking another bite out of her sandwich while the others stared at her in surprised.

Only the Jedi didn't seem surprised. They all knew how much she loved Anakin and how she always wanted to be in the thick of the action, despite the fact that she was so young. They also knew that she was the brightest in her class of Younglings, and that she knew how to sneak on board places without anyone noticing thanks to the stories Anakin and others had often told her. She had always been a rapt and eager listener.

Rush Clovis stalked through the streets of Mos Espa, a large storm cloud hovering over his mind, mirroring his mood spectacularly a she thought of Anakin Skywalker and how he could get his revenge on him. So far he hadn't come up with anything fitting enough or even remotely possible without Padmé ending up hating him even more. And he didn't want that. He knew that she was angry at him for slapping her, and he wanted to make it right. Having a sickly twisted mind, of course, this would probably not be the eventual outcome of whatever scheme he came up with, but Clovis didn't realise that.

He hoped that, when he succeeded in killing Anakin Skywalker, he would serve as a shoulder to cry on and she would be grateful to him for trying to 'save' Anakin.

Smirking evilly, Clovis didn't see the large Zygerrian until he walked straight into him.

Stumbling back a few steps and, muttering a hasty "Sorry" – which was very unlike him – Clovis attempted to push past and continue on his way.

The Zygerrian – a large man with small, watery green eyes – perhaps recognising a fellow 'bad guy' didn't blow up like he normally would have.

He fixed Clovis with a knowing look and said; "Who is it, then?"

Clovis stopped trying to get past and turned around, raising an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

The man leered at him, revealing filthy, rotten, yellow teeth. "Who pissed you off? You looking for revenge, or summit?"

Clovis nodded. "Yes, I am."

The man nodded knowingly. "So, who on?"

Clovis scowled. "Anakin bloody Skywalker." He spat, and the mans' eyes lit up.

"I know just the guy who can help you, then." He said. "He's been looking for revenge on that kid for almost eleven years now." He turned and walked on, Clovis following not far behind. "Course, that's been kinda difficult cause he's been gone an' all. But are you tellin' me he's back?"

Again, Clovis nodded. "Him and a couple of others. Come to help the slaves, or something."

The Zygerrian raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Clovis shrugged. "Something about some contest or other. I don't know: I wasn't really listening. I'm only here to keep an eye on my wife; she and Skywalker are a little too friendly, if you know what I mean."

He nodded. "Oh, I know, I know." He murmured, seemingly lost in thought. Then: "Do you know how long they're here for?"

Clovis shook his head. "No, I haven't heard any of them mention it."

"Oh well. I'm sure we'll have time to help you out with that revenge anyway, especially if they're staying for the next contest. It's not that bad, actually. Unless of course you love slaves and want them to be treated fairly, but then again; who does? Not me, that's for sure. If you own them, you can do what you like with them. But anyway, have you had any ideas on what to do to the Kid?"

It was slightly strange to hear the mighty 'Hero With No Fear' referred to as 'Kid', but Clovis took it in his stride. "Not really, no. But I was going for something that will make him look really bad – maybe even kill him!"

The Zygerrian chuckled. "Oh, Sebulba will be more than happy to help you of you tell him that! He hates the boy."

Clovis frowned. "Who's Clovis?"

"The guy I'm taking you to see. He's the best Pod-racer around. And he's not afraid to get his hands dirty, either. He even helps out in the slave trade."

"Really?" Clovis asked, mildly curious despite himself. "And what does he have against Skywalker?"

"Boy stole his glory nearly eleven years ago in the Boonta Eve Classic Pod Race. You heard of it?"

"In passing. I've never actually seen a race."

The Zygerrian gaped at him. "Then, man, you haven't lived!" He said, recovering himself.

Ignoring this, Clovis asked; "So, what did he do To steal Sebulba's glory?"

"Well, he won the bloody thing didn't he! Not even ten years old, and a human on top of that! Oh, Sebulba was livid! I've never seen him so mad. Well, I suppose I have, but he gets mad a lot."

"Skywalker won a pod-race?" Clovis asked incredulously, and the man chuckled.

"Yep. I heard that he's the only human who can do it. Quite an achievement, especially given as he was so young at the time.

"I mean, Sebulba's a great racer, don't get me wrong, but how the Kid raced that day…wow. That's all I can say. Just; wow. And to think his pod stalled at the start as well!" He chuckled reminiscently, his eyes drifting out of focus as his thoughts drifted back to that day.

"I'm Bob, by the way." He said suddenly, making Clovis jump slightly at the dramatic change of subject.

"Oh…er…Rush. I'm Rush. Pleased to meet you." And he held out a hand for Bob to shake. Aside from all his devious thoughts and the fact that he wasn't exactly well liked, let it never be said that Baron Rush Clovis wasn't a gentleman.

Bob looked down at Clovis's outstretched hand and blinked, before his face cracked into a grin and he took it in his own, pumping it up and down with enthusiasm. "Man, you are not from around here, are you?" He asked rhetorically, still chuckling as they continued on.

Amee got on well with the Jedi, Padmé and Rex, but she mostly just listened to instead of participating in the conversation while she ate some of Beru's spectacular sandwiches. She was, after all, a wonderful cook.

Right now, the conversation centred mainly on that same, fateful pod-race so many years ago that Bob and Clovis had been talking about.

"I'll admit I was sceptical when Anakin was building the pod," Seek was saying. "I never dreamed that he could actually win the thing." Seek shook his head, as if he still found it difficult to believe. "I mean, he'd never even finished a race before, and all of a sudden he wins? It was bloody brilliant, and if I hadn't been such a stuck-up-my-own-butt arsehole I would have told him that."

Anakin chuckled. "Yeah, well. I never really had anything to race for before, did I?"

Seek raised an eyebrow. "You mean you never really tried?"

Anakin shrugged and went to answer, but Kitster beat him to it.

"Course he did! He was never killed, was he? I mean, it takes skill to crash a pod purposefully without it looking like it had been done purposefully! And to save the pod." He added as an after thought.

"You mean you crashed on purpose?"

Wald rolled his large, star spangled eyes. "Keep up, Seek."

Anakin grinned at the flaming haired human male. "I guess I was pretty convincing, then?" When Seek merely shook his head in exasperation, his grin widened. "Anyway, only Kitster and Wald knew what I was really doing. And I had to make it convincing or Watto would have kicked the shit out of me."

"Again." Wald added, and Anakin rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you ever get injured?" Ahsoka asked curiously.

"Course," Anakin shrugged, not seeming at all bothered by that fact. Then again, Ahsoka knew the vague details of how he had been treated before coming to work for Watto, so injuries sustained in a pod-crash might just pale in comparison.

"The most memorable time was probably when he fucked up his leg, d'you remember?" Wald asked Kitster conversationally.

Kitster smiled. "I remember that Watto was furious 'cause he could barely walk."

Sara looked slightly alarmed. "What did you do?" She demanded of Anakin, who chuckled slightly at the expression on her face.

"slammed the pod into the side of a cliff. Only problem was, it wasn't exactly a well built or sturdy pod, so the side completely buckled and I ended up with a massive slice down my leg and a bit of metal sticking out just above my ankle."

Sara shook her head. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," She muttered. "After all, you are rather prone to getting crazy injuries."

Anakin merely grinned, while Kitster chuckled.

Melee glared at him reproachfully, "It's not funny." She snapped. "He could have been killed countless times!"

"But I wasn't," Anakin replied pointedly.

"That's not the point!" She ranted. "It doesn't matte that you didn't, it matters that you could have been!"

Anakin raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that it doesn't matter that I'm still alive?" He demanded, but he was obviously teasing her. She flushed bright red under the laughing gazes of the others.

"You know perfectly well that's not what I meant," She muttered, and he smiled at her. Melee felt her heart skip a beat then suddenly begin to race at the sight of that one, glorious smile.

Fortunately, nobody noticed anything as they were back to laughing and joking again. She did think she saw Kitster's eyes linger on her for a moment too long, but when she looked his way, he was facing back towards the others again. But she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he had noticed something after all.

I am so, so, so sorry for the delay! I actually had this chapter finished a while ago, but I had written it in a notebook in my spare time between exams in school, and it took a little longer than I anticipated to type it all up, mainly because I haven't had much time to get on my laptop.

But for now my exams are over, so I should hopefully be able to update sooner next time.

Please leave me some reviews letting me know what you thought!