Leia was still hungry by the time she finished her dinner, a fact that she didn't have much time to dwell on as she watched Anakin leave to get more wood for the fire, her brown eyes trailing after him as she felt Shmi shift beside her.
"I'm sorry," Shmi's voice broke the silence as soon as Anakin was out of earshot.
The words were unexpected, but what surprised Leia was the guilt behind the words. Shmi sounded almost remorseful, and Leia couldn't fathom why.
"What for?"
"Putting you in this position," said Shmi before solemnly adding; "both of you. It's terribly unfair."
"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Leia as she watched Shmi look away, her lips pulled into a thin line as she shook her head.
"If it weren't for me, you and Anakin would be going to Anchorhead together," she said before adding; "you wouldn't have me to slow you down."
Which was undeniably true. If a pregnant Shmi was taken out of the equation, Leia would undoubtedly already be on a transport bound for Alderaan and Anakin would've gone back to wherever it was on Imperial Center that he came from. Things would be so much simpler.
But at the same time, Leia's gut twisted at the thought.
Leia swallowed, "you're not a burden, Shmi."
And I'm sorry I made you feel like one, Leia wanted to add as the hole in her chest tightened.
"You don't have to lie to me," said Shmi as she turned to look at Leia once more with deep, sad eyes that only served to further Leia's guilt and shame. "We both know it would be safer if you and Anakin went together."
"Safer for him, maybe," said Leia as she reached out to grasp the other woman's hand. "But not for you."
Shmi didn't look convinced, but Leia never had the chance to reassure her before Anakin returned— effectively silencing the two women as their conversation came to an abrupt end.
Later that night, as all three of them laid huddled around the fire, a scream echoed in the desert. Leia's eyes snapped open as she jolted upwards, startled by the animalistic cry that had pierced through the night. But when she strained to hear the noise a second time, all she heard was the whistling and wailing of the wind against the farmhouse.
Beside her, Anakin stirred from his sleep. "Krayt Dragon."
"What?" Leia found herself asking, her voice barely above a whisper.
Anakin opened his eyes to stare blearily up at her, "they come out at night to hunt," he said, his voice still thick from sleep. "But don't worry. It won't come anywhere near us," he said before adding a muffled; "probably."
"What are they?"
"They're reptiles," said Anakin, propping himself up on one arm to stare at her. "Big, lizard-like reptiles. They're one of the few native species here."
"Are they dangerous?" Leia asked as Anakin held his finger up to this lips. Beside her, Shmi stirred as Leia remained quiet— not wanting to wake the pregnant woman from her sleep.
"Are they dangerous?" Leia asked again, this time whispering as Shmi fell still once again.
"Without a doubt," was his idle response as he stretched his legs out. "But they rarely ever leave their caves and when they do, they don't get very far," he said before adding; "at least, the big ones don't."
Leia nodded as an old, familiar silence settled in between the two of them. She could've gone back to sleep, her curiosity as to the source of the noise satiated. But she didn't and neither did Anakin. There was still more to be had to this conversation.
"I still don't think this a good idea," she said, torn between him and Shmi. "You leaving by yourself and leaving Shmi and I here."
Anakin did not react externally, but there was definitely something in his eyes, maybe even in his shoulders too… "I don't like it any more than you do," he countered. "But I don't see another alternative."
"Me neither," she agreed. "Which is what I hate most about this."
Her mind was filled with what-if scenarios. What if Anakin didn't come back? What if something bad happened? What if—
"Promise me you'll watch after her," said Anakin about Shmi. "Not that I think anything will happen, but if it does..."
"I will," said Leia. "But only if you promise me something in return."
"What?"
"Don't get eaten by a Krayt Dragon," she said before wryly before adding; " at least, not until we reach Anchorhead."
He laughed, "I'll try my hardest, but I don't think you'll have to worry much," he assured her. "Encountering a Krayt Dragon will probably be the least of my worries."
Leia knew it was supposed to be a joke, but the sinking feeling in her stomach told her that his words held more truth to them than even he realized.
When Leia awoke, Anakin was already gone— his spot next to her empty as she found herself staring at it. He must've slipped out while she was still asleep, just like he said he would.
"He left about an hour ago," came Shmi's voice, breaking the fragile silence. "He didn't want to wake you."
Leia nodded, a lump forming in her throat. It was still dark, but there was enough light filtering through the cracks of the wall that let her know the suns would be rising soon. Not yet though. For now, it was still twilight.
"How long have you been awake?" asked Leia as she pushed herself up into a seated position. She held back a yawn as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"A while," said Shmi before adding; "I've always been an early riser. That and," a ghost of a smile spread across her face as she rubbed her belly, "I couldn't sleep with the baby kicking me."
Leia could only imagine the discomfort she must've been in being as large as she was and having to sleep on the floor while the baby kicked her, but if she was she made no mention of it as she continued to rub soft circles over the child.
"Here," she said as she motioned for Leia to draw near, "would you like to feel?"
"Oh, I—" Leia shook her head, but Shmi had already grabbed her hand and placed it over her belly before the Princess could even protest. A few seconds passed before Leia felt a rippling sensation beneath her hand followed by a strong kick.
"Did you feel that?" asked Shmi as Leia nodded.
"I did," she said in awe. She could only imagine what it felt like from the inside. "He's very strong."
It was as if the baby had heard her as it kicked her hand again, reacting to her touch in a very rambunctious way as Shmi winced. Immediately, Leia withdrew her hand before asking; "are you okay?"
"Yes," was Shmi's response. "He's just very active. I don't know if it's because he's ready to be born or if he just likes you," she said before adding; "I think it may be both."
Leia chuckled, "I think he's just anxious to be born already."
"Maybe," Shmi's smile faltered, "or maybe he's just anxious because he knows the life that awaits him."
Silence lapsed between the two of them as Leia fought for the right words to say. Eventually, she decided to keep silent as she felt Shmi's eyes on her, watching and observing her.
"Tell me about Anakin," she said at last, her voice barely above that of a whisper. "What do you know about him?"
"Not much," Leia admitted, shaking her head. "I know he's from here, but this is the first time he's been back here in years," she said, remembering his words. "He left when he was nine. He lives on Imper— Coruscant now."
"So, he's not a slave?" asked Shmi, drawing out the words as she patiently awaited Leia's response with inquisitive eyes.
"I—" Leia paused at the odd question. "As far as I'm aware, no. He's not."
Apart of her wanted to ask why, but the strange look that crossed Shmi's face made her bite her tongue and stop, her head tilting to the side as her brows furrowed in deep consternation because… Well, because Leia didn't know what to make of the look in Shmi's eyes.
"He's not a slave," whispered the other woman, more to herself than anything. Still rubbing circles over her belly, Leia could've sworn she saw tears in her eyes, but she wasn't sure if it was tears or just a trick of the light. "He's free."
She blinked as tears fell freely down her face— definitely not a trick of the light. They were real.
"Shmi?" asked a worried Leia. She gently placed her hand on the other woman's shoulder, which seemed to bring her back into the present as she shook her head and wiped her eyes. "Is something wrong? You're crying."
"I know," laughed Shmi, eyes sparkling in the light of the rising suns. "But these are tears of joy."
"Who do you think lived here?" asked Leia as she and Shmi sifted through the huge pile of sand that had been blown into the courtyard during the course of the sandstorm the other night in search of tools or anything else that could be of use. She knew it was a frivolous question, one that Leia knew she wasn't going to get an answer to, but she had been wondering about it for a while now.
"Moisture farmers," was Shmi's simple response as she kicked a piece of scrap metal away. "They're the only ones who are crazy enough to live this far out by themselves," she said before frowning. "Why do you ask?"
Leia shook her head, "I'm just wondering how anyone could survive by themselves out here. It's so desolate and… barren."
Shmi's lips twisted at that, "you'd be surprised."
"But what do you think happened to them?" Leia found herself asking, even though she knew it was a futile question. "The people who lived here, I mean. It seems like they must've left in a hurry," said Leia as Shmi pursed her lips.
"Either that or something happened to them," she said as the wind around them began to pick up. "I wouldn't be surprised if they fell victim to Raiders or slavers."
There was that word again. The word that had been gnawing on Leia ever since Shmi had first mentioned it. The conversation from earlier was still fresh in Leia's mind, even though it had been hours since they had stopped talking about it. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shake the need to know more.
But when Leia opened her mouth, she was surprised at the direction her words decided to take as she allowed herself to be guided by her intuition.
"How long has slavery been practiced here?" she asked, torn between wanting to give Shmi a respite from a topic that she knew was painful to talk about and sating her curiosity.
"A long time," said Shmi. "As long as our oral history can remember. Hundreds, maybe thousands of years."
"You don't have historical records?" Leia inquired.
"Our ancestors were storytellers," explained Shmi. "Not bookkeepers. Everything that we know has been passed down to us through the generations through stories. Mother to daughter, father to son, grandmother to grandchild… That is how we share our knowledge."
Leia wasn't sure how to respond to that, but Shmi saved her from having to figure it out as she continued; "you seem… curious."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No," Shmi shook her head. "Not at all. It's just… I think you're the first outsider I've ever met that's shown any interest in us."
"The people of Tatooine?" asked Leia as Shmi bit her lip and shook her head.
"No, I mean in people like Anakin and I," she said before adding; "people born into slavery."
"How do you know he was a slave?" asked Leia, swallowing. He hadn't mentioned it.
"His scar," said Shmi as she lifted up her curtain of dark hair to show Leia a small white line in the skin that ran up the length of her neck. "Right here. It's where his slave chip was implanted as a child. We all have one."
She let her hair fall back down as Leia felt her mouth go dry.
"What does—" she had to stop and inhale to make her words less shaky, but finally she managed to get the words out without her voice cracking too much. "What does it do? Track your location?"
"Among other things."
Leia wanted to ask what she meant by that but as soon as she opened her mouth, her hand brushed against something in the sand. Reaching down, she carefully picked up the remains of a model ship.
"What did you find?"
"A ship," mused Leia as she held it up for Shmi to see.
"A Skyhopper T-16," mused Shmi. "A child's toy."
Leia gently wiped the sand off the toy as she imagined a child playing with it. A boy, maybe. With wide blue eyes and blond—
"I don't think a toy is going to be of much help to us," said Shmi, interrupting Leia's course of thoughts.
"No," agreed Leia, but—
She sighed as she set it aside, her mind focusing on the present rather than on hypothetical thoughts. "I don't know what you're hoping we'll find, but I don't think anything we find in here is going to be of much use."
"You never know," countered Shmi. "The sandstorm could have brought something up to the surface. Something that we could use."
"I doubt it," said Leia as Shmi gave her a knowing smile.
"I'm going to go check on the vaporators," she said before adding; "make sure they're running properly."
"Do you need me to come with?" asked Leia as the other woman shook her head.
"No, you stay and keep digging," she said before adding; "I'll be back in a few."
She watched as the other woman made her way up the stairs before disappearing out of the door, leaving Leia by herself as she resumed her digging. For all of her hard work, they both had managed to find only scraps. Little broken pits and pieces that served no purpose other than as artifacts. In fact, Leia was about to give up on her treasure hunt and go help Shmi when her hand brushed against something deep under the sand.
What was that? She wondered as she reached into the sand pile once again, her hand idly wandering around as she tried to locate the object once more. When she proved unsuccessful, Leia began the tedious process of pushing the sand away as she dug down deeper into the mound.
And the further she dug, the louder the desert whispered.
Dig Dig Dig
There was something in the sand… Something that was calling to her.
It took a few seconds of digging and lip biting before Leia's fingertips brushed against something metallic. Biting her lip, she brushed more of the sand away before something shiny caught her eye. As if the desert itself was toying with her, a sudden gust of wind blew the rest of the sand away to reveal a metallic cylinder.
The desert quieted as Leia leaned back on her haunches to stare at the object, her head tilting to the side as she tried to figure out what it was. Something tugged at the corner of her mind, but she ignored it as she reached down and grasped the foreign object.
It was cool to the touch, the sand having protected it from the harsh rays of the suns. It was also, surprisingly, heavier than she had imagined, but not terribly so as she held it up to get a better look.
What the—?
The ground gave out beneath her as Leia found herself falling. Not physically, of course— she was still in the exact same spot she had been when she had found the object, but that was the only sensation that Leia could think of to describe the utter terror that ripped through her.
"Master Skywalker?" came the scared voice of a child. "There are too many of them! What are we going to do?"
Bodies, children's bodies. Strewn about and discarded. Screams filled the air as did the smell of burning flesh. The innocent face of a child—
No no no no no
The desert roared— and Leia screamed.