Chapter 9: Lucky Theft

"What do you mean, you didn't even think about asking me? You know I'm good at fixing stuff! You watch me all the time when I work on 3PO or my speeder, and you even try to help me sometimes!"

Zarya watched, amused, as Anakin continued ranting with all the annoyance a nine years old boy can summon, stealing the mechanical parts from her hands and immediately starting to assess the damage. In her defence, she truly thought the broken comm was lost to her since she accidentally crushed it, and she still doesn't have much hope of fixing it.

Plus, a lot has been on her mind these last few months, and she preferred not to think too much about her little group of friends since their separation. Who knew where Novi and Tarrik traveled to, their final destination still wasn't decided on when they broke out of the orphanage. Although, she was betting on Ryloth, since Novi could easily find help from his specie (How would the rodians react to Tarrik? Did they have anything against the Chiss people?).

And she really didn't want to think about what happened to Hostias.

"Do you really think it can be repaired?" she asked after a minute of watching him organising the pieces. "There are a lot of tiny parts, and most of its frame is broken."

Anakin made a humming noise. "Its main parts are mostly intact, it just looks worse than it is, 'cuz it's in pieces. Seems like I just need to reassemble it, find a new import for sound, and a new frame, too. All of this is easy to find in the shop."

"I don't want you to steal from Watto's shop again," Zarya said with a frown. It probably looked more adorable than stern on her childish face, but it got the sentiment across. "I know you can be discreet, but he could get so angry with you if he ever finds out."

"It'll be fine, he has so much junk he won't notice anything. 'Specially since what I'll take is so little." With that careless answer, he immediately started to repair what he could, installed on his small desk near his shut down protocol droid.

Zarya gave a sigh, but let it slide. He was right, but there were still risks to going behind your master's back, no matter how better off they were than most slaves. In addition to that, should Watto ever decide to come to the Skywalker home to look for his stolen pieces himself, he could easily find out about her.

Surprisingly, the slaver was still none the wiser about the new addition to the household. Oh, he has seen her many times, yet never thought she was anything more than a friend of his youngest slave, although a clingy one. He was very rarely at their home, having no reason to, and what they did in their free time didn't matter to him as long as their work was done. If Anakin's friends didn't disrupt him in his work time, he didn't care for them and by extension, didn't care about Zarya, who she was or where she came from.

It was fortunate for her, that Anakin and Shmi were given as much freedom as they had. For slaves with a bomb under their skin, anyway. She saw many slaves around that were not as lucky as them.

She highly doubts she would've had that luck, had she stayed at the orphanage.

Since she came here, Anakin's mother had refused to hear her when Zarya talked about finding somewhere else to stay, probably because of how attached to her Anakin was. That woman had made her mind the moment she found them the first time in their makeshift pillow-fort, talking and giggling like children their age were supposed to. By now, after almost five months, they were as close as twins, and people that knew them now found it unusual to see one without the other. Even when they were apart, they found a way to communicate with their connection. Or, more accurately, Anakin mentally nagged her until she started responding to him.

They had found a way to share their current emotion with each other, but she realized that the more they did it, the more difficult it was to hide them from the other, too. They could mostly control the intensity of the constant flow between them, and the distance there was between each other also influenced their link. Anakin didn't like being too far from her, since they couldn't sense each other when that was the case and he grew fond of sensing her. Whenever one of them was feeling down, angry or bored, the other could project their own feelings to counteract the negativity.

To the boy's delight, the more time passed, the more they could sense each other from afar. Like now, Zarya could feel a trickle of amusement and suspicion coming from him.

"By the way, I found a stash of truguts and wupiupis under the sofa the other day, and mom commented on how she kept finding some in places she didn't remember, like in her pockets or on the kitchen counter. I wonder how they got there."

Zarya mourned her privacy. He was smiling, the little… sleemo. (Oh stars, she really spends too much time with him if she's starting to use his insults.) Maybe she could try and play it off?

"Oh? How weird, what a mystery."

The greatest comeback of all time, she swears to god…

"You're a terrible liar," Anakin laughed. "You go around stealing people and nag me when I steal from Watto? I call that being a hypocrite."

"I'm not a bad liar, I just can't lie to you!" Or as a child. Her mind sometimes seems to recede to the one of a toddler, damn her young body. "And I know what I'm doing when I steal, you don't!"

"Whatever, I have to go to the shop before the flying ball of greed can get mad at me. See you tonight! I'll get those missing parts for you!"

And with that inadequate goodbye, he ran out of the room before she could get in her own two cents. He'd learned early on that there was no winning against her in an argument. She was stubborn as a mule and used logic a normal kid his age could not compete against, and so a hasty retreat seemed to be his go-to option.

In his defense, they never really said goodbye, being in each other's emotional field all the time…

With a final look at the tiny mechanical parts all over is desk, she got up to get ready for the day, a hesitant flare of hope blooming in her heart.

(( ))

By now, it was easy for her to stick to the shadows along the walls, hiding behind the passing people and ducking under windows and neighboring merchant stands to stay out of view (and out of the burning, burning suns' twin glares). After months of pickpocketing and shop lifting, she had become uncomfortably good at it, and her small stature only aided her in her endeavor.

Before, she was completely against stealing from people, although she did understand when people had no other choice to avoid starving or worse. Those that stole out of greed or malevolence… well, that was another story.

But now that she's found herself on a merciless planet, inhabited by scum and killers at every corner, her morals had shifted quite a bit when it came to taking what you need at the detriment of others. If she had been of age, she would've gladly taken a job to earn her money in a more respectful way, but nearing her 8th birthday, no one would be paying her anything worthwhile. And so, stealing from those who were better off was her best option.

She only stole from those she knows have more than they need, and are less than polite when talking to those they deem beneath them, like slavers, rich merchants and scumbags. Who was she to decide who did or didn't deserve to be theft victims? No one. She was just trying to survive and help those who helped her so selflessly.

And the many times she stole only to give it all to homeless children and families or in places Shmi could find them made it even more justifiable in her book.

(Maybe she was only giving herself excuses. Either way, it was hard to stop now that it was so easy.)

Today, her normal ease at this delicate skill was interrupted, to her growing frustration. Who was to blame? Anakin and his all-over-the-place-emotions, of course. She thought she had grown accustomed to the intruding feelings that weren't her own, but this afternoon, it was like he was on a roller-coaster, going from intrigued, awed, confused, aggravated, amused, bitter and relieved in less than ten minutes. At least it wasn't her first time dealing with his childish mood swings or she would have been caught stealing from that tall Ming Po's stand. (Some wupiupis were left forgotten while he was talking to a potential client.)

Still, she could have gone without the distraction.

A few hours later, and with less money than she would've liked, she decided to follow her connection to Anakin, since he seemed to be exuding way more excitement than normally, among other things. Her first thought was that Watto asked him to compete in a pod race again, since the next one was only in a few days.

As she weaved through the thinning crowd, she noticed how the wind was slowly growing in strength, and people left earlier than normal. A storm was approaching, and her friend was way too far from home, weirdly enough. He was never one to explore or wander away without her.

Worry now mixed with her earlier disgruntlement she hurried to reach him at the other side of the market.

The first thing she noticed, was the people around him, and how they seemed to be accompanying him while he bought something from Jira. (Never stole from her, she was way too kind and gave free pallies to all the kids visiting her despite being poor herself.) It only took her a second to know who they were, the Gungan and astromech droid were very recognizable. In a daze, she approached them at a slower pace, her mind racing.

She wasn't ready for this, it was way too soon, her projects weren't finished. And how would this go, would it be identical to the movie, or will her presence change something? Did she want to change things? Would it worsen the future?

As panic rose in her with every step she took, Anakin turned towards her, sensing her distress. In the few seconds it took him and the new arrivals to reach her, she quickly studied them, noting the differences between them and their movie counterparts. Of course, they wouldn't look exactly the same, and it was somewhat terrifying to see them as actual, unique people. It made it more real, those weren't actors in a fantasy movie but people, in a much bigger and advanced universe.

"Zaria!" Anakin hurried to her, taking her by the elbow when she seemed too dazed to follow by herself and directing her towards home not to waste time while the storm approached. The Jedi, Gungan and queen in disguise looked at her curiously. "Are you alright? You look a little spooked."

She didn't, but he knew better. Zarya shook her head to try and clear it before talking.

"I'm fine, just looking for you before the storm could take you by surprise. Who are they?"

"Oh! Those are people I met at the shop, Padmé, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar. The droid is Artoo. They aren't from around here, and their ship is too far to make it in time before the storm hits, so I offered to bring them home!"

R2-D2 beeped in greeting as she hummed in acceptance, observing Qui-Gon the best she could from how small she was compared to his towering frame, careful not to look him directly in the eyes. Not unsettled by her scrutiny, he observed her right back, smiling politely.

"Hello Zaria. Are you a friend of Anakin? Or perhaps a sibling?"

How could someone have a voice so calming? She found herself calming down immediately, and wondered if he helped her through the Force too.

"Friend," she responded. "I didn't have a family or home before he and his mother took me in."

"That's very kind of them," chimed in Padmé. "Especially considering…"

She trailed off, not knowing if it was rude to bring up the 'slave thing'. Zarya couldn't help but smile hesitantly at her, agreeing with the statement. She really was lucky to have them.

"It was really no problem. For some reason, we're doing much better since she came into our lives." Anakin nodded exaggeratedly, with an amused smile directed at Zarya who scowled mockingly at him for the comment. The last thing those people needed to know was that she was stealing for a living.

"Do you have a family name?" Asked Qui-Gon.

"No. No family name."

No one asked her any more questions.

(( ))

They entered the home, Zarya closing the door after everyone was in to keep the wind and sand out while Anakin was calling for his mother. Everyone looked around, and Zarya could see how the human observed the rough walls and old, worn down machines and furniture.

Jar Jar, oblivious, found nothing wrong with the place, if his 'Dissen cozy' said anything.

"These are my friends, mom." Of course, the kid offered no more explanation. Zarya hid a grimace when the situation felt all too familiar to her.

"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn," the Jedi introduced himself with a slight nod of the head.

"Come on, I want to show you something I'm working on!" Anakin exclaimed as he took Padmé's hand, chattering excitedly about C3PO just like he did when he met Zarya, R2 right on their heels.

Zarya stayed with Shmi instead of joining them and their growing relationship, to explain the situation apologetically. Feeding those visitors for dinner will put quite the dent in their food reserve for the week.

As Shmi passed by her with a touch on the head to greet Qui-Gon and Jar Jar properly, Zarya used the distraction to slip her gains from today in the small bag hidden in Shmi's room near her desk. Circling back to the kitchen, she started to put some fruits on a plate from her stepping stool, looking back innocently when the two guests and her mother figure came in to sit. She highly doubted she was fooling the older woman, but she ignored that.

"Thank you, Zarya. Would you mind going to get Ani and his new friend before we eat?"

"Going!"

Hopping down, she immediately ran to Anakin's room with more enthusiasm than she was truly feeling.

"And no running in the house!" Shmi told her with laughter in her voice.

"You have quite the interesting duo on your hands," said Qui-Gon.

Shmi gave a sigh. "You have no idea. I'm lucky to have them both, though."

(

A slow one this time, but we all know the pace will be faster in the future ones! I'm not sure Zarya likes it when things go exactly as in the movie… Neither do I.

Soooooo, to fix that, what do you think Zarya should change in the near future? And how?

Thank you for all my new followers, and a special thanks to fantasy.92, Mads-Chikistorm, darth valkorion, ask3334u, Love Stories00, thatfanboi and OldWorldVulture for the reviews!

Until next time!

-Maginary

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