Chapter Thirteen:
The next day, Padmé stood before her mirror, prepping for her day at the Senate as usual. She had given things a lot of thought, and she had determined to not let Tibni get to her. She had faced far worse and known much more intimidating people. People such as Palpatine. He had been far more formidable, and she'd had every reason to fear him once his true self had been revealed.
Thus, one Jawa would not ruin her.
She still didn't understand what exactly had happened at the meeting, or why she'd been unsettled by him. It was highly unlike her to react as she had, and she was a little embarrassed, even though she knew Anakin would never belittle her.
Either way, Padmé was determined to be the better person. Maybe Tibni's actions had been his way of learning more about the new world about him. Perhaps he'd been interested in her because she had been there when he'd arrived on-planet.
Anakin appeared and hugged her gently from behind. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better," Padmé said, turning to face him. "I'm going to put Tibni's actions aside. Maybe he was just testing me. Hazael said this is Tibni's first time off Tatooine; so he may be trying to adjust, but having a hard time doing so."
Anakin lifted a brow. "I still want to talk with Hazael about it. Leia was asking about Tibni too."
Padmé blinked. "What about him?"
"She asked me if I felt anything in the Force regarding the Jawa." Anakin shrugged. "Aside from the normal distrust of the Jawa people, I felt nothing that made me wonder about him."
Padmé pondered this. "Well, I think we should reach out in a different way: let's try to get Tibni more socialized. Maybe he's just in need of help, and can't ask for it."
Anakin tilted his head. "Can't ask for it?"
Padmé frowned herself, wondering where that had come from. "I don't know why I said that."
Anakin eyed her for a moment, and then shook his head. "Alright, we'll try things your way. Why not invite him and Hazael to dinner? That would be a good start, right?"
Padmé thought it over. "Sounds good. I will reach out to Hazael today while I'm at the office."
"Okay," Anakin said, kissing her. "Have a good day today."
"Thank you."
00000
Leia handed Ijon off to his teacher as always, making sure her brother was out of sight before she left the area. However, on the way to class something caught her eye. There was a field trip planned for her grade level, and signups were being accepted.
Leia grabbed a flier, thinking that maybe it would be fun to go. She folded the page and tucked it into her pocket for later. Leia then continued to class, thinking of how she needed more than the time allotted to the students during lunch time to explore the outside world.
Leia had a list of places she wanted to visit, but they were all too far away for her to get to from school. A thought came to her then, and she grabbed hold of it. The public library wasn't that far away... she could use the terminals there to do more research, or at least find more articles to download.
No one would care, and since it wasn't school, her searches wouldn't be tracked by the staff. Leia smiled happily, and determined to do just that, starting today.
As soon as the bell for lunch rang, Leia was out the door, hoping she didn't appear too eager. She made her way to her normal exit point and left school, somewhat unsettled by how easily she was able to do that now.
Leia pulled on her normal robe and walked the distance to the library. As she walked, she thought she felt something, so she paused and looked around. But she saw nothing amiss and so continued onward.
In the throng of footsteps on the walkway, Leia didn't discern the pair that followed her.
When she arrived, Leia found the most out-of-the way terminal she could, and tried to use it... but paused when it wouldn't admit her.
"You need a library card to use those," a male voice said from behind her.
Leia spun around, her eyes searching for the voice. Leaning casually on a bookshelf to her right was a boy about two years older than she, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. His lips were twisted into a smirk while his eyebrows lifted wryly.
Leia blinked at him. "Did you speak to me?"
His smirk widened and he nodded. "That's right."
Leia eyed him. "Who are you?"
"A friend," the boy said, gesturing to the terminal she'd tried to use. "You can't use the computers without a library card."
Leia glanced at the indicated computer. "I don't have a card."
She wondered why she hadn't ever bothered to get one. Then again, the school did have a fine library selection, so she hadn't seen the need to get a card for the public library.
The boy chuckled. "What, a smart girl like you doesn't frequent a place like this?"
Leia glared mildly at him. "Is there something you wanted?"
He didn't back down. "Just curious why a high-ranking girl like yourself is ditching school."
Leia froze. "What?"
He laughed again. "I see you need help with your sabacc face."
Leia schooled her features to look regal and important. "I happen to have a perfectly good façade, thank you."
His lips turned downward. "Sure, whatever you say."
Leia realized they were getting nowhere and she sighed, deciding to move on. "Where do I get a card?"
"The front desk of course," he replied as if it were obvious.
Leia nodded, and moved back to the front, hoping she'd still have no time to search for something today. She would have to head back in short order so she wasn't missed. Leia approached the front desk, realizing the boy had followed her. He hovered near enough to listen in, but not be in her way.
Leia chose to ignore him and focus instead on the clerk. "I'd like to get a library card please."
The elderly Bothan woman eyed Leia. "Of course." She ruffled through her flimsies and pulled out a piece, handing both it and a stylus to Leia.
Leia began filling out the document and then froze when the woman continued.
"...but shouldn't you be in school?"
Leia cringed inwardly, but thought fast. "I'm actually on a little break from there. I need to use the library for homework purposes."
"I see," the woman said doubtfully. "Are you here alone?"
Leia shook her head. "No, my father is waiting in the speeder for me."
The Bothan looked toward the door. "Alright."
Leia tried not to look relieved, and when she finished the document, the woman scanned it. Her eyes widened a trace when she saw the name.
"Leia Skywalker? Really?"
Leia nodded: her family was widely known. "Yes. And I only have until the lunch bell rings, so please hurry."
"I will do my best." The woman promised, clicking things into her computer terminal and then turning to a different machine. Leia watched the chrono, feeling perspiration trickle down her back in time with the second hand.
She hadn't counted on having to get a card, and it was eating away at her time! Leia's stress mounted until the woman at last turned to Leia and held out the card for her to see. "Please verify all the information is correct."
Leia did so and nodded.
"Very good. You may use this to access the computers, or to check out material from here." The woman gestured about the space.
"Thank you," Leia said with as much patience she could muster.
She turned from the desk, caught sight of the chrono and cursed quietly. She was out of time now: she had to get back to school. She'd really been hoping to find new information today. And in either case, she had to keep up with appearances. She'd said her father was waiting outside for her, so she needed to go outside.
Leia exited the building, the boy following her.
"Skywalker, eh?" he asked, an odd note to her voice.
Leia rolled her eyes. "Is there something I can do for you?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I was just curious why you keep leaving the school."
Leia narrowed suspicious eyes at him. "Have you been spying on me?"
"Sort of," he answered. "I saw you leave the documentation office you went to by yourself, and I was curious why a young girl was out all alone. Then you went back to the school, and I was even more intrigued."
Leia stopped walking, pitting him with a glare. "Out with it! What do you want?"
"I just told you what I want!" he said in exasperation.
Leia blinked. "You want to know why I keep leaving school."
"And what you're up to." He added.
Leia turned her head around. "I don't have to tell you anything."
"Suit yourself," he shrugged. "Then I guess I can't help you." And with that he sauntered off, leaving Leia alone again. She watched his retreating back, and scratching her head at the odd encounter.
What is it with me and strange encounters lately? Leia wondered, checking her forehead.
00000
Luke was alone in the apartment, Hazael having left to attend one of the testing sessions the Republic was performing on the materials he'd brought. Hazael had left Luke with strict instructions to have the entire apartment cleaned before he returned.
Luke was doing his best, but he was struggling to find the energy to keep up the pace he needed to move at in order to beat Hazael's timeline. Luke was halfway done, and yet he kept sagging with a lack of strength.
It had been too long since he'd had actual food, and Luke's body was still shutting down. But that wasn't the only thing: Luke didn't know all of what his serum did, but now that he was getting a double dose a day, he could feel it doing things to his body that clearly weren't natural.
Luke had noticed it for the first time last night: a strange pulling sensation he wasn't familiar with, but had only been sated when Hazael had administered Luke's morning dose. But though his body seemed to crave the shot now— something that had Luke deeply concerned— he could also feel that the extra amount of serum seemed to be speeding up the deterioration of Luke's body.
Luke could do nothing about it, however, and so he did his best to ignore it. But his stomach was growing increasingly tight, and while Luke had become sickeningly accustomed to the gnawing hunger pains, his body was growing increasingly desperate for food. Every time his eyes landed upon the bowl of fruit on Hazael's desk— and the entire time he'd been scrubbing down the kitchen— his subconscious self began to crave the food so acutely it hurt.
Luke was losing muscle now, and his already malnourished body simply felt thinner than it normally was. In fact, Luke could feel his ribcage beginning to become more pronounced, even through his Jawa robes. And, the portion of his body upon which his shoulder-belt rested felt like it was now sitting on the bone instead of what little muscle had been there before.
Luke was currently dusting Hazael's desk, though when he brushed against a short stack of papers, his rag caused the top portion to slip from the tabletop. Luke gasped, diving to snatch them up and hurriedly moving to place them back on the desk.
However, Luke couldn't read the text upon them, so he didn't know the order in which they were supposed to go. And if he got them mixed up Hazael would know... and beat Luke!
Luke trembled at the thought of the certain punishment he knew would be forthcoming. Luke tried to make out anything on the pages that could help him discern their proper order, but alas he couldn't.
With a heavy heart, Luke simply put them back into their stack as neatly as possible. He finished the desk and began to vacuum the carpet, picking up a piece of garbage at one point and walking to the trash can to throw it out.
It was as he tossed the item into the receptacle that his gaze happened to see the fruit Hazael had taken a single bite from and thrown out. It was darkened with age from being exposed to the air, but Luke's body didn't seem to care about that fact in that moment.
Desperation grasped Luke so thoroughly he lunged for the food, snatching it up and moving to take a bite. But then he froze just as the fruit was about to touch his lips. He needed to hide his find, and then he could eat it at night when Hazael locked Luke into his room.
With frazzled movements— and his stomach twisting afresh at the thought of receiving actual food— Luke hid the fruit in his robes and returned to work.
00000
"Hazael?"
Hazael turned at the sound of the feminine voice, and smiled to see Padmé standing there. She wore a light pink dress, one that flowed from her form so nicely that her body seemed to call to him. Force she was beautiful, and Hazael felt desire well up in him, though he was careful to keep it off his face.
She should have been mine! Hazael thought angrily.
"Yes, Senator?" he asked in a clear tone.
She approached, eyeing the trials occurring beyond the safety glass. "How are the tests coming along?"
Hazael managed to remove his eyes from her and instead follow her gaze, watching as a military-grade blaster was aimed at the breastplate and then opened fire. The blaster gave it all it had, even going to nearly point-blank range before shutting off.
When the smoke cleared, and the armor piece remained intact— if a little dented— Hazael smiled proudly. "I'd say it's going rather well."
Padmé lifted an impressed eyebrow. "Wow. That's pretty strong stuff." She turned her head towards him. "You discovered it on Tatooine?"
"Indeed I did." Hazael nodded. "It's at a level few would dare venture. You see, Tatooine wasn't always a desert planet. It was once as lush as Naboo, if you can imagine."
Padmé hummed. "I remember reading that in school when I was younger. But I never would have guessed one could mine materials from the planet."
Hazael shrugged. "I guess there's always a first, right?"
Padmé smiled softly. "There is." She turned to face him fully. "Are you free this evening, or perhaps tomorrow?"
Hazael didn't try hiding his surprise. "What for?"
"My family would like to invite you and Tibni to dinner at our home one evening." Padmé explained. "We wanted to help Tibni socialize more, or perhaps make some friends."
Hazael considered, not certain if he was ready to take the brat into his family's home. But then again, the thought of having their lost child in their house, undetected, was enticing. Plus, if he took the runt so he could see how lushly and happily his family lived while he rotted away...
The prospect to torture the whelp even further was too much for Hazael to pass up.
He straightened, putting a smile in place. "That would be most gracious of you, thank you. But I'm afraid we couldn't do until the day after tomorrow." Hazael offered an apologetic look. "I have a full schedule until then, I'm sorry."
Padmé waved away his apology. "That's fine. We will see you then. Is there anything Tibni likes to eat? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the diet of Jawas."
Hazael's mind laughed at the sudden possibilities before him. "We will bring something for him."
Padmé frowned. "You would be our guests. Please, let us provide."
Hazael considered. "I will send you some things he would be able to eat."
Padmé nodded, satisfied. "I'll look for your message then."
Hazael watched her go, eyeing her retreating form in a way that would have sent her husband after Hazael had he seen. When she was gone, Hazael forced himself to focus on the testing, though it was a difficult task.
When he finally returned to the apartment, he was surprised to find the boy putting away his supplies, and Hazael snorted softly. The boy had actually done what he'd been told.
Feeling hungry, Hazael moved to the kitchen and put a soup together before he allowed it to simmer on the stove for a while. As it did so, Hazael moved to do other things until his food was ready.
At some point, Hazael noted the way the boy quivered with fatigue, and he rolled his eyes in disgust. "Go to your room, whelp."
The boy nodded and retreated, though Hazael noted that the boy seemed a little too eager to be dismissed. Hazael frowned suspiciously. The boy never actually wanted to go to his cell...
Narrowing his eyes, Hazael went to his office and opened a secret compartment, in which lay a security array. On Thew's preliminary visit to Coruscant to make ready for his boss's visit, Hazael had ordered Thew to install security cameras in his apartment.
Thus no one but they two knew of the cameras. Wondering what the runt was up to, Hazael perused the day's holo feed. However, partway through the task, Hazael received a live message from Thew, and Hazael sighed, taking the call and forgetting about the boy for a moment.
"What?" Hazael asked as he picked up.
"Forgive the intrusion into your evening, Sir," Thew said through the comlink. "But I thought you'd like to know the mines experienced a slight... problem today."
Hazael sighed, running a hand down his face. "What kind of problem?"
"Well, a few of the Sand People and Jawas banded together to try overrunning our guards. A few guards were killed, but they managed to get the riot under control."
Hazael glowered at the comlink, though when the security feed showed the boy enter Hazael's office, he divided his attention. "How many guards were killed?"
"Five, Sir," Thew replied.
Hazael glared. "Select five of the wives from those in the raiding party and execute them for all to see."
"As you wish Sir," Thew said. "How is your visit going so far, if I may ask?"
Hazael perked up slightly. "So far it's going very well." He glanced at the runt's room. "And in fact, it's going even better than I had hoped, if I'm honest."
Thew hummed on his end of the comlink. "I'm glad Sir."
Hazael stopped listening, however, when the security feed showed something of interest at long last. He zoomed in and observed as the boy first knocked flimsi sheets off the desk and then tried to place them back the way they had been. Hazael glanced sourly at the same pad of flimsi pages, knowing he'd have to reorganize them.
But then he saw the boy reach into the trash can for something, almost as if his life depended on it. Frowning, Hazael zoomed closer... and realized it was the fruit he'd discarded. When, in the video, the boy moved as if to eat the fruit, Hazael growled. But then he stopped, and Hazael was about to applaud his sense of reason when the boy instead hid the item in his Jawa robe.
Incensed that the boy would dare disobey him, Hazael leapt to his feet, completely forgetting that the line to Thew was still open.
"BOY!"
He was gratified to hear the boy startle within his room, and he heard the boy scramble as if to hide something. Hazael raced into the room in time to see the boy stepping back from his mattress.
Hazael glared murder at the boy, who trembled in the face of his master's anger. "Did you take some food?!" Hazael thundered.
The boy swallowed heavily, but didn't answer, though his furtive glance at the mattress only solidified what Hazael already suspected. Hazael went to the mattress, ripped it up and found indeed the same piece of fruit.
It looked like the boy hadn't eaten anything yet, but Hazael didn't care. He roared in fury and turned on the terrified child, who was now hunkered down in one corner of his cell. Hazael grabbed the kid up by the scruff of his neck, and held him aloft so he could look in through the yellow goggles.
"How dare you defy my orders!" Hazael shouted, punching the boy in the face and watching as he tried to curl into himself as a form of self-defense. "How dare you eat something when I strictly forbade it?!"
He hit the boy again, this time in the stomach, and listened as he gagged for air. Hazael then threw him down and kicked him several times, the boy crying out with each impact. Still not sated— and feeding off of the bad news Thew had given him— Hazael dragged the boy into the kitchen, where he went to the stove.
Infuriated, Hazael grabbed the boy by the throat, lifted his black facial cover enough to reveal his mouth, and then took up a ladle.
00000
Luke didn't know what Hazael had planned, though when his master took him by the throat, Luke instinctively tried to break free. But Hazael held him fast, and even used his body to pin Luke against the counter. Luke froze at the contact, his chest heaving, and then Hazael ripped his face-shield up enough to reveal Luke's mouth. The part that had been removed covered Luke's eyes, blinding him, and he felt a deeper level of fear at the sudden handicap.
Confused, Luke could only stand there as his master made sounds Luke tried to identify. He heard the lid of some pan being lifted, followed by the sloshing of something. Before Luke could react, his master's hand shifted to grab Luke's chin, force his head back and then squeeze so hard on his jaw that Luke's mouth opened forcefully.
"You want food?" Hazael grated hatefully. "Here! Have some food!"
Luke sucked in a breath... and then balked when white-hot soup was forced into his mouth. Luke screamed at the temperature, but instantly choked when the viscous liquid and even some chunks of vegetables entered the back of his throat.
Luke's base instinct was to gag and spit it back out, but Hazael was swift to force Luke's mouth shut so Luke had no choice but to swallow. It burned him the whole way down, and when it got to his stomach, Luke's stomach instantly started to rebel.
Luke didn't get a chance to do more than try to scream again before Hazael repeated the maneuver, forcing Luke to take in several painful mouthfuls of the boiling soup. Luke cried out in agony, feeling his stomach hurt like never before and cramp up threateningly. Not to mention his throat was on fire from mouth to stomach.
Hazael continued to force-feed Luke until Luke could hold back his urges no longer. Luke's body convulsed warningly, and Hazael threw the boy to the floor hard enough that Luke's chin hit and his teeth clacked together.
He tried mightily to get up, but didn't even make it to his hands and knees before he vomited violently. It hurt just as much to get all the soup back up as it had to have it forced down his throat. Luke's stomach squeezed so hard to expel the last remnants of food that he thought he'd pass out.
As it was, his strength was entirely depleted, and Luke was helpless but to collapse to the floor amidst his own bodily fluids. It smelled horrible, and Luke instinctively balked when the viscous liquid touched his nose.
Hazael grabbed Luke by the neck once more, brought him nose to nose and glared murder at Luke, though he had to replace the black cover in order to do so. "You will clean this all up, and then you will bring me my food, or I will do much worse than this, do you hear?"
Luke managed to nod, though the action was lethargic. Hazael made a sound of disgust and dropped Luke to the ground, stepping over him and the mess and leaving the boy to clean up. Luke was so weak he couldn't even cry, but he forced his limbs to move and pick up a towel to clean up with.
He shook so heavily that he couldn't see straight, and he could feel his body trying and failing to recover from the ordeal he'd just endured. Luke's movements were as slow as a granite slug, and he didn't know how he did it, but finally the mess was cleaned up.
He then recalled the second task he'd been given, and he didn't know how he would fulfill it. He could barely move his arms; how was he supposed to stand and walk too?
Luke lay where he was for a time, gathering strength and praying it was enough. Finally he grabbed the knobs on the cabinets and used them as leverage. He managed to rise, but his legs wobbled so heavily he buckled and fell. Crying out, Luke caught himself on the counter, clinging heavily to it until he thought he could risk letting go.
He shakily made a tray for Hazael, and then carried it with utter care to the man, who lounged in his room. He showed Luke where to put the tray, and then pointed to his room. Luke obeyed; turning and shuffling to his room, though he finally collapsed halfway there and crawled the rest of the way inside.
Once he got in, he turned to get into his mattress, but it was gone. Blinking in shock, Luke looked around, trying to find it. There wasn't even a pillow or blanket anymore. A step behind him alerted Luke to his master's arrival.
"You've lost the privilege of any and all comforts. You may keep the bucket, because I don't want your filth all over my floors, but that is all. Oh, and I found a new leash for you, just like in your old room on Tatooine."
Hazael indicated the chain, and Luke's heart sank, realizing that Hazael was now determined to treat Luke like an animal, which was an even lower step than slave. Luke could only try to weep as Hazael attached his new chain— which had been rigged within minutes, Luke saw— and then shut the door, leaving Luke alone.
Luke stayed where he was for long minutes, processing his new situation before the fight left him and he simply crawled into a corner, curled into a ball for warmth and finally passed out.
00000
On Tatooine, Thew overheard everything, the morbid side of him wanting to. When it was over, Thew disconnected the line, considering his options.
Some tiny portion of Thew pitied the child Hazael kept. Thew was well aware of the way Hazael treated the kid, and yet he didn't know why. Nor was it his place to ask those questions.
He pursed his lips, looking around at his luxurious room, and deciding that he didn't want to give it all up for a slave. Pushing the events from his mind, Thew returned to his evening.