Author's Note:

Welcome to Retrograde, the first multi-chapter story in a series called The First Rule of Time Travel. This series is a collection on oneshots and stories following the adventures of my OCs as they visit the Star Wars universe. My OCs are Jedi from a different universe. Though there are no Sith in that world, there is an order of people calling themselves Destroyers, and it is these beings the Jedi fight against. The Jedi have also taken a liking to visiting the Star Wars universe at various points in time and inevitably causing chaos along the way. If I wrote this well enough, you shouldn't need to know much about that other world to enjoy these stories, but if anyone finds themselves confused, please let me know! I'm happy to add more notes, or work quick explanations into the story.

Sienna grit her teeth as she blocked a blow from her enemy's saber, his crimson blade pushing against her gold, the two buzzing as they met.

"You fight well," the Destroyer hissed, "But not well enough, I think."

"Thinking? A Destroyer? That's a first," Sienna retorted.

The warrior growled, pushing harder against his blade, but Sienna met his force with her own. They moved in a slow circle, the blades never budging from where they hovered, locked together in the air. A few meters away, Calian was locked in similar combat, except that he was parrying two crimson blades instead of one and somehow making it look easy. The Knight danced within the Force, and Sienna could only hope that someday, she would be as graceful as the older Jedi.

Sienna gathered the Force within her, asking it for a bit more power, and then threw it against her lightsaber. Gold overpowered red, and the Destroyer was knocked backwards a few feet. He growled, and Sienna growled back. The parrying began again, swinging and leaping and ducking and lunging. Eventually, they found themselves locked together again, but this time Sienna found her back against a large boulder. She cursed her own foolishness at letting herself be maneuvered into such a weak fighting position, but she had found herself in similar tight spots many times before, and she had always come out of it.

The Destroyer smirked suddenly, and Sienna felt a deep sense of foreboding in the Force.

"Not a first," he said, referring back to her comment, "I also thought ahead." He extinguished his lightsaber, and Sienna stumbled forward with the sudden loss of opposing pressure. The Destroyer took advantage of her unbalance and thrust out a hand, calling upon the Force and throwing Sienna backwards against the rock.

Except, she didn't hit the cold surface. She passed right through it.

Calian glanced up at the spike of alarm he felt through the bond he had with his Padawan just in time to see the girl pass through a Force Portal that had been opened in a seemingly normal boulder. "Sienna!"

But it was too late for her to hear her Master's cry.

Sienna landed hard on her back, the air rushing from her lungs. She gaped like a fish out of water, and then when she could finally breathe, she slowly sat up. Sand. Sand everywhere. She was sitting in a vast desert, the sand burning the skin on her bare fingers, so clearly she had been thrust into another universe. But where? And when? And how?

Normally, a portal would appear to her and her Master when the Force called them on a mission. Or, if they had a mission of their own, they could seek out a portal at one of the many sacred locations that they knew of. But for there to be a random portal in a random boulder that a Destroyer had activated to throw Sienna to who knows where?

That was unheard of.

Sighing, the girl picked herself up and brushed the sand from her clothes. A flash of silver caught her eye, and to her relief she saw her lightsaber lying in the sand just a few feet away. She scooped it up and shook the sand from it as well. She lifted a hand to shade her eyes as she squinted around the bright desert. There was just sand as far as she could see, flat in some areas and swept into tall dunes in others.

Ugh. Sienna hated sand. Sandy environments were less than optimal for ships and other machines, the little grains getting in every nook and cranny and wearing down engines. She much preferred cities, or jungle planets.

The Padawan weighed her options. She could stay here and hope for her Master to come through the portal as well. Or, she could seek out water and shelter. In this heat, she wouldn't last long sitting out in the open, and she had a dark feeling that the portal she had been tossed through was a single-use door. Which meant no one would be coming through that way.

Alright then, which direction to start wandering? She closed her eyes and searched the Force, which nudged her north. So, she set out in that direction.

Two hour's worth of wandering found her hot, tired, dehydrated, sunburnt, cranky, and no closer to any sign of civilization. Or anything living at all. Not even a cactus dotted the barren landscape. Up ahead towered stone cliffs, which the girl supposed would at least offer some shelter from the sun and a place to rest for a bit. Maybe, if she was really lucky, there would even be a pool of water under one of those many ledges, a small puddle that the sun's rays hadn't been able to dry.

Sienna audibly sighed with relief when she stepped into the shadow of the first stone. Her skin ached from the sun's harsh glare, and the cool of the shade was like a soothing balm. She didn't even bother stepping farther into the canyon. She slumped down against the rock, stretching her legs out and leaning back. Her eyes drifted closed, and she sunk into a light healing trance to gain some energy and sooth her burns.

Whirr .

A noise caught Sienna's attention at the same moment the Force whispered a warning. She opened her eyes, and then yelped and threw herself flat against the ground as a vehicle shot over her at some unlawful speed. Another was right on its tail, and then a third came around a corner too fast and crashed into the side of the cliff. Sienna shielded her eyes from the blast. Someone yelled, and she looked up again to see a smaller vehicle heading straight for her, smoke billowing from one of its engines.

"Look out!" The pilot cried, and Sienna lunged to the side.

The vehicle clipped the rock she had been leaning against, the pilot yelling all the while as he tried to control the vehicle. It hit the sand and skidded for several meters, before finally coming to a stop. Other vehicles flew around it, their drivers yelling curses at the fallen one for getting in their way.

"Are you alright?" Sienna called, having picked herself up and begun making her way over.

"Yeah I'm ok," the driver - who looked like just a boy, now that Sienna could see him - said, flicking some switches. The smoke slowed from a billow to a whisp. "Watto's gonna kill me for wrecking another pod though."

"What is this, some kind of racer?"

"You've never seen a pod race before?"

"A pod race? Mm, not in a while."

"Then I guess that's why you were sitting in the middle of the racetrack. You're lucky you didn't get run over."

"Guess so. I um," Sienna looked around, "I'm a bit lost."

"Where're you trying to go? There's nothing out here except tons of sand, and Tusken raiders." The boy looked up at her curiously. "I don't think I've ever seen you in town before." Then, eyes brightening with excitement, "Did you come from outer space? From another planet? Do you have a starship?"

The child's enthusiasm was a refreshing change from hours of wandering, and Sienna smiled at him. "Yes, and yes, and no. I'm not from around here, but I'm not here on purpose. Actually, I'm not totally sure where here even is. I was… dumped in the desert."

"Wow, someone must be really mad at you if they left you in the desert. People usually die if they get stuck out there."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the intention."

"Well you're on Tatooine. And I'm Anakin, Anakin Skywalker."

"Sienna Retrograde," she introduced, holding out a hand.

The boy shook it. "Nice to meet you Sienna." He climbed out of the pod, chucking his helmet into the empty seat. As he turned, he caught sight of the silver object hanging from the stranger's belt, and his eyes widened.

"Woah, is that a laser sword?"

Sienna snorted. She unclipped it, flipped it in the air, and clipped it back with a smirk. "It's called a lightsaber."

"Are you a Jedi? Only Jedis carry laser- er, lightsabers."

She probably should hide it, not draw attention to herself. Plenty of folks didn't like Jedi. But the kid had already seen it, so what was the use in lying?

"Sort of, yeah. I'm a Padawan, which is a Jedi in training."

"Wizard! You know, I had a dream one time that I was a Jedi. I flew on a star ship and visited all the planets, and I came back here and freed all the slaves."

Sienna's smile faded a bit at that. There was slavery on this planet? Great. That made this an even more dangerous place for her to be. A lone girl without a home was a prime target for slave traders.

Anakin didn't seem to notice her change in mood though. He was still chattering.

"Wanna help me get my pod back to Watto? Then you can come home with me if you want, my mom won't mind. I bet she'd like to meet a Jedi."

Sienna hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Sure." The pod seemed awfully big for one boy to pull all by himself, and she needed somewhere to get water.

"Wizard. Here, you grab this rope and I'll grab this one. We'll pull it together."

The pod was, as expected, heavy. But together (let's face it, Sienna did most of the pulling, despite the boy's best effort, seeing as she was older and had Jedi training) they managed to get it back to the garage.

"Ani! What have you done to my pod?"

"I did my best Watto. It's only a little banged up. And it's not my fault, Sebulba pushed me against the cliff."

"Agh. You're gonna fix a this." The blue being turned his eyes to Sienna. "And who's this?"

"This is my new friend."

Watto scoffed, noting the sunburns on her face and the rips in her clothes from where she had scrapped against rocks in her attempt to not get run over.

"She looks like something a Bantha dragged in," he commented in huttese.

Anakin scowled at him. " She's nice, and she helped me bring the pod back."

"Did she? Well she better not be expecting payment for that."

"Not to worry pal, I did it out of the kindness of my heart." Sienna said. She smirked when Watto's eyes widened, and Anakin looked up at her in surprise. "Yeah, I speak Huttese."

Watto gave her a suspicious glare, then glanced at her hip, where her lightsaber hung, but she had wrapped a rag around it on the way here so that it looked like nothing important.

"Well then, go on and get home. The race ended an hour ago. But remember to fix the pod tomorrow."

"Yay!" Anakin grabbed Sienna's hand. "C'mon, I'll show you where I live."

By the time they reached Anakin's house, Sienna's head was throbbing. A dehydration headache to be sure, but it was hard to ignore, and she felt a bit dizzy too.

"Mom! Mom I'm home! And I made a friend." Anakin yelled excitedly into the house, and Sienna winced slightly at the noise.

A woman with dark hair came out of one of the inner rooms. Anakin ran towards her and flung his arms around her in a hug, and the woman squeezed him tight. "Ani! I'm glad you're alright."

"I'm fine mom, I'm the best racer ever, remember?"

The woman hummed, then smiled kindly at Sienna as Anakin wiggled out of the hug and tugged his mother closer to his new friend.

Sienna extended her hand in greeting. "Sienna Retrograde," she introduced, as the woman stepped forward to shake her hand. "I hope I'm not intruding, Anakin wanted me to meet you."

"Shmi Skywalker. Welcome to my home. It's no trouble at all, Ani likes to bring his friends home for me to meet. I'm quite used to it. "

"I found her out on the racetrack, mom. She's helped me bring my pod back to Watto after I crashed."

Sienna noticed a slight crease in Shmi's forehead when Anakin mentioned crashing, but the woman smiled at Sienna anyway. "Thank you for helping, that would have taken ages if he tried to drag it back on his own."

"It was my pleasure."

Shmi looked over the girl with the perceptive gaze of a mother well used to dealing with a trouble-prone child. "You look tired. Why don't you stay for dinner? It's the least I can offer for helping my boy."

"That's very kind, I would love to. Thank you."

"C'mon, Sienna, I wanna show you what I'm building."

Sienna allowed herself to be led to the boy's room, half-listening to his chatter. She was grateful for the hospitality of him and his mother, but all she wanted right now was some water and a nap. And to get the sand out of her boots.

Anakin sat her down on the floor, then gathered various bits of metal from around his room. He sat down in front of her and began showing off each one, little models he had built and speeder parts and circuit boards. He spoke with pride, explaining how he had made the things and telling stories of trading nuts and bolts with friends to get the right parts. In a way, he reminded Sienna of herself, though a much younger and far more excitable version.

"You know, I like to build things too," Sienna said.

"You do? Cool! What's the bestest thing you've built?"

"Hmm. I'd say a starship."

"Wow, a whole starship?" Anakin asked, eyes wide.

"Yup. It's small, but it flies like a dream."

"Wizard. Someday, I'll build a starship. I'm working on my own pod racer. It's gonna be the fastest ever built. Have you ever built a pod racer?"

"Not like the ones here. I've worked on plenty of speeders and swoops and stuff though."

"Neat. Have you always built stuff?"

"As long as I can remember."

"Me too. Mom says I've always built things." Anakin paused his fiddling with one of his models. "How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"You're waaaay older than me," Anakin said, "I'm only eight."

Sienna blinked in surprise. He was younger than she had thought. "Wow, you pod race already?"

"Yeah, I'm the youngest and I'm the only human." He smiled proudly at that. "No other human can do it."

"Why not?"

Anakin shrugged. "I dunno, they're not quick enough I guess. Pod racing is hard. But I can do it. Watto says I'm practically si- sick- um.."

"Psychic?"

"Yeah! That word. He says I'm that because I can tell when a rock is gonna fall, or when someone's pod is gonna crash, and I don't get hit. Usually."

That caught the girl's attention. "You can sense things that are about to happen?"

"Yup. Kinda like a Jedi, right? You can sense stuff too? That's what I've heard the deep space pilots say."

"Yeah, we can. We're not really psychic though. We're in tune with the Force, and it speaks to us."

"The Force? What's that?"

"The Force is…" Sienna tried to think of how to explain it. "It's like an energy. It's everywhere, in everything. It holds all of time and space together and flows through them, like electricity through a wire. And it flows through people too. Some people are more in touch with it than others. We call those people Force-sensitive."

"Force-sensitive?"

"Yup. Force-sensitive people can feel the Force and hear it when it speaks, and they direct some of its energy to help them. Like this," Sienna lifted her hand and channeled the Force, using it to lift Anakin's model of a starship into the air. It circled just above him, swooping and turning as Sienna directed it.

"Wow," Anakin reached out and poked the ship. "What else can you do with the Force?"

Sienna lowered the model back to the floor. "I can use it to help me jump high, or run faster than a normal person."

"That's epic! Can you show me?"

The boy's enthusiasm was contagious, and had they been outside and if she hadn't spent the past few hours being baked, she probably would have done so. "Maybe later. I'm a bit tired right now, from wandering in the desert all day."

It was at that moment that Shmi called the pair to dinner. Anakin hopped up to his feet and dashed to the kitchen. Sienna followed. When she saw the glass of water at her place setting, she felt like someone who had just stumbled upon buried treasure.

Shmi watched her down the glass in one go, and passed her a pitcher of juice just as the glass touched the table again. "You seem thirsty," the woman commented.

Sienna flushed in embarrassment, having forgotten her manners in her excitement. Not that the blush could be seen underneath the red glow of her sunburn. "Thank you," she said, accepting the pitcher.

"The juice is better than the water for hydrating. It has electrolytes. Were you out in the sun too long today?"

"She got dropped in the desert by some rando," Anakin helpfully supplied.

Sienna flushed again. "Erm, yes. I ran into an old.. acquaintance, and he was less than happy to see me. One thing led to another and I ended up in the middle of the desert somewhere."

She expected Shmi to grow wary at that, but the woman only sighed. "That's the way things go around here. I wish people would be a bit kinder to one another, instead of solving every disagreement with harm. How long were you out there for?"

"Um, a couple of hours, I think? And then another hour bringing the pod back."

"You're lucky you don't have heatstroke. No wonder you're dehydrated. And sunburnt. I'll give you something after dinner for those burns. I keep plenty on hand, Anakin has a bad habit of staying out in the sun without anything to cover his head.

"Thank you, you're very generous," Sienna said.

"What would the world be if people didn't help one another." Shmi smiled and passed a bowl of vegetables to Anakin, who grumbled but reluctantly scooped a helping onto his plate, before passing the bowl to Sienna. "Where are you from? Anakin said you're from off planet."

"I'm from a little world called Felidae."

"I've never heard of it," Shmi said apologetically.

"Few have. It's far out, and well hidden. The folks there keep to themselves for the most part. And those who travel usually don't share the name of their true home."

"Why not?" Anakin asked.

Sienna wasn't quite sure how to explain the fact that her planet existed not only in a different galaxy, but an entirely different time and dimension, and therefore it was best to just name a local planet people would be familiar with. "It's a relatively simple planet, and people like to keep it that way."

"It may be better that way," Shmi said, "Stay out of the wars, and away from the likes of the Hutts. If your planet is entirely self-contained and independent, it is one of the few that still is."

Sienna hummed in agreement as she took a bite of her meal. Already, with some food and drink, she was beginning to feel better. Her mind was clearing, and she was able to file away bits of information, using them to try and piece together when in the galaxy she was, now that she knew where she was.

"Are there lots of Jedi there?" Anakin asked.

Shmi looked surprised by this question, and Sienna remembered that Shmi didn't know she was a Jedi yet.

"Not a whole lot, but a few. A small order."

"Do you have a Jedi school? You said you're just a pad- pada- a Jedi in training. Do you have to go to school?"

"Padawan," Sienna supplied. "And yes, kind of."

"You're a Jedi?" Shmi asked.

"Yes, a Padawan Learner, a Jedi in training."

"I wouldn't go around telling the folks around here," Shmi warned, "The Republic has no reach out here, and the Hutts don't like Jedi. You'd have a bounty on your head in no time."

Sienna nodded. The Republic. That narrowed the timeline down a bit. "I plan to lay low until I find a way home, or my Master comes looking for me."

"Your master? You're a slave too?" Anakin asked in surprise. "I thought Jedi couldn't be slaves."

"Er, no. Master is a rank for a very skilled Jedi, and it's how a student refers to their teacher. A Padawan is an apprentice to a Master."

"Oh," Anakin said.

A slightly awkward silence fell over the table. Sienna processed Anakin's words. Are you a slave too? That indicated that he was a slave, and his mother probably was too. It made sense, come to think of it, with the way Watto had spoken to the boy. Sienna should have made the connection sooner.

It was Shmi that broke the silence. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"I don't," Sienna admitted.

"Why don't you stay here. Our home is modest, but there's enough room."

"Are you sure? I can find a motel or something."

"Do you have any money?"

"Um," Sienna realized that she had nothing except for her lightsaber and the clothes she was currently wearing. "..no."

"Then you won't find a room. Nothing comes for free in a place like this. Stay here, it's no trouble."

"And tomorrow you can show me more Jedi tricks!" Anakin exclaimed.

"Alright. Thank you," Sienna said, for what was probably the tenth time since entering Shmi's home. She was incredibly grateful for the hospitality the woman and her child were showing to a stranger.

"It's no problem." Shmi offered another kind, motherly smile.

The rest of the meal passed in comfortable conversation, and when they had finished eating Sienna offered to help Shmi with the dishes while Anakin went to get ready for bed. The older woman showed her how to scrub the dishes clean with sand, explaining that water was a precious commodity on a desert planet. She then got out a healing cream for the sunburns.

"Just a thin layer will do," Shmi said, passing the jar to Sienna. She glanced over the younger woman's clothes, noting the tears. "You said you don't have any money. I take it you don't have a change of clothes either?"

Sienna glanced away from the mirror and over her attire, assessing the damage that Shmi was frowning at. It wasn't that bad, but she certainly looked roughed up.

"Let me grab my sewing things, and I'll mend those for you. I was planning to fix one of Anakin's tunics tonight anyway."

"You've already done so much. I can sew, I can fix them myself, if you let me borrow a needle and some thread."

And so Sienna spent the next hour or so sewing alongside Shmi in companionable silence. It was odd to think she had only met this woman a few hours ago. Shmi radiated such warmth and kindness that Sienna felt more at ease after knowing her that short time than she could ever remember feeling upon meeting anyone in her life.

As for Shmi, she found that she liked this girl. She had been nothing but polite since the moment she stepped through the doors. She had a spark in her eye that would no doubt get her in trouble, but she had a feeling that the girl was more than capable of handling herself. She moved like someone who dared the world to try and mess with her. Physically strong and clearly a fighter, but quick of mind too, and Shmi suspected she was quite sassy among friends.

But she also had a good heart. Shmi could tell. A good heart was as rare as rain in the desert and not to be taken for granted.

When morning came and Anakin asked Sienna if she wanted to walk into town with him, and if she wanted to come by later and see the pod racer he was building, and if she would show him more Jedi tricks, Shmi smiled.

She had a feeling they'd be seeing a lot of Sienna Retrograde.