Chapter 13: Anera's Story

Dear Brother,

I found this book when I woke after father (I guess it must have been him) put me in the escape pod. I was so happy because I believed it was something I could read if the journey became too long, but then it was just an empty notebook. The journey became very long.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for my destiny, and if I am not to survive what lies ahead of me, I hope you will find this book when you search for me - which I am sure you will do. I never thought this would happen. I never thought we would be separated like this. Ever.

But it happened. I have no idea what went wrong when father launched the pods, but something must have gone terribly wrong. I cannot believe he would be so cruel that he deliberately split us. I have no idea where you ended up, brother, but for your sake I hope it's far from this gruelling hot and merciless place.

But let me start with the beginning.

The first thing I remember is confusion. I had gone to bed in my own bedroom and I woke up in a tiny spaceship, which I later realised was one of the advanced escape pods the government had made available. I simply had no idea what was happening at that point, but I definitely understood that I was all alone and there was no way I could manage to find my way back home. Many years later I learned that in that moment I probably didn't have a home anymore. Our homeworld had already disappeared. I kept myself alive by eating the ration bars and drinking the water onboard the pod so physically I was in fairly good shape when I landed…oh, who am I fooling…crashed here.

My first meeting with Tatooine was very abrupt, to say the least. I had no idea of how to land this thing, and to be honest I still don't know if it's even possible, so I did the only thing I could and strapped myself into the sleeping cylinder hoping that it would protect me from damage in the impact with the planet's surface.

As you may understand if you read this, it did.

What it offered little protection against was the terrible heat on this place and as the days went I really began to fear for the lack of water. I was never much of a water drinker back home. As you probably remember I preferred fizz drinks. I stole yours ever so often. But after the first couple of days here I decided to leave the relative safety of the ship and explore the surroundings.

I hate to admit it, but I was terrified. During the nights I had heard terrible cries from something I assumed were huge animals. (Much later I learned about the krayt dragons which live in the mountains here.) So in an attack of common sense I chose to start my explorations early in the mornings when the suns still were low on the sky and the chill from the night still was lingering.

It was on my third day of exploration I found the cave. It was located high up in the mountainside a few klicks away and - as by a miracle I found a small well of water nearby - or rather water trickling down the mountainside coming from stars alone know where. The cave gave good shadow for the mid day sun and was relatively cool even at daytime. After a day's pondering I decided to abandon the ship and settle down in the cave. I brought a couple of blankets and some of the stuff from the little pantry inside and moved out.

Then another series of scared nights came. I had no idea whether the screaming animals would find me and possibly kill me so I didn't get much sleep, but slowly I settled down realising that they wouldn't come here.

I also realised one more thing. Do you remember the meditation our father requested us to perform when we were children? I was never as good at it as you, but the solitude here helped me. There was simply nothing here to distract me - so out of sheer boredom I began the meditations again. Oh, brother, I'm sure you would have teased me forever had you known.

But you didn't know, did you? I tried to reach you while I was in the meditative state but I never managed. Was I too weak still? Were you too far away? Were you…dead?

No! Not that! Never that. At least I would have known that.

But I discovered something else.

Do you remember how father used to do…strange things when he thought we weren't' watching? He could move things without touching them. I saw him do it several times in his workshop. Well, I realised that I was able to do that as well. I discovered it one day when I'd been struggling with a boulder to get it in place in front of the cave opening to protect me from the strange animals that roamed the mountains at night.

It was far too heavy for me, so I gave up and sat down to meditate and when I emerged from meditation the stone had moved and was just outside the cave. I started experimenting and realised that when I was relaxed I was actually able to move other things like that.

How cool is that?

It gave me more safety during nights. At least nobody were able to enter the cave without waking me up, which was an improvement. I was lonely, but alive and determined to get through the ordeal and one day I was certain I would find you again. It was just a matter of time and strength.

They came on the third day in the third month.

'They' were the inhabitants of the area. Scary bipedal beings clad in rags from top to toe - not an inch of bare skin to be seen. They came to the valley one day I was out trying to bring more of the stuff from the ship to the cave, and they almost scared me to death. I had brought with me a wooden staff and I was determined to fight for my honour.

I fought well, brother. When the dust settled two of them were unconscious and the other four were almost as bruised as me and blinded by the sand I had thrown in their eyes with my newfound abilities, and I was still standing. You would have been proud of me. You were always the better swordsman of us.

I was afraid they would kill me there and then, but to my own huge surprise they began talking to me. Their language isn't made for human throats. It more or less sounds like growling, but after a while I understood that they wanted me to follow them.

I was scared, but I didn't sense any real danger so I did. I was so alone and deprived from contact with other beings that I probably would have followed them even if they invited me as their main course in a banquet. Fortunately I wasn't. Instead they served me a banquet, or something that seemed like that after my diet of roots and water and a couple of unlucky birds throughout the last months.

Long story short - they became my family and my friends or as close to such as it's possible to come. They respect strength and by fighting them in open fight I won theirs. I still kept the cave as my home for years to come but I visited the Sand People's camp ever so often. That's what they call themselves, you know.

There are humans living here too, they told me as soon as I had learned their language. Or rather 'inhumans'. They are hunting the Sand People down whenever they get a chance and they really do terrible things to them. I cannot and will not tell you in detail as you were always the softer and more kind-hearted one of us. Thus is it that the Sand People for generations have chosen the desert and the mountains as their home.

This was also the reason why I became their 'courier' so to speak. They are a different species but they share enough of the biology with humans to benefit from some of the medicals developed for the human race and when some of my friends became sick I volunteered to go into the settlement to buy the medicals.

That's when I really learned how humans look upon the Sand People. They are considered no more than animals. I could barely restrain myself (and you know first hand what effort that is for me) but managed to keep my mouth shut and I gratefully returned to the desert. If those elements were representative for the humans on this planet, I prefer the Sand People every day, thank you very much.

In the years to come this became a pattern for me. Every 3rd or 4th month I snuck into town, bought medical supplies and went home again. I sometimes wondered how the Sand People earned their money, but I chose not to ask.

I learned the truth eventually, the day my best friend among them came back with a blaster wound in his thigh. They had for years been raiding the moisture farms in the outskirts of the human settlements and stealing the few wupiwupis and other values they could find. It was not without danger, but this time the resistance had been unusually tough and several of them were wounded when they came back.

We managed to save most of them, but my friend didn't make it. The wound got infected and that was the end of him.

Weeks later we learned about the represalies that had hit one of the other tribes. Most of the tribe had been wiped out by the posse sent from the human settlement. For a while we prepared for a full scale war towards the other tribes in the area but it never came. Too many of them had been killed so there were not enough of them left to attack us.

That's when I took the lead of the raids. I remembered the history lessons of ancient warfare that our father taught us and I used the principles to improve our efficiency during the raids. I also taught my people to get away with more. We could always sell stolen goods to the Jawas and earn some money on that.

Our living conditions improved after that. I was able to buy more medicals and sometimes I even bought food that both Sand People and human were able to eat. I almost laughed the first time I heard the people in the settlement mention the 'Warrior Queen' who lead the Tuskens in battle. 'Tuskens' is what the humans call the Sand People.

It was also during one of these trips into the town I met Him. To this day I do not know his name. I had to go to Mos Eisley because we needed some more advanced medication than what we could find in the nearby settlements and had come into town late one evening and I had to find a place to sleep for the night. Quite contented I settled down in a shed where the humans obviously kept some eopies but apart from the stench (oh, how those animals can smell when confined inside four walls….) they were quite pleasant company. In the middle of the night I heard some noise outside and half awake I peeked out to see if I had to run. And I saw Him - an impressive human figure clad in black and with something that looked like a short gaderffi in a brilliant red colour which he swung towards his attackers. The colour reminded me of mother's ruby necklace, you know the necklace with the large crimson pendant which I was never allowed to even touch. Did I ever tell you that I sometimes felt dragged towards it as by an invisible force? The colour was so mesmerising, reminding me of blood and fire and sunsets.

Oh, I'm rambling. Sorry about that.

Anyway, the fight didn't last long. Only minutes after I woke the attackers were decapitated. I wonder why the cuts didn't bleed? Maybe the gaderffi really was made of fire? I never found the answer to that. But the stranger surely found me. In my half awake condition I had forgot to hide my inner self as father taught us and the stranger saw me. The gaderffi fire had extinguished but it seemed like he was able to ignite it again simply by pressing a button. I was mesmerised again. He must have noticed because he began talking to me and told me that I had never seen what happened. I felt something attack inside my head and swiftly I raised my mental protection, but I played along when he turned his yellow gaze towards me. I realised it was for the better if he didn't know I was able to defeat his mental…whatever he was trying to do to me. I must have fooled him because he took me to his room in one of the cantinas and fed me. I even was allowed to use a cleanser. Feeling clean for the first time in years was a wonderful feeling. I could have cried, had I dared to.

The next morning I felt even more like crying. There were things that happened that night which I will never tell anyone, least of all you my brother. There are things in life a brother never should know about his sister.

Let it be enough to say that nine months later my son was born.

Shimn (the name means 'Miracle' in SandPeople's language) is a beautiful boy, at least to look at, but even as his doting mother I must admit I'm not sure about his soul. He can be very kind and caring to those he love but oh so relentless and outright hateful when something happens that is not to his likings. He's eleven standard old now and sometimes I'm almost afraid of him. Still I can control him, because my ability of using these strange powers we have is greater than his, but soon he will surpass me. I fear that day, brother. He has too much of his father's evil in him. I know that for sure. I was never an angel myself, but his father…he was pure evil. Had I known then what I know now, I would have stayed well hidden in the shed.

My meeting with Him was the last thing that needed to happen to convince me that I belonged among the Sand People more than among the humans on this planet and for the years to come I put more effort into protecting my people and earning as much as we could from the moisture farmers. We extended our range of attacks and never hit the same place twice in a considerable amount of time. Our attacks had to be….sustainable.

Other tribes heard about our victories and joined us and slowly the Sand People began to consider themselves as one people. I had never expected such a thing to happen, but wealth is attracting all species it seems, so at this time in life, more than ten years after I began my involuntary career as a 'Warrior Queen' (I still laugh when I hear the term), most of the Sand People in the region had been united as one and were under my command.

I might have been proud of my doings, but I wasn't. Frankly I never wanted this. I know I wanted to be a princess back home, but I never did see the responsibility that comes with being a 'Queen'. Now I do, but now it's too late. I am considered one, and they will never let me go. Power attracts the Sand People and they do not abandon their leaders. They follow the strong ones, and kill the weak. I still have a dream of seeing you again, brother, so I do not want to be considered weak. I will do what I must as I have done since I first set my foot on this sandy planet.

Tomorrow that is exactly what will happen.

I have summoned my forces and we will go towards the capital. My people are by now stronger and more confident and throughout the last years we have armed ourselves with modern weapons. Hopefully, by defeating the capital we can finally get our planet back from the humans and peace can be obtained. There is one last battle to fight and then it will be over. When the capital is won, we will be in charge and no more posses will be sent from the human settlements to kill our people.

This is what I aim for.

This is what I want.

And yet, brother, I have a somewhat bad feeling about this. It is like something inside me tells me I won't come out of this battle alive. There's a strong warning inside, and yet this is what I have to do. It's my destiny. I have partly chosen it, but it is also like it has chosen me.

In case I do not return, brother, I'm leaving this diary in the old spaceship that once brought me here. If you search for me that is the one thing you will recognise and that is what you will examine first. Then you will read my words and hopefully come to the capital to find me - or my tomb. Whatever destiny bids.

May peace be with you brother, and if I do not survive the battle to come, may we meet again among the stars one day.

Your sister

Anera