Luke lifted a hand to his brow and squinted in the blinding bright light. Slowly he scanned the horizon, the warmth already drawing forth sweat from his tawny skin. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but sloping golden sand dunes, rising and falling like waves but yet they sat perfectly still like they were frozen in time. Luke had never seen anything like it. Rising high above him was a brilliant turquoise sky, as vibrant and as huge as the sky back home - except this one had two suns! Where were the trees and meadows? How did the animals and people live in such a hot desolate place? Did the two suns bleach them all to death? He was glad he didn't live here.

A beeping noise behind him brought Luke out of his immediate thoughts. The escape pod was in a bad state after landing, but it had done its job and kept him and Leia safe upon impact. He ducked his head and went back into the security of the small vessel where the temperature was a few degrees cooler in the shade. The dashboard monitor was indicating that a settlement called Mos Espa was north of where they had landed - he would have to trust the directions of the pod for the next part of their journey. He knew that without food and water, a trek in such a hot place was dangerous, and he and Leia were already weak and aching all over.

His sister was half awake, asking for water. Her hair was messy and she'd gone white as a sheet despite the warmth. Taking Leia's hand in his, he tried to be as comforting as he could.

"My throat hurts Luke…" she croaked.

"I know, so does mine. Come on, the town will have water."

"My head hurts. Was I asleep?"

"Yeah, you hit your head pretty badly. Don't worry, the town will have some bacta too. Let's go, we can't stay here."

Leia rubbed her eyes and nodded, letting him pull her upright gently. She'd only just woken and he was scared that she may collapse again. Dizzy, she almost fell back down but he caught her. He was not used to Leia being so fragile, normally she was as robust as a boulder and just as stubborn to push about. It made him nervous to see her like this, and he wasn't sure if he could lead as well as she did. The mantle of responsibility looked like it was going to stay on his shoulders until she was recovered.

"Come on, I'll carry you if I have to Leia."

"No way. I can walk on my own thanks," she huffed and he smiled. There she was.

"The town is called Mos Espa. The monitor says it's not far and should be north of here. We can send a message to Alderaan somehow. Come on, let's go and look," he told her, leading her out of the pod into the bright light. The suns beat down harshly on the tops of their heads as they stood and looked at the expanse of sand that surrounded the pod. It was immense and terrifyingly alien.

"Well…let's just head straight forward, that's the way to the town," he started walking with as much confidence as he had and Leia followed.

"I hope that monitor is right, or else we could die out here," Leia said from behind him, her voice hoarse from lack of water.

"Maybe once we're on top of that dune we can see further ahead," he replied with an equally rough voice.

Walking in the sand was hard work, it shifted and fell beneath their feet like no material they'd ever walked on before. Their slippers were soon full of sand, burning hot and abrasive on their feet. Getting to the top of the northernmost sand dune felt like a feat in itself and that was only the first hurdle. Sweaty, exhausted and swaying slightly from the exertion, the twins stood and looked north, shielding their eyes from the glaring light of the suns. A welcome breeze ruffled their hair and swept into their clothes, bringing a touch of relief against the suffocating heat. A panorama of beige and yellow dunes spread out ahead of them, broken by an occasional brown expanse of rock. It was so devoid of green, it disheartened the children.

"There's not a single tree…mother would really hate this place," Leia commented, putting her hands on her hips and squinting in the light.

The cool and shady pine trees and endless grassy fields that made up their home world seemed so far away now. Luke remembered with a pang how much their mother loved the green plants and flowers in spring. She often told them about where she grew up, and though she didn't tell them the name of the place, she described its green forests, lakes and wildflowers with dream-like detail to them. What a terrible place this was in comparison.

They both continued to scan the landscape. Being exposed against the sky on the edge of the dune made him suddenly nervous as they didn't know what kind of wild animals or people might be able to see them, but then in the distance to the north a sprawling mass of white mounds and grey boxes could be seen. His heart jumped, a city!

"Look!" he pointed. "Can you see that? Must be Mos Espa."

Leia followed his gaze and grinned with relief. "Thank the Force, let's go!"

The twins headed off, a new pep in their step now that they knew they had hope. The prison ship was far behind them and ahead was a chance of rescue and saving their parents.

However, the suns beat down relentlessly and the day wore on. It wasn't long before the fatigue and weariness returned. They both ached all over from the tumble in the pod. Their heads were throbbing with painful aches from the glare of the suns reflected off the sand. Their throats were burning with thirst. The heat was inescapable and sapped their strength. They had not eaten in so long that they were beyond hunger. Leia began to feel dangerously dizzy again after a while and their pace slowed. He also felt like if he sat down he wouldn't be able to get back up, but something within him refused to let her see it. He had to be the strong one this time.

"How much further?" she asked, clinging to a rock to regain her balance. He noticed that her nose and forehead had gone bright red from sunburn already.

"I don't know, but it's a lot closer now," he reassured her with a weak smile.

"Luke…"

"Yes?"

"I just realised," she spoke slowly, the act of talking was painful on their throats now. "How are we going to get food, water, bacta… when we have no money?"

Luke stared at her with a vacant expression. They'd never had to really think about money back home; they never bought anything or carried a purse. It was their parents who carried the wupiupi coins and who earned them at work.

"I don't know. Let's figure it out once we get there."

She nodded and they set off again in the blistering heat, the sand painfully hot in their shoes. From every direction came the power of the desert. Luke's mind drifted as they trudged along. His first experience on a foreign planet was not going as he had imagined. In his mind, he'd pictured it full of excitement, amazing food, flashing lights and toy stores as big as mountains like the advertisements that used to show on the HoloProjector back home. He used to dream that his parents would take him and Leia on an off-world adventurous holiday, but now he realised that off-world wasn't always a good thing. So far it had been nothing but bad experience after bad experience. All he wanted was to be home where there was water, shade and wind blowing through the trees, even on the hottest day.

After some time, Leia was lagging behind again and he waited for her to catch up, leaning forward on his knees and catching his breath. He noticed his forearms were burning up from the sun, and his face was throbbing too.

"Luke…I can't…" he heard his sister rasp.

He glanced up to see Leia falling down in the sand into a crumpled heap. Moving as fast as he could, Luke went to her and tried to ease her back up. She was blinking, trying desperately to keep awake and to get back up, but her body was refusing to do what she wanted.

"Stay awake! I'll carry you, just hold on to me alright?"

She nodded but her eyes were closing and he slapped her lightly on the cheeks. "Hey! Stay with me!"

"Ow…" she mumbled. "Sunburn…"

Groaning, Luke stood at his full height and looked down at his sister, who was rapidly losing the fight with her body. Summoning his remaining strength, he took her arms and pulled her up onto his back.

"Hold on to my neck, I'll piggyback you."

Mumbling incoherently, she did as he said, locking her hand on to her forearm so that he could hold her legs around his waist. She was very light and he was strong for his age for they both trained with their dad frequently, but he was still scared about how far he could carry her like this before his own stamina depleted entirely.

Setting off again with Leia half-awake on his back, he plodded onwards, finding the flattest path he could amongst the dunes and rock formations.

Some time later

Just as his father had trained him, he stretched out with his feelings. Summoning the Force to his aid, he carefully levitated the small bag of coins into his outstretched hand. The merchant had his back to him and so he noticed nothing. Silent as a ghost, Luke crept backwards into the recesses of his hiding place, a filthy foul-smelling tangle of boxes and trash that were stacked against the side of a house. He waited a while for the merchant to engage in discussion with someone, then he crept out of the boxes and dashed down the back alley. Blood pounded in his ears for this was not the first time today he had to steal and he was not proud of it. It went against everything his mom and dad had taught him, but it was a life-or-death situation, and he was sure they'd understand.

Weaving amongst the tightly packed beige coloured houses and down several more small alleys, he ran past a variety of strange looking aliens and dirty, poor humans until he came to a sprawling pile of junk and broken ship parts. Trash bags and other detritus littered the area. It was the perfect spot for him and Leia to hide and recover. He checked that no one was watching him, then he headed into the junk pile around the back to a secluded patch behind some boxes, empty oil containers and broken pieces of corrugated roofing. Leia was deeply asleep in the shade, but not because she had fainted. Her stomach was full of the food and water that he'd 'acquired'. He sat down beside her in the filth, swatting away the flies, and counted the coins, hoping it would be enough to buy bacta for them both in the morning.

The smell of their hiding place was awful, and the insects that flew around them were awful too, but it was better to hide and recuperate in such a place than for people in the town to start asking them questions or to report them to the authorities. If they were hidden, they were safe. The stench and rottenness was a small price to pay for their safety, and after the ordeal they'd been through trekking across the desert, he was just grateful that they had made it, and that they had food, water, shade and somewhere to sleep.

Luke took another long drink from the fresh water canteen he'd levitated out of someone's house. Then he ate some bread, a sweet cake, some strips of dried meat and a couple of strange circular fruit he'd never seen before. He leaned against an empty fuel container and sighed with contentment. His eye lids were drooping and the heat was still bearing down on them even in the shade, but the light was shifting to a deep orangey lilac hue and evening would be approaching soon. Before he let himself succumb to the exhaustion he felt, Luke searched the trash piles for something to cover themselves with whilst they slept in case the night got cold.

Finding some rags and tattered blankets amongst the sandy piles of unwanted debris, he built a makeshift covering over their sleeping place, just like how he and Leia used to make a den in their bedroom back home. Once it was secure, he pushed out the worst of the trash and the disgusting piles of unknown substances with an old broom head. It was far from clean in their den, but at least it was better than before. He lay beside Leia and put a foul-smelling blanket over them. Snuggling close and remembering when they would both lie in bed with their mom, tucked up like peas in a pod, he ignored the insects that landed on him and the terrible smell that hung in the air. He let the pleasant memories take him away from Mos Espa and within moments he was asleep. The twins warmed each other as they slept and the cold stole in from the dark desert night.