Aaaaaaand we back! Sorry for the wait. I posted "The Lies We Tell Ourselves" and realized I'd posted too many stories for me to juggle. So I finished that story first because it's waaaaay shorter than this one but I still procrastinated a ton and wrote a couple of short stories before I got around to it. But it's done now! So noooooow I continue this story. Enjoy!
"You got the tool box."
Beru tapped her fingers against the controls of the speeder. "Yup."
Owen crossed his arms. "And the spare ammunition."
Cliegg slumped back into the worn leather seat. "I know how to pack for my own trip son."
"And you've got ice packs."
Padme adjusted Luke in the wrap against her chest, tucking him a little closer to his sister. "Plenty."
Owen looked towards the setting sun and grimaced. "Sure you know the way? It's dark."
Cliegg threw his arms up in the air. "I've lived here since before I was born. I could be blind and deaf and still know my way to beggars canyon, and it's straight left from that."
Beru glanced at him. "You've lived here since before you were born?"
"Sure." Cliegg grinned. "I was on Tatooine when I was in the womb, wasn't I?"
"Actually," Padme began, "the Republic Court ruled that time spent in the womb does not equate to living on a planet. They argued that while in the womb there is no knowledge or experience of whatever planet you're living in, only the womb. As such, the womb is almost a planet unto itself for the child. Therefore, only after birth can you claim to have lived on a planet."
They all stared at her.
"Legally." She added, smiling a little.
Owen rolled his eyes, and huffed. "Okay. I guess you're ready to go."
Beru turned the speeder on. The engine roared and then evened out to a purr. She leaned up to kiss Owen quickly on the mouth. "Don't forget to eat some breakfast. And Threepio, don't let him work himself to death."
Threepio straightened. The setting suns light burned a brilliant orange against his gold plating. "I will try, but I cannot promise it. No one ever listens to me."
Artoo beeped something quick and probably insulting beside him. Beru didn't hear it over her gunning of the engine and flying away into the desert. The sand whipped up into a trail behind them.
The engine was loud and the wind too strong to talk much, but Beru found she didn't mind. It was soothing, to watch the dunes pass them with increasing sluggishness the further away from them they were, and she found herself lulled into a kind of half asleep state while she directed them across the dunes. It was a little lazy, because she was depending on Padme and Cliegg to keep watch. It never hurt to have another set of eyes on the set. But Beru trusted Cliegg to keep an eye on things.
Chin-see, along with fabric, had also brought news. The Schleid family, one of the farthest flung farms, was having a wedding.
Owen had decided to stay behind to get the farm going. The five week summer had been topped off with a huge sandstorm, and a lot of vaporators had suffered. Threepio and Artoo were staying behind to help him.
Beru was glad Padme was coming with them. She worried Beru sometimes. There were moments where she'd get all glassy eyed and start fumbling with that necklace of hers. She'd snap out of it pretty fast if the babies started whining or someone called to her.
But when the sandstorm had started, Padme had been outside in the courtyard. After twenty minutes Beru had gone outside to find her, afraid she was lost. But she'd just been standing there at the top of the steps in the wind and sand, her eyes closed, her hands clasped around that necklace.
Sand had worked its way into every inch of her wraps, and she'd had tiny cuts all over her face and hands for days afterwards from where the sand had cut her.
Beru just wanted to keep an eye on her. Just in case.
Two of the three brother moons had risen by the time Beru saw the faint glow of the Schleid farm in the distance. They had no courtyard to connect their house, just a host of tunnels and rooms. Tiny lights poured out of the windows of the tunnels, like a spider web against the dark sand. Large domes pushed out of the sand at intersections of the string of lights.
Beru drove in next to the shadowed line of speeders. She helped Padme climb out.
"Need me to take one of the kids?" She asked.
She only shook her head.
A figure carrying a lantern emerged from one of the domes. It walked towards them.
"Cliegg?" They asked in a gruff, low voice. Mars, the owner of the homestead. He'd bought it about twelve years back. Owen'd been just thirteen when he and Cliegg had gone over to help them fix up the farm.
Mars was a tall, tan skinned man, so thin he looked like he'd blow away into the atmosphere in a sandstorm. He looked down at them, the yellow light of the lantern reflecting off his bald head. His eyes flicked to Padme, and they narrowed. "Hello." He said lowly.
She met his gaze square on. "Padme, guest of the Lars." She said simply.
He raised an eyebrow. "I see." He turned back to Cliegg. "Offworlder, eh?"
Cliegg crossed his arms. "So're you."
Mars snorted. "I've stuck out this long haven't I?"
"Oh stop it." Beru snapped. "Come on, grab something from the trailer and head inside. Where are we sleeping?"
Mars gave Padme another long look, but turned to smile at her. "I've got some space in the workshop, if you don't mind a little grease. And ah-" he jerked his head to Padme, "-we've had some problems with rats. So you might want to show her how to hold her little ones properly. I think we got them outa the house, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Beru nodded.
Fully laden with bedding, clothes and food, they headed down into the dome with Mars. He turned off the lantern and hung it on the wall.
"Everyone's still settling down." He said as they clambered down the dark stairs. "So it's a little busy, but we've been trying to encourage everyone to sleep."
They entered the hallway.
Beru had to blink away the light from her eyes. People, mostly human, but with a few exceptions, shuffled up and down the hallway. Children danced over bags and between legs. The air was full of chatter and the general haphazard energy that came with staying up far too late.
Beru caught Padme's hand and pulled her gently through the crowd. She smiled at people she knew, which was almost everyone, but never stopped long enough to say hello. She wanted to get Padme situated before they really stopped to talk to anyone. Beru remembered how overwhelming it was to meet all the farmers, without really knowing anyone.
Cliegg soon fell far behind, talking to some friend of his. Knowing him, it'd take him three hours to make it to the workshop.
Padme suddenly pulled at Beru's hand, bringing them to a stop. For a second, Beru thought she was having another one of her moments, but when she followed her gaze she realized Padme was staring at a boy.
Beru frowned. She didn't recognize him. He sat at the table in the kitchen across the room, scowling down into a mug. He looked about fourteen, maybe fifteen. His skin was russet brown, and his shaved hair was a dark brown. He had a blaster strapped to his leg, and he kept on fingering it uneasily while staring around him. He spotted their staring pretty quickly, and he glared at them.
Padme turned away, and Beru continued guiding her down the room, wondering where that boy had come from. She didn't remember him from any of the families, but she'd only been a part of this community for a few years now. It was possible someone's nephew was visiting, or maybe he'd just escaped her notice up till now.
Why Padme found him interesting Beru didn't know at all. Maybe he looked like someone she knew?
The workshop was blessedly quiet. The speeder and tools had all been crammed in one corner to make space for people. Someone else had made their beds in the room, but apparently they'd decided to join the crowd, because they weren't there.
Beru tossed down her and Padme's bedroll and started untying them. "Did you know that boy?" She asked.
Padme shook her head. "No. I've never met him before." She knelt down and carefully began unwrapping Luke and Leia from her chest. "What did that man mean by holding the babies correctly?"
"Oh!" Beru held out her arms. "Let me show you."
Padme hesitated, then handed Beru a slumbering Luke. Beru took him, finished unrolling her bedroll and laid on it. "When there's rats, you have to hold babies a certain way to keep them from getting carried away. Generally rats only take the easy bait, so that's usually enough to discourage them. You just set them down next to you-" she curled her body over Luke and tucked her arm over him, bringing up her leg to protect the bottom. "-and lean over them like that. Nothing easy to grab, so the rats move on. Keeps them nice and safe."
Padme bit her lip, and her eyes watered and looked away. In Beru's arms, Luke's face scrunched, and he began squirming. Leia whined lowely.
Beru got up, rocking Luke lightly. "What?"
"Nothing." She croaked out. She coughed, and tried again in a steadier voice. "Nothing to be concerned about." She quickly pressed a kiss to Leia's head. "I love you." She whispered quietly.
Silently Beru handed Padme Luke, and she kissed his head and whispered her love for him too. The baby's faces evened out, and they quieted a bit.
"I wonder if they can understand you." Beru muttered quietly.
Padme laughed. "Oh, I doubt it. But it helps me remember, and they sense that, I'm sure."
Before Beru could comment on that the door to the room opened, and a man stepped in. He was pretty young, about Owen's age. A kid sat on his hip, sucking away at his thumb.
The man nodded to them. "Ladies. Mars has threatened to shoot everyone's head off if we don't head to bed."
"I'm sure he would." Padme muttered darkly, but she nodded and smiled at him. "Thank you for letting us know, Torpo."
Beru blinked. She'd recognized the man from the Kitfighter place several farms from the Lar's place, but she hadn't quite placed the name. The Groundfighter's were a huge family, and most of them looked alike, so Beru had trouble remembering the names to set to faces.
They'd come during that Tusken attack a few months back, that must have been when Padme had met him.
Torpo grinned and shifted the kid on his hip. "Ah well, we all gotta stick together when it comes to dangerous types like these."
"I'll go strong arm Owen away from whoever he's yammering away to." Beru said. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head.
Torpo laughed. "Yeah. Go save him from getting himself killed."
It took a few strong words and a lot of tugging, but Beru managed to pull Owen away from a small audience that had gathered to hear how he'd once seen a kryat dragon as a boy.
"Wasn't one of the small ones either." He said. "It was one of the big ones. The ones that could swallow a whole homestead in their mouths and be hungry for more."
Beru was pretty sure it was nonsense. But sometimes all people wanted was a story and Cliegg was more than happy to provide.
Cliegg offered to sleep with one of the babies, so Padme wouldn't have to work with both of him, and she accepted with a slightly relieved look on her face.
Beru didn't sleep too well that night. She never did when she was away from home, and she missed Cliegg. He got cold feet, and she'd almost looked forward to having him warm them against hers every night. And there were times in the night when he'd shift from side to side, the whole bed frame creaking and groaned, and his arm would settle over her. Her mat seemed too still, too warm without him.
Padme didn't sleep too well either. Once in a while she'd jump awake and they'd look at either for a second before turning over and trying to get some semblance of rest.
She drifted in and out of a half sleep until the babies woke up just when the night sky was lightening from the sun and started crying. Padme tended to them, hushing them quickly and whispering something Beru couldn't understand while pressing kisses to their foreheads.
Beru got up and grabbed a change of clothes and put them in the washroom in the hall. She barely made it before everyone else decided to do the same.
Breakfast was being cooked in the kitchen. Beru headed out to the speeder trailer to grab something to add to the mix.
Breakfast was served on the table like a buffet, and everyone ate on the floor, with the elderly sitting in chairs.
Mars stood up once almost everyone was finished and cleared his throat. Everyone fell silent and looked to him.
"Who here can shoot?" He asked. "And I mean able to nail a six foot target in the back of a moving speeder."
About two dozen people raised their hands, Padme included.
"Alright." Mars jerked his head upwards. "I'm sure you've heard, but we've got a nasty infestation of womp rats in the area. They've killed a couple of our banthas already, and they managed to chew through the wires to the door and get inside a week back. So I want those of you that raised your hand to get into pairs and to head out and start taking them down."
"How big's the nest?" Someone asked.
"We think there's two nests." Mars answered. Beru winced in sympathy. "One of them is in a small crop of rocks west of here. We're not sure where the other one is. Typical sizes, about twenty full grown and fifty younger ones. If you manage to get to the nest, smoke em out and bring the bodies in to skin and burn."
Since Womp rats generally ate meat, and weren't above cannibalism, it was a bad idea to leave Womp rats corpses laying around after you hit a nest. You tended to just attract more. And since Womp rat meat was mildly poisonous to most species, generally farmers tanned them and burned off the rest.
Mars clapped his hands together. "And to incentivise you all, whoever brings in the most rats gets my son's hand in marriage." A ripple of laughter went through the crowd and Mars grinned. "Only joking. It's a e5-1k6 rifle. Modified to get rid of that glitch with the battery. If you don't feel good enough to join the group now, you will once you've got this in your hands. Any other questions?"
There was some general murmuring, but no one said anything else. Not loud enough to be heard anyways.
People immediately began pairing up, mostly with people they knew. But it was mixed with people putting away their dishes and starting to help in other areas, so Beru didn't realize Padme didn't have a partner until everyone already had a pair and started to head out.
Mars noticed at the same time. He headed over, gave her a long look, then said, "Want me to come with you?"
Padme hesiated, then nodded over to the boy from the night before. He stood by the sink, waiting in line to rinse his dishes. He hoisted up his bowl and scraped the last bits of his breakfast directly into his mouth. "He looks like a pretty good shot." She said.
Beru squinted, but Mars smirked and chuckled. "Hey- hey kid!" He called.
The boy set down his bowl and came over, looking at both of them warily. "What?" He asked shortly.
"Listen," Mars clapped Padme's shoulder, "this woman here-"
"Padme." She said.
"Padme," Mars corrected, "needs a partner to go shoot Womp rats with. Care to fill in?"
The boy stared first at Mars, then at Padme. Finally he sighed and set his hands on his waist, shaking his head in a way that made him seem a lot older than he was. "Fine. But we're using my speeder."
Padme nodded. "Let me go drop off my children with Cliegg and grab my pistol and I'll be on my way."
The boy nodded, all business like. "I'll get the engine fired up."
"Need any tips?" Mars asked. "You're going up against native Tatooine citizens."
"I know my way around the desert." The boy said shortly and strode off.
Padme vanished into the crowd before Beru could ask her what that had been all about. Who was that boy? He didn't look like he was from any of the families, and he obviously was from offworld. And he had his own speeder. But he couldn't have been more than fifteen.
She puzzled over that while she helped prepare for the wedding that evening. Mostly cooking food, and preparing that blue cheese she was known for.
Cliegg sat by the kitchen table skinning onions, shelling some pods, or whatever he could do with his bad leg. He didn't talk much for once, no one did, because the twins started screaming bloody murder the moment Padme went off into the desert.
They couldn't leave them alone with the rats scurrying about and no one, even Cliegg, could be spared to just watch over them in another room. So they got to work and shouted over the noise when they had to talk.
Everyone had their own idea of how to help them, and given that there was a whole kitchen of farmers, they ranged from sensible to absurd.
"They're hungry."
"They've lost their rat stomachs, rub some oil on their stomachs to settle them."
"Are they suffering from the heat?"
"Give em a good shake!"
It was Beru that finally figured out what was wrong. It was as simple as scooping them up against her chest, kissing the tops of their heads, and thinking of all the lovely little things she liked about them.
They settled almost immediately, their whining settled into quiet sobs, and then silence.
Everyone in the kitchen actually stopped working.
"How'd you do that?" Kan, Mar's husband asked.
Beru shrugged and laid them both on the floor and wiped off their faces. "Oh, they just needed to know they were loved."
After that they seemed content to lay on the floor and roll over and over and to wave around spoons around or whatever what was given to them. Whenever they started fussing it was simple enough for Beru to wipe her hands off and repeat the process.
The farmers started rolling back when the suns were just a half hour from their highest point in the sky. The kitchen exploded into a flurry, setting out the prepared bowls and pans of food.
Beru set a plate of some of her sliced blue cheese on the table when she heard cheering break out above. Or yelling. One of the two.
She clapped her hands together to shake off the flour and bits of gunk that had gotten on them. She crept towards the nearest staircase and climbed up into the desert.
Mars stood in the center of a half circle of speeder. Padme and the kid stood next to him. Padme fumbled with the strings of her hat and the kid squinted blearily without one. Mars lifted the promised e5-1k6 rifle into the air, while the other people cheered him on. Then he turned and handed it to that kid and Padme.
Beru scanned the speeders, looking for the kid's until she came to one that was so full it was tilting backwards. She gaped. There had to have been at least ten fully grown rats stacked on there, with twenty or so smaller ones piled in between.
Sister suns, they must have found they other nest, Beru didn't know how else they could have gotten so many in such a short amount of time.
The kid took the rifle and turned it over in his hands, gazing at it critically. Finally he shrugged and offered it to Padme.
She took it, performed almost the exact same inspection and nodded, slinging it behind her back.
They all came in for lunch not long after. Padme sped towards her children, and they broke into gummy smiles and wriggled excitedly as she picked them up and wrapped them around her chest again.
Beru sat by a couple of her friends on the floor, but Padme went straight to the corner where the boy was sitting.
She sat down next to him and talked with him.
The boy didn't seem too happy at first, but suddenly he straightened and started talking more with her.
"Who is that kid?" Jenth asked.
Beru turned away from watching one of the babies tugging at the strings on Padme's hat. "I don't know." She said. "You don't?"
Jenth picked up a piece of bread and fed it to the two year old boy slumped against her stomach. "I don't." The boy squirmed, pushing it away. "Come on Billy." She told him. "Ready for the speeder? See? It's going bshhhh-"
Billy popped his mouth wide open and bit over his mother's pointer finger and thumb. Jenth slipped her fingers out and rubbed them on the rough fabric of her pants. "I thought he might have been part of the Groundfighters." She continued, as if there had been no break. "They were the only ones to arrive before us. But he's never so much as talked to them. Much less to anyone." She eyed Beru. "That friend of yours is the first he's interacted with anyone other than Mars."
Beru shrugged. "I don't know either. She does seem to know him somehow."
Jenth handed another piece of bread to her son, who fisted his hand around it and stuffed it in his mouth. "Or maybe she'd just being kind." She said.
Beru sipped milk from her cup. "Maybe." It did seem like Padme. But then there was that interaction with Mars…
After lunch, the people went out with speeders to collect that last of the bodies, and then they spent the waning hours of the sun cutting open the rats for their hides. Beru was still helping cook the feast for the wedding the next day she didn't get a chance to talk to Padme until it was almost nighttime again.
Padme sat on her mat, feeding one of the twins. Beru sat down beside her.
"How do you know that boy?" She asked.
Padme looked confused for a moment, then her face cleared. "Oh, you mean Boba?"
"Boba?" Beru crossed her arms. "Any last name?"
"None I can mention." Padme put her hand over the other baby's stomach and rubbed it absently. "I… have heard of his father."
"Oh." Beru debated for a moment whether to press harder or not, but decided to let it lie. It wasn't any of her business.
"Would it be alright if he came back with us?" Padme said.
Beru paused. "Why would he come back with us?"
"He'd like to borrow Threepio." Padme said. "He came here to trade with the Tuskens, and not many droids speak their language."
Beru frowned. "What kind of dealings does he have with the Tuskens?"
"They've got something of his, I believe." Padme gently pulled her child away and set them against her shoulder. "He's trying to track it down."
"I… suppose."
Padme didn't interact too much with Boba the next day, she stuck with the other hunters, skinning hide after hide.
The wedding was held at the first sunset that night. The bride and groom stripped down to their underclothes, bare feet in the sand. They took each other's hands and swore to love, to care and protect for as long as they were able.
In town, they would have had someone officiate the ceremony, usually a respected elder in the community. That was what Beru and Owen had done, but they'd also had a desert ceremony. Theirs had been private, between just the two of them and their close family members since they'd already had a large ceremony in town, but technically they could have done it alone. That was the tradition. To walk into the desert and swear oneself to each other and to walk back as one. But most people liked some kind of a party.
They feasted into the night, dancing around the bonfire of rat corpses, and singing songs until the third brother moon lifted up into the sky.
Beru danced with her friends and neighbors, and even got Padme to do a few turns around the fire with her, but she most stayed near Cliegg, who ate heartily and told stories with one of the twins in his arms.
Boba, Beru noted, hardly participated at all. He ate and drank his fill and went in the house before the first moon even rose.
Everyone went to bed and slept in late the next day until the hottest part of the day had passed. Then they trickled away, depending on how far they had to go.
Beru approached Boba a few hours before sunset.
"I heard you wanted to come with us?" She said, setting her fists on her waist.
He looked up from the part he was oiling. "Yeah. I could use that protocol droid you've got."
"We're planning on leaving in an hour." Beru informed him. "So if you want to come with us, you better be ready. If not, I'll have to give you the coordinates to the farm."
He grunted and went back to scrubbing. "I'll be ready."
So the two of them left the farm and sped away across the desert. Beru was careful to remain alert this time. Cliegg drove this time, and thus if they were attacked Beru would be the best person to start shooting first.
Owen was waiting for them. He kissed Beru the moment she got out of the speeder, and then he looked pointedly at the second speeder behind them.
"Boba." Beru said quickly, as Padme climbed out of the speeder and helped Cliegg in turn.
Owen raised an eyebrow. "Boba who?"
"No idea." Beru looped her arm around his. "He needs something from the Tuskens, so he's going to borrow Threepio."
"Oh, really?"
"Padme heard of his father."
Owen nodded quickly. "Oh. Oh yes. Of course. She knew his father."
"She's heard of his father." Beru corrected.
He gave Beru a side eye. "And that's all you know?"
"You drag it out of Padme if you want it." She said, and tugged him towards the speeder. "Now help us bring it in, I want to go to bed soon."
If it feels like there's any differences in this chapter, that's because the first half was written three months ago, and the second half in the last two weeks.
But anyways. Boba Fett! Wonder what he's doing here on a random farm. ;)