Author's note ~ Thanks for the reviews guys... I'm not too sure where I'm going with this, I'm going to need to tweak ideas...

Leia was checking over the little droid whilst half heartedly listening to the golden one they had picked up, she sensed that it was going to be a long stint at the farm, he hadn't shut up since they had appropriated him. She looked at the little droid and rolled her eyes significantly at him. The little Artoo unit bleeped at her sadly. 'You don't belong here either do you?' She asked him quietly. She sat back in surprise as he began to bleep and whistle at her as she went to reattach his restraining bolt, rocking from side to side. She looked up at the goldren droid. 'What's his problem?' She asked.

'I'm afraid he's been under a lot of duress lately, he keeps on stating that he is the property of an Obi Wan Kenobi.' Leia looked at the little droid with a delicate frown on her features. 'I'm afraid I have no idea as to what he is talking about.' Leia stood for a moment and tilted her head.

'I think I might.' She said quietly. She looked up as her name was being called.

'Leia!' It was her Uncle. She ran out of the room. 'Leia Skywalker!' She emerged to see her Uncle calling for her. 'Oh, you are here, I'd thought you'd gone and taken that blasted skyhopper out again.' Leia shrugged, she'd wanted to but she always had more chores than time in the day. 'Dinner's ready.' Leia nodded and followed her Uncle to the dinner table.

As she sat down to the dinner table, she decided to throw a bit of casual conversation out to gauge the reactions of her family. 'So, did Old Ben Kenobi go by the name of Obi Wan Kenobi at any point? You know, that you're aware of.' She bent her head and pretended not to notice the silence that suddenly echoed around the table. She had kept her tone casual to try and avoid the sharp questions.

'Where did you hear that name?' Her Uncle demanded of her and she shrugged non commitedly.

'Just around really. I was just curious.' She said dismissively and ignored the look that her guardians exchanged.

'This Obi Wan character has been dead a long time Leia.' Leia looked up and shrugged with a nod. Best to act if you weren't bothered. 'He died around the same time as your father.' Leia blinked for a moment.

'Did he know him?' She asked off hand and watched the scowl her uncle gave suddenly. Leia knew that face well enough, time to change the subject. 'Those droids seem to be in pretty good shape for being out here.' She said as she began to eat, trying to keep the inane conversation flowing as her brain worked out the complexities of what she hadn't been told. This Obi Wan Kenobi had known her father, she resolved to talk to Old Ben Kenobi about it, she didn't know if he knew anything, but she didn't believe in coincidences.

*

Leia put her hand over her eyes as if she could block out what she was seeing, or rather, wasn't seeing. 'No, no, no.' She murmured. She picked up the restraining bolt from where she had dropped it and winced. She was dead, she concluded. She picked up a second restraining bolt nearer the door. It had been sheared from the droids body, probably from the little Artoo droid. She picked up the pair of macrobinoculars from the top of a work bench, she often used them to keep tabs on the droids scattered around the farm, and she moved out towards the edge of the farm.

'Damn! Nothing.' She growled in frustration as she scanned the horizon.

'What's nothing?' Leia closed her eyes and pulled the macrobinoculars from her face before turning to face her Uncle.

'The new droids, they've slipped their restraining bolts… they're gone.' She bit her lip slightly and waited for the inevitable outburst. When it didn't come she looked her Uncle in the eyes and saw the frown.

'How does a droid slip it's restraining bolt?' He asked her sharply.

'I… may have forgotten to reattach it to the Artoo unit.' Leia admitted quietly. 'I think it took the bolt off of the other one.' She paused and waited. It came with a softer approach than normal.

'Leia, how could you be so careless?' He asked in a disappointed voice, it was maybe worse than him shouting.

'I… I could take the speeder…' She started and was cut short by his hand raising and cutting off her words, rubbing his forehead with the other.

'Not in the middle of the night, Leia. You know the risk of the sand people at this time. We've just lost two of our biggest assets on the farm Leia. We aren't going to get them back.' Leia opened her mouth to say that she thought they might be going to Ben Kenobi but she didn't even manage to expel the first syllable. 'I don't want to hear it Leia.' He said, watching the crestfallen look on his young niece's face. He turned on his heel and stalked away from her as she closed her eyes.

She sighed and sat in the sand dune at the edge of the homestead looking out into the night sky and suddenly felt her escape from the farm drift far away.

*

'Now just you wait here!' See Threepio shouted at the little droid trundling fast away from him. A few beeps sounded. 'No! I will not hurry up.' He said moving all the faster towards the little droid. 'Are you quite aware of what you've done?' Another series of bleeps. 'Of course I had to come with you, can you imagine the kind of trouble you would have gotten into alone?'

The pair had been walking for hours now and the sun was just tingeing the horizon with rich oranges which heralded the break of dawn in the desert. 'What makes you think he's out this way?' Threepio was feeling distinctly put upon as they entered the canyons.

*

Obi Wan moved lightly amongst the rocks of the canyon, his Jedi training still good after all this time. He didn't know just why he was out here this morning, he had woken to the force surrounding him, pushing against him in a way he had rarely felt before. The last time the force had pushed him so hard was when he had split the two young children of his old apprentice between two families. Something tumultuous was to happen today, of that at least he was certain. Obi Wan's brow furrowed slightly.

He pondered the first time he had come to Tatooine, he had barely come off the ship, he had never even considered that this would be where he spent the majority of his life. Over the years he had long considered the events that had brought him here, had often wondered if there was something he could have done to change things, to bring Anakin back to the light side of the force. But second guessing was petty at the best of times. He had his duty to the force and he would see it through, his last act as a Jedi before he had gone into hiding was still the reason he had remained on Tatooine.

He had split up the heirs of Darth Vader to protect them from him, Anakin was gone, killed by the dark side of the force that had infiltrated and turned him into the monstrosity that was Darth Vader. He had sent the little boy with Padme to the world of Alderaan under the care of Bail Organa, it had pained Obi Wan to learn of her death only a few years later. But he considered it a blessing in many ways, Padme had been dying since the change in Anakin, she had returned to the force and in it she lived on. That Bail had later adopted Luke had come as no surprise, the force worked in ways that would see Anakin's children safe.

Obi Wan had come to Tatooine to speak to Anakin's family, he had asked if the Lars' would take in the baby girl. They knew little of Anakin, and what Obi Wan had explained of the situation they had taken badly. They had told him that they would bring up Leia in memory of her grandmother as opposed to her father. He couldn't fault them for that really, but to explain to him that they would brook no 'Jedi interference' as they termed it had been a lot to take for Obi Wan. He had been assigned a duty to the force, to make sure that Anakin's children remained Anakin's, as opposed to Darth Vaders. Luke was safe enough in the Alderaan court, it was the perfect disguise, but Leia Skywalker had no such protection. So he had taken to living several miles from the Lars homestead, waiting for his help to be needed.

He had often seen Leia, she had grown up into a bright eyed young woman, made stronger by the hard desert life as opposed to being ground down by it, as so many people were. He had seen her fly, she would have made a pod racer to rival even her father, her innate ability in the force fairly glowed from her. He had watched her about her work in the farm as well, every movement had become weary, tired and bored beyond imagining. She was very much Anakin's daughter, strong of will and spirit, the force blanketing her as she went about her everyday life. He smiled briefly, the Skywalker blood had remained true.

He moved forwards, letting the force surround him, the darkness of the previous years had slackened, allowing Obi Wan to finally believe that the light would return to the galaxy in due course. The force nudged at him gently and he raised his head. He frowned as the sun glittered hard off of a metallic body. Droids? He waited, why would the force be pushing him towards some droids? He fingered the lightsabre at his belt, he had worn it for most of his life, he had never gotten used to taking it off, not even on Tatooine in the years he had believed himself safe.

His eye caught a movement in the hills below him. The sand people? Always with the blasted sand people! The role of the creatures in the downfall of his apprentice had always remained with him. But as a Jedi he had vowed to protect from harm. He supposed that even meant droids. He stood up in the rocks and let out a vicious howl.

*

Obi Wan looked at the droids with a slight tilt to his head, the force had pushed him towards them.

'Oh Sir.' The voice of the gold protocol droid instantly grated on his nerves, the programmed obsequiousness was not a thing he was fond of. 'How can we ever thank you? You've saved our lives!' Obi Wan pulled the dark hood from his head and regarded the two droids.

'What brings two droids out into the far reaches of Tatooine?' He asked musingly.

'Well it wasn't my idea…' The gold robot grumbled but was cut off by a series of bleeps from the little astromech droid.

'What did he say?' Obi Wan asked the translator.

'Oh don't mind him, he's malfunctioning. He keeps on a ridiculous search for an Obi Wan Kenobi.' Obi Wan remained silent at the droids revelation. 'He even convinced me to run away from our new owners to take up the search, an absolutely pleasant family. But instead he runs away into a life of who knows what and of course he doesn't ask me what I think of it. But then I'm a mere droid, our lot is to suffer.' Obi Wan resisted the impulse to roll his eyes at the melodrama.

'What does he want of Obi Wan Kenobi?' He asked simply. He waited a moment for the translation.

'He says he has a message for this Obi Wan Kenobi from our time aboard the ship before we escaped down onto this dust filled planet.' Obi Wan frowned.

'What were you escaping from?' He asked calmly.

'I believe it was an Imperial Ship, Sir. I suspect that a large part of the crew was part of the Rebellion.' The little droid bleeped in what Obi Wan assumed was an affirmation.

'I suspect that you droids would be worth a lot to the Empire?' He asked as he looked at the tracks the pair had left in the sand. An uneasy thought grew in him, in that there were no coincidences, only the will of the force. 'What farm did you say you had been sold to?' He asked.

'A remarkably good willed family. By the name of Lars.' Obi Wan looked at him sharply. These two droids had been present at a battle for the Rebellion, were looking for him and had spent some time in service to Leia's guardians. He turned from the droids. 'Sir? Sir? Where are you going?'

'If you want to see your message delivered to Obi Wan, you'd best come with me.'

*

Leia rubbed her forehead, she felt filthy both inside and out. Her Uncle had seen fit to punish her by setting her to work fixing all the things on the farm that had ever needed fixing. She had just finished fitting a new repulsorcoil to the speeder, which had been long and laborious. Unnecessary as well, now she came to think of it, the only person that used the speeder was her and she couldn't see her being allowed out in it for a very, very long time. She sat on the floor as she tampered with some more electricals, brushing her long brown hair out of her face. She looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching the farm and frowned. The harvest wasn't due for another month or more, that was really the only time they ever got visitors to the farm.

She sighed and went back to fiddling with the parts in her hand, it was entirely possible, if unlikely, that some of their neighbours had called in to visit. She looked up at the sound of her Uncle's raised voice, not that she hadn't heard it before, in fact it was quite common. But the undertone of fear added to the fact that there was something not quite right on the farm. She pulled the hood down low on her face, it was almost the colour of sand, she could remain fairly well blended into the background. She exited the building and ducked behind the floating speeder as she slowly edged around to the front of the farm.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw a cohort of Imperial storm troopers at the front of her. Her Uncle was shaking, in her whole life she had never known him to do that. Leia's jumped as she heard her Aunt's panicked shout from inside the building. Her Uncle made a moved inside but the storm trooper closest to him dropped him to his knees by virtue of slamming the blaster rifle into his temple. Leia stood where she was, unable to move. There was a muffled discussion as her Aunt Beru was brought from inside the house and pushed to her knees next to her Uncle. They were being asked questions that she couldn't quite make out.

She didn't need to hear anything to understand what was about to happen next. The storm trooper closest to her cocked his blaster rifle and pointed at the heads of her Guardians. Leia didn't even have time to think, all she was concerned with was the protection of her Aunt and Uncle. She launched herself onto the back of the storm trooper and there was sudden confusion within the ranks as she used her elbows and knees to keep a hold on his slippery armour. With his limited movement she was able to get her finger underneath the edge of his helmet and pull it off his head.

Leia saw her Uncle and Aunt move suddenly, Leia's distraction affording them a chance to fight back. The unmasked man tried to level a shot at them as they charged towards the members of his group. Leia grunted as she bit into the man's cheek to keep him from firing. Her uncle had gone for the waist of one storm trooper, Leia watched helplessly as the pair had toppled and a blaster bolt had ricocheted through his back. She cried out wordlessly. Her Aunt Beru was no where near as strong as her Uncle, or even Leia. One trooper felled her with a crack over the head.

'Leia, run.' She murmured as a white clad figure stood over her, letting a blaster shot into the woman's skull.

Leia screamed at that point, not for help, but a wild cry of pain and her efforts redoubled to keep the storm trooper she had launched herself onto immobile. 'Set for stun.' The words chilled her, they wouldn't care who they hit if they could be separated out after. The volley of shots that came her way slammed into the armour of the storm trooper, which afforded him some minimal protection. But the blaster bolt that embedded itself in her shoulder knocked Leia to the floor. She panted sharply as she looked at the approaching troopers, the spreading tingle of pain that emanated from her shoulder left her aware of what was happening around her.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she waited for the trooper standing over her to end her life. She should have been able to prevent this, stop the slaughter of her Uncle and Aunt. The pain at seeing their deaths was palpable and she groaned as she tried to move. Aim was taken by the trooper over her and she moaned in preparation. She waited for the final shot until a sudden shadow and a line of fire slid across her eyes. Confusion overwhelmed a body that was begging to be taken down into the darkness of sleep and she tried to move her head.

She sighed slightly and her eyelids closed. She listened to the slight humming on the edge of her perception and the cries that were suddenly cut short. Leia moaned slightly as she felt herself floating before unconsciousness claimed her.