Remembrance
A Star Wars Vignette

...Oh wow, that's an old one. Man, I haven't looked at that one in a long time…
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…Well, yeah. I mean, sort of. I sort of met him once. A long time ago…
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…He's…well, he's...kind of the man I've always wanted to marry…
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…What? Don't laugh! It isn't funny! He was just…well, he was such a hero, and he had such blue, blue eyes…
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…You really wanna hear about it? I mean, it happened such a long time ago…I was, well, kind of a different person back then…
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…Well, okay. It happened back when I'd been sold off, 'cause of Dad's debts back on Ryloth…

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…He had such blue eyes…
…
I'd watched his silvery boat slip gracefully through the sky; eyes wide, forehead pressed to window, mouth opened in a perfect O. I'd never seen anything like it. It'd unlocked its legs in a beautiful ballet of technology and then out he had come, catapulting out of the still-open hatch and running down the dirt path. I'd had to scramble to get to the front door in time (master gets SO upset when customers are kept waiting), but I'd gotten the door open and had my head bowed and eyes downcast in the traditional Twi'lek gesture of servitude by the time he arrived.

He halted before me, a hand swept back to dash away his hood. Rooted to the spot, I could only hear sounds as he spoke at me. I was dumbfounded by what I saw in his eyes…such calm, such focus…such a sense of destiny. They were the eyes that a fourteen-year old slave girl had no right to be seeing.

He spoke again. I grasped a word here and there, but my rudimentary Basic wasn't up to the task. I called upon one of my catch phrases.

"No Basic…I am sorry…please come in…I will get master."

I kept my eyes downcast, stepped back. Allowed the man to go through, to carry on important business with important people, to exit my life as swiftly as he had entered.

"Look at me." The warmth of his voice flowed throughout me. I looked up, eyes rising all the way to his in bewilderment. How…? He stilled my unanswered question with a half-smile, his eyes crinkling slightly.

"You speak Twi'lek?"

"I…" I fumbled for my voice. "I do. I'm from Ryloth." I paused. I stopped. He was about to speak. I blurted out. "I'm a slave."

His eyes darkened, then saddened. "I'm very sorry," he told me, so gently. "What's your name?"

My name…my name had been lost to the mists of memory for so long, replaced with girl! or you little hussy! or, sickeningly in public, our adopted daughter…we took her in. "I'm…" I hesitated slightly, feeling the taste of the unfamiliar word on my tongue once again. "Ri'arria." I almost shouted it. "Ri'arria!"

He closed his eyes briefly, opened them. "Ri'arria." Something crept into his tone…something that would make me remember his words for the rest of my life. "I won't forget."

I won't forget.

I looked at him with mute appeal. There were billions of filthy, underaged slaves, just like me…and so few heroes. There were far worse travesties he could be attending to. But he was standing there, in front of me…and I'd wanted him for myself. I'd wanted him to forget his duty, his honor…I'd just wanted him to give up on a galaxy of suffering and just save me!

"Ri'arria," his voice came, and I blushed, focused. "Are those lizards for sale?"

I stood up straight, and recited my expected lines. (Master would be so proud.) "Six-thou-sand credits for fe-males ten-thou-sand credits for males." His face wilted. I wilted.

"I…don't have that kind of money. Please, it's very important." I shrunk back, caught between the remembered lashes and the hypnotism of those eyes. The master would beat me senseless if I gave away one of his prize racing lizards, oh no, mustn't do that…mustn't disobey…but…but he needs it…and I WANT TO GIVE IT TO HIM!

I looked back up at him and mustered a tentative smile. "H-hold on a second."

Too-eeee-weeet? The lilting whistle was Boga's call, my beautiful Boga. The lizard I'd nursed from the egg had repaid me with the best friendship I'd ever had, and now I could set her free. Free from the whippings, the chemical stimulants, the endless training and torment the lizard racers demanded. This man would take care of her.

The lizard came, rubbed her beak against my outstretched hand, let out a muted yelp of happiness and welcome. I scratched her neck, combing the green scales down, and she preened with delight. The man simply watched as I grabbed a spare saddle off the rack, tied down Boga's saddlecloth, and suited her up.

I looked back at the man, and he smiled back at me. For the first time in a long time I'd felt confident…serene, even…I'm doing the right thing….

My intonation was musical, the low smoothness of the Twi'lek language rolling off my tongue. "This is Boga. She's yours. Please take good care of her."

"I will," the man said softly, left foot already in the stirrups. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I said. Take me with you, I didn't add.

He boosted himself up and over, taking hold of the reins and casting his gaze forward. I could already see his focus expanding, confronting epic problems of galactic proportions. Paltry issues like a poor little slavegirl no longer concerned him…they could no longer afford to concern him. He was a hero, and there was nothing epic about me.

He'd raised his feet, heeled my Boga. She'd responded like I'd known she would – a yelp of exuberance, rearing her scaly head, she'd pounded off into the unknown, leaving a cloud of dust as my only companion. I'd watched him go and remembered those eyes, and that smile.

Ri'arria…I won't forget.

Please don't.

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…So now you know it all. Of course, the planet was Utapau, and the man was Obi-wan Kenobi. Boga ended up being the reason he brought down General Grievous…you remember that droid commander, right? He tried to get away and Boga caught up to him…I wonder what happened to her, I hope Kenobi took good care of her…wow, that really is an old picture, huh? Where'd you find that one? Oh, wow, look at this one, there's a great story behind this one...