SANCTUARY

Chapter Four

The Lars' homestead rests peacefully in the desert that is Tatooine, several safe miles away from Mos Espa. It is a prosperous moisture farm but is more widely known around the area for the repair shop, known as "Lars' Repairs". The most famous inhabitant on the Lars' homestead is Anakin, of course, who had gained some impressive celebrity in Mos Espa as the only successful human pod racer as well as his gift regarding machinery. It wasn't a rare occurrence that a random passer-by stopped in just to say hello as all three men were known for their respected specialties.

The homestead itself isn't much to look at. It is small and plain, with sand coloring that renders it nearly impossible to notice from a distance. But up close, it is welcoming nonetheless and its inhabitants certainly aid in that matter.

The days had passed easily and carefree; before anyone realized, a week had past since Padme's arrival at the Lars' homestead. This particular day was no different than the rest. The air was slightly cooler than it had previously been which was a relief but one could still feel the relentless heat radiating from the ground, an ever present privation of living in a desert.

Padme hummed softly as she washed the remaining dishes from lunch. It had been her turn to cook and she had been overtly pleased when the three men devoured what she had prepared. She was a beginner and Anakin had been gracious enough to advise her about a few things but she had still been a little uncertain of her cooking when she placed the meal in front of them. But it was consumed within minutes and only reassured her abilities that had never before been utilized.

A lone figure in the distance caught her eye and she glanced at it for only a moment before casting it off as just another fan of the family's. She went back to washing the dishes but at second thought, took another glance at the figure and a happy grin spread across her face when she realized who their soon-to-be visitor was.

She hurriedly left her workstation and sprinted out the door to the shop. When her feet finally carried her to her destination, she burst through the door and found both Anakin and Owen staring at her like she was a mad woman.

"Beru's coming, Owen!" She announced jovially and then promptly ran back out the door to meet her new friend.

The brothers shared an amused glance and shook their heads. Women.

Owen wiped his hands and then hastily followed Padme out the door. Anakin stayed back a few more moments to put away the various tools that Owen had left scattered in his hurry. After everything was cleaned up to his satisfaction, he sauntered out the door and smiled at the scene. Padme and Beru were talking excitedly with one another while Owen stood awkwardly to the side, obviously of no use to either woman.

He smiled again and leaned against the doorframe of the shop as he continued to observe the scene. Padme and Beru had become fast friends and no one was happier about that than him. When he had introduced them the day after Padme arrived, he'd felt uneasy about it simply because he had known they were polar opposites. But apparently he didn't know them as well as he thought they did for Padme and Beru had endless 'female' things in common that he even didn't want to understand. Regardless of that fact, he knew how great the value of a female friend was for Padme and he appreciated that Beru had been as kind and generous as she was. Watching them now, one would have never guessed that they had known each other for less than a week.

Beru had spotted him now and anxiously waved him over so he had no choice but to take his place next to Owen and be ignored. He took his time and once he was there, he and Beru exchanged quick hellos and then she went back to talking to Padme. He listened to their conversation for a few moments in hopes that he could have something to contribute but quickly tuned it out when he realized they were talking about Beru's nonexistent wedding dress.

Owen nudged him in the side and motioned for them to leave with his head. Anakin nodded his understanding immediately and they quietly headed back to the shop, unnoticed by either woman.

"Can you believe her, Anakin? I haven't even proposed and she already has the wedding planned!"

Anakin chuckled. "So when do you plan on proposing?"

Owen glanced back at his girlfriend then back at Anakin. "With her attitude? Never."

Anakin laughed heartily as they reentered the shop. "I don't think Beru's going to like that."

"Yeah well, just you wait. Someday, that girl of yours is going to get the same ideas and then we'll see who's laughing."

The mischievous grin abruptly fell from Anakin's face and he opened his mouth to reply but couldn't form the words. Instead, he grabbed a nearby dirty towel and threw it in Owen's face.

"Hey! I'm just telling the truth. Every man has to face it someday, you know."

Anakin just shook his head for lack of a better response and quickly changed the subject.

"Hey…can I have that wrench over there?"

Owen smiled knowingly and obliged him. "You know, Anakin, whenever Beru and I get around to getting married, I would really like it if you were my best man."

Anakin smiled and quickly nodded. "Of course. I would be honored."

Owen chuckled and put his hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Well, you know this is only on the condition that I get to be your best man when you finally marry Padme."

Owen ducked, just barely missing the wrench that was thrown directly at his head. After he heard the wrench safely clank to the floor, he shot back up. "What was that for? You could've killed me, you lunatic!"

Anakin shrugged. "Well, just be glad I missed then."

Owen shook his head and went back to his work. After a few moments of anger towards Anakin and his temper, he smiled smugly. He had always been careful when talking to Anakin about Padme before but now that she was here, he could tease him all he wanted. It's not like he didn't hear it from Anakin about Beru. He could handle a few wrenches thrown is way if it meant watching Anakin squirm.

"Anakin, how is your pod coming along? Owen told me you're hoping to get it fixed up before the race."

Anakin grinned at the mention of his pod as he set the plates of food on the table. "Well, I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I've definitely made a lot of improvements so far. I really think it will be ready for the race. I don't know what I'd do if I had to miss it this year."

"Yes, yes…but I really wish you wouldn't race this year. Especially after what happened at the Mos Espa Open…" Cliegg trailed off, almost shuddering at the memory.

Padme leaned forward in her chair, a confused expression on her face. "What do you mean…what happened?"

The table went silent and each person looked at each other, waiting someone to speak. Finally after trembling a little in her chair, Beru took the difficult task of repeating the awful events.

"Something malfunctioned in his pod and…he crashed into another pod…broke his leg in three places…two ribs…he's lucky that he survived. It was a horrible day and we didn't think he was going to make it…"

Padme's gaze moved to Anakin, who was staring at the floor as Beru recounted the events, and she realized what a miracle it was that he was sitting before her. Something or someone must be protecting him because it seemed like he should have died that day.

As the memory lingered in the room, Cliegg excused himself from the table and went to bed which seemed like a good idea to Beru. She also excused herself and Owen quickly rose from the table to walk her home, which left Anakin and Padme alone in a very uncomfortable silence.

Neither knew what to say and so they resigned themselves to cleaning up the kitchen. Padme cleared the table and scraped off the dishes before handing them to Anakin to wash. They cleaned and washed in complete silence, the eerie memory of Anakin's accident still hovering in the air.

Finally, Padme could stand the silence no longer and decided to ask Anakin the question that had been lingering on her mind since her conversation with Beru earlier that day.

"Anakin…I have a favor to ask you."

He turned off the water and turned to face her, once again giving her his full attention.

"You and I both know that Owen and Beru are going to get engaged any day now. I don't know if you heard Beru talking about wedding dresses today but…I'd like to do something nice for her so I want to give her my wedding dress as…an early wedding present, I suppose."

Anakin's brow furrowed in confusion and he leaned forward. "And you need me for…"

Padme sighed. "I can't send for it on my own, Anakin."

He nodded immediately, finally understanding and smiled slightly. "I'd be glad to help."

Her face broke out in a wide grin and she resisted the urge to hug him. "Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me and Beru…"

Anakin couldn't help but smiled back at her happiness with the situation. "So how are we going to go about this?"

"I can connect you to Sabe's private line and as long as you don't mention my name, we should be fine. I'm not quite sure where it is so Sabe will have to do some searching but she's never let me down. And I'm sure she'll be relieved to hear from you too."

Anakin's face again contorted with confusion. "Why is that?"

"Sabe didn't really like the idea of me coming here. And she didn't like the idea of letting my parents think I was dead, either. She thought that it would be easier for everyone if my family and I went somewhere together. But that wouldn't have worked. I had to break all ties and unfortunately, that included my family. And when Sabe talks to you and sees you, I know she'll know that I'm alright and will feel much better about it."

Anakin nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments. He watched her carefully, trying to decide if he should ask her the question that was in his mind. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe she didn't even know the answer herself. Before Anakin could ponder on that any longer, he heard the front door open, signaling that Owen was back.

Owen sauntered into the room and an expression of amusement came over his face when he was who was alone together in the kitchen.

"Well, well, well. What's going on in here?"

Anakin shook his head and was about to reply when he saw Padme shift nervously in the corner of his eye. He frowned as he watched her stare at the floor so she wouldn't make eye contact with Owen. He quickly turned his attention back to Owen and answered hurriedly: "Nothing, Owen, we were just cleaning up the mess you made."

Owen rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to Padme, who was still staring at the floor. He didn't say anything and the three sat in silence for a few unbearable moments.

Unable to stand it any longer, Padme excused herself and walked hastily to Anakin's room, then shut the door immediately.

After she was gone, Owen shrugged and looked at Anakin. "What was that all about?"

Anakin's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I don't know. You tell me."

Owen held his hands up in mock defense. "Whoa…Anakin, I don't know what you're talking about."

Anakin's head cocked to the side and his arms folded across his chest. "Padme was acting very strange towards you. The only thing I can think of is that you said something to her that upset her."

Owen sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Well, that first night she was here I asked her if she was in danger and then…I mentioned that she might have faked her death."

Anakin exhaled deeply and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Thanks for that, Owen. No wonder she's nervous around you. She probably thinks you're going to turn her in or something."

"Wait a minute…wait a minute. What do you mean 'turn her in'? What did she do and why is she still here then?"

"That doesn't matter. Why did you say that to her?"

"I just wanted to make sure she was alright."

Anakin stared at him and shook his head.

"Alright, fine, Anakin. I don't really trust her. There I said it!"

"Why not, Owen?"

"I'm sorry but I have an awfully hard time trusting someone that you haven't heard from in almost ten years and then turns up on your doorstep asking for help, especially after we had just heard that she was dead. That sounds more than a little suspicious to me."

"What if it's not what you think?"

"Well what is it then?"

Anakin sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sat down. "Her planet was going to force her into an arranged marriage. She didn't have any other way out."

Owen's head dropped as he sat next to Anakin. "Oh…I never would've guessed that."

"Well maybe if you had just waited for me to talk to her. I didn't want to force her into telling me if she wasn't ready and that's just what you did. You really need to learn to be more patient and more sympathetic too. I don't know how Beru stands you. Padme was scared, she's still scared and you took advantage of that to get what you wanted. By the way, Padme just asked me to send for her wedding dress so she can give it to Beru. Do you trust her now, Owen, or what other hoops are you going to make her jump through so you'll trust her?"

Owen remained silent for a few moments and when he opened his mouth to speak, Anakin shook his head and walked away from him.

He watched Anakin leave, probably heading to the shop, and he considered following Anakin to try to explain. But he realized quickly that Anakin wasn't interested in what he had to say. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He had been wrong, he knew that now. It seemed he was wrong about a lot of things. He sighed again and headed to his room. He would just have to apologize tomorrow.