A/N- Many thanks to all who replied to the last chapter! Love you all! Sorry that I took so long to update, I really am. Life has been crazy.
Chapter Two
Tatooine was vast, deserts seeming to sweep on for dune after dune, endless and yet somehow subdued. Anakin remembered this place, remembered all of it. He remembered his mother, the days spent with her in Watto's junk shop. He remembered seeing Padmé for the first time, remembered every detail on her face, the premature somberness that her eyes held.
They had parked the ship on the outskirts of the city, so it would not be seen. They wanted to avoid everyone and everything they could. Fortunately, Sh'aya was far from any kind of civilization, living as a hermit, away from anything that could distract her from her healing. They would have to walk on foot there Otherwise, they would have to go into town to rent a speeder, risk being detected.. There was no doubt in Anakin's mind that the Emperor had now learned of their escape, and every Imperial eye would be searching for Padmé.
They would go to see the healer first. His breath rasped out, coinciding with the soft noises of abrasion against his feet that the sand made. He had told Padmé that he could not go to his former master; not with the suit on, not like this. She had smiled graciously, understanding. A small grin lit up Anakin's face as he thought of the future; he would see Obi-Wan, and then finally be able to meet his son and daughter.
The desert suns burned down on them like two incensed gods of the sky. The thought of being complete was the only thing that kept his feet plodding along the sand; he had forgotten the heat and discomfort of this place.
No, he corrected himself, not forgotten. He had repressed the memory because it had been too irritating. It was worse now, with the suit. Sand got everywhere; in-between the joints of his armor, rasping against his flesh, embedding itself in his cybernetic limbs...
But it was all worth it. He stole a glance of Padmé, who was standing beside him. She wore long, sweeping robes to keep the desert from burning her skin, and her face was barely visible. But there was just a flash of soft, rounded lips, just a hint of cream-colored skin. His fingers and hers were intertwined, flesh mingling with cybernetics. He longed to bring her hand to his and brush his lips along the smooth surface...
Padmé felt his desires, and smiled serenely beside him, and he gained more admiration for his wife.
"Soon, Love," she whispered quietly. He felt the same desire burning in her; she was alive with purpose and determination. He wondered if he had ever been worthy of her.
They continued along for several more minutes in silence; a comfortable, warm, loving silence. He could sense her energy and light, and they flowed into him, joining him to her. Tender possessiveness ensnared him, binding him with the sweetest restraints he ever knew.
"Anakin?" Padmé asked, and Anakin could sense exhaustion in her voice.
A small, mischievous smile crept up on the edges of his lips.
"Can we stop soon? I'm getting tired, Ani."
Without a word of warning, he calmly stooped down, gathering her into his arms, picking her up and carrying her, not loosing a step in stride.
Her first reaction was astonishment, Anakin could see. The hood had fallen away from her face, but he blocked the sun from her with his shadow.
The next thing she did was laugh. She threw her head back and laughed as he cradled her to him, still walking calmly along. Her voice was melodic to his ears; he had not realized how much he had missed her laughter. When she regained her breath, she squirmed a little to get into a position where she could look into the mask.
"What," she gasped, "Are you doing?"
He only smiled.
"I thought it would be fairly obvious; I'm carrying you."
"I can walk on my own two feet perfectly well."
He raised an eyebrow, forgetting for a moment that she could not see it.
"The point was that we were going to take a break," she pouted, lips turning down. "Tatooine is hot, Love."
He laughed at her then, not unkindly. His laughter came out strangely with the mask, but she understood, and, in a moment, she was laughing along with him. They laughed together with the exhilaration of youth that both had lost, with sheer joy. There was a feeling of bizarre, intense liberation that both of them shared, as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
They reveled in the freedom, both somehow knowing that it would not last.
------
He had set her down, eventually. The trip took longer then either of them had expected, and somewhere along the way, they had begun to wish they had brought a speeder. Padmé did not complain, but Anakin could tell that she was beginning to grow weary of the desert heat and the miles of sand that were all around them, muffling sound and reflecting glaring light into their eyes.
They had reached Sh'aya's hut soon after nightfall. Padmé had enjoyed the suns setting; they painted vibrant colors of garnet red and orange across the sky. Anakin, however, had not been so thrilled. When she had asked him why, he had simply replied 'Tuskens.' She remembered then that the animal-like creatures came out after dark, and that Anakin had slaughtered an entire tribe of them after his mother died in his arms...
Their pace increased a significant amount after that.
The small hovel in which the healer lived was fairly unremarkable. It was the same color of off-white as all the homes in Mos Eisley, and just as small. Padmé had to remind herself that it had been Qui-Gon that had instructed them to find this healer. She was beginning to doubt the wisdom of the Jedi Master in sending them here.
Anakin's fingers tightened on her own as he opened the small door, and she forced her own anxiety down as she soothed him through the Force.
The first thing her eyes glanced upon when she entered the house was the diminutive figure that stood, hunched over, a cloak drawn over its features. Her mind immediately took in the dimensions of the thing; small, humanoid, but not human. Her mind vaguely gathered the other details; there were herbs and what looked to be spices and concoctions everywhere, crammed in every spare shelf scattered around the room.
"Master Skywalker," a voice came, quiet and yet somehow powerful, "I have been expecting you."
The creature then looked up, and Padmé was tempted to gasp. If the thing belonged to any race, she had never seen its fellow creatures, and never wished to.
Long, red-purple scars lanced across its face, a face that was horribly misshapen. She could recognize those as lips, and yes... that was indeed a nose, but she could almost not realize it, as grotesque as its appearance was. She controlled her first reaction, which would have been a horrified gasp, and managed to only tighten her grip on Anakin's hand.
A snort came from Sh'aya, who had pulled herself up by this time, revealing that the healer was just as tall as Padmé.
"Good reactions, this one," the misshapen one said. "Most of them that come to see me end up running the other way."
Padmé could not control the sentence that came to the forefront of her mind, could not control her lips as she spoke.
"What... happened to you?"
Sh'aya's eyes were a clear, pale green, and they looked at Padmé with sadness.
"The Empire is far more cruel then you can begin to imagine, little one."
Anakin made a strangled gasp beside her, and she sensed horror and shame deep within his presence.
Sh'aya regarded Anakin then, a small, faint, sad smile on her lips.
"He knows."
He turned away then, facing the wall of the hovel, looking at the door, and his shields had come up, blocking his presence from Padmé. She touched his arm softly, concerned, and he turned around.
"Say it," the healer whispered. "So she understands."
Anakin turned around to her then, and she regarded him with fear, not wanting to know what it was that had made him so horrified.
"The battle of H'lasha," he whispered, and she was able to feel the remorse behind the slow, steady, threatening intonations of Vader.
"A planet would not give way to the Empire," he continued, "And I was sent to force them to, By any means necessary." He took a breath, and Padmé could see that his hand was trembling.
"They would not give in to the Empire, and so..."
"Continue," Sh'aya said roughly, eyes burning. "Tell her what you did to my people."
"Genocide," Anakin said, and he was not trembling any more. "We killed all of them; there were not that many; a plague had wiped most of them out before we came. Their city was set afire, and we thought that none escaped."
Padmé felt horror at this, and it took all of her willpower to reach out to Anakin and touch him. Disgust tore at her, and she reminded herself that she had already forgiven him. As he bent to lean his head into her shoulder and she whispered soft comforts to him, Sh'aya looked on.
"How ironic," she breathed, "That the ones you thought you destroyed now have to be relied upon for healing."
Anakin turned to her, and Padmé could almost taste his tears.
"I will leave," he said immediately. "I will take nothing more from you; I cannot accept aid from you, not now."
Sh'aya smiled sadly, eyes seeming to hold a great weight.
"No, Skywalker. All my people are gone, and the responsibility does not lie on your shoulders alone. You are no longer the servant of the Empire, and it is my duty to bring down the force that has killed my people."
A torn, twisted hand came from the tattered robes, resting on Anakin's glove.
"A man came to see me," she whispered with hushed, fervent excitement. "A hermit, who spoke of many things that were strange and powerful. He was wise, and told me that a destroyer of worlds was to come, and that I was to heal him as best I could. I did not want to believe him, but I became convinced. I remembered the Jedi Knights of old, and it was clear to me that he was one, and so I will serve his purpose."
Padmé felt Anakin's self-loathing rip through him again, tearing old wounds agape within him.
But Sh'aya's eyes still shone with purpose, and she said again, louder, removing her hand from Anakin's arm, "I will heal you, Anakin Skywalker." Quieter, almost to herself, she said, "Perhaps then I can begin to heal myself as well."