Happy Valentine's Day, readers! In honor of the holiday, I'll be finishing up Tatooine before the night is out!
Her thick, black cloak heavy around her, Tess spun to her right towards her unseen assailant.
"Where do I go, Master?" she called out.
"Towards the one you must destroy," hissed a dark voice—old and decrepit, with a chill in each syllable.
"How will I know?" Tess asked of the Master. She could feel the frustration of not being able to see her attacker rise. "Show yourself!" she demanded of him.
As if in response, three figures in cloaks appeared in front of her, all bowing their heads so that the hoods covered each face. One cloak was white, one blue, and the other black.
Suddenly, all three heads looked up, but their faces seemed blurry. They all spoke at once. Tess could not tell who was saying what. It was unclear whether the voices even came from these three figures at all. There were at least three at first, then they exploded into uncountable numbers, all muffled with screams of terror shouting over them.
"I need this child to be—"
"—Sister—"
"—Anakin, you're breaking my heart!—"
"—that boy was our last hope—"
"—oh…ah…Ahh!—"
"—Obi-Wan, there is still good—"
"—How old is she? Is she my age?—"
"—no, there is another—"
"—strike me down with it—"
"—a decoy for—"
"—then you won't mind if we—"
"—it's a boy—"
"—you're like family to me—"
"—adding a third into the mix just increases their chances of—"
"—an abomination, nothing less—"
"—Ahhh!—"
"—and a girl—"
"—Give into your anger!—"
"—baby girl. She will be loved with us—"
"—a scientific experiment gone wrong—"
"—Female Child Naberrie—"
"—NOOOOO!—"
"—my acceptance of responsibility for the creation—"
"—separate, the children shall be kept—"
"—so, you have a twin sister—"
"—Tess...—"
"—I'm going to need you to go back to the cottage on your own—"
"—Tess, run!—"
"—AHHHHHH!—"
"—TESS!—"
"—AN ABOMINATION!"
"NO!" Tess screamed, bolting upright in her bed. In doing so, she slammed her head into Luke's.
"Ow!" Luke exclaimed. He rubbed his temple. Tess gasped in shock.
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "I was…I—"
"That was some dream," Luke muttered, sitting at the end of the bed. "You're sweating bullets."
Tess looked down at her sand-colored tunic. You couldn't see from the outside of the thick material, but on the inside, she was soaked with gross sweat. Her wavy hair was matted against her head, neck, and cheeks. Luke left momentarily and returned with a wet cloth for Tess' forehead. He let her catch her breath.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly. Tess shook her head.
"Just some nightmare," she returned nonchalantly. "I don't even remember it anymore." Tess wiped off her face and brought herself to a stand. "Any word from Leia?"
"She made it to the Jabba's Palace," Luke updated her. "She has seen Han."
Tess' attention snapped up to Luke.
"She has?" the girl exclaimed excitedly. She could have jumped up and down with joy. Almost a year of searching and never had they been so close to saving their friend.
"Don't let yourself expect so much," Luke cautioned. "Even with success so near in sight."
Tess shook off his warning. This was good news, and she wasn't about to let her secret Master be a downer.
Leia would most definitely succeed, and they would be off this planet with Han by morning.