All right. I am quite sure that I'm not going to be leaving till after March 14. It should give me ample time to finish up everything I started here. Once again, thanks to the readers for not flaming me. Tired…if you have any ideas, suggestions, please let me know.

"Yousa can stay here." After taking the Bongo out some ways, Mansa Musa had found a small grotto and was settling his father in. "After this, I get you up to Naboo. Theysa might let you back in the Senate again."

"Maybe. I must learn control what I say, though."

"Yousa didn't do anything wrong."

"Embarrassing da Gungan Population was considered wrong."

"But yousa not deserving to go to da slime pits. Da Bosses are too strict."

"Nobody likes to be made fun of, Mansa Musa."

Mansa Musa made sure that nobody was coming before he allowed himself to go back to Anakin. Maybe he shouldn't have left him alone like that. Poor Anakin was probably suffering in one of the slime pits right now, and it was entirely his fault.

He might be able to go back and try again, but now he was wanted as a traitor to his people. However, guilt continued to nag at his conscience. Anakin had helped him. Wasn't it logical to pay him back?

In the end, he went back to the grotto and curled up next to Jarjar. His father wasn't the best person to turn to for help, but he might be able to give his son some advice.

"Hey, father…when somebody helped yousa out…and then that somebody got hisself into trouble…what did you do?"

"Depends. What kind of trouble is yousa friend in?"

"Eh…trouble with da bosses. Hesa a human, not supposed to be comin' by Ota Gunga." Mansa Musa eventually admitted.

"What do you think?" Jar-jar replied. "Does he deserve to be in da slime pits?"

Mansa Musa had no answer to that. One thing was on his mind as he fell asleep, though. He had to get Anakin out of that mess…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'd just as soon marry Threepio."

Han's eyes narrowed. "I drove the thing out here, didn't I? Come on, let me have a go." he begged. Luke remained unperturbed.

"I didn't really trust you then, and I'm not going to let it go now."

"I need those Womp rats! There are three days left before those crazy aliens come after my hide!"

"See? If I had never shown up, you would have no idea how to catch Womp Rats, which is why I'm operating the Sky Hopper. Go fetch Lando; there's no more time to waste. If we hurry, I can get some of those rats before sunset.

Luke climbed up into the Sky hopper and fired it up.

It had been a long time since he'd had this much fun. He aimed the blaster at the Womp rats, firing with speed. Most of them fell in his path. After he had safely gotten over them, he shouted to Han and Lando over the intercom.

"Go pick them up! I'll have more on the way, just follow behind!"

Having the force as an ally wasn't so bad, considering the increased number of quarry you could bring down. The twin suns were just beginning to set when Luke brought the Hopper back to his old farm. From what he had seen, he had probably brought down half the amount that Han needed. Not bad for an afternoon's work.

"Han? Lando?" He called. Nobody was around. A feeling of unease crept over his shoulder, and he went back out to scan the desert. There were Womp rat bodies scattered around, but no humans.

"Great," he muttered under his breath. It would be dark soon; what were they doing? He ignited his lightsaber to use as a torch, and marched through the hills, calling their names.

At last, he found them on top of a sand dune, piling the rat pelts one on top of the other. "Luke! Over here!" His brother-in-law called to him. Luke ran over to help them with the pelts, but stopped several feet away to keep from smelling the carcasses. "Did you bring a speeder?" Han asked.

"No. Why?"

Han gestured at the pile, turning away to gasp for breath. "Cause we're going to need one if we want to bring all these rats home!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"It's not like I was really going to get killed," Ben sulked. "Look, mom doesn't really care about me anyway."

"And how would you know?" Jaina snapped. "The galaxy does not revolve around you, Ben. Learn to deal with it."

Ben glared at her and hunched up in his chair. The twins had never fully been able to understand his life. That was probably why he liked Anakin a lot better.

"Do you think we'll be able to find him in time?" Jaina asked her brother. "I have a bad feeling about him."

"Oh, don't sweat it," Jacen replied crossly. He was still angry at being accused of having relations with Mrs. Degrasimo. "We'll get there in time. The probability of our little brother falling into the mouth of a whale is a million to one."

"It had better be."

Jacen turned to her. "If you're so worried," he asked, "Why didn't you tell mom about this?"

Jaina was silent. "Do you think they would have helped?"

"They could have. Don't start having second feelings now! We made this decision and we're going to accomplish it."

They stared out into the night, each one thinking their own, private thoughts. Eventually, Jacen set the ship to go at light speed. They were far enough from Coruscant.

"Ben, when we reach Naboo, we'll drop you off somewhere in the city." Jaina called. "Maybe you could walk around the palace."

"I'm coming with you!" replied the stubborn little boy. "Just because I'm ten, does it mean that I can't have all the fun?"

"Forget it, Jaina," Jacen muttered under his breath. "We'll wait till the last minute before we knock the brat out, and then we'll throw him into a storage compartment at the back of the ship. Give him steady oxygen flow; he'll survive for a couple of hours."

Jaina thought of her already worried aunt Mara. Then she glanced back at the sulky boy, who cast her a withering glance before sticking his tongue out at her. That did it for her.

"Sure. It'll be a pleasure."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A cold hand shook Anakin, roughly waking him up. "Get up," a Gungan said gruffly. "Itsa your turn in front of da Boss."

Anakin crawled out of the pit and slowly rose to his feet. The guard prodded him in the behind, which was probably a signal to move. Tahiri was already heading towards the door, and he quickly caught up with her.

"Any theories on how to put this Boss in a good mood?"

"Hmm," Tahiri mused. "I could juggle fish for him."

"No, really. We have to have a strategy for arguing our case, because we didn't do anything wrong."

"We don't know a thing about their customs, though. Humans could be considered to defile their city or something."

Anakin snorted, remembering the way his former friend had smuggled him to the palace. "Mansa Musa obviously doesn't know much about those customs."

"Mansa Musa is an idiot," Tahiri countered.

"Well, he's a smart idiot, to make off with his father and leave us behind."

"Good point. Let's try to talk to this Boss; maybe he'll give us some information to start with. ". They continued silently through the hallways, until finally, they were ushered into a large bubble. A large Gungan sat on the throne.

"Boss Nass!" the Gungan called. "Here are da two prisoners." Anakin and Tahiri were shoved into the room. "The fat guy must be Boss Nass," Tahiri whispered. "He's old enough to be one."

Instead of commanding them to be silent, Boss Nass merely stared at them. "My guards tell me that yousan two have been seen multiple times before wesa caught you," he said in a deep voice. "Tell me, why is that?"

"We weren't sure whether to approach the city or not, but we were lost, so…we decided to take a chance." Anakin mumbled. It was the only thing he could think of.

"Not so. The girl was seen and captured two days before you. Yousa two were separate, perhaps, as spies seeking the downfall of Otah-Gunga."

Tahiri snorted. "Like we'd ever do that. We're kids, do you really think-"

"Yousan are not in a position to argue!" Boss Nass roared. "Is your thinking that we, a people minding our own busy-ness, are happy for yousan to come and intrude our privacy?"

Anakin remembered something. "Excuse me," he interjected, "but one of your kind told me that you were once friends with the Naboo. Did something happen?"

The Gungan leader froze. "After the fall of the Jedi," he said softly, "Wesa no longer were interested in trusting outsiders. Storm troopers invaded the land, and wesa were forced to escape to the sacred place." He stroked the arm of his throne. "When we came back, it was all but destroyed. Since then, we have not allowed anyone to come down here and survive. It has taken us a long, very long, time to put our city back." Here he paused and glared at Anakin. "And wesa will not let it fall to your hands again."

"A lot has changed since then," Tahiri spoke up. "The new Jedi order has been established; the Empire has been destroyed."

Boss Nass stroked his fleshy chin. "Is there proof of this?"

"I'm proof." Anakin stepped forward. "I am the offspring of Leia Organa and Han Solo, two survivors of the Galactic civil war. The reason why we have come-" in his mind, he scrabbled for a reason, "-is because we were sent to tell you about this. My uncle, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, was the one who arranged this."

"Why did hesa not come hisself?"

"He has had many complications in his life," Anakin continued relentlessly. "A Jedi academy has been established on Yavin 4, and he must also attend meetings of the new Republic so that they can get back on track."

"Oh, really? In datsa case, we can settle something easily." Boss Nass stood up, emitted several words of a strange dialect. Immediately, they were caught and dragged out of the room.

'Thanks, Tahiri.'

'Like your weak claim was going to help us any more.'

"I will call on this Luke Skywalker," Boss Nass called after them. "If the events are truly as you say, he will have to come down himself to bargain for your lives. We cannot afford to lose our city again."

Yup, this story will probably be ending in a few chapters' time. I've got a life and mind to attend to. If you are not reading this, then you might as well take the story alerts off.