XXVIII
Tatooine, 10 years later.
"Luke I need you to head out to the south field and check the collectors before sun down!" Owen Lars shouted to his nephew as the sandy-haired teen raced from the workshop toward his speeder. "Can't it wait until tomorrow?" The boy whined. "Why leave for tomorrow what you can do today," the older man chastised. The teen sighed and slowed his pace toward the ancient speeder that was parked near one of the moisture collectors. "Good lad," Owen wiped his hands on his long tunic as Luke sped off toward the south field. "Owen! Is Luke with you?" His petite wife emerged from their underground dwelling. "I just sent him out to the south field. He should be back within the hour." Owen did a final check of the droids in the yard before making his way over to his wife. "Go easy on him Owen," Beru sighed slipping her arm in the crook of her husband's. "He needs to learn, the farm will help him keep an even head." Owen retorted as the pair made their way back inside. "You know as well as I do that Luke's too much like his father to be satisfied by a simple farmer's life, he has a gift Owen. One day it will take him far from this place." Beru smiled to herself as she set a bowl of stew before her husband. "Perhaps you're right, but there's still some hope." Owen sighed as the pair began their humble dinner.
Luke wandered the south field checking the moisture collectors and clearing them of the desert vermin that liked to nest between the spires. As he looked off into the brilliant twin sunset, he was reminded of a certain dream that had been plaguing him since childhood. Every night a beautiful woman with dark hair and emerald eyes would kneel by his side and whisper encouragements before disappearing into a fine mist.
As he moved back toward the speeder he turned to look over the field a final time. On the northern most edge he caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure standing stoically against the painted sky, watching. "Come on Luke, this desert's got you hallucinating," he muttered to himself as he hopped back in the speeder and headed home. Yet on the edge of the field, the figure remained. A new hope was just on the horizon.