Title: Sad Goodbye

Time period: 78 ABY

Author's Note: This is my response to the Clue Challenge game over at TFN. I have to write a story with a certain Place, Action and Character. It is sort of like a word prompt challenge. In this story I have to have the following elements:

Location: Tatooine, Action: Grieving for a loved-one, Character: Luke Skywalker

~Tatooine~

Ben Skywalker was now second-guessing his trip to Tatooine. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he wasn't so sure. When he hired a speeder at Mos Eisley Spaceport and drove out to the old Lars homestead he expected to find quiet and solitude, not a bunch of peddlers trying to hawk off trinkets and silk screened tunics saying, "Childhood home of the Grand Master and Rebel Hero: Luke Skywalker."

There was a hoverbus parked nearby and Ben could see a myriad of human and alien tourists taking holo-images of the site. He waited until the bus loaded up and left before he exited his rented speeder while clutching a small box of ashes. It wasn't the ashes of his dad's body, but that of his Jedi robes. When Grand Master Skywalker passed away in his sleep he became one with the force, his corporeal form disappearing and leaving only his clothing behind. Ben was going to cremate the outfit he was wearing when he died, but he thought spreading the ashes of sleep pants and an undershirt was a bit underwhelming and not befitting of a hero of his father's caliber.

He started to walk toward the resting place of Owen and Beru Lars. He had decided to take the ashes of his father's robe and leave some on every planet and place that had significant meaning in Luke Skywalker's life. Tatooine was the first place on his list. He thought it would be fitting seeing that this is where his father grew up. After here he would go to Yavin IV and the Jedi Temples on Coruscant, Ossus and Shedu Maad.

He walked over to the marker his father had erected for his aunt and uncle. Ben was saddened to see it was in bad repair, but he could still see the engraving. Owen and Beru Lars. Loved and Remembered Always.

He knelt down on the ground and was about to dig a little hole and add some ashes when a merchant interrupted him.

"Would you like to purchase a carving of a Krayt Dragon?" The man's deeply tanned and wrinkled face gazed at Ben intently. "It is made from the tooth of a real Krayt Dragon."

"No." Ben huffed. "Leave me be." Ben promised himself that after he was done here he was going to talk to the Tatooine government about making this place a public memorial and prohibit traders on the site. When the dealer sneered at Ben and walked off he went back to the task at hand. He scooped up some sand above the grave and poured a small amount of ash into the hole. He then covered it up.

He stood and walked over to the top of a small dune and took a moment to watch the double setting suns. It was a beautiful sight and Ben wondered if a young Luke Skywalker had once stood on this very spot to watch the sunset. A tear rolled down his face and he quickly brushed it away. He shouldn't cry. Ben was extremely lucky to have his father around to see him marry and have a child. Ben almost sobbed when he remembered the expression on his father's face when he held his first grandchild. Probably nobody would believe that Luke Skywalker—Grand Master, hero of the Rebellion and veteran of the Vong War and countless other conflicts—wept openly at the sight of his grandson. He had looked up at Ben, tears streaming down his face and said, "I wish your mother lived to see him."

Ben wiped away his tears as he turned and returned to his speeder. He needed to finish this trip and get back home to Corellia to be with his pregnant wife. She was expecting their second child, this time a girl. He settled down at the drive controls and put the box of ashes on the passenger seat.

He wished his father had lived a bit longer. Ben knew his dad was so excited about the impending birth, unfortunately he would never hold his granddaughter in his arms. Ben gazed at the box sadly as he ran his hand over the lid. "I wish you lived to see your granddaughter."

As the suns finished their trek across the horizon Ben started up the speeder and left Luke Skywalker's childhood home behind.