Luke looked down at the lightsaber that the crazy drunk Kenobi had handed him. The old man had shown up while he'd been explaining to the Sand People that had tried to ambush him that he just come out there to collect his droid and go home. Any trespassing in their territory on his part had been unintentional. Normally such an action would have been completely futile, but the Tusken Raiders still respected Uncle A'Sharad despite the fact that he'd been exiled. That respect had slightly rubbed off on his family, and the Sand People generally didn't bother them or try to kill them on sight when they wandered too far away from the property. They didn't let them go for free either.
He'd been about to hand the leader the extra canteen he'd brought with him as a peace offering/ apology for trespassing when Kenobi dropped by and ruined the negotiations, which resulted in him being firmly whacked on the head and knocked out. Fortunately for him the situation didn't get any worse, because the Sand People were scared of Kenobi after the incident where the old man had gotten drunk and decided to burn some "sentimental" items that should never have come near a fire in the first place. The massive explosion that resulted had sent flaming debris raining down on a nearby encampment. Whenever the Sand People saw Kenobi, their first response was to immediately run back to camp and move their tents a safe distance away in case he decided to blow something else up.
Kenobi had used his concussion - which could have easily be dealt with by initiating a short healing trance - as an excuse to drag him back to his house. It had been there after Uncle Owen's new droid had delivered a message from a beautiful woman who was clearly really desperate - she would have to have been if even half of Uncle Owen's stories about Kenobi's negligence and blatant disregard for human life (or any life for that matter) were true - to Kenobi that he had been handed the lightsaber. While he'd seen a grand total of three other lightsabers - the two that belonged to Uncle A'Sharad and the one hanging from Kenobi's belt - before and probably wasn't the best person to judge, he thought that it was rather well made.
One thing bothered him about the situation though.
"Why would my father want me to have this? What about my other brothers? Why didn't he leave any for them?" he asked as he examined the blue blade.
"Well, its because you're the oldest." Kenobi replied, not quite meeting his eyes.
Since Kenobi knew his father - and according to Uncle Owen - had trained him, he decided to ask the one question Uncle A'Sharad had been unable to answer because he didn't know. Kenobi probably didn't know either, but it was worth the gamble.
"How did my father die?" he asked. He decided to run any response he got by Uncle A'Sharad because as Uncle A'Sharad had said, Kenobi tended to tell the truth from "A certain point of view". Uncle Owen had translated that to mean "He's a damned liar."
"Darth Vader who was a young pupil of mine before he turned to Evil betrayed and murdered your father." Kenobi said.
&!&!&
Half an hour later after he'd bundled R2 and Kenobi who wanted to hitch a ride to Mos Eisley into the speeder, Luke found himself in front of the Sandcrawler that belonged to the Jawas that had sold the droid to Uncle Owen yesterday. The corpses of said Jawas were scattered about it. He didn't need Kenobi to tell him it wasn't Sand People who had caused the carnage. Uncle A'Sharad who was an expert on Sand People because he had been one of them had taught him and his brothers their ways. This was the work of Stormtroopers who were undoubtedly on their way to his home if they hadn't arrived already.
Hopping back into the landspeeder, he made his way back to the farm. He would pick Kenobi up and take him to Mos Eisley after he was certain his family was safe. Kenobi wanted him to come with him to Alderaan, but he wasn't going to go. While he was the big dreamer amongst his brothers, constantly longing for a life of adventure, Uncle A'Sharad had given him a big dose of reality a couple years earlier. Because he was Force Sensitive, his dreams were just dreams. If he left Tatooine, he would put himself and his brothers at risk. The Empire hunted down and killed all of the Force sensitives that they didn't enslave. Since he and his brothers would rather die before they became slaves it wouldn't only be his life that would be lost if he were caught. The only reason they were safe here was because the place was totally isolated, and the Empire really didn't give a damn about it since it didn't and never would bring in much revenue.
When he got back to the farm, he found it on fire. A quick check revealed that the other speeder and the swoop bike were gone. He didn't sense any of his brothers nearby, but he did sense his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru fast approaching. Ten minutes later while he was busy putting the fire out, the swoop bike arrived and Owen and Beru dismounted.
"Luke, you're grounded!" Owen roared.
"It wasn't me!" he yelled back once the last of the flames were extinguished. "A bunch of Imperials did it when they dropped by looking for us while we were out. Which reminds me, we've gotta leave right now!"
Owen used the comm which had miraculously survived, to call the Darklighters who had apparently just returned from the near disaster that was Eyvind and Ariela's wedding - some teenage Tusken Raiders had tried to steal a couple landspeeders but Ariq Joanson had been able to resolve the situation with his help, and the brats ended up leaving with an entire bowl of spiced punch instead. Twenty minutes after that, some Stormtroopers had arrived asking after him and Beru, fortunately for them, Imperials were universally hated amongst the guests and nobody had said anything - to look after the farm until they could get back before he and Beru headed over to Anchorhead to collect the rest of the boys and head to Mos Eisley.
Luke took the speeder and picked up Kenobi and the droids on his way to join the rest of the family.
&!&!&
When they met up in Mos Eisley, it was decided that they would all go to Alderaan. This decision was made mostly because Kenobi knew the people who ruled the place - A'Sharad had confirmed that Kenobi had been friends with Senator Bail Organa who was Prince Consort to Queen Breha - and could get them protection from the Empire which was now hunting them thanks to Kenobi. It was decided that Luke - whom Kenobi had seemed to favor for some strange reason - and A'Sharad Hett would go along with Obi-Wan Kenobi - who had pointed out that despite the fact that it was his fault that the Empire was after the asses of the Skywalker/Lars family the Imperials weren't actively searching for him - in search of transportation.
As soon as Luke and A'Sharad found a table in the crowded cantina that Kenobi had led them to, Luke decided to see if Kenobi's version of his father's death could be true.
"I asked Kenobi how my father died." Luke said.
"What did he tell you?" A'Sharad asked curiously. Kenobi had never given any specifics when he'd been asked previously.
"That Darth Vader was once Kenobi's student, and that he betrayed my father then murdered him." Luke replied.
A'Sharad's drink went spraying across the table, and for several moments he sat there gaping at Luke unable to speak. When he finally found his voice, he started muttering things under his breath, none of them polite.
"Did Kenobi lie?" Luke asked several minutes later when A'Sharad had finally fallen silent.
"Yeah, big time. I'll explain it to you later." A'Sharad said moments later when he'd finally processed the question.
It was at that point that Obi-Wan Kenobi came to their table with a Wookiee and a smuggler.
"I've found us a ship." He said with a smile. His smile swiftly disappeared when he saw the glares directed at him.
&!&!&
When the group that consisted of Owen Lars, Beru Lars, A'Sharad Hett, Luke Skywalker, Typho Skywalker, Qui-Gon Skywalker, Rex Skywalker, and an Obi-Wan Kenobi - who now had pink hair compliments of a ten second dye bomb and a Kick Me sign on his back - arrived in Docking Bay 94 there was a collective groan of disappointment.
"Damn, I knew you'd mess this up Kenobi." Owen said. "Let's go find another ship."
They didn't find another ship however, the Stormtroopers that arrived moments later forced them all to race aboard the Millenium Falcon which then blasted its way into space and headed for Alderaan.
(**^**)
Edited on Sept. 3 2010