A/N: I want to apologize for not updating for a year. I've been very over-worked going to graduate school and just don't have the energy to write. Also, I just stopped getting reviews. I think I got two reviews on my last chapter and nothing afterwards. I gave people a month. Then two months. Then it turned into three and no reviews. And soon it was a year and still no reviews. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't hurt by that. Maybe I just shouldn't have written a sequel. I don't know. This update is not AMAZING. But you know, whatever.

Chapter Twenty Four
Survival

Beru stared emotionlessly at the patterns of the dirt she was sitting on and the footprints they had all left behind when they were forced into the hut.

Her nails dug into the rough fabric of her trousers. She didn't want Cliegg and Owen to see her hands shake.

Beru had heard Shmi's stories of her life in slavery. Shmi survived. So they could as well, couldn't they?

They could hold on for a couple of days or however long it took until the help Anakin and Padme dispatched would get there. Shmi had spent years and years being a slave. And she still lived her life with grace and joy. The voice in her head told her the three of them could do it.

But event still her heart was racing and she felt faint.

She looked to her left and Owen and Cliegg were staring absentmindedly at the ground like she had been.

Owen locked eyes with her. His rugged features softened and he smiled sadly, but reassuringly at her. Cliegg, however, remained distant and withdrawn.

Her hand settled atop Owen's and he laced his fingers with hers.

There was rustling outside and the bantha hide of the hut opened up like curtains being drawn away from a window. Two slavers stepped inside.

Beru pulled her hand away from Owen's in fear, but maintained her composure otherwise.

"On your feet!"

The three of them obeyed submissively. Cliegg struggled. His age was catching up with him and the entire ordeal had drained him physically. One of the slavers was holding a wooden staff and struck Cliegg's arm with it.

"Hurry up, old man!"

Beru and Owen steadied him.

"We have a ship that will be heading out of Mos Espa tomorrow. You must go with the other peasants and move star ship parts onto it."

Owen nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Yes, MASTER." The slaver corrected him.

Owen paused and tried to suppress the anger that was welling up inside him.

"Yes, Master." He said flatly.

There was a heavy silence. One of the slavers looked at Beru.

"You'll join the women. We're having a gathering tonight and we need some meals prepared for our guests."

Beru didn't reply. She simply nodded.

"Speak when I address you, wench."

"Yes."

He gripped her chin and turned her head up forcefully.

"You will learn your place."

His furrowed brows relaxed and he smiled maliciously.

"Your face pleases me. I want you to join me and my men tonight after you finish preparing our meals."

Owen felt his hands shake with anger. He dug his nails into his palms to suppress his rage. He felt wetness on his fingertips and knew that he had drawn blood.

Beru, Cliegg, and Owen walked out obediently.

Beru was so frightened that she felt nauseous. She looked up at the cloudless blue sky.

She whispered.

"Hurry up Padme. Please."