Chapter Three
The sandstorm was just about here when we arrived home. I offered our home for temporary shelter, and I felt I could trust them. Anakin followed my lead, guiding them to our home. I had to lift my arm to cover my eyes as the wind picked up, but fortunately, we were home. I opened the door and walked in first. "Mom? Mom, Ani, and I are home." I announced making sure everyone was in. A white and blue droid rolled in last as I shut the door behind it with the button.
Our mother walked into the room cleaning her hands as Ani introduced the strangers as our friends but I cleared my throat making everyone look at me. "Anakin, don't lie." I warned and turned to our mother, "Mom, we met these people in Watto's shop and they needed shelter."
Anakin dragged the girl to his room with the droid following, most likely showing off the droid Anakin was building while I stayed in the room with our mom as the Jedi introduced himself.
"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn," he said with his arms crossed, "your children were kind enough to offer us shelter." he turned and looked at me.
My mother smiled while she rubbed my back, "I taught my children always to show kindness when people require help. Please, make yourselves at home."
I blushed at my mother's praise. When she walked off to get refreshments for our guests, I took the opportunity to look at the man.
"So, you're a Jedi." I couldn't hold my question in any longer. He looked at me, silently questioning how I knew. "I saw your lightsaber when I told my brother to give you the pallies." I smirked proudly.
"You're very bright for a young girl."
I glared at him again, making the lights flicker "I'm turning eighteen, thank you."
"I did not mean to offend you." he looked up at the lights and then back at me. Something on the Jedi beeped. He moved over to the corner to talk quietly. Not being able to contain my excitement any longer, I told Mom the man was a Jedi. I decided to help with dinner for our guests since sandstorms typically went on for hours.
We were all sitting down to eat the meal I made. The young girl, who I found out had an interesting name, Padme, asked about how slavery works here. I was about to complain until my mother put her hand on mine to silence me, making me look down at my plate. As she talked, she explained how we all had a transmitter placed inside us somewhere and if we tried to escape we were blown up. Anakin cut in and explained he was trying to build a scanner to locate ours.
"My brother is always trying to help us. My mom and I raised enough peggats to have Anakin freed, but I'm trying to get Watto to lower mom's-"
"I'm working on getting Kida freed in case something happens." My mom interrupted me, "She will need to look after Anakin."
I looked at her with sad eyes, "Nothing is going to happen to you, Mom. You're going to be free, I can feel it." I declared, making the Jedi look at me oddly again.
"She's right, mom, I can feel it too." Anakin agreed.
Padme told us she thought slavery was erased from the galaxy with the Republic's antislavery laws, which made me snicker.
"The Republic doesn't exist out here." The plates started rattling which made Mom give me a stern look. I closed my eyes and counted to three. I could feel the Jedi looking at me. Take deep breaths and relax your mind. It was the Jedi's voice and I opened my eyes to look at him startled. How is he in my head? Anakin came to my rescue as always, changing the topic and talking about our podrace coming up. They all took the bait as the Jedi talked about races somewhere called Malastare, wherever that is.
"I'm one of the only humans who can do it." he tapped on the table with his finger.
"One of?" the Jedi looked at my brother curiously.
"The other would be me," I leaned back in my chair when my brother hesitated to answer, "Anakin and I are the only humans who can do it."
"You must have Jedi reflexes if you can race pods." he informed us as he caught the dimwit Jar Jar's tongue going for another apple that was in the center of the table. "Don't do that again." he warned.
Silence fell over the table again as we finished eating. Anakin asked Qui-Gon if he was a Jedi Knight which reminded me, that I never told Ani I confirmed it earlier. Anakin went on to explain he saw his laser sword and that only Jedi carry a weapon like that. He smiled telling Anakin he might have killed a Jedi and took it. Only Ani replied with a story I've been telling him for years, no one can kill a Jedi. When Ani finished his story, I corrected him, calling it a lightsaber.
"My sister and I have dreams that we become Jedi. We came back here and freed all the slaves. Have you come to free us?" he nervously asked, playing with his fork.
"I'm sorry," I told Qui-Gon, "I hear stories of Jedi Knights and I tell them to my brother for a bedtime story." I grabbed my brother's hand on the table.
"I think you have," Anakin continued, "why else would you be here?"
"Anakin!" I hissed.
"No, it's ok." Qui-Gon smiled regretfully, "I can see there is no fooling you Anakin. We are on our way to Coruscant, a central system in the Republic, on a very important mission."
"How did you end up out here on the outer rim?" he asked intrigued. I smiled at our mother who returned it as we watched the interaction. Anakin was always fascinated by learning about other planets. Their ship was damaged and they were stranded here unless they got the part from Watto. Anakin bragged telling them he could fix anything which made everyone laugh at his willingness to help. Qui-Gon told us we needed to acquire the part first before anything was fixed.
"But you need the peggats right?" I interrupted them, "Republican credits don't work out here, only peggats get Watto's attention unless you have something to gamble with." I told everyone at the table. Everything here revolves around gambling.
"I built two racers." Anakin said suddenly, which made me sigh.
"Both our pods aren't going to be ready for the next race. Only one of us will be able to with how damaged mine got from Sebulba." I huffed
"I built both our racers though," he repeated to the Jedi, "They are the fastest ever. There is a big race tomorrow on Boonta Eve. You could enter my pod and have my sister be your pilot since she's a better pilot than me."
"Anakin!" our mother scolded, getting his attention. "Watto won't let either of you."
"Watto doesn't have to know he built it," I said, forming an idea in my head "We could say it was the Jedi's and he makes a bet."
"I don't want you to race." she told me, "Either of you. It's awful. I die every time Watto makes you two do it." she looked down sadly.
I defended my brother and I. We were really good pilots for humans our age. I took the time to teach my brother evasive maneuvers and tricks after every race. In each race, I learned and got better every time. I turned to the Jedi who was listening with great interest, "The prize money would be more than enough to pay for the parts you need. I usually use the money for our savings but you need the money more than we do." I stated.
"Kida…" my mother looked at me speechless.
"Mom." I sighed and turned to Ani.
He takes my hint, "You say the biggest problem in this universe is nobody helps each other."
My mother had different sighs for certain conversations. One was an angry sigh, a sad sigh, and a happy sigh. This sigh, in particular, was defeated. She knew we were right. All our lives she has taught us to always be kind and never selfish. That was how she raised us. She couldn't fault us for that. The Jedi was about to take our mom's side until she interrupted him. "No," she sighed, "there is no other way. I may not like it, but they can help you." she looked at us smiling with pride, "They were meant to help you."
With the sandstorm over, a new day greeted us. Ani and I made our way to Watto's shop with an extra hop in our step to initiate the plan we came up with during dinner the previous night. Ani stopped me right outside the entryway, which made me look at him worriedly. Anakin was worried the plan wouldn't work. His doubts were reasonable, in my opinion anyway. We only met the Jedi yesterday and wanted to make sure I wasn't feeling forced to help, making him suggest that he race instead of me. I smiled at his notion and leaned down telling him I was the better pilot between the two of us. This made him smile as we entered the shop, the Jedi not far behind us.
We didn't have to wait long for the Jedi to catch up. I stood with my arms crossed leaning against the shelf while Anakin stood next to me practically jumping with excitement. If anyone was watching, you would almost think he was the one going to race. While the Jedi and Watto talked, my thoughts drifted. Podracing was fun, I'll admit, but I also had to agree with our mother. It was very dangerous, especially if something happened to Ani. I would never forgive myself. Other racers in the competition played dirty. They cheated to win, especially Sebulba. I pushed the negative thoughts away when something caught my attention. The Jedi was betting on his ship. This guy is crazy. Watto began to ask what 'the girl' would ride. I'm always THE GIRL to Watto. He only ever said my name when nobody was around.
Watto wasn't a bad owner, which made me cringe as I said the word again in my head. I felt like an animal, being claimed by something not even human. I've heard stories about other slaves who were beaten for messing up or breaking things. Watto just had us stay late to clean up the shop. He doesn't even have any claims to Ani anymore, just me and Mom. I had to give credit where credit is due. Watto was annoying, just like the Alien Jar Jar that accompanied the Jedi but he wasn't terrible. There would always be worse.
I heard Watto blame Anakin for one of his broken pods which made me come to the rescue. I was the sibling with the quick mouth after all. "If Sebulba didn't flash Anakin his vents, your pod would have been fine." I reminded Watto, "He saved the majority of the pod anyway."
Watto relented, telling the Jedi we were the best human pilots around. Try the only humans that you even know of.
Our Jedi friend told Watto of the pod he acquired recently, baiting him by saying it was the fastest ever built. I nudged my brother who gave me a cheeky smile. Watto looked suspiciously at him.
"He didn't kill anyone for it either." I glared at Watto reading his thoughts.
Watto ignored me and rattled on with business. Our friend supplied the pod and entry fee while Watto supplied the girl. I bit my tongue when things started to rattle as the Jedi took a quick glance at me. They came to an agreement about how the winnings would be split. If I won, the Jedi was going to let Watto keep all the winnings except for the parts he needed for his ship but if I lost, Watto got their ship. That part made me pause. I was about to speak up but Anakin stopped me, pinching my arm. Since it was our day off, we followed our new friend back to our house.
"Are you crazy!?" I finally released my frustration on the way home, "You can't bet your ship! What if something happens and I lose?" I waved my hands in the air as I spoke while the Jedi looked at me with his arms crossed, "You lose your ship, and then you're really stuck here with that annoying alien idiot and that stuck-up Padme. Like who does she think she is? She's not better than anyone else here. Rich or not. And you!" I pointed to him, "You are crazy in the head if you think I can win this race. I mean don't get me wrong I come close to finishing, but I haven't actually won a race. Sebulba plays dirty and I don't do that. Just look at Ani's pod, it's destroyed and mine is even worse!"
"Kida," The Jedi soothed me just as the mini sandstorm I created died down, "You will not lose." he simply said and walked off towards our house. I looked at my brother who looked at me worriedly.
"Kida, I trust the Jedi sir. If he says you'll win, you will win. I'll double-check the pod when I fix it, but you'll win. You are the better pilot than the two of us, and I'm in close second since you taught me." Anakin ran after the Jedi, making me stand by myself.
"I have a bad feeling about this." I started walking after them, refusing to run in this heat. I sensed something out in the distance making me stop. What do I keep feeling?