Tatooine
Owen Lars
—Luke!
—He's a Tusken!
—We should have waited!
—For Jabba to judge him?...
—That's a good point... go on.
My nephews' morning argument woke me mercilessly. I shifted angrily in my alcove, while my wife, Beru, whimpered, displeased by the noise.
—Teenagers are supposed to want more sleep, I growled angrily.
—Not these two, Beru whimpered, dazed.
We both crawled out of the alcove, blinking several times to dispel the sleep. I dressed in the first thing I found and staggered over to where my nephews were still arguing. To give you an idea of my annoyance: Luke and Leia are two of the most selfless people one could find on all of Tatooine. Although, if we're being honest, that kindness and altruism doesn't apply to the Tuskens.
"They're worse than Anakin," Beru comments.
I nod. The twins inherited their father's dislike for the species that kidnapped Shmi.
"Let's hurry and stop them… I don't want another incident like the Shaman's." Beru shivers. I don't blame her, that day was stressful.
I left my perch and staggered to the outside of the property. Instinctively, I covered my eyes. Nothing. I cursed my nephews for getting up before the suns even rose over the horizon.
Finding them was easy; I could hear them even from the underground rooms. Of course, to do so, they had to position themselves next to the dome. Heading there is easy: I take the left of the property and follow the edge. Ten meters away is the first corner, and fifteen meters further on, turning left again, I see my nephews standing in front of a Tusken with his hands and feet tied.
If it weren't for how serious the situation was, I would have laughed; the sight of two twelve-year-old boys restraining one of the most dangerous beings on the planet was, to say the least, comical.
"May I know what you're doing in the middle of the night with a Tusken tied up?"
Giving credit where credit is due, my nephews didn't jump at my voice. I kept myself from flinching when they both turned their gazes towards me. It's disconcerting when they seem to already know you're behind them, not unlike Shmi's stories about Anakin.
"Hello, Uncle Owen," Leia greeted cheerfully, as if her actions were the most normal thing. "Luke and I went to find the tribe that stole Grandma."
"That was seventeen years ago. And she survived," I mumbled, annoyed. I don't want to have this conversation again.
"We must uphold Grandma's honor," Luke declared seriously.
"If they're not at the water gardens…" I checked my volcilo timer, "in twenty minutes, I'll send them to old Kenobi."
"Do you think he approves of our skirmishes?" I wanted to groan when Leia seemed too interested in my threat.
I tried, by all means, to ignore my nephews as they ran about their duties at the farm, discussing the pros and cons of moving in with the hermit across the valley.
I let out a sigh.
My nephews were too much like their parents. Luke was curious—binary suns know he is—but he had a calmness and poise so similar to his mother's when she visited the farm. Leia, on the other hand, was Anakin at his purest: so much fire and passion in such a tiny little thing… she could only be Anakin's daughter.
It's painful, you know?
Seeing those two brothers and not remembering their parents. Kenobi may never have said the mother's name, but all my coins are in Miss Amidala. Only Beru and I know how Anakin drooled over her when he came to see his mother seventeen years ago.
Thinking about my stepbrother fills me with nostalgia. We may never have had a close relationship, and in fact, in the short time we knew each other, we disagreed several times. In the end, we could never agree on our life choices; he wanted to be a Jedi, I a farmer.
I always told him that he would end up being killed. I was right, and that hurts. Knowing that my brother died because he was considered a traitor is something you wish you never went through.
I remember my mother's reaction when Kenobi brought the news. That day, Shmi died slowly. The fact that the twins came along is the only reason she lasted another ten years.
In the end, Luke and Leia are the last of Anakin we have. And the galaxy will damn me if I don't protect them from the life that took Anakin from us.