Chapter Text
✶ Tatooine, 32BBY
The burn of the twin suns was relentless.
Anakin Skywalker trudged his way through the sand. The beige cowl he wore protected his skin from burning, but did nothing to dilute the heat. His mother warned him everyday not to stray into the desert. It was dangerous beyond Mos Espa. The sands were cruel and unpredictable and the only bigger threat than dehydration was the Tusken Raiders. (Not to mention the creatures that dwelled beneath the surface.) But Anakin was fearless — and stubborn.
He had seen the glint of something shining in the distance since midday when Watto sent Anakin and his older brother on a delivery to the edge of town. Each boy carried a crate, piled high with bits and bobs they had diligently cleaned and repaired. It wasn’t a competition, but Anakin had fixed way more things than his brother. They had ended up creating a production line: Luke cleaned and Anakin mended. They finished quickly enough that Watto graciously allowed them to have their lunch early before sending them under the rising suns to complete the delivery.
It was a long and careful walk through Mos Espa to make sure nothing tumbled out of their crates, or worse if anything was stolen right under their noses. The suns reached their peak and neither brother had a waterskin with them, so Luke made sure Anakin stayed in the shade. And when Anakin started pointing into the distance, Luke was adamant his brother was seeing things. The desert played tricks all the time, creating mirages to lure unsuspecting souls to their doom.
“I’m not sunsick,” Anakin complained. He trained his eyes on whatever was shining in the distance. “There is something out there!”
As he squinted across the horizon, Anakin walked straight into Sebulba. His podracing nemesis. The collision caused Anakin’s crate to slip out of his hands. Sebulba cursed at him in Huttese while Anakin ignored him, instead stooping miserably to pick up the vaporators that had rolled across the sand. None were broken, and he could dust off stubborn grains of sand. Luke stepped in front of his brother to calm the Dug’s ire. Which worked until Anakin called him a sleemo under his breath. Then the brothers had to sprint away before Sebulba could take a swing at them.
Anakin was still giggling when they landed at the house they were delivering to. “We’re going to beat him at Boonta Eve. I can feel it.”
“Ani,” Luke scolded as he knocked on the door, “Mom said you aren’t allowed to race.”
“That’s why my new podracer has two seats. You can come with me!” Anakin beamed. “I can show you it tonight.”
Luke grimaced. He hated racing — the speed, the danger, the thrill (which was everything Anakin adored about it) — but Anakin had one shot to finally finish a race, he had to take it. He knew he could do it. He felt good about this time.
They paused as the door opened and they traded the parts for credits to go straight to Watto. Then they began the long walk back to the workshop. Anakin saw the glint again — brighter and closer — as they were turning away. And no amount of calling from Luke made Anakin turn back.
“There is something out in the wastes,” Anakin retorted, “and I’m going to find it.”
Luke gave a grand, unimpressed sigh as Anakin began running across the sand.. “I’ll tell Watto you got heatstroke. Just be home for dinner!”
Anakin looked back, grinning and climbed up a sand dune. He wouldn’t be long, though he would have to do something big to make it up to Luke. Hopefully Watto believed the lie (maybe that would teach him not to send them out on Tatooine’s hottest days).
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To Anakin’s luck, he had not been tempted on a wild bantha chase. What he found was far more interesting then he first anticipated.
Atop the plains, unsinking in the deep sands, was a curious perimeter of tall wire fencing and temporary buildings. The area had covers over the main space to block out direct sunlight. It was a large space — at least twice the size of Slave Quarters Row, where Anakin and his family had been forced to call home for the last three-and-a-half years. Anakin crept closer to the unguarded fence. He listened for a hum of electricity to ward off desert rats and trespassers, but heard no charge. Foolishly, the people here did not seem afraid of the desert.
Anakin followed along the boundary of the site, kicking at the metal wire fencing to see if any of it would give enough for him to sneak inside. It was a rudimentary construction, unlikely to survive a strong desert storm. So they must not be planning to stay long. Anakin could see men in white uniforms unloading crates from a dropship. They wore respirators and guards over their eyes. Anakin grew ever more intrigued when he saw the mining droids. What could possibly be of interest on Tatooine? The desert world was hostile and Anakin hated every day he had to live there. The idea that people came there voluntarily was absurd. Eventually, Anakin found a gap in the fence and he slipped inside.
Anakin snuck up to one of the crates that had been kicked back against the fencing. If this company of people had so much gear laying around, they must be fishing for something valuable. Or at least maybe they had some good rations. Anakin missed the richly flavoured meals his father used to cook on Mandalore. If he found something good, he could pretend their customer gave him and Luke a tip.
He tipped back the lid and his eyes grew wide. Anakin had never never seen such a vast array of fruit before. So many bright colours that looked ripe and bursting with sweetness. Anakin swiped up a purple jogan fruit. He would have picked one for Luke and his mother too if his pockets were bigger. But he could double back this way when he left and pick up as many fruits as he could. For now, Anakin bounced the fruit between his hands, weighing its softness, before biting into it and humming happily at the taste. It was messy to eat and juice ran down his fingers, but Anakin did not care. He dropped the pit into the sand, hoping a little creature would be able to feast on it and he ventured further into the settlement.
Anakin remained close to the fence, in the shadows. And sucked the last of the jogan juice from his sticky fingers. He peered around tents and listened to the men working. There were more than two dozen people milling about, though none were doing much work besides moving supplies around. They mostly whistled or talked with their friends. Those who removed their masks had sun-brightened skin — they must not have come from a warm planet. Twin suns did a number on those unprepared. Whoever these people were, they at least had the sense to do their work when the suns were not at their zenith.
There were also more droids than people, Anakin noticed, but even they were at a standstill. They looked dust-blown, not made for an arid desert either. Despite all the equipment that pointed to this group being miners, the centre of the site did not resemble a quarry. Barely any sand had been dug away. Anakin had never visited Concordia — Mandalore’s moon used for mining — but his father had told him what it looked like. Besides the machinery, this was no mine. It looked more like an enclosure. They were hunting something.
One man seemed to be in charge. While others wore white suits that covered their whole bodies, this man wore a long coat of deep plum. There was an eight-pointed star encircled by two sets of rings that crossed each other embroidered on his back with silver thread. He had equally silver hair — long and framing his aged face. His eyes were a pale, watery blue.
Close to the man, there was a conveyor belt. It was unloading something collected by a mining droid. Whoever these people were, this was merely their base of operations, as the droid must have been mining elsewhere for there were no deep enough holes around the settlement to have brought up so much treasure. Anakin looked closer — shiny rocks passed along the conveyor and were sprayed with water until they glinted in the sunlight. Anakin’s hands curled into fists. What a waste of water. None of the workers looked skinny enough to be deprived of food or water, everyone seemed to have a heavy waterskin hanging from their belt. At the end of the conveyor belt, the rocks fell into a large crate that was already nearly full.
Anakin stepped out from his hiding place and darted closer. If the rocks were important, maybe they could be worth enough to get Anakin’s family away from Tatooine? Then they could finally go home and find his father. They had so many, would they notice if one rock went missing? He poked his head up to look at the sandy rocks rolling past and plucked one up.
It was lighter than he expected, bigger than his two hands. Now he was closer, he could see they were not rocks at all. They looked like broken pieces of bone that had become partly crystallised. Anakin turned it around carefully, it shone a myriad of colours. A rainbow could hold in your hands.
Then a shadow fell over Anakin and he saw a pair of sand-dusted boots.
Anakin dropped the crystal bone and bolted, but the back of his collar was caught by bony fingers. He swung back and collided with the ground.
Anakin looked up to see the pale overseer staring down at him. He gulped. He would be marched straight back to Mos Espa and Watto would kill him for trespassing — that was if this man did not kill him first.
“Curious.”
Anakin blinked in confusion. That was all the man had to say? With his back against the sand, Anakin was frozen in fear. He should have been braver — like his father. Luceron Vizsla was a real fighter. He had fought in the Mandalorian Great Clan Wars until he went missing outside Sundari. Luc had given his sons wooden swords when they were small. Luke wasn’t very good at sparring, he hated fighting, but Anakin was brilliant — his father always said so. (“You’ll be the greatest the galaxy has ever seen, my son,” Luc said the last time Anakin saw him. “My lionheart, my dragon. Look after your mother and brother, keep them safe.”) Anakin had never felt like more of a failure with the sand burning against the back of his neck.
Then the old man held out a hand. Anakin reluctantly took it and he was pulled out of the sand. “Not quite a desert rat are you.”
“I’m sorry for trespassing. I’ll leave and never come back. I was just curious, I—”
The man held up a hand and Anakin shut his mouth. “Curiousity is good. Too many people have no wonder in their bones.”
“Who are you?” His mother would have scolded him for his bluntness, but Anakin was quite sure this man wasn’t going to kill him.
“Cadmus Howell,” the man replied. He clasped his hands behind his back, watching Anakin though not looking down on him. “I’m a Priest of the Rings and the Mother.”
Anakin noticed there was a star on his forehead — subtle and raised like an old, faded scar — the same eight-pointed shape that covered his back. “Where are you from?” He realised his bluntness might come off as rude. “Locals don’t come this far into the desert, is all. Why are you out here?”
“My friends are from many places. Myself, I am from Aphelion.” Anakin scrunched his nose up. He’d never heard of such a place. “We’re looking for dragons.”
Anakin laughed. “That’s suicide. We only have krayt dragons here and they’ll kill you.” Rare so close to the cities, the dragons were the only bigger threat than Tusken Raiders. Their venom could melt your skin.
Cadmus Howell did not seem shaken. In fact, he chuckled and gave Anakin a smile. “Do you know where krayt dragons originated?” Anakin shrugged — he assumed they were as old as the sands. “They came from a place far beyond the stars.”
“How?” Krayt dragons had no wings, despite what the myths said. They liked living underground. Anakin tried to imagine one floating around in space and giggled at the thought.
“Have you heard of the Duinuogwuin? The Celestial Dragons. No? Where I’m from, we call them Mithridragons. Moon dragons. They are older than my planet. Their blood — mithril — keeps the world alive. Legend says Aphelion’s great rings are made of dragon bones.”
“Like a graveyard of dragons?”
“Quite so. But our dragons have gone extinct, and mithril is increasingly hard to find. All dragons in the galaxy can be tied back to Aphelion. Including your sun dragons, the Krayt Dragon. And the ancient Mythosaurs of Mandalore, the old star dragons.”
Anakin perked up at the mention of his homeworld. He looked back at the conveyor belt. At some point during their conversation, someone had swapped the full crate for a new one, already half full, and the mining droid had finished depositing its load of shiny rocks.
Howell picked up the lump of bone Anakin had taken. He dusted away the sand and Anakin realised it was a fragment of a rib or a leg. The pretty iridescence bloomed along its side like a cancerous growth as Howell held it up to the sunlight. “It has mithrilised. When the dragon died, the mithril became solid as the body decayed and it fused with the bone. Dragon bones are usually useless, they just end up in museums, but the blood is one of the most valuable substances in the galaxy. The mithril will be carved off the bone and sent to refineries to melt it down and reshape it into whatever the galaxy needs. Oftentimes that will be weapons. There is no finer blade or armour than one made of mithril.”
“Beskar is stronger than anything,” Anakin boasted. The Mandalorian steel was beautiful. When he and Luke were younger, they loved putting on their father’s helmet and armour to run around in. Before the civil war, the city streets ran with shining beskar. Anakin and Luke had grown up knowing one day they would forge their own armour. Perhaps that could still happen in another life.
Howell smiles and sets the crystallised bone back on the conveyor belt. Anakin watched until it rolled off the end. Someone came along and put a lid over the crate and took it away. “Where do you think beskar comes from? It is a cruder, man-made mithril. A Mythosaur’s blood does not hold the same concentrated ichor as Mithridragons. Mandalorians have always been envious of Aphelion.”
Anakin didn’t like that. Mandalorians were the greatest people in the galaxy (they were before the last war, at least). What was Aphelion and why was it better? “Then why are you here?”
“Because Krayt Dragons have pearls inside them of mithril. More valuable than this planet, once purified.” Howell gave Anakin a close look. Had he marked Anakin’s sand-biege clothes as being that of a slave? A spark of anger festered in him. “You seem like a smart boy. How would you like to become a dragonhunter?”
Anakin's mouth gaped. “What?”
Howell smiled. “We can come to an agreement over the winnings if you help me find a dragon. And I won’t tell anyone about your little trespassing.”
Anakin dwelled on the proposition. If the mithril was as valuable as Howell made them out to be, Anakin would be able to buy his family’s freedom ten times over! “How do I track one?”
Howell whistled to one of his workmen. They whispered indistinctly for a moment before the workman handed over a datapad to Anakin. The man left and Anakin began looking over the piece of tech. All that was available was a blinking dot a few klicks away. “We were able to snag a tracker on one a few days ago. It was injured, but Tuskens may take its pearl before we can reach it if it dies.”
Anakin stared at the datapad. Excitement bloomed in his chest. He was holding freedom in his hands. “I’ll do it. But I’ll have to go tomorrow, my Mom will be getting worried about me.”
“Of course.” Howell nodded. “I’ll show you a better way out. I hope I will see you tomorrow.”
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At dinner, Anakin could not wait to tell his mother and brother about his afternoon. Even though it cost him a scolding from his mother for running off and making Luke lie for him, Anakin was too excited.
There was no way he could have made up any other lie about being at the workshop or at another delivery because Anakin was too sun-burned when he returned home. Even as the suns had dipped low as he ventured home, the heat was slower to dissipate — and Anakin’s cheeks were more than rosy from exertion when he stumbled inside with a massive grin.
He tried to go light on the details as he told Luke and his mother about the camp outside the city. The last thing he needed was for his mother to worry about her youngest son trespassing. Anakin was pretty sure he lied well enough to cover his tracks. Until he mentioned the krayt dragon and the tracking device.
“Anakin, that’s stupid,” Luke said immediately. Anakin rolled his eyes. There was only a little over a year between the brothers and Anakin hated when Luke acted like he was so much more mature. “It’s clearly a trap. This guy is trying to punish you for lurking around!”
Their mother took a softer approach, taking Anakin’s hands in hers. “Ani, hunting a krayt dragon is a death sentence. If the dragon doesn’t kill you, poachers or Tuskens certainly will. Please give me that datapad and promise me you won’t go wandering.”
Anakin began to sulk and pushed the datapad towards his mother. He tried to explain how the mithril inside the krayt dragon would set them all free and they would never have to work again, but no one listened.
That night, Anakin went to bed even more determined than ever.
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He woke up before sunrise the next morning. Quiet as a mouse, Anakin managed to avoid waking Luke — who was sprawled across the bed and snoring — and dressed before sneaking out. He spent twenty minutes searching for the datapad his mother had taken. He thought she must have thrown it out and searched every bin in their house, and their neighbours too. But eventually Anakin found it hidden away on the highest shelf in the kitchen. Anakin smiled when he had it back in his hands and looked at the blinking beacon.
He could have sworn it had moved since yesterday. The dragon was alive. And Anakin was going to find it.
He filled up a waterskin with as much of their water rations as he could and set off across the desert.
The early morning had a delightful coolness to the air. Anakin could not remember the last time he had been awake early enough to see both of the suns rise. It was a magnificent sight, and he felt joy in every step as he bounded across the sand.
Anakin checked the tracker every five minutes, but the dragon did not seem to move again. He wondered how massive the dragon would be. Would he be able to kill it before it could spew its acid at him? It was then he realised he had no weapons. Stealing something from Mos Espa would definitely get his hands cut off, and he did not want to bother Howell until he had news of the dragon. But something told Anakin he might not need a weapon — he already had everything he would need.
Anakin followed the blinking dot on his mouth until it brought him to the mouth of the Laguna Caves. Only then did he think back to Luke’s words over dinner — was it a trap? Were there any dragons at all? But if mithril was stronger and more powerful than beskar, he had to take any chance that might bring him closer to freedom.
It was not bravery that drew Anakin into the gloomy cave. He was not lionhearted as his father professed. It was reckless desperation and hope. Hope that his mother would not waste away on this desert world. Hope that his brother could help and protect people like his heart ached to, like Luke had always done for Anakin. Hope that Anakin could grow up to be as great as his father and never be scared of war or chains ever again. He was scared to be stuck on Tatooine forever — and perhaps that fear did make him brave.
The cave felt very unstable. It was carved into the side of a sandstone mountain and delved deep into the surface. Sand particles fell irregularly from the ceiling, as if a single earthquake could bring it all down. Anakin knew it would be easy to get lost if there were multiple passages. He had nothing to mark his direction — the only breadcrumbs he could leave would be a trail of dripped water from the skin around his waist, but he needed to preserve that for as long as possible, and it would likely dry instantly in the warm sand.
Anakin asked the stars to guide him. They talked to him, gave him insight and reflexes that a normal person should not have. The stars looked out for him, they followed him across every sky he had and would ever live under. The stars were what made him sure that he needed no weapons. It was just a feeling, but a feeling he knew he could trust. Something out there in the galaxy was looking out for him.
He walked down the cave. It followed one single corridor, which Anakin was glad for. He walked slowly, listening for the krayt dragon and allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He was not very well equipped for an adventure. If he had something to start a fire, that would make things easier — alas there had been an incident where Anakin once accidentally set their kitchen on fire, and Shmi Skywalker never let her son be around matches ever again.
Eventually, Anakin began to feel a tremble in the ground and the sound of a sleeping dragon. He had found it. But now what was he supposed to do? Was Howell expecting Anakin to retrieve the pearl himself? Anakin supposed that would be the only way he could bargain for a cut of any profits.
But in the time Anakin spent thinking, the world went still and the dragon woke up.
It must have smelled him, Anakin realised when he began to hear the padding of tremendous claws ahead of him in the corridor. Now it would want him for breakfast. But Anakin did not run — he stood his ground and waited for the dragon to find him.
The creature was smaller than Anakin had anticipated. He had seen the carcass and bones of a krayt dragon before. They could live for a hundred years, but this one was young. Yet it was no less formidable. It had eight legs on either side of its body and too many teeth, even with its mouth closed. Anakin was dwarfed by it — and he turned and ran. At least outside he would be able to see.
The krayt dragon lumbered after him through the cave, delighted at the thought of breakfast being brought straight to it. The dragon gave a tremendous roar. The walls of the cave shook and more loose dust spilled from the ceiling. If the ceiling collapsed, could it bury the dragon? Anakin wasn’t sure he wanted to test that theory in case the tunnel fell on top of him too.
The dragon reared up on its back eight legs and made a hissing sound like the click of a lighter before a flame burst out. Anakin dove to the ground and scrambled closer to the dragon before it sprayed a deluge in acid at the place he would have been running. The dragon did not immediately notice Anakin had dropped, which gave the boy enough time to scurry under the dragon’s belly and climb onto its tail.
The tail was covered in thick scales, with sharp spines running down the length of its back. Anakin tried to be very careful where he put his hands as he gripped onto the tail. The dragon shrieked at the weight now clinging onto its body. It shook its tail, trying to loosen Anakin’s grip. But Anakin held on tighter, winding his arms and legs around the dry scales. Still determined, the dragon began hitting its tail against the walls and ceiling. The repeated impacts were enough to make Anakin cry out in pain and slip away from the dragon. Splayed on the ground, Anakin winced at the bruising sure to shortly bloom across his body.
The dragon gave another shriek and launched at Anakin. He reeled out of the way, rolling as fast as he could between the dragon’s legs as its claws came down and slashed deep into the hard sand. Anakin scrambled to his feet, away from the dragon, and took off running back towards the mouth of the cave. The dragon was hungry and would not be deterred, but Anakin would not give up either.
Using all of its weight, the dragon slammed into the ground. The force made the floor shake and Anakin fell on his face. The dragon was never far behind him and used one of its front claws to swipe at Anakin, sending him crashing into the wall. Anakin keened at the agony as he slid onto the floor.
The dragon came towards him until their faces were inches apart and Anakin could smell its rancid acidic breath. Anakin pressed his back against the wall, wishing he could disappear through it. The creature bared its teeth and made the same clicking hiss. No. Anakin would not die today. Not as a foolish boy in a dragon’s lair. He could taste blood on his lips from how much he had been thrown about. But the metallic taste did not make him despair, it made him stand taller.
The krayt dragon opened its mouth, exposing Anakin to all its teeth that could tear his small body in half. Anakin pushed back and hoped the stars would guide him. He had to win, had to walk out of here alive. For his brother, his mother, his father. Besides, “Anakin Skywalker: Dragonkiller” had a cool ring to it.
When Anakin opened his eyes, the krayt dragon was dead. Its body was mangled, crushed against the opposite wall of the cave. It was as if the force of a starship had come down and thrown it around until it was a broken shell. Had Anakin done that? Or had the stars answered him?
Anakin stepped closer. The light was still dim, but he could see sunlight at the cave mouth in the distance on his left. Blood seeped into the sand from a wound in its stomach. Anakin could have sworn that the blood shone.
The dragon’s ribs were broken, some fragments had broken through its soft belly. Anakin grimaced at the sight. He took one of the ribs and used all his might to break it. With the sharp, severed end, he cut into the dragon’s stomach to claim its pearl.
As it was a young dragon, its pearl was small enough for Anakin to carry. It was full of slime and stomach acid. Despite the gore, it looked quite beautiful. Anakin wasn’t sure how he managed to get the pearl out without burning off his arms and legs, but he seemed to manage it with very minor scrapes and burns. Reluctantly, Anakin dumped his waterskin over the pearl to try and clean it up. There was still a sting on his hands when he hauled the pearl into his arms, but he did it. He killed a krayt dragon.
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Anakin ended up rolling the pearl most of the way to Howell’s camp. It slipped through his fingers constantly, and he had spent longer in the cave than he thought and the suns were already beating down. Exhaustion gnawed at him and there was pain in every step. But none of that could dampen Anakin’s spirit. He would have wept if he was not so dehydrated. The key to freedom was in his grasp.
He showed up at the main gate of Howell’s camp, grinning. The guards recognised him from yesterday and let him in. Anakin was brought straight to the man in charge.
Howell knelt praying when Anakin stumbled into his tent. Anakin did not want to disturb him, but almost immediately Howell opened his pale blue eyes and gave Anakin a gracious smile.
“I’m impressed. I did not think you would actually do it.”
Anakin patted the shiny hunk of pearly metal. “It wasn’t hard. So what will my cut be?” He began imagining the look on Watto’s face when he dropped down three bags of credits to set his family free. What would he buy first when he was free? He would be able to buy a whole fleet of podracers.
But Howell began to laugh. He took the krayt dragon’s pearl straight out of Anakin’s hands. He inspected the orb, holding it high. He polished it with the cuff of his plum sleeve. Howell whistled and the two guards that had brought Anakin in returned.
Howell gave Anakin a smile — a dark, sickly smile. It made Anakin’s skin crawl. “Thank you for your cooperation, boy.” Anakin glanced at the guards. They had the same strange star tattoo-like scar on their brows. Anakin’s stomach began to turn. Howell dropped a small beg of credits into Anakin’s hands. “For your trouble. Maybe you can buy some sweets?”
The old man waved his hand and the guards grabbed Anakin under his arms and began to drag him away. “You’re mad! You can’t do this! You said we could share the money from it! I killed a dragon for you!” Anger seethed in his veins.
“Our Mother will greatly appreciate your servitude,” Howell said. He gave Anakin a bow before he was wrenched from the tent and hauled away.
Anakin kicked and shouted, flailing his body around enough that surely the guards would loosen their grip. But they only gripped him harder. They threw him through the gates for Anakin to wallow in defeat. He jumped to his feet and ran around the camp to the hole in the fence he had slipped through yesterday, but it was gone — replaced along the whole perimeter by a thick, steel wall. Anakin screamed, banging his fists against the metal until he sobbed and his body ached. He was so close. And in all the commotion, he lost the pitiful lot of credits Howell had given him.
Defeated and exhausted, Anakin trudged home. Every step felt like an eternity.
When he finally reached home, it was almost dark. His mother and Luke fussed around him. They had all their friends and neighbours out looking for him, everyone was sick with worry. Anakin said nothing. He bathed, wishing he could drown himself in the lukewarm water, and sat miserably as his mother cleaned his injuries without asking questions. When he went to bed, Luke climbed in next to him. They said nothing for a while but when Luke took his little brother’s hand, Anakin did not pull away.
“I killed a dragon,” he whispered into the dark. “I thought I could set us free.”
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The next morning, there wasn’t a glint on the horizon when Anakin and Luke dragged their feet to the workshop. Howell and his men were long gone.
Watto spent twenty minutes shouting at Anakin when they arrived. Watto claimed he was so worried, Anakin knew the only thing the Toydarian worried about was losing money. By the time Watto left the shop to go selling on the streets with Luke, Anakin wanted to curl up under a workbench and let the desert swallow him whole.
Then an odd group entered the shop. Led by Luke, in came a blue-and-white astromech (an R-series. Anakin recognised — though it had some unusual components that reflected a custom job), a tall brunet man wearing peculiar but distinct and strangely familiar cream robes, the most beautiful woman Anakin had ever seen, and a girl his own age who looked like she had stepped out of Anakin’s dreams.
The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Are you an angel?”
The young girl turned to him, a frenzy of brown curls following her. And suddenly Tatooine was blessed with three suns.