Chapter 18

Padme was confused. They had escaped from Naboo and made it to Tatooine, but their ship was damaged and needed repairing. The jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn, that had saved them on Naboo was now trying to get the parts to repair their ship by betting on a podrace.

All their hopes seemed to be on the curious young boy, Anakin. He seemed confident in his ability to win the race and so did the jedi. So, although she was worried all she could do was believe in him too.

She had been watching Anakin work on his podracer when another boy had suddenly appeared next to him. Anakin had then started running after the new boy and from what they were yelling at each other they seemed to be friends.

If the ship wasn't fixed, she wouldn't be able to get to Coruscant. If she couldn't get to Coruscant she couldn't petition the republic to help her people. And if she couldn't get the republics help the chances of freeing her planet from the trade federations occupation were slim.

So, watching the boy who held the fate of all those plans in his hand like a fragile bird, running around acting like a child, which technically he was, wasn't filling her with confidence of the future.

Though after spending time with Anakin and his mother, for reasons she didn't quite understand she was happy seeing Anakin enjoying himself.

"Hi, who are you?" A voice sounded from next to her and Padme jumped in surprise and let out a small yelp. She turned in embarrassment to see a young Mirilian girl staring at her and grinning.

"Sorry. Renn and Sapphire are really good at sneaking up on people and startling them when they start a conversation from behind them, so I wanted to see if I could do it too.

I'm Opal by the way, the kid running around with Anakin is Renn, and that's Alpha." The girl, Opal, gestured behind them to a cloaked figure covered in bandages that looked like some kind of homeless monk.

"I-I'm Padme… I'm a handmaiden for the queen of Naboo. Nice to meet you." Padme was still a bit shocked by the sudden introduction but soon recovered and introduced herself to Opal.

"Hmm, a handmaiden?" Opal tilted her head to the side as if considering something before moving past it. "So, what are you doing on Tatooine?" Opal began asking Padme questions and soon both girls were chatting and getting to know each other.

-

"So, have you managed to get a shot at competing in the race then?" Renn asked Anakin after a while.

"Yeah, this jedi has been staying with us and he promised to get Watto to let me compete." Anakin said and missed the way Renn's eyes narrowed for a moment at the mention of a jedi.

"A Jedi?" Renn asked him.

"Uh-huh, he came into Watto's shop to look for parts to fix his ship, but he didn't have enough money to pay for them. I let them stay with me and mum so they could take shelter from a sandstorm and while they were staying here, I told them about the podrace and that I could race for them so they could use the prise money for the parts." Anakin explained to him.

"If I show him my piloting skills, he might help get me and mum off Tatooine, and maybe he'll let me be a jedi as well." Anakin continued talking looking hopefully off into the distance.

"You want to be a Jedi?" Renn looked at him curiously.

"Definitely, I want to help people and defend the innocent. The story's I've heard about the jedi makes it seem like that's what they do." Anakin said with a smile.

"Hmm, if that's what you want, good luck." Renn smiled at his friend and hoped that he could fulfil his dreams.

"Do you need a hand getting your podracer ready for the race then?" Renn said looking at Anakin's podracer.

"That would be great, thanks." Anakin grinned and both boys began working on the podracer together.

-

Qui-Gon Jinn walked back to Anakin's house after convincing Watto to let the boy participate in the race. They had come to an agreement where if the boy won Watto would give them the parts to fix Queen Amidala's ship.

Qui-Gon was very curious about Anakin as he could sense that the force was strong with him. He had a sense that the boy would be an important part of the future of the galaxy and so wanted to train him in the ways of the jedi.

His current padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi was ready to take the trials to become a jedi knight and so Qui-Gon wanted to petition the jedi council to let him take Anakin as a padawan after Obi-Wan had become a knight.

But first Qui-Gon needed to figure out how to free Anakin from slavery as he couldn't take him off the planet before that. Qui-Gon had some ideas, most of which involved tricking Watto into gambling with him during the race.

Qui-Gon walked into the courtyard next to Anakin's house and found two new children there. A lot of kids had been present in the morning, but they had all left after laughing when Anakin had told them he was going to win in the podrace.

One of the new children, a boy, was helping Anakin preform maintenance on Anakin's podracer. While the other, a girl, was chatting with the queen's handmaiden. The girls were sat on a crate in a corner of the courtyard talking and watching the boy's work.

"State your name and purpose." A deep robotic sounding voice came from behind Qui-Gon. He turned to see a robed and bandaged figure leaning against a wall watching him.

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn" Qui-Gon answered while looking appraisingly at the figure. He wasn't on guard as Anakin was nearby and didn't seem threatened by the figure, but he was curious as to why he hadn't been able to sense him.

"State your purpose, Qui-Gon Jinn" the figure said in the same tone as before, but this time stopped leaning on the wall and took a step towards Qui-Gon.

"It's alright Alpha, he's a friend." Anakin ran over to defuse the situation with Renn close behind him.

Alpha looked over at Renn who nodded silently. Alpha then looked back to Qui-Gon.

"Apologies Qui-Gon Jinn, my name is Alpha." He said holding out a bandaged hand for Qui-Gon to shake.

Qui-Gon was now very curious of the identities of the new people, they didn't seem to be locals, so he wondered who they were and where they were from.