At the Homestead (Lars family, Anakin/Padme - Ep. II)

It's been quite some time since I've written a solo story (not that What if the Empire and Lady Vader haven't kept me happily occupied!), and it seems like it's time to get started on that again.


This is going to be a short story, made up of stand-alone scenes, dealing with the Tatooine sub-plot in Attack of the Clones. Lots of the Lars, and Anakin & Padmé will make their obligatory appearances (I can't seem to write a story without them!).


Hope you all enjoy. Feedback is always appreciated.

 

Yea! Can't wait! Sounds interesting!
~*Monica*~

 

Beru stared out at the farm from the safety of the house, wide-eyed and trembling slightly. It had never been as threatening or frightening as it suddenly was to her now. This had become her home quite some time ago, and this piece of the desert that belonged to the Lars had been nothing other than a familiar comfort to her, especially after she had finally decided to move in with the family.

That was why she had always laughed off Owen's protective impulses toward her. He was sweet, in his own gruff ways, but she had always thought that his worries about her traveling to Anchorhead alone, or her being outside at all after a certain point at night ? even with the farm's security screen on! ? were senseless. She had lived on Tatooine her entire life, and had been in the Mos Eisley settlement for years. Mostly on her own. Owen's worries, here on the farm, here in their home, were unnecessary?but sweet. She thought it was a lovely thing to have someone looking out for her that way.

It had been nice?quaint, almost.

Until Shmi had disappeared.

Now the familiar comforts of home had been snatched from her, and a totally alien setting had been dropped in its place. She stood at the same front door she had gone through countless times, and wondered what Shmi had been thinking when she walked out of it this morning. She stared at the vaporators spread out all over the farm, vaporators she had helped maintained on a daily basis for so long, and wondered if Shmi had seen the Tuskens coming as she turned away from them, her mushrooms gathered in her basket.

Cliegg had found that basket overturned on the ground when they had all run out to see what the commotion was. He held onto it while he stared at the sandstorm moving into the horizon, already far out of weapons range. They had attacked in near silence, but once they felt safely out of harm's way, the bellows and shouts of the Tuskens had echoed throughout the settlement.

Cliegg and Owen had left soon after that, and Beru sat alone, at the homestead, watching the horizon and waiting for their return. The suns had barely peaked above the skyline when Shmi was taken. Beru had watched them rise, and watched them fall. She didn't want to think about how late it was now. She only knew that it was pitch-black out, and the darkness and shadows were dancing all over the farm and inside the hovel, playing tricks on her eyes everywhere they looked.

She was annoyed at herself. She wasn't a child, scared of ghosts that she knew didn't exist. She had to stop being afraid. Shmi didn't have the luxury of sitting in her house, biding her time. And Beru was certain that Shmi wasn't cowering from the real monsters that had taken her.

Beru took a deep breath to strengthen her resolve, and felt a little better. She could ?

A sudden, loud beeping noise blared out from the near the front door and her heart almost stopped.

Beru leaned against the doorframe with hand on her chest, trying to breathe past the lightheadedness of her fright. The sound continued.

It was just a warning signal. That's all it was.

She turned, still leaning against the door, and looked at the monitor, already knowing what she would find. The temperature had dropped precipitously this evening and the vaporators were still functioning under the afternoon settings. The filters didn't respond well to cool temperatures, and even less so to high winds. The system was telling her to go cover the filters and shut the vaporators down for the time being. She should have done it earlier, but somehow, during her desperate watch of horizon, time had simply gotten away from her.

She could see the perimeter lights were on, but they weren't bright enough to make her feel safe going out there. Even with the security screen running.

But she had to go. If she didn't, the filters would be brittle and cracked by morning, and they were expensive to replace, in addition to the days of moisture harvesting they would lose in the meantime.

Beru made up her mind, and ran back into t

 

Awesome post!
Can't wait for more!
~*Monica*~

 

Amazing, a-p. I've never really thought hard about the Lars family before, but they play such an important role it is impossible not to be fascinated by your portrayal. Your writing is typically vivid and soul-striking - a reader feels Beru's roiled emotions just as much as she does. Seeing the death and pain of the Tusken attack was also very strong - seriously, I had the shivers.

Marvelous opener - now I only hope to see how Beru views Anakin and the subsequent Tusken massacre *smiles innocently* . . .

 

Great post, ami-padme!

It's so good to see you writing another (solo) story. Especially on the subject of the Lars family. Too little has been written about them and you handled Owen and Beru's characters very well. You see what goes through their minds and the conditions in which they live in. Very vivid.

Great job!

 

Excellent! A really terrific look at the reaction to this horror from inside. I particularly liked the way Beru's world changed -- She realized, bitterly, that she was probably safer here tonight than she ever had been before. That certainly rings true.

This promises to be a great story, and I can't wait to read the rest of it.

 

Oh my. What a beginning, a-p. I look forward to reading more.

 

Thanks guys. The next scene will be posted tomorrow...

 

Ami-
Great job. I'm looking forward to more.

 

I liked the way you titled it at first.

 

Well, I realized the original way made it hard for people to figure out who or what the story is about. Just trying to be helpful.

 

One Week Later

Owen stepped into his father's room, and crossed to the window, pulling its heavy shades closed as the suns reached their midday zenith. The room immediately darkened and cooled.

His father was resting, asleep on his new bed ? Beru had thrown the old mattress out rather than try to clean off the blood ? and Owen thought he looked a little stronger. He had been improving quite a bit over the last week, as the doctor had said he should.

They had been lucky enough to find a surgeon as soon as they had gotten to Mos Eisley, and he was willing ? for a price ? to operate right away. The bleeding was stopped and the wound was closed. His other life signs steadied, and Owen allowed himself the relief of believing that his father would indeed survive.

Owen smiled, and pulled the covers up, tucking them under his father's chin. Dad had been awake for a good part of the morning, and was as lucid as he had been so far. Owen was starting to think he might be able to use that hoverchair, at least for short periods of time, in the next couple of days. It would do him good to be able to get out of this bedroom.

Owen gave his father's shoulder a pat, and then quietly left the bedroom. Once he was beyond the door, he stopped and heaved a great sigh, thinking about the nightmare he had lived through during the last week. Owen had never thought that anything could compare to having lost his mother and his newborn sister within days of one another. Now he wondered about that. Shmi?that was like losing another mother. And though his father was recovering physically, he didn't know exactly how he would be able to deal with this, with losing another wife. With losing his leg and the ability to walk.

Owen had looked into getting his father some kind of prosthetic, but the expense was far, far beyond what they could even conceivably afford. That kind of item was a luxury on Tatooine, not a medical necessity, and Owen wondered if even the Hutts could afford one. Even the hoverchair, used as it was, had set the family back. And he had paid a great deal to the surgeon. And the vaporators needed to be fixed.

Something clattered in the kitchen, and Owen went to join Beru. She had been cooking constantly over the last week. Dad was only able to eat light soups and such things, so she had been making them constantly. Both of them were worried about him keeping his strength up, and they didn't want him to become dehydrated. She had been good about waking him after a certain number of hours, no matter what, and feeding him soup or giving him water. He had grumbled impatiently at her this morning when she insisted he finish the whole bowl. Owen thought it was the best sign yet that his father was getting back to being himself.

She wore a faint smile and a reassuring look as she watched him enter the room. Owen had nothing to give in return. The pure shock from what happened had worn off, but he wasn't ready to start smiling yet.

"You should eat something," she said softly. It was a practiced refrain, repeated constantly over the last few days.

His response was also practiced, also the same. "I'm not very hungry, Beru. The soup will do more for Dad anyway."

He expected her to say that she had made more than enough for both of them, for all them, but instead she turned back to stirring the food. "How is he?"

"Sleeping quietly. He had a good morning?maybe he'll be good again when he wakes up this evening."

"I'm sure he will be." There was a long pause, and Owen waited her out, taking a seat in one of the chairs behind her as she pretended to look at the soup. Finally, she added, "What about you?"

"Me? I'm fine."

"Owen?"

"My arm is all healed up now, and compared to Dad, I wasn't all that bad off to begin with. I'm fine."

She spared a brief glance back at him, then went back to her pot.

Owen settled into the chair, moving so that his back was on her completely. His hands rested on his knees, and he stared at them for a moment. "I know that isn't w

 

Great! I love the relationship between Owen and Beru, and the kind of feelings Owen is having are very realistic and well drawn.

 

Great post, ami-padme!

I like how this is all playing out. Once again, you've done a wonderful job portraying Owen and Beru. I thought the description of the Tusken battle was right on.

Great job!

 

Great story, ami-padme. Can't wait to see more.

 

Ooh, this is excellent, a-p.

I loved the interaction between Owen and Beru, we see so little of them. Well done.

Eagerly waits for more.

 

(I can't seem to write a story without them!)

There are worse things.

I love the round robins-- though I'm sure I've given reason to believe otherwise-- but I was still very happy to see this; I've always enjoyed your solo work as well. To me the Lars scenes are the second 'grail' of AOTC-based missing-moment fiction (the P/A proposal being the obvious first), and this is an excellent extrapolation, plot and character-wise.

 

"I didn't see Dad lose his leg," Owen said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I was fighting off the one who gave me this ?" he gestured to his arm, which was still bandaged, even though it was nearly completely healed "? when I heard him scream. I don't know how I got over to him. Or how I got him to the speeder. I was still firing at some Tuskens who were following us while I was trying to stop the bleeding. When I finally climbed into to leave, I looked back to see who I could take with us. All I saw was bodies. I just left then."

a-p, you naughty genius, you've made me tear up again.

"Owen," she whispered gently.

"I should! I could!"

"No," she said plaintively.

Beautiful - touching and done with a subtle grace that was quite moving. I'm loving this.

 

Wow! Another post that was beautifully written!
So there was a newborn baby, too? Wow!
Can't wait for more!
~*Monica*~

 

Naughty genius, huh? Never been called that before!


So there was a newborn baby, too?

That's my interpretation of the little headstone we saw in the film...


Thanks as always guys. I'm glad you're enjoying so far. More tomorrow!

 

Great work, a-p . Look forward to more.

 

Great so far, I never actaully thought exactly what those Tuskin's would have done to Shimi, they beat her up, but what else?

I still think good on you Anakin for killing them all.

 

wonderful, eagerly awaiting more.

 

Up!