Saga - PT Barren Wasteland (Owen/Beru Oneshot Written for OTP& Pairing Challenge #12)

Title: Barren Wasteland

Author: devilinthedetails

Timeframe: Saga-PT. Set between AOTC and the end of ROTS.

Characters: Beru and Owen Lars

Genres: Romance and Family Drama

Author's Note: Written for the OTP & Pairing Challenge #12 (prompt #9-wasteland).

Summary: Beru and Owen picnic in the barren wasteland of Tatooine.

Barren Wasteland

“Other couples probably have greener places to picnic.” Beru spread a blanket in the scant shade cast by the lone scraggly tree—more of an overgrown brown bush bent by the harsh desert wind that swept across the largely lifeless landscape— gracing their otherwise barren homestead and slid a basket off her arm. From the basket, she unpacked a bottle of pallie wine to soften the blow of learning in Anchorhead yesterday that once again her fertility treatments had failed, squill liver salad finer than any offered in Jabba’s Palace (if she did say so herself), and zucca fruit pastries to sweeten the bitter pill they’d been forced to swallow from the medical droids in Anchorhead. A menu made up of Owen’s favorite foods to make up for the fact that once again she couldn’t conceive his child to carry on his family of farmers. “Not this wasteland.”

“Those other couples must not be from Tatooine.” Owen forked squill liver salad onto first her plate then his. Staring out at the red sand dunes that stretched into the distance with no sign of water or greenery and no trace of human habitation beyond their own as far as their eyes could see squinting into the twin suns, he shrugged. “Everywhere is a wasteland on Tatooine.”

“Everything dies on Tatooine.” Beru poured a glass of wine for her husband, offering it to him by the stem. Once he had taken it with a nod of thanks, she filled her own glass. Chiming it against his in a bleak cheers, she gazed at the headstones that comprised the small burial plot on the Lars homestead. There was Cliegg laid to rest between the two wives, Shmi and Aika, he had loved and lost. Beside Aika, there was the uncle that Owen had never met, dead at fourteen in a landspeeder accident. One day, Beru knew in her bones, she would die here too. Then she would be planted in the sand like some lame, colorless flower bulb that would never bloom come any spring.

“Everything dies everywhere,” Owen pointed out between bites of his squill liver salad. “That’s not unique to Tatooine, my dear.”

“Yes, but everything doesn’t die so quickly everywhere else.” Lips quirking, Beru sipped at her wine. “Not everywhere is as barren as Tatooine.”

“It isn’t the landscape that’s bothering you.” Owen must have realized that she only took him on picnics to this place, which she regarded as their special spot no matter how barren it was, when she had something weighing heavy as duracrete on her heart. “Why don’t we talk about what is troubling you so your wounds can begin healing, huh?”

That was Owen, she thought with an inner smile: gruffly practical in his compassion.

“I’m barren as this landscape,” she whispered, blinking tears from her eyes, because she expected herself to be strong for her husband despite any trials and tribulations the harshness of life on Tatooine dealt her.

“This landscape may seem like a barren wasteland, but we’ve managed to eke some moisture and money out of it with our hard work.” Owen cupped her cheeks between his calloused palms. “Through our endless toil, we’ve built something of value out of this barren wasteland, and there’s nobody I’d rather have beside me when I work to turn a profit out of this barren landscape than you, Beru.”

“You flatter me.” Beru leaned in to teasingly peck the top of his nose—sunburned a faint muja. “That’s high praise coming from you, my love.”

“I’m serious.” Owen kissed her, lips tasting of pallie wine, and Beru thought dizzily that he was always wonderfully serious, and that’s why she had married him. “Just because this farm is a barren wasteland doesn’t mean I love it any less because it’s a part of me the same way that you’re a part of me, and I don’t love you any less because of your fertility struggles.”

“I still want us to have a child.” Beru’s fingers tangled in Owen’s hair as she deepened their kiss. “A son to help you repair the vaporators or a daughter for me to teach how to make the best blue milk cheese on Tatooine.”

“We’ll have a child one day,” Owen assured her, and Beru believed this promise was as solidly set in stone as any that had left Owen’s mouth. Owen was a reliable man on a planet full of criminals, slavers, and gangsters. That was what had convinced Beru that he would make a good husband and father to her future children, who were still unborn and waiting on the wings of some desire she was beginning to accept would never be fulfilled. “Even if we have to adopt some needy street urchin from the sketchy back alleys of Mos Eisley.”

“You’d be willing to adopt?” A hope she hadn’t dared to acknowledge caught in Beru’s throat, choking her.

“I’d be willing to adopt if it made you happy.” Owen drew her against his chest, and she burrowed her face into the curve where the nape of his neck broadened into his shoulder. “I’d do anything to make you happy.”

Too breathless to return this vow, Beru streamed kisses along his shoulder blade.

 

@Briannakin, thanks so much for taking the time read and comment on my story! I'm so glad that you loved this piece and found it romantic even though it was sad. I was afraid that this story might be too sad for a romantic challenge, so it makes me so happy to hear that it worked so well for you and that you found this so beautiful.

When I got the prompt of wasteland, my mind immediately went to Owen and Beru on Tatooine. Then from there, my mind made the association of Tatooine's barren landscape with Beru's fertility struggles. I very much wanted to create that layered topic you mentioned, and I'm so pleased that you felt I did this layered topic justice.

It is wonderful to see you quote that line of Beru's premonition that she'll die on the homestead since I hoped that wasn't too on the nose but subtle enough for readers to not feel I was hitting them on the head with foreshadowing.

It did break my heart a bit to deal with the sadness of this topic, but it's great to know that you appreciated how I portrayed Owen in this. I like to imagine the Owen of this time period as you described: very direct but in a way that is well-intentioned and not meant to be cruel.

Thank you again for leaving such a detailed review! It makes me smile every time I read it, which probably isn't good for my ego.

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, as always, thank you so much for your support! I'm so glad that you found this story a tender and sweet response to the challenge.

@AzureAngel2, thanks so much for your kind comment! I'm so flattered that you find my stories deep since I just want to do justice to my characters and the experiences that they go through, and it makes me so happy when readers feel that I succeed with that. I try to strike that balance of touching the heart and encouraging thought with each story, though I'm sure my successes vary with that. It makes me so pleased that you felt I conveyed the depth of Owen and Beru's bond so well and that you could really relate to the worries and love they share. That was definitely my ultimate goal with this story.

 

So poignant and bittersweet, but so full of love, too! Perfect choice of both pairing and landscape for this prompt, with barren Tatooine reminding Beru of her own infertility (and I notice that that's something that was established in the From a Certain Point of View book, so nice little touch there). The landscape also reminds her of her own mortality and of how everything really does die more quickly on Tatooine, and that's a particular gutpunch for us readers, knowing what will eventually become of Beru and Owen (they won't even get one of those simple headstones ). Owen's really sweet here, as others have said; he manages to show some real tenderness through his gruffness, and from Beru's reaction we see that's something she loves about him—indeed, something that she finds attractive about him. Thanks so much for sharing this lovely piece and for being part of this challenge!

 

@Findswoman, thanks so much for reading and commenting! Poignant and bittersweet but with a sense of love always present was exactly what I was going for with this story, so I'm so pleased that was the impression you got from this piece. I have to admit that when I thought of a wasteland, Tatooine was the first place to spring to mind, and then I knew I had to write a piece about Owen and Beru that touched on Beru's fertility issues that were revealed in From a Certain Point of View.

I definitely wanted to show how the bleak Tatooine landscape made Beru aware of her own mortality, so I'm happy to hear that you felt that connection in the writing, and I think it is sadly true that everything does seem to die more quickly on Tatooine, and, yes, it is heartbreaking that Owen and Beru won't even get the simple headstone tributes to their lives and deaths.

I wanted to show a sweeter side to Owen in this story, but I also didn't want to abandon that blunter and practical side of his personality, so I tried to focus on letting his tenderness shine through his gruffness, and it's great to know that worked so well for you. I like to think that Beru finds the good heart and honesty beneath Owen's gruffness one of his attractive traits like you said, so that's how I tried to portray their relationship here, and, again, I'm so pleased that resonated with you.

I really enjoyed participating in this challenge, and thanks so much for reading my entry!

 

Aw! Like others have mentioned, I love your characterization of Owen's more tender side, without sacrifficing his bluff demeanour, and how well that compliments Beru's quiet strength. Tatooine may be a barren wasteland, but the dessert has borne some strong, honest folk. And that's later a strength and goodness they'll pass onto Luke in spades!

I also appreciate how litteraly you took the theme of barreness and mortality with Beru coming to grips with her inability to have children. Your imagery of the dessert, and her being aware of how fleetingly life can come and go was poignant to read. But inspite of so much bleakness around them, Owen and Beru have love to share. And are determined to claim any happiness more they can with deciding to adopt. Perfect! The mood and imagery came full circle in the best of ways.

This was a pleasure to read, and a wonderful answer to the prompt. Thanks for sharing!

 

@Mira_Jade, thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment! I'm so glad that you enjoyed my characterization of Owen since I did want to capture a more tender side of him without risking making him out of character by failing to portray the gruffer sides of his personality so it means a lot to me that you felt I did well with that. I also really wanted to show how Beru's quiet strength complements Owen so well and vice versa, so it makes me happy that this shone through in the story.

As soon as I saw the prompt of wasteland, my mind immediately went to Tatooine, and I knew I had to do a fairly literal interpretation about Beru's struggles with her infertility and her mortality. I do think that the desert imagery of Tatooine was so strong in both the Prequels and the Originals that it gave me a good start in transferring that setting to this story, and I'm so pleased to hear you felt the imagery was used so poignantly here.

I did so much want to show that despite any bleakness of the Tatooine landscape, Owen and Beru still have a lot of love to share, so it makes me so happy that was the message you got from the story as well as their determination to claim any happiness they can by being open to the possibility of adopting a child.

Thank you again for your kind comment. It gave me a big smile to read it

 

@Jâd Sphera Thank you so much for commenting! I'm glad that you found this piece bittersweet but loving since that was exactly the sort of tone I was hoping to achieve. I do admire the resilience of many of Tatooine's residents like Owen and Beru, who find a way to make the best of what they have in the harsh environment of the desert, so it makes me so happy you felt that shone through here. It was really nice for me to be able to delve into these two characters who played such a role in shaping Luke into the hero we all love. Thanks again for your kind comment

 

@Sith-I-5 thank you so much for reading and commenting!

I admit that when I saw the "wasteland" prompt, my mind more went to Tatooine and Beru's fertility struggles than it did to celebrating a milestone in a relationship although the latter is probably more romantic than what I came up with, but I figured romance could also involve looking at the challenges a couple especially on Tatooine would have to face together, and I like to picture Owen and Beru as a very resilient couple.

I enjoyed being able to describe the terrain of Tatooine, so I'm so happy those parts worked well for you, and I would definitely rather eat Beru's food than anything at Jabba's Palace.

As someone who is always at risk of sunburn, I couldn't resist making Owen have a bit of a burned nose, so I'm so pleased that detail resonated with you.

I see that moment where Owen picks up that Beru has some bad news to share as a time of transition in the story's tone so it's nice that you picked up on that and felt it worked well.

Maybe the Kenobi TV series will answer the mystery you mentioned.

Thank you again for the kind comment and for reading my story!

 

@brodiew Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I'm so flattered you thought this fic was nicely done.

I really wanted to capture the harsh, lifeless, and unforgiving landscape of Tatooine, so it's nice to hear that you felt that aspect of the scene was well set.

I agree that barrenness definitely has a painful double meaning for Beru in this story but at least she has Owen to comfort her and the hope of being able to adopt a child one day.

I'm so happy that you highlighted that line since I really did want to capture that compassionate but still gruff side to a youthful Owen who hasn't yet become the stern uncle we meet in ANH. He still has to grow into that role...

I totally picture Owen as being truly in love with Beru in his sort of gruff way and doing whatever it takes to make her happy, and her still somehow always being surprised by how generous and kind he can be. So it makes me so happy that side of their relationship shone through here.

Thank you again for the kind comment. I really appreciate it