I opened my eyes, waking fast. I panted hard and didn’t go back to sleep. When light came over the horizon, I got up and went outside. I stood on the balcony as if I was looking out on the lake, but my eyes were closed. I used the Force to control my thoughts. I let it flow in me and through me. I could feel it inside me, whispering to me. I could feel my mother, wherever she was.

She was in pain. She needed me. The fear inside me grew until I could barely stand it. I searched inside myself for anything besides that feeling, but all I found was the need to find her, to be with her, to help her. An image of my mother flashed in my mind and I could feel her again, calling my name.

I heard the voice again, calling my name, but this time it wasn’t in my head. My eyes still closed, still facing the lake, I could sense Padme behind me. Her presence calmed me. It gave me something to think about besides the dream and my mother.

Love took over and almost overpowered the fear. But the fear was always there, and it lurked deep inside me.

Padme’s presence started to fade. “Don’t go,” I said.

“I don’t wanna disturb you,” she murmured.

“Your presence is soothing,” I told her. I sighed deeply, letting the Force fill my mind, every muscle, every thought.

“You had another nightmare last night,” she noted. Deep inside my mind I wondered how she knew about that.

“Jedi don’t have nightmares,” I lied.

“I heard you,” she protested.

I knew she was waiting for my answer. I sighed and opened my eyes, gazing out at the lake for the first time that morning. “I saw my mother,” I admitted to her at last. I turned to look at her. She stepped closer to me. She was in her night dress and her hair hung down her back. “She is suffering, Padme. I saw her as clearly as I see you now,” I continued. It was almost unbearable to look at Padme’s face, so I turned around, back toward the lake. I put my hands on my hips and sighed deeply. I knew I had to do something, but what could I do without disobeying the Council?

I continued speaking to Padme. “She is in pain,” I said. I turned back to Padme. “I know I’d be disobeying my mandate to protect you, Senator, but I have to go. I have to help her.” I walked back over to Padme. My voice sounded almost desperate.

“I’ll go with you,” she said.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have a choice.”

We took Padme’s mother’s ship to Tatooine. We got there sooner than I expected. The first place we went looking—Watto’s shop. As we approached, I said hello in Huttese. He was working on a part for a speeder, so I asked him if he needed help.

He didn’t answer so I took the part from him. It was a complete mess, I don’ think he knew what he was doing.

“Let me help you with that,” I said to him in Huttese.

“What, whattya want?” he asked in a gruff voice. “Hey, you’re a Jedi! What business does a Jedi have on Tatooine? Well, whatever it is, I didn’t do it! You’ve got the wrong guy!” He seemed to be yelling to anyone else, but I knew how he used to be; he does that when he gets nervous. Very nervous.

As I put the top back onto the speeder part, I told him I was looking for Shmi Skywalker. Even as I focused on the part I was fixing, I could feel his eyes on me. Padme was quiet by my side.

“Annie? Little Annie?” he asked. “Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “It couldn’t be! He left me over ten years ago!” he said, in Huttese. His voice sounded amused. I sat the part down on the table in front of him. He got an astounded look and spoke in English this time. “You are Annie! It is you! Whattya know! A Jedi! Woo! You’ve sure sprouted, huh? Maybe you could help with a bunch of deadbeats who owe me a lot of money!”

“My mother,” I said, my voice firm. I glared at him.

“Oh yeah, Shmi. Uh…She’s not mine-a no more-a. I sold her…” he said, sheepishly.

“Sold her?” I asked. My heart already began to sink.

“Years ago! Sorry, Annie, but you know business is business, eh? I sold her to a moister farmer named Lars. Err…at least I think it was Lars. I heard from some travelers that he freed her and married her! Can you beat that, huh? What a life!”

I sighed in frustration. His rambling was getting me nowhere. “Do you know where they are now?”

“Ooh, far away from here. Some place over on the other side of Mos Eisley I think. Or, maybe it was in—“

I cut him off before he could start rambling again. “I’d like to know,” I snapped.

“Ah, sure, sure. Let’s check my records, huh?” he asked. He led Padme and I inside. I stared at the walls where I was a slave so long ago. I sighed in frustration. I couldn’t even remember what my mother looked like anymore.

Watto opened up a book written in Huttese. I could read it very well, but Padme looked away when he opened the book. She was glancing around the room.

“Let’s see here, hmmm… Lars…Ah here we go! Yes just over the other side of Mos Eisley! There yah go, Annie! Directions right-a there!” Watto said. I looked at the page and read the directions twice to get it in my mind, and then walked out without a glance back.

As we walked back over to where our driver was parked, Padme said something to me. I didn’t hear what she said, though; I was too deep in thought. “What?” I asked her.

“Do you think this Lars person has…you know, caused the way she feels?” she asked. I could tell she was choosing her words carefully.

I looked down. The anger hit me faster than I anticipated and I didn’t even have time to reach out to the Force. “If he has anything to do with hurting her, I don’t care who he is I will kill him.”

She stared at me for a couple of seconds then looked away as we got into the rickshaw and was taken back to the landing platform where our ship was.

On Mos Eisley we landed just outside the town, where all the moister farms were located.

Padme and I got out of the ship. Halfway there, I saw the droid I made back when I was a kid.

“Oh, um hello. How might I be of service? I am C—“

I cut him off. “3p0?” I asked.

“Well um…Bless the maker! Master Annie! It is you! I knew you would return! I just knew it! And Miss Padme oh my!”

Padme smiled. “Hello 3P0,” she said. “How are you?”

“Quite well thank you! Bless my circuits I’m so pleased to see you both!” he shouted in glee.

“I’m looking for my mother. Is she here?” I asked him.

I felt something, a slight tremor in the Force and I felt her again, in pain. I knew she needed me now more than ever.

“Oh, um…I think we’d better go indoors perhaps,” 3P0 said. He led us into the house.

I gasped and re-read the lines over and over. 3P0. He said C-3P0 didn’t he? Whoa, so whoever this guy is, he made my droid! The one that I have…There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I said. I shut the journal and looked to see who it was.

“How are you?” my brother asked me.

“Hey!” I shouted. I hadn’t seen him since yesterday. I sat up really fast and smiled, glad to see him. “I’m great. Hey, do you remember who you bought 3P0 from?” I asked him.

He sat down on a chair near my bed. “Um, some Jawas years ago. I got he and R2 both there…Why?” he asked, giving me a weird look.

“I just…I was wondering,” I said. “No biggie,” I continued.

“Okay…”

I smiled at him, hoping he’d leave. I wanted to get back to the journal. I’d tell him about it if it seemed to be more important. I thought it would be.

“Did you know Jedi’s aren’t supposed to fall in love?” I asked him.

He looked at me. “No I’ve never heard anything like that before,” he answered.

“Oh, well I heard somewhere that years ago, back when the Jedi were keepers of the peace, that they weren’t supposed to fall in love. It clouds their judgment, I guess,” I said.

He scrunched up his eyes like he was thinking about something. I knew what he was thinking and that’s what I was wondering. It was the same reason why I wanted to keep reading the journal.

He left without saying anything and as soon as the door shut I opened the journal back up again.  

3PO led us down some stairs into what looked like the main hall. It was opened spaced and didn’t have a roof. The sand beneath my feet looked completely normal to me, like home. The heat on my skin felt the way it should; I’d never really gotten used to the coldness of space and how much more colder other planets were compared to Tatooine.

“Master Owen, might I present to most important visitors,” 3P0 said. We followed him down there and I stepped in front of him. Padme remained at my side. I told him my name and he said his name was Owen Lars. The girl by his side was Beru, his girlfriend. Padme told them who she was.

“I guess I’m your stepbrother,” he said gesturing with his arms. “I had a feeling you might show up someday,” he continued.

The feeling inside me wouldn’t go away. I had to find her; I couldn’t wait. I walked away from him a little bit and asked, “Is my mother here?”

“No she’s not,” came another voice from behind me. I turned to see a middle-aged man in a wheel chair. Half of one of his legs was missing.

“Cleigg Lars. Shmi is my wife,” he said, extending his hand.

I took it reluctantly.

“We should go inside. We have a lot to talk about.” I followed him inside with Owen and Beru behind me. Padme followed last.

I took a seat across from Cleigg. “It was just before dawn they…came out of nowhere,” he started.

Padme sat down beside me. Beru was getting drinks. Owen sat down on the other side of Cleigg.

“Who?” I asked, knowing I didn’t want the answer.

“A hunting party of Tusken Raiders. Your mother had gone out early like she always did to pick mushrooms that grow on the vaporators. From the tracks she was about halfway home, when they…They took her.” He sighed and he was almost in tears.

I held the bitter taste in my mouth and forced the sick feeling in my stomach to go away.

“Those Tuskens walk like men, but they’re vicious, mindless monsters. Thirty of us went out after her, four of us came back. I’d be out there with them, but after I lost my leg I just couldn’t ride anymore. Until I heal. I don’t wanna give up on her, but she’s been gone a month.”

I couldn’t sit still and my mind was racing. I tried calling out to the Force to help calm me down, but I was too upset and angry to even want to calm down. I could feel the anger deep inside me, just beneath the skin, waiting for me to release it. It took every ounce of strength I had to push it down enough to concentrate on what he was saying.

Padme could sense my discomfort. She put her hand on my leg.

I didn’t notice.

“There’s little hope she’s lasted this long,” Cleigg finished.

I knew what I had to do. I would find her, I would help her. She wouldn’t die. She needed me and I could save her. I was good enough. I stood up to leave, when Owen asked me where I was going.

“To find my mother,” I said. I was barely under control. Once I left, I could let go…Let the anger take over even if just for a little bit.

“She’s dead son. Accept it,” Cleigg said in a grave voice.

I walked on out, not looking back.

“I’ll talk to him,” I heard Padme say. I stood, gazing out across the sand, watching as the suns set. Three minutes hadn’t even gone by before Padme came through the doors of the house.

I turned to face her. “These are good people, Padme. You’ll be safe,” I told her.

She cried my name and flung into my arms. I held her and whispered in her ear that everything would be okay.

“I have to go,” I whispered. Even I could hear the desperation in my voice.

She nodded and slowly, reluctantly pulled away and let me go. I got on a nearby speeder and sped off.

I spent the rest of the evening searching. I asked nearby clans of Jawas and other moister farms along the way.

Finally, around two in the morning, I found the camp I was looking for. It was beneath a cliff side. I stopped the speeder forty feet away and walked to the edge of the cliff. I looked down at the sleeping camp.

I called to the Force as my aid and willed it to hide me deep in the shadows. I jumped down and used the Force to guide my landing. I closed my eyes and concentration until I felt her presence…my mother.

I sneaked around huts, sticking to the shadows until I found the one I was looking for. I waited for the creatures’ pets to growl again and then pulled out my lightsaber and cut a hole through the back of the hut. I put it away and then ducked through the hole.

She was tied to a post on the other side of the hut. Her face was beaten and swollen and dried blood caked on her hands and face. I ran over there and untied her hands and then held her in my lap.

Her eyes fluttered open to look at me.

“Annie?” she asked in astonishment.

I stroked her cheek and willed the Force to her, to calm her.

“Little Annie….is it you? Is it really you?” she asked. Her voice was soft and gentle.

“I’m here Mom,” I said.

“Oh, Annie! Look at you! You’re a Jedi. You’re so brave and…handsome!”

I smiled at her and stroked her again. “I’m here, Mom. Everything…”

“Now I am complete,” she whispered.

“Mom, don’t….You’re gonna be....Be alright,” I finished. I almost choked at the thought that she might die. I willed the Force to her again. I prayed it would be enough.

“I…..lo…I…I…love…y…” She groaned and as her last breath escaped her chest, her hand left mine and her body went completely lifeless. She fell back down in my arms.

My heart broke. How could she have been taken from me? Now? Why? I should’ve saved her. If I had just gotten here sooner….I was powerful enough why couldn’t I have saved her?

The deep, soul-saddening feeling inside me was replaced by anger. By a dark anger that was foreign in my veins. I unconsciously put her down and before I knew it I had already killed more than ten people in the camp.

With my lightsaber in hand, I released all my anger and hatred and let it flow in my veins. I showed the Tuskens in the camp that I hated them and that they wouldn’t get away with what they’d done.

They’d taken my mother from me, and now I would take their life from them.