Now all the camp seemed in motion, Tuskens rushing out of every hut, many with weapons in hand. But Anakin was into the dance of death then, into the energy of the Force. He leapt far and long, clearing one hut and coming down before another, his blade flashing even before he landed, even before the two Tuskens recognized that he had jumped between them.
A third came at him, thrusting forth a spear, but Anakin lifted an empty hand and set up a wall of Force energy as solid as stone. Then he shoved out with that hand, and the Tusken spearman flew away, fully thirty meters, smashing through the wall of yet another hut.
Anakin was off and running, off and leaping, his blade spinning left and right in a blur, every stab taking a Tusken down, writhing to the ground, every slash putting a piece of a Tusken on the ground.
Soon none were standing against him, all trying to flee, but Anakin would have none of that. He saw one group rush into a hut and reached out across the way, to a large boulder in the distance. It flew to his call, soaring across the sand, smashing one fleeing Tusken down and flying on.
Anakin dropped it on the hut full of Tuskens, crushing them all.
And then he was running, his strides enhanced by the Force, overcoming the fleeing creatures, slaughtering them, every one.
He didn't feel empty any longer. He felt a surge of energy and strength beyond anything he had ever known, felt full of the Force, full of power, full of life.
And then it was over, suddenly, it seemed, and Anakin stood among the ruins of the encampment, dozens and dozens of dead Tusken Raiders all about him, and only a single hut still standing.
He put his lightsaber away and walked back to that hut, where he gently and reverently scooped his mother's body into his arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
"There!" Padm announced, as she hoisted C-3PO back out of the oil bath. She had to fight hard to keep from giggling, for she had inadvertently lowered the droid too far, and now he was waving his arms about crazily, yelling that he was blind.
Padm yanked him over to the side and found a cloth to wipe the excess oil off of his face. That done, she set the droid down on the floor and unhitched him.
"Better?" she asked.
"Oh, much better, Miss Padm." C-3PO waved his arms about and seemed quite pleased.
"No itches?" Padm asked, inspecting her work.
"No itches," C-3PO confirmed.
"Well, good," she said with a smile. But her smile faltered as she realized that she was done. She had used her work with the droid to shield her from her fears over the last hours--she had hardly even realized that the sun had risen--and now those fears for Anakin were already coming back to her.
She was running out of places to hide. "Oh, Miss Padm, thank you! Thank you!" said C-3PO. He came forward, his arms outstretched to hug her, but then he moved back suddenly, seeming to remember himself and his sudden lack of protocol.
"Thank you," he said again, with a little more dignity. "Thank you very much."
Owen Lars entered the garage area. "Well, there you are," he said to Padm. "We've been looking all over for you."
"I was out here all the time, giving Threepio a much-needed bath."
"Well, Padm," Owen said, and when she turned to regard him, Padm saw that he was grinning widely. "I'm returning this droid to Anakin. I know that's what my mom would want."
Padm smiled and nodded.
"He's back! He's back!" came Beru's call from outside the garage. Smiles gone, Padm and Owen turned and rushed out.
They caught up with Beru outside, and Cliegg soon joined them, his h overchair banging and clunking against furniture and doorways as he glided out of the house. "Where?" Padm asked. Beru pointed across the desert.
Squinting and shielding her eyes from the glare of the suns, Padm finally marked the black dot that was Anakin, rushing toward them. As the speck grew into a distinguishable form, she realized that he was not alone, that there was someone tied over the back of the speeder.
"Oh, Shmi," Cliegg Lars said breathlessly. He was trembling visibly.
Beru sniffled and struggled to keep from sobbing. Owen stood beside her, his hand draped across her shoulders, and when Padm looked over at them, she noticed a tear sliding down Owen's cheek.
Anakin crossed into the compound a few moments later, pulling up short of the stunned group. Without a word, he dismounted and moved to unstrap his dead mother, lifting her and cradling her in his arms. He walked up to Cliegg and paused there for a bit, two men sharing a moment of grief.
Then, still without speaking, Anakin walked past the man and into the house.
All that time, the thing that struck Padm the most was the look upon Anakin's face, an expression unlike anything she had ever seen on the Padawan part rage, part grief, part guilt, and part resignation, even defeat. She knew that Anakin would need her, and soon.
But she had no idea of what she might do for him.
* * *
There wasn't much talking in the Lars homestead the rest of that day. Everyone just went about their chores, any chores, obviously trying to avoid the outpouring of grief that they all knew would inevitably come.
At work preparing a meal for Anakin, Padm was surprised when Beru came up to help her, and even more surprised when the woman started some small talk with her.
"What's it like there?" Beru asked.
Padm looked at her curiously. "I'm sorry?"
"On Naboo. What's it like?"
Padm could hardly even register the question, for her thoughts remained with Anakin. It took her a long time to respond, but finally she managed to say, "Oh, it's very... very green. You know, with lots of water, and trees and plants everywhere. It's not like here at all." She turned away as soon as she finished, and knew she was being a bit rude. But all she wanted was to be with Anakin, and so she started loading the food tray.
"I think I like it here better," Beru remarked.
"Maybe you'll come and see it someday," Padm said, more to be polite than anything else.
But Beru answered seriously. "I don't think so. I don't like to travel."
Padm picked up the tray and turned to go. "Thanks, Beru," she said with as much of a smile as she could muster.
She found Anakin standing at a workbench in the garage, working on a part from the speeder bike.
"I brought you something to eat."
Anakin glanced at her, but immediately went back to his work. She noted that he was exaggerating every movement, obviously frustrated, obviously distracted from the task at hand. "The shifter broke," he explained, too intently. "Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things. I'm good at fixing things. I always was. But I..."
Finally he slammed down the wrench he was using and just stood there, head bowed.
Padm recognized that he was on the verge of collapse.
"Why did she have to die?" he mouthed quietly. Padm slid the tray down on the workbench and moved behind him, putting her arms about his waist and resting her head comfortingly on his back.
"Why couldn't I save her?" Anakin asked. "I know I could have!"
"Annie, you tried." She squeezed him a bit tighter. "Sometimes there are things no one can fix. You're not all-powerful."
He stiffened at her words and pulled away from her suddenly--and angrily, she realized. "But I should be!" he growled, and then he looked at her, his face a mask of grim determination. "And someday I will be!"
"Anakin, don't say such things," Padm replied fearfully, but he didn't even seem to hear her.
"I'll be the most powerful Jedi ever!" he railed on. "I promise you! I will even learn to stop people from dying!"
"Anakin--"
"It's all Obi-Wan's fault!" He stormed across the room and slammed his fist onto the workbench again, nearly dislodging the plate of food. "He put me out of the way."
"To guard me," she said quietly.
"I should have been out with him, hunting the assassins! I'd have had them a long time ago, and would've gotten here in time and m
y mother would still be alive!"
"You can't know--"
"He's jealous of me," Anakin rambled on, paying no attention to her at all. He wasn't talking to her, she realized, but was just playing it all out verbally for himself. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. "He put me out of the way because he knows that I'm already more powerful than he is. He's holding me back!"
He finished by picking up his wrench and throwing it across the garage, where it smashed against a far wall and clattered down among some spare parts.
"Anakin, what's wrong?" she cried at him.
Her volume and tone finally got his attention. "I just told you!"
"No!" Padm yelled back at him. "No. What's _really_ wrong?"
Anakin just stared at her, and she knew that she was on to something.
"I know it hurts, Anakin. But this is more than that. What's really wrong?"
He just stared at her.
"Annie?"
His body seemed to shrink then, and slump forward just a bit. "I... I killed them," he admitted, and if Padm hadn't run to him and grabbed him close, he would have fallen over. "I killed them all," he admitted. "They're dead. Every single one of them."
He looked at her then, and it seemed to her as if he had suddenly returned to her from somewhere far, far away.
"You did battle..." she started to reason.
He ignored her. "Not just the men," he went on. "And the men are the only fighters among the Tuskens. No, not just them. The women and the children, too." His face contorted, as if he was teetering between anger and guilt. "They're like animals!" he said suddenly. "And I slaughtered them like animals! I hate them!"
Padm sat back a bit, too stunned to respond. She knew that Anakin needed her to say something or do something, but she was paralyzed. He wasn't even looking at her--he was just staring off into the distance. But then he lowered his head and began to sob, his lean, strong shoulders shaking.
Padm pulled him in and hugged him close, never wanting to let go. She still didn't know what to say.
"Why do I hate them?" Anakin asked her.
"Do you hate them, or do you hate what they did to your mother?"
"I hate them!" he insisted.
"And they earned your anger, Anakin."
He looked up at her, his eyes wet with tears. "But it was more than that," he started to say, and then he shook his head and buried his face against the softness of her breast.
A moment later, he looked back up, his expression showing that he was determined to explain. "I didn't... I couldn't..." He held one hand up outstretched, then clenched it into a fist. "I couldn't control myself," he admitted. "I... I don't want to hate them--I know that there is no place for hatred. But I just can't forgive them!"
"To be angry is to be human," Padm assured him.
"To control your anger is to be a Jedi," Anakin was quick to reply, and he pulled away from her and stood up, turning to face the open door and the desert beyond.
Padm was right there beside him, draping her arms about him. "Shhh," she said softly. She kissed him gently on the cheek. "You're human."
"No, I'm a Jedi. I know I'm better than this." He looked at her directly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"You're like everybody else," Padm said. She tried to draw closer, but Anakin held himself back from her.
He couldn't hold the pose of defiance for long, though, before he broke down again in sobs.
Padm was there to hold him and rock him and tell him that everything would be all right.
* * *
Obi-Wan Kenobi slumped back in the seat of his starfighter, shaking his head in frustration. It had taken him a long while to extract himself safely from the factory city, and when he had at last found his starfighter, he had thought the adventure over. But not so. "The transmitter is working," he told R4, who tootled his agreement. "But we're not receiving a return signal. Coruscant's too far." He spun to face the droid. "Can you boost the power?"
The beeps that came back at him were not comforting.
"Okay, then we'll have to try something else." Obi-Wan looked around for an answer. He didn't want to lift off from the planet and risk detection, but so far out and within the heavy and metallic Geonosian atmosphere, he had no chance of reaching distant Coruscant.
"Naboo is closer," he said suddenly, and R4 beeped. "Maybe we can contact Anakin and get the information relayed."
R4 replied with enthusiasm and Obi-Wan climbed back out of the cockpit to repeat the message with the changes for Anakin.
A few moments later, though, the droid signaled him that something was wrong.
With a frustrated growl, the Jedi climbed back up into the cockpit.
"How can he not be on Naboo?" he asked, and R4 gave an _"oooo."_ Rather than argue with a droid, Obi-Wan checked the instruments himself. Sure enough, Anakin's signal was not to be found coming from Naboo.
"Anakin? Anakin? Do you copy? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi?" he said, lifting his ship comm directly and shooting the call out toward the general area of Naboo.
After several minutes with no response, the Jedi put the comm back down and turned to R4. "He's not on Naboo, Arfour. I'm going to try to widen the search. I hope nothing's happened to him."
He sat back as the minutes slipped past. He knew that he was losing precious time, but his choices were limited. He couldn't head back to the city and risk capture, not with so much vital news to relay to the Jedi Council, nor did he want to blast away, for the same reasons. He still had so much to learn here.
So he waited, and finally, some time later, R4 tootled emphatically. Obi-Wan moved to the controls, his eyes widening as he got the confirmation. "That's Anakin's tracking signal all right, but it's coming from Tatooine! What in the blazes is he doing there? I told him to stay on Naboo!"
_R4 gave another "oooo."_
"All right, we're all set--we'll get these answers later." He climbed back out of the cockpit and jumped to the ground. "Transmit, Arfour. We haven't much time."
The droid locked on to him immediately.
"Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked. "Anakin, do you copy? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
R4 relayed the response, a series of beeps and whistles that the R4-P didn't normally use, but ones quite familiar to Obi-Wan.
"Artoo? Good, are you reading me clearly?"
The whistle came back affirmative.
"Record this message and take it to the Jedi Skywalker," Obi-Wan instructed the distant droid.
Another affirmative beep.
"Anakin, my long-range transmitter is knocked out. Retransmit this message to Coruscant."
The Jedi began to tell his tale then. He didn't know that the Geonosians had picked up his signal broadcasts and had triangulated those receptions to locate his starfighter. Wound up in his tale, he didn't notice the approach of the armed droidekas, rolling up near to him, then unrolling to their attack posture.
* * *
Even the two blazing Tatooine suns could not brighten the somber mood, the tangible grayness permeating the air, around the new grave outside the Lars compound. Two old headstones marked the ground next to the new one, a poignant reminder of the difficulties of life on the harsh world of Tatooine. The five of them--Cliegg, Anakin, Padm, Owen, and Beru--had gathered, along with C-3PO, to bid farewell to Shmi.
"I know wherever you are, it's become a better place," Cliegg Lars said, and he took a handful of sand and tossed it on the new grave. "You were the most loving partner a man could ever have. Good-bye, my darling wife. And thank you."
He glanced briefly at Anakin, then lowered his head and fought back tears.
Anakin stepped forward and knelt before the marker. He picked up a handful of sand and let it slip through his fingers.
"I wasn't strong enough to save you, Mom," the young man said, suddenly feeling more like a boy. His shoulders bobbed once or twice, but he fought to regain control, and took a deep and determined breath. "I wasn't strong enough. But I promise I won't fail ag
ain." His breathing came in short rasps as another wave of grief nearly toppled him. But the young Padawan squared his shoulders and determinedly stood up. "I miss you so much."
Padm came forward and put her hand on Anakin's shoulder, and all of them stood silent before the grave.
The moment held only briefly, though, broken by a series of urgent beeps and whistles. They turned as one to see R2-D2 rolling their way.
Star Wares Episode 2 Attack of the Clones Page 25