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[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins part 16

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

***

Yoda taps his stick against the ground. "Set aside this discussion, we shall. With young Bentu Skywalker, what is to be done?"

Bentu smiles at the old Jedi. "I need to learn what it is to be free, Councillor Jedi." She swallows, excited and nervous all at once. "I don't even know where to begin." Anakin reaches over and holds her hand, a grounding presence.

"For tonight," the dark-skinned man says, "perhaps you would like to stay in the temple? A spare room, or perhaps even Knight Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker's quarters."

Bentu looks at Anakin, and then at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan smiles. "I'm sure we can find room for her, Master Windu. She is welcome to stay with us if she chooses it."

She nods, "Yes, please, Obi-Wan."

As they settle in their rooms, the knowledge that she is free, that she needn't hide, finally sinks in. With that relief also came relief from the weight of her perceived responsibility, the idea that she must save everyone. She had saved her people. She found her brother, her bonded once more. Now she could rest, she could heal.

With this overwhelming relief, her tight control slipped. She sobbed, fighting back tears. Tears are a waste of water, she chanted in her mind. Can't waste water in the desert.

Anakin kneels in front of her, and places a glass in her hands. You have water now, Ikkali. Drink, and cry. You don't have to be controlled now.

I can't let go, Ani, she whispers in his mind. I feel like if I do, I'll be falling forever.

Anakin smiles at her, holding her hand. Trust that I will catch you. He draws their foreheads together. "I am here," he says, both aloud and in their minds.

With those words, Bentu shatters. Upanda, she sobs. Who am I, what do I do, where do I go, who do I be? Upanda, I don't know anything anymore.

You don't have to be anything but my Ikkali, says Anakin. Right now, that's all you need to be.

***

This is a super short one, sorry. But the section demanded to be completed there.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: Part 15

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

Yes, late again. Sorry! I just started work, so my days are a bit busier. I'm going to try to make a queue of posts a few weeks in advance, but we'll see how it goes.

***

Back on Coruscant, the three Jedi are in trouble. Obi-Wan and Anakin hadn't truly obtained permission for their mission on Tatooine - not from the senate, and not from the council. Quinlan's mission hadn't concluded yet when he came back to the temple.

The four stood before the council, explaining what had happened. Their knowledge of the Amatakka they kept to themselves; that kind of trust takes time, and the council were not off to a good start. They explained the twins' history, the plan, the meetings, the process, the time.

"Dangerous, attachment is," Master Yoda said, with a certainty brought on by age and experience. "Leads to fear of loss, it does. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

Anakin bristled. "Inaction led to suffering on Tatooine, Master Yoda, not attachment."

"Fallen, many have, due to attachment. Your own Padawan brother, Knight Kenobi, fall he did, for attachment to his family."

Anakin's anger grew. How could they be so callous about the suffering that his people had gone through? Was he supposed to be indifferent to their suffering simply because he had gone through it too? He opened his mouth to tell the masters exactly what he thought of their dogma.

Bentu placed her hand on his arm. "Councilman Yoda," she said, bowing slightly. "I cannot speak to the specifics of Jedi history and your fallen. I do not even know what it means to have fallen. I called for my brother's help because I knew he would do what is right for all of Tatooine, not just for me. We chose to free the planet, not just the Skywalker clan. I called for Obi-Wan Kenobi's help because my brother trusts him, just as much as he trusts me. I called for Quinlan Vos's help, because he earned my trust. They answered my call because they are kind, and they are good people."

"Our code, the jedi must live by."

Bentu tilted her head, considering. "And what is this code?"

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

Bentu shakes her head. "You would set aside emotion and peace as opposites, passion and serenity, chaos and harmony. Death? Death is a fact of life. To say there is no death is to say there is no life. And ignorance? To presuppose knowledge in the way your code does is to harbour arrogance, and that is far more dangerous than attachment."

As she spoke, Anakin visibly relaxed. A dark skinned man leaned forward in his seat. "The code does not presuppose knowledge. We strive for the elimination of ignorance."

Bentu scoffs. "You can't fully eliminate ignorance. Knowledgable as you are as a whole, there will always remain things that you are and will remain ignorant of." She shakes her head. "But let us not veer too far off course. We were discussing attachment. Why is it dangerous?"

"It is our way," exclaimed a jedi. "It is not for you to question our ways!"

Bentu smirked. "Would you let me languish in ignorance, then?"

"A jedi," interjected the dark skinned man, cutting off the blustering councillor, "must always place the needs off the galaxy at large over the needs of an individual."

"And you believe that forbidding attachment would make it possible to make such sacrifices?"

"Dangerous, it is, young Skywalker's attachment to you."

"Why? He would not let the world burn for me. I would not let him, as he would not let me."

"Certain of this, you are?"

Bentu turned away from Yoda, hiding a bitter smile. "If he sought to protect only me, then he would have freed me. Tatooine would still be a planet of slaves, rather than a planet of freedmen. He hated every minute of it, but he did what he had to do." Anakin turned away from her, guilt in his eyes. Bentu brushed her arm against his.

"And if you are threatened now?" Demanded a councillor. "If you are to be tried for murder, for killing the leader of an empire?"

Anakin stepped forward, enraged. Bentu grabbed his wrist, reaching out through their bond, calming him. Calm, Upanda. Or will you prove them right?

Anakin exhaled sharply, still angry but restraining himself. Bentu turns back to the Council.

"Three things. First? You would assume that you are even capable of getting me to remain here for a trial." She smirked. "You are not. Second," she cleared her face of emotions, "Arrest me instead of, or even alongside the slaver we brought, and you lose the trust of every slave and freeborn in the galaxy."

"That means most of the outer rim, some of the midrim, and the lucky - or unlucky - few who made it to the core," interjected Anakin. "Including me."

"As well as me, masters." Obi-wan bowed.

"Me and my padawan too," Quinlan added.

"And when I say you will lose our trust, I mean both the republic as a whole, as well as jedi." Bentu scanned the room. "You will not find help in the outer rim anymore." She took a breath, forcing herself to be calm. "Third, would you really be so dispassionate as to condemn a girl - a child, a slave! Would you condemn me for freeing myself and my people? Would you be that cruel?" She deflated. "Anakin trusts you enough to bring me here. You are not that cruel."

The councillors looked away, uncomfortable. Bentu took this moment to calm down, reaching out to Anakin steady herself in this new and loud place.

"Tell me we're not wrong to trust," Anakin said, voice pleading. "It was difficult to learn to trust you, but I learnt. Was I wrong to learn?"

The dark skinned master closed his eyes. "No, Skywalker. We will not betray the trust of our younglings."

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 14

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

***

Now the time came to choose leaders to guide them as they tried to understand what freedom meant. These are a people whose only freedoms lay in secrets, in whispers in the dark and a language never heard beyond the ears of the Amatakka. How, then, to move forward?

They had decided that the planet could not be rebuilt on blood, but on justice and the idea of choice. Democracy was the obvious route after this, but not with a single elected leader. They made a system wherein they elected three representatives: an elder, for their wisdom and experience; an adult, for their strength and fortitude; and a child, for their ideals and their heart. These electives would change when the people deemed it necessary; any individual could call for a re-election so long as they had a valid reason.

The Amatakka nominated people for these roles. Someone called the name Shmi Skywalker; she accepted the nomination. Then someone called out the name, Bentu Skywalker.

She considered it. The child, the ideals, the heart. But she didn't want the power or the responsibility. She could not lead the people without knowing herself first, knowing how to be free. She also knew that though she was young, because of her role as hutt-slayer, Leia, Ekkreth, the others would defer to her judgement. Let Tatooine grow without her interference, she decided.

She declined the nomination. There were others nominated, and the elections happened: a simple show of hands, for this first election. Bentu and Anakin stood in the back, so as to not taint the vote.

The representatives were elected: Margaret Towner, the elder; Shmi Skywalker, the adult; and Kitster Banai, the child. The three would, in the years that followed, hold court in Jabba's palace, turning it from a den of inequities to a place of justice and freedom.

Bentu decided to leave with Anakin and the two Jedi masters. She needed to learn more about her abilities, and she wanted to spend time with her brother without the threat of being caught hanging over their heads.

And so, goodbyes were said, and Bentu and the Jedi left for Coruscant.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 13

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

I'm back! Sorry, guys, I was moving. Who knew how much work that was? I'll probably be moving again soon enough, so if I go incommunicado again, that's why. Anyway, here's part 13 of my Desert Twins storyline/headcanon!

***

Three slavers demanded Hutt justice.

They could stay resolute, Bentu knew. They could simply continue with the justice they made. But if they showed mercy, they would be showing weakness. They would invite trouble to their free planet.

So Bentu and the three jedi took the depurs and their former slaves to the sarlacc pit.

"By the laws of the new Tatooine, the only one who can own a person is themselves. You claim to own these people. But you cannot. Therefore you are attempting to steal them. You have demanded Hutt justice, and the price for theft is death by sarlacc."

She dragged the first depur to the pit, and threw him in. The second one went in too. The third begged for mercy. Bentu considers him for a moment.

"A test," she declares. She tells the former slaves to place their tokens. There are five of them, and all of them choose to condemn. Now she looks to Obi-Wan. "We will hand this man over to you. If your justice gives him less than fifty years in prison, we will know we cannot trust you." Now she smiles. "A test where you know the answers. Prove that we can trust you, and an alliance with the core may be possible."

Obi-Wan Kenobi meets every freedman and woman in the eye, turning to Bentu last of all. "I will see justice done," he says.

Bentu smiled. "I see why Anakin trusts you," she tells him.

When they return to the Palace, the moons had risen and the freed-people had already begun their celebrations. They pulled Bentu, Anakin and Quinlan into their celebration, with satires of the depur drinking outlander tzai and acting the fool. They danced around a fire pit, spinning with the kind of reckless abandon that they never could have done before, crying out louder and louder until they were shouting at the very stars - free, free, FREE!

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 12

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11

***

Tatooine is free. Jabba and Gardulla are dead, and any remaining Hutts are either dead or have fled the planet. Bentu has earned the title of Leia, the Krayt, daughter of Ekkreth. There is still work to be done, however. What to do with the Depurs? How to enforce justice? What does justice mean, now that the Hutts are gone?

There are those who call for blood. Kill the slavers. Show now mercy. Destroy the Depurs in a show of strength to discourage any others who would every try to do this again.

Then there are those who vote for exile. Let them leave the planet, and find their fortunes elsewhere. Tatooine will never welcome them, but we will not sully her lands, or our hands, with their blood.

The three have their opinions too. Anakin is with the first group. A show of strength to discourage any who would call themselves master. Quinlan knows the toll death takes on Bentu, and calls for exile. It will not discourage the slavers, but it may help ease Bentu's heart and give the planet a chance to heal. Obi-Wan agrees with Quinlan, but he keeps it to himself. Though he helped with the last of the surgeries, he is still an outsider. He has not yet earned their trust, as Quinlan had, and, unlike Anakin, was not a part of the culture.

Bentu knows neither solution would work. But she has an idea, and if she can convince her people, then justice would truly be done.

She stands, drawing the attention of the arguing people. "We cannot rebuild our people on the blood of our predecessors," she says. "But justice is necessary."

She takes a moment to collect her thoughts. "Let a Depur stand in front of us. Give each freedman who was their slave a choice - condemn, or forgive. If they choose to forgive, there will be no punishment. If they choose to condemn, we will imprison them for ten years." She looks at her people. "We have their records; we know who owned whom. If the slave has died or is off-world, someone else can represent them."

Anakin stepped forward, understanding her idea. "We can each choose to condemn or forgive. Mercy and justice both."

The Amatakka discussed this, and agreed; this was the best of the three solutions.

One by one, each slaver was given their punishment. Even those who bought slaves for the purpose of freeing them were brought forward; gilded chains were still chains. It all went smoothly, until one depur shouts out, "You are nothing. You cannot judge me! I demand justice! I will have Hutt justice for stealing my property!"

Three slavers demanded Hutt justice.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 11

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

***

REVOLUTION!!!

***

The last of the surgeries were happening. Dancers and pleasure slaves were brought to the four Singers, and Bentu worked until it was her turn. Obi-Wan did this surgery; how can you cut into someone you love, no matter how good it is for them?

Finally, very slave on Tatooine is secretly free. There were some bumps along the way; some depurs detonated the chips before Bentu or Quinlan had a chance to remove them. Some depurs detonated the chips of slaves who had been freed, but had the chips on them for just this reason. And for every death, Bentu's guilt increased. Would it have been better for the slaves to simply run to freedom after the surgery? Eighteen, that was the number of freed slaves who had died because of her plan. She knew that if the freed slaves had simply run, the depurs would have suspected something, and simply killed every slave on the planet to keep their power.

That knowledge didn't ease her guilt.

But for better or worse, the plan had led them to this day. The slaves gathered some chips and placed them in the middle of shrapnel bombs. If the depur detonated the chips, the shrapnel increased the blast radius enough that throwing the bombs would increase their chances of killing their targets.

A large number of the chips went to the barges and palaces of the Hutts. Gardulla and Jabba in particular had chips stuck on their thrones, with the hope that it would at least cripple, if not kill the leaders of the Hutt slave empire.

The three Jedi on Tatooine each went to a different location. Quinlan stayed near Jabba's palace, so if (when) the Hutt sent the bounty hunters out, he would be waiting for them. Anakin went to Gardulla, wanting to make sure that this scourge of Tatooine would also be killed. Obi-Wan stayed close to his Padawan, hoping to cool Anakin's temper should it rise.

Bentu was chained to Jabba that day. On her neck was a collar, and a chain leashing her to Jabba's throne. The chain was specially made for Jabba's dancers, with alternating sharp links, so as to better cut the dancers.

Now, I would ask that you, dear reader, assume that the freed slaves took great care to synchronise their watches, taking time-zones into account to ensure that the slavers would not get any warning about their revolution.

For Bentu, it was noon when the freed slaves struck. The more nimble ones grabbed blasters from nearby bounty hunters and shot at the nearest masters. A sandstorm rose around the settlement: Lukka, freedom and justice and fury.

Now the depurs triggered the detonators. But the other slaves had already rolled their little bombs towards the approaching bounty hunters.

Jabba and Gardulla, dazed from the chips under their thrones, ordered the bounty hunters in the palace to quell the uprising. But the Jedi were waiting for this order.

Bentu had also grabbed a gun, and now, was shooting at Jabba. He pulled on the chain, intending to drop her into the pit with his pet Rancor.

But Bentu planned to live. Now she was enraged, and, with her arms wrapped around the chains on her neck, she leapt towards Jabba and began to choke him. The chains dug into her arms, and she bled, but she held on tight until the Hutt died. She was the Krayt. She was Ekkreth's daughter. She was Leia.

Miles away, Anakin had his lightsaber out. He deflected blaster bolts as he closed in on Gardulla, immersing himself deeper into the force than he had allowed himself to before. And when he got to Gardulla, he was quick. He didn't prolong it. He wasn't looking for revenge, just freedom.

The fights were quick. It felt like mere minutes, to those who fought. Breathing heavily, they gathered the surviving slavers in what remained of Jabba's Palace. The Skywalker siblings embraced once more, knowing that the planet was free.

Anakin cried; his family, his home, his people were finally free. And as Anakin cried, the sandstorms calmed, and rain crashed down on Tatooine. Ar-Amu cried, for her children were now free.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 10

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

***

Now there are two force sensitives doing the surgeries. Quinlan Vos is free, and so he can do more surgeries, but the Amatakka don't trust him yet. They have no reason to trust him, Jedi though he may be. They remember the last Jedi that came to Tatooine - they won a single child, and left, never to return. So any surgeries he does are under heavy supervision.

He bears their mistrust, knowing that the Jedi have earned this. What happened to being protectors, he wondered. When did the senate's will matter more than the people's suffering?

Bentu tells Quinlan Vos slave stories. She teaches him to hide as a slave does - seen, but not noticed. In return, he teaches her about the Jedi. A history for a history.

With his help, the revolution grows ever closer. It would take even less time than she had first estimated to free all the slaves. A year passed, and two, and Bentu and Quinlan learnt from each other. The Amatakka learnt to trust the Jedi knight, and the Jedi learnt secrets. Wherever he went, he knew he would have help, so long as he never betrayed them.

And the surgeries kept happening. The revolution was imminent; it would happen inside of a year. Then Quinlan Vos talked about bringing her brother and his Teacher. She does not know how he convinced the core-worlders to send the Hedi to the rim, but she was grateful that he did.

Anakin and Obi-Wan came in a derelict ship, with their lightsabers hidden. Bentu almost faltered in her dance. Upanda, she whispers through their bond.

Ikkali, he calls back in relief. I'm here, I'm here, I love you, I'm here. Bentu tears her mind to the present, but still reaching for her brother's mind. She has had the Amatakka, and Quinlan Vos, and her mother, but she had a deep, aching loneliness that she hadn't allowed herself to feel until that moment.

In the dead of night, the desert twins reunite. The slaves wait patiently for the Skywalkers to come together, give them time to simply be. Though their names are powerful and Bentu has taken on the mantle of Trickster, they know that the twins are still children.

After the reunion, the four force sensitives start the surgeries. Now, instead of a year, the revolution could happen in months. Two Skywalkers and two core-worlders, and the revolution begins.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 9

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

***

Bentu goes back to her routine: Jabba's dancer by day, the slaves singer by night. But not every night. Some nights, she goes to see Quinlan Vos, who didn't go by Quinlan Vos anywhere except with her. She talks to him, and learns from him.

Though the desert tells her to trust him, she keeps her distance. She doesn't tell him the slave stories, doesn't breath a word of slave secrets. Eventually, she tells him her full name: she is Bentu, yes. She is Bentu Skywalker. Her brother left with the Jedi.

"Would you like to talk to him?" Asks Quinlan Vos.

"It does not matter what I want," she tells him. "He was sold on, twice over. It is unlikely that I will ever see him again."

"More likely than you think."

The next time they spoke, Quinlan Vos tells her a Truth. He is a Jedi, he tells her. He talked with his friend, who is Anakin's Teacher. He has a com, if she wanted to speak to him. He puts the com in front of her, and leaves the area.

She takes the com. Anakin's blue figure flickers in the air in front of her. "Upanda," she whispers.

"Ikkali," he says, his voice thick.

They share a whispered conversation. She tells him that their mother is still with Watto, who, though angry that he lost Anakin, has not sold her off yet. She told him that they finished the designs for Anakin's scanner, that they are freeing the people.

"Ekkreth," he laughs, cries, whispers. "My trickster sister."

She tells him of Jabba's cruelty. Tells him that there are days she wishes she had left when she had the chance. Tells him that she hates herself for thinking that.

"You shouldn't," he tells her. "They could do this without you. If you left, there is nothing you need to feel guilty for."

She shakes her head. "I need to stay," she says. "I need to see this through."

"I'm here for you," he tells her. "Say the word, and I will be there."

She shakes her head. "Not yet."

Now when Quinlan Vos comes back, she tells him a story. A story about a slave who told an outsider slave secrets, and how the slaves regretted it greatly. And Quinlan Vos listens, and promises to remember.

The next time they meet, their work will begin.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 8

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

***

Bentu has been performing surgeries for a while now. She is not quite thirteen, and she is keeping her head down in Jabba’s court. But even with the desert on her side, her luck cannot hold forever. 

To Jabba, Bentu is a pretty thing to own, something to use and throw away when he’s bored. She’s no more and no less than any other dancers, with one difference - she is untouched. So one day, as a reward to a bounty hunter, he lets the bounty hunter take her. 

No girl should have to go through that. No one should have to go through that. But Bentu is a slave, and she cannot fight back. She tries, she cries and begs, and Jabba laughs. 

That night, she doesn’t do any surgeries. Instead, she wanders out into the desert, wondering if it was worth everything, if her sacrifices were necessary, if they would even make a difference. She finds a cave in the dessert, and kneels, and cries without tears (tears are a waste of water), and screams into the desert.

A dark skinned man hears her screams, feels her pain in the force. He feels the force’s pull: help her, s a v e  h e r, and he follows it to the cave. She looks at him, and he kneels in front of her to look her in the eye.

I am Quinlan Vos, he tells her.

She doesn’t answer him.

He doesn’t touch her, but sits before her, cross-legged. He would have left Tatooine earlier, much earlier, but something drew him to say, and now, he thinks he found the reason. His heart breaks when he sees her tearless cries, and he feels rage well up inside when he sees her hurt. 

And now she looks at him, and hears the desert’s voice: trust.

She takes his hand, and tells him that she is Bentu.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 7

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

***

Bentu spends her days as a dancer on Jabba’s chain. Nights she spends among Jabba’s slaves, listening to stories of Ekkreth, of trickery, of freedom and slavery. Her mother still can’t visit her, but the other slaves make sure that the Skywalkers hear from each other. And one day, not long after she becomes Jabba’s her mother sends her a half-built scanner – Anakin’s design, from before he had to leave with the Jedi.

Bentu works on it night after night, understanding Anakin’s designs and trying to finish it. And one day, she scans her body, and finds the chip. I imagine that it is near her collarbone. Detonation would be lethal. 

Another slave offers to perform the surgery on her, let her escape Jabba’s clutches. For a long moment, she is tempted to take the offer. But she has an idea, and the desert whispers to her, do it. Take the chance. So she explains her idea.

We start with the quieter slaves, she says; the ones who are least likely to be blown up by the depurs. We take out the chip, and we sow a small pocket in their clothes, near where the chip used to be. If the chip is detonated, the masters won’t suspect that their slaves were trying to all escape. We will need to heal the scar, so the depur will not suspect anything if they spot the scar. And we do this for everyone, one by one. The dancers and those slaves whose skin is usually exposed, for those for whom making a pocket would be difficult, these slaves we save for last.

We save me for last, she says.

A quiet revolution. A game the Trickster would approve of.

Word spreads among the slaves. The depur never hear about it; the amatakka know how to keep secrets. Soon, they manage to make a healing device - micro sutures, something that would heal without visible scars. 

And they got to it. One by one, they crept to a singers hut, where Bentu waited with the scanner and the medkit. The surgeries went smoothly, until one night, when the desert screamed d a n g e r and she took the scalpel from the singer, and let the desert guide her hand to do the surgery herself. 

Later, they asked her why she did it. Later, she told them of the desert’s voice. And now, she does all the surgeries. The singers heal, still; there aren’t nearly enough healers on Tatooine. But now, every surgery is successful. The desert protects her children.

***

TBC

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 6

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

***

Now we head back to the desert, where Bentu is still Gardulla’s slave. She stays with Gardulla until she’s 10, 11, 12. The hutt had heard of Anakin’s escape, and she was angry that her slave was free. And she took it out on Bentu, who bore it with relief, because it meant that her brother was out of the depurs’ reach.

Bentu still feels her bond with Anakin. She cannot talk to him, but she can feel him, and she knows that he is safe. She even got dreams, sometimes, of what her brother was doing: flashes of lightsabers, of the chancellor, of missions. She could feel his uncertainty, but though she tried, she could not reassure him.

Then she is twelve, and Gardulla was making an alliance with Jabba. Since the pod-race that won Anakin his freedom, the two Hutts were dancing back and forth on a civilised relationship - or, as civilised as two crime lords could get. Jabba was the more powerful of the two, and the more capricious, but he was not blind to Gardulla’s cunning and influence. So they formed a tentative alliance. 

Now for a symbol of their alliance, they decide to exchange gifts. Or rather, to exchange slaves. And Gardulla decides to give Bentu. Jabba likes pretty things, and Bentu is rather pretty. The hutt has Bentu’s scars healed superficially; the scar tissue is still there, but her skin looks unblemished. Nobody wants to waste expensive healing on a slave.

Gardulla knows that Jabba is cruel to his slaves. She decides that it would be fun to see Bentu as Jabba’s, under his eye, chained and hurt for his amusement. So she puts Bentu in a dancer’s costume, sends her to her own dancers to learn, and then hands her over to Jabba.

Bentu is only twelve, but she is pretty, and pretty goes a long way to pleasing Jabba and getting his attention. Bentu is afraid, and for the first time, she cries out to her brother for help, for support, for safety.

Light-years away, Anakin wakes up from a nightmare he can’t remember, his sister’s name on his lips and fear causing his heart to thud so loudly he wonders how Obi-Wan does not hear it from his room. He does not know what has happened, but he knows he must go to his sister soon.

***

TBC

[indulgent-headcanons]

I’ve seen a lot of posts on my dash tonight about users who are threatening suicide, with other Tumblr members posting in effort to try to get ahold of them. I think you all should see this:

IF THERE IS EVER A TUMBLR USER WHO HAS POSTED A GOOD-BYE MESSAGE, SUICIDE NOTE, VIDEO, OR ANYTHING OF THE SORT, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS POST.

1. Scroll to the top of your dashboard.

2. See the circular question mark icon at the top? It’s the third one over from your home symbol. Click on that, and a screen similar to the one in the picture will come up.

3. Where you can type in questions, the box with the magnifying glass at the top, type in the word “suicide.”

4. Click on the first link that shows up. It should say, “Pass the URL of the blog on to us.”

5. Type in the user’s URL and tell Tumblr admin that the user is contemplating suicide and has posted a message indicating that they are going through with it or will be attempting. Hit send! Tumblr administration will perform a number of actions to contact the user and take the necessary steps to prevent the suicide.

TUMBLR: THIS COULD SAVE A USER’S LIFE. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE SUICIDE THREATS.

Reblog this to keep other users aware. Suicide isn’t a joke, and neither is someone’s life. If you didn’t know this, someone else may not, either. Pass it on.

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 5

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

This one is a bit more scattered; was a bit distracted writing this. Still, I wanted to get this out before the more exciting part 6.

***

Anakin on a spaceship, cold and scared. Padme is kind.

Anakin gives Padme a japor snippet for protection. Japor is an Amavikka tradition, but something in Anakin tells him that he can trust her. Padme keeps it to herself, not really knowing why.

Now Anakin meets the council, and he plays a guessing game, but he is afraid. He has never been away from home, away from family. He feels alone, in the middle of these people who are called masters, but are not depur. Qui-Gon said that he was free, after all. 

The council deem him too old to learn, too young to predict, too scared to trust, and Qui-Gon claims Anakin as his Palawan. Obi-Wan remains silent, though hurt. Just that morning, he had a lot to learn, and now he was to be knighted, simply because his master wanted another student? Perhaps the boy must be trained, but was there a need to repudiate him?

Obi-wan doesn’t voice these thoughts.

A jedi, a padawan, and a youngling travel with the Queen of Naboo and her handmaidens (and Jar-Jar) to a planet at war. We know this story; the handmaiden is the Queen, Darth Maul returns, Qui-Gon dies, Obi-Wan kills a Sith, Anakin destroys the droid control ship, Naboo is saved, and Obi-Wan takes Anakin as his apprentice, barely knighted and vastly unprepared.

Palpatine wants the boy to be his. He threatens consequences in order to meet the boy. He gains the boys trust and the council’s distrust, and Anakin is painted with the same brush.

He tells no-one about Bentu. For one, attachments are forbidden to the Jedi. They were unhappy enough about his mother; he is more attached to his sister. Besides, he hadn’t spoken about Bentu aloud since he had been sold on. They had spoken mind-to-mind, but they never spoke of the other out loud. Family was just something else the depurs could use against them, and habits are hard to break.

Now Anakin is growing, and learning. He has not made friends amongst the initiates: he is an outsider, he is a Padawan, he is a prodigy. If they weren’t jedi, Anakin might even say that they were jealous. And the Padawans? Anakin was too young and too powerful, and the Padawans were too influenced by their master’s and the council’s disapproval of Anakin to truly accept him. 

His bond with Bentu is faint. It is strong, but with the distance, Anakin can no longer communicate with Bentu, not regularly. But the force gave them that connection for a reason, and that becomes evident soon enough.

***

TBC

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

***

Padme and Qui-gon (and Jar-Jar) come to Watto’s shop, and meet Anakin, and we have the familiar words (“Are you an angel?”, “I’m a person and my name is Anakin”). Anakin doesn’t mention Bentu. He’d never spoken of her out loud, not since he’d left. They’d been sold on, and chances were that the twins would never see each other again.

The trio leave the shop, Anakin saves Jar-Jar, invites them to their quarters for shelter from the sandstorm (and the desert is happy, they are here for you), and Anakin is going to pod-race. Shmi is not happy, but the desert tells her, I will protect him, and Shmi obeys. Qui-gon, seeing so much and yet so blind, sees the way the force curls around Anakin, sees that Anakin is chosen, but doesn't hear protect, safe, mine. Anakin will win, that much he knows: the force is with him (the force is him).

That night, Anakin tells Bentu that a jedi and an angel have come to Tatooine, that he’s going to pod-race. Bentu tells Anakin that he is going to win. She goes to bed that night and can’t sleep, wondering if this is going to be her last conversation with him: either he will lose, or he will leave. Either way, she would likely lose him.

Then Anakin hears Qui-gon’s bet: Anakin’s victory against Sebulba; the pod-racer, or Anakin. 

Anakin knows that if he wins, he will be separated from his family. But he knew that it would happen eventually; it happens to almost every slave family. Qui-gon would probably be a kinder master than Watto, and the angel can save her planet.

The biggest problem in the universe is no one helps each other.

He will leave Tatooine behind; it’s the only solution that helps anyone instead of no one (except his depur; and Anakin will always fight his Depur, however he can).

And so he wins the race, and he goes to the slave quarters, and says goodbye to his mother. He closes his eyes as he’s hugging his mother, and he whispers in Bentu’s mind, Goodbye, Ikkali.

Goodbye, Upanda, she whispers back, relieved and resigned. 

***

TBC

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 3

Part 1 | Part 2

***

When the twins are six, Watto comes to visit Gardulla, and the sabacc game happens. Gardulla bets Shmi and Anakin; Gardulla loses. Watto owns Shmi and Anakin. 

Gardulla keeps Bentu.

The hutt is angry. She lost two Skywalkers. She liked Shmi. The woman had always done her best to please Gardulla, because she knew her children would pay the price if she made any mistakes. Even the boy was useful, or was at least learning to be useful. And now all Gardulla had left was the girl.

Gardulla made Bentu her new server and announcer. At six years old, the girl hadn’t ever been trained to do this job, and Gardulla was counting on it. And Bentu made mistakes. Maybe her hands shook too much as she tried to carry heavy drinks without having drunk water herself. Maybe she forgot to call the hutt Mistress. Maybe her bow was too shallow. But Bentu was whipped, and her back was scarred. As she grew older, into her pre-teens, Bentu’s clothes grew more and more scant, her scars stood stark on her skin. She bore the scars proudly (hiding it deep, of course; slaves can’t be proud). Scars are survival marks to the Amatakka. They reduce their value to their masters, of course, but her scars tell her story, and she doesn’t try to hide them.

Now, Anakin and Shmi had been ‘sold on’, they had to move out of Gardulla’s personal slave quarters, into the quarters near Mos Espa. Gardulla forbade the Skywalkers entry, made sure the family was separated. Perhaps they did manage to meet, clandestine, when the twins were still young children. But Gardulla found that Bentu had left, or Anakin had come, and Bentu was punished for it.

So the Skywalkers stayed apart from each other.

I like to imagine, however, that Anakin and Bentu shared a force bond. They were a dyad in the force, and because they grew up together, it was strong enough for them to communicate even though they never saw each other. At this point, they communicated telepathically, without ever seeing each other.

Then the twins turned nine, and an outsider ship from Naboo crashed near Mos Espa, and a Jedi knight and an angel came looking for a hyperdrive.

***

TBC

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 2

Part 1

***

Now, I imagine that at this point, they’re all owned by Gardulla the hutt. Since Shmi got pregnant without her say so, she’s been keeping a close watch on the Skywalker trio. Maybe she assigns Shmi to serving her. So naturally, Shmi is scared for her babies and keeps them far from her as she does her work. She does, occasionally, take time to feed the twins, but she does it when she knows Gardulla is busy: holding court, or paying attention to a different slave.

As they grow older, the twins get less reliant on her and more on each other. Anakin is the more curious of the two, more likely to get in trouble trying to find out what a thing is, or how it works. Perhaps he finds someone willing to teach him mechanics; maybe Shmi teaches him, and Bentu as well; if her children are useful like this, maybe they will not be taken away, or trained as pleasure-slaves. 

Bentu is quieter, and keeps a lookout to make sure Anakin doesn’t get in trouble. She warns him when a depur is near, and maybe she covers for him when he’s in trouble. Initially, she just takes the blame herself. But sometimes, a slaver sees him make trouble, so she tries instead to pull attention, to make sure that the slaver is more interested in punishing her than him. Anakin tries to help Bentu as well, but his help is more direct: taking the blame, helping Shmi patch her up, trying to physically protect her. But they are slave children, so Anakin’s attempted interventions don’t help, and sometimes hurt.

Still, the twins grow close, and are always found near each other. They can sense if the other is in trouble, which they both use to varying degrees of success. Shmi worries about them, because Gardulla owns them but never wanted them, but she worries less when she sees them protect each other. And until the twins turn six, she need never worry.

***

TBC

[indulgent-headcanons]

Desert Twins: part 1

Okay, so I don’t know the entirety of the Star Wars lore, but I have some headcanons that run through my mind. A lot of it is inspired by @fialleril’s tattooine slave culture, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of world-building I’ve encountered. I wanted to write my headcanons down somewhere halfway to coherent so I can keep it in order (also so I or someone else can write a fic someday). So here goes.

***

Part 2

***

Shmi Skywalker, pregnant, was sent into the desert by her depur. Maybe she hid her pregnancy and the depur sent her without knowing, maybe the depur was punishing her because he didn’t give permission for her to get pregnant (I’m going for the ‘conceived by the force’ explanation). Anyway, she’s caught in a sandstorm, but she finds some caves and takes shelter there. Just as the sandstorms start to calm, she goes into labor. The son is born first, and the desert rages. Then the daughter is born. Shmi finds water to clean them (I think desert caves have water?). She swaddles them in rags she tore from her clothes - the shawl that she took to protect her from the desert sands.

The storm subsided, and she walks out, leaving the twins behind. No mother wants to see her child a slave; and two of them? One, maybe she could protect. But both? No. But the desert pushes her back. NO, says the storm. YOURS. MINE. OURS. Because the twins are desert children, children of the force, Ar Amu’s children. They were not meant to be left to die.

So Shmi names them. Anakin. The bringer of rain. The golden haired boy is destined for freedom, she knows. Ar Amu claimed him. Her daughter, she names Bentu. Because Anakin may bring freedom, but the dark haired child will bring justice.

***

TBC