Anakin threw himself in front of Tahiri. Above him, three Tusken Raiders growled, their tall, broad forms masked in strips of white material, their faces covered with gray breath masks and dark round protective goggles. Held high in each of their hands was an axelike metal weapon with a double-edged blade that glinted beneath the harsh twin suns of Tatooine. They moved forward to attack.
“Get back in the shuttle,” Anakin commanded his friend.
Tionne stepped forward, her silver eyes flashing. Anakin could sense the hostility and raw anger that came from the group of Raiders.
“It’s all right,” Tahiri said calmly. “They’re from my tribe.”
Tahiri took a step out from behind Anakin and Tionne and moved toward the Raiders.
“Are you sure?” Anakin asked uncertainly as he watched Tahiri walk forward. The three Raiders parted, and a fourth, who had been hidden behind them, emerged. He, too, held the axelike weapon high, and Anakin tensed. He was ready to spring forward if Tahiri needed him. Tahiri grunted toward the fourth Raider. It was a deep, guttural sound that Anakin had never heard from his friend. The Raider growled back.
“It’s okay, Anakin,” Tahiri said softly without turning away from the Raider. “His name is Sliven, and he’s the leader of my tribe. I’m greeting him and introducing you and Tionne. Neither of you were expected-that’s why the Raiders took a battle stance.”
Anakin nodded, but neither he nor Tionne took their eyes off the Raiders. Sliven moved toward Tahiri, lowering his weapon as he walked. Then he let loose a string of grunts and growls, connected by a dialect Anakin could neither recognize nor understand.
“He wants to know where my robes and foot coverings are,” Tahiri began.
Sliven stared down at the girl, his adoptive daughter, as she gazed up at him. Her green eyes, the color of the water he had hunted all his life, were unreadable. Then she spoke to him, making the harsh language of the Raiders sound soft.
“I just told him that one of the conditions I made when I entered the academy was that I no longer had to wear robes or shoes,” Tahiri told Anakin. Her translation was cut short by several deep barks.
“He says that some things never change, and my stubborn nature is one of them,” Tahiri explained with a grin.
Anakin followed Tahiri and her people away from the shuttle. They’d landed at a special spot in the desert, where Tahiri had been expected. As they walked, Anakin squinted in the bright sunlight to study his surroundings. Endless yellow desert stretched out before him.
Anakin had hoped they’d land in Mos Eisley, Tatooine’s infamous city. Because of its remote location, Mos Eisley was known throughout the galaxy for attracting thieves, pirates, and smugglers. It was there that his father, Han Solo, first met his uncle Luke and the Jedi Master Ben Kenobi. Uncle Luke and Master Kenobi had hired his father to pilot them to Alderaan in his freighter, the Millennium Falcon. That was the beginning of adventures that led his father and uncle to rescue his mother, Princess Leia Organa, from the Death Star and Darth Vader, Anakin thought with pride.
The heat rolled in thick waves over the sand. Anakin felt his jumpsuit beginning to stick to his back as sweat rolled down in time to the beat of his heart. Tahiri walked in front of him, talking to Sliven. The other three Raiders walked to the side, scanning the desert for hidden enemies. Tionne walked in silence, her large eyes never leaving the Raiders. Several times Anakin sensed danger, but the group traveled safely up and down rolling sand dunes. Sliven’s deep voice interrupted Anakin’s thoughts. The Raider motioned for Anakin and Tahiri to follow him up yet another sand hill.
“Bangor!” Tahiri cried when several large, brown, furry animals came into sight. One of the animals raised his head at the sound of her voice and began to tug at the thick rope that held him to a wooden stake in the sand. Tahiri raced forward and stretched out her arms. The animal bumped his soft brown nose against her side. Tahiri reached up and scratched between his long, spiral horns. Sliven growled beside Anakin.
“He repeats that some things never change,” Tahiri translated with a giggle.
Although Sliven’s words sounded gruff, Anakin sensed something beneath them, a caring that he hadn’t expected. After all, the Sand People, as the Tusken Raiders were also known, were famous for their aggressive, violent nature. They’d been known to attack the settlements of moisture farms on Tatooine, to steal and fight, and many times to kill. In the back of Anakin’s mind, he wondered if that wasn’t how Tahiri had ended up with these people. Perhaps they had attacked her family’s settlement and killed her parents.