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Chapter I - The woes of slavery

Year 7936 (41 BBY) - Location : Unknown

Dry and warm air barely moves with the lack of vents in the underground complex, sand coats the harsh stone floors, splotches of blood and mud decorate the walls. Five young women and a young child occupy one of the many slave 'rooms', one of them letting out muffled cries of agony, sand and tears painted over her flushed cheeks. Her blue hair looking grey in the low light, her pale skin looking more sickly than usual. A warm tanned hand holds onto the woman's hand in an attempt of comforting the soon to be mother, another green hand brushes a warm wet cloth over the woman's sweat slicked forehead.

"Vera, it's over soon. I know it hurts, but just hold on a little longer.." a soft spoken voice breaks through the haze of the agonized woman's clouded thoughts. Bleary hazel eyes blink themselves open and locate the eyes of her friend, warm brown eyes framed by darker hair. The sympathy and care in those eyes relaxes the young female for a few moments, before another contraction hits her causing her to lose all composure again. The makeshift gag works wonders in keeping down the screams of childbirth. Unfortunately, there's nothing against the pain.

Gritting her teeth onto the dry and coarse cloth, Vera manages to bite down some of the curse words that threaten to escape her.

In what feels like forever, the pain finally stops, and her pained cries get replaced by the cries of a newborn baby. The woman keeps holding onto her friend as she goes through the last stages of birth, just because the baby's out doesn't mean she's done pushing.

It takes a couple of more minutes but finally the woman is done pushing, left panting on the makeshift cloth as her friends tend to her newborn child. The sudden sounds of another baby crying joins the first, she laughs a little breathlessly as she eyes her friend who's looking at her with a proud smile on her face.

"You did a good job Vera, she came out quicker than Anakin did." she says while looking off to the side with a mock offended look on her face, Vera snorts at the comment.

"You can't compare her to Anakin, I don't think anyone can compare to the bantha speed it took for him to come out." she retorts while laying a mock comforting hand on her friend's arm, she rolls her eyes as gently picks up the baby sitting in one of the girls arms. He gurgles happily at being picked up by his mother again. Shmi smiles down at him fondly for a few seconds before looking over to her friend who is now being given a baby of her own to hold.

"So, whatcha naming her?" the green twi'lek asks with a heavy Rylothian accent, making all the women turn to her with curious stares on their faces. She looks down at the baby in her arms, and then closes her eyes while taking a deep breath. Then suddenly the name comes to her, causing her to smile as she looks down at her newborn child again.

"She'll be known as Lilith Azura," she says with determination, the boy lets out a happy coo at her words, causing all the women to let out a few chuckles.

Year 7941 (36 BBY) - Location : Tatooine

Shuffling about with their heads down, the two children follow their respective mother's in complete silence, walking through Mos Espa while the sun bears down on them. Is not an easy experience for a five year old, even less for two of them who haven't eaten in three days.

One of the two risk a peek out from behind their mother, green eyes wide in wonder at all the new people. The child gets nudged back by their mother's hand, without the woman even needing to look behind her. Causing the young girl to let out a sigh of frustration.

'I wanna see the cool people..' the girl thinks with a pout, causing the child next to her to nudge her side with an elbow. Turning her head she notices the suspicious grin on the blonde's face, she narrows her eyes at him while taking a quick peek at their mothers. None of them seem to notice the look on his face.