Children of the Desert

Prologue

Author's Note: This fic covers most of the Clone Wars so it's gonna be a little bit jumpy. I hope that doesn't bother anyone and that the plot still flows well...

~ Tirana Sorki

Anakin is still dreaming. He can't stop. He wants to wake up and think it's all a dream that's passed like Obi-Wan said, but Anakin knows it's not. His master means well, but he's not right. Not about this.

Obi-Wan has never had visions before. Anakin is one of the few Jedi who has. It's not something he can fully explain to anyone, and something was different this time.

Maybe it's that he's so close to Tatooine, or maybe it's just that his mother's danger is so much more prevalent, and Anakin can't let her die. He can't let her be hurt. He can feel it now when he's meditating, even awake. He can't let someone hurt her. She's his mother. She's the only family he has.

He has to go.

Padme's light footsteps sound behind him, and he can feel her presence moving closer. She's in the doorway, watching him, and it's – it makes it easier. It gives him something to focus and ground on. He's struggled for so, so long at the Temple, because all he had was Obi-Wan, and Anakin loves his master with every shred of his being, but he's just...

Different.

They're close, but... he's the only one Anakin has. He shouldn't want more, but he does. He aches for the familiarity and companionship he had with his mother and his friends on Tatooine.

He hears Padme moving, turning to leave. "Don't go," Anakin requests, and he feels her pause.

"I don't want to disturb you," she admits.

"Your presence is soothing," he confesses, which – it is. She's not a Jedi. She won't judge him. She might not understand, but Padme is the only person he knows who doesn't make him feel like he's drowning under expectations.

"I heard you having another nightmare last night," Padme says. She's watching him worriedly. Anakin's missed that – the simple knowledge of what it means to have friends, to have someone. Someone who looks out for him, and he might be here to protect her, but she still cares for him. She's still his friend.

"Jedi don't have nightmares," Anakin mutters. "It was a vision. I saw my mother. She is suffering, Padme." He turns around to face her. "I saw her as clearly as I see you now. I – I know I'm disobeying my mandate to protect you, but I have to go. I have to help her."

He misses his mother. Anakin misses her with everything he has, and he always thought someday, he'd be able to go back and see her again. But he never expected it to be because he was having visions of her dying.

"I'll go with you," Padme offers.

The offer catches him by surprise, even if probably shouldn't have. Padme's always been nice to him. But still, she's putting herself in danger for him.

"I'm sorry," Anakin tells her, sincerely, "I don't have a choice." He can't leave his mother to die. It's been so many years since he last saw her, he's afraid he's starting to forget what she was like. He has to go back to Tatooine and find her, before it's too late.

***

It's been so many years since Anakin left Shmi behind, he didn't know what to expect when he came back for her. He'd assumed her master was hurting her badly. It... didn't entirely seem like something Watto would do, but he wouldn't have been surprised either.

He just wasn't expecting to hear instead that she was freed and married the person who freed her. At least it wasn't the Lars who were hurting her as he'd initially feared.