Chronicles of Atalanta (B1) | Anakin Skywalker

Chapter 1

The life that she knew began with screaming.

Her legs struggling in the thick sand, she remembered the firm hands that gripped her small shoulders vividly as she desperately tried to run forward. She could feel their fingers digging into her shoulder even now, and the feeling of being dragged backwards on her heels as she cried to the woman that was walking away from them. 

"Please don't go!" She wailed, screaming to her desperately "Come back!" 

She pulled with all of her might, but the man holding her would not relent. The sand surrounding them whipped into her face as the woman silently boarded a metal ship, making tears sting against her skin. She kicked and fought with all of her might, but her tiny body could not fight the man's strength as he towed her away, and she sobbed as she watched the ship soar away, into the darkness and far away from the desert planet. 

That was the first memory she could call to mind, the one of her abandonment on Tatooine. 

It was a dream that haunted her nightly, a recurring nightmare. Seeing that hauntingly beautiful face bend down to kiss her before murmuring her name. And each time she would wake in terror, and look out to the night sky to see if she saw that same ship finally returning for her. But she never did. 

Whatever she was doing, her mother, wherever she was going, she wasn't going to come back.

"She doesn't want you anymore. We're your family now."

That's what Orion had told her when she had first been brought to them humble home in Mos Espa. She had been wrapped in a blanket as her body shivered from the cold of the desert night, chesnut hair matted from the wind and sand, and a pair of green eyes reddened from tears. She was a pitiful site, and the Taks were pitying people. When the city slave collector had brought her to the slave keep at night, Orion had bought her freedom. They could not have a child of their own, and to them she was a strange blessing. 

But she never trully wanted to stay. 

She had been deluded, for a time, to think that her real mother would come back for her for her in time, that her stay on Tatooine was only temporary. She thought that maybe she was out there in the galaxy, hoping to one day return and find her long lost daughter. But she had hoped most of all that she still loved her. 

What a foolish thought that was. 

So she stayed in Tatooine, moisture farming Orion's land and helping his wife Leona with the daily chores and so on. It was a dull and boring existence, and often she dreamed of what life was like beyond the outer rim and towards the center of the universe. She had seen visions of it before, faint images of things here and there, but she had always wondered what it was really like. 

But she knew that dreams were own that, dreams, and she resigned herself to her life on the desert wasteland. 

The rest of her life had followed suit in the same fashion. The desert that was once her prison slowly became her home, and she began to venture far from the Tak's home in the sand as she explored the cities and dunes around her. One of these cities was Mos Espa, a crime infested outpost, and she found enjoyment in exploring its seedy underbelly. It was dangerous place, Mos Espa. 

But she was not a weak young girl. She had her wits about her, and much more. 

So when Orion beckoned her to the door and took her with him to Mos Espa to find a new gasket for one of his machines, she had felt that familiar pull from deep inside to a small parts shop. 

"Let's try that place."

It was one of "moments", as Leona often called her odd reactions to the world around her. This strange inclination to hear or see or things out of the ordinary would take over her senses, as if she were living in a different world than the rest of them. It happened every once and a while, for reasons she could not explain. And as if she were attached to a line, being reeled in to an unknown and invisible master, she was drawn to a boy not even a year younger than she, working in the shop that they had entered.

She looked at him curiously, feeling a strange tremor in the air around her.

"Hello." 

The boy looked up from his work and met her gaze, and seemed surprised to be addressed in such a casual yet kind manner. He smiled a toothy grin, his face lighting up at the sight of a girl his age and his bright blue eyes twinkled with equal curiosity.

"I've never met anyone my age before." She said with an awed expression, without waiting for the boy to greet her "How old are you?"

"I'm seven years old, but I'll be eighth in a few months." replied the boy with a small smile. 

It was clear no one had ever asked him a question like that before. 

"How old are you?"

"I've just turned nine." She said happily, looking over her shoulder to see where Orion had gone. 

He was talking rapidly to the creature running the store, a small pudgy alien with blue skin and wings, and wasn't really paying much attention to the girl. 

"Do you work here?" She asked, looking around the dinky shop. "It doesn't look very nice." 

"Yes," He replied, but this time less excitedly "But it's not like I have a choice."

"What do you mean by that?" the girl asked, confused. 

"I'm a slave." The boy said succinctly, tossing a rag to his side with a huff. 

"Oh." the girl responded, feeling awkward "How long have you been one?"

"Since I was born, I guess." He shrugged, kicking a part with his small foot "I wish I wasn't."

The girl moved to console him, but Orion waved at her to come with him. He had picked up the part he needed. The girl touched his shoulder kindly, and the boy looked up surprised. 

"I need to get going, but I'd like to talk to you again" She said with kind eyes " You seem really nice. What's your name?" 

"It's Anakin, Anakin Skywalker." he replied easily, a look of sheer joy passing over his face "What about you?"

"Meira. Meira Atalanta."

"Nice to meet you Meira." Anakin replied with a toothy grin "I hope I see you again soon."

"Me too," Meira said back, waving as Orion lead her out of the shop "Goodbye!"

Anakin watched her walk off, feeling a strange sense of hope as her figure was swallowed by the crowd outside. 

. . . 

What do you think of our new characters? Let me know in the comments below! Thank you again for reading this story!

-Reed