"No one deserves to be a slave," he said, his face set as determined. Because there were some truths he would not back down on. Not ever. Even when people made stupid choices. "Even someone who chooses to be a slave. You still deserve to be free."
"All right." He's not going to tell Anakin he's wrong about that, but not for his sake. "So let's get you and your mom out so you can come back and rescue me. Meanwhile." He stood up. "Let's eat dinner. Sounds like that storm's getting worse so we really are all going to be stuck here tonight, so nothing can be done before tomorrow, anyway and then there's a whole Jedi mission for Master Jinn before we know whether he can help or we need another plan. Ok?"
Anakin was feeling all kinds of conflicted, but he was still nine and easily distracted. Somewhat.
"What mission?"
A silence fell about the room.
Padme had been quiet after her first question because she had not anticipated what metaphoric explosions it would ignite. And she was sympathetic to the those stuck in the plight of slavery, but she also had an unjustly occupied world to consider. She couldn't stop thinking about what her people were going through.
So she'd stayed quiet out of a desire to just not make the conversation worse.
Now, however, she spoke, from their interaction tonight, she felt these people were trustworthy enough to explain a bit about why she and Qui-Gon were there.
"We are trying to escort the Queen of my home world to Coruscant to seek help from the Senate," though she hadn't been queen for long, she and her handmaidens had practiced the deception of decoys enough times that her identity was an easy lie of omission to make at this point. Just saying 'the Queen of my home world' rolled off her tongue so easily. "My home world of Naboo has been unjustly occupied by the Trade Federation and we need the Republic's assistance."
There was a but there.
"But we've been stranded here. Our ship was damaged when we escaped the Trade Federation, and without repairs, we can't make it to Coruscant."
"That isn't something we can fix tonight, either," Obi-Wan said, pragmatic and just tired. "Tomorrow Watto's shop we'll hope. Then it will just be a matter of hoping he has what you need and that you can pay for it or figuring out a way to pay for it. For tonight we really just need to finish dinner and wait out the storm"
Qui-Gon finally had an in to speak and something constructive to add, even if a bit of a disappointment.
"We've been to Watto's shop," he said. "He has the part we need. But we do not have the funds to pay for the part. Republic credits aren't accepted here."
"Which part is it," Anakin asked, because he was curious and he knew everything in Watto's shop.
Qui-Gon explained what was needed.
Oh yes, that was an expensive piece and Watto would notice if it went missing.
He chewed on his lower lip while the adults seemed to lapse into a silence to finish dinner.
"What if..." he ventured after a moment of thinking. "I could get you the money to buy it."
He glanced at Anakin and knew what he was suggesting immediately. He couldn't object to the idea given that it was desperate and Anakin did those races, anyway.
"All you need is a pod race and a willingness to gamble on an underdog."
That was his sole contribution.
Desperate situations, desperate measures and he was not taking his plate back just drinking his tea (it was his tea and water, he had contributed everything he had in his place, he was letting himself have that).
"He wouldn't even need to gamble," Anakin said. "Watto's racer is broken, but I have my own I've been building."
Qui-Gon, however, was not following.
"What are you proposing, Anakin?"
"Well, there's a big pod race coming up, and if I win, you can use the prize to buy the part to repair your ship."
Qui-Gon looked at Anakin curiously for the first time, as if he'd really started to notice him. He'd run across Force sensitive individuals missed by the Order all the time. It was unfortunate that the Order had missed them, but the Order had rules about who could join, and past a certain age, a child was simply not accepted.
"Pod races are very dangerous," he said skeptically. Force sensitivity was one thing, knowing how to use it was something else altogether. "Humans usually cannot compete in them, too fast for their reflexes."
Qui-Gon shot a glance at Obi-Wan- was he teaching the child?
"He has been competing in those races for as long as I've known him and he's gotten steadily better as he's been more aware of the Force and what it is." So yeah he's done some teaching, but mostly it's just Anakin. "And just as he's grown, of course. I suspect he's been losing races on purpose for a while. It's still dangerous, but he'll get you enough money for your part."
"Ani," Shmi said suddenly. "Is that true?" She looked from Anakin to Obi-Wan. Her thoughts were always about safety. "Watto would be very angry if he knew that." And she wouldn't be able to protect him, and she hated herself because of that.
"Mom," Anakin said, looking sheepish again. "It's okay. He never bets on me anyways. If I beat Sebulba, he'd take it out on Obi-Wan. I'm okay with coming in second. I don't need to win. Well, until now. I could do it now... But..." he looked at Obi-Wan. "Then you'd get hurt."
He listened through all that and he did not have a whole heck of a lot to say. He just looked Anakin firmly in the eyes and said directly and simply: "This is important. Win."
"Watto is immune to force suggestion but he's fairly easy to manipulate by conventional means. He's also greedy. It shouldn't be that hard to push the right buttons to convince him. Just play the game right, Jedi."
He doesn't think this is insurmountable but it is going to have to come from Qui-Gon.
For now though. "Let's all help get this cleaned up and head to bed for now." Please just - let him sit down and be quiet with at least a few fewer people. He wasn't likely to sleep but he could at least be quiet and rest.
After supper was cleared away and cleaned up, they divided up the space for sleeping. Shmi took Anakin's bed with her son and had insisted that Padme take her bed. Padme didn't want to impose, especially when everyone else had to sleep on the hard floor with just blankets and mats for comfort, but Shmi wouldn't hear of a refusal.
Still, Padme couldn't sleep. She couldn't do more than a one brief message back to Captain Panaka - who was probably hating her choice to explore the city more than ever now that there was a sandstorm. But the message was hard to hear, because of the storm, and it wasn't informative anyways due to the deception she was trying to pull off. She felt no more comforted about the situation of her world than she did when they landed here.
She'd been given a small glass of water before going to sleep. She'd set it on ground when she was done with it, planning to return it to the kitchen in the morning. But she tossed and turned and finally decided to just use returning it to the kitchen has an excuse.
She didn't expect to find another person sitting at the table.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't wake you did, I?"
He was just at the table, nursing a second cup of tea and being quiet. He heard - and felt - her moving around in there before she arrived and greeted her with a slight smile. "No." She hadn't at all. "I was just listening to the wind." And thinking. "Would you prefer tea to the water?" He can do that much for her and it may help with sleep, eventually.
"I would appreciate that," she said and accepted tea from him.
She felt unsure of what to say around Obi-Wan. The things said at dinner seemed quite personal. And from what she'd gathered, Obi-Wan and Master Jinn already knew each other. But not in a way that brought any of them joy to see each other again.
"I'm sorry if my question brought up unpleasant memories for you. I was only trying to understand this place better."
"You didn't. I'm sorry your perfectly reasonable questions started all of that, though. I'm not really sure you even got any answers out of it."
He sat back down once they both had the tea, one leg folded under him. It was the truth, really. The 'unpleasant' memories were mostly pleasant, in a paradoxical way, and they weren't her doing.
"I'm sorry about your planet and the delay in getting your Queen to the Senate."
"No. I'd enjoy the company, and I don't mind if you want to try the conversation that blew up around you again, either." Simple, quiet, honest and direct.
"Thank you," she said and took a seat opposite him.
"There's so much about the galaxy that I'm finding I didn't know. I've been off Naboo before, for humanitarian work with my father. And still Tatooine surprises me. How can the Republic just ignore the people in need here?"
"For the same reasons that the Jedi do," he said, now with much less bitterness. "Or that Qui-Gon resisted my request for him to get Anakin and Shmi out of here."
There is a small pause, before he tries to elaborate. "They are two people, balanced against the weight of Naboo and everyone there. Even scaled to all the slaves on Tatooine, against the need within the Republic and what Tatooine can offer in return--" He shrugs slightly but also sighs, tiredly. "It just isn't worth the resources for them to help when they will get little to nothing back."
Padme made a face, "I understand addressing the unjust occupation of a world." There was no argument there, her loyalty was to Naboo. "But I don't accept the value of sentient life is so little the Galactic Republic would ignore their rights. That is what the Republic is for, not profit. The Republic is supposed to use its resources to help people."
Padme wanted to get indignant, argue more, pour more passion into something because it would feel like doing something useful. And right now she felt very useless.
And for a brief second, this probably showed all over her face. But in a breath she'd schooled her features once again.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 06:34 pm (UTC)"What mission?"
A silence fell about the room.
Padme had been quiet after her first question because she had not anticipated what metaphoric explosions it would ignite. And she was sympathetic to the those stuck in the plight of slavery, but she also had an unjustly occupied world to consider. She couldn't stop thinking about what her people were going through.
So she'd stayed quiet out of a desire to just not make the conversation worse.
Now, however, she spoke, from their interaction tonight, she felt these people were trustworthy enough to explain a bit about why she and Qui-Gon were there.
"We are trying to escort the Queen of my home world to Coruscant to seek help from the Senate," though she hadn't been queen for long, she and her handmaidens had practiced the deception of decoys enough times that her identity was an easy lie of omission to make at this point. Just saying 'the Queen of my home world' rolled off her tongue so easily. "My home world of Naboo has been unjustly occupied by the Trade Federation and we need the Republic's assistance."
There was a but there.
"But we've been stranded here. Our ship was damaged when we escaped the Trade Federation, and without repairs, we can't make it to Coruscant."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 06:49 pm (UTC)"We've been to Watto's shop," he said. "He has the part we need. But we do not have the funds to pay for the part. Republic credits aren't accepted here."
"Which part is it," Anakin asked, because he was curious and he knew everything in Watto's shop.
Qui-Gon explained what was needed.
Oh yes, that was an expensive piece and Watto would notice if it went missing.
He chewed on his lower lip while the adults seemed to lapse into a silence to finish dinner.
"What if..." he ventured after a moment of thinking. "I could get you the money to buy it."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 06:51 pm (UTC)"All you need is a pod race and a willingness to gamble on an underdog."
That was his sole contribution.
Desperate situations, desperate measures and he was not taking his plate back just drinking his tea (it was his tea and water, he had contributed everything he had in his place, he was letting himself have that).
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:09 pm (UTC)"He wouldn't even need to gamble," Anakin said. "Watto's racer is broken, but I have my own I've been building."
Qui-Gon, however, was not following.
"What are you proposing, Anakin?"
"Well, there's a big pod race coming up, and if I win, you can use the prize to buy the part to repair your ship."
Qui-Gon looked at Anakin curiously for the first time, as if he'd really started to notice him. He'd run across Force sensitive individuals missed by the Order all the time. It was unfortunate that the Order had missed them, but the Order had rules about who could join, and past a certain age, a child was simply not accepted.
"Pod races are very dangerous," he said skeptically. Force sensitivity was one thing, knowing how to use it was something else altogether. "Humans usually cannot compete in them, too fast for their reflexes."
Qui-Gon shot a glance at Obi-Wan- was he teaching the child?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:20 pm (UTC)"Mom," Anakin said, looking sheepish again. "It's okay. He never bets on me anyways. If I beat Sebulba, he'd take it out on Obi-Wan. I'm okay with coming in second. I don't need to win. Well, until now. I could do it now... But..." he looked at Obi-Wan. "Then you'd get hurt."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:27 pm (UTC)And Shmi did see a problem. "He can do it. But you'll need to convince Watto to let you enter him."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:29 pm (UTC)He doesn't think this is insurmountable but it is going to have to come from Qui-Gon.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:39 pm (UTC)"Why don't you show me your pod racer in the morning. And we can discuss it more then."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:40 pm (UTC)For now though. "Let's all help get this cleaned up and head to bed for now." Please just - let him sit down and be quiet with at least a few fewer people. He wasn't likely to sleep but he could at least be quiet and rest.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 07:55 pm (UTC)Still, Padme couldn't sleep. She couldn't do more than a one brief message back to Captain Panaka - who was probably hating her choice to explore the city more than ever now that there was a sandstorm. But the message was hard to hear, because of the storm, and it wasn't informative anyways due to the deception she was trying to pull off. She felt no more comforted about the situation of her world than she did when they landed here.
She'd been given a small glass of water before going to sleep. She'd set it on ground when she was done with it, planning to return it to the kitchen in the morning. But she tossed and turned and finally decided to just use returning it to the kitchen has an excuse.
She didn't expect to find another person sitting at the table.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't wake you did, I?"
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 08:39 pm (UTC)She felt unsure of what to say around Obi-Wan. The things said at dinner seemed quite personal. And from what she'd gathered, Obi-Wan and Master Jinn already knew each other. But not in a way that brought any of them joy to see each other again.
"I'm sorry if my question brought up unpleasant memories for you. I was only trying to understand this place better."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 08:42 pm (UTC)He sat back down once they both had the tea, one leg folded under him. It was the truth, really. The 'unpleasant' memories were mostly pleasant, in a paradoxical way, and they weren't her doing.
"I'm sorry about your planet and the delay in getting your Queen to the Senate."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 08:51 pm (UTC)"Thank you. I have hope we will find a way to help my home world... Do you mind if I joined you?" She nodded towards the table.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 09:01 pm (UTC)"There's so much about the galaxy that I'm finding I didn't know. I've been off Naboo before, for humanitarian work with my father. And still Tatooine surprises me. How can the Republic just ignore the people in need here?"
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 09:06 pm (UTC)There is a small pause, before he tries to elaborate. "They are two people, balanced against the weight of Naboo and everyone there. Even scaled to all the slaves on Tatooine, against the need within the Republic and what Tatooine can offer in return--" He shrugs slightly but also sighs, tiredly. "It just isn't worth the resources for them to help when they will get little to nothing back."
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 09:27 pm (UTC)And for a brief second, this probably showed all over her face. But in a breath she'd schooled her features once again.
Indignation right now would accomplish nothing.
"What can I do to help while I'm here?"
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: