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When Annabeth awoke the first thing, she felt was the warmth of two suns shining down on her.
Wait a minute. No that couldn’t be right. Two suns? Last time Annabeth cheeked Apollo only had one car.
She opened her eyes and looked up, but she was right there were two suns.
It had to be of the gods playing a trick on her.
She mentally went through all of the gods it could be.
Who had a problem with her?
At first, her mind went to Hera. They had never had a good relationship and it had certainly not improved after she had kidnapped Annabeth’s boyfriend.
Still, this didn’t feel like something Hera would do or in other words Annabeth still had her memories and also no cows which was a clear sign.
Maybe it was Hermes he probably still blamed her for Luke’s death. It could be his form of revenge she left his son so he would make sure that everybody left her too. But that wasn’t true a long time had passed after Luke’s death and life had gotten on.
What would Percy do she thought. Probably blame Zeus not that he would be wrong to do so. Maybe she could ask him for help after years of going on quests Annabeth felt he owed her just a little help.
“Zeus if you can hear me, I would appreciate a little help here” she exclaimed. “For once” she added under her breath,
She mentally prepared herself for the thunder that usually followed any snarky comment usually made by her boyfriend Percy. But nothing happened. The silence was more worrying than anything Zeus could do.
It was never a good sign when the gods were quiet.
A human could survive approximately three hours in the desert without shelter, but Annabeth was a demigod so hopefully, she would last a bit longer.
Still, she needed to get out of the desert.
In her years of surviving being a demigod, Annabeth had been to a truly impressive amount of wilderness courses. And the first thing you learned where always to make a plan this was a recurring thing in the Athena cabin but that didn’t make it any less right.
Annabeth as a child of Athena was very good at making plans.
The first step in her plan was to evaluate the situation most people would probably worry about water but actually, the most vital thing was shelter which meant that Annabeth had to start moving soon.
If this had been a normal dessert Annabeth would at least have used the direction of the sun to find out what direction to walk in. but as there were apparently two suns now Annabeth had no idea where to go.
So, she chose a direction and went with it. She walked and walked and walked until she couldn’t feel her feet anymore.
And then she saw it, a house. At the sheer relief of finding shelter, the last bit of energy left her body and she went limb.
………
To say that Shmi Skywalker had had a hard life would be the understatement of the ages. Despite this most people would describe her as a kind soul.
This was why when she found a little unconscious girl just outside her home her immediate instinct was to help her.
She was most likely a runaway slave in which case Shmi could be in serious trouble as in she could be killed or at least severely punished by her master if she was found out. Yet still, she brought the girl into her home.
She picked the girl up an action that was so easy that it worried Shmi. However, it made it possible to move her into Shmi’s bed.
When the girl woke up Shmi could finally see her eyes they were grey like the few storm clouds Shmi had seen in her life and were cloudy “Sally?” She spoke in a strange accent that Shmi didn’t recognize.
“No dear, I’m Shmi, Shmi Skywalker.” She hoped that the girl would recognize the classical slave name and that it would calm her.
The girl just looked at her confused “Why are there two suns?” She was obviously not from here though Shmi. So, the question was where she was from and how she had gotten to Tatooine.
“Where are you from” she asked the little girl.
“I’m from Earth,” she said in a way that made it sound more like a question than a statement.
Shmi smiled at her kindly “I’m afraid I haven’t heard of that place before, but could you tell me how you got here maybe we could find out together “
The girl met Shmi’s eyes with a look that she could only describe as analyzing. “I don’t know I was here when I woke up .”
She obviously didn’t want to tell her Shmi could understand that. Maybe she wanted to protect the people who helped her escape wherever she came from.
“Do you know where you are going?” She asked.
The girl avoided eye contact but shook her head.
“Well, if you’re really good at hiding you can stay here, we’ll just have to make sure that my master doesn’t find you.”
“Master?” The girl’s eyes softened.
“You know like my boss” Shmi explained not wanting the girl to worry “he owns this house “and me is what she didn’t say.
The girl’s stormy eyes hardened Shmi somehow doubted that she had believed her lie. “Okay, but I can help.”
Shmi smiled.” That’s very kind of you… I’m sorry can you tell me your name?”
“I’m Annabeth”
It might not have seemed like it but the fact that she had told Shmi her name was an incredible example of trust. Names had power after all.
Shmi gave Annabeth her hand and after a minute Annabeth took it she seemed almost startled by the size of her own hand. “Well Annabeth maybe we can help each other”
Annabeth smiled back.