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A second figure quickly joined the first figure outside and Dex felt obliged to remind Anakin to be careful. Knowing the kid he was going to let his emotions get the better of him again.
"Be careful and stay calm, we don't want to scare anyone."
"Hng."
"I mean it, kid, control yourself."
"Yes, I'll be careful," the Padawan then promised more seriously. "Can we go now?"
The Besalisk emerged painfully from their transport and they approached the two waiting figures. He had had his doubts because he had travelled enough to know that men could wear dresses, but there they were, two women, one blonde and a teenager in a light dress and the one she had gone inside to find, older and dressed in blue.
The older one was armed, Dex was not stupid, he knew she had a blaster in her hand hidden behind her back. Considering that they were two unknown men approaching them in the middle of nowhere, he approved of her carefulness.
"Who the hell are you?" The older woman asked.
"Shmi Skywalker?" He finally asked, forcing Anakin to stay with him instead of running off to embrace the woman who seemed to be his mother, if the raw emotion on his face was anything to go by.
"Who's asking?" The blonde asked in a wary tone.
"Her son," Dex declared as he pushed Anakin forward, the two women looking at him more closely.
It had to be said that next to a massive Besalisk, most people would go unnoticed. And he could see that the recognition was going both ways now.
"Ani?"
"Mom!"
"Oh my god Ani!"
It was... a beautiful reunion. The two little humans held each other tightly, neither of them crying, but Dex suspected Tatooine even took the tears out of you after enough years. He would never assume that because neither of them shed a single tear they were not terribly moved.
"I'm Beru," the blonde girl introduced herself with a hesitant smile.
"Dex."
"So this is..."
" Shmi's son, yes."
"She told me about him once or twice. I thought he'd gone forever."
"To be honest, I think he thought so too."
A movement caught their attention, the two had collapsed to the floor but were still not letting go of each other, forming hasty, stammered sentences in several different languages that did not bother either of them.
"Basically, they are in mutual adoration," the teenager beside him murmured with a more relaxed smile. "It's... really great to see Shmi so happy."
"Who are you to her?"
"I'm the... a friend of her adopted son."
"Just a friend, eh?" Dex teased, seeing the girl's deep blush.
Kids, they were so much fun like that.
Finally, mother and son managed to separate and the boy's mother approached, Beru moving away to give them some space.
"Hello ma'am," he said with all the gallantry and gentleness he was capable of, for he knew when he should be frightening and when he should be reassuring. "I'm Dexter Jetster, but please call me Dex."
"Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother. Are you a... are you a Jedi? Is everything all right?"
Interestingly for someone like Dex who did not really have any close family left, the human duo reacted simultaneously to what the other seemed to be feeling.
The mother's concern and her words made the boy tense and his tension was immediately picked up by his mother who seemed to be having difficulty holding back her concern.
Incredible vicious circle of empathy.
"Not really, but I've known his teacher for a long time so when Anakin needed a taxi for a visit I could do it."
"I hope Master Jinn is okay, Anakin seemed to really like him."
Jinn. What the hell, Qui-Gon Jinn?! She was talking about him, not Obi-Wan?
"I see you haven't had time to talk," Dex murmured softly. "Madam, Qui-Gon Jinn died many years ago to save Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo."
She looked at him without seeing him with visible shock, struggling to really understand that what she had imagined as her son's future had been very different from what she had believed all those years ago.
Then suddenly, the perspicacity in her eyes returned.
"... I'm sorry, you said... Padmé?"
"Yes?"
"I, um... met a young girl who was with him when I entrusted Anakin to him, she said her name was Padmé."
"So he died very soon after," Dex announced. "It was his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is my friend, who took care of Anakin for him."
"But is everything all right with him?"
Dex... Dex could not say everything was fine, that would be lying to her face on their first meeting and she would soon know it wasn't true. That said, he could not see himself worrying her so quickly.
"Your son is a brilliant, intelligent and resourceful kid, you've got a lot to be proud of," he finally said with a sincere smile that lit up the woman who smiled back. "He's a great kid."
"Thank you very much, I'm glad he has you as a friend, and thank you so much for bringing him here, Mr Jetster."
"Please, just Dex, it makes me feel younger."
She laughed at that, shaking her head as she gladly squeezed his hand with a vigour rather unusual for a small human woman.
"Please call me Shmi, and welcome to our home. Oh my, Owen! OWEN!" Shmi called, turning and waving at a figure gesturing to a figure that appeared at the corner of the rock in the distance, approaching the man with great strides.
"Wasn't his name Cliegg?" Dex whispered to the boy, finding it incomprehensible that the name did not match.
The people they had talk to and bribed to find this place had all talked about Cliegg Lars's moisture farm.
"I've no idea, I admit I don't give a damn what his name is."
Dex burst out laughing, Anakin only seeming to realise what he had just said when Beru and Shmi looked at them curiously.
"Er...don't tell her that I said this please," he muttered shamefully, looking anxious until Dex winked at him.
"What, you think I'm going to denounce you? Me? You have my word."
"Thanks, Dex."
"Ani, come on!"
"I'm coming, Mom!"
Dex watched Anakin run towards his mother and smiled. He had found his family.
Mission accomplished.
The two returned with a young man and Dex discovered that it was a teenager about Anakin's age, and soon a grown man joined them.
Mission accomplished.
Mission accomplished... so why did he had such a bad feeling about it all?