came out with a handful of credits, which he shoved at his friend. 'Here. These are for you.'
Kitster's dark face looked down at the credits, then back up at Anakin. 'Do you have to go, Annie? Do you have to? Can't you stay? Annie, you're a hero!'
Anakin swallowed hard. 'I...' He glanced past Kitster to his mother, still standing in the doorway looking after him, then down to where Qui-Gon was waiting. He shook his head. 'I can't.'
Kitster nodded. 'Well.'
'Well,' Anakin repeated, looking at him.
'Thanks for everything, Annie,' the other boy said. There were tears in his eyes as he accepted the credits. 'You're my best friend.'
Anakin bit his lip. 'I won't forget.'
He hugged Kitster impulsively, then broke away and raced toward Qui-Gon. But before he reached him, he glanced back one more time at his mother. Seeing her standing in the doorway brought him about. He stood there momentarily, undecided, conflicting emotions tearing at him. Then his already shaky resolve collapsed altogether, and he raced back to her. By the time he reached her, he was crying freely.
'I can't do it, Mom,' he whispered, clinging to her. 'I just can't!'
He was shaking, wracked with sobs, disintegrating inside so quickly that all he could think about was holding on to her. Shmi let him do so for a moment, comforting him with her warmth, then backed him away.
She knelt before him, her worn face solemn. 'Annie, remember when you climbed that dune in order to chase the banthas away so they wouldn't be shot? You were only five. Remember how you-collapsed several times in the heat, exhausted, thinking you couldn't do it, that it was too hard?'
Anakin nodded, his face streaked with tears.
Shmi held his gaze. 'This is one of those times when you I have to do something you don't think you can do. But I know how strong you are, Annie. I know you can do this.'
The boy swallowed his tears, thinking she was wrong, he was not strong at all, but knowing, too, she had decided he must go, even if he found it hard, even if he resisted.
'Will I ever see you again?' he asked in desperation, giving voice to the worst of his fears.
'What does your heart tell you?' she asked quietly.
Anakin shook his head doubtfully. 'I don't know. Yes, I guess.'
His mother nodded. 'Then it will happen, Annie.'
Anakin took a deep breath to steady himself. He had stopped crying now, and he wiped the dampness of his tears from his face.
'I will become a Jedi,' he declared in a small voice. 'And I will come back and free you, Mom. I promise.'
'No matter where you are, my love will be with you,' Shmi told him, her kind face bent close to his. 'Now be brave, and don't look back.'
'I love you, Mom,' Anakin said.
She hugged him one final time, then turned him around so he was facing away from her. 'Don't look back, Annie,' she whispered.
She gave him a small push, and he strode determinedly away, shouldering his pack, keeping his eyes fixed on a point well past where Qui-Gon stood waiting. He walked toward that point without slowing, marching right past the Jedi Master, fighting back the tears that threatened to come yet again. It took only a few minutes, and his mother and his home were behind him.
They went to Watto's shop first, where the Toydarian had completed the forms necessary to assure Anakin's freedom. The transmitter that bound Anakin to his life of slavery was deactivated permanently. It would be removed surgically at a later date. Watto was still grumbling about the unfairness of things as they left him and went back out into the street.
From there, at Anakin's urging, they walked to Jira's fruit stand a short distance away. Anakin, much recovered from the trauma of leaving his mother, marched up to the old woman and put a handful of credits into her frail hands.
'I've been freed, Jira,' he told her, a determined set to his jaw. 'I'm going away. Use these for that cooling unit I promised you. Otherwise, I'll worry.'
Jira looked at the credits in disbelief. She shook her white head. 'Can I give you a hug?' she asked him softly. She reached out for him, drawing him against her thin body, her eyes closing as she held him. 'I'll miss you, Annie,' she said, releasing him. 'There isn't a kinder boy in the galaxy. You be careful.'
He left her in a rush, racing after Qui-Gon, who was already moving away, anxious to get going. They walked in silence down a series of side streets, the boy's eyes taking in familiar sights he would not soon see again, remembering his life here, saying good-bye.
He was lost in his own thoughts when Qui-Gon swung about with such swiftness it caught the boy completely by surprise. Down swept the Jedi's lightsaber in a brilliant arc, cutting through the shadows between two buildings, clashing momentarily with something made of metal that shattered in the wake of the weapon's passing.
Qui-Gon clicked off the lightsaber and knelt to inspect a cluster of metal parts still sparking and fizzing in the sand. The acrid smell of ozone and burning insulation hung in the dry air. 'What is it?' the boy asked, peering over his shoulder.
Qui-Gon rose. 'Probe droid. Very unusual. Not like anything I've seen before.' He glanced about worriedly, eyes sharp and bright as he cast up and down the street.
'Come on, Annie,' he ordered, and they moved quickly away.
