****

Night fell on Tatooine with winter severity, clothing the land in almost instant darkness. In the dim warmth of the small slave quarters, two slaves huddled together underneath the blankets for a bedtime story. One was a woman, younger in years than the story her face told, the other was a small boy, her son, less than eight years old.

"Tell a story, Mom," Anakin Skywalker said, crawling into his mother's lap. "About Jedi," he added, putting a finger almost absent-mindedly in his mouth. Shmi removed it.

"All right," she said. "Don't do that, Ani." Anakin nodded, pulling his hand  away and clenching his fists tight to keep himself from forgetting.

"Once upon a time," Shmi began, pulling the blankets tighter around herself and Anakin, "long ago, in a star system far far away, there was a race of people who tamed and rode fire-breathing dragons."

"Dragons!" Anakin said, happily.

"Yes, they rode dragons, in spite of the danger. They tamed these dragons, and even though every once in a while some would misbehave, or not obey their dragoneer, most of the time, the dragons were safe to ride."

Shmi paused, taking a deep breath. "The dragons were so safe that people got complacent, and started taking them for fun or to go visit friends, almost forgetting that these really were dangerous animals. Evil people saw this, and they hated the dragon-tamers, they hated the people who lived on that planet. So they came, and got trained as dragoneers by the people of that planet, who had no idea that bad people wanted to destroy them.

"But the Jedi knew, right?" Anakin said, twisting around to look up at his mother.

"No, the Jedi didn't know," Shmi said sadly. "The Jedi are only people too, you know, Ani."

"How bad were these evil people?" Anakin asked, beginning to look a little scared. "Badder than Jabba the Hutt?"

"Yes, Ani, badder than Jabba. Or just as bad. And one day, four different dragons were taken captive in the sky by the evil dragoneers. On one of the dragons, the people riding the dragon wouldn't let the evil person take over and they shoved him off. But no one else on the dragon knew how to fly him. That dragon crashed to the ground, dead."

Anakin hid his face in his mother's shoulder. "Then what happened?"

"On the other three dragons, no one knew what was happening until it was too late. Two of those dragons were persuaded by the evil dragoneers to attack the great two-towered castle. The other one attacked the fort of the people."

"But the people fought back?" Anakin said, raising his head.

"You can't fight back against a fire-breathing dragon, Ani," Shmi said. "Thousands of people died along with the dragons and the evil dragoneers. The great towers of the castle collapsed in ruins, killing many people."

"But the Jedi," Anakin said.

"But the Jedi," Shmi smiled at Anakin's persistence, "came to rescue those who were still alive, trapped in the ruins. Many Jedi died too, trying to rescue them."

"The Jedi have the Force," Anakin said. "How can they die?"

"Because Jedi are people and people die," Shmi said.

"So what happened in the end?" Anakin asked. "Did they live happily ever after?"

"No," Shmi said. "This story doesn't have a "happily ever after" ending. Many people died, many people were hurt and sad, but those who lived learned something very important."

"What?" Anakin asked.

"They learned to love a little more," Shmi said quietly. "And that was worth everything."

Anakin looked up at her in wide-eyed silence for a few moments. There was complete stillness in the small room, though outside the winter wind raged.

"Go to sleep, Ani," Shmi said at last, letting go of him and getting up.

"'Night, Mom," he said as she sat down in the chair in the corner, taking the candle with her, to work on repairs for a while.

Silence, only broken by the sound of Anakin's regular breathing and the small clinks Shmi's tools made, reigned for a long time. At last Shmi put away her work and prepared to go to bed herself. Before she did, though, she walked over, holding the candle so the light shone down on her son's sleeping innocent face, to look at him.

"I wonder, Anakin," she whispered, "if you'll ever learn that love is the most important thing."

Then she blew out the candle; there was only darkness and the sound of the wind whipping sand against the windows.

END