Star Wars_ Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina - Kevin J. Anderson [150]
“They killed my son five years ago,” Mrs. Bjornson said.
“You don’t know that,” Ariela said quietly.
“I found him dead in the canyon north of us! Who else is out there chopping people apart with axes? The Imperial investigators said Sand People killed my son.”
No one said anything for a minute. No one wanted to point out that so many people could have been out there, not just the Sand People. No one wanted to say that Imperial investigators might have wanted to fix blame on suspects who could never be brought to trial.
“They destroyed five of my vaporators,” Mr. Jensen said.
“They broke into my storage shed and tore it apart,” Mr. Clay said.
“One of them threw a gaffi stick that lodged in a rear stabilizer when I was driving into Mos Eisley,” Mrs. Sigurd said. “I barely made it to the city.”
Ariela stopped them. “So bad things happened out here, and all of you jumped to blame the Sand People.”
Mr. Olafsen cut her off. “It’s outsiders like you, coming here from where was it—Alderaan?—with your ideas of how we should start living, it’s outsiders like you—and this Ariq, here—who cause the most trouble.”
“I’m not an outsider,” I said, but that was not the point. My ideas were new. There could be trouble before they worked, before we could all live in peace. It looked as if all the trouble wouldn’t come from the Sand People.
“So you worked on a moisture farm as a kid,” Eyvind said to me, “so you’ve made this farm of yours turn a profit—does that mean you can appoint yourself diplomat for the rest of us and negotiate with the Sand People and Jawas?”
“The Sand People would have ruined my farm, Eyvind, you know that. I have to find a way to live with them. You know that, too.”
“Most people out here are against what you’re doing, Ariq.”
“Is that so? The McPhersons, the Jonsons, and the Jacques all support me, and I don’t see any of them here. What about Owen and Beru? Have you talked to them? Or the Darklighters? Where do they stand?”
“In two days we have a chance to see firsthand how Ariq’s plans are working,” Ariela said. “Eyvind and I asked him to invite the Jawas to our wedding, and they are coming as our guests.”
That announcement started more arguing amongst these people than I had ever heard. Eyvind did not look happy to have had her say that.
“The Jawas were honored to be invited,” I said. “We can live with them—you’ll see. Maybe we can come to live with the Sand People.”
But no one listened to me. Ariela looked at me, and she looked worried. I could imagine plenty of reasons for her to be worried. It was clear she didn’t support Eyvind’s ideas about my ideas. I was sorry to be the cause of what was probably their first argument.
“We’ll take this to Mos Eisley—we’ll even take this to Bestine,” Eyvind said when everybody started to leave.
I walked my speeder into the shed and locked things down for the night. When I came back out, Ariela was still standing there.
“What are you going to do?” she asked me.
I wanted to ask her the same question. “I don’t know,” I said. We sat on the sand in front of my house and were quiet for a time.
“Are you really from Alderaan?” I asked her.
“Yes.”
“Don’t you miss it?”
“Not really,” she said. “I’m in love, and that makes up for it. But I do miss the water—we’re so wasteful with it there!”
“I can’t imagine such a place. I’m used to guarding every drop.”
“Not there. If I could take you and Eyvind to Alderaan you’d get fat on the water.”
“I’d swim in it all day.”
“You could take an hour-long shower and no one would care.”
“I’d keep plants in my house and water them.”
She looked at me and smiled. After a minute she stood up. “I won’t let Eyvind cause trouble for you in Mos Eisley or Bestine. I can’t answer for the rest.”
“Thank you,” I said. After she left to catch up to the others, I went inside. I didn’t have the stomach to eat. It was hot in the house, so I took the