Star Wars - Kenobi

Generations unborn will walk in fear.”
    For a moment, Ben seemed puzzled. A’Yark wondered if she had spoken the words properly. “This—was a prophecy?” he asked. “A dream someone had?”
    “Those are the same thing.”
    “And you desire this end?”
    “Tuskens want. Yes.” It was a foolish question for Ben to ask, A’Yark thought. Had he not heard of the destruction wrought years earlier on the Tusken camp, where all present died, regardless of age? Sand People could not live where such threats existed unopposed. If Sharad had not been the arrival of legend, then perhaps Ben was instead.
    Yet for reasons that eluded A’Yark, Ben seemed troubled by the prospect of gaining immense power. He bowed slightly.
    “I cannot join you,” he said. “No offense intended. I, er … recognize what I’m giving up. But it can’t happen.”
    “Then boy dies. And we dies, killing him. And clan ends.” She lifted the gaderffii again over Jabe’s head. “It is right.”
    Ben looked down, seemingly disappointed. Readying his lightsaber, he started to close the distance with the Tuskens.
    Then he stopped. He looked over at the lone speeder bike. “You saw who was with the boy.”
    A’Yark nodded. “The settler leader. The Smiling One.”
    “The Smiling—” Ben’s face lit with recognition. “Orrin Gault. You mean Orrin Gault!”
    “Or-rin-gaalt,” A’Yark sounded out. “I will kill Orringault. And all who follows.” She spoke aloud the theory that had been forming since seeing the imposters. “By day, he strikes us. By night, he schemes—so to strike us again by day.”
    Ben lowered his weapon. “You mean Orrin has done something like this before?”
    “Settlers have avenged attacks that did not fall,” A’Yark said. “I don’t knows what settlers do. But I knows what Tuskens do.”
    Quickly, A’Yark named some locations. Ben’s knowledge of the geography of the desert was not the same as hers, and he asked questions in response. She answered them.
    At last, he deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to its hiding place. “A’Yark, your people have been wronged. What Orrin has done is forbidden for my people. Taboo. And he has led Jabe into it. If you let me take the boy, I will see that no more harm comes from either of them.”
    A’Yark stood fast. “Vengeance must be ours .” She studied Ben. “And you don’t speak for the settlers.”
    Ben scratched his hairy chin. “No, you’re right. I don’t. This isn’t even my responsibility, not anymore. But neither can you get satisfaction alone. You don’t have the forces to threaten the oasis, do you?”
    A’Yark said nothing.
    “I didn’t think so.” Ben nodded to the warriors he’d let live. “If you’ll … defer for a day, I will find a way that you can get justice.”
    A’Yark didn’t know what justice meant. K’Sheek and Sharad both had been full of nonsense terms. But she caught Ben’s drift. “I must see this jus-tiss, ” she said, hissing the last syllable. “To know.”
    Ben nodded. “I think I understand. There may be a way.”
    “Speak.”
    “That’s what I propose,” Ben concluded, a couple of minutes later. “But it requires bringing the settlers to your—er, doorstep.”
    As A’Yark looked back on her junior warriors, doubts quickly filled her mind. “Plan works,” she said. “I would see. But plan risks the clan.”
    “I understand, but you need not worry,” Ben said. “I would not endanger them, nor you. I would be there to protect your people—”
    “ Ootman lies!” A’Yark snapped. “No outlander would care what happens to Tuskens!”
    At her feet, Jabe woke up, moaning. Opening his eyes, he saw A’Yark overhead. “Uh-oh,” he said, in a tiny voice.
    “Hold still, son,” Ben advised. “We’re at a critical stage.” He looked back at A’Yark. “I told you what I would do. Will you free him?”
    A’Yark looked back at her feckless companions. Unaware of what had been discussed, they fidgeted at a sound from faraway: landspeeders, heading toward the ranch from the northeast. There wasn’t much time to make a decision, and A’Yark was inclined to reject Ben’s proposal. It was impossible to think he could succeed. No one could.
    She clutched the gaderffii. “I say—”
    Another sound came from the west, interrupting her. Movement! The warriors stumbled backward, afraid. “The settlers,” one called to A’Yark. “We are surrounded!”
    “It’s all right,” Ben