Star Wars - Kenobi

other Gault farmhands, bemused by the whole scene.
    Annileen watched Jabe join them and sighed. Her kids were sixteen and seventeen. Would they ever be done competing with each other? Whichever child won each battle, the prize was always one more headache for her.
    And she wasn’t any happier with Jabe’s choice in friends. Mullen Gault had been a grump of a kid and hadn’t improved, and Veeka had been a mess ever since her twin brother died. Annileen wouldn’t let Kallie near the older girl. She wasn’t having the same luck keeping Jabe away.
    Someone tugged at her sleeve from behind. Annileen thought for a second it might be a Jawa. Instead, she turned to see Erbaly Nap’tee standing there. “Do you work here, young person? There was no one inside at the counter.”
    Annileen sighed aloud. Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, she grasped the Nikto woman gently by the shoulders and turned her to face the lead Jawa. “Here. Ma’am, you have my personal permission to buy from the Jawas. Courtesy of Dannar’s Claim.”
    The lead Jawa chirped at Annileen in puzzlement as the elderly customer approached him. Annileen shrugged. “She’s for sale, if you want her,” she said, darting quickly away to look at the wares coming down the ramp.
    It took less than five minutes for the Jawas to bring down everything worth owning; they were well practiced at this. Annileen surveyed the lot. Too many droids, as usual. She didn’t carry them. Dannar had never liked selling things he didn’t know how to fix, and it was a good policy. You didn’t want to guarantee a machine just to have it start a killing spree in someone’s kitchen. The small appliances, however, she could put out as-is. Walking down the line, she was struck by remorse, as always: every one of these things was scavenged from the home of some prospector family in the hills that couldn’t make a go of it. One cooker she recognized on sight; she’d sold it three times.
    “Togo togu! Togo togu!”
    Annileen’s eyes darted back toward the ramp. Two tiny Jawas were clawing quickly up it, leaving a third wailing creature behind. Veeka and several of the Gault farmhands had formed a circle and were tossing the terrified Jawa as if it were a throw-toy.
    “Lose the Jawa, buy the drinks!” Veeka rasped, having already laughed herself hoarse.
    “Hey!” Annileen yelled. “Quit that!” She rushed toward the group—stopping only when she saw that Jabe was part of the circle. Annileen’s eyes bulged. “Jabe!”
    Jabe looked up at the voice. It was enough distraction to cause him to drop the toss heading his way. The Jawa squealed and scampered loose, heading for the ramp. Jabe had heard his mother’s voice—but the farmhands were closer, egging him on.
    “Buy the drinks! Buy the drinks!”
    “No, you don’t,” Jabe said, bursting through the circle to chase the meter-tall creature. Annileen reached the foot of the ramp just as Jabe dashed up it. Jabe vanished inside the darkness of the doorway. “I’ve got you, you little—”
    “—yaaaghh!”
    Jabe reappeared, eyes wide and the blood drained from his face. Behind him in the doorway loomed someone else. A hooded figure all in brown, just like the Jawa who had escaped—but twice the height. Desperate to escape the giant, Jabe tripped and tumbled down the ramp, even as the Veeka and the other hands went for their blasters.
    Annileen laughed as her son landed at her feet. “Blasters down, folks. It’s not the Giant Jawa Avenger.” She smiled as her rescuer looked down at her and saluted. “Hello, Ben,” she said. “Welcome to the Claim!”
    Ben removed his cowl. “Good afternoon—er, noons.” He looked up and took a breath, clearly pleased to be out of the wretched air of the sandcrawler. “I hope I didn’t frighten anyone. The Jawas were kind enough to give us a ride in.”
    He whistled, and Rooh appeared in the doorway, behind him. He fished around and found her lead. “I’d have stepped out earlier, but she got a bit tangled up in there.” Ben’s eyes turned back down the ramp, to where Annileen stood over Jabe. “Is the boy all right?”
    “He hasn’t been right for a while,” Annileen said, lifting Jabe to his feet by his collar. She glared at him. “I told you to watch the Jawas, not use them for sport. Now get back over there!”
    Jabe meekly recovered his rifle and trudged to the far side of the product display line, eager to avoid eye contact with his friends.
    Ben