Star Wars - Kenobi

toward the store. “Everyone’s going to want drinks, Annie—”
    “Everyone’s been drinking—or hadn’t you noticed?” She turned to see Jabe trying to edge his way toward the store. She pointed at him with a force that could have knocked him down. “And don’t you think of moving!”
    Annileen turned back on Orrin, who was clearly uncomfortable with the scene playing out before his wealthy customers. She didn’t care. “Orrin, Jabe is not an adult. I said he could go to the races if you watched him. You call this watching?”
    Orrin put his hands up before her. “Annie, you know these trips are a rite of passage for these kids. And besides, this is Tatooine. A body that works all the time is pretty grown up, no matter what the age. Isn’t that right—”
    Before Orrin could get whatever support he was expecting for his argument, a high female voice carried over all the others. Kallie, who at first had been spellbound by the wreck scene, had suddenly noticed someone at the periphery. “Ben!”
    Forgotten by Annileen since the crash, Ben had stepped up to check on Jabe, earning a bad look from the boy. Which made four, as Ben was getting them now from Veeka, Mullen, and Zedd, as well. Kallie’s greeting was as enthusiastic as theirs was hostile—and Orrin’s was different altogether.
    “Oh. Hello, Ben,” Orrin said mildly, after the surprise registered. He looked back at Annileen, eyebrow raised. “You two were here all day?”
    Ben stepped backward toward the wreck of the landspeeder. “Really, I just stopped by for water—”
    Orrin saw the bashed keg, its precious contents on the ground and evaporating. He saw his ranch’s label there and smiled. “You liked it, then?” Suddenly elated, Orrin pushed past Kallie and took Ben by the shoulder. “This is wonderful! Ben, there’s folks I’d like you to meet.”
    As Orrin pushed him toward the Devaronians, a squirming Ben looked back at Annileen in near panic. She merely shrugged. No force in nature could protect someone once Orrin was in salesman mode. And especially not when he had a celebrity endorsement in the making.
    “Ben, these people run the Lucky Despot, a hotel, casino, and conference center going in at Mos Eisley.” Orrin turned to his guests. “This man—a big hero around here, by the way—rode all the way in from the wastes, just for a drink of Gault’s Sparkling Seven. The best-tasting water in any tap from Tatooine to Taanab!”
    Ben nodded meekly as the Devaronians enthusiastically shook his hand and chattered about their trip—and him. They had many questions:
    Did you really come so far just for the water?
    Would you go to Mos Eisley for it?
    How much would you pay, by the glass, in a posh metropolitan setting?
    Did you really save the store owner’s daughter from a rampaging stampede of banthas, as she told us in the landspeeder?
    Hearing that, Annileen looked at Kallie, whose shoulders sank in embarrassment. But Kallie’s imagination and crush were the least of her problems. At least Kallie was sober, as she always was. Jabe seemed to be steadying, but he wouldn’t be for long if he followed Veeka inside. “The bar is closed!” Annileen yelled.
    Orrin stepped back, waving his hands. “Now, don’t say that too loudly. I’m supposed to be showing these people a good time. And they only got to see half a race!”
    “They’ll see a murder if your kids get within a light-year of my son again.”
    Orrin grasped for her hand. “You know I’ll make good on the landspeeder. Just more work for Gloamer. But I really need this. Okay?”
    Annileen groaned, disgusted. “Fine. I’ll serve the Devaronians— only . But let me go extricate Ben before he decides to never visit this—”
    She stopped speaking as she noticed Ben’s expression, from amid the group of visitors. Orrin noticed it, too. “Something wrong, friend?”
    The man looked back at the store, eyes narrowing. He started to speak—when the side door burst open. Bohmer appeared in the doorway of the Claim, his big, dark eyes bulging. He tripped on the stoop and fell forward—
    —revealing the dagger protruding from his back.
    And the giant Tusken Raider standing behind him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    THEY HAD APPROACHED THE oasis from the northeast. The passage had been difficult, but A’Yark had studied the problem closely. There was no other way. The warriors had spent three days on a long, looping approach from The Pillars, stopping only to overnight