starwars100 | Prompt 36a

Title: One for sorrow
Prompt: Slave
Author: peppermint_shamrock
Rating: G
Characters: Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker
Pairing: None
Star Wars Media Property: Prequels/pre-prequels
Word count: 300
Warnings/Spoilers: N/A
Summary: Two for hope.
Author Notes: Slavery
Beta: None, it's just me

Read on AO3

Shmi held Anakin close, trying not to betray her fear. Anakin was only three, but he was perceptive, far more perceptive than a child normally would be at that age. A gift that was both a blessing and a curse in this situation.

It was a boon because he had so far remained mercifully quiet. Despite the hostility and cruelty of the… merchants, Anakin had only clung to Shmi and cried softly into her shoulder, seeming to understand that screaming would only make things worse.

But Shmi knew Anakin’s extraordinary gift of perception could just as easily become a problem for them, too. She’d heard, sometimes, that “gifted” slaves were desirable and fetched a thousand-fold the price of the average being. She feared that if they learned how much her son was capable of, he would be separated from her, and shuffled off to an entirely different, and far more dangerous market, and she would never see him again.

But so far, Anakin had been as overlooked as Shmi herself. Anakin’s quiet manner ensured they didn’t draw attention to themselves, just two of hundreds on this crowded slave ship, a batch order for the Hutts, Shmi had overheard their captors say.

It was a dreadful prospect, but the thin, freshly closed line of an incision marking the back of her son’s (and presumably her own) neck told her it was too late to do anything about it.

All she could hope for was for them to remain together, unnoticed, as indistinguishable from any other slave to the Hutts or whoever the highest bidder would be. That Anakin’s gifts would protect him, not bring him trouble.

Perhaps, she dared to hope, even in this dark place, it would guide him to a brighter future. One day he would be free again.