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chapter four

Race days, although as eventful as they were, were usually Ryha's favorite — the ones that she spent weeks looking forward to.  Why?  Well, the answer was simple: she didn't have to work, she got to see her best friend, and she got to be an actual kid for the day.  Her master, much like the other wealthy residents of Tatooine, enjoyed spending the podracing days gambling with other rich people and drinking his day away, giving his slaves time to enjoy the festivities, too.  This usually gave Ryha all the time in a day to be with her Anakin; but this upcoming race was not like other racing days.  In fact, the thought of the Boonta race made her want to cry.  Why?

Well, Anakin was going to be one of the people racing.

Ryha could barely sleep after Anakin dropped her off — too scared of what might happen to him on the race tracks.  Now, she knew better than most that Anakin was the best pilot in the galaxy.  She'd been there from the moment he started flying, and she'd been there for every time he's ever flown.  He'd raced before, but never like this.  This... this was dangerous.  This was Anakin flying his own podracer — and although Ryha did not doubt his engineering skills in the slightest, she couldn't help but worry.

Sighing, the young girl trudged out of bed as the sun rose above the distant hills of sand, put on her clothes, raced through her chores as quickly as humanly possible, and began her trip to Ani's house as she usually did.  The walk was familiar enough, and although she was excited to see the people she thought of as family, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe there was something that she could do to make the boy change his mind before the next day.  But Ryha knew better than that; once he was set on something, there was no force in the galaxy that could sway the boy.

"Good morning, young Ryha." a voice spoke, pulling her out of her thoughts as she arrived at the Skywalker home.

Looking up, she saw none other than Qui-Gon Jin standing before her, sipping on something out of one of Shmi's cups.

"Good morning, sir." she responded quietly.

"You're here early," he smiled a little, noticing her demeanor.  "Nervous?"

Ryha couldn't deny it even it she wanted to, so she nodded sheepishly.

"You're frightened that Anakin will get hurt tomorrow."

It wasn't a question, more of a fact.  Qui-Gon could read Ryha like an open book — no force required.  Anyone with eyes could see that she was terrified of the outcome of tomorrow's race, which made the Jedi pity the little girl even more.  Sighing, Qui-Gon bent down to her level, and looked her in the eyes, as if he was talking to one of the younglings.

"Anakin will be alright, Ryha." he reassured.  "He'll be safe."

"But how do you know?"

Qui-Gon was taken back by Ryha's sudden shift in tone, and even more surprised at the way she looked at him.  This was the fist time that she'd ever looked at him in the eyes.  Even as a Jedi, Qui-Gon couldn't help but be surprised, and it was clear to see for a split second before he went back to his cool demeanor.

"Because the force is strong with Anakin, young Ryha," he explained calmly.  "And the force is the only thing a Jedi can trust."

Ryha stayed silent at this, because she didn't know what to say.  She didn't quite know what the force really was, seeing as Qui-Gon was the first and only Jedi she'd ever met, but she would be lying if she said that it didn't make her feel slightly better about Anakin going out there.

"Ryha!" the familiar voice of Anakin himself rang out.  "Come here and look at my pod!"

Ryha looked up at him once more before taking off in the direction of her beloved Anakin Skywalker, leaving Qui-Gon alone for a moment.  Taking out his com device, and paging his own padawan.