Chapter Text
It was cold in the wastes Tatooine. The harbingers of winter and summer caught in a bitter stalemate without end in the desert. The summer with her gifts of heat from the great forger, and the winter with his gifts of cold from the hand of death, circling one another day after day.
In a canyon side cave, a pair of skywalkers keep warm with the flames in their chests as they sit on the sand sharing a late end of day meal.
“Finish your eggs Ani.” A gentle voice instructs her small child. “They rot very fast after they have been cracked open, and they are hard to find during this season.”
“Yes amma.” The hatchling agrees with little fuss. These eggs weren’t his favorite flavor, but they were large good for his growing self, or so his amma tells him. “Then will you tell me a story before sleep?”
“Yes my little spark, I will.”
Anakin swiftly eats the rest of his eggs, licking his fingers clean of the nutritious, yellow yolk. He only pricked his tongue on a claw once, and that was only because of his excitement. His amma told the best stories before sleep, and they often lead to the most memorable dreams.
Shmi took the egg shells outside of their cave to bury them while Anakin burrowed in the sand in his small room of the den. He learned his lesson the last time he forget to bury them outside. Their home has smelled rotten for a solid week.
He was given a worn blanket his amma found as a gift for his last life day - something a human had lost, she had said - but he only liked to use it on those rare days when harbinger of winter gained ground during the sunlight hours. For sleeping, Anakin preferred the feeling of being fully covered by the soft sand in their den. The weight of the grains across his body felt safe and secure.
“All settled Ani?” Shmi spoke as she sat herself next to her son, carding her claws through his blond hair.
“Yup!”
“What kind of story would you like to hear? Another one about your adda?”
“Not tonight.” The young one paused. “Well, not exactly. Yesterday you mentioned you and adda were a dyad. What does that mean?”
“Very good question.” Shmi nodded. “It means me and your adda share a soul.”
“You share a soul?”
“Yes.” The mother laughed at the gobsmacked look on her sons face. “You see Ani, the great forger in the sky loves his creations very much, and he doesn’t want them to be lonely in the life he gives them. So, when he makes his people, he makes them in pairs, but he ignites one soul flame. He splits that flame in half, and puts one half into each body. That way, one day, they can find each other, and be happy together. Those pairs are called dyads.”
“How did you know adda had the other half of your soul?”
“I just….knew. I could sense it when I first met him.”
Anakin tilted his head. “Like how you can sense when storms are coming?”
“It’s a bit like that, yes, but far more profound.”
“I don’t get what that word means.”
Shmi couldn’t help but chuckle at her sons cute pout. Always so frustrated when he couldn’t understand or learn something quickly. “It’s just…more. It’s hard to explain Ani. When I met him, I felt so safe and at ease all of a sudden. I felt this, peace come over me. I knew that it was because my soul was no longer searching for its missing half. It could breathe a sigh of relief, for its missing piece had been found.”
Anakins nose scrunched up in thought. “Wait, so I am a part of a dyad too? Someone has half of my soul, and I have half of theirs?”
Shmi nods. “Yes my little spark. You are part of a dyad too.”
“Wow….” Anakin looks into the middle distance, a slow-growing grin overtaking his face as he processes what his amma had told him. “That’s so awesome! I have someone the great maker made for me! I can’t wait to meet them!”
Shmi chuckled softly, carding her fingers through her sons hair in a soothing motion. “Yes, and don’t worry, Ani. You will meet them one day. I have no doubt.” She bent down and gave her hatchling a kiss on his forehead. “Now go to sleep, we will be foraging more to the north tomorrow.”
“Ok amma.” Ani smiled, snuggling his way deeper under the sand. “Goodnight!”
“Goodnight my little spark.”
Thus, Anakin eventually fell asleep to the imaginings what his soul flame was like. How much he would love them, and know he would be loved in return.