Archive of Our Own ^beta

Anakin kicked an empty soda can along the boardwalk. He followed just behind Obi-Wan as the three of them passed by the bright shining lights of game stalls. The scent of salty-buttery popcorn and yeasty-sweet fried bread from the food stalls filled the air. Children screamed as a small rollercoaster dove upside down, wheels screeching against metal rails.

Anakin had never been to a county fair before, but it didn’t look all that different from the carnivals that would set up near the army base he’d lived on with his mom. On her days off, Shmi would take Anakin to try the unhealthy food and try a couple of rides.

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and him weren’t here to try the rides, the games, or the food. Obi-Wan had told Anakin last night that they needed to come to the fair today for the horse auction. At least Obi-Wan had promised that afterwards, Anakin could try a few rides or watch the rodeo if he wanted.

Not that Anakin actually cared about any of those things. A year ago, the rodeo or even the auction would have sounded interesting, but now they sounded boring.

The horses were okay, but they were a bit boring. Especially now that Anakin had been around them for over ten months. And maybe Anakin would be a little more excited if Obi-Wan actually let Anakin ride one! During the first ten months of his stay at Lightside Ranch, Anakin hadn’t “proven” to Obi-Wan that he was competent enough to actually learn to ride.

Back in August, after Anakin had first arrived at the ranch, he had been interested in the horses and the idea of riding. And Obi-Wan had promised Anakin that he could learn to ride, if he learned how to take care of the stable horses and was consistent with his daily horse chores. Anakin had… not been so good about his chores, and the possibility of riding had grown more and more distant. And with that distance grew his own disinterest.

At first, Anakin had tried to appeal to his uncle, asking him to teach Anakin to ride instead. But Uncle Qui-Gon had just sighed and said that Obi-Wan was in charge of teaching Anakin to ride, since his uncle didn’t have the time.

Although by the third or fourth month living on the ranch, Anakin decided he didn’t care. He wished he’d gone with his mom last summer. He’d rather see her than ride a horse, anyways.

At least she had said she was going to come visit sometime during Anakin’s summer break, as long as she could get enough time to fly here from Europe. Back at Easter, she had said she would even try to get here for Anakin’s birthday, which was right at the beginning of summer break. But as the date grew closer, that seemed less and less possible.

There was only one week left until summer break started, and three weeks until Anakin’s birthday. And he just wanted to see his mom again, not be here, surrounded by stinky horses.

The inside of the auction tent was stiflingly hot. There was also no air conditioning in here and Anakin was hot, hot, hot. The three of them climbed up the old bleachers and found a bench to sit on. The noise of the crowds seemed to reverberate around the space a bit, making Anakin wince.

The first horse came through — and the bidding began —- then the second.

Anakin squirmed in his seat, looking over to where Obi-Wan was hunched over a notebook, scribbling down numbers furiously. Qui-Gon was next to him, whispering about what stock would be the best to get.

“Can I go? It’s hot in here,” Anakin asked loudly, when the two stopped talking for a moment.

Obi-Wan grunted and Qui-Gon looked over at him with a cheerful, distant smile.

“Here Anakin,” Qui-Gon reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty. “Why don’t you get yourself something to eat. Just make sure you save me enough for a lemonade.”

“Alright,” Anakin hesitantly took the bill.

Anakin scurried down the wooden bleacher seats and out of the tented auction house.

He’d seen a group of food stands around the other side, when they had approached the entrance of the tent.

Wanting to escape the heat quickly, Anakin ended up going out a different door and having to take the long way around the auction tent.

A row of food stalls lined the boardwalk, and Anakin walked down it, checking out the options.

There was only one person in line at a frozen lemonade stand, and Anakin decided to get his uncle’s lemonade first. But by the time Anakin was able to order, he was still hot enough that he decided to order one for himself too.

He sat down at a nearby picnic table, and began to slurp down the frozen lemonade, only pausing when he got brain-freeze.

“Hey, Anakin Skywalker!” A young male voice shouted at him and Anakin looked up.

Three of Anakin’s classmates from this year —Tru Veld, Ferrus Olin and Soara Antana — were walking down the boardwalk towards him. Anakin was friendly enough with the other three ten year olds, but he wouldn’t necessarily call them close, not like Anakin and Kitster had been.

“Hi Tru, Ferrus, Soara,” Anakin greeted them.

They came over and sat down at the table across from him.

“We didn’t know you’d be here today,” Tru smiled.

“Yeah, my uncle and cousin are here for the horse auction.” Anakin admitted.

The three of them nodded. Apparently Uncle Qui-Gon’s ranch was somewhat well known in their town.

“What are you three up to?” He looked between them.

“Our parents dropped us off so we could go on rides and have fair food,” Ferrus grinned widely.

“Cool.” Anakin said, trying to sound casual.

“We’re going to go on the Skyscraper next,” Soara pointed to a ride that took riders up really high and then dropped them down quickly. “Do you want to come with us?”

“I can’t, right now,” Anakin admitted, “my uncle asked me to get him a lemonade. So I have to bring this to him,” Anakin gestured to the sweating cup filled with lemonade.

Soara and Ferrus shrugged, but surprisingly, Tru looked a little sad at the news.

“Maybe I could ask him if I can join you later? I could meet up with all of you in an hour.” Anakin said tentatively. Anakin felt a spark of happiness in his chest at how his suggestion made Tru smile.

Anakin wandered back towards the auction tent, holding Uncle Qui-Gon’s lemonade in one hand.

The lemonade stand had been around the opposite side of the auction tent, from where Anakin had exited. So he tried to go around the other way, hoping this way would lead him back to the entrance, much quicker.

Passing back this way meant passing through an area where a bunch of stalls had been set up, each filled with a horse and affixed with a set price.

Most of the prices here seemed a lot lower than the final prices of the auction, and Anakin wondered if these horses weren’t worth as much.

He walked through the alley of stalls, looking for a quick way to the entrance, when he stopped in his tracks.

A chestnut brown horse stood right by the front bars of one stall. That wasn’t that weird, there were a few horses close to the front of their stalls. The weird thing was that the beautiful horse (with its coat brushed shiny and sleek) was looking Anakin right in the eye.

Anakin’s breath felt like it had been caught in his throat, and hesitantly, he approached the horse. “Hello there,” he whispered, holding out his hand for the horse to sniff. “My name is Anakin.”

The horse nuzzled against Anakin’s palm, its smooth lips brushing against his fingers.

Anakin’s eyes traced over the white star on its forehead, the dark brown mane falling over one of its eyes and its cute white socks.

“You’re so beautiful,” he told the horse reverently, “like an angel.”

“She’s an amazing horse, isn’t she?” An old man siddled up to the stall and patted the horse’s neck.

“She is,” Anakin said cautiously, a little nervous talking to a stranger. “Who are you?”

“I’m her owner,” the man admitted. “I am selling all my animals this year. And I would really like Padme to go to a nice home.”

“I live on a horse ranch with my uncle,” Anakin told him brightly, “I know it would be a good place for her!”

“I reckon it would,” the old farmer nodded. “Why don’t you bring your uncle by, and we can make a deal.”

“Alright!” Anakin said cheerily and headed back towards the tent entrance.

“She’s the most beautiful horse I’ve ever seen,” Anakin blurted as he handed his uncle the melted frozen lemonade.

“That horse?” Uncle Qui-Gon frowned and gestured to the horse on auction with his chin.

“No! Padme!” Anakin pressed on. “Some old farmer is selling her out in the stalls, and, and we need to help her! I know she would be happy on your ranch!”

“Sit down, Anakin,” Obi-Wan leaned over Qui-Gon and said gently. “People behind you are trying to see.”

Anakin huffed and sat down beside his uncle. “We need to buy her, Uncle Qui-Gon! I just know if we don’t, someone bad will buy her. And, and… I love her. I want to help her, so she can be happy.”

Obi-Wan squinted his eyes at Anakin, looking concerned and a little confused. Meanwhile Uncle Qui-Gon stroked his beard, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

Uncle Qui-Gon was quiet for a moment, studying Anakin’s face. Anakin tried to do his best pleading face, hoping it would work, it didn’t really ever work on mom.

Finally, his uncle nodded and stood. “Come, Obi-Wan, I think we should go see this amazing horse,” Uncle Qui-Gon said, sounding amused.

Obi-Wan sighed and the men stood, following Anakin down the bleachers.

After Qui-Gon had shoo’d Anakin off to go on a few rides with his friends, Qui-Gon approached the man who owned the horse.

"What’s the lowest you would take for her?" Qui-Gon asked the old farmer.

"Twenty-five hundred,” the old man said casually, putting his hand up on the rail.

"Twenty-five hundred!" Obi-Wan exclaimed incredulously.

"I wouldn't be partin' with her if I wasn't retiring and getting rid of my stock."

"How many foals has she borne?" Qui-Gon asked.

"None." The farmer admitted. "Not sure she can. Put her with a stud a few times and nothing came of it."

"How old is she?" Qui-Gon frowned, reaching out to pat the mare.

"Fourteen."

"Is she kid broken?" Qui-Gon retracted his hand when the horse moved away from him.

"No."

"She's fourteen and she's not kid broken, nor is she work-capable and most likely baren? How can you even ask a thousand for her?” Obi-Wan exclaimed. “Come on Qui-Gon, this horse isn't worth it."

"She's a good trail horse for intermediate riders," the old rancher said stubbornly, crossing his arms and giving Obi-Wan a scowl. "Do you want her or not?"

"I'll have to think on it." Qui-Gon admitted. He accepted the man's card and walked away, Obi-Wan trailing behind him.

"Come on Qui-Gon, we can't put down that much on her!"

"We?" Qui-Gon said, amused. They walked out of the auction area and back onto the fairgrounds.

Obi-Wan's face went pink with frustration. "Who does the finances around here again?"

Qui-Gon winced. Two years ago, Obi-Wan had offered to start doing the ranch's account books if Qui-Gon would put him in a nighttime bookkeeping course, that had been running at the town community center. Qui-Gon had not seen anything wrong with the idea and Obi-Wan had done well in it. In fact, he was a better bookkeeper than Qui-Gon would ever be. But Qui-Gon did regret it, because once Obi-Wan had gotten ahold of the books, he was always after Qui-Gon for wasting money. The ranch had been hemorrhaging money since Tahl's death, but with Obi-Wan's careful reining in of the ranch’s finances, they had started to turn them a small profit again.

But making money had come at the cost of Obi-Wan's nagging, which Qui-Gon could do without.

Qui-Gon had learned to love his son over the past five years — since Obi-Wan had come to live with him and Tahl. But the tone of Obi-Wan's nagging voice (when he told Qui-Gon off for bad spending decisions), reminded Qui-Gon of why he'd broken up with Obi-Wan's mother, seventeen years ago.

"Obi-Wan, we can afford to buy this horse for Anakin. He has his heart set on her."

Qui-Gon could hear Obi-Wan rolling his eyes from where he was trotting just behind Qui-Gon, trying to keep up with his father’s long strides.

"We're a horse breeding ranch, we have plenty of horses he can choose from,” Obi-Wan insisted.

Qui-Gon sighed. Obi-Wan wasn't wrong, but he also wasn't right. They didn't tend to ride their breeding mares and studs, and they didn’t lead them much more than to keep them in shape. He didn't like stressing the breeding horses out, if he didn’t have to, and their jobs were to make babies — not be ridden. They did have a few horses they were breaking in and a couple teenlings close to training age that Anakin could have chosen from, but they were pedigree stock and they would make more money if they trained and sold them.

"He won't be able to ride Padme right away. But this is the first real interest he's taken in a specific horse, Obi-Wan. This will be good for him to have something to care for. You've seen him the past few months." Qui-Gon had thought Anakin would slowly adjust to living on the ranch, and at first, Anakin had seemed to not mind living here. But then Shmi had visited at Christmas and, when she’d left again, Anakin had fallen into a depression.

Qui-Gon had remembered Obi-Wan's first year on the ranch, and how sad and quiet the young pre-teen had been. Tahl had done what she could to make Obi-Wan feel welcome, but Obi-Wan had been in deep mourning for his mother and he had struggled. Qui-Gon wished he'd thought to do something like this for his son back then. But instead they'd tried to struggle through, then Tahl had died and everything had gotten worse. It was only in the last couple of years that Obi-Wan had started to show any interest in the ranch and their relationship had improved.

Qui-Gon heard Obi-Wan stop walking and he turned, only to be met with a look of hurt on his son’s face. "You would have never done something like this for me."

Qui-Gon winced, knowing his own thoughts had been going in a similar direction.

Qui-Gon cleared his throat, "Obi-Wan…" he said gently, voice trailing off.

Obi-Wan shook his head and started walking again. "There's cheaper, younger horses we could get Anakin. Ones that we could help him break, horses that he could learn to love.”

Then Qui-Gon's son lapsed into silence.

"Obi-Wan, I'm sorry." Qui-Gon said. He followed behind his son through the crowd towards the rides where they'd left Anakin with a couple of his classmates.

Obi-Wan shook his head, speeding up his pace.

They didn't speak again until they were home and eating dinner. And then it was only about some horses that needed to be moved.

Qui-Gon knew it was the right thing to do to buy this horse. Anakin had been morose ever since Qui-Gon had said he wasn’t sure if they could get her.

Qui-Gon might have made mistakes with his son, but he was trying to do better. He was going to be better for both boys now. He resolved to call the old rancher tomorrow and haggle him down on the price — if Padme was still available, and Qui-Gon had a feeling she would be.

Anakin opened his eyes and snapped off his beeping alarm clock. He looked over to the window, where the early morning light streamed through the cracks in his blinds.

It was his birthday, but he wasn’t exactly excited about that. His mom hadn’t been able to get time off, after all. And when his uncle had asked him what he wanted to do, Anakin had stupidly shrugged the man off.

Anakin sighed and got up, starting to get ready for the day. He was thinking about heading down to the south pasture, which was the pasture the irrigation canal ran through. He wanted to try swimming in the water-filled ditch. Obi-Wan had told Anakin that he used to do that, all the time, during the summer. It sounded nice, considering how hot it had been lately.

Maybe he could even convince Obi-Wan to come with him?

Anakin left his room and grabbed some granola bars from the kitchen before heading outside.

As he left the house, he noticed that one of the ranch’s horse trailers was sitting in the drive, door open.

Maybe Uncle Qui-Gon was selling a horse? Except, the trailer looked dirty inside, like it had been used. Obi-Wan always sprayed down the trailer, after it had been used.

Anakin walked into the barn, calling out for Obi-Wan and Uncle Qui-Gon.

“Anakin!” Uncle Qui-Gon’s head popped out of a stall at the end of the row. “Come look over here.”

Anakin siddled up to the stall and was surprised to see a new horse in it.

“Padme!” He screamed in excitement, grabbing onto the bars.

His eyes traced over her chestnut coat in longing.

“Uncle Qui-Gon, why is Padme here?” He hadn’t heard anything more from Uncle Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan, after the fair, and he was sure that was because they had decided they couldn’t afford to buy her.

Uncle Qui-Gon reached over the stall door and put his giant hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “Happy birthday, Anakin.”

“Are you serious?” Anakin couldn’t believe it! Anakin tore his eyes away from Padme to look over at his smiling uncle.

“She’s all yours, as long as you take care of her yourself.” Uncle Qui-Gon warned him.

“I will, I swear it!” Anakin promised.

Uncle Qui-Gon’s eyes disappeared as his smile grew wider and he gave Anakin’s shoulder one tight squeeze. Then Qui-Gon stepped back and helped open the stall door, so Anakin could reintroduce himself to Padme.

“Thank you, Uncle Qui-Gon,” Anakin grinned.

This was the best birthday ever!