Sooo, this chapter has been available for about four years on TFN. It just somehow never got here.

Chapter 4

School days

The speeder barely fit the two of them, even as small as Luke was; it did, however, run. Of course there was the option of having Luke picked up every morning and dropped off every night by the school shuttle, but Ben was not about to let Imperials that close to his home. So, the two of them were squished rather close together in the vehicle as Ben took Luke to school on the first day.

The child was still silent most of the time, speaking in a whisper when he spoke at all, but not even the Force could delay the opening of school. Not without attracting too much attention anyway. Vader was long gone now, but he had left a full garrison and a territorial governor on Tatooine—which made for a great number of changes on Tatooine. While there had only been a small Imperial presence before, now it was almost as if the desert planet mattered. The old Jedi didn't want to concentrate too long on why Vader was determined to keep such a close eye on the place.

Ben hoped against hope that the new school system would have all new teachers—that way they wouldn't notice the name change for one little boy. It was a blessing that most of the students who would remember Luke well enough to remember his old last name were older than him—and therefore would not be in the same class.

The school building was a new Imperial structure: prefabricated design of a non-descript color. Oddly, it reminded Ben of a Jedi's wardrobe. He shook his head to get that thought out. It wasn't the time to get distracted right now. The two exited the speeder, Ben taking Luke by the hand, and they walked into the building. There was a droid standing at the entrance directing parents and students to the appropriate areas.

"Is this student registered in the Imperial Database of Citizens?" The droid asked automatically.

"No," Ben answered casually—he knew that half, or more, of the students going here were not registered either, so there was no danger in revealing this.

"Please go to room 4A to register your student."

Ben nodded politely and led Luke down the hall.

Behind them they heard someone else entering. The droid repeated the question, but the answer this time was in the affirmative, and they were directed to room 4B. Ben glanced back and saw a man leading a girl. Luke, confused, tugged on Ben's sleeve. The older man nodded and walked slowly down the hall. As the girl and her father passed by them, Ben tripped and stumbled into the man.

"Oh sir," Ben said, attempting to control his voice but flushing a deep red, "I'm sorry!"

The father gave him a brief annoyed look and hurried his daughter along. Luke stared at Ben, he had never seen him trip before. His guardian however now had a serene smile on his face. They arrived quickly at room 4A and were greeted by a rather long line leading to two rather harried nurses and one Imperial census officer. It seemed to be taking a while for each child to be processed. Some parents weren't sure how old their child was or, even if they had a rough estimate, didn't know the exact date. Luckily, they had given up earlier on registering the parents right now.

There was little room so Ben sat down on a bench and pulled Luke into his lap. The former Jedi Master had discovered that Luke liked being held—it gave him comfort. Ben suspected that prior to the trauma he had experienced, Luke had considered himself too old to be cuddled anymore, but in the face of the crisis, now took what love he could find. Despite the noise of the room Luke soon fell asleep.

An hour later it was Luke's turn. Ben smiled wanly at the nurse who prepped the diagnoster with a new blood sampler. She moved to press it against Luke's arm, but Ben stopped her. "May I? I can do it without waking him." The nurse hesitated but acquiesced. Gently, Ben rubbed the skin briefly with a disinfectant and then used the diagnoster. Luke barely stirred as the small needle punctured his skin. The nurse looked puzzled for a moment, had some blood actually appeared in the sampler before the needle was activated? She shook herself—she must be getting tired—and took the blood sample from the man. She labeled it with an ID number and handed him the plasticard with the same ID number on it and directed him to the census table.

"Plasti," the young, bored, Imperial said holding out his hand. Ben handed it to him and watched him slide it into his terminal.

"Name?"

"Luke Kenobi."

"Age, in standard years."

"Ah, eight?" Ben said, as though he were guessing.

The officer didn't seem to find this unusual, just rolled his eyes and put in the day as the first day of the year.

"Parents?"

"Unknown," Ben answered.

The census worker looked up at him with a frown.

"He's an orphan who I took in years ago. I've been with him since he was little. As far as I can tell, his parents are deceased. I gave him my name because he didn't know his own last name when I found him."

The officer gave a frustrated sigh and entered this information as a footnote. These really were backwater hicks—he shouldn't have expected any better.

"Address?"

Ben gave him a confused look.

Yep, these were definitely backwater hicks.

As Ben carried Luke out of the room and to the assigned classroom, he sighed in relief. He hoped his hastily made blood sample (the blood of the man he had run into, and his own spliced with a quick Force-burst) would not cause any problems. He really did not want Luke's own blood DNA in the Imperial Database because it was bound to be noticed, using his own blood was only slightly less risky.

He arrived at the door to Luke's assigned classroom and finally nudged the child awake.

"This is where we split up Luke. I am going to a parents' meeting and you are going to meet your teacher and fellow students."

Luke's eyes widened in fear and he instinctively tightened his grip on Ben.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine Luke. I'll be right back here when class ends to pick you up. Just go on in," Ben slowly tried to pry Luke's fingers off him, smiling kindly. "You'll be fine, trust me Luke."

The boy nodded and let go, looking down at the floor. He seemed to shrink for a moment before he lifted his head up again, determinedly, and marched into the classroom.

Ben smiled softly and whispered, "That's my boy."

ooOOoo

The adults were all gathered in a large meeting hall in the center of the school building. Most had found friends and were chatting while they waited; a few men had even started a game of Sabacc in one corner. Ben, not wanting to appear different, approached Siara Darklighter.

"Ben," she greeted when she noticed him, "how are you doing?"

"Well, thank you. How is your family?"

"Fine, fine. Biggs didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Every other morning, he's up at the crack of dawn, but on the first day of school…" she trailed off with a smile.

Ben chuckled slightly. He had gotten to know Biggs a little over the past few weeks. He was an energetic boy, but was kind and patient with Luke's silence and reticence, making him the ideal playmate. Ben had shamelessly taken advantage of this in order to get Luke used to more people and to get him some friends.

"How is Luke doing?" Siara asked, concerned.

"Better. It is still slow going, but better. Being around your family has certainly helped him."

"We enjoy having him over. Heaven knows that child could never be a nuisance."

They made small talk for a few minutes before they were called to attention by an Imperial officer at the podium. They all took seats and the officer addressed them.

"Welcome to the start of a new era on Tatooine. The Empire has seen fit to restructure certain aspects of this planet, and you are the lucky beneficiaries."

A few cheers went up in the crowd. Ben looked around him and, to his astonishment, saw most people smiling and nodding. They were happy about this change. Well, Ben thought to himself, I shouldn't be too surprised, these people have lived for generations at the whim of gangsters, smugglers and bounty hunters. He guessed that at least a handful of those in the crowd were previous slaves of the Hutts. A snide voice spoke in his head,well, what do you know, Vader did free the slaves. He scowled and bent his head, trying to reign in his thoughts. He focused instead on the fact that the crowd was 100% human. He sighed; these people would learn soon enough what the Empire was about.

Meanwhile a presentation was in progress that included an overview of the school curriculum. It included a lot of fancy diagrams and big words, that Ben suspected were simply used to awe the parents. Literacy was not high on Tatooine and, though he hated to admit it, the Imperial Education System was better than what had been there before. Most of these adults would probably lag far behind their children in most subject areas. He realized that was another thing he had to be careful about: how much knowledge he showed—it wouldn't do to have someone become suspicious because he knew too much about navigational computation or advanced particle physics (both standard courses at the Temple). It was alright that he could speak a few languages—most people on Tatooine spoke Basic and Huttese natively plus a few more.

It was much easier living as a hermit that no one cared about. However, now that he had care of Luke he could hardly live the life of a recluse. Thinking of Luke brought a smile to his face. He ignored the rest of the presentation and instead meditated on his growing relationship with Anakin's son.

His attachment—his love—was growing and he didn't mind at all; in fact, he thought it the most amazing thing he had ever experienced.