EXT. TATOOINE - LARS HOMESTEAD - COURTYARD - TWILIGHT

Obi-Wan stands outside the house, leaning again the wall beside the entrance, communicating with Qui-Gon through his comlink.

OBI-WAN : ... secured the hyperdrive. Tomorrow we’ll pick it up and bring it to the ship.

QUI-GON : (O.S.) What of you? You're not coming back to the ship?

OBI-WAN : We're staying the night with some moisture farmers.

QUI-GON : (O.S.) Well then ... goodnight.

OBI-WAN : Goodnight Qui-Gon.

The communication ends, and Obi-Wan returns the comlink to his belt as Anakin steps out of the house. Anakin leans back against the wall beside Obi-Wan, crossing his arms across his chest.

OBI-WAN : It must be peaceful here as a moisture farmer. A bit hot, I suppose, but peaceful. Nothing to worry about - other than your debt to Watto, I suppose.

ANAKIN : Other than the debt and the odd Tusken, yeah. It's peaceful, but ...

OBI-WAN : But?

ANAKIN : Dull. It’s dull. Day in, day out - nothing ever really changes. I don't feel I'm getting anything out of my life or doing anything important with it. (cont’d) It's funny, really. I’ve been a farmer all my life, just like my dad and his dad, but it all feels ... I don’t know ... ephemeral. I don’t feel like I'm me, if that makes any sense. I feel like I’m in someone else's shoes - someone else's body - and am just going along for the ride. Has that ever happened to you?

OBI-WAN : With me? No, I can't say it has.

ANAKIN : You'd think Owen would feel the same way - same parents, same upbringing and all - but he doesn’t. Thing about Owen is that he’s no dreamer. I think his prospects end just before the horizon. Tatooine, and this farm, will always be his home - and I think he's fine with that, and always will be.

OBI-WAN : You don’t always see eye-to-eye, do you?

ANAKIN : Not always, no. (laughing) He thinks I’m a damn fool romantic with my head in the clouds.

OBI-WAN : What of your mother?

ANAKIN : I ... I don’t really know. She encouraged me a lot growing up. She was my rock ... (cont’d) That was a long time ago.

OBI-WAN : Why should she feel any differently now?

ANAKIN : I ... I feel that I've disappointed her.

OBI-WAN : Disappointed her?

ANAKIN : She's a great mother - I'm not saying she isn't - and it isn't as if she's ever said she isn't proud of me. It's just that I feel ...

OBI-WAN : Yes?

ANAKIN : I feel I should have done more for her - more to show her that I appreciate everything she's done for me.

OBI-WAN : Anakin, believe me when I say this -

ANAKIN : Yes?

OBI-WAN : I believe that she realizes you appreciate her and that you love her. I also believe that she appreciates that.

ANAKIN : Even though I’m reckless, impatient, and often do stupid, impulsive things on a whim?

OBI-WAN : Yes ... even though you are reckless, impatient, and often do stupid, impulsive things on a whim.

The Jedi’s answer causes Anakin to laugh. Obi-Wan smiles as the tension leaves the young man.

OBI-WAN : What about your father? Were you close?

ANAKIN : Not as close, but close enough. He was my father in every way that mattered.

OBI-WAN : That mattered?

ANAKIN : (cont’d) Cliegg Lars was the only father I've ever had, and may as well have been my true father ... but he wasn't. (cont’d) Mom had gone out one morning to pick the mushrooms that grow on the vaporators, just as she always does. She found Nellith there, barely alive, with me in her arms.

OBI-WAN : Your biological mother?

ANAKIN : (nodding) Nellith was the name she gave us, anyway. (cont’d) With Dad’s help Mom brought her inside. It was too late by then, though - she’d been out in the desert for too long without any water. She’d kept me safe, though. Don’t know how, but I was just fine.(cont’d) She didn’t last long - she died soon after we were found. But before she did she was able to give my name: Anakin Skywalker. (cont’d) It’s the only thing I have from her - the name she gave me.

OBI-WAN : And you know nothing of your father? No clue as to who he is or was?

ANAKIN : Nothing.

OBI-WAN : Hmm ...

ANAKIN : The Lars took me in, cared for me, made me one of their own ... (to himself) Mom loved me like a son ... I am her son ... (cont’d) Obi-Wan, I wish you were a Jedi. You could take me off Tatooine. I could join the Jedi Order and become a Knight like you. I could make Mom proud of me.

OBI-WAN : I'm afraid I couldn’t do that even if I were a Jedi.

ANAKIN : You couldn’t? Why not?

OBI-WAN : Had you been born in the Republic they would have identified you early, and you would have been accepted into their ranks. But now ... (cont’d) You’re too old. The Jedi do not recruit anyone your age.

ANAKIN : Is that so?

OBI-WAN : I’m sorry.

ANAKIN : Funny you should say that, seeing as you’ve never heard of the Jedi Order before tonight.

OBI-WAN : Well, now ... how about that! It seems I was wrong. I guess I have heard of the Jedi before and simply forgot. (grinning) It happens to all of us at one time or another, I suppose.

ANAKIN : (suspicious) Yes ...

OBI-WAN : Your story must have jogged my memory.

ANAKIN : I guess so.

Without another word Obi-Wan leaves Anakin, going into the house. Anakin remains motionless, watching the Jedi Knight leave. He then turns toward the horizon, watching the last rays of the day's light disappear over the skyline as he ponders his future.