Ashara sat shivering in a cold cage. She looked around fearfully, hearing laughter coming from somewhere. She could see other cages surrounding her, but she couldn't anyone inside them. Tears quickly lined her eyes, but she fought them back. She could remember her mother telling her to stay strong, to be brave. She couldn't remember anything after that, except for waking up in this cold dark room, inside of the cage.

"Hewwo?" her tiny voice called out. "Is anyone dere?"

Some footsteps sounded, and Ashara curled into herself. A couple of mean looking wolf people came to her cell, and chuckled at her. 

"Aww, wook at the wittle togwuta all scared", one of them teased. The other one snarled at her, and she scooted back into the furthest corner from them, causing them to laugh. She sniffled, her bottom lip jutting out as the tears lining her eyes finally fell. The wolf people just laughed at her before walking away. 

Ashara cried softly to herself, wondering where her momma was. She was all alone in here, and she didn't know where she was or where she was going. She just wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything would be okay.

~~~~~~

Ashara stumbled as the wolf person shoved her forward. She tumbled down the steps in front of her with a loud cry, and she fought back tears. She looked up to see several people in front of her, including a weird giant slug looking thing. Ashara liked slugs. She would collect them all the time back at home. Her gaze fell. Based on what she saw outside, she was a long way from home.

The giant slug started speaking in a foreign language that she didn't understand, and it scared her even more. She tried pressing into the wolf creature, but he just snarled at her, and shocked her with his staff, causing her to yelp. She ran forward, blinded by her tears. She ran into something, and fell backward. She looked up to see a pink twi'lek woman staring at her with kindness. The twi'lek helped her up, and held her close while the wolf person spoke with the slug.

"What's happening?" she whispered softly to twi'lek. The twi'lek gave her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, little one", she said. "You're being sold into slavery."

"What's swavery?" the small togruta asked. The twi'lek closed her eyes. 

"It's when someone else owns you instead of you being a free person", the nice twi'lek answered soflty. "You'll have to listen to whoever takes you home with them."

Ashara frowned but nodded and looked toward the mean wolf person. He walks over to her, and harshly grabs her arm, dragging her forward. His claws dug into her skin, and she cried out in pain. She was thrown down in front of a weird bug creature, who spoke something in clicks and whistles before he spoke to her in the only language she knew.

"What's your name, little one?" he asked. His voice was gruff, and sounded angry, but Ashara could faintly sense a small amount of concern for her.

"Ashara", she answers quietly. "Ashara Ki."

"Well, Ashara, looks like you're coming home with me", he spat. "You'll be good company for my other slaves."

Ashara nodded, and followed him outside into the burning heat. She didn't much like the heat, nor did she like the sand. It was course and rough against her skin unlike the soft dirt from her home. She liked playing in that. 

She sat quietly as her new owner drove the speeder across the sand. They were in the heat for a long time, and she was exhausted by the time they got into a small town. She looked around at all the new creatures. She knew nothing about them, having only seen togruta's at home. She wondered how far away from home she really was.

The bug creature stopped the vehicle and she climbed out, following him around to a wooden door that he knocked harshly on. A woman opened the door, and a small boy peeked out from behind her. His eyes brightened when he saw Ashara. He squeezed out from behind the woman, and ran out to stand in front of Ashara. He was slightly taller than her, but not by much. 

"Hi! I'm Anakin!" he exclaimed. Ashara shrank back slightly before answering.

"I'm Ashara", she said quietly.

"Ashar- Ashar- Ah, that's too long, I'm going to call you Ash!"

Ashara cracked a small smile at her before looking up at the bug creature. "Why is Ash with you, Watto?"

"Bought her off of  some slave traders", he muttered. "She's going to stay with you, okay?"

"Okay!" Anakin said brightly and grabbed Ashara's hand, pulling her into the house. He immediately starting showing her around, asking questions in between.

"This is where we eat food", he said, showcasing the table. "How old are you?"

Ashara paused for a moment, counting up the numbers on her fingers. "Four", she answered quietly. 

"Oh, cool! I'm 5, almost 6! My birthday is in a couple days."

Ashara nodded, and continued to follow him around. "This is my room!" he said proudly. "One day, I'm going to build a droid that can help Mom so she doesn't have to do everything by herself. Why is your skin yellow?"

Ashara frowned at the question. Why  was her skin yellow? She had never really thought about it before. "I don't know... why is that stuff on top of your head?" she froze when she asked the question, afraid that Anakin would be as mean as the mean wolf people when she asked questions.

Instead, Anakin just shrugged, touching the stuff on top of his head. "My hair? I don't know. Anyway, come on, I'll show you where your room will be!"

Ashara followed him to another room that was barren. It was made of sand, just like everything on the planet. As she stared around the room, she grew homesick, and tears filled her eyes. She sniffed a couple times, trying to keep from crying again. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" Anakin asked. When Ashara looked at him, worry filled his eyes. 

"I miss my momma and papa", Ashara cried. Anakin instantly pulled her into a hug. 

"Shh, it's okay", he whispered. He gently pet the short lek that fell down her back. "I'll be your brother from now on!" 

Ashara smiled as Anakin pet her lek. It's exactly what her mother did when she was sad, and it was very comforting. Soon, she was done crying, and very tired. Anakin led her to the bed, and helped her get settled.

"Get some sleep, Ash", he said with a faint smile. " Tomorrow I'll show you around Watto's store and tell you what he expects of us!"