"The Moisture Farmer's Tale: Drawing the Maps of Peace" is a short story penned by M. Shayne Bell. It was included in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, a collection published by Bantam Spectra in August of 1995, and it centers around the character of Ariq Joanson. The events of the story unfold in 0 BBY.
On Tatooine, Ariq Joanson works as a moisture farmer. He lives closer to the Dune Sea's edge than any other farmer has dared, hoping to extract water from the atmosphere. The story begins with him fearing for his safety due to a group of wandering Sand People who are gathered around one of his moisture vaporators, seemingly trying to break it open for reasons unknown to him. He approaches in his landspeeder, and the noise of the human machinery scares them away, but he is sure they will return once they overcome their fear. While he waits, he theorizes that they might be after the water. He realizes that the territory was once theirs and that they probably collected water themselves before he arrived and began taking it. He opens the vaporator, removes the collected water in a pouch, and leaves it in the sand before going back to his speeder. The Sand People come back, discover the water, and give some to the youngest member before carefully transferring the rest into an animal skin pouch, being careful not to waste any. They face Joanson, and neither side speaks. Abruptly, one of the Sand People raises a fist. After a moment of hesitation, Joanson mirrors the gesture. They remain like that for a brief period, then the Sand People turned and vanished into the desert. Joanson promises himself that he will leave the water from that vaporator for them from then on, and buy two older vaporators from his friend Eyvind to restore his normal production.
After that, he instructs his computer to create a map that divides the land surrounding his farm into three sections: one for the farmers, one for the Jawas, and one for the Sand People. He visits the Jawas in a nearby fortress and discusses the map with Wimateeka, an elder Jawa. He believes that dividing the land so that the three groups can coexist peacefully is a good idea. Later, Joanson visits farmer Eyvind, who introduces him to his future wife Ariela. Eyvind opposes Joanson's plan, as do most of the farmers, but Ariela supports Joanson. Joanson invites the Jawas to the wedding as a gesture of goodwill. They arrive, and the wedding starts well, but then young Sand People appear and begin shooting. They kill Eyvind and kidnap Ariela. Joanson immediately sets out to save her, with Wimateeka accompanying him to translate.
They travel to the vaporator where Joanson always leaves water and find them. He trades for Ariela and sees this as a chance to explain his plans for peace to the Sand People. He does so, and his ideas are well-received. It seems like his plan might succeed until the Imperials arrive and begin massacring the Sand People. The other farmers explain that they summoned them, because if there were peace with the Sand People, the Imperials would start causing more trouble. They need conflict on every occupied planet so that the inhabitants will always welcome their way of creating order. If Joanson were to make peace, the real enemy would reveal itself, and it would be one they could not defeat. Joanson temporarily abandons his farm, because the Sand People believe he has betrayed them, and visits the Mos Eisley Cantina for a drink. He decides to join the Rebel Alliance, knowing that Ariela would follow him there, to try drawing the maps of peace in a different way.