"Didn't think we'd be back so soon," Alora says as she looks out over Tatooine with a frown. She hears Mando sigh from his seat as they land, the decorations for Boonta Eve disappearing from view. "Just when I thought I'd get a break from desert planets."
"At least we've got a familiar face," Mando replies.
Peli stomps up to them as they land, shouting, "What happened to the ship we made? I saved it special for you, Mando!"
Alora pops out of the ship, remaining in the cockpit, as Mando gets out with Grogu. "Peli, you realize that starship didn't have room for me, right?"
She waves a hand. "You could've fit!"
"Don't worry, the ship is safe. Just using this one for now," Mando says.
"I'll tune her up just the same," Peli sighs. "But where's my guy?" Grogu's ears flop up in Mando's grasp. "There he is!" Grogu leaps through the air and into Peli's arms as Alora gets out of the ship. "Now who taught you how to leap like a Lurmen, huh?"
Grogu babbles in her grasp.
"Was that his first word? I think he's talking to me. Did you hear that? He said 'Peli.'"
"We're here on business," Mando says.
"Oh, are the Hutts back? Are you takin' out Boba Fett?"
"Close," Alora arches a brow at the commotion happening in the shadows with all of Peli's pit droids. "Mando needs a droid part."
Peli rolls her eyes. "Boring! Hey, get the Jawas back in here before they hit the cantina." One of her pit droids walks off, throwing a canister at the ground. "You know how Mos Eisley gets during Boonta week."
Mando nods. "I'm looking for a replacement IG memory circuit."
"Oh, hey, Grandpa. They haven't made those for a while." Peli snuggles Grogu as they approach the incoming Jawas who speak with Peli briefly. Alora knows many languages, but she only picks up that the Jawas don't have what they are looking for. "Sorry, pal, no chance cubes."
"They can't find the part?" Mando asks.
"Nope."
"I need my droid fixed now."
Peli scoffs as she walks towards a ragged R5 unit. "Which is why I think you should buy this beauty here." A compartment on R5's torso bursts open when Peli pats its head.
"I can't use an astromech," Mando replies. "I need a droid that's rated for spelunking."
"Spelunking?" Peli echoes. "What are you spelunking?"
"I'm going to Mandalore. I need a droid that can explore ahead of me and test the atmosphere. Make sure it's safe to breathe."
"Ok, well," As Peli speaks, the droid tries to back up, but she catches it. "Uh, uh, uh, uh. Get right back here. Right back here, scaredy droid. Come on now, you gotta shine." She laughs as she catches sight of Alora's unamused expression. "This R5 astromech is built for adventure."
The droid beeps out a frantic response.
"What?" Peli replies. "Of course, you are. You're supposed to be piloting starfighters across the galaxy and fighting tyranny."
As the droid shakes its head, Mando says, "It's falling apart, and besides, I got no room for it on the ship."
"Not entirely true," Alora mutters as she glances at Grogu's space. "To be fair, an astromech can go spelunking easily, depending on the model. Plus, I'm sure Peli would be willing to help out in repairing it and perhaps giving us a family and friends discount?"
Peli's eyes widen. "Of course! Maybe it could do with some polishing, but R5-D4 is as good as the day it came back from serving the Rebellion. The baby could co-pilot, and I'll even give you half-price, and throw in a free oil bath."
"See?" Alora smirks as she turns to Mando. "It'll work. It'll be fine. And who can resist an oil bath?"
Mando stares at her before he lets out a heaving sigh and nods. "Fine. It'll do."
Peli excitedly starts getting everything together. It takes most of the afternoon before they manage to get R5 into the repurposed droid port of the ship. Grogu sits on Alora's lap and she begins to chart their course for the Mandalore system.
"Oh come on, don't be a coward," Peli tells the droid. "You're an astromech, act like one."
"Plus, we're Rebellion veterans together," Alora says without turning to the astromech. "We can exchange war stories. One last adventure."
Peli sighs. "I wouldn't rely too much on this one. Its circuitry is a little fragile."
"Peli, I sided with you," Alora clenches her jaw. "Built for adventure, remember?"
Instead of responding, Peli closes the ship as it starts to whirl. "Sorry! I can't hear you!" She shouts as she hops off the ship and gets far enough away to avoid getting harmed when they take off.
Fireworks explode in the sky around them as they take off, preparing to leave the atmosphere. "We shouldn't have gotten that droid," Mando mumbles.
"Yeah, well, if you're hooked on Mandalore, we need something, and we weren't going to get a better deal." At the silent answer, Alora glances at him. "I'll deal with the droid, don't worry. Maybe it knows R2."
With a sigh, Mando looks down at Grogu. "All right, kid. You ready for an adventure?"
✦✧✦✧✦
Alora had decided to take a nap once they got into hyperdrive. Once again, her dreams were plagued by voices and memories she hoped would eventually stop haunting her: images of a sprawling metropolis with no ground in sight, the vague symbol of the Old Republic on white clone trooper armor, yellow eyes approaching her, suffocating her.
When she woke, she decided to remain lying down instead of sitting up and going back to work. She listens to Mando teaching Grogu about the ship and how to fly it, and it warms her heart. Eventually, she stops shivering too.
"It looks scary, I know," she hears Mando say. "But it was once green and beautiful, back when the songs were written. It's Mandalore, the homeworld of our people. Every Mandalorian can trace their roots back to this planet, and the beskar mines deep within. And you know what? I've never been there either. I grew up there. On that moon. Concordia. And that's Kalevala where we visited Bo-Katan. It's in the same system. A Mandalorian has to understand maps and know their way around. That way, you'll never be lost."
Alora feels her chest tighten. Of course, Mando would teach his foundling his people's ways. Of course, she knew that going into this adventure. It still pains her to hear.
"We're coming up on the planet. Alora, want to help out?"
She sighs as she sits up and rolls out her neck. Grogu coos as he spins around to look at Alora with a bright smile. Smiling back, she says, "Ok, time to go down?" Looking out at the planet, she notes the swirling clouds of lightning and thunder covering any glimpse of the planet below. "Get ready for a bumpy ride."
Mando descends into the atmosphere. Shadow and darkness surround them as they plunge into the cloud layer, water running over them from the rain. R5 beeps nervously in its port as Alora taps the scanners, watching as they flicker out one by one. Breaking through the cloud layer, Alora looks over the staggering green crystal that covers the destroyed landscape.
"Looks like the fusion bombs from the Purge disrupted the magnetic field around the planet. From the surface, it's unlikely we'll have any communication with anyone not on the planet, so we have to be careful," she says.
"Down here, we're completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy," Mando replies.
"And I'm not so sure that's a good thing right now," she mutters.
Mando pilots them to a relatively flat part of the land and settles the ship. "R5, you ready?" He asks. "I'm gonna need you to scout ahead and analyze the atmosphere."
R5 beeps his unease.
Alora rolls her eyes. "Not a question." She presses a button to drop the droid onto the planet's surface. "Go over to the split in the rock and take an air sample of the ruins below."
R5 nervously and slowly follows her instructions as Grogu coos. "The droid will be fine," Mando assures him. "We just need him to take some readings to make sure it's safe."
Alora purses her lips when she sees R5 pause and look back at them. "Please just do your job. Get the samples we need and hurry up!"
R5 beeps before he disappears from view.
"Here, look." Mando points to one of the remaining working radars. "You can watch him on the scope."
Suddenly, the whole ship flickers, including the scope where R5 is no longer being tracked. "It's probably interference. R5, come in. Do you read me?"
Grogu babbles and presses a palm to the window. "Fine," Mando sighs. "I'll go get him. Normally, this is droid work. I was hoping to avoid going out there. I'll pressurize my helmet. Seal yourself in your pod."
Alora helps Grogu and herself as far back into the ship as they can go. Her seat can retract to just under the droid port, which she has sealed and prepared. She places the one oxygen mask they have on Grogu before taking a deep breath and sending Mando a thumbs up.
When the ship opens, she is hit with a blast of cool air. She keeps herself calm and holds her breath until Mando fully steps away and closes the cockpit behind him. Even then, she waits a moment for the cabin to pressurize before taking a deep breath. Grogu climbs up with her as she gets comfortable once again, this time taking Mando's seat in front with Grogu staring after him.
"Don't worry," Mando says. "I'll be right back."
Like you haven't said that before. She only refrains from responding because she does not want to scare Grogu. "Ok, buddy, what do you want to do while we wait?"
Grogu's eyes widen as he worriedly looks outside.
"Come on, your dad knows what he's doing. You have to trust him," Alora says as she places Grogu on her knees with his back on the control console. "If you want to follow in his footsteps, then you need to learn how to let him do his thing. Sometimes, you can help, and other times you can't. It's a part of letting go."
He tilts his head as he listens.
"Or maybe that's just a Jedi thing. To let go of your attachments." Alora sighs and leans back against the seat. "I honestly don't know what's what anymore. I just know that I don't want you to feel like you only have one path. If you want to be a Mandalorian foundling, that's ok. If you want to go back to Luke, that's ok too. You have a choice."
She takes hold of Grogu's hands in her fingers, moving them around aimlessly. "I just hope you find somewhere that accepts you and loves you no matter what you decide, no matter how you choose to live your life. I never got that. People always needed me to be something, and that's what I became."
The Rebellion needed someone to succeed Lorn, so she became the next High General. Leia needed a friend and confidante as well as a bodyguard, so Alora became just that. Luke needed a trainer and mentor, and she did the best she could. Alora bled and broke for the Rebellion, and she wouldn't trade a second of it, but in dark moments, she wonders what her life would have been if she was never at the Jedi Temple or never trained from birth to protect. Would she be someone different?
Would her parents have taught her different values? Would she have been brainwashed by the Empire or known tyranny when it took over? Would she know what true love looks and feels like? Would she be whole?
Grogu's hands suddenly brush against her cheeks. Managing a smile, she places her hands over his and puffs out her cheeks to blow out some air. "Sorry, kid. I get in my head sometimes. I'll teach you whatever I can, ok?"
Suddenly, Grogu turns and smiles. Mando and R5 emerge from the break in the rocks and walk over to the ship. Quickly composing herself, Alora pulls Grogu away from the window.
"Hang on, kid," Mando says. "Not until I check the toxicity. You got an analysis on the atmosphere yet?"
R5 projects its analysis. From her seat, it's difficult to read, but the green lighting up the report is clear. "The charts were wrong," she says, pinching her brows together. "The atmosphere is breathable."
She meets Mando's gaze. "Bo-Katan was right," he says. "Mandalore is not cursed."
✦✧✦✧✦
I'm trying to journal every night. Does anyone else do it? How has it worked out for you?
Hope you enjoyed!
-L