On the trip outside the domed city, Alora lets Grogu play in her lap, his hands moving as he laughs to himself. He climbs over her shoulders and into her hood, and he never sits still.
"Now approaching Landing Field 3."
Alora glances up to see the green fields stretching as far as the eye can see except for the city. A tree line catches her eye surrounding the Mandalorian fleet. It's a peaceful place. Not one for battle.
"They're Mandalorians," Din states. "You're their leader. They're going to follow you."
Alora turns her gaze back to the people she travels with. It is always difficult to read Din because of his helmet, but Alora finds herself wishing she could see into Bo-Katan's thoughts. The woman just shakes her head and replies, "I'm not their leader anymore. Axe Woves is."
Alora shifts in her seat. "Then what's your play?"
Bo-Katan just stares forward. "I'll know when I get there."
As they come to a stop and walk across the green plain toward the cluster of ships, Alora almost misses the static and emptiness that used to occupy her mind. Now, it is full of what-ifs. What if the Mandalorian mercenaries decline their mission? What if Mandalore truly is cursed and kills them all? What if she decides to never find out more, never pursue her past? What if Luke was right to not tell her? What if it was for the best?
She feels Grogu's clawed hand reach out to touch hers, his bassinet floating beside her. Smiling down at him as if to reassure him, Alora tries her best to clear her mind, to only think of her breathing and the way she can feel her ribs aching with each push and pull from her lungs and diaphragm. She even tries closing her eyes and simply listening to the crunch of soil and grass beneath her feet.
"Come."
Alora pauses, letting Din and Bo-Katan gain ground.
"Come to Coruscant."
Spinning around, Alora finds nothing but the abandoned pod that brought them there in the distance. Not even the trees are close enough for her to make out any details, let alone hear someone speaking.
"Learn your past. Only then can you understand."
Grogu cries out loudly enough that Alora tears her gaze from the horizon. He stares up at her with wide eyes, his hands reaching up to her. Kneeling beside his bassinet, Alora takes a slow, deep breath and says, "Thanks, kiddo. Don't know what's going on with me."
Grogu reaches out, his clawed hand resting on her chest. But he does not just reach for her robe—his palm rests just above the hidden pocket, just above the chain of charms she has pressed to her heart.
"Alora!" She glances up. "You coming?" Din calls out.
"Yeah," she replies weakly as she stands. "Yeah, sorry." She rushes herself and Grogu closer to the others as they continue stalking their way to the ships. As they approach, the mercenaries barely notice the two Mandalorians, Alora, and Grogu.
She elects to keep her hood off of her head and her weapons tucked at her back. They should know enough to be wary of her, and perhaps her luck of having Mandalorians underestimate her will continue.
She spots Axe sitting beside a few of the other Mandalorians, one of whom she recognizes as Bo-Katan's other companion from when they met. "Have you come back to join the mercenaries?" Axe calls out.
Bo-Katan's shoulders drop after a deep sigh. "I've come to reclaim my fleet."
"It's no longer your fleet, is it?" Axe asks as he raises his drink. "I'm now in command and grown quite fond of it."
Bo-Katan walks forward, leaving Din and Alora behind. "Then I challenge you, one warrior to another. Do you accept my challenge?"
Axe's eyes narrow as he stands. "I do."
Silence holds the plain until Axe throws his fist forward, firing a rocket from his armband, but Bo-Katan is already in the air with her feet aimed at his face. When her boot connects with Axe's cheek, Alora inhales sharply through her teeth at the impact.
Both bring out blades that slice through the air instead of each other. For a moment, it looks like Bo-Katan gains the upper hand, but then Axe barrels into her with his jet pack propelling him forward. Both slam against one of the nearby ships and onto the ground.
Grogu coos softly and closes his eyes as Alora forces herself to keep watching, to keep supporting her soldier in arms. Bo-Katan has fought everything to lead her people—she deserves this.
But that voice creeps back into her head. "Seek out your past. Seek out understanding." She tries to ignore it—ignore the rising pressure in the back of her skull—but the whispers keep coming and drawing her in.
"You are broken. Find your past, and find the solution."
In the blink of an eye, she is no longer standing on a field surrounded by Mandalorians. Instead, she stands at the steps of a once great Temple now burning with screams echoing in her ears. Another blink and the parapets are no longer consumed with flames; instead, they hold banners with the Imperial sigil as dark clouds approach overhead.
A cloaked figure stands at the top of the stairs, hands clasped in front of them and their hood obscuring any identifiable features. "Return home, child of the Jedi. I will be waiting. Delay, and risk shattering what little of you remains whole."
As the figure turns their back on her, everything dissolves in the blink of an eye. The Temple is gone. All that remains is Plazir-15 and the battle happening in front of her eyes. It is like no time has passed as Alora takes a gasping breath and stumbles back.
Din reaches out to her instantly, shielding her from view, although she doubts any of the mercenaries are watching them as Bo-Katan hurls herself at Axe once again. "Alora?" He whispers, his gloved hand cupping her cheek. "Alora, what's wrong?"
"It's fine, I'm fine," she insists, but a chill wraps around her bones. "I—"
"You're not fine."
"It doesn't matter now." She pushes him off as Axe and Bo-Katan fly into the sky overhead and land atop the wing of a ship. "Later, I promise."
She can feel Din's stare on her even as Bo-Katan and Axe return to the ground in front of them. Bo-Katan straddles Axe with a blade pressed to his throat. "Do you yield?!"
"You'll never be the true leader of our people. You won't even take the Darksaber from him," Axe sneers, glancing at Din. "He's the one you should be challenging."
"Enough Mandalorian blood has been spilled by our own hands." Bo-Katan releases Axe and stands to address everyone. "Mandalorians are stronger together."
"But a misguided zealot possesses the blade," Axe snaps as he struggles to his feet. Finally tearing his gaze away from Alora, Din takes a small step forward as others look their way. "One, I might add, who has not one drop of Mandalorian blood in his veins."
"Din Djarin took the Creed and chose to walk the Way, just as our ancestors did. He is every bit the Mandalorian that they were. Certainly as much as any of us."
"But according to our ways, the ruler of Mandalore must possess the Darksaber," Axe states.
"Then she shall have it," Din speaks up. Alora stays with Grogu, a hand gripping the edge of his bassinet as Din steps up to Bo-Katan, the Darksaber offered in his hand. "This belongs to you."
"It's not a gift to be given, no matter how well-intentioned," Bo-Katan explains quietly.
"It's not a gift!" Alora calls out but stays rooted in her spot. Her voice carries throughout the camp as she says, "While exploring Mandalore, Din Djarin and I were captured, and the Darksaber was taken from him. Bo-Katan rescued us and slayed our captor. She defeated the enemy that defeated the wielder of your Darksaber. By your rules, would this blade then not belong to her?"
The Mandalorians glance at each other and then at Axe Woves who stares in disbelief. Din also takes a step towards them, asking, "Would it not belong to her?"
After a long, tense moment of silence, Axe nods. "It would."
Din turns back to Bo-Katan, offering the Darksaber yet again. "I return this blade to its rightful owner."
Bo-Katan's hand barely shakes as she takes the blade from Din. He steps back as Bo-Katan activates the Darksaber at her side, holding her head up high before her people.
The acceptance may be tense, but it is overwhelming. The show of force with the Darksaber seems to be everything the mercenaries needed to timidly approach their returned leader. The tension slowly loosens with smiles and laughter emerging from the group, but Alora and Din stay back.
"Go on, Grogu," Alora whispers as he coos beside her. "You go say hi. I need a minute with your dad."
Frowning, Grogu leaps up her robe and presses himself to her chest directly above the charms sewn into the fabric. She peels him off and presses her finger to his nose before placing him down once again.
"Kid, it's ok," Din says as he approaches. "We just gotta talk for a minute."
Grogu narrows his wide eye but he moves himself and the bassinet toward the group of mercenaries, constantly looking back over his shoulder. But he eventually falls into the group, laughing and cooing at the attention.
"Now is later," Din says bluntly, his arms crossed as he faces her. Both keep an eye on Grogu, but he is almost fully turned to her. As if she is his only concern.
Taking a deep breath, she imagines the cloaked figure again. "The Force is strange," she replies as she purses her lips. Her hand reaches into the hidden pocket and pulls out the charms, letting them glint in the sunlight. "I've never been able to connect, really. But it seems like now I can. And it wants me to do something. And I can't do it alone."
Din's helmet tilts down to look at the charms in her hand. "This is about that note from Dagobah." It isn't a question.
"Dagobah was dangerous. Not physically, but mentally. Where I need to go next is both. I know you have a path, and if you had any self-preservation at all, you would refuse this."
"Mandalore can wait."
She takes her eyes off Grogu and stares at the dark strip of his helmet. "Mandalore is your future. It is their future. Where I need to go could be certain death, and they will need you."
"I told you on Tatooine. You, me, and the kid—we are a family."
"I never really had one of those before," she whispers, looking down at the charms and clenching her fingers around them. What he doesn't know is that she had a chance at a family. She had a mother and a father, but circumstances tore them apart. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."
"I'm willing to take that risk."
"But I'm not."
"Tough shit. You've said that wherever I go, you go. Guess what, it goes both ways. The kid and I come with you—"
"No, Grogu can't come with us this time. I won't let him," her throat tightens as she shakes her head. "I won't let him go back there. He shouldn't have come to Dagobah, but definitely not here. It's not safe. And it won't be safe for you either. I'm telling you as a courtesy. I should just take a ship and meet you back on Nevarro."
"No." Din's hand rests atop her clenched one. "You're not going alone. But you have to let me in and tell me what's going on."
Staring at his helmet, she once again feels the urge to hate it, to hate the barrier he insists on keeping between them. Instead, she whispers, "Before Dagobah, I had visions of the swamps. This time, I see a big city and—" Her breath catches as she looks away, finding Grogu smiling at Bo-Katan. "And I see the Jedi Temple."
She feels Din tense. She isn't sure what he knows of core planets or Coruscant in particular. He knows Alora and Grogu had escaped, but that may be it.
"Truthfully, I don't think I would be able to make it on my own," Alora whispers. "I've only ever been back to Coruscant once and even the thought of going back there makes me physically sick." As her eyes begin to burn, she squeezes them shut and runs her free hand down her face. If she keeps staring at Din's chest plate, maybe she won't have to guess his thoughts or know if he catches how shaky her hands are.
"Ok," he says softly. "We'll do a quick trip and meet everyone back on Nevarro. Just you and me."
✦✧✦✧✦
We're going to Coruscant!
Hope you enjoyed!
-L