"Delmira, cyar'ika..."
I let out a groan as my eyes fluttered open to see Din standing in front of me with a hand on my shoulder. I felt my entire body shivering as the air around us grew colder. Din placed his other hand on my cheek.
"Din..." I croaked out.
"Are you all right?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, but I'm freezing..."
"I'll find some blankets." He informed me.
The frog lady let out a croak.
"I'll find your eggs. Don't worry." Din assured her.
"I'll come with you." I offered.
I stood up, but as soon as I stood up, taking a step towards Din, my legs gave out. Din was quick though, he grabbed me, wrapping his arms around me before helping me back on my seat.
"You stay here." Din advised. "Gotta get you both some blankets, keep you warm."
Once Din returned, he gave the frog lady and me some blankets. He then helped me down the ladder and into the cargo hold, where I saw Ani, Selba, and Kaytia all bundled up in blankets. As soon as the frog lady sat down, she grabbed her container filled with her eggs.
"I'm hungry." Kaytia said.
"I'll get some ration packs." Din informed us.
With that, Din went up the ladder, searching for ration packs. Once Din left, Kaytia spoke up. "Mom...I had a nightmare."
"Another one? What was it about this time?" I inquired.
"Several clone troopers dragging me away into their ship." She revealed. "They called me Lady Jinx, but I never understood why. That's not my name, right?"
I was fortunate that Kaytia didn't remember of what her life was like during the Empire. I shook my head. "No, that's not your name, min turhaya. You're name is Kaytia."
Kaytia gave me a smile before she wrapped her arms around me, giving me a hug. Not long after, Din returned, handing us ration packs for us to eat along with some warm blankets. As we ate in silence, Din then turned to face the frog lady.
"If you hadn't guessed, we're in a tight spot." Din pointed out.
"Is anything working?" I questioned.
"The main power drive is not responding, and the hull has lost its integrity." Din explained. "I suspect the temperature will drop significantly when night falls. I'll have a better idea of our prospects at that time."
Din then sat down on the ground beside me. The frog lady let out a croak before pointing to her container of eggs. I furrowed my brows. Din shook his head. "I'm sorry, lady. don't know understand frog. Whatever it is, it can wait until the morning. I recommend you get some sleep."
"Whatever it is, we'll figure it out." I assured her.
Selba sat in Din's lap, while Kaytia sat beside me on my other side. Ani placed his head on Kaytia's lap before closing his eyes. I gently placed my head against Din's shoulder, while he wrapped an arm around my waist. Despite the immense cold I felt, I slowly drifted off to sleep.
•••
"Wake up, Mandalorian, and wife of Mandalorian!"
My eyes shot open upon hearing the voice of Zero. Din shot up, pointing a blaster at the droid's head, which lied in the pile with the rest of Din's stuff. I glanced over to see the frog lady, using the droid's vocabulator to communicate with us. Those words that she uttered were barely sinking in. Wife of the Mandalorian, of Din? My heart couldn't help but flutter at that thought.
"This cannot wait until morning. Do not be alarmed. I bypassed the droid's security protocols and accessed its vocabulator." She continued.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Din asked, raising his voice.
Upon hearing his words, Selba, Ani, and Kaytia all woke up, looking at Din and me, rather baffled. Din quickly put his pistol back in his holster.
"That droid is a killer." Din argued.
The frog lady placed a hand on her container of eggs. "These eggs are the last brood of my life cycle. My husband has risked his life to carve out an existence for us on the only planet hospitable to our species. We fought too hard and suffered too much to resign ourselves to the extinction of our family line. I must demand that you hold true to the deal that you agreed to."
"Look, lady, the deal is off. We're lucky if we get off this frozen tomb with our lives." Din mentioned.
Kaytia's eyes widened. "What?"
I placed a hand on Kaytia's shoulder. "We will get out of here. Don't worry, Kaytia."
"I thought honoring one's word was a part of the Mandalorian code. I guess those are just stories for children." She shot back.
Din let out a sigh as he looked over at Kaytia and Selba. I could feel his frustration growing as he gently placed Selba off of his lap and onto the ground beside him. He then climbed up to his feet, grabbing his tool box.
"This was not part of the deal." Din retorted.
He then stormed out of the ship. I turned towards Kaytia. "Stay here with Ani and Selba, I'm going to help your father."
I then turned towards the frog lady. "Don't you worry, ma'm. We'll get you and your eggs safely on Trask."
With that, I walked out to find Din working on repairing the ship. The ship looked to be in bad condition. I grimaced. It didn't look so good. As the wind blew, snow fell around us. I pulled my coat closer before I reached Din.
"Do you need help?" I questioned.
Din turned towards me. He then gave me a nod. "Yes, that would be helpful."
With that, I grabbed some tools from his box before kneeling down beside him, doing my best to finish before the night arrived. As I helped him out, Selba approached us. He spoke in gibberish as he raised his left hand, pointing at something.
"How 'bout you come over here, give me a hand? Make yourself useful." Din suggested.
I couldn't help but crack a smile at Din's words. As we continued to work, Selba let out a sigh before walking off. This baffled the both of us.
"Hey kid..." Din called out.
"Selba, where are you going?" I questioned.
He ignored me as he continued walking away from us. Both Din and I stood up, putting the tools back in the toolbox. Din spoke again, trying to get his attention. "Hey, your mom is talking to you."
My heart nearly stopped at his words. He called me the child's mom. I couldn't crack a smile at his words. It's like we were all one small yet happy family.
"Where are you going? Come back here!" Din urged.
We followed after Selba to see him standing just a few feet away from the ship. Next to him stood Kaytia and the child, they all stared at tracks in the snow that lead deeper into the cavern. I then realized that the child was trying to tell us that the frog lady had left the Razor Crest.
"When did she go?" Din asked.
The child spoke in gibberish. Fortunately, Kaytia had seen when she left, so she spoke up. "Not long. I tried to stop her, but she insisted on leaving saying she had to keep her eggs warm."
Din let out a sigh. "Dank farrik..."
Din gently grabbed Selba before walking into the cavern. I turned towards Ani and Kaytia. "Go back in the ship."
"But mom-" She began.
"This isn't up for debate, Kaytia. Go back to the ship. We'll be back soon." I ordered.
"But Selba got to go." Kaytia argued.
"Technically he's older than you. He's fifty years old." I protested. "Now I won't tell you again, go back inside."
Kaytia grumbled how unfair it was before storming back in the ship. Ani let out a whine, begging to come with me. I shook my head. "Sorry Ani, you're also staying behind."
Ani's tail fell as he reluctantly walked off, following Kaytia into the Razor Crest. I then followed Din and the child deeper into the cavern. It wasn't long until we found the frog lady in a pool of hot springs with her eggs inside the pool with her. Around her, there were several small rocks in the snow, or at least I had hoped they were rocks. Once we reached her, Din gently placed Selba on the ground.
"There you are. You can't leave the ship. It's not safe out here." Din mentioned.
The frog lady croaked out, but we couldn't understand a word she was saying. Selba was staring at the eggs with a smile on his face.
"Let's gather them up." Din advised.
I helped Din grab the eggs, placing them in the container. The frog lady grabbed the remaining eggs around her, placing them close to her as she whimpered.
"I know it's warm. But night's coming fast, and I can't protect you out here." Din pointed out.
"He's right. We don't know what lurks here at night." I added.
Reluctantly, the frog lady handed us the remaining frog eggs that were in her grasp. As we all put the eggs back, I noticed Selba reach out, grabbing an egg. Immediately, Din extended a hand out, stopping him. "No, no."
Selba let out a whine before wandering off. I furrowed my brows. "What was he going to do?"
"He was going to eat it. He's already eaten a couple." Din whispered, not wanting the lady to hear us.
My eyes widened. "What? Does she know?"
"No, and it's best we leave it that way." Din advised.
Once we put all the eggs back in the container, I sensed something behind us. I could sense a huge amount of anger from behind us. I whipped around to see several of the things I thought were rocks moving around. I immediately sensed lifeforms inside of them. Selba let out a cry as he rushed towards us. I placed a hand on Din's shoulder.
"Din..." I called out.
He whipped around, looking at the moving eggs. In a matter of seconds, the eggs hatched, revealing several spiders. I could feel the child's fear along with Din growing nervous. As I stared at the spiders, my eyes widened in horror. The next thing I knew I was back in my room on Corellia.
I was busy working in my room. My room contained holoposters of famous pilots and podracers, a bookshelf filled with books of different subjects and genres, a small closet, a window, a bed, a desk, and a chair. I was only five at the time. My desk was cluttered with machine and gear parts that dad found in the junkyard located in the outskirts of the Blue Sector, where I was forbidden to go to. As I worked on, I saw a spider crawling down from its web, just inches away from my face. My eyes widened in horror as I shouted out. "Spider!"
I ran out of my room, not stopping until I reached the living room, where I saw my mom sitting on the couch, watching the HoloNet News from her holoprojector. She became worried when I approached her, wrapping my arms around her.
"Kohira, what is it?" She questioned.
"S-spider! T-t...there's a spider in my room." I blurted out, fumbling over my words.
A smile appeared on her face. "It's all right, min turhaya. Show me this spider."
I shook my head. "N-no, I don't want to go back in there."
Mom knelt down so she was at eye level with me. She placed a hand on my cheek. "Kohira, I will be with you this time. But you must be courageous. your dad and I won't always be around to help you kill spiders. There will come a time when you must do things on your own, min turhaya."
My heart clenched. She often spoke of her and my dad not always being around, and I didn't like when she said those things. It made me sad. I hoped that day wouldn't come soon.
"But what if I'm not ready when you're no longer around?" I questioned.
"You will be." She assured me. "I know it."
"Delmira! Cyar'ika!"
Din shook my arm, trying to snap me out of it. I shook my head, returning to the moment. I looked over at Din, who I could sense was worried for me.
"Are you all right?" He asked.
I nodded. "I'm better now."
Din gave me a nod in response. He then picked up Selba as he grabbed the container, putting it on his back. He quickly turned towards the frog lady, who climbed out of the pool and now had her clothing on. We heard a low growl. Reluctantly, turning around I saw a huge spider, which was no doubt, the mother. I could feel its anger radiating off of her. I grimaced. Why did it have to be spiders? Why couldn't it have been a different creature? Din whipped around to face us. "Go, go, go! Back to the ship!"
With that, we ran through the cavern with the spiders trailing behind us. Din fired his blaster, hitting the spiders that were on our heels. I took out my lightsaber, igniting the purple blade in a heartbeat. A howl could be heard as my lightsaber ignited, scaring off some of the spiders for a few moments. As the spiders lunged towards us, I swung my lightsaber, striking them down. The frog lady ran on all fours to keep up with us. As we continued running, I glanced back to see the mother spider was close to us.
"What're we going to do about that huge spider!" I shouted.
"I have an idea!" He yelled out.
He then threw explosives on the ice walls and the roof before it blew up, collapsing the place and trapping it. I continued slicing down spiders, while Din continued blasting down and using his flamethrower against those foul creatures as we ran through the cavern. Once we reached the ship, we rushed inside the Razor Crest, where Kaytia and Ani were.
"Go to the cockpit! Now!" Din ordered.
Kaytia and Ani looked at us, baffled. However, their expressions changed as soon as they saw spiders emerging from the entrance of the ship. Kaytia's eyes widened as she screamed, running up the ladder. Ani hopped up with the frog lady trailing behind him. Din and I rushed up, making our way into the cockpit. Once we were all inside, Din closed the cockpit door, but some managed to slip inside.
Din fired as many as he could, I used the Force, grabbing the spiders before slicing them in half, releasing their green blood. Ani growled as he opened his mouth, biting and eating a couple of them. I was so preoccupied that I didn't notice the spiders around Kaytia and Selba. Fortunately, the frog lady had a blaster, killing all the spiders around Kaytia and Selba. Din and I turned around, giving the frog lady a nod, appreciating what she did. Din then whipped around, using his flamethrower, killing all the spiders left before successfully closing the door. We then exchanged a look, panting from all the running and killing the spiders.
"Strap yourselves in." Din advised. "This better work. I've got limited visibility. It's gonna be a bumpy ride."
Din plopped down in the pilot's seat with Selba in his lap, while the frog lady, Kaytia, and I sat in the seats behind him, strapping ourselves in. Ani sat in my lap as it whined, hoping we'd leave this place soon. I didn't blame him one bit though.
He then turned on the ship, moving the controls around. As Din lifted the ship from the ground, the giant mother spider emerged from the cavern, landing on top of the Razor Crest, causing us to fall back onto the ground. We let out a groan. The spider used his legs, piercing the windows from the cockpit, but fortunately missing us. The spider then looked at us with its small black beady eyes before using its mouth and razor sharp teeth, trying to break the glass above us.
"I'm going out to fight the beast." I mentioned.
"No!" Din exclaimed as he whipped around to face me. "You will do no such thing."
"I must. That spider will not give up until it's broken the glass." I protested. "I must go. I will be all right."
Din let out a sigh, knowing I was right. He walked over towards me, placing his forehead against mine. "Be careful."
"When am I not?" I inquired.
"Don't get me started." Din warned.
I let out a nervous laugh, remembering how reckless I had been in the past, throwing my life in danger, nearly killing myself. I raised my hand, resting it on Din's helmet, where I believed his cheek would be.
"I shall be fine." I assured him.
I then glanced over to see Kaytia, trembling in fear. I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take care of the spiders. They won't be able to hurt you."
Kaytia gave me a nod. I then gave her one last look before turning around. And with that, I walked out of the cockpit, prepared to take down the spider. I thought of my mom's words as I took a deep breath. It's time that I faced my fears.
~Translations~
Min turhaya----My bright star
Cyar'ika---Beloved