Promises are made to be broken. Deals are made to be kept.
[The Mandalorian Season 1-2]
I do not own the Mandalorian or any of the Star Wars Universe characters/settings. I own Alora and her unique story.
Prequel to Promises and Deals --> Truth...
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As Mando leads Alora and Grogu toward the old civic center of the planet, Alora's skin electrifies. Her senses are on high alert, and it feels like danger awaits around every corner. As they enter a small cave leading to the city, Alora takes out her lightsaber, igniting it for a bit more light. The yellow glow fills the space and illuminates the jagged crystal around them.
Mando also takes out his blaster and holds it in front of him until they reach the edge of the cave. A sprawling destroyed city lies beneath them. The buildings are nothing more than towering rubble, and Mando's voice echoes as he says, "That's the Civic Center. This is where Bo-Katan said to go."
He holds out his hand, which Alora readily takes and wraps her arms around his neck before they all plunge over the edge. Mando's jetpack activates a second later as Alora holds on tightly, letting her gaze wander from Grogu's bassinet which maintains its speed easily to the metal scaffolding covering the city. It sends a shiver down her spine.
"Not scared, are you?" She hears Mando whisper.
"No, it's just... It reminds me of Coruscant." She had only been once before. It was near the end of her training as High General. It was also Leia's first appearance in the Imperial-run city. Though Lorn and Bail took the lead, Leia and Alora were there to watch—to learn what they needed to do when they ascended and took their rightful places.
Her memories of the Jedi Temple are far and few between. The ones plaguing her dreams are her first memories—of what the interior looked like, how the halls connected. But she saw the temple from afar, and it made her physically ill. Lorn was already against bringing her to the temple turned Imperial palace from the beginning of the visit, and her illness only confirmed to Bail that she should never step foot there again.
"Coruscant," Mando repeats, shifting his helmet only slightly in Grogu's direction. "Where the kid is from."
"The planet is just a city. The New Republic has control of it now. And Grogu probably wasn't born on Coruscant, just trained there from before he can remember. Like me."
Mando lands softly on a concrete overhang, but Alora does not let go. "The mines should be further down. I guess we're on our own from here."
Once again, Mando and Alora leap down. Mando steers them all through a giant hole in the ground, leading beneath the city itself. It looks like perhaps it used to be an entrance to the sewer as they go down and down until they reach the bottom, covered in a small layer of water.
Letting go of Mando, Alora holds out her lightsaber. She hears smaller critters scurry away from the new source of light, but they keep moving forward. "Keep an eye out," she says, her voice echoing more than she would like. "There are a lot of places for things to hide down here."
"These waters should flow down to the mines, and the Living Waters within," Din says. His own light is now on with his blaster in hand.
Looking back, she sees Grogu's ears flat against his head as he swiftly catches up to them. She now stays a step behind if only to make sure he does not stop too long.
