Heart Of Darkness (Star Wars)

Chapter 18: Mos Pelgo

Once she got us the speeder bikes, we left the docking bay. Din took the child with him, placing him in his bag, while Kaytia rode with me. Meanwhile, Ani ran alongside us, excited to run around across the sand dunes. I glanced back to see the child enjoying the ride with his ears flying around in the wind. As the two suns set, we ran into some Tusken Raiders along with their herd of banthas that were roaming around the area. I remained on my speeder bike with Kaytia, while Din walked towards them, moving his hands as he spoke in Tusken. After a few minutes, he then turned towards me. "It's all right."

Slowly, Kaytia, Ani, and I approached Din's side. Kaytia remained behind me, hesitant to go near them. I watched as Ani walked towards the massiffs, the Tusken Raider's pets. In a heartbeat, Ani began to play around with the massiffs as though they were best friends for years. Kaytia saw this and she walked over towards them. I anxiously watched as a massiff approached her.

The massiff stuck its tongue out before licking her her face. Kaytia giggled. I let out a sigh of relief. As Din asked for directions, we sat down around the campfire. One of the Tusken Raiders handed me a black egg shaped thing, which smelled awful.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a black melon. They want you to drink it." Din explained.

"And if I don't?" I inquired.

"You'll be insulting them." Din informed me.

I grimaced as I looked down at the melon. I definitely don't want to start a fight with them. As soon as I drank the melon, I fought the urge to spit it out. That tasted awful. I did my best to force a smile as I looked at the Tusken Raiders.

"Thank you." I replied.

Din translated my words and the Tusken Raider that handed me the black melon gave me a nod. After getting directions from the Tusken Raiders, they left, leaving Din, Kaytia, Ani, the child, and I alone. I watched as Kaytia fell asleep alongside the child and Ani. It was at that moment that I thought of what Peli said. Din likes droids now, he use to hate droids. But I didn't understand why he hated them. With this in mind, I decided to bring it about.

"So you like droids now, huh?" I teased. "I thought you didn't trust droids?"

"I didn't...Separatist droids killed my parents." Din admitted. "And the droids would've killed me too had the Mandalorians not showed up. They took me in and raised me as one of their own." 

My heart clenched. So that's how his parents were killed...by Separatist droids. I slipped a hand in his glove. No wonder he didn't trust droids for a long time.

"I'm so sorry. That must've been awful." I mentioned.

He nodded. "But at least I was taken into by good people. The Mandalorians treated me like family. I wish you could've gotten that."

He remembered what I told him about my past. I can't believe he still remembered everything I told him. A smile appeared on my face. "So do I, but everything is better now. I couldn't be any happier."

Din gave my hand a gentle squeeze as he turned his helmet towards me. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was smiling as well. I leaned my head against Din's shoulder, watching the fire until I drifted off to sleep.

•••

When I awoke, I was in a different room than before. This time I was in a room with bare black walls. I laid on a grayish chair with restraints on my wrists that were strapped down to the arms of the chair. At that moment, Vader entered the room. Behind him stood the male Pau'an that gave me the scar. I could still feel a sting from where my scar was.