Aldor's Eye - Part I

Chapter II - The Padawan

He remained locked in place as the ethereal woman before him looked down at Grogu again, communicating through some kinship of mind. She laughed softly and kissed Grogu's forehead with an affection that made Din's heart ache. "So I see, my little friend," she said. "Very few words." She looked back at Din with the faint pull of a smile at the corners of her mouth. He fought a flicker in his lip, willing it not to smile back behind his helmet, grateful she couldn't see the struggle. Grateful he could appear stoic and intimidating while his insides jumped about uncomfortably under such a graceful expression. He wanted so badly to trust her. The thought was just there for some reason. He wanted the sincerity in her eyes to be more than a trick. The blue was so clear, he was nearly convinced it couldn't hide anything, but so many beautiful things turn out to be deadly because of just such an appearance of goodness.

He snapped to attention with this thought, sense coming back to him as he saw a stranger holding his son. A stranger who knew both their names. It was this thought that finally put words in his mouth. "How do you know my name?" he asked in an ominous Mandalorian tone. "How do you know his name?"

"I know a lot of things that will surprise you, Din Djarin." Another smile pulled her lips together as she watched him, and gently bounced Grogu in her arms, utterly unphased by Din's brusque questions. Grogu turned his attention from her for a moment to look back at Din. The big brown eyes promised all was well. There was a pleading undertone to these assertions that begged him to trust this woman. The boy cared for her and wanted to see her. Din sighed, kicking at the ground in a subtle burst of frustration. He looked back up at Grogu, and saw not the victory Din had expected to see in his expression, but relief. Although part of him wanted to grab Grogu out of her arms and fly as far away as he could, he gave in for the Kid's sake, and nodded in acceptance when she gestured for him to follow her into the repurposed hull. Glancing over her shoulder as she ascended the ramp just ahead of him, she spoke again. "I'll tell you what and how inside. Then perhaps, we can work out the whys." When Din hesitated to step up into the hull, she gently insisted, "The suns are close to setting, and it gets cold at night, even in the summer. Please, my friend. I'd be honored if you would come inside."

He couldn't imagine how anyone could feign the depth of her voice. Not only in tone, but in its purpose. An alto chime that promised a gentler breeze. It was enough, so he tentatively stepped into the hull.

Like any YT-2400, the ramp ended in a hallway wrapped to the left around the small turret smack in the middle of the ship. To the right, in the direction she led him, the hull opened up into what had been the cargo bay. All the interior walls had been removed here, and what would have been quarters and a lounge had become an open kitchen. The remainder created a living space that included one large bunk, some storage cubes, and a couple of chairs flanking a low table. Expansive rugs made from thick white pelts were spread under the bed and the sitting area. Two more looked to be woven from threshed blades of the same grass he'd seen in the garden plot outside. The furniture was what any freighter might be equipped with, but sumptuous fabrics and soft lighting brought a gentle ambiance to what would have otherwise been a barren capsule. Everything seemed to hold some warmth. Some beauty.

"Please have a seat." She indicated a small round table with three chairs that created a boundary between the kitchen and living area. A Dejarik table, with the tell-tale game board and holoprojector in the center. She set Grogu gently down in a cushioned chair at the table and turned to a pot of stew that sat simmering in a bed of infrared coals. "I know you prefer not to remove your helmet in company," she said as she stirred the contents of the pot. "When Grogu has been fed, I'll set a bowl of stew in the cockpit for you. I like to eat there myself sometimes, and enjoy the wilderness through the transparisteel."