THE ARC OF SKYWALKER | a star wars story✔️

14 | small talk

—THERE WAS SILENCE BETWEEN MANDO AND I AS HE PILOTED THE RAZOR CREST.

I had cleaned myself up and changed into a black tank top, black cotton pants, and cleaned up my boots, I also found some arm sleeves and leather arm guards and armor.

The Mandalorian had put the child back in his pod hours ago and he was now sleeping. The kid's small coos in his sleep made me smile softly as I looked through his memories. Most of them were blocked or they were a bit blurry, but I could hear children laughing, lightsabers clashing, and the voices of past Jedi Masters. I also tried to find anything which could tell me his name, but there were too many blocks in his mind—almost as if he was hiding it. Then, as I dug deeper, I saw that his memories go dark after he was sent away from where he once lived.

From what I could see, he was powerful in the Force. He was most likely raised around Jedi or Light Force-users and was taught how to harness his abilities rather than hide them away or ignore them. Since I heard the echoes of past Jedi Masters I knew in his mind, he had to have had contact with them or with the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. If he was only fifty years old, he had to have been thirty years or younger if he was being trained.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Mando who cleared his throat to get my attention. I turned to face him, relaxed yet curious as to what he was about to say.

"How are you feeling?"

I shrugged, not really wanting to elaborate on how I felt pain wise. My arms and thigh were bandaged, my head ached from the contraption the doctor put on me, and my jaw was still bruised from a stormtrooper punching me. As for my entire body, it felt like lead every time I took a step. All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but sleeping was hard to get when the dark plagued my dreams.

"Well, besides feeling like bantha fodder, I'm fine."

He nodded slowly, dropping the subject since he didn't want to argue with me. It was a wise choice. Master Kenobi would be proud since it was useless to argue with me.

"So, you're a Skywalker."

Every muscle in my tensed at the name, my jaw clenching as I glanced at him with just my eyes. Mando didn't look at me. Instead, he kept his gaze ahead and flipped switches or pressed buttons every now and then.

"How did...?"

"It was when I found your satchel that I found the transmission from your brother, your light sticks, and a few other items. Your secret is safe with me, Asa. I promise."

I relaxed a little but I was still a bit on edge. Any information can be given with the right amount of money. But, as I thought about all the trouble Mando went through to rescue the Child and I, I highly doubted he would sell me off.

"It's called a lightsaber, you bantha." I corrected him, chuckling a little. I looked down at my hands, eyeing my mother's ring I wore on my index finger.

Mando scoffed but he turned in his pilot seat to face me. I could feel his questioning stare as he watched my movements.

"It's my mother's ring." I answered his unasked question. "It was given to me by my father's padawan before...before she, um...died."

Even though it's been almost twenty five years, it feels like yesterday when I watched the life leave my mother's eyes and the last breath leave her body. It still stung to think about my gentle, kind, loving mother, Padmé Amidala, dying after my brother and sister were born. It still hurt knowing I was one of the last people who ever got to see her before turning to the Dark Side.

I didn't notice my tears until I felt one drip onto my hand. Mando hesitantly reached forward and patted my knee in a comforting way. To say I was shocked by his gesture was an understatement. I didn't know he was capable of being this soft.

"I lost my mother too." Mando muttered, his voice cracking a little. I looked up at his helmeted face, sensing his grief and fear as he remembered the day his mother died. I tried digging around in his head to see the memory, but it was blocked from view.

"What about your father?" I dared to ask. From what I knew of some Mandalorian coverts, they weren't ones to share secrets with strangers or with one another. To hear Mando share a bit of his past with me struck me in surprise.

He hesitated for a moment. "He...was killed with her."

Nodding in understanding, I patted his hand and stood up, stretching my arms above my head and yawning.

"I'll be down below trying to sleep. Wake me up if you need any help with the kid if he wakes up."

~*~

*NOT EDITED YET*
shorter chapter but this was just a filler so i could get to the scenes on sorgan.
see ya in the next update!