Chapter 2:

Aliit

A delicate smell of exotic aromas wafted gently down the corridor as Mirdala headed towards the end of the long passageway. The walls were bare with no indication as to who might own the building that she found herself in, but something deep within her stomach told her to feel comfortable here. There was something that she was familiar with, something so reassuring that her fears of her unknown location ceased to trouble her. It was like coming home to family, the security one could feel in the company of loved ones that could not be found elsewhere. Aliit, as the Mandalorians referred to it, was truly where the home was.

Harsh light exploded from the doorway as it glided open for her, forcing her to shield her eyes and blink rapidly. She tried to scrub the excess illumination out of her vision, for what she saw ahead could not be real. It had to be a trick of the light. In the whole twenty years that she had been alive, not once could she recall the scene before her ever occurring. How could it be possible that for once; for once out of their busy, individual lives they all had a spare moment to gather like this?

Light adjusted after her endless attempts to blink away patches of suspicious colour that blocked what she could see. The door had opened her up to an apartment living room, furnished with a selection of comfortable looking couches all arranged around a circular, ornate, glass table. In its centre was a small water feature under a suspended bronze globe, which she presumed supported itself in the air with small, repulsor-lift generators hidden somewhere in its base. She could hear the faint trickling of the water as it flowed down into a basin that caught the droplets, before they disappeared into a cloud of vapour.

Seated across the sofas was a rag-tag bunch of humanoid civilians, talking among themselves. A zabrak with a shock of dark green hair between ebony horns, was in deep conversation with a burly, barbarian looking young man in mis-matching black and silver armour. She could not pick up the topic of their words, but their laughter indicated that it might not be something she wanted to delve further into.

To her left sat a man in full, black, Mandalorian armour, his helmet with its ruby, t-shaped visor resting on the arm of the chair beside him. His right arm was draped across the back of the sofa behind a blonde, middle aged woman dressed in a black flightsuit. Their speech was quiet, personal and intimate. A smile passed across her face when the aged man whispered something in the ear of the woman next to him, causing her to roll her eyes and slap him lightly on the chest plate.

Her family - the aliit, the clan - were all together in the same room.

It felt like she had been standing there for a lifetime before the Mandalorian looked up in surprise, but quickly his expression melted into an affectionate smile.

"Mird'ika, gar droten! Gar bal'vodu ru'gotal shuner, mhi ru'hiili uj'alayi ret'lini." Mirdala, you're late! Your uncle made dinner, so we brought ujj cake just in case.

Mirdala's gaze drifted towards her father as he addressed her, still a little bewildered. The bright smile on his face refused to falter as he looked at her expectantly, awaiting her reply. Her mother peeked out from under the crook of his arm, seemingly as well spirited as he was. After everything they had been through: family losses, life style changes and constant heartbreak; this was the first time she could recall genuine happiness radiating from her parents.

"I...I was..." The words clogged up in her throat. She knew she had a reason for not arriving to the gathering on time, but as to why, she could not recall.

"She's been at the whiskey again, Buir!" The tall, muscular, Zabrak in vibrant red armour grinned at her boisterously. "Bad Mirdie! Why wasn't I invited?"

Before she had a chance to offer a rebuke, a heavy arm dropped across her shoulders. She turned her head to see who had come up behind her and felt another smile cross her face. The man had his brown eyes narrowed playfully towards the Zabrak as his grip over her became tighter, a half hug that caused her to stumble slightly and bump into his chest plate. His shoulder length, dark blonde hair tickled her nose as she looked up at him and started laughing when he flashed her a reassuring wink.

"She was totally waiting for my company," Zhed Kendari declared, plucking her arm up from around his waist and holding their hands high in the air in a triumphant wave. "Nothing can be more fun than seeing her favourite brother."

"HEY!" Nicken Kendari pouted at them both, the dark red, tribal tattoos on his face contorting with the expression. "I can be fun too! Just ask that girl I was with last ni -"

An awkward silence hung in the air when he finished speaking abruptly, all eyes in the room now focusing their attention onto him. Nicken's dark skinned face flushed ever so slightly before he shrugged and folded his arms across his chest, leaning back into his chair casually.

"Didn't hear her complainin'."

Precious seconds of uncomfortable quiet passed between the gathering before her mother untangled herself from the embrace of her father and hugged their daughter close.

"They've been like this all day," Lena Arano whispered lightly in her ear, not so quiet that she could go unheard, but enough so that the conversation was not entirely their own. She presumed that it was deliberate. "It's slowly killing me. It's nice to have some sensible conversation for once! I'm sure most of the women discussed so far have been fictional."

Mirdala pulled back and grinned a smile very similar to her father's in perfect synchronisation with him, sharing their amusement to her mother from all angles. Nicken's gasp and saddened whine followed a moment later, but he was soon comforted by Zhed with a tackle-hug as the two young men started roaring incomprehensible noises at one another.

"Dinner is served!" A heavily Corellian accented voice called from an open door, which welcomed the beings in the living room with the sweet and exotic aromas of Corellian spices. "You can leave the Ujj out there, Kid. Only real food is allowed in my dining room."

Mirdala allowed herself to be tugged towards the scent by her mother. Everyone was clearly ravenous, but she could feel no similar pangs of hunger in her stomach.

"Her heart rate is still normal, Buir. She hasn't woken up, but muttered your name a couple of times."

"Keep an eye on her, Zhed'ika. Call me the minute she wakes up."

She watched, with eyes as wide as dish plates, as her famished family tucked in eagerly to the steaming pot of Corellian, spice-infused stew in the middle of the large dining table. Her own plate remained untouched. Her mind was telling her that she had come here with the intention of having a meal with her family, but her stomach ruled that she was not hungry. Had she eaten too much throughout the day, before turning up? Her brain could not puzzle the conflicting sense and situation together as she sat and watched everyone else. They had not paid attention to her lack of eating, so she presumed that it was fine for her to simply observe as they all indulged themselves.

It was strange, though, that her father seemed keen to enjoy her Corellian uncle's cooking, after specifically remembering to bring Ujj cake if he was the one serving the food this evening.

"I'm really glad to see you all," Mirdala voiced aloud, a little taken aback when not one of her relatives turned to look at her as she spoke. "Can you believe it's taken us this long to get together, as a family?"

No one paid any attention to her. Not Zhed, not Nicken, not her mother or even her uncle Kai, who had not greeted her as she had entered the room. At least, she believed that he had not. She could not remember anything past being sat down at the table.

Maybe she had been at the whiskey for most of the day.

"Guys, are you listening?" She propped her elbows up on the table, resting her chin between her hands while being careful not to knock the antique looking plate and cutlery before her. "It's taken so long for us to all be here - together. Aliit - reunited..."

Everyone and everything seemed to slow down around her. With robotic like gestures, her family slowly lowered the objects they had been holding and placed them onto the table. There was a long drawn out moment where no one moved an inch: not a twitch or rising and falling of chests as they breathed.

"What's...what's going on?" she asked, a cold nerve clawing its way up her spine.

All heads around the table shot upright as if the bodies they belonged to had been jolted by a sudden electrical current. Slowly, and with impending intent, their bodies swivelled around to face her. Expressionless, motionless; save for a look that passed through their eyes. A shard of savagery, a dagger of devastation and a knife of kindred vengeance glowed before passing out of their stares as quickly as it had appeared.

Mirdala rose to her feet as calmly and carefully as she could, holding her hands defensively above her head. "I...I don't know what's going on...but -"

Things happened in a blur. At one moment, she was taking timid steps backwards towards the entrance to the dining room. In the next, her father's lightsaber speared towards her. The blade pierced her stomach too quickly for her to react. She was knocked hard, back into the wall behind her as the amber shaft pinned her in place. Agony ravaged throughout all of her body, threatening to overload her pain sensors and drop her into the welcome embrace of unconsciousness. The dark never came, instead she was forced to watch as everything in her world shattered.

Zhed had produced his electric blue saberstaff and was raining angry blows against Nicken's defences; who retaliated with a strong offence from the long vibro-staff that he had slung across his back. The Zabrak vaulted high, somersaulting to land on top of the dining table. In a droid like manner he ignored the pain as Zhed's lightsaber cut a deep furrow into his leg and seemed to maintain perfect balance as he spun. He swung the staff across from his shoulder in a two-handed slash towards his adoptive brother's head. There was a sickening crack as the heavy weighted end of the weapon impacted with Zhed's skull and he tumbled to the floor; lifeless.

The next to fall were her uncle and Nicken. Her uncle quickly removed Nicken's need for a head as he jumped down from the table to advance on the Corellian Jedi, his sapphire blue lightsaber blade swiping easily through the unarmoured section of the Zabrak's neck. His head rolled to land in a corner of the room, his body remaining statuesque for a moment before it flopped lazily onto the floor. Her father then wasted no time in ending her uncle's life, sending a tremendous Force shove out to the dining table towards his direction. The weight of the wood crushed Kai's chest and choked the life and breath out of him. His gags could be heard above the hum of the remaining lightsaber blades; amber and emerald light bathing the walls.

Mirdala wanted to scream out, but her throat had closed up. She wriggled. She struggled. She lashed. Nothing could remove the lightsaber from her stomach. Her desperate writhing started to slow as her life energy slowly ebbed out of her body.

She watched in horror as her mother and father started to circle one another, exchanging the occasional blow as if testing the defences of the other. After moments of pacing, her father finally lunged.

A scream made its way past Mirdala's lips at last.

Her mother crumpled to the floor, though her father's blades had not made any contact with her form. He paused and shook his head, as if awoken from something and stared down at his wifes body.

"Len'ika!"

Mirdala's breath became more coarse and difficult as Laothin looked from her to his wife. She saw him rush towards her, but by then it was too late. Her life let go of existence and she became one with the Force.

Reality, or what she hoped to be reality, snapped Mirdala's eyes open. She sat up with a sharp start, the room spinning around her as she turned her head in every direction she could find. This was not her uncle's apartment on Corellia. The overhead lighting was dim to the point where it was nearly turned off. Neon pink and purple strips bordering the walls just below the level of the ceiling gave the room an underground feeling. Whatever she was lying upon now was plush, exquisite and expensive compared to the couches she had observed only moments ago.

Had that been her life really ending, and she was now experiencing a realm beyond the living?

A figure darted over and knelt before her, well manicured hands with electric blue painted nails grasping her own reassuringly. The woman's pale red tinted skin appeared even darker in the lack of light, but her black and ruby streaked hair made her appearance instantly recognisable.

"Hush, Mirdala." Durana Kendari leaned forwards and pressed her lips to her forehead, giving her a parental kiss that she obviously hoped would calm her. "You're safe now."

Mirdala could not form a reply. Her heart and mind were still racing in tandem circles as she tried to piece together all that had happened. The mysterious vision. The after effects. The second, more nerve-shaking vision. Waking up with her aunt watching over her. It was clear that she had been out for a long while, but beginning to even estimate at the time span made her headache worse.

As to why this had all happened, she was not aware whether she had been the near victim of a date rape situation, or if this was something a touch more dark from the Force. The visions had not been clear in their purpose or origin, what might have spawned them in her mind, but both left her with a futile feeling that she did not want to be left alone with her thoughts for the foreseeable future.

"Ran'ika, move," a voice demanded sternly from behind her aunt's shoulder. Although she could not tell where it was from, the audio quality sounded distant, leading her to believe it came from a holo-com generator.

Durana dipped her head briefly in exasperation, then daintily untwined her fingers from hers and moved to sit behind her, instead picking up a blanket and pulling it across both of their shoulders. Mirdala turned her head and smiled weakly but gratefully at her for a moment, then turned her attention to the hologram image before her. Her guess had been right.

At least my brain is starting to function again, she mused, but her confidence was short-lived when her a wave of unreleased pain rolled through her brain. She gritted her teeth and forced herself cope with it.

In the hologram stood two men, both who had been in her company only a short while before. But then, she seen them in a totally different light. Now, her brother was dressed in a simple, tan, nerf hide jacket with minimalist detailing down the sleeves and black work slacks. Her father, as usual, was in his midnight, Mandalorian armour but the helmet was not in sight this time.

"Mird, how are you feeling?" Zhed asked, his shoulders twitching ever so slightly beneath his jacket as his posture started to relax at the sight of her, now fully awake.

"Sore," she grunted, allowing her head to naturally fall to one side and rest itself on Durana's shoulder. "But at least I know this pain is real. I don't remember much about what happened."

Her brother nodded grimly, allowing himself to be guided aside with a thought, as their father stepped into the centre of the hologram to grasp her attention. "We can help you, Mird'ika. Sur'ar. Tell us what happened: everything."

"I don't know, Buir." Mirdala was grateful when she felt her aunt tug gently on the cloth around them, encouraging but supporting her. "I went to get a drink after visiting Uncle Kai and Kortos on Treasure Ship Row. It wasn't anything alcoholic...I think.

"I passed out...I guess. I don't know whether I experienced visions or dreams but they felt very real." She paused, remembering all the smells and sounds she had picked up while drifting in and out of consciousness. Some of the sounds she could recall had definitely not belonged in a cantina-type location. Blades on bone, screams, the crack of Nicken's staff as it crunched into Zhed's skull...

As soon as the sound started to echo in Mirdala's mind, she looked up and stared past her father towards Zhed. Their gazes locked, and her entire resolve left itself in a rush. She buried her face into her hands and burst into tears, letting her aunt tug her sharply against her side. She began to rock her back and forth gently, a soothing hand gently stroking her hair. She could feel Durana's shoulders shrug as some unseen communication passed between the other three people present, but nothing else existed in that moment for Mirdala except getting the fear out, the built up tension literally washing itself out of her system.

"Pull yourself together, woman. They're alive and they're fine. It was just a dream," she found herself muttering, barely a decibel above a whisper, the words passing from her lips known only to her.

But was it, really? Was her first family gathering approaching soon, bringing death and catastrophe with it?

Rubbing a hand across red rimmed eyes, she shook her head and sat up straight again to look back at the hologram. Zhed was looking remotely uncomfortable with his arms crossed precisely across his broad chest, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He could clearly sense that he had been the cause of her anguished outburst and it bothered him. She knew him well, he would wait and press her on the subject at a better time.

Her father remained expressionless, as impassive without his helmet as much as he was when wearing it. But she could tell, he had flinched as soon as she started crying. She was his Mird'ika, his youngest child and only daughter. He was ferociously protective of her in any circumstance, and seeing her so distressed was likely to shake him up a little. Her aunt would be faring much worse - she was a Zeltron and negative emotions could affect her mental reserves for days.

"S...sorry." Mirdala decided that getting straight back to the subject at hand would be better than answering questions on what had happened moments before. "The dreams - or visions - were things that have happened and one that hasn't. I don't know whether that makes it true...and...it felt real but...

"There were dream like elements. The first vision was from our trip to Ilum." She almost - almost - smiled inappropriately when an eyebrow quirked up on her father's forehead at the mention. "When we were attacked by Gorgodons. It started with us exploring the caves and then jumped straight to the attack. Sort of like...a holodrama. All the irrelevant bits were cut out. That was the same with the second vision...but..."

"Mird'ika." Her father's voice was so soft and gentle that it took Mirdala by surprise when he spoke. Her attention was his and his alone. "Tell us, then we can kick the shebs of those responsible."

Her smile brightened slightly in time with his, but they had not established whether someone or something was responsible for her experience. "We were at Uncle Kai's apartment in Coronet. You, me, Mum, Nick and Zhed." Her brother's head came up at the mention of his name. "Uncle Kai had served dinner. For some reason, you were keen to eat it even though you told me before we sat down that you'd brought Ujj cake with you in case he was cooking." This brought snorts of laughter from the two men in the hologram.

"We sat down to eat, but I wasn't hungry. Nor, could I remember anything before entering the room. Nothing. Everything I had done that day, or planned to do after the meal vanished. So, you all started eating while I watched. I brought up the fact that we had never met together as a family before -" The words clogged up in her throat. It took several mental restarts to get her mouth working again. "Then everything went berserk. You all seemed like you were in some kind of...trance." She jabbed a finger at her father's form in the hologram with wide eyes. You threw your lightsaber at me and pinned it through me into a wall."

Her father remained deathly still as she continued on, describing in as much detail as she could muster about Zhed dying, then Nicken, then Kai. She tried to calm herself, taking in deep breaths, but her heart threatened to escape from her chest with each thump as her panic grew.

"You attacked Mum! You didn't strike her, but she...she just fell. To the floor. I knew she was dead. As soon as she fell it was like you woke up. You called her name, but somehow knew she wasn't with us anymore. You then looked at me and saw I was alive, so rushed to help me. But it was too late and I died. I just let-"

"K'uur!" Laothin hissed, and she instantly fell silent. She could see him reprimand himself mentally for being harsh, but his expression did not soften. She figured that he had ruled out this experience as coincidental dreams now. "Get some rest, Mird'ika. We'll be in contact again within a couple of days after we've done some investigation."

Mirdala nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest and hugging her arms around them. Her aunt rose and carefully draped the blanket around her so that no inch of her body remained exposed to the world, then went to shut off the holocom.

"Look after my daughter, Durana." Her father's threat was intended to go unheard, she believed, but the anger highlighting his words kept their intonation gruff and loud. "No sheltering in other beings' beds for a while. She's your top priority until I get in contact again."

"I know that, Laothin." Durana planted her hands on her hips and gave him a knowing look. "Family first. You can trust me."

His image winked out without a final word, pitching the room into even deeper darkness.

How much of their family would remain by the time they next spoke?