With the bounty frozen on the lower level of the ship, Lorian set the course for Tatooine in silence. It had taken the rest of the day to reach the ship with the bounty in tow, and by the time they arrived it was too dark to fly. They ended up staying the night on the planet, much to Lili's dismay.
She hadn't spoken to Lorian normally since he confronted her about the red armor she was in possession of. Lili had gone to clean up, then went straight to her room. He hadn't seen her since the previous night.
He stared at Tatooine, the planet they had been orbiting for the past few minutes. He hadn't made any move to contact the planet or move closer. He stared at the large, desert planet. He knew it was a popular planet, full of different species, and the home planet of one of the galaxy's heroes. Lorian wasn't sure how he felt about the heroes who took down the Empire. Nothing had changed too much, after all – not business, anyways.
He decided it would be better to wake Lili after they were on the planet, and he sighed as he hit the radio communication over his head. He waited a few seconds.
"This is Mos Eisley Tower. We are tracking you. Head for bay two-seven, over."
"Copy that. Locked in for two-seven." He flew closer to the planet, wondering exactly what he needed to expect. He knew whatever Lili was hiding wasn't something she wanted to talk about, but something she needed to do. He hadn't expected her to have ties to Tatooine.
Upon landing a few minutes later, they were in a bustling town full of dangerous criminals. He landed where he was directed and turned off the ship, hesitated a moment, and went to her door. He knocked and the doors slid open. Lili looked up at him silently, then brushed past to exit the ship.
Neither said a thing as they dropped the hatch and stepped onto the ground. Immediately, Lili's face looked overwhelmed with memories from a long time ago.
She could remember the blistering heat of the hotter seasons, of the trips in and out of the city. She could remember the criminals and the womp rats, and—
A shot rang out and two pit droids folded into themselves from where they had been touching the ship.
"Hey!" A man stormed out of the mechanic's shop nearby, looking furious. "You leave them droids alone! Them's mine!"
As Lorian turned to face the man, Lili departed into the city, following an all-too familiar path. She glanced back and upon seeing Lorian still conversing with the man, continued on through the crowds.
She knew these roads, even after all these years. She knew the buildings, even if she seldom looked up from her path. The chatter was everything she remembered as she went in the direction of the southern outskirts of the town, knowing that her destination – and a distant past – would come into view after the first mile of walking. She set out at a brisk pace, shoulders tense and the sun on her face. Memories passed before her eyes and almost became too much as she put one foot in front of the other, and yet, she persisted.
And, as always, Lorian wasn't surprised to see she had gone without him. His mild argument with the mechanic had distracted him long enough for her to sneak away, a habit she would most likely never break. After he had given strict instructions to the mechanic about the ship, he turned on the footstep tracker of his vizor. He watched her footsteps disappear in the crowd, heading in a straight line. He was caught off guard by this – each time he had tracked her steps, they were always in a bee-line as she looked at everything.
He didn't see her again until he was out of the bustling city, when he could see her walking ahead in the distance. Further up ahead was a large, abandoned palace – cylindrical in shape and on the side of a small mountain. For a moment, she stopped to stare. Then, she continued on the old path towards the palace. He turned the tracker off and followed at a faster pace to reach her.
It took several minutes before they were at the largest tower of the palace, where she had frozen. She kept her back to him.
"How do you know this place?" Lili whipped around, gun securely in her hand. As she realized it was him, she lowered the gun again. She turned back and stared up at the doors. "What exactly were you involved in?"
Lili looked back at him, looking shadowed by memory.
"It's like I said, Lorian. No one ever suspects a little girl." She paused, then knocked on the door. As a mechanic scanner popped out of the wall, she grabbed onto it, yanked hard, and watched the rusted piece fly from its hiding spot. She was breathing heavily. "Flip the rock over there."
Lorian stared for a moment, then went to the closest rock near the entrance. He lowered and braced himself for the weight, but found the rock was hollowed out and below it was a lever. He kicked it and the large doors slid up with a protesting groan.
The interior was dark and empty, the only light from the entrance. Lili walked inside and pressed a hand to the wall as she walked. More memories came to her and she lowered her head, fighting back the tears.
"You want to know where my parents are, and the truth is that I don't know," she said quietly. "I don't know because my father sold me into slavery when I was eight."
There was silence and Lili led the way into the palace, the route permanently engraved in her mind.
"My father sold me to the most feared gangster on Tatooine."
"The Hutt." She tensed at the reminder, as she recalled the giant creature with big, lizard-like eyes. Her old master.
"Rinnrivin was an associate here. When the Empire collapsed, he took me with him to run spice. I didn't have a choice. I never have." They entered a large, open space after descending a set of stairs. Lili could still hear the singing and dancing and screaming echoing off the walls. She stared at Jabba's platform, empty and gathering grime. Her lip trembled as she walked further into the room.
She kicked an old crate with a frustrated yell.
"I hated this place. I loathed it." She kicked another crate, watching it skitter across the room. "He made me cook and clean for him."
She shoved a large barrel off the platform she leapt onto, then used her foot to press a button. Lorian jumped aside as a secret hatch opened. She sighed, then lowered into the dark hole. He didn't know where she had gone until he noticed a light coming through a grate a few feet away.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking down at her. Lili's eyes were trailed on the skeletal remains of the great beast as she looked upon it sadly.
"This is where he kept the rancor. Jabba originally bought me as a gift for the rancor, but . . . something strange happened," she said, and moved closer to the giant skull of the creature. "Remmy the rancor stopped the moment I touched his foot. He wouldn't eat me. He wasn't a cruel creature at all. Just cruelly treated. We got along nicely."
She heard Lorian jump down the hatch to join her.
"He fed Remmy his enemies. It's where he sent Luke Skywalker to be killed," Lili said, head lowered.
"Skywalker?" Lili looked back at him, trying to offer a little smile.
"I used to look at Han Solo when he was brought to Jabba, frozen in carbonite. I met Princess Leia when she became a slave, too." She paused. "She offered to take me with them. To help me."
"Why didn't you go?" Lili turned back around and she felt more tears in her eyes.
"I thought he would come back." Neither had to say who she was speaking off. She turned around with a heavy sigh and stopped at one of the large walls.
"After Jabba's death, I kept coming back here to hide things before Rinnrivin forced me to leave." She reached her arms under a hidden alcove in the cave and Lorian watched as she began tossing random items about, all varying in value and age.
"Where did the armor come from?" She froze for a moment, feeling the box she hadn't seen for years.
"Do you want to know, or do you want to ask instead?" she asked, looking back with a glare. He looked back in mild surprise, and her face twisted as she pulled out a large, black box covered in dust. The tears welled more as she brushed a hand over the dust.
"Do you remember how I told you I've only seen one Mandalorian before you?" she asked softly. There was dead silence, and Lorian began to piece things together at once. He began to realize all the clues about her and her past were there in front of him the entire time.
"He had a spare set of armor, in case of emergencies. He—He took care of me. For a little while. Sometimes he seemed cruel, but I noticed when he'd leave food for me. He taught me what I know about repairing ships." She unlatched the crate and Lorian was met with damaged green armor, two yellow shoulder plates, part of a weapon, and a yellow braid that looked remarkably similar to the one around her waist, over the green cape. He recognized the symbol on the shoulder plates immediately.
Lili lifted the shoulder plate gently. Lorian noticed that one of the arm plates was missing, as was the base of the weapon.
"His name was Boba Fett. He was Jabba's personal bounty hunter. He was eaten by a sarlacc. I wasn't there to see it. This is all I have left to remember him by."
She shook her head and he saw the tears fall down her cheeks.
"He did—He did horrible things, Lorian. He worked for the Empire. But he took care of me all the same, when Jabba didn't."
And, Lorian began to realize just exactly why she had never been so scared of him or intimidated – she had grown to trust someone who wore the Mandalorian armor when she was just a girl, sold into slavery.