AN: My first fic for this fandom. I hope you'll enjoy this! We are 10 years before the events of Phantom Menace and we will follow Danali's life, meaning, we will eventually reach canon events.
"That crazy human had Urizan killed! Those Hands are getting too cocky for their own good!"
"It's all because of their crazy boss, I tell you. I've heard she wants to expand and is getting more aggressive because of it. Marking her territory and all that."
"She should've just disappeared forever…poor Urizan...he didn't deserve to be cut up like that..."
Danali listened closely to those Rodians hissing to each other about the 'Kind Mother'. She hated calling her that because she was a lot of things but 'kind' was definitely not one of them. Still, it had become a habit by now after the last two years. She had to admit though, that being forced to work for her had come with its advantages, like understanding Rodese pretty well and that at a measly seven years of age.
Still, it was no fun to wear the same dirty clothes all the time, pretending to be a Corellian street rat living in the slums and eating scraps in the back alleys. She was doing all of that just so she wouldn't stand out from all of the other orphans. This way, she could listen to other bad guys and tell the Kind Mother about what was being said out there. Half the things being talked about Danali didn't even understand, but she had a good enough memory to be pretty decent at what she did. As long as she could repeat most of the words and get across what needed to be gotten across, the Kind Mother was happy.
And if the Kind Mother was happy it meant no punishment, which was always a good thing.
So, Danali kept listening while crouching against a wall in a dark and sleazy back alley between the huge skyscrapers peppering the streets and blocking a clear view of the reddening sky. People like her – poor people with dirty clothes and no family or home – were walking aimlessly around, looking for answers and salvation, but they would find nothing. The Kind Mother had been kind enough to hammer that fact into her head. She had repeated it every second, minute, hour and day, for weeks and months, until the words were so deeply ingrained into her being that they just appeared to be true. People like her, they would never get better.
"...something new from Vuk'dulem earlier."
"And?"
"She said that Jedi landed earlier on the planet."
"What? Jedi? Why are Jedi here?"
"How am I supposed to know? But you know Vuk'dulem. Most of the things she says are bantha spew."
"She wouldn't make something like this up, though. The Tailhead likes to lie about herself. Remember when she said that she once defeated a Mandalorian in hand-to-hand combat?"
"Or when she said that she has Jedi in her family?"
"Or when she said that she used to be a podracing champion on Cantonica?"
The Rodians broke into a fit of laughter. Danali had never heard of Mandalorians or podracing, but the word Jedi had been used in her presence once or twice. The Kind Mother made sure that she didn't know a lot, but she couldn't prevent the others working for her from forgetting and talking. There was this one time when one of the children had asked a bouncer what Spice was because the child had heard it on the streets when listening to the other bad guys. The bouncer had lost his tongue and the child had been forced to watch. The lesson learned was: children don't ask questions and the adults don't answer questions.
Danali watched a few landspeeders pass by, wondering for the briefest moment what it would be like to just hop on and disappear. Maybe even to space. Wouldn't that be something? She, Danali Bretrow in space, on a spaceship and among the stars, far away from Corellia and The Kind Mother. But people like her, they could never leave and they could never get a better life. The Kind Mother had made sure she understood.
Glancing around, Danali noticed the Rodians were gone and the only conversations happening now were about Spice and booze. One man wanted to pay a woman for 'some fun', but she punched him in return. He used a lot of swear words after that.
After standing up and dusting off her clothes – not that that did her any good – Danali decided that it was time to go and see the Kind Mother. She didn't really like walking through Tyrena by herself, especially through these parts. There were many aliens, many of them scary-looking and even more of them mean-looking. Many of the men and women appeared to be the sort her mother had used to warn her about. Now, as she was walking in between these many tightly-stacked houses, these impossibly tall skyscrapers and through these dirty streets, she wished her mother was still there so she could hold onto her hand. That had always made her feel better.
She ducked past the other homeless and orphans, past the other hopeless hiding out in packs in-between buildings, out of sight and out of mind.
The stench of these places didn't even bother her anymore; she had gotten used to it. It was typical and kind of belonged here as well. A terrible place with a terrible smell.
Taking an alleyway leading to another street, Danali stuffed her hands into her trousers' pockets when her destination came into view. With bright, flashy lights, a posing woman was always successfully drawing everyone's attention. The Kind Mother had once said that, once she got older and if she turned out pretty enough, she would do the same work as the other women in there.
Danali hoped she would get ugly.
With a frown on her face, she walked across the street, minding the few landspeeders, then quickly entered after the door to the Kind Mother's place opened with a hiss. The Gamorrean bouncer ignored her after a quick once-over. Danali weaved her way past the still empty tables with their comfortable-looking red couches and platforms for the women to dance on. The dark and red lighting always gave her an uncomfortable feeling, as if she shouldn't be here, but there was nothing she could do.
She walked into a colourless hallway and passed the restrooms there to quickly find the stairs leading up to the Kind Mother's office. In front of the office was another Gamorrean, though this one was blocking her entry. He grunted something at her – she just couldn't understand their language – and disappeared into the office. A moment later, the door opened again and he motioned for her to step inside.
Danali did just so, walking past the Gamorrean and into the office. The Kind Mother's office was a large room with a large desk set in the middle of the space and littered with several datapads. There were weird looking plants left and right, decorating the room along with sculptures of naked women, human and Twi'lek. And then, there was the Kind Mother, Emilanay Morrhar, with her black hair, pale skin and beautiful black dress. What always drew Danali's eyes, however, were the two deep scars running down the left side of the Kind Mother's face, right through her eye. It had been replaced by a cybernetic one and it made the usually beautiful woman look a bit scary.
She was curious – so very curious – about how the Kind Mother had gotten her face all scratched up, but Danali would never dare to ask. While most questions would just get her punished, she knew that asking this question would certainly get her killed.
Smiling softly at her, the Kind Mother leaned back into her chair, beckoning for her to get closer. Danali did so hesitantly. Just one wrong word, one wrong action and she knew she would be shot at with a blaster. She had seen before what that could do and it scared the wits out of her.
"I assume you have something important to report, my dear?" the Kind Mother asked. Her voice was sweet and soft and if Danali didn't know any better, she'd think that she was a nice woman just from hearing her voice.
But she did know better.
"Y-yes, Ma'am," Danali said, her nervous stutter beginning to set in. It always did around the Kind Mother. "There w-were two Rodians and th-they talked about y-you killing someone...Uri...Ura…Urizan. Right."
"Ah, yes. He was stalling my expansion. I suppose that came up as well?"
She nodded.
The Kind Mother exhaled, her lips a bit pouty. "That it would eventually make waves was to be expected. But I doubt that such meagre scuttlebutt is why you couldn't wait, is it, my dear?"
Danali still wasn't sure what scuttlebutt meant, even though she had heard it so often, but she was too scared of being punished to ask. She, at least, had a bit of an idea.
"N-no, Ma'am. They a-also said that J-Jedi are h-here."
The Kind Mother's brows rose high and she leaned forward, looking almost frightened. It was such a foreign thing to see, Danali's survival instincts had to kick in to stop herself from doing a double-take and angering her.
What is a Jedi? she wanted to ask. Why is everyone scared of a Jedi?
Asking questions was forbidden, however, so she kept quiet.
"Jedi, you say?" There was a tension to the Kind Mother's voice that hadn't been there before. "Are you sure that you have heard them say 'Jedi'?"
Danali nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." She was sure. So far, she had never been wrong with those things since she had been taken in by the Kind Mother when she was five.
The Kind Mother leaned back into her chair and looked deep in thought. "Interesting. Is there anything else?"
"They said that it was a Twi'lek who always lies that said a Jedi was here." Danali shrugged and shuffled around nervously.
"Well, if that is the case, then I do hope that said Twi'lek lied once again. Do you have a name?"
"Vuk'dulem," she answered.
The Kind Mother nodded. "Very good. It appears this Vuk'dulem and I will have to have a chat. Leave, my dear. I have a lot of work to do."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
Danali quickly turned around and left the office, the Gamorrean squeaking and grunting a laugh at her hasty steps.
She couldn't help it. Being alone and in the same room as that woman always put her on edge. All of her senses screamed at her, warning her. It wasn't like she needed it. She knew that the Kind Mother was a bad person, a terrible person, but she had no choice. The only hope she had was that, somehow, miraculously, she would find a way to get away from the Kind Mother; preferably before she was forced to dance for others in her underwear.
Once Danali reached the bottom of the stairs, she took a turn to the left, away from the main area of this place, away from the tables and couches and dancing platforms. Soon, she reached another colourless, dimly lit hallway and took another left; the right was another exit, but not for her, or so the Kind Mother had once explained. After a bit more walking, she finally reached the hall with the many rooms for children like her.
Children without parents. Children no one but the Kind Mother was looking after. Children roaming the streets of Tyrena's slums, listening in on other criminals because no one cared enough to give them a second glance. They were forbidden to be friendly to each other and they most certainly were forbidden to be seen together and to be seen by guests, once this place opened later in the evening. Admittedly, it probably was better this way. Danali doubted that any of them had anything fun to say to each other, fun stories to share or any toys to play with. She knew that she, certainly, had nothing.
Entering her room, which was close to the far end of the hallway, she took off her dirty clothes and stepped into the shower. She hated wearing these things. She hated being kept by the Kind Mother and working for her. It frustrated her but she was terrified of trying to run away. What could she do? She was only a seven-year-old girl.
After feeling somewhat clean again, she dried herself off, slipped into other dirty, but still cleaner clothing before sitting on the bed and brushing her hair.
"Have you ever seen a clean street rat? You may not have the opportunities the White Worms' Scrumrats in Coronet City have, but you could have it a lot worse, trust me in that."
And Danali trusted the Kind Mother in that. Still, without even a clue about who or what those Scrumrats were supposed to be, she couldn't help but be jealous. They had opportunities. Whatever those opportunities were she could not say, but they had them. She and the other children in the Kind Mother's clutches had nothing. All they could do was do as they were told and hope that they would turn out ugly in a few years.
If the Kind Mother and those Rodians were so worried about those Jedi, maybe they could help? Though, how was she to know where the here the Rodians were talking about was exactly? It could be in Coronet City or another place on Corellia. But even if they were right here in Tyrena, how would she even know to reach them? They could be here to spend their holidays.
The most important thing, however, was the fact that everyone could be scared of them because they were a worse gang than the Mother's Hands. They could be more dangerous, more ruthless, more deadly. What good would it do to her to move from bad to worse? Danali sighed defeatedly. There just appeared to be no way out of this.
No matter how she twisted it and turned it, no matter what ideas she managed to cook up, no matter what – the Kind Mother appeared to be right. People like her, they just did not get better.
Stretching down on the bed, she folded her hands over her stomach and stared at the grey ceiling, exhaling heavily. Danali had gotten used to being alone in this world but sometimes – moments like these when she felt really hopeless – she wished that her mother was here with her. Not her father; no, not him. That she was in this situation was his fault, to begin with. Not him. Never him. Just her mother.
Sobbing started to come from the room next to her bed – again. Two years ago, she had been like that as well, but now she couldn't bear those sounds any longer. It was better to just get used to the situation.
With a frustrated groan, Danali rolled onto her side and did her best to cover her ears with the pillow, hoping that the sobbing would be over soon.