Chapter 2

Celia woke up first consciously with her eye remaining closed waiting for her body to catch up. She could feel the warmth from the sun on her face warming up her body and her face. She was completely expecting to wake up on her couch with a pain in her side and something spilled over. What she wasn't expecting was the grainy feel of something slipping through her toes and fingers. Feeling that jolted Celia's eyes opened; out in front of her was an ocean of sand as far as her eye could see. Panicking her eyes scanned the entirety of the scene before her wishing that whatever was happening to her was just an illusion and nothing more. Celia was alone, she had no one there was no one that she could call or scream to - collecting herself she remembered that she fell asleep with her phone in her pocket. Scrambling to get the blanket untangled from her person Celia checked her sweatpants pockets trying in vain to find her phone. She didn't find it until she stood up and noticed it laying half buried in the sand; hurriedly she picked it up searching the screen so she could figure out what the hell happened to her. The panic started to seep in when she realized that her phone read 'no service' right at the top, groaning she turned around in a circle maybe four to five times before she finally settled on moving one direction and moved forward. It took her about five minutes of walking in the sun and sand to realize that she had no shoes on and with the heavy sweats and comfy shirt she was wearing she was getting uncomfortable. The heat was starting to bother her body as sweat started pouring down into her crevasses. Now Celia would never call herself an athlete because obviously she was not; she enjoyed to lounge about when she had the opportunity to do so. But in all fairness she could say that was in shape, Celia ran long distance for track and field for about five to six years during high school and throughout college. It kept her mind calm and collected while also an outlet to let some steam off of her body; her body always felt more relaxed and euphoric after a fifteen minute run.

But this was totally different; she woke up disoriented, she had no water and after what seemed like hours of walking she started to get a cramp in her leg and tenderness in her feet. She didn't start feeling any relief (mental or physical) until she spotted a seemingly random tree that was sprouted in the desert. Right next to the trunk of that tree was a shadow cast by the tree's branches and leaves offering solace in the blaring heat. Hurriedly Celia rushed over and collapsed in that space before resting her head near an emerging root from the tree. Her breathing slowed as her eyelids got heavy signaling that rest was falling for her, instead of fighting it she just let it happen and fell into its embrace. When she did wake up it was due her rest being interrupted by a loud grunt and a water skin being thrown missing her face and landing in her hair. Once her eyes fully focused on the person waking her up she rubbed at them once- twice until she could be sure of what was standing in front of her gesturing wildly with their short arms. Now Celia was never one to think she had something wrong with her mental well being but, with what was standing in front of her chattering she might have been able to convince herself otherwise. What she was seeing was impossible, for the simple reason that these individuals were literally just in the show she was watching. These were those Jawas that she had just witnessed strip all of the Mandalorian's ship to a mere skeleton. The short little creatures dressed in dark hooded cloaks with their red eye searching over her for any valuables. They ushered Celia up and through the doors of their large Sandcrawler, their noises getting louder and louder the closer she got, making her realize that there were actually more of them in the large vehicle. Hobbling her way in her exhaustion started to creep on her again making it a struggle to get fully inside. The jawas ending up shoving her down onto a pad of blankets urging the waterskin back up to her lips; she accepted the gesture and drank greedily, gulping the water down as fast as her mouth would let her. Sighing with relief she closed her eyes feeling the satisfaction of the cool liquid run down her throat and into her stomach; Celia turned her attention back to the little people in front of her trying once again to get her attention with their hands. Focusing on their hands and fingers since she couldn't understand a word of what they were saying, then she realized that they were pointing to her phone that was lit up due to her finger pressed on it.

"What? My phone?- ohh… you don't even know what a phone is right, right… uhh.." Celia said clutching her phone in her hand while bringing it forward letting them get a good look at the piece of technology. "It let me do all kinds of stuff like call people or listen to music… you keep forgetting Celia don't know what you're saying to them.!"She quietly whispered hysteria rising in her voice. Trying to get herself to focus on what they were attempting to communicate with her about, she leveled her eyes to where they all seemed to be pointing. Looking down she realized that they were pointing to her uncovered feet that looked haggard from walking what had to be hours in the sand.

"What about my feet?" She asked, trying to get a grasp on what was happening. Her head kept moving up and down as she tried to follow the jawas hand movements. None of it made any sense until one jawa came all the way from the back with a pair of boots. They looked about her size, maybe one or two sizes too big; it was then that she assumed that she had actually sparked the jawas interest, which was perhaps why they had picked her up and helped in the first place. The jawa made the gesture one more time, he or she who was to tell pointed to first her uncovered feet then the boots and last her phone. Clutching at it defensively while snapping it back to her chest Celia shocked her head no violently.

"That's not gonna happen! What else do you want?" Looking down at her person frantically her eyes zeroed in on her wrist. "Here, here! Take this!" Unclasping the hook of her bracelet she eyed it wearily before hanging it on her pointer finger in display."Let me trade this!" Celia pleaded; then remembering from the movies and the one show she literally just saw these creatures in, she tried to make the deal a little sweeter for them knowing that they had a soft spot for valuable treasures. " This is even better, look at the color! The crystals are so rare, this has been in my family for hundreds of years," she trailed off and once she saw that they started to become uninterested she started to panic. " You have to put them in the light at midnight.." she started rambling, plucking impressive thoughts from her head and letting them spill from her lips "they end up showing you things no person has ever seen in their lives!" Trying to make her voice sound climactic as she tried to sell the hell out of this craft bracelet she scored from Niamh as a birthday present. It was made of simple teardrop shapes of cut turquoise, it had five of these pretty little crystals spaced out on her wrist in a thin rose gold colored chain. She had got it for her due to birthday being in March and the colors matching the occasion as her birthstone. Bringing herself back to reality she heard the jawas talking in astoundment by what she could only assume to be her impeccable selling skills. They were huddled together talking or chattering loudly and all once they seemed to nod their head in affirmation and turned to face her again. The Jawas then once again pointed to the boots in their hands to the bracelet that was hanging off of her fingers. Eagerly nodding her head over and over again Celia agreed which the Jawas happily accepted, snatching chain from her hand and shoving the boots into them in a hurried substitution. Frantically she poured a little water on each of her feet in order to rinse away the sand and grime that was crusted onto her heels and soles. Carefully because she could feel parts of her feet were still incredibly tender she slipped the boots carefully slipping them on as she tried to toe them on.

For almost the third or fourth time today she sighed in gratification as she felt the coolness of the inside of the shoes on her feet. "Thank you, thank you, thank you" Celia sighed once again while closing her eyes and resting her head back against the wall that she was sitting in front of. Not knowing what to do or what the Jawas had planned for her, she used this time given to her to gain whatever rest she could possibly store in her body in order to keep it for whatever she was going to need it for later. For what felt like a surprisingly long time Celia rested her body not attempting to defend itself or stay alert for attack, she was lulled into the deepest of slumbers with the Sandcrawler low whirring noise from inside the machine. She wasn't woken up until the vehicle came to a screeching halt lurching itself forward along with everything it had on the inside including herself. Yelping as she was jolted awake by the movement and found herself again tangled within the blankets she was laying on top of. Sitting up her eyes struggled to focus on the figures and shapes in front of her, she didn't know what was happening to her; all she knew was that she felt hands bringing her up to her feet, another full waterskin in her hands began pushing her out of their fortress.

" Whoa where are we going now?" Celia asked as she shuffled down the ramp trying to catch her footing. She got no reply as she turned around to watch the Jawas as they used their hands to shoo her away from them and their Sandcrawler. "I guess this is my stop," she said as she shrugged her shoulders and made her way off the ramp and scanned her surroundings to figure out what her next move was and where she could go from her. She couldn't recognize anything as she made her way through the old western type town, there was literally nothing she could identify. And nothing could help her; it wasn't as if she was a George Lucas fanatic she didn't know the name of the towns or cities that occupied this world. And she definitely did not know the rules of play here either. What was going to do here? How was she gonna get back home, she did not belong here. It was too hot, she was wearing her sweatshirt that she fell asleep in before she arrived and it was starting to overheat her. Slipping it up and off her sweaty body she tied it around her waist immediately feeling cooler. With all her other issues out to the side and placed in the back of her mind she started to become aware of a throbbing pain that was just a hair from ebbing away. Touching the right side of her neck she winced at the tender feeling that was right at the juncture between her neck and shoulder; she would have to come back to that at a later time. At this time Celia wanted to cry, everything that could possibly happen to her in a few hours had evidently happened to her: she was lost, she was hungry and she was alone and with that information alone she had no idea what she could do right at this moment. That must have been obvious from the look on her face from the way an older woman was looking at her. The woman seemed to nod to herself in determination before she started walking Celia's way.

Panicking when she realized that the woman was making her way towards her from whatever she was tinkering with. Averting her gaze and turning her body sideways to make it seem like she wasn't watching the foreign woman.

" Excuse me, but are you okay? I was just minding my own business but you look really distressed and I've never seen anyone with clothes like that before." She said eyeing you up and down with concern etched all across her features, they were warm and almost motherly and she felt her tension within her body evaporate. "I'm not ma'am, I have no idea where I am. I woke up in my home sleep last night and this morning I woke up on this planet." She nodded her head in understanding as she listened. "What part of the galaxy do you come from?" Celia paused, she couldn't tell this woman that she came from Earth because she for damn certain knew that there was no Earth in the Star Wars universe. "I have no memory of my life before last night, I can't even remember how I got home last night before I arrived here!" She lied. The older woman obviously didn't believe Celia as her eyes got slightly narrow as she was telling her story. "Well as long as you can help carry these bags of fibers to my home you'll have a place to stay." The woman pointed to a Bantha that was surrounded by sacks that were stuffed closed with thick fibres sticking out through the top and sides. " No ma'am I can't let you do that, you're a stranger and I wouldn't want to burden you," Celia insisted, shaking her hand and head in denial. The woman in a dominant and authoritative fashion immediately put her hand up stopping Celia in her tracks so she could speak. " You remind me of my Ami my daughter who now lives with her husband further away than I could ever travel. I never see her anymore even though I pray to see her everyday. Now I want you to stay with me for as long as it takes for you to get back on your feet or until you remember where you came from," She said peeking a look towards Celia in her peripheral vision. "My name is Shiran and these two lovely creatures are Juvi and Knox," she said pointing to the Bantha that she supposed was hers to ride. "So I'm hoping that we would tie some of these sacks to their harnesses and whatever doesn't fit we'll have to hold in our hands." The plan seemed sound, but she soon realized that was easier said than done. Celia wasn't even able to get on top of the Bantha she assumed was named Juvi. By the time Celia did get herself up on top of the animal Shiran was bursting with laughter holding her sides at Celia's distress. She waited until Celia was situated before handing her two of the canvas bags to hold one in each hand. Shiran then after double checking that she was situated hoisted herself onto her ride with grace and with her long arms reached down to the top of the sack and lifted them up on her own arms with little to no effort. "My home will be a ride from here but do not worry Juvi will take great care of you, she's a gentle mama," Shiran reassured Celia with a nod before she turned forward for the journey ahead.

Side by side the bantha trekked across the sand laden ground as they carried their owner and cargo back to their dwelling; it had to be at least ten to fifteen minutes that passed when she could feel Shiran's head turn towards her. "Do you mind if I ask you about that?" She asked, pointing to her own neck in question. "What, my bruise? I woke up with it after Jawas dropped me off" Celia answered unconsciously putting a hand to her neck. "That is no bruise my dear, that's a marking. I've never seen one before with my own eyes but I've heard stories of ones with an intricate mark upon their flesh like you do, they were destined to meet their greatness." Shiran answered her with her eyes trained on where Celia's fingers rested. "Is that a myth or something people share with each over the years?"

"It is a legend that is written in almost all child stories that are told before bed. I can't remember the name of it now, but I'm almost certain I still have the storybook" And almost right at that exact moment the Bantha had reached the top of a hill making Shiran's hut visible. Celia had a quick second to notice her home before her eyes were averted upwards towards the sky where she saw the images of two sunsets and in her mind she knew exactly where she was but just to be safe she decided to ask. " Shiran what planet are we on?" Celia asked, still looking up at the sky. " Tatooine my dear, haven't you ever heard of Tatooine?" "I can't remember," Celia said in awe continuing to stare up into the sky. "Well no worries child, we have some chores to finish, a roof to patch up and rest to catch up on. Tomorrow morning we'll go back to the markets to pick up lunch and dinner and maybe if we're lucky we'll find out more information about you." Shiran told Celia hopping off of Knox and pulling each canvas bag down to the door of her abode with Celia following suit haggard from the day's events.

Hi guys! Sorry I'm a day late I completely forgot to post yesterday but I have my solution! I am now setting an alert on my phone letting me know to update. I usually write my story in the first two or three days and take up the rest of the time to revise.

I think also I am going to start a poll for what we want our beloved Mandalorian to say to Celia when they first meet, as in literally his first words to her. I think I'm going to post it later tonight and will be available on my profile. If there aren't any entries than I'll defer to my best judgement (but I'll also be pretty disappointed there were no players).

Thanks and Love,

aspirations 3