Chapter 54

Rain swept over the ocean world in a never-ending deluge.

The distant echoes of thunder rumbled through the air and the occasional bolt of lightning illuminated the darkened sky.

A defender-class light corvette descended through the storm towards a metal city floating above the oceans waves.

The city was made of great domes that were cast in a silvery grey metal that almost blended in with the cold dark waves bellow.

The defender-class corvette set down on a landing pad on the outskirts of the floating city and its landing ramp descended slowly. Four child sized figures, wrapped in cloaks to try and take shelter from the rain, walked down the ramp followed closely by a Hk-51 assassin droid and a nervous looking woman with her hands bound behind her.

Arla was nervous. Not about being hurt, the small green alien as well as Renn and the others had treated her well. And since the small green alien, Yaddle, had started trying to heal her Arla had felt a lot calmer and more at peace.

What Arla was nervous about was meeting her brother.

She hadn't seen him in twenty-six years. Would he recognise her? Would he accept her? After what she had done. What she had become.

She had joined the monsters who had killed their parents. Killed for them. Become a monster herself. She had chances to escape over the years, chances to find her little brother. But she had already become a monster, how could she face her brother after that.

Arla was stood behind the kids as they waited for the doors to the domed city to open. The assassin droid was stood behind her, watching her every move. She didn't blame him for that, she saw how protective over the kids he was and she was a monster. Why shouldn't he be wary of her.

The kind green jedi had decided to stay on the ship. She had said that since they were meeting with Mandalorians she should probably stay behind due to the often 'incendiary' history between the jedi and Mandalore.

The doors to the domed city opened and an armoured Mandalorian marched out in a hurry, quickly followed by a tall pale skinned alien woman who seemed to be hurriedly trying to get the Mandalorian to slow down.

Arla shrunk in on herself seeing the armoured man. That was her brother, wasn't it? What would he do when he reached her? Would he be angry? He should be. She had become a monster.

Jango was moving fast, marching through the rain towards her at a pace just slower than a jog. He reached her quickly and kept coming towards her. Arla flinched and bowed her head, expecting him to yell at her, or maybe hit her.

Arla didn't expect that instead of any of that, Jango walked right up to her and enveloped her in a tight hug.

He squeezed her tightly to him and didn't seemed to want to ever let her go. A tight knot began building in Arla's chest and the water streaming down her face was no longer just being produced by the rain.

-

Renn was sat on a couch in a small apartment in Tipoca City with Shae, Opal and Seela sat by his sides, and watched the awkward interactions between the siblings in front of him.

They had brought Arla Fett to Kamino and had been met on the landing pad by Jango and a tall kaminoan woman named Taun We. Jango had gone straight to embrace Arla, solely focused on his long-lost sister.

The kaminoan, Taun We, had followed him and though she seemed calm and friendly Renn could tell she was slightly annoyed. Renn quickly realised when she introduced herself that she had planned on acting slightly mysterious and guiding Renn and the others to Jango herself, but Jango had obviously messed that up by refusing to wait and meeting them on the landing pad.

Taun We had then led them inside to Jango's apartment, where she had originally hoped the meeting would take place rather than on the soaking wet landing pad, and left after offering them a serine bow.

Renn and the others had then sat on Jango's couch and Alpha had stood by the apartments door still watching Arla warily.

Jango and Arla were sat opposite each other at Jango's dinning table and were silently staring at each other.

After the initially emotion of their reunion the two Mandalorians had become silent and it was clear that neither knew what to say to the other.

"Well, this isn't awkward at all." Opal whispered to Renn sarcastically, before looking away and pretending she had been admiring the ceiling when the two Mandalorian siblings stopped their staring contest to look at her.

"Hehe, sorry about that." Renn said, apologizing on Opal's behalf as she was now absorbed by her appreciation of the featureless white walls of Jango's apartment.

Jango sighed and looked back at his sister.

"I thought you were dead…... that day when death watch came…... after I ran ... I heard the blaster fire…... I thought they killed you. If I'd known, I would have tried to save you. I'm so sorry." Jango said as he looked sadly at his sister.

Arla looked away before mumbling, "Why?"

"What?" Jango looked at her confused.

"Why are you sorry? Why are you happy to see me? I joined the organisation that killed our parents. I killed people for them. I knew you were out there. I could have escaped. Could have found you. But I chose to stay with them. I became a monster.

Why don't you hate me?!" Arla shouted the final words bitterly as tears glistened in her eyes. While Jango just stared at her, his expression unchanging throughout her tirade.

"Because you're my sister. I love you." Jango said simply and the floodgates Arla had been trying to hold together collapsed and she started sobbing uncontrollably.

Jango moved to try and comfort her, in his own awkward way, and Renn motioned to his friends that they should give the siblings some space.

Renn, Opal, Shae, Seela, and Alpha exited the apartment quietly and now stood in the bright white corridor outside.

"Ahh, if it isn't Jango's young friends" the gentle voice of Taun We sounded from behind them, "I was just coming back to see how you were doing."

"We're fine. Just giving Jango and his sister some time to catch up." Renn said.

"Oh, I see." Taun We said knowingly after she looked through the still open door to the apartment and saw the emotional scene inside, "…would you like a tour of the facilities?" she offered after a moment of silence.

"That would be nice, thank you." Renn said, anxious to leave the awkward atmosphere behind.

"Follow me then please," Taun We waved the group to follow her and began leading them off into the indoor city.

-

After some time Renn and the others returned to Jango's apartment with Taun We to find a much calmer scene.

The Mandalorian siblings were once again seated at the small dining table but now seemed much more at ease. Arla's eyes were now red and puffy from crying and though he would claim otherwise Jango's were slightly red too.

"I want to thank you once again for reuniting me with my sister." Jango said and smiled at Renn and the others.

"Its fine. Like I said we're friends. I think it's more Shae you should thank though" Renn answered.

"Yeah. And While I'm not thrilled about someone who tried to assassinate me being set free, my farther said that you were a good person and I know she wasn't exactly the most loyal member of death watch. So I'll let that go." Shae said giving Arla a sceptical look.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to try and kill you." Arla said looking down at her hands guiltily.

"Like I said it's cool. Just don't try to hurt me or anyone I care about and we won't have any problems" Shae said crossing her arms and giving the woman a hard look.

"I won't. I'm never going back to death watch. Unless it's to kill them all." Arla said anger in her eyes. Now she had reunited with her brother and had some time to reflect on her past all the fear and misplaced loyalty to death watch had turned into anger.

Anger at what they had done to her family. What they had done to her. What they had made her do. And what they had turned her into.

They had made her a monster, and for so long she was terrified of what her brother would think of her if he ever found out. But he accepted her, he still cared about her, and she was filled with relief and happiness.

Death watch had made her a monster, but now she would make them regret that. She would make them fear her.

"If you do go to destroy death watch I'll be right beside you. I've got a lot of new reasons to hate them now" Jango said and put a hand on his sister's shoulder in support.

"Unfortunately, you both need to get in line because when I'm ready I'm personally putting a blaster bolt through Pre vizsla's head before watching his little kingdom burn." Shae said a wicked grin on her young face.

Renn watched Shae and the Fett siblings coming to a silent agreement about the eventual demise of death watch and idly wondered if this was the unofficial start of another Mandalorian civil war.

Not that it mattered, like he'd told Shae earlier he would support her in this no matter what. If she wanted to start a war with a megalomaniac and his band of self-proclaimed galactic crusaders, he would be right there to back her up. It might even be fun.