Winter hugged Hiro tighter.
“I know. I miss my parents too. I miss a lot. But that’s okay. I rebuilt it here, as best as I could. With my new family. Which is wild if you ask me. Never in a million year would I have ever thought meeting Elias on a tundra and then heading to a little cantina where we met a man with a droid and a trigger happy twi-lek, and we rescued a melted Hothian, who inadvertently fell head over heels for the trigger happy twi-lek, then our fearless captain found his family, left with his droid, and it was the four of us, tackling the galaxy, would lead me here. And look at us now. We’ve added two more. One by blood, and you Hiro, by choice. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Hiro grabbed his saber, looking at the bloodstained metal. “Then I am home..” he said softly, the cloud completely dissipating
Winter smiled.
“Well then, welcome home. And if the blood stains in the metal bother you, we can see if Leia’s brother can get them out. Come on. Let’s go back to the kitchen and see how Frost is faring.”
Hiro nodded slightly, ready to go see his new little brother
“Frost, I'm sorry buddy..” he whispered, getting close enough to frost for him to hear the whisper but also keeping his distance
Frost picked his head up and reached for Hiro, to check and see if he was okay.
Hiro let frost grab his hand, and rest his forehead on the others “I'm alright little brother.” he said softly.
Shiloh blinked quickly and wrapped her arms around herself as Elias mentioned what they had seen in Hiro's dream. She kept thinking of her own past, her own people, her own memories…
Estelle quickly touched Shiloh's arm, recognizing her wife's behavior. "Ma sareen," she whispered. "Ma sareen…" She wrapped her arms gently around her partner and began speaking to her in soft Twi'leki. It was quiet and slightly fast-paced since Estelle had become fluent since she married Shiloh, but if one listened closely, there were several words Estelle continued to repeat as necessary. Numa and nerra. Sister and brother.
Frost giggled when Hiro put his head against his and Elias sighed in relief.
He looked over at Estelle and Shiloh. He spoke softly.
“Alright. We’re just about 45 minutes away from Coruscant. So that means we have to start getting ready.”
Winter groaned.
“Good stars above I hate the royal and senatorial garb. Elias, I know we have extra articles of clothing and extra bits and pieces of ceremonial armor lying around. Find them and put them on Hiro. So he at least kind of looks like us.”
Elias gently set Frost down, but held onto his shoulders so he couldn’t run away.
“I will look for the extra pieces Win. And as for you little man,”
Frost struggled and tried to run.
“You have to go put on the princely uniform from Hoth. If we have to wear the clothes, so do you.”
Frost started to scream.
“Noooooo! I don’t want to put on the itchy clothes, I don’t want to look fancy!”
Elias sighed and picked up Frost again, and threw him over his shoulder.
“Come on Hiro. Let’s go get ready. And let’s go to war. This one here is going to battle us tooth and nail to not wear his princely uniform.”
Winter rolled her eyes and looked over at Estelle and Shiloh.
“Do you guys have everything you need for our arrival to Coruscant? I have extra clothes and capes if you guys need it.”
(Their ships are docked together, aren't they? Just to clarify lol)
Hiro chuckled “frost, if you wear your uniform, I'll carry you on my shoulders. “He said bargaining. To be honest, hiro was scared to even get to the place. He was scared to find his lineage and relive the past.
Frost stopped struggling, and looked at Hiro.
“That’s a deal if you wear itchy clothes too. And if you look cool.”
Winter looked at Elias.
“That sounds like a fantastic deal to me. Elias, take the boys to the back and dress them up.”
Hiro laughed softly and agreed to the deal. At that moment it was something to get his mind off the terrorizing thoughts of finding home
At Winter's question, Estelle murmured something in her wife's ear, and Shiloh nodded her agreement. Estelle then nuzzled Shiloh's cheek with her nose before lightly kissing the spot and looking over at the Hothians. "Thanks, Win, but we have clothes on our ship," she answered for the both of them.
Shiloh offered a small smile, still struggling to clear her mind.
"Chini, ma sareen," Estelle prompted, taking Shiloh's hand to lead her toward the air dock between the two ships. "Wachamio!"
The blue-skinned Twi'lek followed her partner, glad to have the connection of their hands keeping her momentarily grounded. She didn't want to spiral in front of Winter, Elias, and Hiro. And definitely not Frost. The boy was overwhelmed as it was.
“Alright you two. See you in about 40 minutes, before we touchdown.”
As they walked away Winter ran her hands through her hair and sighed. She walked back to the room that contained all of the senatorial garb that she had been given. She looked over all of what was there. She picked up the most recent clothes that had been made. They were deep blue, embroidered with silver thread and heavily decorated with ornate symbols that had been dug out of history books about Hoth. She picked up the ornate silver breast plate that went over the front of the shirt and examined it. It was far too fancy for her liking, but she had to wear it to impress senators and people alike. She slipped on the ornate shirt and put on the more ornate breastplate. She sighed as she picked up the lower portion of the outfit. It was a skirt that matched the top, but the embroidery became finer and finer as the skirt fell right below her kneecaps. She slipped on the brown boots that had been stitched with silver and stood up. She put on silver armor that sat around her waist, that had a place for a light saber. And for the final effect, she picked up the most ornate and decorated piece of all. A cape made from fabric that matched the skirt and shirt that had been stitched and inlaid with silver. She attached it to the breast plate and looked in the mirror. She hardly recognized herself. A commotion brought her attention to the back room of the ship.
“I won’t put the clothes on! I won’t do it!”
Winter walked back and opened the door. Elias was wearing the same outfit that had been made for him that looked exactly like hers, but instead of a skirt, he had pants. Hiro was wearing an older version that was silver and embroidered and inlaid with blue, with a blue breastplate and waist armor, and he had been given a silver helmet that had a blue plume coming from the top. His cape laid in a chair. But on the bed stood Frost, in nothing but his underwear giving his father and Hiro a hard time. Elias was struggling.
“Frost son put the clothes on. Right now. Come on. You match me. Please son. Even Hiro has the clothes on.”
Frost squealed with laughter.
“I will not! You will have to catch me!”
Elias groaned. And Winter cleared her throat. Elias looked at her and Frost froze. She put her hands on her hips.
“Frost. Clothes. Put them on. Right now. Or stars help you if I count to three.”
Frost scrambled to Elias to reached for the shirt. He whispered.
“Ada I want the shirt on, Ama is scary when she’s mad…”
Elias nodded and put the shirt on, and Frost put his pants and boots on. Elias put his little breastplate and armor around his waist on, and attached his cape. He sighed in relief and looked at Winter.
“Thank you hun.”
“No problem love. Now Hiro, are you as comfortable as you can be in that?”
(Whew that was a lot…..)
Hiro nodded, though he seemed a bit out of it. As he pulled his hair back into a half up half down pony it was clear why.
Hiro was identical to his father in the suit. His blue eyes matched the embroidered blue in the outfit. His height and stature matched in the identical proudness as well.
The human boy couldn't be more recognizable for a Mandalorian.
The boy's saber laid in the hilt of the armor where it should be, it's metal a little more worn than the rest of the suit. And even more prominent was the royal guard marking on his neck and the tattoos that laced across his neck and collarbone.
“ you look, wonderful mom,” he said with a soft smile, “ how are the other two doing?” he asked softly, holding his arms out for the now-dressed frost “come on little brother, a deal is a deal”
Estelle led Shiloh through the air dock, moving quicker once she was sure they were out of sight from the others. Then, there, in the safety of their own ship, Shiloh broke. Her expression crumpled with anguish and sorrow, and she cried into Estelle's electric blue hair.
Her partner held her tightly and dearly as if she was the only other person in the entire galaxy. "Oh, ma sareen… My love," she whispered softly, stroking Shiloh's back gently as her warrior wife was reduced to sobs that racked her body.
Winter laughed at Hiro’s statement.
“Oooh look Elias a teenager called me mom. How about that. And Hiro, you clean up nicely. Now I’m pretty proud. And I know you guys made a deal, but I’m going to interject and say no riding on shoulders until we walk out of the shuttle and we get inside the senate building. Then you two can have at it. The reason I don’t want you two to act silly until we are inside the senate building is because most of the press on Coruscant will be scrambling to get a picture of us. And on a more serious note, we are not to disturb Shiloh or Estelle, until we land on Coruscant. We will all walk out together. No one left behind.”
Elias nodded in agreement.
“Winter is completely right. The press is ruthless. And Frost knows that first hand. He refuses to do anything outside of the senate building because the last time he did, the press caught a picture of him taking about someone’s ship. And we caught word and pictures of it. He learned the hard way.”
Winter leaned outside the door and pressed a hatch that had been beside the room where all the senatorial garb had been. She put a code in, and a blue durasteel box appeared, she grabbed it and brought it back into the room, and set it on the bed.
“Now these are our sabers. Would you like to see them Hiro?”
Estelle drew back, only for a moment to look into Shiloh’s eyes. “Win?” she asked quietly.
The Twi’lek pressed her lips together and nodded slowly.
Estelle smiled weakly, then pressed a light kiss to her wife’s nose. “I’ll be right back.” With that, she hurried back through the airlock, bursting unapologetically into their conversation.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, uh, hey. So sorry… Winter? Can you come here?”
Winter stopped. She looked at Estelle’s face.
“Yeah, I’m coming. Boys, do not open that. Elias I trust you. I mean it. I’ll be back.”
Elias looked at his wife’s face, and understood.
“Okay hun. Do you need me to keep this one busy?”
Winter looked at Frost and back at Elias.
“Yes you and Hiro do whatever it takes to keep him occupied. Just don’t open the box. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She pulled Estelle out into the corridor and shut the door to the room they were just in. She looked Estelle up and down.
“There are tears on your shirt and you haven’t changed clothes. Those are not your tears. Lead me on. What’s going on?”
Estelle gripped Winter's hands tightly. Her eyes searched her friend's. "It's Shiloh. I think whatever happened when you dream walked with Hiro is giving her flashbacks. Elias mentioned it, and… she didn't want to break down in front of everyone."
(sorry for not bring on, I passed tf out for a bit)
Hiro nodded and played a quick game with his little brother
(You good homie 😂 I almost passed out earlier but I couldn’t because I was watching a kid)
( I've had an off an on migraine most of the say so that's been fun)
