Welcome To Mandalore

Andis eased the ship down onto the platform, if one could even call it that - Solykad's landing pads were nothing more than packed earth flats. He shut down the engines and he and Starla proceeded to the cargo bay hatch. Andis went a few feet down the ramp; Starla was still at the top of the ship, looking a bit nervous.

He turned to her, "Welcome to Solykad." Then Andis sharply turned around and pulled out his saber as a woman in purple Mandalorian armor came down on him, seeming to fall from the sky, swinging her own saber at him. He managed to deflect the strike and swung back at her, Starla ignited her lightsaber. He turned to her and said, "Don't get involved, it's a family thing."

Starla stepped back and watched the two engage in an aggressive display of force and skill. Andis yelled, "Do you have to do this every time?!"

"Yep, its my way of saying welcome home." The woman was aggressively forcing him back. Starla was intrigued by this woman - she had an intense fire to her and she dared to fight a very strong young man. "A bit light on your feet aren't you Andis? Not getting soft I hope." She kicked him square in the gut and he went flying into a wall.

Andis groaned and sat up, looking at the woman, "Was that really necessary?"

"Of course it was. It's good to see you." She gave him his hand, and pulled him up, she pulled him in and hugged him. Their beskar armor clanked as they touched.

"Starla, this is my mother, Tani Meyer, the head of the clan," Andis said, slightly out of breath.

The woman looked Starla over. Tani was quite intimidating as she began walking towards Starla, she took a few steps back. Tani was a towering figure to her; Starla was feeling increasingly small by the second. Starla wasn't sure she'd go after her next or shake her hand. "So, you're the Jedi," she said briskly, then turned to Andis, "She's little, Andis, but she's a warrior, alright," Tani said approvingly. "You chose wisely."

Starla knew when to stay out of the way. Andis suggested that she wait until after the family meeting to introduce herself to the rest of the clan. When his mother was on roll, she was fiercely focused and didn't want any distractions or interruptions.

Tani and Andis walked into the town, and Starla followed, but far enough away to not be disruptive. Starla felt a powerful combination of love and violence emanate from Tani. Andis had warned her about his mother, but she didn't believe it until now.

Starla also felt a son's fierce love and devotion in Andis as he walked alongside his mother. She also felt Andis calming her in the Force, letting her know that she was indeed welcome here, which was relieving to know.

She looked around, the town was alive, in the warm breeze of spring air she saw children at play, men and woman playing board games and enjoying drinks, some were even singing, she heard a few words "Let the blaster ring and the bullet sing… To the clash of the flashing saber," the tune was quite catchy. Solykad had a wonderful allure to it.

There was the smell of rich food and bold spices, it made her stomach growl, she had tasted numerous meals that Andis had made for her, but he was short on supplies from Mandalore so she hadn't been able to try much of it. Now she was at the source and she looked forward to eating his classic mando meals. Just the thought was making her hungrier by the second.

They walked through the dirt, stone, and grass streets, Starla looked around; there was a lake off to one side. In the distance, there were large mountains and dense forest. As they came to a fork in the road Tani stopped and turned to them, "Go to the square, I'll be there shortly." Andis nodded and the group split at the fork.

They made their way through the town to the Town Square; it was a large open space that had a few stairs, then descended to the flat, black, polished surface of Merilian Basalt. At its front was a large imposing statue of a Mandalorian in Neo-Crusader armor, a beskad in one hand, lightsaber in the other. Starla looked at the Bronzium statue and turned to Andis, "Who's that?"

He looked at the statue with a sense of admiration, "That's Taslon Meyer, my clan's founder. He's the man that built this town and much more." He turned to the crowd that was amassing on the square, "A number of the Mandalorians you see here are direct descendants of him, myself included."

She saw a number of Mandalorians with beskads on their backs or on their belts. All the members of the clan carried swords; those who were force-sensitive also carried lightsabers.

The town center soon became packed. It was the largest gathering of Mandalorians she had ever seen, and it was a little unnerving. Andis looked at her and smiled, "Don't worry, as long as you're with me you'll be fine." They moved to the far right end of the square as the meeting began.

The loud group became silent as Tani walked over to and stopped directly underneath the statue. She looked out at the crowd, "You all know why I called you here: a war just broke out, and it will shake the galaxy to its very core. I have thought it over and chosen whether we should take a side."

She looked around. Children were off playing while the adults talked war. Tani continued, "I feel that we should directly support neither the Republic nor the Separatists." There was a long pause, "The Republic is rotten and in decay, there's no point in defending a rotten stump. The Separatists are aligned with the thing we despise most, the Sith. Yes, that is correct, Count Dooku is a Sith Lord. She crossed her arms, "Honestly, I'd rather support the Republic that those Separatists cowards."

"Maybe we'll get lucky the Sith and Jedi will kill each other off and we'll be rid of them both for good." There was a chorus of laughter, and applause. Starla had to join in. She would like nothing better than to kill Count Dooku herself, after having been deceived by him when she was a Jedi.

A man, probably thirty years of age, stood up, "So what should we do if we're looking for work as hired guns?"

She looked at him, "You will not seek employment from the CIS, but you can work for the Republic. Just make sure they pay you damn good. Are there any other questions?" she looked around, no one stood up, "No? Well then, this meeting is adjourned."

Tani slammed down on the stone floor of the forum, "And by the way, welcome back Andis, and meet his cyar'ika Starla."

Suddenly, the entire crowd broke out into loud applause, slaps on the back to Andis, whoops, hollers and rough embraces to Starla from the many men and women in the town square.


Most of the crowd moved to the tavern on the eastern side of town, Abesh Eparavur. Huge mugs of Ne'tra gal passed from hand to hand until everyone in the room had one. Starla found herself stuck in a corner with a blonde teenage boy.

"She's mesh'la, Andis!," someone shouted. Then the blonde teenage boy hugged Starla, and grabbed her shebs, and whispered, "You're delicious!" She raised her hand to slap him, but Andis appeared out of nowhere in a split second and slapped the boy on the back of the head. Hard.

"Akero, get your own cyar'ika," Andis glared at him.

"Starla, this is my brother Akero. Akero, this is Starla Winter. Andis, this is a very large glass of beer," Andis said, as someone shoved a tall mug of beer into his hand.

A small blonde girl came over, and Andis looked down at her, "Hey there Tes'ika."

"Hmm!" She huffed and slammed her foot into his shin.

He laughed, "Doesn't work when I'm wearing shin plates," he turned to Starla, "And this is my little sister, Tes." He looked at Tes, "Tes, this is my cyar'ika, Starla. Be nice."

Tes looked at her, "I like your hair. Can I call you Noodles?"

Starla was instantly charmed by the spritely little girl. "You sure can," she smiled.

Tes smiled back, "Ooh, I like your boots too. Can I have some like that?"

Starla laughed, "Well, if we're ever in Coruscant, I'll take you shopping for some combat boots. Sound good?"

Andis had almost drained the entire beer mug. "The twins should be around here somewhere." He turned sharply to a table, he raised his hand, and two kids began floating, one a girl with blonde hair and black streaks, the other a boy with blonde hair. "This is Marko," he raised his one hand, the boy went a bit higher, then he lifted the other up, "And this is Shaya."

"Put us down Andis!" The girl shouted.

The boy glared at Andis, "Yeah, this isn't funny!"

"From where I'm standing its very funny." He paused "I'll put you down if you two behave."

"Fine," the two responded.

He set them gently down on the ground they came up and hugged him. "Its good to see you two, this is Starla."

The two looked at him, "She's the Jedi isn't she?"

"Yes, I was," Starla said. She lifted the twins up in the air again. "But I'm not anymore." She let the children down softly. "What else would you like to know?"

"Will you play tag with us outside?" Shaya said.

Andis shook his head at Starla before she could reply. "Don't do it. They play dirty – they'll lead you into the forest so they can play pranks on you." He turned to the twins, "now go out and play with the other kids."

Starla and Andis went around to various people at the tavern, talking about how life on Mandalore was going, but they all avoided talking of war – no one wanted to talk business while they were drinking.

The evening wore on until everyone people went their separate ways. Andis showed Starla to his house. He felt he needed to apologize, "Sorry about the family. They can get a little crazy sometimes."

"Actually, I think they're a lot of fun," Starla said, stroking his hair, a little drunk from just one large mug of beer.

"That would be one word for them." He paused "I need to go take care of some things, I'll be back soon. Make yourself at home, ner yaim is gar yaim." And he walked back towards town.

While waiting for Andis in his quiet home, Starla had the chance to finally try some of the Necrotic sugar candy and Scentwine from their recent trip to Makem Te. First, she unwrapped a package of the exotic candies, and sampled a tiny part of a piece. The taste was so wonderful, she became enveloped in a warmth of sensual pleasure similar to what she experienced at Andis' hands. This would be fun, if she could get Andis to have some with her.

She was about to pour a rather large glass of Scentwine, when Andis appeared out of nowhere and put his hand over the glass in one swift move. "You might want to taste that first, cya'rika," Andis looked dead serious.

"Why?" she asked, stunned at his unusual seriousness.

"Well, this wine is known to drive humanoids insane in large quantities," he said. "The candy is made from some of the same ingredients, so don't eat a lot of that at one time, either."

"Really? Where did you hear that?" Starla replied, incredulously.

"From a relative, here in Solykad," he said. "My uncle hasn't been quite the same since he shared a bottle of Scentwine with a mercenary buddy, back in the day."

"Alright," Starla said, still somewhere unsure of the warning, but completely trusting Andis, who never lied or exaggerated. She poured a few drops into the glass and took a tiny sip, a drop remaining on her lips. She had a wicked plan.

Andis watched her carefully. She sat still for a moment, then she grabbed him by the hair, as she always liked to, and kissed him with a ferocity that he hadn't felt since she shot the image of Count Dooku in their blaster practice. Andis had no choice but to drink the drop of wine from her lips. When they came up for air, he saw that Starla's eyes had an almost yellow glow to them, and she looked at him as if she would consume him like a Rancor. The evening was a blur after that – a much needed break from the serious business discussed earlier that day.