After a few seconds of silence Atin spoke, “So are you going to tell me what has you crying or are we going to sit in this hallway for a while longer.” Met by silence he continued anyway, “Is it sparky? Do you think I won’t be able to fix him?”

There was an almost inaudible sniffle followed by silence in response to Atin’s question.

“I think you might be shaking your head right now, but I won’t be able to tell unless you come out of there or use your words.” Atin tried coaxing her out of the vent.

The Vent cover opened slowly, revealing a red eyed snot covered Miilo who after seeing Atin’s concerned face burst into tears, bawling her eyes out as she dug her face into his shirt and put her arms around his waist with an iron grip that nearly snapped him in half.

“I keep forgetting how strong you are,” Managing to catch his breath, Atin put one hand on Miilo’s head and returned her embrace with the other. “Now do you mind telling me what’s wrong or do you want me to keep guessing?” Feeling Miilo’s body stiffen in response to his question Atin quickly continued “on your own time little one” Stroking her head he repeated “on your own time.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound in the empty hallway being a muffled sobbing that slowly died down as Miilo regained her composure, her head was still buried in Atin’s chest and her voice slightly muffled as she spoke, “everyone is leaving me.”

“Oh? How do you figure that?” Atin replied

“Everyone keeps saying we should leave this planet, how it’s a bad place full of garbage and how it’s no place to raise a child.” Miilo replied barely keeping herself from crying again

“All true. And? You don’t want to leave?” Atin Asked and Miilo responded by shaking her head, “Why not? You have to see why we want to get you away from here.”

“Sniff, I know, but this is where father brought me after we escaped the slavers, this is where I met sparky and floaty and you, and this is where I ate meat for the first time, this place isn’t bad, it can’t be!” Miilo was almost shrieking by the time she finished her sentence and once again buried her face into Atin’s shirt.

“You have to remember the bad things too right? We can’t forget the past or well end up repeating the same mistakes as those before us.” Steeling his resolve Atin continued, “You lost your father on this planet. Not to mention that business with the slaver.” Atin felt a pang of guilt as he felt Miilo shiver in his arms in response to his statement, instinctively holding her tighter he continued, "and as long as were on this planet, what happened to sparky today will always be a risk for all of us.” Seeing Miilo nod her head in understanding he continued, “Now what’s this about everyone leaving you?”

“Sniff, Floaty is always talking about his old masters and sparky is always breaking down, how long until he can’t be fixed? A-and” Miilo’s composure failed her as she tried speaking her next words.

“Take your time Miilo, speak when you’re ready” Atin stroked Miilo’s head as he urged her to continue.

“Your father is a Jedi.” Miilo stated

“Yeah and?” Atin responds

  Miilo continues, “Daddy said to never rely on the Jedi because they don’t care about slaves, now that you can be a Jedi are you going to leave me too?”

“Well in that case, you’re in luck, because I am not nor will I ever be a Jedi.” Flashing a smile at Miilo Atin continued, “I can’t say that I won’t leave you. That would be a lie, life is unpredictable and we can never know how things play out. What I can tell you is that I already consider you family and I’m sure Floaty and Sparky feel the same way.” Pausing for a moment Atin continued, “In some ways I agree with you, this planet isn’t all bad.” Seeing Miilo’s confused expression Atin couldn’t help but chuckle, “but there is no way in hell were staying. There’s an entire galaxy out there to experience.” Seeing the hope and excitement that took root on Atin’s face as he said that Miilo lowered her head, gave her nose one final blow using Atin’s shirt and listened with a new found interest. “For real…….ugh whatever.” Doing his best to ignore his now soiled shirt Atin continued, “thousands of unique planets, trillions of creatures you and me have never even dreamt of seeing, new people to meet, things to discover and more wonder than you could ever imagine wait for us once we leave this place. It’s going to be dangerous yes, at times more so that anything we’ve experienced on this planet but a little danger or fear of the unknown can’t stop us from living our lives.”

“But I’m a slave, they’ll find me if I-” Atin cut Miilo off before she could continue

“You don’t have to worry about that. Though it irks me to have to pay for your freedom, I’m not ready for a war with the Hutts just yet so I guess there’s no choice.”

“But-” Miilo tried to argue.

“No buts, I told you already didn’t I? I already consider you family and there’s no way I’d leave someone I consider family to slavery, a few thousand credits will be nothing once I get my hands on a secure signal,” Atin said with a smile.

“What do you mean?” Miilo asked.

“You remember those eggs we brought back right?” Atin replied, Seeing Miilo nod her head he continued, “well those eggs are worth quite a bit of money and once I sell them, buying Floaty from his original owners and even building sparky a brand new body isn’t out of the question, not to mention making sure the Hutts never bother you again.” Seeing that Miilo had finally calmed down Atin continued, “Also, even though we might not be able to stay on this planet I do know a way we can take a piece of it with us.”

Tilting her head Miilo replies, “how”

Giving Miilo a cheeky smile Atin replies, “that’s a secret. Now how about we get out of here and go fix sparky?” after cleaning the dust off Miilo and himself they made their way back to Atin’s workshop.

A/N: sorry for the wait, starting next week I’ll be doing weekly chapters with side stories whenever I feel like it, I wanna work on some other stuff as well, so look forward to that maybe.