Today I met an ally.. maybe even more of them. I walked into the hotel, where some people were sitting. Then one of them offered me his seat. He put his helmet off and it appeared to be Talln! He told the others that I’m a friend. Then everybody was silent again. I looked to the right and saw the waitress from the Fallen Star sitting next to me, with totally other clothes and another haircut. I had the feeling.. would they be rebels..?
I said nothing, just waited and listened.
Talln appeared to have problems with the Garrison and therefore he was wearing the helmet. They didn’t seem to be happy that he was released, as what I feared. “Problems with the Garrison?”, I asked quietly. “Who hasn’t problems with them these days?”, the waitress answered with a soft voice while shrugging.
After a while Talln and the red doshan that was sitting in front of me left and I and the waitress had a chat. She told me that she heard my name, although I didn’t recognize her. Then she asked if I wanted to go with her for a walk. I followed her into the desert and there she asked if the name ‘Gou’ sounded familiar to me. Did I have a new ally? I decided to trust her, she acted different than Anbato. So I nodded to her. After a short while she introduced herself as Lella (sigh I’m always forgetting surnames, but maybe that is better this way.. if the Imperials ever find my diary they cannot trace these persons because of it), sniper of the Alliance. She knew about the Daggerwolves, and she knew Gou-geo. I feel happy that I have another ally in town.. when I returned to do some local Tatooine ‘work’ for the Alliance again a few weeks ago, a lot of us seemed to be disappeared. I’ve never seen them again.. I can imagine where they are now: in jail or dead, because the Empire captured them. It makes me feel sad. Lella tells me that a man called Ryden was killed by the Empire yesterday.
Then I remember that man, that gave me chocolate bars, I
remember his name: Ryden. I haven’t even get acquainted to this man.. didn’t
even know that he is a ‘friend’ too, and now I’ll never see him back again
because he is dead. It is weird when somebody that you know or have seen dies,
weird that you will never see that person back again..
How will it be when I die, what will be there be after death?
Lella is 32 now, she served the Alliance for 20 years now, which is ten times longer than myself! She looks more confident than me, but well she is older. She has more life experience and experience as a rebel. She tells me that I will get used to all of this, yes I know I’m already getting used to this life.. to live in the shadows, with everybody around me as a potential friend.. or enemy. And everybody that turns out to be a friend is worth very much.
After the conversation we return to the hotel where I put on other clothes (Tatooinian nights are cold brrrr), and we go to the Fallen Star. She has to work there to earn money to leave Tatooine, Tie fighters destroyed her ship and she is saving money to fix it. When we are ‘in public’ again I see the same casual ‘mask’ face as my own.
Everybody wears a mask, but who is he or she really? I look at the other people, are they wearing masks too? That dancer, maybe she is a rebel too.. or maybe the opposite. I realize life is just some role-playing game, we are all giving a performance. Maybe I could get a big advantage if I teach myself to play it well..
On my way to the Fallen Star I met the little bothan (black, with white hair) that was protesting against slavery the day before yesterday. I told him how I felt about it, that I think it was brave of him that he did this.