Chapter Text
Coming away from the courthouse, Petal found her way to an air taxi through a haze of tears.
After sentencing him to prison for fraud, a judge dissolved her decade long marriage to her beta partner, seized his assets and awarded custody of their three-year old son to her former husband's parents. (Custody which they already had; the trial was a culmination of events already set in motion. Petal lacked the so-called omega instinct for childcare and with her husband going to prison, knew she couldn't care for him the way he deserved on her own while holding down a full-time job. The decision still hurt.)
The chilling words of the judge resonated in her mind. "A beta has no business consorting with an omega. Clearly it is in the best interest of all omegas to be under the protection of the state."
She'd fled the courtroom before she could be called before the judge. She had a very bad feeling about his ominous words. Petal hadn't been called as a witness and had only been there because her husband was on trial. If she were lucky, the judge didn't know she'd been in the room.
If she were unlucky, there was already someone waiting at her former residence to take her away for her 'protection'.
Petal found herself waiting in line for the public speeder with a queue of other people. She'd have a long wait, which was all right, because she didn't know where she wanted to go. Dare she risk returning to her apartment to pack?
Waiting alongside her were two Jedi chatting with each other. Eavesdropping was rude, but Petal needed something to think about other than the impossibility of her situation.
"I mean, I'm glad that the clones are out of the war now. I felt bad for them being forced into it without pay or sapient rights. They were little better than slaves. But I'm going to miss them."
"Miss them? Nomar, you couldn't even tell them apart."
"I could tell them apart! I just couldn't remember their names. You know I have problems with names."
"Like that mattered to them. Names are very important to clones, you know that. They choose them themselves! Understandably because who'd want to be referred to by a product code? My troopers always felt pleased when I remembered their names. I feel sorry for yours."
"Hah! Shows what you know. I was very clear from the beginning that I'm no good with names, but that I *could* tell them apart by the flavor of their souls."
"The… *flavor*? Nomar, no. You made them think you wanted to *eat* them?!"
"Not sure they would have objected, but they were thrilled when I told them what they tasted like. Wintermint even renamed himself after I told him he tasted like snow and peppermints. And I never forgot his name ever."
"I can't tell if that's appalling or amazing."
"Amazing obviously."
"I know I shouldn't encourage you, but who had the strangest tasting soul?"
"Oh, *him*. I remember *his* name, too."
"Because he renamed himself after how you told him he tasted?"
"No, because he *loomed* until I got it right every time. Dah'lav was very adamant that I *not* refer to him by his soul-taste."
"Which was?"
"Imagine the hottest pepper ever. Something even a Zabrak wouldn't eat because it was too hot. Then wrap that around a core of caramel."
"That's… certainly unique. And disgusting."
"I know! And he was so insulted that I thought he had a soft sugary center. Although how upset he was probably had something to do with the way the rest of the clones kept teasing him about it."
"I'm so glad they're out of the war now. The Mand'alor calling them home is the best thing that could have happened."
"Me too! Did you know that the Mand'alor is an omega? Apparently Mandalorians have very different ideas about how omegas should be treated."
Mandalore. Now that was a thought.
Petal's family lived on Utobe, the only inhabited moon of Taris, which was in the Republic, but near enough to Mandalore that they boasted a notable amount of Mandalorian expats. No one Petal knew personally, but she'd gone to school with some children with Mandalorian parents and Mando'a had been an elective. She'd done well with it, but 'well' after ten years time meant that she could read the alphabet and knew a few basic phrases, like 'do you live far from here?' and 'what time is it?'. She knew very little about Mandalorians outside of the little her teacher had told her and gossip.
Still. Anywhere was better than here. Mandalore was outside the Republic. And it spoke well of the Mandalorians that they treated omegas well and did not tolerate tolerate the thinly veiled excuse for slavery that the Republic called their 'Grand Army'. More like a grand army of slaves.
Now. How to get there? While her accounts had not been frozen along with her husband's, she had very little in them. Only what was left from the days when she'd still been employed, before her son's birth. Petal doubted greatly that there would be enough to get off-world without outside assistance.
But if Mandalorians really did value omegas highly, maybe she could hitch a ride with someone going that way already?
It was worth a shot. Better than going home to her abusive father, better than throwing herself on the non-existent mercy of her former in-laws and far, far better than allowing herself to fall into the hands of the Republic's justice system. Seriously. Petal believed in the right of everyone to speak their minds, but the statement that judge had made? Coming from someone in his position of power? It made her skin crawl. She didn't care if it made her look paranoid; she wasn't sticking around to find out.
It was a risk. But at this point? She had nothing left to lose.
So when it came her turn to board the air taxi? She took it to Little Keldabe.