It had been several years since she had last set foot on her home planet, leaving without a word to her mother whom she no longer cared for, though she expected the feeling to be mutual. That was if her mother even remembered her after countless nights in a drug-induced stupor.
After stepping foot in the city, she headed towards the less-than-savoury part of town. It was predominantly filled with men who were down on their luck but there were plenty like her mother there too, contributing to a social problem that was deemed better left unheard.
Before she even reached the building, she had to navigate staggering people in the alleyways, dodging them like zombies until she reached the old steel door which she pried open. Inside was the same as when she had left: cold, damp and devoid of life. It was not a home by anyone's standards but the derelict apartment building provided at least some shelter from the elements for the down and out.
She walked up the cracked stairs, the sound of her footsteps against the concrete a harsh contrast. The door ahead was slightly ajar so she cautiously pushed it open, knowing well that she could get attacked by some drug-fuelled maniac at any given moment. However, she wasn't greeted with such a scene. Instead, the door swung upon to reveal her mother slumped against the far wall.
Slowly, she approached the woman and stood in front of her. It took a few sluggish moments to react but her mother looked up at her, her face contorting into an expression of confusion or almost disbelief. "Katja...?" She asked, seeking confirmation, but the answer was already clear.
"Hi, Mum." She greeted in Basic as opposed to their native tongue her before lowering herself to sit beside the other woman, against the wall. She pulled the bottle out of her mother's hands and took a swig, acting as though they were simply two friends who had fallen out of touch. "So, I joined the Imperial army." She informed her. Her mother didn't answer, instead her head rolled back against Katja's shoulder where she looked up at her daughter but the gesture wasn't reciprocated.
To some, it may have seemed like a reconciliation, a reunion of sorts, but it was far from it.
This was a goodbye.
"I've got a new family there now. They're a bit... dysfunctional but well, no one's perfect, right?" She told her as she took another swig from the bottle. "I've also been seeing someone... well, not really seeing but... it's complicated." She gave a humourless chuckle and playfully nudged the other woman in the side. "I bet you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Her tone and mannerisms suggesting she was joking but there was a bitterness underneath. "You never did tell me who my Father was."
There was a long pause where she couldn't even be sure if her mother was conscious or not. Ultimately, it didn't matter. She wasn't really here for her mother but rather to give herself closure but the movement of the other woman's hand towards hers only served to heighten hostilities as Katja quickly pulled her own hand away and out of reach in rejection.
"You know, for so long I thought about what I would say to you when I came back here but in the end I realised it doesn't matter, does it? You're so self-absorbed that nothing I could say could make a dent." She proclaimed, angrily rising to her feet. Her mother stared at her behind glassy eyes. "I only came back to say goodbye." She informed her. "There's nothing left for me here, but I wouldn't worry about it. You're not missing much. I'll probably be dead before I'm 30 anyway." She turned to leave.
"Katja... I'm sorry." She managed to produce some semblance of words. Katja froze on her way out but didn't turn back to face her mother. She had turned her back on her for the last time. "I've waited so long to hear you say that but you lost your chance years ago."
