Aria chuckled along with him at his impression of his mother, shaking her head. “You told her those packet rations we'd had to eat for the past few weeks are nowhere near as good as her cooking, right?” 
The Champion was quiet a moment as she considered the suggestion, placing her other hand over his gently. “Sure, we could go to Onderon.” of course, she was a bit apprehensive about returning there after being gone for so long, but it would be nice to see what had (or hadn't) changed since she had last visited the planet six or so years ago.
_____________

The landing pads were certainly as bustling as Aria remembered it when the duo landed on Onderon some two days later, it was almost as if the chaos hadn't touched Onderon at all. It made a nice change to not get stared at incredulously for having a pair of Tuk'ata padding at their heels, given that half the bustling population in the square consisted of beast riders and their tamed charges, many of which would be shipped off world to places like Taris or Telos IV in order to help with re-establishing a natural ecosystem on the recovering planets. Thankfully it was a lot easier to find  their booked accommodation this time, since the roads were more clearly marked (in plain old Galactic Basic) and branched off in a roughly hexagonal manner from the center of the settlement. Like most of the buildings on the outermost edge, it backed right onto the towering sixty foot wall that surrounded the city, with a flat roof at the perfect height to admire the views of the vast plains that stretched out over the horizon on the other side of the wall. 
“That's the Skyramp. The early settlers built it to keep all the predators out of the settlement. Of course that was before the beast riders became a thing and they started learning to tame them.” Aria pointed towards the wall that looped around the entire settlement, connecting on both ends to the large palacial-looking building they deduced must be the “capital building” Yerbol had read about. 
After settling in and getting something to eat, the duo agreed that visiting the building seemed like a logical first step to their visit. It certainly didn't disappoint, the holographic replicas were so detailed it was easy to believe that they were ACTUALLY walking through the dense jungles that had stretched far across the plains before the Iziz settlement had been erected, watching in fascination as some kind of sensor in the walls triggered the images to shift to a representation of the two civil wars that had torn through the planet since it had been colonized, though the sudden explosion to their left as a Basilisk war droid came crashing down into the middle of the market square was perhaps a bit TOO immersive. 
“I always wondered where that giant crater in the middle of the plaza came from.” Aria chuckled as they emerged out on the other side of the building. The large fissure created by the apparent crash had been evened out since Aria last remembered it, creating a kind of lower level of the market slightly below the other stalls, which some savvy business owner had taken the initiative to set up as a “tourist hub” of sorts: a large, interactive map projected out of a statue in the center showing the various attractions different sectors of the city, as well as the walking trails that led out of the main gate and onto the plains that surrounded the city (although strict warnings claimed that tourists should take care “NOT to venture beyond the treeline without a proper guide” as those areas were heavily populated by the aggressive native fauna!), not that the duo had to worry about the native fauna of any kind given their past experiences with ravenous beasts of many varieties.   
“So…” Aria exhaled softly as they paused to examine the map. “Where do you wanna go first? We’re not going to get through everything in one day, so I guess we just pick a place to go and leave the rest for another time.” 
She stretched up to point towards the section on the map marked as the “Mandalorian Enclave” (which the history tour had explained was set up after Clan Ordo’s Mandalore in the last civil war helped the people of Iziz defeat General Vaklu’s forces...the Mandalorians had been more welcome throughout Onderon from that point onwards, so much so that some of them chose to settle permanently in an area of the city close to the main gate, the Mandalorians were well-known for their adventurous spirits and many of them had set up shop either as impromptu “tour guides” of sorts for the more daring tourists, or as weaponsmiths and mechanics.) “We head up through there we could nip out onto one of the shorter trails before the sun goes down, let the dogs loose for a bit so they don’t go stir crazy.” 

Aria had not been expecting to run into a familiar face while browsing through the stores in the Mandalorian’s area, so the Champion was simultaneously startled and pleased to hear a loud voice crowing:
“Well, if it isn’t little Ari!” the duo spun around to discover that the voice belonged to a five foot nine young woman with a dimpled smile that almost rivaled Neta’s (but not quite) and a shock of indigo-and-blue hair on top of her head that stuck up in way too many different directions. “I TOLD them I knew that little baby-face when I saw it on the news!” though she was dressed in civilian clothes that implied she was currently working as a mechanic of some kind, the Clan Ordo symbol tattooed on her forearm proudly displayed her Mandalorian heritage.
The Champion was dragged into a one-armed hug before she could protest otherwise, Aria clearing her throat and dusting herself off as she was finally set down.
“It’s nice to see you too, Sho.” Aria grinned. “Though I have to admit, I thought you’d be in lock up by now.”
“Hey! Just because we got into trouble a lot as kids doesn’t mean I was gonna turn out a criminal.” turning to Yerbol, the Mandalorian beamed and shifted the package she was carrying under her arm to stuck out a hand. “Sho Ordo, you must be Yerbol?” Sho chuckled after they had shaken hands, following up with another question: “So has Saresh got you guys doing some kind of ‘tour of duty’ or something? Everyone was making a big thing outta that signing ceremony the other week.”

The duo were of course quick to correct her assumptions by informing her that they were here to relax and enjoy themselves.
After checking the time, Aria frowned warily. 
“Though I think we’ll skip the longer path through the plains for today, it’s getting late.”
Sho grinned sheepishly.
“Still traumatised, huh?” 
“You got us lost in the jungle!” Aria shot the Mandalorian a scathing look. “We had to sleep in a TREE to avoid being eaten by cannocks!” with a sideward glance at Yerbol, she added: “for the record, if a Mandalorian ever tells you “this is perfectly safe” or “I know what I’m doing”, it isn’t, and they don’t.”
“Hey, my Pa found us in the morning didn’t he?” Sho protested, standing up straighter. “I wasn’t scared. Ari cried.”
“I did NOT!” Aria protested, red-faced.
“Did too, like a baby. She was such a little lady she didn’t even know anything about surviving in the wilderness. You woulda died out there without me.”
Aria’s arms were now crossed over her chest, the Champion’s features knitted into a sulky frown. 
“I wouldn’t have ended up out there if it wasn’t for you. My parents were furious, by the way.”
“Bah, you still disappeared off two years later without saying goodbye.” Sho grumbled, punching Aria in the shoulder. “They can’t have been that mad at you if you got off-world right?” a man’s voice called out something impatiently from across the street, Sho quickly responding with.
“Yeah, I got it! Jeez!” before she turned to the duo and apologised. “I better get back with this before his head pops off or something. Nice to see you, Ari!” 
Aria couldn’t help but sigh in relief once Sho had disappeared into the store across the street, relieved there would be no more embarrassing childhood stories revealed. 
Clearing her throat awkwardly, she glanced at her partner and mumbled. “We can take a quick walk now if you want, but we should try make it back before sundown. The cannocks do wander closer once the city noise dies down and it’d be less safe even with those two around.” she nodded towards Chwuq and Taral, who had trotted out of the gate to use the bathroom while the Champions were talking. “Cannocks travel in big packs and I don’t think the four of us could fight off twelve all at once, especially at night when you can’t see them coming..”