Falling for a Mandalorian

Chapter 7

The ship was dark. The Mandalorian had removed his armor and lay down on the floor of the cockpit to rest. He was used to sleeping in odd and uncomfortable places. He had just closed his eyes when he heard a scream from the sleeping quarters. Cursing, he stood and ran to where Elara had been resting. He didn’t bother with his armor or helmet because he knew she would be unable to see him in the darkness. 

He could barely make out her curled up form. She was sobbing. 

“Elara, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“Mando? Is that you? I-I can’t see anything.” She mumbled through tears as she sat up.

“Yes, it’s me.” He said sitting on the side of the bed.

“What happened?” 

“I-I had a horrible dream.” She said, eyes searching through the darkness for him. 

“I dreamt that the men from Coruscant gave me a drug that made it so I couldn’t move, but I was still awake. They were doing horrible things to me, Mando. Everything you said before, they were doing to me. And I couldn’t do anything. I just laid there.” 

She began to sob. 

He began to reach out to her and then he hesitated. He hadn’t affectionately touched someone since he was a child. Before he could change his mind again, he reached out to her and pulled her close. 

“Shhh. You’re safe now.” He said.

She leaned on him and ran her hand across his chest. 

“You aren’t wearing your armor.” She said in between sniffs. 

Her hand wandered up to his face. She stroked the stubble on his jaw and moved gently up to his cheek. He leaned into her touch, savoring the feel of her soft skin on his. He had forgotten what the touch of another person felt like, it was intoxicating. 

“Is it okay because I can’t see you?” She asked. 

She felt him nod and her hand slid down to his lips. She let it linger there for a moment before she dropped it on her lap. His skin already ached to be touched again. 

“If you hadn’t saved me, who knows where I’d be right now? Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should just go back to Hapes.” She said with a new sob as she buried her face in his chest.

“I’m not letting you go back there. And I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Understand?” 

She nodded and moved her face up so it was resting against his shoulder. 

“Mando, will you stay till I fall asleep again?” 

He looked down at her to find her eyes closed. 

“Yes.” He responded. 

She moved from her place beside him back under the covers. The bed was large enough for them both to fit without touching. The Mandalorian stayed where he had been sitting.  

“Thank you, Mando.” She said sleepily. 

When he was certain she was asleep, he walked back out to the cockpit. The Mandalorian laid there unmoving, wishing he could understand what he was feeling and what it meant. 

When Elara awoke the ship was no longer dark and the Mandalorian was no longer in the room. She lay still trying to figure out whether he had actually come to comfort her or if she had dreamt the whole thing. She stood, changed her clothes, and stumbled out of the room, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

The Mandalorian was in the cockpit. They were already in space, traveling to reach Arvala-7. 

“How long till we’re there?” She asked.

“Just a little bit longer.” 

Elara sat in the copilot chair and silently studied the Mandalorian as he steered the ship. Her thoughts drifted to the previous night, her fingers tracing over his strong jaw. Now that she was awake, she realized just how intimate of a gesture that had been. Her reflections were interrupted by the Mandalorian’s deep voice.

“We’re here.” He said.

She glanced out to see a planet devoid of greenery. Covered in orange sand, Arvala-7 was most definitely a desert planet. The Mandalorian flew over a few mountains before landing in a valley. Elara followed him out of the ship and onto the sandy surface of the planet. He held the tracking fob and scanned the horizon.

Elara paused and watched huge round two-legged creatures walking in the distance. She turned to point them out to the Mandalorian, who had walked ahead. She gasped in horror to see that he was being charged by one. 

Elara cried out as she sprinted towards him. The creature grasped his arm in its jaws and began to shake him. It suddenly dropped the Mandalorian and collapsed on its side. She kneeled down on all fours in the sand and straddled his body.

“Mando, are you okay?” She asked in a panicked voice. 

He groaned and turned his head. He quickly reached up, gripped her shoulders, and pushed her over onto her back. Elara cried out in surprise as he covered her body with his. She couldn’t see anything but felt the thumping of another large creature’s feet sprinting toward them. She tensed her body waiting for the impact. The pounding abruptly stopped and was followed by the sound of another creature falling into the sand.

The Mandalorian pushed off the ground with his arms so he could look around. Seeing that the two creatures were downed, he relaxed a little and looked back down at Elara. She blinked her eyes open, looking up at him and then around. 

“Never a dull moment with you.” She said with a small smile. 

With his body still covering hers, the Mandalorian began to chuckle. 

He raised himself to a squatting position, stood, and then pulled her up. Elara busied herself dusting sand off while the Mandalorian looked the creatures over. He noted they had been shot with a tranquilizer dart.

“Mando,” Elara called pointing at a small figure atop one of the two-legged creatures coming their way. 

The Mandalorian put a hand on his blaster but sensed the small Ugnaught was not a threat. As he came closer, he saw that he held a tranquilizer gun. 

“Thank you,” the Mandalorian called up to him.

“My name is Kulil. I see you are a bounty hunter. I will assist you.” The Ugnaught said. 

“What if I…” the Mandalorian began.

“I have spoken.” Kulil stated definitively and then began to ride away.

The Mandalorian turned to Elara and shrugged. The two trudged through the sand following the tiny Ugnaught.  

After talking to Kulil at his vapor farm, the Mandalorian agreed to accept his help. Kulil only wanted one of the two creatures, blurggs, that Elara and him had “helped” to capture. The Ugnaught insisted that the only way they could traverse Arvala-7 was on a blurgg. 

Elara watched as the Mandalorian struggled to tame his blurgg. She could tell he was becoming frustrated after he was thrown to the ground a few times. Kulil encouraged him to try again. This time the Mandalorian took a more gentle approach and talked soothingly to the blurgg before hopping on. The blurgg accepted him and no longer struggled. 

“We are ready to go now.” Kulil said as he approvingly watched the Mandalorian steer the blurgg around.

“What about Elara?” The Mandalorian asked.

“Simple.” Kulil replied.

“She will ride with you.”