ILLUMINATE • din djarin

PART SIXTEEN

Venelia frowned at the words. Partner? 

She looked at the Mandalorian, he remained still, and although she couldn't read his expression with the helmet, she knew him well enough to know that he was carefully considering something, calculating his next move. What that move was, she wasn't sure.

The Mandalorian slowly lowered his blaster, but kept one arm on her, holding her close to him. "Ran," he said, his voice emotionless. The tone was so different to what Venelia was used to after all these weeks; it was like he had reverted to the uncaring bounty hunter who caught her on Onderon.

"Don't look so excited to see me," the man, who appeared to be called Ran, joked. "It's been quite a few weeks, Mando. Almost two months since you left."

"I've been busy," the Mandalorian informed.

"I can see that," Ran placed his hands on his hips, cocking his head to try and see her. "Is that our runaway princess?"

Venelia instinctively hid behind the Mandalorian. Ran obviously knew who she was. This was dangerous. Both she and the Mandalorian knew it. Anxiety and panic coursed through her veins, and her fingers itched to grab her bow and load up, or even just to run.

The Mandalorian didn't answer right away, and when he did, his voice was still emotionless. "It is. She was a little...difficult to track. Only just picked her up now."

Ran raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's unexpected. Guess our little princess is smarter than we thought."

"Guess so," the Mandalorian said cryptically.

"She's a pretty little thing," Ran said with a sleazy grin on his face. "Why is she hiding?"

She felt the Mandalorian take in a breath before he stepped to the side, giving Ran a full view of her. Venelia stood there, feeling exposed even though she was fully clothed. Ran whistled. "Now that's a fine lady, right there. Careful, Mando, she's gonna make a certain someone jealous."

Venelia's chest tightened.

"Who's gonna make me jealous?"

The feminine voice rang out from behind the ship and two Twi'lek's with purple skin emerged from underneath the hull. One male, one female. The male looked up at Venelia on the ramp with a scowl, and the female looked her up and down, a look on her face that Venelia couldn't decipher.

"Well, then. Mando got the job done," the female said, she twirled a knife in her hand, sizing Venelia up. Venelia tried to appear unphased, but her heart was beating so quickly that she thought everyone might see and hear it.

"Was there ever any doubt, Xi'an?" Ran said. "Mando is the best of the best."

"Why isn't she cuffed?" said the male.

"Good question, Qin" Ran agreed, crossing his arms. "Why isn't the bounty cuffed, Mando?"

The Mandalorian looked at the other hunters, who Venelia figured were the rest of his team, before looking back at her. Something silent passed between them – they both knew that with the other hunters looking at them, they had to pretend that their friendship didn't exist.

The Mandalorian walked inside the Crest and retrieved the cuffs that he'd put on her all those weeks ago. He then grabbed her wrists and put them on gently. Venelia didn't miss the way his thumb brushed the top of her palm, a silent gesture that Venelia appreciated more than anything right now. An acknowledgement that this would be temporary. "My cuffs broke earlier, I had to wait to get the spare."

Ran nodded, whilst the male Twi'lek – Qin – looked at her with suspicion. The female – Xi'an – fingered the edge of her knife, an unreadable expression on her face that looked a little too much like sadism. Venelia stood there – this was not her time to speak up. She knew her role now would be the silent 'princess' who was caught.