Stowaway | A Mandalorian Love Story | Din Djarin x OC

Chapter Nine: Still Waters

Suggested Listening:
A Journey in the Dark - Howard Shore (from The Fellowship of the Ring) | ...down we go
Not So Fireproof - John Powell (from How to Train Your Dragon) | ...even more cave
At First Sight - Alan Silvestri (from Back to the Future III) | ...under the stars
Anna and Albert - Joel McNeely (from A Million Ways to Die in the West) |...confessions

"You good?" I asked, lying on my back in the sand, finger on my earpiece, staring up at the electric blue sky.

"Yep," came Mando's voice in my ear, sounding labored — like he was climbing. "As good as I was 30 seconds ago, thanks."

I rolled my eyes. The kid burbled gleefully. I rolled my head over and watched him chomp into the ration bar I had given him.

Mando had been gone for ten minutes and I was already frustrated with this job. There's something very disorienting about watching someone disappear into the ground and then listening to them grunt and breathe heavily for ten minutes straight, not knowing what they were doing or what they might encounter at any moment.

I heard Mando exclaim, then groan, then mutter "Dank Farrik!"

"What?" I asked, urgently. "What is it?"

"I just slipped off a rock and now my boot's wet," he said dully. "Look, I'm fine, okay? You gotta just let me do this."

I looked over at the kid again. He cocked his head, inquisitively.

"Your dad doesn't play well with others," I muttered with raised eyebrows.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Rumbled Mando's voice. I chuckled and lay back again, closing my eyes against the baking sunlight.

Suddenly, I heard a shrieking roar in my ear, and the sound of a blaster shooting off two rounds. I sat up and touched the earpiece vigilantly.

"I'm allowed to ask what that was, right?" I pressed.

"Acid lizard," panted Mando. "I told you they were down here. This one just came up out of the water, caught me off-guard, but I got him."

"Okay, well, be careful," I said, trying to stay calm. "I'm good on a speeder bike but it'll take me all afternoon to learn to fly the Razor Crest, so it's really better if you come back up here alive."

He let out a mirthless little laugh.

"Hey," I continued, lowering my voice and glancing at the kid. "Can I ask you something?"

"Well, this does seem like the perfect time for a chat..."

"I've just been wondering — back at Peli's you said you'd been busy figuring things out for the kid..."

There was silence on the line. I continued.

"What does that entail, exactly? I mean, what's his story?"

"I came across him on a job," he said, his voice reflecting some careful movement — I pictured him balancing across a rocky ridge. "He uh... he had a bounty on him."

My eyes widened as I looked down at the child, his sweet face tilted up toward the warm sun, not a care in the world.

"Who would take a bounty out on a baby?"

"Believe it or not, he's fifty years old," Mando continued with a little chuckle of disbelief.

"... You're pulling my pauldron."

"It's true. His species ages differently than ours."

I silently appreciated the confirmation that we were, in fact, the same species. I mean, I knew he was a Mandalorian, but I'd only ever seen one or two others, years and years ago, who had crossed paths indirectly with my family — and I'd never seen any of them take off their helmet, so who knew what was going on under there.