THE BOUNTY | The Mandalorian

CHAPTER IV

My leg stung as we trekked through the forest again, but I kept my complaining to a minimum, just as focused as Mando was on getting to the kid. Lucky for us, there were muddy tracks left back to town that gave us some idea of where the child could be. Everything was still as we slid around the back of the buildings.

"They said he was at 'the workshop,' so I guess we should look for any place that resembles one. It'd be easier to know what type of shop..."

"We'll check them all," Mando said with no hesitation.

I gave a curt nod. "I'll cover the other side of the road," I said as I made my way through the dark to the far side of store fronts. This was an industrial part of town, making narrowing down a building difficult. The first few I checked were closed up with no sign of movement or the little green one.

I could tell daylight would come soon, and we didn't have much more time to look for the kid. I broke into a shop mid way up the street by shimmying the back window open. It was pitch black inside, but had an accessible upstairs. I meandered through the open floor until I came across a table with cups of caf spread across it. They weren't old- still smelling slightly fresh as if they were made within the last hours of the previous day. I headed to the base of the stairs and listened intently as I slowly walked up with my blade drawn.

It was one open room with a door on the far side. Notes and blueprints were scattered among the tables, including a picture of me and drawings of the Razor Crest. "What the fuck?" I whispered under my breath as I took in the picture of my side profile. This had been taken from a distance away. Suddenly, I heard a small whine come from behind the other door. "Kid?"

I hit the panel on the wall and the door shot up, revealing the tiny little potato sack with large, watery eyes. He threw his arms up and grappled with his six fingers, darting forward as quick as his legs would take him before I crouched down and scooped him into my arms. His little cries were muffled by my jacket.

"Shh, shh, you're okay, little one. We got ya, you're okay." While rubbing circles on the end of his large ears, I reached forward to grab the orb and drag it from the small room. "We need to get back to the ship, okay?" He grunted quietly in agreement as he snuggled into my arm. With the orb behind me, we made our way back down the steps, but I stilled as I felt another presence in the room. I ducked behind the banister and grabbed a throwing razor, looking down to find giant dark eyes staring at me with a tilt of his head. The small amount of light reflected off of them, and I vowed to never let this little creature get separated from Mando again.

Just then I felt another shift and I stood, flinging the razor across the room into the dark and narrowing my eyes when a familiar "ting" filled the air.

"Sage?"

"Stars above, Mando, you couldn't have let me known it was you?!" The Mandalorian walked from the darkness with my razor between his fingers, and his visor settled on the wiggling green creature in my arms. The kid outstretched his hands towards his makeshift parent, happily giggling to see shiny again. Mando strut forward as I held out the kid, taking him and looking over his little body for injuries before tucking him into his orb. I smiled at the affection, which to anyone else would've looked like disinterest.

"We need to get moving."

I nodded, taking my razor from him and tucking it away. "They've been planning this. Upstairs are plans of the ship and pictures."

"Pictures of what?"

"Uh, pictures of me."

The Mandalorian tilted his head as his visor regarded me. With the arm not holding his blaster, he touched behind my elbow, beckoning me back towards the door. "Come on, let's go. We can get off of this place before they come looking for the kid or you." With the tiny one in tow, we headed back to the Razor Crest in silence. Relief hung around us in the air, even though my leg was beginning to hurt again. I was just happy to be here with the two of them.