To The Stars || The Mandalorian

Chapter Twenty Four

Dessa presses her lips together in a thin line, "I swear that breeze is getting louder, what do you think Peli?" 

"Oh, lover's spat, huh?" Peli asks, her mouth shaping into an "o" shape, ignoring Din's quiet protest, "Don't worry, you two, the anger phase goes away. Makes sex so much better, so I hear." 

Din clears his throat. Dessa whispers Peli's name frantically.

"Come on, gang!" Unbothered by both of their reactions,  Peli shouts at the three small droids gathering and tossing equipment around further away from where they were standing, "you know he doesn't like droids!" 

"May as well let them have at it," Din says, and turns to glance at the Razor Crest. "The Crest needs a once over." 

"Oh, he likes droids now!" Peli shrugs, and glances over at Dessa for an explanation,  "When did that happen?" 

"Long story that I'm pretty sure I can't tell you," Dessa smiles. 

"Well, you heard him, give it a once over!" Peli says to the droids, and gasps as Din reveals the small child tucked away in his brown shoulder bag, "Oh thank the force!" she laughs as she picks up the child without hesitation, and cuddles him, "this little thing has had me worried sick!  Come here, you little womp rat! Looks like it remembers me! How much do you want for it?"

At Dessa's look of worry, and Din's slight head tilt, Peli laughs. "I'm kidding," but she leans over towards them as if she were revealing a huge secret.  "But if this thing ever divides or buds, I will kindly pay for the offspring." 

Dessa and Din turn to stare at each other, both from reflex and mostly shock, and then back at the Razor Crest at the sudden sound of something popping off from the ship with a loud hiss. 

"Hey, watch what you're doing up there!" Peli orders the droids messing around with the equipment. Dessa's lips twitch in amusement at the sight of one droid flying through the air, and another droid's face stuck in a tube.  She lifts her index finger to her lip to stop herself from laughing. 

 "He barely trusts your kind! You want to give all droids a bad name!?" Peli scoffs and shakes her head.

"I'm here on business," Din says,  short and straight to the point like how he always likes his conversations to go. 

"Well, then business you shall have," Peli says, hugging the small creature close to her. "Care for me to watch over this wrinkled creature while the two of us here have a little chat and you seek out adventure?" 

"I've been quested to bring him back to its kind," Din says.

"Wow, I can't help you there," Peli chuckles, "I've never seen anything like it and trust me, I've seen all shapes and sizes in this town." 

Dessa tunes out the conversation, though her face is warm from Peli's implication and she's certain it isn't from the scorching heat. As much as she likes seeing Peli again, she feels uneasy being back at the place where the wannabe bounty hunter tried to corner them. 

"R-five!" Peli shouts, as she, Dessa, and Din turn to the left of the area. "Bring a map of Tatooine!" 

A red and white droid similar to the one Dessa remembers that drove the boat on lava lakes back in Nevarro slowly approaches them with several beeps. At its soft, whistle tone, a round, orange map of the desert flickers in the dusty air. 

"This is a map of Tatooine before the war," Peli explains with a point of her index finger, and enlarges the map with the palm of her hand. "You've got Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, and up around this region, Mos Pelgo."