Biding her time, Alora walks alongside the Child and the Mandalorian peacefully. She puts up no fuss, no fight. Some might say she failed, but she had seen the way the Mandalorian looked at the Child and vise versa. She had always been a good judge of character; this Mandalorian may not be like the last one she encountered. She may not have to drop him into the dunes of Tatooine this time.
The Child watches them walk gleefully, his ears flicking up with each sound. Alora knows they have sand lizards following them, and she is sure the Child wants nothing more than to eat one. If she could, she'd tell him to be patient.
A chill runs down her spine; she stops walking, looking around. The chittering has gone silent.
"What is it?" The Mandalorian asks, noting her pause.
She smirks.
A Nikto jumps down from above, slamming the Mandalorian's weapon down. Alora grabs the Child's crib, pulling them away as the Mandalorian fights the incoming warriors. She must admit, he fights beautifully. She knows those moves from her own training. The Child also appears impressed.
He takes three down easily, but the last one charges at the Child. Alora steps in front of him, smiles, and sends her skull into his before swiping her leg out to knock him down. She takes out a dagger the Mandalorian missed when disarming her and strikes the Nikto in the neck, blood spraying her face.
As she stands, she wipes away the blood and looks back up at the Mandalorian who is slowly lowering his blaster. "You know I have to take that now, right?" He asks.
She shrugs, tossing it at his feet. I don't need a weapon to kill you.
They both notice the tracking fob now lying abandoned on the desert ground.
Before long, they find a safe place to stay for the night. The Mandalorian starts a fire as the sun starts to set while Alora stares at the sunset. She'd missed so many caring for the Child so enamored with beskar steel that she'd forgotten how many colors could come from a single day.
She ignores the Mandalorian attempting to cauterize the wound on his arm until the Child himself climbs out of his crib. Sitting up a bit straighter, she narrows her eyes at the Child, watching him approach the warrior with an outstretched hand.
She knows what he is trying to do as he begins to close his eyes.
Whisking him up, she places him back in the crib before pressing her finger to his nose playfully. The Child, now distracted, giggles happily, grabbing at her finger before pressing it to his cheek.
The Mandalorian watches them closely. She could care less what he thinks. This Child is her creed. She let him take them. They all have their reasons.
As Alora sits back down, she groans when she notices the Child once again going towards the Mandalorian's wounded arm. The Mandalorian moves first, setting the Child back in his crib and sealing it. She pouts when he looks back at her. "What? Anything to say?" He asks as he sits back down. "You got a name?"
Alora rolls her eyes and adjusts on the rough stone. She winces as the jagged rock cuts into her back, but she's slept in worse places. Namely, an Imperial warship, but those days are long past.
She does not sleep, and neither does the Mandalorian. The Child's snores can be heard through the container.
They rise at the crack of dawn, just as the sun comes up to illuminate the way. They begin their trek through the desert without waking the Child, its snores the only sounds between the three of them other than the clank of beskar armor.
The Child wakes as they come upon a large bluff, and, by the Mandalorian's quickened pace, Alora realizes they must be close. She can also hear the raiders that must have found his ship.
Her theory is confirmed when she sees Jawa raiders stripping a fairly old ship for parts next to their behemoth vehicle. Alora finds herself laughing as the Mandalorian takes aim, almost angrily. "Shut up," he mutters to her.
Alora simply shrugs as he attacks, the Child's interest now piqued. His shots are quite impressive, hitting each raider dead on. Alora would be impressed if she couldn't do the same thing at age fifteen.
As the raiders' tank starts to move, the Mandalorian races after it, but Alora takes her time with the Child, meandering down the bluff despite the Child's cooing and reaching for the warrior. He manages to jump onto the wheels, which is quite a feat to Alora. She just watches with the Child as the Mandalorian, inevitably, falls.
It is quite the sight.
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It is just not Mando's day. The ship had been stripped bare, he couldn't win against some raiders, and this girl is starting to piss him off. All she does is stare at him or laugh mockingly. She can protect herself, that's for sure, but where was that when the raiders were getting away? Now they're all stuck on this planet.
Maybe that's what she wants.
She doesn't complain or ever talk. She remains close to the Child no matter what, never wandering too far. Even as they walk the entire day to get to the farmer he met before.
The Ugnaught stands upon a tower, fixing a small box. "I thought you were dead," he says without looking as the trio come upon his moisture farm. Mando just sighs when the Ugnaught turns to them.
Before long, the girl is silently slurping some soup while the Child plays with a leaping frog. She eyes the man as he asks, "This is what was causing all the fuss?"
"I think it's a child," Mando replies.
The girl coughs and rolls her eyes, setting the now-empty bowl down with a thankful nod towards the Ugnaught.
"It is better to deliver them alive then," the Ugnaught says, walking over to Mando to watch him work.
Mando notices the girl's cold gaze landing on him. Just like with the Child, he can feel her staring into his soul. It's like she knows him, deep down. Not Mando, but the person he used to be.
"My ship has been destroyed. I'm trapped here."
"Stripped, not destroyed. Jawas steal. They don't destroy." The Ugnaught hands him a tool.
"Stolen or destroyed, makes no difference to me. They're protected by their crawling fortress. There's no way to recover the parts."
The Ugnaught shrugs. "You can trade."
"With Jawas?" Mando is tempted to laugh; unfortunately, the girl beats him to it with a loud snort. "Are you out of your mind?"
"I will take you to them. I have spoken."
A sharp gasp makes Mando turn back to see the girl tugging on the frog's leg, the frog itself now buried in the Child's mouth. "Hey! Spit that out!" Mando snaps.
Instead, the Child simply swallows it whole and burps with a loud giggle. The girl shakes her head softly as she takes him into her lap and lets it play with her long fingers. It gives Mando a chance to really look at her; some of her fingers are bent strangely, as if they had been broken and not healed properly. He's glad he is wearing the helmet when she looks up—it hides his stare.
The girl straightens up with a raised brow as if to ask What?
"Do you talk?" He asks, tilting his head.
She rolls her eyes and holds up her stiff cuffed hands.
"Yeah, they're not coming off any time soon."
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Chapter 1 done! Most chapters will probably be this short because the scenes in this show are so tiny! But there will always be the occasional long one with however I decide to split up the chapters.
Hope you enjoyed!
-L