Chapter Twenty-Nine: 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖎𝖓𝖌.
word count; 6.1k
To top this glorious day off, your speeder was broken during the fight.
Well, it didn't exactly break. Rather it... it was melted by Krayt dragon stomach acids.
And it's brand new. Was.
Much to your dismay, it was beyond repairing. At least, not here. You couldn't possibly find the correct parts to replace the currently liquefied ones here, and even if you had access to the proper speeder pieces, you wouldn't have sufficient time on your hands to get it operating again. The Tuskens were already excavating the dragon carcass nearby, and the citizens of Mos Pelgo were soon returning to their homes. Yes, you could travel with the civilians, but their city was not where you wished to head back to for now. As of now, your objective was to purchase transportation off of Tatooine, maybe take on a few hunts, and continue finding that Jedi.
But with the state your bike was in... how the hell were you supposed to do that?
Best you could do was recover your satchel that had surprisingly survived, although not exactly in excellent condition. Occasional holes here and there, but your belongings within it had astonishingly remained intact.
Your arms crossed over your chest as you just stared at the speeder, downright displeased with the way everything turns out for you. Behind you, footsteps were audible. They approached, before halting by your side, earning a glance from you. It was Cobb Vanth—lacking his faded emerald beskar, indicating he'd handed it over to the Mandalorian already—and as his eyes took in the complete disorder your vehicle was in, he winced. Your grip tightened on the strap of your satchel, swung over your shoulder.
"Know of anyone heading back to Mos Eisley?"
"I do know of one guy..."
"Anyone other than that one guy?"
He shook his head.
"Great," you muttered under your breath, intaking a reluctant breath as you turn to face the Mandalorian a distance away, besides his perfectly fine speeder and preparing himself to depart. It wasn't fair, how come his bike turned out to be alright, while you're stuck with this melted heap of garbage?
"Will I be seeing you again?"
The question brought you out of your agitated thoughts. Your eyes meet with Cobb's, one final time, knowing that it may be a while since you see him again. Shoving aside the current trepidation invading your mind, you managed a gentle grin on your lips. "Of course. One day, I'm sure of it."
The truth? You weren't sure of it.
With that, you parted ways with the Marshal and instead approached Din, hesitantly and unwillingly. As soon as he felt your presence, he turned to face you. His visor met with yours, silent as he expected you to speak. You found yourself unenthusiastic about this whole thing, considering that little argument about a half hour ago. The tension between you two was running remarkably high—but, really, when was it not?
"So, I've run into a problem..." you state, distorted voice revealing your reluctance. "My speeder's broken and I need a ride back to the Mos Eisley spaceport. Seeing as you're the only one here traveling there..."
"I can take you. It's just..." his gaze shifted towards his speeder, which was topped with several objects pulled taut together by ropes—his possessions, the beskar, and a chunk of dragon meat. Which hardly allowed any space for passengers besides Din driving the bike and the Child, who was in a convenient sack attached to the speeder. "It might be a bit cramped."
Your shoulders rose and fell in a concise shrug. "It's not like I have other options anyway. When are you planning on leaving?"
"Right now," he informed as he mounted the speeder, which truly left hardly anymore space for you, no matter how far he scooted forward.
Nevertheless, you figured you had no other choice, and so opted to hop in behind him. To say it might be a bit cramped was an understatement—a terrible understatement. The items behind you barely permitted you to move, other than end up squished between Din and his belongings. Along with your legs aligning with his hips and you being so damn close to him, displease crawled into your brain. Although you couldn't help but remember the distant times when being near the Mandalorian was something addictive and pleasurable to you.
Although you swore you wouldn't lean forward to hold on to Din (instead, you gripped onto the sides of the speeder), when he activated the vehicle and it unexpectedly surged forward, you couldn't help but at least grab onto his cape with a single hand to ensure you wouldn't suffer a fall. With the sudden start and high velocities the speeder was traveling at, you couldn't help but wonder whether Din had done so involuntarily or if he'd purposely done so so you could hold on to him... Either way, as soon as you felt yourself gaining stability, you returned your one palm to the bike's edge and instead kept your balance there.
↯
"Mando, stop—!"
And too late.
Before anyone could even react, the vehicle jerked, surging forwards at elevated speeds, before launching everything—the dragon meat, beskar, possessions, including it's passengers—into mid-air. Shock had hardly allowed you a chance to activate the rockets in your armor, instead sending you tumbling into the harsh, blazing sands and absolutely killing your sore, aching body even further. Battling the Krayt dragon had taken a toll on you, and obtaining yet more injuries exasperated you already. Although you could bet that you were about to receive even more wounds after dealing with this situation.
With a barely audible groan, you propped yourself up with an elbow, catching sight of first the Mandalorian, who'd thankfully managed to land safely utilizing his jetpack. Then, your eyes shifted to the Child who'd seemingly suffered the exact tumble. Despite your stiff muscles, you urged yourself upright to face your new opponents. Bounty hunters—two of them to be exact, both concentrated on shooting. He was visibly staggered by the bullets striking him in the chest, one in the shoulder, another even colliding with his helmet. Unluckily for them, you knew that they wouldn't be capable of taking him down, considering you'd experienced beforehand that the man truly did pack a punch against his enemies, no matter how skilled said enemy was.
Those were not fun times...
But they were simpler times nevertheless.
So, instead of focusing on Din any longer, your eyes snapped towards where the Child was still recovering from his earlier fall. When somebody unidentifiable shouted a hostile "Get the Child!" you realized they also happened to have a secondary goal, which you would never allow to happen on your life. Protectiveness blocked any other thoughts out, raiding your brain like a parasite, encouraging you to hasten in front of him. Shielding him from any opposer, you watched as the tiniest of the hunters—what was it, some sort of Jawa?—quickly approached you. You chuckled, realizing Din had taken on the two major rivals whilst you were stuck with this little nerf-herder—
Well, said nerf-herder happened to be incredibly nimble and quick on his feet—so, when you'd swooped your arms down to seize it, the small being had swiftly dodged your hands and scurried straight past you. A string of curses escaped your breath as you whirled around to attempt to capture it, only for several bullets to collide with your back plate and nearly throw you off-balance. Seeing as your life was in imminent danger now, you spun back around again, using the armor encasing your wrists to reflect the streaks of expeditious bolts assaulting you. The Nikto, possibly the leader of the trio of hunters, had opted to prevent you from saving the infant from his fellow hunter, now firing his rifle in an attempt to delay you from reaching the Child.
In effect you found yourself enforced to indulge in the battle against the Nikto. Either by forcing away blaster fires with your armor, or by dodging them, you slowly but surely approached your opponent. Once he figured you'd gotten too close for comfort, he propelled himself towards you and struck your stomach, earning a pained grunt as he shoved you backwards. Planting your heels onto the ground proved to be difficult but you managed, halting the significantly taller and heavier Nikto into his place, before shrugging him off and landing a blow across his face with a curled fist.
That caused him to lag for a split second, earning you an advantage. You used up all your remaining strength to hurl him backwards into a rock, right besides the other pair fighting against each other. The Nikto snarled at you, a menacing look in those malicious eyes. With adrenaline working against you and causing you to detain your actions a bit, your delayed response had resulted in a punch straight against your mask, although that didn't impede you from feeling the impact of the coercion behind the knuckles. You cursed, loudly, upon feeling the pain reverberate through your entire nose which had absorbed the grand majority of the attack, a warm and tepid liquid dripping down from it—blood, its metallic scent trouncing your senses.
As the Nikto opted for yet another offensive move, you adopted a defensive stance, eluding his every attempt to wound you. Crouching down to evade yet another fist, you slipped the blade hidden within your boot before lifting it up to strike him. That is, until a hand grasped your wrist—fingers belonging to the hunter who was supposed to be fighting Din, besides you, curling around your wrist and holding your weaponized palm back. With an unexpected jerk of your arm, you pulled your rival over, hurling him onto his back. All that leverage had done significant damage to your shoulder, but before you could ponder over that any further, the Nikto had encumbered you in his arms from behind, strictly wrapping them around your throat and constricting your breathing.
With your knife plopping down to the sand, you struggled against the Nikto's firm hold around your neck. A few feet in front of you, you watched as the small figure hesitantly approached the fight with a rifle much too big for him in his grasp, pointed straight towards you. The alien besides you had recovered from his tumble, the Nikto was asphyxiating you to your death, the weird little nerf-herder thing was aiming a weapon in an effort to ultimately kill you— where the hell was Din?!
It wasn't long before panic settled into the pit of your stomach. Eyes instinctively landing on his figure clad in beskar, you watched as he utilized the fiber cord built into his wrist armor, and wrapped the wire around the rifle straight ahead. Understanding exactly what was going to occur next, you purposely allowed yourself to become limp in the Nikto's harmful grasp, which would hopefully lead to him believing you'd passed out, or died. The arms around your trachea had significantly slackened—and as soon as that happened, the rifle slipped out of the Jawa's fingers, Din yanking on the cord as it did, and tugging the heavy weapon towards the Nikto and his companion who also happened to be in the blaster's path.
Seeing as you also happened to be collateral damage if you didn't kriffing move, you suddenly ducked down, irrevocably startling the Nikto, and slid yourself out of his grasp. Seconds later, the sonorous sound of the rifle colliding with two skulls filled your ears, followed by a pair of bodies slumping to the sand with a thud. You exhaled a breath of relief to be over with those two already... except there was the shortest hunter remaining.
And it just so happened to be holding the Child hostage.
The sight was particularly infuriating, causing a growl to escape your lips as you charged towards it—
Only, Din had shouted your name, followed by an urgent "—stop!"
You did. Because you hadn't realized there was a knife to the kid's throat.
Your skidding to a halt had caused dust to billow into the air. Breathing heavily from the previous fight and the adrenaline still coursing through you, your fists clench firmly by your sides. "Don't hurt him!" you exclaimed. Fearing the loss of his life was restraining you from taking another step further, or else you would've dealt with the bastard already. In your peripheral vision, you observed as Din paced forward, carefully, until he was by your side. Considering the severity of the situation, he knew to spread his arms out in front of him to show that he meant to harm—and you mimicked his actions.
"If you out on mark on him, there's no place you will be able to hide from me," Din threatened, although his tone didn't match his intimidating remark. Instead, he adopted a gentle voice, so as to not to startle the squat hunter any further, although it was evident he was not bluffing. "We can strike a bargain. There's a lot of value in this wreckage."
The bounty hunter's masked face peered around, seemingly searching for something else it desired to steal for itself. Reassurance found itself returning to you as you watched it contemplate the offer, although nobody was in the clear quite yet.
"Take your pick... but leave the Child."
It pointed towards Din with the dagger, before setting it back against the infant's throat. For a second you feared it wished to acquire the beskar armor, but quickly realized he elected Din's jetpack instead. "Okay..." Din, willing to surrender literally anything in exchange for the Child's life, removed the pack from his back and slowly set it down on the ground. "Here. It's yours, take it."
The creature finally placed the Child on the ground below, releasing him from his hostile hold before immediately racing off with its newly-acquired jetpack. What sucked for it was that, without proper training and equipment, it wouldn't be capable of so much as controlling such powerful rockets. It seemed that either it wasn't conscious of the fact, or that it was simply going to sell or trade the item. Which equally sucked for you, because you never obtained the chance to use it, not even once. Setting those thoughts aside, you glance towards the baby, who'd instantly jumped into the security of Din's arms as soon as he was free, allowing a breath of relief to blow through your lips at the sight of him unscathed.
Peering over your shoulder, you caught sight of the trip-wire set between two rocks, which was the cause for that abrupt stumble earlier. Who knows how long the trio had that little ambush planned for—perhaps as soon as they realized the Mandalorian had entered the town of Mos Pelgo several days ago. But before you could inspect it any further, a series of beeps filled your ears, before the sudden sound of the jetpack activating enraptured your attention. As your gaze snapped forward, your eyes landed on the remaining hunter who was sent flying into the air by the rockets, before colliding with the ground a few seconds later.
The Child blew a raspberry at Din, although you were't exactly sure what that meant, and Din merely shrugged. You, on the other hand, laughed. An actual, genuine laugh escaped your lips that left your shoulders vibrating with such amusement and clutching your belly with a tired arm. It seemed your giggling became contagious because soon afterwards, you could pick out a gentle chuckle from Din and a snicker from the Child. Ah, you needed that laugh.
Only when you recalled that your nose throbbed like hell, did you finally stop laughing. Which caught Din off-guard when you winced, earning a curt, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Sliding your hood back until it settled on your upper spine, you removed the dark mask from your face, permitting you to perceive the clearer and brighter world surrounding you, lacking the usual tint of a visor. "But... my nose isn't." A single finger wiped against the skin directly underneath tour nose, the digit smearing with vivid, scarlet blood that still trailed down your nose. Thankfully, most of it had dried off already, although by the constant twinge of pain that progressed throughout your nose, you had a feeling that—
"It's broken," Din bluntly stated. The Child in his grasp tilted his head upon noting your bruised face and the darkness that sprouted all around your nose and underneath your eyes. You grunted when you reached out with both your hands, exerting very minimal pressure to see if Din's assumption truly were correct. Which, much to your dismay, you were pretty sure he was right. Your nose was, in fact, broken. "I can... set it back in place."
"No," you immediately refused. You'd had your fair share of injured noses before, but the notion of having to undergo such a torment was undesirable, even if it were for a split second as he snapped it back straight. "I'll deal with this later."
"You're gonna walk all the way back with a broken nose?"
"We're walking all the way back?"
Din gestured towards the shattered speeder on the ground, beyond repair. Great—the second bike death you witnessed.
Looks like you're walking all the way back. With a broken nose. And a ton of leverage. And... Mando.
↯
The. Entire. Day.
Ultimately arriving at Mos Eisley had taken several long hours, without the ability to stop and camp for the night, given that you lacked the materials to temporarily rest. Carrying all that weight throughout the blaring Dune Sea had worsened your state, causing your whole body a painful twinge that wouldn't cease whatsoever. With your debilitated state, all you ever desired in this moment was to crawl into a bed and sleep for days, but you also didn't have a bed to sleep in. You could only hope that whoever you purchase transport from had sleeping quarters available for passengers, although at this point you wouldn't mind fabricating a makeshift bed on the ground, literally anywhere.
Actually, you were on the verge of dumping everything on the ground and simply... collapsing. Honestly, that wouldn't have been so bad.
Giving into consideration the extent of your current injuries and how effortlessly you could overheat, it was necessary for you to remove your cloak and mask to have continued through the journey. Also, you had surrendered your satchel over to the Child since the previous sack Din maintained him in was all torn and wholly uncomfortable. It simply didn't suit the poor infant, so since the food you'd packed within it had unwillingly been disposed of during that ambush, the Child would put it to better use—plus, it was much more snug for him as he traveled with Din.
That had actually been the satchel that you'd taken when you left the Razor Crest. So, really, it did belong to Mando.
As you sauntered within the building alongside the Mandalorian, your eyes probed around the structure in search for the mechanic who owned bay three-five. Given that the sun had dropped over the horizon already, Din had doubted Peli would even be present in her hangar; instead, enjoying herself someplace else. You had suggested the cantina, and it seemed your assumption was correct because there she was—settled at a table in the corner, playing a card game with some insect-like species you couldn't recognize.
Peli, with her usual brown, crazy hair, had glanced up at you guys and furrowed her eyebrows, giving you a weird look as she didn't expect to see you here. Then, her eyes landed on the beskar you happened to have brought. "Woah! You finally found a Mandalorian and ya kill him? And, you! I thought you were too busy to tag along with Mando— Kriff, what happened to your nose?"
You chuckled quietly at her vibrant personality, before answering with, "It's nice to see you too, Peli."
"He wasn't a Mandalorian," Din spoke up, referring to the earlier topic. "I bought this armor off him, though."
The mechanic returned her eyes to the cards gripped between her oil-stained fingers, simultaneously focusing on the gambling game whilst speaking to you and the Mandalorian. "What'd that set you back?"
"Killed the Krayt dragon for him."
"And nearly died," you added.
A sarcastic expression appeared on Peli's face. "Oh. Is that all?"
"...he was my last lead on finding other Mandalorians."
Peli's opponent had started speaking in a language you couldn't comprehend, but it seemed the woman was perfectly capable of understanding him. "Okay, well, you might be in luck. Dr. Mandible here says he can connect you with someone who can help you... Only if you cover this sound." Her shoulders shrugged. "It's what he said."
You internally groaned upon hearing the statement. "What's the bet?"
"...five hundred."
"What? That— that's a high-stakes game!"
"He's on a high streak!" Peli contended, although before she could try to persuade you any further, Din had tossed his own credits on the furniture. It was unexpected how quickly he'd even accepted, but it seemed he was willing to find that Jedi as much as you were.
"Is the pot right?" Peli asked, to which this Dr. Mandible guy answered with a series of clicks in his own native tongue. Then, "Ha!! Idiot's array! Pay up, thorax!"
"I thought you said he was on a hot streak," Din recalled with a completely unamused tone, which brought the slightest bit of amusement to you. After all the walking through the desert, evidently aching and wounded, it was nearly impossible to maintain a good mood.
"Oh, stop your crying, you'll rust!"
Din glanced over to you upon hearing your silent chuckles. You shrugged, the beskar you carried clinking together as you did. "You fell for her trick, can't do anything about it anymore."
Continual chittering followed from the arthropod whilst Peli reached over the table, collecting the entirety of her reward. "Alright, he says the contact will rendezvous at the hangar. They'll tell you where to find some Mandalorians. That's what you wanted, right?"
"...yes."
"Alright, well, stop your mopin'!" The mechanic rose from her speak as she spoke. "More importantly, did you bring back any of that dragon meat? Better not have any maggots on it. I don't like maggots." She gestured for the pair of you to follow behind her as she brought along her prize.
"Sorry, Dr. Mandible," you apologized, offering one final glance to the supposed 'doctor,' who only replied in his dialect. Turning around, you pursued Din, catching up with Peli alongside him and reading closely behind her on your path to the Razor Crest.
The mechanic had paid no attention whatsoever to you guys as she was vastly preoccupied counting the plethora of credits she'd secured with her deceiving strategy earlier, silently cheering fervently to herself whilst clenching her fists in victory. Which actually wasn't the best timing or situation to brag about the successful outcome (even if she was only boasting quietly to herself) when the streets your trio were strolling through was littered with savage thieves and criminals who'd eyes were practically glued to the currency held carefully within her palms.
Still, said delinquents would be incredibly ignorant and unintelligent to so much as attempt to swindle some of that prize out of her since there were two of the most renowned bounty hunters in the parsec trailing right behind her. The Mandalorian and the former Jedi were two beings who would surely ward off any imminent trouble... no matter how overworked and fatigued that former Jedi.
Although even amongst the evident peril surrounding you and lurking around every dark alleyway, your mind pondered over an entirely distinct subject that had nothing to do in relations with the threatening streets of Mos Eisley during the night. Stealing a glimpse of Din ambling forwards right besides you, still carrying the Child, dragon meat, and all, you hesitated on whether you should initiate the conversation with your question or not. After several minutes of pure silence, you finally decided to speak up, "I'm curious... You never told me why you need to find other Mandalorians. I thought you were finding Jedi, not other Mandos?"
Upon hearing your familiar voice speak up from next to him, Din shifted his visor to face you. "I'm hoping the Mandalorians can connect me with one of the kid's kind."
Now further understanding the reason for his arrival at Mos Pelgo, everything was steadily beginning to connect within your mind. It did make sense that Mandalorians would be capable of leading him to Jedi, considering they were once enemies all those cycles ago. You mustered a half-hearted chuckle to yourself at the thought that you and Din both ended up searching for the exact goal, yet the fact that you could've remained in the Crest alongside him and assisted him on his quest discouraged you, slightly—you couldn't let it get to you, though. "Funny how we both happen to be looking for Jedi..."
Din was conspicuously puzzled at your statement, head tilting to the side as the two of you walked in synchronization. "How come you're looking for one now?"
A reluctant sigh escaped your lips, wholeheartedly unwilling to open up on the subject—although you were culpable here, since you did sorta ignite this conversation... which meant, inevitably, it was bound to head down this path. Dropping your gaze, you concentrated on your boots, watching as dust shuffled upwards with each of your passing steps. Then, "You remembered what happened... I figured I should learn to genuinely use my powers in the correct way. I don't want to go through any of that again, it was like I had no jurisdiction over myself at all."
Din made a noise of understanding, and you lifted your gaze to see that he seemed like he wanted to say something more. Yet he only nodded, continuing down the path towards hangar three-five just up ahead. As soon as you set everything down within the landing bay, you could finally feel alleviated upon dropping all that weighty leverage that was draining your energy even further—if that was even possible. Then electing to stay temporarily, at least until you could feed on some of that dragon meat the droids immediately got to roasting when Peli commanded them to, you were able to listen in to the mechanic's conversation with Din. Nearby them, you closed your eyes shut to gain some rest as you sat with your back up against the Razor Crest, which had lamentably caused an overwhelming surge of nostalgia to return to you... but, you attempted to focus on the voices instead of letting that sense of longing return to you.
Dr. Mandible had informed Peli that there was a Mandalorian covert nearby. She wasn't able to obtain much information on the matter since she hardly had time to discuss anything with the arthropod, so the sole knowledge she possessed was this: the contact will lead Din to them. There was one, small, totally insignificant downfall, though... which was the Mandalorian was required to travel sublight. No hyperdrive could be utilized, for whatever reason you could not bring yourself to comprehend. Which then resulted in Din beginning to disagree with the woman, explaining how dangerous it could be to journey through open space when pirates and warlords and all kinds of malicious people were insistently hot on their tails.
While you originally were going to wait until the meat was entirely cooked so you could offer something to your empty stomach, you figured that your desire to sleep overpowered your desire to eat. Consuming something for yourself could wait until tomorrow morning, but you had spent enough time awake since before the whole Krayt dragon incident, so it was vital for you to find some place to rest before you literally collapsed out of sheer exhaustion in some random place. That, and the slight arguing going on was already irritating you, but you also found that was mainly because you were extremely fatigued after these recent, long couple of days.
So as you rose from your seat, you headed towards the Child, who was struggling to keep his eyes open as he was settled in front of the fire which roasted the nourishment you wished you could stick around to at least try. It seemed the heat was warm and pleasant enough to send the Child into his own state of slumber, causing him to he nearly incapable of opening his eyes when you pat his head, caressed one of his green ears as you whispered a barely audible goodnight to him. That had stirred him awake the slightest bit, although soon afterwards his eyes drooped down again. You grinned gently at the sight—it was best for your departure to be like this, truly. That way he wouldn't attempt to impede you from leaving, which would make it difficult to actually leave him.
Whilst you approached the hangar exit, bits and pieces of the conversation was overheard by you. Something about mitigating circumstances and—
Oh.
"Frog Lady?"
To say you weren't expecting her to randomly appear out of the doorway was an understatement. Completely unanticipated, she had emerged from the exit and nearly caused you to jump out of your skin. In fact, you nearly fired at her with your blaster with the fright she had given you.
But once you recognized that well-recognizable violet amphibian face, you smiled widely. And it seemed she was equally as contented to be seeing you, since she'd croaked delightedly and embraced you in a hug. Chuckling, you wrapped your own arms around her back as well, though your palms touched a solid object strapped to her back; what seemed like a backpack specifically built to incubate her own clutch of offspring. The eggs settled within the incubator were able to float liberally around the glowing sapphire water that maintained them moist and prevented them from drying up.
One specific remark from the Mandalorian was discernible to your ears, "I'm not a taxi service."
"What are you doing here?" You asked the amphibian as you pulled away from her.
She replied with a series of squawks solely understandable in her language—although luckily, you could comprehend her words since she was the one to each her the dialect of her species. When you'd first arrived on Tatooine to visit Mos Pelgo all those months ago, you happened to have met her in a cantina and had acquainted yourself with her. Overall, she had seemed like an incredibly considerate and enjoyable being so you couldn't help familiarizing yourself with her. That, and during that period of time, you were still rather... affected by everything that had happened. Frog Lady just happened to be there for you, and considering you wanted to he capable of truly communicating with her, you decided on learning her native tongue.
"What's the cargo?" Din had questioned as soon as you lead Frog Lady to the rest of the group.
"She told me it's her spawn. The eggs need to be fertilized by the equinox or else she won't have another opportunity to extend her line. Which means that traveling through hyperspace will kill the eggs. Her husband is on the estuary moon of Trask in the same system of the gas giant Kol Iben."
Din sighed—it was then that you noticed he had his hands set on his hips. Then, "Out of all the languages you could've learned..."
"It may be a scarce language but it proved to be useful now, didn't it?" you shrugged at his question, earning a chuckle from Din you had hardly noticed. "Anyway, have you ever been to Trask before?"
"No, I've never been... Is she sure there are Mandalorians there?"
"Yeah, she says her husband has seen them on Trask before. I don't see why we shouldn't believe her."
"Do you know the husband?"
"...nope."
Din's gaze switched to Peli, as if hoping she could further provide him with more information on his new passenger. The mechanic shook her head before answering, "I met her 10 minutes before you walked in!"
"I thought you said you vouched for her on your life."
One of Peli's repair droids offered her a piece of fully-roasted dragon meat on a plate, to which Peli had slapped her hand onto the sustenance and quickly took a bite out of it. She continued to speak, in a sassy, matter-of-fact manner, "What can I say, I'm an excellent judge of character."
"Trust me," you started, taking advantage of the droid presenting you with another strip of meat before beginning to munch on it as well (it was surprisingly good meat in spite of it not being seasoned or cooked with any other ingredients). "Froggy stays true to her words."
Din tilted his head at that. "Froggy?"
"Yeah," you spoke whilst simultaneously chewing on your food. "You know, Frog and Lady combined: Froggy."
The Mandalorian would've facepalmed if his helmet didn't cover his forehead.
You couldn't help but chuckle at his I'm-so-done-with-you attitude, on the verge of opening your mouth to reply when Froggy had interrupted you. As she vocalized in her language, your face continually dropped upon hearing her rather improbable request. "No, I... I can't do that," was your response, voice significantly dropping into a quieter tone. "Sorry."
"What does she want?"
Upon hearing Din's question, a reluctant sigh escaped your nose. "She says the only way she'll get on the Crest is if... I come with her. She trusts me and wants someone alongside her that she could confide in."
The Mandalorian, you observed, seemed rather staggered at that. The subject was evidently too... sensitive, still. Whether accepting this would be a complete mistake or some terrible decision you would later on regret, you weren't sure. You had no idea if this was even something to consider whatsoever, because Din had made it pretty damn clear that day: he didn't want you on the Razor Crest anymore.
Much to your surprise, though, the Frog Lady had Din's approval to bring you along. "Okay... We're both looking for Jedi anyway. It makes sense for us to stick together."
A hesitant expression appeared on your facial features as you weighed out your options here. Though your thoughts were swiftly interfered with by Peli—"What's with the long face and the hesitation! Last I saw you guys, you were totally fine together. What's the problem now?"
That's the thing—there are going to be problems and there was no doubt about that. You and Din weren't as familiar and comfortable with each other as you were in the past. In fact, you'd still consider him your enemy, although lacking the desire to kill him whenever the chance presented itself. Things were undeniably tense between you two and there was no saying what would occur within that gunship during your journey to Trask, venturing through space sublight and spending endless hours in each other's companies... It was risky and you recognized that full well, but...
"Alright," you sighed, lifting your eyes to meet with Din's visor. "I'll come with."
Moments like these you longed to see his face, solely to figure out his true emotions about all this—whether he were unhappy or angry or what. That way, you could liberally determine if he wanted you on to tag along on this trip or not. But the tone in his voice displayed the fact that he was alright with this, that it was acceptable. Then that caused all the more perplexity and puzzled questions arising within your jumbled-up mind: why did he do that? Why did he tell you to leave? Why couldn't he have allowed you to stay with him?
You might as well figure it all out if you were going to team up with the Mandalorian again.
note:
ahh i know this one took a lil longer than usual but i haven't had much time to write lately tbh 🥲 i don't think i'll be able to keep up with my normal schedule, so updates will be more random than before. they can take minimum a week to finish or it can take three weeks, maybe more, idk. i've just been too busy to know for certain when i'll update (i honestly have no idea how i used to balance updating bombshell and narudar once a week 😂)
this chapter was eh, kinda boring tbh, but things will definitely pick up for the episode 10 arc and so on 😏 and remember, din had a reason when he did what he did... maybe we'll find out 👀
one last thing: narudar is like?? super close to 20k? i did not expect it to reach 20k so quickly but here we are. THANK YOU 🥺