You can hear Cara returning from the cockpit as you pull the tunic over your body. Her return makes you hesitate. You can sense that she is no longer angry; in fact, she's a little giddy about the situation they're about to get themselves into.
Sighing, you look down at your robes and tie the familiar belt around your waist. It's been so long since you've worn something of your people... it's strange. Comfortable.
I'd forgotten how comfortable the robes were.
The tan coloring was slightly darker than your old robes were. Dark brown boots are laced to cover your shins and uniform trousers. Folds of cloth cover the dark tunic that dons your torso, tied together under the standard Jedi belt. Long, flowy sleeves cover your forearms, hiding the scars that decorate them. You lift your hair out from where they were tucked in the collar of the robes, letting the dark strands fall around your shoulders.
When you close your eyes, you feel at home. As if everything was made right again. As if everyone had survived. And then your eyes flutter open again... and you remember.
You step out of your quarters and make your way to the cockpit ladder. Cara's whistle call stops you, catching you off-guard.
"That's a nice look for you, Alora."
Looking over your shoulder, you smile bashfully as Cara shoots you a wink. She's sitting against the wall, cleaning her weapon in preparation for landing.
"It's a look long overdue," you say softly, starting to hoist yourself up the ladder.
Din's messing with the controls on the dash as you step into the cockpit, walking to sit in your chair. You cross one leg over the other and lean back, lounging in your seat. Letting your arm hang lazily over the armrest, you rest your chin in the other hand, arm propped on the side of the chair as you stare out into the lights of hyperspace.
You start to fidget, nervous after Din's kiss. The feeling of Din's eyes on you is heavy, and a wave of jitters washes over you. You cough nervously and flick your gaze over to your Mandalorian for a moment.
"What?"
"What?"
"Well, you're staring at me," you mumble into your hand.
"Well, you're... you... your clothes."
"Yes?" Your eyes slide from the window to Din, who's leaning towards you. He's swiveled his seat to face you. His chin rests on his hand in the same manner as yours is, and his body is turned to face you.
"You look... good."
"Wow... you're quite the charmer," you smirk, moving to mimic his sitting position.
"Aren't those your Jedi robes?"
"Yes... I thought I'd look the part," you murmur, your eyes traveling to the window once more.
Din grunts in approval, still watching you as your eyes flutter closed. Your eyelids feel so heavy, and yet, you know you won't be able to sleep.
"You should be resting, Alora."
"I'm fine. It's not like I'd be able to sleep anyway." Your eyes open and settle on Din, softening at the sight of him. Just looking at him... it brings you comfort.
Din nods slowly in thought before sitting up and outstretching his arms. "Come here," he says softly.
You rise from your seat and settle into his lap, sitting sideways to lean into his shoulder
"You need rest," he whispers, readjusting your body so that you're completely on his lap. Your legs hang over the sides of his chair and you nestle into his shoulder, smiling into his neck.
"Rest is for the weak," you joke, giggling when he lets out a deep sigh. "I like your sighs. I know that's weird to say but-"
"It's not that weird," he chuckles. "Maybe I should sigh more often."
"Din, you sigh more than you speak whenever we're with other people."
"Well, other people are mostly dumb and annoying," he shrugs.
"Dumb and annoying, huh? What about me?" you smirk.
"You..." He turns his head to press his forehead to yours. "You are not other people."
Nuzzling into his shoulder, you hum happily. "So what am I, Djarin?"
"You are beautiful, kind, brilliant, strong, loving, courageous..."
"Stop it, Din," you snort, trying to hide your face in his shoulder as a blush creeps into it.
"Did I mention beautiful?" His voice becomes husky with emotion and you look up at him at the sound of it. "How lucky am I?" he whispers hoarsely. "The most beautiful woman..." Din's voice cracks and you quickly grab the sides of his helmet to lift his gaze to yours.
"Din?"
"I wish I could show you my face, cyar'ika. It's not fair... for me to know your face but for you not to know mine. I feel like I'm lying to you."
"But you're not," you whisper. "You're not lying to me. I don't need to see your face to know who you are. I never have. And, I know, it's different to fall for a Mandalorian, because I will never see your face. But... Din..." You bite back the fear and the tightness that's rising in your chest. "I don't care what you look like. Because I don't need to see your face in order to see you."
A shaky breath falls through his modulator as he stares at you.
"I've fallen for you. Your personality, your being. I know who and what you are to me without having to see your face. I can see your heart. And I'm only rambling on about this because I can sense the doubt that you're feeling right now and, to be frank, I'm kinda self-conscious right now about whether or not I'm right about what that doubt is aimed towards and... um... well..."
"Alora," Din whispers, cupping your face in his hands.
"I need you to know this, Din. I sense it in you... And I don't want you to think like this anymore, okay? I will never force you to break your Creed, just as you never pressured me with the Code and my past. I know how much it means to you."
There's a short silence, filled only with the two of you staring at each other. The emotion is overwhelming. It fills your throat, making it hard to breathe or speak as you await his response. He seems just as overwhelmed as you are; only shaky breaths leave his modulator.
"... Thank you, Alora," Din whispers, his voice shaking tremendously. "I wish I was better at words... to express..."
"You don't have to, Din," you whisper back, giving him a small smile.
He pulls you back against him in an embrace, and you nestle into his shoulder once again, comfortable in his arms. Letting out a shaky sigh of relief, your eyes flutter closed as you sit with him.
"I will never let anything happen to you, Alora," he says after a moment.
"Hm," you sigh. "Don't make promises that you can't keep, Din."
"No, I-... I'll do anything..." His voice breaks and your eyes flutter open to look at him.
"The kid is what matters right now. If something happens to me, you need to be here for him, okay? You say that you'll do anything... but I'd do anything to keep you safe too. But we both need to know that we can't both sacrifice ourselves for one another... no matter how angry or distraught. We have to think of the kid."
He grunts in agreement, not liking the idea of you dying, and you place a soft kiss on his helmet before laying back to rest on his shoulder.
"And to think... that we both have been thinking about each other for quite a while," you murmur. "It was my ignorance that kept us from this."
"It's not ignorance, Alora. You were in pain... you're healing. And it's all that you've ever known. No blame is being thrown here. You had your reasons. Never changed the way I felt about you. You said you weren't ready. I needed to respect that. It's why I stopped with the nicknames."
"Hm, I like the nicknames," you hum, reaching up to touch the scruff on Din's chin that showed under the helmet.
"Oh?" Din looks down at you, a smile tugging at his lips. "I like them too."
"Ah, so you do like being called Buckets," you beam.
"I meant that I like the nicknames that I call you, but... yes."
"Ha!" you tease, hooking the lip of his helmet with your finger to pull him closer. "Now I gotta come up with some more."
"I think that 'Buckets' is perfect. Why would I need another?"
"Because you have multiple nicknames for me. Cyar'ika. Ner jetii. Sorcerer. Magician..."
"Okay, fine." Din lets out an exaggerated sigh. "You can give me more nicknames."
"I didn't know that I needed your permission," you tease, kissing his cheek. He snorts in response.
"Did I mention I like the robes?" Din says after a couple of moments of comfortable silence, tilting his head and leaning in to touch his forehead to yours.
"Yes, I believe you did," you chuckle.
The lights of hyperspeed disappear and the planet Nevarro replaces them in the window, distracting you from this moment with Din. Din turns the chair, reaching around you to grab ahold of the controls to maneuver the Crest towards the planet.
You can hear Cara making her way up to the cockpit to get an update, and you quickly slip out from under Din's arms, plopping yourself in the copilot seat once again. Assuming your original lounging position in the chair, you glance over your shoulder to look at Cara as the door slides open.
"We're here?"
"Yeah," Din replies gruffly, upset that the moment you had shared was interupted. "We're here." He glances over his shoulder to meet your gaze and his hesitancy to land the ship overwhelms your senses. Giving him a small nod, he turns back to the dash to land the ship and you glance out the window to see the miniature figure of Greef Karga awaiting your arrival.
You follow Cara down to the hangar, grabbing your cloak and weapons before heading to the ramp. Shrugging the dark cloak over your shoulders, you approach Din as the others mount the blurrgs. He's placing the child in the new pod that Kuiil had fashioned for him, and you give the child a small smile and a wave before the pod closes, sealing him in protectively.
"You ready?" Din mutters, clambering onto a blurrg and offering you his hand to pull you up.
"As ready as I can be," you mumble, straddling the beast just behind Din and looking over at Cara as she rides her blurrg out into the Nevarro terrain.
Din nudges his blurrg forward and you wrap your arms around his waist as the beast lumbers down the ramp. The group steers their blurrgs towards Karga with his small band of men and you quickly count them.
I see three with him.
"Sorry for the remote rendezvous, Mando," Karga calls, standing in front of his men. "But things have gotten complicated since you were last here."
Din is silent, his hand slowly moving from one of the reins of the blurrg to rest it on your arm as you hold him tightly. Your grip loosens as you realize that his men are watching you, and you lean slightly away from Din. You want to appear as platonic as possible... if anything, not even platonic.
"It appears that introductions are in order. It seems we've both provided a security detail."
Cara leans forward on her mount, chuckling softly at his words. Din remains silent, moving slightly to hide you behind him as one of the hunters tilts his head to get a better view of you.
Karga points at Cara as he continues on. "I recommend the shock trooper guards the ship. These lava fields are lousy with Jawas."
You scoff and shake your head slightly, glancing over at Cara as she, too, looks as exasperated as you.
"She's coming with me," Din says solemnly, not interested in having this debate.
"But this town is now run by ex-Empire. If a Rebel Dropper is with us, they'll all get their hackles up."
"If the name Jedi means anything to the Empire anymore, then they won't be interested in a Dropper," you state, eyes narrowing at Karga. "They'll be far too distracted with my presence."
"She's coming," Din repeats.
"Fine. Fine." Karga raises his arms in a soft surrender before gesturing to Cara once again. "At least cover your tattoo. No need to flaunt it. Now, I see that the Jedi is by your side, but where is the little one?"
You bristle at the mention of the child, glancing down at the pod that hovers by the side of your blurrg. Kuiil and Cara look over at Din, who simply taps a few controls on his vambrace to send the pod floating towards Karga. Another poke to the controls opens the hatch of the pram, showing the small green child that is hidden inside.
Karga steps forward, entranced by the sight of the kid, and Din rests his hand on his holster in preparation. You're tense; your lightsaber is tight in your grip but hidden under the folds of your robe as you carefully watch the interaction.
"So, this little bogwing is what all the fuss was about," Karga chuckles, lifting the kid from the pod to get a better look. His men take a step forward when they see Din tense, but don't make any more moves when you narrow your eyes at them.
"What a precious little creature! I can see why you didn't want to harm a hair on its wrinkled little head!"
Karga slowly and softly sets the child back into the pram, and you can sense some of Din's tension leave as he did so. Your eyes are still narrowed in suspicion as you watch him interact with the child.
I don't like the child being down there. I should be down there with him.
"Well, I'm glad this matter will be put to rest once and for all," Karga sighs, resting his hands on his hips. Din pokes his vambrace, closing the hatch of the pod and hiding the child from the world.
"The sun drops fast on Nevarro. We can walk for a spell, camp out at the riverbank, then make our way into town at first light," Karga says spritely, either oblivious to the tension or choosing to ignore it.
Camping by a river of lava... how quaint.
Din nods slowly and the group moves forward through the ashen land of Nevarro. Obsidian rock spreads out as far as the eye can see, save for a river of molten lava that's slowly moving across the earth. Smoke and steam hiss up from the cracks in the rock as the group walks and you continuously look down to make sure that the child's pram hasn't fallen into lava or something.
As night began to fall, the group slowed to a halt, quickly moving to set up a makeshift camp for the night. Everyone gathers around a small fire and you open the child's pod to feed him, handing him pieces of meat and grain bread from your ration pack. There's an awkward silence as everyone eats, nibbling on pieces of an animal that is now roasting over the fire. The kid babbles with glee as it eats and you glance over at Cara, who's sitting near you.
"What a joyous campfire."
She smirks at the comment, taking a bite of her food.
"Why don't we hold hands and sing kumbaya," you mumble, taking a sip of water as you stare at the Guild members by Karga's side.
Cara snorts in amusement, making the men look over at the two of you. You return their stare with the same intensity, refusing to look away until they do, which they warily did after a few long moments of continued awkward silence.
The kid's babbling snags your attention, making you look down at him as he reaches out for a piece of animal meat. Kuiil, who is sitting on the other side of the child, silently hands him a small piece of the meat and continues to hand him chunks of food to keep the kid entertained.
"I guess the little bugger's a carnivore."
Your head swivels to glare at Karga as he watches the child with great interest. His thoughts betray him, leaking into the air as he observes you and the child. He wants to know why the Mandalorian would throw it all away, being a hunter and working in the Guild... having a free life... for a Jedi and a kid. It baffled him.
"I've never seen anything like it. They were ready to pay a king's ransom for that thing," he finishes nervously, glancing up to meet your glare.
"Let's go over the plan again," Din says gruffly, not interested in small talk.
"We both enter the common house. We show the client the bait..." With that, you can't help but snort at the term he used to speak of you. "We join him at the table. And you kill him."
"What about their reinforcements?" you ask, glancing quickly at the Guild members that are watching you intensely.
"They're all ex-Empire," he replies slowly, confused by the fact that you're actually speaking to him. "As soon as they lose their paycheck, poof, they'll all scatter."
"And what if they don't?" you ask, narrowing your eyes again.
"They will."
"How can you be so sure?" you ask. At the same time, Din pipes in. "That's not good enough."
"If, for argument's sake," Karga sighs. "A few of them don't realize that I'm their best path to alternative employment and they elect to react impulsively, then these three fine Guild Hunters, along with that battle-hardened shock trooper and this Jedi, will cut down anyone who bucks."
"What makes you think that I would resort to killing?" you seethe, angry that he assumes that you're some violent, murderous being.
"You are a Jedi, are you not? You're a warrior. If what I've heard is true, you worked with some of the highest generals in the Republic military during the Clone Wars. You'd be able to do the job yourself." His reply is simple, void of knowing what the Jedi truly are.
"Jedi are peacekeepers," you growl.
"And yet you were willing to 'strip me of my limbs' the last time I saw you."
You fall silent, glaring at Karga with narrowed eyes as Din changes the topic.
"How many will there be?"
"No more than four." Karga readjusts himself in his seat, gesturing quickly to you once again. "Like I said, nothing she can't handle. He travels with, at most, a Fire Team." Karga rises to grab more meat from the creature roasting over the fire. "Trust me. Nothing can go wrong."
As if it was waiting for him to utter those exact words, a creature dropped in screeching from the darkness, flying past Karga while trying to make a grab at him. Everyone jumps to their feet as Karga yells out in surprise and fear. Weapons drawn, everyone points to the sky and red bolts of light fill the air as the Guild hunters open fire blindly.
"Nothing can go wrong, huh?!" you yell at Karga.
"I didn't mean this situation, Jedi!" he shouts back angrily.
"She has a name!" Din growls, raising his blaster to shoot at the creature as it dives from the sky once again.
"Well, maybe I'd know that if she actually spoke to me!"
"Now is not the time for the discussion of my name!" you scream, igniting your saber. The bright yellow lights up the camp, allowing you to better see your attacker. Large, winged reptilian creatures circle the group from the sky and you can count about four above you.
Din quickly closes the child's pod and stands in front of it to guard him. A creature swoops for you, attracted by the brightness of your blade, and you sidestep it, slicing its wing as it passes you by. It screams in pain and anger, struggling to rise to the air again as the leather skin of its wing tears and falls apart from the heat.
Another creature appears above one of the hunters, dragging him into the sky, and he disappears into the darkness kicking and screaming in agony. A third reptilian latches onto one of the blurrgs, making it bellow in pain, and it struggled to lift the large prey into the night air.
"No! Let go of her!" Kuiil yells, turning his firepower on the creature in an effort to free his pet. "Drop her now!"
The creature disappears into the darkness with the blurrg and you spin around as everyone falls silent for a moment, trying to listen for another attack. Another hunter is suddenly plucked from the ground and pulled into the darkness; his screams echo and fade into the night. Turning on your heel, you brandish your saber in front of you, trying to get a better view of what was happening.
"Drop her!"
Spinning to look at Kuiil, your eyes widen as the creatures have returned to claim another blurrg as their own. Din and Cara turn their guns on the creature, trying to ward it off, and you turn the handle of your blade in your hand. Cara's shots hit the creature's wings, making it screech in pain, and you whip your arm around to throw your ignited blade at the beast. The saber cuts clean through the reptile, slicing it in half, and it falls to the ground alongside the injured blurrg.
You raise your hand to summon the saber back to you, but yell out in surprise when one of the creatures appears behind you, grabbing you with its talons. Losing your focus on your saber, it misses your hand by an inch as you're yanked from the ground. You gasp as you reach out for something to anchor you to the ground.
"ALORA!"
Din turns on his heel, charging forward to grab your hand, but you're already being lifted into the air. The creature gains altitude, unbothered by your twisting and turning in its grasp.
"Oh, COME ON!" you yell in frustration, turning in the creature's grasp to grab its wing. It yelps in surprise and pain as you plow one of your knives into its skin, tearing its wing as it drops you. The blade is still stuck in its wing, dragging through the leather skin to slow your fall. The creature falls to the ground, a giant gash in its wing, as you roll to the ground unharmed.
The injured reptilian turns its anger on Din, who is rushing forward to help you from the ground. The beast leaps onto him, slamming him to the ground and dragging him through the dirt as Cara turns her gunfire on it.
Popping up from the ashen floor, you summon your saber to your hand and lunge to kill the beast. Like a hot knife through butter, the lightsaber cuts through its body with ease, making it scream in pain before falling off of Din.
"ANYONE ELSE?!" you scream into the darkness. A creature swoops above you, barely clipping your saber as you swing it through the air in a warning. Hissing in pain, it flies away, followed by another creature that had been hiding in the darkness.
Kuiil moves to check on the child and Din turns you to face him as you plop down by his side, holding your chin gently in his hand.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, no, I'm fine. Pissed, but I'm fine," you breathe, still staring at the sky anxiously.
A pained groan from Karga turns your attention away from the sky. Kuiil rushes over to check on him, turning back with a grimace on his face.
"He's hurt badly."
Getting up from the ground, you step forward to look at the wound, cringing away when you get a good look at it. The skin is torn and bloody from the beast's claws, but that's not what made you hesitate. The wound is green, infected by the beast's venom. Tendrils of the sickly color crawl away from Karga's injury, moving to infect the rest of his body through his bloodstream.
"I'm fine. I'm fine," Karga groans, wincing from the pain.
"Lying won't do you any good here," you mumble, switching off the saber and crouching by his side. Cara passes you a syringe from the medpac, filled with medicine that will hopefully heal him.
"They got you good," you mutter, plunging the needle into his arm and pushing back on his shoulder as he leans forward in pain.
"How bad?" Din leans over your shoulder to look at the damage.
"Bad. The poison's spreading fast." You watch as the green venom snakes its way up Karga's arm and you grab a bandage from the medpac to try to make a tourniquet
"So... this... this is how it happens," Karga groans.
"Oh, shut up. You're being dramatic," you growl. "What? You've never been poisoned before?"
"And you have?" he coughs.
"Yes, in fact. I need another medpac!" You glance up at Cara, who shakes her head, and you whip around to look at the Guild hunters. "Medpac! Do you have one? If so, gimme it!"
They shrug to indicate that they didn't think to bring one and you groan in exasperation.
"Are you kidding me?! You ask us to come out here to some god-forsaken volcanic planet to deal with an Imperial and you don't even bring a medpac?"
Grabbing a scanner from the pack, you illuminate the wound with it, grimacing at the disgusting sight of the ooze that has started to form.
"The poison's still spreading," Cara murmurs. "The medicine's not working."
A small coo distracts you and you look up to see the child standing by the wound, staring at it.
"Not now, kid," you mutter, gesturing with your head to move away. "Kuiil, can you grab him, please? Where's my lightsaber?"
"What do you need the laser sword for?" Karga groans.
"I need to stop the poision from spreading to the rest of your body."
"You are not chopping my arm off!" His eyes widen as he realizes your intent.
"Well, then I guess you're gonna die!" you grumble, raising your hand to summon your saber when you catch a glimpse of it across the camp. "You'll be fine, it'll be a clean cut. It'll cauterize the wound and keep it from getting infected or you bleeding out." The saber hits your hand with a soft thud and you turn it in your hand, letting the hilt spin. "Plus, it's an efficient weight-loss strategy, cutting off your arm."
Karga groans at your joke and you mumble an apology, starting to switch on the lightsaber. You stop when you see the kid reaching out to touch the wound, and you tilt your head in curiosity at his intent.
"He's trying to eat me," Karga cries, and you struggle to bite back a chuckle at the insane comment.
The child's eyes flutter closed and you watch in awe as the wound starts to heal. The skin is slowly knitting back together and the green veins of infection are fading away. No scar is left behind. He's perfectly healed. Your mouth falls open slightly as the child withdraws his hand, slumping onto the ground in exhaustion. Quickly gathering him up in your arms, you sit back and stare at the child as he falls asleep in your robes.
"You did good, theesa," you whisper, kissing his small head. "I knew you could do it."
"Wait, you knew that he could do that?" Din asks, standing directly behind you. You lean back and look up at him, wonder in your eyes.
"No," you murmur. "But I've heard of its teachings." Looking back at Karga, who is still staring at you in confusion and awe, you nod towards his arm. "You should get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow."
Rising from the floor, you carry the child back to his pod to nestle him inside, fully aware that everyone is watching you.
No one could sleep that night. Not even you, no matter how many times Din told you to try. The fear of those creatures returning in your sleep and the nerves that are pumping adrenaline through your body prevent you from even closing your eyes to try to rest. Instead, you sat by Din's side; one hand gripping your saber tightly while the other held onto Din's hand. His presence by your side brought you some peace, but it didn't change the feeling in your gut that something was going to go wrong in the near future.
The group continues the trek in the morning. Kuiil rides atop the remaining blurrg while you walk alongside Din and Cara behind the Guild members. The sky is cloudy and dark, reflecting the dreariness of the volcanic terrain. As time passes, your trio finds themselves walking with Karga ahead of the other hunters. Something shifts in the atmosphere and you glance behind you at the hunters, who are watching you closely.
The familiar view of the town lies ahead as your group slows to a halt on top of a small plateau. You're still glancing behind you, danger starting to flood your senses.
"Well, this is it," Karga sighs.
It's like alarms are blaring in your head now and you spin around to face the hunters, igniting your saber. Simultaneously, Karga spins around and shoots both hunters. They collapse in a smoking heap on the ground and you spin back in surprise to face Karga. Din and Cara are aiming at Karga, alarm and confusion flooding their minds as they stare at him.
He raises his arms slowly, holding his blasters in the air in surrender. Stepping forward, you point your saber at his throat, making him lean back out of fear of being burned.
"There's something you should know," he says solemnly. "Before you kill me."
"And what is that?" You cock your eyebrow in suspicion.
"The plan was to kill you and take the child," he replies, eyes downcast in shame.
"Why not take me too?" you ask, tilting your head in curiosity. "Why just the child?"
"You were deemed too big of a problem for the client. He thought that you were too dangerous to try to bring in alive. I don't know why he wants the child."
Your eyes narrow and you wait for him to continue.
"But after what happened last night, I couldn't go through with it," Karga admits.
Holding your stare, you keep your blade level with his throat. One step forward and he'd be skewered... and he knew that.
"Look, you can gun me down here and now, and it wouldn't violate the Code," he says in exasperation, looking at Din. "But if you, this child will never be safe."
"We'll take our chances," Cara growls.
You hold your position, scanning his eyes for what emotions lie beneath them. You're trying to decide whether or not he's telling the truth. And if it's worth hearing him out.
"The Imperial client is obsessed with obtaining the girl and the child. You tried to run, but where did it get you? These assets are everything to them. I don't know why, or what they want to do with the two of them, but I know that it is not going to be good."
"Thanks, I figured that much out already," you mumble sarcastically.
"This is ridiculous," Cara sputters, glancing at Din.
"Perhaps you should let him speak," Kuiil interrupts, sliding off the side of the blurrg to stand off to the side of the scene.
"Listen," Karga sounds desperate now. "We both need the client to be eliminated. Let me take the child and the girl to him, and then you two..."
"No," Din grunts.
"Let's just kill him and get outta here," Cara hisses.
Your eyes narrow once again as you watch Karga. His eyes flick to you; you can see his fear and desperation. But... he's being truthful. You can't sense any deception coming from him.
"You have to see what I'm trying to do, Jedi. You can walk in, acting as if you were captured, and then you can kill the client when we get to him."
"My name is Alora," you murmur. Your gaze softens as you process his words.
"Apologies... Alora. You seem wise. I've heard that Jedi are wise. Please, see what I'm trying to do here," Karga pleads.
Din looks at you, lowering his weapon slightly.
"It's your call, Alora," he says softly.
Retracting the blade to its hilt, you lower the saber and clip it on your belt, sighing as you do so.
"He's right. About the kid. They won't stop." Cara looks at you in shock as you speak.
"As long as the Imp lives, he'll send hunters after Alora and the child," Din murmurs.
"It's a trap!" Cara exclaims, still pointing her weapon at Karga.
You mumble the words "I know" right as Din says "Bring me."
"Bring you?" Karga asks, confused.
"What?! No!" you spin around to look at Din, anger and confusion in your expression. He's looking at Karga to avoid your gaze.
"Tell him you captured me. Get me close to him and I'll kill him."
"What about me? You really think that the Empire guy is gonna think that he caught me and you?" You gesture to Karga in anger at Din's idea. You don't want Din in the crossfire of this situation.
"We'll say that Cara caught you. She'll pretend to be a hunter." Din looks at you now as he speaks.
"That's a good idea. Give me your blaster," Karga agrees, stepping forward quickly when Din offers his weapon to the man.
"This is insane!" Cara yells.
"I agree!" you growl.
"It's the only way," Din says softly. You take an angry step towards him and point at him angrily.
"No... it's not." Your voice shakes with emotion. "This is my fight. Not yours. I won't let you get dragged into my mess."
"We've talked about this, cyar'ika. You're not dealing with this alone any longer," Din scolds, obviously not open for debate.
Your eyes narrow in anger as you stare into his visor. The terrible feeling in your gut won't go away and you want Din as far away from this problem as possible.
"Kuiil," you mumble, not breaking away from your shared gaze with Din. "Take the child back to the ship, please."
"Without the child, this won't work!" Karga exclaims.
Spinning on your heel, you stare him down. He takes a step back upon seeing the anger in your eyes.
"Kuiil will ride back to Crest with the child and seal himself in," you growl.
"When you're inside, engage ground security protocols. Nothing on this planet will breach those doors," Din instructs.
"Here's a comlink." You pull the device from your belt, handing it to Kuiil.
"I will keep the child safe," he says solemnly, taking the comlink.
"Let's go," Din grunts, reaching behind his cape to grab the bounty cuffs that he keeps there. He hands you a pair and you turn to Cara, allowing her to click them loosely over your wrists, allowing you some room to break free. Cara wraps a cloth around the tattoos on her bicep to hide them and places your comlink on the vambrace that covers your scars, adjusting your robes to hide it. You watch as Kuiil gently takes the child out of the pod and clambers onto the blurrg, starting to ride away quickly.
The empty pod closes and starts to follow the three of you as you walk towards the town, dreading what is about to happen. A single coo from the child makes its way to your ears, and you turn around to watch as the kid disappears with the Ugnaught.
May the Force be with you, my child.