~*~
As she suspects, he's in trouble again.
She freezes in her tracks, and her eyes widen as the Mudhorn lifts up in the air. What-? As she moves closer she realizes that he's holding his hand out in the air. Was he doing that?
She'd been so entranced that she couldn't bring herself to move, even after the strange spell on the Mudhorn breaks. The large creature roars, and charges forward. Its tusk slams against the Mandalorian's armor, and he's sent flying across the sand, stumbling back.
Get up, she thinks with worry. Come on, get up.
He's not getting up. He must be unconscious. She takes off in a sprint, fumbling with her blaster as she makes her way towards him, and fires the dart at the creature. The Mudhorn falls limply against its side with a loud roar, sound asleep.
The Mandalorian jumps up, whirls around frantically, and stills once their eyes meet. He's breathing fast, still winded from the fight.
"Did I miss the butt whoopin'?" She asks sheepishly.
"You're late," he sighs tiredly, as he sits upright on the ground. "You missed me getting my ass kicked."
"I didn't want to spoil your fun," she shrugs, eyeing the egg he's carrying with a twitch of her nose, "all this trouble for that hairy thing?"
"The Jawas better appreciate this," he sighs, and wipes some mud and dirt off of the furry egg, "getting it was more trouble than it was worth."
She offers to help him back up. But he turns down the offer, and gets up on his own.
"Are you gonna be alright?" she asks worriedly. "You look and smell like bantha fodder."
"I'll be fine," he nods, then glances over at the floating contraption, "it's the kid I'm worried about. He saved my life out there."
"What?" She asks with alarm, and glances over at the sleeping child. "What happened to it?"
"I'm still trying to figure that out for myself, it had some kind of power," he admits. He takes his knife, and stabs the Mudhorn. She winces as blood pours from the wound, and stains his knife.
"Was that really necessary?" She asks dryly.
"That thing tried to kill us," the Mandalorian reminds her.
She shakes her head, and avoids looking at him as he cleans the knife with his cape. But then her eyes wander over to the sleeping child, who's snoring softly.
"Will it be alright?" She asks with worry.
"I'm not so sure. I'm surprised it held up so well," he says, shaking it gently, but the child continues sleeping without a care in the world, "considering it lifted an entire Mudhorn like it was nothing."
"The kid was the one who lifted it in the air?" Dessa asks, taken aback.
"Who did you think it was?"
"You," she admits. At his head tilt of quiet alarm, she adds, "You had your hand out."
"I was holding my knife, I don't have that kind of power," he says quietly.
She glances him over. He's exhausted. The kid's passed out. She's surprised he hasn't fallen over yet from the way he limped.
"Come on," she nods at the direction of the Jawa camp. "they might leave without us."
He nods his head, gives the child one last look before he follows after her. The Jawas were getting ready to leave, the hatch closing shut, but Kuiil greets them both enthusiastically, making them all stop what they were doing.
"I've got the egg," he shows the hairy egg to the Jawas who all squeal with excitement, and devour the egg without hesitation.
"At least they appreciate it," she tells him with an amused grin. He merely shakes his head, and walks away from them.
"I'm surprised you waited," the Mandalorian greets him, still a little tired from the fight.
"I'm surprised you took so long," Kuiil counters, and walks back towards the sandcrawler.
She and the Mandalorian exchange a knowing glance, before helping Kuiil load the boat with ship parts.
"What happened to the child?" Kuiil nods at the sleeping creature besides the Mandalorian.
He glances at it as he helps tie the parts together so they wouldn't fall off the boat, "it saved me."
"Really," Kuiil hums. "That small thing?"
"It lifted the Mudhorn," she nods. "Saw it with my own eyes."
"But it's only a kid," Kuiil says with skepticism.
"Maybe that's why they're hunting it down," she reasons, and turns towards the quiet bounty hunter, "what do you think?"
He hums in reply, distracted by his thoughts, and maybe his worries too since he kept glancing at the child every now and then.
"Ready to head back?" Kuiil asks them, handing a blurrg over to her. She nods as she climbs over it, gently patting its side as she leads the blurrg forward. "Mandalorian?"
"Yes," he nods, and climbs onto the boat to protect his ship parts as they move forward.
It's quiet the entire time back. She's riding besides Kuiil, and ocassionally glances back at the two to see how they're holding up.
"How are they?" Kuiil asks her.
She jumps at his voice, and meets his knowing gaze, "exhausted, I think," she answers.
"It's a long way back to camp," Kuiil agrees. She nods her head.
"They've made it this far," she says. "and still going strong, despite what happened."
"You think the kid'll be alright?" He asks softly so that the bounty hunter won't hear.
"He'll be alright," she answers with finality. He gives her a stern look, sighs, and glances back at the Mandalorian, who's sitting in silence, clutching onto his weapon closely, and stares right ahead. If he'd heard their conversation, he made no sound of acknowledgement.
"Is it still sleeping?" Kuiil asks from up ahead.
"Yes," the Mandalorian replies.
"Was it injured?"
"I don't think so, not physically," even he sounds unsure of what happened, and they'd both witnessed it.
"Explain it to me again," Kuiil says, "I still don't understand what happened."
"Neither do I," the Mandalorian replies. He tries to gently rock the contraption back and forth to wake the child up. But it continues sleeping without a care in the world.
She frowns at the sleeping child. She'll have to check it over when they get back to camp. By the time they were reach camp, it's nightfall, and the child still slept soundly.
"We won't be able to get this to work without a full matinence facility. This could take days," the Mandalorian shakes his head at all the overflowing parts piled up in the table.
"If you help, it could go faster," Kuiil says, and hands him a screwdriver, and blowtorch.
And they got to work. Kuiil wouldn't let her anywhere near the tools, what with her track record of breaking things. So she kept closely by the child, and presses a damp cloth over its forehead.
"How is he?" The Mandalorian asks her.
She glances up at him, "his forehead is a little warm," she tells him.
"It's been a day," he says with worry. "will he ever wake up from this?"
"Try not to worry so much," she says. "He's in good hands."
"I'm not worried," he denies.
"He's going to be alright," she tries to reassure him. "If he's strong enough to take on a Mudhorn, he's strong enough to overcome this."
"Alright," the Mandalorian nods, but she can still see how tense he is. "Just let me know if he ever wakes."
"Will do," she nods back. "Worry about your ship instead. It looks like you wrecked it."
"Thanks for the reminder," he says dryly, and walks back to his ship without saying anything more.
It takes until morning, but he and Kuiil are finally finished with the repairs, and the ship's working again.
"I can't thank you both enough," he says, half with relief. "Please, let me offer you a portion of the reward."
She smiles and exchanges a knowing look with Kuiil. She's right. He's the strangest bounty hunter she's ever met. None of the others were willing to share rewards with them, no matter how much they helped out.
"I can not accept," Kuiil shakes his head, holding his hand out as if to stop him. "you are our guest, and therefore am under your service."
"I need a crew member of your ability," the mandalorian offers, "and I can pay handsomely."
"I am honored," Kuiil bows his head to show his appreciation. "but I have worked a lifetime to finally be free of servitude."
"I understand," the Mandalorian nods. "Then all I can offer is my thanks."
"Why don't you take Dessa with you?" Kuiil waves towards her. "She may not be the best pilot, but she's great company to have."
She glances up with alarm in her face whe she hears her name. Her heart is pounding fast against her chest. Did he mean it? Can she really --?
"I don't know," the Mandalorian hesitates, and then glances over at her.
Her heart sinks. They weren't exactly friends, so she can understand his hesitance. He's a bounty hunter, and she's just ... ordinary.
"You did say you were looking for another crew member," Kuiil reminds him.
"Fine," he sighs with exasperation.
Wait, what? She gets up from her seat, staring at them both in shock. She couldn't believe what she's hearing.
"You coming or not?" He calls to her.
She gawks at him. Did he even realize what he was offering? She glances back at Kuiil just to make sure she isn't hearing things. He merely smiles.
"You really mean it, Kuiil?" She asks, just to make sure.
"You said you always wanted to leave this barren wasteland, I hope you find what you're looking for," Kuiil nods at her.
"Thanks for everything, Kuiil," she smiles, and struggles to keep her tears at bay as she rushes over to hug him. He nods, pats her back, and breaks out of the hug.
"May the child give you a handsome reward," Kuiil waves at the Mandalorian, "I have spoken."
She sits beside the Mandalorian at the cockpit, and she could see Kuiil through the windows. Kuiil gives them one final wave, and she waves back, watching as he leads the blurrg back to camp.
"He'll be alright by himself, won't he?" She asks, still unsure about leaving him behind.
"You sure about this?" He asks her softly. "You might not see him for a while."
"I'm sure," she nods. She had to do this, or else she might never get a chance to again. If she didn't go, she might not ever leave.
"Do you know where you're going?"
"No," she admits. He nods his head in understanding.
"We've got plenty of time to figure it out, at least," he sighs.
"Will you let me fly the ship?" She asks.
"We just fixed the ship. That's never going to happen," he's quick to respond, and she laughs.
She hears a quiet yawn and cooing from behind them, and whirls around. She grins when she and the child's eyes meet. Its ears twitch cutely. Her fingers brush over the Mandalorian's hand, and she points over at the child when he glances over at her. He turns to where she's pointing.
"Well, what do ya know," he comments.
"See?" She grins. "Nothing to worry about."
"Something tells me I'm always going to worry with that kid around," he scoffs.
But the kid was fine, and that's all that matters. For now, anyway.
~*~