~*~
Dessa's eyes slowly flutter open, and she squints as sunlight hits her eyes. Where was she? At the thought, she sits up in a blind panic, and eyes the hut around her warily. How did I--?
She thinks back to how she could have gotten there, and all she could really remember was the Mandalorian shouting at her. Why was he shouting at her? She frowns. She couldn't remember, until she tries to stand up. Kriff! She cries out in pain and sits back down, gritting her teeth at the sudden heat in her stomach.
Blaster fire. Steam falling. And she falls limp against the Mandalorian's arms. He calls out her name, and it's the first time she's ever heard him truly panic.
A fight. There was a fight. She remembers that much. She just doesn't remember how she got here.
She hears footsteps crunching on grass, and a pretty, dark haired woman wearing a blue, long sleeved dress comes bursting in the hut with worry in her dark eyes. Was she an angel? She certainly looked like one.
"You're awake," the woman sighs with relief, and smiles at her.
"What happened?" She questions.
"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me that," the woman answers. Her smile falters, "your friend wasn't all that much help. He also did a terrible job at patching you up."
Friend? Wait, she begins to panic when she notices he and the kid weren't around. Where were they?
"Do you want me to go get him for you?" The woman asks. "He doesn't say much, but he's worried about you."
Worried? He doesn't get worried about anything. Well, maybe except for the kid, she admits. She realizes she hasn't said anything at the woman's small frown. Dessa nods, and watches as she gets up to leave.
"Wait," Dessa calls, and the woman stops and glances back at her,"What's your name?"
"Omera," the woman's smile returns.
"Thank you," she says, smiling back.
"You're welcome," Omera replies kindly, "try to get some rest for at least the next few days, alright? You don't want that wound infected again."
Dessa sighs as she leans back against her pillow. There were children laughing outside, and she sits up to stare out the window. She sucks in a breath as her eyes find the greenest grass she's ever seen, and a river flowing through the village.
The children were huddled around the green creature, its practically in the center of attention, and seems like he likes it.
Her lips twitch slightly. That kid will probably always be the center of attention no matter where they went.
She hears footsteps crunching against the dirt, and grass, slowly approaching the hut. Dessa turns her head and sees the Mandalorian standing by the door, staring at her.
"Hey," he greets her as he steps inside.
"Hey," she greets back with a weak smile.
"You're awake," he observes.
"So I've been told," she teases.
He shakes his head, and sits on the chair closest to the bed.
"How are you feeling?" He asks.
"Like I got trampled over by a pack of blurrgs," she answers.
"Thanks for the mental picture," he says, amusement laced in his tone.
"Why? Squemish around blurrgs?" She asks, recalling his hard time with the blurrgs.
"Traumitized," he answers dryly, and she lets out a laugh of surprise.
"So, what's the verdict?" He asks, and crosses his leg over his knee as he folds his arms. "She say you can get out of this place yet?"
"The pretty lady told me to lay low for the next few days, " she sighs tiredly, once she sobers. "So, until then, I'm stuck in this hellhole."
"It isn't that bad," she can hear the smirk in his voice.
"Just wait til you get shot at and bedridden," she counters, "then we'll see who's laughing."
He's quiet again. He's always so serious. Actually, did she ever hear him really laugh? She can't remember.
"Want a tour of the town?" He asks.
"I don't know, she told me to stay in bed," she reminds him, but her lips twitch.
"I'll take the heat if she starts yelling," he promises.
"Are you sure?" She frowns.
"Would you rather be stuck in this hellhole for the next few days?" He counters.
"Nope, I'm coming," she's quick to agree and leans over to sit upright, wincing at the sharp sting in her stomach. He offers her a hand which she gratefully accepts, and stands up thanks to his help.
She glances down at her bloodied tunic, and frowns.
"Maybe I better change first so I don't scare the children," she muses. Her eyes dart over to the bedside table where she sees a freshly clean, blue long sleeved dress a bit similar to what Omera wore waiting for her.
"Right, right," the Mandalorian clears his throat, "I'll be waiting outside."
She smiles as he stiffly walks out of the hut, and stands guard at the door. She reaches for the dress, takes off the bloody tunic, careful not to move the bandages on her waist, and throws the dress over her head. She's never worn anything like this before, and it felt uncomfortable. It's surprisingly light, and soft.
"It feels weird," she says, and he jumps at her voice, and whirls around.
"It's ... different," he agrees.
Her cheeks warm, "so, uh, how's the town?" she asks as she abruptly passes by him.
"It isn't too bad," he replies, and follows after her.
There's so much green and water for miles. No scorching heat. Just a cool breeze against her skin.
"Much better than the desert, right?" He teases.
"Much, much better," she repeats in agreement, still in awe at all the tall trees in the distance. She's only ever seen places like these in pictures, and books, "I didn't realize how much I was missing until now. It's practically perfect."
"Well, I'm glad you said that," he says. "We're staying here for a little while."
"I didn't think this was your kind of scenery," she comments as they both take a seat on the stone steps near the hut.
"It's not," he admits. "but the kid seems to like it."
She follows his gaze over to where the little green creature was entertaining the kids by swallowing a frog whole. The children were shrieking in both disgust and laughter.
"You missed me getting my ass kicked again," he comments.
"Again?" She raises her brows at him. "By who?"
He glances over at the woman who's talking to Omera. She has short dark hair, a red tinted to her skin, a tattoo on her right arm, and wore a similar armor like the Mandalorian. She looks so awkward, and out of place with the rest of the town that it made her raise her brows at the sight.
"Her?" She asks for validation.
"Yes," he answers honestly. "She caught me off guard."
The woman must have sensed their staring, because she glances up, and awkwardly waves at them. Omera glances over at them as well, and frowns at her. Dessa merely offers a sheepish grin, and an awkward wave back in their direction. The short haired woman nods at something Omera says, and approaches the two of them.
"Hey," the unknown woman greets them with a curt nod of her head, "you must be that friend he mentioned."
"Friend?" She echoes, and grins over at the Mandalorian. From the tense and quiet way he stood next to her, he seemed embarrassed so she doesn't tease him about it. "Yeah, you can say that."
"Name's Cara," she offers her hand, which Dessa politely shakes.
"Dessa," she introduces herself. "Heard you caught him off guard, and kicked his ass."
She can see his head turn sharply in her direction from the corner of her eye.
"Hah!" Cara snorts. "He put up a good fight, I'll give him that. But I was just too quick for him."
"Think you can teach me a few tricks?" She asks hopefully.
"Well, you're in luck," she sighs heavily. "everyone in towns learning how to fight, apparently."
Dessa raises her brows at the glare sent her friend's way.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay," Cara grins, "and I'd like to stay and chat more, but I need to go teach a class. See you two later."
"See you," Dessa waves as the woman walks back into town, carefully avoiding the running children' as she did.
"Should I be offended that you asked her to train you instead of me?" He asks.
"Well, considering your track record for recklessness," she drawls, and grins at his small head tilt. "I think I'm better off with her."
"Hey, you're just as bad," he scoffs.
"You nearly died with the Mudhorn," she argues.
"And you got shot at," he reminds her.
"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" She sighs.
"After that heart attack you gave the kid and I?" He shakes his head, "no."
They both tense when they hear the sound of shouts nearby. Cara's leading a whole group of villagers, teaching them how to fight with a wooden spear.
"If you don't marry her, I will," she teases him.
"Knock yourself out," he shrugs. "She's not exactly my type."
"You have a type?" She snorts.
He scoffs, but she doesn't know if he's aware of it or not, but his gaze drifts over towards Omera, who's washing clothes by the river while watching her daughter play. And if she were truthful to herself, she'd admit that she doesn't know how to feel about it. But, like most of her problems, she ignores it.
"You like her?" She asks him softly.
"I don't know," he admits. "I don't usually get treated with kindness wherever I go. Then again, they're really only nice to me because I agreed to help their village."
"Help their village?" She frowns. "From what?"
"An AT - ST," he sighs at her look of confusion, "a big ass robot that you don't want to be anywhere near when it starts firing its blasters."
She winces. She's had her fair share of blasters, and has no desire to get caught in the crossfire ever again. Well, that certainly explains why Cara was teaching the villagers how to fight.
"Speaking of blasters," he takes a blaster from his belt, and hands it over towards her. "Here's yours."
"I don't know about this, Mando," she reluctantly takes it from his hands, marveling at the weight of the weapon.
"I did tell you that I was getting you a blaster after what happened, " he reminds her.
"Right," she smiles sheepishly. She almost forgot.
"Try not to poke your eye out with it," he teases, and she snickers at the memory.
Funny how he regarded her as a friend, yet she still knew nothing about him other than the fact that he was a Mandalorian and had a religion. It just seems unfair that he knew her name, and she didn't know his. And, it's bugging her that she'll never know his name. She frowns as she glances him over.
"Dylan," she says the first name she thinks of.
"What?" He whirls around, tensing.
"Your name's Dylan," she elaborates.
"What's that about?" He asks with disbelief.
"Since you won't give me your name, I thought I'd start somewhere," she grins. "Was I right?"
"Nice try," his laugh sounds more like a huff of air, and it both startles her, and makes her heart flutter. She has not heard him laugh before.
He clears his throat awkwardly as he abruptly stands up, "It's my turn teaching the rookies after she's done. You should join later, they're going to learn how to use the blaster."
Oh, she can practically hear the smirk in his voice.
"I'm not that incompetent, Mandalorian," she huffs, but grins at him.
"Don't worry, I know," he says, and walks away.
She shakes her head, and smiles as she watches the children run around in the grass. The green creature that she helped the Mandalorian rescue slowly takes a few steps towards her, and tilts its head.
"Hello, little child, I missed you," she greets it fondly. It merely cooes and raises its arms towards her. She sighs heavily, and decides to let it sit on her lap, "you and your Mandalorian friend are a handful, I hope you realize that."
Funny. She didn't realize how much she truly missed the kid until right now. And from the way it kept glancing at the wound in her stomach, she secretly hopes the feeling is mutual.
~*~