" arrival "
Lana, Stoke and Caben had been riding in the speeder in what seemed like days. The majority of the time arriving to the Mandalorians ship was spent with Stoke and Caben asking her strange questions and attempting to make boring conversation.
Lana knew they were just trying to be kind and make this dreadful ride less awkward, but she was just that.
Awkward.
Even if she hadn't have just lost someone so important in her life, even if she wasn't broken, she would have been the same way. Lana liked these men, but often it would come off she was annoyed. But it was just her personality. She was bad at forming friendships, it often made her sad to think about it. She longed for that connection, but she knew she couldn't form it.
When the trio arrived to the Mandalorians ship, Lana had fell into a light sleep while they were riding at nightfall. It was the first restful sleep she has had in a few days. She didn't know if it was the stars which made her so relaxed, or the slow speed of the beaten down speeder which put her to sleep, but either way it was much needed.
Her blissful sleep was prematurely ended when they finally made it to the ship. She was laying in the very back with her head rested near the corner of the speeder. When the jolted forward she hit the top of her head on the hard metal.
Guess that means we're here.
The two men looked back and saw Lana rubbing circles around the top of her head, they gave each other a look, and both said "Sorry" in unison.
Lana just softly laughed it off, earning a small smile from the men. She shifted her glance from them to the giant silver structure in front of them. Lana has never seen such a mechanism. It was almost half the size of the entire village. It looked like it had been through hell, but still she thought it was one of the most incredible feats she's seen around here.
In her defense they only really have old simple droids and a couple broken down speeders.
She took her eyes off the body of the silver ship and made her way to the man who seemed to be tugging and huffing at the wires beneath it.
"That's a Mandalorian?" She whispers to the two. "I think so." Caben breathes out.
Lana looks the man up and down trying to take in the beauty in front of her. His armor was such that she's never seen before. The stars lit it up perfectly under the night sky where she could evaluate every twist and turn and dip of the brilliant material. He was stocked with this armor all over his body, including his head.
When the three of them started stepping toward the man, Lana began to feel afraid. She didn't know what a Mandalorian was capable of, she'd never heard about them until yesterday.
What if he's someone we don't expect him to be?
Mando notices them the second they pull up. He doesn't miss a single step they make, but they don't know he's watching them and studying them so closely.
Stoke tries gain the man's attention, "Excuse me?"
Lana took a step forward, so she was in line with the other two. She had her eyes still stuck on the armor all over the man's body.
The man had completely ignored Stoke, then Cabens high pitched voice spoke up, "Excuse me sir?" The blank silence made Lana grow increasingly uncomfortable.
"Is there something I can help you with?" His voice was booming through his helmet. His voice was cool yet modulated through the metal. Lana was cautious of the man, but she couldn't stop her mind from enjoying to calm tone of his voice.
He stayed working on his ship seeming as if he wasn't even giving them the time of day.
Caben and Stoke moved closer to him frantically trying to gain the mains attention on the importance of their journey here today.
"Raiders." Stoke spits out.
"We have money." Caben says trying to convince the Mandalorian to help. Lana tries to speak up, but for some reason the words get caught in her throat. She crosses her arms over her chest uncomfortably and just glances to the men speaking. Well mostly the two villagers are the ones speaking.
"You think I'm some kind of mercenary?" The Mandalorian questions them. At this point she doesn't know if she's even noted being there by them anymore. She's silent and still. She wants to speak up, but her voice seemed nonexistent.
Caben turns to look at Lana who has her head bowed now but her eyes up at them. "You are a Mandalorian right? Or at least wearing Mandalorian armor-that is Mandalorian armor, right?"
Lana senses annoyance from the Mandalorian. They were just some villagers bothering this man who was just trying to fix his ship up.
The armored man turns form the spot he was working on the ship and walks past the three villagers. He takes a glance at Lana who is standing alone further away from the ship. "It is." he states looking at her straight on.
Mando knew her eyes hadn't left his body. Not in a seductive way, he just knew she was interested in the heavy metal plates covering him. He thought it this backwater town they probably don't have many visitors that looked like him.
She meets his gaze and dips her head back down as quick as she could. She hoped she didn't make the gesture too obvious but, nothing goes past Mando. Part of him wishes he could've caught her gaze for longer.
She's beautiful, Mando thought to himself.
He was almost in shock from the thought that came into his head. He shook it off and continued to the other side of the ramp which was connected to his ship.
Caben and Stoke glance at her but she is still is silent. Lana takes a breath in.
Say something, she says to herself.
"See I told him, sir I read a lot about your people try-try...."
"We have money," Lana says, almost louder and sterner that she thought possible from her frame. She didn't want to beat around the bush any longer, she knew what the man wanted.
Under his helmet his eyebrows rise slightly. He liked her tone, he wished she was the one talking the majority of the time, this conversation would have gone by faster and easier.
He stopped what he was working on and turned to look at her. He tilted his head to this side considering the offer.
He saw she still had her arms covering her chest, she didn't look confident talking to him, but she sounded more confident than the two men combined.
"How much?" Mando spoke soft, softer than he did when communicating to the other two.
"You can have everything we have... we don't have as much we want to give. Our entire harvest was stolen during the...raids." The last word was almost choking in Lana's throat.
She could hear Mando push a breath out beneath his helmet. He knew he needed the money, but the good in him knew he should help these people even if he won't get the payout he needed.
"We have lodging, food... anything you need. After our next harvest you can have all the profit."
Mando popped his head up to meet the woman's gaze again. He knew he should take up on this offer for a little while.
"Where do you live?"
Before she can answer back to him, Mando starts to get a better look at the girl in-front of him. He can tell she has not been doing well. The bags under her eyes were dark, her eyes were bloodshot, but it still didn't take away from her beauty. His eyes dragged over her body, taking her frame in. She was slightly shorter, but not by much. She was almost as tall as the men that accompanied her.
He could tell was something was wrong. Her emotion was missing. She seemed so empty and broken just from a glance to her empty eyes.
"On a krill farm, a day's ride from here."
"In the middle of nowhere?"
"Y-yes." She pushes out.
Lana was terrible at communicating with strangers. Their community never got a lot of new people coming around, so the only strangers she really knew were the ones who killed her father.
The adrenaline from first speaking up to Mando had begone to wear off. She realized how nervous she was now, to be standing in front of this heavy armored man. She feels her legs wobble slightly beneath her.
What if he didn't like the offer? What would he do then? What would we-
Her rumbling thoughts are cut off from the mans modulated voice.
"Okay, then get those boys to come up here and help."
Lana's eyes light up when she heard his words. She let out a sigh of relief knowing he agreed to their trade.
Caben and stoke were shocked. She looked to them and they nodded before starting to grab things from the man's ship.
As the two walk up the ramp and into the ship, The Mandalorian walks closer to her.
He is a short distance from her, at least a stride of his step. He stayed cautious when stepping toward her.
"Mando." he says to her. She's confused for a moment but replies. "Lana."
He could hear her slightly stutter at the beginning of her name.
"I am going to need one more thing from you Lana, the credits."
She nodded without saying a word. He puts his hand out as she takes the credits from her waist. He could see how weakly her hands looked. It almost pained him to see her shaky hand drop the credits in his hand.
The mysterious man gives her a small reassuring nod before slowly turning on his heels and heading into the woods. This confused Lana, but she didn't understand a thing about him, and she wasn't going to start now.
•·················•·················•
Eventually, the speeder is packed up with the man's things, he is still missing when the three of them are finished loading. Caben and Stoke make their way to the front two seats, as Lana sits in the back of the speeder, she lays down into a bundle of soft linens she had been resting on before.
Sleep has not come easy lately. She feels her eyes become heavy, and instead of waiting until the man comes back, she takes her shot and getting some rest