(Image is not mine)
"Oh, well that explains it." I nodded as we continued to walk down the semi packed streets where others had come out to enjoy the sunny day. It took us fifteen minutes to find the right place because of the streets either being cleaned and we had to walk a different way or there were too many people crowding the area. But Mando had managed to find the place that we were looking for and we went in, I heard the bell ding as I walked past the threshold. I felt like I was in heaven, there were so many things catching my eye and I wanted to check them all out. I don't know what it was about shops like this that had parts sitting around that I found interesting. For some women it was a dress shop, or a jewelry shop, but for me? it was a parts shop. I removed my gloves to pick up a piece of metal that had a carving on it that I found interesting as the owner stepped out of the back and looked at us. He was a heavy man and walked sluggishly as he stopped behind the counter. He looked like he had some sort of infection, there were small bubbles along his face and some on his neck. His hair was pulled back and being held with a piece of wire and his clothing looked old and dirty.
"Is there something I can help you with?" He set a few items on his counter.
Mando had walked over and handed him the pad that we had gotten from Rassen the day before, it listed everything he needed in order to fix his ship.
"We need everything on here." He instructed looking at the owner as the owner kept his eyes on me. I set the metal piece back and glanced around again seeing a makeshift wind chime that had all sorts of little pieces of metal cut into various shapes, a few glass pieces that glittered and sectioned tubing that went down the middle that decorated it. I reached up to move it so I could hear it make its soft melody. The owner looked at me as the chimes made noise.
"Is she with you?" He was bit irritated that I was walking around touching things.
"Yes she is, is that problem?" He stood there ready for anything just in case.
"No, but if she breaks anything, you've bought it." The owner stated as I was looking for a way to get the wind chime down from its hook. I tried reaching for it, but I was too short. I then looked for a pole or a stick or anything that was tall enough that I could use to unhook it. But I couldn't find anything long enough. Mando had looked back as I was trying to reach up again leaning on a pile of boxes. He walked over, unstrapped his rifle and used the butt of his weapon to reach up and unhook it. He then handed it to me.
"Thank you." I smiled and walked over to the counter. "This too please." I told the owner who just glared at me. "What?" I asked as he took a deep breath and went to the back to gather the things we needed. I glanced over at Mando who had stepped up beside me. "What's his problem?" I whispered.
"I think he has a problem with women." He whispered back. "Stay close, just in case."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head in disgust as I moved away from the counter again seeing something else that I could possibly use on my ship. It was a small computer board that had four sections on it with wires coming out of the side. I picked it up and flipped it over trying to see if I could see the numbers written on it. But there wasn't anything, so more then likely it was stolen. I set it back down as the owner came out of the back and glared at me again. I just smiled at him.
"I have everything but the connector clamps, I'm out of those. But you can get those from the dealer down the road." He told Mando pointing in the direction, who then turned to look back at me as I stood there watching him, then walked up to the counter.
"Sounds like a plan." I was still smiling. "How much do I owe you?" I waited.
"I thought I was dealing with him?" He pointed toward Mando.
"Nope, you're dealing with me, So how much do I owe you?" I kept my smile the whole time knowing it was driving him nuts that he had no choice but to deal with a woman. He glanced at Mando again and then took a deep sigh.
"1200 credits."
"Wow, that's a lot. I don't have that much." I put my hand on Mando's as he reached for his money pouch stopping him. "Think you could cut us a deal and go lower?" He paused for a few minutes before he looked down, then grew a smile across his face.
"500 and the beskar." He spoke.
"My beskar is not for sale." Mando spoke up. The owner smiled and shook his head.
"No, not yours, her's." He nodded toward my hand.
"I'm not wearing any beskar." I pointed out.
"That ring you wear, it's made out of beskar." He leaned in closer. "I know what beskar looks like." I looked down at the thick ornate band of silver wrapped around my thumb.
"This?" I showed it to him. "This is just silver, regular everyday silver. Why would you want it?"
"I have my reasons that don't concern you."
"I can't give you my ring, it was given to me."
"Well, that's my offer, 500 credits and that ring. Or you can move along."
I paused a bit before Mando pulled me back a few steps.
"You don't have to give him what he wants." He whispered. "We'll find another place."
"There is nowhere else. I'm the only one that sells this gauge when it comes to wire, you won't find it anywhere in town. If you don't believe me, go find out." He spoke from behind the counter. I sighed and shook my head as I walked up twisting the ring off my thumb and slamming it down on the counter.
"Fine, but I get this for free." I reached over and picked up the wind chime. I grabbed my money pouch off of my belt and tossed it to Mando, who caught it, "Pay the jerk." I added and headed toward the back where the owner had already set all the wire spools onto a hover lift. Most of the spools where really huge, almost the size of a truck tire and if you knew how big those were. Then you can imagine how big these were, and there were six of them. That might have been why they cost so much. I set the wind chimes down gently and pressed the button on the control pad so the lift could hover. The owner came out with Mando behind him.
"Bring me back my lift." He jingled the coins in his hand. I looked at him as I moved over to the edge.
"For the price of my ring, you can come get it yourself, tomorrow." I stated as Mando walked up and we moved the lift out of the large doors toward the back and down the snow covered streets, where a couple of men where cleaning them off. They were using what looked like scythes, but the blade was a blue light that was melting the snow and ice so people could walk around without slipping everywhere. I walked for a bit before I reached back into the lift and picked up the wind chimes listening to them make the softest sounds. I had never really heard that sort of sound before, but it was soothing. Mando watched me.
"Why did you do it?" He asked breaking the silence.
"Because it sounds pretty. Listen." I glanced at him moving the chimes so it could make a soft tinkly sound. The sound was very pretty and not annoying like most would be at that pitch. "Sounds nice huh?"
"No, not that, your ring? If it meant that much to you, why did you give it to him?"
"Because we needed the wire." I gently set the chimes back into the lift and turned my attention toward another shop that was coming up on the right. It's bright red sign was flashing with different things he had in his shop. "That must be the place, let see if they have the connector clamps, I'll be right back." I headed toward it and went inside. I looked around as the owner of that store smile toward me.
"Welcome." He was a tall man dressed in long robes that were yellow with blue trim. I returned the smile as I looked at him. His face reminded me of a mixture of a bug and a human. He had large eyes, a small mouth, and no nose. But had long pointed ears that had a thin tentacle on the tips, his skin was iridescent and shimmered like pearl when he moved.
A/N A quick chapter, that I had to fix quite a bit because when my TTSReader was reading it, it sounded so odd. I like using that. It helps my writing to hear it being read out loud to catch all of the spelling errors and missing words. I highly recommend it. Anyway, I hope you like it. Thanks for reading. Oh and on a side note, most of the images I'm using at the top of my chapters may or may not belong to me. I just like having something that sort of represents what the chapter is about.
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