"Kenna...It's better than Cora," He begins walking again and she sighs in relief and follows behind him; at least he doesn't know her last name...yet.
~~~
The trio reaches a common house which they all enter through. People are looking and pointing as the child looks around. One woman, looking like a warrior, seems particularly interested in their arrival. The child is startled by a took-a-cat and they take a seat at a table and a Proprietor approaches with a warm smile.
"Welcome travellers. Can I interest you in anything?"
"Bone broth, for the little one and," He looks at Kenna who shakes her head. "Just bone broth then,"
"Oh, well, you're in luck. I just took down a grinjer, so there's plenty. Can I interest you in a porringer of broth as well?" She eyes Kenna as she scans her surroundings and then looking at the warrior who has been staring at them.
"Just the one,"
"Very well--"
"That one over there, when did she arrive?" Kenna asks just as Din was going to.
"Uh...I've seen her here for the last week or so," She responds glancing over at the woman.
"What's her business here?" Din questions.
"Business? Oh well...there's not much business in Sorgan so I can't say..." Din tosses some coin on the table. The common house proprietor looks down at it. "She doesn't strike me as a log runner...well..." She takes the coin. "Thank you, sir. I will get that broth to you as soon as possible, and I will throw in a flagon of spotchka, just for good measure. I'll be right back with that," The common house proprietor leaves, and Kenna and Din notice that the warrior woman is gone. He gets up and moves to leave, leaving the child behind at the table.
"Keep an eye on the kid," Kenna gets up and places her hands on the table.
"Where are you going?"
"After that woman,"
"Alone?" She hisses.
"Kenna, please, the kid," She glances down at the kid and huffs, sitting down. He exits and the woman returns with the child's broth.
"That man, how do you put up with him?" She asks but the child has gone. She quickly looks around and the child is nowhere in sight. She looks under tables and behind counters but can't find it anywhere inside. "Shit," Kenna runs out and finds the child slurping on his broth while staring down at Din and the other woman in mid-fight.
"You want some soup?" Din asks the woman who sighs and gets off him. She stares at Kenna for a long time, as if she knows her.
~~~
"Saw most of my action mopping up after, mostly ex-Imperial warlords," Kenna chokes on her water she ordered but covers it up with cough when Din looks over at her. "They wanted it fast and quiet. They'd send us in on the drop ships. No support, just us. Then when the Imps were gone, the politics started. We were peacekeepers, protecting delegates, suppressing riots. Not what I signed up for," The woman known as Cara Dune explains and she eyes Kenna as she cleans up the mess the child made by purposely spilling his soup.
"How'd you end up here?" Din asks through his modulator.
"Let's just call it an early retirement," She takes a sip, still eyeing Kenna but then looking back at Din. "Look, I knew you were Guild. I figured you had a fob on me. That's why I came at you so hard," Cara said, glancing between the duo.
"Yeah, that's what I figured," He noticed how Cara seemed distracted by Kenna.
"Well, this has been a real treat," She begins to stand up. "But unless you wanna go another round, one of us is gonna have to move on, and I was here first," She finishes her soup, sets the cup down. "You look familiar," She addresses Kenna and then walks away. Din turns to the child and a surprised Kenna.
"Well, looks like this planet's taken," Kenna sighs and sips from her cup.
"Where are we going to find a place to hide?" He shrugs and stands, taking the child with him. Kenna looks down at her cup before reluctantly following.
~~~
Two men are riding on a cargo sled through the woods at night until they come upon the Razor Crest where Din is assisting an annoyed Kenna.
"Are you listening to me?"
"I don't know what a 'Maloutuned Factor' is," Kenna, who is hanging from the engine slaps her face.
"And you say you can fix a ship," She sighs and looks back at the toolbox. "It's that thing there, no...no...look where I'm pointing, there, finally," She snatches the item from Din's hands and resumes her work and he returns to repair something else. The two men hop off the sled and nervously walk up to Din.
"Excuse me," Stoke says which Din doesn't hear.
"Excuse me, sir," Caben says louder which catches his attention slightly.
"There something I can help you with?" He says dismissively and continues to work.
"Uh...yeah... Raiders," Caben responds, nervously stroking his hair.
"We have money,"
"So you think I'm some kind of mercenary?" He snaps. Kenna jumps down from finishing her job and leans against the side of the Razor Crest and wipes her hand on the stained cloth.
"You are a Mandalorian, right?" The man with shoulder-length brown hair asks.
"Or at least wearing Mandalorian armour... That is Mandalorian armour, right?" Caben asks his curly, dark brown hair swaying in the cool night breeze. There's a pause before he responds.
"It is," His response is blunt and forward and Kenna moves closer to the scene and stops Din working and forces him to listen. He grunts and turns to face Stoke and Caben.
"See?! I told him. Sir, I've read a lot about your people...er...tri-- tribe... If half of what I read is true--" Caben stutters causing Kenna to giggle slightly.
"We have money," Stoke interrupts his friend who is successfully embarrassing them.
"How much?" Din demands.
"It's everything we have, sir. Our whole harvest was stolen,"
"Krill... We're...krill farmers,"
"We brew spotchka. Our whole village chipped in," Din looks at them as Stoke holds up a coin purse. Kenna was about to accept but Din declined quicker.
"It's not enough," Kenna looks at him who shrugs at her. He walks away and the men follow.
"Are you sure? You don't even know what the job is,"
"I know it's not enough. Good luck,"
"D...Mando, come on," He glares at Kenna but continues walking away.
"This is everything we have. We'll give you more after the next harvest," Stoke begs. Din opens the hatch in their faces and they stumble back, startled. Then they start to move away, disappointed, as Din walks up the ramp, Kenna in tow.
"Din," She chases him around but he ignores her so she goes back to apologise. She sees them discouraged as the jump back in the cargo sled.
"Come on. Let's head back,"
"Took us the whole day to get here. Now we have to ride back with no protection to the middle of nowhere,"
"Wait!" Kenna rushes over to them. "Where do you live?" They turn to look at her.
"At a farm. Weren't you listening? We're farmers,"
"In the middle of nowhere," Kenna asks.
"Yes," Stoke responds, confused.
"You have lodging?" She questions.
"Yeah. Absolutely," Caben responds hopefully.
"Wait here," She jogs up the ramp and towards Din who is readying himself to leave. "Din..."
"Took you long enough,"
"DIN!" He jumps ever so slightly and he turns to face her. "They live in the middle of nowhere with lodging," He pauses allows Kenna to finish. "Come on, we fight for them and we get somewhere to stay...in the middle of nowhere!" He ponders for a moment before going outside to see them waiting, hope on their faces.
"Come up and help," He says dully and they brighten up and follow Din into his ship. Together they load cargo onto the sled. Kenna smiles and grabs her bag and clips her blaster back on the small of her back. She also picks up the child.
"I'm gonna need one more thing. Give me those credits,"
~~~
Kenna sits besides Din with the child in her lap, playing with the necklace. Cara sits in front of them while the two farmers drive back.
"So we're basically running off a band of raiders for lunch money?" Cara says, bored.
"They're quartering us is in the middle of nowhere. Last I checked that's a pretty square deal for somebody in your position. Worst case scenario, you tune up your blaster. Best case, we're a deterrent. I can't imagine there's anything living in these trees that an ex-shock trooper couldn't handle," He looks over at Kenna who is playing with the child.
"Girl, you fight?" Kenna looks up at Cara.
"You can call me Cora, and yes, I fight," Cara nods.
"Why does it feel like I know you?" She shrugs. "Where did you manage to salvage that from?" Cara motions to the necklace the child is playing with.
"My mother gave it to me when I was young, she called it her lucky charm,"
"So, us three are gonna scare off a bunch of raiders?" Cara says.
"Not her," Kenna furrows her brows and looks up at him.
"Why?"
"Yeah, why? She says she can fight, I'd like to see her moves, if she can really use those weapons," Din doesn't know either, but he feels like if Kenna was to be hurt, it would be his fault and he'd feel guilty.
"You have to stay with the child,"
"We're going to go to a village, there are gonna be tons of people to take care of him while I kick some raider scums asses," Kenna retorted.
"Fine," Din says and the group fall silent. After an hour or so, Kenna yawns and his unable to stay awake much longer. Cara and the child are already asleep and she tries to stay awake until Din drifts off. "You can sleep," He says and she looks up at him.
"What about you?"
"I don't need to sleep," She narrows her eyes. "Don't try reading my mind or I'll hand you over,"
"Finnneee," She whines as sleep catches up with her; freeing a Mandalorian, escaping prison, being shot, fixing a ship, Din finding out her real name and about to fight off raiders. Her eyes flutter close and she drifts into sleep.
Once Din is sure she is asleep, he finds he can sleep too, knowing she is okay... but why was he feeling this weird connection with Kenna?