"Where is Mission?" Onasi demanded. His brow was furrowed, his mouth set, his cadence just a touch more rushed than usual. In other words, he was as harried as he usually was when the young Twi'lek was involved.
Canderous shrugged nonchalantly, which only made Onasi glower.
"You have to know. We left her here with you. Did she leave the ship?"
Canderous decided to give him that much. "Yes, a couple of hours ago." With a pazaak deck and a determined air. His eyes narrowed slightly. "She'll be fine, Onasi. Stop mothering."
"I'm not mothering," the man protested, "I'm worrying about a-a fourteen-year-old girl sneaking off by herself on a strange planet."
Canderous snorted and turned his attention back to his repeater. Onasi shook his head, muttering, and left to fret over Mission with someone else, likely the wookie. Onasi's absence was the reason the mercenary was the first to see Mission return.
The girl stomped up the ramp, hands stuffed in her pockets and shoulders ratcheted up. Canderous kept cleaning his repeater, movements even, until the angry footsteps stopped in front of him. The Mandalorian glanced up at her, eyebrow cocked. "Looks like you lost," he noted.
Mission huffed at him. "I would've won, fair and square," she informed him. "I should have! But those slimos cheated!" She crossed her arms, tale picking up momentum. "And I know, because in the last round I saw the dealer switch out cards! I even told him I saw it, I stopped the game! And I still got nothing—they took the whole pot."
Canderous's eyebrows inched upwards. "And you let them get away with it?"
Her cheeks darkened. "I tried to get 'em to hand it over. I pulled every trick I know, but there were five of these pieces of…" Her voice was too loud as she proclaimed, "I can take care of myself! But I'm not stupid, either. Just me on five armed guys—it wasn't my kind of odds."
"All right, keep your voice down." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Onasi and your wookie friend are in the other room wondering where you went."
Mission cursed. "I can't tell them," she stated more quietly. "Do you know what kind of lecture I'd get from Carth? And Zaalbar would never let me go anywhere by myself again." She huffed. "It's not like I'm helpless."
"Well, you didn't get yourself killed, and that's a start," Canderous decided. He rose. "Come on. We can leave before the others notice."
"Leave?" Mission repeated. "Where are we going? I hope you don't plan on gambling, unless you have your own credits to spend."
"We're going to find the chakaare who cheated you," Canderous told her. He slung the repeater into its holster. "And we're going to show them it was a bad idea."
They slipped out of the Ebon Hawk without attracting attention. Finding the cantina was no big ordeal; by this time of night, all they had to do was follow the low-town types shuffling their way to a drink or five. Mission led the way. She'd had a lot of practice looking impressive while someone larger and better armed followed behind her. Canderous warned others away with his mere presence. People were usually wary of him. Now, when he was angry, they all but scattered.
It certainly made the journey to the cantina quick. Mission strode in the front door as if she were the one carrying the repeater. The patrons didn't freeze—they were clearly too used to ticked-off, well-armed people storming in—but some did quietly take their business elsewhere. Mission headed straight for a group of humans and rodians crowded around the pazaak table.
One of them didn't spot Canderous in time. "Hey, the baby's come crying back." One of his companions cuffed him and told him to can it.
"I'm here for my winnings, boys," Mission declared.
A di'kut in the back started laughing at her and then hesitantly trailed off when he realized no one else would be joining in.
"What's the matter, kid?" asked the one who had shut his friend up. "Can't fight your own battles?"
If that rankled, Mission didn't show it. "Why should I?" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "I've got him."
Their collective gaze shifted to Canderous. The mercenary stared back at them, hard. "And you chakaare have still got all your limbs," he noted, "so far."
One of them crossed his arms and casually leaned back, against the pazaak table. "Look, you know how it is around here. We win, we take the money."
"You didn't win!" Mission had her hands on her hips. "You cheated! Everyone saw you!"
He shifted into a smirk. "Well, no, honey, we didn't win the pazaak game," the thug admitted. "But we did win your money on account of there being five of us and…"
That was about when Canderous pulled out the repeater and gave it a few rounds.
"Do we win yet?" he growled over the shocked silences and injured whimpers.
By the time Mission and Canderous strolled out of the cantina, that night's business had all but disappeared. Canderous knew from experience that they would slowly reappear as it became obvious that the two offworlders were done stirring up trouble. Mission was walking with the same utter confidence as before, and Canderous followed feeling much more satisfied than before.
Mission was discreet about how giddily she was counting her credits. "That," she proclaimed, "was. Wizard." She grinned up at him. "You were great, Canderous. Nailed him right where it hurt. That was… what was that word you used when we whooped that group of bounty hunters a couple of weeks ago? Some Mandalorian word, right?"
Canderous was a little surprised she paid so much attention. "Kandosii."
Mission, still smirking, patted her credits. "Yeah. That was kandosii."
Canderous felt a smile of his own tugging at the corners of his mouth. "It was."
When they boarded the Ebon Hawk again, Onasi and Zaalbar were both on their case, lecturing about safety ("Mission, what if something had happened to you?") and responsibility ("Did it occur to you to even try setting a good example?"). Later, recalling the terrified looks on the pazaak thugs' faces and the extra credits they'd helped themselves to, Mission and Canderous agreed that it had been worth it.
ori'shya tal'din: more than blood; from the Mandalorian saying "aliit ori'shya tal'din," meaning "family is more than blood"