Hello all you fabulous readers out there! Hope life is treating you well! Onwards we fly to the farthest reaches of space! Please enjoy!

She followed closely as they slowly made their way through the noon hour traffic. The hood and cloak were stifling under the hot sun, especially surrounded by so many people, but she didn't dare take them off. The less people who saw her features in connection with a slave collar were the less people who would hassle her when she became a free woman.

Free. She had never dared even wonder about that word before, let alone the concept. Being able to live as she liked, where she liked, answering to no one but herself. The idea was a daunting and yet exhilarating one. She had never been so close to freedom before. Even now she had her doubts. Not because of the bounty hunter; strangely she felt she could trust him to hold to his word; but because the universe had a way of working against you the second you got your hopes up.

She was so distracted by her thoughts, she didn't notice when her bounty hunter stopped walking. She walked right into him with enough force to send her bouncing back off his armor. Before she could hit the ground, though, a solid arm wrapped around her waist and hauled her upright again.

"Careful." Mando warned lowly, the cool metal of his helmet brushing her ear before he released her and tugged her hood back into place. She nodded quickly, grateful that the hood hid her flaming cheeks.

"Mando!" A cheery voice called, followed by a fast string of foreign sentences she couldn't understand. A grandmotherly Gossam made her way over to them, still chattering at Mando. Mando answered back and the two were soon engaged in a lively conversation that left her feeling very much the third wheel. Well, lively on the Gossam's part anyway.

After a moment, the grandmother turned her attention to Mando's companion with a smile.

"You, empty, yes? Good food, eat!" She exclaimed in broken Basic, reaching out to take her hand with her own three-fingered one.

She shot a questioning look to her bounty hunter who gave her a nod of encouragement, "I've ordered you a meal. Stay here and eat. I'll be back soon." He placed a credit in the Gossam's hand, which she promptly tried to return. She scolded him fiercely for apparently attempting to pay but, after a few quiet words from the hunter, the grandmother grudgingly accepted the payment. With a final nod in her direction the bounty hunter, or 'Mando' as he seemed to be called, walked away, leaving her with the kind, bossy Gossam.

The blue-skinned grandmother took hold of her hand once more and led her to a small table for two sitting outside a humble restaurant stand. Her mouth began to water at the delicious smells coming from the stand as she took a seat. In a short amount of time a steaming bowl of stew accompanied by thick slices of rich, brown bread sat before her.

The grandmother plopped herself down in the chair across from her and watched her with an air of great expectation. She found herself taking a hesitant first bite of the stew under the watchful eyes of the cook herself. Luckily, she did not have to fake her joy and delight at the first taste. It was utterly delicious.

The Gossam immediately relaxed her stance upon seeing her guest's smile.

"Good?" She asked in confirmation and her guest nodded emphatically in affirmation with a sweet smile on her lips. The Gossam then pointed at herself.

"Vizsla." She stated firmly. Normally at this point her guests would then introduce themselves but the girl before her simply pushed her hood back far enough so that Vizsla could see more of her features and offered a slight bow of her head. Then she tapped her throat and mouth and silently shook her head. Vizsla watched in confusion while the girl repeated the gesture until she finally understood.

"You, no, word?" Vizsla struggled out. She was working hard to learn Basic but it was awkward for her mouth to form the words. Her efforts were rewarded by her guest's nod in reply.

The poor girl couldn't speak! Such a shame. At least she seemed willing and able to communicate herself in other ways. Vizsla wondered how such a thing had occurred but couldn't think of the words to ask. Then she came up with a different question she could ask.

"You, Mando…"

The girl watched as her new acquaintance made a circular gesture around a specific finger. She felt her face flush slightly as she shook her head in the negative. No, she and the bounty hunter were not married. Vizsla looked more than a little disappointed before she suddenly grinned mischievously.

"You, Mando…"

Here the grandmother made a very lewd gesture while wiggling her eyebrows shamelessly. She broke into harsh cackles as her guest's face turned a brilliant red and she shook her head 'no' so emphatically her hood slipped off her head completely, revealing midnight hair before she pulled it back into place, still shaking her head.

What was Mando thinking, not making a move on the pretty little thing sitting across from her? The man had to be lonely up in that metal bucket of a ship of his all the time. He needed some fun in his life to break up the monotonous routine of catching bounties! Maybe she would say something to him about it when he came back. In the meantime, there was no harm in teasing his pretty, little friend, was there?

"Mando, very...hmm…" What is word? "Good, yes?"

Her guest tilted her head slightly in confusion so Vizsla relied on gestures to make her point. She drew a line with her hand across her shoulders but longer to indicate broad shoulders. Then she used both hands to taper the shape down from the farthest points to show an upside down triangle shape, or the form of a well-built male.

"Good." She stated before flexing her arm and grabbing her bicep.

"Good." She said again. Her guest watched her intently, nodding slightly as she seemed to understand what Vizsla was getting at.

Raising an eyebrow, Vizsla made a grabbing gesture with both hands at the lower end of the triangle approximately where a certain male's derrière was located.

"Good, yes?"

The girl stared confusedly at the gesture for a moment but Vizsla knew the moment she grasped what she was implying because that charming red flooded across her face once more.

The grandmother cackled again at her embarrassed reaction.

"Very good, hmm?" The old woman teased heartlessly. The girl could only shrug, not willing to lie but not willing to confess either. Any red-blooded female would have noticed that the bounty hunter was well-formed. However, she was not interested in any sort of relationship with any man at this point in her life. Maybe in the future when her life had settled into a comfortable rhythm but until then, no.

Having had her fun, Vizsla switched topics. They were only able to speak with a limited vocabulary and rudimentary gestures but they were able to communicate on simple matters and both found they enjoyed the other's company.

It was after they had finished their meal and Vizsla had cleared the table and was on her way back when she noticed something that seemed to upset her about her guest. She began to chatter angrily in her mother tongue, getting agitated enough to start waving her hands about, and leaving the poor girl utterly confused. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you were, Mando chose that moment to make a reappearance. The old woman aggressively turned on him, apparently scolding him something fierce because he held his hands up in a pacifying gesture and was immediately put on the defensive. After a moment of back and forth between the two, the bounty hunter headed over to where she sat. Without a word of explanation, he came around to her side of the table and fell to one knee in front of her. He quickly reached out and caught one of her feet as she attempted to retract them. She gave her leg a tug, trying to pull away from him, but he just fixed her with a stern stare behind that helmet of his before returning his attention to her sandal-encased feet. Sandals that offered little to no resistance between her and the uncomfortably hot, volcanic stone underfoot.

Mando gently cradled her small foot in his hands, examining it with care. The ball and heel of each of her feet sported large blisters from where they had come in contact with the ground through her useless sandals. All the surrounding skin was a bright, burnt red. How had he not noticed? As far as he knew, she hadn't even been limping! If Vizsla hadn't pointed the problem out to him, he would have had her continue on through the town in this state until he had finished his errands.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He growled through his modulator. Lifting his head, he caught her raising an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes behind the helmet.

"You know what I mean."

She shrugged in response. Until she had sat down she hadn't really noticed what the heat had done to her sandals and feet. Then, when she had noticed, she hadn't thought to say anything because it certainly wasn't the worst pain she had ever had to deal with at the hands of a master. He seemed to be on a mission to get on and off the planet with as little trouble and in as little time as possible. Who was she to slow him down with a few paltry burns. Especially since they would soon be free of each other anyway.

While he was talking, Vizsla had taken it upon herself to fetch a small jar of green cream from her personal belongings.

"Move, Mando!" She ordered him, elbowing him out of the way.

"What is that?" Mando questioned, even as he shifted away so she could kneel in front of the slave girl.

"A cream made from the milk of the Thala-siren and extract of Bacta. It will cool the burns and help them heal quickly."

She couldn't make out all of what they were saying as they examined her feet but she did catch the words "siren" and "bacta" and was able to piece together what they were talking about. Bacta in itself was extremely hard to come by, but she knew for a fact there was only one isolated place where you could find a green substance produced by sirens. There was no way she could let her new friend waste such a valuable product on her! Just as Vizsla reached for her foot she pulled away and shook her finger at the grandmother, shaking her head in the negative.

"Don't worry, child. It won't hurt you." Vizsla soothed. Mando was quick to translate but her words seemed to have no impact on the girl. Instead she pointed at the cream, rubbed two fingers against her thumb in a universal gesture then shook her head 'no' again. Vizsla was quick to catch on to what she meant.

"Girl, what is the point of having something valuable if you don't use it when it is needed? Now quit your fussing!" She scolded, with Mando translating again. After a moment of indecision, the girl nodded and allowed Vizsla access to her feet.

"And you! Wipe that smirk off your face and go find your woman a decent pair of boots!" She shot at Mando who tilted his head down to the woman.

"I wasn't smirking." He responded, sounding rebellious.

"Uh huh." The old woman responded absently, keeping her attention on the small foot in her hand. It did not escape her notice that he didn't refute her on calling the girl 'his woman'.

For his part, Mando discreetly pressed a button on his vambrace so his helmet took a few quick measurements before he stalked off in search of boots.

The girl watched in confusion as the bounty hunter stormed away. Was he angry about something? Was it something she did? A tap on her ankle drew her attention down to Vizsla who pointed at the departing man, then pointed at her own sturdy boots, before pointing at her unclad feet.

Oh. No wonder he was mad. Now he had to spend his hard earned money on boots for her.

She let out a low hiss when Vizsla began to gently apply the cream onto the soles of her feet. All other thoughts were wiped from her head by the burning and stinging that itched across her foot. Luckily, the feeling was quick to fade to an odd tingling sensation as the healing properties of the cream went into effect, soothing the burns and leaving behind cool relief.

R&R my lovies! They keep me emotionally sane nowadays! 3