Chapter 20.

Latest edit; January 26th, 2015. Cheers and enjoy.

Raidre held onto the table as they lifted off and tore her eyes away from the source of Torian's voice back to Aiden. She did her best to make her smile heartfelt.

"Ready?"

He had a big grin on his face, which made her heart feel a little less beaten. It was good to give back sometimes. He nodded at her and held onto the table.

"How long?"

"5-10 minutes tops? Your parents relocated to a pretty quiet neighborhood, so it's just a couple of sectors above where we are in Imperial Territory."

Aiden looked at her, nodding but eyes a little empty. Raidre smirked.

"Heh, which means it's as safe as it gets on this rock."

Aiden nodded looking that made more sense to him and went back to shovelling some Tiingular into his mouth, he gagged at every bite, not used to the spices. Raidre just shook her head as she watched him.

"You know you don't have to play tough, right? Torian has been eating spicy like that his whole life."

Aiden gave Raidre big eyes. "He HAS?!"

Raidre laughed. "Of course, most Mandalorian food is made with this spice, and he just adds more with every meal."

Aiden eyed the food and took another bite. "How do they do it?!"

Raidre leaned her chin on her palm as she laid her other hand on the flat surface of their dining table.

"You get used to it, trust me. I did."

Aiden frowned. "But aren't you Mandalorian, too?"

Raidre nodded. "Yep, but only recently adopted."

Aiden frowned. "They can do that?"

Raidre nodded. "Yep, I even saw different species of Mandalorians, some are Chiss, some are Weequay, and others humans. They don't seem to care about what your face looks like."

Aiden looked at her as he swallowed another bite. "So what do they care about?"

Raidre shrugged. "That you're made of the right stuff, I guess."

Aiden nodded, quiet and sombre all at once. "You think they would adopt me?"

Raidre tried not to let her feelings show, supressing a gasp. Bonds formed fast under fire, and this kid had probably been abused with Jezzik. It was no wonder he had grown fond of Torian so quickly. Torian was such a symbol of strength against impossible odds. It still touched her though, that this little guy was so fond of him already. She knew he would be awkward around her for a while now, but she made a promise to herself to tell him as soon as she could anyway. Clan Cadera could grow in two ways, and it would need strong and loyal people. Aiden could be such a person, he was already loyal.

"I think Torian wouldn't call you vod(1) if he didn't think you deserved it."

Aiden's eyes grew wide, but this time they shone with tears. There was so much hope in that little body that it seemed to make him glow. Raidre smiled sincerely.

"You know we'll keep in touch, right?"

Aiden looked at her and Raidre looked at the holo resting between them. Aiden followed her gaze and took the holo into his hands.

"Keep it safe, and you can give us a shout whenever you want."

Aiden looked at the holo and then back to Raidre. "Thank you so much."

Raidre tried not to cry, she did. She was this big and hard warrior! Real warriors didn't cry when they had done well by someone and got thanked for it. She inhaled deeply to take control of her feelings, but she knew her eyes betrayed her.

"Don't worry about it. But stay out of trouble until you know how to handle it!"

Aiden laughed. "Okay! Teach me how to use a blaster?"

Raidre snorted. "You used it just fine in that fire fight, you just need to practise for aim."

Aiden's lips came together to the shape of the letter 'o'. Had the kid forgotten that he had shot a couple of times to watch Raidre's back? She smirked.

"You got the right stuff, you didn't even wet yourself in your first big fight. I'm proud of you."

She laid a hand on his shoulder and griped. She did her best for her grip not to be too hard, but present. Her uncle had always been that way with her, warm and present. She wanted to be that way with Aiden now. She wouldn't be a parent to him, he had his own parents to return to, but she could be like an aunt, no? That crazy aunt who gets you into gun fights and steals from the real scum of the outer-rim planets of the galaxy! He smiled back as the ship came to a halt. They looked around as they heard the parking gear engage. Raidre cleared her throat.

"Well, let's get you back to your folks. I'm sure they can't wait to see you and over-protect you."

Aiden picked up his holo and laid a hand on the blaster she had handed him. It was a really good blaster, custom made and it could take most any blaster cells. She was glad it she had decided to give it to Aiden.

"I'll protect them myself!"

Raidre smiled and grabbed his shoulders with both her hands. "Just make sure to be smart, okay Aiden? You have to promise me that if you ever fight, you always fight smart. Torian might fight with a tech staff against blasters, but he always comes out alive because he is smart. Be smart like Torian, can you do that for me?"

Aiden nodded.

She looked him over and nodded. "Good. Let's go."

Raidre accompanied Aiden to the cargo bay and found Torian there. She pushed Aiden towards Torian.

"I'll give you two some privacy."

She went out and went to meet the parents while the boys said their farewells. Torian watched her go and once the door behind was closed, he looked at Aiden. Gosh, the little guy looked so young and so lost all of a sudden.

"She told me that Mandalorians adopted people."

Torian nodded. "We do."

Aiden's face set into hard lines, lips pressed together and brows knitted in a furrow. "When I grow up, I will be someone you can adopt, okay?"

Torian had prided himself for a long time on control. He had been shamed by his emotions in the past so he made a point not to indulge in them. He could not put a name on how he felt as this pre-teen boy looked at him, determined to be worthy of being a Mandalorian… Just as he was determined of being worthy. It cut the air from his lungs and caused a pain in his chest even though no one had stabbed him through his chest plates. He had no idea what to say to that. What would he have wanted to hear if he was this boy? What was the truth to say to this boy? At the end, he didn't know what the right thing to say was and so he said nothing. He just grabbed the kid's arm and held it by the forearm.

"That's how we shake hands."

Aiden nodded and grabbed Torian's forearm back. "Ok. She said I could call."

Aiden held up a holo and Torian nodded. "Whenever you want."

Aiden nodded. "I want to learn more Mando'a."

Torian smirked. "Sure."

"Gonna miss you."

Torian felt that pain again, he nodded. "Won't be far."

Aiden nodded and just grabbed Torian round the waist and hugged him. For a moment Torian was unable to react from surprise, but then he took a deep breath and hugged him back. The door behind them opened to this scene. Torian looked back to see a frail thin woman ushered in by Raidre, she stared at her son hugging Torian with wide eyes. Aiden looked up and his face split into a joyous smile.

"Mom!"

"Oh! Aiden, luv!"

The two embraced and the woman began to cry. She had likely been fearing every day that her son's little body would be returned to her, lifeless. There was nothing worst. Torian let Raidre deal with it. She gave a credit chit to the woman and ushered them back into their apartment. Once everything was done, Torian did feel like he was going to miss Aiden, it was surprising how fast he had grown on Torian! The two Mandalorians went back to the cock pit and Torian piloted them towards the pick-up site. They would have barely 45 minutes for a proper recon and to formulate a plan. Raidre sat in the co-pilot's seat in silence for a time. She sighed and looked at him.

"Aiden wants to earn his way into Clan Cadera."

Torian frowned. "He wants to be a Mandalorian."

Raidre nodded. "Yea, and more specifically, your vod(2)."

Torain looked at Raidre, saw it on her face that she was not exaggerating and went back to piloting. Raidre sighed.

"Another topic for later I guess."

"You're not the patient sort."

"What gave it away?"

Torian chuckled despite himself. "Wasn't compliment."

Raidre shrugged. "I can look in the mirror with all the cracks and still love myself. Good enough for me."

Torian nodded, and couldn't help but admire that. "Sure you see all the cracks?"

Raidre laugh. "Oh, yea. No worries. I know all about my own version of the good, the bad and the ugly. I am my own worst critic."

He believed that. You didn't get talented at any skill unless you were always trying to be better at something. It took a certain level of perfectionism to achieve that drive. She had both jatne manda(3) and shereshoy(4). He looked ahead.

"What's our plan?"

Raidre crossed her arms, back to business. "Lay a trap and catch our pray. Then we make sure they can't do anymore mischief."

Torian nodded. "Any idea why the client was targeted?"

Raidre shook her head. "Not yet, Mako should be back with that intel soon."

"No ideas?"

Raidre shrugged. "This is Nar Shadaa, he probably got involved in the spice trade or some Hutt's business."

"Why is important."

Raidre nodded. "Been around here to know his type, he needed money and got involved with something he didn't understand, then he tried to get out and got caught in this mess."

"How can you be sure?"

Raidre shrugged. "If he was hardened scum like Jezzik, he wouldn't have had such big bags under his eyes or lost so much sleep."

"Could be a good actor?"

Raidre shook her head. "Gut's never wrong, Torian."

Torian nodded. "Fair enough."

"Oh, and we take any valuables, wouldn't want the vultures to pick up something dangerous."

Torian smirked and tried not to laugh at her habit of always thinking of their credits.

"You're almost as bad as Toydarian(5)."

Raidre gasped. "Take that back! Take that back right now!"

Torian did his best to stifle a laugh. "Nope."

Raidre turned to face him, face full of indignation, hands fisting. "Take it back! My recycling habits are nowhere near Toydarian levels!"

Torian did laugh this time, she was also getting ready to deck him. "Okay, your 'recycling' is not as bad as a Toydarian's. Happy?"

Raidre looked away, arms crossed. "It'll do."

NOTES:

1 .Brother.

2 .IBIDEM.

3 .Being at one with the Manda and your clan.

4 .Intense zest and joy of life. Wanting to experience everything possible but also living to fight another day.

5 .Toydarians were a race of winged mammalian beings from the planet Toydaria. With a reputation for being stingy and bad-tempered, many Toydarians were possessed of a strong sense of pride in their work.