Author's Note
Whelp, that hiatus of mine lasted longer than intended. Sorry about that. Things at work have been more than a little hectic. A coworker of mine decided to commit to his photography business full-time and I took on most of his duties when he left. So I'm basically doing the work of two people right now. I gotta admit, I'm exhausted. XD
I'm still working on this fic though. I'm ahead by, like, five chapters I think? Maybe more? And I've got a lot more planned. I'm not stopping anytime soon. It just might take me a bit longer than usual to get chapters out until my life settles again. I may chip away at some of my lead to keep chapters coming to you guys a bit more regularly but I don't want to burn through all of it either. So bear with me, guys. I promise you won't be disappointed.
Alright, go onward and enjoy!
First Hunt
Mahin idly swivels back and forth in the copilot chair to Mando's right with the child perched in her lap. The hum of the ship vibrates around them. Healthy. Smooth. Stars streak by the window like dozens of shooting stars as the newly-repaired hyperdrive rockets them through space towards their next destination.
Pride swells in her chest. She loves this moment, listening to a ship renew its song with a clear voice that she helped fix. A job well done that she was able to make happen with her own hands.
Mando flips a few switches and then they drop out of hyperspace, taking the controls in hand to steer them towards the planet's surface down below.
"So you have a bounty hiding somewhere here, huh?" Mahin asks, watching as he maneuvers them towards one of the many sprawling cities covering the planet. Instead of landing them in a spaceport, though, he steers them towards the woods, finding a clearing in the middle of the trees big enough for the Razor Crest. "Why land all the way out here?"
"People on the run tend to keep an eye on ports," Mando explains as he settles the ship on the ground without so much as a bump before going through the practiced motions of powering the ship down. "To them, any stranger coming into town is a potential bounty hunter."
"Make that stranger a Mandalorian and that potential turns into a certainty."
"Exactly. They'll run before I even exit the port. It'll be easier to sneak up on them if I approach the city on foot. It also saves having to pay hanger fees."
"How does this work exactly?" she asks, curiosity peaking as she follows him down the ladder into the cargo hold. He stops in front of the weapons locker, just like last time, selecting the weapons he wants to take with him. "The puck gives you a picture, chain code, and last known location, right? And then the tracking fob helps you find them once you're on planet?"
"Right." His hand hovers over the amban rifle for a moment and then decides against it, instead going for a jetpack that hangs from a place of prominence in the locker. Sweeping his cloak out of the way, he positions the jetpack on his back, magnetic clamps locking it into place against the back of his armor. "Not much real tracking involved when I have a fob. Hardest part is subduing the target and bringing them in."
"How long do you usually take?" she asks nervously. The child begins to fuss in her arms, either picking up on her own anxiety or recognizing Mando's routine and what it means. That Mando's about to go out and leave them behind. She starts to sway on her feet back and forth in a subconscious effort to soothe him.
"A day on average. Three tops. Depends on if they're running, if they're holed up somewhere. What kind of security is in place and if they have friends. Sometimes the intel from the Guild is dated and the quarry moved on already. Then I have to comb through town looking for some kind of lead on where they went."
He closes up the locker and turns to look at them, regarding Mahin and the child with trepidation. He stares silently for a moment, mulling his thoughts over before speaking, "Alright. I still want you to stay here while I'm gone. You can go outside the ship but stay in the immediate area. I don't know what animals might be in these parts. Or people for that matter. Stay out of sight. By nightfall, I want you both in the ship with the doors shut tight and ground protocols activated." He gestures for her to follow him towards the rear of the ship, the rear ramp lowering with a press of a button on his vambrace. "Come on, I'll teach you the codes you need to lock and unlock the ship, plus the separate codes needed to unlock the flight controls."
"I know how to fly ships," she offers readily, excited at another prospect to be helpful. "I taught myself while learning mechanics and engineering. Didn't feel right, not knowing how to fly the things I was fixing up."
"Good," he says, sounding pleased which elicits a small smile from her. He goes over all the codes, her quick mind picking them up easily. He has her repeat them back to him to be sure she has them memorized and then gives a satisfied nod. Her smile widens. "I'll check in with you every twelve hours during hunts. If I ever go longer than twenty-four hours without checking in or returning, I want you to take the ship and leave."
The smile slips right off her face, ice piercing her stomach. "What?"
"Get off planet and go to Navarro. It's one of the preprogramed destinations in the nav system."
"Now hang on a minute—"
"Once there, ask for Greef Karga and Cara Dune. They'll take care of you and the kid."
"No!" She steps toe to toe with him, forcing her to tilt her head back to look up at him but she makes sure to give the visor of his helmet her most vicious glare. "I am not about to just abandon you at the drop of a hat to get captured or bleed out or-or—!"
"Hey." He grabs her chin gently between his thumb and forefinger, her mouth automatically falling shut as she pouts at him in a desperate plea. "You need to promise me you'll do this. It's important."
Her frown deepens. "You'd have me trust strangers? Really?"
"They're my friends and I trust them with my life. You trust me, don't you?"
"Yes," she replies instantly. His head tilts in what she believes to be surprise. That she would actually trust him so implicitly. So quickly. But it's the truth. She can feel it burning in her chest brighter than all the stars in all the galaxy combined.
"Then you can trust them," he replies softly, squeezing her chin one more time before letting go. His hand falls to the top of the child's head, thumb stroking tenderly along his wrinkled forehead. The child coos, tilting his head up to look into Mando's hidden face like he can see right through the beskar. "Remember, the child is more important."
She wants to rail against him. Her entire body rebels at the idea of leaving Mando behind for any reason. She wants to beg to let her go with him, help watch his back, but though she has skill, it's not the skill of a bounty hunter. And it's not what she's here for. She's here to take care of the child, and if she needs to fight, it's to protect the ship, the home front.
To protect the child. No matter the cost.
She sighs heavily, shoulders sinking as she deflates. "Fine. But you promise me that you'll try your kriffing hardest to come back." She pokes him solidly in the middle of his breastplate. She doesn't move him even an inch but it still makes her feel better. "You hear me?"
"Deal," he says, amused but sincere. Then with one last pat to the child's head, he turns towards the tree line to head for town and begin his hunt.
"Stay safe," she calls after him. His head turns back, steps slightly faltering, and he nods in acknowledgement.
Mahin stays at the edge of the ramp, her and the kid watching until Mando completely disappears into the foliage. Her heart sinks a bit, watching him go, despite knowing he has to.
She looks down at the kid, bouncing him lightly on her hip. "Guess it's just you and me, kiddo."
The morning passes slowly. Mahin leaves the ramp open to let the cool breeze in. Fresh air fills the ship that blessedly doesn't come from an air processor. Mahin sticks to the cargo hold in order to enjoy its soft caress. Most of the serious repairs to the ship have been completed already, but there is some non-critical maintenance she can work on in the hold.
Opening up one of the access panels to the inner workings of the ship, she pokes her head in to inspect the electrical panel she discovered while giving the ship a once over the other day. The wires are frayed, threatening the short the panel out if not replaced soon. Nothing serious, just the cargo hold lights and maybe the refresher if she's following the lines right, but she'd rather not get suddenly plunged into darkness in the middle of taking a shower when the panel does finally go.
The child sits on the floor just a few steps away from where she shoves her head and torso through the hatch. Paper and colored pencils lay strewn around him as he draws colorful squiggles with the utmost concentration. Antiquated, some would say, but better for a toddler's use than a datapad.
Mahin does not want to try to explain to Mando how the kid had cracked the screen of a datapad while trying to draw a squiggle monster.
After each completed drawing, Mahin feels little fingers tugging at her pants. Obligingly, she stops what she's doing and sits on the ground with her back to the wall. The kid crawls into her lap and shows her the drawing, babbling a mile a minute about what he drew. She nods along, giving little answers to his nonsense words as if she really does understand.
He lights up every time she does, babbling even more with an arm waving around.
It's the most she's heard him "talk" since boarding the ship just a few days ago. The child typically remains mostly silent. She hears Mando talking to him, the child replying with little coos or chirps, but Mando himself isn't much of a talker.
It makes her wonder, again. About the child's development. His lack of language despite his age. She knows Master Yoda spoke Basic, so he isn't a species without vocal cords capable of making the proper sounds. She wonders about where the child was before Mando found him.
Did anyone care about him? Or was he shoved in a corner and completely ignored?
She's determined to show him all the care in the galaxy, and so she allows him to show her his drawings and talk as much as he wants, no matter how much it slows down her own work.
She loves having the child's little warmth in her lap, wrapped up in the safety and comfort of her arms, his smiles and giggles wrapping her up in turn. She never thought she could care for a child so much in such little time.
When her stomach starts grumbling about lunch, Mahin puts her tools down, stepping outside for a moment to take a look at the sky. Based on the position of the sun, the planet's in midafternoon. The "morning" they had on the ship doesn't seem to line up with when morning happened here. Getting their biorhythms lined up with the planet might be best, though, especially if they're staying for a few days.
She steps back inside, gathering some of their fresh food to prepare a soup on the pull-out stove top. Something to fill them up for the rest of the day and will also produce several meals that will keep for a few weeks in the cooling crate in the cargo hold. Once done, she scoops out two helpings of soup before putting the rest away, then carries the bowls out of the ship with the child toddling behind her.
The breeze still carries a bit of a chill, but the sun beats down with a lovely heat. Mahin picks a spot in the clearing next to a boulder. The smooth stone feels warm against her back as she sits down in the grass with the kid sitting in front of her. She gives him one of the bowls, hands hovering until she's sure he can hold it by himself, and then they both quietly sip at their soup.
He's oddly self-sufficient for such a little thing. Able to feed himself. Potty trained already. Walks good but slowly with such short legs. Devious in his ability to get in and out of just about anything. Can't speak but seems to understand language well enough to follow directions. The child makes an odd juxtaposition of youth and age. She wishes she knew more about Master Yoda, to know if this is normal for his species or not.
A part of her wonders if she shouldn't tell Mando what she knows, that she knows of one of the child's species. He searches for them, after all. But Master Yoda was the only one she had ever heard of and he's dead.
She thought Yoda was the only one of his kind left in the entire galaxy. The child's existence disproves that. Was Yoda his father? If so, then where is the mother—if their species propagates in the usual fashion?
So many questions. So many unknowns.
What she does know is that this child has been cooped up for far too long. Hidden as soon as he was born, captured by the Empire, sequestered away for safety, and then cooped up in a ship when Mando found him. She knows Mando has only done his very best, but his ship sails all across the stars.
This isn't just Mahin's chance to see more of the galaxy. It's the child's as well. And she can't wait to find out what they'll discover together.
So when they finish lunch, she takes his tiny hand, and they explore the area. They find a dusting of wildflowers in the little clearing, tucked behind the Razor Crest. The child coos when he sees them, hands brushing over the vibrant petals delicately so he doesn't hurt them, showing a gentleness most young children don't exhibit so purposefully. A ladybug—this planet's equivalent of them, anyway, though this bug is bright purple instead of red—crawls from a flower onto the child's finger. He goes completely still, giggling as the bug's tiny feet tickle his green skin.
Birds flap between branches in the surrounding trees, painted in colors Mahin has never seen adorning feathers before. Their chirping music drifts around them in a beautiful orchestra. Mahin finds herself humming along with a half-remembered tune plucking at the strings of her memory.
Frogs hop in the grass, the child's large eyes going wider still when he sees them, filling Mahin's chest with warmth. Then dread when he promptly runs after them, catching one swifter than she thought possible and then stuffing the entire kriffing, live frog in his mouth. She tries to catch the poor amphibian by the foot but the kid swallows the creature whole before she can get a firm hold.
He burps like it's the most delicious delicacy and she sticks her tongue out in disgust. "Alright," she says with a shake of her head, picking the kid up before he can find more frogs. "You like frogs. Raw, live ones. And you have a very wide throat, apparently. And hopefully a digestive system that can break down bones, or else Mando is going to be very, very mad at me that I got his kid sick and potentially killed."
She keeps a sharp eye on him as they continue exploring but the kid seems fine. Just a species with eating habits a lot different than humans. Still, she decides that perhaps she should take him away from temptation completely and coaxes him back inside the Razor Crest as the sun begins to set, closing up the ramp and locking the ship behind them with ground protocols activated.
"How about a game, ad'ika?" she asks, hoping to wear him out so he falls asleep easy tonight. The child looks up at her with a curious tilt of his head. "How about hide and seek, huh? You hide and I try to find you?"
Using simple terms and gestures, she explains the game to the kid, pretty sure he understands when he runs off into the belly of the ship with an excited squeal he then struggles to muffle with his hands over his mouth.
She smirks, turning her back on him so she faces the ladder, both so she doesn't look as he hides and to not give him a chance to sneak up to the cockpit. That's the last thing she needs, him sneaking up there and tapping away at all those tempting buttons. After counting to twenty in a loud and dramatic fashion, she turns back around, eyes roving over the cargo hold with a finger tapping at her chin.
"Now, where could my little green bean be?" she sing-songs, taking slow steps along the metal floor hard enough for the child to hear. Muffled giggles tinkle from the back of the ship near the stacks of crates, but Mahin takes her time searching. She looks in her bedroom. In a few of the wall compartments big enough for the child to fit in. Just casually making her way through a few hiding places. Possibly giving the child some ideas. Then she swiftly turns the corner around the crates to find him sitting behind them. "Got you!"
He lets out a screech of delight that bounces off the metal walls at an almost painful decibel but it sets Mahin off giggling as well. She scoops him up in her arms, spinning them around with laughter ringing around them, and then sets him back on his feet to begin the game again.
They play for hours, the child hiding with Mahin trying to find him. He tries to get her to hide a few times, too, with him searching for her but there's honestly not many hiding places that she can fit in despite her small stature. Sure, she could slip through the access panels to hide among the ship's inner machinery but she doesn't want to make it too difficult for the kid to find her.
He enjoys their game so, so much. When's the last time he got to play like this?
She's not sure how late it is when the communicator in her pocket crackles with static, Mando's voice coming through the connection, "Come in, Mahin."
Mahin fishes the comm out while picking up the child to cradle in her other arm. "Hey, Mando. It's been twelve hours already?"
"Yep," he says simply. Awkward silence falls over the connection but she can hear the slight crackle that means he hasn't left yet. "The, uh, the kid giving you any trouble?"
"Oh, no," she says with a grin, looking down at the child in her arms. His eyelids start to droop now that he sits still, mouth opening in an adorable little yawn. "He's been no trouble at all. He drew some wonderful pictures while I did a bit of work and then we explored around the clearing after lunch. Which reminds me," she adds a little annoyance to her voice for Mando to hear, "you could have mentioned that the little one has an affinity for eating live frogs."
He lets out what sounds like a chocked-off laugh. Yep, little kriff knew his kid eats frogs and failed to tell her. "Yeah, he, uh, has an interesting appetite. Sorry I didn't say anything."
"Anything else you forgot to tell me?"
More silence.
She meant the words playfully, but this silence isn't awkward. It's fearful. And she knows what he must think of. She sighs deeply, rocking back and forth on her feet as the child yawns again with drooping eyes. "Look, Mando, it's okay. I already know."
"Know what?" he asks carefully, voice carrying a tight, strained edge.
"I know what the kid can do," she admits gently, knowing she walks a slippery slope here. "I know about his…powers. How he can move things?"
The comm crackles loudly with the force of Mando's sigh. "Yeah, I…yeah. He can do that."
"It's okay that you didn't tell me." One-handed, she climbs up to the cockpit and gets comfortable in a copilot seat before continuing, child nuzzling sleepily against her chest to hide from the lights. Mahin cranes her neck to look around and finds the switch to turn off the overhead lights, leaving them only in the flickering light from the console buttons and whatever starlight filters in through the window. Not quite full dark but enough for the kid to fully settle into sleep. "His powers have to do with why the Empire wants him, right?"
"Yes. I…was going to wait to tell you. Until you were more settled."
Until he was sure he could trust her, she hears the underlying words. It hurts, a little, but she quickly shakes that away. Really, how can she be surprised? They barely know each other. Sure, she has her own problems with the Empire, but that's no guarantee she won't turn the kid in. He probably thought that the less she knew about why the Empire wants the kid, the better, at least until he's more certain about Mahin's place with him and the kid.
"Don't worry, Mando," she says softly, staring down at the little one as his breaths start to even out with sleep. She slides her butt closer to the edge of the seat so she can recline more with the child using her chest as a bed. She should put him to actual bed, she knows, but can't bear the thought of setting him down yet. "I get it. You want to protect him. But I want you to know that I'll do all that I can to protect him, too."
"So you're…you're okay with it?"
He sounds so unsure, she's tempted to say fearful, bringing a small smile to her face. "Don't worry, Mando. It'll take a lot more than a magical baby to scare me off. You're stuck with me."
"Good."
She blinks in surprise at how much open honesty she hears in that one word. It sends her stomach fluttering like a swarm of ladybugs found their way inside, tickling her to nervous warmth.
No matter how horrible the circumstances that brought her here, she can't help but feel that she's exactly where she's supposed to be. And maybe, just maybe, she's not the only one feeling it.
Din pushes the handcuffed bounty forward by prodding the small of his back with the end of a blaster. They've been walking through this forest for over an hour but finally the trees start to thin and Din can just make out the Razor Crest. He lets out a sigh of relief too subtle for the modulator of his helmet to pick up. This bounty wasn't particularly difficult to catch, it's been less than a day and resistance was minimal, but he's anxious to see how Mahin and the kid did. This is the longest he's left them alone so far.
Though everything seemed fine when he checked in a few hours earlier.
It takes only a few moments to lower the ship's ramp and shove the bounty in carbonite. It's late, both for this planet and in their own day cycle that started in space. Mahin and the kid must be asleep, and he knows from experience how difficult it can be to get the kid to sleep.
He could use some sleep himself, honestly. This planet looks safe enough. Take-off can wait until morning.
With the ramp securely closed, he goes to the locker to divest himself of his weapons, feeling lighter with every little weight he takes off. He then opens his sleeping compartment to check on the kid.
Only to find the hammock empty.
Okay, he tells himself calmly. No need to panic. The kid doesn't like to sleep alone. Not unusual. Din moves over to Mahin's room, fist raised to knock but then pausing. He doesn't want to wake them if they're asleep.
But he needs to see the kid. To know for sure with his own eyes that the kid is still here and alright and that no one snuck in to steal him while Din was away.
He presses the button to open the "bedroom" door, just to see, only to find the door surprisingly unlocked as it automatically whooshes open.
To an empty room. No kid. And no Mahin.
Din turns on his heel to propel himself up the ladder, heart climbing up his throat with every step. He pulls himself through the hatch and stumbles into the cockpit, catching himself on the doorframe before he faceplants on the floor.
All the air leaves him at once when he finds Mahin lounging in one of the chairs, kid curled up on her chest and both of them fast asleep.
Maker help him, he thinks as he wills his hands not to shake. He's aged ten years since rescuing the kid from Imps and now the girl is only going to add to it.
He takes in another deep breath and straightens, just…watching the two of them for a few moments. Safe and sleepy and little smiles pulling at their mouths. He'll do anything to hold onto this. He drifted for so long, only ever having the covert. Then the alor gave him the honor and duty of providing for his people, leaving the safety of their hiding place—their community—to gather money and supplies to sustain all their lives.
And he had to go alone. For more than one of them to leave the safety of the covert at the same time would put the entire covert in jeopardy. So he had to go out alone in long stretches of time, returning for brief periods only to leave again.
This is the Way. It gave his life purpose and meaning after losing his parents. The Creed keeps him going day to day, allowing him to ignore the yawning void in his sunken chest.
But it's a lonely Way.
Who provides for the covert now, he wonders? After his initial flight from Navarro, many of the covert perished. Dying the warrior's death to protect the foundling. Whoever survived scattered among the stars but Din has no doubt they will rally around their alor again in some safe place.
A safe place he knows nothing about. He has no idea where the covert relocated. Even if he did, he can't return to them, not until he finds the child's home, completes the mission the alor gave him.
He's more alone now than ever. But he has the child. And now Mahin. Both of them just as alone as him in this galaxy that only ever tries to tear them down, over and over and over again.
He'll do all that he can to give them whatever peace and happiness they can scrape up. He may be more prone to heart attacks nowadays but he can't find it in him to regret it.
Mahin stirs, feeling him staring or maybe her back starts to hurt. He knows from experience the chairs in here aren't the most comfortable to sleep in. Her eyes slowly blink open, hand drifting to the blaster still strapped to her thigh.
He smirks. His presence didn't go unnoticed and she's being appropriately cautious.
"It's just me," he says quietly to put her at ease. Her shoulders immediately relax and her hands move to cradle the child's back as she sits up in the seat.
"Hey," she croaks, voice hoarse with sleep. She blinks a few times, eyes finding him in the dim light. "Welcome back."
Din's breath hitches in his chest, struggling to show no outward sign.
Maker, he forgot what it's like to actually have someone to come home to.
She rubs at her eyes in a way that Din tries not to find adorable. "Did the hunt go okay?"
"Yeah, it was fine." As much as bounty hunting can be "fine" anyway. No injuries and he brought the quarry back alive. That's about as good as it gets.
Slowly, so slowly, he wraps his hands around the child and gently lifts him from Mahin's arms. She lets him without a word, just a content smile he's not sure how to interpret. Din holds his breath for a moment as he rests the kid against his metal-covered chest, arms stilling around him as he waits to see if the kid wakes up.
Blessedly, the child stays asleep, both he and Mahin breathing sighs of relief.
"I'll put him to bed," he whispers, almost too low for the modulator to pick up. "You should get some sleep as well. Real sleep, in a bed."
"Sounds like a wonderful plan," she agrees around a yawn, stretching her arms above her head while straightening out her spine with a pop. "We played an invigorating game of hide and seek in order to tire him out but I guess I tired myself out as well."
He grins under the helmet. "I've noticed kids are good at doing that."
She yawns again with a nod, already half asleep as she follows him down into the hold. He turns to his sleeping compartment to slip the child in the hammock while Mahin slides past him to her own room.
"Goodnight, Mando," she calls softly. He looks up just in time to see the little smile she gives him as her door slides closed between them. A crook of her lips and a lightness to her bright green eyes that seem to burn brighter with the backdrop of her red hair.
"Goodnight," he mumbles, much too late for her to hear, wondering how a girl so small and unassuming could get under his skin so fast. But she's there to stay. He can feel it, like a piece of his beskar clicking into place. Inevitable and belonging and right.
There's something special about this girl. He hopes he can figure out what. Either way, he has a feeling he'll enjoy the ride in the meantime.
Author's Note
Okay, so I struggled a bit with this chapter. Apparently, I prefer to write angst over fluff. XD But I really wanted some pure fluff between Mahin and Grogu. And my own experience with children keeps poking through with all these questions on child development and I can't really help it because, seriously, I would be so worried about this little guy and how he's doing.
And we get a little Mahin/Din fluff! Expect some more in the next chapter, and then I'm probably going back to some exciting angst. Because I can't help myself.
Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!
Translations
Ad'ika (little one)
Alor (leader)
