10.

Zo dug through the cabinets in the kitchen until she came across a slightly stale can of instant caf. She found a dented kettle under the sink and filled it with water once the tap ran clear of rust colored sludge. After a few moments of fiddling she was able to get the stove to light. The kettle was just beginning to whistle when Mando returned from the Crest with their things. "How do you take your caf?" She asked after he placed her pack and bedroll in the room with the sleeping baby.

"Black."

"Good. Because that's how you were going to get it regardless." She handed him a steaming mug. "Why don't you eat your dinner and come get me when you're done?"

"You're stalling." He replied flatly.

She smiled, "Just a bit. But you really should eat."

Mando sighed looking down at the boxes of food Karga had brought for him. His stomach growled loudly on cue. He wasn't hungry, he was starving. He could not remember the last time he had a meal that didn't come from a foil wrapper. He was always focused on the kid, making sure he was fed and only stuffing ration bars into his own face when he had a moment of privacy. "Sit there. Face the wall… I'm trusting you, Zo Mara. No tricks."

She nodded and did as he instructed, turning one of the rickety chairs at the small wobbly dining table to face the wall. His armor creaked and she heard the swish of his cape as he sat at the table behind her. He took his helmet off and set it next to his dinner plate with a hollow thud. "Tell me what happened in the tunnels." His voice was rich and deep like Yavinian whiskey without the helmet's vocoder. He had the faintest hint of an accent she couldn't place and that only served to intrigue her further.

Zo rolled her shoulders and considered where to start. Might as well start at the beginning, she thought. "The Force is an energy, created and sustained by all life in the galaxy. It flows through all living things, connecting us together…The Force is balance: life/death, love/ hate, light/ dark. Some are born with the ability to sense and harness that energy. It's what gives the kid and me our…our gifts. The Jedi use the Force to serve the light side, to become one with it, to protect life and love unconditionally, a Jedi was to live selflessly."

"The balance of light is dark. Those that serve the dark side they were… are the Sith. They are the opposite of the Jedi, they only serve themselves, they strive for power and dominion over others, they manipulate the Force, turning it into a weapon…do you understand?"

Mando took a sip of his caf and grimaced at the bitter taste. He hoped Karga would include fresh coffee with his promised supplies. "Yeah. Jedi are good, Sith are bad."

"There's a bit more to it than that, a thousand generations of knowledge and tradition but… for the sake of brevity–" She wiped her sweaty palms on her thighs. "I explained to you that I sense emotion, sometimes hear thoughts. Emotions can leave imprints in the Force. I think of them as echoes." She nervously cleared her throat, remembering the fear she felt, how real it had all seemed. "It's been a very long time since I opened myself up like that, I was unprepared by what I saw, what I felt."

He was silent behind her for several long seconds. Only the faint sound of him finishing his meal, the scrape of utensils, another quiet sip of caf. "What did you see?" He finally asked. His smokey voice warm enough to ward off the cold seeping through her thin jacket once more.

"Two powerful Sith agents were sent here by Moff Gideon to destroy your people, to give you nowhere to hide the child. They're known as Inquisitors. They are Fallen Jedi, those that turned to the Dark side and became Jedi hunters… I had hoped after the fall they would have retreated back into the darkness…"

"And these Inquisitors, where are they now?"

Zo shook her head, "I don't know. But I sense that they are still a threat. If I can sense them they– they may be able to sense me as well… I've never faced a fully trained Sith."

He pushed himself away from the table, the scrape of wood against wood covered the sound of him putting his helmet back into place. He stood in front of her a moment later, his hands loose at his sides. "Is he in danger now?"

"He will be in danger until we find a Jedi Master, " She looked up, meeting her gaze in his dark visor, "If there are any left..."

Mando sighed as he took her lightsaber off his belt and rolled it between his hands. The intricate etchings she had spent hours engraving into the hilt caught the faint light from the one flickering lamp over head. "You think you can help him? Teach him some of the...powers you have so he can protect himself."

"I have been disconnected for so long, I've misused the Force but I am trying to heal my connection. It will take time to make amends for the darkness I lost myself in. Maybe together, Cricket and I can help each other."

He held her lightsaber out and she reached for it. "When does he get his own laser sword?"

Zo smiled, brushing the worn leather of his glove with her fingertips as she took her weapon."You aren't given a lightsaber. You earn it." She said turning towards the room she was sharing with the baby. "Maybe we can train him with one of your blasters? Or a flamethrower?"

He laughed, short quick puffs of air from his vocoder. "Even Mandalorians don't give flamethrowers to babies." She wished she could have heard his laugh without the interference from his helmet.

"There's always thermal detonators." The door squeaked softly as she began to swing it shut. "Goodnight, Mando."

"Goodnight, Zo Mara." The last thing he saw before she shut the door were the corners of her lips turning up into a small smile. Din waited until he was in the privacy of the other room to remove his helmet. He rubbed his temples with a tired sigh and didn't bother removing all his armor before laying down on the soft bed. The kid was his priority. His honor as a Mandalorian demanded that he protect his foundling from all threats; he supposed that included dark sorcerers. The galaxy had been much easier to navigate before being bombarded with the knowledge of millennia long struggle between two opposing factions of wizards. He fell asleep worrying about the child and dreamt of blaster fire, war-droids and a frightened young boy.

Din woke shortly before dawn. The rest of the little house was still dark and quiet. He passed by the other bedroom and found the door open. He faintly remembered the sounds of the 'fresher being used sometime late last night. He glanced into the dark room to check on the kid out of habit and was surprised to see Zo kneeling in the middle of the floor. She glowed in bright oranges and reds in his thermal scanner, her face serene in the darkness as if she slept the whole night there on her knees. Her eyes opened slowly as she tilted her head inquiring, "Mando? Is everything alright?"

"Yes...I'm sorry, were you sleeping?"

She shook her head as she stood up. "No, I couldn't sleep. Just meditating before Cricket wakes up." She stepped out of the room quietly closing the door after her to stand next to him.

"I'm going to get started on the repairs. I should be at the Crest most of the day. You remember how to get there if you need anything?"

She nodded, "We can come with you. More hands, more help."

"No. Just stay here, watch the kid–"

"And stay out of your way." She said, tapping her fingers across his Beskar chestplate as she walked towards the stove and set about making another pot of caf. "I'd offer to make you some breakfast before you head out but there's only a bit of insta- caf left until Greef delivers some provisions…"

"I've got rations on the Crest." Mando answered. He should leave, head to his ship to fully assess the needed repairs and get started. Yet he lingered watching as she moved about the little kitchen muttering to the stove as she tried to get it to light. He shifted his weight making his beskar creak. Quiet moments like this made him uneasy, which would have been funny to the Din Djarin that existed before he met the child. He would go days, weeks sometimes without saying more than a word or two. Now he was in the habit of filling the silence with words in hopes the kid would start responding. "What are you two going to do today?"

Zo straightened up, brushing her hands on her tunic and peered at him with those unsettling eyes that made him feel like she saw straight through the layers of armor. "I don't know yet… guess it depends on him. He seems a bit stubborn. Must be the Mandalorian rubbing off on him."

"It would be helpful if he knew his colors. Red, blue, that sort of thing…"

"Colors? Sure. We can work on that." The baby woke with a shrill cry and Zo turned back towards the bedroom. "You didn't happen to bring any of those ration bars with you?"

"I put a dozen in your backpack. Don't let him eat them all at once." He called to her as she disappeared into the bedroom. Cricket's cries turned to happy coos as Zo picked him up. "Hey, I forgot to ask if he was potty trained." Mando took the opportunity to exit before she discovered the answer.

The kettle whistled again and Zo balanced the now clean and dry green monster on her hip as she stirred up a cup of caf. "Well, Cricket, what would you like to do today?" She asked setting him on the floor with a nutrition bar. Cricket babbled a response as he gummed on his breakfast. "Mando wants me to teach you colors. Do you know your colors?" He cooed a laugh and Zo got a clear image of Mando speaking 'Put the red wire where the blue wire goes, and the blue wire where the red wire goes–'

"Kriffing bounty hunter wants you to know your colors so you can help him with ship repairs." Zo muttered sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the kid and sipping her bitter caf. "How about we practice pushing and pulling? Those two skills will be more valuable than just about anything else." Cricket sneezed in response.

There was no major damage to the Crest aside from the makeshift nest the Arachnoid had burrowed into the hull. Din took one look at the frayed wires and globs of semi-hardened webbing and decided that would be the last repair. Most of the damage was superficial, dents and fractures in the hull he could welder shut. There was infuriatingly sticky webbing stuck to the landing gears that took him most of the morning to cut through with a blowtorch. He was able to negotiate adding the supplies and parts he required to his ever growing tab with the garage owner Terfan. All in all he figured the rest of the repairs might take a few weeks.

It was around midday when Zo and the kid stopped by for a visit. Mando was under the ship on his back welding a piece of endurasteel plating into place. He saw Zo's dusty boots and the kid waddling after her, his ears twitching, mouth full of some sort of sweet treat as he cooed a 'hello'. "She change her mind already about trying to teach you?" Mando asked, setting aside the blowtorch as he rolled out from under the ship.

"Never. He might technically be older than me but I'm far more stubborn." She smiled down at the green baby. "He missed you and Greef brought us supplies; so we made you lunch." She said holding out a metal bento box. Mando took the offered meal with a mumbled thanks. "How's your ship?"

"She's been through worse." He answered. "Hull's not that bad but there's a mess up top that'll take a few days to clear out."

"Is there anything I can help you with? The damage is my fault." Zo replied, stepping closer to him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Mando set his meal down out of reach from the big eared bottomless pit and reached into his pocket fishing out the kid's metal ball. Cricket reached his little clawed hands up in excitement making happy noises as Mando handed him his toy. "You are helping. Taking care of him, watching him so he doesn't get in trouble or eat something he shouldn't…" He looked down at the kid, "I wasn't planning on having a foundling… This lifestyle isn't the best to try and raise a kid."

She raised her hand and let it hover above his vambrace, "You've done a good job, Mando. His time with you– it's a bright spot in his mind, filled with light and happiness." Her hand lowered back to her side without touching him. "We'll get out of your way, let you eat in privacy…" She bent over to pick up the baby but remembered the drills they had worked on before visiting. "Oh! Look what he can do. His control was pretty impressive, I used to overshoot my pulls and wind up with a knot on my forehead."

Zo took the gear knob from the baby and his bottom lip began to quiver. "None of that Cricket…" She chided. "You want your toy?" The ball hovered above Zo's palm. Cricket waddled forward, hands outstretched and she stepped back. "Show Mando you can take the ball. He did it earlier with a protein bar…" She tried to entice the kid to pull the toy towards him using the Force for a quarter of an hour. All the while Mando stood silently by watching as she tried to hide her growing embarrassment at the baby's refusal to cooperate. "I swear he did it like a dozen times… We're out of ration bars by the way–" She finally sighed in defeat floating the ball to his waiting hands. Cricket made excited chirping noises realizing he had won their little game.

"He'll show you his powers when he wants to." Mando told her as she picked the baby up and cradled him on her hip. "If he wants to, " he added as an afterthought.

Zo ran her fingers along the curve of his big ears. "That's what I'm worried about. If the time comes when he needs the Force but doesn't know how to control it… If he gives too much of his own energy–" She shook her head as if to dispel the rest of that thought. "We'll keep practicing. Eat your lunch while it's hot." Cricket waved one little hand at him as they left the ship. He felt something warm and frightening in his chest as he waved back, once again realizing how far the little womp rat had burrowed his way into his heart.

When he returned later that night the little house was warm and smelled of simmering spices and vegetables. He found Zo and Cricket outside in the small walled courtyard in the back of the house. She was upside down, balancing herself on one hand, explaining the uses of regenerative meditation while the baby crawled after a lizard trying it's damnedest to escape his clawed fingers. "Even a few moments of respite during a battle can be used to refocus your will, call the Force to you, directing it to your fatigued muscles, feel it restore your strength and concentration– don't eat that!" She nearly fell on her face in her rush to scramble forward, barely grabbing the tail of the terrified lizard before it disappeared into the kid's waiting mouth. "You can not possibly be hungry. You ate all your dinner and most of mine."

"Good catch." Mando drawled from the doorway.

She cradled the trembling lizard in her hands and carried it to the top of the brick wall where it ran away to freedom. The kid chittered grumpily and sat in the dirt with a huff. Zo pushed the messy knot of hair that had fallen forward during her fall back into place. "Jedi reflexes come in handy once in a while." She scooped the baby up and handed him to the Mandalorian. "I'm going to get his bath ready and we'll go to bed so you can eat."

Mando followed her back into the house noticing the little changes that had already taken place since he left that morning. Karga had obviously been by; the cupboards were packed with supplies, fresh linen and blankets were neatly folded at the foot of his bed, and toys were scattered everywhere. "Greef must have bought everything at the market." He commented.

"Feels like it. I think he's trying to entice you to stay here with the kid permanently." Zo responded from the 'fresher as she filled the tub with warm water. "Come on womp rat, bath time." She plucked the baby out of Mando's arms, pulled his robe over his big ears and plunked him in the warm bubble bath before he could complain. He splashed happily in the water, sprinkling Zo and blowing raspberries in the bubbles.

Din stood in the doorway watching his foundling and his impromptu nanny. Zo gently washed Cricket's wispy white hair and the wrinkles on his back. He wondered if the kid's species somehow aged backwards, were they born a wrinkled old thing and got progressively younger? "You're good with him. You sure you've never been around kids?" He asked, leaning his bulk against the frame.

She used the back of one soapy hand to push her hair out of her face again. "I was a child myself when Palpatine turned on the Jedi, barely into my first year as a Padawan..." She looked up at his visor, "Can I tell you something? Promise you won't laugh."

"I don't deal in promises." He said.

Zo nodded as if that was as good as it was going to get with the Mandalorian. "I never wanted to be a Knight. I wanted to be a librarian in the Great Temple on Coruscant. I wanted to teach the younglings how to read."

"A librarian?" He had a hard time picturing the woman who had nearly killed him, sliced through Maker knew how many giant spiders and a half dozen would-be Beskar thieves as a demure librarian shushing rowdy children.

Zo lifted the baby out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel. "It was a selfish, childish dream to have especially after all the Temples were burned and the younglings murdered."

"Not all the younglings." He replied holding his gloved hand out towards the child. The kid wrapped his claws around his much larger index finger and cooed.

She smiled down at the baby and kissed the top of his head. "No. Not all the younglings."

"Goodnight, Zo."

"Goodnight, Mando."