CH 23

The Elder woman mentioned the sacred oasis as the discussions ended, welcoming their Mandalorian guest and his entourage to enjoy the refreshing waters. Din immediately thought about how much Zo would enjoy relaxing in the calm after the week they had. But of course, he couldn't be the one to take her there. She liked the Marshal or liked him enough to share drinks and ride with him. So Din gave the information to Cobb and decided to let his frustration simmer beneath the layers of beskar.

He listened from the privacy and darkness of his tent as Zo and Cobb spoke over their meal. Her voice was quiet and calm. Without the audio filters of his helmet, he heard the shadow of sadness that clung to her. He imagined her staring off into the distance as she sometimes did, frowning at something only she could see or sense. Din finished his meal quickly, not wanting to hear her musical laugh or imagine what her eyes looked like without the brash colors of his visor, and slammed his helmet back in place. He tried to force himself to sleep, to ignore the world outside his solitude.

He didn't dare move or alter his breathing when she silently entered the tent. Stars, his heart beat so hard he thought it would burst through his armor. He was sure she would hear it, sense the thoughts streaming through his mind. Had the Marshal not mentioned the oasis? He was an idiot if that were the case. Or was she just here to put the kid to bed? Probably. Fuck. She would go with Cobb, spend the night in the water, under the stars doing gods knew what.

Din watched her hold the sleeping baby close as she carefully toed her boots off. A quick wave of her hand sent errant sand particles skipping back outside. He lay still as she made a nest of blankets and laid their Foundling down, making sure Grogu was comfortable and safe before breathing out a bone-weary sigh. She sat on the other mat and rested her head in her hands for several long minutes. He wanted to know what she was thinking and feeling, but he remained silent. He watched as she tossed and turned in the dark, unable to settle. His night vision lit her skin in glowing greens before she burrowed under the mountain of blankets. He watched as she stared at the tent above her, then at his shadowed form. Then she scooted closer to the baby, wrapped her arm around him, let her fingers drape off, and brush the warm Beskar covering Din's chest. The barely-there touch she gave in to only because she thought he was asleep. Then she turned away from him with a frustrated little sigh, only to repeat the process after another minute or two.

It was the sighs that finally got him to speak.

When he gave in, wanting to hear her voice, she wanted to know where they stood. Unable to read his emotions or sense his intentions for her. And instead of speaking the truth or something close to it, all that stupid shit slipped past his lips. The last bit of his ingrained defenses, keeping him protected before they fell entirely, and she marched into his mind, body, and soul like a conquering army.

Din briefly debated chasing after her, dragging her back to the tent, and tying her down as he threatened. He would make sure neither one of them got any rest.

The future gnawed at him. What would happen If they found the Jedi? When he inevitably had to give Grogu up, he already knew a part of him would never recover. But to give in to her and then give her up, lose both of them, go back to what he was before… Maybe living in the present as her Jedi teaching dictated was the less painful path.

Did he even want her? Kriff, of course, he wanted her. He wanted her right now. He wanted to cover her eyes so she couldn't see him, cover her mouth with his own, swallow down any sounds she made so the baby wouldn't wake up and fuck her until they couldn't remember their own names.

The weight of his helmet became too much. His armor pressed him down, down, down into the sand with each breath.

He could have had her tonight. Tomorrow be damned.

His hands curled into fists at his sides. If he could believe that, even for a heartbeat, he never would have stalked through downtown Mos Espa searching for her. Asked for her forgiveness, held his gods-damned breath until she was on the back of his speeder, just to keep her close…to know where she was, to know she was safe. She was a stubborn pebble in his shoe that he'd grown accustomed to and could no longer walk without its presence. "God damn it." He cursed at himself. She was more than that. Every time he watched her hold Grogu or touch him, he felt the universe collapsing in on him. He had seen what could be. Younglings. Someone to share his life with. A future. His Creed dictated that what he did, he did for the future. For the future of his adopted people, his culture, his clan.

If she had just gone with Cobb, it would have been so much easier. Vanth seemed reasonable enough, tolerable even, despite dishonoring the armor he wore. Unintentional as that dishonor might be. Zo hadn't voiced any concerns like she immediately had with Malk. Quite the opposite, she said he was a good man and refused to do anything that could harm him or his people. Cobb could be trusted not to hurt Zo the way he had done so many times already. He wasn't bound to the armor, to a Creed forcing anonymity and solitude. And if she stayed with the Marshal? Well, at least he would know where she was. It was a damn sight better than letting her drift away into the universe.

But she didn't go with Cobb. She came back.

To him.

Din blew out a deep breath and turned up the audio receptors in his helmet. He made a few adjustments on his vambrace, cleaning out the sound of the peacefully sleeping baby, and focused on the tent next to him. Would he be able to hear them? Did he want to hear them? Did he want to know what she sounded like when someone made her feel wanted? Even if the sound burned like a wildfire raging through the tech in his helmet?

Fuck. Yes. Yes, he did.

A massif roamed outside. It sniffed the air, the sand, the tent. The creature found nothing amiss and padded on guarding the camp like it was trained to do since the day it whelped. He heard quiet barks and cries in Tusken. A log popped in the firepit. The banthas snorted and stomped their hooves. Someone else snored. But nothing from the gods' damned tent next to him. Could they really be that quiet? Had they left to spend the night in the sacred waters? Did she sense him trying to spy on them?

Probably. Fucking Jedi. He was angry, and it was harder to seal off his thoughts when he was angry. He ground his teeth and readjusted his sensors, suddenly disgusted with himself. He turned on his back and willed the suns to rise so he could get tomorrow over with. He could face both of them. He had faced worse. Much worse and came away mostly unscathed. Gods help him and Cobb Vanth if the man gloated, one sly comment or knowing side-long glance and Din might end him.

The thick fabric of the tent dimmed the sunrise. Din lay on his mat for several long minutes as the settlement slowly came to life. Grogu stirred and slowly woke. His wispy white hair was a tangled web from sleep. His big brown eyes were groggy as he took in his surroundings. He touched one little hand to the spot where Zo should have been and cooed glumly. "It's alright, kid. She didn't go far." Din murmured, brushing Grogu's hair outI his eyes. Din steeled himself, running through his breathing exercises, locking away the burning resentment until it was only a simmer in his gut. He cradled the kid in one arm as they stepped out of their tent to face whatever the day gave them.

The same group of kids from the evening prior skipped toward them and asked Mando if Grogu could play with them before the morning meal was served. He permitted them to play as long as they stayed in the camp center and set the kid down to join his new friends. Behind him, the flap to the Marshal's tent opened, and Mando straightened up, willing himself not to look too quickly.

Cobb rubbed the last traces of sleep out of his eyes, stretched his arms above his head, and groaned as his stiff back popped. "I think that's the best damn night of sleep I've had in a long time." He said, bending down to touch his toes with another groan. Din's hand twitched towards his blaster as Cobb stood up and pulled a black melon out of his back pocket. Mando finally looked at him as Cobb punctured the top of the melon and drank down the black smoke. "This stuff's growing on me." He smacked his lips and tossed the empty gourd into the sand. Mando remained silent, waiting for the tent flap to open again. Cobb realized the intense stare of Mando's visor and checked over his shoulder. Seeing nothing out of order, he turned back, eyebrows raised. "Whatcha lookin' for partner?"

His hands twitched again, then curled into fists at his side. "We need to convene with the Raiders." He let out a deep breath before continuing, "If you could wake Zo so we can get on our way to the dragon's nest."

"Zo?" Cobb let out a bewildered laugh. "What, you think she's—" He jabbed a thumb at his tent and laughed again. "She ain't with me. Trust me; I wouldn't be up so early if she were—" He sobered up when Mando's helmet shifted toward him. "You two have a spat?"

Din turned away from him with an irritated growl, already scanning the rest of the camp. The thick heat and light repelling fabric of the Tusken's tents were impenetrable to his scanners. Where would she have gone? To the oasis? Armed with nothing but her laser sword. Was she still wearing his blasters? Fuck. He couldn't remember. Thoughts swirled through his head as he hurried between tents. He stopped two males and asked if they had seen her; neither had. The group of children and Grogu ran past, squealing with delight as they tore through the camp.

"You think she wandered off? Got lost?" Cobb hurried after him, hooking his hand around Mando's arm and yanking him to a stop. "Do you think—" he stepped closer, conspiratorially whispering, "Do you think one of these savages snatched her?"

Mando pushed him away with an annoyed snarl, "Tuskens may be savage, but they are not savages. Zo is under my protection, just as you are. They wouldn't harm her, wouldn't fucking touch her…if she wandered off or fucking left, she did it on her own."

"Bullshit."

"Bullshit?" Mando responded, stepping towards him. "You've known her for a day and a half. She's stubborn, argumentative, never fucking listens—"

"She's over there." Cobb jutted his chin behind Mando.

"What?" He turned to see a cluster of Tusken women surrounding Zo. The top of her fiery red her red head was just visible over the group of women who barked and pointed directions at her as they wrapped a long strip of fabric around her chest and back. When they finished, they parted, revealing the child sitting at Zo's feet. His big green ears twitched as he looked up at her. He raised his arms, and she lifted him, brushing sand from his robes, and slipped him between the layers of wrapped fabric, safely securing him to her chest. A Tusken woman handed her a long sand-colored robe, and she slipped it on, then waved her hand in thanks.

That feeling, the suffocating, burning heat that made his chest swell, overcame him as she bent her head and kissed the top of Grogu's. She murmured something to him, and he clapped as she flourished her hands and a piece of bantha jerky floated in front of him. She looked up, noticing the two men staring at them, and smiled. Din closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

Cobb's face broke into a wide, flirty smile as he clapped Mando on the shoulder and strode towards her. "Well, good mornin' Angel. Sleep well?"

"Like the honored dead," she responded. Mando stayed silent. Grogu cooed happily from the cloth harness across her chest as he gummed on his jerky. "Although I do miss my morning caf right now." She added, sipping from a black melon, her cool blue eyes fixed on Mando's visor.

Zo finished her melon and tossed the husk into the sand at their feet. "And you, Mando? How did you sleep?" She asked. Cobb, noticing the thick tension, excused himself to gather his morning rations and prepare for their trek to the krayt dragons' lair. Mando let out a long sigh without deigning to give her an answer. He did, however, ruffle Grogu's thin strands of gossamer hair as he strode past them. The child craned his head to look at her, and she winked before following in the Mandalorian's irritated footsteps.

Cobb rejoined them at the edge of the camp, where a group of Raiders was preparing several banthas for the trek. The older, more experienced Raiders had their choice of the herd, their mounts decorated with intricate saddles and reins adorned with the bones and feathers of creatures hunted in the dunes.

"Why the hell can't I ride my speeder? These damn fur balls aggravate my sinuses." Cobb grumbled as a Tusken wrangler handed him the reins to a smallish cow barely a head taller than him.

"The speeders are too loud, it might alert the krayt dragon and then it will kill all of us." Mando sighed as he was handed a set of reins and gave the wrangler the sign for 'thank you' before leading his big bull a few paces away. He checked the bit first, then moved to the saddle straps. It wasn't that he didn't trust the wranglers to apply the tack correctly, but it gave him something to do instead of getting irritated at Cobb.

Zo applied more of Peli's sun ointment to Grogu while she said to Cobb, "You could always put the helmet on. It should have a built-in air purifier."

"Well, ain't that the best damn idea I've heard all day, Angel." Cobb smiled at her. She returned the smile as she scooped out a dollop of the ointment onto her fingers and rubbed it into her face. Cobb pushed the helmet over his unruly mop of salt and pepper hair. He tested the filters by taking deep breaths next to the wooly bantha. He eventually clambered onto the back of his mount, seemingly satisfied that he would survive the trip without sneezing his brains out.

Once he was settled on the saddle Cobb reached his hand towards her, and there was a tight knot of guilt in her throat as she said, "I don't think there's room for me and the kid."

Cobb's head shifted just a fraction as her influence shifted his train of thought. He sat back in the saddle with a sigh, "Angel, I'd love to have you and the kid ride with me, but I don't think there's enough room on this old girl."

Zo nodded with understanding, "You should probably catch up with the others."

"I should probably catch up with the others." He repeated. He clicked his tongue and flicked the reins, and his beast slowly trundled forward, instinctively following the rest of her herd.

She sensed Mando starting at her and turned towards him with one ginger eyebrow cocked. "What? You don't want me and Grogu to ride with you?"

Din was quiet while she shifted on the sand beneath their feet, unsure now that she had sent Cobb away. "You have some– you have," he reached towards her, then pulled back. Her eyebrow rose higher, and she opened her mouth to speak as he pulled one glove off and reached for her again. He ran his thumb along her cheek, rubbing in a white smear of her sun ointment. She may have turned her face towards his hand and closed her eyes with a soft sigh at his touch. Or maybe it was his imagination. He put his glove back on, and she opened her eyes. "We should go before they get too far ahead." He turned towards their mount and held a hand out, meaning to help her up. Zo ignored his hand and jumped up, landing her and Grogu gently on the saddle.

Din sighed as she looked down at him, her pink lips curved up as she patted the saddle behind her. "Come on, Mando, we should go before they get too far ahead."

There it was again, those quiet and no-so quiet challenges she threw his way. Everything was too close, too tight, the sun too bright. The fabric of his flight suit was rough against his heated skin. The bantha stomped his hooves tensely as Mando fired up his rocket pack and leaped up. Zo patted the bull's head and murmured comforting words as Mando landed far less gently than she had. Grogu clapped as Zo shook the reins, and Mando adjusted himself, scooting closer to her. The bantha moved forward and fell in line with the rest of their scouting party. Din reached around and took the leather straps from her hands. "It's a bantha, not a starship. I think I can handle it." She grumbled as he pressed even closer to her, his hands resting on her thighs.

"Handle the kid, jetti'ika. I've got the reins."

"You ever gonna tell me what that means?" Zo questioned.

"Probably not." He replied, urging the bantha forward. The rest of the party had already descended the dune in front of them. Zo shook her head in irritation and squirmed around in the saddle in front of him, digging into her pocket for the kid's silver ball. Her hand grazed the inside of his thigh and his entire being focused on that millisecond touch. She gave the toy to Grogu, then looked up at the twin suns noting how bright and hot it had grown already. She pulled up the little hood sewn into his robes, tucking his ears inside the fabric. Din was sure he would explode if she kept moving, tilting and shifting in front of him as she fussed over the baby strapped to her chest. "Why the hell did you leave last night?" He squeezed her thigh, stilling her movements.

Zo snorted derisively and pulled her own hood up from the back of her Tusken robe. "You were being an asshole."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous this desert is? You can't just wander off when I piss you off."

"I didn't 'wander off.' It can't be that dangerous if you didn't bother to come after me." She adjusted in the saddle again. "Besides, I made some new friends."

"How? You don't speak Tusken."

"Nope. Not a syllable. But we got along pretty well anyway."

"You sure it wasn't any of your mind magic?"

Zo let out a long calming breath, "Contrary to your belief, Bounty Hunter, I don't have to trick others into liking me." She placed a hand on top of his. "Look at you, you're my best friend in the whole universe, and I haven't tricked you in days."

"What?" Mando demanded, yanking the banthas harness harder than he intended to. Had she tricked him? Had he been under her spell this whole time. No, it wasn't possible. He remembered the brain itch, the compulsion to follow her words wherever they may lead him. His rambling thoughts halted as he realized he had let his mental shields fall. Her shoulders shook, and her body trembled against him, sending vibrations through his armor. She was laughing at him. Annoyance reared up inside him. "I thought I was your only friend." He huffed.

"Only/ best– semantics." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Maybe I don't want to be your friend."

"No?" She glanced over her shoulder, her pale face hidden in the shadow of the oversized hood. "What do you want then?"

Din locked his spine straight and rolled his shoulders back. What did he want? He wanted her to touch him again. He wanted to touch her again. He put his hands back on her thighs, slowly, tentatively preparing himself for her to shake him off. "I want…" He drew in a deep breath, her scent dulled by the robes and the desert air. "I want to apologize for being an asshole."

Zo's shoulders relaxed a fraction. "Apology accepted, Mando."

"You are more than just…." The words he searched for evaporated on his tongue, and he was quiet for a moment before wrapping one arm around her waist. "You are much more, Zo Mara. I shouldn't have made you feel or continue to make you feel like you are not."

She turned again, looking over her shoulder and into his visor. "I'm sorry for pushing you…especially after what happened with Qin. I don't deserve a friend like you…and Cobb is just a….distraction." She sighed and turned away to stare at the train of banthas in front of them. Her shoulders hunched as she distracted herself with Grogu for a moment. "I would have gone with you to that oasis, spent the night with you."

The hand resting on her stomach tensed. "I know."

"So what do we do now? Keep ignoring this, whatever it is between us?"

"It's probably for the best...if we don't become more attached."

Zo leaned back, relaxing into him as she floated the little silver ball in front of Grogu, keeping the child entertained through the otherwise monotonous travel, and asked, "Tell me how you came to know so much about the Tuskens."

"They saved my life. Not this tribe but another. I was young, too sure of myself. Working one of my first jobs with the guild. I was badly injured. Probably only a few hours from death when the Tuskens found me. They took me in. Never tried to remove my helmet or dishonor me…they cared for me for weeks while I healed, and I learned from them all that I could." Someone else would have stretched the story out and filled the empty time with words. He still wasn't that comfortable with his voice. Afraid if he spoke too much, he would say something foolish again.

She placed her hand on his and rested her head against the edge of his helmet. "I'm sorry Cobb didn't turn out to be a Mandalorian. They are out there, I sense we are getting close. Circling the inevitable."

Din was content to keep her close. His hands never left their positions on her body. He may have occasionally let his fingers slide higher on her thigh, wishing he knew what her skin felt like there. When he let those thoughts slip through, her control on the floating ball would waver. Grogu would clap and laugh as the gear knob dipped or darted erratically until she regained her focus. Din nearly laughed when his fingers slid all the way up to the junction of her thigh, and the silver ball zoomed straight into a dune. It took her several moments to call it back.

The teasing ended when their bantha scaled the last high dune, and they found themselves looking down at a vast mountainous plain. The Tuskens were already climbing off their Banthas and barking at each other.

Cobb stood apart from the Tuskens waiting for Mando and Zo. "What's goin' on?" He asked Mando.

"They're drawing straws."

"For what?" Zo asked as one of the Tuskens grabbed the reins of his waiting bantha and started the slow descent into the rocky valley below them.

A Tusken male waved Mando to follow them, and the group settled into a spot for viewing. "The krayt dragon has made its lair out of an abandoned Sarlacc pit." Mando translated as the Tuskens spoke to him in their silent sign language. Below them, the lone raider and his bantha stopped a hundred feet outside the cave entrance.

"There ain't no such thing as an abandoned Sarlacc pit," Cobb muttered.

"There is if you eat the Sarlacc," Zo responded.

"The Tuskens have studied the digestion patterns of the krayt dragon for generations. They have learned that by regularly feeding it, they can delay its hunting cycles." Mando spoke again. The Tusken in the canyon below bellowed loudly into the cave. The echoes rang through the mountain and across the stony terrain.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Zo said quietly and folded her hands inside the long sleeves of her robe. Grogu whined, his ears drooping in alarm, apparently sensing the same disturbance she felt.

The Tusken raider bellowed again, and the mountain shook in response. The ground under them quaked, causing a rockslide. Boulders tumbled down the steep cliffs. The male turned and ran from the cave entrance. Zo lurched forward, and Mando grabbed her arm. "He's not gonna make it,' she said, looking up at him. Din shook his head once as the dragon surged from the shadows of its lair, ignoring the bantha and swallowing the retreating Tusken whole instead. The dragon then slithered back into the darkness of the mountain. Zo gagged and turned away as the Tuskens resumed their conversation with Mando.

"They are open to fresh input," Mando muttered to Cobb. The Marshal ran his fingers thoughtfully along his goatee and nodded. Zo sat heavily on a large flat rock and lifted Grogu out of the sling. She watched silently as the baby toddled after a lizard. "The dragon…is it like the spider?" He shuddered at the thought of facing another giant sentient man-eater.

"No," she shook her head with a weary sigh. "It's just an animal. It does none of this out of malice."

He kneeled in front of her, "The people of this wasteland will never be safe as long as it lives."

"I know," she answered sharply. "This is what we agreed to. The greater good."

They settled in for a meal before the trek back. The Tuskens and Mando quietly conversed while others built a model of the lands below them. Cobb surveyed their work, chewing on a long strip of jerky. Grogu crawled up to him and pulled on his pant leg. Cobb stopped mid-chew to eye the child. The baby reached his clawed hands towards the Marshals jerky with a ' gimme' motion. The jerky flew out of Cobb's hand and straight into Gorge's waiting mouth. Cobb let out a surprised snort, "Well, ain't that the damnedest thing."

Zo scooped the child up and admonished him, "That was rude young one, you had your ration."

"Ah, it's all right." Cobb ruffled his wispy hair. "He's a growin'... Something or other."

Zo smiled and tucked the baby back in the sling across her chest. She looked at the group of Tuskens and Mando kneeling beside the small model; she sensed a shift in their emotions. Resolution. "Come on, they've decided on a plan."

Zo, Grogu, and Cobb looked down at the pile of rocks and bones. The skeleton of a lizard was at the center, surrounded by a half dozen pebbles. "How do we kill this thing?" Cobb asked.

"We believe the best angle of attack is the dragon's belly. Its hide is too thick for any blasters or hand held weapons we have." He pointed to the rudimentary model. "We will lure the dragon from its nest with a bantha strapped with explosives and bury more explosives along the entrance. We'll only have one shot at this. So our timing must be perfect."

Cobb rubbed his mouth. "And the explosives? The people it's gonna take to pull this off?"

Mando stood, "I volunteered your town and your supplies. The Tuskens will bring their banthas and their able-bodied men and women tomorrow by dusk to Mos Pelgo."

"Mando," Zo asked, studying the pebbles and the lizard skeleton, "Is this to scale?"

"Uh…I don't know." He noted the size difference between the pieces at play on the battle plan. He turned to the raider next to him and barked a question. "It's to scale." Cobb cursed again under his breath, finally understanding the true enormity of the creature hiding in the mountain.

"Fuck." He sighed. "My people aren't gonna like this one bit."

"If u tell your people to trust the Tuskens, they will." Zo turned to the Marshal. "The only way through this ordeal is together. If your people do not join the fight, or they fight with Tuskens over long-held mistrust, then we will all die."