I am so happy about all the interest this story has received so far! Thank you all so much!
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"Hey."
A gloved hand on my shoulder jolted me awake.
Looking up at the Mandalorian from my cozy bundle, I had to squint from the bright reflection his helmet gave off.
The child was already awake staring up at me from my side. I quickly sat up to take in my surroundings. At least the rain had stopped. The Mandalorian was still sitting on top of his metal chest, weapon in hand.
"Was I asleep for long?" I asked.
"Not too long," he said. "We are just arriving. Stay alert."
Nodding, I held my arms out to the child. "Come here, you." I folded it up within my arms gently, kissing the top of its head.
I recognized the Ugnaught's voice conversing in a different language and peeked around the Mandalorian. Catching sight of what we were approaching, I saw we had already arrived at the Jawas' fortress. They appeared on edge as they ran for their weapons, shouting and aiming at us.
"They really don't like you for some reason." The Ugnaught observed.
"Well, I did disintegrate a few of them," the Mandalorian answered.
I tried to swallow a giggle, but I think Mando caught me before I had succesfully gulped it down. His head turned sligtly in my direction.
Rubbing the back of the little one, I titled my neck up as we drew nearer. The fortress's large shadow blocked the sun as Jawas were hanging out of tall, square-like windows with blasters pointed directly at us from every angle. I consciously pulled the kid closer to my body, shielding it within Mando's cloak.
"Are you sure about this, Mando?" I questioned.
I watched as he scanned the scene, posture tense.
We came to a stop and I saw many of the faceless creatures still scuttering around in a frenzy. Little stands had been set up around the fortress and I smirked inwardly, hoping we had just interrupted a sale of their stolen goods.
From atop the creature that had been pulling us, the pink man spoke again. "You need to drop your rifle."
Mando scoffed. "I'm a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion," he said vehemently.
I felt my eyebrows raise a little at his words. I had become painfully aware of how very little I knew of Mandalorian culture, other than their enviable fighting skills and habits of sighing too much.
"Then you are not getting your parts back."
I hummed beneath my breath, wanting to roll my eyes at the two of them. They were both proving to be incredibly stubborn.
Standing from my position behind Mando, I walked around him to stand at his side. The little one's big eyes looked at him questionably from within my arms.
"It's only for a moment, Mandalorian," I tried to reason.
He sighed heavily. "Fine."
Placing his weapon down alongside his crate, the Mandalorian stood up while the Ugnaught slid down his fish resembling alien.
Mando moved to jump off the carrier and I planned to do the same. However, as I approached the ledge, I was shocked to see a gloved hand stopping me. Securing the child in one of my arms and raising an eyebrow, I lightly poked the hand he held up to me.
"Is there a password I'm missing?"
He lowered his hand. "I would prefer if you stayed here with the kid."
I studied him for a moment before looking to the Jawas. "Alright."
He nodded once before turning to our pink host. A Jawa aiming a weapon at Mando spoke quickly, motioning at him. The Ugnaught looked Mando up and down with a grim expression, his eyes trained on the Mandalorian's belt.
"And the blaster," he said, pointing to the gun.
Mando's helmet jerked to the Ugnaught sharply. The pink man gave him a sweltering look before walking to meet more of the Jawas.
Mando tossed his blaster back on the carrier, seemingly annoyed. He turned to me.
"Use that if they get too close," he said before walking off to meet his companion. I took Mando's spot atop the metal chest, watching from a distance as both sat on the ground across a group of Jawas. Their glowing red eyes were haunting on their hidden faces.
I briefly took in the sandy hills surrounding us and saw the floating orb hovering just behind the carrier. It must have followed us throughout the night.
Voices from the meeting were hard to catch and I had to strain my ears to make out the exchange of words between the two groups.
"They will trade all the parts for the beskar."
"I'm not gonna trade anything," Mando retorted hotly. "These are my parts. They stole them from me."
I made a mental note to ask what beskar was later.
One of the Jawas spoke something else and Mando surprised me by saying something back in their language. It was stuttered and didn't sound too pretty, which explained why the Jawas burst into fits of laughter the moment he finished. Their leader spoke back to Mando and I wished I could understand.
"Maybe someday, huh, little star?" I whispered to the little one. Its wide eyes blinked at me.
"You understand this?!"
I barely had time to process that the Mandalorian's angry voice wasn't directed at me before a torrent of flames erupted out of his arm at the Jawas. I guess I wasn't the only one having trouble with understanding.
"No!" The Ugnaught obviously did not appreciate the Mandalorian's approach. I sort of did, though.
I watched apprehensively as the Ugnaught scolded Mando over the screaming Jawas.
Noticing movement in my peripheral vision, I saw two lone Jawas approaching the little one and I. Tensing, I tucked the kid deeper within Mando's cape and grabbed the blaster he had tossed on the carrier earlier. The Jawa's saw what I had reached for and stopped in front of the metal carrier, chittering nervously between each other.
The leading Jawa in front of Mando pointed in my direction.
Both Mando and the Ugnaught turned to look back at me and the kid.
"Get away from them!" Mando's voice was strong and heated. If he had his blaster, I had a feeling most of these nuisances would already be dead. He started to rise, but the Ugnaught shook his head at him, tugging on his cape.
Speaking in the Jawa language, the pink man continued to converse with the Jawas while Mando kept his head turned in our direction.
I gave him a brief smile, trying to appear unbothered. I relaxed as the two lone Jawas scuttered away.
Placing the little one down momentarily, I stood to open Mando's metal chest and placed his loaned cloak neatly back inside. Closing it, I picked the child up once more.
"We can't be taking advantage of his only spare, now can we?" I cooed.
Abruptly, the Jawas began chanting a strange word over and over. Confused, I held the blaster in my hand a little tighter, unsure of what was happening.
The Mandalorian and our host seemed to be in a conflicted conversation as the Jawas continued to chant. I watched as his glove hands clenched at his sides and the Ugnaught's waved in the air. Eventually, among the loud chanting, the two returned to me and the kid unharmed.
Mando stopped in front of me, his visor eyeing my hand.
Looking down, I realized I was still holding his blaster. Shuffling the weight of the child in my arm, I sheepishly held it out. "Thanks."
He looked back to my face. "Keep it."
My face must have been a sight as I felt my mouth fall open and my eyes grow, but he didn't acknowledge it. "You sure?"
He nodded once.
I carefully attached it to one of my belt loops and looked to the Ugnaught. Setting the child down near the Mandalorian, I began my first conversation with the pink man.
"What happened? Why are they chanting?"
I heard Mando scoff behind me, clearly irritated. Had he been denied his parts?
The Ugnaught answered. "We must retrieve something for them," he explained. "The Mandalorian must do this if he wants his parts returned."
I looked to Mando. He was leaning back against the carrier, arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Uh…" I began. "What do they want?"
"They want the 'Egg.' That's what they keep going on about." Mando's voice indicated he was not amused.
I glanced down at the little one, its head titled as it looked at us. Still confused by Mando's words, I lifted my head to stare into his visor from where I was standing.
"This sounds... odd," I concluded. "What even is this 'egg'?"
He sighed, shifting his weight away from the carrier. "I suppose I have no choice but to find out."
He bent down, reaching to grab his weapon and once again slinging it over his back. He then looked down at the kid with a tilt of his head and I soon found myself doing the same.
The Ugnaught started to fill us in on what was to come. We were to accompany the Jawas as they took us to the location of this 'egg.' Mando would then be sent to retrieve it and in exchange, we would get his parts back.
It seemed all too easy.
We boarded the fortress and the Mandalorian was quick to leave the Ugnaught and I with the child. I observed his retreating back as he vanished into the dark depths of the Jawas' lair. Distant chants could still be heard echoing off the metal interior.
I turned to the Ugnaught who seemed to be paying me no mind as the fortress began moving.
"Thank you for helping him," I said.
He turned to me then, confusion plastered across his pink face. One of his strikingly white eyebrows lifted.
"He rescued the kid, even if he doesn't know it." I smiled down at the child who I had placed back inside the loyal orb. It cooed up at us both, its fist halfway within its mouth. An epiphany suddenly occurred to me. "He doesn't seem like he has had an easy life."
The Ugnaught pondered my words for a moment, nodding.
"I am happy to help the Mandalorian." He glanced my way. "And you."
I let a small smile loose. "My name is Kala."
Turning to look at me head on, he gave a slight tilt of his head. "I am Kuiil."
My heart filled with contentment at finally having a name to the face. "Thank you, Kuiil."
It takes a while, but we eventually reach our destination. The fortress rudely stops and I almost fly into Kuiil. As the large ramp we are standing near opens, I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
An appearance to my right has me jumping slightly as Mando arrives unannounced.
Tilting his head at me, he speaks. "I'm leaving for the egg." As he goes to exit down the ramp, I hurriedly scramble behind him when I notice the kid in the floating orb is following him.
"Wait, Mando!"
He stops, turning to me.
"You… you're seriously bringing the kid?" My voice gives away my disbelief.
He nods once. "I don't trust the Jawas."
This I understand. I wouldn't trust them with a rock. But I highly doubted this egg mission was going to be a waltz on the moon. Who knew what was going to happen out there?
"It can't protect itself out there, Mando," I reasoned. "At least let me go with you if you don't trust leaving it here with me."
He stood still for a moment, not saying a word. If he thought I would comply with him doing this, he thought wrong. Especially for a godforsaken egg.
The Mandalorian looked to Kuiil who just gave him a shrug of his shoulders.
"Fine," Mando exhaled.
I followed him and the child's orb down the remainder of the ramp. The Mandalorian's walk was swift and I found myself almost jogging to keep up.
"Hey, Mando? What is beskar?"
He slowed his pace, looking in my direction. "Beskar is part of my creed. It's my armor."
Oh. Oh. "I see." I looked to his discolored armor, full of bullet dents and scraps. "Why did the Jawas want it?"
We approached a dark opening from within the rocks and I stopped with the Mandalorian.
"It's valuable. Rare."
He looked to me, his shoulders once again broadcasting how on edge he was. He began checking all his armor and weaponry to prepare himself.
I glimpsed at the little one and saw its ears moving up and down in what appeared to be uneasiness. I tried to ease it by stroking its ears.
Mando stood facing my direction once he seemed ready. "You still have that blaster?"
I nodded, feeling it resting in the belt loop I had attached it to earlier.
"Watch the kid. If I'm not back within the hour, leave with it and the Ugnaught."
I swallowed nervously. "Okay, but I give it three minutes, tops," I joked, though my voice wavered in the air. I hated everything about this.
He hesitated a moment before giving me a single nod and disappearing into the dark.