N'Dara felt the prickle of someone watching, despite the screens she flicked through being the same as they'd been all evening. Despite Mird's peaceful snoring. Despite the barrier spikes Vau deployed remaining undisturbed. She glanced into the trees opposite the sunken little alcove in which they rested. Opened her senses without closing her eyes. Eased closer to the man in matte black beskar'gam.

She didn't know how to waken him without startling him. To waken him silently.

They hadn't discussed a signal or key-word, any kind of code or threat-scenario.

She crouched silently, sending waves of calm through the force. Begged him silently to open his eyes without opening his mouth.

He slept on. Shifted slightly, but then his chest resumed its rhythmic rise-and-fall.

She thought he was beautiful.

Swallowed that thought. Reached for Mird and nudged him with the force. Put a thirst for blood in him that had him lash his tail.

Vau reached for him, caught the warm body under his glove. Patted.

N'Dara used the motion to cover her own and clamped her hand over his wrist, her other at his throat as she leaned close to hiss to him.

"We're being watched. I need you to wake up."

She felt the instant tension in him.

What she couldn't see was him flipping through the arsenal available to him in his near-magic helm. Infrared netted him nothing. A scan of frequencies brought more useful data and he pointed discreetly.

Rolled to his side, presenting his back to the watching droid his gauntlet sensor picked up. Used the movement to cover him reaching for his holstered weapon.

N'Dara swallowed audibly.

"It's all right. Let me see what it is before you panic."

His voice was the lowest of murmurs in her ear. When he tugged on her she let him pull her onto the ground in front of him, shielded by his armor-clad body. She whimpered when he put his hand over her ear and pressed the other into the crook of his opposite arm.

He felt her flinch when he reached up, over, and fired. The heat from the discharge swept over her exposed face as the observation droid exploded. Now there were both motion and heat for his sensors to detect.

Mird leapt up and yowled. The jedi in her responded to the threat and the lightsaber was in her hand as she accompanied him to the edge of the overhang.

Vau bent, examined some of the components.

"None of this is new. It's not even got an antennae anymore. Look, the spot for it is full of debris and this thing looks like it's been flying around a while. The underside is dripping rust and there's some kind of algae or moss inside the repulsor."

"You think it was just put on automatic and happened to find us?"

The woman bit her lip when he nodded. He pursed his lips inside his helmet and cocked his head to the side as he considered something else in the pieces he held.

"I've never known anyone who could hear a spy droid before," the Mandalorian said softly and with admiration.

She shook her head, sending that tail of hair swinging. It reflected ultraviolet in the harsh red of his sensors. Every bit as pretty as the blue.

"I didn't hear it. I kept looking and looking. I knew something was there, but I only read simple lifeforms and nothing big… nothing to make my gut knot up like that. I hated to wake you up, but I was afraid…"

"You do good work, kid," he told her, reaching out to brush her shoulder. "Sensing a droid isn't exactly standard jedi fare. That's incredible."

He knew she was still afraid. Something in her wasn't done, even though the threat had been neutralized.

"Pinky? Talk to me. What's going on?"

She shook her head.

"Is there something else?"

The wide-eyed head-shake again.

He ran his palm back over her arm, registered the numbers. The elevated respirations and ever-increasing temps. He didn't need a scanner to see the way she still breathed unevenly.

"Do you see something? Sense something?"

"No. No. I… I…" He watched her close her eyes and push out with the Force. Watched her draw it in. "You scared off the little things that were just here, too. I don't feel anything out there."

"So talk to me. What's got you shook?"

The lips pressed together before she answered, but he caught the tremble. Kept his gaze on her while she cut her eyes to the side of the cave.

"I don't like being watched," she told him finally. The words sounded like they caused her pain and he admired that she kept herself schooled instead of giving into the hysteria he could sense bubbling up in her.

"Okay. So I won't look at you." He angled himself partly away from her. He could keep an eye on her in his periphery and the buyce afforded him 360-views anyway. "But I need you to level with me if we're working together. You made a good call there. I don't know how the hell you did it. Are you upset that I took it out before-"

She let out a wet half-laugh. "I didn't mean you. I meant the tech. I don't like electronic eyes. Holorecorders. Things like that."

He stayed silent. Watched her run the back of her hand over her brow. He reached up to unseal his helmet and ripped it off. Tucked it under his arm and tugged off his gloves. Held his arms wide and away from her.

"I'm not recording you. I promise. No scans or scanners. I only wanted to see what I was dealing with."

"Oh. Vau. I meant the droid. I didn't mean you." Her hand went to her lips. "I didn't mean you. I trusted you. It didn't even occur to me that you could be taking vid of me."

"I'm not," he swore. His head moved, still carefully not facing her. He had good peripheral vision. Was good at reading cues. He had always been—it had been a way of life for him from his earliest memories, self-defense. The skill had made him a natural in his chosen career and been honed even further during his time on Kamino. "I wouldn't do that."

"I take pictures sometimes," she told him.

"I know. I'm okay with it."

"I don't know how I always knew when they'd set up a holorecorder. I just did. When they held me—even before, you know, the rest? They watched me. It makes my skin crawl."

"Stang. N'Dara…"

He hadn't thought about that. He'd seen the fekking vids. Hours of them.

They'd used the vids to catch her at her most vulnerable. Times when she'd finally fallen asleep. Times when she'd hung there and wept. Times when… he shook himself hard.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her carefully.

Great. What the hell kind of wisdom do you think you'll be able to give her? Yoda, you are NOT, Mando.

He was so relieved when she laughed. Her laugh this time.

"I really do not. Really so do not."

"Thank all the goddesses," he breathed. "As soon as I asked I kicked myself."

"Asshole."

He lifted his shoulders. "Honesty-policy, right? I'm no good at being sympathetic. And, even more honesty? The idea of someone hurting you makes me wish they weren't already dead. Everything about you seems too nice to be a jedi, too sweet to be an operative." He tugged her hair.

"And yet I was both."

"Unsuccessfully."

"That's not true!" she pouted up at him.

The patrician face arched a brow. "There's nothing cold-blooded about you, Pinky."

"Why are you calling me that now?"

He drew his fingertip down her cheek. "The red glow turned you pink, pale-cheeks. Your hair is purple. It's cute."

She scowled. "Go back to sleep."

He made a face. "Get your gear policed up and let's get out of here. Neither one of us is going to be able to rest anymore tonight. We'll move out a little bit and see what the terrain turns into, then lay up again when you get tired."

The relieved nod she gave him reassured him that he'd made the right call.

"N'Dara," he called over to her when he swung his pack up and over his shoulder, slid his other arm through and hiked it up. "I wouldn't violate your privacy. If I ever lay hands on you, it's because I'm hauling you out of trouble or checking you. From a medical and operational standpoint."

"I get it," she told him.

"We're in close and I know it's not what you planned. If I ever make you nervous…"

She beamed at him. Rushed over and hugged him hard around the middle. "I can't tell you how grateful I am that I met you, Vau. I really do trust you, I promise."

"See?" he asked sardonically. He tapped her lip. "Innocent, gullible, and as sweet as that candy that turned your tongue black."

That made her narrow her eyes at him again.

He roared with laughter as he summonsed Mirdalon with a thump of his fist on his thigh plate. The sound of his gauntlet against the cuisse brought the strill to his side poste-haste.

He was still chuckling when he set a careful, quiet pace through the forest floor. They were off the grid here and off any charted trail on his maps. He had complete faith in Enacca and didn't mind making his own way through the undergrowth as they stalked through to their intended target.

Just as he would forever be grateful to her for offering his partner-in-crime whatever sweet that was that N'Dara had become instantly enamored of… and had instantly and impermeably dyed her teeth and tongue black. Even the roof of her mouth and the insides of her lips were stained. He figured the Wookies didn't notice because most of them had darkened oral cavities anyway.

On the pastel-colored female gracing him with her presence? It was way obvious.

"The next time I get a bag of candy I'm licking you in your sleep," she grumbled behind him.

"I could suffer through it, if that's what your game is," he teased, glancing over his shoulder

She shoved at his shoulder. "Not what I meant."

"I wouldn't even make you hold me down and I promise not to yell for help. Give me five seconds to strip off."

"Don't give me that load of shitte. You couldn't possibly get stripped down in five seconds."

"Offer me a free blow job again. I promise you, I will get all the pertinent parts out faster than you can believe and make the rest of myself available in quick succession."

Her laugh was quick and easy. Gutter humor put her back on an even keel. He figured he had the navy to thank for that. Not that the idea of her mouth on him didn't make his skin tingle in gooseflesh. Blood pounded where it was probably the absolute least use to him at present and he groaned inside the privacy of his bucket.

Her mouth, those gorgeous, full, lips of hers that defaulted to near-kiss… he could think of a thousand ways he wanted that mouth on him. A thousand more he wanted his on hers. On her. All over her.

His gut churned and he put his hand to his plackart.

She sucked in a long, happy breath. "I don't hate it here. Do you? Don't you wish we could just live here… you know, in a little cabin in the trees? Go native?"

"I-"

Yes. He could go native with her. He could go native with her with very little provocation.

"Oh. You'd rust, wouldn't you? I didn't think of that. Plus, is the humidity fucking with your electronics? That would suck, wouldn't it?"

"I don't necessarily need the tech, although I like it. I'm a pretty formidable hunter even without it."

She grinned. "You could catch food and tan the hides. Do you think you'd stay pale or do you think you'd get dark if you started swinging through the trees like En and Havyyyk?"

"I can swing through the trees in my armor. There's no reason for me to submit my pale, tender flesh to the local bug population for product sampling."

"You don't see yourself in a loincloth or toga, raising little Vau-lettes who run around naked spearing things with toy weapons?"

He actually shuddered at the thought. "Why would I have to be in a leather diaper? And why would they have to be naked?"

"I take it you didn't go to uni?"

"I did not. I was educated at home by a selection of highly qualified tutors until I was exiled."

"When I decide to open my assassination industry I'm going to take out your daddy first."

"Don't bother."

"You already do it?"

He nearly tripped. Turn back to physically look at her. "You know, it never occurred to me?"

"Seriously?"

He shook his head. "No. I used to dream of ending him when I lived there. I hated him, feared him, and wanted to prove to him that I was just like him. It made me salivate, thinking of running him through. Of ripping the belt out of his hands and choking him with it. Or reversing our positions and ramming his head into the stonework until it cracked. Of cracking his ribcage and pulling his heart out, holding it in front of his eyes while I squeezed it until it couldn't beat anymore."

She sucked in a deep breath. Watched him just plod along. Waited him out.

He shook his head again. Glanced at her.

"Once I left though? Never even thought about going back."

"Not even to rescue the girl?"

"There were a couple of brief fantasies. She was happier, though. Back to the complete honesty thing, she and I wouldn't have done well together. She really believed all that religious garbage. Was into it. For real. I kept tabs on her, once I got to where I could, and found out that she ended up taking holy orders. I imagine it suited her."

"At least hooking up with you means she was safe from virgin sacrifices, right?"

"I didn't sleep with her," he told her, offended. "She was fourteen."

"You were fifteen. Fifteen-year-olds… even fourteen-year-olds… randy teenagers, stuff like that."

He shook his head. "Not where I'm from. Sometimes girls got married young. Hell, though, they get married even younger on Mandalore. Warrior clan. If you want 'im, you better grab 'im because he might not be back. But, no, fourteen is hardly more than a child. Fifteen's no better."

She tilted her head at him.

"How old were you?"

"Fifteen. You were right. I was fifteen when we met, when I asked for her. We hardly met, though. Had to sneak in every wink and smile. I barely touched her. Brushed her fingers a few times, stole a few kisses."

"That is precious," she announced. "So freaking adorable."

"That's me," he blushed.

"I meant how old were you when you lost your virginity."

His step faltered again. "Um. I'm not answering that."

"Prude."

"This from a woman who was raised in a temple, too."

"There were kids having sex at the temple," she told him bluntly.

She was going to kill him.

"Do we need to stop? Are you having trouble with your boots?"
"No. Back up. Jedi have sex? I thought you were anti-attachment."

"Yeah. They're not one and the same. You've only ever had sex with bodies you proclaimed undying love for?"

She had him there.

"See?"

"So how old were you?"

"Fourteen," she told him without hesitation.

She watched as he shook his head. "That's too young to know what you're doing. All you are is hormones and hands at that age."

"Eh. I'd had plenty of eyewitness accounts. Camas liked to sample the local flavor."

"With you laying on the floor beside the bed!?" Vau was horrified.

"Of course not. But other than telling me to make myself scarce or sending me on some phony errand, what was I supposed to do? In his defense, it took me years to figure it out. Once I was old enough he-"

Vau stopped short, whipped around to her and caught her by the shoulders.

"Camas? Camas is the one who-?"

"No. No, Vau! Camas and I could barely put up with each other. There's no way he'd want to sleep with me… And I didn't even want to be in the same room with him most of the time."

He sucked in a deep, calming breath. It didn't work so he tried two more.

"My first time wasn't bad. I promise. I know there are all kinds of women who have horror stories of some guy not taking care of them. But Camas let me take part in a ritual on Halliff. It was very decent and moral. I've never been back, but I thought that I might like to go again. To give my thanks now that I'm really old enough to understand the gift."

"Setting a fourteen-year-old up for deflowering isn't a gift."

She shrugged. "You weren't there. It taught me a lot. A lot about self-respect and self-worth and how valuable I am just for being me. Taught me how to stand up for myself and that I shouldn't be putting up with a pallet on a dirt floor with a bowl of fruit and dirty water when he was drinking wine and eating with nobles. There's nothing shameful about sex and the human body is an incredible machine, an incredible work of art. You have no idea how glad I am that there was time for me to feel beautiful. Especially… you know, now?"

"Now that you're marked?" he asked her, reaching out to tuck his gloved finger under her hair, to run it down the back of her neck. "If you think these are ugly you had your head knocked too hard one too many times. These are incredible and they only increase your worth. Don't put yourself down because you're marked, waadsala jari'eyc talyc'ika."

She just regarded him with those big, inscrutable eyes as he closed his hands around hers and made fists of them. He lifted them both by the wrist over her head like the Shyriiwook sign of victory.

"There is nothing weak, nothing sorry about you. If I had one wish it would be that you could live somewhere where you'd be the one in as little as possible, showing off to every man, woman, and child who saw you how indominable you are. My clan doesn't have a word for hero. If I made one up I would use your name."

She gave him a half-hearted smile, then. A wet-sounding little laugh.

He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her hard, side-to-side, for a long moment.

"I lied. I don't want you parading around in next to nothing on Mandalore. Every man there would be throwing out marriage proposals right and left. It would become tedious."

"Oh, well, if it were tedious for you, then certainly I should avoid the place."

"Just avoid walking around near-naked there. A definite case for getting you some beskar'gam of your own."

"If all the men there are like you I think I'll steer clear, all the same."

He grinned wolfishly down at her. She wished she could see him, but she could feel his emotions despite the helmet. They knew each other well enough that she could read his face from his vibe.

"I don't know whether to take that as complement or curse."

"I'm still deciding. When I figure it out I'll let you know."

He popped her ass as she sashayed past him, taking up the point position as the forest around them cleared into the dimness of pre-dawn.

"You're so impertinent. There we are, having a moment, and I've even managed to forget your pitch-black teeth-"

She lifted both hands over her head in that victory sign. Flipped him off.

It made him laugh as he followed her, trudging carefully amongst unbroken pathways.

"Do you know where you're going?"

"I'm using the force to hone in on it."

"When the force needs a break I'll share my map."

She turned, held her hand out. He passed her the data-sphere Enacca had given them. Sighted up and corrected. Tucked it into her own pocket instead of passing it back to him.

He went back to admiring the scenery like he usually did when she led.

Let his mind drift as their boots ate up the miles.

"We need a safe word. Just in case it gets crazy."

"Sex?" he asked, shocked. "You want a safe word in case I get too rough with you?"

Her head whipped around. "Is that all you think about?"

"Guy," he told her, spreading his hands at waist-level. "What were you thinking about?"

"Like, if one of us is resting. Or we get caught. We need a trigger word. Or signal. So if I need you to wake up because I sense an attack."

"'Hey, I feel something and it's creeping me out' worked pretty well."

"Something discreet that doesn't announce that we know what's going on."

He thought on that. "I think something like I'm too exhausted or I'm ready to give up. Something that wouldn't be out of place if a captive said it, no matter what or where."

"I don't want to say that. It's weak."

"Misdirective, certainly."

She pondered. "Is there something in your language that means something… maybe even something the troopers would know in case we're with them?"

"Nau'ur, maybe. It means light it up, shed a little light,something like that?"

"I like that better than rolling over and showing my belly." She nodded. "Narrr Urrr. I like it."

Vau felt the blood seize up inside of him. Her pronunciations gave him shivers of horror.

"Now. Now. Now-OOOOR. Purse your lips. OOOR."

"Nowr-Urrr."

"Please kill me," he begged the heavens. "Just tap twice. Okay? That'll be our signal to pay attention."

She pouted again. "You don't want a safe word?"

"No. Forget a safe word. And don't call it that. Men get ideas when they hear that."

She turned, sidled up to him and turned those big blue eyes of hers on him. Finger-walked up his chest.

"Big strong man like you don't think you can keep little old me safe?"

"I will bite your fingers off if you do that again," he promised. "You are not safe for the male population. What the hell did you and your pilot get up to?"

She made a face and gave a dismissive wave as she turned around.

"Pfft. He was one step away from calling his own name in bed. Which would have been fine with me, because he was the only one he was getting off."

He laughed in horrified delight. "Then why did you sleep with him?"

"Cardio," she grinned over at him. "It's not like men carry around IDs with 'lousy lay' marked on them. That's why you should try 'em before you buy 'em, padawan."

"You make me so proud."

"I have high standards."

"I'll try to remember that. You know, if and when."

"I'll give you your five-second warning so you're properly motivated," she promised. Scratched at the back of her head where her cap settled on her ponytail. "I need a shower first, though. So don't get worked up."

"Perish the thought," he agreed. "And, no offense, Enacca would be pissed if I took you back and you'd stained me, too."

"You and she are sweethearts," N'Dara told him, smiling up at him as he hauled himself up a boulder and reached down for her. "I think she's so pretty."

"She is. She returns the regard. I can only think of one other woman I've ever seen her like so much."

"I'll bet she misses you. You miss her a lot when you're out here without her?"

"She's one hell of a partner. We're a good team. I like that I can play good-cop around her." He chuckled. "She's borderline psychotic. It doesn't bother me like it would some people."

"It's so weird that you give me a hard time and you're so easy around her."

"What do you mean?"

"You're so elitist about what people should look like to qualify as human-"

"You're not human, kiddo."

"And yet you're perfectly willing to sleep with a Wookie."

He nearly fell off the side of the cliff. As it was she thought he was going to do damage as he fumbled a foothold and scraped down to where she'd been waiting.

"The fek?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Do you need a boost?"

"Like sex? Or a force lift?"

"Force lift."

"I'm not sleeping with Enacca."

She gaped at him. "Why not?"

His hands flailed. "For any of the many and various reasons that anybody doesn't sleep with anybody."

"She said no?"

He laughed. "Never came up." Went ahead and went there. "Literally. I don't have the hots for Enacca. Why? Did she say something about me?"

N'Dara shook her head, her lips tucked in thoughtfully.

Stupid. Even if she DID how would she know? He rubbed the back of his shoulder. Jesus. No. He did NOT have the hots for the She-Wook. He didn't even know how you'd go about mounting one, let alone getting one ready for—dear gods. Just. No.

"You want me to ask?"

"Kriff no. Do not bring up me and Enacca in any conversation ever again. Jesus. You'd get a hairball trying to get off."

She laughed at him.

"I'm flattered you thought that we had something going, I guess. That you'd think we were long-term. She'd be a good catch when she meets the right guy. I, however, am not he."

"Elitist."

"I've banged aliens. Nothing non-humanoid. Although this one chick…"

"Stop there."

"You asked."

"I didn't."

"You sounded curious, though."

"I will endeavor not to do that anymore."

He slung his arm up and hauled his bulk onto the next ledge. Reached down to help her and held her wrists while she walked up the face of the rock toward him.

The buyce gave him some anonymity. Some protection from his own folley. He wondered what she'd do if he'd kissed her when he pulled her even with him.

No, it was definitely not Enacca that made him sweat.

Of course, that was easy to write off in their current position. It was so hot his servos were running 24/7 to keep him from popping like an over-roasted warra nut.

"Are there any Wookie-human hybrids?" she asked him a little while later.

"I've never met one. Ask your buddy. Maybe that's why her baby is ugly."

She threw a stick at the back of his head. Reached out and used the strap of his backpack to haul herself up a step or two.

"Why aren't any of Sev's squadmates out here with you looking for him?"

Vau hesitated. His whole body seemed to drop into slow-motion, like the physical act of moving forward was a struggle.

"Because I haven't gotten them out yet. I don't know what to do with them. Don't need them here, doing this, and wearing themselves out unnecessarily when it may be a fool's errand. I wouldn't put them through that kind of emotional yo-yo. And I wouldn't want to be stashed in a safe house while my brother suffered under the Trannies or rotted in some abandoned prison cell. Would you?"

"No."

"They're better off—from a mental health standpoint—keeping busy. Right? And safer working for the Empire than against it. Right?"

She sensed his dismay. His self-doubt. It made her belly clench in fear.

"Yes. You're right. I believe you, Vau. It makes sense."

He nodded, like he was agreeing with her. Marched on.

"What if I'm wrong, though? What if their next op kills them? What if I find him, bring him out, and I lose them instead?"

"We find him, we comm them. Jaing can set that up for us, can't they? They have all those tricks and resources."

He let out a long breath. "Yeah. Yeah."

"Even if we just know it's him. If we find proof-definite that we're on his scent. We could get them out then, let them help us reel him in?"

"Definitely. That's always kind of been the plan. But you see where the false hope might hurt them, right? Where this kind of osik that we're doing… where it might age them too fast? I don't want that. You should see the difference in some of the Nulls. Ordo looks barely mid-twenties. Atin looks like he's carried the whole world on his shoulders. He looks more like Jango. I just realized that. Atin looks like Jango did fifteen years ago, when all this started."

"You liked him very much."

"Atin?"

"Jango."

Vau had to think about it. "Yes and no. I let him down once. I'll never do it again."

"He was important to you. As important as your adopted father. And mother."

"Yes."
She reached out and he swore the heat of her palm singed through the protection of his beskar. Her smiled was encouraging.

"I'm so glad that even men like you have heroes. It's very reassuring. You're always so capable. It can be daunting. Perfection is difficult to be around for long."

"You think I'm perfect with my clothes on…"

"I've seen you with your clothes off. The bod isn't what's keeping you from flawlessness. It's that mouth and that attitude you get. Insufferable superiority. Plus, you know, the overwhelming competence. It wears on a body."

"If you've got it, flaunt it."

"I'll submit that to the fortune cookie company. I'm sure they need a new motto."

He snickered.

"Jango would have liked you."

"And Monsieur Stone?"

"He'd have adored you. He'd have taken you in and made you our little sister like that."

She grinned at his enthusiastic snap. Mird came galloping back to see what his master needed.

"Where did you get all wet!?" she chided the beast.

Vau nodded sharply. It looked like the strill had been fishing. The front set of claws was wet and the fur over the golden breast was matted but not muddy. Perfect for refilling canteens. "Water, Mird. Oya!"

N'Dara took a running leap and swung off of the nearest branch of the tree Mird scrambled up. Followed him that way for a bit before dropping.

"Hey," Vau called to her. "Don't forget. You shower and then I believe there was going to be licking of my fine self on our lunch break!"

She giggled at his exaggerated gesturing down his torso.

"I'm pretty sure I was promised candy first," she countered.

"Anything other than black. I don't want it to look like my armor melted into me. The goran would not be impressed."

"Watch out, now. If Enacca finds out you're showing off your man-meat to some Goad-Ran your girlfriend is going to get jealous."

"You kill me, racin skira. It's go. Like, don't stop? Go? Then rahn. Like I knew a guy named Ronald and we all called him Ron? Go-Rahn. Goran."

"Go-Ran." She tested the word. "Go-Ran. What is a go-ran?"

"A go-rahn. Goran. He's a beskar-worker. An armorer. One hell of a good one, although Skirata found one closer to him with all kinds of tricks up her sleeves that I might check out."

"Oooh. As much as you like kit you should date one of those go-rans. It would be a good match."

"It would. Gods knows it would."

"Is she cute?"

"How would I know?"

"What about the one you have now?"

"He's like three hundred pounds and smells like sweat and boiling iron."

"Not your type, then? Not even if you squinted up your eyes and spritzed some room freshener?"

"So not my type."

"What is your type?"

"Female, for one thing. And not getting killed by the guy's husband—who is even bigger if it's possible—for eyeballing his honey-bun."

"What does the husband do for a living?"

"Why should I know that?"

"Don't you talk to people?"

He dumped his helmet and crouched by the water.

"I have a confession to make," he told her. "I am not a people-person. I like my profession because it allows me to take people out. Like as in, ending them. I am not a people-fan at all. And, in this last year? I've probably talked more than I have my entire life. My throat was sore for weeks after we left Kashyyyk."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't give me that oh-sick. You're a drill instructor? Nothing could wear out one of those voices. I used to pray mine went mute, just for five seconds peace. I think voices like that are born, not cultivated. I've never known any other breed who could turn air into sound like that."

"There is an element of truth there," he admitted.

"Another mark against your otherwise perfection," she sighed. "If you don't watch out you'll be a regular mortal like the rest of us non-Mandos."

"Perish the thought, aruetti."

.o0o.

"Watch yourself," he warned. "The ground gets treacherous."

She nodded her acknowledgement. Let the force guide her. Watched something seem to steam into existence beside the path before it drew into a sphere and popped.

"Ug."

"I could not have stated it any better."

"How much longer?"

He considered the sky, the unit on his wrist, and the map in his HUD. Physically glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Damn it."

"You don't have to chase every lead..." he began.

"Hey, droid-bod, this is my lead."

He stopped. Gripped her wrists. "And I appreciate it. I do."

Which threw her just enough to shut her up so that she just nodded at him with those big ole' blue eyes behind the shooting glasses. She'd let Enacca talk her into some kind of cream or scent and it was heady as she sweated out buckets of perspiration. You'd probably drown if you wrung out her hair.

He whipped around and held out a hand automatically to guide her around the next patch of tar-like magma. Enjoyed the light way she sprang over it, nimble as some forest creature.

"When we get where he's going? I want to see if you can mesh the maps again with the new download."

He nodded broadly enough for her to appreciate it even with the buy'ce in place. "I know this isn't where you want to be."

"I'm okay with it. If every Genosian unit in this sector was working out of the central hub here we should be able to get some serious information. It'll be a lot to sift, through, though. Are you going to be okay with that?"

He nodded eagerly. "I'll skim as we go, see if anything strikes a chord. I'd like to have a direction when we leave the compound, but I'm not rash enough to risk missing an important piece of the puzzle. It'll go back to Kymoriut. As you should."

"Can't go back to where you've never been."

"You'd do well there. It's well-provisioned and they'd welcome what you bring to the table."

"Please. Like your Jaing and Mereel wouldn't be trying to cop a feel of my 'link and 'pad to trace every step I've made in the galaxy, then compare it to known risks."

"Part and parcel, Pinky-Blue."

"Blacky-Pale," she coutered.

She winced, though, even as he snorted. "Doesn't quite ring the same," he taunted.

"I hope you trip on something and stub your stupid armored toe."

"Let's just hope if I do that it's not attached to anything with any BOOM to it."

"Fair," she agreed.

Of course, she could hear the water now and the thought of bathing her face and limbs in the cool of a brook brought out the best in her just then.