Suggested Listening:
Giza Port - Jerry Goldsmith (from The Mummy) | ...surprise surprise
Rhonda With Graboid - Ernest Troost (from Tremors)| ...flick of a flare gun
Mall Chase - John Powell (from Evolution!) | ...escape from the cage, escape from the cave
The Confession - James Horner (from The Mask of Zorro) | ...you're bleeding
Rattlesnake Ridge - Joel McNeely (from A Million Ways to Die in the West) | ...looking in the mirror
Finding Dory (Main Title) - Thomas Newman (from Finding Dory) | ...the hologram
It turned out that, surprise surprise, a volcanic planet had a hell of a lot of volcanoes on it.
"I never thought I'd wish I was on Tatooine…" I muttered to myself, squinting at Cara's coordinate tracker's tiny screen. "At least I can tell one sand dune from the other out there."
I whacked the side of the coordinate tracker and it went blank, emitting a sad little hum as it powered down. I made a mental note to tell Greef Karga to sacrifice a solid gold column or two to put a little more money into Nevarro law enforcement's equipment budget.
The Yarga Fissure, she had said. That should be easy enough to find, but the device couldn't calibrate all the way out here in the boondocks and every big giant hole in the ground was frustratingly devoid of nefarious cult-members.
I swallowed, straining through the dryness of my throat and mouth. It had been hours. My stomach twisted at the thought of Din kidnapped, incapacitated… who knew what horrible things he had been put through at this point — if he was even still alive.
Don't think that, I scolded myself silently, ignoring my shaking hands. That helps no one. Keep moving.
I scanned the jagged, rocky terrain until something caught my eye — an almost imperceptible billow of smoke slithering into the air up at the top of one of the ridges.
Looks like a fissure to me, I thought, and began climbing toward the twenty-something foot high peak as stealthily as I could. As I reached the crest, I crouched down and slowly peered over the edge. The crack in the rock smelled like putrid sulfur and I held my breath as I glanced down into the cavern, only to find… nothing. It was just a narrow corridor of volcanic slate with gasses brewing at the bottom.
"Dank Farrik!" I turned around to sit and kicked my heel against the rock in frustration. As I recoiled in pain and cussed a little more, a small boulder came loose and rolled gently down the slope. It tumbled faster and faster until it crashed into the coordinate tracker with a loud thwack.
"Perfect," I muttered.
Suddenly, the tracker emitted an upbeat series of beeps and the screen came to life. My eyes widened and I scrambled to my feet, scuffing down the side of the knoll and snatching the device up off the ground.
Sure enough, it was working — and pointing me west, less than a mile away.
I slowed the speeder to a silent creep as I came around the corner of a hill and saw it — the cave entrance to the caverns beneath the Yarga Fissure. This particular big hole in the ground was a little harder to miss — it reached up toward the smoggy sky in a massive peak, it's inner-workings quaking the ground beneath my feet. I knew right away that I'd found the right place — the opening of the cave had crude wooden scaffolding, like the entrance to a mine. If I listened very hard, through the steady, low rumble of the volcano, I could hear the faintest echo of voices.
My breath caught in my throat as two figures appeared out of the corner of my eye — two cloaked figures of disparate heights and shapes, walking out of the hills toward the entrance, carrying bags of supplies. Cara was right — these two were definitely not the same species, though they spoke the same language, something I couldn't understand. As they disappeared into the cave, I narrowed my eyes… and finalized my plan.
Ten minutes later, everything was in place. I settled into the shadows of a tight crevasse near the opening of the cave and with the flick of a flare gun, I put things in motion.
There was a red burst in the rock of a hillside, and it was enough to draw a few of the Ja'Holi's out of the cave, scurrying over warily to investigate the mysterious explosion. I slid into the dark behind them. I snuck down the tunnel, stopping when I was about to pass an opening to a small room lit with a low fire. There must have been fifteen figures, all looking different in shape underneath the shrouding of their cloaks. They were speaking in a low fervor, the contents of which I couldn't make out, but I could only imagine it wasn't good. In the flicker of the fire I caught a glimpse of masks covering their faces — fiery, dragon-like masks that made my chest constrict in fear. I kept moving.
After some stealthy dodges, close calls, and stops to plant some of Cara's mines that I'd found in the armory, I rounded a corner and found myself in what looked like the belly of the beast — a wide, cavernous opening filled with orange light that radiated from the loud, bubbling pool of active lava at the center. Suspended above it, in what looked like a shoddily constructed, human-sized birdcage, was Din. My heart leapt in relief. He was facing away from me on his knees, and still in his armor and helmet — I thought they would've stripped him of it before caging him, but they must have planned to sink him into the lava and retrieve the Beskar when it came back up… without him inside it. I shuddered at the thought.
He was struggling, trying to break from the cuffs that held his hands tightly behind his back. I approached quietly, my eye snagged by a pile of metal on a nearby rock. They had relieved him of his weapons — at least all they could find on him, the man was a walking arsenal — and hoarded them to one side. I hurriedly moved a few blasters to the side before I found a tool that would actually be helpful.
"Hey," I hissed.
"Holy—" he exclaimed in alarm, wheeling around to face me.
"Are you okay?" I whispered urgently.
"I'm fine," he hissed back, catching his breath. "They must've tranqued me, got me in the neck or something — I woke up in here."
I eyed the thick chain holding up the cage, and followed it's reach all the way to a massive crank in the corner of the room.
"I think they're planning on lowering me into the lava," Din said, as though reading my mind.
"Not gonna happen. Put your hands through the bars," I instructed.
He did so immediately, craning his neck over his shoulder to see what I was going to do.
"Catch this," I ordered, tossing him an end of the rope I'd brought with me. By some miracle, he caught it on the first try and I yanked as hard as I could, pulling his cage close enough for me to grab onto the bars and swing back to the center with him. The lava bubbled beneath us.
"Careful," he warned. I gripped tightly to the side of the cage and found my footing on the edge of it's floor. He turned around to face me on his knees, and I smiled at him through the bars.
"Hi," I breathed.
"Hi," he said, sounding relieved to see me.
The Ja'holi's angry, confused shouts echoed down the hall. I held up my hand and showed Din the remote detonator before pressing my thumb down on the big red button. A massive boom shook the walls of the cave, sending dust and pebbles skittering down from the ceiling.
"Cave in," I smiled, a little proud. "It'll take them a minute to get through the rubble, that buys us the time we need."
"I don't know about a key or anything, I can't even find a gate in this thing—"
"I went for Plan B," I said, pulling the Darksaber off of my utility belt. Din froze, and his demeanor instantly became grave.
"Kyra, give that back to me."
"I'm planning on it," I whispered, raising my eyebrows. "Believe me, I don't want this thing. But it cuts through most metal, it's our best shot."
"You don't understand, it can't just be wielded by anyone, it'll knock you into the pit."
"Din, do you wanna stay in here?" I raised an eyebrow. "Because you're gonna stay in here if we can't cut you out. Now help me."
"How?"
"Steer clear."
He shuffled as far back as he could, and with a mighty whum, I activated the saber.
Immediately, I realized he was right — it was a strange sensation, like it was at once too light and too heavy, and at the same time like it was being sucked in every direction by some invisible force. A small cry escaped my lips as it threw me off balance, and I gripped the bar tightly with my other hand.
"Careful," barked Din.
"I got it, it's okay." It was wrenching my bicep painfully. With a full-body heave, I slammed it against the bars of the cage, and it sliced through them like they were made of melting butter. I powered the saber down and let out an exhausted breath, flicking my eyes up to Din's with a wry smile.
"You said it can't pierce pure Beskar, right?"
"That's a risk I won't be taking."
He shuffled forward and kicked at the split in the rails, breaking the flaw open further until the cage was hanging open, the floor sloping dangerously. I grabbed Din's elbow through the bars to steady him.
"Give me your hands," I said, holding up the withdrawn saber again. "I'll cut the cuffs off."
"Thanks, I'd rather put them in the mouth of a Krayt Dragon," Din replied drily. "We're gonna have to jump."
I laughed mirthlessly.
"This would be a really good time to have a telekinetic kid, wouldn't it?"
"Here, get it swinging," said Din, beginning to shift his weight side to side. We swung the cage back and forth like a pendulum until it brought us over the cool, hard rock.
"You first!" I released his elbow and he fell to the ground with a metallic clatter. On the next swing back, I leapt down from the cage, my knees buckling painfully and my hands scuffing as they made contact with the floor of the cave.
"Are you okay?" Din asked, his voice rattled with concern as he rushed over to me.
"Fine," I reassured, swiping my scraped hands on my pants and scrambling to my feet. "We can do the reunited thing when we get out of here, okay?"
I dashed to the weapons pile and grabbed a blaster off the top. Din returned to his knees and lay his arms on a rock in an uncomfortable twist, holding the cuffs taut. I hesitated for a moment, anxiously.
"You trust me?" I asked, feeling a bead of sweat run down my forehead.
"Yeah," he nodded. I swallowed, the warmth of his trust not quite potent enough to overpower the nerves of training a gun between his wrists.
The shouts from the front of the cave became louder as we heard a shift in the rock pile blocking their way.
"Hold still," I ordered, and shot before I could change my mind. He grunted in pain as the blast knocked his hands, but I had hit the chain and broken the cuffs. He fell forward, catching himself with his hands.
"Come on," I urged, holstering the blaster. "I should've planted more mines."
Din nodded and began hastily re-arming himself.
"Pick just your favorites, please!" I hissed at him incredulously, almost laughing — it was so typical it would be endearing, if we weren't in the middle of a speedy escape. He strapped one more gun to his armor and we started running. I found a small pathway at the other end of the cave — I had suspected it would be down here after casing the exterior. We ran down it and I thanked the stars as we came to the narrow slot canyon that stretched up to an opening in the rock, where I'd already let down a rope.
"You really planned ahead," Din panted, sounding impressed.
I climbed the rope, grunting with effort and scrambling to find footing in the rock to help me push up. Beneath me, Din climbed without much strain. We breached the narrow opening and squinted into the afternoon sun. My body was aching for a rest, but there wasn't time.
I had left the speeder at the base of the mound ready for a swift getaway. Din pulled me up to my feet and we began walking quickly toward it.
"How did you find me?" He asked in bewilderment.
"Cara had an idea of what had happened to you — apparently they've been having issues with this cult in Tova's Run."
He threw a hand out to stop me, his fingers wrapping gently but firmly around my forearm. I turned back to look at him, my breath hitching.
"And you came to save me," he said, his breath still a little ragged from climbing. "Alone. You could've been killed."
His tone was missing the usual undercurrent of scolding. Instead, it was soft - worried, yet moved. I looked up at him, warmth radiating through me as I took him in. Not knowing if I would ever see him again had been the longest few hours of my recent life.
"We're partners, remember?" I gave him a half-smile and tried to pull off a jokey confidence, but my face softened as I realized that the moment wasn't humorous at all. For a millisecond, I could've sworn I felt his thumb sweep softly against the skin on my arm, a tender gesture that made my heart pound — but before I could figure it out for sure, we were startled by a loud series of shouts. We whipped our heads back to see a few Ja'holi masks appearing through the crevasse, clearly not about to let us get away so easily.
"Go," Din ordered, and his gentle grip on my arm turned into a firm yank. We ran at full pace down to the speeder and piled in. I hit the gas before Din was even fully aboard, and with a jolt, we flew forward, careening through the ashy alleyways of purple-grey rock.
"We've got company," Din shouted above the whipping wind. I craned my neck to look behind me just in time to see a gaggle of Ja'holis on their own speeder bikes coarsing after us through the valleys of slate and stone. I tried to lose them in the labyrinthian sprawl of clearings and pathways, but they were hot on our tail — and gaining on us.
"I have an idea!" I shouted to Din. "You said you trusted me, right?"
He seemed to understand exactly what I was thinking. He wrapped his arms around me and bent his knees.
"Tuck your head when you jump," he called into my ear. I nodded and hunkered down further, revving the speeder into an even faster pace. We whizzed around a rock formation in a tight curve and raced ahead, a hillside of dry, dead brush rapidly approaching.
"Three… two… NOW." In sync, Mando and I leapt off of the speeder. I tucked my head, like he told me, and his arms braced tightly around my torso as we rolled and bounced into a dark gap in the rocks. We both let out a grunt of pain as his back smacked up against a stone wall, and my back slammed against the Beskar on his chest.
"Come on," he panted before either of us had a chance to get our bearings. We crawled back further into a tight cranny, hiding from view of the opening to the cave. He sat, back against the wall, gripping my upper arm to hold me out of view, while I crouched over him, one hand pressed against the stone above his head, the other resting on his chest-plate. The space was so narrow, we were intertwined — my bent knee and perched foot between his legs — and the slightest lean forward would crash my chest into his helmet. …Perfect. Not awkward at all. We heard the speeder careen into the hill of dry brush with a massive crash, followed by a rumbling boom — the tank had been pierced, just like I'd hoped. I looked down at Mando and smiled, still panting. I became acutely aware of how close we were. I tried to measure my breathing, and listened again as our pursuers whizzed past the cave, shouting to each other to brake before they crashed into what I was hoping was a moderately impressive brush fire — they would think we had crashed and assume our bodies had burned in the fire, ending the chase.
The Ja'holi's frustrated shouts echoed around the walls of the cave, their voices sounding closer and closer. Mando's grip on my upper arm tightened as he pulled me further into the nook, closer to him. I swallowed hard, hoping he didn't hear, trying to keep my eyes away from his T-visor and silently cursing in my head.
It would be great if my nervous system didn't hijack my body from my brain every time I'm this close to this guy.
Eventually, we heard speeder engines rev up again, and when the rumbles and shouts faded away, we finally relaxed and tumbled out of the cranny onto the cave floor with a communal exhale.
"You okay?" I asked.
He clambered to his knees, stiffly, and turned to me. His hand moved to my face. My breath hitched in my throat and I froze as he slowly touched his gloved fingertips to a tendril of hair that had tumbled out of my braid. Gently, he smoothed it up and tucked it behind my ear. I swallowed, hard.
"What are you—" I began, hoarsely.
"You're bleeding."
"Oh…" My hand flew up to my left eyebrow. Sure enough, when I examined my fingers, they were red. "It's nothing, it doesn't hurt."
"That's because you're in shock," he said, and pulled a small rag out of a pocket near his belt. He gently touched it to the wound, and I winced as a jolt of pain seared my brow. "You must've scraped it on one of the rocks out there — do you feel sick? Do you remember hitting it?"
"No," I dismissed. "But I really don't feel like I hit it hard."
"It looks a little deep." His other hand grasped the back of my head and he pressed the rag into my forehead.
We sat in silence for a moment.
"You saved my life," He murmured. His voice had a small waver, like he, too, was a little in shock.
"I had to," I breathed with a wry smile. "Our ship is a two-driver deal, I don't know how to get that thing into hyperdrive alone."
He shook his head, slightly. As before, I got the impression that underneath the helmet, he wasn't laughing.
"I owe you a great debt," he said softly. I looked into his T-visor and a butterfly fluttered in my abdomen, giving me the strange feeling that despite the barrier, our eyes were meeting.
"Hey, come on," I said, my lips curling in a wan smile. "That's what we do."
A small, monosyllabic chuckle escaped his vocoder — not one of mirth, but almost a sound of emotional release. A moment went by, and when he spoke again, his voice was once more steady and serious.
"The bleeding's slowed down." He released my head and pulled the rag away. I thanked my lucky stars to find that it was red but not dripping. "Can you stand?"
I nodded and took his outstretched hand. He pulled me up and I wavered, overcome by a quick dizzy spell. He caught me, steadying me on my feet.
"Woah, woah… you okay?"
"I'm good," I assured, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. "Just dizzy for a second."
"Okay," he said, all business. "We've gotta get you back to town, you need to get checked out."
"I'm fine—" I began, but Din cut me off.
"Better safe than sorry." He scooped his arm around the middle of my back and took my hand, leading me out of the cave. "Can you walk?"
"Yes," I laughed. "I promise, I'm fine."
Despite my protests, he kept a firm hand on my waist and we walked out into the sun.
"Mando, I promise," I said, looking at him pointedly. "I'm fine, the dizziness has passed. I can stand, see?"
I took a step back from him and held my arms out, proving it. He brought a hand to my chin and I froze as he took it gently between his finger and thumb, tilting my head up ever so slightly. I swallowed as he looked down into my eyes, examining them.
"See?" I said again, trying to cover my nerves. "I'm fine."
He held up three fingers.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
I scowled sarcastically at him.
"As many as the amount of times I've told you I'm fine," I quipped.
He cocked his head ever so slightly and looked down at me for a lingering moment before taking his hand away from my chin.
"Fair enough," he said, a note of mirth in his tone. Then he turned his head to look past me. "That's… less than ideal."
I followed his gaze to the crackling, dying blaze on the hillside, in the middle of which lay the twisted, charred form of the speeder — most of it, anyway. The rest was in chrome pieces, scattered all around. I put my fists on my hips, wearily.
"This is gonna be a long walk."
Mando turned to me.
"It would be."
"What?"
He reached back and tapped on his jet pack.
"Oh, right," I said with a half-grin. "I keep forgetting about that thing."
I felt a fresh drip of blood run down over my brow. I immediately pressed my jacket sleeve against it, now beginning to feel the pain.
"Let's get you to town," he said, concerned. "Please."
He moved to put his arms around me and I took a half-step back
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing," I assured. "I just don't want to get blood all over you."
Din shook his head and I heard an incredulous little laugh escape his vocoder. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist.
"Hold on tight," he said, looking down at me. "And be careful with your head, I don't want to hurt it worse."
We took off and soared through the air, the breeze feeling refreshing and invigorating. I tightened my arms around his neck and squinted against the sun, the burgeoning pain on my forehead in contrast with the swell of relief and affection that was vibrating in my chest. He's okay. You got him back. He's okay.
It was nearing dark by the time we returned to the Marshall's office, and I breathed a sigh of relief to see that Cara Dune was back. The feeling was mutual.
"You two had me in a karking panic!" Her eyes flicked to the bloody smear on my forehead. "Dank Farrik, is she okay?"
"She is fine," I interjected, though I was aware that it was perhaps a little worse than I had thought — my jacket sleeve was soaked in blood from being used as a makeshift bandage.
"We need a medic," said Din urgently. "She needs bacta spray."
"There's a med droid down the street at the school—"
"I didn't say a med droid," barked Din.
"Beggers can't be choosers, okay?" I shrugged, my chuckle turning into a wince as I pressed my sleeve harder against the wound. "You're gonna have to put aside your weird hangup for one day."
Sure enough, the med droid was happy — Do droids get happy? I could never figure that out — to help. It sprayed me with bacta spray before using a small medical laser pen to stitch up the wound. Din hovered over it, grumpily, and watched it like a hawk. I bit back a chuckle and winced as my skin was fused back together.
"Good as new," buzzed the droid in a monotone voice, and sure enough, as I sat up and ran my finger over my new scar, it already felt better. Din reached toward me, but caught himself, his fingertips lingering in the air near my forehead for a moment before he retracted them and dropped his hand to his side.
"Let's go," he rumbled after a curt throat clear.
Back at the ship there was an unspoken moment of understanding between us that we were each dying to clean up after the events of the day.
"You first," I said, gesturing to the fresher. He shook his head.
"All yours."
He had a point. I had blood caked into my hair and half of my shirt and jacket were stained a deep reddish brown.
I took a long, hot shower in the tiny privy and put my clothes in the sink to soak. When I was finished, I changed into a loose brown pair of trousers and a black sleeveless shirt, and combed my damp hair, leaving it down to dry. Looking in the mirror, I made eye-contact with myself and felt a flash of clarity — a clench in my stomach as I reckoned with myself.
You know you're in love with him.
I took a deep, shaky breath and watched my eyebrows knit together, my mouth twisting to fight the brimming tears that were shining in my eyes.
I knew it was true. Losing him and getting him back had made it clearer than ever — I was gone for him, and it was making me ache more and more every day.
I didn't know if he felt the same way. Sometimes I thought I could sense it, and other times it seemed like an impossible fantasy. To risk the partnership we had — the true, real friendship and collaboration that made us both feel so safe and happy — would be too selfish to fathom.
Then again…
Visceral memories danced on my skin of his hands clutching my waist protectively, of his fingertips lingering on my neck, of the soft vulnerability that snuck into his voice every so often. Wasn't it possible that this ache in my body, this overwhelming rush of affection and care and… well, love, for lack of a better word… wasn't it possible that he was feeling it, too?
I found my own gaze again in the mirror and took another steadying breath.
Maybe it's time to be honest.
I made my way to the cockpit to find Din in the driver's seat, leaning over the dash.
"I'm just soaking my clothes," I said. "But the fresher's all yours."
He spun around in his chair, like he'd been caught doing something.
"Hi," he said with an appeasing tone that caught me off-guard.
"Hi…" I echoed, suspiciously. He looked me over.
"You look nice. I mean clean."
"Thank you," I replied, looking down at my nondescript outfit and fighting a blush.
He stood and took a step toward me. He looked… nervous.
"I, um… I want to talk to you about something."
My breath hitched in my throat. The air felt charged and his voice carried an urgent vulnerability that made my heart hammer. Is this it? I thought, too nervous to dare believe it. Is he going to tell me he has feelings for me?
"Okay…" I said quietly.
He looked around for a moment, then gestured awkwardly to the copilot's seat.
"Here, sit down."
I lowered myself into it, still totally bewildered. He sat on the edge of the pilots seat and leaned forward towards me.
"Din," I breathed, his real name tumbling out of my mouth faster than my propriety could catch it. "You're making me nervous, are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, I—" He sighed. "I'm not trying to make you nervous. I just…" He paused, pondering his words. "You, uh… you saved my life today."
"We save each other's lives all the time," I laughed.
"I know," he nodded, sincerely. "We… you've done so much for me."
My face felt warm and a wave of feeling surged in my chest.
"Hey," I murmured. "I haven't done anything that you wouldn't do for me. You've saved me too many times to count, you…" I swallowed. "You save me every day just by letting me travel with you."
I watched the confession hit him and his shoulders seemed to soften. As the silence stretched on, I began to feel embarrassed and exposed. I cleared my throat.
"So…" I joked. "You just wanted to get me to go all sappy on you?"
"No," he laughed softly… sadly, I thought with curiosity. "I just, um… I want you to know that I, uh…"
He looked down at his hand that was absent-mindedly gripping his knee.
"I care about you, Kyra."
My heart rate quickened. This is it. This is the moment. Tell him how you feel.
"I care about you, too," I began, pausing to gather my courage.
We looked at each other, and my chest was aching more and more with every passing second.
Finally, he leaned back in his chair and turned to the dash, pressing a button.
A hologram flickered up on the comm pad — an older woman, tall and slim, clasping her hands together, a drawn expression on her familiar face. I gasped.
"Mandalorian," she said, and her wavering voice struck a chord deep in my memory. "I cannot thank you enough for finding me. Yes, please, please bring my niece to me. I have as much love for her as I did the day she was born. I have a farm on Lothal, it would mean the world to me if she would come to me and call it home."
With an anxious smile, she flickered away, leaving us in silence.
I stared at the spot where she had been moments ago, unable to move. A lump appeared in my throat and before I could catch myself, tears were rolling down my face. I covered my mouth with my hand and shook my head, reeling. Wordlessly, Din moved out of his chair to the floor and knelt before me, putting his elbows on my knees and grasping my arms comfortingly with his hands.
"It's okay," he soothed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"Is that my… is that my aunt?"
He nodded, solemnly.
"You found her?" I wept, staring wide-eyed at him.
Another nod.
"So she's… she's not dead?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"I just wanted to see," he explained. "I knew she would want to know about you, so I looked… and I found her. I'm sorry—"
"No," I said, smiling through my tears. "No no, it's good. It's a good thing, I just can't believe you found her, she — she looks like my mom."
A fresh sob wracked my body and I moved to hide my face. Din stood, lifting me up with him, and wrapped me up in a tight hug. I buried my face in his chest plate, weeping against the cold Beskar. He rubbed his hand in small circles between my shoulder blades and let me dissolve.
After a while my sobs slowed and left me standing in his arms with no excuse to remain there, but I stayed, eyes closed, steadying my breathing and enjoying the tight, protective enclosure.
"How did you find her?" I whispered.
"I told you," he answered in a low rumble. "It's what I do."
I pulled out of the embrace enough to look up at him. I knew that my eyes must be puffy and my face red, but I didn't care.
"Thank you," I murmured earnestly.
"Of course," he replied, and gave my arms a friendly squeeze. "We can leave for Lothal tomorrow morning."
I froze. The warm crackle that had been in the air between us was instantly gone. Or perhaps it had never been there in the first place. Perhaps it had been wishful thinking on my part. But now, in this moment, there was nothing between us but air.
He… he wants me to go..?
His voice wasn't unkind — he was speaking to me with a compassionate tone and his hands were rubbing my arms, gently and supportively — but he hadn't even asked me if I'd wanted to leave. He'd just assumed, and… he didn't sound too broken up about it.
I pursed my lips in a tight smile and nodded, swallowing my confusion and disappointment. Frankly, I was feeling so many feelings at once, it was easy to make those two get lost in the storm.
"To Lothal in the morning."
