Chapter Five: Unspoken Connection

Kuiil knew that the Mandalorian and the young Mage would complete the Task assigned to them just fine. But his faith did not seem to be shared by the Jawas. They had almost given up on the two and were just about to leave, when Kuiil noticed a figure in the distance and called out in relief, "Mando!"

Immediately the Jawas halted their leaving preparations and once again began lowering the ramp to their vehicle down as indeed, the figure coming closer was the Mandalorian. In his arms, he carried the unconscious female Mage bridal style, and on her stomach, wrapped in her muddy arms, was the Mudhorn Egg!

"We got it! We got the Egg," Mando tiredly called out to them, as he slowly limped up to Kuiil and the lead Jawa. The lead Jawa quickly took the Egg off of him, and while he and the other Jawa's celebrated having the Egg, Kuiil led the exhausted Mando towards the hover trailer to lay Jasmine down. "Is she alright?" Kuiil asked, concern for his house guest apparent. Mando nodded his head and replied, "I think so. She's still breathing, so that is a good sign at least."

They left her to rest on the trailer while the two of them went to collect the parts and weapons back from the Jawas, who seemed all too happy to help, now that they got the prize that they had sought for so long.

Once everything was secured onto the trailer, Mando carefully lifted Jasmine back into his arms and sat himself down onto the trailer seat with her head resting on his shoulder plate. The only thing keeping him from worrying too hard, was the fact that she was breathing nice and evenly against him. As they traveled, Kuiil couldn't help but notice that the young Child was also unconscious as well. After hearing the story of what happened from Mando, he asked, "Was it injured?" Mando simply replied with, "I don't think so." He then leaned over and gently shook the Child's pram, but he did not stir. He simply continued to breathe deeply and evenly, as if in a deep slumber.

Suddenly a small chiming sound began sounding off. Kuiil stopped his Blurrg and the trailer and the two males looked around them for the source of the sound. Looking down, Mando tilted his helmet in confusion and said aloud to get Kuiil's attention, "It's coming from her necklace." Bringing his Blurrg closer to the trailer, Kuiil looked at what the Mandalorian was looking at, and then his eyes widened in understanding as he remembered something.

"Unhook the white rectangular object from her necklace. I have spoken." Kuiil instructed firmly. Gently, Mando set Jasmine down and proceeded to carefully unhook a small, white, rectangular object from the thick corded necklace that Jasmine always wore. The moment it came unhooked off of the necklace, it immediately glowed and grew until it was the size of a regular small hand mirror. But it continued to vibrate and give out the chiming sound.

The two males looked at each other once again, before Mando cautiously reached out and picked up the mirror. The moment he touched it, his image faded away, to be replaced with the image of a young, skinny, teenage boy with messy black hair, but what caught Mando's attention was the shade of emerald green eyes he had. They looked just like Jasmine's eyes!

"Finally! Wha-wait you're not… Who the bloody hell are you?" The boy in the image demanded as all he could see on his end was a mysterious figure with a metal helmet on that seemed to be covered in dried mud.

Mando tilted his head in curiosity, and simply asked back, "You have the same eyes as Jasmine. Are you related?" The boy furrowed his brow in confusion and answered, "Yes, I am her younger brother. Where is she?" Mando silently moved the mirror so that the boy could see his sister resting on the trailer. The moment he saw his sister, completely caked with dry mud and passed out, he gasped in worry and shouted, "Good Godric! Jasmine? Jas? What the bloody hell happened to her?!"

Mando briefly explained what happened. Just mentioning the parts that Jasmine played a role in. When he was done explaining how she ended up unconscious, he then paused, took a breath and then asked, "my companion and I are unsure if there is anything wrong with her. She has no outward signs of injury. Do you think what she did would cause something to happen to her?"

The boy was silent on the other end, seeming to process what the metal man said. Finally, as if still thinking it over, he said, "It sounds like… Jas tried to shield you both from this Mudhorn creature you mentioned. But the creature was too strong. The force of it hitting her shield caused the spell to shatter. When that happens, there is always a strong backlash of magical energy that kind of acts like a recoil and it always hits the closest magical thing. Which in this case was Jasmine." He then scrunched his nose and said to himself in slight annoyance, "Merlin's beard, Hermione's rubbing off on me again."

Mando became worried upon hearing that explanation and asked the boy, "Will she be ok?" The boy simply shrugged his shoulders, worry also prevalent in his emerald eyes, as he replied, "I don't know. I am not a Healer, only her brother." A silence fell between the two after that. Mando not having noticed that Kuiil had begun leading the trailer along once more.

Finally, the boy coughed awkwardly on his end and said, "Well, um, I'm Harry, Harry Potter. Thank you for taking care of my sister. She told me that you were the one to also rescue her from falling from the sky?" Mando nodded and stated solemnly, "This is the Way." Harry raised an eyebrow at that and asked, "Can I ask who, or what, you are? It is kind of weird to be talking to someone wearing a metal helmet to be honest."

Mando felt himself smile under his helmet at the teenage honesty and replied to the young man, "I am a Mandalorian. We are a group of Warriors sworn to uphold a code, or creed, of honor. It is called the Way of Mandalore. When we are of age, we swear to the creed and receive our armor for the first time. And once we place our helmets on, they can never be taken off in front of any living being."

Harry's eyes widened in complete fascination, and was about to ask another question, when suddenly a low groan sounded out and both Mando and Harry's heads whipped in the direction the groan came from, to see Jasmine finally beginning to stir!

Slowly opening her eyes, she gave out a pained chuckle and stated, "Sure, I am the one here in the flesh with you, but you decide to spill all your little Mando secrets to my dear little brother instead. I feel the love, Mando." Mando blushed, thanking the Maker that no one could see his face, as he turned the mirror in his hand so that Harry could see his sister too as Harry exclaimed, "Jasmine! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Jasmine delicately grabbed her side and stated bluntly, "I feel like that thing we fought trampled me several hundred times into the dirt, but other than that, great. Just peachy." Harry rolled his eyes and commented, "Yep, your sarcasm is still intact so you're good." The two siblings shared a brief chuckle of amusement. Then getting back to business, Jasmine tiredly asked, "So why the sudden call Harry?"

Now it was Harry's turn to blush with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head and replied, "Well, mostly I miss you and just wanted to talk with you." Then face becoming serious he added, "And Hermione wanted me to let you know that she has begun researching the spell that sent you there. She is hoping that there is a way to counter it to… to bring you back home."

Jasmine immediately noticed the hesitancy in her brother's voice, and it seems the Mandalorian did as well, because she felt him tense beside her. Giving her brother the "Lily look" as Sirius and Remus always fondly called it, Jasmine said in a stern voice, "Harry… what are you not telling me?"

What Jasmine did not know was underneath the damaged Beskar armor, the Mandalorian was internally panicking for some unknown reason. The moment he heard the young man say, "to bring you back home" It felt like something in his chest clenched painfully, as if, as if he did not WANT the beautiful red-headed woman beside him to leave. To leave HIM. Which is what made the Bounty Hunter internally panic, as he did not understand why he was having these strange, intense feelings for someone who he literally only met a couple days ago!

Harry seemed even more hesitant to reveal something now. It was obvious in the way he was no longer making eye contact with them through the mirror. "Oh, would you look at the time? I got to go… to go help continue with the reconstruction efforts, yeah!"

Then briefly glancing at the Bounty Hunter, he smiled a brief smile and honestly stated, "It was great to meet you Mando. Please continue to watch out for my sister." Mando simply nodded his head silently to show that he would. Seeing the warrior's acknowledgement, Harry then abruptly ended the call, so fast that it startled Jasmine, "Wha-wait, Harry! And he's gone."

The two adults stared at the now blank mirror for a few more minutes, before Mando slowly offered her the mirror to put back on her necklace. Jasmine smiled in gratitude and took the mirror from his gloved hands to hook back onto her necklace. The moment that the mirror hooked back onto the cord of the necklace, it glowed and immediately shrunk back down to a small charm size. Mando watched in fascination and couldn't help but to say out loud, "Not sure if I will get used to seeing something like that."

Grinning, Jasmine gave him a teasing smirk and teased, "Seriously? You have freaky awesome laser guns and a glowing, shrinking, mirror freaks you out?" She started to chuckle, but immediately stopped as she quickly grabbed her ribs again and winced in deep pain.

Mando's arms quickly wrapped around her in a gentle hold to help steady her on the still moving trailer as he asked with worry tinging his modulated voice, "Hey, easy, easy. Are you alright?" Jasmine grimaced and quietly replied, "I think that hit did more damage than I previously thought."

Thankfully Kuiil chose that moment to speak up from the front, "Well, we will be arriving back at my homestead in a few minutes. When we arrive I will help you in assessing how wounded you are. And then you will rest while the Mandalorian and I work on his ship. I have spoken." Hurting too much to say anything, Jasmine simply nodded in reply, and the rest of the ride continued in silence. That is until Jasmine noticed something and looking to the Mandalorian next to her she asked with worried green eyes, "The Child?"

Mando simply nodded his head towards the side of the trailer, where the Child's hover pram was peacefully floating alongside. Jasmine felt her stiff body relax to see that the Child was fine and simply sleeping deeply inside of his Pram.

Just as Kuiil said, they arrived back at his homestead about ten minutes later. Mando jumped off of the trailer first. Even though he felt bruised and battered, he knew that his armor had helped to protect him from the damage that he guessed happened to the young redheaded woman. Holding his arms out to her he quietly asked, "May I?" Sensing what he was trying to ask, Jasmine gave him a soft smile and replied, "Yes, thank you."

So with careful hands, Mando gently lifted Jasmine up into his arms in a secure, bridal-style hold, making Jasmine's cheeks flame red with an unknown warmth in the pit of her stomach, as she could feel both the strength of his arms as well as how gentle he was being with her as Kuiil once again directed him to lay her down on the same bed she had been brought to when she first arrived in this world.

Once she was comfortably settled, Mando left the room to give Jasmine the privacy she deserved for Kuiil to examine her. While he waited, he went to check on how the Child was doing, and to his slight concern, the Child continued to sleep on. Completely unaware of his surroundings.

When Mando came back inside, he found Kuiil calmly exiting the young woman's room and quietly closing the door behind him. Seeing the imposing figure of the Mandalorian waiting for him. Kuiil walked over to him and quietly said, "I am surprised that that woman was able to talk let alone even move a bit without pain searing at her insides."

"Why? What is wrong with her?" Mando's modulated voice was laced with worry and concern as his helmeted head stared impassively at the small Ugnaught. Kuiil simply walked past the Mandalorian to head outside to begin grabbing the essential materials they would need to repair the ship with.

As he walked he explained over his shoulder to the Bounty Hunter, "The girl has almost all of her ribs broken and a few fractured bones in both her arms and legs. She also told me that she is unable to perform her magic to heal it because of what her young brother explained earlier. Her magical core is unstable and needs time to heal and resettle itself."

Behind the helmet, Mando's eyes were wide open in worry for the woman that he was scarily developing some sort of attachment to. He remained silent though, as he followed his host and helped him load the remaining things that they needed to fix his ship. As they finished adding the last of the things that they would need to the trailer. Kuiil paused and turned to give the Mandalorian a stern look.

"I know that there is something going on between the two of you. I sensed it the moment she landed in your arms when she first arrived. Heed my words though Mandalorian, that girl needs to remain here and rest in peace, instead of going back with you to the Bounty Hunter's Guild. I have spoken." He continued to stare at the Bounty Hunter, making Mando realize that he was waiting for the Mandalorian to say something. Truthfully, Mando had contemplated taking Jasmine with him, when he goes to return the Child, and have her become his Partner. But, with how seriously injured she currently was, he knew that she would be in better care under Kuiil's careful eyes, then getting jostled around in his ship.

Sighing, Mando tilted his helmet down in an agreeing nod and replied, "I understand. But, when my job with the Child is complete… May I return?" Kuiil smiled in approval, and giving the Mandalorian a pat on the arm, Kuiil replied mysteriously, "I think you will have no problem convincing her to join you, Mando." Then gesturing back towards this house, he added, "Go, say your goodbyes for now. I believe she was still awake when I left her earlier. I have spoken."

Mando stood motionless for a moment as he simply watched the Uganaught walk off to tend to his Blurrg creatures. Then giving himself a mental shake of the head, he slowly began to make his way back towards the room where Jasmine was currently resting.

Once he reached the door to her room, he once again hesitated. In his mind, he felt so conflicted on why he felt such strange feelings for this mystifying woman who randomly fell out of the sky not two days prior! But, he knew he had to go in and talk to her because, as weird and confusing as it was, the thought of leaving her here made his chest once again clench painfully.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds, Mando took a deep breath and lifted his gloved hand to rap his knuckles softly against the door. A soft, "Come in," could be heard on the other side, so Mando once again took a deep breath and let himself into the room.

When he entered the room, he couldn't help but to freeze and silently gasp in complete awe of what he saw;

Jasmine lay propped up by a multitude of pillows that Mando knew for certain were not the Uganaught's. Her chest, ribs, and arms were completely wrapped with a solid bandaged wrapping to keep her broken ribs, and fractured bones in place. To keep her modesty, She wore a sapphire blue button up long sleeved shirt that was left mostly unbuttoned towards the top, which revealed the bandages.

But what really took Mando's breath away and made him as still as a statue in complete and utter awe was… Jasmine had her fiery red hair out of the tightly made braid that she always seemed to have it in when he saw her, and it was now flowing down and over her shoulders like a wavy, cascading waterfall! Stopping to pool around her waist as she sat leaning back on the pillows and reading one of her many books that she also had piled on the bedside table beside her.

The sound of his footsteps had Jasmine looking up from her book, and when her eyes met his helmet, Mando had to fight the immediate, sudden, terrifying urge to simply rip his helmet off so that she could see the real him. The real man beneath the armor. As he watched her gorgeous, glittering, emerald eyes subtly flickered around his helmeted face, most likely trying to figure out where his eyes were located.

Jasmine, for her part, was extremely happy that the Mandalorian had come to see her. When she looked up to his helmeted face and smiled to greet him, she inwardly commended herself, when she heard his quiet breath hitch faintly through the modulator of his helmet. Suddenly, the strong warrior breathed out in a quiet awed tone, "Meshla…"

Eyebrows rising, Jasmine's Ravenclaw curiosity was piqued and she couldn't help but to quietly, as it was difficult to talk normally due to her injuries, ask,"Hello to you too Mando. Is that another language? What does 'Meshla' mean? Is it something more to do with your culture?"

Mando couldn't contain his immediate blush at his slip of the tongue, but also couldn't help but to slightly chuckle at how suddenly curious the young woman became upon realizing that he spoken another language.

Walking further into the room and sitting down on the stool beside her bed he calmly said, "calm down or you are going to aggravate your injuries more." When he saw that she had relaxed back into her fluffy pile of pillows, but still gave him an expectant look, he sighed and briefly explained, "The language is called Mando'a. It is an ancient language passed down by my people. Only Mandalorians, and a select few others, know how to speak it."

Jasmine smiled eagerly, happy to learn something about the man beside her. When he did not elaborate further than that, she once again raised an eyebrow and asked, "And what did you say?" Noticing the Mandalorian fidget slightly in his seat, Jasmine suddenly put the pieces together, and giving the man a sly smirk she stated, "Why thank you for the compliment Mando, I feel so flattered!"

Mando's head snapped up to look at her and she could hear the disbelief in his voice as he stuttered, "I-how-how did you?" He abruptly stopped speaking when Jasmine began quietly giggling, then wincing as she did so, but couldn't stop herself as a beautiful blush spread across her cheeks.

Mando watched her in complete fascination as she worked to calm herself down, so as not to make her injuries any more painful than they already were. Finally, she calmed herself down, but the blush remained as she explained, "It wasn't too hard to figure out Mando. If I can't see your face, then the next logical course is to read your body language. And what it told me was that you were embarrassed about what you said earlier." Then smirking, she added, "So you either insulted me, and regretted it, or you complimented me and are too shy and embarrassed to admit it."

Deciding to change the subject, before he embarrassed himself further, Mando cleared his throat and stated, "Kuiil tells me that you ended up getting pretty injured from the Mudhorn ordeal?" Grimacing once again, Jasmine rolled her eyes and replied, "If you mean having every single rib broken, and a few injured bones in each arm, then yeah, I would say that beast did a nasty number on me." Leaning forward slightly, Mando asked, "How are you able to even move and talk then?"

Smirking, Jasmine casually replied, "A neat little thing called Potions. I had Kuiil pull out the specific ones that I needed, like Skelegro potion. I don't recommend trying it unless you absolutely have to, nasty stuff. Anyway, another one to help my magical core recover faster, a pain reliever, and one other one, but I can't be bothered to remember it since I think you get the gist of it."

Mando sat back in his seat after that long explanation, completely fascinated. There were magical potions to help people heal quicker? He was brought out of his musings by Jasmine grumbling out loud, "Even with taking the potions though, I will still be bedridden for at least a week unfortunately. Which absolutely sucks."

Mando sighed and bluntly asked, "Do you always talk this much? Or is it a side effect of the potions you took?" To his slight amusement, he watched as Jasmine slightly blushed again, this time in embarrassment, and mumbled under her breath, "Potion side effect…" Mando chuckled and shook his head, making a mental note to himself that when on pain medications the redhead becomes extremely talkative.

Getting back to serious matters though, Mando frowned under his helmet and watched as Jasmine once again distracted herself by studying her book, unknown to Mando, that she was actually trying her hardest to not openly stare at him.

Even if her senses were slightly inebriated, she still had enough sense to not openly admit to the handsome warrior that she was checking him out. That thought alone made her blush once again. And thankfully his voice brought her back to reality, "Jasmine…"

Looking up from her book, she asked, maybe a tad too eagerly in her opinion, "Yes?" She watched as Mando sighed to himself and leaning forward, he boldly grabbed her hand in his leather gloved one and said, "Kuiil and I are about to head out to go fix my ship. After that… After that I need to finish my Mission."

Now Jasmine was frowning, as her smart Ravenclaw mind pieced together what he was unwilling to say. "You're leaving." Mando simply nodded silently, in response to her statement.

Biting her lower lip, Jasmine couldn't help but to ask, "Will you… come back?" A tense silence lingered after she voiced the question out loud.

They both knew she was too injured to travel at this time, so that is why she was having to stay with Kuiil. If she wasn't so injured, Jasmine knew that she would immediately go wherever the metal-clad warrior would go, it was almost instinctual to feel this way. She couldn't help feeling upset that he had to leave at all. But, he technically had no reason to come back, she was just a random stranger that fell into his arms not two days ago.

But, as Mando pondered long and hard about what he was going to do, he couldn't see himself not seeing her again. There was some sort of unspoken pull happening between the two of them, like magnets being drawn together. And it made this parting all the more difficult. For both of them.

So squeezing her hand softly, he quietly said, "I promise to come back… If you'll still be here when I return?" Her answering smile was enough to make the Mandalorian relax, and then blush as she returned his hand squeeze and responded, "I have nowhere to be but with you. Mando."

Suddenly that feeling of being pulled towards one another, like magnets, stirred up between them again. Making both of their hearts race and Mando's eyes to widen. Feeling him tense, Jasmine whispered, "You feel it too?"

Before he could respond to her, they were interrupted by a knocking at the door and Kuiil calling out, "It is time to go Mando. I have spoken." All at once, the magnetic feeling was gone. Making both humans let out an involuntary sigh at the untimely interruption.

Mando looked to the door briefly, then turned back to look at Jasmine, who was giving him an understanding look. Pushing his hands towards his chest, she stated, "Go, do what you need to do. The sooner you are done, the sooner you can return."

Reluctantly, Mando stood up and began making his way towards the door. Before he left the room, he heard Jasmine say behind him, "Oh, and let the little one know that I will miss him too!" Mando tensed at that. The unease he has been feeling about this mission since he first saw the Imperials, surging forth once more in the pit of his stomach, at Jasmine's words.

He made no indication to have heard her request as he made his way out the door silently. As he followed Kuiil to the trailer to head to where the remnants of his ship remained, he vowed to himself, the sooner he got this annoying mission over with, the sooner he could fulfill his promise to come back, after all, he was a Mandalorian. And a Mandalorian never breaks a promise.

Author's Note:

Lots of unspoken emotions rolling around these two! With neither of them being used to romance, it will be fun to see where this takes them!

Also, most of you should know this I hope, at least if you have read other Mandalorian Fanfics out there, but the Translation for "Meshla" is Beautiful.

Hope you all continue to enjoy!