-Darin-

My commlink jarred me awake. I rolled off the bed and struggled to find the source of the beeping. I groped around in the darkness, knocking things over until I found a lamp and turned it on. I picked up the commlink that I accidentally knocked down and checked the time. 2:41 am. Three hours of sleep. This better be urgent.

Without checking who the caller is, I answer with a drowsy "Ello?"

A familiar voice said "He's dead."

When I heard 'dead', the grogginess I felt just a minute earlier seemed to vanish.

"What?"

"He's dead." This time I recognized the voice as Sadies.

"When?"

"I don't know." I could hear her voice start to shake.

I nodded. "I'll be there soon." I dropped the call and quickly threw on some clothes.

I grabbed a cab and paid him extra to get me to Sadies as fast as possible. I had the address memorized now. I paid the cab driver and knocked on her door.

I heard the door unlock, but nobody opened it. I waited for a minute, then cautiously decided to open it. Sadie was sitting on the floor against the couch with her knees tucked against her chest and her face buried in her arms. She looked up at me when she heard the door close. Her eyes were red and her face was streaked with tears, which she tried to quickly wipe away."I'm sorry that I woke you."

I sat next to her. "Don't apologize." She buried her face back in her arms.

"You didn't have to come."

"I know."

She seemed to collect herself and stood up. I followed her until she reached Grandpa's room and watched her go inside. I saw that he was lying on the bed and wearing his set of Mandalorian armor. She grabbed his helmet that was on the table and gently put it on him. She then walked out, closed the door, and broke into tears.

Without really thinking about it, I pulled her close to me and hugged her. She buried her face in my chest.

We stood there like that for a while. She had finished crying, but still didn't let go. After what felt like forever, I could feel her grip loosen. She yawned, and it took all of my willpower not to yawn too.

"Hey. Come on. It's late. You should get some sleep."

She nodded and let go. She walked over to the couch and sat down. My shirt had a large wet spot now. I didn't really care.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry. I forgot you had that test today."

Oh. I forgot about that as well. "It's fine. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"But if you fail then-"

"I won't fail. I guarantee it. Get some sleep."

She nodded and layed down on the couch.

She was asleep when I left the house. I left a note telling her that I'll be gone for a few days because the test was at Kamino, but that I'll be back as soon as I can. I flagged down a cab and got back to my house. When inside, I grabbed fresh clothes and took a shower, then went in the Jedi Temple to find the Hammerhead corvette I was taking to Kamino. The captain looked at me in surprise.

"Here a little early, aintya?"

I shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

He let out a throaty laugh. "Oy Trent! He couldn't sleep! That's 3 credits you owe me!"

I could hear some creative cursing coming from the back. The captain turned to me, obviously satisfied. "We like to do some friendly betting on the crew we charter. You're taking that test right?"

I nodded.

"Nervous?"

"Yea."

He slapped me on the shoulder with his large calloused hand. "Don't be! I haven't crashed once this week! Come on board lad!"

The trip to Kamino was rather uneventful. Thankfully the transport didn't have any windows.

I had the entire ride to study for the test. But I didn't. I tried to at first, but my mind kept going back to Sadie.

It didn't go to feeling bad for her though. I'm not a terrible person I promise. Feeling bad for her was automatic. The empathy happened naturally.

Instead, I tried to understand her. While we'd spent a lot of time together over the past four weeks, I still felt like she was a bit of an enigma. Every time I learned something new, more and more questions popped up. I decided to run through everything from the beginning.

I met her at the arena. From talking to her, I learned that she had only been fighting in the arena for a few months before we met. She didn't have any telltale signs of being sleep deprived, so she wasn't caring for her grandpa full time. He either wasn't as serious or she had someone else helping her. Someone who then quit at some point. Or maybe she couldn't afford it anymore.

Moving on, she'd given me a chip that allowed us to essentially link helmets. I haven't ever seen her tinkering with any parts at home, so I don't think she made it. But then where else could she have gotten that from? Of course, I could be wrong. I almost never went in her room.

Her banter had thrown me off. Nobody in the arena banters. Everybody is always either losing their mind or just stoic. I know I enjoyed the change of pace. However, the banter seemed to be much less present when I was at her house. This can most likely be attributed to her grandpa.

She didn't know what vestigial meant. She also said that she never got to finish her schooling. I now know that she wanted to be a pilot. I'm going to assume that she avoided anything biological during her education. Only in biology could you find anything vestigial.

She seemed to be able to pick up any gun and shoot it with deadly accuracy, even when it was her first time. Even for a Mandalorian, a race of people known for being exceptional warriors, that was no small feat. Her being Force-sensitive explains that.

Her Force-sensitivity also explained another thing I had once found odd. I've dealt with vornskr before. It's how Fral lost part of his ear. If a Force-sensitive is in the presence of someone who isn't, they'll completely ignore the normal person. All 12 should have come after me. Yet a few had gone for her as well. I assumed that it was because we were defending each other, but even when separated they went for her.

Her helmet is also intriguing. Mandalorian's don't usually have the fancy analyzing tech she seemed to use for the TAC. Hers seemed to be special. This was something I had no answers for. Maybe her family?

I know that she exchanged words with the besalisk, but I was in too much pain to understand any of that. But she very clearly saw what he was capable of. So why would she ever come to rescue me? This made even less sense when I learned that the Jedi killed her family and forced her to move.

Another thing I don't understand is how she found me. The Sith would never let her follow them along, which means she would have had to leave after they did. The only slightly plausible thing I could think of is she put a tracker on me. But that's a stretch. There's no reason for her to put a tracker on me, and I don't remember her putting a tracker on me.

I thought it strange that her immediate assumption when returning me was that it was an ambush to get her. I understand now that the Jedi are responsible for her whole tragic backstory and she assumes the worst. Her grandpa also probably fueled the fire somehow and made her more paranoid. Trust issues seemed to be present. Which also makes her decision to trust me and let me help with her grandpa that much more curious. Why?

This leads directly into backstory, which she refuses to speak about at all. I know essentially nothing about her early life, later life, or family in general. All I know is that her family died, she wanted to be a pilot, and what her parents looked like. Nothing about any other family or friends.

Which is something else I don't understand. She's a very likeable person. And yet, I can honestly say that I don't think she has any friends. I understand that she had to act as a caregiver, but what about friends from class? Or people around the area? To my knowledge, she hasn't once gone to see anybody. She doesn't greet anyone on the street; she only responds to others polite greetings, like a droid. Yet she spends so much time outside. When I was around, she would spend so much time outside in the sun, reading or working or just taking a nap.

The fact that she didn't seem to have any friends seemed pretty clear this morning. Of all the people she could have possibly called, she chose to call me, a Jedi who has only been showing up to help for four weeks. I mean, it's flattering and all, but I can't imagine that knowing someone who you've been seeing daily at your house for four weeks qualifies them as a best friend. Especially since much of that time was spent by me purposefully losing dejarik with her grandpa. Then again, I have minimal experience in the friend department.

A couple crew members came into the hold and asked me if I wanted to play sabacc. I decided to join the game to clear my mind. I used to swindle smugglers out of money playing sabacc. I'd lose on purpose, bet bigger, then win everything back. They weren't too happy about that. It's how Fral got the scar on his cheek.

I decided not to swindle anybody this time.