Calamity || The Mandalorian

nineteen

Kasia sighed in relief as she peeled her now wet clothes off of her skin, throwing them in a pile on the ground and slipping into a soft sweater and loose exercise pants. Making her way back to her and Mando's shared room, she grabbed a piece of meat from one of the plates she had stolen from the dining area.

After they had finished with the raiders, half the village had gone to the dinning area for a celebratory meal while the other half had simply gone how to get some rest. Suffice to say, exhausted and worn out from the battle, Kasia and Mando had been among the latter crowd. After picking up the child from the hut where he and the other children had been hiding, the three of them had returned home, the child already asleep in Kasia's arms when they got there.

Now, ready for sleep after her late-night snack, Kasia was just munching on the meat when she heard a noise from behind her. Turning slightly, she saw Mando and the food almost slipped out of her hands as she gaped at him.

He still had his helmet on, but all his other armor had been discarded, leaving him clad merely in pants and an undershirt. With a grunt, he placed his Beskar armor down next to the cot that Omera and a few other villagers had brought in before the fight.

Kasia struggled to rein in her surprise as he turned to face her.

We should probably go to bed soon, he informed her silently, not speaking aloud to avoid waking the already sleeping child in the crib adjacent to Kasia's bed.

Putting down the food still clenched in her hand, Kasia nodded once, trying not to look as though she were staring at Mando. Because honestly, without his armor on...

She shook her head slightly, trying to move her thoughts away from his broad shoulders and defined muscles and—

Shut up brain, she thought, jumping down from her seat at the table in their room, and making her way towards the bed. She shivered slightly as she made her way over, her bare feet on the cold floor.

"Well... good night," she muttered softly to Mando, as she slipped beneath the covers. He didn't reply, merely turning off the lights and enveloping the room in complete darkness, save a small sliver of moonlight coming in through a nearby window.

A wave of exhaustion hit Kasia as she rolled onto her side away from Mando, curling up under the mound of blankets that she had received from Omera.

Suddenly, she heard a slight hiss and a clink of metal on the ground come from near Mando's cot. Her eyes shot open in surprise as she realized that he must have taken off his helmet to sleep.

Holy shit, she thought, staring straight forward in the darkness, back turned toward where Mando lay without a helmet behind her. He's literally like five feet away from me without a helmet on. It would be so easy to—

As soon as it popped into her head, Kasia shut the thought down. As tempting as it might have been to finally put a face to the voice, it wasn't right. Mando obviously had his reasons for his secrecy about his face. And as curious a person as she might be—as much as she was dying to know what he looked like—she had to respect that.

Slowly she shut her eyes again, willing herself to fall asleep. Minutes passed as the two sat in darkness, the world silent save for the faraway chirping of some bug that Kasia assumed must have been native to Sorgan.

Kas? she suddenly heard in her head, Mando's thought somehow sounding like a whisper even in her mind. Are you awake?

At the words, Kasia nodded tiredly before realizing that without his helmet on it was unlikely that he could see her in the darkness. Burrowing her face into her pillow, she muttered a muffled, "Yeah, I'm awake."

Where did the name Kas come from? she wondered to herself, her brain cloudy from exhaustion. She decided that she didn't entirely hate it.

Mando didn't reply for a moment, and Kasia considered the possibility that perhaps she had imagined him speaking to her silently in the first place. It might explain the repetition of the new nickname used during the heat of the battle. But then...

Why were you so pale when you saw the AT-ST footprint earlier? he asked, his already silent words somehow sounding cautious even in her mind.

At the question, Kasia's eyebrows furrowed and she turned to face him, making sure to keep her eyes closed in case a ray of moonlight happened to hit him or it turned out she could see him through the darkness. She hesitated for a moment, contemplating her answer before finally replying, "I just—seeing the print... it brought up some memories about the other times I had seen AT-ST prints before."

At her words, Kasia's heart gave a small throb, but she found that... somehow it felt good. To admit it out loud. She had never told anyone about the attack on her planet or about having to escape or really anything. She had never really had anyone to tell.

And so, when Mando didn't immediately respond, Kasia went on, "Remember how I told you I come from a race with telepathy from the planet Eulentia?"

His reply was almost instantaneous.

Yes.

She took a deep breath before continuing, "Well, what I didn't tell you was that when I was seven the Empire decided that telepathy was simply too strong an ability for so many people to possess—too close to something called the Force. So, they attacked my home—my planet. And... they killed everyone." Tears unconsciously welled in the back of Kasia's closed eyes as she thought of her house, of playing catch with her mother and being tickled by her father. "They killed everyone," she repeated numbly.

Mando said nothing for a while, though Kasia knew he was still awake—she could sense his sadness and sorrow at the story and what she had revealed. She supposed it made her feel better—slightly.

When I was a child, I lived in Aq Vetina until our settlement was attacking during the Fall of the Republic by Separatist battle droids, he suddenly told her. At the information, her mouth dropped open. Mando was just about the most secretive person she had ever met. To think he was telling her this...

I was saved by the Mandalorians, he went on, and she could almost envision him shrugging. I had nothing left, so I was taken in as a foundling and trained in the Fighting Corps. They accepted me as one of their own, and I have followed their Creed ever since.

As he spoke to her silently, Kasia could feel a wide range of emotions roll off of him in a wave: sadness, gratitude, uncertainty—the list went on and on.

Her eyes still closed, Kasia nodded slowly. She paused before asking quietly, "And the Creed... that's why you never take off your helmet?"

This is the Way.

Kasia decided she was going to take that as a yes. She smiled dreamily, snuggling down into her pillow more, "Thanks for telling me Mando," her voice was sleepy as she spoke, obviously moments away from falling asleep.

Mando gave no reply as her breath started to even out, slowly giving into the seductive allure of sleep after a long, hard day.

And just before she fell into sleep's beckoning embrace, Kasia managed to hear his final remark.

My given name... is Din Djarin. 

*.*.*

Pacing? Sorry never heard of her.

Haha anyway sorry this chapter literally just consisted of fluff...