Balance || The Mandalorian [ON HIATUS]

✦ Five

My mind raced as I struggled to comprehend the sight in front of me. The creature looked exactly like Master Yoda, just younger and, well, cuter. Its large, pointed ears and wrinkled head were unmistakable. 

I felt fireworks go off in the back of my head, then a connection. A bond. It was a sensation that I had not felt in a long time, not since the fall of the Jedi order.

The child was force-sensitive.

"This child is a bounty,"   I reminded myself. Even if he was force-sensitive, the Jedi order was long gone. He had to be brought in to the client with no questions asked. The Bounty Hunters' Guild was founded off of this one principle - it had to be the right thing to do. But is it?

The sound of a blaster firing brought me back to reality. I turned my head just in time to see the droid next to me fall to the ground. Good. I then looked to Mando who nodded at me. 

"We should go." 

In hindsight, it probably would have been a good idea to tie up the Blurrg. Perhaps then, we wouldn't have been ambushed after walking for hours in the sweltering heat of a desert surrounded by nothing but sand.  The incident exhausted Mando and I, so as the sun started to go down, we decided to make camp and rest for the night.

 After we started a small fire, I sat down to observe the child. He seemed curious of his new surroundings, observing us with bright eyes. Next to me sat Mando, trying and failing to cauterize his wound. 

I frowned. "You didn't say that you were injured." 

Without looking up, he responded, "Not much."

I scoffed. "At least let me help you."

"I'm f-"

"No, you're not," I said firmly. I took the cauterizer from his hands.  "I can help." I turned on the device and slowly brought it closer to the cut on Mando's arm. The wound did not seem to be very deep, but the process of cauterization was unpleasant to say the least. Mando inhaled sharply, and I winced. "Sorry. I'm nearly done." After a few moments, the process was over and I put down the cauterizer. 

"Thank you."

Hearing the sound of soft footsteps, I looked to the side and saw the child reaching out with his arm. His intentions did not go unnoticed to me, but it was best for baby Yoda to keep his abilities under wraps, at least for now. 

"What are you doing, little one?" I inquired. The child cooed and looked up at me, as if asking why I stopped him. I know, believe me. But you cannot do it here. I sent the message to the child, hoping he had understood, and gently placed him back in his carrier.

The next morning, we woke bright and early to continue the journey back to Mando's ship. As we approached the Razor Crest, the missing parts and holes caught my attention, as well as the sandcrawler next to it. 

"Oh, no," I muttered. "Jawas." We shot at the Jawas, but they retreated into their crawling fortress of death with the ship's parts. Mando being Mando, he ran towards it. I sighed deeply and turned to the child, whose eyes shined with amusement. 

"Wonderful. He wants to get himself killed." 

Following a few amusing minutes during which Mando tried unsuccessfully to retrieve his ship's parts, he was thrown unceremoniously to the ground. I grimaced at the loud thump and began to walk over to where he had landed, the child's cradle following me. "Mando? You okay?" My words received no response from Mando, but I could hear modulated breathing from under his helmet.