A Life Without Meaning

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 (𝕀𝕀)

As they finally left Tatooine's atmosphere, Ellia couldn't help but notice the awkward energy about the cabin.

The Frog Lady was sitting in the right-side passenger seat, her eggs stored down in the hull along with the child and a majority of their cargo.

Ellia sat opposite from her, for some reason still finding the whole situation hilarious.

"Now I'm gonna ask you to stay strapped in whenever you're seated." Din said, sounding like the captain of a transport ship. "Traveling sublight is a bit dicey these days. Whether it's pirates or warlords, someone either ends up with a nice chunk of change or your ship."

The Frog Lady replied to his words with another croak.

Din shook his head helplessly,

"I don't speak whatever language that is." he said, "You speak Huttese?" he asked, then proceeded to try and fail miserably at some of the syllables.

Ellia coughed slightly to cover up the laugh that was trying to escape her throat, as Din flicked a switch on the control panel defiantly.

The silence continued as the Nav computer beeped pleasantly, Din honing in on the location of the planet they were heading for.

"So I'm gonna hit the rack. I've set the Nav for our course. It's gonna take a while. I recommend you get some rest." Din said as he spun around in the pilots chair, rising to leave the cabin entirely.

As he crossed the threshold, Ellia looked over at their passenger, offering a small apologetic smile before rising to follow in the Mandalorian's footsteps.

"You're getting pretty good at the whole 'public relations' thing" she said jokingly as she climbed down the ladder after him.

She jumped down into the hull, turning around only to find him practically looming over her.

"Funny" he noted lowly.

Ellia found herself fighting back yet another smile.

Din then walked over to hit the panel on the safe room, only to find it empty.

"Kid?" he called out worriedly.

Ellia immediately looked over her shoulder out into the hull. Her eyes quickly widening,

"No, no, no!" she shouted, running over to him. But not in time as it were, the child had already gobbled up one of the eggs from inside the big, liquid container the Frog Lady had brought with her.

Ellia scooped him up into her arms, looking down at the creature with furrowed eyebrows.

"That is not food" she attempted to scold, but the child just looked back up at her with those big old, innocent eyes and she found herself sighing. "Don't do that again."

"Nap time." a gruff voice sounded from over her shoulder.

Ellia nodded in agreement,

"Nap time" she confirmed. She walked over to the safe room herself, gently placing the child in a makeshift hammock that they had crafted out of ripped up pieces of fabric from old clothes. She then stepped back with a soft smile.

Din approached the safe room to presumably climb in himself, as that's where he would sleep most of the time if he hadn't fallen asleep in the pilot's chair. How he was comfortable curled up in there, especially with his armor on, was completely beyond Ellia's understanding. But she imagined that it made him feel better to be close to the child.

Before going in, he appeared to hesitate. When suddenly he was turning around to look down at Ellia, who was still standing at his side.

For some unknown reason, Ellia felt the skin underneath the collar of her shirt heat up.