Mandalorian Lost

Chapter 17

Something stirs inside my chest as Sorgan comes into view. Sitting in my seat in the cockpit, I'm able to see the vibrant blue and green outlines of forests and lakes below. We soar ever closer, and the little green child in my lap giggles as recognition dawns in his eyes.

"You remember this place, little guy?" I chuckle, squeezing his sides as we soak in the scenery that grows closer and closer. Grogu's tiny clawed hand reaches out and I lift him enough so he can press it against the glass. I duck my head down so I can whisper to him as he watches the trees go by below us. "Look at all those trees," I say, guiding his hand along the window. "What do you think?"

He giggles louder in response, cooing softly as a familiar little krill farm comes into view. I laugh with him, though it falters when I catch Mando staring at us. I shoot him a questioning glance, wondering what's got his eyes pulled away from the window, but he only turns his head back to the world outside without a word.

"We're here," he announces after a few more moments of swooping over the trees. I suspect he took a few extra laps around the village for the kid's amusement, but I'm not about to voice that thought.

I let out a shaky sigh as we touch down in the tall grass just beyond the familiar huts and barns. The village is exactly the way we left it, except the smiles seem brighter and the whole place-people included-just seems renewed.

I'm hit with laughter-literally-as we walk down the Crest's ramp. A mass of children slam into me, laughing so hard I think they might stop breathing, and reach up to tickle the little green child in my arms. Mando stands beside me completely free of children and I shoot him a light glare for it. He seems brighter too, as strange as it sounds. It took us two days to get back to Sorgan, mostly because we wanted to savor as many restful nights as we could before Mustafar, and in that time Mando had become more open.

He graced me and the kid with his tiny chuckle of a laugh more often. He even teased the kid a few times. His favorite thing seemed to be calling the kid a womp rat, which I usually scolded him for. Once he even got comfortable enough to try to hold my beskar staff and get a better look at it, but I quickly shut that down.

I turn to him now, my green eyes finding him easily over the children's heads. His visor tilts in my direction and I raise my eyebrows. "Ready?" I ask, giving him one last chance to turn his back on our plan. He only nods, so I start trying to wade my way through the crowd of children.

"Tara, can you make the frogs float for us again?" One of the children asks, screeching to get her voice above the others. I glance down at her, recognizing her big brown eyes as they twinkle up at me.

"Maybe later, Winta," I say, biting back a laugh when she lights up at hearing her own name. "Could you get your mother for us?" With an eager nod, she runs off into the village, taking the herd of other children with her. Grogu whines after them, but I'm not ready to release him yet. My stomach still churns at the idea of leaving him here.

When Winta returns, she's dragging the hand of her mother behind her. Omera chuckles down at the eager girl before her eyes pull upward and she staggers to a stop. She only has eyes for Mando, as I expected, and he returns her gaze. Her jaw hangs open a few seconds before she snaps it shut and hurries toward us. I raise an eyebrow when she quickly smooths down a few stray hairs and wipes her palms on her skirt.

"We did not expect to see you here," she says hurriedly, stopping just in front of us. She swallows hard and shakes her head. "Ever."

"Hello," Mando says stiffly. He dips his head down at her and a soft smile graces her lips. She's beautiful, and graceful, and absolutely smitten with him. And unlike our last visit here, I'm finding myself more and more bothered by that.