Partners | The Mandalorian

iv

The child was a surprise, but Calidora asked no questions. Truth be told she was excited, she absolutely adored children and traditionally maternal things. And the fact that the Mandalorian came to her with this showed some sliver of trust he had for her.

She didn't ask, but he gave her some bits of an explanation anyway.

"I pissed off some people, so they'll be coming after the child. I figured this was as safe a place as any to lay low for a while."

Calidora sat down in the grass garden with the little guy, the Mandalorian standing over them in a protective pose. She waved her hands around, watching as the child's big eyes followed in understanding.

"Are you going to stay?" Calidora looked up at him. "You're welcome to if you want."

The Mandalorian was silent for a moment, probably contemplating an answer for whether he thought it was safe or not. At first he was just going to drop off the child and leave, but after watching it, and having an idea of what it was capable of, he couldn't just leave it.

"Thank you," he told Calidora. "I won't take up much space."

"Take up as much as you want," she picked up the child and stood. "I let go of most of the guards and staff, there's space and tranquility. No one should rat us out."

She led the man, and carried the child, back inside and to one of the bedrooms in her mansion. It was decent, a bed, dresser, and nightstand.

"I'm guessing you want him to stay with you so I'll get one of the staff to put one of the old cribs in the corner." Calidora stood in the doorway as the Mandalorian surveyed the room.

"Thank you." He nodded to her and sat on the bed, a lot more comfortable than his cot on the Razor Crest.

"You can call me Calidora, you know." She bounced the child on her hip.

"Calidora?"

"We're partners now."

"Partners?"

"Yea, you know," she spoke to the Mandalorian but made faces at the child to make him coo. "Like partners in crime."

The Mandalorian chuckled softly as Calidora walked up to him to give him the child. Then she smiled and pointed at the wall behind her.

"The room at the end of the hall is locked," she said. "Under no circumstances are you allowed to go in."

"What's in it?" He asked and placed the child more comfortably on his leg.

Calidora shrugged.

"My husband." And walked out.

The Mandalorian looked at the child.

"She's something else." And the baby cooed in response.

Life went on relatively smoothly after that. Calidora slowly diminished Qe'in business, cutting ties, selling out branches, she figured since he was dead he wouldn't mind, and Calidora didn't have much of a desire to run it. She transferred most of her profits away to different places, investments she called it. The Mandalorian held a steady routine, as far as she could tell. He would get up in the morning and find Calidora to give her the child and receive breakfast, immediately going back to his room to eat. Then he would disappear until randomly showing up to check on the child or for a meal. Calidora didn't mind, but he definitely wasn't used to the parenthood he put himself into, so Calidora did most of it.

One morning he came down, and refusing breakfast, he simply sat with Calidora and the child as they ate.

"I need you to watch him for the morning, I have somewhere to be." Calidora finished up her breakfast.

The Mandalorian nodded, usually she left for a business deal or something of the sort so he didn't question it. He just took the child outside like Calidora does and tinkered with his Beskar as the child waddled around, babbling as he tried to communicate with things. The Mandalorian simply tuned it out until he heard nothing, and then realized that the child was nowhere to be found.

In a panic he jumped to his feet, scanning everywhere for heat signatures, and following a set of tiny footprints left.

He sprinted around, throughout the garden until he noticed the little womp rat staring out at something. The Mandalorian sighed in relief as he walked quickly towards him, scooping him up as the child held his arms in the direction he was looking at. The Mandalorian followed the child's gaze to find Calidora a ways away, standing solemnly in front of a small monument.

"Calidora?" He asked to no one in particular, then started moving towards her. "Calidora?"

The sound of her name caught her ears as she turned towards the Mandalorian and child who were approaching her.

"Hey, you." She said, her eyes slightly red.

The Mandalorian told her she could call him Mando if she wanted, other people did so. But Calidora didn't like nicknames, and besides, if she said 'hey' or 'you' he would know she was talking to him anyway.

As the Mandalorian took the last few steps towards her, he noticed that the monument was a tombstone, with the name JUNA engraved delicately, a fresh set of flowers laid at the foot of it.

"How long has it been?" He asked cautiously, keeping his voice as monotone as possible.

"Too long." Calidora's eyes grazed over the stone. "And the more time that passes the less and less space she occupies in my mind."

"You don't want that?" The Mandalorian looked at the girl, the child being uncharacteristically quiet.

"I guess..." Calidora sighed and dragged her fingers along the engravings, tips catching the grooves. "I guess I feel guilty. I don't want to wake up one day and have her as a speck in my memory, not when she meant that much to me."

The Mandalorian didn't know what to say, what to do. The closest he could relate to were his parents, he remembered how much they meant to him, and he remembered the fear and heartbreak when he was put in that cellar, but they were distant memories for him now. He felt that this might comfort her in some way - and he did want to comfort her, despite the unorthodox way they met, she was so willing to help, and she was such a big help he wanted to return the favour - so he opened his mouth to tell her, but was cut off by the sound of a blaster and residue on Juna's tombstone.

"Get down!" The Mandalorian shouted.

The two simultaneously dove behind Juna's grave, backs against the cool stone as the Mandalorian gave the child to Calidora, who held him to her chest to protect him. The louder sound of blasters indicated that the Mandalorian started firing back, but Calidora kept down.

"There's two of them." The Mandalorian huffed. "Someone sold us out!"

"That's not possible!" Calidora knew she only kept those that were loyal.

"We'll they're here now, so!" He fired a couple of shots.

The Mandalorian raised himself to fire, and from the looks of it he got one of them, but a shot hit his shoulder. A loud ting and the Mandalorian took cover again, thankful for his Beskar. Callidora placed the child up against the grave.

"Give me a blaster!" She urged and the Mandalorian took one from his holder and tossed it to her without thought. She took a second to survey it, then nodded and lifted her head to find the person shooting at them.

When she located their hiding place, she placed her blaster steadily on top of the grave, aimed, and shot. A second later she saw the body hit the ground.

"Nice shot." The Mandalorian breathes heavily.

"Thanks." Calidora whispered.

For a second they both stayed quiet.

"We need to leave." The Mandalorian said.

"We?" Calidora looked at him.

The Mandalorian holstered his blaster before standing up, the child following suit.

"If someone sold us out then they know you're with us, it's not safe here anymore." He held his hand out for his blaster and Calidora handed it to him.

"I guess we do need to leave then."