A Hunter's Pride

Chapter 11: the catch

You woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and trembling, and clenched your hands onto your blanket. Another nightmare. Since you passed out on that planet, you had an awful lot of nightmares, each worse than the other. You took a deep breath and ran a hand through your hair, realizing it was pretty greasy.

"Right." You muttered.

You didn't had the chance to wash it since you agreed to that job. Quietly, you stood up, sneaking through the door and climbed through the half open hatch of Slave l. A smile formed on your lips when you realized he must've let it open to ventilate.

With a sigh, you made your way towards Maz' castle, even though you didn't know what you expected to find there. She had offered you and Boba to sleep in one of her rooms, but the bounty hunter had been quick to deny. He didn't want to tell you why, so you let the topic fall.

You took the last few stairs, then entered the room. Not to your surprise, many people were still awake, laughing and drinking and playing games. A bit uncomfortable, you tried to spot Maz and as soon as you saw her, you walked towards the woman. She played cards with a green Twi'lek, who was obviously losing.

"Try harder next time, darling." Maz said, before she showed her cards.

Angrily, the Twi'lek jumped on his feet and rushed out of the castle, under the laughter of the people. Meanwhile, Maz had spotted you.

"(Y/n), darling, why are you awake at a late hour like this?" She said and you smiled shyly.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Ah, I know that. Why don't you sit down with me and join us in our next round?"

You chuckled a bit, but shook your head.

"I'm not much of a player, but, tell me, do you have a place or something where I can take a bath?"

She laughed and nodded.

"Of course I do. Follow me."

The woman stood up and you followed her up a staircase into a long hallway. After a few doors, Maz stopped and pointed to a room on your right.

"Here, you can lock it from inside."

"Thank you." You smiled.

"Not a problem. You can use all the soaps you want." The woman said, before she turned around and walked back, down the staircase.

You stepped into the small room, taking a look at your surroundings. It was pretty dark, but you could make out a basin set into the floor and a few towels on a shelf on your left. After you locked the door, you looked after a water tap or something like that and when you found it, you were surprised by the warm water that came out of it.

You sighed and took of your clothes, before you carefully stepped into the warm water. Immediately, you relaxed and let yourself drift around.

After a while, you looked around for soap and were surprised to find a lot, each smelling different. You decided for one you didn't recognize the scent of and started to wash your hair with it, before you laid down in the water and enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere.

When you stepped outside the room again, your hair was still wet, but you didn't care much. Quietly, you walked down the stairs, thanked Maz and stepped outside again, taking a deep breath of the fresh night air, before you walked back to Slave l.

You almost were back inside, when a movement caught your eye. You turned around and saw a dark figure disappearing in the shadows of the forest, but you could clearly make out the features of a well known person.