Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

|7|

Hot was an undeniable understatement as to what it was I was feeling right now. 

Scorching. 

Now that seemed to be a better fitting word for what I was really feeling.

I had already tediously stripped my brown leather jacket, rolled up the sleeves of my thin button-up shirt, and carefully undone a few of the small buttons, but I still felt like my body was scorching under the blazing sun. I still didn't understand how the hell Mando and the other Tusken Raiders were going throughout their day wearing all the layers that they were wearing while traveling through this hell of a desert. 

I think it was quite obvious that I preferred the cold vacuum of space compared to the dry heat of Tatooine. 

We've been riding on large banthas for a good twenty minutes now, letting the sun practically burn us alive as we slowly made our way across the sandy terrain. It didn't help that Mando and I were sharing one of the pack animals either. Not that I don't enjoy being close to him again, it's just that his armor had practically soaked up every sun ray it could and I could feel the sting of heat every time the burning beskar grazed my skin. 

The constant stinging was starting to drive me crazy, but I knew there wasn't anything I could do about it.

After another ten minutes or so, we had finally come to a stop near the edge of a ridge that sat not too far from a large opening. It reminded me of the time Mando and I had fought that mudhorn on Arvala-7. It's definitely been a minute since we've faced something like that together. I was just hoping that I could escape this one without any broken ribs. 

I quickly slide off of the bantha before walking over to the cliff, kneeling down and looking over to the large cage opening that was resting in front of us. One of the Tusken Raiders had gone ahead and was already leading one of the large banthas to the ominous-looking opening. His tedious job was starting to make my heart squeeze and ache. 

I knew that one of us was going to have to get up close to the opening one way or another, but I felt bad that he was the only one that had to go down there right now. 

"They say it lives in there, in an abandoned Sarlacc pit," Mando says, kneeling down next to me as he looked through a pair of dusty binocs. I nod my head and look towards the cave again, but when something in my head clicks, I instantly whip my head back over to Mando and the set of binocs he was using. He subtly looks down at me, quirking his head to the side as if he were asking me what was wrong. I smile and let out a small laugh.

"Don't those binocs kind of look like the ones we made that kid Toro Calican trade two years ago when we were hunting Fennec Shand?" I ask, nodding my head towards the binocs that were still resting in his gloved hands. he peels them away from his eyes, turning the device over a few times. He then lets out a deep chuckle, nodding his head as he did. 

"I think you're right," he chuckles, passing them over to me. I let out another laugh and take a look through them as I settle down, my eyes intently watching the Tusken Raider that was leading the large bantha to the opening of the cave. I pass the binocs back over to him and nod my head, letting him know that I was done. "They've studied this thing's digestion cycle for generations. They feed the dragon to make it sleep longer. Watch, it'll come out soon."

The man shouts, his cry echoing through the cave and back through the cavern he was standing in. After hearing a loud roar from the inside of the cave, he instantly whips around and starts sprinting back over to where we were hiding by the ridge. But low and behold, the dragon comes out a little too early and it completely misses the large bantha that was set out for it, going straight for the Tusken. He disappears in the jaws of the dragon, a large cloud of sand settling where he once stood.