PURPOSE | The Mandalorian

V

As it turned out, it was a lot easier to find Cara than I had originally hoped. She was camped out in the forest, not far from where the Crest was landed. She eventually agreed to come, and by the time we had everything loaded up onto the trolley, night had fallen.

Inside the trolley, the two boys sat at the front and steered it. I was sitting next to Din, who had the kid in his lap. Cara sat across from us, already asleep with her large arms crossed over her chest.

Din's head was laid back against the railing and I couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. I just assumed he was, his chest rising and falling at an even pace. My eyes burned with fatigue as well. I leaned against the crate next to me, resting my head on my arm.

"That doesn't look comfortable at all."

My head jerked up at the sound of Din's voice. He was now looking at me, the child still half asleep in his lap. I shrugged. "Not really," I said, "But I'll survive."

"Here, hold on." He gently lifted the kid off of his lap, situating himself in a way that left more rooms for me to lay out. Once he had the child snuggled up into his side, he reached an arm out to me. "You can lay on me."

I blinked at him. "Are you sure?"

"Of course." He used his fingers to beckon me closer to him. "I don't want you to be sore tomorrow."

"But what about you?"

He chuckled. "Don't worry about me."

With the blanket of sleep threatening to overcome me, I scooted closer to him as he wrapped his arm around me, letting his hand hover just above my hip. He pulled me closer as I laid my head in the soft spot just above his breastplate.

"Thank you," I whispered to him.

Din hummed softly, like he usually does, but he sounded pleased. He pulled me even closer, and the bottom rim of his helmet rested on the top of my head.

And as I listened to the faint beating of his heart, the darkness of sleep swiftly carried me away.

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"Jeyna, wake up. We're here." Din softly shook me awake. I blinked my eyes open, and he was looking down at me from where I was laying on his chest. It was still the middle of the night when we arrived, and when I glanced at Cara, she wasn't there.

"Where's Cara?"

He placed both of his hands on my waist, helping me stand. "She's already in her room." He jumped off the trolley. "Come on, I'll show you ours."

I hesitated. "Ours?"

"They only had two lodges available." He held his hand out to help me off the trolley, but I jumped down anyway, ignoring it. He quickly put his hand down. "I said you would be staying with me."

I hummed in response. The two boys that had driven us here were working hard to unload all of our things. As I turned to grab some of our stuff, one of the boys whisper shouted, "No!"

I staggered back, half by his sudden outburst and half because I was still foggy from sleep. The boy clarified as he grabbed the crate I attempted to pick up, "We'll get it all. You go and get some rest."

I yawned as I nodded. A gloved hand snaked around my waist again, pulling me in the direction of the village. "Let them handle it," Din whispered in my ear.

He led me to a wooden hut on the edge of the village with the front doorway covered by a white cloth. Din drew back the curtain and led me inside, steering me straight to the bed. "Get some sleep," He said as I sat on the mattress, "We'll start scouting the forest tomorrow."