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itsjuststardust · 18 days ago

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Heaven in Hiding - Chapter 19: First Light

Heaven in Hiding Masterlist

Chapter Summary: You can’t say things like that.

Word Count: 11,734

Author's Note/Chapter Warnings: This is what I consider a “well-rounded” chapter. There is fluff. There is flirting. There is plot. There is a sprinkle of angst. Half of it is complete and utter filth (seriously, chapter warnings here, the first half of this is basically porn, but there’s plot too!) I hope you enjoy it… for the plot… 😈

🎵Chapter Soundtrack🎵 comes from the song 'First Light' by Hozier.

MINORS - DO NOT INTERACT - 18+ ONLY

Chapter 19: First Light

His eyes snapped open at the feeling of a sharp kick to his shin.

“Alaina,” he grunted, grabbing her right leg to hook back over his to prevent her from kicking him again.

She mumbled something incoherent in her sleep and tried to kick out with her leg again, but he held the limb against his leg and tried to soothe her dreams by rubbing his hand up and down her bare thigh. Her muscles twitched and spasmed against him as she faced whatever she was dreaming about. Din continued to rub her thigh, periodically stopping to massage the muscles under him. When her brow furrowed in distress, he snuck his left arm under her to hold her tightly to his chest.

After another minute, Alaina’s bad dream seemed to fade. Her distressed face went slack, and her body relaxed into his embrace.

He looked outside and saw the sunrise beginning to creep over the horizon, lighting the landscape in its soft pink light. He tried to fall back asleep, but he was a bit like the kid. When he was awake, he was awake.

Speaking of… Din looked back at the alcove and smiled at the kid still sleeping soundly in his hammock.

His helmet rolled back as he looked at the sleeping blonde in his arms. The pink rays of the morning light spilled into the hold, illuminating Alaina’s honey-blonde hair in shades of pink and gold. He was stunned at the beautiful, glowing creature sleeping in his arms. He couldn’t help himself, and his hand left her leg to slowly tug the blanket down to reveal her body inch by delectable inch. He took her all in, appreciating how ethereal she looked bathed in the pink morning light.

They didn’t get to see one another last night, but Din thought it was perfect at the time. They were both on the same level, no helmets or blindfolds, just them.

The arm under her body flexed, and his hand splayed out to cup her breast. Her skin responded instantly to his touch, breaking out in a layer of gooseflesh, and he could feel her nipple under his calloused hand pebble and harden.

But now that he was looking at her in the fresh morning light, he realized that while last night was perfect, it wasn’t comparable to being able to see her. To be able to see her with her mouth hung open in ecstasy, to be able to see her soft, sweet cunt up close, or being able to watch where their bodies connected…

His free hand moved from the blanket to return to her thigh, skating up the skin in the middle.

But this wasn’t Sorgan. This wasn’t them saying goodbye. This was their beginning. There would be other opportunities to explore in the dark, in the light, on other planets. There would be more mornings to wake up like this. Sleepy mornings where he woke up hungover from pleasure.

His knee bent between her legs, and he opened her up, allowing his hand to slip up and his fingers to run through her folds. Alaina mumbled and shifted briefly at the contact but didn’t wake at his touch. Din let his fingers hover briefly at her entrance, flexing his fingertips so they grazed the soft skin beneath them. As he continued his quiet explorations, he closely watched her face, anticipating her to wake up at any moment. But when her face remained slacked in sleep, he flexed his fingers, sliding the roughened pads through her center until he found that sensitive bud hiding inside.

Alaina mumbled something and shifted but still didn’t wake up.

He skated his fingers around her a couple of times, and when she still didn’t wake up, he drifted down to her entrance and slowly eased his finger inside. Her soft channel was warm, and when he dragged his finger slowly out only to push the digit back in at the same languid speed, he felt her body respond as the wetness increased with each slow pump he gave her.

Din was honestly (pleasantly) surprised to find that Alaina hadn’t woken up yet. She was such a light sleeper that she usually startled awake, at least briefly, at the slightest sounds or movements. So, for Din to have this moment to have her to himself so early in the morning was a treat.

He added his index finger to join his middle inside her heat, and when his knuckles scraped her folds, he rocked them against her clit as his fingers curled and stroked inside of the velvet sheath they were embedded in.

“Mmmm,” Alaina hummed in her sleep, and the bridge of her nose scrunched together.

His arm holding her back against his chest tugged her back to him, and his hand danced across her chest, his fingers dragging and skating around her erect nipples, standing at attention and straining for his touch in the cool morning air. When he twisted his fingers, still slowly driving deep inside of her, Alaina moaned and rocked her hips into his hand.

He kept his slow, tortuous pace, but when her hips rocked back into his and rubbed against the hard-on straining for her through his sweats, he couldn’t help but rock against her ass, seeking friction to help alleviate his growing discomfort. When she let out another moan in her sleep, he used his hand that was still slowly pumping between her legs to pin her ass against his erection, unable to stop himself from rutting against her.

“Mmmm, Din,” she hummed his name as her body started to writhe against his hand, seeking her own pleasure even in her sleep.

Dank farrik, she was moaning his name in her sleep now?

“Din,” she whispered again, and he watched with a sinful smile as her eyes fluttered open. “Din?” she asked sleepily and moaned when he brought his thumb up to rub her clit. “Din!” she gasped as she came alive. “Wh-what—”

“Good morning, Tranyc,” he murmured, and his smile grew when her lust-filled emerald eyes looked back at him.

Her mouth opened as if to say something, but it dropped open, and her eyes closed when he hooked his fingers inside of her, finding that soft spot deep inside of her that he’d categorized as far back as Sorgan as one of her spots. He propped the leg with hers on top of it up so he could open her up more for him now that she was awake. Her eyes screwed closed, and she struggled to catch her breath, but when his other hand went to pinch her nipple and roll it between his fingers, her eyes flew open.

“Din,” she moaned and tried to turn, but he held her back firmly against his chest as he increased the tempo of his thrusts, but still paused just long enough to apply extra pressure to that spot inside of her, forcing quiet gasps from her each time she took him to his knuckles. “Din, I wasn’t—I thought this was a dream.”

“Not dreaming, Alaina,” he murmured, and the hand fondling her chest left just in time to clamp down over her mouth before her cries woke up the kid. “I need you to be quiet, Tranyc,” he said, tilting her head to look up at his helmet. You don’t want to wake the kid up, do you?” Alaina’s eyes widened, and she frantically shook her head. “Good girl,” came his quiet praise.

Alaina’s hips jolted at the praise, and he could feel her gasp into his hand.

“Look at you, sweet thing,” he murmured, keeping the pace the same but increasing the force of his strokes between her legs. Alaina moaned into his palm, and her walls clenched around his fingers. “My clever girl. Look at you being so good for me.” Her eyes widened, and he could feel her winding up. “You’re not gonna cum until I tell you you can cum, understand?” Her green eyes darkened in lust, and he bore down, pumping and grinding his fingers inside of her. “I said—Do—You—Understand?” he asked, punctuating each word by slamming his hand against her.

She nodded her head and moaned into his hand.

“Good girl,” he purred, and with one last thrust of his fingers, he hooked them inside of her heat and began working them against her soft walls in a frantic massage.

Alaina was slowly losing the battle, and she stared up at him with pleading eyes, unable to take a breath as his fingers worked inside of her. Her cunt was clamped so tightly around his fingers that he didn’t think he would be able to withdraw them from her until she came.

“Do you want to cum on my fingers, Tranyc?” Alaina nodded desperately into his hand. He hummed at her eagerness. “Cum for me, sweet thing,” he ordered, swiping his thumb against her clit.

It was instantaneous. Her face drew together while her walls cinched impossibly tighter around his fingers, and he watched as her climax crashed into her. Her velvet walls spasmed over his fingers while her body shook against him, all while she screamed into his hand. His helmet turned, taking in her body, noting everything. When he made it to where he still had his hand inside her, it was just in time to feel her walls flutter over his fingers before she gushed over his hands, drenching his entire hand down to his wrist in her juices, and he couldn’t stop the moan that ripped from him.

When he finally pulled his head back to look at her, he was greeted by a pair of sated, unfocused emerald eyes looking back at him as she came down. She looked like she was a thousand clicks away as her body stopped convulsing one limb at a time.

The sun had shifted higher into the sky since he first had awoken and came in at just the right angle to shine over her face, lighting her eyes in a kaleidoscope of various shades of green that made him lose his breath. He swallowed the rush of emotions that threatened to wash over him because he couldn’t believe this was his, that she was his.

That this could be how every day begins.

As the last flutter of her muscles left her, she melted into him and the cot, and he released his hold over her mouth, and her breathless pants filled the quiet hold of the Crest. Din pulled his arm out from under her, and her back followed his arm until her top half was lying flat on the bed while her bottom half and her legs were still twisted against him.

“Goo-d—Good morning,” she whispered, smiling up at him.

“Good morning, Tranyc,” he murmured, leaning down to tip his helmet up to capture her lips in a kiss. He couldn’t help himself. And it came with the bonus of muffling her cry when he finally pulled his fingers from between her legs. He turned his head from her and sucked her juices clean from his fingers with a moan of pleasure before he slid his helmet back in place. He smiled at the pink blush that took over her cheeks and down her neck.

“I’m naked,” she mumbled with a blink.

“Mmmhmmm,” he hummed. “Have been for several hours now.”

Her blush deepened, and her eyes slid from his helmet to the alcove, where the kid was thankfully still sleeping. It was the least the little green cock-block could do for him after yesterday. “He’s still sleeping?” she asked.

He looked back to the kid still snoring away in his hammock and nodded.

Alaina’s eyes shifted to something more mysterious, and she shuffled quietly on the cot until she reached her feet to stand next to it. Din stared up at her, awestruck at the side of her bare body just standing before him, but it was her hair. The disheveled mess of wavy golden curls cascading down her back to her waist picked up morning light and made her appear like a glowing goddess.

“Come on,” she whispered, wiggling her fingers for him to take her hand.

“Where are you planning on going, mesh’la?” he asked, leaning back to rest against the inside hull of the ship. “You’re naked,” he reminded her.

“I know,” she whispered. “And now, I’m going to go outside. You know, I just thought it might be nice to warm up in the sun. Naked.” She gave him one last sultry look before she turned and sauntered away from him, swaying her hips as she walked out of the ship.

Din blinked, not expecting her to walk out of the door naked. With one last look back at the kid, he scrambled to get off the cot, kicking the blanket off his feet before he became even more tangled to prevent the white-knit blanket from winning the battle and sending him toppling to the floor.

“Alaina,” he whispered, shaking the blanket off his foot before trotting after her. “Alaina!” he whisper-yelled as he stepped onto the ramp. He didn’t have to look far for her; she was standing on the ground off the side of the ramp, smiling innocently. “Tranyc, what are you doing outside?”

She shrugged, but her smile was still plastered across her face. “It feels weird being in there doing… things when Grogu is basically in the room with us. I thought we might like some privacy.”

He stepped off the ramp and rolled his eyes when his bare feet sank into the mud left over from yesterday’s storm—the things this karking temptress could make him do. “And now that we’re outside, in the mud,” he paused to emphasize his displeasure, which only broadened her smile. “Just what kind of things do we need privacy for?”

Alaina rested a hand on the center of his chest and walked him until his back was pressed against the outside hull of the Crest. “I think I’m going to miss the sunrises the most,” she murmured, using her index finger to draw random patterns across his chest while she spoke.

He hummed in agreement, but he wasn’t looking at the sunrise. He was looking at her. Din gathered some of her hair over her shoulders, appreciating the way the honey-blonde hair soaked in the pink morning light. “We need privacy to appreciate the sunrise?” he murmured, playing with one of the golden curls.

Her emerald doe-eyes blinked at him, and he watched dumbly as she slowly sank to her knees. Alaina kept her green eyes focused on him while her hands ran up the top of his thighs until they found the waistband of his sweats. He sucked in a shaky breath as her delicate fingers grabbed onto the black elastic sweats and began to pull them down his thighs, only stopping once his cock was freed from its confinements. Alaina refused to break eye contact with him even as she grabbed his shaft in her hand and slowly stroked him.

“Alaina,” he rushed out. He was frozen in place against his own ship. He couldn’t even move his hands. He could only stand there, looking down at her green eyes while her thumb swiped the bead of pre-cum leaking from his tip. “Alaina,” he whispered when he watched her lean forward but was struck silent when her pink lips placed the most delicate, innocent kiss on his tip. With her eyes still looking up at him, she leaned forward, taking his head inside her mouth. “Fuck!” Din growled and clenched his teeth when her tongue circled his head.

Alaina opened her mouth, releasing him from her warmth, and her eyes dropped to study his cock, bobbing eagerly in front of her face. Her knuckles came up to brush the underside, petting the engorged vein there and traveling all the way down until she made it to his base before she gripped him tightly in her hand, forcing a static gasp out of his helmet. His cock twitched in her hand, and she watched it bob in front of her for a moment before she angled him up and leaned in, taking the flat of her tongue to lick the vein from her hand back up to the tip.

He could feel him rigid and throbbing in her hand, glistening in the morning sun from her saliva, and just when he thought that nothing could top that image, Alaina’s emerald eyes lifted to find his lurking behind his helmet. Her hand started pumping his length in her grip.

“Are you enjoying the sunrise?” she asked. Her voice was sweet, but her smile was absolutely sinister.

Not able to trust his words, Din just nodded—the sunrise. There would be no other sunrise that would ever compare to this one.

“Good,” Alaina smiled, and then her eyes fluttered closed as her head descended over him.

“Oh, fuck,” he growled out through clenched teeth. He had to slam the palms of his hands against the hull of his ship to keep himself from grabbing her by the head and slamming his cock down her throat.

Her mouth and lips worked slowly up and down his rigid length. Her tongue glided under him with every bob her head made, driving him wild. When Alaina attempted to sink down to meet her hand still gripping the base of his cock, she stilled and hollowed her cheeks as she sucked and pulled herself off him. When he saw the small string of her saliva connecting his tip to her lips, Din let out a low groan. His hips rocked involuntarily to seek the warmth of her mouth again.

Her hand that was still gripping him started to pump his cock again, and this time, Alaina started twisting her hand, changing the angle and allowing her to spread her saliva evenly over him. “You’re too big,” she commented, frowning at his cock with a contemplative look on her face. “I don’t think I can fit all of you in my mouth.”

“Alaina,” he breathed out, bucking into her hand. “Tranyc, you can’t say things like that right now,” he groaned.

Her eyes slid from his cock back up to his helmet, and he had to gulp down the embarrassing swell of feelings rising inside nervously. “I’m sorry,” she said, blinking up at him innocently. “Is this not good for you?”

Some kind of high-pitched, embarrassing groan escaped him, and he had to clench his fists at his sides. “You can’t honestly be asking that,” he said, trying to get his breathing under control.

“I want this to be good for you,” she whispered, swiping her thumb over his slit on her next pass, forcing him to shiver. “You always make sure I feel good. You’re… experienced… and I’m… not,” she finished, looking nervous.

“Alaina—”

“I was with a boy once in school,” she started, cutting him off. “We had been dating for a while, and I had offered to… ya know,” she said, moving her eyes back to his cock, dangerously close to her mouth.

“Not really sure now is the right time to discuss our past experiences,” he panted through clenched teeth.

“But I want to make sure that you’re happy. I’ve never done this for anyone before. I want to do it right. For you,” she finished, looking back up at him with those karking doe-eyes.

“Don’t tell me that idiot turned your offer down?” Now may not be the best time to discuss their previous experiences, but Din couldn’t believe that Alaina had never—

“Oh, he didn’t. It just never happened,” she clarified. “We were kissing, and I slid my hand in his pants, and the second I grabbed him… it was… well, over.”

A surprised bark of laughter left him, and he realized too late that Alaina took that as him, laughing at her when she let him go. “No,” he whispered, grunting through the loss of contact. “Don’t—Not laughing at you, Alaina,” he said, shaking his head. “Does it look like I’m not enjoying myself?” Alaina opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head again. “Alaina, not laughing at you, mesh’la. I just…” he tapered off and sighed. “How old were you?”

“Seventeen,” she muttered, her cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment.

Seventeen. Maker. “Alaina, as someone who was previously a seventeen-year-old boy at one point, if you—If someone as perfect as you came up to me and offered to do anything with me, you wouldn’t have even been able to get your hands down my pants because it would have been over for me at just the offer,” he said, chuckling.

Alaina’s blush burned hotter, and she looked down to hide the embarrassed smile that graced her face.

“Alaina, you have nothing to be embarrassed about, mesh’la. You—This is perfect. Don’t be embarrassed. You can practice on me to your heart's content whenever you want,” he sighed, leaning back against the ship. Alaina’s emerald eyes flicked back up to look at him, and he took his right hand to play with some of her golden curls with his fingertips. “I’m yours, Alaina,” he whispered.

Her hand gently stoked his cock again; her grip was so light that he almost couldn’t tell she was touching him. Din groaned and rocked his hips into her hand, seeking more.

And she did.

The head of his cock bumped into her waiting tongue, and he hissed as her lips closed in around him, bringing him back into the warmth of her mouth again.

With his back propped up against the hull, Din’s helmet banged against the Crest, forcing his gaze up off the woman currently working her mouth and hand in tandem over his cock before he collapsed to the ground. He watched the sun breach the horizon.

His helmet fell back down to Alaina, naked, on her knees in front of him with her mouth hinged open as she worked her mouth over him. The hues shifted from pink to a muted orange, illuminating the silver grass and Alaina’s hair in soft copper hues. This may be their beginning, but how often would he get to have her like this? To have her on her knees, stark naked and pliant, while she sucked him off with the sun turning her into a glowing goddess.

His fist slammed against his ship when her teeth came out and gently scraped over him. The sound startled Alaina. Those karking emerald eyes snapped open and looked up at him, and he grabbed the top of her head with his hand, encouraging her to keep going. “You’re perfect,” he murmured, lost to the feeling of her mouth.

Her eyes closed at his touch, and her tongue circled his length as she slid down, taking him down until she reached her hand that had returned to his hilt. His eyes fluttered closed, and he bit down on his bottom lip when he felt his tip bump against her throat. His torture didn’t end there, though. Alaina seemed to struggle around him, with her mouth full of his cock, and then she swallowed around him, squeezing him between her lips.

“Fuck!” he rasped and grunted when he felt her hand grip him tighter before she increased the tempo of her head as she bobbed up and down him. “That’s it,” he whispered, taking the hand that was resting on top of her head to grip her hair as his hips slowly started to rock into her mouth. “That’s it. Fuck, look at you taking me so well.”

He could feel her smile around him. His hips jolted when both of her hands came to rest on either side of him, gripping and encouraging him to continue to thrust into her. When he moaned, she responded with a hum of her own, and the vibrations from her hum forced a growl from him.

“Fuck, Alaina,” he growled, gripping her hair tightly to hold her head in place while he began to take over, slowly pumping her mouth full of his cock, careful not to go too hard and overwhelm her. “That’s it. Stars, Laina,” he murmured.

At the sound of her name, Alaina’s emerald doe-eyes opened found his behind his helmet, and hummed again.

“Yes,” he grunted through the vibrations as his hips continued to roll into her head. His left hand came to join his right on top of her head, and his hips snapped against her mouth. Alaina moaned around him and dug her nails into his hips. “Yes, that’s it. Gonna make me cum all over that mouth,” he groaned as he lost control of his hips. With his hands gripping her hair, he started moving her up and down over him as he started eagerly fucking her mouth.

Alaina’s hands slid from his hips up to rest against the sides of his abdomen, holding on to him while her mouth took him. She brought her teeth back out, so with every thrust inside her mouth, they scraped against the sensitive skin pumping inside of her. Din struggled and gasped to contain himself, but it was too late. The coil that had been slowly winding snapped and broke.

“Lainaaa,” he growled in warning, but her mouth hollowed around him, and she hummed over his cock. He could feel his cock twitch, slapping against the top of her mouth. He tried to pull her head off, but her hands gripped his abdomen and hung on.

His pleasure started to release in a low, drawn-out moan, and his eyes clenched shut, trying to hang on for just another moment to enjoy this—here—them. All of it. He wanted to catalog every feeling of her mouth humming and sucking eagerly around him. But his mental list was brought to an abrupt end when her tongue circled his throbbing member, and when it moved to lick at his slit, he gasped and held her head over him as he spilled into her mouth.

Alaina flinched against him, and he pulled his hips back, letting him slide from her mouth and into his waiting hand. She opened her eyes to look up at him, and his mouth hung open at the sight of her on her knees before him with a dribble of his seed leaking from her mouth and down her chin. He gripped his still pulsing cock in his hand and pumped it through the last dregs of his release as he spurted what was left across Alaina’s chest until he was spent and soft in his hand.

They stayed like that in the first morning light of the day as Din Djarin struggled to come down from his high. Maker, that was… she was…

“Perfect,” he murmured, bringing a hand up to wipe his seed off her chin with his thumb. “You don’t have to ask,” he panted. “That was better than good, Laina. You’re fucking perfect.”

Alaina’s blush flushed all the way down her cheeks to her neck, to her chest. She tried to look away, but he held her chin firmly in his grasp, stopping her.

Din shook his head, “Don’t be embarrassed. Not by that.”

“I like watching you lose control,” she murmured, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head when he heard her admission. “You’re so quiet and stoic most of the time, but when we’re like this… It’s like you can’t hold anything back. You talk—a lot. Like, to the point where you start to babble, and it’s adorable,” she finished with a shrug. “A very sexy, adorable, don’t worry,” she added, biting her bottom lip. “And you call me Laina, and Tranyc, and sweet thing, and I… I like watching you lose control. It makes—” She stopped to shake her head. “Nothing. I just like it.”

“It makes—what?” he asked.

“It’s nothing,” she smiled.

Din shook his head and rubbed his thumb across her chin again. “Tell me,” he ordered.

It was Alaina’s turn to gulp this time, and her eyes widened nervously. Her words came so quietly he almost couldn’t hear her. “It makes me feel powerful,” she admitted. “I don’t remember the last time I felt powerful,” she whispered. “But when we’re like this… you make me feel powerful.”

He blinked and was surprised to feel a tear slip from his eye. A single, solitary tear of sadness mixed with pride for this woman.

“Come here,” he murmured, moving to help her up off her knees so she stood in front of him again. “Can I tell you something?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet and calm in the morning air, continuing when Alaina nodded. “I have a bit of a thing for powerful women,” he told her, tugging her closer to him. “And, Alaina Corra, you are the single most powerful woman I’ve ever met. What you’ve endured. What you’ve survived… Even five years ago. Maker,” he groaned. “You remember our chase in the hold?”

“Yes?” she answered, scrunching her face in confusion.

“You beat me. A ballerina beat me. Even with your witchy sorceress powers, I should have been able to beat you easily. But I didn’t. And you pinned me in my own ship, and I’ll never forget how proud you looked when you looked down at me and said, “Remember me, Mandalorian. Because I am the woman who beat you.”

“You remember that?”

Din nodded, “I remember that. I also remember you calling me a karking Imp shortly after. I was so worked up I had to lock myself away in the storage room up top, across from the cockpit, so you couldn’t hear me fucking my own hand, remembering how it felt to have you pinning me.”

Alaina blushed, and he grabbed her in his arms and hugged her to his chest. She returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around his torso as she nuzzled the middle of his chest. “Thank you,” she murmured.

He hummed and raised one hand to hold her head against his heart. Din held her, noting absently that the sun had passed over the trees and was well into the purple and blue swirls of the galaxy around them.

This was a moment. They would leave tonight and head toward their next destination, and moments like this would be fewer and farther between. But right here, right now, he had her.

“I feel it too,” she whispered against his chest.

He smiled and stroked her head, taking in the sun one last time before he pulled away.

“I guess it’s time to get ready and start packing up,” Alaina said. She was smiling, but he could hear the sadness laced in her words.

He hummed in begrudging agreement. Din grabbed Alaina’s hands and stepped closer to the ramp, peeking his helmet around the corner to eye the womp rat. “The kid’s still asleep,” he commented with a smile.

“We should probably get him up. Don’t want him to sleep too long and not be able to get him back to sleep tonight.”

“We probably should,” he agreed, unable to drop his smile.

“What?” Alaina asked, and his smile grew at the confusion on her face. “Should we let him sleep longer? Were you thinking about synching the Crest’s time up with our next stop so Grogu is used to the time change?”

He hummed and shrugged his shoulders. Din dropped her hands and took his hands to her hips, sliding them back until he was palming her ass, and pulled her tightly against him. Alaina squeaked and squirmed in his hands, but his grip held firm. “Actually, I was thinking that your legs are covered in mud,” he started. Alaina’s head dropped to see her shins and their feet caked in mud. “I think it would be wise to use this time while the kid is asleep to clean ourselves up.”

“Wise?” Alaina asked skeptically, raising one of her eyebrows at him.

He nodded and used his hands to pick her up. Alaina’s gasp transitioned to a quiet giggle. She wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped his shoulders, massaging the tense muscles under them.

He brought his forehead down to nudge hers. “And I’m going to count just how many more times I can make you feel powerful before the kid wakes up,” he told her, dropping his voice an octave.

Cleaning. Laundry. Inventory. Stocking. Reorganizing…

Alaina didn’t care. Well, she did care. She just couldn’t find it in her to be annoyed by her to-do list from Mando.

Alaina Corra couldn’t ever remember feeling this deliriously happy in her life.

If it were possible to be any happier, she felt as if her body would just float away and join the stars.

Mando—Din, she corrected with a smile, made her feel powerful thrice more in the fresher, and the third and final time showed her just how powerful he was as well.

He showed her with his mouth, fingers, and with his… well, she stopped to blush at the last memory. Din pinned her in the corner of the shower, holding her legs to his hips while he drilled into her just how powerful she was. Only Alaina had one trick for him up her sleeve. She took the Mandalorian by surprise when she was able to take her right leg and demonstrate some of her flexibility by dragging her limb up his side until her calf rested on his shoulder. The new angle her move provided turned the bounty hunter feral, and the man held her calf to his helmet as he growled and rammed himself frantically inside of her until Alaina was positive he split her in half as she convulsed around him while they both came powerfully.

Even now, hours later, she could still hear their shared screams echoing around the shower.

“Stop.”

Alaina blinked out of her daydreams and blushed again when she realized Mando had caught her slacking off. “Stop what?” she asked, trying to go back to reorganizing the two large crates in the hold.

“Stop looking like that, or we won’t be able to leave on time,” he growled, returning to running his diagnostics and doing some minor wire repairs. “I just spent five minutes soldering my gloves because I got distracted by you blushing.”

“That sounds like a you problem,” she teased. “Hey, that storage room up top,” she said, changing the subject. “Is it full, or is there room for some more stuff? What if we shuffled some things around and moved the food and kitcheny-type stuff up there? Make it like an actual kitchen. Would free up this crate for some more stuff and maybe free up some more room for a bigger bed for us at some point.”

“Stop.”

Alaina rolled her eyes, “What now?”

“You can’t talk about beds,” came his gruff reply.

“I can’t even talk about beds?”

“Not if it is associated with you being in that bed,” he grumbled. “Besides, there isn’t room up there.”

She frowned at his casual dismissal of her suggestion. “There’s no room now, but what if we made room?” she tried again, pouting a little.

“I said no,” he replied, holding firm to his answer. When he turned from his wires, Alaina went into her pout and even blinked at him, hoping to change his mind. “Stop,” he growled, pointing at her.

“It’s my face,” she argued, unable to keep the pout as her smile slowly crept back on her face again. “I can’t just stop my face,” she continued, poking her tongue out at him. “Not unless you want to cover it with your helmet so you can’t see it.”

Mando stared at her, frozen until his soldering pen slipped from his fingers and fell to the bottom of the access panel he’d been working at. “Osik,” he grumbled, thrusting an angry finger in her direction. “You can’t say things like that!”

Alaina laughed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Say things like hiding my face so you don’t have to look at me? Gee, Mando, I’m flattered,” she deadpanned.

With a deep, calming breath, Mando tilted his helmet to look up at the ceiling, counting in a language she didn’t know under his breath until he finally exhaled and returned his helmet to her. “It’s not the action of covering your face, mesh’la. It’s what you suggested I used to cover it.”

“Your helmet?” Alaina asked, feeling her eyebrows raise in surprise. “Really?” she giggled, and Mando nodded back at her. “Interesting. Sooooo…” she drew out, stepping closer to him, closing the distance between them. “You like that idea?”

“Alaina…” he threatened.

She took another step closer to him. “You like the idea of seeing me like I see you?” she asked, scrutinizing his helmet. “Of course, if you want the full experience, you’d have to be under me—”

“Out!” he yelled, cutting her off with a point to the open ramp that led to where Grogu was playing.

Alaina’s mouth dropped open, but the guff of a laugh and not indignation came from her mouth. “You’re kicking me out? Mando—”

“Alaina Corra,” he growled, closing the distance between them to stand intimidatingly over her. “I swear to the Maker that if you don’t stop now, I won’t be able to stop.” Alaina couldn’t help the evil grin that spread across her face. “I’m serious,” he warned. “If you thought the kid locking himself in the cockpit was going to traumatize him for the rest of his life, that won’t even compare to what will happen if he sees me spreading your legs in positions legs should not be put into while I take you right here, right now,” he panted.

When Alaina’s lips quirked, his helmet cocked adorably. Sometimes, he was too easy. “For clarification, in this scenario, am I wearing the helmet, or—”

The noise that escaped his helmet was not one she had heard before. His barked order, “Out!” came out as a combination of frustration, laughter, and desperation. His large, gloved hand rested on her shoulders, and she giggled when he gently shook her. “Karking hell, Alaina,” he muttered. “We’re on a timeline. We have to be on Dietes in fifty hours. Rhoam agreed to host us and already said he needed help with something, but we need to be there to be filled in on the job. We don’t have time for this—I don’t have time for this. Please, I’m begging you. Go do something—anything else.”

“Poor, stressed Mando,” she pouted, raising a hand to pat the side of his helmet. “Alright, I’ll find something else. Maybe Grogu and I will have another lesson before we leave. Let me know when you can tolerate my presence again,” she said, laying on the guilt.

“Hey,” he murmured, and Alaina felt his fingers dip into the back of her waistband to pull her back into him. “You know that I—You—I—”

“Din,” she whispered, interrupting his stuttering attempt at an apology. “I know, okay? We’re good. Sometimes, it’s fun to watch you get all worked up.”

She couldn’t help but smirk when she heard a strained grunt escape from under his helmet. “Out,” he ordered flatly, swatting her butt to push her toward the ramp.

Alaina giggled and turned to head back inside, earning her an irritated head tilt from the Mandalorian.

“What part about outside don’t you understand?”

Alaina smiled sweetly as she passed him on the way to the ladder. “You said something else, so I’m gonna go do something else in the cockpit,” she told him with a smile. “Besides, the laundry won’t be dry yet, and I’ve already prepped and organized the food. Grogu seems content for now. I’m gonna sweep and clean up top it if you’re done up there. Might take a crack at the closet up there, too. See what kind of atrocities are hiding in there.”

“Fine,” Mando grumbled, waving her off as she climbed to start cleaning the higher level. “Wait!”

Alaina frowned and looked down the hatch to see Mando scrambling after her.

“Stay out of the storage closet!” he ordered as he climbed the rungs to join her.

“Mando, I’m not scared by your mess,” she sighed. If Mando was so nervous that he had to chase her up here, then she could only imagine how packed full he had the small space.

“Alaina—Alaina, wait—”

“Is it that bad?” Alaina laughed. “We’ve quite literally seen each other at our worst. I’m just gonna take a peek. See how bad of a pack rat you are,” she finished, pressing the button to let her in, and turned back to stick her tongue out at Mando, who sighed at her.

When her head turned back to inspect her next project, her face scrunched in confusion.

“There’s nothing in here?” she asked, turning to look back at Mando. When he didn’t say anything, she turned to look back into the empty closet.

It wasn’t as small as she remembered, especially now that the crates that used to be inside were gone. Some kind of black wooden rack was propped up against the wall, and another black wooden pole stretched the wall to her right and hung from the ceiling, but that was it. Not only was it basically emptied out, but it looked as if the room had been scrubbed clean.

Alaina turned back to Mando, “I’m confused.” She would have thought that the Mandalorian standing before her took a shot to the chest by how quickly his shoulders slumped. “You said this was full of stuff. It’s empty. Why can’t we make it a kitchen?”

He shook his helmet at her and turned to head toward the cockpit. Alaina watched as he shuffled around momentarily before turning back and walking toward her, holding her green velvet cloak. It was a tight fit with him wearing his armor, for him to squeeze past her in the threshold, but once he was inside the small room, he tossed her cloak over the pole hanging from the ceiling and turned to look at her.

She blinked at the armored man as they stared at one another before she asked, “You made a coat check?”

“A what?”

Alaina huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. “Make it make sense,” she asked, pointing to the room he was standing in.

“It can’t be a kitchen… because I’ve been cleaning it out… for your room.”

Everything grew quiet after Mando said those words… your room.

“M-my room?” she asked, resting her hand over her chest.

“Surprise,” he shrugged.

Alaina felt her mouth fall open, and she stepped back inside to take it in again.

The room was small, but then again, it was previously a closet. Like the rest of the ship, it was rectangular-shaped. It spanned the width of the Razor Crest and was maybe three or four meters deep, with another access door to another room she didn’t even realize existed.

“I started working on it the day we landed,” Mando started, holding his position on the other side of the room. “I got most of it cleared out when you did your first lap around the lake. Worked on the rest when you were off with the kid.”

Alaina couldn’t form the words or even respond; she just stood there with her mouth open.

“Um, this,” he stopped to turn to the wooden rack propped up against the wall and moved it to lay flat on the floor. “It’s not much, probably on the same level as the cot, but it’s a little bigger—”

“You built a bed?” she whispered, raising her hand to cover her mouth.

“Yes,” he replied. “It’s basically just a bigger cot,” he shrugged.

“Wh—” she tried to start but struggled with finding the right words. “I—”

“I know it’s not much, but it’s the only space on the Crest that works,” Mando continued when she couldn’t. “It will look more like a room when you set it up how you want it. You can hang your clothes here,” he told her, pointing to the pole hanging from the ceiling. “And the new bed frame will hold your mattress on the cot and the bedroll from the alcove to fill it out the rest of the way. We can find something better—”

“Stop. Just—I—better?” she questioned him in disbelief, staring at everything he’d done for her. She took in the clean room and noted that he’d fashioned the bed frame and pole from trees milled from the forest, making it all that much more special that they got to take a piece of this beautiful place with them when they left.

“It’s not much, but when we landed here, I knew you’d be with me until we found some place for you. I wanted you to have your own place to get away.”

“Mando—”

“And now that you’re staying… I mean… you don’t have to stay—”

“Din,” she whispered and smiled when using his given name made him stop rambling and stare at her. “It’s perfect.” Alaina walked to where Mando was standing, wrapped her arms around his waist, and turned her head to rest on the center of his chest. “Thank you.”

Mando’s arms engulfed her, and if it weren’t for his massive arms, Alaina was sure she would have floated away.

“Better than a kitchen?”

Alaina snorted and squeezed him tightly. “Yes! It’s a bedroom! You made us a bedroom!”

“This is your room, Alaina,” he murmured. “I want you to have your own space.”

The tears that she had been holding back spilled over and down her cheek. A room… her own room… Mando—Din made room for her on his ship. He made a place for her in his home.

“You’re crying,” Din murmured, pulling her head away from his chest to wipe the tears off her face with his glove. “You don’t have—”

“Happy tears,” she interrupted him. “Happy. I—Din, you made space for me in your home,” she smiled. “I haven’t had a room of my own in over five years… You didn’t have to do this.”

He shrugged—shrugged. Oh, this man…

She beamed up at him, “Thank you. I only have one question.” His head cocked, and she couldn’t stop the giggle that came whenever he did that. “If this is my room and my bed… where are you planning on sleeping?”

His chuckle rumbled deep in his chest, and Alaina returned her ear to his chest and closed her eyes as she soaked it in.

“Wherever you’ll have me, Alaina.”

“Picture it in your mind,” Alaina spoke, keeping her voice even and calm as she walked Grogu through his mental exercises.

The smooth black stone they’d brought back from the lake with them sat between them on the downed tree trunk where they usually sat to eat dinner in front of the fire. Grogu sat across from her with his eyes closed in concentration as he tried to lift the stone. He hadn’t fallen asleep yet, anyway. Hopefully, after a day full of running outside and working on his mental exercises, he’d fall asleep shortly after they took off tonight.

If Alaina was being honest, she was having a difficult time concentrating on their meditation exercises and was sure Grogu could pick up on her nervous excitement.

Movement from behind her grabbed her attention, and she smiled when she saw Mando doing his last-minute inspections on the outside of the Crest.

Her smile grew as she thought back on the last day—how it started this morning, how Mando surprised her with her own room and promised to reward her later in said new room if she promised to let him finish his pre-flight checklist before they took off tonight…

As if sensing her gaze was directed at him, Mando stopped at the foot of the ramp and turned to look back at her. When he caught her staring, he cocked his helmet, and Alaina blushed. When he started to walk over to where they were, Alaina diverted her gaze and returned her attention to her student.

“Picture it in your mind, Grogu,” she continued, ignoring the Mandalorian for the time being. Grogu’s ears perked up at his name, and Alaina grinned. “You can do it with your favorite toys. You can do it with something boring. It’s just a rock. Picture it in your mind.”

Alaina watched the rock, but nothing happened.

Maybe she was missing something—some step she skipped over in her teachings that she’d forgotten from her lessons with her mother. Grogu was obviously talented. He could make objects he liked float with his powers. She just needed to figure out how to get him to focus when it was something he didn’t care for.

Mando’s boots stepped into her vision, and she smiled when she felt him come sit behind her on the trunk. He straddled the trunk and scooted up behind her until his thighs bracketed hers, and his larger body loomed behind her.

“Who’s distracting who now?” she whispered.

Instead of a verbal reply, Mando’s arm snuck around her waist and yanked her body back against his, making Alaina aware of something just as stiff and rigid as his beskar armor pressed against her backside.

“You’re tense,” he murmured, bringing the arm around her waist to join his other hand as he rubbed them up and down her arms.

“Not the only one,” she murmured back, grinding herself between the hardness pressed against her.

Mando pinched her arms, and she had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep from giggling. “Is your lesson not going well?”

Alaina sighed and leaned back against him. “I can’t figure it out. Grogu will move objects that he likes, the ball, his frog, the wooden blocks, so I know he can do it.”

“He’s just being stubborn,” Din whispered, going back to massaging her arms.

“But what if I’m missing something?” she whispered, staring at the green toddler sitting across the stone from her with his eyes closed. “I keep going through the motions but can’t figure it out.” She sighed and shook her head. “One more time,” she whispered to herself. “Come on, little one,” she cooed, tapping the stone. “If this was your silver ball–”

“His silver ball?”

Alaina’s face flattened, and she shook her head when Grogu’s eyes shot open when he heard Mando’s voice. “Quiet you,” she scolded the Mandalorian. “Don’t listen to him,” Alaina continued, returning her attention to her student. “Come on, let’s do it together, yeah?” she suggested, offering her hands for Grogu to grab.

Instead of grabbing her hands, Grogu got up and waddled across the log to sit in her lap. Alaina tried to give him a serious look but caved when the kid smiled at her and cooed.

“Fine,” she breathed out.

“Push over,” Mando murmured behind her.

Alaina smirked and jabbed her elbow back at him to be quiet. “We’ll try it this way. One more time, little one,” she said. Grogu nodded at her and then returned to the stone in front of them. With a deep breath, Alaina closed her eyes and tuned out the landscape around her. “Let it fade away, Grogu. Let it all just fade away until it is just you and the stone,” she continued, keeping her voice calm and even.

She inhaled and breathed in the moon around them and then let it out in a slow, constricted stream, remembering her exercises as a child and how she used them to help settle her nerves before a performance. With her exhale, everything faded away: the moon with its silver and lavender grass, the sounds, the Razor Crest, and even Grogu in her lap, Mando holding her against his chest disappeared. All that was left was her.

Alaina hovered in the black purgatory of her mind, finding calm in the darkness that enshrouded her. This is where she usually stopped. No matter how hard she tried, only pain greeted her from this point forward.

When she was a small child, her powers came so naturally that she sometimes moved things without even knowing she had. Her powers only amplified when her emotions swung in one direction or the other. In an attempt to teach her to control her powers and emotions, her mother began their lessons at an early age. She remembered being young and not understanding why she didn’t get to go to school with the other kids her age… but now… knowing what she knew… Alaina could only feel for her mother, who just wanted to ensure her daughter’s safety, especially if Mando’s assumption was correct—that her mother had brought them into hiding there.

The familiar quiet hissing noise of her powers trapped in the recesses of her mind could be heard. They were muted and quiet, but they were there.

Her mother had told her to imagine her powers as something physical, an object or an animal she could connect with and control. Young Alaina saw her mother as a superhero of sorts. How could she not? Her mother could move objects with her mind and was a talented marksman with her serpentine dagger. Young Alaina wanted to be just like her. Alaina already knew that her mind could move things, so the only thing left was having a serpentine weapon of her own. “I’m going to pretend that my powers are a snake,” she’d told her mother proudly. “Then we can both have snakes!”

“My daughter, who screamed in terror the first time she saw a spider, is going to imagine a snake is living inside her head?” her mother teased and tickled her until Alaina squealed.

But there was no one Alaina Corra wanted to be more than her mother, Iliana Corra.

And so, that is how she learned. She constructed her snake—A fanned rawl like her mother’s dagger, with emerald green scales and eyes like theirs. In time, Alaina learned her powers by training the serpent in her mind. She taught it to remain coiled asleep until she needed it. Once awoken, the rawl would slither out of her mind to wrap around her heart before moving to wind around her arm, thus giving Alaina her powers. Eventually, she learned to control her powers and the fanned rawl she imagined them as became a part of her.

Until it was taken from her.

There were some things that she had blocked out from her five years held captive by Penn Pershing and the Empire. Whether she blocked them out intentionally or they were so terrible, her mind blocked them for her; some memories were just lost. However, she would never forget waking up in the med bay after her first premonition or fit ended in a massive seizure. She would never forget waking up screaming in agony because there was an empty chasm in her mind. The one thing that had been with her since she was a child, the one thing that had been so integrated into her that she couldn’t remember what it was like without having the emerald green fanned rawl be a part of her, was just gone. And the only thing that was left where the serpent-shaped form of her powers used to rest was just pain. Excruciating pain.

When Pershing was able to figure out what his test subject was trying to tell him through her pained screams, the doctor panicked. Alaina wasn’t allowed a moment’s peace as he immediately initiated a series of tests with no regard to the agony she was in. After days of trying to work on returning her initial powers, something inside of Alaina snapped. Later, she learned that the snap was, in fact, another seizure. She remembered waking up again disoriented and confused. Alaina would have never thought she would be thankful for anything involving Moff Gideon, but when she eventually came to, it was to the Moff dressing down (screaming) at Penn. His reasons may have been selfish; she was their only test subject at the time, but he saved her life that day.

Of course, Alaina resented him for it as the years went on, but if he hadn’t been there to stop Penn, she likely would have died on his table, which meant that she wouldn’t be here. Now.

If Moff Gideon hadn’t intervened that day, Alaina Corra would have never made it. She never would have learned that the Mandalorian, her bounty hunter, was maybe more like her mind’s hallucination version than she realized. She never would have met Grogu. She never would have learned the name Din Djarin. She never would have made it to a moon so beautiful that she could only describe it by comparing it to what she assumed heaven looked like.

In the void of her mind, the hissing from her lost emerald green fanned rawl grew louder.

With that thought, Alaina opened her eyes to face her mind's dark, empty void. She waded out into the darkness, gathering each terrible, unpleasant memory and saying a silent prayer of gratitude for them. They still hurt, but she never would have made it here without them. She closed her eyes as she held them in her hands and took a moment to pay her respects to them, and then she let them go.

Alaina opened her eyes and watched them float away like a balloon into the ether. She watched the balloon’s tether float before her, taunting her to pull them back to her, but she took a step back.

She no longer needed the pain.

Her chest flared warm, and she hugged the two bonds wrapped protectively around her. The two most unlikely bonds had formed between her: a green fifty-year-old alien toddler and a Mandalorian.

She no longer needed the pain.

She just needed them.

“What do we sssaayyy?” an unfamiliar voice hissed.

Alaina spun around and smiled at the sight of her fanned rawl behind her. It wasn’t as green as she remembered it being, its scales a duller green, and its eyes tired, but it was here. The rawl was dented and damaged like her, but it had returned to her for the first time in years.

One cautious step at a time, Alaina approached the serpent coiled on the floor. The closer she got to it, the louder it hissed and defensively coiled itself tighter.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, hoping to soothe it, but her voice made the snake raise its head and his and spit at her in warning. The warning also came as pain in the form of the familiar headache that came when she attempted to use her powers. “It’s okay, it’s just me. It’s been a while,” she continued talking to it, keeping her voice even and calm, ignoring the pain. “I’ve missed you.”

She moved to sit next to the rawl and noticed that the green serpent was coiled around the black stone she had been working on Grogu with. She looked between the snake and the stone and slowly stretched her arm out to grab it.

The strike came without warning. Her former serpent watched her hand reach for it and lashed out in a quick viper strike before coiling itself tighter around the black stone.

Pain flared everywhere inside her mind, and she instinctively brought her hand back to her chest. “Hey!” she seethed through the pain, but the snake hissed in response. “Come on, it’s me,” she tried to console it and held her hand out for the rawl to inspect.

The snake looked at her hand, and then its upper body uncoiled. It rose to bring its head level with hers, and emerald eyes locked on emerald eyes.

“Hi,” she said through gritted teeth, not sure how long she would be able to hold the pain at bay. The snake started swaying its upper body as it continued its inspection of its previous counterpart. Alaina wondered if she was so different that it could no longer recognize her.

Alaina was about to accept that this was all the progress she would make and cave to the growing, throbbing pain. She was already dreading the headache this much progress would cause when the fanned rawl moved, and she froze. She watched in disbelief as the rawl rested its head on her hand and slowly wound and slithered its way up her outstretched forearm until it reached her elbow and stopped. Green eyes stared at green eyes. She didn’t dare move. She didn’t dare upset this precious moment.

The serpent broke eye contact and turned to look back at the stone before returning its eyes to hers.

Alaina nodded and reached for the stone with her hand. The pain amplified around her, but her serpent coiled tighter around her arm, encouraging her to keep going, so she did. She pushed through the pain, clenching her teeth in determination. She was so close.

After what felt like hours of struggle, Alaina’s fingers grazed the top of the smooth, black stone that Grogu had picked from the shore, and the shroud of darkness began to disappear from her mind. It blew away like fog until she was back sitting on the downed tree trunk with Grogu and Mando sitting in front and behind her, and the former fanned rawl of her powers coiled around her forearm.

She rasped out a laugh at the sight of the black stone floating in front of her face. She wasn’t in her mind. She was on their moon, and the stone was floating.

“You did it,” she rasped proudly.

“Alaina,” Mando whispered from behind her, squeezing her waist between his hands. “Alaina, it’s not him.”

Her eyes glanced down to find Grogu still sitting in her lap, but his focus was on her, not the stone. The smile fell from the toddler’s face when a drop of blood landed on his head.

“I did it?” she rasped, bringing her eyes back to the black stone still floating before her.

She could feel Mando’s hands move from her waist to rub up and down her spine.

Tears filled her eyes, unable to believe it.

Alaina looked down at the fanned rawl still wrapped around her forearm and went cold.

“Alaina?” Mando’s question sounded alarmed, likely sensing she was distressed.

Alaina couldn’t answer him. Her focus was on the fanned rawl staring back at her. Gone were the familiar emerald scales and eyes. Instead, her rawl was now a striking shade of blood red. Its scales, its eyes, even its fangs were now red. The serpent stared back at her, and Alaina realized neither recognized the other.

She hadn’t expected it the first time but expected it this time. The rawl struck again, aiming for her face. When its red fangs pierced her skin, it felt like lightning had struck inside her mind. She doubled over with a scream and had to hold her head between her hands for fear that it might shatter from the pressure.

She had expected pain from this exercise but hadn’t anticipated anything like this. She could feel the venom from the red-scaled imposter of her former powers seep into the cracks and crevices of her mind, fueling the already raging wildfire inside.

“Alaina!”

Mando’s cry sounded miles away as if he were shouting at her from the other side of the lake. The lake, she thought, wanting nothing more than to wade into its green waters and let them cool down her scorched mind and body.

“It burns,” she whimpered, clutching her head tighter.

“Alaina,” Mando barked, and she forced her eyes open at the sound of his distress. “Hey, there you are,” he whispered.

Alaina squinted at the brightness of the late afternoon sun shining in her eyes and looked around, confused, only to find herself lying on the ground. Mando’s silver helmet hovered over her, and she could feel his rough leather gloves holding her head between them. Grogu was standing behind her head, gripping nervously onto her blonde hair. Her head dropped to the side, and she came face to face with the black stone that had fallen to the ground beside her.

“I did it,” she said through clenched teeth and tears.

Mando’s hands directed her head to look back at him. “You did,” he praised, pinching the bridge of her nose with one glove and shoving a torn-off piece of his cloak to apply pressure with the other. “You did it,” he repeated, nodding his helmet at her. “Maybe you could not do it again for a while.”

Alaina tried to laugh at his request, but it came out as a cry of pain instead.

“Shhhh, it’s okay,” he murmured. “We’ve got you. Tell us what you need.”

“It burns,” she cried and could now feel tears streaming from her eyes as quickly as the blood streaming from her nose.

Mando’s hands left her face in an instant. She watched the orange-tipped gloves fall to the ground beside her before his tanned hands returned to her face, only to flinch once he immediately made contact with her forehead. “Kriff,” he cursed, moving his hands to her cheeks and neck to continue his assessment. “Alaina, you’re burning up.”

Alaina wanted to roll her eyes but didn’t dare for fear of worsening her pain.

“Okay, I’m going to try and move you,” he warned, burrowing his hands under her shoulders to scoop her up.

“Nooo,” Alaina moaned in pain as he began to lift her from the ground.

“Shhhh, it’s okay,” he whispered, bringing her body up against his. “I’ve got you, Laina.”

Alaina’s eyes fluttered closed in relief when she came into contact with his cold, beskar armor. She melted into the silver armor and relaxed further when his helmet came to rest against her head. Screw the lake. She had her own personal Mandalorian ice cube to cool her down.

“Hey,” he whispered in her ear. “Stay awake, okay? If you go unconscious, we don’t have the luxury of a nearby village with healers this time.” Alaina opened her eyes at his plea and nodded into his helmet. “Good,” he murmured, bringing his hand to rest on the back of her head. “Think you can manage being carried to the Crest?” She shook her head once and immediately regretted it. “Okay,” he soothed, pressing his helmet further into her head. “What do you need?”

“Sleep,” she rasped.

Mando chuckled and hugged her tighter, “Not yet, Tranyc. Just a little longer, okay. Let’s see if we can get your fever to break.”

Alaina groaned in disappointment and tried to burrow herself further into his armor. “Then talk,” she muttered, unable to keep the exhaustion out of her voice.

“What do you want me to talk about?”

“What are the odds that you feel so bad for me that you’ll answer anything I ask?”

Mando’s chuckle reverberated deep inside her soul, rousing the tiniest hint of a smile from her. “The odds are pretty high, I imagine,” he answered, stroking her head.

Alaina nuzzled her face against his cowl, smiling into his neck. “I thought you said that only your tribe knew your name,” she murmured blearily.

Mando’s answering hum rumbled against her face before he told her, “I did say that.”

Hope filled her chest at the words he didn’t say. She closed her eyes, trying to reign in that hope before she got too carried away with herself. There were only so many times she could take being let down. “But… you told me your name. Your full name,” she reminded him.

He hummed again, “I also told it to the kid.”

“I feel so special,” she whispered, smiling into his neck.

Mando shuffled her in his arms, and Alaina hissed as the pain that was beginning to recede slowly returned.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, stroking her head until he had her moved and propped up against what felt like the tree trunk they had all been sitting on. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, taking the torn scrap of his cloak that had fallen to the ground to wipe some of the blood off her face. “But I need you to look at me, Alaina.”

Alaina winced as she slowly opened her eyes, already missing her beskar cooling system.

“Alaina,” he began, pausing to cup her face between his still bare, calloused hands. “I thought it was obvious,” he continued, tilting his helmet at her.

“Patu!” Grogu spat and butted his way in to crawl into her lap.

Alaina wrapped a hand around him, weakly holding the kid in place. “Maybe you can explain it to me like you have to explain it to someone whose mind is currently being eaten away by a wildfire?” she asked with a weak smile.

Mando’s deep chuckle made her smile stronger. “You are my clan, Alaina,” he told her, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. “You and the kid—this is my clan.”

Her chest swelled, and even though she could feel the ground under her, she swore she was floating away.

“Happy tears?” Mando questioned nervously. "I hope?” he added, wiping the tears she didn’t know she was crying away with his thumbs.

“Honestly, they are probably a fifty-fifty mix of deliriously happy tears and excruciating pain tears,” she admitted, wincing when she tried to laugh. Alaina looked between Grogu and Din’s helmet. She rested her right hand on Grogu’s head and rubbed his ears while her left came up to rest over Din’s hand on her cheek. “But mostly happy tears. It’s been so long since I’ve had a family…” she tapered off. The adrenaline was fading, and with it came exhaustion.

“You have me and the kid,” Din told her, voice deadly serious. Grogu turned to rest his tiny hands on her chest and smiled at her with his big, toothy grin.

Alaina gave him an exhausted smile and felt her eyes drift closed.

“Hey,” Din said, forcing her awake. “You have me and the kid. We are your family now, Alaina Corra and you will never be alone again.”

Yes, she was definitely floating in the stars now, leaving her exhausted body behind on the moon.

"You'll never be alone ever again."

Family.

Her clan.

Author's Note #2: Thus, the "Moon Interlude" chapters conclude. Our little clan of three is off to their next adventure 🩶 I finished outlining the rest of 'Act 2,' and I think there are only 6-ish chapters left 🥲 but remember, dear readers, this isn't the end of the road; it's just the beginning.

On an unrelated note, on a scale of 1 to 10, how jealous/protective do you think Din Djarin would be if a very handsome king smiled at Alaina? 😈 (The smut monster's answer was feral, which isn't a number. That's just his standard answer for almost everything, so he doesn't count.)

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