13 | THE WORD

Once Mando put the ship on autopilot, he took a seat beside Celeste while she was watching over the child as he was fighting the urge to fall asleep. Celeste has her nose in a thick, old book. "Where'd you get that from?" Mando asked her as he took a look at the title of the book. It read: THE JEDI PATH.

"I stole it from Ran's space station. It was just sitting there." She shrugged. The book was actually quite intriguing, though it felt like a textbook for those who were planning on studying the ways of the force full-time. Like back when the original Jedi Order was in tact and they trained children. It told Celeste the fundamentals about what she was experiencing with the force and it detailed the appropriate mannerisms of a Jedi. She typically brushed over the mannerisms and rules, her curiosity drove her to read everything about controlling the force and lightsabers.

Mando grabbed the book from her and closed it. "Come on, you haven't rested in a while. I'll keep an eye on the kid." Mando looked over at the child who's eyelids were growing painfully heavy.

Celeste groaned, but did as told, anyway. She leaned over to look at the baby directly in the eye before she parted with him. The child placed his hand on Celeste's cheek, looked over at Mando and whispered "ma" as his eyes finally closed shut. Both Mando and Celeste instantly shot their heads toward each other.

"Did you just—"
"Yes I did."
"I think he just called me."
"No, he called me!"
"Ma, as in mama? Give it up.."
"I'm pretty sure it's Ma, as in Mando."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."

"Are you insane? He's definitely calling me mama or mommy. He even touched my face before he said it!" Celeste whisper-yelled at Mando, to not wake the sleeping child.

"You've never even said the word mama around him, he wouldn't know to call you that." Mando scoffed at her.

"He's fifty years old, Mando. I'm pretty sure he's heard the word mama at least once before." Celeste argued as she got up to walk away from him.

"I'm pretty sure he meant Mando." Mando muttered to himself, but Celeste heard and replied a low "shut up!" before she took off to go rest her head for a little bit before they arrived at their next destination.

* * *

Mando received a message from Greef Carga, his old Guild boss that assigned him to capture Celeste and the child. Mando had thought he had killed the man, but apparently not. "My friend, if you are receiving this transmission, that means you're alive. You might be surprised to hear this, but I am alive, too. I guess we can call it even. A lot has happened since we last saw each other. The man who hired you for the child is still here, and his ranks of ex-Inperial guards have grown. They have imposed despotic rule over my city, which had impeded the livelihood of the Guild. We consider him an enemy, but we cannot get close enough to take him out. If you would consider one last commission, I will very much make it worth your while. You've been successful so far in staving off their hunters, but they will not stop until they have their prize. So, here is my proposition. Return to Nevarro. Bring the child as bait. I will arrange an exchange and provide loyal Guild members as protection. Once we get near the client, you kill him, and we both get what we want. If you succeed, you keep the child and I will have your name cleared with the Guild, for a man of honor should not be forced to life in exile. I await your arrival with optimism." The message ended.

Just hearing the voice of the man made Celeste uncomfortable. She shook her head, assuming Mando would never fall for that trap, and returned to reading her book. Mando sighed and turned to look at Celeste as her eyes scanned the fragile pages. Celeste could feel his eyes lingering on her. "You're not really thinking about doing that, are you?" She asked him without tearing her eyes away from the book.

He did not answer her. She closed the book and, annoyedly, tossed it aside to give the man her full attention. "It's obviously a trap." She notified him.

"And if it's not?"

Celeste pursed her lips. She wished it was really not a trap. Mando could clear his name with the Guild and get back to making some money. The child would shake all of his bounty hunters since the source wouldn't be alive anymore to send anymore mercenaries after him. She turned her head away from him so she didn't have to answer him. "I'll get help. From Cara." He proposed. Before she could even give her opinion, he began to change the navigation of the ship to where he knew Cara last was, Sorgan.

* * *

Celeste could barely keep her eyes open because of the brightness of day on the planet. She hadn't experienced day in a while since traveling in space with Mando, only the dim ship lights had given her some light. Celeste placed her forearm across her eyes as she followed the moving shadow of Mando in front of her. The child followed closely behind her heels, never wanting to leave her or Mando's side.

Quickly enough, Mando found Cara in a small pub. She seemed to be fighting some guy for betted money. As soon as the fight was over and the audience cleared the pub, Mando approached Cara. "Looking for some work?" He inquired immediately.

Cara smiled at the three, glad to see some friendly faces around. She gestured for them to take a seat at a table for some drinks, and they all obliged. Cara poured herself and Celeste something strong while Mando began to explain the plan. "It seems like a straightforward operation. They're providing the plan and firepower. I'm the snare."

"With the kid?" Cara sipped at her drink.

"That's why I'm coming to you." He stated.

"I don't know. I've been advised to lay low. If anybody runs my chain code, I'll rot in a cell for the rest of my life." Cara lowered her voice as she informed Mando of this.

"I thought you were a veteran."

"I've been a lot of things since. Most of them carry a life sentence. If I so much as book passage on a ship registered to the New Republic, I'm—" Cara shook her head, knowing she couldn't help Mando even if she wanted to because she couldn't travel.

"I have a ship. I can bring you there and back with a handsome reward. You can live free of worry." Mando negotiated with her. He really needed her help and he wasn't going to give up without letting her know of all the benefits and lack of obstacles she'd take.

"I'm already free of worry, and I'm not in the mood to play soldier anymore." Cara took another gulp of her drink.

Celeste's eyes flickered over to Cara's tattoo. "You fought for the Republic?" She asked.

Cara nodded at her. "The guy Mando's after is Imperial." Celeste informed her.

"Well, you should've led with that. I'm in." Cara scoffed, patting Celeste's shoulder. Celeste looked over at Mando and shook her head at him. He knew more about the girl than Celeste did and he couldn't have thought to tell her that right off the bat?

* * *

The four, plus the child quickly took off to space toward Arvala-9 to recruit Kuiil on the mission as well. Mando and Cara were on the lower level, conversing, while Celeste sat on the upper level with the child. The child blew raspberries at her while she—secretly—tried to get him to say the word he had said earlier when he fell asleep. "Mommy." Celeste spoke slowly so the child to get every syllable, despite there only being two.

While she was doing this, Celeste's over-exaggerated face to show how to annunciate the word was distracting the child and making him laugh. Soon enough, Celeste gave up and joined the other two on the lower level. "He's alright being up there alone?" Cara asked Celeste.

"Pshhh, yeah." Celeste shrugged as she looked over to see that Cara was checking out Mando's weapons collection. Immediately after that, the ship began to rumble and shake vehemently. The three adults stumbled over and struggled to stay on their feet in the shaky ship.

Mando rushed to the upper level to the cockpit to see what was going on and if they were under attack. Upon arrival, he spotted the kid playing around with the joystick that manned the ship. Mando quickly pulled him off of it and stabilized the ship. Once the ship stopped moving, Celeste climbed up the ladder to see what was the matter. "So, he's not okay to be alone up here." Mando told Celeste as he placed the kid back in his cradle.

Celeste sighed and looked over at the child. "Ma!" He babbled out as he reached up his arms toward her.

Celeste looked over at Mando with a smug look. "Now, you can't deny that was meant for me."

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author's note: look at this cute little manip I made. I have a few more but I'll publish one at a time.