The Razor Crest touched down on Sorgan's surface after what felt like ages of hyperspace travel. Erin could already feel the sun's heat passing through the transparisteel of the cockpit as she stood and stretched.

Din rose from the pilot's chair with the child in the crook of his arm. "We'll find some lodging and lay low for a while. Hopefully that'll keep the Empire off our backs." He said.

"Sounds good to me." Erin replied. Despite her reluctance to admit it, she enjoyed Din's company. She had nearly forgotten why she was even tagging along with him in the first place.

Right... the debt. Hopefully he finds a job while we're here. The sooner I pay this off, the better.

She frowned a bit and shook her head.

Face it. You don't want to leave. This is the most stability you've had in years.

Erin pushed her thoughts aside as she exited the cockpit after Din. Once in the cargo hold, she distracted herself with her gear while he chose his weapon loadout.

Din and Erin headed into the wilderness, leaving the safety of the Crest behind. Most of the terrain was swampland, with plenty of surrounding trees and flora. The humidity was nearly unbearable. It made Erin's clothes feel tight and uncomfortable. Din, on the other hand, was hardly bothered in his climate-controlled armor. It almost made her jealous.

About an hour into the trek, Din spotted a path that carved through the vegetation. Whenever you find a path, you're bound to find civilization. And that's exactly what he was counting on.

They had barely taken two steps down the path before they had their first encounter with the locals. Two men riding on a repulsorlift speeder approached from the opposite direction, heading straight for them. As they grew closer, however, they slowed to a stop and eyed Din with wary gazes.

Din passed the child to Erin and stepped in front of her to greet the two men. "Do you live around here?" He asked gruffly.

One of the men hopped off the speeder, looking nervous as he wrung his hands together. "Y-Yes, sir. We live in a fishing village 'bout two miles that way." He jutted his thumb over his shoulder.

"Do you have lodging? I can pay." Din followed up.

The man's eyes lit up. "Of course!"

"Good. Help me unload some things." Din said. He then turned to Erin and lowered his voice. "Keep an eye on them. I don't want them stealing anything."

"Oh come on, Din. They look like honest farmers." Erin scoffed.

"I mean it." He asserted.

She waved her free hand dismissively. "Okay, okay. Fine. I'll keep a real good eye on them."

The men followed them back to the Crest and helped Din load supplies onto their speeder once they reached it. By the time they had finished, dusk had fallen over the planet's surface. A lantern attached to the front of the speeder was the only source of light in the growing darkness as they began the trek back to the village.

Erin cradled the child in her lap, watching him sleep with a fond gaze. Din sat across from her, his arms crossed over his chest and his gaze ever-wandering in search of possible threats. After a period of silence, one of the men swiveled around to try and start a conversation.

"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Caben, he's Stoke." He said with a nervous smile. Then he gestured between Erin and Din with his hand. "Are you two..."

"No." Din was quick to answer.

Erin chuckled a bit to take the harsh edge off of Din's tone. "We're just friends."

"Ah." Caben nodded, wisely deciding not to pursue that topic further. He fiddled with his thumbs for a little while before speaking again. "You know... we could really use your help. You're a Mandalorian, right?"

Din stared at him. "Last time I checked. What do you need help with?"

"Well, these raiders have been harassing our village for months. You see, we're krill farmers. They come every other week to raid our supply of krill. We've tried to stop them, but we don't know how to fight." Caben explained.

"I'm not a teacher. I can't teach you how to fight." Din said.

"Have you tried bargaining with them?" Erin suggested.

Caben laughed. "There is no bargaining with Klatooinians. They're animals!"

Din glanced at Erin. She met his gaze and they leaned in close so they could speak privately.

"We came here to lay low. Something like that is bound to draw attention." Din muttered through his modulator.

"But we need the job. That's the whole reason you're stuck with me, remember?" Erin retorted, furrowing her eyebrows together.

Din tilted his head back and let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm not facing an enemy I know nothing about, not without help. For all we know, there could be hundreds of them."

"Then we'll go find help. There can't possibly be only one village on the entire planet. Maybe we'll find someone who can fight." Erin pressed.

Din didn't like the idea, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He pulled away from Erin and looked back over at Caben. "We'll do it, but we need to find some help. Is there another village nearby? Maybe a town of some sort?"

"There is a small town, but it's quite the journey." Caben answered after thinking for a moment.

"We can lend you our speeder. That will help things move quickly." Stoke added, having been silent until that point.

"Alright." Din agreed. "We'll leave in the morning."

***

Setting foot in a sleeping village felt more than just surreal, at least to Erin. It felt like she wasn't supposed to be there. Like she was about to get jumped for trespassing. She had to remind herself that this wasn't Suvol. This was a new planet with new rules that she'd have to learn.

Caben introduced Din and Erin to a woman named Omera, who was gracious enough to provide them with lodging as well as extra supplies. Once they were settled in, Omera politely excused herself and retired to her own hut.

"These villagers are pretty generous despite not having much to their name." Erin thought aloud as she organized her possessions in the corner of the room.

"That's usually how it is." Din said. He gently laid the child in the crib Omera had given him. "They either welcome you with open arms or shove a blaster in your face."

Erin gave an amused snort at that. "Sounds like you've experienced both sides."

"Unfortunately." Din replied, eventually turning away from the crib. He stopped dead in his tracks, his hidden gaze staring straight ahead.

Erin noticed him staring and frowned. "What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"There's only one bed."

At first, she didn't believe him. She shook her head and laughed. "Good one, Djarin."

"See for yourself." He said.

Fine, I'll bite. Erin thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. She swiveled around on her heel and sure enough, Din was right. There was in fact one bed pushed up against the wall. A small one, at that.

"Well I'll be damned." Erin said with a low whistle. "Guess someone's sleeping on the floor."

"Yeah, you are." Din replied, already heading for the bed.

"Oh no you don't!" Erin immediately rushed to intercept him. "Who said you got the bed?"

"I did. Now let go." Din tried to pry her hand from his arm, but she wouldn't budge.

Erin stubbornly stared him down. "You wanna sleep in that bed?" She asked. "Fight me for it."

Din's head slowly turned in her direction. "Erin, I'm not—"

"Fight me, Din." Erin goaded him on, and she meant every word. A little late-night scrap wouldn't hurt, right? Besides, she was only teasing him. This was like a game to her. A game to test his limits. The child was asleep, which meant Din couldn't go hard on her.

Din let out a slow, soft sigh as if to show he wasn't interested. Then, he suddenly grabbed Erin's arm and twisted, forcing her to release her grip on him.

Erin retaliated by stomping on his foot. As he bent over, she snatched his cloak and yanked it sideways to throw him off balance. He stumbled a few paces, but recovered quickly and came back with a few jabs at her stomach. She was able to deflect two of them and dodge another, but one slipped past her defenses and clipped her side. 

"Of course I forgot you're wearing a full suit of armor and I'm not." She grumbled, dodging another jab from Din.

"Guess you'll have to get crea—ugh!" Din forcibly suppressed a grunt as Erin landed a kick to his exposed midriff.

"What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you." Erin snickered softly.

She backpedaled as Din began advancing on her, throwing in quick punches whenever there was an opening. The fight itself was rather awkward, especially since it was fairly silent aside from a few grunts and huffs of exertion.

Somehow, Din managed to push her towards the wall and was now trying to subdue her. She put up a good fight, however, and wouldn't let him hold her for even a second. Eventually he became frustrated and simply spun her around to pull her into a chokehold.

Despite her best efforts, Erin was no match for Din's strength. He sandwiched her between his arm and chest while simultaneously keeping his other arm curled around her throat with just enough force to not choke her.

She could hear him breathing heavily through his modulator along with her own labored breaths. His silver beskar felt frigid against her skin, sending little shivers down her spine each time she made contact. Had the circumstances been different, she would've thought he was about to kill her. Instead, being in such close proximity made her feel rather flustered.

"I think..." She wheezed. "I think we should just share the bed.."

Din found himself becoming flustered as well. He felt so repulsed, yet so intrigued by the idea that he just had to take the chance.

"Fine." He said after a moment's silence. He released Erin from his hold and headed towards the bed.

Erin took a moment to calm her pounding heart before following after him.

There was an agreement to never speak about what happened that night, then they both went to sleep with their backs turned.