Chapter Text
Five years ago...
"Alaina! What have you done?"
Alaina frowned as she pried the pointe shoes off her aching feet. Only the third time she'd worn this pair, she shook her head as she examined the flimsy pair of shoes. They were already fraying and splitting. It looked like she'd need to start breaking in a new pair. She dropped the shoes onto the floor and brought her hands to the right foot, which she had propped on her knee, and rubbed it. It was her third performance in a row, and she found herself greatly looking forward to a few days off to rest and soak her feet.
"What are you talking about?" she asked the young dancer with grey eyes who barged into her dressing room at the end of her performance.
"There's a Mandalorian here," she said with a pleading look. "A Mandalorian is here looking for you," the girl finished, looking nervously behind her as if she expected this person to appear magically behind her.
"What's a Mandalorian?" she asked, wiggling her toes before she slipped back into comfortable slip-on shoes.
The younger ballerina stared at her as if she'd committed an unforgivable sin.
"Use your words," Alaina prodded as she rose from her seat to stretch. "What is a Mandalorian, and why do you look so terrified?"
Thunder rumbled outside, and Alaina smiled. She had already changed out of her costume and was wearing her typical outfit of tights and a baggy green sweater, but she had forgotten a jacket. Hopefully, she wouldn't get too wet on the walk home.
"Alaina, there is a bounty hunter here for you," her younger, dark-haired protege explained.
She frowned. A bounty hunter? What would a bounty hunter want with a ballerina…
Her eyes fluttered closed when she connected the dots inside her mind. Surely, that insufferable man wouldn't be so bold as to send a bounty hunter after her.
"You'll come with me one way or another."
Her former friend's words from their last meeting rang clear in her mind. Months had passed since their argument, and she had put it all behind her. Unfortunately, it appeared as if he had not been able to put it behind him.
"I need to leave," Alaina whispered, gathering whatever belongings she could to hastily throw them into a bag. There wasn't much here: her pointe shoes, a small purse of credits, a dagger she carried on her for protection, and a protein bar. She would have to make do with what she had. She couldn't risk going home - or what substituted for home these days, at least not right now.
She slung her black canvas bag of belongings over her shoulder as the young dancer she'd been mentoring ducked into the hall and returned with a dark green velvet cloak that was from her dance troupe's wardrobe. It would have to do for now.
"What did you do?" her protege asked her nervously as she helped her put on the overly large green cloak. She pulled the hood up to cover her blonde hair, which was still pinned back into a tight bun from her earlier performance.
"Would you believe me if I told you an evil scientist wants to perform experiments on me?"
The younger girl looked at her skeptically, and Alaina shrugged. Honestly, she even had a hard time believing that herself, but here she was, getting ready to run for the second time in a year - all because of what her mind could do.
She sidestepped the shocked girl and darted into the hall. Alaina looked in both directions, and her eyes locked on an intimidating-looking silver helmet that stared her down from the end of the hall to the right. Other dancers and crew members seemed just as shocked to see the armored man. People seemed to part, allowing her a clear view down the hall.
So that's a Mandalorian, she thought as she took in the gleaming silver helmet and dull brown armor adorning the very large man.
She schooled her features and squared her shoulders, preparing for the race of her life. If she could make it through the forest, she could reach the river, which bordered a mountain with a chain of caves perfect for hiding in. Hopefully, she'd find a good enough hiding spot to wait out the man until he gave up. In the worst-case scenario, she could follow the river to the ship docks, try to score herself a spot on a cargo vessel, and go with them to their next destination. Starting over on a new planet was hard, but she'd done it once when she came here. She could do it again.
Mind made up, Alaina turned left and sprinted out of the backstage door, not looking back.
The weather had turned atrocious during her performance, and her shoes slipped in the mud as she ran from the auditorium. Rain poured from the sky, and lightning cracked overhead, followed by loud, rumbling thunder. When Alaina overheard predictions of a storm this evening, she found herself looking forward to enjoying the springtime storm from her home with a cup of warm tea, watching the weather roll through her bedroom window.
Her evening plans had not included running for her life from a bounty hunter in the middle of a storm.
But she had no other choice. She needed to run. If this Mandalorian caught her and turned her in…
Warm tears tracked down her face, mingling with the cold rain that pelted her despite the cloak's hood. She couldn't allow herself to be captured. That was that. If she ended up in his hands, Alaina shuddered at the thought. She'd never see her life again.
She'd never dance again.
She'd never be able to enjoy a springtime storm again.
There was no telling the things she'd never get to experience if her deranged former friend got his hands on her.
So she ran.
The tree line of the dense forest came into view, and Alaina tried to push herself faster. Adrenaline coursed through her, allowing her to ignore the pain in her feet or the way her lungs burned with every inhale. She just needed to reach the forest, and then she could work on hiding her tracks by weaving through the trees.
She broke through the tree line, and the forest canopy slightly shielded her from the downpour, so the forest floor was not as muddy, giving her slightly better traction.
She risked a look behind her, and her heart sank when she saw the foreboding outline of the Mandalorian standing at the treeline. Lightning cracked, illuminating the landscape around the broad-shouldered man and making him appear to be made of shadow and darkness.
"Please," she begged the bounty hunter. "Please don't do this."
The only response she received was the rumbling of thunder as the bounty hunter took a single step toward her.
Alaina's chest constricted, and she turned to run further into the forest. She did her best to make her tracks as erratic as possible as she wove through the dense trees. A root snagged her foot, and she stumbled but caught herself just before she fell to the ground. All those years of dancing suddenly seemed to come in handy for an entirely different reason.
The sound of water could be heard in the distance. Alaina smiled. That was not just the sound of rain. That was the sound of the river roaring. This meant that the cave system that followed the river would be nearby.
Just a little further.
There would be a stretch of nothing when the forest ended, as the terrain changed from dirt to stone, and the scenery transitioned from forest to mountain, with its caves lining the river. That expanse would leave her exposed. Alaina slightly slowed her pace to conserve some of her energy. She would need to sprint to make it there once she no longer had the dense forest to use to her advantage.
She looked behind her just as lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the forest behind her. She slowed when she saw nothing there behind her. Good. Hopefully, she lost the man. Or, at least, she had given herself enough leeway to sprint across the vacant stretch of land between the forest and the rocky, cavernous mountain by the river.
She stopped at the forest's edge, hugging a particularly large, red tree trunk. The river roared to her left, and Alaina watched the rapids crash into the grey stone banks. She gulped at the powerful sight. The river was normally full on a good day, but with the rain from the storm, it was almost overflowing its banks. If the river rose any higher, it could flood the caves she was counting on to hide in. Or worse, one wrong step or slip, and she could fall into the rushing waters. Although she'd rather meet the Maker in the river than she would at the hands of…
A branch snapped behind her, and she spun, expecting to find the armored man stalking behind her out of the darkened forest, but no one was there. She let out a shaky breath. She couldn't waste any more time. It was time to run again.
Alaina turned to push off the tree and begin her mad sprint to the caves in the distance, briefly closing her eyes to say a prayer to anyone who was listening, asking for the speed to reach her destination. Unfortunately, when she pushed off the tree, she came to an abrupt stop after running into something.
Lightning cracked across the sky, and Alaina's heart caught in her chest when she realized it wasn't something she'd run into, but rather someone.
The Mandalorian.
The man's larger, gloved hands reached out and latched onto her shoulders, trapping her in his powerful grip.
"Please, sir, I know you don't know me, but you can't send me to him," she begged, tears welling in her eyes as she stared up into the helmet in sheer terror.
The helmet stayed unmoving, and Alaina felt the slightest spark of hope. Maybe she'd be able to talk herself out of this. Surely, the man wouldn't turn her in if he knew what would happen to her.
"My-My name is Alaina," she stuttered. "I'm a dancer. I just want to be a dancer. I've never stolen from anyone or hurt anyone," she tried to plead her case. "If you turn me in, he's just going to experiment on me. He's obsessed with me and what I'm capable of."
"Sorry, kid," he said. The digitized voice was flat and uncaring as he spoke.
Alaina watched in slow motion as one of his hands dropped from her shoulder to grab a pair of shackles from his waist. With all the strength she could muster, she dropped and twisted her body in an attempt to escape his grasp. And then -
She was free.
Alaina blinked in shock when she realized she was just out of arm's length of the Mandalorian. The helmet gave nothing away, but judging by the bounty hunter's look from his empty hands to her, she assumed he was just as shocked to see that Alaina had managed to escape him.
With another blink, Alaina remembered where she was.
And then she remembered who she was.
Alaina knew that people usually looked over her. She had a dancer's typical slender build, but people usually assumed she was weak. They underestimated the lithe muscles she'd built over the years through hours and hours of daily training. She was an awkward height, shorter than most women, and was passed over for parts because she didn't fit the image some directors had for their leading dancer. She knew she was pretty but not beautiful. Her looks were plain, and men's gazes never stayed on her pale face for long. Alaina could go on for days. Her green eyes were too large for her face. She found herself wishing her blonde hair were brighter and wouldn't be the curly-headed rat's nest it usually turned into after a night's sleep. People looked at her, and they underestimated her.
The Mandalorian underestimated her, and she escaped from his grasp.
She had a gift - a gift that not many knew of. Her mother had the gift and did her best to teach Alaina how to manage it. Her former best friend, turned evil scientist, knew of her gift. It had torn their relationship apart when he discovered the things Alaina could do. Her mother had warned her that people would use her, but Alaina had trusted her closest friend with her secret.
And he sent a bounty hunter after her.
After how everything ended between her and her former best friend, she vowed she'd never reveal her gift to anyone again.
However, as she stared down the bounty hunter sent to capture her, Alaina decided it was time to use her gift to save her life.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. When she opened them, the Mandalorian stepped closer to her, and she raised her hands between them, watching as the man froze.
"What the hell?" came a modified voice under the silver helmet.
Alaina held her ground and raised her hands, letting her powers flow through her to freeze the Mandalorian in place.
"What are you doing to me?" he asked, and his body could only flinch as he struggled to regain control of his body from her.
Alaina smirked in response before her face hardened, and she flung her hands to the right, sending the armored man airborne. A wave of exhaustion washed over her, and she doubled over, resting her hands on her knees as she panted. Using her powers took a lot out of her, but she couldn't rest. Not yet. She'd only bought herself a little time.
She looked back, and when the Mandalorian's body crashed against the ground, she took in a deep breath. Lightning lit the sky, illuminating the bank of caves in the distance.
"Run," she whispered, nodding to psych herself up.
"Kriff!" the Mandalorian spat as he tried to get up after she had tossed him.
That was all the encouragement she needed.
She sprinted as fast as she could against the slick stone lining the expanse between the forest behind her and the caves ahead. The river roared in her ears, and she tried to use it as a meditative sound. A sound to encourage her. She used the sound of the rushing water to drown out the sound of the Mandalorian's boots pounding against the stone as he chased her down.
Alaina gritted her teeth as she pushed herself further, asking more from her body than she ever had before. She was so close. Just a little more, and she could jump onto a ledge leading to one of the caves. Once she was in there, she could get lost - so lost that it would take her days to find her way out of the intricate caverns. Surely the Mandalorian couldn't find her if she didn't even know where she was.
A gloved hand grabbed her cloak, knocking the hood down, and yanked her back.
Alaina screamed in rage and twisted until she freed herself from the velvet garment. Unfortunately, her dancer's grace did not hold a second time. A combination of the slick stone, her speed, and the twist it took to escape the cloak caused her feet to trip over themselves, and the stone was too wet to correct herself. She tumbled forward. Hard.
The ledge she had been aiming for rushed at her, and she crashed into it.
The last thing she saw was a bolt of lightning strike the ground in the distance before her head collided with the mountain's ledge, and her world went dark.
Five years later...
Stormtroopers.
Of course, Karga led him into the belly of an Imp snake pit.
The Mandalorian squared his shoulders at the sight of the white-armored Imperial remnants staring him down. The payout better be as impressive as Karga implied it would be, he thought as the door slid closed behind him.
"This way," the trooper closest to him said, pointing to a door on the left side toward the end of the hallway.
Mando stepped forward, keeping his eyes open for even a hint of trouble.
"Stop her!" a voice yelled from somewhere further down the hall, and Mando tensed, grabbing his blaster.
The other troopers in the hall all swiveled their heads just as a blur of yellow and white barreled out of a door on the right.
A frail-looking girl with honey-blonde hair, wearing what appeared to be a white hospital gown, elegantly twisted and outmaneuvered each of the troopers, who looked too stunned to stop her. Unfortunately, the woman was so preoccupied with looking back that she didn't notice him in front of her.
When she collided with his breastplate, Mando instinctively grabbed her arms to prevent her from falling over. Brilliant emerald green eyes stared up at him, wide with fear.
But he knew those green eyes. Those large emerald orbs had haunted his dreams for the last five years.
"Tin Man?" Alaina whispered, her eyes widening in disbelief.
Mando took her in. Her eyes hadn't changed in five years. They were still that brilliant shade of emerald that had followed him all these years later.
"Save me," she pleaded, grabbing onto the top of his chestpiece. "Please," she begged again.
"Don't move!" one of the troopers ordered.
He was frozen in shock, not expecting ever to see the emerald-eyed woman again.
Tears welled in her green eyes, and she surprisingly slipped from his grasp. Again.
Mando watched as she spun and twisted around him. Her movements captivated him. If this were his first time meeting her, he would never have pegged her as a classically trained dancer. It was clear she lacked the muscles of a trained fighter, but the way she could maneuver out of his grasp spoke of someone highly skilled.
His former bounty didn't make it far. Mando watched, too stunned to do anything, as electricity wrapped around her. He watched helplessly as she screamed and writhed in pain, falling to her knees while she was being electrocuted. When the electricity seemed to stop, she turned back to him with pleading eyes before another wave washed over her.
"Stop!"
Mando turned to see a small, weasely-looking man in glasses come running out of the same room the woman had left.
"Stop!" he ordered again, and Mando watched as one of the Stormtroopers released a remote that he hadn't noticed before.
When he let the button up, the girl stopped convulsing and collapsed to the floor.
The smaller man, who appeared to be an officer of some kind, glanced at Mando but sidestepped him to go to the woman. He pressed his fingers to her neck and nodded, apparently relieved to find a pulse there. He forced Alaina's eyes open, shining a light into them. Alaina's face scrunched in pain at the light, and she weakly shoved the doctor away.
"You have to be careful," he scolded the trooper with the remote. "All of this will be for nothing if you fry her brain. Come, Lainey," he whispered, helping the woman up off the ground.
"Don't call me that," she growled, shoving the doctor away from her.
Mando watched, feeling anger begin to simmer in his chest as she swiped at her face and frowned when she discovered a slow trickle of blood that came from her nose.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," the nervous officer apologized, keeping his eye on the blonde woman as she tried to stop the bleeding from her nose. "We were expecting you."
The past came back to him as he was finally able to place the man in front of him.
This was the man who had come to him about the bounty on Alaina all those years ago.
"Doctor Pershing," the man greeted him with an outstretched hand.
Mando looked at the doctor's hand without taking it, then returned his gaze to the nervous man's face in silence.
"Right, straight to business. Just like last time," the doctor nodded and dropped his hand.
Alaina's emerald eyes moved to his helmet, sparkling with unconcealed rage as she looked at him. Pershing moved to stand next to her and forcefully clamped a hand around her elbow. Alaina tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, but the man clung to her tightly.
Pershing gave him a tight smile. "Follow me," he directed, turning to move down the hall. When Alaina dug her feet in, the doctor aggressively pulled her to his side, almost causing her to stumble again. "You will be punished for your escape attempt, Lainey," Pershing whispered into her ear.
It was still loud enough for Mando to hear the man, and he felt his hands subconsciously clench into tight fists at his sides.
It'd been five years since he first saw her. She'd been a bounty.
She was the last puck of four he'd taken off Karga. The Guild leader tempted him with the high payout that was attached to the girl. He'd been told that the woman had fled from her husband with his fortune. There was an odd list of specifications for her return: no brute force, no head trauma, no carbonite. He just shrugged, not caring about the list of demands. It would be an easy job. A ballerina versus a Mandalorian… It was laughable to even think about.
Until it wasn't.
He learned quickly that the story he'd gotten from Karga didn't quite add up. Then, he was stuck with her for the three days it took to get back to Nevarro. She'd pleaded and begged him, called him a kriffing Imp, and told him he was working for the Empire. He held firm. She was the job. Bounties lied. It wasn't his job to be the judge and jury…
"But you are my executioner," she'd accused him. "If you're going to deliver me to my death, I want to know your name. Or is your heart also made of tin, Tin Man?"
He hadn't forgotten her particular, mesmerizing shade of green eyes in five years.
Pershing motioned for him to take a seat across from an older man in dark robes as he pulled Alaina to stand by the back wall. Alaina ripped her arm from the doctor's grip and moved a couple of steps away from the man.
Now, those green eyes were staring back at him. Instead of tears or terror engulfing her wide green eyes, tears of hate, complete ire, and disgust swam in them.
It seemed the girl had been right. He'd practically gift-wrapped her for the Empire. The outcome wasn't supposed to matter. She was his bounty. He had turned her in. That was that. She had done something to deserve to be where she was. Well, she didn't deserve to be with the Empire. No one did. He'd been hired to return her to her husband… so that's what he did… Or so he thought.
So why did the girl's green eyes still haunt his dreams? Not every night. Not even every month. Usually, after a difficult bounty or an event that was more emotionally taxing than usual. Her emerald eyes and long honey-blonde hair would show up in his dreams. Which only made him feel worse.
He could still remember her name after all these years - Alaina. And here she was, on Nevarro, right where he had left her, in the possession of her new owner, the Empire.
She was thinner than he remembered. Her cheekbones were more prominent, and her face had a hollowed, sunken look. She had a scar on her left temple from when she tripped and crashed headfirst into that mountain when he chased her down. Her blonde hair was duller than he remembered, done in a single braid that fell to her lower back, and it had lost some of its sheen. Now, it looked more like straw, dull, frizzy, and dirty. She was wearing what was basically a white hospital gown that fell to her knees and looked more like a sack hanging off her frail form. The last accessory of note was the thick collar that clung tightly around her neck. A slave's collar. It was what they had used to electrocute her in the hallway earlier.
Mando felt a wave of guilt swell in his chest. Her emerald eyes still held that spark he remembered, though. At least the Empire hadn't taken that from her.
Not yet, his treacherous mind whispered.
Now, he sat across from the Client in the middle of his clandestine meeting, which Karga had offered. Karga had said this was a client with deep pockets; he just wasn't expecting to deal with Imps. Mando had half a mind to walk out of the meeting, that was until his former bounty with emerald eyes crashed into him in the hallway. He didn't know what had come over him that made him stay. He rarely ran into quarries after turning them in. In fact, he'd only ever stumbled upon one in all of his years as a hunter. Maybe it was intrigue. Maybe it was guilt. Either way, she was the only reason he decided to stay and hear the Client out.
Mando's helmet was directed at the Client, but he kept his eyes on the girl, Alaina, while the Imp spoke.
The Client snapped his fingers, and Mando's former bounty stepped to the table to stand next to the older Imp. The Client reached under the table, and when he brought his hand back up, he dropped a silver, molded object on the table.
"Beskar?" Mando asked, surprised to see the rare metal brick prominently bearing the Imperial stamp.
"Go ahead, it's real," the Client encouraged him with a smug smile. Mando picked up the brick to inspect it more closely. "This is only a down payment," the man continued. "I have a whole camtono of beskar waiting for you upon delivery of the asset."
Kark, an entire camtono…
"Alive!" Dr. Pershing spoke up anxiously from behind the table.
"Yes, alive," the Client confirmed. The man took a deep, annoyed breath before continuing, "Although I acknowledge that bounty hunting is a complicated profession. This being the case, proof of termination is also acceptable at a lower fee."
"That is not what we agreed upon!" Pershing argued, obviously upset by the suggestion.
Mando glanced up from the beskar, observed the Client and Pershing for a moment, then turned his gaze to the woman on the Client's other side. Her eyes gave nothing away except the obvious disgust they held directed at him.
Mando should have left, should have walked out. He already had a bad feeling about whatever bounty they had, and besides, a deal with the Imps was not what he had planned. In fact, Mando had made it a point to avoid them at all costs.
However… the camtono of beskar was too good a deal to turn down. The tribe needed supplies, and Mando had a duty to provide for his people.
"Let's see the puck," Mando said, agreeing to take the job.
The Client raised his hand, and the emerald-eyed woman stepped forward to stand beside him at the table. She looked back at the Client, who nodded to her. The woman, Alaina, turned her gaze back to his helmet and stared at him so deeply that Mando felt as if she could see past the beskar and view his face.
Mando held his breath as she continued her silent examination, unsure what was happening.
"I sense no ill will," she finally spoke, breaking the strained silence. "He is…" She faded off, and her face became sorrowful, pained even, before she finished, "he is a man of his word."
Mando clenched his fists on top of the table. So, that's why the Imps had wanted her. Hadn't Alaina called herself gifted? Her words from years ago rang through his head. Mando had even been on the receiving end of her powers a couple of times. It was one of the many offers she had begged him to take her up on, rather than him basically gift-wrapping her for the Empire. She'd warned him about this, but he hadn't wanted to believe her. Who knew the kinds of things someone like her could help them achieve? What other powers did she possess that the Empire was using her for?
The Client nodded and flicked his hand back, dismissing Alaina to the back of the room again.
The woman didn't move, though. Curiously, he watched as a subtle change took over the blonde woman. A blank, unseeing look washed over her face. The woman brought a finger up to trace the transparisteel T of his helmet, and Mando sat there frozen as he watched her fingertip glide down the front of his helmet. "He's drowning in seas of green," she murmured, tilting her head curiously to the side. It was almost as if she could see something that the rest of them in the room could not.
The Client sighed. "You'll have to forgive her," he told Mando as an unremorseful apology. "She's useful, but sometimes not all there," he finished, tapping his finger to his temple, implying that Alaina was crazy.
Then, without warning, the Client pressed something under the table, sending a shock through the collar that was secured around her neck, bringing the girl crashing to the ground with a scream.
Mando was out of his chair in an instant, ignoring the troopers who snapped their weapons back at him. He shook his head and knelt to offer the woman a hand. She looked around, disoriented, before her gaze landed on his outstretched hand. Cautiously, the woman slid her hand into his palm and allowed him to help her back up.
The girl had been right after all...
"I am surprised to see a Mandalorian such as yourself so upset over a little electrical stimulation. Surely, you've done worse to a bounty to receive the desired outcome."
At the Client's words, the woman's face changed from curiosity back to fury, and she ripped her hand from his with a snarl.
The girl had been right, and now her blood was on his hands.
The Client snapped again, and he watched her obediently walk back to her spot on the back wall.
He needed to fix his mistake. He needed to make it right.
"It's not the method you used," Mando told the Client, bringing his helmet back to glare at the older man. He hoped he sounded halfway menacing, so he didn't blow his… Blow whatever inkling of a plan that was beginning to take shape in his head. "It's the collar."
The Client nodded and motioned for him to take his seat again. "Sometimes, things must be done to ensure the safety of others," he explained with a smile.
Mando crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. "The safety of others?" he questioned, trying to use the opportunity to pry information from the man. "What is a waif of a girl like her gonna do?"
He didn't miss how Dr. Pershing's demeanor became even more uncomfortable than it already was or how the Client's smile turned from passive to dark.
"Things you couldn't even imagine, Mandalorian," the Client answered ominously. "However, we aren't here to discuss the girl. We're here to discuss your next bounty," he reminded Mando.
Mando gave a single nod. "Right, you were about to show me the puck." He didn't care about the next bounty. He cared about the one standing in front of him, the one from five years ago.
It was time to right his wrongs from all those years ago.
"I'm afraid discretion dictates a less traditional agreement," the Client began, leveling a look at his helmet. "We can only offer you a tracking fob."
Mando sighed and raised his vambrace to enter the code. "What's the chain code?" he asked.
"We can only provide you with the last four digits," the Client informed him.
Mando dropped his arm and tilted his helmet at the information - or, more accurately, the lack of information. "Their age? That's all you can give me?" he asked, put out with the answer.
"Yes," the old man nodded. "They're fifty years old. We can also give you last positional data. Between that and the fob, a man of your skill should make quick work of this."
Mando stayed quiet, contemplating the bounty, weighing how he was going to pull it all off - the bounty, the beskar, and the girl. Part of him wanted to go back to the original plan of killing them all and taking the girl. Chances were the beskar was hiding here somewhere, too. His eyes flicked back to the girl standing against the wall at the back of the room. Mando ground his teeth. No, if he needed a chance at freeing her, he needed to play into their game. At least for now.
"The beskar belongs back into the hands of the Mandalorians," the Client continued when he didn't get an immediate response from Mando. "It is good to restore the natural order of things after a period of such disarray, don't you agree?"
Mando's helmet moved on its own toward the green-eyed woman clinging to the wall in the back, staring at him with large, mournful eyes. He let out a huff but nodded, agreeing to take the job.
I'm sorry, Mando thought, looking back at his former bounty. Alaina's eyes widened even further, almost as if she had heard him apologize. The look of surprise only lasted a moment before the hard exterior returned to her green orbs. Had she somehow heard his apology? Did her gifts allow her to communicate telepathically somehow?
Mando rose from the table, turning his back to the Imps and Alaina. The job would give him time to come up with a plan for getting the beskar and the girl.
Everything had already turned upside down for him once. What else could go wrong?