ash'ad | the mandalorian

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CHAPTER THREE: THE HUNT

Beth awoke in a shock. She sat up, looking around her dark room in fear. Her dreams had deeply disturbed her to the point that reality seemed to blend into them. She quickly reached beside her and found her blaster. As she went to find her footing, her socks slipped against the smooth floor and she fell beside the bed, knocking over everything on the nightstand. She sat up once again, aware of all the racket she had made. As her mind adjusted, she heard rushed footsteps approaching the door. She looked up as someone knocked rapidly.

"Are you okay?" Din yelled.

"I'm fine! Hold on," she grunted, getting back up off the floor and slipping her helmet on. She walked over to the door and unlocked it, revealing a very panicked Mando still in his long sleeve shirt and pants.

"What happened?" He panted, slightly out of breath. Once he heard the noise he had grabbed his helmet almost instantly and come running out of his room.

"I had a nightmare and I fell like a di'kut (idiot)" she admitted.

"Oh," Din said, stifling a laugh. She looked up at him in annoyance.

"Do you ever sleep, mir'sheb? (smartass)" she grumbled. He scoffed, taking her insult lightly.

"Do you ever sleep well?" he bantered.

She walked past him, sitting down on the bench with her back slumped. It was not the way a "lady" sits which is what many flirtatious flyboys had told her on Nar Shaddaa, but she showed them not to taunt her. They probably couldn't sit for a week afterwards.

"Not really," she admitted, finally answering his question.

Din took a deep breath, coming to sit by her like before. He rested his arms on top of the back cushions and turned his head to face her.

"What did you dream about?" He asked seriously.

Beth hesitated before she spoke, not wanting to seem vulnerable again.

"It was nothing important," she lied, thinking of the screams of her clan that still rang through her mind.

Din could tell that she wasn't telling him the truth. He decided to leave it alone for the time being, figuring it was too private to share with him.

"You should go back to sleep. The sun is still coming up, you could catch a few more hours before we take off," he encouraged. Beth shook her head no.

"That's okay, I'm not tired," she said. Before her nightmare, she had already managed to sleep soundly for 4 hours, a new record as of recently.

"We should go now then. Sticking around would do us no good," he explained.

"What about your friends?"

Beth had grown to like Cara in their short time together. She could tell that the woman cared for Din a great deal which made her happy. Without a clan, any friend he could trust was much appreciated.

"I'll send them a com," he replied lightly, standing with a small grown. He was starting to grow weary of keeping her in one place, much like the fear he had felt with Grogu. Time for goodbyes just couldn't be spared.

Beth stayed seated for a moment, thinking of her newfound freedom. Being trapped on Nar Shaddaa for so long had almost gotten her killed. She would have to fight off at least two bounty hunters a day which for a Mandalorian of her skill was not a challenge, but with little money to buy food and barely any sleep, she had been weak for a long time. But now, she had a new sense of purpose, and she had Din.