Fragments of the Dark

Chapter Seven

Celene didn't stay in the hut.

She spent the night propped against the edge of the structure, staring at the stars. The Mandalorian found her the next morning, sitting there watching the sun slowly rise.

"Did you not sleep at all?"

Celene brushed her palms on her pants and climbed to her feet. "I slept before we landed." Before he could say more she started toward the center ring where the Kuiil already waited.

In the span on thirty minutes the Mandalorian managed to fall off his blurrg mount eight times. Each time Celene grimaced and held back her snort of laughter.

"Perhaps if you removed your helmet?" Kuill said from beside Celene. She looked sharply at him and then her partner who propped himself up on his elbows.

"Perhaps it remembers I tried to roast him."

The orange creature shook his head. "This is a female. The males are all eaten during mating."

Celene folded her arms over her chest. The blurrg she'd tamed yesterday had allowed her to mount and ride with no issues. It seemed her partner's did not share the same desire. In the ring he climbed to his feet again, shaking his head. The blurrg spun to face him and growled.

The Mandalorian grasped the thin band around it's middle and swung himself up onto it's back. The blurrg bellowed and spun, bucking and trying to remove it's unwelcome rider. She succeeded as the Mandalorian struck the dusty ground again with force that made Celene wince. He rolled to his feet and stalked over to where they stood. "We don't have time for this."

Celene glanced at the sun, knowing he was right. She turned to the Kuiil. "Do you have a Landspeeder or Speeder bike we could hire?"

The creature shook his head and gesture to her partner. "You are a Mandalorian!" His voice rose. "Your ancestors rode the great Mythosaur. Surely you can ride this young foal."

Celene looked to the Mandalorian. She didn't know much about his history let alone that of his own people. She knew they were a great race of warriors but that was about all the knowledge she had grasped in their short time together. And that they were feared killers.

Her partner stayed silent, shoulders rising and falling in heavy breaths. Then he looked at her. "How did you do it?"

She gave a shrug. "It likes me I guess. Maybe he is right-" she gestured to their Kuiil. "Maybe it's the armor."

"You know I can't take it off," his tone was sharp and biting.

She drew back. "I didn't mean-"

But he had already turned away, walking slowly back to the young blurrg. Kuiil turned to Celene. "He does not know about you."

Her breath caught in her throat. "I don't know what you mean." She watched her partner approach the animal, hands outraised. The blurrg snorted nervously.

"Many have come through here. But none like you." Kuiil was studying her.

Celene clenched her jaw. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The Mandalorian had gotten the young foal to calm down enough for him to gently pet her neck and body before swinging himself up onto her back. The blurrg roared but then settled with her new rider.

"Good," their guide said. "Now we can go."

The trio set off, each on their own blurrg, across the rocky desert. The ground was cracked and marred in great squares, jagged red mountains rising up around them. Celene wrapped a cloth around the lower half of her face to avoid too much of the dust going in her mouth and nose. After a few hours, their guide came to a slow stop in front of them. He pointed ahead. "That is where you'll find your quarry."