Metanoia | The Mandalorian ON HOLD

Chapter 4

The Mandalorian woke up with the first rays of sunshine, his body hurting from laying on the uneven ground. Sitting up and looking to his right side, he saw the girl, Juno, sleeping peacefully with his cape still covering her small body and the pod next to her. He stood up and stretched, a few bones cracking. Mando carefully took the cape, putting it on his back and then woke up the girl, shaking her shoulder lightly.

Juno woke up, looking around her not recognizing her surroundings. She then looked up, seeing the Mandalorian. "Morning." She mumbled, still a bit sleepy.

"We're leaving." Was his only response before pressing something on his wrist, making the pod moving towards him. He then turned around and started walking, not looking back at her. She quickly got up and swiftly moved next to him scared that she would stay alone in a place she didn't know.

~

They walked for another few hours. The pod floating next to the Mandalorian was now opened with the child looking around, cooing softly. Juno was quite ahead of them, kicking a round rock as hard as she could and then skipping to it. It was the first time in a while that she was able to act like the kid she was when she suddenly stopped, seeing a ship being stripped by some Jawas.

Mando stopped next to her. He took his rifle from his back and pulled out a monocular, watching the scene in front of him. He then started shooting at the Jawas, disintegrating them. The Jawas quickly ran back to their sandcrawler trying to escape.

He then started running after them, the pod following him. "What are you going to do?" Juno yelled after him. When she got no response, she went after the Mandalorian who was trying to get on the machine.

Juno, knowing she wasn't fast enough to reach them, slowed down, still keeping the sandcrawler in sight. When she saw the Mandalorian getting electrocuted and falling down, she started running again to get to him to see if he was alright. When she reached him he was passed out. She locked eyes with the child and sat down, knowing they couldn't really do anything but wait until he woke up.

~

After what felt like hours of waiting, the Mandalorian woke up with a start, breathing heavily and looking at the trails left after the Jawas. He then looked at the kids watching him, sighting to himself. They then got up and went back to the ship.

After seeing the destructed ship, Mando was frustrated. He didn't know what else to do so he picked up the green child, putting him back to his pod while walking out. "Come on." He said, motioning to Juno to follow him.

Knowing they would be walking for a long time again, Juno sighed standing up from her sitting position and going after the Mandalorian.

They walked until it was dark. During the first few hours, Juno tried keeping a conversation, asking the Mandalorian questions about himself, about other Mandalorians but her questions stayed mostly unanswered. After the day spent walking, she became rather tired, her feet hurt and she was hungry. And, as any twelve year old kid would, she started complaining which annoyed the Mandalorian.

"Can you stop the whining, we're almost there."

"And where exactly is there?" That's when she saw a farm-like place before them.

They walked closer until they saw an Ugnaught working on something.

"I thought you were dead." The Ugnaught says without looking at Mando.

While he climbed down and walked closer to Mando, Juno let the child out of his pod and together they followed a frog they saw hopping around. As the kids chase the frog around, Juno laughing and the child cooing, Mando and Kuiil talk, watching them.

"This is what was causing all the fuss?" Asks Kuiil, gesturing to them.

"They're just children." Says Mando, fixing something on his wrist.

"It is better to deliver them alive then."

"My ship has been destroyed. I'm trapped here." He says. Juno, now watching the child jump around, still chasing the frog, giggles and goes after him.

"Stripped. Not destroyed. The Jawas steal. They don't destroy." Kuiil responses.

"Stolen or destroyed, makes no difference to me. They're protected by their crawling fortress. There's no way to recover the parts." He says, still slightly annoyed and frustrated.

"You can trade." States Kuiil.

"With Jawas? Are you out of your mind?" The Mandalorian replies.

"I will take you to them. I have spoken." He says before turning away. The Mandalorian's attention is drawn back to the kids by Juno making a disgusted noise and the child cooing loudly.

"Hey! Spit that out." Says the Mandalorian loudly but the child ignores him and swallows the frog whole.

"Eww, that's so gross." Shudders Juno, making the child laugh and then burp. Kuiil then went to start preparing the transport to the Jawas while Mando took Juno to get something to eat for her, knowing she must have been starving after walking all day, barely eating anything.

When they were all set and ready to leave, it was raining heavily. While the child was safely in his closed pod, Juno, unlike the others, didn't have anything to cover herself with and was shivering from the cold. When Mando noticed this, he took off his cape again and put it over her shoulders and head. This made Juno look up and smile at him, silently thanking him. It made her think that the Mandalorian wasn't so bad after all.