May The Way Be With You

The Child

I gasp awake, feeling cold and tingly once again. Above me is Din, his hand on my cheek. "Easy... Easy." He sighs, and I can feel his relief.

"How long have I been out?" I ask, staying on the ground as I wait for the tingly feeling to go away.

"I don't know. I just came too not that long ago. Tried to go after the Jawas, but I failed. Ship won't even start." He sighs. I nod, and think.

"We're gonna need Kuill's help again. He most likely knows where they go to do trades." I sigh. Din nods, and looks me over.

"You ok?" He asks, holding the back of my head carefully.

"Yeah, one of the little sand fleas got me in the stomach. At least it wasn't in the back like last time." I chuckle dryly. Once the tingly feeling fades, he helps me sit up, and I see a floating hover pram near us. I look to Din in confusion.

"The bounty. It's of a species that can live for a really long time, due to how slowly they age I assume." He explains. He helps me stand up slowly, and once the dizziness passes, I look in the pram. Looking up at me with huge dark eyes is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I'm hit with a strong feeling that he's like me.

I reach my hand out, and he grabs a finger with three tiny fingers. An intense feeling of happiness and a different kind of love overpowers me, making me gasp from the power of it. I lift the baby from the carrier, holding him in my arms. I feel as if there was something missing, and I didn't realize it until this child filled that gap. "Don't get attached, it's a bounty." Din warns me. I look into the baby's eyes, and feel the need to protect this kid at all costs.

"Too late, I'm his mother now." I tell Din, smiling at the baby. He coos and touches my cheek. I hear Din sigh, and we head for Kuill's farm. I carry the baby the whole way, making him laugh and giggle as we walk. The pram follows us, programmed to follow Din's arm guard.

The sun has almost set by the time we reach Kuill. He's repairing one of his towers. "I thought you would be gone by now." He calls down. He then looks down at us, and sees the baby in my arms. He comes down, and goes to his well to bring up more water. I let the baby down so he can play with a few frogs that are near the well.

"This was causing all the fuss?" Kuill asks, having gotten more water.

"I think it's a child." Din sighs, looking at his sparking arm guard.

"Then it is better to deliver it alive." Kuill states.

"Our ship has been destroyed, we're trapped here." Din tells him. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy when he calls it Our Ship, instead of His Ship.

"Stripped, not destroyed. The Jawas steal, they don't destroy." Kuill tells Din, handing him a tool to repair his arm guard.

"Stripped or destroyed, makes no difference to me." Din sighs in frustration. I take the tool from him and start repairing his arm guard. He sighs and looks at the kid. "They're protected by their crawling fortress. There's no way to recover the parts." He sighs.

"You can trade." Both Kuill and I say. I finish repairing the arm guard as much as possible, so at the very least it's not arching anymore. Din asks if we're out of our minds, to which Kuill states he has spoken. We hear the kid make a noise, and when we turn to face him, he's about to swallow one of the frogs.

Din tells him to spit it out, but the kid swallows it whole! He then looks up at us adorably, and even I'm looking back and forth from the kid and Din. The baby giggles and I shake my head. "At least he's been fed. That frog should have his tiny stomach full for now." I sigh. Din shakes his head, and Kuill gets his floating trailer hooked up to a blurrg.