Silver Sand (Din DjarinxOC)

5.

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The fresher was my happily place.

Mando had pointed it out to me after our first week of being here. On Arvala, we only used such small amounts of water and herbs for cleaning ourselves. The fresher wasn't something I thought existed. People used this to bathe? Absolutely unreal. I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of me. No doubt Mando could hear my joy from the cockpit. And to be honest, I didn't care. This was an amazing experience.

It felt so silly to treat this as I did but it was a luxury I'd never had. As the cascading water enveloped me at first, I'd stood frozen, my senses overwhelmed by the unfamiliar sensation. The rhythmic patter of droplets against my skin resonated like a symphony of abundance, a stark contrast to the measured bathing I was previously used to. I closed my eyes, allowing the water to wash away the accumulated dust of a lifetime.

For the first time, the luxury of a shower, a seemingly mundane act on other planets, unfolded as a revelation. My fingers cupped the rivulets of water, and a mix of awe and gratitude painted my features. The shower became more than a cleansing ritual; it metamorphosed into a baptism of sorts—an immersion into a world of abundance I had only dreamed of beneath the relentless sun of Arvala. Who knew that being in water for so long turned the tips of your fingers pruny? Not me. I tried to take a shower in the fresher as often as I could after that first time.

When my hair had dried, it became the fluffiest I'd ever seen it. It felt light, bouncy, soft, and clean. It actually made me feel girly. After spending so much time on the moisture farm there were so many things I'd neglected just to be able to get the job done. My hair being one of them. I didn't mind the girly feeling at all. It was welcomed, in fact. The first time Mando noticed it I have seared into my brain to pull it out and reflect on it any time I wanted. It was small. It wasn't even really anything to linger on just a small observation he had," Your hair is down." It drove me insane because the fact remains that: he noticed. And I let my little heart hope that maybe just maybe  I caught his eye too...But then he never mentioned it again so I filed that under the delusional part of my brain.

_____

We'd landed this time on a forest planet. Before Mando had left, he had mentioned briefly that this was one of the safer planets so the child and I went out to get some fresh air.

My masked warrior had left three days ago. I'd begun to be comfortable in his extended absences. I just hoped he was ok. He had a com link on him that he was very specific about: only to use it to contact him if it was an emergency. Sometimes I felt my checking in on him was an emergency but I tried to let it go. What if I commend him and he was trying to be quiet? And my voice gave away his position, jeopardizing his whole mission. There was another very real possibility on the flip side of that: If anything happened to him, I would become the sole caretaker of the baby and that was a heavy responsibility. One I realized I would gladly do if that were the situation. Over the last month and a half, those big brown eyes saw right into my soul. In no time, I was wrapped around his three little fingers.

I didn't like going more the thirty feet from the ship. Planets I didn't know had creatures I wasn't familiar with. That realization was more than enough to keep me close to the Crest at all times. I had just finished making the baby a woven bracelet from the blade of grass, and I'd had one to match when Mando finally returned from the tree line. Dragging a body behind him.

I sent him a friendly smile but it faltered when I saw him sway on his feet. He quickly recovered and pushed on. I could hear him panting through the modulator, "Mando?" I picked up the baby and put him on my hip.