Mandalorian Revived

Chapter 23

I wake in the night to a pained moan.

My head snaps up and I strain to see through the dim light of midnight in the office. The child is fast asleep on my lap still, and my head was resting on Mando's covered chest. I must've slumped over in my sleep. I don't even remember falling asleep. The night before, when Mando was first poisoned, he slept without incident. Even all day today he didn't stir. Now, in his second night of fever, the sound of his voice startles me.

Another pained sound fills the room, more intense than the last. Mando.

"Hey," I whisper, pressing one hand to his chest. It's still very warm. The child stirs in my lap and I reach down with my other hand to rub his ear gently. "Go back to sleep, kid."

Another groan, this one bordering on a scream, erases any traces of sleep from me and Grogu. I grab the child and set him in the makeshift cradle the old man's wife had brought this morning before returning to Mando's side. The temperature scanner is just by the cot and I flip it on. I gently move his arm a little so I can push the probe under his arm for a reading just like the healer woman instructed earlier. It blinks back at me with the same high internal temperature it always does. No change.

She'd warned me that we were entering uncharted territory with this second night of poison sickness. She said no one survived as long as Mando was. Then again, he's a strong, healthy man who received two doses of a standard antidote immediately after being poisoned. I doubt anyone else in this village had that combination of advantages.

The basin of cold water behind me sloshes and I turn to face it in the dim moonlight. Grogu is beside it, standing in his crib, sloshing the water with his small hand and looking at me meaningfully.

"You're right," I sigh out, blinking away the lingering exhaustion. "I think it is time for another cool bath." I pull Mando's blanket back enough to reveal his upper half. It's now covered in a thin, button-down shirt that I can easily change him in and out of as needed. I swiftly undo the buttons and pull it away from his chest.

The cloth beside the basin is a little rougher than I'd like, but we didn't have many options to choose from when some of the villagers stopped by throughout the early afternoon to offer gifts for the Mandalorian's recovery. I soak the cloth in cold water and give it one good squeeze before walking back to the cot.

I gather my legs under me as I perch on the office chair, ignoring the ache in my muscles from being in this position so often, and start dragging the cold cloth along his bare chest. The healer suggested the cool bathes to help break the fever. She'd been specific too. Not too cold, or his body would try to warm up and get worse. But cool enough to make a difference.

It's oddly rhythmic as I drag the cloth along his skin. Back and forth in steady, repeated movements. I'm almost putting myself back to sleep when he makes another noise.

This one is...strange. It almost sounds like he's speaking to someone, but he's still asleep. Or at least mostly asleep.

"T..."

My hand pauses in the cool bath as I look up at the helmet. Through the weak lantern at the front of the office and the moon streaming through the windows, I can see the faint outline of the beskar.

"Tara." His voice is faint and far away.

I swallow. "Yes?"

I almost jump when I feel rough fingers dragging up my arm. A weak gasp escapes the modulator as if he's just realizing that I'm here. Then he sighs. "My love."

He's...definitely out of it from the fever. I resume pushing the cloth across his skin. "You need to rest."

"You're so far away."