Solstice • The Mandalorian

Chapter 10~The Nerf-Herder

   Thanks for all the reads, everyone! 

   Lots of love for all of you!!

   ~~~

   I was furious. Mando hadn't spoken a single word, much less said thank you after I had rescued him. I mean, I didn't save him expecting something in return, I just assumed it was common decency to at least get some form of friendly response, but nope. Mando just quietly flew the ship and landed it near the village. Was he ashamed? Or Embarrassed that a common girl had rescued him? Whatever his reasons were, they were making me very, very angry. So, as Mando stood and turned towards me to leave the ship, I glared at him angrily. Gosh, just the sight of him made me mad. Maybe I should have left him to die and escaped when I had the chance.

   "What?" He said, brushing past me and towards the door as if nothing had happened. 

   "Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder," I spat.

   "Nerf-herder?"

   "Yeah, you heard me," I said, but Mando just continued to walk further away. "You could at least say thank you, you know!"

   "Thanks," he finally said, but it didn't deliver the same satisfaction as it would have if I hadn't forced him to say it. 

   "I saved your life," I reminded him. Heck, maybe I had been expecting something in return for my actions. Mando suddenly stopped walking. There, that's what he had needed, a reminder. Maybe, when I had saved him he hadn't seen it as saving him. After all, he had sacrificed himself to protect me from the crewman. So, maybe he just saw me saving him as returning a favor. Maybe that's why he hadn't made any type of serious gesture to thank me. 

   "Why?" Mando said, now fully facing me. "Why did you save me?"

   "What kind of question is that? It was the right thing to do, I couldn't have just let you die. How was I supposed to go on with my life knowing I killed someone?"

   "You killed those mercenaries. You didn't care when I blew up that camp."

   "Yes, but that's different," I said and finally understood the strangeness of the situation. Why didn't I care about the lives of those mercenaries? Why didn't I bat an eye when Mando blew up that camp? Most importantly, why did Mando's wellbeing mean something to me?

   "How is it different?" Mando questioned, stepping towards me. "You had your chance at escape and at freedom, you had your chance to start a new life, but you chose to come back and rescue me. You could have run off with my ship, you could have even lived here."

   "I know I could have," I said, watching him approach me until he stood only inches away, looking down at me with a burning gaze I could feel through his helmet. 

   "So why didn't you?" 

   "Because I had to save you."

   "Why?"

   I knew the answer, I just didn't want to say it. I didn't want him, my bounty hunter to know how I felt. He would have thought I was crazy or insane if I told him why. Any respect he might have gained for me throughout this experience would vanish after he found out. I was just a bounty to him, I couldn't let him know. 

   "Can't you just drop this and be grateful I saved you?" I said, trying to get passed him so I could leave the ship that was now suffocating me with floating questions.

   "Why, Mena?" Mando said, grabbing my forearm with his gloved hand. I looked at him, stunned. He had never said my name before, not once. Not even when he had first discovered who I was. So why now? Did he truly want to know that bad? Was my answer to his question as big of a burden to him as it was to me? 

   "Because, Mando, we're friends," I said, finally baring my true feelings for him. I looked at the ground, ashamed I thought of us in that way, but more embarrassed than anything else. Mando became deathly silent, but I couldn't force myself to look up at him, the embarrassment weighed me down. I knew I couldn't see his face, but I didn't have to to know he was judging me. Mando suddenly let my arm go and straightened his back. 

   "We're not friends," Mando said. I knew that was the response I was going to receive, but I didn't expect it to hurt as much as it did. I knew I was being foolish to think of him as a friend when he was my bounty hunter. What was wrong with me? What kind of deranged person was I to think in such a way? Then again, I hadn't been the only one doing the saving. What kind of person was he risk his skin for me? 

   "Why did you save me then?" I said. "From the crewmen."

   "That was different," Mando said, repeating my words back to me.

   "How so, Mando? You put your own life on the line to save mine. Were you afraid of what those men were going to do if they caught me?"

   "Yes."

   "Why?"

   "Because you're my bounty and I did what I had to. Don't get yourself confused and think it was for the same reason. Don't make the mistake of thinking we're the same people; we're not the same people. Because if I were you I'd be flying somewhere far away from here right now, as you should be," Mando said.

   "Why do you care so much about my freedom? Is it so hard for you to believe there's someone who would put their own needs aside to help you? I know you did the same for me when you saved me from those crewmen, whether you admit it or not. Although you try not to show it, I think you're a good person and I don't care anymore if it's stupid, but I think of you as a friend."

   Mando shook his head and walked away from me, "We are not friends."

   When Mando opened the door, the villagers immediately swarmed us with questions and smiles of excitement. Ahri, the most excited out of all of them, ran up to the ship and jumped into Mando just like he had when we first arrived.

   "Did you do it? Did you get the bad guys?" Ahri said, looking expectantly between the two of us. 

   "We got em, kid," Mando replied and Ahri's smile grew bigger than either of us had seen. 

   "Did you hear that, Ma? They got the bad guys," Ahri shouted to Rylla who was overwhelmed with emotions after hearing the news, the whole village was. Before they could all begin thanking us, I stormed away towards the cabin. He had wanted to know my answer to why I had saved him, it wasn't my fault he didn't like it. I didn't want to be around him or anyone that reminded me of him. I needed time to myself to think. He had another thing coming if he thought I had given up my only shot at freedom.