The Child's Keeper: A Mandalorian FanFiction

Episode 4, Part 3: The Raiders

Din and Cara took their place up on the platform while Lys slid in beside Omera and Winta. As soon as they gathered, Cara clapped her hands, silencing the small crowd.

"Bad news," Din spoke first. "You can't live here anymore."

Lys blinked in stunned silence. Din's words were abrupt and spoken with little tact. She seemed to catch his gaze in the crowd, and she cocked her head as if to say 'really?' She watched as he exchanged words with Cara before the shock trooper stepped forward.

"I know this is not the news you wanted to hear, but there are no other options."

"You took the job," Lys heard one of the villagers call out.

"That was before we knew about the AT-ST," Cara said.

At the mention of the Imperial walker, Lys paled. She clenched her fists together, her heart beating fast. The Empire continued to haunt her even after it had fallen into its own grave.

She pursed her lips. No small, tiny village deserves to be wiped out by raiders who profited from the Empire. She knew right then and there that she would do whatever it took to convince Din to take the job, regardless of how dangerous it could be.

She listened as they began to argue between themselves and with Cara. Meanwhile, Din seemed to be looking at her once more from where he stood. He had noticed her face turn pale at the mention of walker, and then her resolve afterward.

He sighed. If he ever wanted to sleep in peace without Lys picking a fight like the previous day, he knew they should try to do what they could. He could come up with something.

"We're not leaving," Omera's voice called confidently.

"You cannot fight that thing," Cara said to them.

"Unless we show them how," Din replied, just loud enough for the crowd to hear.

Din and Cara seemed to talk for a few moments, and Lys watched the whole time, her eyes never leaving Din's helmet. When they turned back around, his stance told her that she had won a fight they hadn't even argued about.

"Fine. But you need to be willing to work for it," Din said.

"We'll do it," Omera spoke for the village.

Din nodded.

"Give us an hour to plan. We'll call another meeting later today," Cara said before they came down from the platform.

Din and Cara were speaking when Lys approached, "Don't bother," Din held up a hand to her, and she laughed at him.

"Did I say anything?" She asked, watching as he turned his back from her, not wanting to have to discuss the fact that she had won a potential argument by just looking at him. "I didn't say anything!" She called as he moved away with Cara.

When he had disappeared from sight, she looked down to see the child was whining at her feet, his hands empty. She realized that he had lost the little silver ball, and she sighed.

"Come on, looks like we've got a little scavenger hunt on our hands," she said, and the two of them began to look for the little ball.

It took them forever to finally find it, and by that point, the child was cranky and half-asleep, so Lys took him and brought him to the barn to find Din and Cara still talking as they sat on a couple of trunks.

She watched as they both tensed and looked up as she entered before turning back to conversation as two friends working together. She listened to them as they spoke. She tried to put the child down, but with their presence, he remained awake and cranky.