CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

THE FORSAKEN

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TESS STUCK CLOSE to the Mandalorian's side as they walked with Cara dune into the reformed town on Nevarro. She was bombarded with sweet smiles and intriguing looks from the passers by. Children ran about the streets happily, kicking metal trinkets around or simply laughing with each other. Tess didn't understand what was so funny about talking with other people.

She'd only just stepped into the town and already the air of contentment and fresh possibility was making her sick. This was not at all like Mos Pelgo, where the townsfolk were as dry and rusted as the buildings they lived in. In Mos Pelgo, everything had felt stretched, worn and weathered from years of anguish. Tess found herself wishing to be back there, out in the treacherous sands and on the mountain ridges where the scorching suns wept their golden light over her.

This new town was foreign, with it's playfulness and amended nature. Tess didn't like it. Her eyes closed for a half second, and for a moment she was lost in the recollection of the forsaken town out in the middle of nowhere. The sand treats littered across the cantina's front counter. The sound of children grunting as they learned combat outside her mechanic's shop. Her shop, that beautifully broken pile of clay and wood, crafted to fit her every wish and command. A place entirely her own, where nothing was ever out of place. Her own personal chaos, fit to withstand her storm.

Her chest ached, and when Tess opened her eyes, her lungs seemed to careen against her ribs. She let out a soft gasp. No one could hear it except her, but it was enough to make Tess look down in confusion. Her bruised ribs had been healed for days now, and her lungs were better since the fall on the ice planet. This meant that whatever was aching inside her chest, inside her heart, wasn't an injury. Tess wasn't sure if she should be grateful or not.

Instead, she pushed it away, just as she did with everything she didn't understand.

"Looks like you two have been busy." the Mandalorian's light voice pulled Tess back. She didn't notice that every once in a while he glanced at her, seeing something was wrong. Like always, he didn't say anything, knowing she'd be more likely to rip his helmet off his head than tell Mando what was bothering her.

Greef stepped back to come in line with them, the child still gurgling happily in his arms. "I myself have been steeped in clerical work." across the way, the smell of roasting food caught Tess' attention, and instantly her mouth started watering. "Marshal Dune here is to be thanked for cleaning up the town."

They crossed the street to a large building with an open entrance, cut between two street vendors. Tess craned her head back to look in the direction of where smoke rose up from the grill, and she gazed longingly at it before Mando tugged on her wrist, pulling her to face Cara, who stood on the threshold.

Tess shot a glare his way, but forgot about it when Cara spoke up. "Your ship's not looking too good." she pointed out, a hand on her hip.

"I'll say." Tess grumbled, and Mando gave her a patronizing look. But under his helmet, the Mandalorian raised an eyebrow, slightly amused.

"We had a run-in with the New Republic." Mando told Cara. She nodded and turned, and Tess realized that the entrance wasn't to a building, but a cut-through to the next street over, where Greef was already emerging back into the light.

When Mando, Tess, and Cara did the same, she saw an even taller building ahead of them, with an orange-gold awning and grey sandstone making up the foundation. It reminded her of Mos Pelgo, if Mos Pelgo were to be reshaped into it's former glory. Her heart seized again.

"They should leave the Outer Rim alone.'' Greef spoke up ahead of them. "If the Empire couldn't settle it, what makes them think they can?" Tess stuck to Mando's side as Greef stepped onto the doorstep of the building and tapped a code into the console.

"Here we are." he finished. Mando stiffened slightly beside Tess, and she looked up at him quizzically. Under his helmet, the Mandalorian's eyes were flashing with memories of the last time he was in this place, bleeding out over the tiled floors.

"I'm surprised to see this place is still standing." Greef and Cara moved forward, and the woman whirled around with her arms outstretched.

"Wait till you see inside." she responded playfully, then disappeared into the semi-darkness. Tess cocked her head to the side, a question in her eyes.

"This is the place I told you about." Mando said. "Where the Empire caught us." Tess' eyebrows shot up, remembering the story the Mandalorian had told her as they waded out towards the Krayt Dragon's lair. Then, she'd thought he was lying about the shootout in the bar, but it seemed it was the truth after all. She should have known. The Mandalorian was many things, but a liar didn't seem to be one of them.

The first thing Tess noticed when they stepped into the bar was the peaceful atmosphere. The whole place seemed to sigh, a wide breath of release that cascaded through the many hunched children at the rows of desks. They were younger than Tess, only four or five. The girls and boys wore their hair in twisted braids, and their clothes were rough-spun in bright, vibrant colours. Across the room, A re-programmed protocol droid stood in front of a board with the star system displayed across it. Light streamed in from the open windows, and effervescent green plants were set up near the back.

"Who can name one of the five major trade routes in the galaxy?" the Protocol droid called out. Tess went to stand beside the Mandalorian, her eyes wandering the room carefully, landing on each excited little face.

"How about the Corellian Run?" the droid finished.

A little boy spoke up. "The Hydian Way?" Tess pursed her lips, not understanding what they were talking about.

"Yes, the Hydian Way. That is correct." the droid applauded. Tess crossed her arms over her chest, her brow furrowing. She'd never gotten a proper education, not even when her parents were alive. They'd worked at the local space port, in the maintenance crew. With the amount of credits they were able to make, the family was just able to keep themselves afloat. This meant that instead of sitting in a classroom with her friends, Tess was alone out on the tarmac. She'd barely been old enough to understand the ways of the world, and had thought that the port and town below it was the only place in the entire world.

When she'd moved to Mos Pelgo, Tess had kept the same illusions, opting out of learning useless information, and instead forced the Marshal to give her a space to work on machines. In the 5 years she spent there, the Marshal would never stop pestering her. As she'd tuned up his Mandalorian armour, Vanth had sat on the chair and watched her, just like Jo. He'd try to make conversation, using his luck on getting Tess to open up, but he was always met with her simple answers and veiled remarks.

On more than one occasion, he'd brought up education, trying to get her to at least attend one of the classes, so that it would help her learn the other languages spoken on the planet, or given her a deeper look into the galaxy she lived in.

The only problem was, Tess wanted nothing more than to forget the galaxy she lived in, and her answer was always no.

"A school?" Mando asked, turning to Cara.

"Things have changed a lot around here." she answered softly. Tess shifted from foot to foot, remembering all those days when Vanth would try and convince her, when he would do anything to get her to listen. It had never worked.

"We're gonna leave the little ones here so we can talk business." Greef said, moving forward. Both Tess and Mando stiffened, the Mandalorian raising a hand while Tess scowled at the old man.

"Wait!" the Mandalorian said at the same time Tess stated. "Absolutely not." the Mandalorian pulled a hand across Tess' shoulders, keeping her from moving towards Greef.

"Wherever I go, they go." he said cautiously.

"I'm not staying here." Tess cut in bluntly. Mando sighed and gripped her shoulder tighter, trying to let him handle this.

"Mando, please." Greef said, then turned to Tess. "and young one, listen." Tess scoffed, her stomach twisting at his gentle voice. "Where we're going, you don't want to take them. Trust me." The Mandalorian relaxed slightly, but Tess' frowned only carved deeper into her skin, as sharp as a shard of glass.

"No." she said plainly.

"Tess—" Mando tried to reason with a sigh.

"No." the young girl said more harshly, her voice growing dark. "Leave the child if you want, but I'm not leaving." The Mandalorian's eyebrows puckered, a question dancing on the tip of his tongue as he looked into Tess' storm-filled eyes. Something lurked beneath the clouds and lightning, beneath the dazzling blue that seemed to cut through his heart. Fear, he realized with a confused start. Tess was scared, if only a little, to be left alone in this place. But why?

Of course, the Mandalorian wouldn't get his answer, and he knew better than to try and convince her otherwise when she stared at him like that. Greef and Cara seemed to understand as well, just by the way Tess' features sharpened. They all knew that nothing was going to change her mind. It never did.

"Fine." The Mandalorian said, while both Cara and Greef looked apprehensively between the two. "He can stay here, and Tess..." there was a moment's hesitation, before. "Tess will come with us."

Cara felt she needed to reassure the two that gazed to where Greef placed the child down in one of the seats. "He'll be fine here. You have my word." then she looked at Tess, smirking quietly. "You, I wouldn't be so sure."

Tess peered up at Cara severely. "I'll be fine." she said it with enough finality to bring deafening silence in her wake, and Cara raised her hands in mock surrender as Greef came back to them.

"Come on." the man said, and his voice had grown stoic, not at all the merry tone he'd carried when they first arrived.

The Mandalorian gazed worriedly at Tess, wanting her to stay where it was safe, but the girl was adamant, and without another word, they followed Cara and Greef back into the bustling streets of Nevarro.

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As they neared the clerical building Greef was headed to, Tess immediately began to regret her decision.

She'd decided to stay with the Mandalorian, and help with whatever Greef and Cara wanted, purely because she didn't want to be alone. It was a strange thought, a traitorous thought, in her eyes. Tess liked being alone. She enjoyed the feeling of having no attachments, no one to rely on. It was easier to forget yourself that way, when you had no one to care for. She'd been alone almost her entire life, and the silence, the detachment, it had never bothered her before.

That was, until, Trask. When she'd been alone on Trask, worrying herself sick about the Mandalorian, those men had attacked her. She could still feel his hand on her neck, pushing her against the wall, threatening to kill her and the Mandalorian. She still remembered his partner, cautious and hesitant, yet still as guilty.

She wasn't going to let that happen again, and if it meant throwing herself into a different kind of danger, at least she would have someone to protect her.

Distinct voices wrapped around Tess' ears as they entered the sunlight stained building. Tess walked beside Mando, her leg clunking against the rough ground, her limp growing from her knee down. Inside was a long counter, and sitting behind it, speaking quietly into a data pad, was the strangest creature Tess had ever laid eyes upon. He was bright blue, with gills and a fin like a fish. Along his neck were many little holes, and his eyes were bright and vibrant, a colour Tess couldn't quite place.

"There's no registration on the ship, but I'm pretty sure it belongs..." he looked up, and suddenly his voice whittled down to nothing. Greef passed by and turned back. The fish-man's eyes landed on the Mandalorian, and widened when he saw the beskar clad warrior. Tess frowned, sensing the two had a history.

"I believe you two have met." Greef said coldly. Tess took a shocked step back as mist-like air sprouted from the man's head in a wide ring, his eyes terrified. Whatever the Mandalorian had done to him, it hadn't been good.

"I'm surprised to see you here." the Mandalorian said calmly, and Tess raised an eyebrow.

"Right back at ya." the fish man blurted back, spluttering on his words. His eyes met Tess', and when they flashed with confusion, she glared back. He looked away immediately, face growing even more frightened.

"Mythrol here's taken care of my books since he was a pollywog." Greef cut in softly. "But then he disappeared one day after a bit of 'creative accounting.'" Both Tess and Mando gave Mythrol a sharp look, causing the man to almost fall out of his chair.

"Magistrate Karga was generous enough to let me work off my debt."he said. "Thank you, by the way." he added cheerfully at the end. However, Tess could still hear a quiver in his voice.

"Three hundred and fifty years," Greef said. "But who's counting?" that was enough to make Tess snort, and she reached a hand up over her mouth, eyes still numb. Mythrol shifted in his seat, unnerved by the lifelessness in the little girl's eyes.

Mando smiled at Tess before saying. "Well, if he runs off on you again, let me know." his voice grew dark on the last word, head jutting towards the sapphire skinned creature, who gulped nervously.

"Let me assure you," he tried to reason. "I do not want to spend any more time in carbonite." he chuckled softly, but Tess could see right through him, knowing full well that he was scared out of his mind. He had plenty of reason to be, Tess thought. "Still can't see outta my left eye."

Cara scoffed from behind them, and she moved towards the other side of the room. "Can we talk business?" Tess scrunched her eyebrows. Secretly, she'd been hoping that whatever Greef and Cara wanted would be forgotten, but it seemed they were still intent on gaining something from Mando.

"We're only here for repairs." the Mandalorian said. He'd kept his eye on Tess ever since they'd walked into town, noticing her hidden looks of terror when she thought no one was watching. More cautious than she'd ever been, Tess seemed to have crawled back into herself when they'd left the school, no longer the changed person he'd grown used to over the past few days. It worried him. It worried him more than he cared to admit.

"Which'll take a while." Greef answered. "Which means you'll have free time on your hands, right?"

The Mandalorian raised a hand. "I need to take care of Tess—"

The girl he spoke of cut in, though her thoughts still lingered on the Mandalorian's words. "What kind of free time?" the room went quiet at her question. The Mandalorian was almost speechless. Even with her peeled back mask, even with everything that had changed in Tess, she still wasn't someone to volunteer for danger. Mando's eyes widened under his helmet, and he shook his head slightly. He'd already gotten Tess and the child in enough trouble, injured and chased after, and he wasn't about to let them get hurt more. He could never forgive himself.

Tess, however, seemed to think differently, and shot Mando a warning glare, telling him to say nothing. He obeyed.

Greef was the one to break the silence. "We could really use your help." his words were hesitant, and Cara looked sharply at them, while Tess peered up at the Mandalorian with a challenge in her eyes.

Mando sighed and said slowly. "Help how?"

Cara and Greef didn't waste any time. The woman walked over to a hologram panel by her, pushing the console until a blue lighted map of the planet appeared in front of them. Mando and Tess both stepped forward to get a better look.

"This is Nevarro." Cara said, then pointed to a patch of the planet outlined in green. "We're here. This entire area is a green zone. Completely safe." Mando moved his head slightly to the side, knowing what came next.

"But," Cara continued. "Over on this side is the problem." the map swerved, and the planet was replaced with a diagram of a large structure built into the face of a cliff, coloured in crimson.

"It's an old imperial base." Greef continued, and both Mando and Tess froze at the word.

"It's where all those troops came from when we defeated Moff Gideon." Cara said curtly.

Tess' shoulders tightened. There was that name again, that strangely familiar name. Moff Gideon. Tess had heard it many times when the Mandalorian told her the story, and even then she'd felt a flicker of recollection, a memory from a long time ago. She'd pushed it away, declaring it useless, mere suspicion, but when Greef said the name once more, that feeling came again. She bit the inside of her cheek, eyes narrowing in concentration.

"This base has been here since the Imperial expansion." Cara moved on. "It's got a skeleton crew, but for some reason, it hasn't been abandoned."

"There are still troopers there?" Tess asked, her voice grave. Cara peered at the girl for a moment, then smiled sweetly and shook her head.

"No, mostly medical, we think." Greef finished, then looked to Mando. "There's a lot o' heavy weaponry in that place the black market would love to dismantle and get their hands on."

"And you wanna mop up the last of the Imperial force before they do." the Mandalorian stated, his tone clearly apprehensive.

"Mando, I just want them off my planet." Greef's voice grew sharp, his clear love of Nevarro reminding Tess of someone else she knew. "If we could take out that one last base, Nevarro would be completely safe." Greef gestured around the room. "We could be a trade anchor for the entire sector."

"And the planet would finally be free." Cara said. She left silence in her wake. The case was laid bare, and Cara and Greef waited for the Mandalorian's decision. Tess shifted from foot to foot, her limbs aching, metal leg bouncing against the hard tiles.

Tess had already made up her mind, and while a small portion of her urged to reconsider, there was no turning back. She knew the Mandalorian was going to agree, and she also knew that she was going with them. She didn't know how much help she would be, but was sure her mechanic skills could be useful in getting into the base. All she was completely sure about was that she couldn't stay in the town alone, not even if it was safe, like Cara said. Her paranoia had risen significantly, driving her to a point of going on a mission where there could potentially be a fight.

The Mandalorian was surprised to find Tess nodding towards him, urging him to take up their offer.

So, when seeing that Tess had agreed, the Mandalorian gave a drawn out sigh before turning back to Cara and saying. "What are we looking at?"

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"No."

"Mando—"

"No." Tess let out a frustrated breath as she followed the Mandalorian out into the streets. He leaned up against the wall to the clerical building, crossing his arms over his chest while Tess stood in front, thoroughly unamused.

"I wasn't asking you." she pointed out stubbornly. "I was telling you that I'm coming on the mission." the Mandalorian shook his head, watching her as Tess grumbled and stared at him with enough fury to drive away a bantha. When Mando had first met the girl, he'd thought that they would defeat the Krayt dragon with one look into her storm-filled eyes. In a way, they had needed her in the end, and not for the first time, Mando was glad it hadn't been because of her terror-inducing gazes.

He still wasn't completely used to them, and shifted when she directed her anger at him. However, it wasn't enough to change his mind.

"No, you're not." he told the girl, moving his hands to his hips. "You need to stay safe, and this mission isn't going to be that—"

"I'm going with you." Tess cut in, her words dropping like stones in a gushing river. "You'll need my help—"

"What I need," the Mandalorian said, pushing off to move closer to her, and she had to strain her neck to reach his helmeted face. "Is for you to stay safe." This made Tess pause, the sudden change in tone making her halt in her wrath. Her heart thudded rapidly in her chest, breath changing course, as if the wind had suddenly swerved, causing her to move off-balance.

"What?" she asked, voice hoarse.

Mando sighed and placed both hands on either side of her arms, clenched tightly to her side. "I can't have you getting hurt again, Tess. It's happened too much already." Tess looked down at her feet, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not gonna let it happen again. I asked you to come with me, I promised you I'd take you to the Jedi, and that's exactly what I'm going to do." Tess opened her mouth to protest, but Mando carried on, the words pouring out of him, a course set in it's path. "But until then, you need to stay safe."

Tess was frozen for a moment, letting his words rush over her. "Cara said there would be no troopers at the base," she spoke up, and Mando let out an exasperated breath. "It will be safe. I'm coming with you."

It seemed nothing would change her mind, but the Mandalorian pressed on, meaning every word he'd spoken.

"What happened, Tess?" he asked. Tess jerked her head up instantly, eyes flashing. "What happened on Trask?"

"Nothing." she replied a little too quickly, which only made the Mandalorian step closer. His need to comfort her was overpowering, yet he had no idea how. She wasn't one for sentimentality, and neither was he. They both stood awkwardly apart from each other, and he let his hands drop.

Tess' metal foot bounced rapidly.

"Tess." he said her name so softly she wasn't sure if she'd even heard it. "What happened? You haven't been the same." Tess shook her head, eyes glancing nervously around.

"Nothing I—" she started, then snapped her mouth shut.

It was on the tip of her tongue. The aching in her fingertips and throbbing of her heart grew stronger. The truth, it was on the edge of her lips. The biting truth of why she'd changed, on what had happened to make her so cautious, so reserved. It was all begging to be spilled. And not just Trask. Not just the mercenaries and what she'd done to them, but all of it. Her youth, her leg, her history. The day her parents died, their last goodbye and final moments. Their hands held apart, the blue of their lifeless eyes. Everything. The man in the black suit, who'd tried to grab her and pull her back. Everything, everything, everything. All that Tess Oprin had endured was waiting to be spoken, to be shared with the one person she'd come close enough to trusting completely.

But she didn't. Tess didn't tell him. Instead, she set her jaw and pulled over another mask. He could see it clearly, the way her features went from softened anguish to hardened lines of pure steel. It made him feel like he'd been stabbed in the gut.

"You two ready?" both turned to see Cara outlined in the doorway, one hand on her hip. The Mandalorian was about to tell her to wait, but Tess whirled around fully.

"Yeah," she said harshly, and Cara took a defensive step back in the extra bite in her tone. "Let's go."

The Mandalorian could do nothing but watch helplessly as the girl he cared for walked away, limp more pronounced than ever, and climbed into the back of the speeder bike.

His heart ached when she glanced at him, seeing a flicker of something grievous pass across her face. It broke when she turned away, becoming numb once again. 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

this was kinda a filler chapter, pretty boring, but I still liked it. Next chapter we really pick up, with the entire siege storyline (and this time Tess is going with them on a mission! YAY). I absolutely loved Tess and Mando's last conversation, I feel like it really shows their growth but also what they are still holding back from each other, and the roadblocks in their relationship that will need to be crossed in order to become an ICONIC father-daughter duo. 

ANYWAYS, what did you think of this chapter? Thoughts, theories, favourite parts? I know I have a couple, and I would love to know your opinions! As always, don't be afraid to vote, follow, and (of course) comment. 

Until next time (Where Tess regrets her life choices and learns she can't do everything)...

Love, Mal