"Don't give up hope, he still might show up." Rey said to comfort BB-8, dropping him from the net for him to finally have solid ground under him after the long ride," Whoever you're waiting for."

Much to Mara's delight, Rey had found a fondness for the droid. The most likely explanation was that he had endeared himself to her when the two scavenged a nearby ruin while the other woman slept. BB-8 had explained his situation to Rey about how he hadn't always been alone and was waiting for his owner to show up. Of course, she had asked why his master had separated from the astromech, but the answer was always the same whenever he was asked the question.

Classified

"Classified, eh? Expected." Rey murmured, grabbing her staff off the speeder as her friend looked over the outpost to scout out what good had been brought that day. One of the Rhodians had half of a broken A-wing hyperdrive, probably worth thirty portions, but no one else had anything worth noting. No unknown faces in the crowd searching for lost droids.

"I know all about waiting." Rey continued on, slinging her staff around her shoulders. She glanced at Mara, who just shrugged, a sign that nothing big had come through the outpost yet. Both nodded.

For what? The astromech beeped. He rolled around, tilting his head up to fully see her through his sensors.

"For her sense of humor to develop." Mara joked, earning the fifth eye roll her companion had done that day. The blonde didn't seem fazed by Rey's distaste in her little laugh," It's true."

Rey sighed, ever amazed by her friend's antics. She looked back at the droid to form a smile she had to reassure herself was genuine, "For my family. They'll be back, one day. C'mon."

And Mara decided to not harp on her careless joke anymore. She fell in step beside the younger woman, already feeling a twinge of guilt for taking a laugh out of Rey's explanation for why she was still on this sand-covered badlands of a planet. The girl seemed unaffected by it and kept stride towards the camp to try and find free washing stations.

The first rush of the morning crowd passed before two work areas became available. The monotonous routine they never deviated from commenced. While they scrubbed at the rusted parts, BB-8 observed their actions before perking up to ask what each piece was and how much it should be worth. Where was it found? What did it belong to? Mara's demeanor brightened at the small display and she didn't miss Rey's genuine marvel at the astromech's curiosity.

It took less than an hour to clean all five of their items and even longer to near the front of the line once they joined it.

"Not bad time today." Mara checked the sun, noting the hour of day before going back to survey the array of tents for any newcomers. Rey made a point to cross her arms while the bonded looked around. Her companion continued to stare at her and Mara finally posed a question.

"What?"

"You know what." The scavenger tipped her chin up. The woman was completely lost for a second until a knowing look crossed her face.

"I promised, so I won't push it today. You do that thing where you stay quiet the whole time and just let him cheat us out and we continue to starve." She gave a huge, pearly smile, only slightly hinting at her distaste in not being able to do her daily ranting.

Rey just nodded, brushing off the sarcastic part of comment as if it never existed, "Good."

The scenario almost played out to her prediction.

When they approached the fenced barrier, Unkar put his monstrously huge hands onto their findings with his price already set before he even examined them. He took a deep breath as if to stall to see what Mara would try to barter today. The blonde's lips didn't even move.

Unkar faced back to Rey, clearing his throat before speaking," These five pieces are worth....let's see, hmm. One half portion."

Another night on this hellscape with an aching stomach. Mara entertained the indulgent thought of stealing his whole stock one night for a half-second. Just the look on Unkar's face if he saw it all gone would be worth it.

She expected Rey to just grab the food as usual and walk away, which she always did. Instead, the young woman squared her stance and actually spoke to the trader with objection in her voice, "Last week they were a half portion each."

Of course, Rey did this more with more courtesy than Mara would've, but it was a small stand if none the less. It was silly to think her simpler method would earn them another scrap of food and damn near pointless, but one could hope.

Unkar seemed to take note of Rey's breach in her normal behavior. After a gruff scowl, he went to observe her new companion, "What about the droid?"

BB-8 wheeled around to look at both women, Me?

Mara scoffed lightly under her breath and shook her head to reassure him. No way they'd exchange him.

"What about him?" Rey asked incredulously, looking between the two. Unkar turned away from them in his stall until he was momentarily out of sight. The warped rustling of plastic and metal sounded from the other side of the fenced-off wall.

"I'll pay for him."

Forget stealing the whole stock. In a moment's notice, what could have been half of it was placed in front of them. Mara's mind was suddenly tempted as mounds upon mounds of portions were haphazardly stacked on the counter. Twenty? Thirty? More than that. Had the woman even seen that much food in her life before? Not since she'd been on Jakku. One could only dream of having that many portions.

Murmurs around them grew when the scavengers under the selling tent began to chatter in awe. Unkar set the last wrapped meal on top of the pile and made his offer, "Sixty portions."

The girls' jaws dropped open as they shared a dumbstruck look. How long would that feed them? A month. Not needed to scavenge for a full month, always having more food for a whole month. Not needing any more than what was provided. It seemed beyond Mara's dreams at the moment.

Rey touched the mass of food with her mouth agape at the sheer amount. Mara reached out to grab one just to better imagine what this represented. Sure, she'd whine all day about the portions tasting bitter and bland, but rations were rations. She didn't even seem to mind anymore.

There still was a price. BB-8 still stayed planted between the hungry pair that could only marvel at the sight set on the rusted counter. The small droid beeped, bringing the blonde back to thinking with her heart instead of an aching stomach. Mara stared down at him, clenching her teeth when a useless rebellion rose in her. It was quelled almost too easily and she nearly cursed aloud. Of course, the one time she would ever be offered this much food and she'd have to turn it down because it was BB-8. It felt ironic.

This is all Poe's fault.

Nevertheless, she owed Dameron the favor.

A physical ache in her stomach seemed to persist as Mara set the portion close to the pile, repeating her silent promise over in her head. They still had to starve tomorrow if the findings weren't enough. They still had to set out early in the morning in order to have dinner at night.

Shut up Mara, she thought, just let the rations go.

She looked to her companion who had yet to do the same, "Look, can we talk-"

Before Mara could manage a full sentence out, Rey had, "Actually, the droid's not for sale."

Unkar appeared viscerally taken back at her answer. Rey removed her hands from the rations to take their well-earned one-half and turned away from the offer. She pulled on Mara's sleeve cuff, muttering to move on past the line of jealous traders as BB-8 followed at the girl's heels, blurbing joyfully. Mara took one last look at the mound of food before Unkar pushed it back down. Still starving, but at least the droid would stay with them.

"You guys really hit it off while I was sleeping." She commented as Rey just shrugged. She again glanced at the droid, smiling fondly with a familiar ease as he rolled to a stop.

She spoke maybe without thinking, her words mirroring her thoughts as she said them,"He needs to get back to his master. He doesn't deserve to be just dumped away like no one cares for him."

Mara shared her reminiscent expression, not needed anymore context in order to understand.  Rey and BB-8 were simply relying on a dying hope of someone's return. Both were just waiting.

Her on the other hand, well.......one way to put it was that she was just hiding. 

She hooked her thumbs around the strap of her satchel and tipped her head towards the droid, "Told you he was cute enough to keep around."

They had already begun walking back through the camp towards the speeder with the day's lackluster earnings, no more conversation exchanged. Mara looked back over the outpost with wary eyes. Too much commotion had been stirred at the revelation Unkar would pay so much for a functioning astromech. The foreign whispers had dwindled and those in line had turned their attention back to their own findings. It was the movement of two locals that caught her eye.

Rey took notice even before her friend shifted slightly at their approach. Both were the regular buyers, they recognized. Instead of the usual scavenging, the two scarved travelers would come every day by ship. Unkar often made contracts with other sellers opposite of Kelvin Reach. They most likely lived in one of the farther outposts to the west and came to Niima to buy parts. 

Mara had never heard their native tongue before until one began to address Rey, the language guttural and coarse in nature. Not anything in Teedospeak. Hideo? The only word she could scarcely make out was the one for 'droid' through a string of gruff inflections. All they had to do was insist that the little ball wasn't up for trading and be on their merry way.

She was wrong, and the other had taken the chance to put a threaded sack over BB-8. That's when Mara's nice switch turned off.

"Usenye!" Her use of a Mando'a expletive was more of a war cry than a warning, accompanied by an attempted punch as the attacker pushed her back.

The other seized Rey while Mara sprang back to buy herself time to pull her batons off her leather belt. The first swing went right into the alien's concealed head, the other impounding into its ribs. She bashed metal sticks again and again against the would-be-thief's body, him shying away for the impact. Mara sent a kick straight to its kneecaps, assuming it had kneecaps, but its reflexes had to have been superior to her. A gloved hand wrapped around her ankle to trip her, causing her to fall back into the hot, coarse sand she despised so much.

The blonde recovered quickly, flailing around her feet so much the attacker let go. Jumping back up, she used her smaller stature to ram her shoulder into the juncture between the thing's ribs. The lack of oxygen was enough of a shock to make him lose ground. Pushing herself off and resuming a fighting stance, Mara tossed both of her batons in the air. She slammed her left elbow into his jaw and followed with another punch right to the gut. Her faithful batons fell back into her hands. With enough momentum, she then swung both rods hard against the alien's head. The blow the final in the fight. The attacker hit the ground with a thud, managing to start a feeble crawl away from Mara as she turned to help Rey.

It was unneeded. Rey had her foe down as well, her staff delivering a quick end to the match. As the women caught their breath, BB-8 chirped from under the sack.

I can't see!

"Here, hey, we'll get ya out." Mara was still breathing heavily, adrenaline increasing her heartrate to keep her alert. She took a deep breath while she bent down to lift the cloth off the astromech. The droid shook his head, glad to be free again. As he scanned the area for more possible threats, a certain person caught his eye.

"Are you okay?" Rey asked BB-8, who was now screaming in his own droid way, fumbling around. Mara looked up in the direction he was pointing at, eyes raking the area for more attackers.

Instead, she saw one man, dark skinned and well-built. Fighter, that was for sure. Dehydrated and bewildered, most likely lost. Fairly new boots, worn-down black clothing. But that wasn't what set fire to Mara's blood. Her adrenaline and hype from the fight was still fresh, and as soon as set her eyes on the jacket she was running.

Rey didn't hesitate to follow. The man had set off in a flash, surprised at the stranger's sudden movements. He was booking it, maneuvering around the outpost with haste. He knocked into a cart of different traders' findings and earned foul language and profanity thrown his way. The off-put locals suddenly didn't matter, or his severe thirst that had driven him to the tents in the first place. It was escaping the charging desert girls who looked as if they could eat him as a mid-day snack. Did scavengers on Jakku eat people? Just as the thought came to him, a staff made contact with his face. He fell straight back into Mara, who hooked one of her batons underneath his jaw.

Her knee rammed into his lower spine. The man let out a sharp cry of pain after Mara dropped him into the desert's sand. She stood ahead next to Rey, eyes blown wide at the sight of Dameron's jacket on a stranger.

"What's your hurry, thief?" Rey hit his leg with her staff again when he struggled to stand. He was thrown back to the ground, mind reeling as he tried to figure out what was happening.

The man groaned in pain, coughing in the sand cloud that had kicked up from his fall. Still weary from the chase, he stuttered out, "What? Thief?"

BB-8 rolled up behind the women, throwing a few unfriendly words at him as he proceeded to extend an electric prod. Mara smirked as the man let out another outburst of pain at a shock, "Hey? What?!? What is this! Do you always hit people when you meet them?"

"You'd be surprised how often we do. Now the jacket stupid." The blonde spit blatantly as she kicked him again, mostly out of spite.

Rey finished for her, stare interlocked with the strangers as she bared her staff, "This droid says you stole it!"

The man, disoriented and pissed off due to his beating, shot back, "Look, I've had a pretty messed up day alright. I would appreciate if you would stop accusing me of-"

He let out another cry as BB-8 electrocuted him again. This time Mara pulled out her blaster, which had been depleted for years, from her sand-caked holster. Nevertheless, it was a good intimidating technique. The man took notice of her actions, crawling away from her a few inches. Just for the fun of it, she took a step forward fast, causing him to intensely flinch.

"Tell us where you got the jacket nerf-herder and I won't shoot." Mara warned, fingers going down to the trigger to empathize her point. By the look on his face, the tactic was working.

"It belongs to his master!" Rey told him, and he snapped his neck back to answer her earlier question. He took in a deep breath, sharp and stiff. He hung his head, intaking another bit of air to force the sentence out.

"It belonged to Poe Dameron." His brown eyes bounced between the three in front of him, stopping on the droid, "That was his name, right?"

Belonged. Not belongs. Mara's jaw worked. Past tense. A lump rose in her throat as her grip on the blaster loosened a little.

A brief moment of silence in the group allowed the man to continue recollecting his story, "He was captured by The First Order. I helped him escape, but our ship crashed."

Now her gut was started to feel torn. No, it wasn't true. Nope, not him. She'd seen him fly enough to know a crash was unlikely answer for his absence.

Of course, everything had to fall apart. The stranger stammered as he continued to look back at the droid, his words full of careful concern, "Poe didn't make it."

He was dead.

Mara had fully lowered her useless blaster before abruptly jamming it back into it's holster. As BB-8's head lowered in sorrow for his passed master, a sickly sweat broke across her forehead that wasn't from exertion. She didn't feel right at all. So all that was for nothing.

She clenched her teeth. There was still to much hype in her from both fending off the droid's kidnappers and chasing after this man to feel the brunt of some type grief. Mara was nowhere near fighting off tears or some show of hysterics. The growing heat of anger at the base of her throat? She could count on that. 

But yet her right hand shook as she rested it on her holster. Swallowing quickly, she found that her wind pipe wouldn't let her breathe properly. Mara tapped her fingers against her belt, trying to get out whatever was causing her to keep shaking. She pulled her head back, glancing back at Rey and BB-8.

"I tried to help him," The stranger went on, trying console the mourning astromech, "I'm sorry."

Mara felt like laughing, or maybe it was just the immediate stress of it all. How did this man survive and not Dameron? How exactly? The thought seemed ridiculous, even impossible.

Back-spinning on her heel, she took out her blaster once again. Aiming straight for the man's head, she watched as his expression morphed back into the fear he had felt minutes ago.

Mara pretty much sneered, finger poised near the trigger, "Or you could've, ya know, killed him. You were staring at the droid before, does he know something? Once you found out what it was, well why not kill it's master and grab the droid? Maybe this Dameron told you and you saw a chance to get rich-"

"No no I swear!" The man with defended a quick shake of his head, "He helped save my life, why would I kill him?"

"I don't know! People around here can be scumbags!" 

His fearful expression only grew more erratic, "I'm not from around here!"

Rey, who was surprised at Mara's rash action, put out her hand on the blaster's barrel to angle down towards the ground. She slowly articulated words with a steady gaze on her friend, "I think he's telling the truth."

Mara instead continued to glare at the stranger, focusing on her breathing. Breaking her gaze away from him briefly, she looked at Rey. Her friend, knowing how the blonde could be with sparks of anger, mouthing the number 'one'.

Taking in one, long deep breath, Mara shoved the blaster back into its place. Turning her back on Rey and the stranger, she let the breath go.

1

He's dead

2

She was randomly waving a blaster around at a stranger

3

She needed to get it kriffing together

After counting in her head, she took several steps forward, putting both her hands on her head.

Get it together, or you'll screw up, she thought to herself, and you can't screw up. So move on now.

"So you're with the Resistance?" Mara heard Rey ask the man behind her. There was a still moment before the sand beneath him rustled and he stood up.

"Obviously. Yes, I am with the Resistance, yeah." He was rambling, seeming more like he was trying to convince himself of the fact as much as he was trying to Rey.

"I am with the Resistance." He whispered. Mara rolled her eyes, moving towards BB-8 a few feet away.

"I've never met a Resistance member before," Rey told him. The blonde was now shaking her head.

"Well this is what we look like; some of us. Others look different." The stranger stammered.

Mara couldn't decide whether to gag or want their interesting little encounter to continue. She decided on doing both simultaneously, much to BB-8's delight. He chattered a bit at her antics. The droid and the woman were making fun of the two from afar as they kept talking.     

"BB-8 says he is on a secret mission. He has to get back to your base." Rey's pitch had heightened with her excitement, probably being fascinated by the idea of some top-secret endeavor.

The stranger then decided to explain, both to probably everyone's surprise," Apparently he has a map to Luke Skywalker and everyone's after it."

This is when Mara's head turned so fast she'd thought she'd given herself whiplash. She ran right up behind Rey, mind boggled as the two exclaimed in sync," Luke Skywalker!"

Mara surveyed the area, realizing they'd said the legend's name a tad to loud. None had. Rey quieted her voice, mouth agape in disbelief," I thought he was a myth."

Before the man could answer, BB-8 alerted them with a shrill chirp. The three pulled away from the circle they had made, rushing to see what the astromech had spotted. He continued to roll, trying to bring their collective attention to the threats beyond the outpost.

Mara, who truly thought a friend dying could ruin her day, was horribly surprised when she realized the shiny white uniforms. Contrasting against the sand, they seemed so foreign to Jakku. So alien. Stormtroopers in such a neutral place was a weird sight indeed.

One thought replayed in Mara's head while she immediately exploded back to start running away.

They found me.