Chapter Text
“HEY SLEEMO , YOU'RE GETTING DIRT ALL OVER MY SPACEPORT” a voice yelled from across the building.
Closing his eyes and rolling them about as far back into his skull as he could manage, Ransom resisted the urge to turn around and make any number of rude gestures to whoever it was trying to get his attention.
Opting to stare at the ground, he noticed the trail of dirt that was indeed trailing behind him as he walked. An exasperated sigh blew past chapped to hell lips, mirroring the cracks in the mud that had caked over his boots.
And not just his boots.
He’d walked out of the small rescue ship with Tenhi in his arms, the both of them covered in a thick layer of grime. Mimban’s parting gift.
They had only had enough time to get Tenhi’s clothes washed, small as they were, as they waited for their transport to Bespin’s refugee center. Ransom’s own remained filthy and stained, a testament to the time and distance they’d trudged through the planet’s humid and unforgiving landscape.
He was just thankful their feet hadn’t started to rot in the nights they slept. He’d heard stories from soldiers, about the silent progression of decay, and about the saving grace that were a good pair of water resistant boots. Which they didn’t have.
He’d covered Tenhi’s ears. Kept her on his shoulders or in his arms as they walked in any case, away from the squelching ground and brackish water that he’d found played host to an assortment of water snakes.
His old boots, miraculously, had lasted through the worst of it, though he wasn’t optimistic about ever getting them truly clean ever again.
Scanning the spaceport, he picked out Tenhi immediately. She’d found other children to play with, running around the circular planter inlaid in the center of the building. Her hood had fallen back as she ran, a mop of black curls bouncing in tandem with her footfalls.
Looking back up to the departure schedule overhead, he licked his lips, absently noting the burn of it, squinting as the mass of near blinding aurebesh lettering stared back at him.
Genesis was the name of the ship they were boarding, their way out and forward. A small vessel, manned by another search and rescue team. They’d been kind to offer them passage to Bespin, it was all but an escort, really.
A heavy hand dropping on his shoulder startled him, just for the moment, relaxing as he met Rafferty’s eyes, brown, bracketed with creases and wrinkles gifted by a long life of smiles, grimaces, and the like.
Neither one of them said anything, the old man’s hand a grounding weight on his shoulder, Rafferty’s silence saying more than Ransom’s spoken words could ever hope to. They stood and watched the children run circles around themselves, until Tenhi tripped, falling forwards towards the ground.
Sucking a sharp breath inwards Ransom started forward, fear crawling up his throat in a way it hadn’t months ago. He didn’t make it far, Rafferty’s hand gently holding him back.
Ransom opened his mouth, fit to curse him out, shake off the hand on his shoulder and run to help—
“Wait Ransom,” the old man said, keen eyes watching the children.
They both looked on as a young Pantoran offered a hand down to Tenhi, unscathed, who grabbed it with a smile on her face as the boy helped her up.
“They’re more durable than you think, you know”, Rafferty said, dark eyes peering at Ransom’s own, still tinted with a waning concern.
Furrowing his brow, he turned to meet the kiffar’s gaze. “You’ve got to be the most unconcerned medic I’ve ever met,” he said under his breath, shaking his head loosely.
Rafferty chuckled, hoarse, and grinned. “Unconcerned, huh?” he said, crossing his arms. “I’ll tell you what, I was plenty concerned dragging your emaciated ass out of the mud.”
“And I’m thankful, Raff,” the zabrak said, still staring out in a daze across the spaceport where Tenhi and the others had resumed their game. “Really, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply—”
Ransom stopped, noticing Rafferty had disappeared from his side. Turning at the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind him, he met the old man’s gaze. He looked up at Ransom expectantly from where he’d taken a seat on a bench, and patted the open seat next to him with a worn hand.
He sat down next to him, grimacing as dirt fell off him at the crinkle of his clothing.
“Sorry.”
Rafferty’s mouth quirked up, sly, looking like he’d just realized the answer to some secret riddle that only he’d been told. He reached a hand over to Ransom’s knee, jostling it a little before resting.
“I know you didn’t mean nothin’ by it,” he said. “But Ransom, you need to breathe. Need to let her breathe too.”
Ransom made a little sound in the back of his throat, questioning, nose scrunched in confusion.
“She’s alright Ransom. She’ll be okay. You’ve spent the past four months watching out for her. This isn’t me tellin’ you to stop, she needs you around. But you need to understand that Tenhi is young. Kids gonna fall down sometimes, and there’s nothin’ you can do about that. What you can do though, is make sure she’s got someone to help kiss those scrapes better and patch her up afterwards.”
Ransom pursed his lips, exhaling through his nose, struggling to articulate any one of the emotions swirling around his head.
“I just…” he trailed off, staring back to where Tenhi ran like a whirlwind, so full of energy, happy .
“I know. I don’t blame you. Not after what you two went through. But just think about what I’ve said, yeah?”
He nodded slowly, staring at Rafferty’s hand where it stayed on his knee, atop the canvas of his pants, above the bandages wrapped snug around his leg. Rafferty’s own work. He owed him so much, the least he could do is say something, anything—
“You don’t gotta talk now,” the old man said, expression soft. “But I’ll be ‘round. Let me know if you’ve got anything on your mind you’d like to put to words.”
Ransom smiled, small but earnest as Rafferty made to stand. Offering him a hand, the old man shot him an amused glance, but took his hand nonetheless. Standing with a grunt, he clapped Ransom’s shoulder, leaving him at the bench with a million thoughts, a sore shoulder, and— and a tube of chapstick in his hand.
He turned the tube around in his hand. Generic, straight from a kit somewhere. Slipping it in his pocket, he walked to the center of the station, his small smile splitting to a grin as he caught sight of a green and black blur hurtling his way.
“Tenhi, careful, ” he wheezed with a pained grunt, grinning despite himself as the girl ran full force into his legs to latch on tight, buckling his knee.
“Ransom! Keme said him and his family are going the same way we are! To the center in Besbin” she chattered on, smiling up at him, joy looking as natural on her face as the two small black diamonds that adorned her green skin, only one on each cheek. Perhaps more someday, as she grows older.
He smiled, the pain in his leg fading to nothing, “Bespin, Tenhi, with a ‘p’,” he said, popping his lips in an exaggerated 'p' sound.
“Bespppin” Tenhi said, parroting Ransom’s own overemphasized pronunciation. “Keme said the cities float in Bespin, and that you can touch the clouds when they go by.”
“Oh?” he said, cocking his head as they walked. “Keme’s been to Bespin before?” he asked, taking Tenhi by the hand as they walked through mazes of people, all waiting for their own transport.
“He said a long time ago before the storm troopers got there,” she told him seriously, “But now they left so he and his mama can go back.”
“That’s good. I’m sure they’re all very happy to be going home.”
“Are we going home?” she asked him, after a beat.
He looked down at Tenhi, her gaze trained up at his face expectantly. He wished for an easy answer. Wished for a place that could fill the place of what they’d both lost. Wished for his voice not to crack.
He squeezed her hand. “We’ll get there, don’t worry.” he said, voice steady as ever. One wish granted.