Chapter Text
Paz stood beside one of the fires of the camp, his visor tilted upward to admire the night sky. He wasn’t certain why he felt the need to watch the heavens. Perhaps because of the fond memories it brought or the hope that you would return home soon.
For the past year, you’d been scavenging for beskar along the outer rim. It wasn’t easy work and was rarely rewarding. At first, you’d been proud the armorer had asked you to accomplish such a task. You would return as frequently as you could. Recounting the tales of your adventures to the foundlings who would crowd around the fire to listen. Yet as time went on you had become distant and your stays at the covert were becoming shorter and shorter. Whenever he tried to broach the subject you would only slip further from his reach. He had been going over the past few months in his mind. Trying to pinpoint when exactly you had begun to drift away from him.
At first, he thought perhaps he had done something to upset you until he realized you were distancing yourself from everyone else as well. You’d even gone so far as avoiding the foundlings, including Ragnar. The boy had been devastated the last time you left without saying goodbye. It was as if you were attempting to cut yourself free from the covert and anyone who cared for you. He knew from a young age you would be a wanderer, but this…this was something different. The warrior he had grown up alongside had vanished, replaced with a reclusive husk of the friend he had once cherished. He simply couldn’t understand it. What was driving you to flee the place that you once called home?
“Look!” One of the foundlings gasped, breaking him from his thoughts. His hand went to the blaster on his hip, his gaze following where she was pointing. A shooting star arched across the dark sky, followed by another, ad another. Another foundling joined her before they darted across the dunes. Laughing as they boasted about who would catch a star first and Paz suddenly found himself standing in the fields of a planet far from here.
Your laughter rang in his ears as he chased after you. Shooting stars were streaking across the sky overhead in brilliant blues and purples. You were shouting that this time, this time you would be able to catch one. That you’d be able to finally hold the glittering orbs in your hands and claim to have accomplished what everyone told you was impossible. He had never been quick or light on his feet, and it hadn’t been a surprise to him when his foot caught on a rock and he found himself tumbling down the hillside. He thought that you would have continued on without him but he instead found you quickly looping back. You offered him your hand as you helped him back up onto his feet.
“We missed them again,” You scowled, glaring up at the sky. Paz leaned against his knees as he attempted to catch his breath.
“When we take the creed we’ll be able to begin using jet packs. Maybe then we can catch them,” He suggested, lifting his gaze to the stars above. You shook your head with a heavy sigh.
“By then we’ll be on a new planet and it won’t have shooting stars. Not like this one,” You murmured with a reverence he had never heard from you before.
He had realized then as you looked at the sky with a wonder he could only wish to be capable of that you would leave the moment you were able to pilot a ship on your own. Yet he had allowed himself to cling to the hope that maybe you wouldn’t. That you would follow in the footsteps of your ba’vodu and learn the ways of the forge. But even she had seen the way you looked at the stars. Perhaps that was why she had given you the task of searching the outer rim for beskar.
He didn’t blame her for the role she’d given you. You were a force to be reckoned with when you wished to be and it was impossible to keep you somewhere you didn’t want to be. He just wished you wanted to stay. Not forever, but for at least a few rotations. The two of you hardly spoke anymore and he feared he was losing touch with you. Once upon a time, you had been inseparable and he could rely on you to always watch his back. Now he didn’t even know if he could trust you with a simple task without you discarding it and running off.
“Vizsla, the armorer wishes to speak to you,” Kira called, bringing him back to reality. He lowered his gaze from the sky to the approaching Mandalorian. He crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke.
“Is something wrong?”
“She wishes to speak to you about Ragnar taking the creed,” She replied, coming to stand beside him by the fire. He let out a slow breath, trying to clear his thoughts as he started towards the cave that housed the forge of the covert. He had more important things to dwell on at the moment than someone who no longer honored their people.