Chapter Text
Psychometry was one of the rarer Force powers a Jedi could inherit.
And it often swung between being extremely useful or extremely annoying, the latter especially true when all Cal Kestis wanted to do was ignore the galaxy around him for an hour or two and zone out. Unfortunately, it was hard to zone out when everything in the galaxy was teeming with memories; he’d learned that the hard way pretty early on.
His solution? Plug in his headphones and drown everything out with music. He tended to gravitate towards songs with loud, strong beats that distracted him from his environment - he couldn’t hear anything else. It worked a little too well sometimes.
A hand waved in front of his face, jolting him back to the present. He blinked, looking up from the lounge table full of scattered blaster parts and into a pale face with angular gray markings framed by silver bangs and short choppy hair.
Cal paused his music and slid the headphones off his ears. “Need something?”
“We’re here,” Merrin said, very matter-of-factly.
A few feet away, Greez hit a button and the hatch to the Mantis opened, revealing the warm sunlight and rocky terrain of their home base planet. “I’m taking Kata to the saloon,” he announced to the ship. “She wants to see the fishtank.”
“It’s so pretty and mesmerizing,” Kata said wistfully. “I could just stare at it for hours.”
Greez gestured to Merrin and Cal with one of his good hands. “You two coming or not?”
“Go on ahead,” Merrin told them. “We will be close behind.”
Kata nodded and waved. Merrin waved back, and the little girl and Greez marched down the ship’s ramp.
Perched on the seat next to him, BD-1 beeped up at Cal. Cal jerked his head towards the hatch. “Why don’t you go with them, buddy?”
BD-1 bobbed his head up and down in a nod, hopped off the seat, and hurried after Kata and Greez. Even as they walked farther and farther away from the landing pad, Cal could still hear Kata excitedly talk about the big glass fish tank in the center of the saloon and if they had gotten any new kinds of fish since they’d been gone.
Merrin’s voice jerked Cal out of his thoughts. “You were very focused on that blaster.”
“I was trying to modify it with some new parts I picked up,” Cal said ruefully. “I guess I zoned out.”
“You were so zoned out I thought you were gone forever,” Merrin deadpanned. “I was starting to prepare myself for a life of singleness and solitude.”
Her tone betrayed no hints of humor, but he knew her well enough to know otherwise. Cal laughed. “Sorry, Mer. I got distracted.”
Merrin dropped onto the couch next to him and scrutinized the parts. “By a blaster? My competition is sad.”
Cal swept the pieces into a pile and picked up his newly-modified blaster, turning it around in his hands to get a good view of it. It looked pretty good, if he said so himself. He pretended to aim it at the holomap control panel. “You want to talk about something before we go over?”
“Only if you won’t be distracted by that blaster.”
Cal snorted and slid it in his holster. “Nope. All finished.”
“Good.” Merrin leaned back on the couch. “We need to talk about Kata.”
A familiar weighted feeling settled into his stomach and around his shoulders.
Somehow, he’d known it was going to be that.
Cal put his toolbox on the table and started putting the discarded blaster pieces away. “I think she’s getting along pretty well.”
“That is true. But you’re not.”
He closed his toolbox and snapped the locks on.
Merrin’s hand reached out and took his, carefully tugging it away from the toolbox. His eyes flitted from the table to her.
“It is okay not to have gotten used to her yet,” she said gently.
There was a very long stretch of silence.
“You have,” Cal said, almost bitterly. “She likes you - and Greez. She’s always watching you do magic or helping Greez in the kitchen.”
“That is because you do not give her a chance to be attached to you,” she said. “So instead she watches us. You make a point to avoid her. Did you think she didn’t notice?”
Cal winced. He sort of hoped she hadn’t . . . not that he wanted to avoid her on purpose, but he didn’t know what to do if they were in the same room together. What would they even talk about? The weather? She probably hated his guts, anyway.
He was the reason her father was gone.
Merrin seemed to know what he was thinking - she always did. “You can’t stop blaming yourself for that,” she said fiercely.
“Merrin, I’m the reason she’s . . .”
“Bode did that himself. There was only going to be one person who came out alive at the end of that battle.” Her hand tightened around his. “We did not want to pass down what we went through onto her, but now we have, and we need to give her space - but we need to keep her safe and make her feel welcome.” She paused. “Also we need more credits.”
Out of all the things she’d said, the last one was what made Cal finally speak. “Credits?”
“Kata’s going to need to eat fruits and vegetables and protein,” Merrin told him, “which means we can no longer survive on soup packets and ration bars and . . . whatever Greez makes.” She made a face that Cal couldn’t help but laugh at. “And she’ll need clothes and bathroom supplies as well . . . so, we need more credits.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Well . . .” Cal cocked his head. “I think I have a way of getting more credits.”
Merrin’s eyebrows shot up. “Are we stealing from an Imperial?”
“What? No. That’d definitely get us thrown into jail.” He put his toolbox back on the floor and stood up, dusting his hands off. “There’s a bounty hunter that hangs out at the saloon from time to time and she’s offered to hire me out to chase down her bounties for her. If I’m ever in a bind, she said.” He huffed a laugh. “I think this counts as a bind.”
“You want to become a bounty hunter?”
“More like a . . . bounty hunter’s hunter?”
Merrin regarded him with a stare that Cal wasn’t sure was surprise, concern, suspicion, or all three.
He shrugged in response. “It’d get us credits.”
Merrin shrugged too. “It would,” she agreed. “Alright. Let’s head to the saloon and see what Greez thinks.”
“Actually . . . we should probably talk to the bounty hunter first.”
“Good point. We’ll tell Greez later.”
For the moment, the conversation about adjusting to Kata being around was averted, and Cal was relieved. Merrin knew what he was doing, he had no doubt about that, but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
He could handle talking to a bounty hunter - but, for some reason, not to the small child aboard their crew.
~
Like most days, Pyloon’s Saloon was packed with people like space sardines in a can, but Cal didn’t have to look very hard to find Caij Vanda. He could easily spot her and her wide-brimmed hat peeking out of her usual spot in one of the alcove booths lining the walls.
“You mentioned running into a bounty hunter,” Merrin commented, as they made their way through the sea of people milling about. “But you failed to mention she was willing to hire you.”
“I was too busy to take her up on her offer before,” Cal said. He bumped into someone. “Oh, sorry, Turgle. Didn’t see you there.”
“Cal!” Turgle cried, his webbed fingers grabbing onto Cal’s arm. “Did you hear? There’s a -”
“Later, Turgle,” Cal interrupted, gently picking Turgle’s hand off his arm. “I mean, I ran into a couple of her bounties once or twice,” he said to Merrin, “and she let me keep their pucks as a souvenir. Or . . . something like that. I don’t know why she let me keep them -”
“Oy, Cal!” Caij Vanda cried out as they got to her table. There was a glass of something green in her hand and the bottle on the table. “Good to see ya! Haven’t seen you in ages, feels like.”
“It’s . . . been a while,” Cal agreed, trying not to flinch at the memories of all he’d been through since then. “Uh - Caij, this is Merrin. She’s -”
“I’ve seen your girlfriend around here before,” Caij said, waving that away. “Nice to finally meet ya.”
“Oh.” Cal paused. “Great. Well, Merrin, this is Caij Vanda.”
Merrin nodded at the bounty hunter.
“Now whaddya need, Cal?” Caij leaned back and propped her boots up on her table. “I’ve got some shiny new blaster parts for you to look at, but it’s gonna cost ya. Ooh, and blaster bolts modifications. Supercharged, maybe frenzy fire -”
“Actually, I was wondering if I could take you up on hiring me to get your bounties.”
“Ah!” Caij looked delighted. “Even with the kid on board?”
“Yeah, I - wait.” Cal frowned. “How did you know about her?”
Caij rolled her large Nautolan eyes. “Cal, everyone knows about the kid. She’s always hanging around Greez and talkin’ about the fish tank.” She took a sip of her drink and gestured to the fish tank behind the bar with it. “Pretty cute kid, if you ask me. How’d you end up with her?”
The memories of Tanalorr came back in full force. Cal’s shoulders tightened, and his hands curled into a fist. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t -
Merrin uncurled his hand and gripped it.
“That does not matter,” she told Caij, and man, Cal was so relieved Merrin was there with him. What would he do without her? “How much of the cut would we get?”
Caij didn’t question the topic change. She tapped her chin, pretending to think. “Twenty percent of the cut?”
Merrin arched an eyebrow.
“Fifteen percent. Final offer.”
“Fifteen?” Cal said before he could stop himself.
Caij snapped her fingers. “You’re right, too generous. How’s ten percent?”
“No - stop, that’s enough!” Cal demanded. “Fifty percent.”
“Fifty?” Caij looked like she wanted to burst out laughing. “Definitely not! I’ll raise it to thirty.”
“Forty,” Merrin said.
“Thirty-five.”
“Forty,” Merrin repeated.
The two women stared at each other. Merrin was giving Caij one of her signature withering glares that scared everyone else on Koboh. Caij had lost all traces of humor and was uncharacteristically serious, which was just as scary as Merrin’s look. Cal absently wondered if he could slowly back away and ease himself out of the situation without either of them noticing, but he and Merrin were still holding hands.
Then Caij drained the rest of her drink and set the cup on the table.
“Alrighty,” she said. “Forty it is.”
Merrin leaned away, satisfied. Cal’s eyebrows arched in surprise.
Caij rummaged around in her bag and tossed a puck over to Cal, who caught it. “There’s your first bounty,” she said. “Kip Ostar. My sources say he was last seen in Derelict Dam, right here on Koboh.” She grinned, revealing sharp pointed teeth. “Just bring him to me and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thank you,” Cal said, clipping the puck to his belt. “What if you’re not here, though? Should we exchange comm info or -”
“No need for that,” said Caij, waving him away. “I’ll always be here. Right in this spot.” She leaned over to pat the table, then raised her glass in a toast. “Good luck with your new career as a bounty hunter, Cal. Loads of fun - take it from me.”
Cal smiled politely - Merrin did not. They left to go find the others, and once they were out of earshot, Cal leaned closer to Merrin and muttered, “Bounty hunter’s hunter.”
Merrin snickered.