Chapter Text
After the whole... thing on Gideon's lightcruiser, Din is quite happy to follow Cara onto to Fett's ship, and to be separated from Bo-Katan's stares. She and the other woman (What was her name again? Din is so bad at this.) will be staying on the lightcruiser, as agreed. She hasn't said anything out loud, but every other second he expects her to challenge him to a duel right there and then. Luckily for him, she doesn't. His mind is all over the place, and he feel naked having removed his helmet in front of other people. Still, Grogu wanted it. And he had been able to offer him only so little.
Saying goodbye to Bo-Katan is a relief, but Din finds that saying goodbye to Cara is much harder. After a very tense and silent flight, Fennec and Boba let them get out at the next spaceport, from where Cara will contact the nearest New Republic outpost to deliver Gideon and Dr. Pershing, and from where Din will catch a transport to... wherever. He hasn't planned that part yet.
Cara looks at him, and it doesn't seem any different than before. He can't see any pity or aversion in her eyes; now, that he has broken his Code and shown his face. Only the friendship and slight amusement that’s been there before.
"Sure you don't wanna come with me? I think all your earlier transgressions will be forgiven, given who you are bringing them now. And afterwards you could come to Nevarro, make it your base. Greef and I would like that. We could use an extra hand."
"No, thanks. There are things that I need to take care of."
"Well, if you change your mind..." she says and smiles at him.
And in that moment, Din has the urge to take off his helmet and let Cara see his answering smile to let her know how much he truly appreciates the offer. He quickly squashes that instinct and tells her with words instead. Much less… much less. Especially with Gideon lurking handcuffed in the background.
The next few weeks after that pass in a blur. It is an effort to travel anywhere without his own ship, but he manages. He picks up the odd job, and asks around after Mandalorians. Once he has found some, it is surprisingly easy to track down the Armourer. Her description is quite distinctive. Not that he would ever admit that to her, but asking "Have you seen a Mandalorian armourer with a golden helmet with little spikes on top and a red cuirass who always speaks like she is the narrator for the history of Mandalore?" gets quick results.
He finds her as part of a new covert, still fulfilling the role of armourer. She seems glad to see him, or at least as glad as she is able to. They talk and she shows him around their little facility. This covert, too, has settled in the underbelly of the city. But other than that, they seem better supplied than the covert on Nevarro.
He tells the armourer about winning the darksaber in combat, leaving out some pertinent details, and asks for her advice. Naturally, she doesn't tell him what to do. That would have been too easy. Instead she goes on and on about Mandalorian history and culture, both the legends of times long past and much more recent events. As far as Din understands, the gist of things is this: " Bo-Katan is a bitch, and better you than her. Go make something of that cursed piece of rock."
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Din thinks.
He ends up staying less than a full day, and leaves with valuable information. The armourer has information about four more members of the covert who might have escaped Nevarro alive. Din promises to track them down to find out what has happened to them. (If this delays facing Bo-Katan, all the better.)
The search for the missing covert members takes much longer than the search for the Armourer did. Also, Din does not find them. They find him.
He is asking around for Mandalorians on Ferrix when an unknown drunkard throws a bottle at him, but misses. Din is confused. Usually, no one picks a fight with a Mandalorian, especially without weapons or back up. But then, the man starts shouting. It is not very coherent, but Din gets the gist of it. The man is one of the covert members he's looking for, just without his armour. From the drunken rambling, Din understands that some troopers caught him escaping Nevarro and found it funny to pull off his helmet.
"You destroyed my life! I've lost my... everything because of you!"
He goes to grab another bottle from a bystander, who easily sidesteps him. It is obvious that this is not the first disturbance this man has caused. The people watch, but seemed almost bored. Din wants to help, but is sure that it will not be welcomed. When he passes by the former Mandalorian on his way out, he slips some credits into his pocket.
The next one he finds is similar. He is asking around for Mandalorians, and a man approaches him. Din first thinks it is to sell him information, but it turns out to be one more member of his former covert. He is less furious than the first Din encountered, but the quiet despair and grief in his eyes are worse in some way. The story of how he had his helmet taken off is the same, though.
“I'm sorry. I sold my beskar armour. I needed the credits,” he says, eyes downcast.
Din leaves shortly after that. There's nothing he can do, and both of them are really uncomfortable. It is weird to see the face of a former covert member; before, he only had body language to go on.
The third one finds him while he is shopping for supplies. Again, he doesn't expect to see a Mandalorian without their armour. The woman who approaches him seems too slim to fit into Mandalorian armour, but he recognises her voice instantly. She is a petite, blonde haired, blue-eyed woman. Weird. He had always pictured her as a dark skinned.
They talk and she seems completely at ease. He doesn't know how to approach the topic of the loss of her armour, so he talks about the others he found and how it happened to them.
“Oh, that’s not what happened to me,” she says, clearly getting why he is telling this story. “I took my helmet off myself.”
“I know how to fight,” she explains, “but not enough to be a successful bounty hunter. And in the covert I was responsible for the foundlings. But who apart from a Mandalorian would let an armoured warrior look after their children? A lone Mandalorian will always be an oddity, something people stare at. And I felt... alone without the covert. Isolated. And I didn't want to feel like that anymore. And I wanted to belong again. So I made the choice - I took off my helmet. And I don't regret it; I am happy like this.”
She tells him about her new husband and her new job: translating. Taking care of the foundlings, she learnt many languages. She invites Din to her home because she has something to give him. She rummages around a little side room, and comes back with a box.
“My beskar armour. For the foundlings. This is the way.“
“This is the way.“
Her husband stands in the background, trying to look menacing. He obviously doesn't like the Mandalorian intruder in his home. Would he have fallen in love with his wife if she had kept wearing her armour? Only shown her face to him in private?
For a moment, Din is tempted to tell her everything. About taking off his helmet, and worrying what that means for him. But that would mean doing it in front of her husband, which he doesn't want to do. So he leaves.
He looks for the fourth former member of his covert for weeks. But either the woman is dead or she doesn't want to be found. If the former, there's no use searching; and, if the latter, Din has no chance in hell. She could pass him on the street and he wouldn't recognise her.
He goes to see the armourer to give her the beskar armour, and to tell her about his findings. She listens passively and nods after the end of his story. Then she takes the beskar armour and starts melting it down to make new sets of armour. While she is working, she tells him that rumours about a Mandalorian wielding the darksaber have grown and advises him to go to an abandoned moon not far from Mandalore. That's where Bo-Katan and her followers are amassing, and if he doesn't want her to control his story, then he needs to go now.
He has lived through some crazy banthashite in his life, but his time as Mand'alor absolutely takes the cake. He arrives, and immediately, there are people cheering for him.
The rest of the time seems a jumble of training, discussions, council meetings, more discussions and challenges of his position, both in the form of verbal aggression and duels.
Some moments stand out. Everyone and their mother tries to get to be his main advisor, but Din doesn't trust any of them. The armourer has offered, but every time he sees her, Din lives in fear of the moment she asks “Have you ever taken of your helmet?” He doesn’t want her to reject him.
He does finally trust a rickety old Mandalorian who seems to be held together only by his armour who greets him with the words "Aren't you one of those freaks who never take their helmets of?" Dagor might be crass and he insults Din in every other sentence, but at least he does it to his face. Not behind his back like the others. Also, due to his age, Dagor can remember Mandalore even before the time of Duchess Satine, and is a great wealth of knowledge. Even though he sometimes talks too loudly, being hard of hearing.
Din also remembers the duel where his opponent sliced the back of his thigh, so that Din had trouble stepping on that leg for weeks. Another crystal clear memory is the council meeting where one son of a bantha advised that, in order to stop her constant questioning of his authority, Din should marry Bo-Katan. Only Dagor's hand on his arm stopped him from rushing that idiot.
Despite what all his supporters think (and he has supporters. What the hell?), Din knows he is not meant to rule Mandalore. Din also knows that while he doesn't want to rule Mandalore, he can’t just hand the job over to some idiot, so his job is to find someone decent to replace him. Not Bo-Katan, she had her chance. So during many meetings, he takes a closer look at the people in the room. Not him, he's way too aggressive. Not her, if she had her way, the Empire would be in power again. Not them, they only care about their business. Not him, he would let everyone run over him.
When he finally spots a possible candidate, it's late at night and they're discussing what kind of a relationship the new Mandalore should have with the New Republic. A young woman he hasn't noticed before joins the fray, and argues for a close relationship with the New Republic. Her arguments are smart, and her presence makes people listen.
After the meeting is over, Din tries to find out more about her, and every tidbit he finds seems to strengthen his first instinct. Sabine Wren of House Vizla is still young, she has the right name, she fought for the Rebellion and knows people in New Republic leadership.
Some people might scoff at how she decorates her armour, and others think that her chequered history with the Empire would disqualify her, but Din disagrees. She knows what it's like to make mistakes, and so she will do her best to keep from doing them.
After the next meeting where he sees her, Din approaches her, only to see that she's walking towards him, as well. Sabine tells him about lots of ideas she has; what changes could be implemented, how to unite the fractured Mandalorians, what foods might be grown on the wastes of Mandalore, and so forth.
Din nods and says: "Great ideas. I think you should do it - you should be Mand'alor."
Best reaction face ever.
"I'm serious. I'm not cut out for this job. I don't have the knowledge, I don't have the experience and I don't have the right motivation. You sure do, though," he explains.
It seems to be over very quickly after that conversation. During the next few meetings, Din makes ludicrous suggestions, which Sabine is quick to argue against. And sure enough, people flock to her. Their duel is also over quickly, and Din doesn't even have to pretend to lose. Once Sabine gets her hands on the darksaber, it's clear she's had training. Din yields with the darksaber at his neck, and the Mandalorians cheer for their new ruler.
Sabine invites him to stay, but he doesn't want to seem to challenge her new rule. Also, it seems like it's been ages since he went anywhere alone, and without telling anyone first. So, Din takes the next transport to Tatooine. Din goes to see Boba and helps him and Fennec out with some local troublemakers. He then goes to see Cobb Vanth. The people of Mos Pelgo and the sand people are having a disagreement about a spring of water found in the mountains closest to Mos Pelgo. Din helps mediate, and teaches Cobb some tusken language for the next time. Lastly, He visits Peli Motto who helps him get a new ship. It's not a razor crest, but it's similar enough that Din feels confident that he could do many repairs by himself. With his new ship, he goes to Nevarro to see Greef and Cara. He tells his story of being Mand'alor. When he mentions the proposal about the proposal, Cara laughs loudly, and a weight it seems to lift off of Din's chest. He doesn't stay long, though, and instead heads to Sorgan to check on the villagers. Only from afar, because he doesn't feel like talking to Omera.
All of them invited him to stay. Even Peli; but her offer of "Come on, be my apprentice. I won't pay you, but you'll get to learn from the Great Peli Motto" is easiest to refuse.
Sitting in the bar on Sorgan, he feels unmoored all of a sudden. He's done what he could for the former members of his covert, he's found the new Mand'alor, and he now knows that all his friends are okay. So he sits there, not knowing what to do. In such a situation, Din thinks, it's best to go back to the things you know. So, Din goes back to bountyhunting.
It works, for a while. The mix of dangers and routine is familiar to him. He has been a bounty hunter for most of his life. He does jobs and sends what credits he can to Sabine, always with the caveat "for the foundlings". He sees new places and meets new people. He puts some bounties in carbonite, and others just in handcuffs. He tweaks his ship's systems to his liking, and enjoys the extra space it offers. It’s enough.
It's not enough, Din realises. He's spent the last few days tracking his bounty to this boring, quiet, peaceful planet which is crawling with the New Republic security because, of course, there's some important meeting going on in the government building, and now, the kidnapper he is after is not a kidnapper.
"Our gardener's wicked son has taken her! Oh, our poor daughter. Our poor little girl! Save her before he can hurt her," the parents had screamed.
Kidnapping. Yeah, right. The kidnapper in question couldn't be more in love with his "victim" if he had hearts in his eyes. And the victim is in question is flitting around between the market booths, showing him an item, laughing, pulling him along to the next, and stopping for a kiss occasionally. She's looking at a flower and the boy buys it for her, tucking it behind her ear tenderly. She smiles sweetly at him, and if there were violins playing, this would absolutely be a romantic holo film, Din thinks.
This job is horrible, Din concludes. If it were kidnapping, it would be easy. He'd stun the guy, put him in carbonite, the girl would cheer "You've saved me!" and sit in the ship without making a fuss. Those two are certainly going to make a fuss. And Din can understand; he's basically interrupting a romantic holiday. He sighs.
Why is he even doing this? He has no covert to take care of, no kid, and Sabine certainly doesn't need the meagre credits he manages to send her. He doesn't like his life. He's been surviving, not living. At the same time, Din is realising it's his own kriffing fault. He's been afraid that people would treat him differently; now that he's broken his code. And so, before that could happen, he's distanced himself from all of them. Coward.
So, watching the happy couple, Din makes a few decisions.
He will stop being a coward. He wants people in his life. He wants to take care of them and to be there for them. He wants to earn their friendship and spend his time with them.
So now, he needs to choose a planet to make his home. Maybe Tatooine? No, who is he kidding. He wants to go to Greef and Cara on Nevarro. He could be Cara's deputy from time to time, and maybe Greef would be willing to to help him sort through the bounties, so something like this doesn't happen again.
But first, he will go see Grogu. It's been years since he's seen him, and Din misses the little green womp rat more than he thought possible. The Jedi didn't give his name on the bridge of the lightcruiser, but Din has been listening closely to rumours and figured out that the man's name was Luke Skywalker. He's even been able to to figure out in which sector of space Skywalker is likely to be, simply by listening to who talks of having seen him, and where they’re from. It shouldn't be so difficult to find the Jedi, now that he knows name and appearance. Also, Din has gotten the hang of getting Skywalker's fans to open up.
"Really? I don't believe he took down the Death Star with only one shot" usually gets them talking real quick.
When Din pays attention to the surroundings again, he notices that the couple is heading towards the hotel with their purchases. He sighs. It would be messy to try and take them in once they're in the hotel. They might scream, the hotel staff might interfere and who wants that? He'll get them in the morning once they come out of the hotel.
While he's been thinking, the wind has been picking up. Many vendors are packing up their supplies, and Din sees a mother pull her pouting child into the house.
Better get a move on and get some food, Din thinks to himself.
But before he can can get a move on, he notices something stuck to his leg. He looks down, intending to shake off some piece of trash or a rodent, but stops himself with a jolt.
Holding onto his pant leg, big ears flapping in the wind, and looking up at him is his kid. Grogu.