Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In all honesty, Din was so tired of all this shit. All he wanted was to go back in time to before everything, before the Dark Saber, before Gideon, before… the kid too. As much as he loved his kid, his life had been so much more simple just a few years ago. Even now that the kid was no longer with him, and hadn’t been for years, he was still being hunted.

Din rolled out of the way and the spear came down right where Din had previously been standing. Din fired at the Mandalorian attacking him, finally nailing a shot in the narrow areas between the green plated armor. The other Mandalorian yelled furiously and swung at Din again.

Another challenger after the Dark Saber and the title of Manda’lor. It was the fourth one in the last six months. They’d been growing in frequency over the past few months, but that made sense. It had been four months since he helped Bo-Katan and the others retake Mandalore. The planet was a mess, half of it turned into uninhabitable black glass. However, the old capitol was still standing. That was where Din left them. Not that he’d had much of a choice.

Din had been sure that Bo-Katan would challenge him once Mandalore was retaken and secured. The universe liked to prove Din wrong apparently. After everything, after spending more than a year helping Bo-Katan retake Mandalore, she still refused to fight him for the Dark Saber. He couldn’t understand it. Din was so tired of having to fight for the Dark Saber, he didn’t even want it. But something told him that he couldn’t just let it go to any random Mandalorian either. Plus, he now had seven different clans that pledged to follow his rule as Manda’lor, not that he needed it.

Din almost reached for the Dark Saber but decided against it. That being said, he was beginning to feel the power dynamic slipping. Based on the way his opponent was fighting, he was a tank who shouldn’t have had the stamina to still be fighting as hard as he was, but even after more than five minutes of continuous fighting, the Mandalorian wasn’t even showing signs of slowing down. Din was slowing down though; he was in excellent shape, having been fighting non-stop for years but even he had a limit. Maybe Din was finally getting too old for his lifestyle.

Cara had told him as much when he’d seen her a few days ago. She’d said it in a joking manner, elbowing him in the side when he couldn’t keep up with her sparring. Cara was older than him but she was still at the top of her game. She was also really healthy and Din couldn’t say he was up to par in that category. When your diet is made up primarily of ration bars and spotchka you can’t expect full performance from your body. Din had been living off both for the last few years, unwilling to eat with the Night Owls and running on a very low budget.

Frankly, there wasn’t very much work anymore and the Guild was suffering for it. Din had finally returned to Nevarro, hoping Greef Karga or Cara could set him up with a job, but Cara had much more important information for him. The Jedi had been looking for him for almost a year and had stopped on Nevarro several times to talk to Cara about Din’s whereabouts. That had left Din cursing himself for not giving Cara or the Jedi his commlink or any method of reaching him. The Kid, his kid, was waiting for him with the Jedi, wanting to see Din.

And that was how Din ended up where he currently was, in the capital city of Chandrila, the capital of the New Republic, exactly where he never thought he would run into another Mandalorian let alone one who wanted the Dark Saber. All Din wanted was to see his kid and the universe kept getting in his way.

Din’s blaster had been knocked out of his hand, his beskar spear lying on the ground too far away to reach. Din landed on his back, realizing just how screwed he was, and rolled farther out of reach. He climbed back to his feet but there wasn’t much point in it. He was out of weapons and out of energy. The challenging Mandalorian visibly stiffened as Din grabbed the Dark Saber from his belt. Fortunately for Din, he wouldn’t have a chance to use it.

His challenger looked over Din’s shoulder and had just enough time to physically start before he was thrown backward through the air, smashing into the ground a dozen yards away. Din looked around and saw several New Republic soldiers walk past him. Din watched as the crowd quickly dispersed and the New Republic soldiers headed towards Din’s challenger.

The other Mandalorian jumped to his feet and yelled at Din “This is not over Manda’lor! My challenge has not been rightful completed!”

One of the New Republic soldiers yelled at him, “Then you’ll have to wait until he leaves the planet, no dueling is allowed on Chandrila!”

The other Mandalorian took off into the crowd, the New Republic soldiers following. Din watched them go in confusion until he heard a familiar voice behind him and he stiffened, chills running up his spine.

“You really attract trouble, don’t you Din Djarin?”

Din whipped around, coming face to face with the Jedi. It had been a couple of years since Din had seen him, but he was just as mysterious and coy as ever, the only difference being that his hair had grown long enough to do flips around his ears and on his neck.

“Jedi” Din heaved a sigh.

The Jedi sent him a narrow-eyed look, “You realize I have a name right? It’s Skywalker, Luke Skywalker. You can call me whatever you’re comfortable with but I do prefer my name.”

Din watched as the Jedi, Skywalker, raised his hands. Din flinched as both his dropped weapons snapped into Skywalker’s hands and he offered them to Din. Din replaced the Dark Saber and accepted his weapons.

Skywalker nodded, “I am sorry about the other Mandalorian, I didn’t think there’d be any chance of another being on Chandrila, let alone in Hanna City.”

Din shook his head, “It’s not your fault, the number of challenges has increased a lot in the last few months. It was inevitable, I just thought I’d at least be able to find you first."

Skywalker’s face gained a small smile, “Yes, I heard that the Night Owls regained control of Mandalore, I assume with your help.”

Din nodded. “Good” Skywalker continued, “I’m glad that has been achieved, it is unfortunate though that you are going to be hunted for the Dark Saber. I assumed Bo-Katan would’ve had it by now.”

Din growled and shook himself. Skywalker grimaced, “I see. We will talk of that later.” His eyes grew bright, “For now, would you like to see your son?”

Din nodded slowly. Something bumped into his leg and he started, hand on his hip. The blue droid that had been with Skywalker on Gideon’s cruiser beeped at Din furiously, bumping into him repeatedly. Din reflexively kicked the droid, not enough to really do anything but it scooted away from him.

“Artoo, leave him alone, that’s not important right now. You can bug him about his ship later.” Skywalker turned to Din, “You don’t have to do anything now but there is a private landing pad on top of the apartments where the school is. My X-Wing is up there but we should be able to fit your ship as well. And please forgive Artoo, he’s just curious about your ship.”

“Artoo?” Din grunted as Skywalker began walking.

Skywalker glanced back at Din as the Mandalorian began following beside him, “R2-D2, we all just call him Artoo though. He’s been with my family for some time. Eventually you’ll meet Threepio, C-3PO, too but he spends most of his time with my sister and the senators.”

Din hummed rather than replying and glanced down at the droid, which had carefully positioned itself between Din and Skywalker. “My ship is going to need some repairs, do you have any recommendations?”

“Yeah,” Skywalker said slowly, “I can have someone come out and work on it once it's parked at the apartments. I know you don’t like droids very much so you’re lucky that I know a mechanic who can come look at it.”

“It’s going to need some substantial work.”

Skywalker huffed, “He’s a very talented mechanic.”

Din sighed, pressing closer to the Jedi as people watched them walk by, “I'll have to take your word for it.”

People stared as they walked through the crowds, some looking at Din with apprehension, but most whispering and smiling at Skywalker. One kid, probably thirteen or fourteen even asked Skywalker for an autograph on his arm, which really baffled Din. He remembered Cara mentioning that Skywalker had been really important to the rebellion against the Empire but Din’s covert had never paid much attention to what was going on until it was announced that the Empire had fallen. Even then, it hadn’t changed life very much for them. Still, the name Skywalker was familiar to Din and he couldn’t quite figure out why.

Din noticed after a few minutes of walking, Skywalker informing Din about the planet in a cool tone, that they had entered the older side of the city. The architecture was suddenly less clean, less modern, but still extremely nice compared to what he was used to seeing. Din usually avoided the Core planets for a reason, not enough work and he stood out too easily.

Eventually the party rounded a corner and a smile flickered onto Skywalker’s face and he looked back at Din, “Here we are.”

Ahead of them lay a large building, what Din would’ve guessed was a residence based on the multitude of plant boxes outside the windows with exotic flowers.

The Artoo wheeled away from them and through a small opening by the staircase as Skywalker led Din up the steps of the building. “This building used to be where all the visiting senators would stay when they came to Chandrila. However, since Chandrila is the new capitol, they built new chambers closer to the new senate building. My sister has been granted permission to use this how she sees fit since it is no longer needed. She and her family have their own residence not too far from here, so she thought it would be nice to let me use it for my school.”

Din cleared his throat, “Your sister?”

Skywalker glanced at him, “Senator Leia Organa. During the Rebellion she was a general and I guess they wanted her to stick around to help rebuild the Republic, so now she’s a senator for Chandrila.” Leia Organa, that name also felt really familiar but Din couldn’t place that one either.

They stepped through a doorway and after a moment of walking down a long hall reached the main residence space. The hallway opened into a large open air courtyard with a pond in the middle. There were rocks and plants surrounding the pond and the entire space felt extremely calm and peaceful despite it being in the middle of the city. There were hallways on all sides of the courtyard leading to different parts of the building.

Skywalker pointed to the far hallway opposite where they’d come from “All the residential rooms are down that hallway, I’ll show you to your room later. The hallway to the right leads to the dining hall and other various facilities. The hallway to the left goes to my office, the armory, and observatory as well as some unused rooms.”

“Armory?”

Skywalker nodded “There’s not much in there but in case of emergency, it has some weapons that can come in handy. Granted, I would never let the kids use them, but I like to have them just in case.”

Skywalker wandered over to the edge of the pond and looked back at Din expectantly. Din trudged over to stand by him, wincing at the amount of noise his armor made in the quiet oasis of the apartment building. “Grogu is currently having break time with the other younglings, being supervised by my sister. Leia likes to help out when she can and I appreciate it as well, though she doesn’t have as much time as she’d like. But during break time she likes to bring her son with her, he enjoys playing with the kids and even though he is too young now, one day I know I’ll train him too. He is strong with the Force.”

“How many are there? Kids, I mean?” Din asked, glancing down the right hall.

Skywalker braced his hands on his hips “Right now there are six others, Grogu makes seven. I would like to train more but seven is about as many as I can handle on my own. I typically only train the young ones during the week and allow them to go home over the weekend if they want to. Though the Jedi of old discouraged emotional connection and attachment, I disagree and feel that for kids especially they still need that support.”

Din felt guilt weigh in his chest “How’s the Kid been doing?”

Skywalker smiled at him “Really well in fact. I enjoy spending time with him as long as he remains well fed and he gets enough sleep. He tends to turn into a little monster when he’s not perfectly content.”

Din barked on a laugh “Yeah I know, he’s almost wrecked my ship enough times messing with stuff cause I was ignoring him.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time with Grogu working on helping him deal with his past trauma, and though it's been hard he has made great strides in his abilities.” Skywalker clasped his hands together softly, “You’ll be very proud of him. He’s even a pretty good student, though with how old his compared to the others I probably could’ve expected that.”

Din was going to respond but he was cut off by the sound of his laughing. He turned around and saw a group of kids running down the hall. They were chasing some sort of toy robot as it jumped down the hallway. Mixed among the pack was his kid.

Grogu didn’t look radically different, but Din could tell he’d grown. He no longer seemed like a small toddler, more a regular toddler. He was wearing a miniature version of Skywalker’s clothes but in a sandy brown. He seemed older and the thing that shook Din the most was the fact that he was… speaking. It wasn’t a language Din knew, and it seemed slightly garbled, but he was definitely talking. It was stunning.

The kids were gone through the far hallway in a few moments and Din watched them go silently. Skywalker watched them as well, only turning back to Din after the noise had faded away. “Don’t worry, he didn’t ignore you. I camouflaged you so he wouldn’t notice right away. I figure a more private reunion would be fitting for you.”

Din nodded, the lump in his throat and tightness in his chest made it unable for him to speak anyway. Skywalker continued “They’ll be heading to dinner in a few minutes. I can show you to your room and once they’ve finished with dinner and are allowed to retire for the night, I’ll bring Grogu to you. Does that sound alright?”

Din nodded again and followed Skywalker as he moved around the pond. After Din was shown his room Skywalker departed and Din was quick to head back to his ship. He was much more careful to stay in the alleys as much as he could but he needed to take some time to calm himself. He needed to grab a couple things anyway and move his ship. That’s what he told himself.

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Luke could feel when Din exited the apartments, though the remnants of his emotional whirlwind stuck with the Jedi for a while afterwards. Luke shook himself off and returned his cloak to his own chambers before heading to the mess hall to join everyone.

The kids were already eating, having been served by the droids. Leia was sitting at the end of the table, Luke’s empty seat to her left and Ben sitting to her right. Luke watched as she caught Ben’s cup and placed it upright. Luke laughed and sat down beside her.

Leia fixed him with a pinpoint look ,“He’s here.”

Luke nodded, “He’s heading to his ship to move it to the private landing dock on the roof and grab a few things. After dinner I’ll take Grogu with me to go see him.”

Grogu perked up at the mention of his name and stopped paying attention to his classmates long enough to look up at Luke, who he was sitting next to. Luke smiled down at him, “After dinner I’d like to show you something, is that alright?"

Grogu whined, gesturing towards his classmates. Luke sighed, “They’re all going to retire after dinner, you won’t miss out on any play time I promise.”

Grogu huffed and smacked his spoon on his plate but Luke could tell he wasn’t all that upset by the speed at which he rejoined the conversation the younglings were having. Luke thanked the server droid as it brought his food and turned back to his sister.

“Well, I’m glad he’s here, I know the little one will be glad to see him.” Leia nodded warmly “I could feel his shock from in here when the kids ran by.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her, chewing through his bite of food. “Yeah, you wouldn’t have happened to have done that on purpose would you?”

Leia looked at his innocently “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I would never pull out a toy you put away because it was distracting and let it loose just to spook the extremely handsome bounty hunter you’ve brought to the apartment.”

Luke set his fork down, “First off, you haven’t even seen what he looks like so how would you know. Second, that was kind of mean. This is a really big deal for him, he hasn’t seen his kid in over two years.”

“So? I gave him a sneak peak!” Leia laughed, “Besides, while I haven’t seen his face in person I have seen him in both your and Grogu’s memory of the moment he wasn’t wearing his helmet and let me say, your memory is much more forgiving.”

Luke scoffed, “Your point is?”

Leia shot him a look “Don’t get distracted Luke, you’ve got work to do.”

Luke rolled his eyes “I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t know how long he’ll even be staying. I mainly brought him here for Grogu’s birthday, even if the Mandalorian doesn’t know that yet."

Leia shook her head, “He needs you to help him with the Dark Saber, you know that. That’s going to require time.”

“I know” Luke sighed, “But he shouldn’t be too hard to teach right? He’s well trained in many weapons including a spear.”

“It’s not going to be the physical training that’ll be hard for him. It’s the mental hurdles. You think it was bad for you or I? Luke, he knows almost nothing about the Force and his upbringing was very different from ours.”

“Our upbringings were very different too, knowing about the Force isn’t necessary to have talent or skill in it.”

“Don’t kid yourself Luke, he’s not just some rando you picked off the street. He may have great potential but he’s also a Mandalorian. From what I understand his tribe was basically a cult compared to the other Mandalorians. Getting him to access what he needs to wield the Dark Saber is going to be a challenge."

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Leia patted him on the shoulder “I know you can handle it. And if you can’t you’ll just have to wait for me to come back from Coruscant. Though I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s a much longer trip this time.”

Luke gave her a look of concern “How long?”

“A few weeks at least,” Leia shrugged.

“Why so long? And why Coruscant?"

Leia sighed, “Well, I have a feeling the next proposal isn’t going to go over quite so smoothly. As for location, some of the senators are concerned that only meeting in one location could end up being a safety risk as it's too predictable. On top of that, Han is meeting me there and is planning to take us on a family vacation somewhere for our anniversary. He won’t tell me where which makes me nervous.”

Luke shook his head, “I guess you’ll just have to trust him. Good luck with that.”

Leia smacked him and Luke ducked his head, smiling at her unabashedly. They laughed for a moment before Leia grew more serious and leaned in, “Ben’s been asking me about training again. He’s really dying to start.”

“I know, I was hoping to start him by now too. Unfortunately I’ve been unable to get any of the other Jedi to receive my messages and without help I can’t handle that many kids on my own. Seven is pushing it most of the time.”

“It’s just hard for him, since he's about as old as a couple of your students.”

“You are welcome to start working with him if you want to Leia, I just don’t have the capacity to teach him with the other right now. He’s going to require extra time and attention that I don’t have. Maybe if I didn’t have Grogu to worry about.”

Leia looked at him with dark eyes, “Do you think the Mandalorian will take Grogu with him when he leaves?”

Luke was silent for a minute, “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

The conversation ended as the younglings began finishing their meals and filing out of the mess hall. Luke shared a tight hug with his sister and looked down at Grogu, “Are you ready?”

Grogu babbled something at him and hopped down from the bench. Luke followed him out of the mess hall and down the corridor towards the courtyard. Grogu paused in the entrance to the courtyard and looked back at him, sending a wave of questioning. Luke stepped past him, sending a wave of beckoning back to the kid.

Luke continued towards the resident rooms and listened to the gentle padding of Grogu’s feet behind him. Luke walked down to the second farthest room down, just before his own room and paused. Grogu looked up at him and Luke crouched down.

“There’s someone inside for you. Before you go, I still expect you at training tomorrow, but you are welcome to bring him with you if you’d like.” Luke smiled at Grogu’s bewildered look, “Have a good night, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Luke stood up and knocked on the door “He’s coming in.” Luke didn’t wait for a response before returning down the hall to check on the rest of his students.

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“He’s coming in!” Din heard Skywalker say just outside his door.

Din stiffened, suddenly extremely unprepared for what was about to happen. The door slid open and tiny feet stepped inside the room. Grogu looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on Din, who stumbled to his feet.

Grogu’s eyes got impossibly wide and he cried out, booking it towards Din. The man dropped to his knees and scooped his son into his arms. Din was crying, harder than he had when Skywalker had taken his kid, even harder than when Din had been alone for the first time after everything that happened on Gideon’s cruiser.

Grogu was shrieking and wiggling in his arms. Din relaxed slightly and pressed his forehead against the kid’s. Grogu’s tiny hands pulled on his hair and ears and only when he tugged on Din’s cheek with his claws did Din wince.

“Ow kid, that hurts,” Din chuckled and looked down at his kid.

Grogu had some tears on his face but he didn’t look sad, he looked extremely ecstatic, more excited than Din had ever seen him. Grogu bounced in his arms, chattering at him in whatever language he was trying to speak.

Din pressed a kiss to Grogu’s head “Sorry kid, I don’t know what you’re saying. But I’ll figure it okay? I’m going to make an effort to learn.”

Grogu cooed at him, burying his face in Din’s neck. The Mandalorian held him close, listening to his kid breathe. As much trouble as the kid got him into, having him back felt right, it felt more right than anything else Din had ever felt in his life. Din suddenly knew that no matter what happened, as long as he had his kid he would be okay.

Chapter Text

Grogu technically had his own room, but he spent the night in his dad’s room. It was the hardest Din had slept in years. Din woke up naturally the next morning, his mind clear and warm. Grogu was still curled up on his chest, breathing peacefully as he slept.

Din just rested there for a few moments, enjoying the moment of peace, but Grogu seemed to sense that his dad was awake. Din chuckled as the kid wiggled his ears, one of them brushing Din’s chin. Grogu softly cooed something at Din and sat up on his dad’s chest.

“Hey Kid.” Din reached up and rubbed one of the kid’s long ears.

Grogu garbled something and patted his dad’s face with both hands. Din chuckled, screwing his face up. Grogu laughed, a high and clear sound. Din grinned at him and watched as his kid slid off his chest and down onto the bed. Grogu waddled over to the edge of the bed and dropped down to the floor.

Din sat up and watched the kid. Grogu stopped a few feet from the door and looked back at his dad. “What?” Din asked, stretching his neck and shoulders.

Grogu stomped his foot and gestured towards his mouth. Din chuckled and dragged himself off the bed, “Yeah alright, I’m coming. I’m sure you’re already starving, at least I know you’re well fed.”

Grogu managed to herd Din out of the room and Din followed his kid as he tottered towards the main courtyard. As they entered the courtyard Din realized that Skywalker and the other kids were already sitting around the small pond in a circle, eyes closed and legs crossed. There was a gap next to Skywalker that Grogu sat down in, quickly following the lead of the rest of the group.

Din watched them silently and then after coming to terms with the fact it might be a while, leaned against a wall so he could watch. He could tell they were meditating but by the flicking moments of his kids ears Din had the intuition that there was something else happening that he couldn’t see. Were they communicating with their powers? That was how the other Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, had communicated with Grogu. It was all wizardry to Din, something he knew nothing of.

After about half an hour of peaceful silence Skywalker’s breathing pattern changed and Din watched as the Jedi opened his eyes. Skywalker gently clapped his hands together, “Excellent job, all of you. You are free to go to breakfast but first, I’d like to introduce you all to someone.”

Din stiffened as Skywalker turned his gaze on the man and all seven sets of eyes followed his. Din cleared his throat and stepped away from the wall. He smiled beneath the helmet as Grogu jumped to his feet and ran over to hug his dad’s leg.

Skywalker smiled, “I’d like to introduce you to Grogu’s father. He is a Mandalorian and will be staying here for the foreseeable future, I’d like you all to treat him with due respect.”

The kids all bowed to him, bobbing at different times. One of the kids, a young Kessurian with brownish red skin and dark brown eyes stared at him for a moment

“Master Mandalorian, what is your armor made of if you don’t mind me asking?” she couldn’t have been more than eleven if Din had to guess.

“It’s beskar.”

Her face lit up, “All of it?! My parents are metal workers. I've heard about beskar. You must be particularly skilled to have earned that much of it.”

After that the kids all loosened up, all but one coming up to Din to ask him questions about his armor and his work and even his relationship with Grogu. Din obviously did his best to answer their questions appropriately but he soon grew overwhelmed. He’d never been the best with kids, hadn’t spent much time with them after graduating from being a foundling.

Skywalker must’ve sensed his discomfort as he walked over, “I suggest all of you head to breakfast, we still have a full day of training and the Mandalorian will be here for a while if you have further questions.”

The kids groaned but eventually headed off towards the dining room. Grogu ran after them but paused before he got too far, shooting his dad a look. Din nodded and watched contentedly as his kid ran after the others.

“Which reminds me-” Skywalker interrupted Din’s thoughts, “What would you like me to call you? I can obviously title you as the Mandalorian if you prefer that, but if you’d like me to use something else please tell me.”

Din cocked his head and stared the Jedi down, “You know my name.”

Skywalker nodded, “True, but you did not give it to me for use. I understand names are important in your culture and I don’t wish to offend.”

Din sighed, “You can use my name” he grumbled.

Skywalker shot him a look, Din rolled his eyes. “You can call me Din or Djarin or Mando, that’s what my friends call me.”

Skywalker’s face melted into a blithe smile, “Of course, thank you.” Skywalker motioned with his head and Din followed him into the dining room.

Breakfast was… overwhelming to say the least. Skywalker gave Din his spot next to Grogu at the table which meant Din didn’t have to sit next to the kids but the noise and speed at which they all talked astounded him. Grogu attempted to say things to Din a few times, breaking away from the main conversation, but once he remembered Din couldn’t understand him he left it alone. Din caught Skywalker giving him a sympathetic look and glared down at the table.

Being in an apartment full of Force users who could all understand his kid when he couldn’t suddenly started to dig at Din. The Mandalorian took a deep breath as a wave of guilt and embarrassment hit him. He’d known the kid for almost four years and still couldn’t effectively communicate with him. Din could talk to the kid all he wanted but he’d never understand what Grogu was trying to tell him.

Skywalker must’ve sensed Din’s change in temperament as he placed a hand on Din’s forearm. Din met Skywalker’s concerned gaze and the Jedi raised an eyebrow. Din shook his head, knowing that the Jedi would leave him alone for the moment but would likely bring it up later.

After breakfast, the kids started their main training for the day. Din watched with curiosity as the main courtyard transformed into a training space, Skywalker using the Force to carefully levitate everything out of the way so the pond was the only obstacle left in the courtyard. Several medium sized droids wheeled out of one of the side rooms and the kids all grabbed helmets from one of the droids that had the visors painted a solid color.

The training was strange, if Din was honest. Three of the droids all randomly shot bursts of water at the younglings, who all had the helmets on that blocked their sight. On one of his cyclical passes walking past Din, Skywalker had quietly mentioned that it was to help the kids learn to use the Force to detect things in the space around them and oncoming attacks. Din wasn’t quite sure how that worked but he didn’t question it. What did he know about Jedi wizardry.

Din watched his kid, who was so much smaller than the rest of the kids, actually be one of the most successful in the group. Din chuckled as one of the other kids got hit in the arm and Grogu laughed, simultaneously dodging two different shots aimed at him. Din had a feeling he shouldn’t necessarily encourage his kid being too competitive but the feeling of pride in Din’s chest kinda shoved that thought aside.

Din actually was perfectly content watching the kids train. It reminded him of when he was young, though these kids seemed even happier than many foundlings Din knew and had known. Skywalker treated them extremely well and seemed to get along well with all of the kids. He obviously cared a lot about their progress, Din could tell from Skywalker’s constant monitoring and the amount of times he stopped to give advice. Despite how mysterious the man seemed sometimes, he was gentle and warm with the kids.

That being said, Skywalker’s constant pauses to advise his students did leave him slightly distracted. Din could see it coming but was too slow to even warn Skywalker. Skywalker had stopped to give advice to the young Mythrol, apparently named Baru, and was right in the way. Isikry, the Kessurian, jumped out of the way of a stream of water and slammed right into Skywalker knocking him sideways into the pool of water.

The courtyard went silent after a few short gasps. Isikry tore her helmet off and looked horrified, “Master Skywalker I am so sorry!”

Skywalker was sitting up in the water, thoroughly drenched. He took one look at Isikry and burst into a short bout of laughter. The Kessurian girl seemed to relax instantly.

Skywalker rose to his feet, water draining from his clothing, “No harm done, I should’ve been paying better attention. Let that be a lesson to all of you, pay attention whenever you’re in the range of someone who is training.”

Skywalker shook himself off and looked at Din, “Would you mind supervising while I go change, I feel like a drowned womp rat.”

“Not at all.”

Skywalker nodded in thanks and headed off towards his office, his cape dragging behind him left long trails of water behind him. The kids watched him and then one by one began training again.

Isikry was the only one who hesitated. She looked over at Din, “Do you think Master Skywalker is upset with me?”

Din shook his head, “No way kid, accidents happen sometimes.” Isikry seemed to be pleased enough with his answer and turned back to her training.

A few minutes later Skywalker returned in a very different outfit, using a towel on his hair. He was wearing light colored clothes that matched the younglings perfectly and he was barefoot. Din also noticed that he’d foregone any sort of cape but still had the black glove on his right hand. Din wondered why but decided that was probably a better question for later.

Training only lasted a little while longer before it was time for lunch and Din finally got something to eat, though it was far richer and sweeter than he was used to and he was glad he was in his room because he almost spit out one of the side dishes at first taste. Grogu seemed more than content with the food though and was happy to sit with his dad and eat, even if it meant being away from the other kids.

By the time they both had finished the other younglings had already started leaving for the weekend. Isikry and the mythrol kid had already been picked up by their parents and the rest were playing while they waited. The fewer the kids that remained, the more Din could see Skywalker getting antsy. At one point the Jedi almost stood up as though he was going to go do something but must’ve decided against it and sat back down. The last youngling was picked up within the hour and Skywalker was noticeably more relaxed after escorting the youngling outside to their guardian.

Grogu had followed Skywalker out to the front entrance to say goodbye to his friend which meant that Din hovered just a ways behind. Din watched from the inside entrance to the courtyard as Skywalker escorted his son back inside.

Grogu reached Din first, cooing at him and reaching up with grabby hands. Din hummed under his breath and scooped his kid into his arms. Grogu tucked himself against his dad’s chest and fell asleep almost instantly.

Skywalker shook his head with a small laugh, “His ability to fall asleep on command still manages to amaze me.”

Din rubbed a hand on his kid’s back, happy to feel the comfortable rise and fall of the kid’s chest once again. “Yeah, it feels like a super power. He’s slept through some intense situations.”

Skywalker’s smile seemed sadder, his eyes softening, “I can't argue there.” He looked up at Din, “I’ll give him the rest of the day off, I have plenty of time to work with him over the weekends.”

Din took a deep breath, wondering if it was finally time to talk to the Jedi about the other reason for him coming to Chandrila. Skywalker looked at Din knowingly, a spark in his eye as he waited for Din to speak.

“I need your help, but I think you already know that.”

Skywalker nodded, brushing by Din as he made his way over to sit by the pond. Din followed and sat down on one of the rocks, careful not to disturb his sleeping child.

“I do, I know people from all across the galaxy and hear all sorts of things. So when you showed on Chandrila with the Darksaber still in your possession, I had a feeling there was something up.”

Din shook his head, “Mandalore has been reclaimed, I have been helping them last two years. Their leader, Bo-Katan Kryze promised me that after things were settled she would finally challenge me so I could get rid of the burden of this weapon. However, she lied. I left Mandalore because she still refused to challenge me, she wouldn’t fight someone who wasn’t trained.” Din growled.

Skywalker sighed, “I understand your frustration then. You don’t want the Darksaber or title I assume, can I ask you then why you have fought so hard to keep it?”

Din was silent for a moment, “While I don’t want the title of Manda’lor, I can't just let it fall into the hands of someone who only wants to lead Mandalore for the power and glory. Mandalore will never recover with a leader like that.”

“So you believe that Bo-Katan is the right leader?”

Din exhaled angrily, “She is the closest thing to it I’ve found. She seems to know what she’s talking about and has led the Nite Owls for years, they are an effective group under her leadership.”

Skywalker didn’t seem convinced, “What about you, why don’t you want to be Manda’lor? Do you think you are incompetent? Not capable of leading?”

Din shook his head, “It’s not that.” He paused, “My covert is very traditional and I wouldn’t feel comfortable forcing my Creed onto other Mandalorians. All I really want is a somewhat comfortable life without constant war. There will likely be constant infighting for a while as all the clans try and claim stake to the throne.”

“I see.” Skywalker conceded, “Tell me then, what do you need my help with?”

“I need to be able to fight with the Darksaber, properly trained, so I can lose to Bo-Katan fairly.” Din hissed.

“I will train you, but only on one condition.”

Din shrugged, “Fine.”

Skywalker tilted his head and pressed his lips together, “Don’t agree so quickly, I haven’t told you my condition and I doubt you’re going to like it.”

Din almost wanted to walk away from the conversation. “Tell me then.”

Skywalker took a deep breath, “The Darksaber was made by the first Mandalorian to be inducted as a Jedi, Tarre Vizsla. It is a weapon of Mandalorian and Jedi creation and therefore both sides must be honored in your training.”

“And?”

Skywalker took a long moment to continue, “If you want to properly wield the Darksaber, you need to train like a Jedi. You need to be able to use the Force.”

They stared at each other in a long minute of tense silence. “Are you serious?” Din hissed, “I am a Mandalorian, I can’t just become a Jedi! We’re natural enemies.”

Din rose to his feet and began moving back towards the sleeping quarters. Skywalker followed him, “Were once enemies. They weren’t always. And I’m not saying you have to become a Jedi but you need to be able to understand the Darksaber through the Force.”

Din turned on him, “What makes you think I can even do that?”

Skywalker braced his hands on his hips and sent Din a sharp glare, “Because I can feel the Force, I know how it interacts with you and you clearly have some ability to use it. Besides, do you really think Grogu would’ve reached out to you otherwise?”

Din stared at the Jedi nervously as the man continued, “Grogu had been hiding for decades, he allowed you to find and rescue him because he could feel that you were different, that you wouldn’t hurt him.”

Din couldn’t think of a reply, his mind trying to process what he was being told. Skywalker raised his hands, “Look, I get that this is a lot to take in. All I’m asking right now is that you try things my way first. If you really can’t access the Force then I will figure out how to train you without it. Deal?”

Din sighed, wanting nothing more than to lay down and take a nap all of a sudden. It was a lot to take in, Skywalker was correct, but Din really wanted to be done with the Darksaber.

Din found himself agreeing before he could spend too much time thinking about it, “Fine, I’ll give it a chance.”

Skywalker seemed somewhat pleased, “Good, we start first thing tomorrow then. I look forward to teaching you.” Skywalker bowed and Din stiffly returned the gesture before carrying his kid back to his room.

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Luke had wasted no time on getting ready to start training Din. None of the kids were really old enough to start sparring yet so he had yet to set up an area within an empty room in the apartments but there was plenty of room on the roof. Well, once he moved his X-Wing over to his sister’s private landing pad there was.

The Mandalorian may have been hesitant to start training but Luke, he was practically bouncing with excitement. As the oldest Isikry would be the first to start sparring and Luke had a feeling she’d be ready soon, but she was nowhere near a challenge for Luke. Din though, Luke had hope that the Mandalorian would be an equal enough match to prove challenging.
Luke missed training with his sister more than he cared to admit. Leia was far too busy as a diplomat and mother to come over anymore and work with Luke. Her training meant that he not only got to figure out how to teach, but he got to spend a lot of time with his sister, something he sorely missed. Leia was also the best sparring partner because once she figured out how to wield the Force she became Luke’s best opponent and he almost missed getting constantly beaten in sparring.

Once the X-Wing was moved Luke just had Artoo help him with some minor cleaning, mainly putting away his mechanical supplies and spraying the area down so there were no toxic fuel remnants to risk getting on his skin.

Luke managed to get everything set up in the few hours between when the last youngling departed for the weekend and dinner. Luke didn’t joining Grogu and Din for dinner though, he instead too his food to his office and worked on more research. Luke knew a little about the fall of Mandalore but he figured it might be good to learn more from someone who saw it first hand.

Ben seemed unwilling to talk about it at first and upset that Luke had called on him upon hearing what Luke wanted to learn about. However, Ben did eventually begin to answer Luke’s questions and it became extremely clear to him why his master was so reluctant to talk about it. Luke learned a lot from the conversation but Luke still had the feeling that there was more to the situation than his master was admitting.

Still, Luke came out of the meeting much more aware of Mandalore’s history and with an extreme distrust of Bo-Katan Kryze. Even though Luke knew Din’s covert was an outlier, Ben’s stories did also help Luke better understand Mandalorian culture and practice, giving Luke the foundation he needed to train Din Djarin.

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That night, Din got the kid to sleep peacefully but his mind was so torn over what Skywalker had told him that he found himself unable to sleep. The Force, Din was not sure how he felt about Skywalker’s insistence that Din needed to use it to wield the Darksaber. He didn’t even understand why Skywalker thought Din had the ability to even feel the Force.

Din eventually dropped the kid off in his own room and began wandering the apartment, getting a lay of the land. The service droids were all gone for the night but there was no sign of Artoo either, even though the smaller droid usually stuck by Skywalker’s side.

Din eventually made his way past Skywalker’s office, pausing only briefly to listen and see if the Jedi was in there. Din heard nothing so he continued his rounds of the apartment. He ducked into the different rooms, exploring the spaces without a mysterious and intimidating Jedi shadowing him. Din soon found himself wandering up the staircase to the roof.
Din paused a few steps from the top when he heard talking. Din carefully walked up the remainder of the steps, remaining close to the staircase exit as he stepped into the roof. Din rounded the corner but paused at the edge of the garden, remaining hidden in the trees as he looked towards the ships.

Skywalker and Artoo were milling around Din’s ship, the droid peeping at Skywalker as the Jedi clambered onto the top of the ship. Skywalker was wearing a tan colored jumpsuit, the top half tied around his waist, leaving him in a tank top. The change in wardrobe was stunning to Din, it completely changed the way Skywalker fit in Din’s mental picture of the Jedi.
Skywalker let out a frustrated noise and leaned over the edge of the ship, “Artoo get the uh… wrench thingy out of the toolbox for me.”

Artoo opened the tool box, picked up the tool, and stood still as Skywalker pulled the tool into his grip using the Force. Din was too distracted to pay much attention to what exactly Skywalker was working on though, as he watched the Jedi move around on top of his ship. Din felt his heart sink as his mind raced trying to come up with answers.

Skywalker’s arms and shoulder, as much of him was visible, was covered in an extreme amount of what look like lightning scars. Thin red lines that traced the pattern the lightning must've taken through his body. Din had no doubt that the man’s torso was covered in them as well, as they grew more numerous as they disappeared under the tank top. Din wasn’t medically trained but he knew enough about human anatomy to know that no one should be able to survive the amount of electric shock required for those scars.

Din came to the dawning realization that there was probably so much more to the Jedi’s life than he was aware of. Din watched the Jedi argue with his droid and suddenly had a feeling that Luke Skywalker was not the mysterious master that he pretended to be. He was young, no longer a kid but full of life and energy.

Din knew from what Cara had told him that Skywalker had been a part of the Rebellion and crucial to overthrowing the Emperor. If Skywalker had been in the Rebellion for any major amount of time that meant he would’ve been fighting in a war when he was extremely young, probably a teenager. Din sighed; Skywalker had joined the war as barely more than a kid.
Din may have started training as a kid but the covert had always been good about not allowing anyone into the field if they weren’t mature enough or ready. Though he supposed the Rebellion probably took whatever fighters it could get. It didn’t sit well with Din and he felt the sudden overwhelming urge to question Skywalker about his past, but the Mandalorian refrained. It was entirely possible that Skywalker would bring up his past in his own time and Din did not want to rush.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of Skywalker dropping something and cursing loudly. Artoo let out a shrill string of beeps and Skywalker waved him off, “Oh whatever, there’s no kids around right now.”

Din retreated after a few more minutes of watching the man tinker with his ship and headed back to his room, his head even busier than it was when he left.

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Waking up in the morning, Din could feel the change in the atmosphere of the apartments. Grogu ran around with even more energy and boisterousness than he had when the other kids were around, which was stunning to Din.

True to Skywalker’s word they began training the next morning. It was somehow one of the worst things Din had ever put himself through. Not because of physical strain or difficulty, but spending hours meditating trying to access “the Force” left Din in an extremely bad mood.

Din almost felt bad for Skywalker, because the man had to deal with having Din as a student and Din was aware of his own shortcomings. However, Skywalker was the one who put Din up to the training so Din didn’t feel quite so bad when the entire morning turned out to be a waste of time.

Din was almost ecstatic when Skywalker sighed and told Din they were done for the day, though looking down at his kid peacefully meditating made Din even more irritated. His kid was a huge success where Din was not. Skywalker tried to encourage Din by telling him that it might take a while and that he shouldn’t worry too much about it, that didn't help.
Din shrugged tiredly and retreated to his room after grabbing his lunch. Grogu elected to eat with Skywalker, Din assumed, as the kid didn’t come join him. Not that Din minded terribly, he was still irritated and barely dared to hope that they were going to do something else after lunch.

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After the frustrating and fruitless attempts to get Din to access the Force between breakfast and lunch, Luke was more than ready to get Din into physical training. Luke knew that it wouldn’t feel like trying to teach a womp rat how to swim, which the morning had.

By the time Grogu had finished his lunch Din had yet to return, so the child went to fetch him. Luke was waiting on the roof, weapons laid out on the edge of the sparring pad while he meditated. He could’ve sensed them approaching but it was far more fun to listen for Grogu’s excited yelling when he saw Luke across the roof.

Luke opened his eyes as the kid bolted away from his father, scampering through the rooftop garden and across the sparring pad to climb onto Luke’s lap. Luke chuckled softly and ran a hand over Grogu’s wrinkly little head.

“Hello little one, how are you?”

Grogu cooed at him, sending Luke an excited flurry of messages through the Force. Luke smiled at him, “Good, I’m glad to hear that.”

Din finally made his way over, pausing a few feet from Luke to eye the weapons laying on the ground. “I brought my spear, like you asked.”

Luke looked up at him, “Excellent, would you set it beside the other weapons for me?”

Din nodded and compiled and Luke ushered Grogu off his lap, “Why don’t you go sit with Artoo, I’m sure he’ll be happy to entertain you.”

Grogu laughed and shuffled off towards Artoo, who let out a discontent whine at the idea of entertaining the child. Luke rose to his feet, the sun burning on his back. He was suddenly very glad he had changed back into his tan robes, as the all black ones would’ve made it even hotter on the rooftop.

Luke turned to Din and motioned for him to move towards the center of the sparring pad. Only once Din was in position did Luke begin, “So, you have training with a spear?”

Din nodded slowly, “I trained with it more when I was younger, I had to do some refreshing when I picked up the beskar spear on Corvus.”

Luke nodded, “I assume you also have done staff training.”

“Yes, it is one of the basic training weapons.”

“Good, it does teach a special quality of movement. And you obviously have training with guns and other similar weapons.”

“That’s my specialty.”

“Excellent, you having some background with all three is actually going to help you in learning how to use a lightsaber.”

Din stiffened, “I thought you were teaching me to wield the Darksaber.”

“I am,” Luke felt a mischievous smile dawn on his face, “But you are mistaken if you think I am going to allow you to use the Darksaber before I am certain you are ready to wield it. You are far likely to hurt yourself or others if you wield my lightsaber. I will wield the Darksaber. At least until you are ready.”

Din was silent for a moment, “Is this your final decision?”

“Yes.”

Din took a deep breath, “Okay.”

“We’re not starting with lightsabers so you have some time. We’re starting from the very basics.” Luke walked over to the lineup of weapons and picked up the two staffs, he tossed one to Din who caught it without flinching.

Luke could tell by the tilt in the Mandalorian’s head that Din had an eyebrow raised, his mannerisms were easy to read. “I know the staff may seem a little basic but we aren’t in a rush and I want to teach you properly. I need to make sure you can wield it the same way in which you wield a lightsaber, as an extension of your body.”

Luke was pleased to see that even though it wasn’t his specialty Din was quick to jump back into using the staff with ease. Their sparring was easy and skilled though Luke quickly picked up on something he hadn’t quite bargained for. Din Djarin had a bit of a temper that picked up as soon as things didn’t go his way.

Luke had managed to land a couple hits on Din while the Mandalorian was adjusting to the weapon without incident. However, once they really got going and Luke was still able to land a few more hits Din started to get more agitated. His fighting technique was still excellent but his hits started to get harder and faster.

After Luke landed a solid hit on Din’s bicep he swore he heard the man growl and held up his hands for a time-out. “Are you alright?”

Din paused, his free hand coming to rest on his hips as he caught his breath. “Is this hard for you at all?”

Luke shrugged, “Not particularly.”

“Have you trained with a staff before?”

“No, but the staff and spear are a natural progression to a lightsaber so it’s not hard to adjust.”

“How long have you been using a lightsaber?”

“About a decade now, why?”

Din huffed angrily, “I’ve been training for twice that long and you’re still beating me. How is it that you are strong enough to mow down an entire legion of Dark Troopers and not break a sweat? You don’t exactly look strong.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed, “First off, don’t judge a book by its cover, appearances are often deceiving. Second, a lot of it comes down to me being Force sensitive and that’s why I’m trying to teach you how to access the Force. I was able to take out Gideon’s Dark Troopers not because I’m physically imposing but because I’m a smart fighter and I use the Force.”

“Every single attack aimed at me I could sense before it even happened so I knew exactly how to block it,” Luke exhaled heavily as Din shook his head, “You may think it sounds ridiculous but if you would even try to connect to the Force you would see it and be better able to understand what I mean. You don’t need to be a Jedi to use the Force. The Force doesn't just allow the ability to move things without touching them, it is woven into the fabric of the universe and can let you do so much more. ”

Luke caught the small metal projectile just before it hit him and Din flinched. Luke shook his head and turned to look at where Grogu was sitting by Artoo, “Excellent job helping me demonstrate Grogu, maybe you can help me further explain.”

Grogu rose to his feet and ran onto the sparring pad. Luke could sense Din’s immediate discomfort at the idea of the kid being involved but Luke knew that if Din had been instrumental in helping Grogu regain connection with his powers, their connection could easily work the other way and help Din.

Luke handed the small metal ball back to Grogu and knelt next to the little one. “Artoo, would you go grab a few rocks from the garden?” The droid wheeled off and Luke turned to Grogu, “Just like training, I want you to throw the rocks to me and I’m going to catch them, easy?”

Grogu nodded and garbled at him, sending Luke a questioning wave. Luke smiled back, Just help me prove this point and you can have extra dessert later he told the child. Grogu let out an excited squeak and ran over to the edge of the sparring pad where Artoo was unloading some rocks onto the ground.

Luke untied his belt and instead fastened it around his head, pulling it down over his eyes. He heard Din intake a breath sharply and smirked, “Grogu, whenever you’re ready.”

Luke waited in darkness, reaching out with the Force and monitoring the space around him. He waited for a long moment and then WHAM!, Luke caught the rock headed for his chest with his prosthetic hand. He let Grogu throw a few more at him before he spoke again.

“Now, throw one at your dad.” Luke listened with satisfaction as the rock hit Din’s beskar armor with a high pinging noise.

“Hey!”

Luke removed his blind fold and sent Din a glare, “You had a warning, visual aid, and time to stop that from hitting you but you couldn’t react fast enough because you didn’t believe he’d actually throw it at you.”

“Why would he other than you telling him to?!”

“He’s a kid, kids do all kinds of crazy things even without prompting. Grogu’s ability with the Force already sets him apart, don’t underestimate him, you should know better.”

Luke lifted the smallest rock thrown at him and sent it straight back to Grogu, who easily sensed it and caught it about a foot away from him. That pissed off the Mandalorian, who was instantly running to check on the kid.

Din whirled on Luke, “You’re reckless.” he snarled.

“Maybe, or maybe I just trust Grogu. He may be a child but he doesn’t need coddling. He’s been training with the Force longer than either of us have been alive,” Luke squinted at Din, “I don’t actually know how old you are so that is just a guess but I will stick to it.”

Luke could feel the glare Din was directing at him even without seeing it. Luke softened his physical stance and tried to appeal to the man, “Look, I completely understand that all of this can be very overwhelming. I knew coming in that teaching you was going to be difficult and Leia agreed. But it’s not because you’re too old and unable to learn, it’s because you are unwilling to. If you want me to teach you the Darksaber then I need you to put in the work.”

“It’s going to push you outside your comfort zone but discomfort is the quickest way to growth.” Luke waited patiently as Din rose to his feet.

“Can you guarantee that I am going to be able to properly wield the Darksaber and fight Bo-Katan if I follow your instructions and do your training?” Din growled.

Luke blinked at him and took in a deep breath, “It’s like I tell the younglings before they begin training. I can only give you the tools to succeed, you must make your own path with them.”

That seemingly struck a chord with Din and Luke watched as the man cooled down. After a long moment Din spoke again, “Putting in the work, what do you feel that entails?”

Luke pondered his thoughts, “Well, first off, you need to stop being such a hard ass all the time.” Din glared at him, “You are so rigid and fixated on living your life one way that you blind yourself to other paths. You need to open your mind, think beyond what you already know, and allow yourself to feel… uneducated. It’s not a bad thing in the right contexts, not knowing things means you still have more to learn and more ways to grow.”

“And what about you, Jedi Master? What don’t you know?” Din sighed heavily.

Luke stared him down, “A lot of things, far more than I think you expect.”

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By the end of the first day Din was tired and crashed after dinner. They resumed training after their chat but Skywalker had called it quits once he felt Din was too tired and too distracted to continue further. Din was more than happy to go to bed right after dinner, barely waiting to see if Grogu had made it into the room before he passed out.

By the end of the first week Din was exhausted but he had managed to block an attack from Skywalker he hadn’t been able to see coming and the Jedi had seemed extremely pleased. Din wasn’t entirely sure why, Din made no progress during the morning meditation sessions and honestly felt ashamed of the fact that a six year old was so much more advanced than him.

Thankfully the six year-old, a human named Ethrail (Ethra for short), was more than happy to stay at morning meditation with Din even after the others had gone to breakfast. Every morning felt like an exercise in futility but when Din finally gave up or when Skywalker finally forced him to get food Ethra was more than happy to walk with Din to the dining hall and he was content to let them.

Skywalker saved sparring for the weekends since there wasn’t much time when all the younglings were around. Din had almost found himself looking forward to the next day of sparring after he’d blocked that hit and then he remembered that it was more a stroke of luck than anything. Skywalker had said that when Din finally accessed the Force he would be able to feel it, Din couldn’t feel anything new or special. Still, when Din arrived on the roof he felt a rush of near excitement when he saw Skywalker waiting for him with a new spear in hand.

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Luke kicked up his own level of force and skill when he moved Din into sparring with the spears. He figured it was worth it since the beskar spear would probably remain one of Din’s weapons no matter what happened in the future with the Darksaber. Despite the new level of intensity, Luke was thrilled to notice that Din quickly progressed to keeping up with him. It was honestly thrilling for Luke, seeing such quick progression. Even if Din couldn’t see himself doing it, Luke could tell that he was beginning to pick up on Luke’s attacks before they happened. Still, it bewildered Luke that Din couldn’t connect to the Force after hours of meditation and training.

The answer smacked Luke in the face during the last day of sparring they had for the weekend before the younglings returned, quite literally. Luke didn’t dodge quick enough and before he knew what was happening he was on his back, looking up at the setting sun while blood ran from his nose. The answer as to why Din wasn’t able to feel a new connection to the Force was probably that he had always been connected to it and never realized.

Luke groaned at his own absentmindedness, knowing instantly that his nose was broken. Luke heard the clang of the beskar spear hitting the rooftop and a string of swears from Din as he rushed over to check on him.

Luke waved off Din’s hands as the man tried to reach for Luke’s face so he could examine the damage. Luke managed to choke out an ask for a towel and assurance that the med droid could easily fix him up. Luke eventually allowed Din to help him sit up but immediately found himself getting dizzy again and he sighed when he saw the amount of dark staining on his tan robes. He suddenly regretted not wearing the black robes.

“Aw man, that’s never going to come out.” Luke whined as Din hauled the younger man to his feet.

Din continually apologized the entire time it took him to walk Luke down to the med bay and Luke continually refused to accept an apology. “Din it’s fine, I’ve dealt with way worse injuries than this. I just hope I don’t end up with another scar on my face.”

Luke knew it was impossible since the blow hadn’t actually cut his face open but there was so much blood on his face there is no way Din could tell that. Luke almost laughed when he felt the Mandalorian relax from his place against the wall as the med droid assured Luke that there would be no scarring on his face.

Thankfully it was the last day of the weekend and Luke would have the entire week to rest from intense training, as the med droid instructed, but Din seemed overly willing to help him. For some strange reason, Luke didn’t mind being coddled a little. Allowing a tall, dark, and handsome man who was also extremely strong to escort him around the apartments was kind of nice. If Leia saw what Luke was doing she would’ve been aghast and called Luke out. She secretly also would’ve been cheering him on.

Luke was able to bathe and change on his own but allowed Din to take care of busing food to everyone at dinner time. Luke smiled painfully as Grogu climbed into his lap, reaching up towards Luke’s face with small hands.

Luke craned his head forward so the little one wouldn’t have so far to go, ‘Thank you little one, but I can heal myself just fine this time’. Grogu seemed to accept Luke’s refusal but tucked himself under Luke’s chin for a long moment. Luke hugged the kid back and offered Din a weak smile.

Grogu was quick to scamper back to his seat so he could shove food in his face. Not that Luke blamed the child, even without completing the day’s training he was still exhausted.
Grogu managed to fall asleep at the table and his dad got the pleasure of carrying him back to their room. Din tried apologizing once more after dinner before they parted ways for the night but Luke had to stop him, “Din, you have apologized plenty. It was a mistake that I could’ve avoided. The fact I wasn’t able to just proves to me that we’re getting somewhere and that satisfaction is enough for me.”

Luke raised his eyebrows, “However, if you really want to make it up to me? Do some work even when I’m not forcing you to. If you want to start with something fairly easy but extremely important I’d suggest you try and connect with Grogu over the Force. If you learn anything here, I think an ability to speak with your child might be the most important.”

Din stared Luke down, “How do you suggest I do that?”

Luke shrugged and rubbed the area under his eyes, careful to not disturb his broken nose. “Well, it’s really up to you. My suggestion would be to try meditating but instead of allowing your mind to wander or focus on finding the Force, focus on finding your son. Grogu has been trying to reach out to you, so you could also try just relaxing and allowing him in.”
Din sighed, “Will I know when it happens? Is there some magical feeling?”

Luke bit back a smile, his face too sore. “You’ll know but if you’d like I can briefly reach out for your mind, give you an idea of what it will feel like.”

To Luke’s surprise, Din didn’t refuse. The man nodded slowly, holding his son close to his chest. Luke took a deep breath, “Close your eyes for me,”

Luke gave Din a moment to comply and then close his own eyes, allowing his consciousness to expand. Despite his struggles to access the Force, Din wasn’t too hard to find through it. Luke sent a warm wave of acknowledgement to Grogu, carefully so as to not wake him, as Luke mentally passed by the child and mentally tapped on the walls that guarded Din Djarin’s mind.

Luke heard Din inhale sharply, “Relax, you’re not in danger here. You can let me in if you’d like or not, either way you now know what to expect.” Luke murmured softly.

Luke opened his eyes and saw the Mandalorian let out a full body shiver. Luke pulled away, allowing Din to recover from the strange feeling. Luke bowed his head, “I’m going to retire to my room and get some rest, I leave you both here.”

Luke only made it a few steps before Din turned after him and spoke, “Thank you Skywalker, for everything.”

Luke grimaced his way through a soft smile, “You’re welcome, and please, call me Luke.”

Din nodded, “Thank you, Luke.”

Luke nodded back and continued back towards his room, desperately shoving down the butterflies that had blossomed in his stomach at the sound of his name coming from the man. He wouldn’t admit it to himself until later, but the deep, low growl of the Mandalorian’s voice was somehow both comforting and exciting for him.

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Din wandered back to their room and paused once inside, unsure of what to do to avoid waking his kid. Unfortunately as soon as Din removed his helmet he felt the kid’s ears twitch and sighed, knowing that the kid was awake once again.

Grogu let out a quiet whine and Din let out a soft shushing noise as he set his helmet on the bed. Din tried to rock the kid back to sleep, gently rocking back and forth on his feet but the kid was having none of it. Din finally gave up after the kid’s sharp nails pinched at his ear.

“Hey!” Din jerked his head away and repositioned Grogu in his arms so he could look at the kid.

Grogu blinked at him sleepily but seemed happy enough from what Din could tell. “Pfft,” the kid patted his dad’s chin with one hand.

Din watched his kid with soft eyes, feeling the beginnings of a smile working its way onto his face. “Your master, Luke, told me that I should try and connect with you through the Force.”

Grogu’s ears tilted upward and he babbled something quietly, Din continued, “I’m gonna be honest kid, I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to this stuff. I might need your help.”

Grogu seemed to understand, the kid closed his eyes and placed his hands on Din’s face. The man felt a lump in his throat, reminded too much of when they’d said goodbye on Gideon’s cruiser. Din took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning his head forward so he could touch foreheads with his son. His son, somehow the thought still felt foreign to him, but it was true and right at the same time.

The silence was loud; Din kept breathing, allowing himself to open up, trying to sense the same feeling he got when Skyw- Luke, had reached out to him. Minutes passed by and Din slowly felt himself becoming discouraged. Din swallowed thickly. What if he couldn’t do it? Would Luke refuse to train him? But more importantly, how could he raise a kid he couldn’t communicate with, it didn’t seem fair to the kid.

Din was ready to give up when he felt a tickle at the front of his brain, something familiar and bold, looking for him.

The first thing he felt from the kid was love. Bright, beautiful waves of pure love and affection. Din felt hot tears running down his face and he felt a sob escape from his mouth. Grogu reacted speedily, sending even more love and traces of strong happiness. Din could swear it was the happiest he had been since he was a child as he stood there rocking his kid, his son in his arms. Din had so much to learn, so much he wanted to learn about his kid, and he had time.

Chapter Text

Luke had been absolutely thrilled when Din, or rather Grogu, told him that Din had finally been able to use the Force to connect to his son. The speed at which Luke had spun into a fast-paced rant about all the possibilities granted by the Force and ways it could be used left Din’s head spinning the next morning. According to Luke Din was just force-sensitive enough feel the Force but Luke wasn’t sure how well Din would be able to wield the Force. Din was perfectly okay with the fact he may never be able to levitate objects with his mind. The idea was a bit much for him. That being said, Din still held up his end of the bargain.

Din still joined the kids for morning meditation but he also spent time in the evening meditating with Grogu as well. For some reason he found it much easier to focus when he had his helmet off, or maybe when Luke wasn’t around. Luke’s presence through the Force was wildly intimidating, not because it was scary or dark, but the exact opposite. It was like looking at the sun for too long. Din noticed that the week passed much faster without such constant struggling on his part, it felt like actual progress to Din.

Din heaved a sigh, dropping back onto one of the meditation rocks. Luke reached his arms above his head and stretched, “Good job Din, I can feel your progress already.”

Din’s head fell to the side, sending Luke a silent glare. The Jedi grinned at him with bright eyes, “I know it may not feel like it but you are an incredibly fast learner. I have no doubt you will be a master of the Darksaber in no time.”

Grogu wandered his way over to his father, chattering at him excitedly. Grogu stopped suddenly, glaring up at Din. His father shrugged, “What?”

Luke giggled, a sound that would’ve been surprising had Din not been able to see the sunshiney personality under the mysterious facade he put up. Luke coughed when Din glared at him again, “Grogu says you stink.”

Din scoffed. Luke nodded “No, you physically stink. You’ve been training and I am sure you are sweating in that beskar oven of yours. His kind have heightened senses, he can probably smell you from where he is.”

Din felt his face getting hot and he cleared his throat awkwardly. “I probably need to clean my undersuit as well, it's been a while since that’s been laundered. My new ship doesn’t have the same equipment the Razor Crest had.”

“That’s understandable. Unfortunately, there really aren’t any refreshers in the apartment. While the rooms do have small ensuite bathrooms I am afraid that the only baths are technically… communal.” Luke said cautiously.

Din stiffened and Luke raised a hand, “However, I’m sure that we can work it out so you have the necessary privacy. The main baths can be blocked off from the rest of the spa area by large dividers and I’m sure I can get you a change of clothes for while your undersuit is being cleaned. If that is alright with you.”

Din took a long breath “We’ll see.”

Luke nodded, “After dinner then. I’ll get one of the droids to help out.”

Grogu turned to Luke and babbled something at him. Luke sent him a sharp look, “No, your father deserves some privacy, even from you. Besides, that time could be better spent doing your evening meditation Little One.”

Grogu turned back to his dad, the biggest pout on his tiny face. Din chuckled “Sorry kid, I’m with your master on this one.”

Grogu planted himself in the middle of the floor, pouting heavily. His ears drooped and he whimpered sadly. Din could tell the kid was perfectly fine, he just liked to throw tantrums now for some reason. Din had a feeling Luke had been less lenient with some of Grogu’s behaviors in the last couple years, not that it was bad for the kid, just different. Din trusted Luke though, he was used to being around kids more than Din would ever be.

True to his word, Luke ushered Grogu off to his room after dinner and then beckoned Din to follow him. The spa area was down the left corridor, a few rooms past Luke’s office area. The spa was overwhelming at first, it reminded Din of when he had first arrived and had been overwhelmed by the sheer niceness of everything on the planet. It was obvious that the upper class had populated the space.

There were several rooms off the main room, which had a lounge area set into the floor. There were all kinds of machines tucked into one of the spare rooms and Din figured they were probably some sort of beauty treatment. Though the idea of people putting that much time into their looks was baffling to him, Din also hadn’t taken even the time to shave in over a month since his arrival. He probably wasn’t the best judge.

There was a short passageway on the far end of the room that led into the main bath chamber. The chamber was divided in half, the front portion containing different benches. The communal bath made up the back half of the room because it was really just a giant pool. There was a series of dividers hiding most of the pool from view, a small doorway at the far left. One of the droids was waiting there with some folded clothes on a tray.

A few minutes of awkward shuffling and configuring later, Din was safely in the water. His helmet was resting near him just in case and Din listened tensely as Luke instructed the droid to have Din’s suit speed cleaned and brought back.

“Your suit should only take a few minutes to clean but you are welcome to wear the clothes by the stairs if you don’t want to wait that long.” Luke told Din from his place on the other side of the screens.

“Thank you.” Din sighed, sinking into the water.

“Everything you need should be along the side wall and if you tap the blue bar on the wall a mirror will pop out so you can shave, if you need to.”

“Alright.” Din hummed, wandering over to explore. He paused as he heard Luke begin moving away from the screens. “Are you leaving?”

Luke stopped where he was, a slight shadow cast on the dividers. “I was planning to but I can stay if you’d like.”

Din hesitated, “Yes, please. It would give me comfort to know you were guarding me.”

Luke’s voice was warm as he responded, “Of course. I would be happy to stay.”

Din listened as Luke walked back over to the dividers and sat down, as was evident by the rustling of his robes. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Din bathed before his curiosity overwhelmed him.

“Can I ask you a question?”

It took Luke a moment to respond, “Will you let me ask a question in return?”

Din almost laughed, “I won’t guarantee an answer but you can ask.”

Luke chuckled, “Likewise, but go ahead.”

Din took a deep breath, “You have scars all over your torso that look like lightning scars, but I highly doubt anyone could survive something like that. What happened?”

Luke was silent for a long moment and Din began to worry that he’d offended the man before he heard Luke let out a heavy sigh. “I had a feeling I was being watched when I was working on your ship, I could’ve guessed it was you.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “Despite your doubt you’re not wrong, they are lightning scars, and no I probably shouldn’t have survived it.”

“To keep it as simple as I can, I got them during the final battle on Endor, when I fought the Emperor and Darth Vader. The Sith ways are tempting for many reasons, largely because they grant the user access to far more power and abilities than the Jedi way. The Emperor, Darth Sidious, had the ability to shoot lightning from his fingertips-”

Din almost cut himself with his razor. Luke laughed morbidly at Din’s shock, which he could feel from where he was on the other side of the dividers, “I know, just when you think it can’t get weirder, it can.” Luke sombered again, “The Emperor used lightning on me when I refused to join him. I would’ve died had my father not killed the Emperor and stopped him from hurting me. At the time I had no idea just how badly I’d been injured because of the chaos of the moment and my need to get my dying father off the second Death Star before it was destroyed but… later, once the battle was over and I had time to evaluate everything that had happened I finally realized what shape I was in. I slept for days afterwards. Leia and Han eventually forced me to see a med droid but there wasn’t anything they could do.”

“I’ve tried some stuff since then but…-” Luke exhaled heavily, “-nothing was successful enough to warrant all the time I had to take off and the side effects, which really just made things worse.”

“I’m so sorry,” Din said softly.

“Thank you. If it makes you feel better, they don’t hurt most of the time, only when I over-stress my body or in extreme weather conditions. Losing a hand was way more painful in the long run, even with a prosthetic.”

“Thank you for answering my question, you didn’t have to.”

Luke smirked, “No, but now I get to ask my question.” Din waited for a moment and Luke continued, “Will you explain your Creed to me? I don’t know very much about Mandalorians but you seem different compared to those I’ve met.”

Din stared at his reflection for a long minute, thinking. Luke cut him off as Din opened his mouth to respond, “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s alright.” Din took a deep breath, “My covert on Nevarro was different from other Mandalorian groups, though I didn’t know that until I met the Nite Owls. My covert practiced a very old, very traditional version of a creed and part of my struggle with the Nite Owls has been their ideas about my upbringing.” Din’s mouth twitched into a tight smirk, “Bo-Katan called my covert a cult when we first met and knowing what I do now I don’t blame her, though I don’t agree with her either.”

“My Creed states that any Mandolorian who removes their helmet in front of any living being except members of their tribe can no longer be considered a Mandalorian.” Din could feel Luke’s shock and confusion without even opening himself up to the Jedi. “My covert fell because I chose to save Grogu, not that I regret doing so. Many of the people who helped raise me died or revealed themselves because of my actions. Part of my journey has been my attempt to define my own Creed, because by my original Creed’s definition, I should no longer be a Mandalorian.”

Luke was silent for a long moment, “Is that because of me?” Luke asked nervously, “Because I saw you when I picked up Grogu?”

Din shook his head, “No, it wasn’t the first time. On the way to save Grogu from Gideon I ended up unmasking myself in front of a bunch of Imps and an old comrade of mine. The Imps are all dead but, my comrade saw my face, even if he did pretend like he didn’t. You and Grogu were the only ones who saw my face on Gideon’s cruiser, none of my companions actually saw my face. I didn’t even care though, that I was unmasking myself in front of a bunch of people-” Din took a deep breath, “-All I wanted was for my son to see my face, to see who I was underneath the helmet. I didn’t think I was ever going to see him again. I wanted his last memory of me to be my face. I wanted him to know how much he meant to me.”

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Luke had to completely close off his connection with Din. He took a shaky breath and wiped a hand over his face. Luke quickly closed off all his other connections and put down a wall around his mind, knowing that any major disturbance from him risked disturbing Grogu. Luke tried to steady himself but the lump in his throat and the tears rolling down his face betrayed him.

“Are you okay?” Din’s voice sounded muffled.

Luke sniffed, rubbing more tears off his face, “I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.” Luke could hear the edge in Din’s voice.

“I’m okay it’s just- that’s exactly what my father did before he died. He had me take his helmet off so he could look at me, he wanted to see me with his own eyes…” Luke said with a watery laugh, “Even without my own bias, I know Grogu appreciated finally seeing your face, though I never had any intention of keeping him from you. I just didn’t think to give you any way of contacting us, I didn’t know you’d be so hard to find.”

“You still looked for me, you didn’t have to. I know you took time out of training the kids, it means a lot to me that you care enough about my kid to do that for him.” Din spoke softly and Luke could hear the sincerity in his voice.

“Of course, he’s a great kid and he has a lot of potential.” Luke groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, “This was supposed to be a light conversation what happened.”

Din smiled softly, “I think we’ve both been through too much in our lives and when we’re honest with ourselves, it’s hard to keep all that locked away.” Din paused for a moment, “And, if I’m honest, there aren’t many people I’d trust enough to talk about this with. But I trust you.”

“You do?”

“Completely. Otherwise I would never have trusted you with the kid, let alone trusted you to guard me while I’m at my most vulnerable. You know how you say you can feel everything through the Force? My gut tells me things. It told me from the moment I saw you, even though you decimated an entire squadron of Dark Troopers like it was nothing, that I could trust you. I stand by that.”

Luke was silent for a moment, debating whether or not to point out that it was probably the Force guiding Din but decided against it. “I trust you too Din, and not just cause the Force told me so. Seeing things through Grogu’s memories told me everything I needed to know about you.”

Din huffed, “Alright, you were right about the conversation getting too deep. I’m emotionally maxed out for the moment-” Luke laughed, “-tell me something fun about yourself.”

Luke thought about it for a minute and then snorted “Okay uh, well, it was really awkward when people started finding out Leia and I were twins because throughout our years in the Rebellion everyone thought that we were in love with each other, or that I was in love with her, including Han.”

Din slowly turned to stare at him through the dividers, “How is that a fun fact?”

Luke let out a high laugh, almost a giggle. “It’s funny in retrospect, and I get why.” He grimaced, “Leia also did kiss me at one point, though it was actually just to make Han mad cause she was refusing to admit that she loved him at that point in time.”

Din was silent for a moment. “Dank Farrik, what is wrong with your family?”

Luke laughed again, “Trust me, you have no idea. I’ve had to live through all the drama. The last decade of my life has been very intense.”

Din shook his head, “I don’t doubt that.”

“Now you, tell me something fun and not depressing about yourself.”

Din sighed and shook his head, flinging water everywhere. “I sing sometimes?”

Luke’s eyes widened and he resisted the urge to turn around, even though there were walls dividing them just to look in Din’s direction, “Really?”

Din nodded, “Yeah, usually the only time I do so is when the kid has had nightmares or when he’s having troubles falling asleep. My parents would sing me lullabies when I was a child but I don’t remember any of them, so I just sing the Mandalorian songs I know.” He chuckled, “Unfortunately they’re all war or drinking songs but since the kid doesn’t understand the language, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Luke laughed and they fell back into silence. It was peaceful and good and Din finally felt comfortable on Chandrila, something he’d never thought he’d admit.

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The morning after, Luke was waiting for Din and Grogu by the reflection pond in the garden. Luke stared pensively into the dark water, but his lips twitched as he sensed the pair approach. Din paused a few feet from the young man and waited, Grogu babbling at the fish beside him, as Luke took a deep breath and turned to face them.

Din could tell from the glint in Luke’s eye that something was up and he allowed himself to smile beneath the calm mask, “Can I ask what you have planned for us today?”

A bright smile passed over Luke’s face “Of course.” he looked down at Grogu “I have prepared something special today, for I have not forgotten what is happening next week.”

Grogu giggled and waved his arms at Luke excitedly. Luke grinned down at the kid and Din could barely breathe through the tightness in his chest. Luke’s bright gaze met Din’s through the helmet, “If two will follow me, I’ve set up something a little special in the observatory”

Din scooped Grogu up and followed Luke down the halls of the complex, suddenly very glad there were few others around as he matched his pace with Luke’s. The blond looked over at him for a long moment while they walked in comfortable silence. Even after Luke looked forward again Din lingered on him for a moment longer, realizing that Luke’s excitement masked a new layer of nervousness that Din hadn’t seen before.

After a few minutes of walking they paused outside the observatory doors and Din released Grogu to the ground. “Now-” Luke began, “I do pay attention to little things during training and I’ve noticed something you both have in common. Between the two of you there is an immense interest in the universe and its energies. So I found some old Jedi training tools and with some tinkering was able to set up something I hope you can enjoy together.”

The doors to the observatory slid open and Grogu led his father inside. Luke waved toward the inside wall “When you’re ready, just wave your hand over the panel and everything should be automatically activated. I’ll be just outside, making sure you are not disturbed until you are ready to be done.”

Din nodded and watched as the doors slid shut between him and Luke. It slowly began dawning on what Luke had done as Din waved his hand over the panel and the lights in the room dimmed. As soon as it was dark a slender pillar raised from the floor, a small marble balanced atop it.

Grogu shrieked happily as a hologram spanning the entire room appeared, casting hundreds of small lights around. It was a map, but not just an ordinary map. There were details other than planets and stars, there were pathways of light and energy. The Force.

Din slowly removed his helmet and set it on the floor by the entrance. Grogu babbled loudly, wandering around and pointing at different dots suspended in the air. Din laughed “Yeah, those are all different planets. You want to see something cool?”

That got Grogu’s attention. He waddled back over to his father and allowed Din to pick him up. Din rested Grogu on one hip and moved over to a familiar star system “See this one? This is Nevarro, this is where Cara and Greef Karga live, this is where I was raised.”

Grogu cooed and tried to grab the dot. He whined when his hand went right through the hologram. Din chuckled “Sorry kid, can’t touch them.”

Din spotted another planet, “This is where I found you.”

They wandered around the room for a while, talking about different planets and star systems. Grogu seemed thrilled to just listen to his dad ramble on about all the places he’d seen during his lifetime. After a while Din’s mind wandered slightly and he wondered what it would be like if Luke was in the room too, he probably knew far more about the Inner Core than Din did.

Din barely knew anything about Luke’s past, but he knew that the man seemed to know more about the galaxy than you might think off a first interaction with him. Din paused as Grogu babbled at the planet before them and focused inward.

Din wasn’t a Jedi, he didn’t know the Force, but he did remember what it felt like when Luke had made that connection with him those weeks ago, what it felt like to connect with his kid. Din closed his eyes and reached out. There was a moment of pause and then Din shuddered as he was met with a wave of warm surprise. Din huffed nervously as the shudder ran down his spine.

Din took a deep breath and tried to send something resembling an invitation back. He was relieved a moment later when the door slid open again and Luke entered, a smile on his face. Luke was obviously doing all he could to avoid looking at Din’s face this time and it almost made Din want to laugh. Still, Din appreciated the gesture and slowly moved towards the outer wall of the room.

“Your dad has obviously learned something since he got here, even if he refuses to admit it.” Luke kept his eyes trained on the kid, “What can I do for you Din?”

Din chuckled from his place off Luke’s shoulder, “Well, I’ve pretty much talked through all the appropriate adventures, I thought that as the ‘hero of the galaxy’ you have some stories.”
Luke’s face twisted into something happy and sentimental, “Yeah, I guess I do. I’ll try and keep it age appropriate though.”

Din smiled, forgetting that Luke couldn’t see his face, “Even though you’re the youngest one here?”

Luke laughed, his hair tossing around his face, “That’s fair.” He sighed, “So where do we start? Hmmm, how about Endor? You’d love the indigenous people there, they’re small like you but way more furry...”

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The next day Luke took Din shopping. It wasn’t Din’s idea, and he really wasn’t looking forward to wandering through the streets but Luke said that since it was Din and Grogu’s first official birthday together it would be good of Din to do something special. Din had no idea how he was going to top Luke’s surprise from the previous day, but Luke said that he had some ideas.

Din had finally got a chance to meet Threepio before they left, as the droid had come down from Leia’s apartments. He was certainly the oddest droid Din had ever met, but Luke assured Din that between Threepio, Artoo, and the other droids the kid would be fine.

Thankfully, Luke was smart enough to know that Din would want to avoid the main marketplace by the shipyards and took him to a smaller market in one of the residential districts. The further they got from the city center the more Din felt himself relax being out in the open. The atmosphere changed and even though the houses and building were still nice, the people seemed much more normal and welcoming.

Luke paused in the walkway and lowered his hood as he turned to Din, “Now, all of these are family owned businesses and they will be willing to haggle, but I tend to be overly generous because I can afford to. I don’t know how you are faring financially but-”

“I will ask if I have any problems,” Din cut him off. He didn’t want to offend his friend but he also wasn’t a charity case and Luke was certainly aware of that, which explained his caution and careful wording.

Luke nodded, “Fair enough. Do you have any idea of what you’re looking for?”

There, Din was completely lost, and he was not too proud to admit it. “No, I never bought the kid anything because I knew he would be leaving me eventually. I know he’ll eat just about anything but I’d rather not get him a bunch of food, he’ll eat too much and make himself sick.”

Luke chuckled, “Yeah, I am really good about making sure he’s well fed and doesn’t need snacks because he’s very good at sneaking food from the kitchen. That’s one of the advantages of being so small, he can sneak around a lot easier.”

Din sighed and shook his head, “The last time I took him to Nevarro he stole an entire package of cookies from one of the kids who was in a class I left the kid in, by using the Force. He ate enough of them to make himself throw up.”

Luke grimaced, “Well then, we’ll try to avoid sweets.” The blond looked around at the market and Din watched as Luke’s gaze grew distant. Din sighed, knowing the look well enough to tell that Luke was using the Force to look around. Din patiently wandered over to the nearest stall, which was selling food.

After a minute Din heard Luke coming over to him, his cloak swishing behind him across the stone. Luke paused, shoulder to shoulder with the Mandalorian, “They have excellent produce here, but there is another stall down the way that’s got some things you’ll enjoy, if you are looking for food.” Luke whispered quietly, ignoring the look he got from the seller.
Din glanced at Luke and followed the Jedi as he stepped away from the stall. “If you want, we can look at some enrichment toys for Grogu as well. He usually only gets free time in the evenings so getting him something he can do with you might pique his interest.”

“Like what?” Din asked, walking beside Luke. Din found himself watching the shorter man as they walked, drawn in by the way the light reflected on his hair. Din wondered if it had been lighter when Luke was young, and had gotten darker recently. It seemed darker than when they’d met on Gideon’s cruiser. Din almost wanted to brush a chunk of it behind Luke’s ear. Luke’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I’m thinking of some kind of puzzle. He’s too advanced mentally and with the Force to rely on just floating objects around so adding a level of problem solving on top of that could be good for him.”

The pair wandered over to a stall selling handmade wooden figures. Din perused the display as Luke talked to the saleswoman. There were figures of everything you could think of. Din spotted a familiar shape on one shelf and gently picked it up. Luke must’ve been able to tell Din was interested because he was back at Din’s side in an instant.

“A Mudhorn, like your insignia?”

Din nodded, “I’m sure you’ve seen it in the kid’s memories. We encountered a Mudhorn on Arvala-7, that’s how I got my insignia. The Armorer awarded it to me after she heard the story and she declared Grogu and I a Clan of Two.”

“The Armorer?”

“The leader of my covert.” Din sighed and looked at him, “I know you said an enrichment toy but-”

Luke placed a hand on Din’s arm, “You are his father, you are free to buy him whatever you’d like, I just made a suggestion to help guide you.” He glanced down at the figurine, “Though if you buy that I would recommend filing down the horn slightly, with his track record he’d stab himself or someone else with it.”

“Track record?” Din asked cautiously.

Luke shook his head, eyes comically wide, “Yeah, he likes to steal knives sometimes. I think he’s just trying to mimic me using a lightsaber but he is… frightening and chaotic. Reminds me of my master Yoda.”

Din’s hand thunked against his visor as he face-palmed, “That’s- that is terrifying. I’m going to have to have a talk with him about weapons and threatening people. Did he try and use it on someone?”

“No,” Luke paused, “He was running with it though and I had to use the Force to take it from him.”

Din groaned, “Haar’chak.”

Luke patted Din on the back with a laugh, “An affinity for weapons, he takes after his dad.”

Din shot Luke a look but before he could respond, the saleswoman butted in. “Are you two shopping for your son’s birthday then?”

Luke balked and Din’s tongue got tangled in his mouth. Luke’s face turned bright red, the color reaching all the way to the tips of his ears, he laughed stiffly, “Oh no, I’m his son’s teacher, I’m just helping pick out presents.”

The saleswoman smiled at them, obviously not believing him, “Of course Master Skywalker.” She turned to Din, “How old is your son if you don’t mind me asking?”

Din tensed, “He’s uh… He’s turning f-four.” No one would believe him if he said his kid was turning fifty-four and it would be a dead give away if anyone was looking for them.
The woman’s smile softened, “If you’re planning on buying the Mudhorn I would happily sand the horn down for you. It will only take a minute.”

Din handed her the figurine, “Thank you.”

She disappeared into the back for a moment. Din shuffled his feet, refusing to meet Luke’s gaze and coughing awkwardly. Luke tugged on his collar and brushed a lock of hair behind his ear.

Luke eventually broke the silence, “Sorry about that. Everytime people come by in pairs she assumes it’s a couple. They aren’t sold out front but she also makes custom wooden rings that a lot of locals use for engagement bands.” That somehow didn’t make Din feel any less embarrassed but he cleared his throat and nodded.

They found a puzzle thing that suited Luke’s expectations a couple shops later and Din stood outside the shop while Luke paid. The Jedi had insisted on paying for that one since it was his idea. Din noticed that Luke was chatting with the shopkeeper and sighed, knowing it would be a few minutes.

Din stepped into the next shop over, which sold more foods and candy. Between the smell and the fact that Din hadn’t eaten anything before they’d left the apartments made some of the food extremely tempting. Din picked out a few things, mainly stuff he thought the kid would like, but he also grabbed a few pastries for himself and Luke in case the Jedi hadn’t eaten either.

Luke joined him just after he had finished paying. Luke chuckled and shook his head as Din shoved the kid’s stuff in his satchel. Din offered him one of the pastries “Hungry?”
Luke smiled at him and accepted graciously “A Corellian Ryshcate. One of my favorites to get from the bakeries. Thank you.”

Din felt a small warmth in the center of his chest. Luke motioned down the street, “There’s a grove just off one of the alleys that doesn’t get much traffic. We can go sit there while we eat.”

Din nodded and they began walking down the street. Luke turned down an alley and Din went to follow him but smacked into Luke when the younger man stopped in his tracks suddenly. Din grabbed Luke’s shoulder as the Jedi glanced over his shoulder, staring off into the distance.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Din asked, looking around them.

Luke was silent for a long moment before he slowly shook his head, “No I- I thought I sensed something but I don’t feel it anymore. It might have been one of the kids messing with me, they do that sometimes.”

They sat in the grove of trees and their food in peaceful silence. Luke watched carefully as Din lifted his helmet just enough to place food in his mouth and gave Din a puffy-cheeked smile when Din shot him a look.

After they finished eating they made their way back to the apartments. Unfortunately, it was now the busiest part of the day and it took them considerably longer to get back, not because of traffic but because of how many people stopped them and spoke to Luke. All of them seemed to be dignitaries, senators, or people who needed an ego to boost or a favor. Din could tell by the third or fourth person that stopped them that even Luke was beginning to tire of the publicity.

“Senator, I’m afraid I have no influence over the matter. You are just going to have to battle it out with the other Senators.” Luke bowed curtly to the man and grabbed Din by the arm, pulling him through the crowd.

Luke released his grip as soon as they were far enough away to be out of ear shot and hissed under his breath. “I hate politics, too much posturing for my sake.”

Din didn’t reply but he kept close, noticing that the path seemed to clear before them strangely fast. People waved at Luke as he passed by but thankfully no one else seemed compelled to try and stop them. Luke didn’t slow his pace until they reached the courtyard by the apartment entrance and the crowd was gone.

Luke sighed and rubbed his temple. “You see now why I don’t leave the apartments very often, I get mobbed.”

Din chuckled, “I mean, once you got going they seemed to clear out of the way.”

Luke shot him a look, “They didn’t do that on their own, I used the Force to compel them to move out of the way and leave us alone.”

“What?” Din barked.

“It’s a Jedi mind trick, the Force can be used to compel people to do things.”

Din stared at him for a long moment, “Don’t ever use that on me.”

Luke shook his head, “It would never work on you anyway, your mind is far too strong. Jedi mind tricks only work on the weak minded or on those who can be easily compelled to do something, usually because that’s what they want to do anyway. But I would never, not unless it was an emergency and you became a threat to me.”

There was a moment of silence between them. “Does everyone here know who you are?” Din grumbled, following Luke back up the stairs to the apartments.

Luke stopped at the top and stared at Din for a long moment, searching for something in his reflection on the beskar. “You really have no idea who I am?” Luke asked quietly.

Din shook his head, pausing beside the younger man “Should I?”

Luke shrugged and let out a heavy sigh as they continued walking “Well, in not so many words, yes. But I don’t blame you for not knowing either, the universe is a big place and I know that the outer rims usually aren’t as quick to hear about what’s going on '' He sent Din a pointed look “And from what I’ve heard Mandalorians tend to keep to themselves as well.”

Din nodded, “My clan did.”

Luke nodded in understanding “That being said, I feel it is important that I tell you. Especially since I am the one who is training Grogu,” Luke looked directly into Din’s eyes through the helmet, “Will you hear what I have to say? And promise me you’ll listen all the way through?”

Din felt a rise of nervousness deep in his gut but he nodded anyway. Luke winced slightly, obviously sensing the shift in Din’s mood. “Long story short, I got swept up into the war and all the Jedi stuff extremely quickly and I had no idea what I was doing. After I joined the rebellion I helped them defeat the Empire and end the war.”

Luke chuckled nervously, refusing to meet Din’s eyes any longer, “If I seem like a celebrity that’s because I am, anyone who was in the middle of the war would know who I am.” Luke squeezed his right hand absentmindedly, “There are myths and legends about me already and it’s only been a few years. It all can be a lot to deal with sometimes, especially since no one really sees me as just some kid from Tatooine anymore, which I still think of myself as. But there are other things I am known for other than my achievements, my lineage being the big one.”

Din watched as Luke’s face shifted and set into something intense and stark, distant, “My mother was a former queen of Naboo, Senator Padme Amidala. She was respected and loved by all who knew her from what I’ve been told. My father on the other hand, was a different story. He was born a slave on Tatooine, rescued by my first master and his master Qui-Gon Jinn and brought to the capitol to train as a Jedi. He betrayed the old Jedi code to marry my mother and eventually Leia and I were conceived. My father ended up betraying the Jedi and without him the Old Republic would never have become the Empire.”

Luke paused in his tracks, looking almost scared if Din didn’t know any better “My father became Darth Vader.”

A long silence fell over them.

Eventually Din sighed “I’m sorry, I don’t know who that is.”

Luke gave Din a glare that made the Mandolorian wonder if Luke felt Din was insane. “Dank Farrik, you really have been living in a hole in the ground,” The blond shook his head and almost smiled.

He sombered again almost instantly, “Darth Vader was the right hand man of the Emperor. He was a Sith and he did many terrible things in my lifetime.” Luke shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut, “To give you some context, during the Purge of the Jedi, when the Old Republic fell, my father helped carry out Order 66 from the emperor. Your son was the only youngling who escaped my father that night.”

There it was. Din stared at Luke in silence, his mind racing as it clicked pieces of the larger puzzle together. Luke could tell just how much that knowledge hit the Mandalorian and he gripped his metal wrist tightly “I will understand any caution you have going forward from here, concerning my training with Grogu as well as your own-”

“I don’t,” Din interrupted him abruptly.

Luke finally looked back at him, “What?”

“You are not your father. I think I could tell if you had any ill will towards the kid or I even without Jedi mind stuff you two can do. If the kid knows who you are and still trusts you… I have no objections.”

The tension seemed to melt off Luke’s shoulders, “Thank you.”

Din looked at him for a long moment, “That’s been hard for you hasn’t it? Having to explain both sides of yourself.”

Luke nodded, his lips pursed, “Yeah, people love the Rebellion’s hero but as soon as they find out who my father was… they can’t quite look at me the same.” Luke gave a harsh laugh, “Not that I can blame them, I didn’t even know until the middle of the war when I fought him the first time. He told me that right after he cut my hand off and needless to say, I didn’t take it very well.”

Din’s hand twitched; he wanted to reach out, to comfort the man. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Luke shrugged, “Yeah, I was half-dead, newly amputated, and completely alone so that news literally sent me over the edge,” he laughed it off awkwardly.

Din reached out and grabbed Luke’s shoulder, Luke stared at him. “I’m glad you’re here, no matter who your father was,” Din offered stiffly, “Not just for Grogu or the universe’s sake, but because you seem like a person who is… good. And I don’t-didn’t think anyone was truly good before I met you.”

Luke was watching him with wide eyes. He swallowed stiffly and looked down at Din’s hand on his shoulder, “Thank you Din, that’s very kind of you.”

Din rubbed Luke’s shoulder with his thumb. “Of course, you deserve it. And I could be kinder to others more often,” he chuckled lightly.

Luke smiled softly at him, “I guess Grogu’s rubbed off on you in more than one way.”

Din shook his head with a laugh, “No, that kid’s a walking ball of chaos.”

They laughed together for a moment and both couldn’t help but notice that it just felt… right. Luke looked back at Din and his smile softened “Din I-”

Luke was interrupted by Artoo wheeling around the corner, beeping frantically. Luke barely needed to hear the message, he could feel the subject of it beckoning him to the roof.

.

.

.

It was a Jedi.

Chapter Text

Din recognized the Jedi the moment he saw her silhouette through the columns and felt a rise of bewilderment in his chest. He brushed Luke’s arm, alerting the Jedi with a nod that he knew who it was. Din paused and let Luke step forward.

“Master Jedi, would you care to introduce yourself and state your purpose.” Luke spoke coldly with no warmth or welcoming in his voice.

The Jedi turned to face him, removing her hood, “Master Skywalker, forgive my intrusion, I am Ahsoka Tano and I need to speak with you-” She glanced at Din over Luke’s shoulder “Privately.”

Luke paled, his body sagging, “Ahsoka Tano?” he asked softly.

Ahsoka tilted her head, “Good, you know who I am then?”

Luke nodded slowly and turned back to Din,“Mandolorian, would you please go downstairs?”

Din nodded to him and then to Tano to show respect and acknowledgment. She nodded back, the ghost of a smile on her lips. There was a moment of silence as the Jedi listened to Din descend back down the stairs.

Ahsoka focused her razor sharp gaze on Luke, “There is no need for formality around me Young Skywalker, you are an open book to me, easy to read.”

Luke squared himself, “I have tried to contact you for years, ever since Grogu told me you were alive. Why have you suddenly shown up now? And how did you know where we were?”

Ahsoka wandered to the edge of the reflection pool, “Grogu established a connection with me that he felt no need to hide when I searched for him through the Force, it was easy enough to find him through that. As for the reason I am here-” she turned back to Luke “I do need to speak with you, and I felt it was finally time that I meet my master’s children.”

Luke ground his jaw, “I wish I‘d known you were coming, my sister just left for Coruscant yesterday and won’t be back for a few days. I know she would like to meet you.”

Ahsoka paused and glanced up at him “Then maybe I will stay a few days. It depends on how our conversation goes.”

“And why is that?”

Ahsoka lowered herself onto the ground and motioned for Luke to join her. “Sit with me, I’d like to… get to know you finally.”

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“I’d like to… get to know you finally.”

Luke sat down next to Ahsoka mirroring her cross-legged resting position. She smiled at him warmly “You have questions, I will answer as many of them as I can.”

Luke took a deep breath, “Where have you been the last three decades? I thought all the Jedi were killed during the Purge?”

Ahsoka exhaled heavily, her eyes falling on the water before her. “I’ve been busy, trust me. I worked under code names so it makes sense you wouldn’t have heard anything about me but I did work with Bail Organa for some time, your sister’s adoptive father.”

Luke’s eyes widened, “You did?”

Ahsoka nodded, “I helped secure many rebel cells and fueled the rebellion from behind the scene, though it would not have succeeded without you and your sister. As for how I escaped during the purge… I was with a group of soldiers I was close with when Order 66 went out, my friend Captain Rex and I were able to fake my death and escape. There are other Jedi who escaped but all were smart enough to stay in hiding. I’ve only met one other who survived the Purge personally.”

“Who? I’ve been trying to find other Jedi for years and haven’t been able to reach any.”

“His name was Kannan Jarus but he’s been dead for quite some time now. He never fully graduated being a padawan. He trained another, Ezra Bridger, who disappeared a while ago. I was searching for him when I ended up on Corvus and met Grogu and the Mandolorian.”

Luke sighed, “That is unfortunate.”

Ahsoka nodded, “What else?”

Luke thought for a moment, “My father, did you know what was going to happen to him?”

Ahsoka looked at him with wide eyes, “No I did not, I left the Jedi order before the end of the Clone Wars because the Jedi path no longer felt right to me. I encountered Vader but I did not have my suspicions confirmed about who he was until I had a vision while visiting Lothal that told me the truth.”

“I’m sorry, that couldn’t have been easy.”

Ahsoka took a long breath and shook her head,”It was not but… hearing what had happened to the others, that your mother had died, that everyone I knew and fought with during the Clone Wars was gone or had betrayed the Jedi… that was a thousand times worse. I lost Anakin long before he became Vader.” She pressed her lips together tightly, her eyes shining.

Luke offered her his hand and she took it in her own, “He never really left, he just got lost for a very long time. I hope you know that it wasn’t your fault.”

“I do, but that is hard to believe sometimes. I have to wonder if his failure to train me helped lead to his fall.”

“I don’t know, I think his fear and possession did that.” Luke gave her a look, “You knew my mother, right?”

Ahsoka smiled, “I did. I met her a few times throughout the Clone Wars.”

“Will you tell me about her?” Luke asked, “Most people I meet only ever talk about my father, even Ben refused to talk about her.”

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow at him, “Ben?”

“Obi-wan Kenobi, I knew him as Ben growing up on Tatooine.”

Ahsoka nodded in understanding, “I see. Well, your mother was a senator and former queen of Naboo, as I’m sure you know.” Luke nodded, “Padme was honestly one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. I don’t know how she dealt with being a senator. The wars were hard enough but she wanted to be out fighting even though she couldn’t. Well, she wasn’t supposed to, but she did occasionally take things into her own hands.”

“She was extremely intelligent and driven, compassionate and empathetic. Padme believed in the democracy more than anyone else and I know she was one of the first to sense when things started to go wrong with the power transfers to Chancellor Palpatine. Padme was one of the strongest people I’ve met and I stand by that, her death was really the last straw during the fall of the Republic. She would’ve been the only one strong enough to lead a rebellion at that time.”

Luke almost laughed, “I have a feeling you’ll like my sister.”

Ahsoka’s face smoothed into something warm, “I hope so, I’d like to meet her too.”

“She’s away on Senate business right now but she’ll be back soon.”

Ahsoka smiled “Good, I’m glad to hear that. Now, young Skywalker, what else do you want to know?”

They talked for hours, Luke picked Ahsoka’s brain about every possible topic he could think of. Luke almost felt bad for asking questions about the Clone Wars but Ahsoka assured him she understood. Luke slowly realized that there was far more history he had to learn.

Ahsoka asked him about Vader and the Emperor, Luke’s battles with them. The conversation grew darker, more somber, as the story continued. Ahsoka was silent for a long time after Luke told her how his father had died and Luke couldn’t blame her. She’d known Anakin Skywalker in a way Luke never would.

Ahsoka finally spoke again, “You are planning to rebuild the Jedi Order?”

Luke nodded, “I am. Though I am going to make a new code, both Ben and Master Yoda agree that the old one didn’t work. That’s why my students aren’t currently here, I don’t separate them from their families and they go home on the weekends.”

Ahsoka gave him a strange look, “That is… an interesting choice. Are you not worried their attachments will cause them to fall to the Dark side?”

Luke sighed, “I feel like it’s more important to teach them to handle and work through their emotions than discourage emotion altogether. Obviously the old Jedi methods didn’t work, people aren’t wired to not feel emotion.”

Ahsoka’s mouth flicked into a momentary smile before it faded again. “And what about romantic relationships?”

Luke was silent for a long moment. “I don’t know yet.”

Ahsoka stared him down, “Then be warned, from my experience I’ve found that it is romantic love that caused the Jedi to lose their way. Not just for your father, but others as well. I don’t want you to fall down the same path.”

Luke had a feeling she left something unsaid but he didn’t understand what it was. Still, that warning struck him to the core and left Luke puzzled.

After they were done talking Luke showed Ahsoka to her room, making her the first one to occupy a room on the second floor. Luke felt a moment of contentedness as he thought about how the amount of people in his family was growing. Then doubt cast itself into his mind and Luke found himself retreating into solitude the rest of the day. It was easy enough to do so as all of the younglings (minus Grogu) were not yet back for the week and the Mandalorian was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and his son.

Luke spent a good while attempting to meditate but his mind was too frenzied with all he needed to contemplate on for him to do so successfully. He’d learned so much from Ahsoka just from speaking to her for a few hours. How much more information could she provide him? How much more could she possibly teach Luke about the Jedi and their ways?

Luke was technically a Jedi master but by whose standards? There was no council to decide that he was ready and while his masters’ ghosts had told Luke he was skilled, that gave him no real credit. There were no other Jedi to compare himself to, there were no Jedi left who were trained before the Purge. Ahsoka had made in clear that she was the last but that she walked away from the Jedi path because she disagreed with it.

Luke wondered if she’d be willing to help him rebuild the Jedi under a new code, one that she’d agree with. It couldn’t hurt to ask her next time they spoke. But what really loomed at the back of Luke’s mind was the comment Ahsoka had made about romantic attraction, and for him to be careful. As insane as it was, Luke was beginning to feel that Leia had escaped most of their families heritage by being raised on Alderaan.

Not that Luke’s aunt and uncle hadn’t loved him and done everything they could to raise him well, but Luke had grown up on his father’s home planet. Luke had grown up not far from where his grandmother and father were slaves, extremely close to where his grandmother was buried, where his father had slaughtered an entire tribe of Sand People. Luke had always been much closer to the things that had caused his father to become a Sith and he hadn’t even known it until recently. Luke wondered why Ben had chosen to let Luke grow up on Tatooine, but figured his master would never tell him.

The part of the comment about his parent’s relationship was what really set Luke on edge the most. Ahsoka wasn’t entirely wrong, Luke knew that, but he had to ask himself how she could believe that he was inherently indisposed to fall to the Dark Side over the people he loved. And then he remembered that the Emperor had believed the exact same thing and that was why Luke had almost fallen to the Dark Side during the Battle of Endor.

Were they right? Luke honestly didn’t want to admit to it but something in his chest told him that he should listen to the advice Ahsoka had offered him. Luke thought of Din Djarin and Grogu, both of whom had secured their places in his life with swift ease. Grogu wasn’t a problem though, Luke felt familial and parental towards the child. Din Djarin was a different story.

Dinner had long passed as night shrouded the planet and Luke made his way onto the roof. Luke walked past the reflection pond and moved to the far end of the rood where he could be partially obscured by the ships as he sat on the edge of the roof. There was something peaceful and calming about the city at night, the quiet bustle of people returning home from work and shopping and just enjoying their lives. People going home to their spouses and children and being happily greeted with open arms.

Going into his training Luke had not been aware of what he was being asked to give up, but it suddenly felt much harder than before. Luke loved spending time with his sister and Han and their son and everyone else, he’d been content with having that as his family. Yet ever since Din Djarin had really entered Luke’s life the younger man had been dealing with internal struggle. Luke almost wanted to scoff and brush it off; he’d know Din for almost three years technically but he’d only actually spent time with him over the last month.

Luke felt ridiculous admitting to the fact that Din had managed to really catch Luke’s attention in a way the Jedi wasn’t quite comfortable with. Luke had spent a large amount of his time meditating contemplating how romance would factor into a new Jedi code and he was honestly stumped. The old Jedi ideals of discouraging all personal attachments was bogus but Luke had to admit that Anakin Skywalker’s fear over losing his wife was what had led to the Galactic Wars.

Luke felt incredibly alone trying to figure out everything by himself. His hope had been that there would be other Jedi who escaped the Purge and would be willing to help him establish a new Jedi code but after their discussion Luke had realized it probably wouldn’t be Ahsoka.

He missed Leia, missed spending time chatting with her and having existential chats under the stars. Luke was lonely, as much as he hated to admit it, and spending time with a bunch of children didn’t really help him feel less lonely. He couldn’t talk to them about grown up problems.

Luke wanted to believe that was why Din helped Luke feel so much more at ease. He was an adult who had also lived through really hard life experiences and understood how to have a deep conversation with someone as messed up as Luke Skywalker. However, Luke was starting to get uncomfortable with his comfort around Din and it made pulling away from everyone seem like the best alternative.

The kids would never allow it and even Din with his limited Force training would be able to pick up on Luke’s change in attitude. The problem was, the issue wasn’t just going to go away even if Luke ignored it, in fact it was getting worse.

Luke felt a need, a craving to get closer to Din. Luke wanted to see under the helmet again, Luke wanted to know Din better. Luke’s hand twitched at the idea of running his fingers over Din’s stubble and he felt shivers run down his spine at the idea of physical… intimacy, with the man. Luke had been young once, he wasn’t a stranger to the feelings but he didn’t understand why it had to be that one, that man.

As always, the Force liked to pull the rug out from underneath Luke and the Jedi froze in his spot as he felt a certain presence arrive on the rooftop from the apartments below. Luke took a shaky breath as Din made his way across the rooftop to stand just behind Luke, far enough to give Luke space but close enough to make Luke antsy.

Luke said nothing and waited for Din to make the first move. The Mandalorian eventually did, speaking softly, “Are you alright? You missed dinner.”

Luke took a long moment to respond and when he did it was muted and dull, “I’m fine, I can go without.”

Din was silent, “Is something wrong? You’ve been extremely hard to find since your talk with Tano.”

Luke bit back a scoff, of course Din had finally put his Force training to use for something stupid. Luke rationalized and reminded himself that to Din it probably wasn’t stupid at all, but intimidating. “I’ve just been… thinking, she gave me a lot to think about.”

“Anything you need to talk through?” Luke could feel Din reach out through the Force as the man spoke.

Luke felt a strange twist of brilliant anger and irritation hit him and he slammed a mental wall between him and Din shutting off the man’s attempt to reach out. “No, that’s not necessary.”

Luke didn’t need to feel for Din through the Force to know that his own sharp change in temper had just put a dent in their relationship that was not going to go away without time and work.

Din tried one more time, “Are you sure?”

Luke snapped, “Leave me alone, Din.”

The Mandalorian did not try and get through to Luke again. Luke listened, shaking angrily as Din left the rooftop walking at an unusually fast speed. Luke felt all his energy drain him at once and he sagged, slumping forward over himself.

Part of him was filled with extreme shame and sadness and wanted to run after Din Djarin to apologize but the rest of him no longer had the energy to move. Luke ended up staying on the roof all night, unable to sleep and unable to move from his seat. It was numbing in more ways than one.

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Luke was extremely glad the kids were gone for the weekend as the next couple days were absolute torture. Luke did his best to avoid everyone at all times and Din obliged, exiting any space Luke walked into. Ahsoka seemed scared of the mess she knew she had started but obviously distracted herself by working and playing with Grogu. Even Artoo ended up avoiding Luke by the first afternoon after one too many sharp words were thrown his way.

Luke hated it, he hated feeling so mean and rude but his torrential emotions just wouldn’t give him a break. He tried meditating and releasing his feelings but just found himself becoming even more wound up and confused. Luke even gave in and tried to contact Ben, even though he knew his master might not give him the answer he wanted to hear. Ben refused to manifest and so did Yoda when Luke reached out for him as well.

Luke was tempted, just for a moment, to try and reach out to Anakin Skywalker. After hearing Ahsoka’s stories Luke was more sure than ever that his father really had been a good person, at least at one point in time. But Luke decided against it.

Luke watched the sun rise over Chandrila the morning that the kids were all due back from the weekend, silently dreading their arrival. He’d found solace in being able to hide on the roof all weekend while he stewed in his emotions.

Ahsoka finally came and found him, gliding across the rooftop so silently Luke wouldn’t have known she was there if not for the Force. Ahsoka climbed onto the platform and sat down next to him, cross-legged. She didn’t say anything for a long time.

Ahsoka sighed, “I just want to apologize for whatever I said that’s upset you. I had no idea…”

Luke shook his head, “It’s not your fault, this has been coming for a while I think. And I’m sorry too, I’ve been… a complete ass the last few days, to everyone. I just-” Luke choked slightly, his throat tight and eyes burning. “It’s really hard you know, having to do all of this by myself,” Luke’s voice was barely above a whisper, “I thought all the hard stuff would end with the war but it hasn’t. The empire is still trying to make a comeback, threatening everything we fought for. I’m doing what I can to try and complete my mission but honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Luke looked over at her, his eyes clouding, “I never got any formal training, I don’t even know how I can justify calling myself a Jedi knight. Ben...Obi-Wan and Yoda helped me finish my training after the empire was defeated but the more time that passes the harder it is to find them. There is so much that I don’t know and don’t know how to deal with and I’ve had no one to answer my questions.”

“Luke…”

“I really appreciate you being here Ahsoka, and hearing your stories was amazing. Obi-Wan refuses to talk about a lot of what happened. However, hearing you reaffirm the exact answer I knew I would get but didn’t really want…” Luke sighed and bowed his head, “I didn’t know what I was signing up for when I started training. I don’t know that I would’ve chosen it.”

Ahsoka was quiet for a moment before she spoke again, “That was the old Jedi Way, I know because I felt the exact same way. That’s why I left the Jedi Order, none of us got to decide if we wanted what lay ahead of us. Most of us were taken as small children, ripped away from our families without any idea of what the Jedi Way was really like. I wanted to decide how my own life would go. Obviously that plan didn’t work out like I thought it would, but I tried.”

“I can’t imagine how hard all of this is for you, trying to define a creed you barely know. But I think that will actually help you in the long run because you don’t have it ingrained in you the same way I do. I have to admit, I often catch myself spewing the things I was taught rather than what I think. I meant what I told you, but that doesn’t mean I’m right either. I think you could easily prove me wrong Luke.”

Luke took a deep breath, “Really?”

Ahsoka nodded, “You helped Anakin find the light again, you can do anything.”

Luke sat up, straightening his spine. He started feeling calmness wash back through him and welcomed it with relief. He was still storming, but he had shaken the cloud out of his head.
“Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

Ahsoka let out a short laugh, “Well, I didn’t come up here to talk to you about this but I’m glad I did. I’m here to remind you that your sister will be arriving soon and you should get ready cause she said to tell you she’s bringing everyone and coming straight here.”

Luke balked, pressing his lips together. “Uh oh.”

“Yeah, you might want to get moving Little One.”

Luke didn’t even grant her the honor of a glare for that one, “I, uh… I’m going to go do some apologising, hopefully I can minimize the danger for everyone.”

Ahsoka patted Luke on the shoulder and watched him as he rolled backwards and to his feet. Luke bowed to her before turning on his heel and making his way back to the staircase and down into the apartment. The moment he stepped into the hallway Luke’s exhaustion suddenly caught up with him and he took a deep breath.

Luke cleared his mind and reached out for Grogu, trying to figure out where he was. Grogu almost seemed hesitant to let Luke in at first and the man sent apologetic waves to the child. Grogu forgave Luke very quickly and sent images of his breakfast layed out in front of Grogu at the dining table. Luke didn’t recognize the food and figured that either Din or Ahsoka must have bought it for him.

Luke cringed slightly at the memory of the taste Grogu sent him as he walked over, the fruit far more sharp and bitter than Luke would’ve assumed. Luke paused by the open door to the dining room and knocked on the wall beside him.

Grogu cooed, waving a piece of fruit at him. Din turned his head sharply and started Luke down. He was completely shut off from Luke and the Jedi was actually proud of how far Din had come, even if he was using his skills to block Luke out.

“Can I come in? I’d like to speak with you.”

Din took a long minute to respond. When he did it came only in the form of a short nod of his head. Luke made his way over to the table and sat, leaving plenty of room between himself and Din, as he didn’t want to crowd the man.

Luke took a deep breath and began, “I want to start by apologizing. I have been completely… terrible over the past few days and I know that has caused everyone a lot of discomfort and irritation. It was unfair of me to take my emotions out on everyone, especially you because I know you just wanted to help. I’m sorry Din, you didn’t deserve that.”

Din was silent for a long moment and Luke was grateful to break his gaze when Grogu chattered at him and offered Luke a slice of his fruit. Luke accepted the piece of fruit and smiled at Grogu softly as the child grabbed onto his finger for a second. Grogu eventually released his hand and Luke returned to his previous position.

“Why have you been so upset?” Din asked quietly.

Luke hesitated, “I was dealing with the information Ahsoka gave me.”

“Elaborate.”

Luke grimaced, “I don’t know that is necessary.”

Din’s voice was sharp, “You not talking about things is what got us in this situation in the first place, I’d like an explanation.”

Luke swallowed and nodded slowly, “Part of my struggle in trying to found a new Jedi order has been that neither or my masters are very keen on showing up, let alone answering the questions I have, especially on difficult topics. Ahsoka is a gift because she knows the code and was able to answer some of my questions already. However, some of the answers she gave were not really what I wanted to hear.”

“I admit that I could’ve handled her words better, but honestly there was a part of me that just wanted to stew in how upset I was. It’s hard to be a Jedi sometimes, always having to release your emotions to the Force. Not even being able to process them properly. Ahsoka apologized for what she said but it wasn’t her fault and I know that.”

“What exactly upset you? I feel like you don’t get angry easily.” Din opened his posture, setting a hand on the table relatively close to Luke’s.

Luke didn’t catch himself in time to not glance down. He answered, ignoring the hopeful butterflies in his stomach, “Ahsoka doesn’t agree with all of my choices concerning attachment. She likes that I am not ripping the kids away from their families, which the Jedi used to do a very young age, but is concerned that allowing them to remain too attached will cause more problems. After what she’s seen in life I can’t blame her for that.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. That being said, I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life and if I eventually have to leave the order to live more freely, I guess that’s how it will be.”

“That’s not fair,” Din shook his head, “Why should you have to give up that part of your life?”

Luke smiled weakly, “Din, you follow your own creed, you should understand more than anyone.”

Din’s hand balled into a fist on the table, “What’s the point of redefining the Jedi code then?” he growled.

Luke sighed, “I’ve been tasked with creating a new code that fits the galaxy as it is now, not just to suit me.”

“But-”

Luke placed his hand over Din’s “Din, I know you want to help but this is a decision I have to make for myself over time.”

Din was silent for a moment, “What about my kid?”

“I have no intention of separating you two unless it becomes dangerous. As for Grogu’s future, it will be up to him to decide if he wants to leave the Jedi way later in life if he doesn’t agree with the code.”

Din didn’t respond verbally. Din looked down at their hands and Luke followed, watching as Din rotated his hand so it was palm up and gently squeezed Luke’s hand. Neither of them spoke for a long minute as they gripped each other’s hands.

“Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we could just be normal people?” Luke whispered quietly.

“Then we wouldn’t be ourselves, we wouldn’t have what we do have. I wouldn’t trade anything for that.” Din said quietly, barely audible as he looked over at his son.

Luke exhaled a laugh, staring at Din, “No, I don’t think I would either.”

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Artoo alerted Luke as soon as Leia’s ship arrived and he felt a surge of fear run through him. Luke wasn’t afraid of his sister per say, but having such a close connection with Leia meant that she was going to tap into Luke’s emotions and instantly drag whoever she assumes is responsible. Since he hadn’t messaged Leia about Ahsoka’s arrival, Leia was likely to go after Din first and Luke did not want Din feeling any worse than he had the past few days which meant he was going to have to intervene immediately.

Unfortunately, his family took their time in arriving which meant the younglings beat them to the apartment. Luke did his best to manage everyone, frantically scrambling to introduce Ahsoka to all the kids and prevent them from completely overwhelming her as he checked on his family’s approach.

“Artoo, what’s the ETA?” Luke asked, taking a rock from Grogu (which the kid was trying to eat) and passing the child to his father.

Artoo let out a shrill whine and turned around, rolling out towards the front landing. Luke flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder and didn’t relax until he realized it was Din.

“Tano and I are perfectly capable of handling the kids for a few minutes, go greet your family.” Din sighed.

Ahsoka shot Luke a smile and nod before turning back to the kids. Luke forced himself to ignore the fact that Ahsoka was letting Isikry examine her lightsabers and rushed after Artoo.

His timing was excellent as the moment Luke stepped onto the front landing he heard the tell-tale sound of Ben yelling with excitement. Luke felt a flutter of something simultaneously happy and nervous in his chest. The group rounded the corner into the courtyard and Luke sighed.

Leia and Han were up front, Threepio behind them with Ben sitting on Han’s shoulders. Han hollered something Luke didn’t quite catch and waved vigorously. Luke chuckled and gave a small wave. He could feel Leia prodding at him already and grimaced internally, sending her a warm welcome through the Force.

Leia was the first up the stairs, Han stopping at the bottom to get Ben down. Luke smiled and pulled his sister into a hug; he noted that her grip seemed tighter than normal.

“Are you alright? I could feel you from across the galaxy.” Leia stared Luke down, her eyes dark with concern.

Luke exhaled heavily, “It’s been a rough weekend. We’ve had a guest I hadn’t accounted for and it’s not her fault I got upset, but she did kinda cause it.”

“She?”

“I’ll introduce you when we go inside but she's looking forward to meeting you. And I can say that from the little I know her, she’s amazing.” Luke barely finished before Han pulled him into a tight hug.

Luke laughed and then squeaked loudly as Han squeezed him even tighter. Ben hugged Luke’s leg and laughed loudly. Leia scoffed, “Alright, let him go before you suffocate or smash him.”

Luke gasped for air upon release, prompting a laugh from Han. Leia turned back to Luke, “Is the Mandalorian still here?”

Luke nodded as he directed them all inside, “He is. You were right about training him but we have made some breakthroughs.”

“That’s great,” Leia’s demeanor lifted with relief.

Luke almost stumbled as Han clapped him on the back, “Yeah kid, I look forward to meeting the frog’s dad. Leia said that he’s pretty handsome.” Han teased him with a sly grin.

Luke rolled his eyes, “This goes for all of you, but please try not to embarrass me in front of the guests.”

“I will make sure to.” Leia grinned at him.

“And I will make no such promise,” Han laughed.

Threepio frantically promised that he would obey Luke’s wishes. As least one of them was on his side.

The chaos in the hallway met with the chaos in the courtyard and collided with full force. Ben ran off to join the kids without a second thought and Grogu squealed loudly, waving at the group from his dad’s arms. Leia moved over to greet Din and Grogu, followed closely by Threepio and Artoo.

Han leaned towards Luke and whispered, “I thought he was supposed to be hot?”

Luke sighed, his face growing warm. “He is... under the helmet.”

Han threw his hands up in defeat, “Then why bother telling people?”

Luke shrugged, “You’ll have to ask Leia about that, I told her not to tell people. She hasn’t even seen what he looks like.”

Luke and Han joined the conversation and Luke introduced his friends, “Din, this is my brother in-law Han Solo. You’ve already met everyone else.”

“Call me whatever you want, just don’t arrest me.” Han sneered.

Din’s confusion rang through the Force, “I don’t have a bounty out for you, why would I do that?”

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught Luke’s attention. He sighed and moved over to where Ahsoka was wading through the younglings. All attention turned on them.

“Everyone, I would like you to meet Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi knight.”

Leia stiffened, her laser-focus gaze landing on the Togruta. Ahsoka stepped forward, “It’s an honor to meet you all and it’s good to see you again Threepio.”

Threepio whirled around in confusion, “I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

It was Ahsoka’s turn to look confused, “What are you talking about? You don’t remember who I am?”

Artoo wheeled over to Ahsoka, bumping into her leg and let out a series of beeps. “They erased his memory, that makes sense then. I’d have a hard time believing anyone could forget the Clone Wars.”

“You fought in the Clone Wars?” Han asked.

“I did, I was a commander, I spent my entire time as a padawan fighting in the Clone Wars, learning everything I could from my master, and his master. Now that things have settled down to some extent, I felt it was time to pay my respects to my master and come meet his children.”

The energy in the room instantly got very tense. Luke could tell by the look on his sister’s face that Leia knew exactly what Ahsoka meant. Luke cleared his throat. “I’ve already talked to Ahsoka quite a bit, I think it would be good for you two to talk privately, Leia.”

Leia fixed a sharp look on Luke and he held it, sending her waves of assurance. Leia nodded slowly, “Alright, we can talk.”

The adults in the room all watched as Leia motioned for Ahsoka to follow her down the hall and the pair made their way out of the room. Luke let out a loud sigh and sagged once they were out of earshot.

Han shook his head, “Jeez kid, your family is something else.”

Luke rolled his shoulders, “Yeah you know you technically count as part of the family too?”

Han rolled his eyes, “Don’t remind me.”

----------------------------------------

Things did eventually calm down. Leia and Ahsoka disappeared for a long while and didn’t return until Luke went and got them. Din spent the entire time watching the kids play in the courtyard and begrudgingly answering any question Solo asked him between the grand stories Solo told about his time in the Rebellion.

As boring and self-aggrandizing as most of Solo’s stories were, Din found himself learning a lot more about Luke than he bargained for.

“Hold on-” Din interrupted, holding up a hand, “He was attacked by a wampa and lived to tell the tale?”

Solo chuckled, “Yeah well, he made it away from the wampa and then got lost in the blizzard. He would’ve died if I hadn’t found him, he was passed out in the snow mumbling some crazy stuff. Unfortunately, he got to spend quite a few hours smothered in tauntaun guts but it was the only thing I could think of to keep him warm while I tried to contact the base.”

Solo shot Din a look, “The wampa attack is the reason he has so much scarring on his face. He has other scars but the wampa left him with some of the larger ones.”

Solo nodded back, “As much as I love the kid, he does have a penchant for getting himself into bad situations. Almost as much as I do.” Solo laughed, “A lot of his scars came from highly avoidable accidents.”

“If that isn’t the truth,” Leia laughed blithely as she made her way into the room. “Speaking of, Din do you know what happened to my brother’s nose? I know it’s more swollen than usual but he won’t tell me why.”

Din balked slightly, withering under Leia’s sharp look. “Yes.”

Solo and Leia exchanged a look, Leia raised an eyebrow. “Will you please tell me?”

Din didn’t really feel like he had much of a choice, he could feel Leia’s presence in the Force and it made him nervous. Din exhaled heavily, “We were sparring last weekend and I hit him in the face… with my beskar spear.”

Leia’s face dropped, “On purpose?”

“No!” Din barked, “It was an accident, I didn’t mean to.”

Solo smirked, “That would be mean if you did but I wouldn’t blame you either, Luke can be annoying at times.”

Leia’s face had narrowed into something that looked like anger and Din felt himself stumbling to explain, “It was an accident, I swear. I did everything I could to apologize and help Luke but he wouldn’t let me do much and he kept telling me to stop apologizing.”

Leia sighed, relaxing slightly. “That sounds like my brother, he’s too stubborn about the wrong things at the wrong times. How’d you hit him in the face though? Were you aiming for it?”

“I assumed he’d block the attack… I think he got distracted.”

Leia gave Din a look, one eyebrow raised. “Are you sure you weren’t aiming for his face?

Din shook his head rapidly. Solo chuckled from his place against the wall.

Leia laughed and held up her hands, “I’m just joking, that’s actually pretty impressive, even I never managed to break Luke’s nose.” Her sharp eyes narrowed, “Although, I never aimed for his face because I’d never want to hurt his pretty mug. Do you not like my brother’s face, Din Djarin?”

Din froze, “What? No, it’s not like that.”

Leia nodded, her lips threatening to form a smug smile. “It’s okay if you think he’s unattractive, beauty is subjective.”

“I never said he was… ugly.” Din stammered out.

Luke entered the room, face twisted into a bright smile as Ahsoka trailed in behind him, “What’d I miss?”

Leia turned on him, pointing at Din with a thumb “He thinks you’re ugly Luke. I don’t agree with him though, I like your scars.”

Din was mortified, too uncomfortable to even try to refute Leia’s statement. Luke shot Din a disappointed look, “Well that kinda sucks but I don’t blame you I guess.”

Din watched the scene with horror equal to watching two speeders crash head-on. He felt himself let out a sound somewhere between a squeak and a laugh. The twins shared devilish grins and burst into laughter, embracing tightly.

Din barely moved as a heavy hand clapped him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, these two are always like this. They’re way more trouble together than they are when apart.” Han groused.

Din looked at him, glad no one could see the terrified look on his face as his mind replayed the visual of Luke mowing down Dark Troopers and couldn’t imagine what double that damage looked like.

Thankfully, the droids had managed to get everything set up since the group had arrived and Threepio defused the situation by announcing that the dining hall was ready for everyone. The situation then grew even more chaotic and overwhelming as all the kids starting yelling and stampeding towards the dining hall.

Luke yelled after them to slow down and Din carefully scooped Grogu back off the floor to ensure his kid wasn’t going to get smashed. Grogu whined slightly in protest but relented when Din was the first to follow the kids towards the dining hall. Din was amazed to see that the droids had managed to squeeze an entire extra table into the hall to fit all the guests.
After a few minutes of shuffling around and people switching seats all the kids were down at the far end of the table and Din found himself squeezed between Grogu and Luke, sitting across from Ahsoka, who seemed less than thrilled to be sitting next to Solo.

Luke leaned towards Din as the service droids brought out the food, “So I was thinking we would do presents after dinner, then dessert, then the kids can have some time to play before we send them to bed, that way they aren’t sure hyper for evening meditation. Does that sound good?”

Din nodded, “I suppose. Is that how birthday parties usually go?”

Luke smiled knowingly and nodded haphazardly, “It’s how every one of Ben’s birthday’s have gone. It’s how Leia always said her birthdays went too. I guess most well off planets with lots of people on them celebrate that way.” Luke chuckled, “It was not a thing on Tatooine I’ll say that, not enough people who lived near each other for parties to be popular.”

Din took a long moment to reply, working through his thoughts. “Thank you, for all of this.”

Luke gave Din a look the Mandalorian couldn’t quite pin down, “Of course, I’m more than happy to have Grogu here and he deserved happiness just as much as anyone. Plus, I don’t mind your company either, you’re fun to have around.”

Din felt himself grin before he could catch it, “I’m glad I’m here, I’m glad you found me when you did.”

“Me too.”

Chapter Text

Life on Chandrila was extremely peaceful. Weeks passed with little incident and Din found himself falling into an easy routine. During the week he would get up and go meditate with the kids, then help Luke oversee training (no further accidents happened). Ahsoka helped with training too, when she was around, and Din could tell Luke hung onto every single word of advice and guidance she spoke. Ahsoka only left for a few days at a time before returning but wouldn’t say where she was going. Din wasn’t really concerned for her, she could easily handle herself.

The weekends were peaceful and happy, Grogu more than thrilled to have the attention of all three adults. Din was increasingly aware of just how spoiled his kid was, especially after they all went to a show one weekend and he found himself watching his kid’s reactions more than the show. It set Din at peace seeing his kid so happy and content. Peace was not a feeling Din was used to.

Din even looked forward to sparring on the weekends with Luke, though he was slightly afraid to accept Ahsoka’s challenge to spar with her. She easily could’ve beaten Din the last time they fought and Din doubted he had come far enough to pose much more of a threat to her. That being said, Din felt himself getting stronger, more confident in the new fighting style he was being taught. A month into training, Luke finally pulled out the lightsaber and Darksaber during practice.

Din watched carefully as Luke balanced the two handles in his hands and then looked up at Din. Luke’s face curled into a sly smile.

“You think you’re ready?”

Din paused for a moment, “I know I am.”

Luke’s smile spread into a grin, “Good, certainty can only help you.”

Luke held the handle of his lightsaber to Din and the man carefully grabbed it, examining the weapon. Luke motioned with his free hand “There’s a button on the side, why don’t you just take a minute to get a feel for it.”

Din nodded again, took a deep breath, and clicked the button on the side. The beam of green energy shot out from the blade and instantly distorted the air around it. It felt so strange in Din’s hand, the amount of energy radiating from the blade was almost overwhelming. Din tested the feel, suddenly very grateful that Grogu was with Ahsoka so he didn’t have to worry about his kid’s safety.

Din spun the blade in his hand, his test clenching even though he wielded the weapon easily. It was the threat of the amount of damage the lightsaber could cause that set Din on edge. Din tried to remember what the Darksaber had felt like but was stumped. He assumed that in that moment he had been far too stressed to try and figure out the intricacies of the weapon.

Luke laughed quietly and Din looked up at him. “If you’re this careful with a lightsaber I think you’ll be glad I’m not starting you on the Darksaber.”

“Why?”

Luke exhaled heavily, “Well, lightsabers carry memories within them, when you wield a lightsaber and can access the Force, those memories can be… overwhelming, depending on where the lightsaber is from.” Luke’s face sombered, “The Darksaber has a very unpleasant history, so much so that right now I feel a physical compulsion to throw it.”

Din’s face narrowed into a scowl and he looked down at the weapon, which Luke held loosely with his metal hand. Luke rolled his shoulders and shook himself, “I’m going to make sure you’re ready before I let you use it, and when that time comes it will be a long process before I let you fight with it.”

“If it’s that bad, should I really be using it?”

Luke raised an eyebrow at Din, “Based on what you told me, you don’t have much of a choice unfortunately. But I think you’ll be able to handle it, you’re strong.”

Din felt a warm buzz of pride in his chest, “Thank you.”

As good as things were going, Din found himself growing more and more uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but feel restless. After living his life constantly on the move, almost always in danger, Chandrila suddenly began feeling like a prison cell. Din didn’t know how to live in peace. The thoughts made Din feel like he was being ungrateful, but when Luke cornered Din about it the Jedi seemed to more than understand.

Luke nodded slowly, “I can only imagine just how different things here are from what you are used to.”

“It’s not that I’m not grateful for everything you’ve done-”

Luke raised a hand, “Din, I’ve been a soldier, I know how hard it is to feel paranoid and trapped. I just want to know how to help.”

Din was silent for a long moment, “I don’t… know.”

Luke looked at him pensively, “I almost hate to suggest it but would it help if you went back to work? Doing… bounty hunter things?”

“Maybe, it’s hard to find work nowadays.”

“Well, maybe just a trip off planet would help you. You could visit Nevarro, let your friends know that you’re alive and that Grogu is alright. Cara Dune seems like she cares about the both of you.”

Din almost smiled, “She’s a good friend, one of the few people I trust. And I guess Carga might have work for me.”

Grogu cooed up at Din from his spot next to his dad at the dining table. Din sighed as the kid sent an excited and questioning wave his way. “Sorry kid, you still have school. Maybe next time.”

Grogu’s ears drooped and he dropped his utensil in his food unhappily. Din rubbed the kid’s head with his free hand, brushing his wispy white hairs back.

Luke tapped the table to get Grogu’s attention and the kid looked up at his master with a quiet, “Patuu?”

“Maybe if you’re good and behave, your dad will bring you back a treat.” Luke shot Din a playful look “Like some frog eggs?”

Grogu squealed excitedly and looked up at his dad. Din sighed, shooting Luke a glare which didn’t even faze the younger man. “No promises, but be good for Luke and Ahsoka.”

Grogu seemed to take that as a promise that Din was going to bring him something and he waved his hands happily, flinging food with his utensil. Din carefully took the utensil from his kid and placed it on the table with a grumble.

Luke laughed, “He’ll be fine. If it really gets bored or acts up I’ll let him spend some time with my sister, he adores her.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Din chuckled under his breath.

Din shared a knowing glance with Luke and then their dinner resumed in peace.

Had Din known it would be the last peace he experienced for a long while, he would’ve taken longer to enjoy the moment.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The apartment felt much emptier without Din in it. Luke was kept plenty busy with training the young ones but once they left for the weekend he was given a lot more time to do what he wanted.

Grogu was a great kid but once Din left, despite the constant reassurance that he’d be back soon, Grogu became infinitely more clingy and quiet. The first morning after Din’s departure Luke was meditating when he felt Grogu climb into his lap.

Luke opened his eyes to see the small one grabbing at the front of Luke’s robes, trying to pull himself onto Luke’s chest. Luke sighed and helped him, scooping Grogu into his arms and allowing Grogu to tuck his head under Luke’s chin, just like he did with his dad. Luke tilted his head and rested his cheek on Grogu’s head, sending the little one waves of love and assurance.

Grogu followed Luke around the entire rest of the weekend, panicking whenever Luke was out of his site for too long. Luke tried to distract Grogu, using the tricks he’d learned from when he had first taken Grogu from Din, but they no longer worked. Still, it wasn’t as bad as the last time, not even close.

Grogu had been fine the entire flight to Chandrila from Gideon’s ship, questioning Luke about everything he could think about. Luke had happily answered every question he could, thrilled to have found what was at the time only his third student. Grogu seemed to even be excited for the opportunity to train again. Upon their arrival Luke had introduced Grogu to Isikry and Na’shra, Luke’s only Twi’lek student, who he bonded with instantly.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly fine until night time came. Then things got infinitely worse. First, Grogu had refused to sleep in his own room, he wouldn’t settle down and projected through the Force loud enough to disturb the other younglings. Luke then moved Grogu’s crib into his own room.

After that, Grogu had refused to fall asleep and Luke had no idea what to do with the child. He’d tried rocking him, singing to him, warm milk, anything Luke could think of. Luke had even messaged Leia pleading for help. His sister had come to the rescue with advice and Luke eventually got Grogu to sleep, more than happy to finally sleep himself.

Then the nightmares started; they were the worst by far. Luke learned far more about the Fall of the Republic through Grogu’s memories than he had from anything else, it was horrifying. The slaughter of the younglings continued to haunt Luke’s mind even to the present moment. His only comfort was the fact that the droid who had saved Grogu looked almost identical to Artoo, though the still droid refused to answer Luke’s questions about the incident.

Those first weeks were sleepless, Grogu and Luke repeating the same routine every single night until one or the both of them passed out from exhaustion, which began occurring at a more frequent rate. The more Luke worked with Grogu in training, the more they dug into Grogu’s memories, the worse things got. There was far more than Luke had bargained for, many memories from after the purge that were nearly as bad.

Grogu had been alone in the universe for over two decades before Din found him. Luke saw others along the way who tried to help Grogu but none had been able to as much as Din. Still, the moment when Din had turned Grogu over to the Imps on Nevarro (the fact that any of them were still around made Luke furious) had been one of the scariest.

Sifting through Grogu’s memories and unburying his trauma also managed to knock loose things in Luke’s head the Jedi would’ve preferred not to unearth. By the time they had reached almost a month of the same pattern Luke was falling apart. He’d sent the other younglings back to their parents for an extended vacation at the beginning of the third week, already aware by that point that he was struggling to manage himself let alone all three children.

Halfway through week four Luke was pacing the room while Grogu restlessly tossed around in his crib whining as he tried to avoid more nightmares. Grogu started crying mid-dream and Luke finally broke down. The man dropped onto his bed, burying his face in his hands as he sobbed loudly. How was Luke supposed to help save the dying Jedi way when he couldn’t even help one kid who needed him.

Luke had paused crying when he felt tiny claws tug on his robes. As upset as the child must’ve been from his nightmare, Grogu was quick to climb into Luke’s lap to try and stop him from crying. Luke and Grogu eventually fell asleep on Luke’s bed and slept the entire night through. From there, things got better because they had mutual understanding and care. They also shared a mutual love of frogs.

Thankfully things were much better the second time Din left Grogu, Luke wasn’t sure he could handle going through that stress again, especially not with seven kids under his care. In the years between Grogu had also learned how to function much more independently, only clinging for attention when he needed it.

Since Luke’s old tricks weren't working, Luke tried to distract Grogu other ways. Luke let Grogu sit by and help him tinker on both Artoo and the X-Wing, neither of which Artoo was thrilled about. Luke took Grogu to visit Leia and her family every day on the weekends when the other kids weren’t around. Leia even got them all tickets to see a couple of family friendly plays and one sports event that Luke wasn’t entirely interested in, however, Grogu’s thrill at seeing people in life-threatening situations did make Luke slightly nervous. Luke told himself he needed to monitor Grogu’s media pad better.

Other than Grogu’s disturbed temperament, things were going extremely well, even after two weeks of Din being absent. Halfway through week three things changed when Luke had a nightmare that set him on edge.

His dream had started off extremely blissful. Luke was somewhere warm and sunny, standing on a balcony that overlooked a stunning stretch of glassy water. Luke took a deep breath and sighed, the temperate wind stirring his hair and clothing, which was far more elaborate and fancy than anything he owned. It looked more like something Leia would wear. An extremely soft white fabric with long sleeves, dark pants trimmed with gold, and deep blue cape strung across Luke’s chest with bands of gold securing it.

Luke couldn’t quite explain why, but he felt more at peace than he had his entire life, like everything was finally right in the universe. Luke smiled as he heard familiar clinking behind him and turned to see Din walking over, Grogu sleeping against his chest, his armor glinting in the bright sunlight. Luke’s smile widened and he offered a hand to Din. Luke didn’t need to see Din’s face to feel the warmth radiating from the man’s smile. Din reached out to grab Luke’s hand.

The dream flipped the second their fingers touched, sending Luke onto a spiraling nightmare. Hanna City was on fire, large chunks of the building surrounding the apartment missing as though there had been an explosion.

Fear raced through Luke’s blood as he dashed to the edge of the rooftop, looking for an enemy to confront. He reached for his lightsaber but sensed an attack coming and ducked as blaster fire nearly hit him. There were stormtroopers on the next roof over, firing at him. Luke whirled his lightsaber, blocking the blasts.

Luke threw a large container with the Force and managed to knock down two of the troopers. Before he could do anything else, Ahsoka leapt onto the opposite roof and in a blaze of white light managed to take down the remaining storm troopers.

Ahsoka whirled to face Luke, the tone of her words more shrill and fearful than Luke ever wanted to hear, “The younglings!”

They were on the front veranda, making their way down the stairs. Luke tore to the front edge of the roof top and jumped. Luke landed in the courtyard and viciously ripped through another group of troopers who had been headed for the kids. Luke did what he could but he was too late, there were more troopers already behind him.

Luke screamed, shooting up in his bed.

The silence and dark were suffocating but the fog left behind in Luke’s mind was far more terrifying. Luke curled in on himself, struggling to calm his breathing. It may have been a dream but the fear Luke felt was entirely real and his body shook from it.

Luke slowly recovered but the adrenaline racing through him told him he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep that night. He sat up in his bed, listening to the muted hum of the city outside.

When Luke usually woke from dreams he was groggy and needed time to wake up still. Not this time, and with settling fearful trepidation Luke realized that his nightmare was far too real to be anything but a warning. Luke tried to stand but found himself swaying with exhaustion.

He had no idea what time of the night it was but based on the level of quiet in the city and apartment it was likely that morning wouldn’t come for some time. The air in the apartment was extremely cold, though maybe it was the remnants of his nightmare making him feel that way. Nevertheless Luke changed into something warmer and grabbed his cloak before he exited the room.

Luke only made it a few steps out of his door before he felt a warm presence reach out for him, waves of questioning and nervousness trickling into his mind. Luke sighed, hoping that he wasn’t the reason his sister was awake. Luke sent back waves of reassurance but could tell by the sharp retort that Leia didn’t believe him. She sent Luke a feeling of beckoning and he turned back to his room to put on shoes.

The streets were fairly quiet so Luke only received a few strange looks but most people in the city knew who he was well enough to not mess with him. Luke could’ve sworn he saw another Mandalorian in an alleyway, possibly the one who had challenged Din upon his arrival to Chandrila. Luke ignored the figure and kept walking.

It was only a few minutes to his sister’s apartment but Luke took his time, using the brisk night air to help him clear his mind and calm himself. The nighttime guard droid let Luke in without question and it made Luke wonder if Leia had sent word down that he was coming. The elevator grated on Luke’s nerves the entire way up, the cheerful tunes too much for the hour.

Leia pulled him into a tight hug as soon as the door was open and Luke sagged into her embrace. After a long moment she pulled away and allowed Luke inside, quietly walking him towards the lounge on the opposite side of the apartment from the bedrooms.

As soon as the lounge door shut behind them her demeanor changed, “Are you alright? I haven’t felt you that upset since…. In a long time.” Leia seemed to know better than to mention Cloud City right away.

Luke sank onto one of the couches and was silent for a long moment. Leia sat down next to him, her long braids falling down her back haphazardly. “It was a nightmare,” Luke sighed eventually, refusing to meet his sister’s gaze.

Unluckily for Luke, Leia knew him better. She shifted, leaning forward to meet Luke’s gaze, “That didn’t feel like a normal nightmare.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you up, it was not my intention.”

Leia shook her head, “Will you answer my question? Please?”

Luke rolled his shoulders back, “I think…. I think it might’ve been a vision through the Force.”

“What did you see?” Leia softened her voice, grabbing Luke’s hand in her own.

Luke swallowed thickly, “Chandrila under attack. The city was on fire and there were Imperial soldiers, stormtroopers, attacking. They were after the younglings.”

Luke could feel Leia tense, her voice unwavering, “What remnants of the Empire that remain aren’t stupid enough to attack the capital of the New Republic.”

Luke shook his head, “They weren’t after the capitol though, they were after the younglings.”

Leia’s face drew into a frown, “Like how they were hunting Grogu?”

Luke shook his head, “I would say so but… I didn’t feel any concern for Grogu, he felt safe and he wasn’t with the rest of the group.”

“He was probably with his father then, that’s good. But then why would they be after the younglings if they weren’t planning to use them for cloning purposes like Grogu?”

Luke felt ice creep up his spine and he turned to stare at his sister, fear in his eyes. “What if there are others? What if they’re hunting down Force-sensitive children for something else?”

Their hands were grasped so tight both pairs of knuckles were white. Leia took a shaky breath before her face steeled, “Then we have to find them.”

Luke rubbed his forehead with his free hand, Leia spoke resolutely “And we will. I promise you that Luke, I will look into this.”

“I know you will, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? How am I supposed to continue teaching the younglings with threat of imminent attack on the horizon?”

Leia rolled her eyes, “You know better than anyone just how hard the Force can be to understand. You could send the kids home but you don’t know how long it will be until anything happens, if anything happens.-”

Luke opened his mouth to retort but his sister cut him off, “And don’t forget, you are not alone here. Not only do I live just a short way from the school but you have Ahsoka there right now too and she is extremely capable as a protector.”

Luke sighed, “I know, she was there. That’s part of my concern that it’ll happen soon. The last time I had a vision like that was when you were at Cloud City, those events played out much faster than I would’ve guessed.”

Luke yelped as his sister grabbed his ear and twisted it, “Hey! What was that for?!”

Leia had the gall to laugh and ruffled his hair. Luke managed a half laugh and shoved her off as she spoke, “Come on Luke, don’t get fixated on what hasn’t happened yet, you need to focus on the now.”

Luke shot her a glare, “You’ve always been much better than me at that.”

They settled back into a somber mood faster than normal. Luke looked at his sister, seeing the distance in her gaze. “Leia, why were you awake?”

Leia took a long breath, slowly rotating to meet his gaze. Leia’s face looked older than even a few seconds earlier, “There’s something happening in the Force, something… ominous, I can feel it. I don’t like it.”

Luke furrowed his brow, “I haven’t felt anything like that?”

Leia sent him a look he couldn’t quite name, “Well, you’ve been a little distracted, I’m sure you can admit that.”

Luke shook his head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Leia smacked his arm, hard. “Yeah right, it’s not like Ahsoka showed up out of nowhere to specifically warn you about the danger of your hunky boyfriend.”

“She barely mentioned anything about that actually,” Luke may have gotten the sentence out without any real struggle but the bright flush on his cheeks and ears were a dead giveaway.

Leia huffed under her breath, “You’re just lucky I like him, and that I like him.” Luke chuckled and Leia elbowed him, “And really, you had to pick the kriffing Manda’lor didn’t you.”

“He won’t have the title for too much longer, he plans on giving it up.” Luke argued weakly.

Leia raised a thin eyebrow at him, “You really think he’s going to give up the fight?”

Luke smirked, “I hope he doesn’t if I’m honest, I think he’d make an excellent leader. But I don’t control his actions.”

Leia nodded, “While that may be true, he holds your opinion highly, I’d say you should talk to him about it again at some point. I mean, don’t beat a dead tauntaun but give it a shot if you think he’ll consider it.” Luke shook his head but didn’t have a fitting response.

Luke spent a little more time at his sister’s apartment before heading back to the school. Leia managed to kick him out after only two more hugs, literally kicking Luke in the shin and causing him to stumble out the front door. Luke muttered curses under his breath as he limped back to the elevator, still incredibly grateful for how well his sister was able to calm him down.

The first threads of light were beginning to weave their way into the sky as Luke wandered back to the school. A sense of calm was washing over him until he saw Ahsoka waiting for him at the top of the front steps and then Luke suddenly felt like a padawan again.

Luke made his way up the stairs, his cape fanning behind him on the steps. Ahsoka regarded Luke with a look he couldn’t quite place, her arms folded across her chest. Luke sighed, suddenly feeling a lot younger and more timid.

He paused beside her, “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

Ahsoka shook her head, “You didn’t, though I was nervous to see you had disappeared so suddenly and without warning.”

“Sorry about that, I was just visiting Leia.”

“That is what Artoo told me. I stayed up because Artoo seemed concerned about you, he said you were in… quite a state when you left.” Ahsoka gave Luke an inquisitive look. Luke didn’t respond at first and moved to head inside.

Ahsoka followed, “Look, I know I am new to your circle but I want you to know that you can trust me. I may not be a blood relative of yours but I do consider myself part of your family.”

Luke stopped and turned to her, exhaling tiredly. “I know and I’m working on that.”

Ahsoka nudged him gently, “So then tell me what’s bugging you. Your mind may have cleared somewhat but I can sense the cloud and confusion that remains.”

Luke took in a deep breath, evening himself and releasing some of his energy out into the Force. Luke met Ahsoka’s gaze, “I had a nightmare, a vision.”

“Through the Force?”

Luke nodded, “It was…. terrifying to say the least. The city was under attack by Imperial troops, they were after the younglings… I couldn’t save them.”

Ahsoka’s expression grew intense, “Are you certain of everything you saw? Could it have been a regular nightmare?”

Luke shook his head, “No I-, the details were far to specific and logical. And you were there as well so I can’t imagine it was too far in the future.”

Ahsoka rested a hand on Luke’s shoulder, “I am going to stay as long as you need me to, so we may have more time than you think.”

Luke shuddered, “The last time I had a vision of the future that intense it came true in a few days.”

Ahsoka took a deep breath and straightened her posture, “Then we will do what we can to prepare, and I will help you.”

Luke paused for a moment, wondering if it was the right time. He eventually decided that it was as good a time as ever and asked. “Ahsoka, I understand that you chose to leave the old Jedi way because you didn’t feel it was the right path for you but-” Luke cut himself off when he saw the look on his companion’s face.

Ahsoka stiffly gestured for Luke to continue, “- I was wondering, hoping really, that you might help me found a new Jedi way.” He spoke frantically next, “I am not trying to force you into anything, I really just need some help. There are far more kids out there than I can teach on my own and I know you have expertise that could really come in handy. You may have left the order but you still had far more formal training than I ever got.”

Ahsoka smiled softly, the corner of her lip turning up. “Well you flunked out didn’t you?”

Luke shot her a look, “You did too.”

Ahsoka hummed under her breath, “No, I left the order. There is a difference.”

Luke rolled his eyes “Yeah, same difference. Neither of us finished training. I’m just saying, it would be much easier for me to continue studying under a living, breathing person.”

“The Force Ghosts of your masters’ not doing it for you?”

Luke shook his head, “Master Yoda never shows and Ben is almost impossible to get anything out of most of the time, he’s easily distractible.”

Ahsoka chuckled, “He always has been. Back during the war he had to have at least 8 hours of sleep and his morning tea before he was at all useful.”

Luke smiled weakly, “Why don’t you say that to his face, see how he feels about it?”

Ahsoka’s face saddened and she looked away, “I would if I could. However, he is not here.”

A moment of silence fell between them. Luke looked down at his prosthetic hand, in his haste to leave he’d forgotten his glove. “You haven’t seen them then?”

Ahsoka shook her head, “I don’t know that I can. And if I can... then none of them have ever come to visit me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ahsoka shook herself, “You have nothing to do with it, it’s not your fault.” She gave him a weak smile, “As for your proposal... I will think about it and give you my answer later.”
Luke nodded, “Of course. I know that this is probably really sudden and its also still the middle of the night.”

“It’s not completely unexpected,” Ahsoka almost laughed, “I’ve been thinking about it as well. I refused to train Grogu because I was worried of what he could become. However, I’ve been astounded by how much he has grown under your care. I know you feel like you’re struggling as a teacher Luke, but you’ve done incredible work already.”

“Thank you, that means a lot.”

Ahsoka smirked at him, “Well I don’t want to inflate your ego, but I am aware that Leia is the best mediator for that so I can be nice. Though I’m sure Din will also help keep you in check just by the virtue of him not knowing a lot of things.”

Luke groaned internally. Almost wishing he could go back to teaching the kids without any other adults around, at least he got teased less then.

Ahsoka elbowed him in the ribs, “I felt that, you know. While I get you don’t love being teased, you do at least enjoy a certain someone’s company.”

Luke raised his hands in defeat and walked away, listening to Ahsoka laugh quietly behind him.

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After being away for weeks, Din was more than ready to return to Chandrila by the time he reached the system. While he didn’t particularly enjoy the bustling city, and the noise almost always had him on edge, the idea of seeing his son again made it all worthwhile. Din found his trip through space extremely lonely and wondered how he had survived all those years before he’d found Grogu.

It wasn’t just the kid though. Din found himself missing Luke too, their long talks, banter, the gentle strength the man wielded now calmed Din. The flight back from the new covert to Hanna City gave Din far more time to think than he would’ve liked, but it wasn’t a bad thing. Well, Din wasn’t sure it was a good thing either.

In all honesty, it would’ve been far easier for Din to shove down his feelings and ignore them until they faded but if his training with Luke had taught him anything, it’s that ignoring feelings only ended badly. What the Armorer had told him lingered in his mind, the beskar ring waying heavily in his pocket.

Luke had said that he was redefining the Jedi way; Din had no idea what that meant for the possibilities of Jedi being able to have relationships and families. True, Din wasn’t even sure Luke liked him that way, if he would ever, the man was extremely kind to everyone. Part of Din held hope that maybe Luke was the one.

Din had never considered wanting a family. Other members of his covert had theirs but he had always been content without a partner or family. Then he’d basically been forced to adopt his son (he wasn’t forced) and just happened to meet one of the most incredible beings in the galaxy who was making him reconsider his stance. Din was considering the fact that he might actually want to get married, it was exciting in a terrifying, gut-wrenching sort of way.

Din was not good with intimacy. It had taken him a long time to become content with physical contact from his son, and an entire year before he took his helmet off in front of Grogu. And that only happened because Din was certain he’d never see his son again and wanted him to remember his face. Din would never know how long it might’ve taken him to naturally remove his helmet.

Upon thinking about it though, Din was aware that he had already been far more lenient when it came to wearing his helmet around Luke. Din trusted Luke, more than anyone else he knew, and it had only been a couple of months since they really met. The idea of being close to Luke terrified Din, not even in an enticing way. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Luke to… not harm him, but it had been so long since Din trusted anyone with himself. The idea of it all blowing up in his face sent a cold chill down his spine.

Din, even with all the time he had to think about his conflicts, still hadn’t made any real progress by the time he did reach the Chandrila system. The Sunsaber made it to Hanna City without even a message from the New Republic and Din wondered if Leia had registered his ship as trusted, he’d have to thank her the next time he saw her.

Din landed his ship on the apartment roof, a rush of warmth running through him. The moment the ship powered down Din felt the overwhelming presence of his kid calling for him and practically tripped over himself getting out of the ship.

Grogu was already running across the rooftop, no supervision in sight. Din dropped to a knee and scooped his kid into his arms with a laugh. Grogu squealed loudly, squeezing his arms around Din’s neck.

Reuniting with his kid was a thousand times more powerful now that Din could feel the Force. The entire time he’d been gone Din had sorely missed having company. Din hadn’t been alone the whole trip but he now knew what Luke meant when he talked about not having anyone around he could really talk to most of the time. Even around members of his tribe, Din now felt extremely out of place.

Din pressed his helmet against the kid’s head, not quite ready to take it off despite Grogu’s hands already tugging on the bottom edge.

Din chuckled as he rose to his feet, “Not yet kid. How was everything? Did you behave while I was gone?”

Grogu burst into a long series of words, sending his dad images of more outings in the city, of Leia and her family, and of… gladiator fights? Din was going to have to ask Luke about that. Overall, Grogu seemed like he’d done really well and hadn’t caused too much trouble, that made Din proud.

Din smiled as a familiar presence entered the rooftop, “He’s behave pretty well, though I think he missed you even more this time.”

Din smiled at Luke, fully aware that his helmet hid his face. “Didn’t cause any trouble though?”

Luke shook his head, his hair gilt in the warm sunshine. “No he did not, unless you count causing me to trip from being under my feet so much.”

They chuckled together and Din rubbed one of the kid’s long ears. Grogu let out a grumpy noise in retort and buried his face in his dad’s shoulder. Luke grinned at him, “How was your trip?”

Din shrugged, “It was… eventful, I didn’t expect to be gone so long but I had to do some important things.”

“I believe it, I’d love to hear about later if you’re offering.”

Din opened his mouth to reply with something snarky but he felt a tug and the space around them shifted. The warm sunlight suddenly felt frigid, a deep shadow passed over Luke’s face as it dawned a look Din had never seen on it before. Terror.

The building adjacent to the apartment building exploded.