Chapter 3
The sun was just beginning to set as we emerged from the trees, shadows of deepening twilight contrasting sharply with the orange of the grass. Wind blew in steady bursts across the field, setting the grass to dancing. We surged into the field, speeding toward the town in the distance, and I was abruptly struck by the scene. The glittering, shifting mass of orange and purple made it seem like the entire field was aflame.
Mara hissed out a quiet breath and simultaneously relaxed and tensed. Grief and pain smashed against stubborn will. I released one of the handlebars and squeezed the back of her hand.
The tension ebbed, ever so slightly.
I tried not to smile as I turned my attention back to driving. The fields sped past in a comfortable silence. The distant silhouette of the town loomed ever larger in the distance, growing rapidly as we closed. The whole way in I could feel the nervous tension and fear still hovering over it.
Which made it easy to tell when they spotted us.
A sudden spike of alarm and terror cut through the tension like a knife. Distant shouts reached my ears, followed moments later by a klaxon that even Mara could hear. Adrenaline and fear shot through her, only to bleed away almost immediately. She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, even as I released the throttle.
We coasted in on our momentum, slower with every moment, with my hands firmly in the air. And after a suggestion, Mara's as well. We drifted in like that for several long seconds, surprise and confusion welling up until a sudden spike of recognition battered against my senses.
"Mara!" A man shouted, shock and relief clear in his tone. Other voices took up the call, questioning at first, but more and more of them recognized her.
"That's her," I shouted back. "The job is done. You have nothing to fear from those pirates."
The words sent an electric current through the crowd. Raucous cheers and laughter began to spread. Suddenly there was a stampede. Weapons fell to the ground unheeded as a dozen people surged out toward us
Mara froze, staring at the crowd with wide, shocked eyes.
"It's really you!" I recognized Jann Rania's voice this time as she pushed through the crowd. She stepped up and swept Mara into a hug, nearly pulling her off the speeder in the process. "Thank the stars you're alive!"
Mara made a strangled sound, but soon melted into the hug. Her shoulders shook with the raw emotion tearing through her. They stayed like that for a long moment, the others crowding around and adding their own cheers and welcomes, before they separated.
"Come, let's get you cleaned up." she said, and helped Mara off the speeder. Jann then barked a quick set of orders to the other villagers to prepare a celebration. Once they were gone, she turned to me. "And thank you, Mando. I thought we'd never see her again. You must stay, and join the celebration."
"Not necessary. You hired me. I did the job." She frowned. I shook my head. "But we must speak regardless. If you wish to repay whatever obligation you feel, then once she's had a chance to clean up and get some new clothes, both of you come find me. Privately."
Her frown intensified, even as Mara sent me a questioning glance. I returned Jann's look with a stare of my own.
She blinked first.
"As you wish."
She turned and led Mara back into town. Just before they rounded the corner, Mara sent a glance back at me, the relief and release on her face belied by a deep-seated grief I could feel lurking beneath it. I waved in what I hoped was an encouraging way, and they both vanished.
The nervous fear that hung over the hamlett was already lifting, the sudden spikes of surprise and joy as the news spread driving it further and further away. I decided to stay out of the way, guiding my speeder off the main drag not too far from the bar, where I settled in to wait.
Excited villagers passed by every couple of minutes, as word of the pirates' fate, Mara's return, and especially the rapidly forming party spread. Some of them even spotted me. I accepted their gratitude with as much poise as I could manage, and deflected the handful of small rewards they tried to offer. The excitement of the place was infectious, a stark contrast to yesterday, and I couldn't help but get swept up in it a little.
Before too long though, Jann and Mara found me. Mara had been cleaned within an inch of her life, her skin flushed and shining from the treatment, while her hair fell in neat waves to her shoulder blades. She'd been bundled in a new set of clothes as well, the rags I'd found her in replaced with a dark shirt and red pants.
I hopped off my speeder and nodded a greeting at them.
"What did you need to say?" Jann asked. "Was there something about the pirates we should know?"
"No. It's about Mara." Jann's brow furrowed.
"The recording?" Mara asked. Grief and rage spiked as she remembered it, but she pushed it down.
I nodded.
"What recording?" Jann asked. Her gaze bounced from Mara to me and back.
"One of the pirates had an armor-cam. They recorded Mara's capture." Jann's eyes went wide in surprise, even as outrage surged through her. She opened her mouth, but I held up a hand. Instead of speaking, she pulled Mara into a hug.
Mara squirmed uncomfortably as I plowed ahead.
"In that recording, Mara demonstrated an extremely rare talent." Jann and Mara both stared at me. I looked directly at the girl. "You, Mara, are Force-sensitive."
Mara blinked.
"Force-sensitive? You mean like the Jedi?" she asked. Her brow furrowed.
"Not just the Jedi." I focused for a moment and lifted one hand. The big cobblestone at my feet, one of the markers delineating the edge of the road, lifted into the air and began to hover above my head. Their eyes remained glued to it as it lazily spun at eye level, with nothing visibly holding it up.
"I am a Force-sensitive myself, it's one of the reasons I was able to rescue you as I did."
"That..." Mara trailed off, still staring at the rock. She shook her head and locked her gaze on me. "I could move like that? Do this?!"
"With training, yes."
"Why are you telling us this?" Jann cut in, her voice even sharper than her frown.
"The talent is rare, and the opportunity rarer." I shrugged and looked between them, then focused on Mara. "I suggest you contact the Republic, the local Senator can put you in touch with the Jedi. Or I could send them a message after I leave tomorrow morning. They should be able to train you, if you wish it."
Mara glanced between the cobblestone now gently depositing itself back on the ground and me. She glanced over at Jann. The older woman exhaled.
"We can discuss it later," she said with a shake of her head. She sent me a cautious look. "Unless there's anything more to discuss..." I shook my head once she trailed off. "Then we should go. I believe there's a celebration waiting for us."
I had just enough time to squawk in surprise when Mara bodily picked me up and began to walk off.
"Stop squirming, you don't have to eat or anything, but you're still coming to the party," she said.
I didn't struggle very hard.
(*)(*)(*)
The next morning found me in the large dirt field that served as the village's starport, hauling my gear and supplies into the Razor Crest. The Crest was an old patrol boat, built at the height of the Clone Wars, that had passed on to my father, and then to me. It had been a labor of love keeping it in top shape, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
The work of loading to leave was quick and familiar, though complicated slightly by the basket of fruits I hadn't been able to dissuade one of the villagers from pressing on me last night. I took what little solace I could in that he hadn't found the credstick I'd slipped into his pocket afterward.
I had just finished getting that stashed away and begun to load my speeder when I sensed a familiar presence approaching.
I turned around and nodded a greeting at Mara. She returned it with a wave, her run ending a couple of meters away. She hunched over her knees and let the sack over one shoulder drop to the ground.
"Good," she panted. "You're still here."
"Not for much longer," I said. "Did you want something?"
"Yes. I-" She stopped herself and straightened up, forcing her breathing back under control in the process. Nervousness and hope in equal measure roiled inside her as she tried to look me in the eye. Hesitation won for a long moment.
Then she bowed and the words came rushing out.
"Take me with you!"
I blinked.
"What?"
"Please!" Her bow deepened, even as her nerves intensified. "Take me with you. I want to be a, a foundling."
I stared at her for several seconds, feeling her nervousness grow with every passing moment, but hope and stubborn determination kept it from showing on her face. Such seriousness deserved serious consideration in turn. I climbed off my speeder and moved directly in front of her.
"Do you know what you are asking for?" I looked up and met her gaze.
"Not really," she admitted easily. "But I want to learn."
"You would have to leave." I gestured back at the town. "You have a home here. Jann cares about you. Why are you so eager to throw it away?"
She shook her head, powerful grief surging through her.
"This- this isn't home. Not anymore." Her shoulders quivered. The dirt beneath her feet seemed to seize her interest. "I can't stay. I look around and all I can see are reminders, repeats of that moment.
"I talked to Miss Rania about it, after the party." She looked up. Tears were welling in the corner of her eyes. "She didn't like it, but she understood. I think."
"You don't have to become a foundling to leave," I told her. "So again, why?"
"Because I can't go through that again!" Her sudden shout rang in my ears like a bell. "I- I watched my parents be murdered and I couldn't do a gods damned thing!
"I've seen what you can do! You tore those pirates apart! I want that! I want to be that!" I stared at her in silence. She slumped, the raw emotion draining out of her. She shook her head. Her voice was quiet, even tired, but far from defeated. "And I'm going to learn. But I need your help to do it.
"Please."
Good enough.
I stepped back with a nod, lifting her bag with a gesture and holding it beside her.
"Get in," I told her. "We leave in ten."
Her grin was blinding.
(*)(*)(*)
"This is it," I said two days later. The shimmering blue of hyperspace melted into the familiar void. Stars glimmered in every color of the rainbow,a corruscating patten broken only by the enormous emerald sphere dominating the view.
Mara, in the cockpit seat behind me, looked up from the datapad she'd been studying fervently since we left. It was full of information about the history and culture of the Mandalorians, the clans, their symbology, and all the rest. Given the constraints of travel, it was the best way I could introduce her to the new life she'd chosen.
"That's Dantooine?" she asked, wonder and excitement in her voice. "It's... beautiful."
I hummed my agreement.
Mara stayed glued to the window as I set about preparing the ship for landing. Every moment the planet loomed ever-larger, and the stars grew dimmer. In only a few minutes, they had faded entirely, replaced by a sheet of brilliant blue.
Below us, the grasslands stretched to the horizon in all directions, an endless sea of green and yellow, broken only by the small but rapidly closing cluster of buildings ahead. Mara watched it pass with rapt attention, all the way to the spaceport.
The moment the Crest had settled, she was out the cockpit door and hallway down the ladder to the hold.
I followed at a more sedate pace, though as was my custom, I jumped down and skipped the ladder entirely. She was waiting by the hatch, nearly vibrating in place, while I collected my weapons and made to join her.
The hatch slid open with the push of a button and we stepped out into the fresh air of Dantooine.
"This way," I said, and began to walk. Mara fell into step with me.
We emerged from the spaceport on one end of a large, open park, an echo of the fields that surrounded the city. Most of the park was surrounded by a collection of flattened pyramids, few of which were taller than a single story, in the hallmark style of the native humans.
A steady stream of the natives wandered through and around the buildings, and more than a few were lounging around in the park itself. Mara stared at it all in mute surprise, only to jump with a yelp when I poked her leg.
I gestured for her to follow and headed for the one segment of the park not backed by pyramids. She complied with a muttered apology.
As we walked, the natives we passed would frequently smile or wave, and I'd return it with a nod. Sometimes, they'd even stop us briefly to wish me well or welcome me back. Each time, Mara sent me an increasingly curious look until finally she couldn't restrain herself any longer.
"What's that about?" she asked after the sixth time. "Do you know her?"
"No," I said with a shake of my head. "You've read the history. You tell me."
"You mean Mandalore the Ascendant? All that because you're a Mandalorian?" She looked at me with wide eyes. "But it's been almost two hundred years!"
"Their ancestors were slaves when he came," I reminded her. "They still would be if he hadn't gathered the clans and driven off the Imperial Remnant. Debts of honor like that aren't easy to forget."
"I guess that makes sense," Mara said. "That explains why they gave him the land for the enclave too."
"It wasn't given," I corrected her. "It was bought in blood and honor. A price we have paid more than once."
"Right," she nodded with a brief grimace. *Sorry."
"Don't be. You are learning." I gestured for her to keep walking. "Come. We are close."
A comfortable silence fell as we continued, all the way out of the park and onto the roadway bordering it. Directly in front of us, ten meters of durasteel rose out of the ground for nearly a kilometer in both directions. Beskar inlays of sharp lines and whorling shapes glittered along the top of the wall, one every few dozen meters. Directly overhead, three jagged parallel lines, wide enough to blend together at the base, shone in brilliant silver.
Mara paused when she saw it.
"Those are clan signets," she said. "Vizla, Ordo..."
"Yes." I didn't even try to disguise the smile in my voice. "This way."
I led her along the wall, noting with no small amount of satisfaction the way she locked onto each signet as we passed underneath it. She didn't recognize all of them, or even most, but her interest was keen.
Then we reached the entrance.
Another signet stood proudly overhead, larger than all the others. It was a side-on view of a triangular skull, with large eye holes and a deep mouth. A massive horn stretched out from the point of its nose back toward its neck. It was the signet of Clan Djarin, and an exact copy of the symbol on my own pauldron.
Below it, the gates stood closed. The enormous slabs of durasteel were seven meters tall and almost half that thick. I knew from experience they each weighed several ton, just as I knew they were balanced well enough I could push them open even without my powers.
I'd helped install them, after all.
To either side of the gate, a pair Mandalorians, their armor gleaming blue and gold, stood silent vigil, distinctive two-pronged amban rifles held at rest. The moment they spotted me, they snapped to attention.
"Welcome back," the one on the right said. His partner banged a fist on the gate behind him. With an audible clunk, the gates unlocked and silently slid open.
"Yaim'ol." I saluted the pair and led Mara into the enclave proper.
We emerged at the end of a long open space. We stood on a wide stone path, worn with age and traffic, but sturdy and well-maintained. On either side, rich, smooth marble extended out a dozen meters to durasteel walls. The outer layer of beskar shone with a mirror shine, reflecting the sunlight filtering through the transparisteel ceiling.
Down the length of the hall, small plinths stood in neat, angled rows. Atop them was a chaotic mishmash of random items, ranging from animal skulls to shattered armor to broken weapons. There was even the front armor of an Imperial AT-ST, suspended in a repulsor field at the end of the hall.
"What, what is this place?" Mara asked. She'd followed me in and was taking it all in with wonder.
"The trophy hall," I said. I gestured around me. "These are spoils, taken with honor from powerful foes. Reminders of past victories, put here so that none who enter can forget what we've faced, and defeated. It is among the highest of honors for a Mandalorian to earn the right to place a trophy here."
I walked over to a nearby plinth and gestured at the broken vibrosword floating above it.
"This belonged to Dath Onarr, a self-styled pirate king. He conquered a dozen worlds in the wake of the Empire's collapse, and held them against the Republic for over a decade." I touched the plaque at the base of the plinth. A life-size holo of a Mandalorian in white and purple armor flickered to life. "Redan Ordo cut him down in the heart of his palace, freed his slaves, and reduced his kingdom to ashes."
I walked to the next row over, this plinth holding a fanged skull. It was an enormous thing, almost twice my height alone, with a fan of bone rising from its base like a sail. A ridge of vicious spines ran along this crest, their points sharp and gleaming even when over a century old. The shortest of its fangs were longer than my arms. When I pressed the plaque, a Mandalorian nautolan, her head-tails hanging out of her helmet in a messy jumble, stood in a sloppy salute. She was short. Her shoulders barely cleared the top of my head, and it made the enormous slab of beskar she called a sword look even bigger.
"And this is the skull of A'den'ad. The Spawn of Wrath in Basic. Slain by Miria Kahn less than twenty kilometers from this very spot."
Mara looked from me to the holo, and then up at the skull.
"She killed that thing?"
"She did. Shortly after we settled, the natives began to disappear. For weeks, they'd venture out of town for one reason or another, and never return. It even began to prey on us, ambushing patrols and anyone who ventured too far from the enclave." I smiled fondly at the holo. "Miria refused to allow it to continue. She set out and hunted the culprit down.
"The Remnant had been experimenting on the native wildlife, using Sith magic to turn them into weapons. As a last act of vengeance, when we forced them off, they released their only success. She tracked it to its lair, fought it to a standstill, and carved out its heart."
"She sounds like fun," Mara said with a smile. Her gaze moved to the skull. "This was really made by Sith magic?"
I nodded.
"Most cathan'dare are two thirds that size, and don't have the spikes on their crest. They share the tendency to keep fighting after being cut in half though." I shrugged at her look. "The Remnant picked them for a reason."
She blinked.
"And you live near these things?"
"We are Mandalorian." I laughed and started for the exit at the back of the room, waving for her to follow. "Come. We can stay here all day, and there is more to do."
(*)(*)(*)
Half an hour later, we emerged from the twisting and labyrinthine streets that comprised most of the enclave and out into the main communal space. It was a large field of stone and grass, decorated almost at random with trees, benches, and tables. A large sand pit dominated one side, a small audience around it cheering for the duel being fought within. A group of children, barely more than half of them human, played some kind of ball game on the opposite side, the rules as fluid and meaningless as only a children's game could be.
And in the exact center lay our destination.
It was a large but plain building, absent any sign of the ornamentation so common throughout the rest of the enclave. The only decoration its owner allowed was a simple sigil, the tusked skull of a mythosaur, set into the door. As we approached, a steady clang could be heard, backed by a constant low hiss. It was a steady, repetitive sound, one I knew from experience could be synced perfectly with a metronome.
I tried not to smile as I knocked.
The door was opened in moments by a young human woman in the prime of her youth. She wore most of a set of armor, its plate unadorned and unpainted, but it did little to hide her beauty. Especially since she'd yet to earn her helmet. Long brown hair flowed down her back. Amber eyes glanced at Mara, then me, and she smiled.
"You are back," she said simply. I nodded.
"Rinna. I must speak to your mother."
"Of course. This way." Rinna led us in and down a sloping hallway, until we emerged in a cavernous circular room. Anvils, grindstones, and all manner of other tools I couldn't begin to name lined the walls, in their own way all bent in obsequious reverence to the metal pillar rising from the exact middle of the entire enclave.
It was a deceptively simple thing. There were no decorations or distractions anywhere; to the untrained eye, it was little more than a simple metal slab. If not for the ring of blue flame sprouting from the top or the console extending out of one side, it would be completely unremarkable.
It was the Naur'beskar, the Beskar Forge.
And it was nothing to the woman beside it. She was clad head to toe in crimson and gold armor, the finest beskar the clans had ever produced. Her helmet gleamed in the fires of the forge, and the hammer in her hand moved with precise grace. A plate of nearly-finished beskar sat on the anvil before her, slowing growing into its final shape under her hammer's guidance. Each strike sent a resounding clang throughout the building and into the park beyond.
We stood there in silence for almost a minute before Mara's impatience began to outweigh her awe. She moved to speak, but I held up a hand. She frowned at me. I shook my head, willing patience into her.
She sighed under her breath and settled back in to wait.
It was only another minute or so before the hammer was set aside and the beskar left to cool.
"So you have returned," the Forgemaster said. Her voice had a steady, deliberate cant to it, a rhythm as solid and immutable as her hammer. She turned to face me with the same calm poise she'd had since her mother passed the position to her. She bowed slightly to me. "Kuiil of Clan Djarin."
"Forgemaster," I replied, returning her bow. She hummed thoughtfully and glanced from me to Mara and back.
"Is she why you have returned?"
"She is," I said. "I Found her on my last job. Her parents were slain. She is-"
"Right here!" Mara's restraint finally reached its edge. The Forgemaster and I turned to stare at her as one. She blushed and squirmed, but with only an embarrassed cough, rallied. She tried, and only mostly failed, to copy my bow "My name is Mara Jade. It's an honor to meet you."
The Forgemaster continued to stare at her for a long second, and Mara's nerves continued to grow. Until warm laughter began to peal from the Forgemaster's helmet. Mara blinked, straightening up and sending me a curious glance.
I couldn't help but smile.
The Forgemaster turned back to me, approval strong in her voice.
"I can see why you chose her." She turned to Mara. "Well met, Mara Jade."
Mara blushed and bowed again.
"Mara has chosen to become my Foundling," I said into the ensuing silence. "She wishes to become a Mandalorian."
"Does she now?" The Forgemaster examined Mara once more. The girl swallowed, looked up and nodded firmly. "This is good news indeed. This calls for olar'skraan!
"Rinna, we have work to do. Fetch my wiring kit." Her daughter acknowledged the order with a salute and left. The Forgemaster turned back to Mara and I. "You two have preparations of your own to complete. I trust you can complete them?"
"Yes," I said. Mara frowned at her, then at me. I continued before she could speak. "I'll explain on the way. Come."
I turned and led Mara back outside. I took a moment to reorient myself and set off in the exact opposite direction than we'd come from.
"So what're we doing now?" Mara asked almost a minute later. "And what's olar-whatsit anyway?"
"Olar'skraan is a feast, a celebration held when a youngling chooses to take their first steps on the path of Mandalore," I told her. "And as the guests of honor, it is on us to provide the meal."
"What?" Mara sent me an astonished look. "How are we supposed to do that?"
"We hunt. We set ourselves against the wildest, fiercest beast we can find, and bring back its corpse. We prove our honor and our skill, and in the doing we earn the right to stand at the side of Mandalore. For-"
"There is no value without sacrifice." Mara intoned the words with me. I looked at her. She smiled. "I remember."
"Good." My helmet hid my own smile.
We walked in silence for several minutes until we arrived at a smaller building near the rear of the enclave. Another gate, much smaller than the front, was set into the wall just past it. I led Mara into the building.
"Whoa..." she let out an impressed whistle.
The inside of the building was a single room, and aside from a handful of floor to ceiling pillars, utterly devoid of furniture. It still managed to feel cramped, however, even for me. Every vertical surface of it was covered in a dizzying array of simple weapons. Bows, spears, swords, halberds, knives, nearly any weapon one could fashion from beskar and wood alone had wallspace dedicated to it.
And each and every one was a masterpiece, the absolute pinnacle of the Forgemasters' craft. Entire lifetimes of skill and passion had gone into every single weapon on display. Each one was a work of art, beauty in every curve and fold that was rivaled only by its deadliness.
I grinned and move over to a basket left nearby for just this purpose and began to disarm. My blaster went first, followed by the det packs on my belt, the knife in my boot, and the knife under my breastplate. It wasn't until I unclipped my vambraces and let them fall that Mara spoke up.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Surprise and a bit of nervousness leaked into her. I looked over.
"Ceremonial hunts are done with ceremonial weapons." I nodded at the masterpieces all around us. I walked over and picked up the smallest spear in the building, feeling its weight and balance. With a nod, I slung it into the provided sheathe and slipped it over my shoulder. It was just barely small enough to carry comfortably.
"But I've never even held anything like these before."
I picked up another spear, weighed it and gave Mara a considering look. Satisfied, I sheathed it and tossed it to her.
"I will teach. You will learn. This is the way."