1.

The helmet was heavy. Almost to the point of being unwieldy. The weight made him feel like he was over compensating his every move. The beskar weighing down on his shoulders making his neck sore, the breastplate on his chest tight and constricting, how was he supposed to run and fight in this? He wanted his Endurasteel armor back. He felt like a Foundling in his first training armor; learning how to move his body to use the beskar he would eventually be given as both protection and weapon. Except this time there were no Mandolrian guardians looking on and correcting his every move until it was perfect, until it was instinct.

The color and voice modulators were far beyond the capabilities of the Apprentice helmets he'd been wearing since choosing the Way. Everything around him was bright and detailed to the point of absurdity. He'd all but forgotten the intricate details of the Mandalorian art etched into the walls and alcoves. It had been fifteen years since he had seen them with his own eyes. Fifteen years since he had chosen to live his life following the Way. He sighed heavily, the modulator in his helmet making it sound much louder than he intended. "Damn it," he muttered to himself as he adjusted the helmets settings again from the control panel on his wrist.

"Don't bother going for that ridiculous flamethrower Mando, you're already dead." Her voice echoed behind him, the cold metal of her blaster jammed under his chin. Right into the most vulnerable area where the Beskar didn't protect him. He jerked his head up, mentally cursing himself for allowing her to sneak up on him. He hadn't even heard her, maybe the sound amplifier was off as well as the speech modulator.

"I don't have time for your games, Nev." His modulated voice boomed in the empty stone corridor.

"No need to yell at me. It's just a bit of post- oath fun." She retorted. "Probably the last we'll ever be allowed to have."

"Damn it," he sighed again returning his attention to his helmets controls. Nev tucked her blaster back into its holster and stepped into his visors line of sight. Her Beskar shone bright fluorescent purple through his visors' sensors. "How did you talk the Armorer into coloring your Beskar like that?" He asked adjusting more settings on his wrist console which only made everything worse.

"My armor is the same as yours except with a bit of Tour'ekian steel that I took as payment for my last apprentice job with Baz mixed in. The Armorer said it would give a lilac shimmer under certain light…" She stopped talking and clicked her tongue inside her helmet. "You messed with your helmets settings didn't you Din?"

"I just wanted to make some adjustments-" She cut him off batting his hand away from his wrist console and stepping closer, her gloved hands holding him still as she breezed through the settings he had been struggling with for hours. "Try it now." She ordered after a few moments. He looked around the halls he had grown up in, gone were the garish colors nearly blinding him.

"It's better." He answered sullenly. His modulated voice back to normal. "The sound amplification was off also; that's the only reason you were able to sneak up on me."

Nev's helmeted head tilted and even though he hadn't seen her face since their seventh solstice he could imagine her smile. He wondered briefly if her front teeth had ever grown back. "I adjusted the sound for you." She answered. " And I was able to sneak up on you because you lumber around like a blind Wookiee."

"The Beskar is heavier than I thought it would be." He admitted quietly.

She nodded, "My neck feels like a dewback stepped on it. I hope it will get easier eventually . Or maybe not. Maybe it's why Sio's always acting like a pissed off Nexu..." She trailed off as Heavy Armory Sio Tanin passed them in the corridor. The three Mandalorian nodded silently to each other.

"You shouldn't use their names like that anymore. We are the same as them now. Equal." Din chided.

She waived a gloved hand dismissing his complaint. It wasn't forbidden to use their given names just something else the more devout Mandalorians frowned on. "I overheard Baz say an Imperial Cruiser offloaded a few thousand Storm Troopers and Battle droids late last night near the outskirts." She continued as Sio disappeared up the stairs leading to the surface.

"Are they here for us?"

She shook her head. "No. Don't think so. There's a Rebel encampment out that way...probably gone by now. Sio's going to do some recon make sure the Empire doesn't see a reason to stay once the Rebels are gone." Din remained silent. He knew as well as she did what the repercussions of the Empire leaving a battalion of Droids and Troopers on Nevarro could be. The Covert might be forced to abandon their sanctuary lest they risk being found. The Tribe would stand and fight only if they were forced to but their numbers were small. The Empire's continued reign of terror had brought them dozens of Foundlings but cost too many skilled warriors to mount a proper defense. Din Djarin and Nevrin Dax had been the only two Apprentices this solstice to have come of age and taken the Oath.

"Baz has a job on Or'ahn, something to do with the Hutts and payment in Beskar. We need it to sponsor all these Foundlings…" She paused again as a trio of said Foundlings, wearing their new helmets, rushed past them. "He wants me to go with him...says the offer might be too good to be true as far as the Hutts are concerned."

"I thought we weren't dealing with them anymore." Din replied.

"The Armorer said we are honor bound to retrieve the Beskar from unworthy hands...And I am honor bound to Baz."

"You've taken your Oath, we aren't Foundlings or Apprentices anymore. You don't have to take this job." This job is dangerous is what he meant. Dangerous for experienced Bounty Hunters let alone a freshly promoted apprentice, Mandalorian or not.

Another tilt of her head, he guessed it was a frown under her visor this time. Nev raised her gloved hand towards him again but stopped before actually touching him this time. "That's not all there is on Or'ahn." She said quietly. "The Armorer got an encrypted message about another Covert out there...in need of a new mechanic."

"Baz?" He asked already knowing the answer. She shook her head once more. "You won't be returning." He said with a quiet sigh.

"This is the Way." Nev replied. Din answered with the same. His modulated, emotionless voice somehow flatter and more strained then she was used to hearing come from her companion. "You almost sound as if you'll miss your purii." She used the Mando'a word for shadow, the nickname the guardians had used for them since they put on their first helmets.

She saw a slight twitch in his shoulder; a tiny break in his near perfected Mandalorian stoicism. She had been his shadow just as he had been hers since they arrived just days apart to the Covert. Found in opposite ends of the parsec. Both orphans of the Empire's ruthless march towards complete domination. They had spent the last 15 years learning the Way, training to become one of the Galaxies most feared hunters, and finally taking their Oath together at dawn that very morning. With a few spoken vows they had been given their placement in the ranks of Mandalorian, a line of honor bound warriors going back thousands of years. They had been awarded their Beskar helmet and breastplate side by side in front of the Tribe. The rest of armor would come as they earned it.

"It will be...different not having our morning tea together." He finally said as she dropped the gloved hand that had been hovering an inch from his arm. She let out a quick, modulated laugh. Her Mandalorian stoicism nowhere near as practiced as Din's, much to the chagrin of the older, more seasoned members of the Tribe. 'Morning Tea' had become an unspoken ritual between the two of them, starting shortly after they looked each other in the eyes for the last time and chose to follow the Way and live the remainder of their lives behind a Mandalorian helmet. Every morning, training and Tribe business permitting, they would meet at the food replicator for a cup of Kashyyykian tea. Whomever got their first would have the late comers waiting. Wookiee's might be giant, lumbering furballs but they made delicious tea. The pair would never actually drink their tea or take their meals together instead returning to their private quarters to drink in solitude as was the Way. It's not that personal friendships were forbidden among the Mandalorian but they were discouraged.

Nev scanned the corridor once more, looking for heat signatures of hiding, tattling Foundlings or roaming Mando's. "Shekemir ni?" Follow me, she asked once she was sure there were no unwanted interlopers.

"Where?"

They weren't allowed on the surface without clearance from the Armorer or for Guild business. And neither one of them had their Guild clearance yet. Nev didn't answer instead she turned and quickly strode down the corridor away from him. Her blaster boots barely made a sound even with the advanced and corrected sound amplification of his helmet. Din sighed again realizing he really did lumber around like a blind Wookiee compared to her nearly silent footfalls. Nev didn't stop or even glance over her shoulder to check if he followed. Din stood watching as she disappeared around a hidden corner leaving nothing but the heat signatures of her boots behind. He squeezed his gloved hands, pondering his options to either return to the privacy of his quarters until summoned by the Armorer or follow Nev and find out what sort of trouble she had planned for them.

He decided on the trouble, even if it meant another week cleaning the Covert's vac tubes. He followed the traces of her footsteps finding himself further inside the depths of Covert then he had been in a long while; never seeing a reason to stray beyond his quarters, the food replicator or his assigned training areas. He caught up with her standing outside a closed door, her relief that he had chosen to follow evident in the way the tension left her shoulders as he strode down the empty corridor towards her. "What is this ?" He asked stopping beside her.

She waved her wrist comp next to the doors control panel and it slid open. "My quarters," her modulated voice barely above a whisper as she stepped inside her room.