(A/N And so...we have reached as far as I have written. I have two scenes in mind going forward, and I'll probably be filling in some space between them, but the updates won't be everyday like they have been.

Any suggestions or critiques are always welcome!

Enjoy!)

Din was at a loss.

He was one jump away from returning to the cruiser with the Armorer, so that should be cause for celebration. And he'd seen his son again, which was bittersweet as he had to once again say goodbye. He'd found a small crew that managed to be both lighthearted and strong willed. A part of him did not want to leave the simplicity of their family, even as he operated as an outsider. It was similar to his and Grogu's time on Sorgan.

All of this, amounted to his lack of direction as he moved on.

He would not turn his back on the Creed, no matter how tempted he was by a family. He could accept the responsibilities he walked into blindly, no matter how unqualified he felt. But the question he faced now was should he offer Na'sara and Dev a place in his clan when Teena had made her opinion on it so obvious? It wasn't leaving Teena that would sway them, as they had done so before, but her approval would be important to them.

So, that left him pacing the halls now, looking for an answer.

He knew there wasn't one to find. He wasn't asking the right question, and he knew that, but he was unwilling to ask the question he should. In fact, he didn't even know exactly how he would view that question. He needed to put Teena's Beskar back in Mandalorian hands. When would he take it? How would he take it? Would she hand it over if he simply requested it? He didn't have much longer to wait. He'd bested her in combat once, but was unsure if he could use the same base tactics a second time. Could he stun her before she got inside his guard and forced hand to hand combat?

He refused to ask if her bracers were all the Beskar she had in her possession.

.

It was time. She had to let them go. She'd kept their memory alive in her seething hatred and their honor purged in their reforging, but it was time for them to go home. Nala was a woman of honor and would see to it the murderous bastards would be forgotten as they deserved. Teena had to believe that.

That's what she kept telling herself as she led Nala to the cargo hold. The armorer didn't ask questions, just followed as bid when Teena said she had something the two needed to discuss.

She closed the door behind them and made her way to the far wall, closing the weapons cache so she could strain to pull the storage away from the wall. A well disguised handle was set in the wall and she heaved on it next. It pulled easier than she expected and one of the pieces of her hidden deposit fell out, ringing as it hit the floor.

Nala moved slowly, reaching to pick up the rectangularly molded metal. With it in hand she ran her fingers over the rest, still on the drawn out platform. Three readouts sat beside the long rows of Beskar.

"How?"

"These are the three who killed my parents," Teena explained. "I couldn't let them retain honor even after death, so I had their armor dismantled. But I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it either. It's time now. You can make good use of this."

Nala continued to run her hand over the precious metal and then picked up each of the readouts, finding the names of those she looked on now.

"These are my people," she said with a mix of surprise and pain.

"Yes. They are the ones who made it difficult for me to work with those even as honorable as you and Djarin."

Nala looked up and studied Teena for a minute.

"What happened? You could not have killed all three."

"No. I came home to find four dead bodies and," she picked up one readout, "one injured." She handed the indicated survivor to Nala. "It wasn't an honorable kill, but he was spouting enough radical nonsense that I didn't particularly care then. I'm not sure I do now either."

Nala took back the readout and caressed the names of each with a tenderness that spoke of motherhood.

"They are not the murderers you make them out to be," she spoke sharply, defending her own. "There was a bounty on your parents' head?"

"No. They only offered to share a meal."

"There had to have been a plot. They wouldn't kill with no reason."

"They had reason," Teena assured her. "My parents had to show their faces to share the meal."

A moment of confusion gave way to understanding rolling off of the armorer.

"You are Mando'ad," she said, both declaring that it had to be while asking if it could be true.

"I am apart," Teena answered.

"But you will be," she insisted.

"I know what I am, Nala. And I know what I am not. The mandalorians are few, and this is the support I can offer," she nodded at the Beskar. "I am letting go of my hatred so that others may benefit from your covert's loss."

"We are going to march on our homeworld! Where will you be?!" Nala's volume didn't have to raise to carry authority and weight. Her tone held no room for argument. Her posture was demanding of an affirmative answer. But Teena had none to give.

"Where will you be, Nala?" she asked. "I will not cast my accusations at you while trying to move beyond my past, but I ask you who will fight alongside your covert? Who will fight alongside those who kill their brethren unprovoked? I understand the rifts and fighting among our people of the past, but you can't afford that now."

"I will be following the Mand'alor."

"There is no Mand'alor," Teena said softly, "but I hope you can find a common ground for your people."

She turned to go and only managed to open the door when Nala's rage filled voice echoed behind her.

.

Din continued to pace the halls, making his way now up the loading deck where he would pass the cargo hold and meet the ade in the galley. He could see them ahead. He considered that maybe he should stop and speak with them instead of continuing his brooding.

He didn't get the chance, as the cargo hold's door opened to reveal Teena before he'd made it up the hallway.

A familiar voice echoed off the walls behind the captain.

"And if there is?! What will you do? Run? Coward!"

He didn't know what the two had been discussing to rile the Armorer up like that, but he watched as Na'sara reached for a blaster and Dev stalled his sister with a word in her ear and a hand on her elbow up ahead. Closer, Teena fought for composure before spinning on her heel to spit out a response.

"What should I do? Follow?" she said it as if it was worse than selling herself to slavery.

"You think less of me for joining the ranks of my brethren?!" Nala accused, incredulous.

Din did not like the idea of getting in the middle of this when he wasn't sure what started the dispute.

"Oh, no. You follow. Join the ranks and walk blindly. I will not be led by another Kryze, one erased our culture and the other led us to ruin, twice. But would you rather have an Almec?! You'll need to hide your foundlings and legacy born alike! Oh, no! Do you prefer someone to take on the cowardice of Gar Saxon, or better yet! the deranged supremacy of his brother, Tiber!"

"How dare-"

"You follow. You join the ranks and rally to Mand'alor. I will not. I will not support a leader until I can look at them and determine who has the audacity to pick up the mantle! You follow. I will question and contradict and fight, because as awful as all the leaders for the past century have been, at least they did not pretend to earn the name Mand'alor. You follow. I will challenge, because I would rather die than follow another Saxon and I would rather lead than allow Kryze to destroy us again!"

Din watched her unfold in silence. She was panting and spitting and could not stop gesturing as she raged about those who would have demanded her loyalty.

She was right, blind loyalty had the Mandalorians to the ruin they were in today. But she was also wrong, he did not claim the name Mand'alor. But what was important and what eased his mind concerning all the questions he'd been facing as he stalked the halls was that she would come.

When he called, she would come. Even if she only sought single combat to keep the blade from a tyrant's hands, she would come.

Her adherence to the Creed she knew was complete. He did not need to take her Beskar.

"And what leader would you follow? Or will you only lead?" he asked as he approached the two before Nala could react to Teena's rant.

The face she made in response to his suggestion on leading was entertaining and made it very clear that she had even less desire to take up the mantle than he did.

"I'm lucky there is no Mand'alor. I have no need for a throne."

"So you will not follow?" Nala asked in a more measured voice than she'd been using, though she seemed to be straining to keep her temper intact.

"I would follow. I don't know who," Teena deflated a little, the fight and adrenaline leaving her. Din noticed the ade finally relax in the galley. "I could follow someone willing to compromise. Someone who preserved our past and did not run headfirst into needless battles." She sighed and turned sad eyes on him and Nala. "I'm not sure any of our kind have that restraint though, so I remain apart."

As she turned to head up to the galley Din grabbed her by the bracer.

"I'm glad we won't be saying goodbye the way I'd thought," he told her.

She smiled and nodded and he let her join her ade.

.