Hello there!
Thank you all soooooo much for checking out my story! And even more thanks in advance for any love you choose to show it; it's always deeply appreciated and inspiring. 3
I'm not currently taking random requests due to not enough time and too many unfinished stories already, but I'm always open to reasonable suggestions on my current works. You can PM me on the FFN site or on FB (search for the same username). My updating schedule and details about my current Reader Reward program can be found on FB for the curious.
Again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!
TheLoneRebel
Disclaimer: I don't own any Star Wars characters and any OC's that resemble real people are entirely coincidental.
There is an explanation of how my calendar works and a list of helpful translations for my commonly used Star Wars words in 'Flame of Hope - Everyone' if you're curious.
A/N: This story happened because I was teasing my diehard Sabezra friend about how the Mandalorian would be a good match for Sabine and the next thing I knew, the idea took root and wouldn't leave me alone. Oi.
To all the Sabezra (or Hanleia) shippers out there, please refrain from throwing rotten fruit or comments at the author. This was just for the fun of tormenting my friend, I'm still a Sabezra fan too. :P
And just for anyone who's curious, Din is roughly 5-7 years older than Sabine. She was born about halfway through the Clone Wars and he was orphaned at approximately 6-8 years old at some point during the same. (Or if you go by my non-canon calendar, there is a 5 year difference.)
Also, for the sake of entertainment, let's pretend that he never met Bo-Katan and her helmet removing ways. :P
Clash of Beliefs
A New Family:
D93/10 ABY, Lothal
Just as Din Djarin had been directed by the helpful maintenance worker at the Capital City spaceport, Spectre House wasn't hard to find; it was due north of the city and right beside the comm tower.
The four story house itself was misnamed, though, as far as he was concerned; it was big enough to hide an army and elegant enough to accommodate royalty with its handsome light marbled bricks and glass windows that dominated the walls. The mansion was rectangular shaped with a central courtyard and vast sweeping lawns on all sides that transitioned seamlessly into the oceans of grassland that appeared to be the main vegetation of this planet.
"Some place, hunh?" he asked the small green child standing up in his lap and staring out with wide and curious brown eyes.
Wompie looked back at him over his shoulder as if to say, 'That's for sure!'
Under the cover of his helmet, Din smiled with warm affection at the child who'd become his family. His only family. "Just don't get too used to it. I doubt we'll be staying for long," he warned as he brought the Razor Crest to a landing on the large duracrete pad between the mansion and the comm tower. Also on the pad was a Corellian freighter, a Mandalorian Kom'rk (which he drooled over), the distinctive fan shape of a T-6, another freighter of unknown origins, and a handful of speeders of various colours and designs. "This is probably another false lead like all of the others."
Wompie didn't seem to think so, since he was suddenly vibrating and humming with excitement just before he jumped off Din's lap and rushed out of the cockpit.
Din mentally shrugged as he powered down his ship, having long ago given up on instilling any sense of discipline into the child. He'd also stopped figuratively holding his breath for the moment when Wompie would actually talk beyond an occasional chortle or gurgle like any baby would make.
Which would be fine if the child was actually a baby. But at fifty-one standard years old, Din figured Wompie should be able to talk at least a little by now. But then again, in the year that they'd been together, Wompie had only grown maybe a millimetre in height, so his mental progress was undoubtedly similar.
Not that Wompie wasn't smart; the mischievous little bratling was definitely that.
Too much sometimes, as he was currently demonstrating by already being out of the ship and trotting through the grass with his tiny little legs going as fast as they could towards the mansion.
"Shab," Din muttered as he rushed out of the cockpit and then slid down the ladder to catch up.
Only by the grace of his decidedly longer legs did Din manage to scoop up Wompie just before the child reached the front door of the mansion, just stopping him from rudely opening it and rushing in without a proper invitation to enter. (His small size didn't stop him from using his weird powers to open doors whenever he felt like it.) "I get that you're excited, little buddy, but we still have to act like civilized beings and ring the doorbell first."
Wompie watched impatiently as Din did just that, basically bouncing in his arms.
It took a minute, but eventually the ornate double doors with beautiful gold starbirds painted on them slid to either side and a truly ancient orange topped astromech greeted them with a beeped out and rather rude, "What do you want?"
A dark grey protocol droid hurried up from within the depths of the house, chiding, "Chopper! How many times do I have to tell you to let me answer the door?!"
"Frag you, AP. I can answer the door if I want. Besides, I'm faster."
Din's eyebrows rose. And this is why I don't like droids.
"You may be faster, but you have all the tact of a bull rancor in rut," AP grumbled before turning his focus to a Din whose mouth was twitching with reluctant amusement under his moustache. "My apologies for the rude greeting. What can I help you with?"
"I'm looking for an Ahsoka Tano and something called the Ghost Order? An old pirate called Hondo directed me here. Is this the right place?"
Din got the sense that AP would have smiled if he could have. "It is! Are you a Force Wielder or Jedi Purge survivor?"
He blinked at the words that he was now familiar with thanks to his research into what Wompie was. "Ah… No. But my ward is."
Both droids focused on the now very, very still Wompie, who was staring back at the droids with his big eyes; assessing them for edibility, maybe.
"Interesting." AP said with a slight tilt to his head. "I thought that species was extinct."
"From what I've discovered so far, it is," Din said somewhat grimly. Which is why he'd sucked it up and started looking for the Jedi instead in his quest to find a place where Wompie belonged. "The Empire wiped out the last known colony. My ward might very well be the last one."
"That is most unfortunate," the protocol droid said with sympathy. "But come. I'll take you to Master Tano. She welcomes all Force sensitives into her Order without judgement. I'm sure she will love your ward and he'll fit right in with the other younglings."
Din followed the protocol droid into the house, through a massive foyer and down a bright side hallway that bordered the central courtyard, all the way to the back. (The astromech took a different hallway, beeping something about getting the others.) AP opened a door to what ended up being a massive training gymnasium that ran the whole length of the back of the house and was also the entire four stories tall.
At this end of the gym, a beautiful orange skinned Togrutan wearing a light grey, short sleeved armorweave tunic and leggings, and what he'd swear were beskar elbow length vambraces and belt/skirt was teaching a class of assorted ages and species that ranged from six years old to fully grown adults on what looked like the basics of how to wield a laser sword, with each student copying the slow and deliberate moves of her white lightsabre. In the middle, a half dozen people had paired off and were play fighting each other with their glowing and zipping blue or green sabres. And at the far end of the gym, two more opponents were almost literally flying at each other as they duelled with what looked like deadly seriousness.
The dark blue haired male was clearly a Jedi (or just Force Wielder) with how he leapt and spun in the air far beyond what a normal Human was capable of as he wielded his blue lightsabre with skilled ease. But the female fighting with a green sabre might not be, considering she was wearing a nearly full set of (eye-catchingly colourful) beskar armour and using a jetpack to keep up with the male's lightning fast moves.
Regardless of whether she was a Jedi or not, Din thought the slim Mando female was magnificent; comparable to the Armorer's skill level with a weapon, at least. And while he thought the multicoloured armour was beautiful and somehow suited her, it defied the traditional muted colours that were allowed on Mando armour by light-years.
His brief contemplation of the colourful female was interrupted when the Togruta paused her lesson only seconds after their arrival by deactivating her lightsabre and turning her focus on Din, Wompie, and AP.
She smiled at Din as she hooked her lightsabre on her beskar belt/skirt. "Everyone!" she called loud enough for the whole gymnasium to hear. "He's here!"
Who's here? Me? Wompie? AP? Why is she excited about any of those options and how would she even know to be excited about the first two anyway?
The beginner group turned around nearly in sync to gawk at Din and Wompie, and the intermediate group ceased their duels to join the group. The two duelling at the far end of the gym seemed too engrossed in their combat to be willing to stop, good natured taunts filling the air now that the rest of the space was silent.
"Is that all you got, Ez? Or are you holding back on me again?"
"Not a chance, Sabs." The man backed it up by throwing his left hand out and pushing her backwards without touching her. She leaned into it and only a moment later was using her jetpack to counteract the Force push, flying right back at him with her lightsabre raised.
Their laser swords clashed and flew almost faster than the eye could follow as the duel continued
"That's better. And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me Sabs?"
The man grinned, tossing his head to get a long lock of hair out of his eye that had come loose from the tail at his nape as he casually blocked a swipe that would have gutted him if he'd been a fraction slower. "Only a few thousand more, probably. Thick skull and all, you know."
"Gah!"
The Togruta glanced at them and then sighed, shaking her head slightly as her mouth quirked up with wry amusement, giving them up for a lost cause for now. She walked straight towards Din, her students parting for her and then closing the gap as necessary. She came to a stop in front of him and nodded politely. "Hello. Welcome to the Ghost Order. I am Ahsoka Tano and I'm the Grand Master here. I'm pleased that you have found your way to us. I've been waiting for you."
Din blinked. "You have?"
Her smile was incredibly serene and soothing. "Yes, Mando, I have. Aside from the fact that Hondo told Ezra a Mandalorian was headed our way, this one…" she reached out a hand and stroked the back of her fingers over Wompie's cheek, eliciting a purring sound from him, "…has been in my dreams lately." She held out her arms and Wompie jumped into them for a cuddle, his eyes closing in contented joy as she affectionately nuzzled her nose against his forehead. "Haven't you, little one? Did you miss me?"
Din could probably be knocked over by a feather right now. Holy shab! This Force stuff is even more powerful than I thought! And why do they seem like they know each other?
She returned her all-seeing blue gaze to Din's. "Grogu's been very eager to get here. He says your ship is too slow."
"No its… Wait, he talked to you? And what do you mean Grogu?"
Tano laughed softly. "Not in full sentences, per se, but the images he sends are very clear. His genetic template was one of the strongest Jedi in the galaxy for nearly nine-hundred years; it is no surprise to me that his clone would also exhibit talented Force powers."
What the hell? Wompie's a clone?!
She continued, oblivious to his surprise, or just ignoring it. (To be fair, his face was covered and It's not like he'd moved or anything.) "As for Grogu, that's his name. Or it was..." She studied the gurgling child in her arms. "Is your name still Grogu, little one?"
Din didn't know what to make of this, so he only watched with avid curiosity as his adopted son shook his head slowly in one of the most clear intelligent responses he'd ever displayed.
"It's not?"
Wompie shook his head again.
Tano looked back up at Din with a raised eye marking. "He says he likes the name you gave him better."
Din flushed with dismayed pleasure, once again glad he was wearing his helmet to hide a display of emotion inspired by the kid who had wormed his way into his previously cold heart. "I... didn't mean to name him. But I called him a little womp rat a few times too many and he started to respond to it and the next thing I knew, I was calling him Wompie."
Tano laughed softly as the child looked back at him with a smug expression. "Wompie it is, then. It suits him more than Grogu anyway, I think, mischievous creature that he is."
Now there's an understatement, Din thought with a mental snort. "How did you know his previous name?"
The woman smiled sadly. "Wompie was raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant at the same time I was, though I was technically 'older', at least in terms of development. Until he started sending me dreams last week, I thought he'd been murdered along with all the other younglings in the Temple when the Republic fell. Someone must have rescued hi..." Her voice faded away as she looked down at Wompie with a startled expression. "Force, no," she breathed, tears welling in her broken sky orbs.
"What is it, Master?" an older teenage boy asked, stepping up beside Tano, worry clear on his pale brown face.
"It's my old Master, Rowan," she said softly. "He's the one who took Wompie from the Temple.
The assembled nearly gasped as one. "Vader?" the boy called Rowan asked.
"Yes." Her affirmation was so quiet, it was barely audible even with the advanced sensors in his helmet. Wompie laid his head against her chest in a show of mutual comfort, and she hugged the child tightly, eyes closing as a few tears fell on his wrinkled head.
Din may have been ignorant about the Jedi until recently, but even he'd heard of Darth Vader; the being in a black armoured suit who'd nearly single handedly brought the galaxy to heel for the Emperor. The fact that Vader had once trained this woman made him instantly both respect her and put him on alert. If one Jedi can turn into a galactic nightmare, than so can another. Actually... some of the things Wompie has done weren't exactly nice either. He really does need training. I just hope Tano is the right person to do it and I haven't made a mistake.
After a minute of sorrow filled silence, she looked up, blinking her eyes clear. "My former Master, who fell to the Dark side, took Wompie, and after slaughtering the others... promptly gave him to Palpatine. His memories are vague after that, but Wompie associates the Emperor with darkness and pain."
Even Din was on the verge of tearing up at her broken whispers. This new information also helped paint a clearer picture regarding why so many people were after his son. "The Emperor's minions are still trying to get him back," Din said solemnly. "We've been hunted non-stop since I found him."
Tano sucked in a breath and her expression and stance hardened into the set determination of a warrior. "I won't let that happen."
Din believed her. "I'm holding you to that. Just out of curiosity, how do you know Wompie is a clone?"
Tano's set expression slowly melted into a rueful smile. "I have a lot of experience with clones and I was all but raised by this one's template. They never said so at the Temple, wanting to keep it a secret I assume, but Wompie feels just like Master Yoda in the same way that the Republic clones were echoes of each other and yet all slightly different."
"You fought in the Clone Wars," Din said, respect for this woman was growing by Force enhanced leaps and bounds.
"I did." She didn't sound particularly proud of it and her eyes darkened with remembered pain.
From what little he remembered of that time, he thought he understood; the droids murdered everything in their path, meaning she had undoubtedly lost many people close to her during the war, just like he had.
"Only one good thing came from that time," she said softly as the door opened behind him. Her smile grew and a look of unabashed love filled her gaze as she looked at someone behind him.
Hearing more than one set of footsteps, Din turned his head and watched with surprise as six nearly identical men walked in followed by a gorgeous light green Twi'lek, the snarky old astromech, a blond Human male of middle years with a fit military bearing that his civilian clothes couldn't hide, and lastly, a purple striped Lasat, of all things. Another species that the Empire didn't quite manage to wipe out.
One of the forty to fifty-something looking clones came all the way forward and wrapped his arm around Tano's waist possessively. He had a neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard and moustache that didn't match the dyed blond buzz cut on top of his head at all, but the look seemed to work for him anyway. The clone kissed Tano's temple in greeting and then looked down at Wompie contemplatively. "There's no way that Master Yoda was ever that cute."
Tano laughed. "The evidence demonstrates otherwise."
"You're sure he's a clone?" The Human clone still sounded like this wasn't possible.
"Pretty sure."
"All right. If anyone would know, it's you."
Tano smirked at her mate. "Experience outranks everything."
The clone huffed, rolling his golden brown eyes even as his mouth twitched upwards.
"Force, is she still using that one on you, Rex?" the dark blue haired young man said as he approached with the bright Mando female at his side; their duel must have ended while he was distracted. Blast. I would have liked to see who won.
"At least once a year," Rex laughed. "Our first conversation will be replayed until the day I finally kick the bucket and then she'll probably put it on my tombstone."
Tano grinned as the others laughed. "You know it, Rex'ika."
Din raised an eyebrow at the Mando'a endearment. But then again, she does have beskar armour pieces and there's another Mando here who doesn't appear to object, soooooo, that makes her a strange sort of foundling, maybe?
Once the assembled had sobered somewhat, Ahsoka raised Wompie up in the air a bit for all to see. "So, everyone, this is Wompie, which is short for womp rat because he's a cheeky little nerfherder, so he'll fit right in with us."
The group chuckled while some of the younger children looked like they wanted to play with Wompie this instant as they all but danced in their boots, but some sort of discipline was keeping them more or less still. A bright green haired boy of about eight years had sidled over to the one called Ez (also probably the aforementioned Ezra) and was looking up at him as if he could do something about his wait. Ez merely grinned down at the child, mouthed, 'patience', and ruffled his shaggy, possibly dyed hair, temporarily revealing pointed, green tipped ears that labelled him as a hybrid. I'm thinking the hair is natural.
Tano continued on, turning her gaze to Din. "And this is Wompie's protector and family." She ended on an inviting note, but left it up to him if he wanted to fully introduce himself or not.
Considering I'm probably going to be spending a lot of time with these people, I guess I should. His ingrained training said otherwise, but he ignored it; family were allowed to know his name like Greef and Cara did. "Din Djarin, Clan Mudhorn."
"It is nice to meet you, Din," Tano said with an approving smile. He got the sense that she'd known his thoughts, which only unsettled him a little after all the other crazy things he'd seen already. "And now for everyone else." She nodded to her right. "This is my mate, Commander Rex Tano."
The men exchanged nods. Rex's eyes were serious now, and he had a galaxy's worth of experience and weight in them. That man has seen and done a lot, no question.
"As you've probably noticed, Rex and his brothers are clones. They've only recently started a series of shots to reverse some of their accelerated aging, so they're still a decade or two older looking than they should be, but it's already improved." Tano sounded very pleased with this, but there was something in the look on her face as she looked at her mate that told Din she would have taken Rex no matter how much older he looked than her, nor how short his life expectancy was. That's a soulmate pairing if I've ever seen one. Now the 'ika makes more sense.
Tano tore her gaze away from Rex's adoring one and indicated the next oldest looking clone that had a wicked scar around his left eye. "This is Marshall Commander Cody. We found him still slaving away for the Empire on Endor as a mere trooper."
"Di'kute," Rex muttered, making Cody and his other brothers laugh.
Tano shook her head at Rex, grinning. "The Empire would have won that battle if Cody was in charge of the ground assault, so it's a good thing he wasn't."
"True."
"Thanks, Sir," Cody said, grinning at Tano, apparently unable to give up old titles.
"You're welcome, Cody." She indicated the next clone in line. He had a scar right through his right eye that had resulted in a robotic replacement. "This is Commander Wolffe. Rex and I rescued him from the Empire's clutches not long after the war ended. He was slated for execution for going AWOL after refusing to hunt down any more Jedi."
Din nodded at the grizzled veteran.
"The last three brothers are Canny, Lister, and Colter, the only other clones still alive that we've found so far."
More nods.
"Canny was an ISB agent, Lister was a Captain in the still infamous 501st under Darth Vader, and Colter was Captain of a Star Destroyer."
Din was impressed with all of the clones' credentials. He had a feeling that every single one of them would by a worthy match in a hand to hand bout despite their aging bodies.
Tano moved on with her intros, indicating the Twi'lek. "And this is General Hera Syndulla. She's everyone's mother whether you like it or not and no matter your age."
Hera smiled warmly at him and Din thought he wouldn't mind getting some TLC from her in whatever form she wanted, whether it be food, hugs, or something more. Especially considering none of the men here seemed to be her mate. "That's not exactly true," she said in a pleasing alto voice, shaking her head at Tano and sending her lekku swinging. "It would be correct to say that I make sure everyone eats when they should, but I definitely don't tuck the lot of you into bed at night or read you stories."
The group laughed.
"I keep telling you that I wouldn't mind," the blond male said only just sort of jokingly.
Hera rolled her eyes at him. "Keep dreaming, Alex. You know that my heart belongs to this one." She held up an arm and the green haired hybrid he'd noticed earlier darted under it to hug her waist, grinning up at her.
"Yep! My Mama!"
Hera grinned back down, bending to kiss the top of his head. "That I am, squirt. Yours and yours alone." There was a hint of pain at the end of her words that hid a deeper meaning, he was sure.
He came up with two possible answers.
One, she couldn't have any more children for medical reasons, or two, she wouldn't have any more children because she'd lost her mate and had no desire to find another one.
I'm betting on the second. Which means I'll be happy with some homecooked food and call it good.
Tano was smiling at the duo. (She smiled at everyone, really.) "That's Jacen. He's going to be Ezra's Padawan when he's older."
"Yep!" Jacen nodded quickly, running back to the blue haired man's side and hugging his waist. "My Master!"
Din only knew the word because of his scanty research on the Jedi; it meant apprentice. "Good for you," he said as if he really cared, drawn into the boy's infectious joy.
Ezra ruffled his hair again fondly. "Some day, squirt. For now, let's stick with big brother."
"If I must," Jacen pouted playfully.
"You must."
Now Din was wondering if Syndulla was a decade or so older than she looked and had two children. Their eyes were the same royal blue and they both had coloured hair. But Ezra's ears aren't pointed and he has no other Twi'lek characteristics, so who knows? Maybe he's adopted.
Tano skipped ahead in the rough circle of people she'd been following to the possible siblings. "That's Ezra Bridger, a Ghost Knight and recently rescued from the depths of the Unknown Regions where he got himself lost for six years. Rex and I spent much of that time looking for him between the odd mission for the Rebellion."
"Hey!" Ezra protested. "I wasn't lost exactly. I just had no way to get back home."
"Oh, you were definitely lost," the Mando female said, nudging her elbow into Ezra's side before focusing her visor on Din. "Ezra was stuck on a planet with no sentients, living out of a shuttle that had no fuel left, and only a vague idea of which way was home.
"Sounds like lost to me," Din said teasingly.
"Glad you agree," she said smugly. Then the female did something that completely shocked him.
And when he heard who she was, it shocked him even more.
She took off her helmet and tucked it under her arm.
Din gawked at the twenty-something woman as she shook out her emerald and sapphire dyed hair so it fell into a neat bob around her face as she walked towards him. "I'm Sabine, by the way. Lady Sabine Wren of Clan Wren, House Vizsla."
The heir to her clan held out her arm to clasp his wrist in a traditional greeting between Mandalorian warriors and he automatically returned the gesture. But under his helmet, he was staring at her with wide eyes for two reasons.
First, she was the most beautiful female he'd ever seen, possessing absolutely mesmerizing amber eyes, high cheekbones, a delicate but determined jaw, and perfect bow shaped lips.
Second. She'd taken off her helmet in front of other living people.
According to the beliefs that he'd been taught, that meant she could never put it back on or call herself a Mandalorian again.
Why would she give that up just to greet me?