The Mandalorian was missing.
No one had heard from or seen Din Djarin since the storming of Moff Gideon's light cruiser in the Outer Rim. It was as if he disappeared off the face of galaxy altogether.
There was no way of tracking him; the man didn't have a known ship anymore and there was no record of him that could be found, much to the anger and irritation of Bo-Katan, who had been trying to track him down for the better part of two weeks now but to no avail.
She had been on edge ever since the light cruiser, ever since she saw Din walk onto the bridge holding the very thing she had been trying to get in possession of for years; the Darksaber.
After that, Bo-Katan's memory became fuzzy. She remembered bits; the Dark Troopers, Moff Gideon's taunting over herself and the Darksaber, the mysterious hooded figure who took the child away and the slight altercation that followed after they left. Then black. She figured she had been knocked out because she woke up on the bridge what seemed like a few hours later, Koska Reeves lying next to her unconscious (alive but unconscious), Cara Dune, Fennec Shand, Moff Gideon and Din all gone. She had a sneaking suspicion Cara was the one who had knocked her out.
When she woke, she knew immediately what her next order of business was: find Din Djarin and get the Darksaber back.
As her ship came out of hyperspace she glanced at the greyish-green planet called Nevarro and let out a heavy sigh. Hopefully she would finally get the answers she's been looking for, because Cara Dune was going to give them to her.
"Listen, I didn't know that it belonged to him. I thought it was free to take."
"Like hell you did! Marshal Dune, don't listen to him, he's a liar!"
Cara sat at her desk, legs stretched out on top of it with her head hanging over the back of her chair in frustration, having unfortunately spent the better part of 15 minutes listening to these two morons arguing over a stolen speeder bike.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen," She said, over the raised voices, "Can't we all just come to a reasonable conclusion and call it a day? I have a drink with my name on it waiting for me at the cantina."
One of the men, the one whose bike had been taken, opened his mouth to protest when a new voice sounded, "You're going to have wait a bit longer for that drink, Marshal."
Cara recognised that voice…
She looked over to the doorway and saw Bo-Katan Kryze standing there, in her full Mandalorian armour.
"Dank farrik." She muttered under her breath as Bo-Katan began to approach her desk.
Cara put on a forced welcoming look, "Bo-Katan! What a surprise to see you here."
Bo-Katan ignored Cara's fake greeting and addressed the two men sitting at the desk. "You two, leave. Now."
They looked at each other with confusion and then back at her, the Mandalorian armour clearly making them nervous.
"Hey! You don't give the orders around here, princess. I do." Cara snapped, standing up from her chair and leaning forward, hands balled into fists and propping herself on top of the desk.
"Tell them to leave. I don't have time for this." Bo-Katan snarled back.
Cara narrowed her eyes. She knew why Bo-Katan was here and she also knew she wasn't going to leave until Cara talked.
She looked down at the two men and gestured her head to the door, signalling them to go and they both scrambled up out of their chairs and practically ran out of the building.
"What do you want?" Cara spoke up after an uncomfortable silence had fell between the two women.
"I want to know where he is." Bo-Katan replied.
Cara feigned cluelessness, "Where who is?"
"Don't act dumb with me, you know exactly who I'm talking about." Cara could hear in her voice that Bo-Katan was getting more impatient by the second.
"Listen, princess if you're going to get snippy with me you might as well take off that stupid helmet." She said in a warning tone.
Bo-Katan made a noise of annoyance and practically ripped her helmet off, slamming it down on the desk.
"Stop playing games with me!" She shouted, "Tell me where the Mandalorian went!"
Cara sighed and folded her arms across her chest. She should've known that Bo-Katan would come to her asking about Din sooner or later. However, Cara at least figured it might've taken a little longer until she exhausted all of her options and finally came crawling to her for information. Like hell she was actually going to tell her anything, though.
Cara shook her head, "You're wasting your time here. I don't know where he is." She spoke in a stern voice.
"You're lying." Bo-Katan responded immediately.
Cara pointed a finger in Bo-Katan's direction, "Look if you don't believe me, that's on you. But I'm telling you I don't know where he went," There was a tension filled pause. "And even if I did, there's no way I would tell you."
Bo-Katan glared at Cara, lips pursed in an angry expression.
"You don't get it. Do you?" She said.
"I get that you want to try and kill my friend because he has your dumb little sword." Cara retorted.
"It's not about killing him!" Bo-Katan barked and then stopped for a moment to try and calm herself down.
Then, in a quieter but still heated tone of voice, said: "Your friend has no idea what he is in possession of. That "dumb little sword" holds more power than he is capable of wielding. It should be with me."
Cara scowled, "Then you should've taken it from him when you had the chance."
Bo-Katan let out an exasperated sigh. "It doesn't work that way. Tradition dictates that the possession of the Darksaber can only be won in combat."
"Sounds like a stupid tradition to me." Cara scoffed.
Bo-Katan ignored her snide remark and continued to speak, "Din won the Darksaber by defeating Moff Gideon. Therefore, if I want it, I have to fight him and take it."
"You know he wouldn't just let you win like that." Cara said.
"Then that's his problem."
Cara clicked her tongue. "Well, if you want it so badly, you better start looking for him yourself because I don't know where he is."
Bo-Katan stared at Cara for a few seconds wearing a frown. She claimed she didn't know where Din Djarin was hiding, which was most likely a lie she was telling in order to try and cover her friends' tracks. But it was clear to her that the ex-rebel dropper wasn't going to be telling her the truth anytime soon. If it was up to her, Bo-Katan would've used more… unorthodox methods to get her to talk but since Cara was the newly appointed New Republic Marshal of Nevarro, she decided to stop her questioning.
She picked up her helmet and held in on her hip, "Fine," she uttered. "I'll leave you alone. But know this, If I find him, I will not be held responsible for my actions." And with that, Bo-Katan placed her helmet back onto her head and stalked out the door, passing a confused Greef Karga on her way out.
Greef pointed in the direction of the door, with a quizzical look on his face. "Cara? Who was that?"
"Oh, no one. Just some Mandalorian royalty." She said nonchalantly and flopped down back into her chair, ignoring the wide-eyed look of shock from Greef.
"What did they want?" He asked incredulously.
"They came in asking about Mando, wanted to know where he is." She replied.
"You told them?"
"No, of course not!" Cara said with a flash. "And anyway, even if I did know I couldn't tell them. I really don't know where he went. I haven't heard from him since we gave him that ship and he didn't tell me where he was going."
Greef gave her a curious look, "So you really have no idea? I figured he might have told you something."
Cara shook her head. "Nope. He didn't tell me a thing."
There was a pause.
"Although," Cara started and Greef turned to face her. "I have a gut feeling as to where he might have gone."
A few weeks earlier
Din Djarin sat in silence.
Only the light hum of his ship travelling through hyperspace could be heard, the ship's console illuminated a soft blue from the light outside; it was just a small cargo freighter, nothing special.
His breathing was slow and steady as he stared aimlessly at the small, silver ball in his hand, moving it around through his fingers. He felt a deep pang of pain in his stomach and had to take a moment before a wave of grief washed over him. Din put the ball back into the pouch on his belt and drew his focus back to the deep blue of hyperspace.
He kept thinking over and over again, had he made the right decision? Letting him go?
Din had felt pain before many times in his life. He had been beaten and battered and, on more than one occasion, had been very close to death. But he didn't think that anything could hurt him more than watching Grogu disappear out of his sight. It might've been what was best; the robed Jedi who took him away said that although Grogu was powerful it meant nothing if he couldn't utilise that power. It would've been selfish of Din to refuse to let him go and even though it was the right thing to do, that didn't mean it hurt any less.
"I'll see you again. I promise." He had told Grogu, and he really hoped that that was true.
As Din looked into those big, trusting brown eyes, eyes he knew had seen so much already, Grogu's tiny hand brushing his cheek, he felt a warmth he had not felt in many years. It hadn't even occurred to him until now that that was probably the first time he had felt the touch of another living thing since he was a small child; it was almost as if he couldn't process this realisation.
And now he was alone again.
The same as it always been.
Din's mind thought back to the events that followed moments after those elevator doors closed…
He stood there, completely exposed.
His helmet sitting on the floor next to him, tears forming in his eyes.
It took Din a great amount of self-control to not drop to the floor and break down. He was too vulnerable; his helmet had been removed, and he felt as though he had been stabbed with a sharp blade right in the chest.
The other's in the room weren't sure what to do; Bo-Katan and Koska stood exchanging looks with each other, Fennec was making sure that Moff Gideon didn't wake up in an attempt to give herself something to do and Cara cautiously looked in Din's direction, not sure if she should be looking at him all.
It had taken them all aback when Din had removed his helmet, but no one had dared speak up and say anything about it. Even if they had, Din probably wouldn't have noticed anyway; he was too lost in his own sorrow to pay attention to his surroundings.
After what seemed like hours, Cara spoke up, "We should leave." And she began to approach Din with some hesitation. "Mando?" She said but didn't respond; he didn't even look at her.
Cara spoke again, this time in a more urgent voice. "Mando."
Again, there was no response.
She walked up closer to him and lowered her head a little. "Din."
The sound of his own name, which was something he rarely ever heard, seemed to snap him out of his own thoughts slightly and he half-turned to face Cara.
"We need to leave." Cara said and she bent down to pick up Din's helmet from the floor to hand it to him; he had almost forgotten it was there.
"Wait just a second," Bo-Katan's voice cut through the silence. "You're not going anywhere. Not until we attend to the matter at hand."
"What are you talking about?" Cara whipped around in Bo-Katan's direction, somewhat impatiently.
Bo-Katan's gaze shifted down to the hilt that that was strapped to Din's belt, "The Darksaber. I can't let him leave with it in his possession."
Cara sighed loudly, "Just leave it. The guy's been through enough already."
But Bo-Katan could only stand and stare for a few moments, her brow knitted tightly across her forehead. "I can't," She breathed out, "I will do what I have to do." And she began to walk towards Din with purpose.
But before she could draw her blaster to challenge Din, Cara pointed her own blaster towards her head, stopping Bo-Katan in her tracks.
"If you lay a finger on him, I will blow that bucket right off your head." She said in a warning growl, and Bo-Katan glanced slyly between the blaster pointing at her head and the person holding it.
Koska quickly drew her blaster also, pointing it at Cara, but Bo-Katan held her hand up as if to tell her to put it down. She sneered in Cara's direction, "No you won't."
Cara raised her eyebrows. "Oh, won't I?" And before Bo-Katan could respond, Cara jerked forward and slammed the butt of her blaster into Bo-Katan's helmet, managing to knock her clean out. Koska, once again raised her blaster but Cara was too fast and fired hers in Koska's direction before she could even pull the trigger; Koska fell to the floor unconscious.
The sound of blaster fire seemed to bring Din back into reality and he shrank back in shock, clutching his helmet before wildly looking around the bridge as if he didn't know where he was. Fennec also stared at Cara with wide eyes.
"What?" She looked between the two, breathing heavily. "I set it to 'stun'."
Cara then moved towards Fennec, "Fennec, can you get into contact with Fett?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Tell him we need transport out of here."
"What about these two?" Fennec asked, gesturing to the two Mandalorian's lying unconscious on the floor,
"Leave them. They wanted this ship; they can have it." Cara replied almost bitterly.
Fennec nodded and went into a corner of the bridge to speak into her commlink.
Cara then turned back towards Din and tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder; he seemed to have slipped back into a state of despair.
"C'mon, buddy, we're getting out of here." She said softly, and Din turned to look at her, eyes wet and with a sorrowful look on his face.
Cara pursed her lip in sympathy, "It'll be okay." She said, and he wanted nothing more than for her to be right.
It wasn't long after that, that Din found himself sitting in the Slave I, helmet back on his head, and the other three discreetly looking at him and then sharing worrying looks between themselves; Fennec and Cara didn't say anything to Boba about seeing Din without his helmet.
Boba had asked where Grogu was, and Cara filled him in as the ship slipped into hyperspace.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Mando," Boba replied, gruffly but with sincerity. "At least it's what's best for the kid."
Din didn't reply to this and sat in silence the whole flight back to Nevarro, as Cara had instructed Boba to take them there.
When they finally got there, Boba landed the ship outside the entrance to Nevarro City; Cara had to guide Din out onto the planet's surface whilst carrying Moff Gideon unconscious over her shoulder (there was no way she was going to leave him on that light cruiser.)
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us and stretch your legs for a bit?" Cara asked Boba and Fennec as they walked down the landing ramp, and she gestured to one of the deputy Marshal's standing by to take Moff Gideon away.
Boba shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, but I have some business to attend to. On Tatooine."
Cara gave them a curt nod. "Very well. Thank you for helping us."
"No problem," Fennec replied. "Take care of this one." She said, gesturing her head toward Din.
Din manged to look in the pair's direction as they were leaving, and Boba gave him one bow of his head. The Slave I then started up and Cara and Din watched it descend toward the sky and disappear from view.
Cara then led Din back to the Marshal's building and sat him down on a bench.
"Look," She started, "You can't stay here for long. They're going to come looking for you as soon as they wake up and I guarantee this is one of the first places they'll look." Cara said, clearly referring to Bo-Katan.
There was a pause as Din hung his head. "I- I haven't got anywhere to go." He said quietly.
Cara pursed her lips, "There are places you can go, places that won't be on Bo-Katan's radar. I can give you a ship and some supplies, but you'll need to leave immediately."
Din looked up in her direction.
"Listen, whatever that thing is," Cara said, gesturing to the Darksaber hilt, "She's going to come looking for it, so you need to lay low."
"She'll find me eventually. Bo-Katan won't stop looking until she gets her hands on it." Din replied solemnly.
Cara gave him a look of ernest, "Then you better get as far away from here as possible…"
The ship jerked out of hyperspace, bringing Din back into reality. He looked over the ship's console and looked out at the planet in front of him.
After Cara and Greef gave him a ship, Din wracked his brain trying to figure out a place where he could go. Because Cara was right, Bo-Katan would come looking for him and there was no telling what she would do once she found him. She was after this thing, the Darksaber, and Din that knew she wouldn't stop until he was either beaten down or worse.
But Din felt so emotionally drained as he began the ship's descent onto the planet below, that he just wanted to switch off. He had lost his ship and his clan of two was broken; he had been through enough and he just wanted to rest.
That's why he decided to come back to Sorgan.
Din needed to go somewhere that was discreet, somewhere in the Outer Rim, but he also didn't want to be alone, not again. So, he chose Sorgan. Din had a feeling he would be welcome back there, too.
He wondered if she would still be there…
The tiny freighter landed on the planet's surface and he gathered up the small satchel of supplies Cara had given him, leaving the ship, feet touching the mossy ground.
Din was closer to the village than he was last time he was here; he completely bypassed the town as he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He took in the fresh air and found himself feeling slightly less on edge than he did before, as he started walking through the tall trees towards the village.
As he walked, he knew he was getting closer; he could hear the loud excited squeals of children. Suddenly, Din felt very foolish. Would he be welcomed back there? Last time he was here, a bounty hunter had tracked him down, and he knew that that was too much action for a small backwater village like this one. Maybe they had changed their minds about welcoming him back with open arms.
But he decided against turning back now and carried on walking along the dirt path. It's not as if he had a better replacement idea.
He carried on walking until he came across the clearing where the village was. There weren't a lot of people around, perhaps they were in their houses, but a few children ran through the grass paths in between the small ponds and there were a few more people working and milling about.
That's when Din saw her.
Hers was the only face he recognised, and he slowly began to walk into the village towards her.
Omera was leaning down on the grass and she had a small contented smile on her face as she sifted through the woven basket that was sitting on the ground next to her.
Then, Omera happened to look up and she immediately spotted the familiar beskar clad figure approaching her from the direction of the forest. She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, and her heart skipped a beat. With wide eyes, she slowly rose to her feet as the Mandalorian stopped a few feet away from her.
There was a moment of uncertainty that grew between the two and neither were sure what to say to each other. It was Omera who spoke up first.
"You came back?" She said, with a hint of softness in her voice.
Din nodded, unable to find the words to say.
Omera took a few cautious steps forward and stopped when she realised that the child was not with him.
"Where's the child?" She asked, and Din noticed she sounded worried.
"He's safe," He replied immediately. And then after another small pause said: "He's where he belongs." He finished quietly, glancing down at the ground.
A tender look spread across Omera's features. She then made an attempt to put on a welcoming smile.
"Why don't you come in? I can make you something to drink?" She asked, and once again, Din nodded, following her lead.
Din sat down at a small table in Omera's house as she stood in the makeshift kitchenette, fixing him a cup of spotchka.
No words were exchanged, which didn't bother either Din or Omera as they both understood the value of a little silence here and there, especially in a situation such as this one.
When she was finished making Din the drink, Omera walked over and placed it on top of the table, taking a seat across from him.
"Thank you." He said, gripping one hand around the cup, not yet taking a sip.
"You're welcome.' She replied, and she placed her hands on the table's surface.
There was another silence.
"Where's Winta?" Din spoke up after swirling his drink for a few seconds.
Omera, surprised but touched that the Mandalorian remembered her daughter's name, smiled slightly, "She's out playing with her friends, I believe."
Din figured that the delighted shouts of children he heard as he approached the village must've been from Winta and the other children from the community.
Another silence arose and Omera was once again the to speak up first, albeit with some hesitation.
"Why did you come back here?" She questioned, and then shook her hands in reassurance. "Not that that's a problem, of course, it's just… I didn't think you ever would."
Din continued to swirl his spotchka around in his cup as he thought of a way to respond. Finally, he settled on: "Something has happened. And I just need to stay hidden for a little while. This place is pretty remote so I figured I would come here."
Omera pondered his answer, "Does you laying low have anything to do with that by any chance?" She said, nodding her head to the Darksaber hilt hanging off Din's belt.
She really did miss nothing, didn't she? He thought.
Din let out a short exhale through his nose. "Yes," He replied. "I'm not really sure what it is or what it means but, someone is after it and that means they're after me. And I'd rather not find out what happens if they do find me."
Omera scrunched her eyebrows up in concern but could tell that that was all he was comfortable with sharing for a while, so she didn't continue her questioning about the mysterious object.
Din carried on speaking, "I came here because… I didn't know where else to go." He said as if he were lost.
Once again, Omera's face softened up. She could tell he was hurting, probably because he gave up the child. Last time he was here she could see he cared a lot for him so she could only imagine the pain he was going through right now after having given him up. Of course, she didn't understand the circumstances around the Mandalorian letting the child go, but something told her it was for wise reasons, even if she didn't know what they were yet.
"Well, you're free to stay here as long as you want," She smiled at him. "Everyone will be so happy to see you again." And without thinking, she reached her hand over the table and placed it on his free one.
It was meant to be a friendly, supportive gesture but it took Din by surprise nonetheless and he flinched slightly, but then he relaxed, looking over at Omera. She gave him a warm smile and then moved her hand back over to her side of the table.
She then stood up from her chair and straightened out the creases in her apron, "I can leave you alone to drink, if you want?" She said, obviously remembering the last time, when she left him alone to remove his helmet and eat.
But Din shook his head. "That's okay, you don't have to." He replied, and Omera gave him a look of confusion.
Then, much to her bewilderment, he placed his hands on his helmet and began lifting it off his head.
"No! What are you doing?" Omera said in a surprised voice, which caused Din to stop removing his helmet. "I thought you weren't allowed to-"
But Din cut her off, "It's okay!" He said, raising his hands at Omera in attempt to reassure her. And then in a calmer voice he said: "It's okay. I'm- okay."
And Omera stood looking at him, mouth closed and eyes large as Din cautiously placed his hands on either side of his helmet again and slowly lifted it off his head.
She was right, he shouldn't have been allowed. But if he was being honest with himself, Din had already been through so much that he wasn't concerned anymore whether or not the whole village saw him without his helmet. He had broken that rule already and it's not as if he needed to wear the helmet anymore anyway, not now that he was hiding out on Sorgan. It was definitely still a huge deal for him as his helmet, his armour, offered him a sense of security. But, at the same time he realised that his armour was something he had become too dependent on to feel safe and it was time he moved past that. What else did he left to lose?
Omera wasn't sure what she expected this man to look like underneath that beskar helmet. Of course, she had wondered, but she didn't think she would actually ever see what he looked like with her own eyes.
But there he was.
Standing in front of her, helmet resting by his side. Omera breathed out a steady breath as she looked at the face of this once mysterious figure for first time.
The first thing she noticed were those deep brown eyes, and she found herself being taken aback slightly at the fact that, underneath all that armour, the Mandalorian was just… a man.
Din's heart was racing, and he once again found himself feeling exposed. He knew however, that he could trust Omera and he stood still as she looked at him in awe.
It was in that moment that it dawned upon him that she didn't actually know his name and he awkwardly blurted it out, "It's Din."
Omera's brow suddenly knitted up in an almost humorous manner.
"What?" She questioned, snapping out of her mini trance.
"That- that's my name," Din replied, pointing his index finger to his chest. "My name is Din."
A grin formed on Omera's face and she began to walk a few paces forward so that the two were nearly standing completely face to face.
Din looked down at her with an expression that was half-curious and half-uncertain; people didn't usually get this close to him. But Omera, who clearly wasn't going to hurt him, only looked up at those brown eyes and smiled.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Din." She said, and she could've sworn that the corners of his mouth turned up slightly into a faint smile.
Din realised then and there, that he made the right choice to come back to Sorgan.
Although Grogu wasn't with him and that caused him great pain, he finally found a place where he could feel safe, which before was a feeling he didn't know if he would ever feel again. He could forget about everything here; the Darksaber, Bo-Katan and everything he had been through in recent weeks.
It felt good to know he could heal here; he could just let go and there would be no consequence to that.
For the first time in long time, Din Djarin felt at peace.