It was already the day of the wedding ceremony. Din Djarin paced about his bathroom fretting over his appearance in the mirror. She would see him for the first time without his helmet tonight, maybe even more than just his face. What if she didn't like what she saw, it was a big leap on her part. If she picked someone from a different clan she might have been able to see what they look like already and court them differently. He grabbed his razor and started trimming his beard; cleaning up was the least he could do, he was marrying a queen after all. Maybe he should cut his hair too? He grabbed a pair of scissors and pulled a couple of locks down with his fingers. Snip. Oh fuck he cut too much.

Bo-Katan was inundated by the council members and wedding planners from the moment she stepped out of her room. She wished her family was here, they would probably know the exact things to say to calm her nerves.

"A gift to mark this momentous time." Said the armorer.

Bo-Katan accepted the wrapped item the armorer had placed in front of her. She gingerly removed the cloth wrapping to unveil a new pauldron. This one had an intricate design carefully etched into it. It had a fanciful flare to it and of course, had a mythosaur branded onto it.

"Thank you so much, this is beautiful." She said as her fingers slowly glided across to feel the pattern the armorer had taken the time to artfully put into it. The armorer's head tilted in a small bow.

"Congratulations on your big day. I look forward to the union of our two tribes." And with that, the armorer left.

The morning quickly disappeared. Din Djarin had scrubbed and buffed his armor relentlessly to seem somewhat acceptable. He had never done this before, but this was such a public event and so much was riding on it. Grogu gurgled in his pod.

"Hey kid, are you ready for today?" Din asked.

Grogu held out a small flower in his hand and offered it to his dad.

"For me? Thank you, I'll put it right here." He tucked it into a seam of his breastplate to look a bit like a boutonnière. "Perfect."

Grogu chirped in delight.

"Come on, we should start making our way there."

Bo-Katan felt on edge standing in the temple, marriage seemed so foreign to her and now she was about to be a part of one. She felt a sense of calm wash over her in waves when her gaze found Din Djarin making his way across to her. They stood in front of each other fully dressed in armor.

"Funny seeing you here." She whispered.

"I'm actually being forced against my will and plan to make a run for it at the first opportunity." He whispered back.

The priest rose in front of them and everyone in the temple took their seats. Bo-Katan and Din Djarin took each other's arms, palms wrapped firmly around the other's forearm. The priest began wrapping a thin chain around their intertwined arms and soldered the ends together. They said the standard vows they had memorized beforehand and the priest announced in front of everyone that they were now married.

They both felt a moment of panic as they turned to face everyone with their new relationship on display. The priest quickly unwrapped the newly formed circle of chain from their arms and handed it to them.

"Keep this in your new home. It is a physical symbol of your sacred bond."

Bo-Katan knew those words oozed with a heavy importance but it wasn't quite getting through to her yet. It felt surreal. They were rushed off to the great hall for the reception to celebrate. Perhaps the council had been spot on, everyone seemed to be getting along so well, all disputes in the past and forgotten. Re-Han had a long speech about his hopes for unity and prosperity for Mandalore that was not as boring as his usual council meeting monologues but quite touching. Bo-Katan and Din Djarin shared few words between them during the reception as they kept getting pulled away by different people offering their congratulations.

Everything felt like such a blur by the time Din Djarin and Bo-Katan finally got to sit down together in the wedding suite. They both let out a sigh at the same time and then laughed together.

"That was absolute chaos. Let's never do that again." Bo-Katan said as she took her helmet off.

"Agreed." He replied.

He hesitated and then slowly brought his hands up to his helmet to remove them. Bo-Katan's eyes were wide with anticipation. She put a hand on his arm.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." She said.

Din chuckled lightly.

"We are married now. I wouldn't need to be redeemed when you see my face. It's okay and I want to do this."

She bit her lower lip, not sure what to expect. He placed his helmet down on the table and turned to face her. He searched her face adamantly for a reaction. Her mouth opened slightly and then she slowly closed it. Bo-Katan couldn't stop staring and didn't know what part of his face to focus on, as it was all so new. She reached out and gently rested her fingertips on his cheek, it was soft. Her fingers gracefully dropped to his jaw and traced it from under his ear to his lips. Bo-Katan drew back a little after realizing how close their faces had become.

"You're handsome." She whispered even though they were alone in the room.

The corner of his mouth twitched up into a grin.

"You don't have to say that just because you're stuck with me, you know?"

She punched his arm.

"Oh thank goodness you broke the ice I wasn't sure how to tell you that I find you hideous and need to wash my eyes in the living water." She snorted.

They both chuckled and she pressed her hand to her mouth. She couldn't believe she could see him now, his face was pleasing to the eye. Bo-Katan stood up and rummaged through their wedding gifts for a moment before retrieving one and returning to sit next to Din at the small table he was sitting at.

"Figured there would be one in there." She said as she showed him the bottle of wine she found. He grabbed the set of glasses that were near him for her to pour the wine.

"Cheers." She said as she tilted her glass towards him.

"Cheers." He replied

Their glasses tinked and Din Djarin sipped at the wine while Bo-Katan threw her glass back and finished her drink. He smirked at her.

There was an awkward silence between them; both of them were unsure of what to do. She glanced over at the one bed in the room. He followed her gaze.

"Please don't feel pressured. This is a lot...for anyone. I wouldn't mind taking things slowly" Din said.

"I feel comfortable with slow. I would like to get to know you more." She said still studying his face.

There was more silence.

"What's your favorite color?" She blurted out.

Din Djarin smiled at her. "I don't think I've been asked that in about 3 decades."

"I figured we should start somewhere." She launched.

"Maybe brown?"

"What? Why brown? No one actually picks brown as their favorite color."

"I open up to you and then you just start criticizing my answer? Wow, this is going to be a long marriage." He teased.

Bo-Katan rolled her eyes.

"Well, what about you?"

"Hmmmm... I'm always surrounded by blue but I actually quite like green."

She rested her elbow on the table and tilted her face in her palm to look at him. She was getting tired after the long day but she still wanted to continue talking with him.

"How did you get that scar on your head?"

He told her about the injury he sustained on Nevarro and almost died from if it wasn't for IG-11. They continued talking about their different adventures and some of their childhoods until they couldn't stop the yawns from slipping out.

"What about yours?" He asked referring to the scar above her brow.

"I can't tell you all my secrets on the first night, now can I? We should really sleep. I'll go to the bathroom to change, you can use the closet if you would like." She said.

He nodded and she got up and headed towards the bathroom. She later emerged wearing her comfortable and plain nightgown. Din Djarin stood in front of her shirtless with tattered pants.

"I don't really own sleep clothes." He said.

She didn't hear his comment as she was busy looking over his torso. His muscles were well-defined and he had numerous scars that she wanted to ask all about. It took a lot of strength not to reach out and touch him, a strength she guessed she was missing at the time, as her hand made contact with his chest. He had similar thoughts, his hands instinctively went straight to her bare shoulders and pulled her closer. Din could smell her scent again and it was intoxicating. His hands traveled down her arm and transitioned to her waist. Bo-Katan's hands gravitated up his neck and into his hair where she gave his freshly cut locks a gentle squeeze.

His heart was pounding so hard he wondered if she could hear it. Their noses almost grazed they were so close together and their lips were just a breath apart. Din Djarin stopped his hands from traveling any further.

"I don't want you to feel any pressure just because we are married." He said in a hushed tone.

He tilted his head to lean his forehead against hers to put some distance between their mouths. Bo-Katan couldn't remember a time when her lips didn't feel complete but in this moment it felt like they ached for a missing part of themselves that they didn't know they had and kissing him would solve that.

"I... well..." She wasn't quite sure how to start her thoughts let alone share them.

"We've had a long day, we are both tired, we've been drinking, and I don't want you to do something that you'll wake up and regret." He wanted her so badly but was trying his best to show restraint.

She looked into his eyes and studied them for a moment although they were hard to see with hardly any lights in the room. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You're right. We are married and we have a whole marriage to figure out if this is something we want. I'm sorry I never wanted you to put yourself in a position where you would feel forced to do anything."

"No, I-"

"Let's sleep for now."

She turned away and face the bed, now faced with another awkward situation that had momentarily slipped her mind. There was only one bed.

"Why don't you sleep here, I'll go to the couch." Din offered.

"Perhaps. Just for tonight? Sharing a bed, a home, and just about everything is something we will have to get used to. We are a family now." She wasn't sure what would've happened if they had shared the bed.

Din Djarin took a pillow and found a spare sheet to use as a blanket on the couch, it was quite comfortable. He looked to be adjusted so turned off the remaining lights. He shifted a bit more on the couch trying to push down the stiffness between his legs.

"Good night." She said quietly, she wasn't sure he heard her, she almost couldn't even hear herself over how loudly her heart was beating.

"Good night." He said even quieter.