By the time Din arrived back to Nevarro, dawn had long since broken.
Peli Motto had kept to her word, and just a few long hours after he had arrived on Tatooine, the N-1 had been fixed up with a new fan belt.
But adding that to the time it took to fly back to Din's new home planet, the sun was already high over the lava flats by the time the Mandalorian cut through the atmosphere of Nevarro.
Despite napping for almost forty-five minutes, late into the early hours, Din had gotten little to no sleep for several days now, and was almost running on empty.
All he wanted now was to lie low for a few days, and get some proper rest. As did Grogu, who had spent most of the last few hours napping on Din and was also very obviously exhausted.
But that's what a Mandalorian's life was. Exhausting.
That was why Din had been happy to settle here in Nevarro. Happy to give Grogu the chance to play in the sunlight. To take the time to just be a kid for a while.
Din piloted the N-1 over the outskirts of the city, heading over to the lava flats where his little cabin resided.
But as he circled his ship a little way out of the city, the Mandalorian couldn't help but notice a small plume of smoke coming from behind one of the low hilly lava peaks.
It was obviously a broken down ship, but Din was far too tired for any trouble.
Normally he would go and offer his help to anyone in distress but he was exhausted and for once he would leave the help to someone else.
He ignored the smoke, turning his ship as he headed to the South.
But on his lap, Grogu quirked his head, staring up at Din.
"I'm too tired, someone else can help," Din uttered, taking his son's noises as accusatory. Grogu hadn't directly asked the question, but Din was taking it as such. His considerate conscience tugging at him.
Grogu gave a growl, more in reply to Din than anything else. His father having stayed silent for the entirety of his trip from Tatooine.
But at this, Din let out a long huff.
"Ok, fine," muttered the Mandalorian, flipping a switch on the control panel before him before steering the ship back around to the left and heading east towards the plume of smoke.
He was so easily convinced. His feeling of duty to do the right thing since becoming a father was likely to be the death of him at this rate.
The smoke was now barely visible behind the short hill. And as Din flew his large N-1 Starfighter over the crest of the small peak to get a better view of the vehicle in trouble, his heart dropped suddenly into his stomach as he caught sight of the ship in question.
Not a ship at all, in fact…
...but a battered old landspeeder.
He saw the pilot stood nearby, gaze up at him, hand up over her eyes, her familiar golden hair billowing all around her, as Din's ship circled overhead.
Lysa Kane.
Of all of the people on this planet it had to be her.
Right now there was no one Din wanted to see more than her, and yet at the same time somehow wished it could be anyone else but Lysa.
And he could tell by how she stared up at him with wide eyes, likely recognising his ship instantly, that Lysa felt the same.
But what could he do now? Circle around and go home? She had very obviously broken down. And what kind of person would he be, to bare that much of a grudge? Especially to her.
Din's heart began to thud a beat inside his chest.
This was the first time he had seen her since that day on her doorstep and feelings he had tried to push away this past week or so, began to rise to the surface once more.
Din landed his ship about thirty feet or so away, as Grogu chirped on his lap, trying to climb up Din's torso to get a better look at the awaiting figure.
Din gave a huff, reddening a little beneath his hemet, before he slowly exited the ship, holding Grogu in his arm as he did so.
Hopping down from the N-1, he saw Lysa look down at her dusty hands for a moment, brushing them together, looking apprehensive.
She was today in a pale blue belted tunic and white breeches, her warm honey-coloured hair loose around her shoulders.
To Din she looked like heaven incarnate, and he felt his heart pound just that little bit faster as he approached her.
"Hey," he muttered through his modulator, coming to stop just a couple of feet away from her.
Din immediately saw her cheeks flush pink, and for the briefest of moments her gaze met with his beneath his beskar mask, before she tore her eyes away.
"Hi," she replied in a quiet voice, before a hush fell over the pair of them.
Neither really knowing what to say to the other.
Din internally scolded himself. Dank farrik. He was a fully grown man. He should be better than this.
But it was Grogu who luckily broke through their silence, suddenly jumping from Din's arms and into Lysa's.
She caught him quickly, pulling his tiny body into her.
"Hi, little guy," she said with a soft smile, her gaze now warm as she stared down at the small child, running her finger over the tip of his soft ear. She gave a laugh as he gurgled. "I missed you too."
Din swallowed hard, as he watched the pair of them interact. And found himself yearning for a life he knew he would likely never have with someone who, right now, had already made it clear her priorities were not with him.
He watched them for a few seconds more, before clearing his throat and speaking, trying to make conversation.
"You…uh…you run into some trouble?" he said, taking a wide step toward the still-smoking speeder and eyeing it carefully.
The trunk was up on the front of the landspeeder and part of the engine was pouring out a thick plume of smoke.
At his voice, Lysa turned to Din. Balancing Grogu, who was playing with her long hair, on her hip she wandered over and came to stand at his side.
Din felt himself tense a little at her close proximity to him.
"I don't know, I was just coming back from a delivery and I heard a bang and then-" she gestured to the engine with a wave of her free hand, before giving a sigh. "I still have six more deliveries to make today before the end of today…there's no way that's going to happen."
Din stood still for a moment peering into the engine.
"This isn't a good place to break down," he uttered in a low voice, before standing up straight and gazing about. "We're close to Jawa territory . They'll have your speeder for parts if they see that smoke. I think there's a way I can-"
And with that, he reached over and twisted a large black valve with his gloved hand.
Immediately the black smoke stopped billowing.
From the corner of his eye he saw Lysa stare at him.
"D-Do you think that worked?" she asked gently.
She placed a hand on the rim of the speeder absent-mindedly, right beside his gloved one. Their smallest fingers touching lightly.
Din swallowed.
"No, I think your primary gasket has overheated and blown," he replied, shaking himself and leaning over the engine, peering in to where he could just about make out the gasket and the part that needed fixing.
"Oh," said Lysa quietly, her voice full of worry.
Din understood at once that without her speeder she would indeed struggle to make anywhere enough money to live off. Her income relied on this vehicle. Just as Din had relied on his Razorcrest and now his Starfighter.
Making up his mind, and giving up on getting any rest anytime soon, Din stood up straight and turned to her.
"But…. I think I might be able to fix it for you," he uttered in a low voice. "Looks like it just needs a new relay washer."
Lysa stared at him for a long moment, tilting her head slightly, her greeny-hazel eyes searching over his beskar helmet, a look of genuine disbelief passing over her features.
Almost as though she couldn't believe that anyone would be that kind. Especially to her.
It killed Din to think that someone like Crix had made her feel like she didn't deserve kindness like this from others.
"That would be-" she said, before quickly giving a shake of her head, a frown sitting between her perfect brows. "A-Are you sure?…I just I know you must be busy…and-"
But Din gave a shake of his head.
"I've got the tools in my ship," he said in a firm voice, wandering back over to the N-1.
Behind him Lysa remained silent for a long few moments as Din fetched what he needed from the slim storage trunk at the base of his ship.
Din was quick in retrieving what he needed and by the time he turned around Lysa was standing there beside her speeder with Grogu now at her feet, chomping on a ripe-looking warted lime.
"Thank you," she offered suddenly. "I honestly-" But Lysa gave a visible swallow as she trailed off.
The tops of her cheeks reddened again and her eyes fell to the ground for the briefest of moments before she lifted her gaze. Her eyes once again meeting with Din's.
As though carefully choosing her words, Lysa licked at her top lip slowly - Din catching the movement, causing him to let out an involuntary huff of air.
"Just...thanks," she said again in a kind voice, and for the first time today she offered him a warm smile.
A smile that Din returned in relief, despite Lysa not even realising it.
"Don't mention it."
Thanks to MsRosePetal, J-James, Lockheart96, smichale and chipiam for reviewing the last chapter.
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