Din watched as Lysa weaved easily between the stalls, buying ingredients here and there. Even bartering lightheartedly with the vendors.

At points she would turn to Din, who was lingering near to her, talking him through some of the rarer items being sold.

"Has Grogu tried these purple pears?" she said now, gracing him with a kind smile and holding out a curved purple fruit.

At her words, the Mandalorian gave a shake of his head. "I'm not sure," he murmured.

Din knew that his son had lived for fifty years before meeting him. He was certain there were a lot of things he had or hadn't done in that time, but none of that Din particularly wanted to dwell on.

Perhaps sensing his unease with the question, Lysa offered him a lingering look before turning back to the Snivvian stall holder.

"I'll take eight of those," she said gently, her eyes scanning over the fruit before her, pointing her finger at each item in turn. "And I'll take…..six of the Giva and three punnets of the tufted mushberries."

Item by item, the stall holder handed over the fruit which Lysa carefully placed into her basket. Before she extracted a handful of credits and held them out for the Snivvian.

But as she did so, the sleeve of her tunic slipped a little, revealing a large and nasty looking bright purple bruise on her forearm. It was blotchy and looked stark against her smooth skin.

Din instantly frowned.

He watched as Lysa thanked the stall holder before turning back to the Mandalorian, but her smile faltered as she saw him looking directly at her.

"What?" she asked curiously, her eyes roving across his beskar helmet.

Din allowed her to reach him before he turned, walking away with her at his side once again.

"Where'd you get a bruise like that?" he said before he could stop himself, pointing his gloved hand towards her now-covered forearm.

Din had been injured more times than he could count and knew what it was like to wake up with mark like that across his bruised limbs. Something that looked as bad as that did, you didn't just get from bumping it on a counter.

But beside him he felt Lysa visibly stop in her tracks. Din turned to her just in time to see her eyes widen and her cheeks turn white.

But he was lucky to have caught it, for within less than a second Lysa had righted herself. As though a veil had fallen down over her features, shielding her visible emotions to the world- similar to what Din's helmet did for him.

"Oh this thing?," she said brightly, tapping her finger over her sleeve, but she made no move to uncover the bruise again. "Oh it's nothing. I just knocked it getting out of the speeder yesterday."

Din frowned, narrowing his eyes in her direction.

The Mandalorian had interrogated many people during his lifetime. He knew when someone was lying.

But was it his place to argue with her?

Din knew that at this stage he valued his friendship with her too much to question her.

That was what this was, wasn't it? A friendship?

And so Din remained silent. Not saying another word on the subject.

For a moment he felt Lysa glance towards him as they walked away from the hustle and bustle of the busy Bazaar.

"Din, I-"

But before Lysa could say another word, she was roughly shoved aside by a man running past, arms laden full of trinkets from a nearby stall.

"HEY, COME BACK HERE!" came the gruff voice of the Weequay market vendor, pointing at the man. "THIEF!"

The short, red-haired thief was indeed quick. Despite being loaded with stolen goods he was at the corner of the street in a matter of seconds.

But unfortunately for him, Din was quicker. And in an instant, the Mandalorian had thrown out his fibercord whip and hooked the human thief around the ankles.

The man immediately toppled to the ground, spilling the items of precious metal in his arms, all over the ground.

Giving a grunt, Din strolled over to the man, who was face down on the ground, spluttering in the dusty dirt, and placed his boot flat to his back, pinning him down.

But Din didn't even have to do anything more, for he turned his head to hear a screeching siren and a shiny landspeeder gliding it's way into the marketplace, parting the crowd as it went.

It came to a halt just a couple of feet away from him, with the new Marshal and two of the city's peacekeepers, clutching guns, quickly exiting the ship and surrounding them.

"We can take it from here," came the robotic, yet familiar voice, of IG-11, as Din backed away, retracting his whip as the men grabbed the thief, hauling him to his feet and cuffing him.

He watched as the Marshal went over to speak to the market vendor, just as Lysa appeared at Din's side, leaning in close.

"Actually maybe I will need that chaperone after all," she said in a carrying whisper, her teasing eyes meeting with his, behind his beskar helmet.

Din's lips twitched up into a grin.

Ten minutes later and the pair were strolling together through the North of the city, heading towards Lysa's home. The sun was already way down below the horizon line, the streets awash in a golden shadowy glow.

Din knew that Nevarro was a bright and upcoming place to live, now becoming somewhat of a hub for travellers and settlers alike. But it was things like what had happened back at the marketplace, that reminded him that things had not changed that much.

Neighbourhoods like this still were privy to great poverty. And sinister goings on we're still happening on these street corners and behind these rusted closed doors.

But despite living here, amongst all that, Lysa seemed to him, a light within all that darkness.

She was kind, smart, and brightened every space she seemed to be present in. Well, to Din at least.

He still hadn't forgotten their conversation just before the thief had disturbed them. But maybe he had been wrong. Maybe the mark on Lysa's forearm had been caused by getting out of her speeder.

He knew that he needed to trust her. She certainly trusted him.

It was obvious from the looks Din had been getting in this part of town, that Mandalorians were NOT popular around here. Din being no exception.

But Lysa didn't seem to care.

In fact she was more than happy to talk to Din, ignoring the looks they were getting from passers by.

"And so that's how I left Coruscant," she said smiling up at Din, swinging her basket easily from her hand as she walked. "And I was certainly poorer than when I arrived there, that was for sure!"

Din gave an easy chuckle.

Right now he felt more at peace than he had in a long time. Why did it feel so easy? Talking to Lysa like this? Just walking with her, at her side. Listening to her self-deprecating stories.

She sighed sweetly, staring ahead once more.

"Sorry…I talk a lot when I'm nervous," she said in a kindly voice.

A frown line twitched it's way between Din's brows.

But as though catching his concealed expression, Lysa gave a small laugh, shaking her head.

"I don't mean-" she began. "I'm not nervous around you, I just-"

Din caught her cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink.

She turned away smiling.

But Din's eyes lingered on her face just that little bit longer.

Was he crazy to want this to go on forever? Just the two of them, talking this way?

But before they could carry on, Lysa came to a stop, turning to him.

"Well here's my place," she said gently, her face painted with a graceful smile. "Thank you for walking with me. It was good to have some company for once."

They stood on her dingy little street, having come upon her front door quicker than Din would have liked.

His heart thrummed a beat.

He wanted to tell her that he would be happy to walk with her anywhere, anytime. But he was not the kind of man to say something like that. Let alone to someone he barely knew, like Lysa.

He kicked himself for his internal anguish when it came to revealing his true feelings to someone. Too much time being raised amongst Mandalorians who never showed their faces, or their emotions either.

"No problem," he said curtly.

Lysa stared at him for a long moment, that smile still lighting her entire face. And for a second it looked as though she was going to say something else.

But before she could do so, the door to her right slid open…

…only reveal Crix Val'shif stood on the other side.

He was wearing a black tunic, his salt and pepper hair slicked back to match, with a dark scowl plastered across his narrow features.

Almost instantly Lysa's smile vanished.

"Crix-" she said quickly, as the man's eyes flickered between her and Din, and back again.

But not even acknowledging Din, Crix stepped out onto the porch, turning his back to the Mandalorian and stepping in front of Lysa.

Din bristled, clenching his jaw hard.

"An' where have you been?" Crix spat, his nostrils flaring. "You said you'd have dinner on the table by sundown. I was supposed be at the Cantina already. And now because of you, I'm gonna be late."

"I'm sorry I didn't realise the time-" Lysa replied in a hushed voice. Din could barely see her face over Crix's shoulder, but could hear that she sounded full of worry. A lifetime away from the happy tone she had had not five minutes before.

Was it wrong for Din to hate this man? Crix? For he could tell instantly that he was trouble.

But obviously not appreciating Lysa's reply, as quick as a flash, Crix grabbed her forearm hard, tugging her towards him roughly. The forearm which was already painted with a blue and purple mark.

At seeing this, the Mandalorian gave an instant growl beneath his breath.

But not paying any attention to Din, Crix jabbed a finger from his free hand skyward.

"You didn't realise the time, huh? How about you look up at the damn sun next time," Crix hissed into Lysa's face. "Inside."

And with that, he gave the blonde woman a hard tug, dragging her in through the doorway roughly.

Too roughly.

In an instant Din saw red.

He grabbed Crix by his upper arm, hauling him around to face him.

Din didn't draw his weapon, and yet he was so angered by the way Crix had spoken and touched Lysa, he wanted to tear him apart with only his gloved hands.

But the thug's face was immediately a picture of fury.

"Did you just lay your hands on me, Mandalorian?"

From behind Crix, Din noticed Lysa staring between the two men, looking horrified.

"Din, it's ok, really it's fine," she said, her marsh-coloured eyes pleading with him.

She was breathing hard, her entire face white as a sheet.

For a moment, Din relinquished his grip on Crix' shoulder, and the shorter man took his opportunity, tugging his arm from the Mandalorian's grasp.

He turned to Lysa.

"I told you….inside," he spat, pointing at her, as Lysa disappeared inside the house.

Din had dealt with situations like this many times over. With many people worse than Crix over the years.

And yet something about this situation had thrown him.

Perhaps it was knowing that Lysa was right there through the door, having asked, no pleaded, with him not to hurt her partner.

Crix suddenly turned back to Din, rounding on him.

He was an inch shorter than Din and yet stood nose to nose with him now, baring his uneven teeth.

"You ever touch me again, then me and my friends are gonna have to pay you a little visit," he hissed in a threatening tone. "Don't think I don't know where you and your kid live."

And with that, Crix Val'shif stepped back and hit the buzzer, causing the door to slide shut in Din's beskar-covered face.

Thanks to chipiam, MsRosePetal, Punkette1026, hazkat and J-James for reviewing the last chapter.

Please review. What do you think so far?