Neither Din nor Aldor was surprised when Grogu came out to join them as soon as Aldor opened the chest full of light sabers. He wanted to reach in and grab each and every one of the numerous weapons in the large chest, but Aldor gently chided him. "Not yet, my dear One. Not yet. When we start your lessons, you know good and well you'll only be allowed a staff until you're ready." Grogu harrumphed and pouted in response, but one stern Mandalorian look lifted the boy's features. "Your father has a lifetime of combat training," Aldor went on. "He wielded the Dark Saber for a time, as you know better than most. That is why he will begin with a real saber." Aldor turned her eyes back to Din. "And even he will have to remember that he could cut his own leg off with one of these."

Din huffed a chuckle. "Yes, my Lady," he agreed. "When the Dark Saber just brushed against my leg, Paz Vizsla healed it with Bacta, but it still left a scar."

"So our own beloved Mandalorian is very aware of how lethal a light saber can be," Aldor added, looking at Grogu purposefully. But her expression quickly softened into a smile. "Come, Grogu. See if you can predict which saber your father will choose. I'm quite curious to see myself."

"I sense you have some theories, my Lady."

"Oh, I always do, my Love. But I'll keep them to myself for now."

"So… how will I know?"

"You'll just know," Aldor assured him. "When you take the right saber into your hand, it'll feel… comfortable. You haven't harvested the kyber crystals in these yourself, so it may not feel as much a part of you as one of your own would, but light sabers are sentient in their way. A good saber would recognize a familiar energy. It will be enough for now."

Din nodded, looking into the chest at the twenty or so hilts packed carefully inside. He focused on them, and the largest immediately wanted him to take it in hand, so he did. It had emitters on either side of a brushed yellow metal hilt that was at least half a meter long. He felt the familiarity Aldor spoke of, but more on the saber's side than his. Its energy ran up his arms as he held it upright and engaged one of the blades. A yellow one. It wanted him to engage the second, but Din hesitated. He was good with long weapons, but this was different. He didn't think he should begin with it.

"Yes, my Love, I agree," Aldor said as Din disengaged the blade. "That was the weapon of a Jedi Temple Guard. A light saber pike. You should hang on to it, though. It senses your skill with such weapons. But you shouldn't begin with it. Two plasma blades is a lot to keep up with at first."

Din nodded. "I figured. But at some point, I think I would like a double-ended weapon. I'm good with a pike."

Aldor smiled distractedly in the way she had this morning when she envisioned him running the gauntlet. Now she saw him appear from the mist and darkness of the forest, wielding the pike with an elegance and ferocity he hoped to live up to. "I would very much like to see what you can do with the pike…" she said wistfully, her mind deeply occupied with this dramatic vision he wasn't worthy of. "Oh but you are, my Love," she said. She looked down at Grogu. "I hope one day, my dear One, we will succeed in convincing your father of his great worth."

Grogu responded by hopping into his lap. Din felt the smile already curling his lips, and closed his eyes as the imminent nose bump came, and his son settled his little claws along his cheeks as their foreheads came together. "Worthy," the boy said.

Din settled his arms around Grogu as he looked into the big brown eyes that showed him how sincerely the word was spoken. "You know I'll do my best, Kid," Din promised. "And I know you'll do yours."

Grogu nodded. "Is Way."

"This is the Way."

Waves upon waves of gentle ribbons suddenly surrounded and swaddled Din and Grogu, and Din looked up to see her softly smiling. The ribbons wove together into a sheet as warm and soft as her finest fabric as it tightened around them. Makes me so happy. To see you with our son. This is how it feels to me. To weave my finest fabric for my loved ones. It is my reason. What you feel embracing you as we don't speak. My purpose. My son. My Love. Myself. You are more worthy of my finest fabric than any man I've met or heard of, Din Djarin, and nothing will take you from me. She ran a soft touch along Grogu's head and concluded, "Besides, regardless of my feelings, if he thinks you're worthy, by all the gods in every universe, you are worthy."

Din bashfully looked down at the pike in his hand, accepting this flattery for the time being. She leaned over and sweetly kissed his cheek, then eased back onto her heels, awaiting his next choice. "However grand my vision may be, you will need a single blade to get you familiar with basic forms before you practice with the pike. But I foresee you will pick it up quickly, my Mandalorian."

Din indicated the pike in his hand and asked, "Did you expect me to take this one up?"

"I thought you might. At the very least, I expected a yellow blade for you."

"So the color of the blade has some meaning?"

"In my day, the colors had lost their significance, but I've always believed they do have meaning. I read about it when I was very young and it stayed with me." Aldor indicated the pike in his hand. "Yellow was unheard of when I was at the Temple except among guards, but I'm not surprised you're drawn to them. If what I've read is true, I believe the noblest sort of Force-wielder might carry a yellow blade."

"You believe I'm such a Force wielder?"

"I do, my Love. The yellow blade is attuned to the Sentinel. One who balances his skill with equal strength and understanding. There's a reason why Jedi Temple Guards always wielded yellow blades. I've observed those who possess a greater empathy than others tend to be both studious and fierce. They think carefully about their actions based on how it might affect their comrades. As you do. Such a balance of skill is greatest in protectors and gate keepers. And at the very core of your soul, my Mandalorian, you are a protector."

"Why are yours purple?"

"Because of my ability to wield the Dark Side and remain in the Light," Aldor answered. "Purple has always been rare. I believe it frightened many of my teachers when they saw my first blade emit purple." She chuckled. "Master Mace Windu even had to look twice the first time he saw another purple blade. He was the only one for more than a hundred years before I came along. Even he feared the strength of my passion. It was considered dangerous in the old Jedi Order. It used to burden me, but now… I know how to use it. If you can focus it, passion can become a powerful force for good. You just can't let it rule you."

"I've seen nothing but good come of your passion, my Lady. In many ways." He tilted a smile at her, then looked back down into the chest of sabers. He set the pike down on the pelt beside him and ruminated on what Aldor had said, and remembered Ahsoka's refusal to train Grogu. Because of his fear and anger. Passion's darkness. But discipline could bend fear and anger easily into love and purpose. Passion's light. To Din, it seemed obvious that a Force-Sensitive being should be able to maintain balance in this way, and he struggled to understand why Ahsoka wouldn't even consider that possibility. "Why were the Jedi so afraid of it?" he asked at last. "Passion is… natural. When it's tempered with training, it's useful. But even Ahsoka feared it. It never made sense to me."

"It's understandable that Ahsoka would feel that way, my Love. Not only was she a product of the old Jedi Order, but I'm afraid her Master succumbed to it, and turned to the darkness. Luke has his reasons too, considering his father. I imagine Anakin's fall was often on his mind while Grogu was with him."

"His father?"

"I'm sure you heard talk of Darth Vader while the Empire was in power."

"Once or twice, but I know nothing of him except that everyone said he was evil…" Din's voice trailed off. "He was Skywalker's father?"

Aldor nodded. "Anakin Skywalker was also Ahsoka's Master. When he turned to the darkness, he became Palpatine's Apprentice. He led the attack on the Temple."

Din's eyes flared with blood. "Skywalker's father… he killed all those children… would have killed you? Would have killed Grogu?"

"Luke is not his father, my Love. He's the one who turned Vader back to the light."

Din grumbled at this as the blood cleared from his eyes. Aldor was right, of course, but it still troubled him to think he'd left his boy in the care of that tyrant's flesh and blood. "I imagine he didn't have your strength, my Lady."

"Maybe not. But I understand Anakin's life was not an easy one from the outset. And the Emperor used it against him. Never underestimate the power and the lure of the Dark Side, my Love. Very few of us are able to use it and come back. Many sentients are built to operate on extremes, I believe, and may easily go from one to the other. A balanced wielder tends to see things from all angles. As you do, my Love."

"And as you do, my Lady," he said. "There's a way of reasoning you understand that many others don't. You say sentients operate on extremes. I've noticed the same thing. And I've never understood it. The answers to most questions lie somewhere in the middle, but people avoid the middle and keep finding the wrong answers."

"Then they turn up their noses when you give them an answer from the middle, and they dismiss it as impossible for some foolish reason," Aldor agreed.

"Fucking infuriating."

Aldor nodded. "Incredibly. Perhaps that's why we're both able to tap into the darkness so quickly. We're used to being infuriated."

Din chuckled. "Yeah, I was constantly infuriated in the midst of all the politics on Mandalore. No wonder the Dark Saber tried to tempt me." He sighed heavily and closed his eyes to clear his mind of frustrating memories. Beating his head against the brick wall of Mandalorian pride. Maneuvering through ancient grudges and petty differences. Always in the middle. He opened his eyes again, and ruminated over his place in the middle. Somewhere between Jedi and Mandalorian. Capable of wielding darkness for the sake of the Light. Unable to separate love from duty.

It was this thought that awakened something at the bottom of the chest in front of him. It wished to be introduced. Din shifted through the other sabers to get to it, knowing exactly where the call was coming from. He closed his eyes as he moved the last obstacle, and reached the source of the pull. As he took the large, smooth hilt in his hand, it welcomed his grip. As if it were relieved. It showed him images from its past. Fighting. Remorse. Agony. Mandalorians. It showed him its master, a Jedi with dark hair and a rusty complexion, standing in a mountain of bloody beskar. The saber recognized something in this unusual Mandalorian that reminded it of its maker. Through this man, maybe it could honor the work its former master couldn't quite complete. It wanted to redeem this Jedi from a thousand years ago as if some part of his soul had latched on to the saber.

This is the Way.

The blade ignited as Din held the hilt upright, sensing his intent more than reacting to a toggled switch. The strands of the Force reached from his arm to tie his hand to the hilt, then flow through the blade. Like this blade was an extension of the golden puddle inside himself. Din opened his eyes at last, and wasn't surprised to see another yellow blade. But a deeper, orange-tinted yellow. Fiery, but not raging. Under control. There was a mutual respect between weapon and wielder that Din knew would serve them both well. He promised he would wield it honorably. When it asked him for what purpose, Din told it he would use it to protect his family. The saber accepted this. Din nodded his appreciation, and disengaged the blade.

Holding it in his hand felt right. Cool and comfortable. Much more than the pike. He understood why as he looked more closely at its construction. Intricate strips of shiny grey metal were inlaid in handsome filigrees down a hilt and pommel carved from black stone. "Beskar." Din murmured, instantly recognizing the feel and texture only the Living Waters could provide.

Aldor nodded. "That saber dates back to the Old Republic, my Love. Around the time of the Mandalorian war with the Jedi. The source of all the mistrust between our kinds."

"This blade… it feels guilty about… something… something its master did… I didn't expect it to… feel."

"I think it may have been more common in these Old Republic blades, but this one is unusually emotional. It's typically more like a magnetic pull, but this one…" Aldor drifted off, looking thoughtfully at the saber in Din's hand. "I've often wondered if this weapon wasn't a first saber for its maker. I sense a Knight or even a Master may have constructed it. It almost feels like… a talisman. The unusual components and its… soul. So unusual."

"The blade isn't quite the same color as the pike. Is there meaning in that?"

"I believe so, my Love." Aldor answered. "I don't know much. Few of these in-between colors were ever seen in my day, before and during the Clone War. But I'd read about them and asked Madame Jocasta once. As I recall, she said Dark Jedi often wielded pure orange blades. They're reflective of a sort of justified rage. So I suspect the orange tint of this yellow blade could be an indication of the maker's ability to wield the Dark Side. Perhaps justified rage enhanced this Sentinel's need to be of service."

"It does seem familiar."

"It would, my Love."

"Did you know…"

"I had an inkling," Aldor admitted. "This saber called to me from the Archives in the middle of the massacre. I knew it was somehow unusual or special because the Masters kept it on display. At first, I thought it was because of the unusual materials, but the more I've considered it over the years, the more I've felt like it has rather a storied past. Now I'm certain of it. There was a reason I nearly killed myself to save that blade in your hand. I didn't know the reason at the time, but now I believe it felt your presence in the Galaxy. Felt your connection to me. It begged me to save it. It sensed its fate was better than to sit in stasis as a relic of the Old Republic, or to face the furnace in the hands of the Empire." She smiled and closed the chest, shifting to her hip to come closer to Din while Grogu sat in his lap, fascinated by the weapon in his father's hand. "It wishes to make things right," she said, curling Din's fingers around the stone hilt. "And it knows you will respect its wishes."

"I will," Din said. "I told it so."

Aldor nodded. "You are strong in the Force, my Love. There's no doubt of that. This saber sensed it more than thirty years ago."

Din released a quiet laugh. "I hope it's right about me. I hope I can learn to wield it well. To protect my family."

"As you are a Mandalorian and a Force wielder, my Love, I have little doubt." She smiled playfully. "And considering our family, I suspect there will be few who can stand against us. But I sincerely hope we will never be tested. I much prefer to stay here with you and our son in peace."

Din leaned into her to bring their foreheads together, and kissed her softly. "So do I, my Lady. I don't think I'd regret it much if I never have to use this."

"That is why it chose you, my Love."

She suggested he keep the saber on him to become more attuned with it. He set the pike by their bunk with his armor to let it become a bit more attuned as well while Aldor returned the chest to its hiding place under the turret. He hooked the Old Republic saber onto his belt in the place once occupied by the Dark Saber. It felt much more at home there than the Dark Saber ever did, and over the course of the afternoon, Din found his fingers seeking the hilt. He took it up and inspected it between circuitry lessons with Grogu and helping Aldor to cut panels of buck leather and bantha pelts for Grogu's requested meditation chair. After dinner, Din took some time to take it apart to test the circuitry and power core. Both were in remarkably good shape for a weapon over three thousand years old. He suspected the Masters must have kept it up in the years before the Clone Wars because all he needed to do was resolder a few weak connections, and it felt good as new. He learned quickly about its construction and configuration in the process of taking it apart and making his few repairs, surprised at the similarities between the saber's engineering and that of Mandalorian energy weapons. He pointed these things out to Grogu as the boy watched him reassemble it.

All the while, Aldor looked on from where she sat at the table, stitching the panels they'd cut earlier. She always wore this beautiful little hint of a smile in these moments when they were busy together at the kitchen table. She'd kept her mind closed since she convinced him of his own worth over the chest of light sabers, but now he sensed it opening again to listen to a flow of thought and sound she compared to music. When he looked up at her as she hummed along in her head, Din was amazed to find he loved her more this evening than he had this morning. He thought he reached the very pinnacle of it when he woke with her in his arms on the engine room floor, obsessed with the contrast between their skins. It seemed there was no limit anymore. Perhaps there never was.

Grogu retired to his freshly appointed room shortly after Din finished putting the Old Republic light saber back together, bestowing the ritual nose bump to Din and a kiss to Aldor's cheek as he wished them a good night. Alone with her at the table now, Din watched her finish a seam as she smiled under his gaze, perfectly aware of how badly he wanted to feel those fine fingers against his skin. In between light sabers and buck leather chairs, Din found himself lost in remembrances of the night before and this morning. How she tasted and how she moved under him. He wanted to taste the rest of her. Wanted to see how else she could move.

The moment she finished her stitch and set her work down, Din took her wrist in his hand and gently tugged her out of her seat and over to him, bringing her down to straddle him where he sat. Her cool, herby scent engulfed him as he buried his face in her hair, inhaling the delicious fragrance as he pulled her tight against him, loving her weight in his lap. Her body precious in his arms as he shaped his embrace around her beautiful slopes and rises, memorizing every ridge and valley of her. He rolled his face into her throat, and kissed his way up to her lips and back down again, noting every sigh and murmur from her lips while he teased his tongue with her flavor.

"Aldor," he whispered against her throat, taking his time to enjoy the taste of her name mingled with the flavor of her skin. "I've wanted you all day. Can't think of much else…" He looked up into her eyes, struck and aroused by the fire dancing at the center of cool glacial ice. He seized her hair in his fingers, and brought her lips down to his because he needed them. Needed this verdant flavor that flooded his mouth. Needed to feel the soft abyss of her breath. He became lost in it, and kept her anchored against him as he drew out every dip of his tongue, and steam billowed through his lover's blood. He could practically feel her through their clothes. Imagined how wet she might be. Ready for him and willing. Begging. "All day, my Lady," he breathed. A soft sigh tried to escape her lips, but Din caught it with his kiss and let it fly through him with all the beautiful ribbons already pumping through his heart. Light saber… leather… always… tasting… all of you.

"Then you should take me to our bed, my Love," Aldor whispered, rocking against him in slow, subtle waves. She took his face in her hands and crushed her lips to his. Her kiss was demanding and fierce as she devastated him with the firm slide of her softness slowly up and down his raging erection. Din groaned through their kiss, and eased his hand between them to slide under her waistband. He pressed his thumb hard into the beautiful little button nestled between soaked lips and soft, damp curls as his name sighed through her lips. She trembled in his lap, gripping his shoulders as she pulled his head to her breast, begging him to strip her bare and take the soft flesh into his mouth. "Take me to our bed," she whimpered. "Take me…"

But Din stayed where he was, and thrust his thumb into a torrent of hot honey. Soaked and writhing as he pulled her shirt down to uncover her pale, beautiful breasts. Like she asked, he took her nipple briefly into his mouth as she shuddered, then let his lips trail into the soft pale valley she'd teased him with last night. He slowly rubbed his lips against the tender flesh, nuzzling into it, then took her nipple into his mouth again as she shuddered in his arms and rolled her hips into his, begging him again to take her to their bed as he pushed his thumb deeper into the flood and nibbled at her nipple until she was trembling. "I'll take you to our bed, my Lady," he whispered with his face buried in the softness of her breast, half overcome with the fragrance and flavor that covered him in her. "But… want to watch you first… watch you cum…" He hooked his thumb hard into her, finding a new spot inside to exploit and ravage as her breath caught in her throat, and a slick cascade covered his hand. "That's it, my Lady… wanna see you… right in front of my face… looking in my eyes. Know you want to… want to cum…"

He held her eyes as he swapped his thumb for two fingers, and slipped deep into the gorgeous softness, reaching the spot he sought with his fingertips as she liquified in his lap, gripping his hair as she soaked him, gasping and trying not to scream. Her eyes shattered in front of him, and boiling hot rivers of her came pouring out. He became blissfully tangled in her cocoon of ribbons, sighed as they hugged him in a warm cloud of mist and steam and she went limp in his arms. She dropped her head, panting into his shoulder as he trembled with the tremendous wave that dissipated into his blood. My Lady… tell me again…

"Take me… to… our bed…"

In a single breath, he took her ass in his hands and lifted her with him as he stood from the table, and brought them to their bed in three long strides. He fell over her in it, catching himself with his arms as he levered his hips into hers to show her how much he wanted her. She frantically pushed his tunic up his back, begging him to take it off as she wrapped her legs around him and her hips pleaded through his trousers while he dragged open-mouthed kisses over her chest and neck.

Need it. Skin. Your skin… Din… let me… let me feel it… have to feel it… now… now… please…

A groan forced its way through his throat as her pleas pulled his body tighter, and he straightened up on his knees to yank off his tunic while she frantically pulled at the closures of his trousers. He quickly had her leggings off too as she threw her top aside, and he sighed in relief as the feel of her flesh against his stirred everything he was into a riot of pleasure, covered in silken ribbons and basking in steam. He took in the sight of her naked body, beautiful and glowing in the light through the transparisteel window by their bed, breathless as he raked his hand down her neck and shoulder, worshipping the pale softness with his fingers. She sighed and stared at him, wide open to him and wanting as he gently palmed her breasts, then grazed his thumbs down her belly and over her thighs. Sumptuous. So fucking delicious. He wanted to feel it under his lips. Taste it. Feast on it.

Have to taste all of her.

It was his only thought as he clamped his mouth to her throat, gently nibbling the whispers that slipped through her throat unchecked. The gorgeous vibration of her eased into his mouth, and he sighed against her sweet flesh as he drifted ever downward, over her breasts and rib cage. Down the subtle line from her sternum as she quivered under his lips. He felt her rumbling with the force of her passion, an out of control flood of steam and ribbons, begging him to slide inside the ache. Rolling like thunder, a distant boom echoed over the Eye, and the ground shook and warmed as Din planted open-mouthed kisses to her belly, dragging his tongue over her hip and between her thighs as she sighed and murmured. Din forced her legs wider, levering them apart with his shoulders as he nuzzled his nose and lips into the soft patch of pale, wet curls, inhaling her scent as his mouth watered to taste her. Aldor shuddered, taking his hair into her grasp as he looked up at her wild blue eyes, begging permission. Taste me. It's yours. Only yours, my Love. "Please Din," she whispered. "Taste me."

He moaned in relief and dipped his tongue to the damp lips, overwhelmed with a flavor as sweet as frost melon and richer than native berries. He hummed into her while she trembled and bucked, almost to the point of withdrawing with the intensity of her pleasure as he flicked the tip of his tongue through the swollen lips and barely tickled her clit. He locked his hands around her hips, unwilling to let her go so easily, hard as a rock and needing to fill her, but he needed more of this flavor. He mercilessly licked at the delicious essence that coated her clit as she practically sobbed and drew her body up in a tight, powerful convulsion that Din could feel from the ends of his hair to the tip of his throbbing erection. He moaned into the softness as she drew in a long, hard breath, and he pressed a greedy kiss to the swollen lips, finding them hot and slick as he thrust his tongue into a burst of her incredible honey. She dug her fingers into his scalp as he licked deeper into her, drunk on a thousand sensations of flavor, scent, and feeling.

How you taste, Aldor… fuck, how you taste… sweet and savory… fucking delicious… can't… can't get enough… so wet for me… so ready… but.. tastes so fucking good…

He lost himself in it, taking in as much of her as he could while she gasped and bucked under his long, light licks back and forth over her clit, taking in her steam and ribbons that burst into flame as he felt her come closer to supernova. Couldn't wait to make her cum… couldn't wait for her to encase him in her zillo hide and silk as her thoughts burst through her panting breaths and her fingers tightened in his hair.

Only feel... your tongue... your lips... all of you... want... all of you… don't stop, my Love... don't stop... Din... can't endure… so much pleasure… but don't stop, my Love… don't stop…

He dragged his tongue slow and hard back through the bursting seam, and penetrated her drenched body with two fingers. He moaned at the squeeze of soaked silk that welcomed him with a tight embrace as he gently explored the slick heat until he found the core of her pleasure with his fingertips and pressed firm caresses across and around it. She whimpered and bucked and writhed with it, and he lifted his head enough to find her eyes. "Your pleasure," he breathed, "...is mine."

He became obsessed with her pleasure, drawing it out for as long as he could while he gorged himself on her incredible honey and gloried in the ecstasy that poured out of her like plasma. She reached for him almost desperately, crying and heaving from the center of her being for more. He would give her all she wanted. Until the day he died, he would give her all she desired. He etched the pledge over his heart as he dipped his head deep between her soaked thighs and buried his lips in her again, humming against her as he gently suckled her clit, pressing his fingers into the flooded pleasure point, obsessed with her flavor and the sounds she made. Obsessed with how slick and sweet she was. Obsessed with making her cum.

The rumble inside her began quietly, and she shuddered and seized under his tongue and fingers until he gently nibbled at her clit and thrust his fingers forcefully deeper. Then the ground undulated again, and like a geyser rushing into him, an explosion of dark matter ribbons wrapped around him and rushed into his flesh until he was sure he'd crack open with the sheer force of her mounting pleasure. He pushed the overwhelming ribbons down into the bedrock beneath them, then pulled them back from the springs and locked his eyes to hers as he levered himself up with his free hand, and watched her eyes disintegrate in front of him as ribbons combined with molten gold and poured deep into her womb. She seized and bucked so forcefully, he had to hold her steady as he dropped back down again and covered her with his mouth to drink in her climax as she thrashed and froze under him, curled up painfully tight, until at last she settled, panting as a resounding fall of molten dark matter ribbons fell over both of them like a sheet of their finest fabric. For a moment, she went limp and motionless as Din watched her and tenderly nudged into the slick, swollen lips. So fucking beautiful. Covered in a sheen of sweat as she raked air into her lungs and let her hand settle over her naked breast, still swaying her hips into his hand as her fingers brushed into his hair and her thoughts recombined.

Where was I... what happened... oh Din... my Love... inside me… there… stay there… what did you do to me… thank the Maker... didn't know... didn't know where I'd land... Din... my Love... don't stop... don't stop...

Din gently drew his fingers out of her and dipped his head lower between her thighs, licking them clean as he ran his hands along her hips and up to her breasts. He gently massaged the beautiful softness while he took in as much of her flavor as he could, craving it now and sure he'd never get enough of it. Her pleasure. His.

Want you inside me, my Love... Want to bring you with me... don't leave me empty... need you... need you...

Din was up and on top of her in an instant, taking hold of her ass and easing her legs open wider with his hips as he closed his eyes and lost himself in the feel of that incredible heat, that delicious flavor, slicking over the head his throbbing erection as he slowly buried himself in all the pleasure he'd created. It hugged and squeezed him as she trembled and moaned. He let himself sway against her for a moment, closing his eyes as he luxuriated in the feel of her perfect pussy and listened to the music of quiet alto chimes dripping in ecstasy. Let himself drift in the sensation of drenched, hot softness flowing around his cock, buried so deep in it, he couldn't imagine leaving it.

Her whimpers roused him, and upon her command, he heaved himself hard and deep into that spot. She shook with an elemental rumble, and he anchored himself there another moment, just to let her rush around him like a torrent from the springs until he drew back and buried himself again while she bathed him in a billion ribbons of her flung open over the galaxy. This time, she took part of him with her as he moaned and pulsed inside her, so close to release but not wanting it yet. So he held on, bit his lip, and slowly began to move, swirling his hips into her, bringing her to the pinnacle a hundred times just to pull her back. Kissed her wherever his lips fell, working his way over her skin in licks and nibbles, hard kisses and soft caresses... indulging himself in all of her as the pull of her pleasure drew up taut and begged to be released. He slowly brought her back down, wanting everything inside them both to build gradually into a fantastic cataclysm that would alter their Spirits. The Eye encouraged him, shivering from the core of its being as a single beam of warm plasma shot through his nervous system and bound it to hers.

"Ahhh…" she sighed.

It nearly undid him. This beautiful sound. This incredible music as he felt every bolt of electricity from her body like it was his, caught in a web of plasma and power. He locked his mouth to hers in a deep, hard kiss as he anchored himself deep, caressing and slowly tending the fire. Dancing with her as she trembled like the incredible fucking forest sprite she was, meeting every sway of his hips, fluid and perfect against him. A quiet cry escaped his lips, and he clamped his mouth to her neck, so close... but wanting to hold on as another soft sound whispered through her lips. "Ahh.." It was beautiful... so...

...beautiful, my Lady... fierce... that sound, Aldor... while I'm inside you… one... the Force commands it, my Lady... has to be… you... me... that sound… this... this... always… has to be… fuck Aldor… so good… close… fuck… so close... feel you… tight… about to… about to… fuck… gonna cum… release... remade... remade...

Remade as he erupted hard and desperately inside her, drawing a long, tortured groan through his lips as she arced into him. Tightening and owning. Pulling him deeper as his seed poured into her disintegrating body, and their bound nervous systems lit up in a seizure of glorious light.

Gone. Both of them gone to the edge of the galaxy and beyond it through flickers of thought and moments of time. Sparks along the bands of the Force they stretched through, until they returned to themselves, having traveled around the universe in less than a second before they landed, drenched in release and empty. Trembling in each other's arms as they fell to their sides and seized against each other, and the final pulse of his seed reminded them of their bound bodies.

Din pulled her tight to him as he settled back into his skin, holding firm to her slopes and rises while both of them throbbed with power and bliss. Still inside her, still tangled in her ribbons. Stay like this... all night... stay... inside you... your ribbons… around me... the Force... together...

Please, my Love… stay… that's what I want… don't leave me empty… stay… stay with me… bound as we always were…

Good… so good tonight. The Eye… felt it… want you again… already…

The Solstice is near, my Love.

Din opened his eyes and bent them to hers, questioning her response. "The Solstice… is that why I feel…"

"Yes, my Love. It happens to me too."

"To everyone?"

"Not everyone. But always me."

"Only you?"

"Only me."

"Fortunate."

"How so, my Love?"

"Fortunate for me. Fortunate for you that I may be the same."

Aldor smiled, hauling herself closer by her arms around his shoulders, as she gently anchored his faded erection in her warm, wet embrace with a subtle shift of her hips. He sighed and smoothed his hand over her backside, cradling her closer. "I think you may be, my Love," she whispered, caressing his forehead with sweet kisses that had him trembling with sensation. "Your thoughts are freer… your body looser… a good time to train."

"A good time to have you, my Lady."

Din rumbled underneath her all night. Even in her sleep, his golden thunder soothed her dreams before they could even consider turning dark. When she woke, he was rumbling still. It had grown more powerful overnight. She knew there would be these little previews for weeks leading up to the Solstice. It would be a short autumn this year, and for once she was thrilled at the prospect. Her lover's blood was already seething under his skin like magma, and she knew for certain now that the Solstice would have the same effect on him as it did on her. Of course it would. This man was her mate, and always had been.

She rolled her face into his throat and caught a rumbling whisper with her lips, taking it into herself as she felt his fingers comb into her hair. I am your mate, my Lady. Lying here all night… felt the Eye shaking with it… cares for us… why it brought us together... why it kept you here…

You used to think it was a trick.

"I know better now, my Lady," he whispered as he wrapped his arms tight around her, stretching his neck and turning his head to accommodate her kisses while she indulged herself on the flavor of his warm, fragrant flesh.

The rumble in his chest softened into a low-frequency purr as she pressed her lips to his nipple, and gently licked her way back up to his throat to flood her tongue with his delicious vibrations. "Din…" she whispered, sighing through the kisses she couldn't stop scattering across his chest and shoulders. She was half drunk on it, but wanted to share with him all she knew the Solstice would offer them, and started again to speak while his hand slowly smoothed over her backside. "Din, you feel…" Her voice died in her throat when his big hand continued between her legs to cup his palm over the mound of soaked curls between her thighs. One gentle fingertip nudged her open to slide slowly into her swollen folds. "Din," she sighed through tightening breath as she seized on top of him, falling limp as he slowly caressed into the ache, taking his time to gradually tease her mounting need while she forgot everything she meant to say.

"Tell me," he whispered. He carefully cupped his whole hand over her mound and hauled her up his body, and the sweet caress inside her continued with a brief, hard push as he settled her within easier reach. He softly trailed his free hand up her side and into her hair while he continued to pump slowly, but mercilessly into the rising flood. He sighed as if he wanted to die this way, then finally opened his eyes to look into hers. "Tell me, my Lady," he whispered again through a hitch in his voice. He reached the bundle of raw nerves at the center of the ache in her womb, and she seized and gripped his hair, moving with him as he dipped his face into the curve of her neck. "Tell me how I feel," he breathed into her ear. "I want to know."

"Like… the ground… beneath us…" she sighed as her hips began to move of their own will, meeting every long, slow slide of his knuckles through the flood. He clutched her hair and kept his eyes locked on hers, shattered and burning. "Where fire… meets earth…" she sighed as a second finger eased into her, bringing her closer with every gentle prod as she struggled to keep her eyes open and her words clear. "The magma… at the heart of the Eye…"

"Where fire meets water…" he whispered. "That's how you feel. This softness… heat…" He thrust his fingers hard into the spot, and she nearly crumbled on top of him, falling over his shoulder as he turned his head to her ear to whisper, "Want to bury myself in it. Feel it… rush around me."

"Din," she whimpered as he dragged both fingers back and forth over the pleasure button, and her womb burst with the need to feel more of him. She was practically reduced to liquid under his ministrations, but need overcame it, and she shot upright and kept her eyes clamped on his as she slowly raised herself up by her knees and let his fingers slide slowly out of her as she bit her lip and struggled to remain upright. She took hold of the beautiful, straining erection that had stirred against her hip all this time and slowly brought herself down, just letting the slick tip nudge into her folds. It felt beautiful. A lovely tease to both of them as she held on to the hard,throbbing flesh, and drew the straining tip slowly over her clit, and kissed it with soaked, aching lips.

"Aldor," he heaved, finally losing control. "Please, my Lady… take me… anywhere… any way… need to…"

His voice caught in his throat as she slowly impaled herself with hot, hard completion, already close to the pinnacle as she began to slowly move on top of him. He groaned and shifted his hips, arched his back and pushed himself impossibly deep as the storm began to build in her blood and spirit, fueled by the beautiful heat between her legs as she embraced it with everything he made her feel. He met her hips with every shift of her body, gripped her waist in his hands, holding her steady as golden sparks popped through her womb. Filled with plasma, she lifted her face to the skylight, and reached to the suns above and springs below, still bound to his body and soul as he held on and stretched with her.

A low, sobbing groan filled his throat with the rumble they produced in the core of the planet beneath them, and in the next instant, she was on her back and both her legs thrown over his shoulders as Din hammered into her. For what felt like eons, all she knew was sparks and magma thrust into her hard and heavy, over and again until she struggled to hold in her screams of pleasure, half mad with the rumble that filled her with ecstasy. She became nothing but her body as she hooked her hands into the bend of his knees, clutching him to her, never wanting this golden barrage to cease until at last she became nothing but her Spirit. Looking up at the beautiful man making her cum, she saw nothing but his Spirit as he screwed his eyes shut and tilted his head to the ceiling, growling and whimpering her name in turns until he seized and released a deep, quiet cry, and all she knew was his beautiful face lit up in an expression of worship and relief as warm golden magma poured into her body. He looked down into her eyes for a moment, as if he were in awe of her, then collapsed, heaving and destroyed as they embraced what was left of each other.

Aldor thought she fell asleep. Or maybe she'd simply gone to another dimension with him. The next thing she knew either way, was his body wrapped around her, hers around him. The golden warmth that had produced so much pleasure was still nestled between her legs as he kissed her back to consciousness. "Morning, my Lady," he whispered. "He'll be stirring soon." Aldor nodded, gently hugging him with wet, swollen heat as he sighed and buried his face in her hair. "I don't want to… leave you empty," he whispered as he nosed her hair out of his way to clamp his lips to her throat, taking her murmured lament into himself. "Can't stop… thinking of how you taste. How you moved like a dancer on top of me… won't ever stop… thinking of it… want you again, but…"

"We have time, my Love," she whispered, pressing kisses to his cheek and jaw, wherever her lips could find purchase on the golden skin that radiated with his delicious scent and rumbling warmth. She embraced him again both above and below, rubbing her lips across the graying stubble in that beautiful spot under his jaw. "For now," she whispered, "know that I will ache for you, Din Djarin. Know that I love you. And above all, my Love, know that nothing will take you from me."

Din kissed her deeply, gently levered his hips once against her, then shifted his weight. Aldor shuddered under the bittersweet tickle of his withdrawal before he kissed her once more and whispered, "Nothing will take you from me." With that, he stood and stretched his beautiful body as a dozen cracks and pops loosened his bones. She drank in this magnificent view of golden flesh, broad shoulders, and indomitable Spirit until he found his clothes and started to get dressed. She finally drew herself up to sit on the edge of bed and watch him shrug into his rayskin coat. He knelt before her and kissed her. "I'll take care of breakfast, my Lady."

His smile was tiny. Barely a turn into his mustache. But in the language of Din Djarin, this was the very deepest of compliments, and the most resounding declaration he knew how to make. When he sensed this thought from her heart, his cracked open wide in a rush of molten gold. His eyes fell apart as he took her face in his hands and tried to speak. But he found he couldn't, and told her what he meant to say in the only way he knew how. I love you, Aldor. You make me feel… alive… real… don't know the words… too much for words… I was meant to be with you… and you were meant to be with me… reasons don't matter… you are my reason… you and our son… nothing will take it…

He kissed her with every word that didn't exist. Not a kiss of passion or desire, but devotion. Certainty. In it, she felt the future. It was clouded and already changing, but no matter what path they took, she knew they would walk together. A sentient part of the Force traveling as one. In that instant, they recognized their destiny in each other. Where they took it from here was the only question.

Din broke his kiss in a slow caress, and clamped the wild, broken eyes on hers. He combed the fingers of both hands through her hair and brought her forward to let her forehead rest against his. "When I leave this life, I leave it with you, my Lady," he whispered. "Part of the Force. Part of the Eye. Part of nothing at all. Doesn't matter. Only grateful I made it here… lived long enough to see your face… know… how you taste…" Grateful to be bound to you… grateful… for everything… doesn't seem right… everyone should be so grateful… have something… so precious…

Purpose.

"Purpose," he whispered, closing his eyes as he as rubbed his lips tenderly across hers. He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth, then stood up again. He took a moment to settle another diminutive smile on her as she sat there naked before him, more than glad to show him everything. He sighed and shook his head, his thoughts so quiet and buried under golden plasma, she couldn't make sense of them. You don't need to, my Lady. I can't either. But I know what they mean as well as you do.

I love you, Din.

Another scant smile and a deep Mandalorian nod answered her. This is the Way.

She nodded back. "This is the Way."

On his way out the door, he took the Old Republic saber from the table where he'd left it, and hooked it onto his belt as if he'd done it a thousand times before. Aldor saw it a thousand more times at once in a burst of the past and future that rippled through the Force. Where she'd seen it or where she would… maybe both… she didn't know yet. It was all in shadow for now, but she knew in this brief conglomerate vision that they were bound to something beyond all of them. Something strong and lasting. A beginning. Perhaps not for them, but for generations after them. Whatever it was and whatever their role might be, Din Djarin set it in motion the moment he took the Old Republic saber in his hand, and a single phrase whispered through his mind.

Nothing will take it from us.