Din woke not knowing what time it was or even what day. He was pretty sure they fell asleep at some point near dawn after the Solstice began, but they were up again and fucking within what couldn't have been more than a few hours. They'd sensed Grogu stirring from his sleep not long afterward, and sat with him for a while over breakfast, simply checking in with each other before their boy excused himself back to his room and went silent again. It wasn't long before Din's face was buried in her, making her cum where she sat at the table before she pounced and dragged him back to bed where they remained until Grogu awakened again to seek a quick lunch. With these bleary memories in mind, Din calculated it was sometime in the early evening. He looked out the window by their bunk to see storms raging through a deep purple sky, confirming it was near twilight. Their son would be ready for supper soon.
They both dozed a while after the last release, and now he came to in the midst of an insistent rumble from the Eye. He murmured as it shook through them, and he realized he was already hard, and all he could think about was burying himself again. Because he sensed only the void of meditation from the cockpit, he decided they had time.
"Ahh…" Her response was soft and sleepy as he slowly sheathed himself to the hilt, and lazily spread her out underneath him to watch her face bloom with pleasure as he moved in gentle, slow strokes. The entire day had been a rage of fucking. Now all he wanted was to make love to her.
"My Mandalorian," she whispered in a low sigh as her fingers floated through his hair. "You feel so perfect right now. Just waking up… when did we fall asleep?"
"I have no idea," he whispered against her neck, softly nuzzling under her jaw as he set an easy pace, drinking in her flavor as the Eye settled into a resting vibration. "All I care for right now is you, my Lady," he murmured as he closed his eyes, not caring where or who he was while his lover's body held him so tenderly in softness and heat. "Haven't had enough. Just want to make you feel good… make you cum again… make you happy… give you anything… because you're real… and you're mine."
He clamped his mouth to her neck and lost himself in a luscious sort of joy that nourished him like the summer greens or the autumn stone fruits. Made him feel alive and healthy. Her silken ribbons sighed into his ear as he drowsed in the peace embracing him, and kissed her wherever his lips could find purchase. "Mmmm…" Her voice was little more than a rumble that matched the Eye's. "My Love… so strong… so tender… like thunder, my Mandalorian…" your voice and your soul… your gorgeous thick cock inside me… awakened so many things in me… three points in the darkness… other worlds and galaxies… "always my Love beside me… always… inside me…" Her voice whispered into a heavy breath as their passions pitched higher, and another sweet "Ahhh" broke from her lips when Din slung his hips harder, hitting the back of her tight pussy in his favorite spot.
"Yes, my Lady, that's it…" he whispered deeply, his voice rougher. He held her tighter as his skin lit up in flame, hugged in that perfect ecstasy of Force and soul and body as she moaned and clutched his hair, dragged her nails down his back and bucked up against him. It sent him so deep inside her, he became lost, and before he was aware, both of them had flown off world and through the galaxy as one before they returned, and his seed poured into her as he floated for a moment in that world between worlds that felt like death and resurrection at once.
He sank on top of her and gathered her close, then rolled to his side, keeping her clasped in his arms and his cock sheathed while the Force flowed in sensual waves between them. Enhanced and generous as it always was when they were in the glow of release, it showed him the same visions he'd seen through every resurrection since the Solstice began. The faces and the parked ships. The tiny world he saw them creating. He still didn't know how or when, but he was certain it was what the Force wanted. Strangely, it was starting to look like something he wanted too. Not without trepidation, of course, but so long as they held to their words and believed them, he was never more assured that every nuanced promise in those words would continue to be kept. "Nothing will take it from us." He said them aloud because it was his vow to his family. This family that had become all that mattered in the Universe. He knew it would grow even if they couldn't conceive it in Aldor's womb. Knew it would change things somehow. Change the Force and the Galaxy in some way they couldn't guess at. He looked down at his lover at this thought and saw the same vision in her eyes as a small smile settled over her lips.
I want to see it… see my Mandalorian become the man he's always been in his heart… however much it protests… you've felt your destiny for a long time, my Love… I have sensed mine… we both have to face what we fear… all we fear… when the time comes… there will always be more to challenge us, but more to fulfil us too.
Makes me anxious, but makes me hope… to see these things in your eyes… see that what we create will survive… long after we're gone and part of the Force… need each other to see it through… and we will make the most of it, my Lady… for ourselves and for others… so strange to think of it… daunting… but right now I'm encouraged… right now… I know… "nothing will ever take it from us."
"This is the Way," she whispered.
He devoured her in a deep kiss, wrapped her in passion and warmth. He let his heart guide every touch of his fingertips against her face. Every shift and dip of his tongue as it caressed hers in a lavish dance of fire and water. Earth and air. He wanted her to feel every maneuver of his stubborn heart, bury himself again, make his vow until it became part of every atom that made her. But he stopped, because he knew they were running out of time. So he merely kissed her. Long and deep and delicious. Let his tendrils of golden warmth penetrate and ravage her. Accepted the silken ribbons that filled his veins and pumped through his heart.
"Mmm… how you feel…" Her voice was barely whisper as she wrapped herself around him, pulling the core of his dark matter engine into the heart of her zillo hide furnace. When the two came together, it shook the Eye to the heart of its core, then a thousand points of light exploded across Din's eyes and blew out across the stars. Each point was a world they traveled to in that one instant together in the Force, before they returned to the warmth of their home, wrapped around each other and engaged in a deep kiss.
When they'd settled back into their bodies, Din was full of energy and starving. He wasn't sure how long it'd been since they ate, but his stomach assured him it was about that time again. So he informed his lover he meant to warm some stew for dinner. "You're a genius, my Lady," he said. "To make enough stew to last us through the Solstice."
"Experience makes us clever," she said with a wry smile, recalling one of the first conversations they had.
"It does, my Lady," he said, smiling back.
She watched him dress for a moment, then glanced warily toward the stove. "You don't mind handling dinner, my Love?"
Din grinned to himself and shook his head. "I've cooked a meal or two before," he answered in a defensive tone. "I think I've watched you enough. And you've seen me warm a stew without starting any fires."
"Well," she said hesitantly, "I suppose that's true, my Love." But she got up and started to dress, prepared to follow him to the kitchen anyway.
"Don't you trust me in your kitchen?"
Aldor laughed. "Not really." She looked demonstratively down at her tunic, and Din only just noticed it was torn along the collar and sleeve. "Look what you do to my clothes, my Mandalorian. I shudder to think what you'll do to my kitchen."
Din couldn't suppress the smug smile that pulled at his lips, drinking in the sight of her in her farm girl clothes while he remembered how he inflicted the damage that gave him easier access to that precious skin. "Yeah," he said. "I'm still not sorry, my Lady."
Din managed a few deep kisses and a tease or two under her torn sleeve before the void in Grogu's room slowly manifested into a planetary disc that brought him back to the Eye. It wasn't long before he was opening his doors with the Force, smiling contentedly at his parents as he trotted into the room and jumped up into his chair at the table. "Smell dinner," he said simply, grinning like he didn't have a care in the universe. He looked quickly between Aldor at the table mending her torn bottoms and his father at the hob overseeing a pot of stew, as if he'd only just realized they weren't in their usual positions.
"Your mother cooks all the time." Din shot a smile at Aldor before he went on. "I figured we'd give her a break tonight."
Grogu nodded. "A-wee-pa trusts," he said in an impressed tone.
Aldor and Din shared in a laugh at their son's gentle jab, and Aldor ran an affectionate stroke over his little tuft of dark hair. "I do trust your father," she said. "But I thought I'd stand by to offer advice if he needs it."
"Whether I asked for it or not is another question," Din teased.
Grogu laughed. "Both happy. Solstice good."
"Yes it has been," Din answered. "Your mother and I have seen some things, Son. I think a few of them might be the same as what you've seen."
"Three lights," Grogu said with a sage little nod. "More faces."
"How do you feel about that?" Din asked. "Having more faces here."
"Long time, but will be good time."
"That could mean a dozen things," Din chuckled. "I think you like to do that."
Aldor gave Grogu a gentle, teasing knuckle rub into his head as he laughed through a playful wince. "He knows he's just like Yoda that way."
"And he never takes himself too seriously, my Lady."
Aldor planted a kiss on Grogu's head as he laughed and purred. "No, he doesn't. And that's one of many reasons why we love him."
"Many reasons," Din agreed while Grogu's little smokey whisps collected around his heart, and he embraced his son with the Force. He knew the boy felt it, and confirmed it with a mirrored Mandalorian nod.
Clan Djarin spent several hours together at the Dejarik table, all at work on their little tasks while their symphony resounded through a gentle purr that had settled into the heart of the Eye. Din knew it wasn't over by a long shot, but for now they would take a deep breath and rejoice in being together before the Galaxy brought more demands on their time.
It starts soon, my Love.
But only start.
Din and Aldor looked at each other in surprise and pride at Grogu's silent response. They'd been trying to make him understand he was sometimes welcome in their conversations through the Force. They wanted to make it clear they meant for him to have a say in the direction Clan Djarin would take. This was the first time he'd participated without being prompted, and both his parents were beyond pleased to welcome him into their shared ruminations.
Aldor smiled proudly and ran her fingers lovingly through his hair again. You've seen more than we have, my dear One.
We don't want to know more. We know what we need to.
Aldor gave Grogu a nod in agreement with Din. If we need to know more, we will. At the right time.
Parents wise. Like Master Yoda, but Living Force more than Cosmic… Force between become more over time… more Cosmic… more equal… then more than Living… more than Cosmic… something else… powerful together… "Strong." He looked between them carefully for a moment, both of them rapt to know what was formulating in his little head. He didn't make them wait long.
Should go for ray tomorrow.
At first it didn't seem to have anything to do with anything else, but as Aldor and Din watched their son and considered where this suggestion had come from, it began to make sense. Like it would be some sort of rite to prove to themselves exactly how powerful they could be together. "It's… not a bad idea," Din mused. "Might be good for us."
"If there's a break in the storms," Aldor agreed. She looked out the window by their bunk, considering the weather. "It's been quiet for a while… maybe the storms will die down while the Pupil is resting… don't think it's finished yet, but… the planets will pull apart soon."
"I think they'll fight it tooth and nail," Din said, knowing she felt the suggestion in his statement. "Will be hard to pull apart."
"There may be a little bit of a fit at the end," Aldor agreed, looking down at her sewing while a deep smile burrowed into her cheeks. "I hope we'll be ready."
That night, they actually slept. Only once did she wake in the middle of the night to a brush of soft facial hair against her breast and two warm lips closing around her nipple. Then a good thirty minutes of his face buried in her, and another forty-five of them buried in each other. But then they fell asleep again, and remained so until dawn. When she woke, he was wrapped around her, but only his golden bands penetrated her. He gave her a sleepy smile, suggesting he would make both of them wait again today. Aldor pouted and Din chuckled, then he kissed her, and got up immediately to pull together a breakfast of stone fruit and buck rashers.
Grogu was up and out not long afterward, and continued to insist his mother and father should go after the ray alone today. He'd join them next time. "Important," he said, in no mood to be mysterious this morning. He was content and he was enjoying his breakfast, but there was something heavy on his mind. It was so well-concealed, neither of his parents could guess at it, but the two of them agreed it was for the best, and focused on what they needed for the ray hunt in the way of weapons and provisions while Grogu ruminated over his visions in busy silence.
After they'd gathered their gear and reminded Grogu to let them know if he needed them, Aldor and Din set out for the sea in the glow of a bright morning. They left R5 behind for extra protection while Grogu was alone, and enlisted the loader to pull the sledge. Despite the break in the weather, Aldor had also brought along the All-Weather droid so she and her lover could enjoy their hike to the sea in warmth. Din glanced up at the droid hovering over their heads and released a short huff. "My Lady is so clever," he commented fondly. "Seems like an obvious thing, but I don't think I've ever seen a droid that could shield you from rain and cold."
"Really? Surely someone has made something like it before. I imagine any Anzellan could make one in half a day that can also keep you cool."
"You could figure it out if you needed to," Din chuckled.
"That would require much more elegant circuitry that you could provide better than me, my Love."
"Well, if we ever have to go to Tatooine, maybe we can figure it out between the two of us."
"Oh, but I love the heat on Tatooine," Aldor said wistfully. "It's not oppressive so much as intense. But I did always love Tatooine best at night."
"Mmm…" he murmured. Aldor sensed a memory in his mind. The dunes and the three moons of Tatooine. A state of intense reflection. "I miss it sometimes. Not the heat, no. But the night. It is… cleansing."
"I see you on the dunes in your memory, my Love," she said softly. "Perhaps you've known how to meditate all your life."
Din huffed a short chuckle. "Yes, my Lady. I think I have. I remember so many things more clearly now. Like those moments on the dunes in my twenties. Feeling the Force but… not knowing. Strange how much of my youth was tied up in the Force when I didn't know. Or didn't want to. I had to ignore it. But I do remember… when I first set out on my own… I spent a lot of time on Tatooine with the Tuskans. Learning how to hunt and fight like them. Their camps are quiet at night, and I sometimes got into those trances. Always looking up at the moons. I thought it was just… weariness… making my thoughts fly. Had visions even then, but didn't pay attention."
"Yet you always knew they were there."
"Always. Just… didn't know what to call it then… couldn't remember… because my father asked me to forget. It would be easy to regret that, but I think he told me what was right. I know it was out of love."
"Yes, my Love," Aldor agreed. "Given your ability and the climate we grew up in."
Din nodded. "I forgot about so much of the darkness we lived through before the droids came. Remember it now in their faces when I think of them. The Separatists were after us. Still don't know why. Don't think it was just because of me, though. Maybe something my parents did. Maybe even something they were. Really can't remember that. Been trying… but… all I remember is my parents talking about it… like I wasn't there. I don't remember all of it, but… I know… have always known… because of whatever my parents did or were… and because of whatever I am… it's why I can't give you a child, my Lady. Some early faction of Separatists did it at the medical station when I was born… before my mother even held me in her arms."
Aldor was silent for a moment, attempting to control the squall that tore through her. His memories illuminated some of hers, and now it was clear that she and her Mandalorian were victims of the same evil. Finally, she looked up at him. "That… that is also why I can't carry our child. I think it's what convinced my parents to send me to the Temple. They thought I would be safe there. Maz Kanata has a soft spot for Force-sensitive children, and she found out about a plot in our sector to sterilize babies with a high midi-chlorian count. My parents had me examined, and it turned out Maz was right. I didn't remember it until we ended up on Takodana after we escaped the Temple. Went to Maz for guidance and… and she mentioned it. I don't know if it was Separatists or otherwise, though. Could be anyone, because there's a long history of evil factions trying to exterminate Force Sensitives. By numerous means."
"Hearing these things from you… our stories so similar… evil coming down on us for no good fucking reason… in the same way… it doesn't surprise me anymore, my Lady." He paused to let loose a soft rumble from his throat, but it ended on a sigh as he shook his head. "It makes me angry, but it makes me hopeful too. Because we survived it. However many times those evil bastards tried to put out the light in us, they never managed it. It does hurt… that I'll never see you carry our baby, but we can do what we can for other children. So… their plot didn't work, my Lady. Not really. The light is still on in both of us, and we have a son who's as good as our own. It's more than enough. More than I ever expected to have."
"Yes, my Love," she said quietly. "I feel the same way. I never expected much more than to die here alone with a few memories. I thought I'd never have a family again." It was the truth, of course, but she tasted the same sour jogans that flavored Din's voice. No matter how faithfully they believed things had worked out as they should, neither was entirely happy about it. She sighed and wrapped herself around his arm, just because she needed to be closer. "But I would love to see the child we might have created."
"Me too," he murmured sadly, and took her hand in his as they continued along the tributaries toward the sea. "But… I've been thinking, my Lady," he said in a brighter voice. "I have a theory about Grogu. Have you noticed his hair? Since it started growing out… the colors… most of it's dark… the same shade as mine… then he has those little shots of red through it… the same color as yours… makes me wonder if his species… sort of… absorbs traits… from those who care for them. By nature."
"Hmmm…" Aldor murmured thoughtfully. "That's an interesting theory, my Love. It is rather uncanny… sometimes when I look at him, I see you in his eyes… sometimes even his expression."
"And sometimes I see you when he smiles, my Lady. I've even heard him laugh like you do. So maybe we've already created a child of our own… in a way."
"The Force does move in mysterious ways, my Love."
"I think I'm beginning to understand some of its mysteries, though," Din replied thoughtfully. "The Force always seems to know what it's doing, even if we can't see it clearly. I never believed there was much reason for anything until I came here. But now I feel like maybe there's a reason for everything. For good or for evil. I don't think we were meant to have our own children. I know Grogu was meant to be our son. For those and a thousand more reasons, I believe you and I have been together since time began. More and more lately, I sense it's not just a feeling. More than… the way we love each other. I see the two of us in other places in other times. Even when I was in my twenties, staring at the moons on Tatooine, I think you must have been there. Or you will be. Because time has changed since I came here. The idea of it. So much of what we've seen… so much of what we sense… could be now or later… a thousand years ago or a thousand years from now… for some reason only the Force knows."
"Or for many reasons, my Love. And I think we will know some of them."
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It's an encouraging thought," he continued, a small smile curving into his mustache. "Because I already know one of the reasons we're together is because we like to be together. Even for a ray hunt on a chilly morning, I'd rather be here with you than anywhere, my Lady. Makes me even more certain the Force knows what it's doing."
"It is rather miraculous that either of us enjoys being together with anyone," Aldor laughed. "Eccentrics that we are. It must be the will of the Force."
Content with the will of the Force, they ambled on toward the sea at an unhurried pace, comfortable under the All Weather droid's warming shield and a sky lit up in a deep red-violet blaze that reflected the heat pouring from the Pupil. It produced a subtle mirage that seemed to stack the sky on top of itself in bright, heavy layers diffused through long, wispy clouds. The rage of passionate colors splashed all the way across the horizon like some masterpiece of nature. Both of them were so keen on it, they barely realized when they came upon Din's glen.
They stopped in the glen to have a light lunch of dried buck meat and stone fruit. Her Mandalorian sat contentedly deep in thought, considering the little freshwater fish that flew past in flashes of silver through the stream. He was humming a plaintive tune so quietly, she barely noticed it until they'd been sitting for a little while. She said nothing because she was worried he'd stop. She'd never heard him hum before. And such a beautiful tune. Even after they'd had their lunch and continued toward the beach, Din hummed it during lulls in their conversation. She wasn't sure he realized he was doing it, but even after he stopped as they came nearer the beach, the song continued to play through both their minds.
But all music was silenced when they broke through the last sparse remnants of the forest and stepped onto the beach. Aldor sensed a jolt in Din's heart at the memory of the last time he was here. Before she could ask his mind, his voice answered. "I still don't remember it, my Lady," he said quietly, scanning the surf tentatively with sharpened eyes. "Or I didn't until… just now… couldn't believe what I'd done… no armor… no jets… just… me and the elements… memory… pain and joy… I'd never experienced anything like that. The Force… all through me. It made me see everything clearly." He paused and dropped his eyes to the sand as his most ambiguous huff shook his broad chest. "Why does it feel like it was years ago, my Lady? But it can't be more than three or four cycles… right?"
"I believe so, my Love," she answered. "But you're right. Seems so long ago because of everything that's changed… profoundly changed. For both of us. Where we were a year ago seems far removed from where we are now." She paused to look up at him, and tilted him a small smile. "My Mandalorian began as a lost bounty hunter at the end of his rope. And I began a lonely hermit, barely able to keep spirit and body together. Now, I am very much one with my body, and never lonely. My Mandalorian has grown powerful in the Force and always knows exactly where he is. Knows himself."
"Maybe. But I'm not sure myself should talk as much as I have lately." He heaved a diffident sigh and angled his tiniest smile at her, shaking his head. "Sorry. I did… warn you I might…"
Aldor yanked him down by the hair to kiss him hard because she loved these bashful moments from him. It put his Spirit on display in near comic relief next to his bearded face and broad shoulders. Such a man, but still very much a boy in the deepest recesses of his beskar heart. When she released him, his eyes were half closed, looking drunk and blissfully bewildered until she smiled and patted his cheek. "It's not your fault, my Love," she reassured him. "And don't worry. I rather love this version of you."
She stole another quick kiss just as she felt the rays waking up to the presence of two tiny primates in their midst. Din noticed it too, and immediately looked back toward the sea. Aldor nodded at the surf, all business now. "They're a little sluggish during the Solstice, my Love, so it's actually the perfect time to take one. But don't be fooled. They're bigger assholes during the Solstice too."
"How is that fucking possible?" Din grunted. "Ornery bastards."
"We'll ease up on them slowly," Aldor suggested. "When one of them rears, we'll see which of us it wants to exploit, then go from there."
"Exploit?" Din asked, but understood what she meant as soon as he asked. "Those visions… that first ray I took down… it… showed me things…"
"Yes, my Love," Aldor confirmed. "Every creature on this planet is strong in the Force. They all have their way of using it. The rays use memory and trauma against you. I'm not sure yet how they do it. It may be some sort of chemical reaction they induce in some way I don't have the equipment or the knowledge to measure. A sort of weaponized reflex that I believe may affect the human limbic system. But if you're wearing a rayskin coat, the effect isn't as powerful. It could be a defense mechanism built into their hide. But again, I'm not sure. However they do it, the Force is with them."
"Luckily, the Force is with my Lady," Din said with an admiring huff. "I see why you made all our coats out of rayskin."
"Well, it is a bonus," Aldor laughed. "I honestly made mine from it because I like the aesthetic of the leather. It was just a happy accident that I discovered it makes hunting them easier."
Din simply chuckled and shook his head. But his moment of admiration was cut short as an irritated rumble from the sea gradually intensified. "They know we're here," he murmured.
Aldor sighed heavily and looked up at the All Weather droid. "Well, my Love… are you ready to be cold?"
Din brought his hood up over his head and nodded in response. Aldor mirrored it with her own hood and lovingly made an adjustment to Din's scarf before she drew the droid back into her hand with the Force. An immediate chill arrested the very core of her body while Din barely winced when he reached into his coat for his light saber and gave her a nod. Extremes in weather didn't seem to phase him much, even outside his beskar.
However much the cold might phase either of them, they were both sufficiently warm and full of adrenaline as they slowly stepped toward the surf and felt the rays becoming more agitated, thundering through the shallow sea. A loud, massive rumble disturbed the water just in front of them, and the ray breached the surface in a frothy vortex, and faced off against Aldor. Aldor felt its malice as it spat images of Rothan and dogs and soulless hunters. Programmed Clone Troopers and the Emperor. Jumper and Master Ha'saan. But the images were dim and the feelings fleeting under her rayskin coat, and she drew her sabers defiantly when the ray opened its massive black maw and started to charge her. She sensed Din timing his moment, knowing what he meant to do, and took her cue to leap in front of the ray as a distraction.
But this ray was particularly nasty and snapped at her. She dodged it easily, but its huge wing brutally slapped her away like a fly, and sent her hurtling toward the cliffs. She cursed at the nasty bitch and stretched out with the Force to yank at its dorsal fin, pulling herself back toward the gaping throat. The hit had sharpened her irritation, and she leapt up and pushed herself forward with one foot against its forehead. She catapulted herself over the ray's back as she ignited her blades to rake through the fin. It served as a deep distraction for the screaming ray as Din leapt from the sand to land hard on its head. He thrust his saber deep into its brain, as if he were furious at it, then landed on the sand like a puff of smoke as the ray keened and flopped dead in the surf.
The moment he hit the ground, Din was running to her like it was a matter of life and death. He immediately started to look her over, taking her shoulders in his hands and inspecting every inch of her he thought the ray might have injured. "You okay?" he asked urgently through this frantic inspection. "Fucker hit you hard, my Lady... want to make sure... you're… okay..."
Halfway through this barrage of concern, Din realized he might be over-reacting, and the words faded gradually until Aldor couldn't suppress her laugh. "I'm perfectly well, my Love," she chuckled. "We're badasses, remember? And I think we've just discovered the best way to take down a ray."
Din's head dipped down as a sheepish smile twisted his lips through a self-deprecating shuffle. "Yes, my Lady. It just... jolted me a little... forgot how tough you are... after the last few days of you being so soft... yielding..."
"I yield only to you, my Love," she said with an adoring smile. "And to Grogu if he's in a mood. But I will never yield to a belligerent ray. Their leather is just too nice and the meat too tasty." She paused and immediately dug into her coat for the empty sample capsule she'd brought along. "That reminds me. I just need to gather some of its blood, my Love. You have to harvest it fresh or it loses its potency."
Din laughed outright. Louder and more boisterous than she'd ever heard from him. So much so, it was infectious, and she was soon laughing along even though she had no idea what was so funny. "Not so much funny, my Lady," he answered through a continuous chuckle. "Just… a thing about you… that I fucking love."
"I can't imagine what thing about me could elicit such an unprecedented laugh from my stoic Mandalorian."
Din shook his head, still erupting into little chuckles as he looked down at the sand under their feet. At last, he looked back up at her and explained, "I wondered what uses you'd found for it. When I killed that one on my own… saw how strange the blood is… knew…" He paused to let loose another brief laugh. "Fucking knew you would have figured out how to use it."
Aldor merely smiled and shied away from the adoration in his eyes as she bent to the ray's head with her utility knife to draw a large sample of its blood from the cauterized wound. "Maybe it's in my genetics," she said dismissively as she worked. "Both my parents were scientists, you know."
"What do you use it for anyway?"
"It's the key ingredient in my healing salve," Aldor answered. "You saw how quickly those scratches from the dogs went away. The rays' blood has remarkable curative properties. I noticed it when I missed my thrust once and knicked one. It healed within a few minutes. I did a thorough scan and it appears to work similarly to Bacta. The proteins and phosphorous in their blood works with bacteria to heal from the inside out. Combined with sea grass, it does wonders." Her voice dropped when she continued, "But it isn't enough for a wound from a vulture."
"Well… what you call scratches didn't go away quick enough for my taste either," Din grumbled. "I still see the scars when I kiss you there. But your concoctions always do seem to work wonders."
Aldor smiled as she stood and sealed the sample capsule. "Necessity makes us clever."
When Din kissed her, Aldor sensed he only meant it to be a quick one, but before she could even register it, she was wrapped up in his warm, broad body as they gorged themselves on each other. The rumble underneath them intensified as the Pupil gathered energy for its final little fit, and suddenly all Aldor wanted was her Mandalorian deep inside her. But neither was keen on fucking in front of a dead ray, so they eventually had to return to the waking universe, and her lover reluctantly disengaged himself and let his forehead rest against hers. His eyes were fiery and dark and his breath heavy with desire, but he grumbled and sighed as he stepped away, and placated himself with another brief taste. "My brilliant Master," he murmured. "Let's get this ray on the sledge. I'm ready to hunker down again."
"Mm…" Aldor agreed. "Me too."
They let the mid-duty loader continue on its programmed way to the settlement with the ray while they lagged behind, neither of them capable of keeping their hands off the other because the Eye was definitely waking up again. Din continued to hum the plaintive tune that had played through his head all day, and at last Aldor had to ask. "That song you're humming," she began. "It's beautiful, my Love. Are there lyrics? Do you remember them?"
"Mmm…" Din murmured. "Yes, there are words. It's an ancient Mando'a ballad someone set to music some millennia ago."
"What's it about?"
"It's an old Mandalorian love story," Din answered. "Believe it or not, we do have them. About a Mandalorian noblewoman who fell in love with a Sorcerer. Like most of the Mandalorian nobility, she was a warrior. They married in secret because the Sorcerer's Order forbade it and the Mandalorians didn't trust him. But their love was true. Like ours, my Lady. They had a son together and were happy for a time. But then war came to Mandalore like it always does, and the Sorcerer was called to fight against the Mandalorians. He answered the call even though his heart wasn't in it. As a matter of honor, I suppose. Before he left, he made his wife promise not to fight. She was pregnant again and he wanted to keep her and their baby safe. But when the time came, she couldn't betray her clan, so she went into battle despite the promise to her husband. After the fight, the Sorcerer recognized her armor among the dead, and found her stabbed through the belly. His wife and their unborn daughter both long gone. This version says he took his son off-world and renounced his Order. Lived the rest of his life fighting for the oppressed wherever he found them."
"Your voice and your heart suggest this story left a deep impression on you, my Love," she commented. "A sad story. I confess I'm surprised you would have learned it in the Fighting Corps."
"Honestly, my Lady, I haven't thought about it in years. Let's just say the impression it left on me has gotten deeper with age and experience." He kept his eyes trained on the ground in front of them for several paces, searching deeply for something until he gave up. He heaved a great sigh and shook his head before he spoke again. "What's strange is I'm almost positive I never heard it in the Fighting Corps. I remember reading several versions of the story, but I don't think I heard the ballad sung even once in all the years I spent on Concordia. I see my father when I think about it. I wonder if… maybe I heard it from him. But I'm not sure I'm remembering right. Because if my father ever sang it to me, he sang it in Mando'a. I've never heard it sung in Basic."
Aldor looked pointedly at Din for a moment, confused as he appeared to be. "Was your father Mandalorian?"
"He… he didn't feel like a Mandalorian… don't remember ever seeing armor… unless they hid it from me. It could be possible… armor or not. Not all Mandalorians walk the Way of the Mand'alor. Not all are warriors. And I learned not so long ago that some of the Pacifists from Dutchess Satine's era remained loyal to her even after she died. So Bo Katan said." He glanced over at Aldor. "Satine was Bo Katan's sister," he explained. "I never knew about any of them until I met Bo Katan on Trask… after I took Grogu. The Watch kept us in the dark where it came to the New Mandalorians and Clan Kryze. And pretty much everything. But… then again… if my father was Mandalorian, he would have left long before Dutchess Satine took power. I was seven when they took me to Concordia. That wasn't more than a year or two before she was killed, and she didn't reign long."
"Why is it humming through your head now?"
"It's been in my mind since I started wielding this lightsaber," he answered softly. "I see its maker so clearly when I think of the song. Something about him lines up with the Sorcerer. And… I always see a young boy with him. So I've started to wonder lately… if this is his saber. The Sorcerer from the story. All these legends have some basis in truth. Given the Mandalorian hatred for Jedi, it makes sense they would refer to him as a Sorcerer. And there are so many versions of the story that color him as somehow evil. But I don't think any of those versions are true. When I think of him, I sense a catastrophic mistake. Grief and regret. But… I know he had a good heart, so I don't think he was ever evil."
"What are some of the other versions?"
"Some say he killed his wife himself. In others, she begs him to come away before the fight, but pride makes him refuse more than honor. In one version, he even pays a young woman to carry their unborn daughter." A mirthless chuckle escaped him. "That seems to be the most popular version. The daughter is corrupted and kills the woman carrying her. Some sort of… penance… for using his magic. So he kills his daughter in the woman's womb, then he kills himself. A circumstance that would demean him… make him appear weak. But I sense this man was much stronger than that. If he's the same one who made this saber."
"I think it's very possible, my Love. The time period is right. That the saber chose you… it almost suggests it." She paused, deep in thought for a moment, considering the story and all she knew about the Old Republic saber. All she knew about Din. After a few moments of this, she looked back at her patiently gazing Mandalorian and asked, "Do you think maybe your father was a scholar who learned it second hand?"
"I don't know," Din sighed. "Still not sure it was him I heard it from… but… feels like him…"
They came to the glen just as Din trailed off. Without a word, he dropped to the ground and pulled her down to sit between his legs. He embraced her from behind and pulled her against him, taking her hands in his to wrap both their arms around her as he nuzzled into the bend of her neck, humming again and becoming distracted. But Aldor's curiosity was still piqued as she considered a forming theory. "I wonder, my Love," she whispered, snuggling closer. "I wonder if maybe… maybe you do have some Mandalorian blood after all. Maybe you're more than a Foundling. Because your light saber has reacted so strongly to you… I've wondered since you started wielding it if it senses its maker's blood in you. And the fact that Madame Jocasta said so little about it when I asked… like she did with most things that might reflect poorly on the Jedi Order… it makes me wonder… maybe… if you're right about the Sorcerer being its maker… you're a descendant of that sad couple from the legend."
Din sighed deeply. "It's occurred to me," he murmured. "He does look a little like my father when I see him. It could just be association or coincidence, though. I don't know, but… I feel like…"
"…the Force knows what it's doing." She tilted her head back over his shoulder to smile up at him. "It is a comforting thought, my Love."
His body shook around her in a brief chuckle. He smiled into her hair, then tightened his hold on her to kiss her neck, and stayed there moment with his chin hooked over her shoulder, deep in thought again. "Maybe I'm born of Mandalore after all." A humorless laugh escaped him as he straightened his back and brought her closer. "Force knows what the Factions would say if they'd known. They always called me an imposter."
"Yet you were likely the truest Mandalorian among them, whatever your bloodlines are."
"Doesn't matter, really," he mumbled. "Even if I have both Mandalorian and Jedi blood, it circulates in my veins for my family and nothing else. If she is my ancestor, I think she would take pride in that choice."
"I sense he would too."
"He would," Din answered confidently. "I know he would." He sighed again and pressed a kiss to her temple, then she turned in his arms to face him, and straightened her legs out to drape over his thighs, bringing them deliciously close. His deep brown eyes so clear and shimmering as he smiled in confirmation that he'd wanted her to do exactly this. He kissed her tenderly, then his expression fell as he sank around her and let his forehead fall against hers in his most intimate Mandalorian gesture. "I think a lot about how willing I was to die for Mandalore, my Lady. I'm not sure you know how willing I was. It… I thought it was the most honorable thing I could ever hope to die for. But… illusions… all of it. Even if I'd married Bo Katan, we would have ruled over a false ideal, and we'd both be dead for no reason at all."
"You were going to marry her?"
"She brought it up," he said. "And I considered it seriously. Probably would have. For the sake of Mandalore. And for Grogu because he liked her. But… I never gave her a decisive answer. The Armorer killed her before I could accept. Killed her to prevent it."
"Would you have married her for yourself?"
"No," Din sighed shamefully. "I didn't love her like that. I tried… just… couldn't. But I don't think she loved me either. She cared for me… might've wanted me, but… no more than that. I didn't want to be a leader either. Never wanted to be. But if it meant we could unite the Factions, I was willing… so long as she handled the politics. But it would have ended the same way if I married her. Like I said. One or both of us dead for no reason. Those bastards probably would've killed my boy too. For no fucking reason. Many didn't like the idea of royalty marrying a common warrior… not even born of Mandalore. And many didn't trust our… friendship."
"But you're hardly a common warrior, my Love."
"Maybe not to you. Maybe not even to Bo Katan. But to most of the other clans… I shouldn't even call myself Mandalorian."
"Mmm…" Aldor mused. "If your power had grown in that climate… and if you'd been exposed as Force sensitive… yes… I see how that could be a problem too."
Din nodded ruefully. "So many of them still hate the Jedi. After more than three thousand years. Bo Katan fought with Jedi in the Clone Wars. Even called them friends. A lot of Mandalorians still distrusted that about her. If she'd married me, and my ability had been exposed, everything would have blown apart more dramatically than it did."
A wave of sorrow for her lover filled Aldor's heart. The strain of it all darkened his eyes and expression in a weariness that grew from the depths of his exquisite soul. She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed him tenderly. "I'm so sorry, my Love," she whispered. "For all you've been through." She kissed him again and lovingly smoothed the pads of her thumbs along his mustache and over his cheeks as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry you lost Bo Katan. She must have been quite a woman."
"She was," he murmured, his eyes still closed as Aldor settled her forehead against his, because it seemed to bring him comfort. "I did care for her. A lot. Respected her." He heaved an enormous sigh that shook the ground beneath them and sat in silence, seeming to fall into a brief meditation as Aldor followed the shape of his handsome face with her fingers, feeling so close to him right now, she could almost curl up into a ball to settle next to his heart. At last he opened his eyes and lifted his face to hers, and slowly brushed his fingers through her hair. "I felt guilty about not loving her, but… I know now that's a thing beyond any of us." A small, bittersweet smile spread over his lips as he tenderly grazed his thumb across her cheek. "Because you're quite a woman too, my Lady. Everything turned out the way it was supposed to. I feel greater purpose here than I ever did on Mandalore. And I never expected to love anyone the way I love you. But it still makes me angry… to think about how everything went down. Makes me angry for Bo Katan. And for Mandalore. Both deserved better. Hardly seems fair."
"It never is."
Din shook his head. "Not in this galaxy. Not in our lifetime."
"Maybe that's just another aspect of the Force, my Love. Many say the Force is fair, but it really isn't. It does what it must do regardless of what people deserve."
Din ruminated on all this for a while as he held on to her, absently running his fingers along her back. Aldor drowsed in his warmth and scent, closing her eyes as she sighed contently and dipped her nose into her lover's fragrant throat, moved and comforted by his tender caresses while she inhaled his delicious spice. But his mind was still at work, and she sensed his question before he spoke it. "Is that why the ray showed you the nobleman? Do you think he deserved better?" Din coaxed her to look up at him. At first she feared a flash of needless jealousy through shattered brown glass, but once again, Aldor underestimated him. His eyes were genuinely curious and his expression placid as he continued. "When you think about him, your feelings are impossible to decipher, so I really can't tell. But I sense I wouldn't like him at all, my Lady. Feel like maybe he didn't show you the respect he should have."
Aldor sighed, still struggling to set those memories free. She wasn't ready to, but she knew she would have to be eventually. The irony was that of all the people in the entire Galaxy, Din Djarin would be the most likely to understand her feelings. But she still didn't know how to explain any of it with or without words, even to Din. Her feelings about Rothan were abstract and amorphous because she'd beaten them down for fear they could tempt darkness. But as she looked into her Mandalorian's patient eyes, she felt she owed him some insight. At last she decided he was worth tempting darkness, and his presence alone would protect her from it. "I don't think he did respect me," she finally admitted. "But he didn't really respect much of anything. He fancied himself a freedom fighter, but he was only a spoiled little boy playing a game with himself. If he really wanted to help the oppressed, he wouldn't have hid out like a coward every time someone in need landed here. He would have found a way to help like Jumper always did. I'm still not sure how I thought I meant anything to that moof-milker. Maybe I just needed something to take my mind off of how much I missed Jumper." Aldor sighed deeply, suddenly fighting tears as she bowed her head to stare at her stone signet, only just realizing she'd taken it in her hand and held on as she spoke. It continued to comfort her while its maker wrapped his warm golden blankets lovingly around her. "You would have loved Jumper, Din," she whispered brokenly. "He would have thought so much of you… it's… agonizing… to think you'll never meet him."
"Maybe I will some day, my Lady," he murmured into her hair. He drew her closer, pulling her head to his chest in his protective embrace. "Somewhere in the Force… once we've become part of it… maybe I'll meet him… and you'll see him again."
"Maybe," she whispered into his tunic. "I hope so, my Love."
Din pressed sweet, soothing kisses to her forehead, and at last she felt strong enough to look at him again. He grazed the pad of his thumb across her lips and tilted a miniscule smile at her. "So do I, my Lady."
She smiled serenely, and brushed her fingers through his hair. "You're so much the opposite of that bratty little politician. My handsome Mandalorian."
"I had a feeling," Din murmured before he kissed her.
Then the sky lit up over the Pupil, and a gorgeous shiver burst across the crust of the planet in a sensual massage as the celestial lovers grew hungry again and sought each other out. The two humans on the ground felt it keenly, and what began as a gesture of comfort with a tender peck against Aldor's lips quickly escalated into gesture of desire as he licked deep into her mouth, gliding his talented tongue slowly along hers as his heart rumbled in his chest. Before she knew it, her lover was kissing her as if he hadn't seen her in months, murmuring and sighing through delightful nips and deep sweeps until both of them were out of breath, and Aldor was bleary and aching to feel him inside her. He took her face in his hands when he came up for air, still heaving as he gazed at her through a mist of steam and smoke. "He never kissed you like that, did he, my Lady?" he asked in a husky whisper against her lips.
The sweet resonance of his deep velvet voice shook through her lips and straight down her body to settle between her legs. "Never," Aldor sighed. She eased her palms over the thick fabric that covered the solid thighs underneath, wishing she could feel the naked flesh. She wanted to see her pale hands against his solid, dark chest. Fall deeper in love with the contrast between their skins and drink in the delicious spice that permeated every centimeter of him. "He was no match for you, my Love," she concluded, whispering against his lips as a soft, low grumble shook through his throat.
"No match for you, my Lady," he murmured. She didn't notice where his hand was until his fingers pressed possessively into the fabric covering mound, already damp as he sought her clit through the same seam he destroyed two days ago.
"Ah!"
The sound escaped her throat before she felt it form, and a burning ache ripped through her womb as the Eye awakened underneath them. Din murmured impatiently and dragged his fingers along the mended seam as Aldor sought the long, firm column of heat straining against the fly of his trousers, grasping it through the fabric as her lover let loose an explosive huff and hauled her into his lap.
She was overtaken by a hard, hungry kiss as she tore at his fly and another rip of fabric set her breasts free. Two hot, hungry palms took possession of them, and he bowed his head to take her nipple between his lips. She was so distracted, she barely noticed another quick rip of fabric until her exposed mound brushed over the head of his engorged cock.
Before she could moan at this beautiful tease, every thick inch of him filled her with golden magma. "Ahhh!"
He levered himself to his knees, barely drawing back from the depth he was sunk in as Aldor gripped his shoulders and locked her ankles behind his back. He wrapped his arms tight around her, holding her steady as a flash of orange-yellow plasma broke over her eyes. Aldor called out to the suns to share in the bliss of her lover inside her, rocking against him and taking him deeper into her body, impaling herself with his beautiful cock as he drove it hard into her over and again, panting and growling, destroying her with all his gorgeous girth in deep, purposeful thrusts. She couldn't hold on anymore, and she clamped her entire being around her Mandalorian as the tempest flung her up through the clouds, and she let her voice fill the sky to accompany Din's ecstatic thunder.
Look at me, my Lady. The thought was clear enough to rouse her after the fall. She would have done anything he asked in this moment, feeling so full of him and so overtaken and so complete. She dutifully opened her eyes to his, wild and enraptured. Look at me, Aldor… just… look at me… let me look at you… feel me so deep inside you… my heart next to yours… feel all this… feel us…
His thoughts disintegrated as she stared deep into the shattered brown glass, so in love with this man and so willing to give him anything, she let him penetrate the very core of her body and soul. Showed him a thousand thoughts and memories even she couldn't decipher. Gave him all the love she'd felt from the moment she met him. Cast over him all the light that sang through her blood. So close to him, she felt every nuance of all this pleasure twice over. Consuming and enormous. Her body was almost beyond its limit of rapture, so close to the edge it began to feel like agony until at last she was drawn into a fathomless brown wormhole that shot them both across the Galaxy.
Din grunted and huffed in ever higher pitches, each one more intense than the last as he stared into her eyes and struggled to keep his body upright, coming closer to supernova. A long cry tumbled over his lips, and she landed on her back in the moss as her lover took possession of her thighs and wrenched her legs open wider, pounding hard and deep into her spasming body. Aldor clawed at his shoulders, drowning in golden blankets and madly in love with how it felt to draw them into her lungs as her womb burst with another orgasm, and Din let loose a long, keening "Unnnghh!"
Aldor bucked and cried out as thick waves of molten gold poured into her, filling her with all this life. Strength and fire and purpose. All of it settled between her legs as they collapsed together in a heap, still trembling and only half unclothed under the warming shield of the dutiful droid obliviously hovering overhead.
Din murmured low in his chest, almost indulgently, as his lips traveled over her body. He kissed her everywhere. Her breasts and her arms and shoulders. Her neck and her lips and her sides. Then shifting above her, he crouched between her legs and licked into her, gathering their shared release on his tongue as Aldor jerked and moaned. Then his lips were on her belly. All over it. Pulling down her waistband and rubbing kisses across the soft flesh, pressing tenderly around her naval as he gently gathered the plaint skin in his hands. Then he settled, and simply rested his cheek in the pillow of her flesh, deep in thought as he absently caressed little patterns across her belly with his fingertips.
They lay like this for a long time, swimming in random airy thoughts. After a while, Din's went back to their earlier conversations, and she sensed an idea forming in his head. A slight warmth and a tentative motion caressed through her uterus and gathered around her ovaries, as if he was considering an experiment with the Force. But the warmth abruptly fled and the motion arrested, and her lover felt a twinge of guilt as he changed his mind.
Another test he passed with flying colors.
She said nothing of it, and he remained silent as he shifted again to gather her into his arms. He cradled her against him and settled in the moss as he heaved a soft, bittersweet sigh.
My Mandalorian is so wise. I didn't even have to hint.
Felt wrong, my Lady. Saw something… disturbing… just a flash, but I saw it… best to just… let things be… wouldn't be right… selfish…
I'm afraid so, my Love.
They lay together in the glen for a long time afterward, just enjoying the warmth of the ground and the feeling of each other. Neither spoke until a quiet rumble of thunder echoed against the cliffs and drew Aldor's eyes toward the sea. "Storms coming, my Love," she whispered in his ear, taking the opportunity to nuzzle under it and revel in his little shiver of pleasure.
"He'll be hungry soon," Din murmured. "I'm hungry still… but… we should get back to the YT. Be with our boy. Stay warm in our bed tonight. Make love under the furs and sleep in… maybe stay in bed again… was good to get out… watch my Lady be the badass she is… but the Pupil knows his lover is leaving him soon… we should be ready for that last little fit."
On their way home, Din started humming again while Aldor kept her coat wrapped tight around her otherwise decimated clothes. But she didn't care and actually found a great deal of satisfaction in it, and barely recalled her ripped clothes while she begged him to sing the Mando'a ballad for her. She may not know the language, but she would understand well enough. After many caveats but surprisingly little coaxing, Din finally gave in and sang it to her. He warned her against his voice, but to Aldor it was beautiful. He had a decent ear and his singing was rich and emotive. When she heard the refrain repeated in whispered lyrics tinged with sadness, she had to ask after it repeated at the end of the song. "What does the chorus mean in Basic?"
"Though his love was true and his heart was strong, forever he weeps for his children." Din rolled this around in his brain for a moment before he concluded, "If I'm his descendent, I believe his forever could end with me. I hope I can do that for him. If he's part of the Force now, I hope he'll see me honor him with his light saber. I think maybe he's been weeping long enough."
Over the span of another day and night after they brought down the ray, they dressed the beast and Aldor made another batch of her healing ointment. They had a celebratory dinner of ray steaks that had Grogu happier than he could express, then their boy went back to his meditation and Aldor and Din went back to theirs and stayed in bed together to enjoy the final fit. But she knew the Solstice had passed when they woke the next morning, and merely smiled at each other before they shared in a soft, chaste kiss.
"Morning, my Lady," he whispered. He held her against his side with one strong arm and stretched indulgently, giving himself a good scratch along his belly before his hand went to his flaccid cock, still coated in her. "Mmm..." he murmured as his fingers glided gently over his soft length, and a quick wince briefly tightened his features. "Still feel you here," he said. "Think I always will after so many days of fucking. Not unhappy about it, though."
Aldor smiled against his fragrant skin. So in love with it. So in love with him. Beyond sated. She followed his example, and ran her hand over her drenched curls, and briefly dipped one fingertip into her blissfully sore, beautifully swollen labia. A few remaining drops of him from their last purge trickled out of her. She shuddered under the lovely feel of it, and looked down at herself and the bedclothes underneath. Everything was a mess. Her curls were matted and damp after days of being wet and taking his seed. The bedclothes were drenched in release after release, and the smell of cum and sweat clung to both their bodies and the entirety of their bunk. Aldor sighed and cuddled closer to her lover, deeply satisfied with the state of things.
Mindlessly, as they lay in peaceful silence together, she closed her eyes and ran her hand over the soft pudge of her belly. Despite all their certainty and continued agreement over their circumstances as parents, Aldor still tasted sour jogans. In the deepest reaches of her heart, she wished she could sense a kernel of life fluttering against her palm. If it were possible, it would be inevitable after these last few days. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that, maybe in another universe, she could feel something they made together growing inside her by now. What color was her hair? Her eyes? Did she have Din's nose? Aldor's mouth? Exactly how much does her father dote on her in that other universe?
Aldor kept her thoughts shrouded, but Din knew. As easily as she knew his feelings in the glen. But again, neither said a word as she turned in his arms and backed deep into his embrace. A powerful, bittersweet pulse spread through her from the palm he brought down on top of her hand. The scarred fingers laced through hers as he pulled her closer, gently hugging her from behind. "I suppose..." he said tentatively. "I suppose we'll need to wash the sheets..."
Aldor burst into laughter at the same time he did, and she turned again in his arms because she had to kiss him. His mouth turned up into a smile wide enough to show his teeth as he bowed his head to hers, and searched her misty eyes. His were shuddering violently, reflecting multiple pictures of thoughts at once as he slightly furrowed his brow and smiled in his most miniscule way through an expression as maudlin as her feelings had been. "We have all we need, my Lady," he assured her. "I feel that in my bones and blood. We have all we need."
They didn't make love, but Din kissed her for a long time. Just touching her face and wrapping her in golden blankets while he licked softly into her mouth and along her lips, gently massaging her breasts just enough to bring her pleasure, but not quite enough to make her ache. He let his tongue dance and slide against hers. Nipped at her throat as he took a breath, scooped her up into his arms and cradled her as he stared into her eyes and studied her face with his fingertips. A massive uptake of molten gold spun out from the depths of the Mandalorian's broad chest as he took her tight into his arms and wrapped himself around her. Arms and legs and shoulders, hips and head.
Aldor lay there encased in the man she loved, feeling it pulse from herself at the core, and from every angle of him around her, and she realized it was the same. Whatever it was. Not just familiar, but entirely the same. They both shuddered as the frequency of their souls briefly matched up. It only lasted a few minutes because the bond was too powerful, and they shouldn't keep all of it for themselves. They had to let some of the power go. Let it land on something else so it might serve some good to more than just them.
Din's hold on her slackened just a little, and he craned his head back to nuzzle against her forehead and coaxed her to look at him without words. Our visions have shown us how. How to let it land.
All that matters to me is that you and I and our son will still be together, no matter what lands or how hard.
It frightens me a little. But… you'll be beside me.
I'll always be beside you, my Love. Can you imagine me anywhere else? Can you imagine any of us... anywhere but together?
"I can and I can't," he whispered, shuddering as if the air around him suddenly dropped ten degrees. "Can't imagine existing in the Universe without you anymore. Just can't see it, my Lady. Not sure it's even possible. But... I can imagine Imps and raiders... scugholes who would try to take our family from us. For whatever reason. None or half a dozen. Doesn't matter. But they won't... won't ever..."
"Shh..." she whispered against his lips. The old anxiety was still there. She knew it would be, but it would be milder and easier for him to control now that he'd learned to let some of it out. Even now she sensed her lover's thoughts settling back into contentment, but his heart was stubborn as ever. "Shh, my Love..." She ran the tip of her tongue gently along his lips to distract him until he finally crumbled entirely. He went limp around her, relaxing into the mattress as if he'd been hovering above it all this time. "We'll be fine," she whispered. "We are Clan Djarin."
"And nothing will take it from us."
"Never."
Din's old anxiety abated after this exchange, and she rolled over and scooted into his waiting arms as he reached around her and covered her belly with his hand, as if he were protecting the child they'd never conceive. But his feelings had turned away from regret, and the warmth pressed so tenderly into the center of her body became something present and real. There may have been a moment of shared sorrow, but it didn't last long. There were other things they might conceive together, and both Din and Aldor sensed those things would do more for the Galaxy than their hypothetical daughter.
Satisfied for now in his heavier thoughts, he absently rubbed his lips into the little fine hairs at the nape of her neck, tickling a sly nerve that sent tender little sparks shooting through her veins and into her womb. The sparks collected under his gentle grip on her belly, and both of them were amazed to feel desire rise again. Aldor could hardly believe it, but sure as anything, her wet lips opened wide between her folds, and as she felt him stirring against her backside, she swelled to think of how he would feel inside her right now.
"Can't believe it," he huffed. "Thought... thought we'd be satisfied with three days of straight fucking."
"Din," she whispered deeply, rubbing her backside against his erection, letting the head skirt along the crease of her ass as she shifted, and took him between her thighs to gently stroke his shaft. His hybrid whimper and growl breezed across the back of her neck, stirring the sensitive little hairs again. A wanton sigh escaped her lips, and she knew her lover heard her plea.
"Aren't you sore..." he murmured, barely keeping it together. His fingers bit into her flesh, pulling her into him as he swayed his hips against hers. Aldor could hardly contain herself as the length of his cock gently skirted across her clit and between her aching folds in warm, wet caresses. The only answer she could muster was a deep, petulant whimper. "Mmmm. You're already wet, my Lady. Can hear it. Fuck... Aldor... are you... you sure you want... Ngh!"
They both imploded as the tip of his straining cock knocked carelessly against her clit, and moisture immediately seeped through her hungry lips. Before she could make a sound, all of his gorgeous girth slowly coaxed her open to fill her with a slow-rising fire. He was thick and large and raw, carefully sliding deep into the stinging ache as she heaved and sighed, the feeling so much more intense in her ultra-sensitized body. "Don't want to hurt you," he whispered softly in her ear, and hooked his arm around her waist to nestle her against him. He brought his knees up to surround her, tangled on the bed as she whimpered at the sensation of hot, hard flesh stretching and filling her with him. "So tight," he moaned. "Still so tight…" A hard thrust hit a previously undiscovered pleasure button inside her that created an instant arc from each of his fingers to the riot that trembled through her womb. She bucked and moaned and begged for more, not sure anymore if she'd spoken it or not.
He answered her pleas with soft, shallow pumps against the claw of lightning that filled her womb with silken filaments of dark matter. It felt so good she didn't care how sore she was. It was a euphoric sensation that mated pleasure with pain in a perfect ratio that sent her well on her way across the Galaxy with her Mandalorian lover. His breath raked heavily though his deep chest, blowing in hot gentle breezes against the back of her neck as he thrust gradually harder, hitting the eye of the storm. Climbing ever higher, devouring him as he fought for control. "Aldor…" he growled, and palmed her breast, driving himself deeper and harder with the new leverage, gently tugging her down in quick bursts to impale her on him time and again.
Aldor's mind was wiped clean for half a blessed second as branches of lightning shot from the pleasure point to her budding nipples. He groaned and planted his hand on her belly again, pumping deep and hard against this fresh bundle of euphoria, vibrations clashing to become waves that shook her down to nothing. Golden bands latched onto her, and pulled her with him past the event horizon and through a worm hole to another new world. They breathed in the sweet air and listened to the songs of foreign birds as he fell into a softer rhythm, rocking her whole body against him as he fed the flame inside her. A fragrant green breeze wafted under her nostrils, and she opened her eyes long enough to look upon two moons and a verdant prairie teeming with life. At the same moment, his fingertip sought her clit, and gently pressed against it as she jerked and moaned, barely glimpsing their surroundings before she went blind again and began to trip across galaxies, pulling him along with her. She shook and whimpered and met every hard thrust as Din hung on to her through the journey, desperately jerking harder into her, panting and whimpering now. So close but still not ready.
But he couldn't help himself, and he plunged impossibly deep as they went through the wormhole again, and landed back in their corporeal bodies as Din cried out in a rare burst of euphoria, holding on to her to make sure he didn't waste a single pulse of the golden warmth that shot into her, pooling and throbbing at the very door of her womb as she shook in his arms. She curled up tight as he surrounded her, and jerked again with a quiet sob from his lips. He slipped out of her as soon as he was spent, the sound slick and obscene as his seed poured from her body. He darted down lower on the bed to coax her to her back and cover her with his mouth. Aldor practically imploded with the pleasure of it as he licked at the tickling cascade of his own seed combined with her essence, and gathered it on his tongue.
He swallowed greedily and let out a heavy breath, as if it were the first time in his life he'd tasted water. "Fuck," he rasped... "Didn't want to hurt you... but fuck..." Need you to taste this. He darted back up her body and crushed a deep, dirty kiss to her lips, letting her taste their combined essence on his tongue as it probed deep into her mouth. She was instantly drunk on it, and crushed him down on top of her, sliding her hands over his back and shoulders as she gorged herself on his kisses, and he murmured and sighed and palmed her breasts, gathered her ass in his hands, pulled her into him and sighed through her hair until at last they were both beyond spent and amazed they'd managed to fuck so fantastically after the frenzy of the Solstice.
"Do we..." he was breathless, barely realizing it until he had to pause to gulp in air. "Do we have a day to recover, my Lady?" he asked softly, drowsy and as drunk as she was. "Could sleep all day if you're here with me."
"After we wash the sheets, my Love."
