found. | Din Djarin

Twenty Two

Din's hand is in mine as we fly back to Chandrila and I'm heavy with contemplation at what comes next. We have Moff Gideon to deal with, but I need to find someone who can help me in keeping him safe, who knows more than I do, and Yoda was hardly a help.

I need to find Ahsoka, in truth I don't know how Bo-Katan has managed to keep tabs on her but she has enough to know where she is. All those years through the rebellion we never met, it was as if she'd all but disappeared and has now emerged again. I'd known others, having briefly met Kanan and Ezra when Leia and I undertook a mission on Lothal and through Hera and Sabine I'd learned of their connection with her but in the chaos of war I'd never been able to find her, almost as if she never wanted to be found.

It frustrates me in those early years before the Death Star I couldn't have done more on the front lines like she did, but for the sake of Mandalore I had to operate with the same discretion as Leia had, and when it came to working with the few remaining Jedi I knew of... I couldn't give the Empire any further reasons to suspect me of being one either.

"You alright?" Din asks, noticing my quietness.

"Just thinking," I tell him. "We have Moff Gideon to deal with and I want the child to be safe and I need to know how we can train him to give him the best chance possible." In the back of my mind I debate leaving him with Luke when our journey inevitably takes us back into the moff's path, Luke has become a great Jedi but neither of us are prepared to train an individual like Grogu alone, or even Ben yet for that matter. Which is why I need someone who knew Anakin Skywalker, someone who knew an individual as powerful as they have the potential to be. "We'll get the kid and go to Ahsoka first."

He nods, trusting me. "Alright."

He heard me when I told Yoda in no uncertain words that I would marry him, he hasn't acknowledged them but I've felt something change in him since, as if he's suddenly at ease.

"It will buy us enough time for me to check with my contacts," I tell him. "Find out where Moff Gideon is and the type of strength he's got. From what we saw on Tatooine this isn't something we can handle alone which means we need to get the advantage over him in knowing what we're facing and having plans in place."

"Yes general," he says and squeezes my hand, easing me now as he tilts his helmet towards me. "Whatever the plan is, I'm behind you."

"I know," I say with a smile but say the words that have been playing on my mind. "I have officially ceded Mandalore and myself from the New Republic, of course since it was destroyed it was never officially made part of it but by association it's survivors were, the same as Alderaan. Now that politically and diplomatically all Mandalorians are under my authority not the Republics it gives us some diplomatic immunity to do whatever we need to do to kill Gideon without breaking the Galactic Concordance." 

He nods along and asks "If you don't have access to the Republic's military we'll have to look to other Mandalorians for help."

Those words certainly do not comfort me and I tell him "Let's just make sure Grogu is safe and then we'll deal with Gideon." He nods again and I continue. "That also means as long as you don't break the Republic's laws I can protect you."

"So if I killed someone-"

"The Republic can still arrest you," I tell him, knowing that would be pushing it. "It means I can handle your ship being a million years old and illegal but not breaking into Republic prisons."

"That was one time," he says but pauses before adding. "I think."

"Mmm," I say and ask "Any other crimes I should know about just in case?"

"None the Republic know about," he answers but goes silent before adding "I used to be a different person. I did bad things, I ran with some bad people, I wish I could say I didn't do some of those things willingly but I did, I- " he hesitates "Alzoc III, that was when it all changed."