Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

|10|

"Look, I'm not a Jedi, Leia. And sure, I've been trained to be a full-fledged force used, but I want this kid to be properly trained and I want him to have a good connection with the force. I'm just... I'm not the right person to teach him or to train him. I can't be his master," I say, slumping my shoulders while looking back towards the small camera. I take another deep breath, using the time to actually pick through my own thoughts. "But you know, if Luke's a little too busy with whatever's he's been up to, could you maybe ask him if he knows of anyone else that might be able to help? I remember hearing stories of an Ahsoka Tano? I don't know if the stories were real or anything, but if they are true, she'd probably be a better teacher than me. I mean, anyone would probably be better than me, so..."

Most of my words had been laced with a strong tone of doubt and uncertainty, but I'm pretty sure Leia was already used to hearing that from me. Whenever I talked about the force, my tone was usually uncertain, which she just happened to hate. She and Luke found it to be a sporadic occurrence that I actually talked about the force with confidence. Of course, they both ended up trying pretty hard to change that, but their attempts were to no avail. 

"I'll make sure to come out and visit you guys sometime soon. I miss you. See you around, princess," I finish, forcing a small smile to fall over my lips as I tiredly winked at her. I cut the message off and then sent it to her in hopes that she would answer me as soon as she could. I knew that she was busy with all the New Republic stuff, being a senator and all, but I was hoping that she might be able to take a few minutes to send a quick response. 

A sudden knock on my door startles me and my head snaps over to the door. I push myself off of my bed and open the door to see Mando standing there. 

"You okay?" he asks, sounding concerned. I suppose it took me more than just a few minutes to record that message. He must've gotten worried about me. I smile and nod my head at him, showing him that I was perfectly fine and that he had nothing to worry about. "The kid's asleep and I was thinking of getting some sleep myself. I just thought I might let you know."

"Alright. I'll probably just... I don't know. Do something to pass the time," I say, shrugging my shoulders while looking away from his gaze. I look around my room for a moment, wondering what I could do to keep myself busy. I suppose meditating for a while wouldn't hurt too much. Luke would have a fit if he knew that I hadn't been meditating much as of late. 

"Could we maybe talk?" he asks, his words slow and hesitant. I look back up at him, noticing the way his blank visor had been locked onto my face. I swallow hard and then slowly nod my head, feeling my nerves spike. He steps into my room, letting the door slide shut behind him. With each step he took towards me, I took a step back, almost matching his long strides.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask, perking a slight brow at him as I continued to copy his methodical steps.

"Anything. I just want to listen to your voice," he says in a hushed tone. His voice modulator had barely even caught his quiet words. I nod my head again, slowly turning around as I walked over to my bed. I kick my boots off before laying down, wondering if he was going to lay down next to me. And much to my surprise, he actually lays down, not being shy about pressing his arm against mine. 

I could tell that the beskar was pressing into his skin, but I knew he wouldn't take it off. We had another person on the ship and he wasn't going to risk something like that. 

"Anything specific you might want to hear from me?" I ask, perking a brow while flicking my eyes over to him. He lets out a low hum, telling me that he was thinking as he slowly turned onto his side to face me. I continue to lay on my back, my eyes glued to the ceiling as he continued to think.