"That's the third time in an hour Sind," Din yelled, exasperated.
"What can I say, my dad was a master at Pazaak," I replied laughing. The cards were scattered across the floor of the lounge after Din pushed them away during his tantrum. "I'm hungry, are you?" He was leaning back, his head facing the ceiling, eyes closed. My question took a few seconds to register before he finally understood my words. His eyes opened quickly with a look of surprise.
"Starving," he replied as he stood from his spot across from me. I reached out my hand for him to assist me in getting up and was graciously helped in doing so. We took the short trip together to the kitchenette to rummage through the cabinets.
"There's one bag of dried fruit, a canteen of broth, and one packet of instant bread left," I called out. I pulled out the containers and quickly assembled the small meal for the two of us. Din grabbed all of the dishes and went back to the lounge room. I, on the other hand, went to the piloting room to check the travel log. The navigation screen had a holograph of the time above it; 12 hours remaining on the trip. I looked out the large window at the dark abyss we were swimming through. The light reflecting from a nearby planet bounced off the metal detailing in the room. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a brief shimmer from under the copiloting chair.
"Sind, are you coming?" Din yelled from down the hall. I hesitated for a moment deciding whether to investigate or join him. My curiosity got the better of me; I got on my hands and knees for a better view of the space under the chair. Sitting, shoved between a box and the leg of the chair was the Darksaber. My hand slowly reached out to grab it. "What are you doing?" I heard from behind me. I quickly stood from my spot and turned to face him.
"I... I thought I heard something crack when I sat on the chair." The look on his face showed that he knew I wasn't telling the truth, but he seemed to ignore my actions and instead walked back to the lounge. I followed behind him, but not before giving the weapon a second look. Din sat on the floor; legs pulled to his chest. I sat beside him, crossing my legs in front of me. We split the food in half for us each to get our fair portion.
"Did you have any more dreams last night?" he asked. I shook my head and quickly swallowed my food.
"No, I couldn't sleep. I had a lot on my mind."
"I did too, obviously," he said. I looked up and gave him a soft smile. The was a moment of silence between the two of us. It was comfortable, with no awkwardness. "I meant it you know." I blinked hard and swallowed the spit that had formed in my mouth. "I know you think I only said it because I was emotional, but I meant it, and I have known it." I smiled softly and sucked in a deep breath.
"And I meant it just as much," I replied. We looked at each other, smiling softly and staring deep into each other's eyes.
"And it's because of that... that I want to teach you how to use it, the Darksaber." I about choked on the food I was eating. My eyes opened widely at his statement.
"You trust me with that thing?"
"It's rightfully yours, you might as well learn how to use it."
"When?"
"How long will it take you to finish your food?" His question made me break out in a wide grin. I pushed the remainder of the food aside.
"Put your armor on."
"Never thought I would hear that out of you." He chuckled out while standing. I did the same, following on his heels as he went to retrieve his armor and the Darksaber from the piloting room. I stood in the doorway, hands clasped in front of me, rocking back and forth from my toes to my heels. He reached under the seat after securing his armor and pulled the saber free, handing it to me. As my fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt, the white beam emitted at my side. I raised it to my eyes to examine; the light flowed live waves in a mesmerizing pattern.
"How do I hold it?"
"However is comfortable." I flipped it over in my hand to rest in various positions to see what felt most natural. I settled on something simple, by my side with my wrist facing up. I looked up at him when I had settled on a starting position, ready to learn how to actually use it. He motioned for me to do something, what, I wasn't sure. My face must have had a look of confusion that caused him to clarify. "Hit my armor."
"Are you... sure about that?" I asked.
"Using all your strength hit my armor." I bit my lip and stared at him, concerned for his sanity before finally giving in to his request. I wrapped both of my hands around the hit of the sword and pulled it up and behind my head. Closing my eyes, I used all of my strength to swing the Darksaber around, making contact with Din's left pauldron. I opened my eyes just as the spark from the impact sprayed over the room, leaving it smelling of smoke. I looked up at his helmet which was already looking at me. "Again."
We spent what felt like a day but was only 3 hours. The sweat was dripping from my hairline down the sides of my face as Din taught me different tactics and movements. My heart was pounding hard in my chest and I could feel the callouses forming on my hands from the tight grip I had around the thing. "I need a break," I panted out.
"One more thing and we can be entirely done for the day." My head was facing down as I was panting, but his words filled me with an instant bit of relief.
"Anything."
"You fight me with the Darksaber, and I use my Beskar staff." My eyes widened at his proposition. He pulled the staff off the wall beside him and held it tightly in his hands. "I promise I won't do anything that can hurt you," he said. I swallowed the spit in my mouth and stood tall, swinging the saber around to my starting position.
"Let's go." He jumped towards me, swinging the staff at my midsection. I jumped back bringing the saber around to catch his staff, locking it in an uncomfortable position. We paraded in this dance for a ridiculous amount of time; at one point, the saber almost fell from my hands. He stepped towards me with his left foot, an obvious tell that he was going to try to grab my arm. In my attempt to evade, I was pulled against him, the staff held to my throat and his head beside mine.
"Dead," he exclaimed. I laughed at his comment before looking down at my hand. My arm hooked around his side, the hilt of the unlit saber pressing into the unarmored part of his midsection.
"Dead," I replied. He let go of me shaking his hand and bringing his hands to his hips.
"I have to say, I'm impressed."
"I had a really good teacher," I replied before attaching the saber to the clamps on the wall next to his staff and my blaster. "I think I need a glass of water and a nap," I said while heading towards the kitchen. He agreed to the water and followed me. I chugged down the large glass I had poured, placing the cup in the basin and stumbling off to the sleeping cabin, throwing myself into the sheets. I'm sure if my body was energized enough, I would have dreamed, but right now my body needed to reset.
________________________
I woke up to the feeling of my stomach turning. I opened my eyes and rolled onto my back trying to understand the source of this discomfort. I laid for a second before feeling a warm liquid move up my throat. I sat up quickly and ran out of the bed, going straight to the kitchenette where I could throw up in the basin. Outside the door, Din was about to knock, but my sudden outburst left him unable to say what he was going to. I reached the basin and wrapped my hands tightly around the edges of the bowl before throwing up the food I had eaten earlier. Din was behind me holding my hair out of the way as I gagged. I stood up, confused and disorientated, and looked around the room.
"Are you...okay?" Din asked.
"I think I overexerted myself earlier," I replied. I used a small amount of water to wash out the basin before turning to look at Din leaning against the wall opposite to me. "What were you coming to the room for?" I asked.
"Yavin 4 is in our sights, it's quite beautiful if you want to come look." I smiled and nodded, following behind him. I stopped for a moment when I realized my hair was still held tightly behind my head. Reaching back, I felt around and landed on a braid starting just above the base of my skull. Did he... braid my hair? I felt a smile form on my face as I walked towards the piloting room, but the smile was quickly replaced by astonishment. When we came here to deliver Moff Gideon, I hadn't had the chance to really see the planet before landing, but right now, the green and blue planet was growing closer to us; it looked so healthy.
"When will we be landing?" I asked.
"We're calculated to enter the atmosphere any second now, so I wouldn't say more than 10 minutes. We need to take a scan of the planet to find the town he's in." I nodded my head and moved out of the way, motioning for Din to take a seat in the pilot's chair. He nodded at my movement and did as I requested, pulling up a model of the moon. He zoomed in on the Rebellion city we took Moff Gideon to.
"That's not it," I said from behind him, "the buildings are too modern." He nodded his head and spun to the next city, it looked the same. We traveled around the planet before landing on a small camp which Din quickly passed over. "No, go back."
"There isn't any population there," he stated.
"That makes sense, doesn't it? Why would they want anyone to know where they train Jedi? Zoom in." He sighed and zoomed in on the camp. The buildings looked like they were made of stone and shaped like an egg. "That's it, Din, I swear." He looked back at me; his eyes were wide.
"Are you sure Sind? We can't be wrong." I nodded my head in response and he nodded back, standing from his chair after putting in the landing coordinates. This side of the moon was in the nighttime, but the thick trees would hide the ship anyway. I watched out the window as we slowly lowered past the treetops, down to the mossy ground. I grabbed my jacket from my chair and pulled it over my shoulders before retying my boots tightly and joining the Din in the hallway. He was swinging the staff around to attach to his back and checking his gun for ammunition. I grabbed for my blaster and attached it to my hip before turning to join him at the ramp. I stepped away a few feet before feeling a pull keep me in the ship. I turned around and looked at the saber on the wall. I glanced between it and Din, before quickly grabbing it and attaching it to the other side of my belt but hiding it under the jacket. I quickly walked down the ramp to the ground where Din was standing, tapping the side of his helmet. "This way."
"Hold on," I whispered, grabbing his arm. "Din, we need a plan." He stood silently staring at me for a few seconds before talking.
"Do you know where he is?" He asked. I blinked looking around us.
"Uh, yeah, I can deduce that much."
"Good, you get him, and I'll keep on the lookout, if things go wrong, you have your blaster, right?" I nodded my head and grabbed it from my side holding it tightly in my hand. I followed behind him as he walked quickly towards the dim light peeking through the trees. When we approached the tree line, the scent of a burning fire filled my lungs; a group of people huddled around the glowing light. I scanned over the buildings; this is exactly where I came from in my dream. A feeling in my gut told me that right now wasn't a good time for this mission, but if we waited too long things could go awry. I crouched low and moved quickly towards the building in the far back, doing my best to stay in the shadows. There was a faint light glowing in that building; the sheet covering the door was pulled back just enough for me to see it. I sucked in a sharp breath before quickly turning the corner into the room and holding my blaster out in front of me. With a quick scan of the room, I had seen there was no person in sight. Grief filled my body, was I wrong? I turned to exit the hut just as I felt small arms wrap around my ankle. At my feet stood the small creature, his eyes wide and gazing up at me. I let out a quick sob as I reached down to pick up him, holding into tightly in my arms.
"We've got you, little guy," I said smiling down at him. Outside a loud yell rang through the air followed by the sound of fighting; my heart fell into my stomach. Grogu was zipped up in my jacket held tightly against my chest; I pulled the sheet back and quickly snuck out of the building. When the tree line was in my vision, I made a dash towards it, ignoring everything that was going on behind me. At the last minute, before I would disappear into the thick woods, I heard a familiar yell.
"Go Sindre! Leave with him! Don't come back!" I turned back to see Din surrounded by pirates and droids, barely surviving his fight. A ball formed in my throat as I watched, but the small coos from inside my coat were reminding me of the real goal. I let out a steady breath before running to the ship to get Grogu in a safe place. I stumble up the ramp, my body exhausted from the running and my lungs were burning. I turned the place upside down, looking for some place to hide the child, some place I could even forget about. I ran to the piloting room, finding Din's cloak hung over the chair from when he took it off last.
"Okay Grogu, I know you might not be able to understand me, but that's okay," I said as I wrapped him tightly in the blanket, "but right now, I need to hide you for your safety, and I'm going to go help your dad okay?" The child responded with a small coo and head tilt. "If you hear anyone, you need to be as quiet as possible okay? I promise I will be back." I gave him a tight hug before sliding up under the copiloting chair; no one would suspect it. My hands felt like they were vibrating at the same rate as my pounding heart. An itchy feeling was overcoming my body; it was uncomfortable and was driving me insane. The whip of tree branches smacking against my body stung as I pushed through the woods, the sounds of despair growing louder as I got closer.
From the tree line, I could see the flashes of lasers clashing and the outlines of bodies falling to the ground. A knot formed in my stomach, increasing my feeling of uncomfortableness, but again, a certain pull within myself guided my actions. I reached for my left hip, sliding my hand up under my jacket, unclipping the hilt of the Darksaber. Pulling it down to my side and igniting the powerful object, enraged a strange force within me. The world moved in slow motion around me as I ran into the fight. I could feel myself yelling but no noise was reaching my ears. My body was moving inadvertently, dodging blows and returning the hits without me even realizing I was doing it; this wasn't me. When I came back to a conscious state, the world returned to its quick movement around me, the pile of bodies surrounding me made me ill. I looked up from the ground, across from me Din was using his staff to strangle a pirate, beside me, the Skywalker boy was slicing through the attackers like they were bread; was that what I had looked like? My gaze dropped from the two men to the weapon in my hand. A feeling of uneasiness filled my stomach before I realized that I was going to be sick. I turned and ran a few feet before I threw up, not wanting to desecrate the bodies any more than I had. A hand touched my shoulder and I immediately felt relief wash over me. I looked up to see the Jedi looking down at me, Din beside him. He gave me a strange look before nodding and stepping back. Din wrapped his arms around me, pulling me up from the ground and walking towards the small village.
"An invasion of pirates isn't rare," the Jedi started, "but I believe the delivery of Moff Gideon to this planet has increased the hostile droid population. Now that we're aware, we can be more prepared. Thank you for your... unsuspected help." A look passed between Din and me as we realized we couldn't keep our secret kidnapping a secret.
"We actually came to get the child, I'm just more comfortable with him in my care. For now, at least," Din stated.
"But we can assure you, the moment Grogu is prepared to return, we'll bring him," I said to the Jedi. At this point a small crowd of kids and teenagers had formed around the man, whispering to each other and pointing at Din.
"I believe this is our cue to leave," Din called out, noticing the gossip occurring. Skywalker nodded and said his farewell as we turned to head back to the tree line. I was following behind Din as we started the journey back just as my name was called.
"Sindre, a quick moment with you?" The Jedi called. I nodded and walked back as he dismissed the group around him. His hand rested on my shoulder as he stared deep into my eyes. "I sense something within you, something powerful. I want to make you aware of this, for you to prepare." I gave him a confused look at his cryptic message, but he only nodded and bid me farewell. I turned around to see Din waiting for me to join him on the walk back. The jog to catch up to him was short and once I reached his side I was quickly questioned.
"What was that about?" He asked.
"Oh nothing, he um, complimented my saber skills for not having any formal training," I replied. His head nodded leaving me to think he believed my lie.
There was something powerful within me, powerful enough to need a warning, yet I have no idea what it could be.