Ducem Mortis | The Mandalorian

XXV

Astraea's Point of View:

I held the back door open as I waited for Din to walk through it with Grogu. The sky was just now starting to darken as the nearest star had set. Din nodded at me, giving me a thanks as I closed the door behind him. "Wow," I heard him say as he saw the garden in all of its beauty. My mother's garden wasn't just any garden, but it was a flower garden. Any type of flower that could grow on this planet was here. It was one of her most prideful possession as it took many years and dedication on getting the garden to look as full as it did.

"Come on," I said as I waved my hand, "There's a patch of grass over here." Din followed behind me as I walked through the flowers, making sure not to step on any throughout the way. When we made it to the patch of grass I laid out the blanket, spreading it across the grass. It was a pretty big blanket so there was enough room for all of us to sit on. As soon as I sat down Din handed the child to me as he looked around with curious eyes. "Pretty right?" I asked as I rubbed his cheek causing him to coo in agreement. He's probably never seen something like this in his lifetime.

"My mother started this garden when we first moved here. She said it reminded her a lot of Naboo and her life before she had me." I said before pointing at a group of yellow flowers not far from where we were sitting, "Those are actually from Naboo." I brought my finger down before sighing, "However lately the garden hasn't been doing too well. With my mom not being able to tend to it as much as she use to it's started to die, little by little."

I frowned at the thought of how the garden was practically a mirror of my mother. When my mother was good, so was the garden. However when she wasn't the garden knew it and showed it. "It looks good to me." Din said causing me to shake my head, "You should've seen it when she first started it. Everyday there was a new bloom, or bud ready to sprout. I'll miss this quiet place." Din was quiet as he watched me as I looked at the flowers. They always released a calming effect on me, especially when I needed it.

"Astraea, I need to talk to you about something." Din said causing me to turn and look at him. Once he caught my gaze he looked down, looking at Grogu who sat in my lap. "Grogu needs to find this people." I looked away from him as he spoke, knowing that being here, all together wasn't going to last long. I shook my head as I looked down seeing Grogu climb out of my lap, "I don't want to talk about that."

"Neither do I but we have to," Din said as he put his hand on my leg. I watched as the child walked forward with wide eyes. I was silent as I was just trying to figure out what to say. Here I was feeling the happiest I've felt in a long time just for it to be shatter by one single conversation. "I thought you said we were a clan." I said softly as I watched Grogu.

"And I meant it...but Grogu has to find a Jedi to teach him. Otherwise what is the point of doing this mission from the beginning." I knew Din was right, but for once I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to be happy. "And what if you go out there and there's nothing. Or something bad happens." I say looking at Din now, taking my gaze off of Grogu.

The man didn't answer me, knowing that I had a point. They could go all that way just to get nowhere. "Why haven't you shown me your face." I said looking at him. I knew this was a way of just avoiding the situation but I truly did want to know. "You know why," Din said looking away from me. "Yeah back then. But things are different now and you know it. Hell you've been saying all this talk of how we're a clan and yet nothing has changed."

"Astraea there are just some things that I can't do, no matter how I feel about you." I looked away from Din and got up. Thinking of going back inside only to stop as my eyes landed on Grogu. There he was looking up curiously as the fireflies came out. I walked towards the child before bending down to his level. Grogu pointed up at the bugs as they flew around him, flickering their lights on and off. "It's a firefly." I said softly causing Grogu to look at me and coo. I smiled softly before I reached out, "Here," I spoke as I held my fist in front of him. Grogu looked at my palm as I opened up my hand, the bug was still as it glowed causing the child to gasp. I giggled at Grogu's response before I spoke, "Cool right." The bug flew off as Grogu's eyes followed it before he spotted a new one.