Crawl Home to Her | Mandalorian x OC

chapter eleven

Kit nearly tripped over her own two feet at the statement, almost sending her into the wall she knew was nearby. But thankfully she was able to recover quickly, walking into Peli's office as she continued to scold her droids.

She was relieved that the woman was an actual friend to him, not someone looking for him or the kid. Fennec's words echoed in Kit's mind. She had noticed that Din did make a lot of trips back to Tatooine, but she always assumed it was due to bounties he had to collect and it was only convenient to leave Grogu with her. But the more she thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. He told her he was tasked with bringing Grogu to the Jedi, why would he constantly come back to this desert planet that clearly didn't have any Jedi on it? Unless Din-

"Hi."

The sound of his modulated voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Hey!" Kit cringed at how loud she spoke. "So what- what was that about?"

"Boba Fett needs my help."

Kit nodded in response, vaguely familiar with the name. Remembering the famous bounty hunter who now was the daimyo of Mos Espa, replacing Jabba the Hutt. "You're going to help him?"

"I owe him that much," Din replied with a sigh. "But first, I wanted to stop by and visit Grogu. I need to give him something."

Kit perked up a bit at the name of the child. "Oh? You know where he is?"

"Yeah, a verdant planet not too far from here," Din said.

She's quiet for a moment. "Can I. . . Can I ask what you're going to give him?"

"Only if I can ask you something," he chuckled. Kit fought down the butterflies that erupted in her stomach as she nodded. "A shirt made of beskar," he said. "He was my foundling and I just- I want to make sure he's safe."

Kit's heart fluttered at his sentiment. "That's very kind of you. I'm sure he'll love it."

Din hummed, pleased with her compliment. "Now my question: when we went to the market last time we met, why did you touch my vambrace like that?"

Kit gulped as she felt heat gather up in her cheeks. "You saw that?" Din's chuckle at her embarrassment was enough to confirm that he did in fact catch her when she touched his arm. "It's just. . . it's silly. . ."

"What is it?"

"As a way to cope with the loss of my sight," Kit started, trying her best to keep her voice steady as she explained herself, "I started appreciating my other senses more. Like certain smells and tastes, but touch is something physical and it's. . . I don't really know how to explain it. It's nice to hold and touch things, being able to tell what something is from how it feels. And beskar. . . I've never really touched it before and my curiosity got the best of me. I'm sorry if it was weird. . ."

Din was quiet for a few moments before Kit heard him fiddle with something. "Hold out your hand." Kit frowned, confused at the request. But did as she was told, holding out her hand, palm facing upwards . A leather glove came to hold her hand steady as a heavy piece of metal was placed in her palm. "This is my shoulder pauldron," he said as Kit raised her other hand to drag it across the metal. Trying her best to ignore the fluttering butterflies in her stomach, she focused on feeling the piece of armor. It was similar to the vambrace, cold and smooth. The only rough part was a raised section, her brows furrowed as she tried to make out the shape of it. "My signet, the mudhorn."

"Ah!" She recalled him mentioning that when she asked him to describe his armor. She never got a chance to see a mudhorn, so she didn't have the faintest idea what it looked like. But judging from the long horn she felt extending from the small skull signet, she got a somewhat clearer picture. "It's a bit heavier than I thought it would be," she commented. "And you wear this all the time?"

"You get used to it after a while," Din said as he let her finish feeling out the armor piece.

When she finished, she held it back up for him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Kit didn't say anything else, unsure what to fill the silence with. She didn't realize how much part of their conversations relied on the child. Or perhaps it only felt that way because she didn't really know what else to say.

Clearing his throat, Din pulled her out of her thoughts. "I should get going."

"Right, can't keep Grogu waiting," Kit said. "Tell him I said hi?"

"Of course, cyar'ika."

There it was again, that nickname. "What does that mean?" She blurted out, mentally hitting herself over the head.

"You already asked your question." Kit's jaw dropped at his remark. But Din only checkled, amused with her expression. "I'll be back soon, but here." She heard him pull something out of his pocket, he took her hand once again, placing a handful of credits in her palm. "That should cover my stay." Then he released Kit's hand and walked away, back out towards his ship.

Kit dragged her hand over the credits, counting them. "Son of a bantha!" She hissed. It certainly did cover his stay, infact, it was well over the price he owed. Before she could follow him out to give him back the extra credits, his starfighter started up. With no other choice, Kit pocketed the cash with a sigh, already trying to think of a way to give Din the money back.