What's a Mandalorian? || Din Djarin

2|Day Off|

My eyelids flutter open to see the sunlight pouring in my window, signifying the start of a new day. Birds sing outside peacefully. I rub the sleep from my eyes and stretch my arms up as high as I can go. A groan escapes my lips. Stretching feels so good.

I swing my feet out of bed and stand up. I make my way to the kitchen space across the room. There, my bag is sat upon the counter. I reach into my bag and pull out the potatoes, carrots, and grapes I purchased last night. I shove a few more grapes into my mouth and start chopping away. 

I cut the potatoes and carrots into small chunks and toss them into a pot. I open the cooler-box, and pull out some meat from some wild cattle I hunted a few weeks ago. I chop that into chunks and toss it in the pot as well. I dump some herbs and broth on top, and turn the heat on. 

Stew is an easy meal that takes almost no effort. It also reminds me of home. My mother made stew every Sunday with the meat we hunted that week. It's such a nostalgic, comforting meal to me; even when it's 90 degrees outside. 

My mother's name was Lirya. She was the sweetest woman, and such a good mother. I was her only child, and she loved me dearly. She taught me how to make stew when I was very young. She was married to my father, Dini'iti. He was also an exceptional father to me. He taught me so many skills like fishing, hunting, welding... even how to fix speeders. We were such a loving family before they were murdered. Stew is a fond memory I have of my... past life.

I throw the lid on the pot and walk back to the bed. My house is really just one large room, except for the restroom. The kitchen, bedroom, and dining area are really all in the same room. I think they call this kind of house a studio in the cities. I'm not sure. 

I have a curtain hung around the bed for privacy, but there's nobody here but me. It's very cozy and homey. I dig through the chest of clothes I have at the foot of the bed and pull out a forest green cropped t-shirt and some dark brown cargo shorts. I throw on a pair of brown socks, followed by my short brown boots. I wear almost the same thing every day. Why change something that works well?

The stew has to simmer for a few hours, so I usually go out to hunt or practice while it's cooking. I grab my saber from the kitchen counter, and suddenly remember my walk home last night. 

It's fuzzy in my memory now, but I recall thinking there was something in the woods behind me. I don't remember seeing anything. I think I was just tired. I strap the lightsaber to its holster on my belt and open the door. There's rarely anyone in these woods, so I'm less careful about hiding the saber. Still, though, I keep it on me at all times. 

I take a thorough scan of the woods in front of my house, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just looks like woods to me. I do a quick scan around the perimeter of my house. Nothing strange. 

I lock the front door and go again to the back of the house. I follow a trail I made from the back of my house much farther into the woods to an even more secluded area. This is where I practice. One of the other things my father taught me was how to use a lightsaber. In fact, my lightsaber was his before he was killed. He was a Jedi, of course, and he taught me everything I know.

My father was a dedicated Jedi on the planet Lah'mu, where I was born. Jedi have been hunted for many years, but it was especially bad when I was born. It was so bad that my parents moved to Lah'mu while my mother was pregnant with me to escape it. They wanted me to grow up in a violence-free place. Lah'mu was a peaceful planet, far away from the Empire's destruction; a safe place for Jedi to escape to, to live a normal life. The older I grew, the more he taught me about the Jedi lifestyle. He is the reason I am a Jedi today.

He taught me mostly about hand-to-hand combat when I was young. He wanted me to be able to defend myself, if I ever needed to.  We trained with sticks and poles when I was really young, and I was eventually graduated to the saber when I became proficient at using a stick.