𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 - DIN DJARIN

Chapter 56: The Waters

chapter 56: the waters •••

Having a guide to the Living Waters proves useful to Din now more than ever. He's lost enough within his own mind, a haunting of shattered memories that makes the resounding ache within his bones grow more and more. They cast a shadow much like the isolated structures that surround them in the abandoned city of Sundari. It's hard to make them out amidst the darkness and the mystery of it all stings like a nagging wound. Din wishes he could piece those painful glimpses of his memory together, but this isn't the time. Astra will hold true to her promise to fill him in later on.

For now, he just needs to focus on doing what it takes to get his family back to safety.

Still, his lack of awareness doesn't go unnoticed. Astra's grip on his gloved hand tightens just before Din hears her speak in a soft voice. "Are you okay, Din?" She draws herself closer to his side, wrapping a hand around his arm. "You've been quiet."

Din's armored shoulders rise and fall in a heavy breath. He knows better than to try to hide from her. "I will be." He looks at her and tightens his jaw at the sight of the crimson stain on her shoulder. There's still so much he doesn't know about what happened while he was out, but what he already knows threatens to tear his heart apart into relentless shreds. His family has already suffered so much because of his quest, and he couldn't do anything to help them. "I just... need all this to be over."

Astra takes a quick moment to rest her cheek against his arm. Her voice lowers to a murmur that's just for them. "We're almost there, my love." She gives him a smile that convinces him everything's going to be all right. "Safe and sound."

Din's visor lowers. With Grogu having healed Astra's wound, she's technically correct, but it still doesn't feel true. The evidence is present in her torn tunic and in the ferocity with which Zora had clung to him once he woke. There are irreversible scars left imprinted on his family because of this quest that aren't visible to the eye, and Din has to take responsibility for them.

Instead of drowning in these dismal thoughts, Din forces himself to look around and change the subject as he raises his voice enough for Bo-Katan to hear. "It's hard to believe that this all was once filled with our kind," Din observes. It's true; This is the first time Din's seen this civilization, one that's much different than what once stood on Concordia. He wonders what the Mandalorians who lived here looked like. Did they all wear armor and take the Creed? Were any of them foundlings, like himself?

"It wasn't that long ago," Bo's response cuts through Din's musings. She pauses and observes their surroundings herself. "You'd never know it looking at all this destruction."

Din shakes his helmet. "It looks like it's been centuries."

"The Empire set out to punish us. To wipe away our memory."

Din tenses at that, especially when Astra's grip tightens on him. He glances over at her and sees the faraway look in her gaze. He draws her closer as he responds to Bo. "It must pain you to see it like this after witnessing its beauty."

"What pains me is seeing our own kind fight one another time and time again. Killing each other for reasons too confusing to explain. It made us weak. We had no hope to resist being smashed by the fist of the Empire."

Din looks at Astra again. She seems even more distant now, her jaw set and her gaze watching her feet crush what remains of Mandalore's old civilization. Din aches to comfort her, but Bo's next words keep him from speaking.

"The entrance to the Mines of Mandalore," she announces, carrying them ahead in silence.

Din exhales in relief. It's as if they're reaching the beginning of their forever. After this, he can finally make a home for his family. There won't be any Jedi to seek or battles to fight. It'll just be him, Astra, and their children enjoying a home that isn't a cramped seat on an N-1 Starfighter. When he lets himself dream some more, he imagines what it might be like to cook a real meal together, or plant a garden of flowers he and Grogu can pick for Astra and Zora.