Arani Jakal was not ready to be stranded on an unfamiliar planet, causing her whole life to change. But in the chaos, a friend or two popped up - seemingly from nowhere - wishing to help. Ari gladly accepted and quickly became part of a small town...
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DIN SHOT UP and reached across the bed but found it empty. His hand retracted and he hung his head, throwing the covers off himself. His breathing came in sharp breaths and his vision swam.
He made no move to get out of bed but sat on the edge, hundreds of thoughts coursing through his mind. Ari had not slept beside him in a long time and yet every night when the nightmares woke him up, he would search for her. A part of him hoped she would be there but when all he felt were cold sheets, reality sunk in.
Ari was gone and he couldn't do anything to save her.
It had been a mission gone wrong. He had picked up another bounty on Corellia and Ari, like always, had insisted she join him. For the first part, everything went well. It was when they had found their bounty that things went sideways.
Like all that time ago back on Mon Calamari, they were ambushed. It wasn't until Din had knocked his assailants unconscious that he knew Arani and the bounty were missing. He knew that she had run after him, so as not to lose sight of their only payment. He had searched every known street and alley looking for her but to no avail. But he would not give up nor leave her.
It was only when he found the scarf that Greef gave her that he fully understood what happened to her. She would not be so careless with such a gift.
He stayed on Corellia for days searching. But in the end, he lost his payment, the bounty, and Ari.
That had been just over a year ago and a few months after losing the Kid.
Din pulled the scarf out of his pocket. He would not part with it even in his sleep, it was the only thing he had left of her. He finally understood why the kid had loved it so much: It brought comfort when there was none.
To say he had a rough couple of years was an understatement. Just the other day, he had done something he had not done in a while and it was eating him alive.
He had finally let the worst parts of himself escape. It was a side of himself he had not seen since before Grogu.
It happened on the space station Glavis Ringworld, where he was tracking down a Klatooinian by the name of Kaba Baiz. He had not wished for it to derail but it did, forcing him into another fight. Knocking others unconscious was not a new thing, but when Din pulled out the Darksaber he let the last two years of dejection and pain take over.
Within minutes Kaba Baiz and his men were dead. Din could not remember the last time he had killed but a voice in his mind told him Ari would have hated him. He left with an injured leg and he was relieved to feel something other than anger.
Din looked up from the fabric in hand and focused his gaze on the red pouch that held a gift made for Grogu. The armourer had forged it for him from the beskar spear before he was deemed an apostate.
