Vibrant Eyes | Din Djarin

3: is

The next day Din was fiddling with his rifle when Omera returned with Winta. Ira, thankfully, was notably absent.

As her daughter ran off to play with the Child, much to his hesitance, he expected the usual questions. About his helmet. About how long it'd been. And he gave more of an answer than he usually did because... well, if they were to stay there for a while, he should show as much courtesy as they showed him. Despite his initial refusal, the people here continued to be kind to him and it earned some trust.

However, there was one person he needed to know more about.

After a moment of silence, Omera started to turn away. "Let us know if there's anything you need."

Din shifted his weight. "Actually," he said. She turned around in surprise, looking at him expectantly. "I do have a question."

Omera smiled. "Ask away, please."

"Who was your friend? Ira?"

Her smile grew and her eyes twinkled in the dark. "She's odd, isn't she?"

He nodded hesitantly.

"It's okay. She knows it, too."

He tilted his head.

Omera let out a breath and he watched her gaze focus on one of the edges of his helmet as she spoke. "Ira is... a shaman of sorts, and a healer, for our village. She came to us just before Winta was born and even helped deliver her. We don't know that much about her ourselves but she's been a big help over the years."

He resisted the urge to scoff, especially after seeing all that the Child could do. "A shaman?"

"She's predicted the gender of every child she has helped deliver. Warns us if anyone is coming. She even told us to find you."

"She did?"

Omera nodded. "A week ago. Said that a man of armor would come to this planet for sanctuary and find it here, for a time."

He didn't know what to say to that. He didn't want to say anything to that. The heat on the nape of his neck began to build once more and the crawling of his skin joined it in tandem. At least he managed to keep from making any other reaction to it. 

So the woman could... see. See what was coming, who, and why.

It was extraordinary but dangerous. In the wrong hands she could cause so much damage. But in the right ones...

No. He'd come this far alone and he would continue. Besides, he would probably go insane within a day with that piercing, unfocused gaze on him all the time. The very knowledge that she could do what she did unnerved him more than he cared to admit.

Omera studied him for a moment. She asked softly, "Is that all?"

Din nodded.

She smiled and stepped back to the door. "Let us know," she reminded him.

"Thank you."

When she left, he moved the food she'd brought to the window and set it on the sill. As he looked out over the children running and playing with the Child at its center, he paused. After pulling a curtain over the entrance and ensuring other openings were closed up, he found himself back at the window. 

With a hiss, his helmet decompressed as he lifted it from his head and set it down next to him.

A light breeze immediately brushed against his heated cheeks and sifted through the hairs of his unkempt beard. He closed his eyes for a moment to feel its soft caress as he didn't often get to. For a moment he let himself believe that this was peace. That he felt whole here with the laughter of children in the air, the cool breeze against his face, and the calm of a peaceful place.

But when he opened his eyes and looked down at the children again, he froze. Every muscle stiffened and that familiar heat and an unfamiliar fear flared up.

Ira stood at the edge of the circle of children, a figure frozen amidst the moving of life all around her. The fabrics with their blues and grays swayed around her and she stood entirely still. Unnaturally so. 

And she was staring at him. A shade of purple so vivid he could see it from there fixed upon him and his bare face. Something she never should have seen.

Or had she seen it before? 

Did she already know everything about him? 

Could she transcend to that level of impossible?

He feared the thought more than he feared much else.

Din rushed to the rope holding the window open and it dropped close right as Ira began to smile.

She saw him.