Vibrant Eyes | Din Djarin

26: friendship

They stood, once more, in front of Kuiil's home and the Ugnaught himself. 

Din stood at Venus's back and watched her talk with him about something, unable to tear his eyes away from her. Not from the swaying fabrics of her dress or the wind blowing her hair. In studying her, he noticed a small braid tied behind her ear, looking smooth and practiced despite its size. She even reached up to fiddle with it at some point.

But Din still couldn't see it. 

Kuiil said that she saved him and, sure, he'd seen her do some impossible things, but that mostly involved her ability to stand so effortlessly still. And the way she read him, knew him, saw him. However, he couldn't fathom her... saving someone. From blaster shots, nonetheless.

Kuiil wouldn't give him a straight answer, no matter how hard he pressed. He spent whole minutes standing outside with Kuiil by that blurrg corral, trying to get an answer to this burning question. For the couple of days that they'd stayed there, he spent every single one on a hunt for this mystery.

But Kuiil would reveal but three things each time. 

The first, the troopers were on speeders and armed with blasters. 

The second, the blurrg went down first and the child fell to be scooped up by one of the troopers. 

The third, Venus and IG went in pursuit soon after.

There were many questions and points to be raised to these events and they were all equally infuriating. Troopers certainly weren't known for their good aim so maybe they just missed? It's kind of impossible to defend another from a blaster shot, least of all when both parties are moving targets. And more. 

In the end, the entire event in itself was impossible.

Din almost didn't believe a word from Kuiil's mouth. Then he would realize that the validity of the events stood before in the very creature to tell him of them. Kuiil would most certainly be dead if Venus hadn't been there.

What did she do?

Venus bowed her head to the Ugnaught. "My thanks, Kuiil."

"And mine, Ira. I owe you a debt."

She hummed. "No debt is a good one. I will not place you under one."

"Good."

Her soft laugh scratched at his skin and Din frowned in thought. "No more debts. You deserve peace as far as the horizon shall shine."

"As do you. And the Mandalorian, if he's listening."

Din started and finally tore his gaze from Venus. The Ugnaught was looking right at him.

"Hmm. He is."

Din shot her a look and he regretted it the moment her lip ticked up. "Thank you, my friend."

"Keep the little one close," Kuiil advised warmly.

Din nodded. "I will."

"He will not stray," Venus said.

"How can you be sure?"

Then she shuffled, the fabrics of her dress unfolded, and big green ears stuck out into the sun. The other two watched as the kid slowly shuffled out of the folds of her skirt, clutching it tight in his hands. He looked up at Kuiil with a grin and cooed.

The Ugnaught nodded. "I see."

Venus knelt down and scooped the child into her arms. It snuggled into her hold and a hand absently moved to run over the length of its ear in a caress. Something tightened in Din's chest at the sight.

Then the trio said their farewells to the older Ugnaught and turned to walk through the sand of the desert. 

Din stayed behind Venus all the while, focused on the way she seemed to float over the sand. She scarcely even left a footprint in her way, save for the patterns of her long, dragging skirt. He simply listened in silence to her soft laughter and hushed murmurs to the laughing child in her arms.

His son. Maker, he still needed to get used to the idea. By Creed, he was his. The child was his. And he was the child's. 

They belonged to one another, a clan of two.

However, as they walked up the ramp of the Razor Crest, Din suddenly noticed something tucked away in the corner. Against the grays and blacks of the rest of his ship, this stuck out if only for the sheet of fabric that was beginning to fall off. While Venus walked to the room Din shared with the child, he crossed the ship and tore the rest of the fabric off.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and he tilted his helmet. There, sitting in the corner of his ship as if it were the most natural thing, was a speeder. A stark white with the edges stained a dusty yellow from sand and wear, it was tied to the wall with care. 

And he had no idea how it got there.

"I see you found my speeder."

Din turned around to find Venus studying the space of the wall attached to the speeder, contemplation playing out in her pale eyes.

"Your speeder?" he asked.

"Commandeered from one of the troopers to snatch the child from the dirt."

Was that... anger in her voice?

"You kept it."

Then those eyes latched onto his and he could see fire blazing within the hues all over again. "They were better off dead. Their speeders had use yet."

Din had never heard her angry before.

"None can hear the screams of my rage," she said. Dank farrik, he said it aloud again. Then Venus began to smile, her eyes latched onto the world with the clarity of one to see many horrors, and a shiver went down his spine. "And still it lingers in the storm of this life around us."

Despite himself, he didn't want to question her. The questions still burned, they likely always would, but the thought of her horrors silenced the words before they could breach that which fell between them. She also scared him, but he didn't need to mention that.

So he changed the direction of the conversation. "Is this how you got back so soon?"

"To the ship?"

"Yes."

She smiled. "Yes."

And yet he couldn't keep from asking, "Where did you go after we met with the Armorer?"

"I returned to speak with her."

Din paused. "You..."

"Hmm."

This time he hesitated for another reason entirely. Then, cautiously—"What about?"

Venus stepped back to the door of her own room in silence and then paused on the threshold. She looked back at him but did not meet his eyes. Din dreaded the fog that began to creep up from where it had left her alone for that short time.

"I'll tell you later."

The door slid shut behind her.