Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

|16|

After our short-lived scuffle with the hostile crew of quarren and tucking the kid in his little compartment in the Crest, we all found ourselves relaxing in a cozy seaside cantina that felt more than just welcoming. It was a grand contrast to the cantina we had gone to when we first arrived. A round of drinks had been paid for and the light buzz of conversation had surrounded us as the Mandalorians clad in blue armor spoke in low tones amongst each other. 

Regardless of the relaxing environment and the soothing drink that I had been nursing, my mind still seemed to be hyper fixated on a small detail in my vernacular. 

Before Din and I got separated two years ago, I had been so accustomed to calling him by his real name instead of what everyone else called him. But ever since he's popped back up in my life, I've been switching between "Din" and "Mando" in my own head, not knowing which one to land on or which one he was comfortable with me calling him. And now that we were around other Mandalorians, it just felt wrong calling him by his usual "Mando" nickname. 

I just don't know what to call him anymore. 

"Hey."

I snap out of my hazy daze and look up to see that Din was staring down at me. I blink a few times, letting him know that I was listening to him this time around. He reaches forward and carefully wraps his gloved fingers around my wrist, making me snap my attention away from the blank visor of his helmet and to our hands. 

My hand was tightly clenched around the outside of the cup I had been drinking from, my fingers and knuckles practically white. I quickly release the cup from my deathly tight grasp, slowly pulling my hand away from it. He takes my hand in his larger one, slowly rubbing the pad of his thumb over my knuckles. I blush a bit and stare at our hands before looking back up at him. 

Perhaps calling him Din is the right choice. 

"Udesiir," he mutters under his breath, pumping my hand a few times before drawing his hand away. I take a deep breath and nod my head, looking back to the other Mandalorians that were pulling away from their own conversation. Bo-Katan's eyes flick between Din and me before she starts speaking. 

"Trask is a black market port. They're staging weapons that have been bought and sold with the plunders of our planet. We're seizing those weapons and using them to retake our homeworld," she starts to explain, messing with the rim of her cup. I watch as her fingers trace the rim, the tip grazing over the edge. "Once we've done that, we'll set a new Mandalorian on the throne."

"That planet is cursed," Din insists, shaking his head at the woman. Apparently, he wasn't so amused with her hopes and dreams. "Anyone who goes there dies."

"Death isn't something we have to necessarily be afraid of. We're all going to die at some point in the future. We just happen to leave when the force thinks it's right," I mutter, letting my unfiltered thoughts slip past my barely moving lips. Everyone's eyes slowly travel over to where I was sitting, their brows perking up slightly. My eyes widen as I realized what I had just said aloud for everyone to hear. I hadn't actually meant for any of that to come out. "Sorry," I mutter, shaking my head as I looked down at the table for a few moments. 

"I can't tell whether you're suicidal or if you're just a true Jedi at heart," Bo-Katan says, making my cheeks flush while she playfully nudged my arm with her armored elbow. I clear my throat and shrug my shoulder, posturing up a bit as I decided not to answer her. I can't help but wonder whether or not I should tell her that I'm not actually a full-fledged Jedi. "Anyway, our enemies want to separate us, but Mandalorians have always been stronger together."

"That's not really part of our plan," Din says, shaking his head while his words came out in a stern, demanding tone. I let out a small sigh, knowing that I was going to have to hold my tongue in this situation or else I might start spurting out more Jedi crap that no one wanted to hear. "I've been quested with returning this child to the Jedi."