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It was one of those nights where she had mistakenly longed for some company, opening herself up to this conversation with the galaxy’s most awful man. She wasn’t sure if it was the way he was losing control of his ability to form a sentence because he’d drunk so much, or if it was the fact that he had spent who knows how long explaining to her why she should invest in casinos at Canto Bight.
Of all the cowboy-esque smugglers in this bar, she’d clearly chosen the worst one to have a conversation with.
Desperate for a reprieve she was judging her best escape route. There was the obvious door that led back out to the street, or the secret tunnel she knew from a previous need to escape. Although that one was from Imperial guards – a little more threatening.
The worst this guy was going to do was kill her with boredom.
In fact she wasn’t sure why she kept coming back to this dingy place on Lothal. She had justified it the first time as it being close enough to Mandalore that it wasn’t a drag to get there, but far enough away that it wouldn’t be full of Mandalorians who were going to give her trouble.
And somewhere along the way it had become a regular stopover when she was in the area.
‘See their largest casinos are getting a bit popular, but if you invest in the small start ups that’s where the real cash is…’ the guy was still droning on.
He hadn’t even stopped to ask her a question in what felt like forever.
She wondered if it was her lack of Mandalorian armour that had opened her up to this. She couldn’t imagine having to put up with this every time she stepped into a bar. She was used to people giving her a fair bit of space, aware she would be carrying a lot of weapons.
Not that she wasn’t, they were just concealed underneath her dress and inside her long boots.
Next time he went to the bar she was going to make a run for it.
Glancing at the entrance she was surprised when her eyes fell on a Mandalorian.
Not just any Mandalorian.
‘Din,’ she said under her breath.
The bad investment guy paused for a moment, following her eyeline to look over at Din.
‘You think we should get out of here before he causes trouble?’ the bad investment guy asked.
Bo-Katan turned her attention back to the man in front of her.
‘You think Mandalorians cause trouble?’ she asked dryly.
‘Well they carry a lot of weapons, you know.’
She leaned in a little. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed we’re in the kind of bar where most people have a lot of weapons.’
The guy obviously hadn’t really thought about that as he began to glance around at everyone. Maybe he wasn’t a smuggler after all, just some poor local farmer who had come to the big city and mistakenly believed it was just like his home village.
She wondered if Din had spotted her as he made his way to the bar. Glancing back at him she was almost relieved to see him nod a greeting to her.
Keen for any kind of help she could get, she mouthed ‘Help’ at him, hoping he’d understand. Just in time too as the bad investor returned to his lecture about how he’d made his money.
Money no person living in this part of the Galaxy was likely to really have.
A few moments later a glass of strong liquor slid across the table in front of her and she looked up to see Din standing there.
‘Is there room for one more?’ he asked.
She hadn’t seen him since she had dropped him off on Nevarro after the Jedi left with the kid, and the sound of his voice made her stomach do a small flip that she hadn’t quite been expecting.
As she slid over to make room for him at the table, she couldn’t help remember how handsome his face was under that helmet – something she had honestly been trying to forget since he’d taken it off. There was no way she was going to fall for anyone, let alone for someone who grew up in the Children of the Watch.
Although out of the two men currently seated at the table, she would take growing up in a weird cult over the other option.
The bad investor was suddenly very quiet.
‘Who’s this guy?’ Din asked.
‘I actually didn’t catch his name,’ even if she had she would have forgotten it by now. ‘He’s been telling me about his investments on Canto Bight.’
Absolutely deadpan, Din tilted his head, ‘Never heard of it.’
She couldn’t tell if he was being an ass for the sake of it, or if he genuinely hadn’t heard of it, but she didn’t care, the look on the bad investor’s face said it all.
He began to gather his things. ‘Well it’s been nice chatting, I best be off.’
Downing the remainder of his drink, he put his jacket on and bolted out of there. Bo-Katan turned to Din, a huge smile on her face.
‘I have never been so happy to see you,’ she commented. ‘Thank you.’
He nodded and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was smiling.
‘Are you not drinking?’ she asked.
He hesitated, ‘I only came in here to ask about accommodation for the night.’
‘Well, as thanks for saving my ass from this planet’s most irritating man, your drinks are on me.’
Before he could turn her down she stood up and headed to the bar. What was she doing? Buying Din a drink? Did she even like the guy? Was it just because now she knew he was handsome under that helmet of his?
Pushing that thought aside she reminded herself however she felt about him, he was at least quiet when she wanted him to be.
She got the drink in no time and returning to the table she handed him a strong cocktail with straw, sitting back down she poured her new glass of liquor into the one he’d got her.
‘Now it’s a double,’ she smiled. ‘Dare I ask what you’re doing on Lothal?’
He took a sip of his drink before answering her, she knew it was a way for him to think about his answer before he spoke.
It was a trick she had used herself many times.
‘I had nowhere better to be,’ he replied as he placed his drink back down.
It wasn’t the answer she expected. She’d suspected he was here on a job, but perhaps he wasn’t.
‘Cryptic,’ she commented.
‘And yourself?’
She was almost surprised he asked. She really wasn’t sure he liked her anymore than she was sure she liked him. It was hard to read someone who never took their helmet off, even for a Mandalorian who grew up around it.
Considering her answer, she realised there was no reason not to be honest with him.
‘I came here to pick up,’ she shared.
He was quiet for a moment, clearly surprised by her answer.
‘And that man was the best you could find?’
She could hear the amusement in his voice. It was annoying. And a little endearing. Either way he was clearly judging her.
‘Okay you find me a better guy,’ she shot back.
He looked around, genuinely observing the options, but it wasn’t long before he turned back to her.
‘How about I find you a better planet,’ he suggested.
‘I like it here,’ she shot back. ‘I’ve met some good people from Lothal.’
‘Then a better bar.’
‘I didn’t realise you were so invested in my love life,’ she teased.
He took a long sip of his drink and she wondered what that was meant to mean. She realised they had never actually sat and had a conversation before. They had fought each other and with each other, but sitting down and having a drink was a whole other thing.
Noting how far through his drink he was she saw an opportunity.
‘How about I get us another round?’ she suggested.
**
A few rounds and a lot of shallow conversation later, she asked the question she was most curious about.
‘Have you heard from the kid?’
Din’s manner changed at the question. She saw his shoulders slump slightly and heard his breath become shallower.
‘No,’ he said simply.
‘Do you miss him?’ she pushed.
If she was honest, she kind of missed the little guy and she barely even knew him. She had just always known them as a pair and it felt like they belonged together.
‘I was always happy being on my own,’ he said carefully.
‘And now it feels like there’s a gaping hole in your life?’ she finished the thought for him, well aware he wasn’t planning to.
‘I lost my ship, I lost my weapons and then I lost Grogu,’ he continued. ‘I guess I am lost.’
‘Don’t tell me you took a transport shuttle here?’
‘I did,’ he confirmed.
Her laugh was involuntary but loud.
The idea of a bounty hunter Mandalorian taking a transport ship between outer rim worlds was hilarious. They were usually reserved for farmers and families with children going to visit relatives on nearby planets – not anyone who needed to fly around the galaxy for work.
‘Why is that so funny?’ he seemed genuinely offended.
‘Do they take all your weapons off you?’ she hadn’t smiled this much in a long time.
‘Sometimes,’ he confirmed.
‘Surely you can afford a new ship,’ she pressed.
But he didn’t respond.
Then she realised, ‘You haven’t been working.’
‘I no longer wish to bounty hunt, so I have been doing what work I can.’
For a long moment she studied his body language. He wasn’t the same Din Djarin she had met not so long ago, this guy was sad and lonely.
And that was a feeling she understood all too well.
‘How about instead of paying for a place to stay, you sleep on my ship tonight,’ she suggested.
‘Bo-Katan Kryze, are you hitting on me?’ he asked.
She wished she was better at reading his tone, because she wasn’t sure if he was teasing her or offended by the idea.
Or maybe he liked the idea.
‘I’m offering you a place to sleep for free, and then I’m offering you a lift off this planet tomorrow if you want it,’ she deflected.
Considering the offer he nodded. ‘A lift to where?’
‘I have no plans,’ she was nonchalant.
She had been planning to head straight back to Kalevala.
But she could take a detour.
Although it wasn’t like she was going to admit to Din that she was enjoying spending time together.
That bit she would keep to herself.
**
‘This is for you.’
She showed him the spare quarters.
He took in the room for a few moments before . ‘Thank you. This is much better than anywhere I could have afforded.’
‘This is my payment for salvaging what was about to be a terrible night,’ she smiled. ‘Anyway…I guess I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Bo-Katan,’ he called after her.
She stopped and looked back.
‘You look nice,’ he said simply.
She glanced down at her outfit, having forgotten that he had only seen her in a dimly lit bar until now. Her dress wasn’t anything revealing or particularly extravagant, but she had held onto it a long time.
She looked back up at him.
‘Thank you. The dress belonged to my sister,’ she responded simply. ‘I kind of hate it.’
He didn’t need any further explanation of what that meant to her, but she was sure from the tone in her voice he would pick up it meant something.
As she turned and walked away from him she couldn’t help but replay the moment in her brain. ‘I kind of hate it’ is that all she had?
Was he flirting? Surely not.
Was he?
She stopped in her tracks, replaying the moment for the hundredth time in as many seconds.
Yeah she needed to know the answer to that. Storming back towards his cabin she opened the door without thinking.
‘Were you flirting?’
To her surprise he had his helmet off and looked up at her with a stunned face.
‘Oh shit, sorry,’ she turned around, not wanting to upset him.
‘It’s okay,’ he replied. ‘I guess it’s not the first time you’ve seen me with my helmet off.’
‘You can tell me when you’ve put it back on,’ she said carefully.
‘Bo, you can turn around,’ he said quietly.
She dared to do so, pleasantly surprised to find he still had his helmet off, his dark eyes searching hers.
‘Why do you call me that?’ she asked.
‘Bo?’
‘My sister is the only other person who ever did,’ she whispered.
‘What happened to her?’
Taking a deep breath, she considered changing the topic, but there was something about this moment that felt deeper, like they were finally connecting in a much stronger way.
‘She died at the hands of a Sith Lord who wanted to rule Mandalore and punish the Jedi who loved her,’ Bo explain it in the simplest way possible.
Din was quiet for a long moment and she felt herself wishing he had his helmet on. She was used to seeing him that way, a blank expression, impossible to read. It allowed her to put her own interpretation on his behaviour.
And somehow right now she felt like they were both extremely exposed to each other emotionally.
It felt like his eyes were looking right through her into her soul and she didn’t know how to make it stop.
She wasn’t even sure she wanted it to.
‘That’s why you keep people at a distance,’ he observed.
It wasn’t the words she had expected him to say. A lot of the time she thought he was kind of dense, strange, direct – observant and deep weren’t exactly the associations she had.
But there was no point denying his words were true.
‘Yes,’ she conceded.
‘I’m sorry if I have crossed that line tonight,’ he said carefully.
So he was flirting.
And since they were being honest…
‘You haven’t. No one ever does.’
‘Isn’t that lonely?’ he questioned.
She snorted. ‘Coming from a guy who travels the galaxy alone, hiding behind a helmet.’
His eyes reflected the same painful loneliness that ate away at her and it annoyed her that he dared ask the question.
As though the conversation was suddenly too much for him, he deliberately put his helmet back on.
‘I guess we have that in common,’ he finally responded. ‘You can drop me off at the closest planet on your way home tomorrow. I have no specific goal.’
The sudden change in the direction of the conversation stung. Just the mention of the helmet seemed to be enough to kill whatever connection she felt building between them.
It would never work anyway.
There were too many walls up between them.
‘Goodnight Din,’ she said, turning and leaving him before either of them said anything they would regret.
‘Goodnight Bo,’ he called after her.
This time she didn’t turn back.
That was enough for now.
**
It was slightly awkward the next morning, but neither of them spoke much as her ship flew through hyperspace.
Some deep lonely part of her wanted to ask him to stay, but she could sense that he wasn’t ready for that.
As they reached Ord Mantell, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t fight the sadness at the idea of him leaving.
Although he was hesitating as well, lingering as they exited her ship.
She had expected him to say bye and leave immediately.
‘Where are your people?’ he asked simply.
Smiling sadly she gripped her helmet in her hands at the question.
‘Axe Woves is in charge of the fleet now,’ she explained.
‘Why?’
‘He was upset I refused to fight you for the Darksaber.’
The way everyone had so easily accepted her leaving and the change of leadership hadn’t exactly made her feel less lonely. For years she had led them without the Darksaber, and suddenly now it was a huge deal that it wasn’t in her possession.
If she was honest she wasn’t even sure she wanted it anymore.
Din unclipped it from his belt.
‘If you require it, we can battle,’ he offered.
She laughed. ‘Din, I could beat you in battle in seconds.’
He tilted his head, defensive, but he didn’t argue.
’Then what is the problem?’ he asked.
‘I don’t want to fight any more Mandalorians,’ she admitted. ‘I want our people to retake our planet and live in peace. Like my sister always dreamed.’
‘If you ever require my help to do that, just say the word.’
‘And how would I contact a man with no ship and no home?’
He considered this for a moment, clearly failing to come up with an answer so she did.
‘If you ever wish to join my side of this fight, I’ll be on Kalevala,’ she shared. ‘I would be more than happy to fight by your side, Din Djarin.’
‘As would I, Bo-Katan Kryze,’ he replied.
With a simple nod he turned and disappeared into the crowd.
And somehow she was the one now feeling lost and alone in the galaxy.
Like the only good thing in it had just walked away.