Work Text:
The sea in front of him is vast, looking as though it goes on forever, limitless. Ripples of waves lapping at the shore and then dragged back into the ocean in rhythm, like a lullaby luring you into a deep slumber.
Grogu waddles around on the wet sand right next to him, waiting for the next gentle wave to wash over his tiny feet. When it comes, he giggles at the sensation of being bodily dragged back a little closer to the ocean. Din can't help but laugh a little, while still watching the little guy like a hawk, making sure he won't be actually caught in the water if the next wave is a big one.
It's in quiet moments like this one, when his thoughts would betray him and bring up the face he's desperately trying to forget.
"You know, I was 20 years old the first time i saw the ocean."
Din turns to his right, where Luke smiled with his sight locked ahead. "I believe I cried a little at the sight. It was a few days after my birthday, and the squadron wanted to give me something to remember. They sure as hell did."
He turned to Din with the smile still on his face. "As someone who grew up on Tatooine while farming moisture for a living, it's pretty much the most magical thing I had ever seen at the time."
"That's very thoughtful of your friends," Din said. "You're lucky to have those kind of people as your crew."
Luke bowed his head a little, looking pensive. "I was, wasn't I? They're like a family to me." Then he took a deep breath, like he was making up his mind to say something. "Speaking of families.. I've been thinking."
When Din just stand there, patiently waiting, he continued, "I wanted to give it another shot. At teaching Grogu."
Din was a little taken aback. He thought Luke was done with Grogu, since the kid didn't want to be separated from him anymore? So that's exactly what he said in return.
"I thought you gave him a choice. And he chose to go with me." Din said. To be honest, he was a little afraid that this was gonna happen. The Jedi will somehow change his mind and take Grogu away from him. Again. And this time it will probably be for good.
"I did! And dont get me wrong, i will not have him seperated from you again. I'm just saying, if he still wants to learn about the way of the Force with me, I will not stop him. I will not make him choose one and deny him the other. I will welcome him, and he can still see you," Luke said quickly, reassuring smile in place. "You can be with him whenever you feel like."
Din pondered over this new information. This is a huge turn-around, if what Ahsoka had said to him about the Jedi "attachments" code were true. What changed? And why now? Luke must've sensed his confusion, because he explained, "I realize there were many ways of being a Jedi. Not all of us has to live in solitude for the rest of our days. It has always been kind of a grey area, i think. More than one interpretation of what one could do with love and compassion around them."
Luke dragged his eyes back to the ocean. A calm expression on his face. "A few months ago, I met a woman i once worked with, in my Rebel Alliance days. She was a general, back in the day. A great warrior. An even better pilot. No ship in this galaxy she couldn't fly, I think." His lips twitched a little into a small smile, "Turns out to be an amazing mother, too. Before that, I never knew she has a son. And he's 11 by now. Pretty strong with the force, too."
"He's a Jedi?" Din asked, getting a bit intrigued at this point. "Was she a Jedi, too?"
"...her son is force-sensitive, yes. But she wasn't. It was her partner. Her son's father was a Jedi." Luke said, eyes twinkling a little. "And from all the stories I have heard about this guy, he's a great man. Everyone who knew him in the rebellion always said he was a great Jedi. But what made him so great was not how many imperials he had defeated or how strong he was in the force. It was his kind heart."
Luke continued, "He took in a lot of people under his wing, their wing. Both of them. Together they helped a lot of people in need, fought a lot of battles against the empire. Even recruited a kid to be his padawan, too. And slowly, they all became a family without even realizing it. Not long before the Battle of Yavin, he died protecting them. Didn't even get the chance to know he was going to be a father, soon."
He stopped for a second, bending down to keep Grogu from falling over when the waves were a little bit too strong for the little guy to handle. When he stood back, he looked at Din's visor, trying to reach his eyes. "What I'm saying is... I realize it was stupid to keep Grogu from his family, from you. If he wants to be with you as a mandalorian, but he also wants to be a Jedi, then he can be. I realize that, love doesn't make someone weaker, or more vulnerable to the dark side. It will instead make you stronger, as long as you make sure you use that love to anchor you to the light, and not to be selfish with the attachments that came with it. You just have to learn to accept when it's time to let go."
Both of them were silent for a while, contemplating. Until Din found his voice again, a little shaky with hope leaking out of it. "Are you saying that... When all of this deal is over, when the Darksaber is returned to someone who actually deserves it and I can go back to my life, my tribe.. Grogu can learn with you again and I will be able to see him whenever I want to?"
"Yes."
They looked at each other for a while, no one knows for how long. The silence that had fallen around them was calming, the sound of water lapping at the shore and Grogu's happy noises filled in the background, the rest of the world felt a thousand light-years away. The next thing Din knows is someone calling for him from behind, and he turns around.
"Mand'alor, we're ready to leave."
And just like that, the scene disappears before him. The sense of peace gone, Grogu still sitting by his leg, on the wet sand, and no one else beside him. Blonde hair and serene smile nowhere in sight when he turns back to his right. The promise they made (is it ever a promise?) whisked away into the salt air of the beach. He sighed. It was always too good to be true, anyways. His life was never gonna be that simple.
His hand instinctively goes to the Darksaber at his hip. Humming with a song of power that has always been there, but a lot calmer now that he's already in sync with it. The darksaber feels right in his hands, now. It is exactly where it belongs, with the one who deserves it.
Mandalore is free, now. Their people united once more, rebuilding the lives they once had there. The planet is now cleansed from the empire's dirty deeds and away from the meddling, newly founded power, of the New Republic.
And so he goes back into his ship with Grogu, leaving the beach of Yavin behind, letting the cold wind swept off the memories he made with the Jedi and the simple life he had dreamt of.