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One of the most important things for Mandalorian children to learn was how to fight and defend themselves. Din might not be in the Watch anymore, but he still believed this and he knew that Bo felt the same way, even though she wasn’t as sure if the twins were ready.
“I don’t know about this, Din,” she said as she adjusted their youngest on her hip. The two of them were in the kitchen. Bo and Din had been trying to cook together, not that either were amazing at it, but they could make do. “Maybe the twins are still too little.”
“They’re four, Bo-Katan,” Din said. “I thought you said that when you were three your father first had you spar.”
Bo nodded but sighed. “I just don’t want to rush them.”
Din paused and then went over and touched her face. Their youngest child smiled and giggled and Din grinned and ruffled her hair.
“I won’t let anything happen to them, Bo. You know that,” Din said. “No one will get hurt.”
Bo looked at him.
“It will be fun,” Din said. “I’m sure you liked to spar and play fight when you were a little girl.”
Bo looked at him but then smiled. “I did, but after my father died, I didn’t get to as much. At least not as much in public. I still had some training, especially later…” Bo’s smile faltered for a moment but then her eyes brightened.
“It will be good for the girls. They’re always play wrestling with Grogu,” Din said. And it was true that they were. They would with each other also. It was cute.
Except when they hurt each other and the two of them would start screaming and try to really hurt each other.
Grogu would never hurt them.
“I want to go too,” Bo said as she adjusted their youngest who was reaching for a piece of fruit on the table. Bo gave it to her and she put it in her mouth right away. She then smiled at Bo. “I’d like to see the girls have their first match.”
Din nodded. That was fine with him. This would be good.
Bo really did think that Din was right about the girls needing to start learning to fight. Yes, she hoped that her daughters would never be in danger like she had been for basically her whole life, but er daughters would still need to be able to fight. One of them would have the Darksaber one day after all. They would have to earn it though.
Bo would make sure that her daughters were good fighters. Maybe she had been delaying actually having them learn to fight and now was a good time. Satie was super excited about this.
“I want to win, Mama,” Satie said jumping up and down on her bed. Bo sighed and pulled her off it. She didn’t actually mind when the girls jumped on the bed, but she didn’t want to encourage it either. “I want to be like you and Buir.”
“You’ll be yourself and that matters the most,” Bo said, but wanted the kids to all be like Din. He was a good man.
Snow also seemed excited to spar, but her idea of what to wear wasn’t ideal. She had put on a big fluffy blue dress that… well, Bo didn’t know where it had come from because she sure didn’t buy her daughters things like that, and she doubted that Din had.
“You can’t wear that when fighting,” Bo said, looking at her daughter. Snow also had ridiculous clips in her hair and something that looked almost like Satine’s old crown. “You won’t be able to move easily if you wear that, Snow’ika.”
“Wanna wear it!” Snow said stomping her foot.
“Snow, it’s not practical,” Bo said, staring at her daughter. Snow really did look like a girl version of Din. Even with the ridiculous things in her hair, she was so cute.
“I want to wear it!” Snow said.
But Bo just couldn’t allow that. Not when she would be fighting. Luckily Din came and helped but Snow was furious even when he showed up. She didn’t want to listen to him either even though she could be a Daddy’s girl.
They did manage to get her to wear a flight suit but she had put a skirt over it. It was one that didn’t restrict her movements so Bo was fine with it.
The girls then played for a bit while they waited for Koska to come to watch the younger kids. Bo was paying her to do this because Koska wasn’t much of a baby person even if she was basically their aunt.
The five of them left after that. Grogu went too since he liked practicing. He usually won given how talented he was and not just with the Force.
When they got there Grogu and the twins just practiced with each other at first. Snow, Satie, and Grogu got practice Sabers and worked on trying to fight each other with them. Bo watched and then shook her head.
“Maybe I should start training the girls more now,” Bo said as she looked at Din. Din would be training them too but Bo was better when it came to saber combat. She should be the ones to teach the girls that.
She was also the one teaching them to swim, given how she had saved Din from drowning more than once.
“We both can,” Din said as he reached over and took her hand and then squeezed it.
After awhile it was time for the children to actually go against others not in the family. Grogu went first. Bo always liked watching him spar with other children. He was strong with the Force and becoming good at all things Mandalorian.
He ended up winning.
Now it was time for one of the twins to go. They would be going against a boy a couple years older than them. There were a couple Vizsla children but Bo didn’t want her little girls to go against Vizslas yet. Vizslas…. Well, Bo knew that children weren’t Pre but she didn’t want them to have to fight Vizslas yet.
Eventually she knew they would in spars like this but she hoped they would never actually have Vizslas as their enemies. And she hoped they would never have to go through what she had.
“I want to go first!” Satie exclaimed.
“But I want to!” Snow said. The girls often had arguments like this. Unlike twins on the holonet shows they would argue a lot, but they were also the very best of friends. Bo knew they would always be.
“I’m older!” Satie said.
Honestly sometimes Bo regretted telling them which was older. Satie was only a few minutes older than Snow but she acted like it was a big deal. It might get worse when they were teenagers.
“No fair!” Snow yelled. “I want to fight first!”
Bo looked at Din, hoping he would deal with their scuffle. He sighed and took out Grogu’s toy ball.
“Ball!” Grogu said, staring at it. He still liked that a lot.
Din put his hands behind his back. “I’ll put the ball in one hand and whoever guesses it can go first.”
The girls pouted but also nodded. Din did what he said and the girls both ended up picking a hand.
Snow ended up picking the one with the ball. She jumped up and down. Satie pouted and wanted to do it again but even Bo knew that wasn’t happening.
“You’ll go after your sister,” Din said and he ruffled Satie’s hair before she put her little helmet on. The girls had helmets and while they weren’t pure beskar they were good. Later they would get pure beskar helmets. Just when they were older.
Snow would be competing with the boy with darts and Bo helped her put the device on. Snow now looked a bit nervous.
“Maybe Satie should go first, Mama,” Snow said in a small voice. Her dark eyes were wide. Apparently she had changed her mind quickly.
“It’ll be okay, Snow,” Bo said as she adjusted Snow’s helmet. “You’re going to do an amazing job.”
“What if I lose?” Snow asked, her voice unsteady. Bo hated to hear any of her children like this. She wanted them to be happy and confident.
“Everyone loses sometimes, ad’ika,” Bo said, still kneeling to Snow’s level.
“Even you?” Snow asked.
“Yes, even me,” Bo said and she then gave her daughter a hug. “And you’re going to do amazing whether you win today or not.”
Snow would be a fighter one day. She would be strong like both Bo and Din were. Everyone in their families were strong. Even Satine had been in her own way.
Snow hugged her mother back but then it was time. Bo smiled at her daughter and then went back to Din who was holding Grogu. Grogu was staring at Snow and the boy.
“No interfering, Grogu,” Din said.
Grogu sighed and actually rolled his eyes.
The four of them watched. Snow was hit with the first one, but the second one she managed to. Snow then managed to get another. Bo was already so proud even when the boy got a second one. Bo would be proud if Snow won or lost.
But she won.
She grinned and ran over to Din who picked her up even though he still had Grogu. He spun them both around.
“That’s my girl,” Din said. “You did so well.”
“You did, Snow,” Bo said.
“My turn?” Satie asked. When Snow was put down, she hugged her twin sister.
“Yes, it’s your turn now, ad’ika,” Bo said as she smiled at her daughter.
Satie grinned back and then put her helmet on. Both of the girls had helmets that were similar to Bo’s but with stars on the side since these were just their childhood ones. Snow had wanted hers not just blue but also purple. Satie had wanted hers to be like Bo’s so it was the closest of the two to hers.
Satie went forward. They decided that she would do darts like her sister too but she would go against a different child. This one was also a little boy but he was probably seven instead so a little older than the other one.
Bo thought about telling her it would be okay if she lost but she didn’t want to be negative. Satie was fierce already. Bo thought she was the one who was most like her.
But Bo lost too especially when she had been a little girl like the twins were.
Satie started off good and got her first one. They might not have been able to see her face but Bo could tell how she was standing that she was so happy. But after that it went downhill. She almost got a second one but that didn’t end up happening. The boy was older and he was better.
Satie sniffled and stumbled backward. She wasn’t hurt but Bo knew Satie wasn’t good at losing. She hurried over to Bo and hugged her legs. Bo sighed and took off her daughter’s helmet and then hugged her.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Bo said.
“Yes, it’s fine,” Din said. “You did good.”
And she had. Bo was proud and she knew that Din was too. Winning the first time was hard and Bo knew that her daughter had many victories in her future. Hopefully she wouldn’t be as arrogant as Bo had been for many years.
But that didn’t stop Satie from starting to cry.
“Oh, ad’ika,” Bo said as she took Satie in her arms. “You really did well.”
It didn’t make much of a difference. Satie started to cry even harder. That was when Snow reacted and went over to the boy. Her hands were on her hips.
“You made Satie cry! No one can make my sissy cry!” Snow said.
“She lost and—”
And that was when Snow attacked him. Bo couldn’t believe it at first. It was all very Mandalorian.
And Bo couldn’t help but be proud that her daughter would defend her sister.
Still Bo was glad when Din pulled Snow away from the boy.
In the evening, Bo went to the twins’ bedroom to read them a bed time story. They were snuggled up next to each other in Satie’s twin bed, even though they had their own beds. Sometimes they would do this. Sometimes they were the best of friends.
Now seemed to be one of them.
Bo smiled and sat on the corner of Satie’s bed. She kissed both of them on the foreheads.
“I’m very proud of both of you,” Bo said. “And not just because you were such good fighters today.” They both had been even if Satie had lost. “But because you were there for each other. There is nothing more important than family.”
And Bo believed that more than anything. She regretted what had happened between her and Satine. And she would do her best to make sure that her children always knew how important family was.