Chapter Text
‘Enemies, friends, lovers… the path ahead is quite clear.‘
“Do you respect my station?”
The words echoed in Bo’s mind for a longest moment. The hesitation in place clear.
Of course she did. Respect the leader of this tribe. The Armorer. But, having been asked to remove her helmet? That was new. Alas Bo did, remove it. Her helmet. The one supposedly redeeming factor of her having been accepted to this Creed, the Children of the Watch. Her face once again visible to others around her. Visible to the The Armorer.
Was this her biggest sin once again? Or was there something else behind this, reveal?
The gentle touch on her shoulder where the pauldron had been was felt despite the layers of clothing in place. It felt, good. Really good. Familiar somehow. It had been way too long. Another’s touch on her. Having not allowed that to happen in such a long time. Or had it been a simple choice as that? Perhaps nobody had wanted to?
The Armorer had touched her, not really asking permission.
It did not matter though. It had not been unwarranted. The touch.
And perhaps, Bo was reading far too much into this simple gesture. After all, Bo had lost her pauldron in the scuffle while saving the child from the predatory creature. Paz Vizsla’s child. And perhaps, this was simply a gesture extended because of that act. Making Bo feel accepted, welcomed to the Creed. Nothing more, nothing less.
That of the offering to make a new part to her misplaced armour.
They had sat there in somewhat of a silence at first. It had not been awkward, far from it. More like a flash from the past. The familiar setting. Like in the good old times, when Mandalore had still been… hers. The familiar sound of the hammer, like the introductory tone to a beautiful song about to be sung. The song that of Mandalore.
Bo had missed it. All of it. Being among others. Her kin. The Mandalorians.
Sure this was a different tribe. None of whom she really knew at all. Well, Din and Grogu she considered her friends of course, but not having really seen them part of the Children of the Watch. Not until now. And there was also… her. The Armorer.
It had taken a moment or more, before they had started talking. The Armorer telling Bo about the past. Of the history. Something Bo already knew of course. But the Armorer’s voice had something of a soothing sound. Something which Bo could get used to. Listening to the lower and higher notes, those which the sometimes lazy and exact drawl of her’s did.
It had been at some point, when Bo realised a question had been placed to her.
Bo having listened intently to the Armorer’s tale but somewhere there having drifted off. Into her memories of the past. The familiarity of the setting having made her take a trip down memory lane. And so, getting lost there for a moment.
“Pardon?”
“Do you want the signet of a Nite Owl or something else?”
“Oh, yes. The signet…” Bo was thoughtful for a spell. “Would it be alright to have it made as a Mythosaur?”
“Of course. The Mythosaur belongs to all the Mandalorians.”
And so, Bo had earned her new signet. Sprouting the marking of her tribe alongside the one belonging to all Mandalorians… the mythological creature from the past… the one she had seen in the cave. Or had she? Had it all been a dream?
Having dwelled there for a moment, suddenly things had become so much clearer to Bo. The vision of the creature in the cave under the Living Waters… all of it. And so deciding to tell the one person she had begun to trust of what she had experienced.
It had been right choice, telling the Armorer. Bo’s doubts failing her as the Armorer simply acknowledged what Bo was telling her. Never seemingly doubting her at all. At least, that was the feeling Bo was getting from her.
As with the helmet removal, Bo’s revelation of actually seeing the Mythosaur, the Armorer had told Bo pretty much straight on she would be the one unite all the tribes of Mandalore. Surely, a great honour? But why was Bo still hesitant? Had not that been her goal all along?
But there was more there brewing beneath the forgotten inside of Bo. Something, more personal.
“There.”
The new pauldron was in place. With a new signet. A gorgeous one at that. The Mythosaur head.
A soft caress of the gloved hand on her arm again following the hissing sound of the beskar getting attached to Bo’s armour.
Bo swallowed. She was sure now, there was so much more going on here between the two than simply adjusting to their new found situation. Of Bo being there as part of the Creed.
This, felt so much more personal.
“So, what happens next?”
Bo looked hopefully, yet questioningly at the visor starting right back at her. The eyes hidden behind there somewhere.
The Armorer did not respond immediately. She hovered there close by to Bo for the longest of spells. Neither of them moving away though. The question lingering in the air between them.
Bo waited patiently. She, was the guest there after all even if the words had been quite clear. That of Bo becoming the one to reunite their people. But this wasn’t a question about that. At all.
No, this was a question of a more personal level.
“We rebuild Mandalore.”
It was a simple answer to a simple question. A way out in a way. Not really the response Bo was looking for. And sensing they both knew it too.
Bo stared into the visor of the helmet for a moment longer. Perhaps she had read things wrong after all. It had been way too long having any feelings or emotions running rampant inside of her. And Bo was way too old, certainly too tired to play games of any kind.
And so.
“This is the way.”
“This is the way.”
Bo followed the Armorer out from the cave. The news of what was decided revealed to the tribe.