Chapter Text
Everything that Bo-Katan had ever wanted was there, in front of her. The Great Forge was relit, Mandalore was reclaimed, her people were united. She couldn’t help but think how proud Satine would be – maybe not of the way they had gone about things, but of the fact she had managed to unite their people in a way even Satine had never been able to.
Standing in her newly constructed great hall she could hardly believe that she’d done it.
And yet somehow she felt empty.
It had been months on end of ships arriving, people helping them to rebuild, bringing supplies and offering their labour. Mandalorians from all over the galaxy wanted to make this their home again.
Except one.
She felt her chest tighten as her mind wandered to him.
Every time she saw a new ship arrive she hoped he was on it, no matter how big or small the ship was, no matter that the Armorer had given him explicit instructions to leave Mandalore with Grogu for now.
Grogu.
She missed him too.
All her years of dreaming of restoring Mandalore and righting her wrongs, she had rarely stopped to think about the things she had missed out on in life – love, family, stability. To her they had never felt important before. But the way her heart tugged every time she thought about the little guy made her wonder if she had missed out on something she could have loved.
She had begun to think of Grogu as her own kid, he had grown on her immensely. The first time she had met him she was uninterested, focused solely on her goals, annoyed that Din had spent the whole time wanting to get back to the kid.
But suddenly she found herself flying around in the Gauntlet missing his constant chatter that she couldn’t understand, the way he would use the Force to steal things that he wanted to eat or play with. It felt heavily empty without him there.
Although not as empty as she felt without Din.
Without him she wouldn’t be standing here, Mandalore would never have been reunited. He had stood by her side through all of it, both of them saving each other’s lives more than she had ever thought possible.
She closed her eyes.
‘We’re alive,’ he said quietly.
He sounded as surprised as she felt. When the flames had come at them she had thought that was it, and while she could accept her fate if it meant Mandalore was reclaimed, her heart had constricted at the thought of Din or Grogu being killed.
As the flames faded, her and Din both stood up and Grogu collapsed.
Without a second thought she bent back down and picked Grogu up.
‘Are you okay, little guy?’ she held him close.
Din stepped closer, patting Grogu on the head. ‘Are you good, kid?’
Grogu grabbed Bo’s finger, closing his hand around it and then exclaimed some words neither of them really understood. Relieved, they turned their attention to each other, although Bo continued to hug Grogu tight, aware that even if he was okay, he still needed comfort.
While Din’s refusal to remove his helmet didn’t usually bother her, she wished in that moment she could see his face. Read if he was feeling what she was, if the bond they had forged in the past months had built to something more meaningful than either of them could have ever expected.
Or if that was all just in her imagination.
To her great surprise Din answer the question for her as he closed the distance between them and pulled both her and Grogu into an embrace.
It was more emotion than she was used to seeing him express. Perhaps more emotion than she was used to any Mandalorian expressing, but the near death experience had shaken them all.
‘I am glad you are okay,’ he spoke softly, and it somehow echoed through the armor down to her ear. ‘I thought…’
He didn’t finish the sentence but he leaned back from the hug, looking at her through his helmet. She could feel his gaze bearing down on her, even though she couldn’t see it. Her mind wandered back to the only time she had briefly seen his face, trying to picture his expression as he gazed down at her.
And it made her stomach tighten with nerves.
‘Me too,’ she replied simply. ‘I hated the idea that either of you would die for Mandalore.’
‘It was the risk we took coming here,’ he responded. ‘But it would have been wasted if you weren’t there to lead our people.’
The words somehow weighed heavily on her, she could feel his eyes studying her face and she wondered how much he could read on it. How transparent her own feelings were.
But before she could respond the sound of jetpacks interrupted them.
Din instantly took two steps further back, putting space between them as they looked up to see the Armorer and a number of other Mandalorians arriving.
As though he had something to hide.
It was the first time she had felt the distance between them and she wanted to rewind time, replay the memory of his arms around her.
‘I am glad you are all okay,’ the Armorer spoke clearly as she landed.
Without thinking, Bo let her eyes travel back towards Din, wishing they hadn’t been interrupted. She felt like maybe they had a lot of things to say to each other, feelings she hadn’t been ready to face yet had very suddenly surfaced in the moment she thought they were all about to die.
Grogu cooed, making it known he was feeling a little better. Without words, Din stepped forward with his arms out and Bo placed Grogu in his care.
Her eyes lingered on Din as he held Grogu close and she knew her gaze was most likely giving away everything she felt.
Catching herself, she looked back at the others, only to find the Armorer watching her closely. She felt guilty, like a kid caught stealing candy from the pantry when no one was looking.
‘We should return to the surface,’ the Armorer suggested.
And Bo could feel the judgement vibrating strongly from the other woman.
Her memory was interrupted by footsteps at the other end of the hall and she spun around to see the Armorer entering.
‘Bo-Katan Kryze,’ she greeted.
Bo nodded a hello, forcing herself to smile. The Armorer had most definitely been a strong ally to her since they had defeated Gideon. Not the exact person she had pictured by her side, but it seemed to be working well for everyone involved.
In many ways she filled the same hole as Din, a bridge to the Children of the Watch and other more traditional Mandalorian sects.
But she wasn’t even close to being a replacement for him.
‘Armorer,’ she greeted her.
‘You seem unhappy,’ the other woman observed.
Great.
The Armorer took a few steps closer to Bo-Katan, standing next to her at the window. Another ship was landing as Bo turned her attention back to the shipyard.
‘I’m happy,’ Bo reassured her. ‘This is all I’ve wanted for a long time. Our people peaceful and united.’
‘And yet it is not enough,’ the Armorer observed.
She wasn’t sure what sort of magic abilities this woman had, but there were times when it really grated on Bo’s nerves. Bo-Katan was a private person, she liked to keep her feelings and emotions to herself most of the time. It was something that had been instilled in her strongly by her father. Growing up as a royal family had a lot of rules about what you could show to others.
For a long time she had hidden behind her anger, but she felt like that was no longer an acceptable place to hide.
It didn’t mean she was any more comfortable with the Armorer seeing straight through her though.
‘I guess like my sister before me, it’s my destiny to rule Mandalore alone,’ she said carefully.
She expected some kind of wise advice from the Armorer, but before she could continue the conversation a silver fighter dropped out from underneath the clouds. Bo felt her stomach flip.
Was it him?
But as the fighter drew closer she recognised it as an X-wing. Not an N-1 Starfighter.
She didn’t mean to visibly sag with disappointed but when she turned back to face the Armorer she could feel the familiar judgement burning through the helmet and she realised she had exposed too much.
‘You miss him,’ the Armorer’s voice was level but she was definitely not onboard with this idea.
Bo didn’t know how to respond. Denying it would only serve to make her more suspicious, but admitting it would give the Armorer insight into her feelings that she wasn’t sure she wanted her to have.
The Armorer seemed to understand she wasn’t going to confirm or deny the statement because she continued dispensing her advice swiftly.
‘His path is separate from yours. You are needed here, leading your people, and he is needed by his son’s side, teaching him the way,’ the Armorer continued.
‘I know,’ Bo folded her arms in front of her chest as she spoke, defensive.
‘Then you must learn to forget your feelings,’ the Armorer suggested. ‘Focus on your work. Your people need you.’
Bo nodded a response, unwilling to discuss it further. ‘Thank you.’
It wasn’t that she didn’t know leading her people right now was the most important thing for her to do, but the gnawing feeling of longing in the pit of her stomach was a distraction hard to ignore, even for a hardened soldier.
She turned back to look out the window, hoping the Armorer would take this as a hint to leave. But she continued to hover for another moment.
‘He will return eventually,’ she said.
Bo felt her face twitch slightly as she tried to stop herself showing emotion, but she took a deep breath as the Armorer made her way out of the hall, focusing on the distant X-wing landing.
A New Republic officer might just be the distraction she needed, and she quickly made her way out to meet whoever it was.
She wasn’t surprised to find Carson Teva entering the spaceport. He seemed surprised to see her though.
‘I wasn’t expecting a Royal welcome,’ he admitted.
‘And I wasn’t expecting a visit from the New Republic.’
It was a question as much as it was a statement, and Carson understood immediately. Mandalore was still a free planet. They had no direct allegiance, and they were far enough out that Bo hadn’t expected anyone to come asking any time soon.
‘This isn’t an official visit,’ he explained. ‘But I needed to give you a warning. Can we speak in private?’
‘Of course,’ she indicated the exit. ‘Come with me.’