Fragments of the Dark

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Din had watched with ill-disguised shock and admiration as Celene easily outmaneuvered the two padawans in the clearing.

But now he watched her body go slack, her lightsaber dropping from her hand as the figure in black approached her. He heard the Jedi's greeting from across the clearing, but Celene simply stood, unmoving and staring.

"Tionne, Kam, get back to the Temple. Stay with the others." The figure in black, disengaged his lightsabers, placing them in the folds of his tunic.

"But Master-"Kam began.

"Go." The black-clad Jedi ordered. Both padawans rose, giving Celene a wide berth and disappearing into the forest. The Jedi removed his hood, blonde hair peppered with white covering his head. His skin was tanned and lined with fine wrinkles.

Din saw it then. The resemblance in their faces. Though their coloring was different, the shape- the expression was the same. How?

Celene voiced his thought. "How?" She whispered; her voice raw. "How are you alive? I-I killed you."

Her father tilted his head to the side; the same way Din had seen Celene do so many times. "Nearly. I would have died from my injuries had it not been for R-2." The Jedi's gaze slid to Din. "Why have you come here?"

"We came looking for Jedi," Celene said.

Luke's face hardened. "On behalf of your master?"

"No." She said quickly. She shook her head and then looked over her shoulder at Din. He took it as a sign to approach.

"I... left the Empire. And my master, years ago." She bowed her head. Din came to a stop at her side. Luke looked at him again but fixed his gaze on Celene once more.

"You still embrace the Dark-Side. I can sense it in you. But there is something else too... something light."

Celene shook her head. "It's not me. It's him." She gestured as Din withdrew Grogu from beneath his cowl. Luke's eyebrows rose in surprise. Grogu cooed happily at the sunlight and Din placed him on the ground.

"Well, hello there." Luke crouched down. "And who might you be?"

Grogu let out a chirp and tilted his head to the side. Celene cleared her throat. "This is Grogu. We were sent by the Empire on a bounty to retrieve him. They tried... to harvest the mid-cholorians in his blood. We've been on the run with him ever since." A breeze swept through the clearing. "He has memories of Order 66. I believe he has lived long enough to have been alive in the Temple on Coruscant."

Din frowned inside his helmet, making a mental note to ask Celene about all of this later.

Luke's gaze shot to her. "He survived? How?"

Celene shrugged. "I don't know. Someone saved him." She took a breath. "We brought him here figuring he would be safer with a Jedi than us." Celene glanced around. "We weren't expecting a full school."

Luke slowly rose to his feet. "The beginnings of one. Grogu will fit in here." The Jedi looked down at the child. "This is the safest place for him to be. We cannot let anymore fall into the hands of the emperor."

Din saw Celene visibly flinch at the words, and he wondered again how, if Luke was this powerful, Celene had been stolen away as a child from them. But then the Jedi Master's gaze was fixed on him once more, the brutal weight of his gaze so similar to Celene's it nearly took his breath away. "And you are a bounty hunter I presume?"

"Not anymore it would seem," Din answered with a glance at Celene. "Just a Mandalorian now. Din Djarin." If he was even considered a Mandalorian anymore.