Broken Soul | Din Djarin

chapter twenty-three: heartache

Din

Din glances back at Alora as he explains how the situation with the rookie bounty hunter had gone haywire. She's nodding to show that she's listening, but her eyes are distant and heavy as she stares out at the stars.

Her dark hair hides any bruising that she may have donned since Calican's attempt at turning them in to the Guild. She mentioned that he had knocked her in the back of the head with his gun, but she hadn't attacked him because he had been holding the child. Alora had brushed most of the dust and dirt from her torso and she seemed relaxed in the copilot chair as she cuddled with the kid.

Din switches the ship to autopilot and stands, startling Alora from her distant daydream.

"Come on," he says, holding out his gloved hand. "Let's check on your head."

Her nose scrunches up as if she's about to argue but Alora stands anyway and follows Din out of the cockpit. Din grabs the medkit as she sets the kid in his chambers, but when he turns he realizes that she's gone. He glances around, confused, at the empty hangar of the ship, but looks to Alora's room as a shuffling noise comes from within it.

"Alora?"

Din looks through her door and finds her sitting on her cot in a meditative stance. He hesitates for a moment, not wanting to disturb her meditation but knowing that he has to treat her wounds. He lets out a deep sigh as he watches her and winces in pain.

On the dunes, when he was trying to capture Fennec Shand, she had shot him in the chest. The beskar had held up, saving his life, but the bruise that it had left behind was painful. It covered his whole chest and every breath felt like a punch to the chest.

"You're hurt."

Din looks up to see Alora staring at him from her cot, eyes wide as they scan his body for any blood or visible wounds.

"I'm fine," he smiles awkwardly, forgetting that she can't see it behind the helmet. He knows that it's no use to lie about it. After the amount of time they've spent together, he's learned that she can sniff out a lie and sense when he's in distress, in any shape or form.

"Don't bullshit me. I am fine. You are not. Sit." Alora points to the wall across from her cot as she rises from it and plops down to sit on the floor with her legs crossed.

Din complies and his armor thumps on the ground as he sits in front of her, his back to the wall.

Her eyes train on the burn mark on his cuirass and she pokes it, her face contorting into an unrecognizable emotion.

"Din, what is this?" Her voice is low as her eyes travel from the burn to his visor.

"I was shot," he says simply. When Alora narrows her eyes at him, it feels as if his chest tightens.

Alora was knocked unconscious and tied up, and she's worried about me... with a burn that never touched my skin.

"Din..."

"By a sniper," he sighs, cringing as he waits for her reaction.

"A SNIPER!" Her eyes widened to a point that he didn't know was possible. "Din!"

"I'm fine!"

"No! Take off your armor!"

Now it's Din's turn to flush in embarrassment as she starts to pull at his chest plate.

"Wh-wha?"

"Din, take off the armor."

"WHY?" A strange sensation is rising in his chest and he feels as if his face is beet red. Instinctively, he holds his arms against his chest protectively, as if he's holding the armor to his chest.