Metanoia | The Mandalorian

Chapter 25

After a few hours of resting, Juno found the courage to see her parents bedroom. While Din was still sleeping in her room, tired after what happened on Nevarro, she and the child stood outside the door. She hesitated as she went to open it, her hand stopping on the handle, when the child touched her leg, looking up at her and cooing. She smiled at him and with a deep breath she opened the door and walked in.

She examined every part of the room as memories of her family came to her mind. As she walked around, she saw one of her mother's dresses draped over a chair near the window and took it in her hands. She closed her eyes as she pulled it close to her face. After all this time, she could still smell her mother's flowery perfume. A moment later, she put it back down and went to sit on the bed, seeing her father's glasses on his bedside table. When she turned to her mother's side, she noticed a familiar necklace with a silver pendant, waves and sun engraved on the front.

She picked it up and examined it. It belonged to her mother and she was supposed to get it when she became of age as it was passed form mothers to daughters for generations. Juno turned it over and noticed that it could be opened. As she went to open it, the child cooed loudly which made her turn to the door where she noticed Din standing.

"There you two are. You can't just leave like that without telling me. I'm responsible for you." He told them as he walked to the bed and sat down next to the kids. "What do you have there?" He asked.

Juno glanced down at the necklace in her hands. "It was my mom's. Her favorite jewelry, she never wore anything else." She explained. "I think I can open it. I wanna know what's inside." When she opened the pendant, a holographic picture of her parents and her as a baby came out along with the familiar tunes of the lullaby that her mother sang to her.

As the song finished, Juno closed the pendant and wiped a tear from her cheek. "That's what you always hum, right?" Asked Din and Juno nodded, trying to fight the tears, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I miss them so much." She mumbled. When the child heard the sadness in her voice, he walked to her and hugged her side, cooing softly as he tried to comfort her. She smiled slightly at him and caressed his head while Din tried to hide the emotion in his voice as he spoke.

"I know. But, one day, everything will be fine." He stood up and extended his hand to the girl. "For now, let's find something for dinner and go get some sleep." Juno nodded and she, too, stood up, starting to lead them to the kitchens while she put the necklace on. After dinner, Din was resting in one of the rooms near Juno's bedroom while Juno and the child laid in Juno's bed. The child was fast asleep when the girl opened the pendant again to hear her mother's voice singing her to sleep.

~

It was the next day when they decided to go to the beach at the edge of the town. Din decided he had rested enough and was ready to start training again and learning how the jetpack worked. The child and Juno sat near the water, playing with the waves and the shells they found. While Din did his exercises, grunting in frustration when he didn't land as smoothly as he wanted, Juno tried lifting the shells with her mind, smiling when she managed to move it even a little bit.

A few hours later, Din managed to master the jetpack and as he was flying around, he went low and picked up both of the kids and flew higher with them while they screamed and laughed. Hearing them laugh brought a wide smile to his face, hidden behind his helmet. After a while, Din landed with the kids on the sand as they still giggled.

"That was amazing." Exclaimed Juno. "So, what now?" She asked the Mandalorian. He was quiet for a minute before replying.

"How would you like to learn how to properly fight, to defend yourself?" He asked.

"Really?" She asked excitedly and he nodded. "When can we start?"

"Right now." And so, for the next few days, Juno watched and learned how to defend herself and how to shoot a blaster and actually hit the target. Din was glad that Juno was a fast learner because even though he swore to himself that he would always be there to keep the kids safe, one never knows what might happen.

~

It was their last day on Pillio, they had packed everything they needed, when Juno decided that she wanted to learn how to shoot Din's rifle. And because Din found it hard to say no to either one of the kids, an hour later, they were standing at the edge of a forest, leaning on a fallen tree as Juno tried to hit the target Din made for her. Even though that she was quite good at handling the blaster and that Din explained everything to her, she just couldn't hit the target.

"Wide right." Said Din as he stood next to Juno. "You're flinching."

"The target's too small." Juno tried to defend herself.

"I made it bigger then I should have. Eject the cartridge." He told her as the child blabbered behind them.

Juno did as he told her as she complained. "And I'm not flinching." Din just hummed. "The rifle just sucks."

"Okay, give it." Sighed Din and took the rifle from her.

"It doesn't aim right. You'll see." Said Juno as they switched places.

"A deep breath in, slow breath out." Din started explaining as he leaned down on one knee and propped the weapon on the tree. Juno took his monocular to watch the target. "You squeeze the trigger like you love it. Gentle, steady, nice and slow."

"You gonna shoot this thing or get in pregnant?" Asked Juno teasingly. Din lowered the rifle and looked at her, rolling his eyes under the helmet. "It isn't going to work, it doesn't aim right..." She was interrupted by a loud bang as Din pulled the trigger. "You dick."

Din lowered the rifle and looked at the girl, shrugging his shoulders. They then picked up their things and went inside Razor Crest and with a final look at the planet, they were gone on their way to finding other Mandalorians.