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The Armorer had once asked Din if he had a soulmate, and he had not known how to answer.
He had always felt that pull in his chest, the string buried deep in his lungs that choked him every time it was tugged, urging him to fly across the stars and find the person on the other end. Din was drowning in his loneliness, freezing from the lack of warmth that the Force Bond he shared was urging him to find—that he would never find.
A Force Bond was a rare thing, cultivated for years by stardust and whispered winds and old souls tying together the strings of the universe. I have found this person for you. They will love you more than you’ve ever loved yourself.
A Force Bond was a soulmate bond shared only with a Jedi. With someone who had long since been lost to time and history and war.
“They’re dead.” He finally said.
The Armorer had offered him words of mourning, of comfort and peace. “Nu kyr’adyc, shi taab’echaaj’la.”
Din had not answered.
Not gone, merely marching far away.
—
Luke had always felt a pull towards the stars.
It was a physical thing that was buried deep in his chest, pulling and pulling on his ribs and lungs and heart until he was sure that blood would spill from his lips from how much it pulled and tore and ached.
His uncle had been weary of it. He always told Luke to let it go, to find someone to settle with on Tatooine instead of flying across the stars in search of someone who he didn’t know. It’s safer this way he said. It will cause you less heartache.
It’s so you won’t end up like your father had gone unsaid.
But Luke had to know.
Luke couldn’t spend his whole life on Tatooine. He had to follow the bond that was calling him to dance across the stars. He had to find whoever was on the other end of this bond and hold them and look at them and say I am going to love you and I don’t care if you love me too.
So when Obi-Wan asked Luke if he wanted to travel the stars, he didn’t even think of saying no.
—
Din had learned to live with the hollow emptiness.
It had become a part of him, just like his armor. And while he could not take off the hollow feeling in his chest every night like he did with his armor, he could ignore it and stuff it full with the repetitiveness of work and pretend that he knew how to swim well enough that he couldn’t drown.
And for a long time, he did.
But then he met Grogu, and Din was overwhelmed with the realization that he couldn’t pretend anymore.
The child stared at Din from his cradle with large eyes, cooing quietly and reaching forward with a tiny clawed hand.
Din reached forward too, taking hold of that tiny hand, squeezing gently and not ever wanting to let go. The child cooed again, sitting up and scooting forward and asking to be picked up and held and Din did that. He held the baby close, angled him away from the droid he had shot so the baby would not have to see. Din felt something warm and familiar stir in his chest as the child reached up and tapped his helmet.
It was the Force Bond he shared, stirring and reaching out towards this child.
This is not the one, but he will love you far, far more than you could ever dream.
And then a different warmth reached out to him, holding him just as close. Home it said. You are home.
--
When Luke first met Leia, the Force Bond pulled so hard on his lungs that for a moment he wondered if she was the one.
But Luke’s bond kept pulling him past her, leaving him gasping for air as it tried to drag him back out into the stars.
--
Din returned back to the convent with the child, a pile of beskar, and a stronger ache in his chest. You have found one, but not the other.
“I have to go.” He said.
The Armorer did not ask him why.
She looked at the beskar, a relic of the Before Times that had been lost to them for so long. She looked for a long time, silent and stoic. Then she looked to the child, who cooed and tilted his head as he looked at her in curiosity.
“You have a foundling.” She said. She did not seem surprised.
Din nodded.
“What is its name?”
Din hesitated, because he did not know. He could not ask either, because the child could not speak. But then the child reached a hand up to tap Din’s helmet, his little claws making a pleasant clicking noise as they touched the beskar. Grogu. The Force Bond whispered it softly, like a quiet stream. My name is Grogu.
“Grogu.” He said.
The Armorer nodded.
—
“What’s eating at you, kid?”
Luke did not look up at Han. He kept his eyes on the window, legs pulled tight to his chest as he looked out at the never ending ice and snow. He hated Hoth. He hated how cold it was, the blank whiteness of the landscape, the near constant blizzards, and he hated how the Force Bond was forever pulling at his ribs and lungs, urging him to go.
It hurt so much more now, and he didn’t know why.
“I can’t stay here.” Luke turned to look at Han. His chest ached. “I have to leave.”
“Where do you have to go?” Han asked. He came over to Luke’s bed and sat next to him. He didn’t look surprised or upset--he eyes were calm, full of understanding.
Luke looked away.
“I don’t know.”
--
The Armorer presented Din with a full set of pure beskar armor, an ancient tradition that had died with Mandalore.
“It belongs to you.” She said.
Then she handed Din a small beskar pauldron, far too small for him. The same mudhorn signet that rested on his own pauldron sat on this one as well, gleaming a pure silver.
“I wish you well on your journey,” The Armorer said. She sounded sad. “Wherever you are going.”
—
“A strong bond, you share,” Yoda tilted his head as he looked at Luke. “At the other end, who rests?”
“I don’t know.” Luke answered.
Yoda fell silent, and the only thing that sat between them was the sounds of Dagobah’s wildlife and Artoo’s soft beeping from outside. Luke shifted uncomfortably, nearly knocking his head on the low ceiling of Yoda’s home. He did not understand Yoda’s sudden silence and anxiousness, but then he remembered Uncle Owen’s stories about Anakin Skywalker--about how he threw away everything for his soulmate.
“A dangerous thing a soulmate is, for a Jedi.” Yoda finally said. “Better off you would be, if you forgot them.”
Luke shifted again, felt that string pull in his chest. “No. I won’t.”
Yoda turned to look at him. He looked sad.
“Too much like your father, you are.”
--
“Ni kar’tayl gai sa’ad.”
Din spoke the vow without thought of consequence, held Grogu close and pressed his forehead gently to Grogu’s, and the Force Bond glowed with a warmth that neither of them had known for a long time.
Yet still, it ached.
—
Staring at Darth Vader, Luke suddenly understood Yoda’s words.
--
“You have a soulmate.” Kuiil said.
Din was surprised by the words, by how softly Kuiil spoke them. “How did you know?”
“The child--you share a strong bond with him,” Kuill nodded towards Grogu, who was waddling a little too close to the fire. Din leaned down and scooped up him. Grogu cooed in delight and tapped Din’s helmet with his hands. He wore that small pauldron, and as it gleamed with both the firelight and the starlight, Din couldn’t hold back a swell of pride and love and warmth.
Grogu cooed again and gently pushed his own love through the bond.
“But it is incomplete,” Kuill continued. “There is still another you wait for.”
Din held Grogu a little closer. “Will I find them?”
“Of course. That is the way of soulmates.” Kuiil nodded. “I have spoken.”
--
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
It took a moment for Luke to look away from the medical droid--from the prosthetic that was being fitted to his arm. When he did, Leia had a gentle smile on her lips.
“Han told me,” she said quietly. She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing softly. Warmth and love flowed through the bond they shared, but there was a part of it that still ached and bled.
Luke shook his head. His eyes were wet.
Leia pulled him into a hug, holding him as if he were a child.
“You will,” she murmured. “I promise.”
--
Din did not know why, but Tatooine felt like home.
--
Anakin Skywalker’s eyes were blue.
“I loved your mother--” Anakin took in a shaky breath, his chest jerking with the movement. Everything about him looked dead, except his eyes. His eyes were so full of life and love and sorrow.“--I regret many things in my life, but not her. Never her.”
Anakin’s hand was trembling as he lifted it. He gently laid it on Luke’s cheek. It was warm and comforting and felt almost like home. Luke lifted his own hand, held his father’s hand as tightly as he could. It did not stop the shaking.
“Don’t let them go.” Anakin said softly. “Whoever is on the other side of your bond--don’t let them go.”
Luke felt something wet slide down his cheek.
He was crying.
--
“Your soulmate is a Jedi.” Bo-Katan said.
Din scowled. “And what of it?”
Grogu cooed quietly in Din’s arms, still wet and tired and scared. His little pauldon had gotten scratched from where the cradle had dented.
Bo-Katan stared hard at Din before glancing at Grogu. Her gaze softened as she looked at him, but it hardened again as she looked back up at Din. Just like stone. “And yet you dare to speak to me of the ways of the Mando’ad.”
Din bit his tongue.
“Thank you,” he said. “For rescuing my ad’ika.”
The Mando’a felt like a bullet in his mouth.
Bo-Katan scowled, but Din did not stick around to hear her response. He spun on his heel, ignited his jetpack, and took off from the ship in the direction the Force Bond was urging him to go.
--
“I can’t stay.”
Han smiled. “You can’t say anywhere, can you, kid?”
Leia smacked Han’s arm. “Han!”
“It’s okay,” Luke offered a smile of his own. The bond he shared with the two of them glowed and sang with affection, but there was something missing, something he couldn’t let go. Something that Leia and Han had, but Luke didn’t. “I just--I have to find them.”
Han’s smile fell into something a little softer, and Leia stepped forward to gently take Luke’s hands in her own.
“Just promise me you’ll come back to us,” Leia said softly.
Luke nodded. “I will.”
--
Din had once asked the Armorer if there were any Mandalorians who had a Jedi for a soulmate.
“There are two that I know of,” she had answered. “Mand’alor the Great, and the Duchess Satine.” then she had paused, and the silence that followed was full of an unspoken sorrow. It was the sort of mourning everyone shared in, and never spoke of.
“Mand’alor the Great killed his.”
--
Luke’s Force Bond pulled him to many different planets and stars and moons, but each time he landed, he was too late.
--
When Din met Ahsoka Tano, she had greeted him with words of mourning.
“I’m sorry.”
Din had been confused, startled--angry. The Force Bond had pulled him here, to this empty backwater planet, to a Jedi. And now it was pulling him away again. “What are you sorry for?”
“I’m not the Jedi you’re looking for,” she said. She stepped closer to him, held her hand out palm up. Grogu cooed, reaching for it as she placed her hand on Din’s chest, warming the beskar and easing the pull and ache of the Force Bond. “Your bond is growing restless--it aches.”
“I just want to find them.” Din did not mean to whisper it, but he was not sure that he could have said the words any other way.
Ahsoka Tano had looked back up at Din with an endless sorrow in her eyes.
“I’m not sure that you will.”
--
The Force Bond hummed with warmth and life when Luke landed on Nevarro, but it was still pulling him away, still urging him to go further. Luke took the time to walk around the city anyway, stopping at vendors and street markets to buy supplies and make small talk.
Then Luke heard whispers of a mandalorian, and the Force Bond pulled on Luke’s ribs and lungs so hard that he stumbled.
--
As Din watched the dark troopers fly off with Grogu, his bond with his child was so full of pain and fear and sorrow that he wondered if this was what it felt like to die.
--
Luke nearly crashed back onto Nevarro when a sudden wave of fear and terror and helpmepleasehelp washed over him.
And then his bond was pulling and pulling and pulling, and Luke nearly threw up with how much it hurt. Still, he didn’t hesitate to put his x-wing back into gear, to throw it into hyperspace and to follow the Force Bond as quickly as he could.
--
Din held Grogu close to him, whispered soft apologies in Mando’a as Grogu cooed and pushed warmth and love and forgiveness through their bond, and ignored how the darksaber called out to him.
--
Luke exited hyperspace, looked up at the imperial cruiser, and knew his soulmate was on that ship.
--
When the x-wing exited hyperspace, Din’s Force Bond pulled him so hard that he stumbled, nearly falling as it tugged him to the windows.
--
Cutting down the dark troopers was like cutting through water.
Luke did not care for the damage he caused, did not care how wrecked and mangled he left the droids.
His soulmate was on this ship.
His soulmate was in danger.
The Force Bond pulled so hard on his lungs that Luke tasted blood.
--
Din watched as this stranger--his soulmate--cut his way through the dark troopers like they were nothing.
Grogu cooed softly, reaching out a hand to gently place on the screen. He looked back up at Din and tilted his head, cooing again and pushing a gentle question through the bond. Is this who you’re missing?
Din swallowed. Nodded. His heart was fluttering in his chest like a bird.
Grogu cooed again and Din picked him up, holding him close as they watched the screen.
--
Luke stood at the elevator door, breathing hard.
There were no more dark troopers left.
--
“Open the door.” Din said.
Cara turned to look at him, eyes narrowed in confusion. “What?”
“Open it.” Din repeated. He drifted closer to the doors. He didn’t look at Cara or Bo-Katan. He didn’t look at anybody. His bond was all but screaming at him to get closer and closer because he’s there he’s right there. He had eyes only for those doors, for who lay beyond them.
Grogu made a soft noise in Din’s arms.
Din ducked his head down, gently pressed his forehead to Grogu’s.
“It’s him,” Din said softly.
And then the doors opened.
Din saw a gentle green glow first, then the saber in the Jedi’s hand. He watched in quiet fascination as the saber’s blade retracted, and then--
And then there was the Jedi’s face, beautiful and serene. A soft smile graced his lips, lighting up his face like starlight. It was warm and bright and all for Din. He wanted to reach forward, wanted to hold the Jedi’s hands and say how could I have ever thought I wouldn’t find you?
“I’ve been looking for you.” The Jedi said softly.
And then the Force Bond settled and clicked into place.
--
“I--” The Mandalorian started, then stopped. He took a step forward and then paused, like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.
“I’m Luke Skywalker,” Luke continued.
He ignored the quiet intake of breath from the others who stood behind the Mandalorian. He ignored them in their entirety. He had eyes only for the Mandalorian and his child--a child who’s own Force Bond was just as tangled with the Mandalorian’s as Luke’s was.
“Luke,” The Mandalorian repeated his name like it was something sacred, his voice full of wonder. “I’m--Din. Djarin.”
His voice shook around the letters, like he wasn’t used to saying them.
“Din,” Luke said softly.
The name tasted like starlight.
--
Luke--Luke--said his name quietly, a name Din had not heard in such a long time, and Din closed the distance between them without hardly another thought.
Luke smiled brighter. When Din got close enough he lifted his hands, placing them on Din’s helmet in a gentle hold. He swore he could feel the warmth of Luke’s hands through the beskar, and before he realized what he was doing Din pushed his forehead against Luke’s.
Luke closed his eyes, pulled Din closer.
“I’m so glad I found you,” Luke whispered.
Din took in a shaky breath. “I didn’t think you would.”
Luke pulled back, searching for Din’s eyes through his visor. Din wanted to take his helmet off--wanted to look at Luke without barriers.
So he did. Slowly, so, so slowly he removed his helmet.
It felt right.
--
Din’s eyes were brown.
Luke stared at them, drank in the color like it was his last meal. Then he lifted his hand again, gently placing it on Din’s cheek.
Din melted into his touch.
“But I did,” Luke said. “Find you.”
Din’s lips twitched into a smile, and the child in his arms cooed softly. “Yeah. You did.”
The Force Bond settled between them and tied the last few strings together. Home, it said. This is home.