Chapter Text
The whole situation started the way most of Din’s problems did, with someone asking for help.
It had been 2 days since Luke had called, in slight panic, asking if Din could stop by the temple for a bit. Something about nephews and lightsabers that ended with a thanks in advance and one frazzled Jedi master quickly cutting off his com. Din had set out immediately, getting in his ship and leaving without a word to anyone else. He’d eventually sent messages explaining where he was going, but that was after a day and a few hundred pings from people looking for the Mand'alor. By the time he touched down and walked the short distance to the temple Din couldn’t care less about the state of a kingdom he didn’t want in the first place.
“Jedi? you here?” The words echoed off of the old stones, cleaner than his last visit and repaired in some places as well. Slowly Din continued his walk through the halls of the lost home, taking in the work Luke and others must’ve done to restore it back to what it once was. Stopping, he could pick up sounds from further in the temple, and following them lead him out into a courtyard. Din was not surprised to see the Jedi children, grogu toddling sweetly behind, in the middle of trying to tackle Luke to the ground.
“Ah! Mr. Djarin, or Mand'alor, or just help please?” Luke called as one of the kids finally found purchase to climb onto the Jedi’s back, giving way for the others to swarm Luke’s legs.
Din made his way over, scooping up Grogu before steading the man before him. Surrounded by a small group of children with one latched onto his back Luke tried to catch his breath.
“I hope you weren’t in the middle of something when I called, but the kids” he winced as the boy on his back wiggled, kicking little feet into ribs, “The kids have decided to try and win my lightsaber in combat, and well I don’t want to accuse anyone but, ah Ben please don’t pull my hair, but ever since Grogu shared how you gained your saber things have been…” Luke trailed off waving one hand while the other tried and failed to dislodge the boy, Ben, from his head.
“Difficult”, Din finished for him.
“Interesting”, Luke countered with a strained smile. “If you could perhaps talk to him about it? I-I don’t mean that he can’t partake in your culture, that’s a very important part of him but if there is a way he can do so that doesn’t result in me fighting kids all hours of the day I would love to hear it.”
Nodding Din looked down at his ad’ika, big eyes stared back up. “I’ll talk to him” he said, Luke seemed to relax at that and quickly straightened again to fend off more children. Din turned to walk away, “But I can’t promise anything, Jedi!” He called back, laughing at the groan from the man behind him, and made his way into the temple.
His footsteps echoed in the empty halls as he moved further from the courtyard. He made his way to one of the rooms he had seen on his way in, and closed the door. Din gently placed Grogu on the floor, before kneeling down to his ad’s height. As he removed his helmet Grogu cooed and reached out for him.
“Ad’ika…” Din started, “Your teacher’s sword and the darksaber aren’t the same. You can’t win his in combat.”
Big eyes stared up at Din, focused and bright.
“And Luke told me that when you're old enough you’ll get a sword as well.”
“Eh?”
“No, I can’t get you one. Just give it time ok?”
Grogu tilted his head, before letting out a huff. Nodding, or at least Din hoped it was nodding, he seemed to be agreeing with his father.
“Ok… Ok”, Din said with a sigh, and placed his helmet back on, “Let’s get you back to the group, hopefully your friends haven’t taken over the school yet.” However as Din opened the door Grogu rushed out not towards the courtyard but instead to further in the temple. Din silently cursed and jogged to catch up to little feet pitter pattering across the hall. He tried to pick up his ad but only got his hands batted away by little claws and grumpy noises of displeasure.
Resigning himself to following his ad’s new adventure Din trailed behind his ad'ika as they went further and further into the temple. Din noticed that the walls here had yet to be restored, though there were temporary supports in place meaning that Luke was aware of the disrepair. Eventually Grogu stopped at a dead end and seemed to wander around the chamber making noises of confusion. Content to let his ad get this out of his system Din leaned back against a wall to wait the little one out.
The wall shifted behind him and before Din could react he found himself laying flat on his back with the dust and rubble settling around him. With a groan he sat up only to be pushed down as Grogu scampered across him to get into the newly made room. Sitting himself up once more he turned and took in the hidden outcove they had discovered.
“Is this what you were so worked up about?” Din asked, the room itself wasn’t much. It had a few shelves that held more dust than items and some pots scattered on the ground. At the back of the room there was a small pedestal with a strange rock resting atop it. It was this object that Grogu was in the process of getting. The child had climbed onto a nearby pot and was reaching out to grab the stone. Din could already see how this would end.
Din got up off the floor, dusting himself off as he watched Grogu reach out for the stone. Little hands leaning further and further until the pot followed suit. It happened so suddenly that Din barely registered rushing forward to grab his ad before he hit the floor. Sliding in, Din managed to catch Grogu before he could hit the floor. In doing so he also managed to crash into the pedestal that the mystery stone rested on. His movement dislodged the stone from it’s spot and it fell directly into the little claws of Grogu. Before Din could check on his ad the room filled with light and all he could do was wrap himself around Grogu to keep the child safe.