⎣the heiress⎤

Din was quiet for a moment. He had barely wrapped his head around the whole thing himself, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to explain it to someone else. “Your future. My past. Well, sort of. We were together when I was pulled to this time.” He settled on. “We were parts of Death Watch that broke away, those who didn’t agree with their practices. You called us a cult.”

He hadn’t told the Bo-Katan of the future his name, and he wasn’t sure about telling this version either. “You can call me Mando. We were only allied to invade an Imperial remnant’s ship. He had my ad. And the darksaber. It was the only reason we were in the same place.”

He shifted a little, looking down at Grogu “My creed doesn’t allow for anyone other than clan to know my name and face.” He added.

         bo-katan shook her head, he had not just said the words your future, my past, because that would be insane, time travel wasn’t real, no matter what technological advances the galaxy had cooked up, time travel wasn’t real. pulled into this time, parts of death watch that broke away, ❝how —❞ she had begun to say, because the words might be those of someone who had lost their mind, but he sounded so calm, and as far as she knew there were only a handful who would now about the darksaber. she continued to listen to his story, looked at the child in his arms, ❝a foundling❞ she whispered, if the beskar was not enough, it was the mandalorian way to protect foundlings at all costs, cult or not, the man in front of her was a mandalorian. 

        of all the things bo had learned about the time she could no longer remember, few had hurt as much as losing her homeworld. and nothing had prepared her for coming face to face with her nephew. she wondered how much of the determined bright eyed boy who had helped her rescue satine was still left, from the little information she had gathered it was clear the time she no longer remembered had not been kind to them. she had grown more bitter, if that was even possible, she only hoped korkie had not lost himself in whatever quest bo-katan had dragged him into. the hopes bo had that he would one day rule mandalore still flooded her mind, whether he would still be interested in doing so was yet to be discovered.

“The planet is still there. But no one goes to Mandalore. It’s cursed.” Din said quietly. “As far as I know, there’s no one left.” He said apologetically. He knew a thing or two about losing your family.

“I…don’t really understand it. I think it’s a force thing.” Din said, shaking his head “Many people were dragged through time. From the past and future. I’ve met several who came from right before their deaths. Jango Fett, clone troopers, Jedi.”

“Yes. He’s is from the same covert as I am.” Din said, trying to recall what Bo-Katan had said before “Children of the Watch is what you called us. Before I was brought here.”

         it was taking bo-katan longer than she had wanted or imagined, to caught up with the words that the mandalorian was saying, there was so much she wanted to ask, but every knew thing just brought even more questions. there was a part of her that simply wished not to learn about it anymore, but how could she just ignore the fate of her homeworld? or her people? there was however a more pressing issue at hand. 

         ❝a force thing❞ she whispered to herself, whatever her feelings for the jedi had been bo knew that everything the empire said were lies, she had met the jedi, fought by their side, and had been devastated hearing about their fate even if she had not let anyone know about it, but how could this be then? there were no jedi left to create a rift or whatever the mandalorian had called it. ❝past and future...❞ bo-katan asked and shook her head, something wasn’t quite clicking for her. 

           the journey had been uneventful for the most part, with comms down all across the galaxy bo had been expecting trouble, but was glad she had not brought any trouble to the mandalorian and the foundling in his care, a may we met again and she was on her way. naboo had been a smart choice, while unable to use comm relays, just as the rest of the galaxy, they were at least more advanced and organized, so smaller vessels could be guided for landing without major casualties, bo could barely begin to imagine how it was elsewhere. but she was here, and all she had to do now was find satine’s old friend, the senator, and then she might be able to help bo contact korkie, and anyone who might be out there. 

It still made him twitch and frown when he saw a Mandalorian remove their helmet. But he knew no one else adhered to they rule.

“The empire glassed it. From what I know, they didn’t care for the Mandalore’s resistance.” Din said, sighing heavily “I’m not from Mandalore, I can’t tell you what happened. But the empire fell fairly recently. The New Republic rules now.”

He shifted a little. Not really sure what to tell her really “Uh no. He was dragged through the rift like a lot of people.” He told her “He’s in a relationship with my brother. If I can get in touch with him, I’ll know exactly where.” He didn’t offer Paz’s name. That would be up to Paz if he wanted to disclose it. He didn’t know how secretive his brother was now that they were the only two left.

        bo-katan had never thought of herself as a sentimental person, but she could not help but think about her home planet, her people, ❝is there nothing left? no one left?❞ she understood what he was saying, that he could not give her the information she wanted, needed, but the questions spilled out of her anyways, her childhood home, what had remained to remember her sisters, gone. 

Din turned when he heard the familiar voice, grimacing under his helmet. He didn’t much care for Bo-Katan, and he was fairly sure the other Mando hated him. Especially after he had accidentally claimed the darksaber.

But he wouldn’t bring anything up unless she did. He didn’t want to assume she was the same Bo-Katan that he had met. “There is no Mandalore to return to.” He said instead “And there is no Empire anymore either.”

Din assumed she must have been dragged here recently, if she didn’t know the empire was no more “If there is somewhere else I can take you, Im willing to. If I can get somewhere with working comms, I can try to contact my brother and see if he is with your nephew.”

        there had been sucker punches before in her life, and she had already lost her sisters, there was little left that could break bo-katan. but as the words there is no mandalore to return to reached her ears, she felt as if the air had been completely knocked out of her. bo took a few steps backwards before removing her helmet, she had to regain her composure, after a few deep breaths she faced the mandalorian again. now it made sense why she had ran into someone so far from home. there was no home. 

          ❝no mandalore? what happened to our home? and the empire is gone too... i— i woke up on an imperial cruiser, i assumed i had been captured to try and force mandalore into imperial control, but we bow to no one❞ she said, there was still fight left in her, even if there was no more home planet, ❝the creatures from the holo... was it them? like hapes?❞

           the creatures words still danced around bo-katan’s head, after chatting up some people at the docks she learned about the first attack on hapes, and that it had not just been hapans presents, but a galaxy wide celebration. she had to get off world, she had to get in touch with the others, ursa, korkie, she had to get back to korkie, if something happened to him, he was the only family that remained to her. but as the docking bay struggled to guide ships bigger than a shuttle to land, bo realized getting transport that would get her all the way to madalore would be impossible. she settled for a small vessel that was to take her to nevarro. apparently nevarro had the comms relay bombed, but the vast inhabitable plains made it less dangerous to land and take off. from there she could find a way home.

ALINA KOVALENKO // have you met BO-KATAN KRYZE yet? SHE is a TWENTY-SEVEN years old TRANS WOMAN HUMAN, originally from MANDALORE but typically reside on NABOO. after everything they’ve gone through, they show loyalty to THE UNALIGNED. they are best known for being a WARRIOR, and i hear they’re grown pretty RELENTLESS yet also PROUD at times; i hope they survive the galactic war.