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The sand was all Din could see as he scanned across the skyline. The two suns of Tatooine lit up the sky in a brilliant red as they moved lower and lower in the sky. He needed to find where he was going. He didn’t want to be wandering the desert another night. According to his information, there should have been a town relatively close to his coordinates but… there clearly was not. He had been out here for two full days and what felt like a very, very long night.
And there was nothing.
Absolutely… nothing.
He sighed in frustration, turning again to look around him, hoping that something had appeared since he had last looked around, assuming that nothing was actually going to be there.
Sadly, with his shit luck, there was… but it wasn’t what he was looking for.
He only had a moments notice, only a slight shifting in the sand, before a Sand Beast burst from the ground in front of him. The movement almost knocked him to his feet, but he quickly recovered, pulling his blaster to shoot at the beast. It’s thick scales protected it, the blasts barely doing any damage. One of it’s strong arms knocked Din sideways, throwing him far from his speeder, his only means of escape, and knocking his blaster somewhere in the sand, his only weapon. He had only planned on coming to Tatooine briefly. Just to pick up a single part for his ship, but this trip has been anything but brief .
The Sand Beast charged at him and Din quickly got to his feet, preparing to run to the speeder, or at least to dodge the damn thing, but instead, another blow came from the beast, knocking Din directly in the side of his helmet, disorienting him.
He believed in that moment the thing was going to kill him, end him right there, leaving the kid with Peli, nobody finding his body in the middle of this damn sand. Before losing consciousness, all he saw was the beast quickly turning and facing the opposite direction and spear piercing through the beast’s back.
***
Din slowly awoke, his whole body sore as he shifted ever so slowly in the small bed he was laid in. His helmet was still on his head, but his armor and flight suit had been removed, leaving him only in the thin pants and shirt he wore underneath everything. He sat up slowly, his head still spinning slightly, trying to ignore out where he was.
The room he was in was small, but not cramped. More… lived in. The sun was light as it came through the window, meaning it was probably very, very early in the morning. Din couldn’t hear any noise from the rest of the home, even as he crept out of the bed, peeking through the bedroom door, very aware that he not only did not have his armor, more importantly, he didn’t have his blaster.
The rest of the home was very similar to the bedroom. Small, cozy. It was made of the warm toned brick and clay that made up the majority of buildings on the desert planet. It effectively kept the intense heat from the building, leaving the room cool and dark.
He continued to look through the home, hoping to find… some clues of who was not exactly his captor, but more appropriately his savior. His first guess would have been Tusken Raiders, as he knew many of them considered it a high achievement to defeat a Sand Beast, but this dwelling was absolutely not the home to a Tusken.
Sighing, Din moved closer to the entrance, figuring he may need to just leave the home. If he made it outside, he’s sure he could find his armor.
As soon as he had made that decision, the door opened, revealing his host (captor? Savior?).
“Woah, woah! You shouldn’t be up and moving, darling,” the man said, quickly moving to put the item in his hands down before guiding Din to sit down on the couch.
Darling?
“I couldn’t find my armor,” Din explained weakly, unsure how to exactly word that he was trying to plan his escape.
“I’ve got it, no worries there. You need more rest though, that Sand Beast really knocked you over the head,” the stranger explained, leaning down to be eye level with Din.
“How long have I been out?” He asked, concerned.
“Only a day and a half. I got you back here pretty late last night. I didn’t take off the helmet considering… well, I’ve heard about Mandalorians before.”
Din nodded in gratitude. The man in front of him was tall and thin, but held an air of authority to him that came off as self-assured and confident. He had short salt and pepper hair, with a neatly trimmed beard to match. The stranger’s eyes showed concern as he scanned over Din’s tired frame.
“Would… since you’re awake, can you remove your helmet and look yourself? I don’t believe your bleeding, but I can’t be sure,” the man asked. “I’ll turn around for you.”
Not waiting for an answer, his back was to Din in an instant. Hesitating only a moment to ensure that there were no reflective surfaces in front of the stranger, Din slipped his helmet of, quickly feeling through his hair and face to make sure there were no scrapes or dried blood anywhere on his head. After a couple passes, there luckily seemed to be nothing.
“I think I’m good,” Din mumbled after a moment, slipping the helmet back in place.
“Good, good. Let me know if you feel woozy, a headache comes on, blurry vision. Any of that and I may need to get you checked out by a droid. Is that allowed? Am I even on the right track here?” The man babbled.
“You are correct: I cannot show my face to anyone,” Din confirmed.
The man was pretty chatty, it made Din feel off-kiltered, especially when most of his time was spent hearing his own voice or communicating through the little grunts and chirps that the kid tended to make.
“Oh, I should probably introduce myself, huh? I don’t get many guests that don’t necessarily already know who I am,” the guy chuckled, scratching his fingers through his beard. “I’m Cobb Vanth, the marshal here in Mos Pelgo.”
“Mos Pelgo?” Din asked. “I’ve never-”
“Most people haven’t, we’re pretty far out here… don’t get many visitors. Or at least, not many wanted visitors,” Cobb explained.
Din nodded. Peli had mentioned very briefly about a city very, very far in the dune sea that was pretty remote and independent from the rest of Tatooine. Not that the planet was cohesive in any sense of the word.
“Are you the one that saved me?” Din asked, interrupting the long flow of words tumbling from Cobb’s mouth.
“Oh, yes. I am,” Cobb smiled.
“Thank you, I really owe you my life.”
“Oh wow, serious aren’t we, Mando? No worries, I couldn’t exactly leave that thing to kill you know could I?” Cobb asked, moving to sit on the couch next to Din.
“You could have,” Din admitted honestly.
Everyone else would have. Or at least most of the people Din worked with would have left him for dead in that moment.
“Well… maybe someone else would have, but not me,” Cobb insisted, smiling. “So are you sure your head is okay? That thing knocked you around real good.”
Cobb reached up slightly, hand hovering by Din’s helmet, not quite touching.
“I think so. No scratches or blood that I could feel,” Din insisted.
“Alright…” Cobb trailed for, still looking concerned. “Well, do you want some food? I was about to make some breakfast.”
“... Please?” Din asked, his stomach growling.
***
Din had spent three days in Mos Pelgo, Cobb Vanth hovering closely the entire time, not allowing him to go far from the marshal’s home. It was a lot more care and attention than Din had… ever had in his life. It made the situation difficult in that Cobb was not only attentive, he was kind, and he clearly cared a lot for the people in his town, which Din was now a part of.
The problem was that Din was becoming stir crazy, and the attention was becoming a bit… suffocating.
“Vanth, I swear, I’m fine ,” Din insisted once again.
He was sat on the stoop of the marshal’s home. He had been gifted different clothing, better quality pants and a shirt. Cobb had attempted to give Din some of his own clothes, but even the shirt had been too tight on Din’s more muscular frame. All of the people of Mos Pelgo were just as friendly as their Marshal, so they were more than willing to provide clothing to Din. It made his stay much more comfortable, especially since Cobb was still too concerned about Din’s health to allow the mandalorian to put his armor on again.
“I still don’t think you’re well enough to travel across the desert on your own! You still sway on your feet when you stand up too quickly.”
Din sighed, frustrated.
“What if I allowed you to check on my head? And you accompanied me back to my ship? I need to get back, Cobb. I appreciate the hospitality, the care, everything. But I need to get back to my ship.”
Cobb stared at him for a moment,. In fact, it was probably the longest stretch of silence Din had seen from the man. At least in Din’s presence.
“I thought you couldn't show your face to anyone?” Cobb asked quietly.
“If it means that it soothes any last concerns about my health, I’m… I have someone I need to get back to, who needs me. So… come on.”
Cobb followed Din back into the home where din removed his helmet before he truly thought about this decision too much. He knew he was already an apostate among the Mandalorians, and he figured if this meant he could return to Grogu faster, it was something he was willing to do again. And he couldn’t lie… Cobb made him feel comfortable, made him feel card for, so it was hard to not want to show his face to Cobb.
The marshal stood there for a moment, hesitating when he could see Din’s face for the first time.
“Well aren’t those brown eyes just adorable?” Cobb asked, before moving to look at Din’s head.
Cobb’s strong fingers carded through Din’s hair, searching for injuries that were not there.
“Alright… alright I guess I don’t see anything,” Cobb grumbled,seemingly unhappy to admit that Din indeed was fine. “Okay, I’ll get your armor and I’ll take you back to your ship.”
***
The ride back was relatively uneventful… and much shorter with a driver that actually knew where he was going. It was slightly uncomfortable, being pressed against Cobb the entire time, but the proximity wasn’t… the worst.
When they arrived back at the spaceport, Peli had… a lot to say.
“I thought you were dead, Mando! What happened to just a day or two? It’s been a week!”
“This the person you had to get to?” Cobb muttered, confused.
“No, she’s just… this is Peli, she’s been fixing my ship,” Din explained.
“Ah…” Cobb nodded, still clearly confused.
Peli launched into what she had done to the ship, Din nodding along. He paid her more than what she asked, especially considering Peli had managed to find the part that Din had went into the desert to look for in the first place.
“Again, thank you so much for your help,” Din said to Cobb once Peli had finished.
“Of course, sorry for keeping you so long away from your… someone,” Cobb said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I appreciated the concern for my safety. Considering how you met me, I understand the lack of faith in me,” Din soothed.
“Still… shouldn’t have kept you away for so long. I’m sure this… person missed you,” Cobb continued.
“Oh and he did! Little trouble make this one is. You take him back, Mando! He’s cute, but destructive!” Peli yelled from across the spaceport, carrying Grogu back over who trilled excitedly.
“Oh…” Cobb muttered, barely audible. “Your kid?”
“Yes,” Din admitted.
“Sure is cute,” Cobb grinned, a relaxation to his tone that wasn’t there before. “Now, make sure to come visit me, alright brown eyes? And this time, don’t almost get yourself killed, alright?”
Din couldn’t help but grin beneath his helmet, climbing into his ship and waving at Cobb who began wandering back to his speeder. He wasn’t sure where exactly his path would take him, but Din knew he was going to be returning to Tatooine, one way or another.